<![CDATA[FEAST VIRGINIA

<![CDATA[FEAST VIRGINIA - Blog]]>Sun, 23 Nov 2025 05:55:29 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[Take It and Make It Kits]]>Wed, 07 Jul 2021 01:28:19 GMThttp://www.feastva.org/blog/take-it-and-make-it-kits

July's Featured Vegetable: Zucchini!

FEAST VA has partnered with Monarch Dining and the Monarch Pantry to help address food insecurity at ODU and to provide meal kits to students.

Each month, students can pick-up meal kits that contain all the ingredients needed to make a healthy recipe. The meal kits include a recipe card, as well as a link to a video providing a cooking demonstration.

This month, we are featuring zucchini in this light and summery recipe:
Zucchini Spaghetti with Lemon Tomato Sauce

Students must reserve a meal kit for pick-up. To receive updates on when the meal kits will be distributed, follow ODU’s FEED ODU Instagram page at @feed_odu.

]]><![CDATA[Virginia Farm to School]]>Wed, 07 Jul 2021 01:02:47 GMThttp://www.feastva.org/blog/virginia-farm-to-school

In Virginia, farm to school efforts ensure that every child in Virginia has equitable access to healthy Virginia grown food, resulting in greater educational performance and improved sustainability for Virginia agriculture and related industries. The Virginia Harvest of the Month campaign launched in 2019 featuring 12 crops that can be harvested during the feature month or stored and used during winter months. Each month contains posters, point-of-sale signs, relevant lesson plans, suggested elementary-level books, family-scale recipes, commercial-scale recipes for school use, and production records. Each school division received at least one set of 12 posters for each school and school nutrition program directors received flash drives containing user guides, supplemental materials, and high-resolution poster reproducibles.

The heart of Virginia farm to school efforts lies in procuring more local products for child nutrition programs and using them to excite and educate students about consuming healthy, locally raised food. Successful farm to school efforts around the Commonwealth benefit from community partnerships and tie classrooms and school gardens to the school nutrition program.

Thank you,

Trista Grigsby
Farm to School Specialist, Virginia Department of Education

]]><![CDATA[From the Chief Food Advocate]]>Wed, 07 Jul 2021 00:49:42 GMThttp://www.feastva.org/blog/from-the-chief-food-advocate

2020 was certainly a year that we all will remember. For a grass roots non profit it was a time to pivot and rethink how best to serve our audience.

Getting information about our organization into the public schools seemed like a good approach. Partnering with the Virginia Farm to School program and creating monthly recipes for the Harvest of the Month started in January. These recipe cards and information about the FEAST program are dropped in food foods that go home with 3,000 students each month.

Old Dominion University Student Pantry reached out to us and asked how we could help. We suggested taking the recipe card and providing all the ingredients in a bag, A Take It & Make It Kit would be something the students would enjoy. In March we started the Take It & Make It kit with the support from the Monarch Dining and Aramark Food Services who provided the ingredients and staff to pack the bags. We suggested that we take it a step further and do a video/ YouTube on how to put the recipe together. Chef Patton is now making YouTube videos of the recipes that include a QR code on the card for easy scanning. The students seem to enjoy taking them and making them. Many of the students are international so it helps them to navigate our foods a little better.

Additional FEAST Virginia has been underwriting the Cooking with Jae episodes on WHRO Public Media every other Sunday at 6 p.m. since February. Jae and Chef Patton at ODU have connected and have produced several YouTubes from the Monarch Dining Center. Check them out!

The goal of this Monthly Digest is to keep you informed of the services we are providing for our communities. Please give us some feedback by email, Facebook or Instagram. 2021 is going to be a great year!

Bev Sell - Chief Food Advocate
Founder of FEAST Virginia

]]><![CDATA[Staying Healthy During the Summer]]>Tue, 06 Jul 2021 17:49:24 GMThttp://www.feastva.org/blog/staying-healthy-during-the-summer

By Jasmine Deloatch Assistant Editor of the New Journal and Guide

With summer comes the grill lighting and outside gatherings, but this summer, staying healthy may have a new meaning. Being healthy as the weather warms up includes being COVID-19 safe, as well as eating healthy and exercising.

