I’m passionate about good, sustainable, organic, local food. Here’s some writing I’ve done on the subject, mostly from Simple Good and Tasty, a business I founded and ran from 2009 – 2011:

Good Food is Not (Only) a Class Issue
Huffington Post, May 10, 2010

If current trends continue, 1 out of 3 Americans will get type 2 diabetes in their lifetime. This includes 1 out of 2 African Americans and Latinos. The facts are compelling and clear:

• People in poor areas often do not have access to fresh food.
• Good food often costs more money.
• Fast food restaurants target minority groups with their advertising dollars.

But what about the rest of us? What about those who can afford good food but choose not to buy it? Why do we overwhelmingly, consistently make poor food choices for ourselves and our kids, even when we know better? more…

What Is Humane Food?
Simple Good and Tasty, August 10, 2010

A few weeks ago, I got a text from my brother-in-law Jeff. He’d just discovered a restaurant he thought I’d love, and the message said, “it was awesome. Put it on your highly recommended list.” Jeff has great taste — I can’t think of a time he’s steered me wrong — and I take his recommendations seriously. But Jeff doesn’t get all hung up on how his food is sourced the way I do, and I didn’t assume that his “it was awesome” meant that I’d feel good about it. I needed to ask.

Jeff and I were texting each other, you’ll recall, and I assumed he was at a stoplight or something, so I didn’t want to mince words. I considered typing the words “local food?” but that wasn’t exactly what I wanted to know. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture classifies all sorts of things I won’t eat as “local,” and the facts agree with them: these things are produced in our state, and selling them has a positive impact on our economy. But whether the food had a positive impact on our state’s economy was not what I wanted to know. more…

An Open Letter to Our Children: We’re Sorry About School Lunch
Simple Good and Tasty, March 9, 2010

I recently had the chance to sit down with a handful of sixth graders at Sanford Middle School in Minneapolis. The students had been complaining that the lunches they were being served tasted bad and made them feel sick, and their teacher asked me to come answer questions, provide context, and make suggestions.

For an hour, these thoughtful students and I discussed healthy food choices, growing a garden, being pressed for time (a 12 year old girl told me she didn’t have time to put an apple in her backpack in the morning), eating on a budget, and how to affect change. I’ve been thinking about the discussion ever since. more…