Huffington Post readers like to consume progressive, left-leaning news. Now the publication has challenged readers to live those politics–if only for seven days. HuffPost bloggers Katherine Goldstein and Adam Clark Estes have announced the Week of Eating In Challenge, intended, they write in a post last week, “to make it all personal.”

The project is simple: divisions HuffPost Green and HuffPost Eyes&Ears have dared readers to cook their own food. The challenge is inspired by HuffPost blogger and author Cathy Erway’s book The Art of Eating In. Erway avoided restaurants and takeout for a full two years. The Challenge only lasts from February 22 to 28.

A post detailing the challenge reveals there are actually few details. Make your own food for a week and eat it—that’s it. The challenge itself, though, could have many intricate and delightful results. “We think that if you take the time to cook and learn about where your food comes from,” write Goldstein and Estes, “you’ll make better choices for yourself and the planet.” You could also save a ton of cash.

Farmers markets can play a big role in eating in. At market, challengees can buy fresh vegetables that inspire them to cook creatively, get recipes and tips from local farmers, and meet other devotees of healthy home cooking. Once you get the food home, be sure to show the HuffPost how you prepared it all in your tiny D.C. kitchen.

To get started:

• Make plans to visit a year-round farmers market this weekend.
• Check out a few local foods recipes to get inspired.
• Read Erway’s blog posts.
• Track your expenditures with the spending tracker.
• Get techie with some apps that make eating in easier.
• And, of course, share a photo of your tiny kitchen.

Bon appétit–chez toi!

(This is cross-posted from my Examiner.com site. If you have a question, want to get involved, or have a comment about the Week of Eating In Challenge, leave it here or there.)

Anyone who thinks living in D.C. precludes any chance to influence national food policy should meet Kathy Ozer. Since 1987, this Adams Morgan resident has been representing farmers and fighting to fix what she calls a “broken” national food system. She currently serves as the executive director of the National Family Farm Coalition on Capitol Hill. Last month, she keynoted the Future Harvest conference, the annual gathering of the Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture. This year’s gathering also included a special presentation by Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan on the USDA’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative.

As a long-time resident of D.C., Ozer also strongly supports local initiatives to make healthy food accessible to low-income consumers in the District, and bringing fresh, nutritious food to the city’s school cafeterias. I recently spoke to Ozer about what she does, and how anyone—with or without a vote in Congress—can help put the pieces together.

How did you get involved in farmers’ rights?

I came to the coalition from the perspective of how important it was to have different voices represented on Capitol Hill, but I definitely did not grow up on a farm. I grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. In the 1970s and the 80s, my family was supportive of the Bethesda Food Co-op. So since then, I’ve always had a real interest in food access issues and where food fit into some of the broader sets of issues that we all confront.

What does your organization do, and how does it tie into local food issues?

One of the things that the Family Farm Coalition has done since it started is to connect groups around the country to organize and mobilize on a policy level. These are very important to the day-to-day lives of farmers and of consumers, as people who, hopefully, directly eat more of the food that is being produced.

Tell us about your keynote at the Future Harvest conference.

It was kind of a snapshot about why it’s important to be involved in policy. Many people at the conference seemed pretty interested in what they should do themselves at an immediate level. [I said that] one of those things is to participate in the USDA’s upcoming workshops on antitrust enforcement issues; also to answer action alerts and different messages when there are key issues coming up in congress, and not to be complacent just because there are people in these positions now who support these issues. They need the pressure from all of us.

I also spoke about some of the implementation issues of the Farm Bill. One has to do with ensuring that all the farm programs are able to be used by all farmers regardless of their race or their sex or what geographic area they may live in. So we need to make sure that something called the Diversity Initiative that we all fought for in the 2008 Farm Bill gets implemented as fairly as possible.

What pending legislation should food security activists be watching?

I think the most immediate opening is the whole rewriting of the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. Our coalition is a part of the Community Food Security Coalition [CFSC], and in that role we’ve been pushing really hard for a program called Farm to Cafeteria, which would provide federal funds through grants to enable schools to better set up either the physical infrastructure or actual distribution networks to be better sourcing from local farmers. In [the Farm Bill of] 2004, we got this Farm to Cafeteria legislation into law, but it didn’t have funding attached to it. So one of the biggest requests is for there to be mandatory funding.

