News & Views

On an evening in mid October we pulled our car into a neighborhood in Northeast Minneapolis. As we stepped out into one of the first really crisp fall nights of the season we followed a crowd of people walking from parked cars and bikes to a well lit house. Brazenly parked in front of the house was a school bus with the words "Sister Camelot" painted on the side. Inside the bus was a fully equipped kitchen where a feast was being prepared. Though I was tempted to stay outside and investigate, it was quite chilly so I made my way through the gathering of people into the house where the Eat For Equity(E4E) event was being held. 

If you haven't yet, check out part 1 of my exploration of food issues from Argentina.

As I have attempted to continue writing about the food traditions, habits and beliefs of my acquaintances in Argentina, all seems to turn to the topic of the social life here. While food rituals are shared by families and include specific familiar dishes and routines, the social culture, and its rules and expectations dominate most interactions, and thus, any shared experiences of eating.

Leaves had fallen and forecasters told ghastly stories of a fast-approaching cold front with resulting snow. While the neighbors switched out their wardrobes, strung their Christmas lights and tapped in their snow-markers, we were busy packing our bags full of t-shirts and summer pajamas. My family was heading out of town, we were going down south for two weeks. Houston, Texas was the get-away destination.

Once a month, when I was a kid growing up in the 70’s in Minneapolis, my entire family would pile into the car and head over to North Country Coop on the West Bank. We would go into the ‘back room’ where giant blocks of cheese waited for someone to cut and wrap them. In exchange for our contribution as working members of the coop, we received a sizable discount on our organic fruit, vegetable, dairy and bread purchases. This was my first exposure to the culture of organic and sustainable foods and the cooperative system of bringing this food to the public. It was not fancy or grandiose. In fact, it was more like a warehouse than a grocery store. 

When I discovered the "What-If" Food Challenge on the Wedge Co-op's website, I had to learn more. I love the idea of testing ourselves and learning by doing. By the time I even found it, there was only one more post left so there was plenty of reading to do. I read through each post, which painstakingly documents Elizabeth Archerd's daily discoveries while living on a tight food budget.

Marrnita’s Table uses the dinner table as a means for bringing people together and solving some of the community’s toughest issues and food is definitely the common denominator for all Marnita’s Table events. Founded five years ago by husband and wife team Marnita Schroedl and Carl Goldstein, Marnita’s Table’s (MT) mission is to bridge cultural, generational, and socio-economic differences by the use of “intentional social interaction”.

The way it works: a community or an organization brings to MT a topic of concern such as race, isolation of refugees, or high school graduation rates and then staff and volunteers “set up table”. MT creates an intimate dinner setting at either Marnita and Carl’s home, or one of the Table’s many volunteers will host the dinner and conversation.

Once again, we have stumbled upon an event that seems like a can't miss. An opportunity to learn, eat and dance, not to mention to have an impact upon real issues that effect real people. Just listen to the Mission statement for Marnita's Table and tell me that you aren't immediately intrigued, captivated and inspired:

Our Mission:

Igniting enduring cross-cultural connections through intentional social interaction, Marnita’s Table was founded to break down the barriers of race, class and culture in order to build authentic, positive and productive relationships. 

"When schools become a model of what would be a healthy meal, then we are going to improve overall children's health." --Lynn Mader.

The other day I chatted with Lynn Mader, an IATP (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy) staff member who works on the Farm to School program in Minnesota. We talked about the successes and challenges of the program and how it is working to bring positive change to our community, to our state and to our country.

A typical pre-dinner conversation in our household might go something like this:

  Me: What do cows eat?

Four year old: Grass!

Me: Are you sure it’s not corn?  

Four year old: No!  Cows eat grass!

  Father: Where does this meat come from?

Four year old son: It was a cow

Father: Where did we get it?

Four year old son: The farmer grew it and then the butcher killed it

If you have not heard the name Laura Greene or Grow, Eat, Share, take note. She is an example of yet another bold and ambitious food lover who is trying to fill the gaps in our food education system. The story starts when Laura was working as a volunteer with a local kindergarden and she came face to face with the realities of what kids were eating.

Knowing that the parents are choosing to pack their kids junk food for lunch did not deter her from trying to teach the kids, in spite of their parents. What really "sealed her fate", if you will, was when she brought one of these kindergardeners to Riverbend Farm, only to discover that he did not know what a farm was. I suppose that when your lunch is glowing with artificial color and absent of vegetables, how could anyone even think that food comes from a farm?