Come to the Table

On Wednesday October 21^st, 2015 the Somerville Food Security Coalition along with dedicated community partners hosted “Come to the Table!” – a community meal that was part of the 2015 Food Day events. Food was provided via Food for Free from Harvard Dining as part of their food rescue efforts. The meal took place at Connexion Church, a colorful and cozy location filled with festive fall décor.

Over 85 people, ranging from all ages, attended the event. The night was filled with food, drawings for door prizes, fun activities for the kids, and resources providing information about food access in the Somerville area.

Children were provided with interactive placements, “Finding your Way to Healthy Living in Somerville”, that were designed through a collaborative effort by the Somerville PEP partners. Activities on the placements included nutrition themed coloring that asked them to color the rainbow of fruits and vegetables. They also participated in a bracelet making activity which highlighted what is needed for plants to grow into food.

 

Community members also participated in dot surveys posted around the venue to gauge the community response for questions such as what the most critical food issue was. Responses overwhelmingly stated affordability was the most important issue and the runner up was access to food.

Throughout the event information about the various food security resources for Somerville were available for attendees. These included things such as the 2015 Food Resource Guide, flyers on ways to get involved and examples of recipes from Leanne Brown’s cookbook, Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4 a Day. The 2015 Food Resource Guide will be available online at www.SFSC.org.

 

 

By the end of the night, almost everyone who attended the event left with a door prize. Prizes ranged from sugar pumpkins to t-shirts to water bottles and so on. The Food Security Coalition also gave out bags with healthy food options such as shelf stable meals and local apples for those who attended.

The “Come to the Table!” was an incredible success and we cannot wait till the next one! Somerville Food Security Coalition is working make community meals such as these a monthly event and we are looking for volunteers. If you are interested, please contact Lisa Burkilacchio at lbrukilacchio@challiance.org and visit www.SFSC.org for more information about our efforts.

Once again, a huge thank you to our partners, including but not limited to: Food for Free, Somerville Community Health Agenda/CHA, Somerville Family Learning Collaborative (SFLC), Somerville Homeless Coalition, Somerville Public Schools Farm to School/PEP, Teen Empowerment, Shape up Somerville and Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service.

 

Somerville Public Schools celebrate Food Day 2015

October is a VERY busy food holiday month for the Somerville Public Schools. Not only is it National Farm to School month, but we also celebrated Corn Shucking Day, Salad Bar Day, National School Lunch Week, Food Day, and School Garden Week. Phew! The kitchen staff was working hard!

With approximately 5000 students in the district, nearly 3000 of them eating lunch daily, we decided to celebrate Food Day 2015 with a Local Harvest Day. We interpreted this year's theme, Toward a Greener Diet, to mean Toward a Sustainable Diet. Local butternut squash and apples were sourced through our produce vendor, Russo's. Through North Coast Seafoods located in Boston, we sourced wild caught Sole, certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council.

The fish was served at all ten Somerville schools. Just over 1700 students chose the fish entrée with either the butternut squash or a piece of fruit as a side. We consider that a success!

Truth be told, fish can be a tough sell. But one of the goals of the Somerville Food and Nutrition Services Department is to expose students to unfamiliar foods in the hopes of expanding their palates. Last June was our first attempt at Sea to School and over the past few months, we've been ramping up our purchase of local fish. Students are slowly but surely trying the fish and it's quickly becoming a teacher and staff favorite.

Promotion is key to the success of new foods in the cafeteria, so teachers were given educational materials provided by the Marine Stewardship Council to use with their students.

Somerville FNS will continue purchasing local and regionally harvested fish as part of our Sea to School efforts. Read more about the Somerville Farm to School Project on our blog.



Don’t Waste Your Final Summer Harvest!

By Jeff Gilbert, Green City Growers

It’s going to be COLD this weekend. With the forecast anticipating at least one night at freezing temperatures, and the potential for multiple nights of cold weather, we will likely see the demise of many fruiting crops. While hardier fall plants like kale and lettuce can hold up to a few nights of cold, fruiting crops – especially ones like tomatoes and peppers – will sadly become piles of mush. Tomorrow at the South Street Farm, right next to Taza Chocolate, Groundwork Somerville will be harvesting out a ton of summer vegetables! Join them for this event!

