Food Fare Celebrates 34 Years of Tasting and Sipping for Planned Parenthood

Wrote an article for the SM Observer on the Planned Parenthood food fundraiser Food Fare!


 

Food Fare Celebrates 34 Years of Tasting and Sipping for Planned Parenthood

It goes without saying there are a lot of food festivals in L.A! There are a lot of events where you walk around tasting Los Angeles’ finest restaurant’s signature dishes, but very few of them do you have the opportunity to nosh for a good cause (just in case you needed more of an excuse!)! Enter Planned Parenthood’s Food Fare held last week at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

Food Fare began 34 years ago, with a simple cooking demonstration from Julia Child in 1979.  Over the last three decades it has grown to become one of the oldest and most celebrated culinary events in Los Angeles.  Every year Food Fare is a one-stop shop for L.A.’s food-lovers, Planned Parenthood supporters, and the general public to sample the finest food and drink that L.A. has to offer, all in one place.

Planned Parenthood is committed to providing healthcare to low-income people.  Nearly 80% of their clients have incomes at or below the federal poverty level.  Food Fare is organized and staffed each year by the PPLA Guild, a group of nearly 200 women who provide financial and volunteer support for the organization’s programs.  Since it’s inception, the Guild has raised over $8 million for Planned Parenthood.

1,5000 guests attended this one day and night event where over a hundred and fifty restaurants, caterers, and libation companies came together for this year’s Planned Parenthood Los Angeles Food Fare 2013 including: the new Venice restaurant Feed Body and Soul, Santa Monica based candy company P.o.p. Candy, Venice based Joe’s Restaurant along with the some local Food Trucks, such as Santa Monica based Border Grill Truck and The Kosher Palate.  Some of the highlights for those looking to imbibe included La Fenêtre Wines (which make FIG’s restaurants wine label) and The Bruery, a small craft brewery located in Orange County, California.

Unlike other food festivals, the fact that this was a fundraiser seemed to energize everyone participating. “Planned Parenthood is really on it with this event!” noted Rachel from P.o.p. Candy, an all natural butter crunch candy company based in Santa Monica.  “They’re asking us to figure out all the details in the middle of the busiest time in our year, but they’re so on top of the game and have such a great attitude that everyone makes sure to take the time and get it done.”  “We’re so lucky that Feed Body and Soul was able to participate in such a great fundraiser this fine evening!” concurred Elaina Leibee, general manager of Feed Body and Soul.

For the fourth year, Food Fare is honoring one of its participating chefs as Planned Parenthood’s Chef of the Year. This year it was Joe Miller, chef and owner of Venice based Joe’s Restaurant and Santa Monica based Bar Pixto, as PPLA’s Chef of the Year. “As a big supporter of Planned Parenthood over the years, it is truly an honor to be named as PPLA’s Chef of the Year! I am very touched to be part of this fantastic event for a cause that is close to my heart”, said Chef Joe Miller.

Planned Parenthood Los Angeles provides care to more than 138,000 women, men, and teens in Los Angeles County.  It is now the third largest Planned Parenthood affiliate in the country.  Planned Parenthood LA has 17 health centers, 2 Planned Parenthood Basics, one school based health center and a Clinic Without Walls program.   Planned Parenthood provides a comprehensive range of reproductive health care, including birth control and education; screenings for breast, cervical, and testicular cancer; testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); pregnancy testing and counseling; adoption and prenatal care counseling and referrals; medicine and surgical abortion; and teen-sensitive services.  

Nearly 19,000 women come to Planned Parenthood each year for PAP tests, which screen for cervical cancer.  Each year Planned Parenthood Los Angeles administers nearly 2,000 HPV vaccines.  93% of their patient visits are for contraception and preventative care such as cancer screenings and STD testing.  7% of their visits are for abortions.  Of every dollar spent, $0.87 goes directly to client services, education and advocacy.  

Planned Parenthood LA’s education and community outreach programs reach more than 45,000 teens, women and men in Los Angeles County.  Their Middle and High School Education program has their staff and highly trained interns provide more than 17,000 students with comprehensive and medically accurate information focusing on pregnancy prevention, safe decision making and healthy relationships.   Promotoras Comunitarias or community health educators use a peer-to-peer model and multi-session Spanish-language programs to increase health care access and education for nearly 14,000 people in the Latino community. 

