Here is a listing of the upcoming international film festivals that FRESH will be shown at. Click to find out more:

Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival

CNEX Documentary Film Festival

Kinookus (Cinetaste)

Tutti Nello Stesso Piatto International Food, Film & Video Diversity Festival

24th Leeds International Film Festival

If you are hosting a FRESH screening outside of the United States, we want to hear from you! Email me with your story, angie@freshthemovie.com.

Nicolette Hahn Niman is an attorney and livestock rancher.  Much of her time is spent speaking and writing about the problems resulting from industrialized food production, including the book Righteous Porkchop:  Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms (HarperCollins, 2009, www.righteousporkchop.com ) and four essays for the New York Times. She is regular blogger for The Atlantic online, and has written for Huffington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, and CHOW.  Previously, she was the Senior Attorney for the environmental organization Waterkeeper Alliance where she was in charge of the organization’s campaign to reform the concentrated livestock and poultry industry.  She lives in Bolinas, California with her husband, Bill Niman, founder of Niman Ranch, a natural meat company supplied by a network of over 600 traditional farmers and ranchers.  They now market the products of their ranch under the name BN Ranch.

A filmmaker recently asked me why so few women were involved in raising livestock. I paused before answering because the question surprised me a bit.  Over the past ten years, I’ve visited dozens of farms and ranches raising cattle, dairy cows, pigs, goats, sheep, and poultry in every region of the United States.  At every operation women were an absolutely essential part of the team.

At most of these farms, women kept everyone fed, dressed in clean clothes, and ran the household; they often kept the books.  Usually, they were also deeply involved with the stewardship of lands and animals.  These women are agile, nimble “Jills of all trades” who seamlessly flow from one varied task to another throughout their jammed packed days.

In my experience, women bring a unique sensitivity to animal husbandry, ensuring that each animal gets the individual attention it needs.  Our good friends Rob and Michelle Stokes run a cattle, heritage turkey, and goat ranch in eastern Oregon.  Both are skilled in the arts of agriculture and grazing, but during the kidding and calving seasons it’s Michelle who makes sure that every last goat kid and calf gets nursed and bonds to its mother.

And then there are the farms and ranches that are being taken over by women.  The latest Census of Agricultural shows that the number of women farmers is increasing.  One of these is my friend Cory Carman.  She graduated from Stanford with a degree in political science with no intention of ever returning to the cattle ranch she grew up on.  But when family circumstances drew her back to the ranch, she decided to stay.  Now she and her husband have taken over her family’s cattle ranch, which she has converted to a totally grass based operation.  She direct markets her beef on the Internet and sells it to restaurants.  “It’s a totally different beef industry today than the one I grew up in, which was totally dominated by men,” she told me recently.  She had the revelation when she sat down to talk about meat at a business meeting with two other women, both also in their thirties.

Women make up the vast majority of the membership in animal protection organizations.  Moreover, as an article in E Magazine noted, women have an innate environmental ethic.  It quoted Theodore Roszak, director of the Ecopsychology Institute, which studies the relationships between individuals and nature. While men traditionally viewed Mother Nature “as a devious female to be put in her place, to be tamed” by technology (just as they historically viewed marriage in terms of domination and submission), women have shifted the emphasis from using science to subjugate nature to finding ways to accommodate nature.  “Women in the environmental movement have always had sense of being on Earth’s side,” says Roszak.

It naturally follows that the more women are involved in farming and ranching, the better agriculture will be toward natural resources and farmed animals.  I’m proud to be among their ranks.

To get in touch with Nicolette or learn more about her work, visit her website where you can buy her book, Righteous Porkchop:  Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms (HarperCollins, 2009)

If you believe in the power of women’s words and our growing sustainable food movement, please spread the word about our Women Nourish Us blog series via email, Facebook & Twitter (http://fdl.me/d1nqNe). If you would like to host a screening of FRESH for your friends or organization, please – be in touch!

In a few weeks, after we’ve gone through the applications, the FRESH team is going to pick 10 submissions to offer to you (50K FRESH supporters) to vote on.  Stay tuned!

Bountiful Cities Project
The Bountiful Cities mission is to create an urban land community spaces that produce food in abundance while fostering social justice and sustainability.

Bowdoin Organic Garden
The Bowdin Organic Garden strives to foster an appreciation for an understanding of taste and high quality food and draw the correlations between seed selection, growing methods, food preparation and pleasurable outcomes.

California Food and Justice Coalition
The Coalition promotes the basic human right to healthy food while advancing social, agricultural, environmental and economic justice priorities.

