“The Salt,” National Public Radio • July 28, 2015
When the U.S. State Department released its annual human trafficking report on Monday, it told distressingly familiar tales of forced sex work and housekeepers kept against their will. But this year, one area got special attention: Slavery in the global supply chains of agriculture, fishing and aquaculture. Continue reading “Beyond Brothels: Farms And Fisheries Are Frontier Of Human Trafficking”
NPR The Salt • May 11, 2015
If you think trade deals are just about business, think again. They can also have a sweeping effect on how people eat. Take all those avocados, watermelon and cervezasfrom Mexico we now consume, and the meat and feed corn for livestock we send there in exchange.
The Obama administration hasn’t shared much detail about the provisions in its controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, the free trade deal between the U.S. and 11 countries currently being negotiated. But if it’s anything like prior free trade agreements, two things are likely, trade experts say. Continue reading “What Could The Pacific Trade Deal Mean for Diets?”
NPR The Salt • March 11, 2015
For many years, if a public school district wanted to serve students apples or milk from local farmers, it could face all kinds of hurdles. Schools were locked into strict contracts with distributors, few of whom saw any reason to start bringing in local products. Those contracts also often precluded schools from working directly with local farmers. Continue reading “Why Some Schools Serve Local Food And Others Can’t (Or Won’t)”
NPR.org — The Salt Feb. 25, 2015
The life of Frida Kahlo seems tailor-made for an opera: pain, love, art, travel and revolution. So the Michigan Opera Theater’s decision to mount a production of the opera Frida, opening Mar. 7 in Detroit — where the iconic painter lived with her husband, Diego Rivera, for nearly a year, and where she survived a miscarriage that marked a turning point in her art — isn’t so surprising.
But here’s something that is: The opera is celebrating not only Kahlo’s art and life, but her recipes and cooking, too. Continue reading “A Detroit Opera Celebrates Frida Kahlo’s Life And Cooking”
NPR.org — The Salt • Feb. 13, 2015
If you were to try and list the biggest game-changers for the American food system in the last two decades, you might note the Food Network, or the writing of Michael Pollan, or maybe even the evolution of Walmart.
But you’d probably overlook NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.
And that would be a mistake, according to a lengthy report out early February from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Continue reading “How NAFTA Changed American (And Mexican) Food Forever”
NPR.org – The Salt • Dec. 12, 2014
Farm workers in America have long been among the nation’s poorest paid and most abused workers. But conditions have been improving for Florida tomato pickers, and those advances may soon reach other farm fields, according to the annual report released Thursday by the Fair Food Standards Council, or FFSC, a labor oversight group based in Sarasota, Fla. Continue reading “Florida Tomato Pickers’ Wins Could Extend To Dairy, Berry Workers”
