Food Forward picks up grant to pick more fruit

Food Forward, the organization that harvests fruit trees all over Los Angeles and gives the produce to food banks, was awarded a $25,000 grant to move forward itself. Jewish Venture Philanthropy Fund-Los Angeles awarded the grant last week.

Rick Nahmias founded Food Forward 10 months ago and has an e-mail list of volunteers with more than 700 names. The group has picked nearly 65,000 pounds of fruit for food banks to distribute, he said Monday at a forum on hunger.

Nahmias says there are thousands of trees all over the county that need harvesting -- from a few trees in a backyard to former orchards. While citrus season is upon us, he says, Southern California has something to harvest all year long.

Food Forward has had five "picks," as it calls them, in November. Two are planned so far for December. For information call 818-530-4125.

 

-- Mary MacVean

 

Crooner and restaurateur Andy Williams talks about what Alpo tastes like

When the late Ronald Reagan was president, he proclaimed that singer Andy Williams was a “national treasure.” That's a strong a description, but Williams certainly has been treasured by audiences around the world for more than 60 years, first as member of the Williams Brothers quartet and then as a solo act.

Williams, now 81, has recorded 18 gold and three platinum certified albums. Among his memorable hits are “Canadian Sunset,” “Moon River” and “Days of Wine and Roses." The Iowa native also hosted a musical-variety series on NBC from 1962-71 and has been a staple at the Branson, Missouri resort since 1991 when he opened his Moon River Theatre. Two years ago, he opened the Moon River Grill adjacent to the theater. Williams recently published his autobiography, “Moon River and Me”, and Sony Music has also released the CD “Moon River: The Very Best of Andy Williams.”

But that is not the only reason Williams has been in the news of late.

Despite his strong friendship with the late Bobby Kennedy, Williams is a longtime Republican who accused President Obama last month in the Daily Telegraph in England of “following Marxist theory” and “wanting the country to fail.” But on a recent afternoon, Williams was more in the mood to talk about the comfort food found at his restaurant than politics.

Q: In your memoir you say that you ended up eating dog food when you first went solo in the 1950s because your career was struggling.

Ceviche shows off seafood at science center

Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken made ceviche Tuesday morning for a gathering at the California Science Center in Exposition Park to mark the release of a report on the state of the oceans from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The aquarium also issued a list of "Super Green" seafood choices -- those that are healthy for people and the planet.

Feniger and Milliken are among about two dozen chefs from around the country who pledged to serve only sustainable seafood in their restaurants and to recruit colleagues to the cause. Milliken says they sometimes consult with the aquarium to make sure the choices are sustainable.

The following recipe, provided by chefs, was not tested in The Times test kitchen.

Federal panel calls for more produce, whole grains in school meals

More than 30 million children eat school lunches every day, and 10 million eat school breakfasts. If those children learn healthy eating habits at school and take those with them into adulthood, that could have some effect on the health of the nation, including the obesity that is plaguing so many people.

So says an Institute of Medicine panel in a report out today that recommends several changes to the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program, run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

For one thing, and this won't surprise anyone, more fruits and vegetables and whole grains would help, the committee says.

L.A. Unified has taken some steps already, serving brown rice and increasing spending on produce, from $3 million in 2006-07 to $12 million in 2007-08, says David Binkle, deputy food service director.

The chairwoman of the Institute of Medicine panel, Virginia Stallings, in her preface to the report, notes that in her childhood, school meals were meant to guard against undernourishment and iron deficiencies. But today, she notes, overweight children outnumber undernourished children.

-- Mary MacVean

(Photo: School lunch in L.A. by Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Government researchers want to peek in grocery carts

The government wants to know how you decide what to put in your grocery cart.

The idea, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says, is to help families get healthier.

"This ambitious five-year effort will fill in critical gaps in existing data on the food purchases of U.S. households and be invaluable in assessing and enhancing the effectiveness of USDA's food assistance programs for low-income families," Vilsack says.

He announced on Thursday that Princeton-based Mathematica Policy Research will conduct the survey, which will be called the National Household Food Purchase and Acquisition Study.

The information will be used to help researchers figure out how food assistance programs affect the decisions people make about buying food.

"For the first time, researchers will have data that captures key factors like food prices, where food is purchased, dietary knowledge and the interplay of food assistance programs and food choices," says Rajiv Shah, under-secretary for research, education and economics at USDA.

