Lobster mousse served at the "Cooking for Solutions" gala.
Recently, I spent a couple of days in Monterey learning about the sustainability of our food chain, noshing on green fish and sipping eco-wines. Yeah, a hard assignment but an important one. The Sustainable Foods Institute is a two day symposium for journalists. Among the issues we covered: the state of the ocean's health, sustainable fishing, the farm bill and America’s obesity epidemic. The conference is a ramp up to the city's biggest event of the year. Cooking for Solutions features sustainable chefs, authors, growers and producers. Both events are hosted by the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
The two day Sustainable Foods Institute was jam packed with over thirty speakers. Here are some highlights:
- Anna Lappe, author of: “Climate Change at the End of Your Fork” and co-founder, with her mother, Frances Moore Lappe, of the Small Planet Institute.
- Eco-Labels: The road to sustainability?
- Paul Greenberg, author of "Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food.”
- The history, and future, of the Aquarium's Seafood Watch program
- Deputy Secretary of the USDA, Kathleen Merrigan
- A conversation with Ted Turner; this was a very quirky discussion on land preservation and restaurant issues.
- Trip to Earthbound organic farms
- Panels on the high cost of cheap food and the 2012 Farm Bill
