This Labor Day, you can make a difference by taking part in the National Day of Action. This Monday, September 7th, people from all over the U.S. will gather together at “Eat In” potlucks and talk about the National School Lunch Program and the Child Nutrition Act.

This movement is an effort by Slow Food USA to call attention to our nation’s current school lunch program and its direct influence on the health of our country’s youth. Each school day, 30 million children take part in the National School Lunch Program, governed by the U.S. Congress, but the program is lacking precisely what it is suppose to provide- real food. According to Slow Food USA, one in four children is overweight or obese and one in three will develop diabetes in their lifetime! It’s time to take action now!

Currently, our schools continue to nourish students with heavily processed food on a daily basis and sadly, for many children it is their one guaranteed meal they can count on each day. Every four to five years, the Child Nutrition Act comes up for reauthorization in Congress and the deadline is here.

Want to Help, Learn More or Get Involved? Here’s How!

Slow Food USA National Day of Action

Better School Food

Farm to School Network

Renegade Lunch Lady, Chef Ann

Above Photo by: Bookgrl

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Well, technically it’s Day 3, but unfortunately I’ve been pulling near all-nighters at work, so writing has been challenging to say the least! But we did eat last night, I just fell asleep before I could write! Apologies.

We went to our favorite Latino market in White Center called Carniceria El Paisano for provisions. We purchased a half pound of puerco en adobo (pork in a spicy marinade) for $1.98, a can of black refried beans for $.99, a big bag of corn tortillas for $1.69, and a bottle of hot sauce for $.89.

Then we headed over to a Vietnamese market for veggies. They had a 6-foot table with loaded with baggies of fruits and vegetables in their last days – all for $1.00! A big bag of limes, one filled with tomatoes (perfect for a huge batch of sauce), nectarines, etc. You’d never see that at a Safeway! Granted, the food would need to be cooked, frozen or eaten within probably a day, but still quite the savings.

We purchased four Key limes for $.18, an onion for $.39, a half pound of nopalitos (cactus) for roughly $.75, a beautiful head of lettuce for $.79, and a big bunch of gorgeous cilantro for $.39. Grand total for dinner: $8.05. Since we had the Turkey Dal leftovers for lunch, and yogurt and bananas for breakfast, we actually saved a bit of our food dollars today.

Here’s how we prepared our Mexican meal: Barnaby grilled the nopalitos and puerco en adobo, and since they are both so thin they cooked up in a flash. I had the easy job of heating up the refried beans and chopping up the onions. We made street-style tacos filled with the pork, onions, cilantro, fresh lime juice and a squeeze of hot sauce. Tasty!

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In an effort to help fight hunger in my community, Barnaby and I have taken The Hunger Challenge. As part of Hunger Awareness Week, we’ll be living on a total of $12 a day (the amount given to a two-person household in Washington State) until this Friday. At the end of the week we’ll calculate what we normally spend each day on food and beverage, then subtract the allowance and donate that amount to our local food bank. I know it won’t solve the hunger problems so many are facing, but my goal is to at least provide meals and tasty inexpensive recipes for those in need, and encourage others to join in the fight against hunger. In King county alone, an additional 137,000 meals a day are needed. We can all help reduce that to zero if we work together. Even in an economic downturn we are still a very wealthy nation – no one should go to bed hungry, and no one should have to choose between paying the rent or eating.

This week our focus is to be creative and come up with inexpensive meals that are healthy and flavorful. It’s easy to eat cheap, but unfortunately nutrition and taste are usually left out of the equation. One way to find quality ingredients for a fraction of the price is to shop at ethnic markets. We’ve always enjoyed shopping at our local Asian and Latino markets and find their fruits, vegetables and meats -as well as herbs, spices and sauces- are high in quality and markedly cheaper than mainstream markets.

Our first dinner was a remarkably tasty concoction created by Barnaby. Inspired by ingredients we found at an Indian market, he created a dish that he simply calls “Turkey Dal.” The dal we used was masoor dal, a type of orange lentil. It can be purchased in bulk, is high in protein, and is cheap, cheap, cheap! And delicious too. We cooked the dah -which ended up dissolving into creamy goodness (photo shows the dish pre-cooked)- with ground turkey, canned tomatoes, carrots, celery, onion and curry powder. Our total cost for this meal we calculated at only $4.40, and we have two more meals worth each left over.

Budget or no budget, this was one darn good meal!

