Happy Easter

Yesterday I watched the movie FOOD, INC. with my family, and remembered why I am so picky about the foods I eat and the products I buy. It was a good reminder that, even though buying sustainable, organic, local, and ethical food (what the Chicks with Knives call "S.O.L.E." food) is often more expensive than choosing readily-available, factory-grown (manufactured) products, it is an important investment. It's one of the most important investments I can make - in my health, in the safety of people across the country, in the global economy, and in voicing my opinion about the society I want to live in... in the only way that really counts: purchasing power. Watching the documentary brought back all the horrific truths that I'd read about in Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation for a "Work, Consumption and Culture" seminar I took at Notre Dame. So many of the accounts in both the book and the film, also by Schlosser, made me sick to my stomach, and in fact, made my 11 and 12-year old brother and sister start to cry while we watched yesterday. It's more than about cows and chickens being treated inhumanely; it's about reclaiming the integrity of one of the most basic, and most emotionally wrought parts of being human - feeding ourselves. I highly recommend both as essential intake; you aren't an informed person these days if you don't know where your food comes from, and the fact that someone had to make a movie about the subject underlines just how far we've come from our agrarian roots. Though the problem with food in our country is so pervasive (hence the obesity epidemic), and there aren't as many affordable healthful options as there are fast-food chains, I think small changes can make a difference. Nevertheless, choosing an alternative to the standard American diet (often called the S.A.D. diet) is a daunting task; after all, many global corporations have spent billions of dollars making alternatives obsolete. Despite this opposition, many good people are working toward effecting positive changes in how we obtain food. (Michelle Obama, Jamie Oliver, Mia Lehrer and Associates, the people at Forage, the Fallen Fruit guys...). Sitting in church this morning for Easter at Our Lady of Malibu, I was inspired by a banner hanging near the altar. "Turn and be a new creation", it said.

Here's one example of how I'm continuing my shift toward a more fully SOLE diet: only eating the eggs my family gets from the 6 chickens who spend their days roaming the backyard amid the flowers and vegetable garden. These chickens are well-fed and cared for, sleeping safely in a coop my mother built, and tended to daily by my sister, who's named them thus meteorologically, according to their coloring: Sunshine, Sunrise, Sunset, Summer, Snowy & Starry. Here are my photos from the eggs I decorated today for Easter! (I used the traditional egg-coloring kit from PAAS, vinegar and water... don't the colors look amazing on the brown eggs?)

Spotlight on Fallen Fruit

I first heard about the artist collective Fallen Fruit last summer when they had an installation at L.A.C.E. Gallery in Los Angeles. The idea behind the show - using film and still photography to explore the social, political and pop history of the banana - both intrigued and amused me. With the catchy and provocative title "Are You Happy to See Me?" the project managed to be playful and engaging while examining a dark history. I always appreciate unique and innovative ways to make relevant subjects palatable - even savory! - for the masses, and United Fruit, the collective's first solo show, epitomized this for me.

In addition to its more traditional artistic endeavors, Fallen Fruit is an activist art project which promotes the utilization of "public fruit", fruit that grows on public property. The project began as a mapping of all the public fruit in the artists' neighborhood, and developed into a series of inspired projects all relating to fruit, and often with interactive features to engage the local community members. Check for a Fallen Fruit Public Fruit Map in your area. (For more about public fruit, look for upcoming post about Forage Restaurant).

Current projects include:

• Show Us How You Eat A Facebook-driven project asking the public to submit one-minute video clips of themselves eating
• The Loneliest Fruit In the World A film documenting a group of Norwegian berry-foragers
• Accion de Fruta Urbana A two-week residency in Madrid
• The Fruit of LACMA Includes art from LACMA's permanent collection, specially-commissioned pieces including fruit wall paper, anecdotes from the collective and more

LACMA and Fallen Fruit have recently come together for EATLACMA, and I can't wait to see the results! The LACMA website describes the collaboration between the collective and the museum thus:

EATLACMA is a year-long investigation into food, art, culture and politics. EATLACMA's projects consider food as a common ground that explores the social role of art and ritual in community and human relationships. EATLACMA unfolds seasonally, with artist's gardens planted and harvested on the museum campus, hands-on public events, and a concurrent exhibition, Fallen Fruit Presents The Fruit of LACMA (June 27-November 7, 2010). EATLACMA is curated by Fallen Fruit—David Burns, Matias Viegener and Austin Young-and LACMA curator Michele Urton.

