... and Other Things You'll Need to Know About Food in Austin

This past year, I was lucky enough to spend six months working in Texas. That's right, I said lucky. Believe it or not, I think I got in touch with my inner Texan. Before landing a job in Dallas, I would have told you that I don't have an inner Texan (or an outer Texan, or any other kind of Texan). But Texas charmed me. I grew to love it.

The people I met in Texas were, by and large, incredibly warm and friendly, and always eager to remind me that George Bush is from Connecticut! I look forward to introducing everyone to the side of Texas that gave us Jim Hightower, Ann Richards, and Molly Ivins - including Austin's local food (yum!) and a great Austin nonprofit called the Sustainable Food Center.

Also in this diary is the info you'll need to know about this year's food panel. So read on... otherwise you'll be so confused when you get to Austin you won't know whether to scratch your watch or wind your butt. (See? I'm learning to speak Texan!)

(Also - if you missed my announcement, I've got a new Scoop blog at La Vida Locavore)

Locavore was the 2007 word of the year (thanks for the correction, A Siegel). And I, for one, am livin' la vida locavore to the best of my overly-lazy ability.

What does it mean to be a locavore (one who eats local food)? A locavore wakes up in the morning, just like anyone else, puts on her hemp clothes and goes off to face the world. No need for a shower - gotta conserve water, you know. Breakfast? The locavore heads outdoors and munches on her lawn. Dandelion greens are healthy, environmentally friendly, and free! Then it's off to the IHOP with the other members of the commune, bringing pictures of dead farm animals to protest those murderers who are eating bacon...

Yeah... not so much. Locavores are mainstream! Locavores appreciate flavor. They want their tomatoes to taste and smell like tomatoes. They don't want their fruit to come with barcodes on it.

Locavores and others who concern themselves with food-related issues make up quite a presence on dKos. There's also a vibrant non-blogger food activist community in practically every part of the country. I am starting a new blog, La Vida Locavore, in hopes of bringing the blog community and the food community closer together.

I'm against the illegal occupation of Iraq, I gave money to Kucinich, and I voted for Edwards in the primaries. Did I mention that I'm a Republican? I said so, so it must be true. Want more proof? I can put a McCain 2008 bumper sticker on my car if that will convince you.

Why don't you believe me? Shouldn't saying something make it true?

OK, well how about this. Cornell University researchers (oh, and a helper from Monsanto) said that injecting cows with Monsanto's recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) is good for the environment. They are lowering cows' carbon "hoofprint." Come on! That's true too! They said so. It must be.

Did you know that high fructose corn syrup is good for you? Oh yes! So says the Corn Refiners' Association, which is launching an 18-mo $20-$30 million national ad campaign starting tomorrow. Phew! Time to celebrate with a 42 oz. Coke from McDonalds!

In other news, I saw a full page NYT ad this week from "the people's" oil companies, telling me how the real reason they want to drill the caribou up in Alaska is because they love me and want to make my life better. And of course, who can forget previous ad campaigns public service announcements letting us know that obesity is no problem, it's just hype, and that CO2 is natural because we breathe it out and plants breathe it in.

I'm so glad that all of these enormous corporations are on our side! (And I'm even gladder that Michele Simon - a big thorn in groups like the Corn Refiners' Association's side, no doubt - is speaking at Netroots Nation this year!!)

More on HFCS and more on Michele Simon after the flip...

The topic of this diary isn't sexy, but it's important. And sex sells. So I decided to sex it up a bit with pics of the sexiest liberals I could find. Starting with, of course, Scott Kleeb and Elizabeth Kucinich!

In between sexy pics, you'll find a few action items. Please, please call Congress today! Here are some free numbers (they all get you to the Capitol switchboard):
1 (800) 828 - 0498
1 (800) 614 - 2803
1 (866) 340 - 9281
1 (866) 338 - 1015
1 (877) 851 - 6437

If you've been following my diaries lately, you might know that I got media access to an international Biotech conference held in San Diego this past week. I wrote it up here (warning: it's long).

