Food: a user's guide

While I've been searching for a job in food, people have naturally asked me what motivated me to look for work in such a radically different area than music. The answer to that is involved and I am pressed for time just now, but I will address it in a future post. In the meantime, I wanted to share what I was working on for the formerly-thought-to-be-cool-but-really-not-so-much environmental organization.

It started when they asked me to write Web content that they could post on their site about food and sustainability certifications. You've all heard of organic food, but "organic" is in fact a USDA federal certification as of 2002, and you can't call yourself an organic producer unless you meet a number of stringent protocols that are verified by an independent third-party certification organization. In any event, there are a number of other types of certifications, and the terminology surrounding food these days can be quite confusing, so I was asked to write a short explanation of the various types of certifications currently available. You can check it out here. (Apologies for the weird formatting; Google Docs doesn't seem to like text in boxes.)

As I worked, I realized there was a lot more to say than just defining terms, and the project swelled to include discussions of food security, food safety, nutrition, GMO foods, CSAs, growing your own food, carbon "foodprints," food and global warming, and food as it relates to issues of economic and social inequality. You can read it here. I also included a suggested reading list at the end, for those interested in learning more. If you have any suggestions for additions to this project or the reading list, please let me know. I sent in my final revision to the expletive deleted organization in question earlier this week, but there's always new information coming out about food these days, and I intend to keep adding to this report as new information becomes available.