But what better way to hold onto this growing season than to do one final pre-frost harvest and preserve and put away the fruits of your labor for later on this weekend! This fantastic recipe, courtesy of The Preservation Kitchen by Paul Virant for Sweet Pickled Cherry Tomatoes, will help you make use of you. Simple to make, and tasty to boot!

Ingredients:

5 teaspoons dill seeds (cumin seeds could work as well)

2 ½ teaspoons black peppercorns

10 dill sprigs

5 garlic cloves

8 cups cherry tomatoes, hulled and pricked with a sterilized needle

4 cups of Champagne vinegar (apple cider vinegar works great as well!)

1 ¼ cups water

¾ cups sugar (I use organic sugar)

1 tablespoon Kosher salt

Directions:

1.     Scald 5 pint jars in a large pot of simmering water fitted with a rack—you will use this pot to process the jars. Right before filling, put the jars on the coutner.

2.     In a dry sauté pan over medium heat, toast the dill seeds and peppercorns.

3.     Divide the spices among the jars, using about 1 ½ teaspoons per jar, then add 2 sprigs dill and 1 garlic clove to each jar.

4.     Pack the tomatoes evenly among the jars.

5.     In a pot, bring the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt to a boil. Transfer the brine to a heat-proof pitcher and pour over the tomatoes, leaving a ½ inch space from the rim of the jar.

6.     Check the jars for air pockets, adding more brine if necessary to fill in the gaps.

7.     Wipe the rims with a clean towel, seal with the lids, then screw on the bands until snug but not tight.

8.     Place the jars in the pot with the rack and add enough water to cover the jars by about 1 inch.

9.     Bring the water to a boil and process the jars for 15 minutes (start the timer when the water reaches a boil). Turn off the heat and leave the jars in the water for a few minutes. Remove the jars from the water and let cool completely!

Not sure if you want to take the full-on canning plunge? Concerned about botchulism? If you haven’t yet canned before, you can always prepare the recipe as noted above, but just make sure to eat the pickled cherry tomatoes in the next two weeks.

Groundwork Somerville will be hosting a Harvest Party tomorrow from 8-10 AM, followed by an interactive event from 10-11, where you can learn all about how to reduce your food waste. From compost demos to grocery shopping strategies, you’ll walk away with plenty of new skills and ideas to share!

More information here: http://somervillefoodday.blogspot.com/p/events.html and https://www.facebook.com/events/1626273447623189/

Diversely Green

By Nina Burke, Somerville Homeless Coalition

The theme of Food Day 2015, ‘toward a greener diet,’ means a little something different to everyone.  Something great about having a broad theme means that Food Day can meet Somerville residents where they are at in their food journey. For some, the concept of a greener diet may be new, for others old news, and for some it may seem like an unaffordable and unattainable goal.  The socio, cultural, and economic diversity of Somerville inherently makes eating greener diet different for every household, and that is something to be celebrated. It is also important that we recognize the importance of making a greener diet accessible and affordable to all of the residents of our City.

According to 2013 Census data, 15% of Somerville residents live below the poverty line and approximately 30% of Somerville residents fall into the category of “working poor” (Well-being report).  With households spending an increasingly high percentage of income on rent, purchasing local, fresh food regularly can be a budget stretch.  

Shopping local and fresh is becoming more accessible for residents of all income levels due to the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) match program at local markets.  The Union Square and Assembly Row Farmers’ Markets accept EBT cards and SNAP users receive a $1-to-$1 match up to $10 each week on purchases (so you can get $20 of produce for $10).  The Somerville Mobile Farmers’ Markets offers a $1-$1 match with no spending limit for all customers using EBT, WIC, senior nutrition coupon, or are housing development residents! Of course trade-offs must be made when grocery shopping on a tight budget. You often have to choose between buying more less-local produce for a better price than the local farmers’ market counterpart.  It’s important to recognize that vegetables are still vegetables and eating non-local, less expensive vegetables is better than no veggies at all!  

