How do you connect with food? With land? With the seasons? For many, that has shifted dramatically in the past six months. Walks around the neighborhood, finding nearby outdoor space, planting veggies in the yard (if not full-blown gardens), and frequent home-cooked meals have become large parts of life for many during the pandemic. And there is an activity which combines all of that: foraging. 

What happens when a nation needs to social distance, restaurants close indoor dining and people head out for summer road trips? Drive-thrus boom across America! 

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The pandemic has changed many things about day to day life, including a shift to primarily, if not exclusively, pickup and delivery for food. In cities and towns across the country, many fast food and fast casual locations have scrambled to transition to drive-thru and/or carry-out only, rather than shut down in accordance with local indoor dining restrictions or varying degrees of safety precautions.

Water is life. Water is health. Water is the building block for people and planet. Summer or winter, pandemic or not, urban or rural, we all need it to survive. But not all water is created equal. Enter Rising Springs. 

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Unprocessed, unfiltered and untouched for 16,000 years, the spring quite literally rises from a granite-protected, quartz-surrounded aquifer 2.2 miles beneath the earth’s surface at the base of the Sawtooth National Forest and wildlife expanse in Idaho, untouched in the modern era and untainted by contaminants. 

Eat food, not plastic. That may sound obvious, but just as plastic is ubiquitous in our lives, it is omnipresent in, on and around our food. That’s not how it’s always been, nor how it needs to be going forward — especially when plastic pollution is filling our streets, landfills, communities and oceans (even our fish) at alarming and increasing rates.

Melissa Wenzel wants you to eat local, artisan foods – bread, specifically. 

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Whether you make it from scratch, pickup from a friend or purchase nearby, opt for the gluten-free or glutenous varietal, slice open a fluffy bagel, stack a sandwich or toss a slice on the grill, the Naturopathic doctor-turned-professional-bread-baker highly suggests giving it a try. If you needed the extra encouragement to eat more bread, there you have it.

"This all started with an idea and a dream of simply being free.” 

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Those aren’t always the words one associates with the opening of a grocery store, but such is the basis of Chef Jonny Rhodes’ evolving concept for neo-soul food. The Houston chef and food activist draws upon the history, culture and social experiences of African Americans of past and present to inform all of his work across the culinary and agricultural world. 

Oxtail, peppers and allspice. Those are the flavors of Jerome Grant’s childhood, stirring memories, marking moments, telling the stories of summers with his Jamaican immigrant grandmother in Philadelphia.  Decades before he introduced the Caribbean Pepper Pot on the menu at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC, Grant was a boy learning the rich culinary traditions of his heritage.

"Y'all want to plant some mother f**ing kale?"

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That is what a billboard reads over Sunset Boulevard next to the face of Ron Finley — with a shovel in one hand and a bunch of fresh greens in the other. In the time of the pandemic, both digital learning and gardening have taken off – and with it Finley’s groundbreaking MasterClass – but he is too busy in his own Gangsta Garden, too busy harvesting free food, too busy building a new reality to be caught up in the whirlwind.

“Let my building burn. Justice needs to be served. Put those officers in jail.”

Hafsa Islam recounts the words of her father, Ruhel Islam, upon learning that their Minneapolis restaurant had gone up in flames. On Thursday, May 28th, amid the tumult following George Floyd’s death and the call for justice, the 12-year old restaurant, Gandhi Mahal, became a symbol of the uprising.

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"It's a rollercoaster ride, but we’re here and trying to handle this madness. It requires a lot of adapting, which is fun and stressful at the same time.” Amber Lambke’s words capture a global sentiment, though the Founder and CEO of Maine Grains is, in this case, specifically referring to her own business.  As Coronavirus changes the industry drastically – with closures of restaurants and bakeries, coupled with a dramatic surge in homebaking – Lambke has had to make quick and sudden shifts to keep up.

Technology. Delivery. Health. Food. These four words hold great appeal as individual entities. When combined – particularly in the current pandemic – they prove tremendously relevant, even invaluable. They’re also how one might describe Sweetgreen — the nationwide fast casual chain known for its salads.