California Institute for Rural Studies
The mission of CIRS is to conduct public interest research that strengthens social justice and increases the sustainability of California’s rural communities.

Ceres Community Project
Through an integrated model, Ceres brings teens into the kitchen to teach them about growing, preparing and eating whole foods. The teens learn by volunteering as the program chef’s, preparing delicious and nutrient rich free meals for families dealing with cancer and other life threatening illnesses.

Collective Roots
Through the integration and implementation of two key program areas, garden based learning and food system change, Collective Roots is seeking to educate and engage youth and communities in food system change through sustainable programs that impact health, education, and the environment.

Community Agriculture Network
The mission of Community Agricultural Network is to engage students in meaningful dialogue about sustainability issues using technology, to facilitate relationships between students in classroom and people working on sustainable urban agriculture projects, and to motivate students to take action for sustainability in their own communities.

Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA)
CISA has brought together farmers and community members to support and strengthen agriculture in western Massachusetts through programs which promote local farm products, educate community members and consumers, provide technical assistance to farmers, and analyze and address gaps in the local food system.

Community Kitchens Northwest
This organization brings people from all backgrounds together to cook up good, healthy food to take home and eat later.

Cooper Landing Community School
Offers a program that is designed to create health awareness and to address social and community concerns through the use of skills, ideas and knowledge offered by people in their town.

D.C. Farm to School Network
The mission of D.C. Farm to School Network is to improve the health and well being of schoolchildren in the District of Columbia, and of our local environmental and food economy, by increasing access to healthy, local, and sustainable foods in all Washington, D.C. schools.

Engaged Community Offshoots, Inc. (ECO)
ECO works to strengthen communities through the recalibrating the regional food system in the Chesapeake region by introducing new ways of making food and money that are environmentally sustainable.

Farm Aid
Farm Aid’s mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America.

Farming Concrete
The purpose of Farming Concrete is to preserve and legitimize community gardens by collecting data and mapping urban sustainability.

FarmFolkCityFolk Society
The FarmFolkCityFolk Society has supported community-based sustainable food systems in British Columbia by engaging in public education with farm and city folks; actively organizing and advocating around local, timely issues; building alliances with other organizations; harnessing the energy of our volunteers; and having foresight into the future of food and agriculture.

Free Farm Stand
The Free Farm Stand is dedicated to aiding the food security and health of their community through garden and food education and the growth, harvest, and dispersal of organic backyard and community grown produce.

Full Circle Farm
An 11 acre educational farm that offers garden-based education to middle school children all school year long.

Garrard County Farmer’s Market
With a goal of promoting local food, the market serves as an avenue to educate the community about food and health.

Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council
Through policy, projects and education, the Greater Grand Rapids Food System council works to make the food system more sustainable, with an emphasis on affordable, healthy food available to everyone.

Hayes Valley Farm
Hayes Valley Farm’s mission is to serve as a community and agricultural hub empowering San Francisco residents to connect with one another, grow their own food, and learn about sustainable ecological systems.

Healthy Solutions
Health Solutions is working to enhance the lives of the undeserved, underprivileged, and/or marginalized and to help them make informed decisions through the creation of community based food systems allowing all community members access to healthy, affordable foods, quality jobs through agriculture and education and training.

Indiana University Food Studies
The Indiana University Food Studies program is working cooperatively with many organizations in their local community and on campus to promote new thinking about food,food security, and sustainability, with the a focus on food that is good for the community, food that is good for the environment and the future, and food that is good for human health and all its dimensions.

Just Harvest Education Fund
The Just Harvest Education Fund works to ensure that the public safety net of food and income assistance is strong, accessible, and responsive to people in need, to enable low-income people to navigate the complexity of safety net programs and to empower them to speak for themselves to policymakers on the issues that affect their ability to keep food on the table.

Kaslo Food Security Project
The Kaslo Food Security Project aims to build a resilient food system for North Kootenay Lake residents by working directly and in support of our regional farmers, retailers and residents.

Life Cycles Project Society
A predominantly youth driven organization that is geared towards education and building community connections through hands-on projects that work towards creating better local and global food security.

Michigan Organic Food and Farm Alliance
The Michigan Organic Food and Farm Alliance works to raise public awareness about the need for a decentralized, earth and people-friendly food system.

Mission Food Access Network
The Mission Food Access Network includes members of local groups and citizens who are working towards a healthy, sustainable food future for Mission. The goals of the Mission Food Access Network consist of decreasing hunger, improving nutritional health, and increasing local food sustainability.