The high profile of LACMA is certainly a tremendous boon for Fallen Fruit, whose collaboration has recently been featured on the local NBC website.

This weekend, EATLACMA kicks off its first two events in the yearlong series:

• Plant the Perimeter Fruit Tree Giveaway | Saturday, February 6 | 12noon | Free, no reservations | OFFSITE at Watts Towers Art Center and Charles Mingus Youth Arts Center | event will end at 3pm, or whenever trees run out
• Plant the Perimeter Fruit Tree Giveaway | Sunday, February 7 | 12 noon | Free, no reservations | BP Grand Entrance, Los Angeles County Museum of Art | event will end at 3pm, or whenever trees run out

For updates on where you can find public fruit in and around Los Angeles, follow Fallen Fruit on Twitter. Last week they publicized a fallen grapefruit branch, heavily laden with luscious citrus!

UPDATE: Great article about Fallen Fruit's project with LACMA here.

Giving Is the New Buying

Pepsi and Los Angeles-based GOOD have recently forged a relationship whereby the soft drink company will sponsor several funded projects facilitated by GOOD, the burgeoning change-agent platform for "people who give a damn".

In a recent report, Pepsi has announced it will forgo a $20 million dollar ad during this year's Super Bowl in order to divert those funds toward its "Pepsi Refresh Project", a charitable sponsorship in partnership with GOOD. This, to me, seems like a brilliant way for the company to not only keep Pepsi's brand in the public eye, but to associate it with cutting-edge efforts that are working to make the world better.

As a member non-profit world, its exciting to see a global power like Pepsi take the helm toward innovative ways to make a difference that is both profitable and sustainable. I hope other corporations take notice and follow suit. Often, these partnerships are charity-driven, such as in the UNICEF France doll project in which all the huge brands of France sponsored the creation of dolls to be auctioned for charity, and as in the Susan G. Komen Foundation's tie-ins with everything from yogurt to Major League baseball.

I like the hands-on approach Pepsi has taken, especially since the expertise is in the hands of GOOD. Pepsi will be giving away $1,300,000 a month - and the public can vote where those funds go. All you need to do is submit your email and create a password, and you can vote for up to 10 different projects in a day. (See below for some Los Angeles-based projects.) Read more about how it works.

Vote to support these local projects up for grants:

• EAT LACMA According to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's twitter feed, LACMA is "in the running for a grant to fund artists' projects, on-site gardens & public programs." For more information about this project, visit the LACMA website and follow Fallen Fruit on Twitter.
• SABEResPODER Create a digital handbook to the American Dream.
• LA CAUSA YouthBuild Send East L.A. dropouts to a green residency program at UCLA.
• Community Services Unlimited, Inc. Grow food, health, jobs and justice at an urban farm in South Central Los Angeles.
• Imagine LA Allow five families to permanently exit homelessness and poverty.
• Robert Essertier Manufacture a proven, extraordinarily efficient wind turbine.
• Give Your Sole Attend marathon races and collect shoes to give people in need in the U.S.
• FirstGlance Film Festivals KidFest Create a traveling children's film festival
• Ashley Lara Provide 6 Smartboards for for minority, low-income first grade classrooms
• West Valley Pop Warner Pay field usage fee for 175 football players and 50 cheerleaders.
• Springboard Biodiesel Build a network of low-cost, multifeedstock biodiesel production sites

As a sidenote to be explored in further depth in a future post, I'd like to also recognize Disney for it's "Give A Day, Get A Day" volunteer incentive program that has produced a tremendous response of volunteers at The Wellness Community-West Los Angeles, where I work. Like PepsiCo, Disney is utilizing not only it's substantial resources for good, but also spreading awareness for so many great causes. Bravo!