Putting the Focus on Community Input

One of the first projects that Food Empowerment Project took on was to look at access to healthy foods in communities of color and low-income communities in Santa Clara County, home of the well-to-do Silicon Valley. We surveyed more than 200 locations that sold food (non-restaurants and fast food), such as grocery stores, convenience stores and liquor stores.

In August of 2010, we released the results in our report, Shining A Light on the Valley of Heart’s Delight: Taking a Look at Access to Healthy Foods in Santa Clara County’s Communities of Color and Low-Income Communities.

In our report, we gave only a few recommendations. The reason for this is because we believe that those living in impacted communities are the ones who should decide what they want – not outside agencies or governments. My concern has been that not listening to the communities is why some initiatives have failed.

As an all-volunteer organization (at this time), we do not have the in-house expertise to conduct the type of work necessary to carry out what would be the next phase of our project, so we put out a call for assistance.

While waiting for a researcher, we were lucky to have support from professors and students from Santa Clara University, who used our data to create GIS maps of impacted districts.

Eventually, we garnered the support of Stanford University’s Food Summit. They paired us with a former student, who was able to work with a professor to decide the best direction we should go in for this effort. Among their important feedback was that focus groups were the best next step.

We created a plan for Phase three (which we shared with you at the end of the year).

In addition to having the right questions and the right plan was having a great facilitator. While attending an event put on by a group in East San Jose (Somos Mayfair), I was able to see Lisa Castellanos (whom I had already met) in action; she had all of the right skills, and we were thrilled she was eager to assist!

From there we gathered a great team of volunteers to take notes and videotape the focus groups. Each participant from the community was paid $50 for their time (2 hours) and fed a free vegan meal – vegan tamales, rice and beans.

We did three focus groups with community organizations in San Jose located in some of the most impacted areas in Santa Clara County: Somos Mayfair, Sacred Heart Community Services and CommUniverCity.

Although policy makers at the city, county and state levels were all contacted, none of them attended even briefly to show their support. I had met with them previously, and all had expressed an interest in the issue. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. All I was hoping they or an aide would do would be attend the events and say a few words as to why the community members were important and why they were serious about working on this issue. At least one city council member did respond to express an interest.

We will release a report later with our findings, but just a preview (keep in mind these were all conducted in Spanish):

• One focus group discussed a particular store in their community (not a convenience or liquor store) where some of the food was moldy. It made them wonder if the store’s management believed that’s all their customers are worth.

• In every focus group, it was noted that when one neighbor would go to the store they would check around to see if anyone else needed anything. Neighbors often borrowed food from each other without any type of ledger being kept on who owed whom what. This made me start thinking: is this out of need or because of culture? I can’t imagine ever asking ANY of my neighbors to assist or even asking them to borrow any food item. Is it because I have only ever lived in apartments, or is it because I have never truly needed to? They referred to this as “trueque”: a type of bartering based on mutuality and social expectation.

• Participants emphasized the close relationship they have with food: to taste, to feel, to smell. They clearly care about what they feed their families, which is counter to the misconception many people have about communities of color: that they don't care what their kids eat and prefer to give them fast, easy food. On the contrary, all the participants talked about their weekly shopping excursions to find the best, freshest products. They are, as Lisa Castellanos puts it, domestic strategists, and they were excited to share how they make meal preparation miracles happen every day. This is important information as many have suggested a possible solution could be food-delivery services, such as those offered by Safeway, which simply may not be successful in these communities.

• In every focus group at least one person was familiar with what vegan meant, and in two of the focus groups, a parent had a child who was vegan for ethical reasons. Again, this type of information and their interest in vegan food preparation would not have been revealed were it not for the fact that we were asking these types of questions.
  
  
• As we also asked about access to vegan foods such as soymilk and “meat” alternatives, there was discussion about lactose intolerance and also a desire to have more options.

Food Empowerment Project wants to thank all of our donors who support us, as this was a costly and important aspect of our work, and we could not have done it without your financial support.

We also want to give a big thanks to Stanford University’s Food Summit, Flacos, Antonella Dewell, Katie Gera, Lisa Castellanos, Thoi Pham, Mark Hawthorne, Jessica Sanchez (and her mom), Nicole Latham, Martin Saunders, Iris Stewart-Frey, Katherine Connors, Emily Francis, and all of the community groups that participated: Somos Mayfair, Sacred Heart Community Services and CommUniverCity.

We look forward to sharing our results with you!

The 95%

When discussing what to post on Facebook for National Bird Day on January 5, my partner and I agreed that although ducks and turkeys should be recognized, we should talk about chickens raised for meat. Why? Because of the 10 billion land animals killed for food in the U.S. each year, more than nine billion of them are chickens. In fact, my partner said, they are the 95% and that's when the image you see was born.

