UVM Food Feed

Defining Good Food: UVM Presents 5th Annual Food Systems Summit June 14-15

Posted by Guest Author | April 11, 2016

By Hailey Grohman

In Vermont, as in much of the rest of the world, the debate around “good” food plays out every day in different spheres. Our classrooms, courtrooms, boardrooms and dining rooms are all spaces in which the decisions made can have enormous consequences. In a globalized world, with a highly polarized political climate, the stakes are high when it comes to navigating opinions about the characteristics of good food.

That’s why the slippery nature of “What Makes Food Good?” is the central question of the 2016 UVM Food Systems Summit, celebrating its fifth year, on June 14-15 at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont.

Raj Patel addresses attendees at the 2015 Food Systems Summit. (Photo: Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist

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Posted in Economic, Environmental, Health, Social, UVM, Vermont | Tagged education, food culture, local foods, UVM, uvm food summit | Leave a comment

UVM Extension Video Project Focuses on Education and Access

Posted by Guest Author | April 7, 2016

By Cheryl Herrick

When farmers in the US need help, they tend to know that there are federal US Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs available to help them. But for new Americans, these resources may not be on their radar at all. And—especially when combined with the reality of learning a new language and a new culture—that can mean missing out on access to critically important tools for a successful, sustainable farm business.

Thanks to funding from the USDA Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers program, Ben Waterman of the UVM Extension Center for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) was able to put together a team to address the need of access to services for new American farmers. They have just released a series of videos in different languages to give new American farmers a glimpse into the process of working with USDA Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service.

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Posted in Economic | Tagged Economy, education, farming, UVM | Leave a comment

UVM Alum Sean Lawson Strikes the Perfect Balance Brewing Local Beer

Posted by Guest Author | April 6, 2016

By Tera Dacek

The name “Lawson” may make you think of Lawson’s Finest Liquids, one of Vermont’s most sought-after breweries. But when owner Sean Lawson returned to Vermont after living out west, it was to work in environmental science and forestry, not open up a brewery.

We talked to Lawson, a UVM alumnus, about changing his career path to start a successful craft brewery.

When did you first realize that brewing beer could be more than just a hobby for you?

After I graduated from UVM with a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, I went to Montana to do fieldwork with peregrine falcons for a summer then set my sights on being a ski bum for the winter.

I got a job at the Breckenridge Pub and Brewery and eventually started helping occasionally in the brewery. At that point, I was already an avid homebrewer. After that stint, I spent a year in Flagstaff, Arizona working at Beaver Street Pub and Brewery. But I didn’t fully appreciate then how creative and fulfilling brewing as a career could be.

I returned to UVM to get my master’s degree in forestry and worked as a scientist and outdoor educator for 15 years. In 2007, I started to consider opening a small brewery. Friends and family had been encouraging me to do so for years.

Read more on the UVM Outreach Blog.

Posted in UVM | Tagged local foods, UVM | Leave a comment

Meet Vermont Bean Crafters: A Sunday Afternoon with the Crew

Posted by Guest Author | April 5, 2016

By Olivia Percoco

“Let thy food be thy medicine…” —Hippocrates

On Sunday, March 20, a dozen UVM students representing Real Food Revolution, Slow Food, and the Farm to Table House trekked to the Kingsbury Market Garden in Warren, Vermont, to visit the Vermont Bean Crafters’ facility.

Together we enjoyed the first day of spring and an enriching afternoon with Baylen, Joe, and Albert, whose presentation on their enterprise touched on everything from Chinese medicine to climate change to reconnecting with traditional foodways. While before we were excited about the Bean Crafters’ new space on campus because their food is just so delicious, their unadulterated dedication to a happy earth, happy bellies, happy hearts, and happy minds makes us especially grateful to have them around.

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Posted in Health, UVM, Vermont | Tagged food culture, local foods, Vermont | Leave a comment

Exploring Food Systems and Migration in Oaxaca

Posted by Guest Author | April 1, 2016

By Hailey Grohman

Telling my friends and family that I’d be spending my winter break in Mexico studying mezcal, an agave spirit much like tequila, didn’t exactly earn me the scholastic respect I might have wanted. Nervous aunts warned me against drinking the water, or eating anything at all, while younger cousins begged me to bring them back some of that “cool booze with the worm in it.”

Thankfully, my experience was very different from what my family had anticipated—there’s no worm in real mezcal, for one—and proved to be an incredible learning experience in food systems, migration, and one cool spirit.

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Photo by Dennis Brekke/Flickr