The latest Edible Education Series has started here at UC Berkeley and is available for your viewing on YouTube. Every other Monday, 500 students and 200 community members are gathering to discuss important issues with experts in the field of food, agriculture, environment, activism, health, and politics. I encourage you to drop into this series if you want to learn about how we got to this point in time with “industrial agriculture” and also hear about solutions to the growing epidemic of food and health crisis we are experiencing globally. Michael Pollan begins the series reminding us that eating is an ecological act and how it’s essential to remember our relationship to food. Wendell Berry is quoted next noting “How we eat determines how the world is used”, which profoundly punctuates the fact that our food choices individually and as a society DO impact the world and natural resources.

This spring, if you are ready to take the next step on your journey into the world of food activism, here are a few suggestions to get you started and if you have others to add to the list, please send them my way! What do you do to make a difference?

Diet:
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. ~Michael Pollan

Mindfulness:
“To eat with a fuller consciousness of all that is at stake might sound like a burden, but in practice few things in life can afford quite as much satisfaction.” Michael Pollan

Buy Local:
Foods will be fresher, in season and taste better if you buy them locally! Buying food locally supports farmers near you and protects the environment by decreasing carbon emissions from planes, ships, and trucks that bring us food from far away places. Start keeping track of what’s in your kitchen or closet and make steps towards increasing your local purchases over time.

Grow Some of Your Own Food:
Grow your own food…and if you have kids, teach them to grow food. It’s been proven that kids who grow kale, eat kale.

Share & Gather with Community:
Host regular potlucks with your friends, with dishes that feature local foods and seasonal recipes.

Ride Your Bike or Walk More!
Try biking or walking to accomplish one of your errands this week and see how you feel before and after. This step is a win-win situation for your health and the well-being of the planet.

Have fun everyone!

Link to Video: www.edibleeducation.com