What the heck should I eat? What will help my immunity? What does optimal nutrition look like in the time of the Coronavirus?

What do farmers do when restaurants close and the bulk of farmers market-goers stay home? 

"We just get scrappy,” says Adriana Silva.

The founder of Tomatero Farm in Watsonville, CA, Silva explains that the latest example of that “scrappiness” has manifested in a partnership with The Edible Schoolyard Project and City of Stockton to bring fresh, local, organic fruits and vegetables to families in need, especially amid school closures. 

Her name is no longer Floris White Bull; her name is Number 151. When most people were sending their children back to school, she was fighting against the Dakota Access Pipeline, the oil pipeline currently being built through tribal lands in South Dakota.

I too have been sexually assaulted. I have been sexually assaulted so many times that I cannot even count them. That very fact is pathetic, reprehensible, sickening.

Refugees unwelcome. President Trump will ban all people fleeing persecution and violence in seven predominantly Muslim Middle Eastern and African countries from entering the United States.

I don't see myself as a politician. Never have, never will.

Dirt has value.

In a world of excess carbon, a solution to the climate crisis will not only require lower greenhouse gas emissions, but also a strategy for sequestering the emissions already released into the atmosphere. One major sink for carbon is healthy soil rich with organic matter.

Donald Trump believes that climate change is a hoax. Sorry, Donald Trump does not believe that climate change is a hoax. Are you confused yet? I don't blame you. 

Would you eat landfill? Or cattle feed? How about industrial food waste? What would it take for you to sit down for a meal of scraps? A pair of top chefs may have the secret ingredient: telling a story that creates a real, emotional connection between what’s on our plates and the world in which we live.

"You should be investing in good things for people and planet.” Those are not words one may expect to hear out of the mouth of one of the world’s top chefs, but José Andrés doesn’t fit many molds.

Shirtless volleyball in New York City and frostbitten plants in Los Angeles… on Christmas? If something doesn’t seem right with this picture, you are not the only one taking note.

With just 12 days to go before Americans cast their ballots, Chelsea Clinton has been hitting the campaign trail. And yesterday, she spent the day stumping for her birthday-girl mom in the swing state of Ohio. Ahead, some of the casual wisdom and fun tidbits she shared.

Ladies, I worked out with Jill Biden, PhD — and it was sweaty and spectacular.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign raised some eyebrows earlier this week: Al Gore is going to hit the campaign trail to help the Democratic nominee win over millennials. Yes, you heard right. 

Do you dream of wandering pristine corners of the earth or exploring far off exotic lands? I have good news: such places still exist!

“Weed.” “Pot.” “Marijuana.” The answers began pouring out. College kids are familiar with the five-leaf hemp plant, but only as a drug. The “other” hemp, I informed them, was what I was there to speak about.

Your opinions, values and ideas are relevant. Your voice can become a movement and launch a revolution. Your actions can change the present and future of our world.

The #MuslimBan is personal for me — as it should be for every soul on the face of planet earth. I will not respond with silence, indifference or hatred; I will respond with love, resistance and power. TEN CONCRETE ACTION ITEMS BELOW.

The end of summer is around the corner and school is, once again, upon us. Early morning wake-ups, packing lunches, and after school activities will all soon become routine, but first… back-to-school shopping.

The end of summer is around the corner and school is, once again, upon us. Early morning wake-ups, packing lunches, and after school activities will all soon become routine, but first… back-to-school shopping. Teens Turning Green is a national nonprofit devoted to education and advocacy around environmentally and socially responsible choices for individuals, schools, and communities. 

Fashion is fun and glamorous. But conventionally grown cotton is neither. Yes, cotton is indeed a crop – something that is easy to forget when worn woven into soft, colorful, and textured fabrics.

My entry point into the true depths of a green lifestyle came through cosmetics and personal care products. Much of the information that we used in the formation of Teens Turning Green (originally Teens for Safe Cosmetics) came, and continues to come, from the national Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. 

I love to cook. I don’t mean like, or even really like, I mean cookbook obsessed, recipe-scribbling, culinary gadget-addict, cannot wait to get into the kitchen to spend hours preparing multi-course feasts pure unadulterated love.