Also, there is a part of the TRADE Act that puts forward what a fair trade policy would be instead of the free trade and open markets we’ve had. It’s got a really strong agriculture, food security, and food safety piece to it. So our coalition, along with other groups have been pushing hard for that change in trade approach.

Many of our readers live in Washington, D.C. without a vote in Congress. How can we influence these discussions?

For national legislation, if people have moved here from other places and have family back in other parts of the country, engage them in the political process with their representatives.

Also, there are members of Congress who, even if we’re not directly voting for them, are either on the senate subcommittee on appropriations for D.C., on the House subcommittee that has oversight for D.C. operations, or are making policy decisions that directly affect D.C. They need to hear from us too.

I think the most immediate role is weighing in on legislation like the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act and farm to school initiatives. The Community Food Security Coalition will be developing action alerts on these issues, and there are members of congress from the Washington area who can play a really important role in that. The recent launch by First Lady Michelle Obama on tackling childhood obesity and the new task force is a very important initiative. As a group that represents family farmers we want to be sure that the farmers who are growing our food and milking cows on a daily basis have access to the credit they need to plant their crops. President Obama’s State of the Union announcement of channeling $30 billion to the community banks is a hopeful sign this winter.

I think what we can do right now as voters is to make sure as many members of Congress as possible have sponsored the TRADE Act.

You can also go to those USDA/Department of Justice workshops and take other opportunities to urge the government to take actions on behalf of consumers and in the public interest—not just agribusiness and other corporate interests—when they’re developing farm policy. With the Supreme Court decision about the role of corporations in the issue of campaign finance, I think that issue becomes an even bigger concern.

On the local level, there’s a proposal on the D.C. City Council for a farm to school program here. I think the importance of having some models here that could be replicated, and learning from other models, is critically important.

How about other actions in our everyday lives?

Whether you’re thinking about a restaurant or hiring a local caterer or going to a conference center or holding a meeting, ask where the food that’s being served is from, and try to make sure that it’s fair and reflects the priorities we’re all pushing for. The same applies to schools and hospitals or other institutions, or your place of worship, to make sure that they’re using fair trade coffee, to make sure that they’re more involved in making connections between fair policies on the ground and fair policies for us as consumers.

And certainly some of us have varying degrees of access, but shopping at local farmers markets, figuring out how you can find markets over the winter [hint: look here], and if some of the farmers are doing online sales, and making that extra effort to get out there and be supportive of the people who are raising that food.

On top of the bright spots in upcoming legislation, are there other hopeful signs for farmers and low-income consumers?

On January 22, the Department of Justice filed a law suit against two companies that were trying to buy each other that would reduce the competition in the school lunch program with the purchases of milk for a couple of states. While that may not directly influence us in D.C., it affects many of the same companies that have an impact in D.C.

One of the incredible things that was able to be done at the Future Harvest Conference was that all of the food was sourced from farmers in the region. And the chefs there at that conference center cooked it and it was great food. With the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food campaign, we have the potential for conference centers like this—particularly those that are owned and managed by the U.S. government—to serve that kind of food. This applies to schools and other institutions as well.

At the conference, people in the audience asked about media. I said I was happy about [the films] “Food, Inc.” and “Fresh.” The public understanding of these issues is something we should capitalize on and use to get the word out on what needs to be changed in the food system. The movie “Fresh” will be coming out nationally in movie theatres this spring and that’s another opportunity for more outreach to these issues.

Overall, what will fix the “broken” food system?

The fix is not just to redirect who gets the subsidy payments. Our position is that we shouldn’t be subsidizing any kind of food with taxpayer money. We should be creating programs and having the government involved so that farmers themselves are getting a fair price and have real competition in the market. And consumers shouldn’t be dependent on subsidies, either. If we had better access to good paying jobs and a health care system that worked, there would be less demand for stamps and food assistance programs.

What this really gets to, in our view, is a need for the government to get involved, but that involvement isn’t just writing checks. It is enforcing existing laws, developing new laws for enforcement, working in antitrust, and creating grain reserves so we don’t have an instability in the system like we do now.