Planned Parenthood’s Sexuality Education Initiative has created a groundbreaking high school demonstration project in LA County that aims to evaluate a multi-component sex education program and its impact of teens.  With a combination of classroom education, after-school peer advocacy and youth development work, parent education, and access to health care on campus may soon become the national model to provide effective sex education to high school students.

For those looking to contribute Planned Parenthood LA will be able to bid via CharityBuzz for items such as: 2 tickets to the World Premiere of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and After Party in LA, a meet and great with Evan Handler and a tour of the set of Showtime’s Californication, and VIP trip and tour of the world famous Hollywood Magic Castle for 8 People. 

Kat Thomas is a food writer.  You can check out more of her work at edibleskinny.com

New Agtivists Exploring the World of 21st Century Farming

 Wrote an article for the SM Observer on the Farmers Market Panel Series about the new farmers at the Santa Monica Market.  Enjoy!!!

 

 

New Agtivists Exploring the World of 21^st Century Farming with the Santa Monica Farmers Market Quarterly Library Panels Series

By Kat Thomas

21st century farmers are both farmers of evolution. They broach the world of what we put in our mouths with the double-edged sword of technology and craft.   They’re farmers of the duality of change and tradition.

This agriculture dichotomy was celebrated last Thursday night at the Santa Monica Library’s quarterly Farmer’s Market Panel Series.  This event, entitled New Agtivists, focused on young visionaries in agriculture and artisanal food production as they discussed their business philosophy, approach to sustainability and hopes for the future of local food.  The event was moderated by Rose Lawrence of Red Bread, a company that sells baked goods at the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers Market and delivers groceries on electric bikes.  The New Agtivists panel included a variety of Santa Monica Farmers Market food vendors: Urban Mushroom Farmer Matt Parker of Shiitake Happens, Spinach and Green Farmer Nate Peitso of Maggie’s Farm, Almond Farmer Nate Siemens of Fat Uncle Farms and Paul Osher of Sandwich and Catering company Bean and Thyme.

The panel opened up with a question of what is craft and sustainability to each of the panelists, a buzzword that it tossed around so much these days.  “It’s fairly simple,” noted Matt Parker of Shiitake Happens, “I wouldn’t put out a product that I wouldn’t want to take home to my family.”  This opinion was seconded by other panelists.  “I have my own land, it’s a legacy,” stated Nate Peitso whose Agora Hills located Maggie’s Farm was started by his mom and dad, “and I want to be in the best possible shape for my children.  Nothing I use is something that I don’t want to put in my own mouth.  To insure this half our crop is certified organic.  The other half is “conventionally grown,” but we only use organic materials.  It’s only due to costs and paperwork it isn’t officially certified organic.” 

“Sustainability is about creating as low a footprint as possible,” noted Paul Osher who founded Bean and Thyme in 2010 after leaving graduate school at UCLA, where he had been studying political philosophy, “because to be human is to consume.  Bean and Thyme can be found at the Sunday Santa Monica Farmers Market serving everything from Chorizo and Egg sandwich to Spicy Pastrami sandwich.  Their detailed website notes which farmer every ingredient of their dishes comes from. “It’s about being responsible, about being as smart as possible. We are very conscious to use mostly ingredients from the farmers market.  Everything comes from good sources: our pork from Jimenz farms, our beef from Central California, etc.”

For Nate Siemens of Fat Uncle Farms Sustainability is about the duality of where he came from and where he is now.  “The Central Valley, where I grew up, just surpassed the Appalachians in having the lowest Socioeconomic levels in the country; along with the highest rate of Diabetes in the United States,” he noted.  “I see high school friend in wheelchairs, something that is directly due to their eating habits.  It definitely brings up questions of how do I operate in Santa Barbara and Santa Monica where people’s lives are 100% different from my hometown?”

It’s this need for change that motivated most of the panel to do something about our food system.  As Rose Lawrence of Red Bread noted one of the most influential piece’s of advice that she and her husband David received when they decided to form their company in January of 2012 was, “someone told me: ‘the only thing you need is the guts to do it.’” She continued that this same friend also noted that as a farmer, ‘at least you’ll never go hungry in this business.’”

There was a lot of advice on the economic end when it came to entering the world of 21^st century farming. “You’re going to need four to five more times the dough than you think it will take you,” noted Peitso of Maggie’s Farm.  “It’s awesome, but expensive.”  This was seconded by Siemens of Fat Uncle Farms, “Cultivate rich friends!”

