Food
Total Pig: Eat It Up, Locavores!
By Gwyneth Doland

Published: March 12, 2008

Now that you’re all hot and bothered about the local-food movement, make plans to attend a screening of The Future of Food [7 pm

Viva la food revolution.

Wednesday, March 19, New Mexico Film Museum, 418 Montezuma Ave.], a film about the increasingly industrial and corporate nature of our food supply, especially genetically modified foods. Part of the Santa Fe Farmers Market Movie Series, the film was directed, written and produced by Deborah Koons Garcia, the wife of the late Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia. (It also won a Human Rights Award at the Taos Film Festival.) After the screening there will be free non-GMO seeds, seed catalogs, gardening tips and snacks from Cloud Cliff Bakery, Café and Artspace. Tickets cost $9 for grownups; $7 for SFFMI members and farmers; and free for kids under 18. If you can’t make it to the screening you can see clips and buy the DVD at www.thefutureoffood.com. For more information call 983-7726.

In other Farmers Market Institute news, a partnership with the Permaculture Credit Union has allowed the Institute to begin offering micro-loans to local farmers. The Farmers Market Institute collected $20,000 in donations to launch the pilot program and so far it’s disbursed $16,000 in micro-loans to six New Mexico farmers. The farmers applied for the loans to fund projects such as installing drip irrigation, buying seeds and equipment and ruibuilding a greenhouse that had been destroyed by heavy snow. The loans are given at a fixed-interest rate of 6 percent and do not require many of the hassles of traditional loans. Borrowers are required to open an account at the Permaculture Credit Union and keep a small balance. (I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t even know the PCU existed; it’s been around since 2000, offering loans at a discounted rate for sustainability projects. Check it out at www.pcuonline.org.)

Capitalizing on the local-food movement, the Santa Fe School of Cooking launched a new three-hour class called “Farm Fresh and Local.” It’s an unusual concept: the instructor leads a class in cooking a meal of fresh, organic produce from Los Poblanos Farm in Albuquerque and local, organic meats from Pollo Real and Shepherd’s Lamb. They’re billing it as the Adobe Chef Challenge, a sort of Santa Fe twist on Iron Chef.

Upcoming “Farm Fresh and Local” classes are scheduled for March 19, April 1, April 16 and April 30. The cost is $95 per person. Call 983-4511 or go to www.santafeschoolofcooking.com to register.

Thursday, March 13, is Angels Night Out, when 14 local restaurants agree to donate 25 percent of your bill to Kitchen Angels, the local organization that provides meals to the sick and homebound. Hundreds of volunteer Angels help to cook and distribute meals to clients throughout northern New Mexico. The organization also has a partnership with Beneficial Farms, a community-supported agriculture program whose members may choose to donate their weekly food boxes to Kitchen Angels when they go out of town. The biodynamic produce helps the Angels prepare special meals for clients with immune-system problems, and kitchen trimmings get returned to Beneficial Farms to be used as compost.

Participating restaurants include Andiamo! (995-9595), Cowgirl Bar & Grill (982-2656), La Boca (982-3433), Osteria d’Assisi (986-5858), O’Keeffe Café (946-1065), Mariscos Costa Azul (473-4594), Pranzo Italian Grill (984-2645), El Farol (983-9912), Ristra (982-8608), Pizza Espiritu (424-8000), India Palace (986-5859), Josh’s Barbecue (474-6466), El Meson (983-6756) and San Francisco Street Bar and Grill (982-2044). All of the restaurants, except Josh’s Barbecue, ask that you call ahead and make a reservation.

And did you know that last month the city and county formed an Advisory Council on Food Policy? To some of you that may sound drier than whole-wheat toast, but it’s actually an exciting development for local food activists. The council came about as a result of the effort of a Health and Human Services Week subcommitee. This particular subcommittee included Sherry Hooper of The Food Depot, Pamela Roy of Farm to Table, Tony McCarty of Kitchen Angels and Mark Winne of the Community Food Security Coalition. If anybody in Santa Fe knows what kind of food-policy action we need, it’s these guys. According to a press release, the Advisory Council on Food Policy will work to “reduce food insecurity and promote a healthy and sustainable food system.” Specifically, that means reducing hunger and poverty, reducing diabetes and protecting farmland. The council will be made up of 13 members—two from city government, two from county government and nine from the private sector—who will advise the city and county on food and agriculture issues. If you’re interested, contact Sherry Hooper at 471-1633 ext. 10 for more information about the council.