I think at the heart of all of these issues is how to make sure that consumers of all incomes and all economic statuses have access to healthy food at an affordable price and at the same time have people who are selling that food at the farm level be able to cover the cost of production and be able to survive.

On Tuesday, sixth grader Tammy Nguyen brought down the White House with her thoughts on produce. Leading up to a much-anticipated announcement in the State Dining Room, Nguyen described how she helped grow a rainbow of vegetables in a kitchen garden on the “first lawn.” “My friends and I have learned a lot about change, about eating healthy food, and making the right choices,” the former Bancroft Elementary School student explained. “My classmates and I plan to keep that color on the plate–and I don’t mean M&Ms,” she said.

Nguyen then introduced First Lady Michelle Obama, who summoned all hands on deck to bring the Bancroft students’ experience to every American child to promote better health. She outlined a detailed initiative, called Let’s Move, to curb the startling rate of childhood obesity (about one in three children is overweight or obese, she said), and save the nation’s kids from preventable diseases. Such an initiative can also create jobs and help fish the budget out of a deficit. That can only happen, Obama said, if many sectors work together and the action starts immediately.

“Instead of just talking bout this problem, instead of just worrying and wringing our hands about it, let’s do something about it,” said the first lady. “Let’s act…. let’s move.”

A new Task Force on Childhood Obesity will propel the initiative. Once on course, Let’s Move will include  $10 billion in funding for programs over 10 years in the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization, and $400 million to address “food deserts”–areas where healthy food is scarce. The initiative aims to banish food deserts in seven years and push out childhood obesity in a generation. Fresh, local food claims an important place in that effort.

Obama recruited former NFL star Tiki Barber—along with key players in the Obama administration, members of Congress, figures in sports and entertainment, and leaders in the business and medical communities—to join her at the announcement. But it was the mayor of a small town in Mississippi and a Milwaukee, Wisc. farmer who talked most convincingly about the power of wholesome food.

Mayor Chip Johnson, of Hernando, Miss., started a community garden on a shoestring, bringing in his neighbor’s tractor for some of the preparations. And one August, in spite of doubters, his town of about 10,000 set up a farmers market. “Everybody said ‘well, it was too late in the season’,” Johnson said. “But we said ‘no, let’s get going. Let’s do it now.’ So we started.” In the next two months, 23 vendors signed on.

If this is the model for success, D.C. is right on track. Novices started the Johns Hopkins Hospital Farmers Market last year with just a few months of planning. It experienced its share of rough spots, as did the FRESHFARM market at the White House. The latter started in September of 2009. It kindled some controversy, but also rallied an instant customer base and generous praise. It may even have played a role in increased interest in farm fresh food around the country.

Will Allen, who founded the urban farming initiative Growing Power, took the stage soon after Johnson. Allen stressed the importance of access to fresh produce, and taking part in growing it. D.C. programs like the Washington Youth Garden at the National Arboretum and the Neighborhood Farm Initiative are doing just that. It doesn’t matter if it’s at a market or on a farm. The key, Allen said, is having the kids experience real food–like Nguyen and her classmates did. “If they can touch it and feel it,” he said, “they’re bound to go the next step.”

For more:

Watch the full announcement

Read the Washington Post coverage in today’s paper and yesterday’s All We Can Eat blog

Check out the new Let’s Move website

View the new USDA Food Environment Atlas, which identifies “food deserts” that lack sources of fresh food

Potato wedges. Photo: Creative Commons/fotoosvanrobin

Though neither Super Bowl contender hails from the East Coast area that you likely inhabit, dear reader, your game day spread can still come from local sources. Why not? Local food supports the economy of your home town (or adopted city), and offers healthier options. And with year-round farmers markets in full swing, it’s easy to find ingredients for locally-sourced snacks.

To add local tang to your table, compliment tortilla chips with salsas from Toigo Orchards (just be sure to warn guests that the medium-hot chipotle is addictive). Or make a veggie platter with kohlrabi, radishes, carrots, and raw turnips from area farms. For a refined Super Bowl soiree, spread Firefly Farms goat cheese on slices of Atwater’s sourdough.