Karpophoreo Project
The Karpophoreo Project is a ministry of Mobile Loaves and Fishes that reclaims abandoned backyards and front yards, church lots and empty lots to feed, settle, and employ the population most in need of the centering effects of a functioning local food economy, the homeless.

National Hunger Clearinghouse Program/ WhyHunger
The National Hunger Clearing House collects and distributes information about programs that address the immediate and long-term needs of struggling families and individuals in order to build the capacity of emergency food providers.

Northeast Animal Power Field Days
This annual event has become a clearing-house for educational and operational resources, building networks, and sharing experiences around the many aspects of draft animal-power, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and local food systems in the Northeast.

Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey
The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey serves the state of New Jersey and surrounding areas with year-round public programs including farmer meetings, workshops for homeowners and consumers, professional development training, farm business planning courses, and the annual Winter Conference.

Our School at Blair Grocery
The mission of Our School at Blair Grocery is to create a resource rich safe space for youth empowerment and sustainable community development. Our School at Blair Grocery envisions a community where empowered youth engage in reflective practice with others to actualize effective, replicable Environmental Justice based local solutions to global challenges.

Produce to the People
Produce to the People works to build food security and community health through garden and food education, the creation of green jobs for youth, and the growth, harvest, and dispersal of organic backyard and community grown produce.

Research, Education, Action and Policy (REAP) on Food Group
REAP is committed to projects that shorten the distance from farm to table, support small family farmers, encourage sustainable agriculture practices, preserve the diversity and safety of our food supply and address the food security of everyone in our community.

Rural Education Action Network
The mission of the Rural Education Action Network is to celebrate renewable land-use practices that advance the cultural web of our local communities.

Seven Generations Ahead
SGA advocates for pro-active community solutions to global environmental issues, and works with municipal, business, and community decision-makers to promote green community development, clean, renewable energy, eco-effective products, zero waster strategies, green building design, and fresh, local, and sustainable food raised using healthy practices.

Sierra Bounty
The mission of Sierra Bounty is to create a healthy, sustainable food community by uniting farmers with their local market and supporting efforts to increase access to fresh, organic produce for all residents of the Eastern Sierra.

The Lord’s Acre
The Lords Acre grows fresh produce to provide nutritious food from a local, sustainable resource garden in support of local nonprofit food banks.

Tierra Miguel Foundation
The mission of the Tierra Miguel Foundation is to inform and educate on the value of local, sustainable agriculture practices and to demonstrate these practices on our 85- acre working produce farm.

Triskeles
Triskles’ mission is to provide and run practical, experiential programs (Food for Thought, for one), for underserved youth, that emphasize sustainable, healthy practices which teach the importance and long-term benefits of making healthy food choices and other life altering decisions. The impact of these activities expands to their families and communities through the gardens they plant and harvest, the recipes they prepare and share, and the skills they learn while working on local farms (teamwork, time management, etc.) – all of which engender a healthy lifestyle for our leaders of tomorrow!.

United Methodist Ministries – Missouri River District
The United Methodist Ministries utilizes creative collaborations to work towards the eradication of hunger, poverty and racism.

Virginia Food System Council
The mission of the Virginia Food System Council is to advance nutrient-rich and safe food system for Virginians at all income levels, with an emphasis on access to local food, successful linkages between food producers and consumers, and a healthy viable future for Virginia’s farmers and farmland

YouthLaunch
The mission of YouthLaunch is to provide empowering service experiences for young people through innovative programs that combine the best practices of positive youth development with the transformative powers of service.

Seattle-based Kim O’Donnel is a trained chef, nationally recognized online food personality and longtime journalist.  She is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education and The University of Pennsylvania.  Formerly of The Washington Post, she has also written for Real Simple, Huffington Post, True/Slant, CivilEats and Smithsonian.com.  She is a regular contributor to Culinate, where she hosts a weekly chat.  In her work, she combines reportage and analysis on where and how our food is raised and grown with practical tips and advice on the kitchen life.

Kim recently attended the kick-off event at the White House for Chefs Move to Schools, Michelle Obama’s latest initiative focused on child nutrition and wellness. She is the founder of Canning Across America, a collective dedicated to the revival of preserving food.   Her first book, “The Meat Lover’s Meatless Cookbook,” will be released on September 14.

Dreams come true if you let them.

Two years ago this week, I was driving through Wyoming as part of a cross-country move from DC to Seattle. It would be another month before boxes would be pried open and my home office would be set up – and an idea for a cookbook would be hatched. Brainstorming is like breathing for me, and it’s what friends and family have come to expect as part of the package. Not all ideas stick to the wall, but this one, dreamed up in September 2008, followed me day and night, until I embraced it and said, You’re The One.

