DC Fresh Food : Topics

topics for our series of monthly meet ups:

Alternatives to Sysco: What would a sustainable, scalable local food distribution network look like?
Restaurants, cafeterias, and other food service establishments in DC rely on prepared, frozen foods. Budgets, equipment, facilities, staffing, suppliers, and transportation are all geared to supplying prepared, frozen food. Fresh food requires different transportation and preparation methods.

Fresh DC: How can we have permanent fresh produce markets in DC?
Cities around the world have markets where people can stop on their way home from work to buy fresh produce. DC once had these too; Pierre L'Enfant's original city plans included public food markets.

Farm to Schools: How can we substitute junk food with fresh food and educate children about its importance?
Local food, grown on local farms (or by the kids themselves), can enhance both the body and the mind. Growing and preparing food uses aspects of botany, chemistry, nutrition, math, history, geography, meteorology, economics, and design. We can educate minds and palates.

Old Bay: What is the history of mid-Atlantic cuisine?
The soil and water of the mid-Atlantic provided a range of food to the people who settled here. They created a regional cuisine that was more than just crab cakes. Regional cuisines are the traditional way people connect to local food. Regional American cuisines are disappearing.

Food Transparency: What's in our food and who is selling it?
From tracing the steak back to the feedlot to tracing the campaign contribution back to the corporation, we need more transparency in the food system.

Eat the View: Edible landscapes
What if instead of peonies we had peppers? Tomato plants outside storefronts. Public basil gardens. Garlic beds in tree boxes. Sheep grazing the Mall. Trout in the Tidal Basin. A pumpkin patch on the roof of the FBI.

Un-Happy Meals: Food deserts
There is one grocery store for the 75,000 people who live in DC's Ward 4. In many parts of the city, it's easier to get a Big Mac than a head of lettuce. What sort of incentives are required to make fresh food available to everyone?