As for recipes, guacamole is out. This year, everyone from Melissa Clark of the New York Times to Bobby Flay in Parade is sharing their perfect version of bleu cheese dip. Why not try it for yourself, and make yours local? Whether it’s for vegetables, chips, or wings, Keswick Creamery’s Blue Suede Moo and Firefly Farms’ Mountain Top Bleu are at your service. The recipe below pairs a bleu cheese dip with hearty wedges of potato. That fall crop still arrives fresh at farmers markets through the winter, thanks to farmers’ root cellars. (Recipe after the jump).

Potato wedges with bleu cheese dip

3 medium potatoes (Russet or Yukon Gold are good choices), sliced in half and then into wedges

Olive oil

Sea salt

11/2 cups local yogurt, drained for a few hours through cheese cloth for thicker consistency

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 cloves local garlic, minced

1 Tbs. dried local parsley or herb mix

4 ounces bleu cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, toss potato wedges with a sprinkling of sea salt and enough olive oil to coat.

Oil a baking pan and lay out potato wedges in a single layer.

Bake for 20 minutes, turn the wedges, and return to the oven.

Bake another 15-20 minutes, or until crisp on the outside and tender on the inside.

To make the dip, combine all ingredients in a food processor and mix on pulse until blended. Feel free to leave some chunks. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight. Serve chilled with hot potato wedges.

Enjoy!

One afternoon in late December, Danny Abruzzese, the executive chef of Asilomar Conference Grounds charged with preparing glatt kosher food for the 2009 Hazon Food Conference, ushered me into a side dining room to talk. On the way, he pointed one thick hand toward a slim man in a hat and tzitzit, ritual fringes. “This is my brother right here,” the Italian American said, grinning.

So begins the piece “Heated differences lead to brotherhood” in the January 27 issue of Washington Jewish Week. WJW now joins the likes of Jewcy.com, The Jew and the Carrot, and The Washington Post in the ranks of publications that find my Jewish food ramblings worthy  of publication. Check out the full piece in the Community Voices section of last week’s paper.

Image: Creative Commons/Robert Huffstutter

(Cross-posted from my Examiner.com site)

With aftershocks still rocking Haiti, Washingtonians struggle to grasp the losses the earthquake has claimed. Deciding how to help is yet another challenge. Why not start with food? Here are five ways to take action as a food lover in the D.C. area.

5. Go to one of the establishments owned by D.C. restaurateur Ashok Bajaj. As The Washington Post’s Going Out Gurus and the DC Restaurant Examiner Lisa Shapiro report, Bajaj is offering a month-long fundraising deal at his seven restaurants. He will also match any donations his employees make to relief efforts. Stop by 701, Ardeo - Bardeo, Bibiana Osteria-Enoteca, The Bombay Club, Oval Room, or Rasika. From January 19 to February 19, and one dollar from the sale of each featured menu item will go to American Red Cross relief for Haiti.

4. Look for a red cross next to dishes at members of The Neighborhood Restaurant Group. Also thanks to the Going Out Guide we know that do-gooding items include “cupcakes at Buzz, wines at Tallula, Columbia Firehouse and the Evening Star Cafe, and beer at Rustico, Birch & Barley and ChurchKey.” Proceeds from those sales will go to the Red Cross and Haitian Emergency Rebuilding Operation (H.E.R.O.)

3. Grab some vegan desserts (or donate your own handywork) at a D.C. Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti. The first takes place this Sunday, January 24, at the Takoma Park Farmers Market. The market is held at Carroll and Juniper Streets in Takoma Park, Md. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Drop off baked goods by 9:45 a.m. Or catch the sale on Saturday, February 6, in Falls Church, Va., at 1230 W. Broad St. in the Falls Plaza shopping center. Times not yet announced on the site. Proceeds will go to Food for Life Global.

2. Purchase or donate yet more desserts at a food blogger bake sale in Dupont Circle, in or close to the Dupont Circle FRESHFARM Market, tentatively scheduled for Sunday, January 31. The market takes place in the PNC Bank parking lot at Q St. and Massachusetts Ave. NW from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Check this site for more information as the day gets closer.