Outside gatherings are recommended, opposed to gathering indoors, but health officials still encourage a six foot distance and the wearing of a mask. Make sure to keep up with the latest recommendations from health officials to keep your summer gatherings as safe as possible.

Making a health plan before gatherings can keep you on track for when the food is ready. Going bun-less is a great way to cut carbs and calories. Choosing veggies instead of chips is another great alternative! Grilled vegetables are always a good idea! Swap the tea and lemonade for infused water. Lemons, strawberries, cucumbers and blueberries make for great flavored water.

Salads are a summer favorite! Creating them can often times be just as fun as eating them and there’s no specific recipe. You can start with your preferred greens and even add cabbage and other vegetables. You can top it off with a protein like chicken, fish or steak. Adding your favorite cheese is next and your favorite nuts and seeds as well! Salads are an easy way to get in your greens and protein, all while cutting the carbs out.

Incorporating exercise into your summer fun can often be second nature. After the grilling is over, take a walk around the neighborhood with family as opposed to the sit down talks that normally occur after eating. Creating an activity that involves movement for your guests can also boost the mood as well. Kickball or Volleyball in the backyard are a few fun games that can be played without a lot of excess equipment and while still keeping a six foot distance.

Choosing to stand rather than sit, if able, is also a great way to keep moving without thinking too much about it. Summer is a great time to get active and create new memories while staying on track health-wise.

]]><![CDATA[From Surplus to Scarcity: Addressing Food Waste in America]]>Mon, 07 Jun 2021 14:32:31 GMThttp://www.feastva.org/blog/from-surplus-to-scarcity-addressing-food-waste-in-america

In the advanced world that we live in, it is hard to believe that there are still millions of people without access to the most basic of human needs: enough food to eat. It is even more absurd because in the most developed nations, there is the exact opposite of a food shortage. According to the USDA, approximately 30-40% of our food supply in the United States ends up uneaten and in landfills, when it could have provided crucial nutrition to one of the 815 million people in the world suffering from chronic undernourishment (World Hunger). Even worse, organic material sitting in landfills releases methane, one of the most harmful greenhouse gases, which causes significant harm to our atmosphere (Climate Central). A statement from the chair of the International Chamber of Commerce, Paul Polman, sums up the issue fairly well: “We don’t need more technology to solve these (environmental and social) problems. What we need is willpower. Do we really care? We’re so good at making food we waste 30-40% of it. We know how to build houses, but homelessness in Seattle and San Francisco is worse than what you might see in Africa. Diarrhea still kills 3 million children per year. We have the solutions. We don’t have the leadership to implement them.” The amount of food waste in the world today is enough to feed every hungry person twice over, amounting to about one trillion dollars (World Food Program USA). So the question I have sought to answer is, how did this happen, and how can we fix it? The answer is more complicated than it seems.

While large organizations are definitely at fault, Americans as individuals waste a lot of food, amounting to 150,000 tons per day (Milman). Mainly, it is a result of poor planning or forgotten leftovers in the back of the refrigerator, which calls for a major change in behavior from everyone. The Environmental Protection Agency has created what they call the “Food Recovery Hierarchy,” that lists different ways the individual consumer can reduce their food waste in a descending order of effectiveness (EPA). The inverted pyramid begins with source reduction at the top, which involves creating less waste by purchasing only what you will use, and then follows with donating extra food to a food bank, feeding animals, industrial use, composting, and finally, tossing extra food in a landfill. This is an excellent format for informing and encouraging people to take their food waste into their own hands, but requires a great deal of time, effort, and resources that not everyone has. The solutions are clearly there, however they are not accessible to a very large group of people. Composting requires not only the purchase of a special bin for your kitchen and a large vessel for the backyard, but it also requires a backyard, and spare time to learn about what can be composted, and how to turn and maintain the pile. Sustainability is very interconnected with privilege, leaving poorer consumers with no other option than to purchase cheaper items with a larger negative environmental impact than more expensive items. Even in the case of eating out, the cheaper options (fast food) are, not surprisingly, some of the biggest contributors to food waste, amounting to 32 Billion pounds per year (Social Impact). More luxurious dining establishments have the profit margin and more well off owners/ workers that allow them to invest in systems to donate leftover food. The higher prices allow them to increase sustainability, which fast food establishments do not have.

