Defining the Local Foodshed
Local food movements all over the world reconnect people with their local foodshed. But what makes a local foodshed, local?
Sustainable, Local, Humane Food
By Eden Canon
Cheese Facts And Etiquette From Cowgirl Creamery
Facts about cheese and cheese etiquette from Vivien Straus. On a tour of the Cowgirl Creamery’s Petaluma production facility, Vivien imparted some fun facts about the basics of cheese as well as proper cheese etiquette.
Artisan Cheese Making: Cowgirl Creamery
Eden Canon interviews Sue Conley, co-founder of Cowgirl Creamery, to discuss the practice of artisan cheese making, the importance of sourcing locally, and the environmental impact of cheese production. When we pick up groceries at the store, we rarely consider each product’s environmental impact in light of its production chain—from farm, to processor, to distributor,…
Detroit: Creating Oases In A Food Desert
Home to Henry Ford’s assembly line, Detroit was once affectionately referred to as Motor City—the epicenter of American car production. With the recent collapse in the American automobile industry and overall economic recession that has ravaged the United States over the past four years, over a fifth of Detroit households do not even own a…
Carriage House Farm
Meet farm manager Richard Stewart, garden manager Kate Cook, and native plant specialist Abby Artemisia of Carriage House Farm. In a recent interview with EthicalFoods.com, they discuss the reasoning behind switching from conventional farming to using no pesticides or chemical fertilizers, why they are not certified organic, and how large agricultural corporations try to gain advantages over small independent farms.
Natural vs Organic Meat
When it comes to meat labeling, nothing is as confusing as understanding the difference between Natural and Organic meat. Here’s what you need to know about the Natural label.
Straus Family Creamery
Eden Canon takes a tour of the Straus Family Creamery and talks to Albert Straus about the future of organic dairy.
How Urban Farms Feed The Poor
One of the primary missions of urban farming is to provide local communities with access to clean, fresh produce. It is no surprise then, to find that urban farmers have found various ways in which their farms and neighboring edible gardens can feed the poor—who have the least access to one of the most basic necessities.
How To Create A Hyper-Local Foodshed
Can you and your neighbors produce a complete diet for the community from your own home gardens? Own Dell believes so, and gives his tips for defining, organizing and creating your own hyper-local foodshed. Situated on some of the most fertile land, many suburbs have a legacy of once being extensive orchards or acres of…
Converting Lawns To Productive Urban Home Gardens
As people wake up to the fragility of a global agricultural system dependent on oil, they are turning their focus closer to home—and finding abundance in their own backyards. We explore three examples of urban backyard food gardens and the surprising amount of food that can be grown with very little space.
The Beacon Food Forest
The next time you run low on fruits and veggies, instead of driving to the grocery store, how about taking the kids on a trip to the food forest to see what’s in season? Seattle is creating just such an edible landscape. Imagine yourself in a forest in which almost every plant, shrub, and…
Creating Food Security Through Edible Landscaping pt 1
Owen Dell discusses creating resilience and food security in communities through intelligent and organized communal food exchange.
Starting A Free Communal Food Exchange In Your Neighborhood
Owen Dell talks about his experience starting a free neighborhood food exchange and working toward food security through converting ornamental suburban landscaping to edible ones. Owen Dell is a sustainable landscape architect and advocate of edible landscaping in suburbia. In my interview with Owen, he describes how a free food exchange that he and a…
Creating Food Security Through Edible Landscaping pt 2
We continue our conversation with Owen Dell about food security and hyper-local foodsheds. If you haven’t read the first part of this fascinating interview with Owen Dell, you can find it here. Owen lectures around the country and internationally on sustainable landscaping and related topics. He is the author of How to Start a Home-Based…
Urban Homesteading
People who live in urban and suburban environments are turning to homesteading to become more self-sufficient, depending less on a system that has grown out of touch with reality. People who live in cities and suburbs are becoming aware and empowered to find ways to unplug from cycles of dependency and consumerism. By changing their…
Santa Barbara Food Not Lawns
Community food exchange fosters a resilient hyper-local foodshed. Many home gardeners find that they grow more produce than they can eat. Residents in Santa Barbara have found an alternative to using this surplus as mere composting material—they’ve decided to pool their suburban harvests to create a free community food exchange. Santa Barbara Food Not Lawns…
UK Urban Homesteaders Tim and Ros Payne
UK homesteader Tim Payne explains that his reasons for embarking on homesteading extended beyond his family’s desire to become more independent from a food and resource distribution system which relies on a dwindling natural resource.
Organic, Natural, and Biodynamic Wine
Author Eden Canon walks us through the confusing and sometimes contentious world of wine labels in search of a perfect glass of vino.
Reading The Leaves: Organic Tea
Buying organic is a first step in ensuring the quality of your daily cuppa. But issues of ethics in this ancient trade are being addressed outside the world of organic certification.
Organic Kerala
Alongside China, India is quickly taking the lead in the global movement to convert farmland to certified organic crops.One Indian state implements sweeping change in a move to shifting to 100% organic production.
What Is Organic Meat?
What does the certified organic label on meat actually mean? Some consumers mistakenly assume it represents the highest standard of nutrition, humane treatment of animals and sound ecological practices.
Choosing Chicken: The Label Game
What’s with all these labels? Organic, free range, cage free—find out how to buy the best chicken and why it matters. I’m looking for a real chicken. It used to be a simple affair—picking out a chicken at the market to bring home for dinner. Now I am confronted with a raft of labels to…
The Future Of Organic Beer
On New Year’s Day 2013, Certified Organic beer becomes more organic. Read how changes in labeling could affect your favorite brew.
