[laura]

So I am working as the Eat Smart Educator for a teen program. We have weekly curriculum that we stick to 3 days a week but other two days a week are up to me. We are doing cooking classes for one of them, and the other is going to focus on food politics.

These kids a pretty ungrateful for the amount of food they have access to (I know, a shocker) so we want to start out focusing on food waste in the US, and pick up a cause that supports providing food to places in need (i.e. the World Food Programme). But I am looking for other ideas too. I'm sure we'll do some kind of eat local campaign since one of our partners is a local produce greenhouse, we grow our own garden and we have a farmer's market down the street from the club.

I don't know if any of the PAWN regulars are in to food politics, but if you are could you start your internet arguing about it in this thread? It would really help me brainstorm on some other ideas for these kids.

 

[N8 v2.0]

Food politics?

As in huge mega agraculture companies with geneticly engineered crops that can be produced and shipped to the hungry of the world for pennies..?

 

[Stray_cat]

Have you looked into CSA? Depending on were you are the farms might be ramping down for the winter, but a cool hands on oppurtunity for local food. I dunno how much out of the day you have the kids, but another fun thing to do is feed them a typical days worth of food for what a person they're age would get in a 3rd world country. Though you might have to deal with some hostility.

 

[BurlyShirley]

Look into CAFO's.

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

Basically the opposite of free range. Agribusiness gone mad. Tons of animals, usually kept indoors in cages (from cattle to chickens) where they're fed, where they crap, etc. These have a huge pollution/runoff impact that basically ruins watersheds.
Usually put in, low population rural areas because no one wants one in their back yard, but coincidentally (not really), that's also where the pristine watersheds are located.

Edit: It also kills the hell out of smaller farming businesses.

 

[laura]

Have you looked into CSA? Depending on were you are the farms might be ramping down for the winter, but a cool hands on oppurtunity for local food. I dunno how much out of the day you have the kids, but another fun thing to do is feed them a typical days worth of food for what a person they're age would get in a 3rd world country. Though you might have to deal with some hostility.

One of our partners is a CSA so we will be doing something with them for sure. And this summer the kids will grow their own garden. We'll actually be starting all of that in the spring. I pushing for a indoor grow set up now since the pilot garden is still full of green tomatoes.

I also have plans to highlight the diets of third world countries especially if we do a drive for the world food programme. We don't have a lot of time with the kids daily but I plan to give them a run through of several diets that will appall them. **** my diet appalls most of them.

 

[laura]

Look into CAFO's.

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

Basically the opposite of free range. Agribusiness gone mad. Tons of animals, usually kept indoors in cages (from cattle to chickens) where they're fed, where they crap, etc. These have a huge pollution/runoff impact that basically ruins watersheds.
Usually put in, low population rural areas because no one wants one in their back yard, but coincidentally (not really), that's also where the pristine watersheds are located.

Edit: It also kills the hell out of smaller farming businesses.

I'd like to get in to some of this as well but I'll have to see how it fits into the project. These kids are low income so they have to buy the cheap ****, we are not promoting vegetarianism through this project, not that any of them would go for it anyway. I could certainly tie it in to supporting locally and showing some of the evils that local farmers compete with. And I have managed to gross them out of eating muffins and honeybuns simply by showing them how many teaspoons of fat are each item illustrated with bags of crisco. Maybe I can gross them out of eating **** meat too.

 

[BurlyShirley]

Im sure you told them where they get the fat for the muffins and honeybuns right? Through a "rendering" process. hudders:

Sure are tasty though.

 

[N8 v2.0]

I'd like to get in to some of this as well but I'll have to see how it fits into the project. These kids are low income so they have to buy the cheap ****, we are not promoting vegetarianism through this project, not that any of them would go for it anyway. I could certainly tie it in to supporting locally and showing some of the evils that local farmers compete with. And I have managed to gross them out of eating muffins and honeybuns simply by showing them how many teaspoons of fat are each item illustrated with bags of crisco. Maybe I can gross them out of eating **** meat too.

awesome, way to indoctrinate the social disadvantaged to your whacky fringe belief system.

 

[Westy]

awesome, way to indoctrinate the social disadvantaged to your whacky fringe belief system.

Nutrition is for Euro-fags and canadians.

 

[N8 v2.0]

Nutrition is for Euro-fags and canadians.

dont forget to include hippies and crack babies to ur list

 

[Westy]

dont forget to include hippies and crack babies to ur list

Crack babies are nutritious.

 

[$tinkle]

kinda what burly was hitting on: show them how veggies are raised; then show them how processed food is, well, processed.

now class, which one is better for you?

 

[N8 v2.0]

kinda what burly was hitting on: show them how veggies are raised; then show them how processed food is, well, processed.

now class, which one is better for you?

make sure to tell them which one is easier & cheaper to produce than the other.. since kids from this social strata dont have much time in between carring for their own children and working at Micky D's which dont pay good

 

[TN]

Crack babies are nutritious.

& they give you a nice buzz!

 

[johnbryanpeters]

awesome, way to indoctrinate the social disadvantaged to your whacky fringe belief system.

As opposed to N8's whacky fringe belief system.

 

[Stray_cat]

I would also get a hampster. Keep it in a small cage, never change the wood chips. When it seems sick, feed it medicine that would make most adults balk, then eat him. Oh yeah, I'd also name it Ernie.

 

[Westy]

Read the ingredients on processed food and see if they can figure out what it is.

 

[ohio]

I'm assuming you're already familiar with the edible schoolyard (berkeley, alice waters) since you're doing one yourself, right?