In order to make sustainable and waste free eating accessible to people with limited resources, we need to make the physical and educational resources available to everyone. Programs such as FEAST Virginia that teach people how to make nutritional food with low cost, plant based, items are a crucial part of reducing food waste and building a more sustainable food chain and society. The more people know about the impact of what they eat, and are able to make more conscious decisions about what is good for their body and the planet, the better.

]]><![CDATA[The Human Agenda: Famine, Plague, & War]]>Thu, 13 May 2021 17:34:45 GMThttp://www.feastva.org/blog/the-human-agenda-famine-plague-warA summary and review of Homo Dues by Dr. Noah Harari. Written by guest feature Gregory Barnes

"Over the past century, human kind has managed to do the impossible," writes Yuval Noah Harari, who teaches world history at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "Do The impossible..." But isn't that... impossible ??!!

In his new book, Homo Deus, Dr. Harari explains that at the dawn of humanity's third millennium, our world leaders will face the same three universal problems: Famine, Plague (Infection Disease) and War. But this time, there should be a difference, namely a solution! We can even have a glimpse of that solution today. Here are the uncontrolled forces of nature which humanity hasn't been able to master until this very century: FAMINE, PLAGUE/ INFECTIOUS DISEASE, and WAR

For thousands of years, these three human disasters rose to the top of life's unchanging dilemmas, always at the top of humanity's to-do list, but never accomplished. For thousands of years, thinkers and prophets thought and predicted to no avail. Famine, Plague/Infectious Diseases, and War continued to confound humanity.

But think about this: In the last few decades we have somewhat managed to rein in plague and famine on our planet. Even war seems to be less of a threat. Dr. Harari describes one French famine in 1694, where "granaries were empty. The rich charged exorbitant prices for whatever food they managed to hoard, and the poor died in droves. About 2.8 million French -15 % of the population - starved to death...while the Sun King, Louis XIV, dallied at Versailles. That famine moved north as far as Scotland, leaving suffering and starving in its path." Today, most of us know a bit of hunger when we miss lunch, but most of us do not know how it feels to go hungry for days on end, not knowing when or where the next meal will come from.

However, Harari writes "During the last hundred years, technological, economic and political developments have created an increasingly robust safety net separating humankind from the biological poverty line. Mass famines still strike from time to time, but they are exceptional" much like the Irish Potato Famine of the late nineteenth century, caused by human politics rather than natural catastrophe.

Even the words 'war and peace' have acquired new meanings. Previous generations thought about peace as the temporary absence of war. Today we think about peace as the implausibility of war. When in 1913 people said that there was peace between France and Germany, they meant that 'there is no war going on at present between France and Germany, but who knows what next year will bring? 'Today it would mean that it is inconceivable that war could break out between those two nations. This new peace is not a hippie fantasy. Power-hungry governments and greedy corporations also count on it. When Renault and Mercedes plan their European sales strategies, they discount the possibility that bombs will rain down on auto showrooms when the new models go on display.

Of course, there are dictators and tyrants who bluster and threaten, and the New Peace temporarily fails, but those are exceptions. Poverty and nutritional insecurity are with us still, as well as terrorists. Even if powerful central governments have learned military restraint, terrorists have no such qualms. Famine, plague and terrorists will create occasional havoc along with headlines. Harari calmly reminds us that sugar-laced soft drinks and fast food, poverty, and vitamin deficiency lead to nutritional insecurity that "pose a far deadlier long-term threat to Americans than al Qaeda.” If this fact seems hard to digest, Dr. Harari has the numbers to prove that mass starvation is rare today, and even then the rare "food crisis" at least isn't famine.

