The Checkout: Grocery Nerds

Episode #22 Notes

1:00 - Chicago Food Policy Action Council - how did you get interested in food policy and reforms?

3:45 - How did the Chicago Food Policy Action Council come about?

5:45 - What is the vision and mission?

6:45 - What are the challenges in the food system that you are trying to address?

10:30 - Who are the main stakeholders around goal setting, accountability, and impact?

12:30 - How has your organization responded to COVID?

15:45 - Tell us about your involvement with the Good Food Purchasing Program?

18:15 - How has CFPAC addressed land access, urban farming, food business licensing, etc.?

22:30 - Urban Stewards Action Network (USAN).

25:00 - Are there other cities that are doing the type of work you are?

26:00 - What is the potential impact of GFPP on Chicago and the surrounding area?

29:00 - Suggested readings?

For The Wild Podcast, Ayana Young

Farming While Black, Leah Penniman

Freedom Farmers, Monica White

Who Really Feeds The World, Vandana Shiva

Lo—tek. Design by Radical Indigenism, Julia Watson

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Episode #22 Notes

1:00 - How did you get interested in Organic farming?

4:00 - What’s the mission of Farmshare Austin?

5:45 - What are the main program areas around farmer training?

7:15 - How do you teach, and what do your graduates go on to do?

11:00 - What can you grow in Central Texas, and what are the challenges?

13:15 - Tell us about your work in food access?

21:00 - What has been the response to this work?

23:00 - How are your programs funded?

26:45 - What is your vision for the regional food systems in Central Texas?

31:00 - How is Farmshare’s work replicable in other areas?

34:00 - Suggested readings?

One Straw Revolution, Masanobu Fukuoka

**Note: SNAP and Double Dollars account for 25% of total sales, rather than 20% as stated in this interview.

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Episode #21 Notes

1:00 - The Secret Life of Groceries and Perilous Bounty

1:30 - What motivated you to write The Secret Life of Groceries?

4:00 - The low down on Trader Joe’s

9:45 - A day in the life at The Food Show

16:15 - Truckers and Co-Packers.

23:00 - Food supply chains in Southeast Asia.

27:00 - The affects of pricing and the “race to the bottom”

37:00 - Global trade treaties, labor standards, and policy blind-spots.

41:30 - Suggested readings?

Perilous Bounty, Tom Philpott

This Old Man All in Pieces, Roger Angell

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Episode #20 Notes

0:45 - What is the mission and vision of Black Church Food Security Network?

2:45 - How and where do you operate?

4:30 - How should we think about the role of the Black church being connected to the Black freedom struggle?

6:00 - How is food connected to the Black freedom struggle?

8:30 - What have you seen regarding food insecurity first hand, pre and during COVID?

10:30 - Who are the main stakeholders and beneficiaries of your work?

14:45 - Does your organization help with logistics and distribution? How does it operate?

22:30 - On dispossession and discrimination of Black farmers have faced since emancipation?

28:00 - On Faith, Food and Freedom campaign.

30:30 - What’s been the response to your work, generally?

34:00 - What does food sovereignty and land sovereignty mean to you?

37:00 - How does your work move us towards a more fair and just food system?

42:00 - Suggested readings?

Black Reconstruction, W.E.B. DuBois

Black Theology and Black Power, James H. Cone

God of the Oppressed, James H. Cone

Said I Wasn’t Gonna Tell Nobody, James H. Cone

Collective Courage, Jessica Gordon Nembhard

Ella Baker and The Black Freedom Movement, Barbara Ransby

Thomas Sankara Speaks, Thomas Sankara

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Episode #19 Notes

1:00 - What inspired you to start Soul Fire Farm?

2:15 - Tell us about your farming practices, the origins of these practices, and how they’ve been appropriated?

5:15 - How might you critique the Organic farming standard especially around BIPOC farmers around the US?

6:20 - How is Soul Fire Farm enabling food access in your community, and how is it rooted in food sovereignty?

8:30 - What can we do with food policy in ending racism in the food system, particularly around farm owners and workers?

11:30 - How would reparations play into anti-racist food policy, and how could people support this?

14:30 - Entrepreneurial ally programs, and working in the direction of reparations.

15:30 - How can federal policy enable healthy food access?

18:30 - New federal bill on land justice for black farmers.

21:00 - Organizational dynamics: how does listening come into your organizing work?

24:00 - What are some internal organizational strategies for a more just and inclusive work environment?

25:45 - Whaat are some steps funders can take to dismantle racism in their own practices?

29:00 - Individuals and the steps they can take to move the food system in a positive direction.

30:45 - On high functioning boards.