Access to fresh, local, and affordable food should remain a high priority in our City as there is much work to be done to ensure equal access.

Tips for Eating Green for Less $$

·       The SNAP cookbook, Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4 A Day has some tasty suggestions for all income levels https://8b862ca0073972f0472b704e2c0c21d0480f50d3.googledrive.com/host/0Bxd6wdCBD_2tdUdtM0d4WTJmclU/good-and-cheap.pdf

·       Take a brief tour around the farmers’ market before purchasing anything. Compare the prices and quantities and figure out what produce will stretch the furthest.

·       Try new veggies! See what’s on sale at the markets and grocery stores and work it into your meal

·       Try this budget worksheet created by the Somerville Food Security Coalition: http://somervillefoodsecurity.org/resources/food-planning/

·       If you have kids, get them involved in choosing the ‘green’ produce item for the meal

Somerville Farmers’ Markets:

Union Square: Saturdays 9 am-1 pm (through mid-November)

Assembly Square: Sundays 10:30 am-2:30 pm

Somerville Mobile Market (through October 31^st):

-        Fridays 11 am-12:30 pm Council on Aging

-        Fridays 2 pm-3:30 pm Winter Hill Community Innovation School

-        Saturdays 11 am-12:30 pm North Street Housing Development

-        Saturdays 1 pm-3:00 pm Mystic Housing Development

Davis Square: Wednesdays 12pm-6pm (through 11/25)

If you are struggling with food security, here is a list of food pantries and community meals  

The Greater Boston Food Bank also hosts a farmers’ market style distribution of free food at Clarendon Hill Towers once per month. Click here for the schedule.

The Well-Being of Somerville Report

http://www.challiance.org/Resource.ashx?sn=CommunityAffairsSomWellBeingReport2011

Tips for a greener diet

Here are some ways we Somervillens can make our diets greener:

1. Swap beef, chicken or pork for beans. It’s a cheaper option than meat, and also uses less resources to grow—very “green”! And, think of all the delicious cultural dishes that use beans: burritos (Mexican) , channa masala, daal, (Indian), Tegabino (Ethiopian) or hummus (Mediterranean).

   

   Growing non-meat sources of protein like soy and legumes produces more nutritious food by pound than raising animals for meat on the same amount of land, freeing up more farmland to feed more people

   

   Growing non-meat sources of meat like soy (legumes not pictured here) uses less water than raising animals for meat, conserving it for other purposes

2. Carry a water bottle with you and drink tap water.  Did you know that 75% of plastic bottles end up in our landfills, lakes and oceans every year? [1]
3. Buy locally.  This lessens how far our food has to travel.   Groundwork Somerville grows food right here in Somerville and sells it to The Somerville Mobile Farmers' Market, keeping food fresh, local, and affordable. 
4. Read dates on food packages.  About 20% of wasted food comes from products getting tossed because the “best if used by date” which indicates peak freshness of a product, gets confused with “expiration date” [2]
5. Buy ugly produce!  About 26% of produce gets thrown out before it reaches retailers because the produce looks too funny to sell. [2]

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[1] http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/bottled/bottled-water-bad-for-people-and-the-environment/

[2] www.endfoodwaste.org

Food Day 2015 is almost here!

On October 24^th, Somerville will join other communities and institutions across the country to celebrate the 5^th annual Food Day.  This event was created with the intention of having “individuals and organizations come together to learn, debate and mobilize to improve our food system and the American diet”.  This year’s theme is Towards a Greener Diet, encouraging more environmentally friendly approaches to eating. 

Food Day activities are designed to look at ways to “green up” our food choices throughout the food supply chain or from farm to landfill. We will be talking about everything from where and how our food is grown, to eating a more plant based diet, to reconsidering ways we can prevent edible food from being thrown out and wasted.  In Somerville, you can look forward to neighborhood scavenger hunts, a harvest day at Groundwork Somerville’s farm, a community meal, and a local harvest day at the schools. Keep checking back for more details on the upcoming activities!