Last night I volunteered at Cooking for Change, an event put on by the Healthy Schools Campaign. The night centered around Chicago high school culinary students. Teams created dishes and cookies focused on healthy recipes, and I’m sure it’s not possible that anyone left without a full belly.  The kids should all be proud, and I’m glad I got an opportunity to be a part of it. Even though it was a rainy night in Chicago the event looked to be a great success. I even got a pepper plant as a souvenir.

The pepper plant looks like this

You know it’s fall when The Simpsons airs its annual Treehouse of Horror episode. This years episode snuck up on me as I can’t really fathom how we’re more than halfway through October already (sidebar: they have Christmas decorations up at The Home Depot already, wtf?) . Thankfully the hubs remembered to set the DVR.

The second sketch parodied the zombie flick 28 Days Later when the new offering from Krusty, The Burger² (meat from cows that were fed cows), turns everyone into human flesh eating zombies called Munchers.  I won’t spoil the entire sketch which I  found to be be the most amusing of the episode, but it did leave an uneasy feeling when I remembered hearing about the recent beef tongue recall brought on by fears of mad cow disease.

When I first read Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation I began to worry about eating commercially produced meat. After I read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals I stopped buying meat produced in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs).   It was incredibly easy to do.   I did some research (read: googled), and placed an order with Arnold’s Farm and stocked my freezer with 25 lbs of different cuts of beef.  It broke down to a little more than $5 per lb, and didn’t even take up all the space in our very small apartment freezer. It’s better than CostCo!

I love knowing that I am supporting a local family operation, and also eating food that is better for the environment.  Sure, you can get CAFO free meat at Whole Foods but you loose that direct connection to the farmer.  For more reasons why to give up CAFO meat click here.

A couple years ago some friends and I went to see the raunchy puppet musical Avenue Q on a trip to New York.  I remember great belly laughs while we watched the puppets perform songs like “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” and “The Internet is For Porn”. But underneath the adult rated humor was the underlying story that followed the main character on the typical post-graduate search for a meaningful livelihood with a B.A in English.  This resonated with me as I (like so many 20-somethings) have been looking for my “purpose” ever since I graduated college. I started culinary school after narrowing my passion down to *something that involves food*–still not the MOST narrow calling.  But, yesterday memories of vulgar (sometimes naked puppets) flooded back into my mind, when I think I finally found my calling.

I was inspired in a way I have not been in a long time as I read about the public school system in Batimore. It motivated me to take action and the links introduced me to Farm to School, which lead me to the Healthy School Campaign and a list of other programs developed for Illinois.

As I’m a 26 year old with no kids it may seem odd improving our school lunch program is the cause that pulls at my heartstrings. I  just believe that by getting rid of the garbage our schools get away with feeding kids and educating children about where food comes from we can solve so many other issues in our society (health care anyone?).

So, moving forward I’ve contacted a bunch of the organizations I’ve found to see if there is anything I can do to help them with their cause (in my abundant free time…gah!). If anyone knows of any related opportunities please let me know. And for the long term I now have something bigger to focus on once I’m done with my culinary certificate.

This is really exciting. The USDA is starting and initiative about how local food is better for the local economy, environment, and nutrition. Here, here! Let’s start the conversation.