Osher of Bean and Thyme noted how a big question of what is right and what is economical are always bouncing up against each other in the world of 21^st century farming.  “I spent a few days in Baltimore with friend who urban farms.  He constantly referred to himself and his urban farming friends as ‘really scrappy.’”  Osher noted how all of them started by looking at an empty lot and saying ‘let’s start a garden.’  “But,” he continued, “the interesting thing is that none of them are economically sustainable. They couldn’t pay their own bills.  They all get by on grants.” 

The specificity of details when it comes to farming was also noted again and again.  “So much of my life is logistics, of figuring out how to do things,” noted Osher.  “It’s harder to make 100 sandwiches than just one.  A significant amount of my life is shelping things around from here to there.  Luckily I have a great wife who understands the craziness…” 

Parker of Shiitake Happens noted his perfect formula to modern farming was “to keep your overhead low and keep having a passion for what you do.  Continue to cultivate your skills,” he stated, “and learn to be more efficient.  Always keep learning and never give up.” 

The technology of the 21^st century has allowed farmers to have a relationship with their customers like never before.  “Technology has really making marketing super easy,” noted Parker of Shiitake Happens.  “It’s super helpful and relatively inexpensive.”  Noted Peitso of Maggie’s Farm, “Alex Weiser of Weiser Farms will tweet, ‘we have a new purple potato,’ and it’s gone halfway through the market.” 

For most all of the panelists their profession is more of a calling than a just a job.  When asked if there was any other profession they could see themselves in Peitso noted, “I never gave it much thought, I was born into this life.”  And then with a sly grin he continued, “I always thought I would cool to be James Bond!”  Parker noted how if he weren’t growing mushrooms he’d be in the circus, “with three rings, top hats and whips…” 

All the farmers and chefs on the panel noted that 21^st century farming necessitated the need to take responsibility from both the side of the farmer and the customer.  Peitso from Maggie’s Farm noted the Big Picture on the future of food in the country, “The price of food really needs to be looked at.”  Pointing to Parker of Shiitake Happens sitting next to him he noted that, “mushrooms are really a better way to get our protein; it takes acres and acres of land to make a pound of meat.” 

Peitso also noted that responsibility needed to be taken by the consumers at market, “know your seasons!  If there’s a certain abundance of a certain product at a certain time of year that doesn’t normally grow in that season then you should think about that.  Chances are it’s not being grown locally.  Corn in November doesn’t happen in California!”  Parker of Shiitake Happens noted how labels don’t always tell the full story, “for me my biggest competition is China.  I can do a block of mushrooms for $5.50, while they can do it for 50 cents.  They put it in a container, ship it over, and open it up to grow it when it get’s to LA.  That way it has the “grown in California label.”  But Peitso noted that knowing the facts had positive aspects also, “for anyone on food stamps, Maggie’s offers $2 for every $1 spent at our farmers market booth.”

 “California food is evolving into something bigger and better,” noted Peitso of Maggie’s Farm, “in the future, I believe people will come to California to eat like they did to Italy.  We’re developing a local food culture with our own identity to craft.”

The night concluded with a tasty after panel food offerings made through each panelist’s craft (such as Red Bread’s Sweetheart Bread topped with their Cardamom Quince Jam and Fat Uncle Farm’s Roasted Almond Butter).  “There’s a real pleasure in food,” concluded Osher of Bean and Thyme.  “It’s why we’re all up here.  It’s one of the central pleasures of life.”

“California food is evolving into something bigger and better,” noted Peitso of Maggie’s Farm, “in the future, I believe people will come to California to eat like they did to Italy.  We’re developing a local food culture with our own identity to craft.”

Kat Thomas is a food writer in Santa Monica who would be an international art thief if she weren’t a food writer.  You can check out more of her writings on her food blog edibleskinny.com

Whole Life Times: Farmers Market Leftovers

Wrote and article for the Whole Life Times on Food Forward's Farmers Market Recovery Program that appears in their February issue.  An excerpt is below:

Farmers Market Leftovers

Share the Love by Sharing the Food

Growers can estimate, but it’s difficult to predict how many people will actually show up at the farmers market on any given day. Thus it’s not unusual to have leftovers when the last of the customers have trundled off home with their bursting bags of goodies. Hoping to kill two birds—or perhaps apples—with one stone, Food Forward launched a Farmers Market Recovery Program, a.k.a. the Glean Team, in August of last year. With target goals of harvesting food, fighting hunger and building community, this program has created the do-gooder trifecta of a win-win-win.  Through the act of gleaning, an Old Testament concept that initially referenced the gathering of grain left behind by reapers, Food Forward has collected 51,291 lbs of fresh fruit and vegetables in only a few short months to distribute to people in need.