INVISIBLE ARMADAS: PLAGUE AND DISEASE

"After famine, humanity's second great enemy was plague and infectious diseases. Bustling cities linked by a ceaseless stream of merchants, officials and pilgrims were both the bedrock of human civilization and an ideal breeding ground for pathogens. People consequently lived their lives in ancient Athens or Renaissance Florence knowing that they might fall ill and die next week or that an epidemic might suddenly erupt and destroy their entire family in one swoop. The most famous outbreak, the so-called Black Death, began in the 1330s in east or central Asia, when the flea-dwelling bacterium Yersinia pestis started infecting humans bitten by the fleas. Riding on an army of rats and fleas, the plague quickly spread all over Asia, Europe and North Africa, taking less than twenty years to reach the Atlantic Ocean. Between 75 million and 200 million people died"... "The Black Death was not a singular event, nor even the worst plague in history. "On March 5, 1520, for example, a small Spanish flotilla left Cuba for Mexico with 900 Spanish soldiers, a few African slaves, horses and firearms. They also brought a far deadlier cargo. Somewhere among one man's trillions of cells a biological timeclock was ticking: the smallpox virus. In Mexico it began to multiply exponentially, infecting town after town. Within ten days, every community had become a graveyard. On the other side of the world, two centuries later, British explorer James Cook reached Hawaii. Deadly waves of flu, tuberculosis and other pathogens took hold, including a deadly flu strain called "Spanish" flu, which spread around the globe, including America.

"Alongside such epidemical tsunamis that struck humankind every few decades, people faced smaller but more regular waves of infectious diseases, Children, who lacked immunity, were particularly susceptible to them, hence they are often called 'childhood' diseases. Until the early twentieth century about a third of children died of diseases before reaching adulthood. During the last century humankind became evermore vulnerable to epidemics, due to growing populations and expanded travel. But there will possibly be a happy ending this time:

"Both the incidence and impact of epidemics and pandemics have since gone down dramatically in the last few decades! In particular, global childhood mortality is today actually at an all-time low: less than 5% of children die before reaching adulthood. In the developed world, the rate is less than 1%."

This miracle is due to unprecedented achievements of twentieth century medicine which has provided us with vaccinations, antibiotics, improved hygiene and a much better medical infrastructure. For example, a global campaign of smallpox vaccination was so successful that in 1979, the World Health Organization declared that humanity had won, and that smallpox had been completely eradicated. But now, as we all know, the coronavirus is here and it's spreading! Somewhere between China and the World's sophisticated medical system there was a huge problem! An errant viral pathogen that kills. With no vaccine or cure when it emerged, world leaders swung into action, appointing Disease Gurus, CDCs and WHOs. President Trump appointed his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to be in charge of our nation’s "response", including getting several hundred million Americans vaccinated. But recall that, after Ronald Reagan's 1981 Inaugural Address, Orthodox Republicans like Trump and Kushner believe that "The Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem!" Thus, Kushner passed the buck for Trump and decreed, "It's up to the states," as American deaths soared to over half a million, and spring weather teased spring breakers into flaunting world-wide medical warnings against indoor spreader events, like eateries, bars and dance floors. Some governors reopened resorts and beaches, over-ruling experts they appointed barely months earlier.

Renowned American Historian, Heather Cox Richardson, reminds us of the importance of remembering honestly and truthfully. She reported the truth about the "Spanish" flu's largely unknown brush with America in 1918 and about our own equally "curious amnesia" about last spring's covid-19 pandemic, in which many denied truth, facts, science, and empathy towards fellow Americans and fellow Sapiens. The 1918 Flu pandemic killed at least 50 million people worldwide, including 675 thousand Americans. Covid deaths 2020-21 now total 3.1 million throughout the world and 566 thousand in the United States of America............ and counting.

]]><![CDATA[Animal, Vegetable, Junk]]>Wed, 31 Mar 2021 17:17:41 GMThttp://www.feastva.org/blog/animal-vegetable-junkA summary and review of Animal, Vegetable, Junk by Mark Bittman. Written by guest feature Gregory Barnes.