 

[ohio]

how about showing video after video of morbidly obese people doing naked jumping jacks, followed by the gangrened feet and ankles of diabetics then a video of a gastro-intenstinal bypass surgery being performed.

fear sells.

 

[Upgr8r]

Place some fruits and veggies and some junk food side by side on a table. Ask them which they would rather eat. When they reach for the junk food, smack them with a 2 x 4. Repeat until desired results are achieved

 

[blue]

Place some fruits and veggies and some junk food side by side on a table. Ask them which they would rather eat. When they reach for the junk food, smack them with a 2 x 4. Repeat until desired results are achieved

Preferably a 2x4 with a nail. No one likes melted chocolate in a stigmata.

 

[JohnE]

awesome, way to indoctrinate the social disadvantaged to your whacky fringe belief system.

Revoloution has to start somewhere...

 

[sanjuro]

Chicken Salad For All!

 

[Westy]

Ham Sandwich for President!

 

[Upgr8r]

Ham Sandwich for President!

I'll back the Ham/Cheese ticket. Hell I'll even vote for them twice:biggrin:

 

[N8 v2.0]

I'm all over the BLT platform

 

[Upgr8r]

I'm all over the BLT platform

Although I agree with most of the BLT platform, I cannot ignore the fact that Mayo is a behind the scenes advisor.

 

[N8 v2.0]

Although I agree with most of the BLT platform, I cannot ignore the fact that Mayo is a behind the scenes advisor.

Miracle Whip is my neocondement

 

[rockwool]

Food politics?

As in huge mega agraculture companies with geneticly engineered crops that can be produced and shipped to the hungry of the world for pennies..?

You speak like you have shares in Monsanto.. The third world would be able to feed it self if it wasn't for subsidized EU and US products that are sold on their internal markets for cheaper than their own farmers can produce them.

The other major problem why they can't feed them selves is because westerners that can afford to eat meat three times/day force those countries to sow food for animals for us to eat, thus attaining that much needed foreign currency to pay of for all the EU/US crops they have to import, instead of crops for them to eat.

That's why the poorest countries of the world have gotten even poorer during the last 25 years. Yay capitalism!




Learn those kids to think of food while having a thought on the enviroment. For instance (an example from my country), greenhouse driven tomatoes produced here in Sweden have a worse ecological foot print than normally grown tomatoes that have been imported all the way from Spain (2500-3000km).

Vegetables that can grow normally up here in the north like cabbage and carrot, for use as a sallad, is better enviromentaly than green sallad and tomatoes.

Looking at the example I gave Nate above on how the third world starves because of our meat consumption we would help those people by eating meat only one time per day. Alternative sources for protein can be found in beans, lentils, egg, dairy products, meat replacement products like quorn, tofu and soy meat, so no worries for malnutrition.

 

[laura]

awesome, way to indoctrinate the social disadvantaged to your whacky fringe belief system.

I was sure you would approve of keeping the socially disadvantaged on the fringe.

 

[laura]

I'm assuming you're already familiar with the edible schoolyard (berkeley, alice waters) since you're doing one yourself, right?

how about showing video after video of morbidly obese people doing naked jumping jacks, followed by the gangrened feet and ankles of diabetics then a video of a gastro-intenstinal bypass surgery being performed.

fear sells.

Yes I know about the edible school yard, because it is basically what we are doing.

We have the nutrition curriculum down, I don't need any more ways to try to dissuade them from eating junk food. It doesn't work anyway. They are teenagers, they are invincible. We are trying to come up with more food related things to talk about on the days that they don't have nutrition curriculum.

 

[Defenestrated]

Food politics?

As in huge mega agraculture companies with geneticly engineered crops that can be produced and shipped to the hungry of the world for pennies..?

Consequently impacting the agrarian third world in the worst of ways, as, unable to compete with the flood of industrially grown and heavily subsidized food, they are forced to grow non sustainable cash crops instead.

Yay globalization.

 

[X3pilot]

I'll back the Ham/Cheese ticket. Hell I'll even vote for them twice:biggrin:

Wouldn't that be the Acorn squash ticket??

 

[drkenan]

Maybe I can gross them out of eating **** meat too.

All meat is **** meat.

 

[Serial Midget]

In the 70's my home ec teacher made us watch Soilent Green so I don't feel that bad about eating cow.

 

[$tinkle]

All meat is **** meat.

glad to find out i'm not the only one here who ****s their meat

 

[stevew]

my platform: bbq and whiskey

 

[DaveW]

Yes I know about the edible school yard, because it is basically what we are doing.

We have the nutrition curriculum down, I don't need any more ways to try to dissuade them from eating junk food. It doesn't work anyway. They are teenagers, they are invincible. We are trying to come up with more food related things to talk about on the days that they don't have nutrition curriculum.

I know he is a bit of a cockney git but have you looked into the stuff done by English chef Jamie Oliver?
He has campaigned long and hard to change the school menus in England (and has been successful to a large extent).
http://www.jamieoliver.com/school-dinners

 

[rockwool]

Look into CAFO's.

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

Basically the opposite of free range. Agribusiness gone mad. Tons of animals, usually kept indoors in cages (from cattle to chickens) where they're fed, where they crap, etc. These have a huge pollution/runoff impact that basically ruins watersheds.
Usually put in, low population rural areas because no one wants one in their back yard, but coincidentally (not really), that's also where the pristine watersheds are located.

Edit: It also kills the hell out of smaller farming businesses.

This documentary deals with the ehtical bits from all aspects. Good stuff.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=earthlings&emb=0#