My flight of imagination safely landed onto paper and quickly morphed into semi-coherent thoughts that resulted in a book proposal. In less than one year, I had an agent and a book deal. And on the second anniversary of my cross-country sojourn, I have an advance copy of my book, The Meat Lover’s Meatless Cookbook, in hand. I share this little tale not to toot my own horn, but as a reminder:

Dreams come true if you let them.

The book goes something like this: Heeding the call of lowering my cholesterol (and my carbon footprint), I, Miss Meat Lover USA, pledged to take one day off from my beloved roasts, chops and steaks. To keep the meatless momentum going, I developed a collection of 52 meatless menus, one for every week of the year, that works its way through the seasons. But let’s be clear: I am not a meatless missionary on some quest to convert the hamburger lovers of the world. Rather, my mission is to lure people back into the kitchen. I’m not interested in labels (flexitarian, vegetarian and so on), but I am working my darnedest every day to remind Americans that food is not something we watch being prepared on cable television, but dinner made from our hands, with salt, pepper and pots and pans.

In becoming a nation of food-obsessed non-cooks, we have fallen into a collective coma, a legion of unwittingly passive spectators that will eat anything set in front of us, no questions asked. By taking a pass at the stove, we have been elbowed out of the table, headed by genetically modified corn and soy barons with really big appetites for big money and little-to-zero interest in protecting the soil, the animals, the workers and the ever-hungry American consumer.

Of course I’d love for you to put my eat-less-meat idea to the test and buy the book, but more than anything, my dream is to get all of us cooking again. Meatless, meat-filled – it doesn’t matter to me. Let’s open that kitchen door, all together now, and ignite a flame for all to see. The results, I promise you, will be delicious.

Dreams come true if you let them.

To get in touch with Kim or learn more about her work, visit her website or take part in her weekly chat on Culinate. Feeling inspired to go meatless one day a week? You can pre-order her book here.

Photos on this page by Myra Kohn.

*If you believe in the power of women’s words and our growing sustainable food movement, please spread the word about our Women Nourish Us blog series via email, Facebook & Twitter (http://fdl.me/d1nqNe). If you would like to host a screening of FRESH for your friends or organization, please – be in touch!

Jeannie Benally is from Nenahnezad on the Navajo Nation in Fruitland, New Mexico.  She is an extension agent under the USDA for the “Federally Recognized Tribal Extension Program,” based out of the University of Arizona.  Jeannie works exclusively for the Navajo Nation, located in the northeastern portion of the reservation spanning across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Her work projects include agricultural education and research.  She hosts two conferences per year – Shiprock Agriculture Days and Fall Agriculture Seminar.  Recently, she received funding for a research project titled, “Model Farmer Dissemination Project,” of which 120 farmers were recruited and trained in pesticide management.  Last year, Jeannie hosted the 1st annual Native American Women in Agriculture Conference.  Just a few months ago, she hosted the 2nd one.  Jeannie received special funding to implement “Annie’s Project,” targeting 20 native women farmers to receive 6 weeks of intense training in the risk management areas of finances, human resources, legal, marketing and production.  She also works with her region’s 4-H youth, ages 9-19.  Jeannie is single mom with three sons and one granddaughter.

Did you Know? “Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her a house, she’ll give you a home. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.” This statement is so true on the Navajo Nation reservation where our native women are the backbone to the family structure.  It is a matrilineal kinship structure within the family where the mother is in charge – wow!    I remember during my childhood years how my mother stayed home and kept the family together.  Every time we came home from school, she would have something cooking on the stove.  It wasn’t anything like fast foods, but native traditional foods.  It was a welcome sight, and to smell the food was even better.

On the Navajo Nation today, a majority of women are in the workforce.  The children and youth are left to fend for themselves.  The farmlands are idle and the range lands lack vegetation as well as livestock.  What went wrong?  My analysis of the situation is that there is an “imbalance of nature.”   The Navajo term, hozho meaning harmony, went out the window. Who’s to blame?  Who knows?  Many factors may have caused this turn of events in the family structure:  unemployment, indebtedness, poverty and alcoholism or more have ravished the Dine Bikeyah, our Navajolands.

Despite all of this, as an extension agent with University of Arizona, I feel it is partly my responsibility to keep the tradition of farming and ranching alive.  How?  By implementing projects to help women farm and ranch again and taking their rightful places in the home. Decades ago, our ancestors lived off the land and livestock.  Today, it is called sustainable agriculture.