We dig into Mark Bittman's world history of food when our Homo erectus ancestors improved their food hunting and gathering efficiency some 6 million years ago, now using only two feet for mobility. Bittman continues with important topics: "Food affects everything", "Agriculture is an eternal experiment," and "Soil and Civilization."

About seventy thousand years ago, Homo sapiens survived along with Neanderthals eating what they could find in Eurasia, later roaming deeper into Europe and Asia with crude tools, fire for cooking, and new, larger brains!

Agricultural Revolutions 10,000 BCE to 2021CE (Before and during the Common Era.)

The farming innovations of the early agricultural revolution greatly improved land productivity with organized planting, while making human communities possible, especially In Mesopotamia, the "Fertile Crescent" of Southwest Asia.

About 10,000 BCE, human populations and agriculture expanded widely in England, India, China, Central America and the Andes. This Neolithic/Agricultural "Revolution" was of "inestimable importance" in human history. But was it ultimately good for us a millennia or two later? Below, two-historians join with Bittman to answer that question:

The Agricultural Revolution was
"The worst mistake in the history of the human race."
- Historian Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs and Steel

The Agricultural Revolution was "History's biggest fraud."
- Yuval Noah Harari, Historian/Author of SAPIENS

First, to cover the basics, keep in mind that the main reason we eat is because NUTRITION= ENERGY! Now, Bittman explains that as agriculture became organized and mechanized over the last three centuries, family farms grew into today's factory farms, dependent on sales to capitalized megamarkets at ever-increasing distances. This later agricultural revolution didn't end with the 18th century! Profit was its goal, driven by innovation then as now, much of it is not good for soil, plants or nutrients for humans. There were also new mechanized needs for animals down on the farm; they've been industrialized, too, and their life on factory farms is not exactly idyllic. Farm"stock" now has a new capitalistic meaning. Ubiquitous chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides, once-upon-a time organic, but no longer. Growth hormones, anything that would hasten growth (and certain death) of any animal or plant intended as food for people including GMO's (Genetically Modified Organisms). The food chemistry is truly revolutionary, but is it good for today's man or beast -or woman or plant? These three experts say "NO."

Agriculture starts World-wide trade -Europe in the Middle Ages and beyond

Bittman paints Medieval farming done primarily by peasants on small plots of land owned by their Lords who decided how much each would get. Guess who went hungry! Starvation was common, France alone suffered 26 famines during the eleventh century. Diets were poor and families often spent everything on food. Despite shortages, Western Europe would remerge as a global superpower
after the plague of 1737 killed some twenty million.Yet the stage was set for world-wide trade and future globalization.

HELLO to the New World: America, Sugar, and Slavery
HELLO to Factory Farms, monoculture, and Caribbean Sugar
Goodbye, Nutrition and Family Farm

Sugar became the primary commodity in the Atlantic trade. No matter how much was produced, America was always ready to ship more, especially after human slaves also became a commodity (bought with money), and worked for no pay.

Bittman summarizes Sugarmania: "In 1700 England's annual per capita consumption of sugar was about five pounds. By 1800 it was nearly twenty, and in 1900, nearly a hundred pounds. Annual sugar consumption in the U.S. is over one hundred pounds even now.Sugar scholar Sidney Mintz says "The English quickly understood that "the whole process- from the establishment of colonies, the seizure of slaves, the amassing of capital,the protecting of shipping, and all else took shape under the wing of the state."Thus, the world's most far-reaching and powerful empire was born on the backs of Brown and Black humans. What began as a brutal way to produce food for the rich helped establish a tragic pattern of global food production that became the norm. Slavery's impact in America can hardly be overstated. Food was no longer something you cultivated outside your door to feed your community. It was produced far afield, by exploited labor overseen by strangers, then shipped in previously unimaginable quantities to supply huge markets. It didn't take long for the Americas to become the center of this kind of food production. And the costs to nature and humans especially were even more staggering than the profits."

It was left to indigenous American farmers to continue growing food in the traditional ways of their ancestors, and many dedicated, diehard traditionalists to gently hold on to the old ways as long as possible. Some of their descendants are still at it, producing food at little cost to nature and staggering benefits to human nutrition and energy.