32:45 - Any suggested readings?

Farming While Black, Leah Pennimaan

Broken Earth Trilogy, NK Jemisin

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms Trilogy, NK Jemisin

Three Body Problem, Cixin Liu

Dare to Lead Podcast, Brene Brown

Freedom Farmers, Monica M. White

Black Food Geographies, Ashante M. Reese

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Episode #18 Notes

1:00 - What motivated you to become a chef?

2:00 - How has white settler colonialism impacted the food ways of the indigenous people in the US?

3:45 - On weaponizing foods.

5:40 - What has the impact of “the standard American diet” on native people in the US?

10:30 - How did you end up working with Sean Sherman?

14:45 - What are some of the traditional, pre-contact foods you use in your cooking?

16:30 - Recipes!

18:45 - Tell us about your experience serving food at Standing Rock, and how did this experience effect you?

22:30 - How do you define food sovereignty?

24:00 - What are some of the biggest threats or challenges that need to be overcome in your work?

25:20 - What can listeners do to help bring back native food ways?

26:30 - How will your work - and the larger indigenous rights and food movement - impact things like agricultural policy and land reform?

30:00 - What’s your vision for the food system?

34:00 - What books would you like to recommend?

Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden - Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians, Gilbert L. Wilson

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Episode #17 Notes

1:00 - What motivated you to become a social justice organizer?

3:15 - What were some of the biggest challenges in organizing with undocumented immigrants?

6:15 - Why should we see undocumented workers as truly essential to our economy and the health of our communities?

9:45 - What are some of the biggest victories and letdowns in your organizing work?

12:45 - Is there cooperation with Texas AFL and mainstream unions?

15:20 - What obstacles or challenges have you faced as a powerful woman of color in politics and organizing?

18:30 - In the wake of BLM protests, what’s your assessment of the progress made so far and what are some threats?

21:30 - What motivated you to run for senate?

24:30 - What role did BIPOC organizers play in the most recent elections?

27:00 - What kind of changes do we need to see in Texas for the political climate to really shift?

31:00 - Do you see parallels with significant demographic and cultural shifts, like California and Arizona?

34:30 - How does food come into you organizing work?

37:45 - Cristina and the vegan diet.

41:00 - Cristina on gardening in Texas.

44:00 - What are some books that you’d recommend?

Big Wonderful Thing, Stephen Harrigan

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Episode #15 Notes

0:45 - What kind of jobs have you had as an essential worker?

1:45 - When did you start at Amazon, and what kind of work did you do?

2:30 - How did Amazon initially react to COVID and what motivated you to speak out and organize your fellow workers?

4:15 - What was Amazon’s reaction to you speaking out?

5:15 - What kind of action did you start taking?

8:00 - What was the response from your co-workers and the immediate community with regards to your organizing and advocacy?

9:15 - How did Amazon benefit from a lack of regulatory oversight?

11:00 - What is the Congress of Essential Workers and how was it founded?

12:30 - What is the mission, vision, and demands of the Congress of Essential Workers?

14:15 - What are some of the current campaigns and immediate goals of your organization?

15:45 - Are you still in touch with your coworkers?

17:15 - How can our listeners support your work?

18:30 - What do you think should be done about Amazon?

19:45 - What does a just and fair food system or economy look like to you?

22:30 - What are you reading right now?

The Cost of Free Shipping, Jake Alimahomed-Wilson and Ellen Reese

On The Clock, Emily Guendelsberger

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Episode #14 Notes

1:00 - Can you tell us about your background in journalism, particularly as it relates to ag and food?

2:30- Tell us about your work on outbreaks in large meat packing plants during COVID?

7:15 - Tyson and their role in the the current COVID outbreaks at meat packing plants.

9:45 - How have workers responded to these outbreaks at large meat processors?

12:00 - What could and should Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) be doing to protect workers at meat processing facilities?

14:30 - What other specific recommendations stakeholders should be doing to protect meat plant workers?

17:45 - As of mid-October 2020, 45,000 meat plant workers illnesses and 269 deaths related to COVID.

18:30 - Have you seen better behavior from corporate owners in other food supply sectors with regards to best practices around COVID?

21:00 - On asking ourselves: Is this COVID outbreak in the food supply chain acceptable? And what’s your role in it?

22:00 - Chicken price fixing.

25:45 - What can food systems advocates and workers do to demand justice for those injured by corporate mismanagement?

28:30 - What are your practical ideas around changing the food system towards a more just and resilient future?

31:30 - On alternative food systems and breaking up big food.

33:00 - What do you recommend folks read?

The Meat Racket, Christopher Leonard

The Chain, Ted Genoways

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