I’ll not make a habit out of trumpeting upcoming speaking engagements, much less repeating said trumpeting, but for two good reasons, I’m going to make an exception. First, I’ll be speaking this Friday at the new California Academy of Sciences and it is one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen. Above, a picture of the 2.5 acre living roof that Renzo Piano put on top of the building, and crammed with nearly 2 million native plants. The Academy has just opened its doors, and it is just as thoroughly on the inside as it is out.
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Here’s a press release from the Kenyan Bunge la Mwananchi (Swahili for “the Peoples’ Parliament”). Unlike many of the press releases that I put up here, this one reads like poetry. It’s well worth a read, not least because it’s always worth reminding oneself that, around the world, hunger is never experienced impassively. There is anger in peoples’ bellies, even when there’s nothing else. Via Shailja.
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I’m a fool. It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and the last post clearly leaves itself open to a piracy-related gag.
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File this under ‘End Times’. Here’s a bag of grapes that you can use only if you abide by the condition that “The recipient of the produce contained in this package agrees not to propagate or reproduce any portion of the produce, including (but not limited to) seeds, stems, tissue and fruit.” Via Sam.
A bit more promotion, this time of a fine book by the splendid Wayne Roberts. The No Nonsense Guide to World Food is a handy, and short, overview of why we’re in the mess we’re in today. Look for it at your local independent book store.
A wonky posting today, from the ever excellent Daryll Ray who points out that one of the elements in the conversation about food that is making a timid, but welcome, return to the policy debate is an idea that’s thousands of years old – grain stores. Read more, below the fold.
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Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed- interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing sprit- crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life… But why would I want to do a thing like that?
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San Francisco’s Slow Food Nation is gently being dismantled — even the Victory Garden will be dug up in November. But there are spaces where the good fight is being fought, and which will endure. Proving that public art has a place in that fight is Mona Caron. She already has a range of murals in and around the city, and her latest is in the Noe Valley neighbourhood, around a farmers market.
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Eric Schlosser was one of the heroes on stage at Slow Food Nation here in San Francisco this weekend. He was, relentlessly, the only person who demanded that labour be treated with dignity. His friendly critique of Slow Food Nation is up at, appropriately enough, The Nation. And reposted below…
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It’s a tried and tested solution – the British were using it so that the poor could feed themselves, but it’s heartening nonetheless that the idea of community gardens is catching on. Below the fold, the story of Mexico City’s new community gardens.
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