Working in three L.A. farmers markets (Santa Monica, Studio City and Hollywood), Glean Team volunteers arrive at their respective markets sporting royal blue baseball caps and crisp khaki aprons, and issue cardboard collection boxes to local farmers to load up with their unsold produce. Boxes are collected and weighed for tax deductions for the farmers, then distributed to 21 receiving agencies (all located within five miles of the sourced market).

 To read the rest of the article go to: http://www.wholelifemagazine.com/blog/?p=4556

 

Eating Healthy in the New Year, There’s (Multiple) Apps for That!

Wrote an article for the SM Observer on the iPhone 5 and some healthy New Year Apps for it!  Enjoy!!!

Eating Healthy in the New Year, There’s (Multiple) Apps for That

The first month of the year means numerous commitments to age old New Year’s resolution to “Eat More Healthy.”  Everyone’s looking for the ability to stay on the right track and, in lieu of Apple announcing this week that customers have downloaded over 40 billion apps, (with nearly 20 billion in 2012 alone), there are a multitude of apps for that!

“It has been an incredible year for the iOS developer community,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “Developers have made over seven billion dollars on the App Store, and we continue to invest in providing them with the best ecosystem so they can create the most innovative apps in the world.”

From recipes to foraging How To’s to seafood Watch, Lists Food Apps have become a big business.  Apple’s App Store has over 500 million active accounts and had a record-breaking December with over two billion downloads during the month. Apple’s App Store offers more than 775,000 apps to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users in 155 countries around the world, with more than 300,000 native iPad apps available. App Store customers can choose from an incredible range of apps in 23 categories, including newspapers and magazines offered in Newsstand, Games, Business, Health & Fitness, and Apple’s newest category Food & Drink.   

So for the New Year’s resolution maker here are some great apps to keep that positive idea going beyond the second week of January.  

Wild Edibles

My favorite new app, Wild Edibles is an app for aspiring foragers provides a useful tool in identifying wild plants for human picking and consumption.  The app draws on the extensive knowledge of "Wildman" Steve Brill a well-known forager and environmental educator.  A great excuse to go for a hike this app includes up to 8 images for each plant with detailed descriptions, photos of similar plants, information on poisonous lookalikes, and medicinal information for natural health.  Techniques and methods for harvesting the plants are also included in the app, which has a free "lite" version. After the harvest, recipes are conveniently offered.

The search function allows the user to search by season, habitat, edible part, and type.  The app covers 165 plants, plus 52 lookalikes, including fruits, nuts, roots, and greens.
As foraging becomes increasingly popular this app is designed mostly for the novice forager who needs to avoid unintentionally picking a dangerous lookalike plant.  The best piece advice given to the novice forager is to integrate your booty one “weed” at a time until expert status has been received.  This App ranges from Free for the “Lite” version to $7.99 in the iTunes store.

Fooducate

Truly addictive this free app allows users to scan the bar codes of grocery items and then receive a grade of the nutrition rating of the food.  If the rating is too low, Fooducate will then offer a better alternatives. The rating system is based on the amount of processing put into any item, as well as nutritional content.  Not every item in the grocery store is available in this app, but developers continue to add new products, and the app is improving day by day.  This App ranges from Free to $2.99 for the Fooducate Plus version in the iTunes store.

Epicurious

With over 5 million downloads, Epicurious’ Award Winning Recipe App lets you search over 27,000 food and drink recipes, create and e-mail shopping lists, save recipes to a "favorites" list, and browse special featured recipe collection.  With both an iPhone and iPad version available, the latter’s larger screen size and faster processing speed helped them take their app to a whole new level, with a gorgeous full-screen "cookbook" view for recipes that makes it even easier to follow recipes step by step.  This App is Free in the iTunes store.

Seafood Watch

Seafood Watch from the Monterey Bay Aquarium offers free recent suggestions on ocean friendly seafood and sushi selections.  The newest version, with Project FishMap, lets you share the locations of restaurants and markets where you’ve found sustainable seafood.  As the ultimate crowd sourcing foodie map grows, you’ll also be able to see what others have found near you.  Aquatic Do-Gooders can help map out the businesses and restaurants in an area to create ocean-friendly seafood wherever you are.