This feature blog piece is a review of A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal by Mark Bittman. It was summarized by Gregory Barnes for the purposes of being shared as part of this blog. His hope is to provide insight into the flaws of modern agriculture by giving an overview of its history and how it developed into the system in place today.

Thanks for reading! -Jordan Tisaranni

]]><![CDATA[Greetings FEAST Friends!]]>Sat, 13 Feb 2021 08:00:00 GMThttp://www.feastva.org/blog/greetings-feast-friends

Who am I and why am I writing this blog? To start, my name is Jordan Tisaranni and I am currently a senior at the University of Maryland studying Marketing, International Business, and nonprofit leadership. My goal with my degree is to apply what I have learned in business school to organizations focused on solving societal problems, such as FEAST Virginia! The skills that drive profits in the corporate world are the same that drive efficiency and donations in the nonprofit world, and as such they are needed just the same.

My interest in solving food insecurity began with a research project on food waste, where I learned that the problem was not in the amount of food being produced but in the allocation of these resources. For the first time as a human race we have more than enough to go around, and the amount of food wasted on an annual basis is enough to feed everyone that is hungry 4 times over. This fact alone was enough to inspire me to join the fight in whatever ways I could, and while levels of food insecurity in this country seem to be only rising, the more people that we can educate and involve in this conversation the better. By writing this blog I hope to present relevant information in a digestible way to inspire as many people as possible to find ways to help!

To share more about my experiences with tackling food insecurity, I have recently had the opportunity to witness up close the desperate situations that many are experiencing right now. Every Saturday I help with mutual aid in DC and hear the stories of people that effectively have been left behind by the system. Even in our nation's capital that is home to some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in the country, there are pockets of neighborhoods that don’t even have a grocery store. Many that do are still suffering from a lack of fresh produce, and affordable nutritious food that is required to fulfill basic human needs. We call these areas “food deserts” and they unfortunately exist in urban and rural areas alike. Amplifying the stories of the people experiencing these situations is another crucial part of what I aim to do with this platform, as I do believe that the solution is best known to the people experiencing the problem.

For those who are still reading, you may be wondering how I got involved with FEAST VA, and while I am not even from the state of Virginia, my mother’s side of the family is deeply rooted here. I was introduced to my second cousin Bev Sell, the wonderful founder of this organization, over a family FaceTime and realized that we had similar interests. I was so inspired by her dedication to helping those most vulnerable in her community and the solutions that she had implemented by far and offered to help in any way that I could. With my educational pursuits in nonprofit leadership & social innovation, it was determined that I would start writing blog posts for the website to help engage people interested in food insecurity with FEAST VA.

Stay Tuned!

]]><![CDATA[Biden’s Plan to Address Food Insecurity & the Crucial Role That Nonprofits Must Continue to Play]]>Sat, 13 Feb 2021 01:25:40 GMThttp://www.feastva.org/blog/bidens-plan-to-address-food-insecurity-the-crucial-role-that-nonprofits-must-continue-to-play

As we welcome a new administration into the white house the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage on across the nation, with the death toll surpassing 475,000 just a few days ago (New York Times). While this change in administration is promising to many, today there are millions of people both infected with the virus and suffering from the disparaging economic fallout including food insecurity, unemployment, and eviction. Those Americans already living in poverty have undeniably suffered the most given the fragility of their situations, and with COVID-19 welcoming an additional 15 million citizens to this category, the public assistance programs that help keep them afloat are faced with an increasingly daunting challenge. In Virginia alone, the number of residents facing food insecurity grew by over 50%, leaving over a million Virginians questioning the source of their next meal (Virginia Road Map to End Hunger).