Food Empowerment Project supports the ideals of both the Occupy movement and Occupy the Hood, so it got my more creative mind thinking about the issues we work closely on.

Many of us are familiar with part of the impetus for the 99% movement, where the richest 1% of the population makes the rules.

As a Chicana who is clearly part of the 99%, I often start to wonder about those who are barely part of the 99%. Those whose income is not that of the middle class and, in fact, those who aren’t even on the radar. That would include many farm workers and those who are and are not documented. Those who work hard to put food on our tables and participate in our economy by their purchases. Where do they fit in?

The Occupy movement has really worked to bring in all sorts of people, from unions to college students.

And, what if the chickens decided to “Occupy.” Where do you think they would start?

Wall Street? It might be fitting since this is where cows used to be slaughtered.

Or would they pick a fast food restaurant such as McDonald’s or KFC? After all, they are responsible for raising and killing billions of these amazing birds for food.

Or rather, I would like to think that each individual bird would actually choose to sit with one person. One chicken per person to spend time with them. Most people have never spent time with chickens or with the living animals they eat. They could explain to people what they enjoy in their life, like dust bathing and scratching in the earth, and the hens could talk about family and how well they take care of their chicks. They could show each person that they are more than a ‘leg’ or a 'wing' and they indeed are not nuggets.

Just as those in the 99% movement are showing their determination and tenacity while speaking for so many of us, the chickens could really help people have a better understanding of how much they and other non-human animals are capable of enjoying their lives.

The world will be a better place when we remind ourselves that even as the 'minority' we can have an important and positive impact on the world when speaking for those who are the most vulnerable, and we will never stop fighting.

Hash brown Stick w/Ketchup

Hash brown stick with ketchup. That is one of the things you would have had for lunch this week if you were an elementary school student in the Alum Rock Unified School District.

I try to picture what it would look like. Would it be on a Popsicle stick? Would grease be running down the sides?

I don’t have children, but I am well aware that schools don't typically offer the healthiest of foods for their students.

A wonderful community group in San José called Somos Mayfair recently surveyed members in their community regarding the school lunch program. I volunteered to enter some of the data and then participated in their community meeting to discuss the results.

The entire event was in Spanish, and although the meeting was not as well attended as they had hoped for, the energy in the room was overwhelming. I sat at a table with a woman and her two children. Her son, about 5, was eating baby carrots, watermelon and popping fresh garbanzo beans out of the pods into his mouth. I asked if he ate like this all of the time, and his mother said he does when he is at home because he loves his veggies.

The cafeteria menu* for that district was shown to me for that school was anything but healthy. Here are some of the options for breakfast: breakfast pizza, cinnamon glazed pancake, pork sausage biscuit and Trix yogurt. Some of the healthier options included whole grain cereal and applesauce cup.

Lunch: chicken hot dog w/ketchup, French bread pizza, PBJ sandwich (not so bad!), mini cheeseburger w/ketchup, turkey soft taco w/taco sauce, beef-and-bean burritos, corn dogs and chicken nuggets and hash brown stick w/ketchup.

The menu does show that they have some sort of salad bar available, however, as someone who first went vegetarian when I was in elementary school, I don’t imagine I could eat salad every day in fact when I was in college many years ago, I became anemic because of salads being my only option.

We discussed different things that needed to be done and, well, my suggestion of having the Child Nutrition Services Board eat from the school lunch menu for at least two weeks got a positive reaction.

The findings in the surveys showed that even though the majority of the children qualified for the free-lunch program, many didn’t take advantage of it because the food being offered was so unhealthy.

And what about any of the kids who have a strong love and compassion for animals? What are their options? Again, they should be given choices – not to mention that these types of choices will lead them to eating healthier food as they get older.

But, I started to wonder if I compared the school lunch menus of the students who live in the Mayfair neighborhood in East San José to those who live in Palo Alto. The Mayfair neighborhood (where Cesar Chavez lived at one point) is made up of immigrants, mostly from Mexico. And, well, Palo Alto is a very affluent area.

I just couldn’t imagine students in Palo Alto eating these types of meals.

So, for this blog, I looked it up:

Palo Alto School District Menu
http://pausd.org/parents/services/MealPlans/downloads/ElementarySchoolsMenu.pdf

Sample of some of the Lunch options: Hearty Garden Salad with Sunflower Seeds or Cheese Ravioli with Wheat Roll, Bean & Cheese Burrito, Assorted Vegetables, Assortment of Fruit, or Minnie Mouse Salad with Wheat Roll, Hamburger on Whole Wheat Bun, or Bosco Sticks with Marinara Sauce.

