Students Push for Halal and Kosher Food at NYC Public Schools

Senior leaders and students from Khan’s Tutorial, a NYC-based tutoring group which aims to educate individuals and groups at affordable prices, rallied together in front of City Hall to tell lawmakers what impact food has on students performance and learning environment. This bill which public advocates and Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Queens) are pushing for is an important one that would offer halal and kosher meals to public school attendees. According to public advocates, Muslim and Jewish students make-up at least one-third of the student population and when they are looking to eat at lunchtime, the options are typically unhealthy, repetitive or nothing at all. I believe whole-heartedly that you need to eat good, healthy food to have any chance of success in our society, and it is too often that children and families in need are the ones to suffer! Let’s keep connected to all members of our community, as diverse as it is, and continue our efforts towards a fair and equitable food system!

Organic Milk Has A Longer Shelf-Life

According to an associate professor at the department of food science at Cornell University, Organic milk does have a significantly longer shelf-life than inorganic milk due only to the heat level at which it is pasteurized. If you are consuming such animal byproducts which includes eggs, yogurt, cheese, etc. then buying Organic is of the utmost importance already because of the health risks associated with the pervasive use of antibiotics dosed to animals on conventional farms. Definitely it seems that the milk’s longer shelf-life is a bonus for consumers, but the key issue is still to avoid foods that have a negative impact on public health and potentially burden our healthcare system!!! Antibiotic-resistant bacterias are a serious threat that is being considered globally and buying Organic is one simple way to tell food producers that we care about where our food comes from and from what it is made!

Boston’s Local and Sustainable Food Hub

Earlier this month was Boston’s Eat Local Food Festival, an amazing daylong event held annually, which transforms the Rose Kennedy Greenway into one of the nation’s largest local and sustainable food hubs! This exciting (and free!) outdoor event is certainly worth marking down on your calendar for next year. Supported by the Sustainable Business Network (SBN), this event also claims to be zero-waste and if you recall iEat Green’s recent work with Feeding the 5000, then you already know the importance of reducing food waste for helping to create a clean and healthy future. Do check out SBN events in Boston and keep your eyes peeled for how locals are changing the way we live, work and more importantly, the ways that we eat!  Also, check out iEat Green’s events page for a more in-depth list of local events focused on food, sustainability, and vibrant community!

Seeds to Plant Now and the Importance of Plant Diversity

If  you haven’t yet planted any veggie seeds (kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts, maybe even cauliflower if yours has survived this summer long) then you might be asking yourself, ‘is it too late?’. Well, yes, unfortunately it is for most crops, but mid October is the perfect time to plant your garlic, for an early Spring crop. Also, this is a perfect time to start you indoor sprouting, which can be done all winter long. I like to plant broccoli sprouts and radish sprouts, as well as wheat grass for juicing, and High Mowing is a great place to order your seeds. But remember, that, for plenty of farms now it is still a very active time of the year and local food producers are working hard (all year long, really) to bring food to our markets and tables. In fact, many of our own ‘homegrown’ Long Island farm’s are offering fun Fall seasonal activities for everyone! I suggest you check out Organics Today, located at 169 Washington Street in East Islip, which has an all day farmstand with all organic vegetables and fruit, and moonlight pumpkin picking this month on October 11th!

Also, check out the Perfect Earth Project and their upcoming local events for an East End Landscaping and Watershed workshop here! The Perfect Earth Project is a great non-profit organization that promotes toxin-free land management around the world. One of their recent campaigns brought awareness to the negative impacts of a particular type of grass (Japanese or Chinese Silver Grass) which has been historically used for landscaping here on Long Island, but tends to take over due to its wide dispersal of seeds and so harshly impacting (arguably corrupting) our landscape biodiversity (which, as we discussed earlier, is not good!).