The movement has begun:  a call to nurture women in agriculture is developing through projects such as the annual Native American Women in Agriculture conferences:  a place where agricultural education outreach can be sought as a resource for many women.  Workshops in topics relating to food safety issues, drip irrigation methods, and the like are conducted.  Another project, the Shiprock Annie’s Project: six weeks of intense training in the risk management areas of finances, human resources, legal, marketing and production targeting 20 native women farmers was completed.  We have taken action to revitalize and improve the farming operations along the San Juan River.  According to the 2007 agriculture census statistics, the number of women who were principal operators of a farm or ranch increased by almost 30% from 2002.  Principal operators meaning are the ones farming and making daily decisions pertaining to for the farm/ranch operations.

Navajo women will once again bear the brunt of preserving and conserving the traditions of the Navajo Nation.  Native traditional foods preparation will be taught to the younger generation; seed cleaning/saving will be emphasized for future food supply; and a cherished legacy will be left behind for generations to come.

The equilibrium will be normal again.

To get in touch with Jeannie or learn more about her projects, visit her Shiprock Agency site here.

*If you believe in the power of women’s words and our growing sustainable food movement, please spread the word about our Women Nourish Us blog series via email, Facebook & Twitter (http://fdl.me/d1nqNe). If you would like to host a screening of FRESH for your friends or organization, please – be in touch!

These kids totally inspire me! Are you doing something similar to this? What do you think about Akamai? Do you have any questions for them?

To learn more about this 7th grade group of wondrous kids, go to www.akamaibackyard.com.

Jacqueline Church is an independent food, wine & spirits writer whose work often focuses on “sensible sustainability” issues. She delights in helping people make practical choices to improve their lives and reduce their impact on the planet.

Her work appears in national and regional print media, including Culture: the World on Cheese and Edible Santa Barbara. She is a contributing writer to Nourish Network, writes the gourmet food column for Suite101, and publishes two blogs, The Leather District Gourmet and Pig Tales & Fish Friends.

She came to writing from a career covering diverse fields including the practice of law, high tech and management consulting. Her commitment to conservation issues precedes it all and began with a love of Jacques Cousteau and National Geographic. Since discovering Julia Child as an adolescent, she’s been devoted to good food and today combines all of these in the examination of global food issues and the nature of being a responsible gourmet.

She’s the founder of Teach a Man to Fish and Teach a Chef to Fish sustainable seafood events that engage people in the work of making more sustainable seafood choices for their families and restaurants.

I was the kid who always wanted to know “why” and often asked “why not?” I was always sure something better was just behind that closed door. I was always certain more fun was going to happen the minute I fell asleep.

I was the wrong kid to try to keep entertained during a childhood on a sterile, redundant, stifling military base. Three things diverted me from a life of crime: the National Geographic Society magazines on the coffee table, Jacques Cousteau specials on the television, and later, the discovery of Julia Child and cooking. If not for these, I’m quite sure I’d be asking you to bake me a cake with a file in it by now.

Lucky for me, my parents piqued my curiosity with legal but intoxicating ideas about the world. I vowed young that I would learn to dive so I could see that “undersea world.” I was probably still in jammies with feet when I promised myself that one day, I’d see Machu Picchu and visit the Terra Cotta Warriors. I knew in my travels I would eat exotic things, meet interesting people, and see wonderful ruins. I also knew I’d have to be a careful steward of the world out there that looked so very different from the one I lived in – the one that hardly seemed worth noticing at all.

Life happened. I got big girl PJs, big girl jobs and moved on to work that fed me in some ways and left me hungry in others. A couple of mixed blessings (AKA pink slips) left me wondering when I’d work at something that fed me more completely than law, than consulting, than hi tech bus dev gigs I’d enjoyed.

Eventually, I found writing and am learning to scratch out a living at it. More importantly, I discovered I could combine the things that are most important to me with writing. I could help people learn about these things through writing.

A few years ago, I hit upon the idea of sustainable seafood. Back then, it was still something not many folks in the mainstream were talking about. Many of us were still eating bluefin tuna and wondering if we really should. I’d been following the work of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program and decided to use my blog to host an event called “Teach a Man to Fish.” During a limited period in the late Summer-Early Fall, I invite chefs, food writers, cookbook authors, home cooks, bloggers, everyone with an interest in sustainable seafood, to share recipes, resources, tips and questions.

Each participant sends me a recipe, a photo and a short blurb about how they chose that seafood or what they learned about sustainable seafood they prepared. I tidy up all the disparate emails, re-size the photos and add resource information about the seafood used, the challenge presented, to each entry. Then I post one mammoth round up of them all. The recipes are there for everyone to enjoy. I’ve built a resource guide that includes guides for purchasing sustainable seafood, sites with more information, scientific reports, fun clips and related news. Bloggers share their URLS and everyone gains new knowledge about more sustainable choices for their table.

