Make it local. Episode 2: Food carts for the masses.

Despite Madison being the 82nd largest city in the United States, it does have a pretty vibrant food cart scene. Between Library Mall and the Capital square, there are quite a few choices in terms of ethnic cuisines and styles. My current favorite on Library Mall is Surco, a Peruvian cart that serves the best Chicken Adobo over cilantro rice and green lentils. I buy a half-order and a soda for lunch and it sets me back $6. So damned tasty!

Speaking of food carts, Madison is celebrating it's food cart scene with Isthmus ala Carts. It's at Olin Park on Friday, May 11, 2012. 4-8pm $15 in advance or $20 at the gate gets you all the food you can eat. All of the participating carts will be serving sampler-sized portions of their best dishes. Try out any and all of the carts you like for one low price. I will most likely be there! Come say hi to me!

Monsanto: the company you love to hate.

Those of us in the food 'blogosphere' have spent countless hours hating Monsanto and everything they stand for. They are the largest crop seed company in the world. They make bio-engineered seeds with their patented pesticides. They were one of the major players in the production of the defoliant Agent Orange, (along with Dow Chemical) We've read the stories of farmer's, who themselves never bought Monsanto seed, being sued by the company because their non-Monsanto seed had cross-pollinated with Monsanto seed, giving their crops the 'advantages' those seeds claimed and were patented. Farmer's who have run into this dilemma have been given a choice, switch to Monsanto seed or allow your fields to go fallow and replant the following season. Most farmer's have capitulated and signed contracts to buy Monsanto seed long term. Those who stood up and fought have been crushed under the weight of a massive multinational corporation and a legal system that protects the interests of large businesses over small ones.

I bring this up for two reasons: 1.) This article about another class-action lawsuit won by Monsanto. And 2.) The term that is always brought up when discussing Monsanto, 'GM crops'.

Genetically modified crops have gotten a bad rap lately and I wish they would find another technical term that could be applied to what Monsanto creates. We have been genetically altering crops for thousands of years. What Monsanto does is make seeds by creating an artificial DNA sequence and embedding it into the plant's genome. This embeds the company's patented pesticides right into the genome. This HAS proved effective at increasing crop yields and made them drought resistant, but it has also created superbugs, who are resistant to the pesticides, and legal headaches for farmers and anyone associated with them.

I could probably write a 20+ page paper on this topic, but I'll save it for a future class. Have a great weekend!

Inspiration can be so random sometimes.

Case in point: I had mentioned yesterday the idea of Slow Food UW starting their own food cart. I had read a post on Facebook from the Vendy Awards that had a link to this story about food truck lobbying in Philadelphia and it mentions this guy, Andrew Gerson, who's spearheading this movement. What struck me about the guy wasn't his activism, but where he went to school and the title of his master's thesis.He went to the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Turin, Italy. Not a gastronomic sciences department at some university, an entire fucking university!!!! God, I love the Italians! And the title of his thesis? "Food Trucks Can be Utilized to Promote Sustainable Agriculture in Urban Environments." I so wish I could find this thesis and read it! Maybe I should write this guy. Anyway, the title makes so much sense to me. What better way is there, (besides farmer's markets) to promote local, sustainable foodstuffs at the ground level than a food cart? I haven't had a chance to talk much with the Slow Food UW kids yet. Perhaps I should pass this idea on to them when I do.

I do wonder, though, is this an idea worth trying? Besides the obvious learning curve, start up costs, licensing, etc., what could keep this from working?