Biden’s recent release of his $1.9 Trillion coronavirus stimulus plan includes an extension of the 15% increase in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits through September of 2021 for the programs 43 million beneficiaries, which will provide crucial aid to many hit hardest by the pandemic. However, the bulk of the work will continue to fall on the shoulders of nonprofits. As quoted in Virginia’s Roadmap to End Hunger, seven regional food banks “represent the largest charitable response to hunger in the Commonwealth,” meaning these nonprofit organizations provided more support to those in need than any of the federally funded programs available. Even with the “nonprofit sector” first being considered an established market in the 1970s, the wide range of organizations that exist under this umbrella provide a larger safety net to Americans than the government or private sectors ever have. The concept of charity and mutual aid between fellow humans has certainly existed long before that, but the two main bodies tasked with solving major humanitarian and social issues were the government and the private sector. Most evidence suggests neither of these bodies made much progress, partly due to a lack of resources (pre industrial revolution), and partly due to apathy and the normalization of significant wealth inequality. Now, there is no denying that we have more than enough food to go around. With the introduction of what many call the “social sector” we are starting to see more progress in addressing hunger and other issues; but it goes without saying that there is a lot of work to be done.

Without going into too much detail (we’ll save that for the next post!), one of the major faults of the food stamp program is that it only allows for the purchase of the cheapest and most basic food items that consequently take the most time to prepare. For example, dried beans are less costly than canned beans (and therefore are the only kind food stamps allow for), but require an overnight soak and up to an hour on the stove whereas a standard can of beans is ready to eat. As a result, those with objectively the least amount of spare time and energy are forced to cook everything from scratch which requires not only time but also serious skill and access to recipes. This is where an organization like FEAST comes in to provide the required nutritional and culinary knowledge that government programs fail to deliver. As they say at FEAST, food insecurity is an issue that will require all of us to solve, and no one sector or organization can do it alone.

Hope you enjoyed my first post! More Coming Soon. -Jordan Tisaranni

]]><![CDATA[WHAT’S COOKING IN 2020!]]>Mon, 10 Feb 2020 21:30:12 GMThttp://www.feastva.org/blog/whats-cooking-in-2020

Our Not-To-Be-Missed Fundraiser
Chef Raffle – FEAST Virginia will be raffling off a sumptuous catered in home dinner for 4 people with a choice from 3 menus (beef, seafood or vegetarian including an appetizer, entree and dessert) by Chef Cory Owens. Details coming soon on Facebook. A very limited number of tickets (200) will be sold and will be available to purchase in mid-January. Stay tuned!

Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Public Screening of a noted documentary film: “The Skin You're In” presented by writer and producer Dr. Thomas LaVeist Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk
6 pm – 8 p.m.– this important film is open to the public – Q&A afterwards

Did you know that African Americans live “sicker” and die younger than any other ethnic group in the nation. Why is this happening? In this feature documentary, The Skin You're In, we will investigate this disturbing phenomenon: the astonishing disparity between black and white health in America, find out why the disparity exists and discover what can be done about it.

The film will take viewers on a journey of exploration of this critical health problem. We will talk to leading experts and researchers from around the country who will explain the problems and what can be done. But mostly we will see the problem first hand in the everyday lives of African American families telling their stories, and meet people who are making a difference.

February 19, 20, & 21, 2020
FEAST Train the Trainer 3 Day workshop - $375.
Help! We need donations for scholarships for those who want to take training but don't have the funds. Please consider making a donation of $375 for a scholarship. We have 4 would be trainers who have signed up but don't have funds – the more trainers we have, the more people we can train! Instructors: Dana Rizer, Executive Director FEAST L.A. and Amy Vu Program Director FEAST L.A.

Queen Street Baptist Church
413 Brambleton Avenue, Norfolk

Please sign up on line now.

March 2020

Once our initial trainers are trained we will be able to determine how many programs we can support ($5,000 for 12 weeks) and days, times and locations. Donations are gratefully received and deeply appreciated.

Thank you for your interest and support in the FEAST Virginia program! We hope to provide a quarterly newsletter that brings you updates on all of the programs being offered, the progress and the successes along the way. Please help us spread the word about FEAST Virginia and please stay connected to us. It will truly take a village to bring about the needed change in how we think and deal with our complicated food system. However together this is possible!

Start off your New Year by becoming more mindful of the foods that you incorporate into YOU!

With deepest gratitude for all of your help and support, I wish you a happy, healthy, connected New Year. As always--
Bev

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