In the 3+ years that I’ve hosted this event I’ve been invited to the Sustainability Institute and Cooking for Solutions, met some hard-working advocates for ocean conservation and sustainable food issues. I’ve met some wonderful chefs including some “Top Chefs” and my blog has been graced with some terrific stories by people around the globe. I’ve been to Cordova, AK to learn about salmon fisheries management and to meet actual fishermen.

I’ve seen the growth of sustainable sushi restaurants and helped to introduce chefs to new tools and resources for restaurant professionals through workshops for chefs I added last year. “Teach a Chef to Fish” will likely take a different shape this year, and I have been thrilled to introduce some new tools to chefs who were starting their inquiry or looking to deepen or broaden their reach.

When I was asked to contribute to this Women Who Nourish Us series, I was humbled. What could I have done or said to catapult me into this amazing cadre of women? Then I realized that the line I toss off when describing Teach a Man to Fish is at the core of this series’ intentions.

I often say my blog event is “simply an example of what one woman — armed with a little determination and a lot of caffeine — can do.” This is exactly the point, I think. I am not a marine biologist or a conservation expert with a degree. I’m simply someone who cares about these issues and is determined to help others build their own confidence and competence with them.

Each of us can pull up a big cup o’ Joe and get down to the business of whatever we think it is that needs to be done. All it takes is the willingness to ignore the odds, to disregard whether it’s been done before, the patience to explain a vision that may not at first make sense to anyone else. And when someone says it can’t be done, the willingness to ask — “why not?”

• Teach a Man to Fish began as a small blog event in 2007 with about 2 dozen recipes.
• In 2009, I designed and presented chefs’ workshops and delivered them in Boston &
Chicago. I delivered a shorter version at the International Boston Seafood Show with
chefs Andy Husbands and Barton Seaver.
• I speak regularly on the topic and recent engagements include a Slow Food Panel,
screening of The End of the Line and presenting at Tufts Friedman School on a panel
“Farm, Fish and Fowl: Exploring Sustainability.”
• TAMTF has been cited in Utne Reader’s Sustainable Seafood Report, noted by the
Sustainable Ocean Project and nominated for a Seafood Champions Award by the
Time Magazine 2009 Environmental Hero himself, Casson Trenor.
• Join in this year’s Teach a Man to Fish event on http://JacquelineChurch.com.

*If you believe in the power of women’s words and our growing sustainable food movement, please spread the word about our Women Nourish Us blog series via email, Facebook & Twitter (http://fdl.me/d1nqNe). If you would like to host a screening of FRESH for your friends or organization, please – be in touch!

Food and travel writer Pat Tanumihardja’s debut cookbook, The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook—Home Cooking from Asian American Kitchens (Sasquatch Books) is a treasury of family recipes and stories spanning over a dozen Asian cultures. A former farmers’ market manager, Pat loves to shop at farmers’ markets and always incorporates fresh market picks into her cooking no matter the season. In addition, she comes from a line of excellent homecooks and picked up her culinary know-how from her mother Julia who co-owns Julia’s Indonesian Kitchen in Seattle. She enjoys sharing her culinary knowledge and believes that anyone can learn how to cook. “If I can teach my husband to stir-fry, you can learn too!” she says.

And there I was, a camera slung around my neck, notebook and pen in front of me, the timer going off to my left and measuring cups and spoons strewn about the kitchen counter to my right.

On this particular day, grandma Nellie was bustling about the kitchen making yu gun (egg crepes stuffed with fish and pork). As Nellie started pouring soy sauce into a bowl, I deftly intercepted the flow with my measuring cup. Eek, she just threw the ground pork packaging
into the trash can before I could take note of the weight. Who’d have thought fishing trash out of the bin would be part of my job description? Wait, how many inches did she just chop off the gingerroot?

Such was a typical day “on the set” so to speak while working on “The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook,” a culmination of two years of hard work researching, compiling, cooking and recipe testing. “What do grandmothers have to do with sustainability?” one might ask. True, sustainability is most often associated with food that is grown organically, without pesticides or artificial fertilizers. To me, sustainability is also about going back to our roots, about learning to cook the way that grandma used to cook. In effect, it’s also about keeping our culture and traditions alive through the food we eat and the way we eat.