A fellow food activist attended the convention some years back and when she got up to ask a question (OK - admittedly a provocative, anti-biotech sort of question) they kicked her out and invited her to never, ever come back. I suppose that's like Bill O'Reilly hanging up on you.

I wasn't in the mood to be kicked out, but I attended a session that I found so outrageous, I just HAD to get up and say something. Read on...

This week, San Diego hosted BIO 2008, an international gathering of biotechnology companies, scientists, lawyers, public servants, professors, and even Arnold Schwartzenegger himself. The rest of the local sustainable food community made plans to protest. I made plans to get media access to the conference.

My focus was entirely on food and agriculture, as you might have guessed. I certainly do not lump those doing research to cure cancer into my category of "eco-terrorists." Of course there's an ethical dimension to all biotechnology but I am not the one to make judgments about anything outside my area of expertise, particularly if its intent is saving human lives.

The funniest session I went to was on new media (YouTube, MySpace, Google, and BLOGS!). I'm thrilled to know that I am the bogeyman these multinational corporations are afraid of. Click to read more to help me strike even more fear into the hearts of Monsanto executives!

What can you do with a mushy blueberry? You can't ship it. You can't really store it. Therefore, you can't usually sell it. Often farmers suffer considerable losses when they can't sell excess or very ripe fruit. Sometimes it's more cost effective to let it rot in the field than to harvest it if you know there's no one to buy it.

Enter Jackie Anderson. To her, an very ripe super-sweet (and yes, mushy) blueberry is a perfect ingredient for either Blueberry Chambord or BRB (Blackberry-Raspberry-Blueberry) jam! By selling to her at the end of the season, San Diego's farmers can recoup some of their losses, and Jackie gets the sweetest fruit available at a sweet price.

Jackie's Jams illustrates how a local entrepreneur who is in touch with the community can find an incredibly profitable economic niche and help farmers, businesses, non-profits, the environment, and individuals too!

Now that same sex marriage is legal in California, couples are flocking to our state to get married. As it turns out, Massachusetts requires you to be a resident to get married there. California doesn't. For many, this will be their first chance to get married ever.

My friends are getting married this week. They told me they fear they've only got a five month window in which to do it. (They also joked about fighting over which one of them would wear the dress.) They've been waiting for this for 12 years but there's an upcoming ballot initiative that could take their right to marry away.

I wanted to get them something to commemorate their big day, but I couldn't figure out what. What do you get for two guys who have a fabulously decorated place and no doubt have way better taste in everything than you do? Then I realized - the best gift is equal rights at long last. I gave a donation to the campaign to fight the marriage ban that will be on the ballot this November.

Please, spread the word. If your friends or family are coming to CA to get married, a great gift idea (in addition to that blender you bought them) is a donation to the campaign for marriage equality.

I assume now you've heard the news. Tim Russert died of a massive heart attack today, age 58. Today a much beloved coworker retired at age 55 and we all watched her go thinking how she had nearly half her life ahead of her. Yet, she is only 3 years younger than Tim Russert - and he should have had decades of life ahead of him.

Most of you know I care deeply about our nation's food system - how we produce food, how we impact the environment and the economy, how we treat those who produce our food, etc. But what got me into caring about food was spending a week in a cardiac ICU. It was full of patients about Tim Russert's age, patient's who were just a little bit luckier than he was.

I have no knowledge of Tim Russert's lifestyle, eating habits, or medical condition. But I have extensive knowledge of what average Americans everywhere suffer medically, largely due to their diets. Exercise is a component too (as are smoking and drinking) but you can't focus entirely on exercise as a way to justify an unhealthy diet (just as you can't justify a sedentary lifestyle because you eat well).

Please, let this be a wake up call to our nation. Let's honor Tim Russert by improving the system that I suspect killed him.

Last week I left the laptop unattended and look what happened. Molly the kitten got into some mischief. It wasn't her usual mischief either (pouncing my older, cranky cats who are too busy napping to play with a kitten). She got a bunch of Kossacks to write to the USDA and their Congresscritters about the RMA Risk Management Community Outreach Partnership Program.

Well? The result of our calls and emails (and many other people's calls and emails from around the country) the program ended up with about an extra $500k. Nice job! We could still do better, since the program was still cut by $5.75 million from what it used to get, but at least we didn't come out empty handed for our efforts.