Alum Rock Unified School District Menu:
http://childnutrition.arusd.org/schools/aruesd_2904102043473906/menus/Elementary_Menu.pdf

Right. No surprises.

I am sure that people can explain economics and the reasons why, but personally I don’t care about any excuses regarding economics; I care about equality, and I care about justice.

So not only do people of color and low-income communities face a lack of healthy foods in their neighborhoods as compared to others, but they suffer this same injustice in the PUBLIC schools?

This is wrong and no words can make it any better.

But hopefully with more groups like Somos Mayfair asking tough questions of those in charge, changes can happen and kids, regardless of their background, can grow up healthy and happy.

*Thank goodness for California’s new law; with SB 1413, California schools are required to provide access to drinking water in the meal areas. Yes, without that, the students wouldn’t have access.

From hippies to hipsters: Vegan cookbooks

Every social justice movement has a history of events and milestones that you can look back on to see how far it has come. With veganism, we have a variety of things with which we can measure its influence: for example, no longer having to add boiling water to powder to make veggie burgers, an increase in dining options, and of course our cookbooks.

I recently received a copy of The 30-Day Vegan Challenge by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, and my first impression was it is a gorgeous book. It’s happy, inviting and the recipes definitely look delicious!

I had to think for a second why I was so damned impressed with the book. And I realized, vegan cookbooks didn’t exactly start out that way.

For those of you who know me well, you know that for me, making spaghetti (noodles from a box and sauce from a jar) is a big cooking ordeal, so what do I know about cookbooks?

The answer is – a fair amount. Now, what do I know about cooking – absolutely nothing.

In the ‘80s when I went vegan and got involved in the animal rights movement, recipes were mostly typed pieces of paper with ingredients and preparation instructions on them that were copied one too many times. Eventually, groups began to make their own little booklets of recipes – typed – no pictures. Eventually, PeTA started to include small recipe cards in their magazines with drawings on them.

In the ‘90s some great cookbooks came out, including my favorite, The Compassionate Cook by PeTA, and although the cookbook had a great drawing by Berke Breathed on the front cover (and great recipes) it was still only the recipes, just like Vegan Vittles by Jo Stepaniak.

And one of my favorite cookbooks (again, I only eat the food, I don’t make it) is from a vegetarian cookbook (almost vegan), The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook created by the good people in Summertown, TN. It did have black-and-white photographs and well……..umm…..it looked pretty hippie and (no offense to the hippies who read this blog), that particular look can only win a certain audience.

Then in 1999, something happened and veganism got hip (well, we already were, but our cookbooks started to shout it!) That was the year How It All Vegan by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer came out and it was quirky, cool and tasty!

Later, Isa Chandra Moskowitz tipped the scale with Vegan with a Vengeance and then it was all over – delicious color recipes and people knew exactly how cool vegans were and could be. Then in 2006, Isa helped us to conquer the country’s cupcake craze with another outstanding cookbook – Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

In 2007, we got a taste of Colleen’s first cookbook, The Joy of Vegan Baking, which welcomed us to this joy with a picture of delicious cookies on the front and healthy pie and bread recipes inside.

Melisser Elliott continued the trend with The Vegan Girl’s Guide to Life, which had recipes and more.

And well, Colleen, Isa, Sarah and the rest continue to show off loads of recipes with gorgeous color photos! Yes, our food looks tasty, healthy (when it should) and so decadent when it needs to.

Obviously this is not a history of vegan cookbooks as much as it is a walk through it from my perspective. We have come a long way from the days of squeezing vegan cheese out of tubes (that would plasticize when baked),and our cookbooks no longer make it seem as if our food isn’t tasty enough to display or is "full of hay."*

For me, cookbooks have always been a decoration, more of a status symbol to others to show them how many vegan cookbooks are out there. You can learn from me: you don’t have to cook to enjoy cookbooks; just find someone who knows how to cook!

*Hey where did the hay comment come from? When I was in college the Beyond Beef Campaign (started by Jeremy Rifkin) organized a day where activists around the country would have a delicious-looking veggie burger in front of McDonald’s to show how delicious they could be. At our event in Austin, two men came up wearing cowboy hats. One with a bun and some hay inside the other was more dressed up. By the time they arrived the media had left so we were able to confront them and after I debated with one of them for a while one of the activists commented on my ‘bravery’ I asked why – she said he was the Agricultural Commissioner of Texas. And now, this idiot is running for President – he is the Governor of Texas Rick Perry (the other was the head of the Cattlemen’s Association).