Food and culture are very much intertwined. Food shapes us as a society and in my case, food together with the values my parents instilled in me, shaped who I am. Indirectly through food, I learned customs and traditions; I learned the importance of having dinner together as a family; and I learned how to cook which has become an indispensable skill now that I have my own family! Food was one of the vital links between me and the cultural network I didn’t grow up in. In the same way, all grandmothers are the keepers of culture and the culinary flame. Not only do grandmothers provide the closest link their grandchildren have to their culture, they are also beacons of comfort and warmth, nourishing their grandchildren physically and spiritually. Who doesn’t have fond memories of Nonna’s rich tomato-basil sauce or Lola’s sticky, chewy cassava cake? Yes, the taste memory lingers on.

This book is so important in so many ways. It has captured recipes that might have disappeared forever. Plus, it gives us the know-how to cook using fresh, simple ingredients and to utilize traditional methods that do without a Wolf range or a Cuisinart food processor. And then there are the stories. These women are not celebrities, but grandmothers, mothers, wives, regular members of the community just like you and me. However, each and every one of them had a fascinating story to tell: tales of bitter sacrifice so that their children and grandchildren could lead better lives, stories of cooking and baking for hours on end to celebrate birthdays and holidays … the list goes on. At the heart of every story is a desire to keep their culture alive and to shower their offspring with love in the way they knew best—through cooking and food.

My culinary journey in producing “The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook” was unparalleled and I owe the book’s success to all the generous people who opened up their kitchens and their hearts to me. These women are the real stars of my cookbook. I just had the honor and privilege to shine the spotlight on them.

Please visit The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook website to learn more about Pat’s work or buy the book.

*If you believe in the power of women’s words and our growing sustainable food movement, please spread the word about our Women Nourish Us blog series via email, Facebook & Twitter (http://fdl.me/d1nqNe). If you would like to host a screening of FRESH for your friends or organization, please – be in touch!

Guest Post by: Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer
Middleburg, Virginia

Market Salamander is designed as an open marketplace that caters to contemporary demands and lifestyles by offering a selection of local, organic, chef-prepared foods.

With a focus on healthy cuisine and an endless assortment of high-quality fresh ingredients, Market Salamander is attracting patrons near and far. The market offers an unrivaled selection of seasonal produce, prime aged meats, fresh caught seafood, artisanal cheeses, homemade breads, fresh baked pastries, boutique wines, and imported packaged goods. And while quality often comes with a high price, Market Salamander is a best deal for a local breakfast. In fact, breakfast never tasted so good!

Market Salamander’s team in Middleburg is led by Vaughn Skaggs, the Chef de Cuisine, who began his culinary career at a young age in Virginia. Originally inspired by his mother, an inventive cook and restaurateur, Skaggs’ tireless conviction and support of gastronomic, local, organic, and sustainable foods makes him the “backbone of Market Salamander.”

Skaggs’ philosophy about the origins of the ingredients Salamander uses reveals his passion for the art of healthy cooking and living. “Whether it is produce or fresh meats, buying local helps many aspects of our business. It gives our guests a sense of trust and loyalty, knowing that they could trace which farm their food is coming from. The food is always more fresh and tastes better when it comes from the local farms. We also feel better about the food we are serving. We are leaving a smaller environmental footprint, instead of using transportation. In addition, we are supporting local businesses and helping keep our community economy strong.”

Skaggs’s culinary evolution has taken place in some of the best kitchens in the area – like Vidalia’s in Washington, DC; Potomac Grill in Leesburg, Virginia; and some of the most exclusive private homes of Virginia. His skilled culinary repertoire, coupled with his positive attitude and devotion to freshness and seasonality, has won him many acquaintances in the local farm movement. His combination of talent and commitment drives his passion for delicious and conscientious food.

Jason Reaves, Pastry Chef

Recently awarded the 2008 Front-Line Tourism Employee of the Year by the Loudoun Convention & Visitors Association, Jason Reaves is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY with a degree specializing in baking and pastry.

Before joining the staff at Market Salamander, Reaves worked at Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Virginia; Postrio in San Francisco, California; and as Pastry Chef on board Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of Aloha, and Pride of America. Reaves specializes in custom wedding and special occasion cakes as well as delicious pastries.

Though young, Jason Reaves is already famous for his mouth watering Salamander’s Signature Butterscotch Scone. At just 2.00 per Scone, it is the most delicious thing you could ever eat at breakfast – especially delicious with Salamander’s bottomless cup of coffee!

Salamander often uses local and organic foods. One such supplier is Ayrshire Farm in Upperville, Virginia which has been growing healthy, beautiful foods since 1821. The present farm was purchased in 1912 by Brig. Gen. James A. Buchanan of Washington, DC. The historic property of approximately 800 acres was purchased from his descendants in 1996 by Sandy Lerner. The farm’s mission appropriately states, “To farm sustainably and profitably, promoting the benefits of locally produced, humanely raised meats and organic produce to the consumer, our community, and our children through education, outreach and example.”