This App is Free in the iTunes store.

VegOut

As a Vegan I know that sometimes it can be a challenge to find a place where everyone in your party can have a meal. It can be hard for a vegetarian to find a place to dine out, and that that difficulty doubles in you’re a Veg in an unfamiliar city.  The VegOut iPhone app can help vegetarians and vegans find a place that will satisfy both their dietary restrictions and their grumbling tummies. The application accesses a database of restaurants that are vegan, vegetarian or vegetarian-friendly. You can search by your current location or enter a custom location if you're planning a trip. And unlike some applications, VegOut is international in scope.  Sort results by alphabetical order, distance from your current location or user ratings. You can also view results on a map if you need to get your bearings. The perfect solution for any vegetarian deep in the heart of barbecue country.  This App costs $2.99 in the iTunes store.

Whole Foods Market Missions

This app wants to know “Are you ready for the challenge?”  Expand your palate by exploring a range of delicious, nutrient-dense foods. Learn more about healthy eating and start a conversation with your social networks about your mission to better health.  This app features: complete steps of varying difficulty and earn badges through fun and educational Missions, get simple, practical advice on cooking, nutrition, green living, food storage and more. Save your favorites for easy reference, keep track of your accomplishments and brag about them via email, Facebook, and Twitter (not my posting of choice, but fun for those who want to).  Naturally you have the ability to ZIP search or your current location to find the nearest Whole Foods Market store.  This App is Free in the iTunes store.

LocalEats

Exploring a new city can be both exciting and frustrating, particularly when suppertime rolls around. And while chain restaurants are likely to deliver a familiar experience, it's not the same as finding a locally owned dining establishment. The LocalEats app acts as a knowledgeable tour guide, giving you the inside skinny on the best places to eat in towns and cities across the United States.  You won't find an Applebee's or Outback Steakhouse in their list, the app doesn't index chain restaurants.  But you will find authentic, locally owned restaurants. The app uses the iPhone's GPS receiver to identify your location and pull up restaurants that are nearby. You can also search restaurants alphabetically or by category. If you're only interested in the best of the best, you can choose "Best in Category" to see the town's top restaurants for each cuisine.  The app provides links to restaurant descriptions, Web sites and directions.  This app also gives users access to dining coupons and discounts to stretch every penny. This App ranges from .99 for the iPhone version to Free for the iPad version in the iTunes store.

An Awesome Amazing Guy!

My friend EJ is going blind. He has a degenerative eye disease called Choroideremia that will slowly take his sight. Most people haven't heard of Choroidermia because very few people actually get it. Unfortunately EJ is one of them.

But EJ has one of the strongest hearts I know. He doesn't lie down in a battle. Instead in 2012 he's running 12 marathons in 12 different states blindfolded in the hope of raising $144,000 to be finding a cure for Choroideremia. It's the best New Year's resolution I've heard yet!

Now what does this have to do with food you ask? Well other than giving a shout out to an awesome amazing guy, I bring this up because January 1st is a day dedicated to Change. We all plan to be better people and take care of ourselves better by eating "healthier" on January 1st, but for the most part a lot of people throw in the towel a week or two into it. Change is always easy in theory, but when it comes to changing patterns day in and out we realize that's where the true challenge lies.
But if you want things in your life to change, you must change things in your life. If you want to eat healthier, you need to become more conscious of what you eat.

Every bite has ramifications. But not in the restrictive way that most people think of when they think of "eating healthy."

Food if Fuel, it's the thing that powers your body so you can do all the things you want to do. Eating healthier gives you more strength to live out your dreams. We're all human, which means we all make mistakes (aka learning lessons), so if you give up cookies and then you have one don't throw in the
towel.
 

Instead think of EJ who is running 12 marathons. Because every finish line he crosses will be because he put one step in front of another in front of another.
Happy 2012! Here's to conscious thinking, eating well, and living out our dreams!!!

If you want to check out EJ's video on his 2012 marathon running (which you totally should) it's at http://www.aol.com/video/youve-got-ej-scott/517237998/

For more information on Choroidermia check out http://choroideremia.org

Heirloom Tomatoes! Tres Yum!

Here's some end of the season Heirloom Tomato photos taken last week at the Santa Monica Farmers Market. Time Magazine recently named the iPhone 5 its Gadget of the Year for 2012, and as a food writer who was always looking for a phone that took decent food photos I most definitely definitely concur!