Food and food production lies at the center of community, and few people know that better than the CEO and founder of Sankofa Village Community Garden: Vikki Ayanna Jones. In this episode, we hear about how she worked to create this project and how it demonstrates the role that food plays in bringing people together. 

Sankofa Village Community Garden:

https://www.svcgpgh.com/

Theme by Miles Shebar:

https://shebar.nyc/sound/

In the 20th century alone Black farmers lost nearly 12 million acres of land. Today, around 45,000 Black farmers remain-- approximately 1.3% of the total farmer population-- and own around 1% of the nation's farmland. This, of course, is no accident. To understand land loss within the Black farming community, we must confront both the overt and covert mechanisms used to advance land dispossession efforts and thwart generational wealth building. Join us this week to discuss the USDA's troubled history of discriminatory loan practices, the narrow focus of present day institutions like the American Farm Bureau Association and how we might go about centering the voices of Black farmers in discussions regarding reparations. 

Resources: 

The Great Land Robbery by Vann R. Newkirk II 

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/09/this-land-was-our-land/594742/

For the Culture  is a biannual printed food magazine that celebrates Black women in food and wine.

https://www.fortheculturefoodmag.com/about

A global representation platform for black and non-white people working within hospitality and food media...

https://www.blackbookorg.com/

Engaging in reparations...

https://www.soulfirefarm.org/get-involved/reparations/

A collection of Black-owned Restaurants 

https://dine.black/

This current moment is showing many flaws in our food systems. In a conversation with farmer Lynn Trizna, the need for more localized food production becomes abundantly clear. The incredibly complex food system is failing when confronted with these adverse conditions, a simple solution is present, what if the food goes straight from farmer to eater without crisscrossing the nation. 

This interview is the last in a series confronting some of the many ways that the Covid-19 pandemic has crippled the food world. As it is ongoing we felt that we should release it even in the midst of the current uprisings across the nation. With the much longer-lasting and more devastating problem of systemic racism receiving the attention it has so long deserved, Tom and I want to state that we stand in solidarity with that movement. We are taking the time to work on content that reflects just how insidious these issues are in the food world, but in the meantime, we want to include some resources about supporting the black community and this movement. 

Ghetto Gastro has been tackling issues of race and oppression in food and beyond since their inception, please check them out on Instagram and their website which is linked below.

https://ghettogastro.com/

Dine.Black is a website devoted to providing extensive listings of black-owned food businesses in cities around America. Please support these businesses however you can.

https://dine.black/

The food industry has thousands of different approaches and ideas represented in the many different restaurantuers, caterers, private chefs, food truck owners, fry cooks, line cooks, and others that make up the scene. During this pandemic all of these approaches have been threatened, a lot of attention has been given to restaurants and the disparities between the small local eateries and national chains, but even that doesn't capture the whole picture. In order to get more information we talk to Chef Melinda Tracy to learn about her approach to food and how her business has been impacted by these events.

Links for Melinda's different projects are below.

http://www.foodwithmelinda.com/

https://nutsandboltsbrooklyn.com/

The health and safety of our nation’s farmworkers and food service members has long been a focus of concern for both food activists and policymakers alike. In light of the recent and accelerated spread of COVID-19 throughout the United States, these essential workers must now confront a new risk, that being infection. On this episode of Sustained, we speak with Dr. Elizabeth Kennedy to get a better sense of the current realities faced by the food sector's frontline and the need for protections that reflect this status of 'essential.' 

Upton Sinclair's The Jungle described the horrors of the meatpacking industry a century ago. His hope was to change that stark picture, let's see how he did.