Dr. Maryann Donovan, Director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, said, “Beyond the obvious benefits in freshness, quality, and flavor, eating seasonally and sourcing food locally can make important contributions to reducing carbon emissions. The local farms that are additionally certified organic, and the markets that sell organic foods, also have great potential for reducing exposures to pesticides and other chemicals, benefiting both the environment and human health.”

Salamander’s owner Sheila Johnson (musician, movie producer, sports team owner ) understands the importance of local and organic fare, often feeding the Washington Mystics a farm to table regime.

The good news is that you too can enjoy a breakfast of champions and not have to break the bank to eat healthy.

…Before I introduce this next woman, I must apologize. I slipped on sharing this beautiful post with you yesterday. I’m posting to the series a day late, but believe you me, this story is well worth the wait!

Diane E. Fleet has been advocating for survivors of intimate partner violence for the past 15 years, the last 5 years as the Assistant Director of the Bluegrass Domestic Violence Program (BDVP).  She is most proud of the BDVP’s Three Sister’s Project, a farming collaborative initiated by the BDVP with the support of its local sister partners – Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center and the University of Kentucky’s Violence Intervention and Prevention Center.  Three Sister’s creates a space for physical and emotional healing, community engagement, environmental stewardship, and entrepreneurial boldness.  Diane’s hope is that Three Sister’s will celebrate and build upon the strength and courage of the families they serve and of equal importance she hopes, the Three Sister’s will help us reevaluate what we think we know about victims of violence.

My life has always been a dichotomy; as a child of divorced parents my mother introduced me to the world, both the pain and joy of it, and my Dad who lived in a small upstate NY town made sure I visited family and friends and instilled in me a sense of belonging. After college with a degree in Restaurant and Institutional Management I dreamt of running my own Bed and Breakfast. I always valued the idea of people gathering around good food and feeling welcomed but I also felt the need to work in a field that contributed to the greater good. I wanted to be more involved in social and restorative justice. I enrolled in the University of Kentucky’s (UK) Department of Sociology and served as an Americorp Volunteer. I was placed in the local Sheriff’s Office helping people file for domestic violence protective orders. I was helping people whose own home was not a place of belonging and ‘nourishment’ and sadly whose community often turned a blind eye through victim blaming words and actions. Five years ago I was hired by the local domestic violence program which was moving to a 40 acre, 32 bed residential facility. My worlds were beginning to collide!

Our first few years were spent getting settled. Moving from a small downtown space to an 18,000 sq. ft. facility with 40 acres of field and fence rows, barns, walk in freezers and a commercial kitchen was exciting but a bit overwhelming. As we took stock of our situation it was easy to see that this beautiful fertile farmland in Central Kentucky needed to play a part in the work we were doing. Unlike Joel Salatin’s dilemma in FRESH the movie, where the land needed healing due to neglect, we at the Bluegrass Domestic Violence Program (BDVP) had the opposite – we had healthy land but our families were suffering from years of abuse and neglect. I knew that the land could help heal our families from some of the hurt and neglect they had endured. This is how the Three Sister’s Project was born. With the support of our sister agencies, the Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center and UK’s Violence Intervention and Prevention and many sustainable agriculture folks, we began envisioning a working farm at BDVP.

What I love most about the farm is the exponential benefits it can provide. The farm can offer our families access to fresh whole foods, an environment that supports physical and spiritual health and an avenue for self sufficiency and engagement in community life. I know that not every survivor wants to become a farmer and I know that not everyone in the community wants to work with survivors of domestic violence. But I do believe that our community cares and that our families aren’t looking for a hand out, they want to participate – they just often weren’t allowed. Three Sisters is about restoring balance and harmony by honoring the land, family and community. I know the pleasure of sharing a meal together, the sense of belonging it can give but I also hear my mother telling me it’s a big world out there and you better make room at the table for an extra chair because everyone should be afforded a seat at the table. Please visit us at www.beyondtheviolence.org and support us in our Mission and our need to hire a full time farmer!

Please visit Beyond the Violence or call them at 859-233-0657 to learn more about their Three Sister’s Project.

*If you believe in the power of women’s words and our growing sustainable food movement, please spread the word about our Women Nourish Us blog series via email, Facebook & Twitter (http://fdl.me/d1nqNe). If you would like to host a screening of FRESH for your friends or organization, please – be in touch!