Details on this and on the food panel and party at Netroots Nation are below (and details on STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING too).

This is a diary about a terrific non-profit in Austin, the Sustainable Food Center. They serve several functions, including running a Saturday morning farmers' market a few blocks from our convention, but the program I want to tell you about is La Cocina Alegre.

Oh, wait. You clicked on this diary because I said it was about a party. Well it is. In honor of the Sustainable Food Center, a few of us foodies are throwing a party. All convention attendees are invited!

We'll be serving local Austin food & booze (including - pay attention now - sticky toffee pudding) and collecting donations for the Sustainable Food Center. So read the rest of this diary, learn about La Cocina Alegre, and then come party with us!

The following diary is entirely a fluff piece about Obama's favorite chili recipe. OK, actually it isn't. Go watch the corporate media on TV if you want that.

Chef Ari LeVaux caught up with Obama to ask him his take on food and farm policy. In my opinion, this is just an appetizer compared to the amount of information I'd really like to get from him, but he does say some important things.

I went to his website and clicked on the Issues tab to check out what he had to say on Agriculture. Hmm. Nothing. So I clicked on Rural. Jackpot. Except for the fact that food and agriculture affects everyone, not just rural Americans. What can I say? We've got some time to work with him between now and November. At least Obama was willing to talk to Chef Ari - the other 2 candidates weren't.

So here's what we know of Obama's take on food/ag policy - plus his favorite chili recipe at the end.

I just changed the title... see if using the word Obama gets this thing a bit more attention. I miss the old DailyKos where people cared about issues.

I've been personally asked by someone I highly respect to blog about this particular topic. I wasn't going to do so initially because, well, it's hard to get interested in a topic that, on the face of it, seems so dull. Not interesting like Scott McClellan's book.

Unfortunately, boring as it may sound, it's important. And it's not actually that boring. Please, please, since this is important enough that others have asked me to get our community involved, please read this and take action, and then pass word along to other progressives to do the same. The deadline for action is THIS Friday, June 6.

What am I talking about? The USDA Risk Management Agency, which had much of its budget cut in the new 2008 farm bill. Don't fall asleep yet. I'll tell you why you should care on the flip, and give you action steps too.

Last year, Kid Oakland organized a scholarship program for YearlyKos and I benefited from it greatly. No, I didn't get a scholarship myself. I didn't even apply.

A few weeks before the convention, one of my favorite bloggers emailed me. She couldn't afford the convention on her own, so she hadn't planned on going. It would have been a loss to our entire community, if we hadn't had the opportunity to meet her.  I remember her comments in my diaries and I know she's been around a while. She's very skilled at doing detailed research, and as a result, she's written many wonderful diaries.

When I received her email, it said: "I just found out I got a scholarship so I'll be there! Here's my cell so we can meet up!" In my opinion, our whole community benefited because she (and other scholarship recipients) were able to join us in Chicago.

More on the flip... (Hint: You can still help even if you can't afford to give money)

If gas prices weren't over FOUR FREAKING DOLLARS, I might have jumped in my car today so I could drive out east and hug Chris Bowers for his fantastic diary. He's right. We NEED to define John McCain.

John McCain, with the help of the media, will try to define himself as a maverick. Maverick? John McCain a maverick? This John McCain?

Couldn't be. He looks FAR too cozy with Bush IMHO. Eddie C's brought up the idea of hitting back with a viral email. I've put together my best attempt, below.

Sardonyx has been profiling magnificent Kossacks lately, and that gave me an idea: What about the amazing people I've met on this site who NOBODY BUT ME has ever heard of? Well, surely somebody besides me has heard of them. I'm sure they each have their own set of fans. But if I were in charge, they'd be known and loved by everyone.

I'm sure that everyone else has their own set of heroes they've met around here who are unjustly never given the number of recs they deserve. I've seen semi-famous people (or at least those who would be noticed in the MSM) sign on here and post a diary, only to have it drop off the page in a matter of seconds.

This diary profiles a few of my heroes, and I look forward to reading about your heroes in the comments!