1. Learn about and support nearby nonprofits’ efforts to provide food, clean water, and other essential aid to Haitian survivors with a sustainable development focus. Partners in Health, which is dedicated to treating illness in developing countries, subscribes to the Haitian proverb “Giving drugs without food is like washing your hands and drying them in the dirt.” Food is essential to health and well-being, and NGOs like Partners in Health, ActionAid, and the American Red Cross of the National Capital Area know how to deliver it while, at the same time, working toward local empowerment and ongoing development.

Know of other ways to help? Leave a comment! Want more? Follow me on Twitter.

Many thanks to my “free range” writers group at Hopkins for encouragement with submissions, and to my excellent editor and mom, Marji.

Check out the article–and feel free to comment here or on the site. Thanks for reading!

Washington D.C.’s FRESHFARM Markets’ new year started with good news: A mini documentary about the organization would be part of Yachad’s Our City Film Festival slated for February 14 at D.C.’s Goethe Institute. Not only that, but the film would appear alongside “Nora!” featuring a restaurateur who embraces local and organic food.

“I’m thrilled to have a film about FRESHFARM Markets and to document in some way how the markets were created and what vision was behind it,” said FRESHFARM co-director and co-founder Ann Yonkers.

Yachad, which mobilizes the Washington-area Jewish community to repair and rebuild lower-income neighborhoods, selected 14 films for the third annual festival and divided them into four categories—Our Body, Our Mind, Our Heart, and Our Soul. “FRESHFARM Markets” will appear in the body category and is, of course, about FRESHFARM and its nine producer-only markets in the D.C. area. Their markets include such favorites as the Dupont Circle farmers market and the farmers market at the White House.

Read the whole story…

Of course, the supporters of this fermentation trend follow radical OSCA fashion, and some of the Yogurt Makers now walk the line between dedication and health code violation by sleeping with their cultured milk. Hey–you’ve got to keep the stuff at a constant 100 degrees if you want it to be good.

In honor of OSCA, I reach back now to my Head Cook days and give you a (fermented) recipe. I think I included this in a cookbook back in the day, when I took a semester off from supervising lunch for 70 to become the Harkness dining co-op’s “nutritionist.” This is written to serve a whole co-op, but I’ve scaled down the quantities so you can make it at home.

Injera (Ethiopian Pancakes)

These thin pancakes are essential for Ethiopian-style meals to serve stews.  To eat, tear off a piece and dip in the stew.  I suggest a split pea stew (make this by using less water than a normal split pea soup) and tofu with berebere sauce or chopped and steamed/sauteed greens.

Yield: About 80 pancakes? (12-20 at home with the smaller quantities, depending on the size of the skillet)

1 heaping Tbs  (1 tsp) dry yeast
12 cups (2 cups) warm water
20 cups (3 cups) flour — use up to 1/2 whole wheat or teff flour
1 heaping Tbs (1 tsp) baking powder
Oil

Dissolve the yeast in the water, add it to the flour, and mix well.

Let the mixture stand at room temperature about 24 hours from when you’ll start cooking. Allow up to three days when the weather is cold. When the mixture smells like sourdough, it’s ready.

When you’re ready to fry ‘em up:

Turn the fermented dough into a Hobart bowl fitted with the wire whisk attachment (at home, use a mixing bowl and whisk). Add water until you have a thin batter (like crepe batter).  This may be about 1 gallon or so (2 to 3 cups at home)… but add little by little. Stir in the baking powder and let the mixture stand for 10 minutes.

Put about 1/2 teaspoon oil in large skillet, add about 3/4 cup of the batter (for a 12-inch skillet), and tilt the pan until the batter thins out and covers the whole bottom. Fry over low heat for 1 or 2 minutes, until the top is completely dry.  Turn out the pancake to a baking pan.  Prepare all the pancakes this way, frying on one side only.  Stack them when they’re done – they won’t stick together.

The injera are served at room temperature with stews heaped on top. Mmm mm.

A little note: In Ethiopia the injera are prepared with teff, a grain of the millet family, but this recipe calls white flour.

What would Moses drive? This was the title of a session on climate change at the Hazon Food Conference, held December 24 to 27 in Pacific Grove, Calif. Indeed, this is a question for the ages. Or for right now.

…that’s the opening of a post I wrote for Jewcy.com. I was thrilled to write for them, and to share thoughts on the intersection of Judaism and climate change action. Read the whole post at Jewcy.