How Pet Food Is Made
Pet food has become a convenient market for waste from meat and grain producers which are deemed inedible to humans. But what are these ingredients?
How To Choose The Best Eggs
Certified organic, free range, cage free. There are so many options when buying eggs, but what do they mean, other than a steep price premium? Author Eden Canon takes a closer look at labels, in search of a healthy, ethically produced egg.
Organic Certification: Farmers Weigh The Costs
Some farmers who practice organic farming, and even those whose methods achieve a higher level of environmental and ethical cultivation, have decided against getting certified organic. Farmers share their thoughts about the pros and cons of certification.
Humanely Raised Meat: How to Buy Pork
Many avoid pork because of the lurid abuses endemic in conventional pig rearing. But, with a little research, conscientious carnivores can still delight in bacon and porchetta. Ethically raised pork is becoming easier to find as small scale local producers embrace pasture-based farming.
Demystifying Coffee Labels: Organic, Fair Trade & Shade Grown
When it comes to your health, the ethical treatment of farmers or the global impact of deforestation on climate change, how coffee is grown matters.
The Rise of Organics in China
A long spate of food safety scandals in the Middle Kingdom is fueling the demand for organic.
The Cost of Organic
The eye-watering disparity between the price of conventional and organic goods has influenced the perception amongst shoppers that healthy, wholesome food is very pricey. But why does organic cost so much more?
The Secret Language Of Pet Food Labels
What’s in a name? A lot, apparently. Names like ‘chicken formula for cats’ and ‘beef flavored dog food’ are actually regulated to mean very specific things in the US. Understanding the code can help you select the best product for your pet.
Quick Facts About Egg Cleaning
Beyond nutritional content and animal welfare, you should also be aware of what happens to your eggs between the hen house and the marketplace.
Sustainable Local Food On A Budget: CSA
Buying organic, local and sustainably raised food can wreck your grocery budget. Joining a Community Supported Agriculture scheme can help keep costs down, while providing you with an abundance of clean, locally produced food.
In The Walls: Reclaimed & Recycled Materials
Whether through the use of what would be considered industrial waste or bringing back a piece of history by using antique items, restaurants are finding innovative and inexpensive ways to build uniquely environmentally friendly businesses.
Chefs Sourcing Sustainable Seafood
The US produces more than 100 aquatic species for consumption, making the management of these fisheries an important topic in both environmental and ethical terms. As the demand for sustainable seafood increases, so has the focus on sustainable seafood practices in a chef’s culinary education.
Farm To Fork
Some restaurants are taking the next step in local, sustainable food by creating their own gardens and small farms. Whether their gardens contribute significantly to the daily menu or simply provide herbs and a few vegetables, restaurant owners and chefs are using them as a source of culinary creativity and unparalleled fresh quality.
Farmer, Distributor, Restaurant: Getting Local Food On The Plate
On all sides farmers, produce distributors, and restaurants are gathering around the concept of local, seasonal food. Find out what it takes to get local food on your restaurant plate.
Certifying Sustainability
Defining sustainability in the restaurant industry, let alone measuring it, has proven to be an incredibly difficult task. A range of new businesses have emerged to help analyze a restaurant’s sustainability as well as provide certification for businesses to stand as a visual indicator to their customers of a restaurant’s ethical values—helping diners make smart choices.
Eating Local: Diners Weigh The Cost
Where does the cost of a meal intersect with the value of eating clean, sustainable food? Do we bring our values with us when we eat out? We examine attitudes of diners and the challenges of getting more local and sustainable food on your plate.
Recycled Shipping Container Restaurants
From ice cream made to order to a globe trotting Singaporean kitchen, restaurants are turning a source of industrial pollution into a source of inspiration.
Compostable Food Containers Gaining Ground for Restaurant Takeout
It used to be that to-go packaging, save Chinese take-out, was made out of Styrofoam which came complete with a set of plastic cutlery. Today restaurants are switching to packaging made from biodegradable plastics or recycled paper products, printed with vegetable-based inks. Whether through a restaurant’s own motivation or a city’s ordinance, the world of to-go packaging is looking increasingly compostable.
What is BioPlastic? Quick Facts About Bio Plastic Takeout Food Containers
The demand for biodegradable packaging has taken off in the last few years and subsequently a growing number of businesses are sending out your takeout in bio plastic packaging. But what is this stuff that looks like plastic, feels like plastic, yet isn’t plastic?
Low Waste Restaurants
Restaurants are a significant source of pollution—from food waste to spent cooking oil to toxic chemicals. Eden Canon explores the ways in which the restaurant industry is cleaning up its act. From making simple changes, such as setting up recycling programs, to working with the city to turn spent cooking oil into biofuel that run city buses, restaurants are taking up the challenge to go green.
Too Good To Waste: The Doggy Bag In Europe
A long-standing stigma attached to taking leftovers home has hindered British and European diners from tackling waste reduction at the restaurant table. Three new movements have sprung up in the UK, Sweden, and Italy to promote the benefits of taking home leftovers, signaling a shift in opinion towards the doggy bag in Europe.
Book Review: Bringing It To The Table Wendell Berry
Helen Cameron, co-owner of Uncommon Ground, Chicago, recommends the book Bringing It To the Table, by Wendell Berry.