Click here for the recipe:

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In these tough economic times, it’s easy to forget how well off most of us are. About half of the world’s population lives in poverty and over a billion people live in extreme poverty. With the stock market down and economic turmoil here in the United States, many are feeling scared and unsure about their own financial situation. One of the best ways to take some control and make a difference is to help others. Today is Blog Action Day 08 – Poverty, where thousands of bloggers come together to advocate for a cause, and this time the theme is reducing poverty.

A core effect of poverty is hunger and since this is a food blog, I got to thinking about ways to help people fight hunger and feed the world’s poor. We are also a start-up, so I thought it would be a great combo to promote some of the food entrepreneurs on the micro-lending site Kiva.org. Check out the interesting folks I found below and consider making a small loan to help people pull themselves up from poverty. Even $25 can make a difference!

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There was an interesting AP article today about insects as food, titled: “Researchers say bugs could ease famine.” It chronicles a U.N. sponsored meeting of scientists in Thailand, where they eat bugs as a regular part of the diet. When Sheri and I visited Thailand several years ago, I was amazed to see whole carts filled with crickets, meal worms, and water bugs. These critters were prepared in a variety of ways and proudly displayed as snacks. One vendor setup shop right in front of a McDonald’s in Bangkok for those looking for true variety. Now, I’m an adventurous eater, but even I had a hard time imagining eating roaches. However, according to the article “1,400 species of insects and worms are eaten in almost 90 countries.” Much of the focus of the investigations are on how to use insects as a dietary supplement as a way of overcoming world hunger. However, the scientists seemed to be thinking much farther outside of the box, one “Japanese scientist proposed bug farms on spacecraft to feed astronauts, noting that it would be more practical than raising cows or pigs.” I can see that dealing with cow and pig manure in space would be a pain, but crickets just aren’t a substitute for bacon!

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I’ve never been to Africa, much less Ethiopia, but Ethiopian cuisine is one of my favorites. The only thing that many Americans only know about Ethiopia, is that it had terrible famine in the 1980s, when more 1 million people starved. Sadly, Ethiopia has been described as “chronically food insecure” by world hunger experts. Despite it’s food shortages, Ethiopia has one of the world’s oldest and richest culinary traditions. Served family style, on a huge sour-dough pancake-like bread called Injera, diners in Ethiopian restaurants typically eat with their hands scooping up bits of 5-10 different preparations with the injera. I love the mix of spiced stews and curries, featuring both meat and wonderful vegetarian dishes. Another interesting part of the dining experience is Tej, which is a flavored honey wine, that can be either sweet or dry.

America has several Ethiopian communities that feature excellent restaurants, which also tend to be a great value. In Washington, D.C., there’s an enclave in the Adams-Morgan district and Los Angeles has it’s own “Little Ethiopia.” The Fillmore district in San Francisco has a couple of nice places, including a personal favorite, Rasselas, which is also a Jazz club.

Beyond the food, I find the people, culture and history of Northeast Africa very interesting; though admittedly my exposure has been limited. Despite the difficulties in traveling there, some day I’m going to visit Ethiopia and possibly it’s embattled neighbor Eritrea. Here’s my vlog post from the restaurant Merkato:

For more, check out this post on the Fat Free Vegan blog. Here’s a good resource for finding a restaurant near you: http://www.ethiopianrestaurant.com. And finally, “The Watch Woman” has a number of good recipes.

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Calling all philanthropic wordsmiths! Channel your inner Merriam-Webster and fill rice bowls for the hungry. FreeRice.com, sister site of Poverty.com, and in participation with the United Nation’s World Food Programme, has developed a fun, educational vocabulary game that helps combat global hunger.

How to play: Remember those multiple choice vocabulary tests back in grade school? Only this time it’s fun! When you choose the correct definition you move to the next level and get a harder word. And, it does get harder. Get it wrong, and you get an easier word.

What you win: For each word you get right, FreeRice will donate 20 grains of rice to the World Food Programme (WFP). But wait, there’s more! You also win increased intelligence, the admiration of your friends and the ability to interpolate big words into your tête-à-tête whilst committing sacerdotal deeds.

Just to let you know:

• FreeRice is completely non-profit
• The rice is paid for by advertisers on their site
• The WFP is not only helping to feed the hungry in over 75 nations, but teaching them how to be self-reliant in order to escape hunger for good
• You can download a banner and link to FreeRice.com from your website

Help spread the word about the World Food Programme’s campaign to end world hunger.

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