About 1 in 5 Americans participates in at least one of USDA's food assistance programs in a given year.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Fresh produce going to WIC recipients

There is rejoicing today at agencies that work with recipients of food vouchers through the Women, Infants and Children program. Read more here.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo by Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

City to consider making use of leftovers

At the end of events at the Convention Center or other city venues, plenty of food gets tossed. L.A. Councilman José Huizar would like to change that. He filed a motion today to try to get some of those leftovers to food pantries.

"With this difficult economy, while there is a greater need, the donations have actually declined a bit," Huizar said.
 
He said 30% of L.A. County families have trouble getting enough good food. "If we don't support these families now, it costs more in the long run," he said in a telephone interview.

How this would happen hasn't been determined yet, because, as Huizar says, money is tight for government programs too. But he says getting edible leftovers to the people who need it is part of an effort toward a more comprehensive city food policy.

His motion goes now to a committee, and could come before the full council in less than month, he said.

State Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach) has been trying to get leftovers to food banks on a state level.

Her measure, SB35, failed to get enough support this session, but a spokesman says she will try again in December or January with a bill to create a database of food banks and delivery services that can connect donors and recipients.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo by Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Michelle Obama brings home the kale, eggs, peppers and more from farmers market

I don't know many people who go to farmers markets if what they crave is a celebrity spotting. Unless the celebrity is a chef, or the market is in Hollywood.

But at the market near the White House, shoppers got to see Michelle Obama on Thursday, the market's opening day. A major figure and fresh tomatoes. Not bad.

According to a pool press report, several hundred people gathered at the market, which is run by FreshFarm Markets. Co-director Ann Yonkers said 18 farmers and producers would sell products at the newest outpost, at a corner of Lafayette Park.

Obama has been promoting healthy eating, in public statements and with a garden at the White House, where a group of elementary school students have worked.

According to the pool report, Obama was greeted by wild cheers when she said,"I have to say, I have never seen so many people so excited about fruits and vegetables. This is a very, very good thing, and it's raining outside and everybody's pumped up."

Obama also did some shopping -- black kale, eggs, cherry tomatoes, peppers, pears, fingerling potatoes, cheese and chocolate milk, according to the White House.

Other speakers included U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who noted that there are more than 4,700 farmers markets in the country, and Washington Mayor Adrian M. Fenty.

The new FreshFarm Markets will be open Thursdays through October, from 3 to 7 p.m. The nonprofit organization operates eight other markets in Washington and Maryland.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo: First Lady Michelle Obama at the farmers market near the White House. Credit: Associated Press

Upstaging the tomatoes at D.C.'s newest farmers market

   
It may be hard to pay much attention to the produce, meat or breads for sale at Washington, D.C.'s newest farmers market when it opens Thursday afternoon. Shoppers -- maybe even the vendors -- are likely to be on the lookout for some star shoppers: the Obama family.

Eighteen farmers and producers will set up the market outside the White House grounds, north of Lafayette Park, on Vermont Avenue between H and I streets.

"It would be wonderful" if the Obamas came to shop, says Ann Yonkers, co-director of FreshFarm Markets, a nonprofit organization that will run it. "But we're not counting on it."

The idea developed over time, Yonkers says. Her organization was excited about the garden planted at the White House earlier this year, she says, adding that  she was introduced to Sam Kass, White House assistant chef and a former personal chef for the Obamas by another chef, Nora Pouillon. "We began thinking, 'Wouldn't it be great ...,' " Yonkers says.

The White House garden "became such a great symbol for growing your own and paying attention to what you eat," she says.

The new market will sell meats, cheeses, produce, baked goods, flowers and preserves. Vendors accept food stamps and WIC and senior citizen coupons, FreshFarm Markets says. It will run Thursdays from 3 to 7 p.m. through Oct. 29.

White House Farmers Market launches Thursday

According to the Chicago Tribune, the White House Farmers Market will indeed launch this Thursday:

Speaking at the Chefs Collaborative conference in Chicago Tuesday, U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary Ann Wright told 150 delighted food professionals about the market, which will sell local produce from D.C. area farmers and run late into the fall. But those hoping to buy some green beans and bell peppers grown by the First Lady herself will be disappointed. Most of the White House garden produce goes to area food banks, Wright said.

Shucks. I was really hoping I could find some of the Obamas' honey on Foodzie.

-- Krista Simmons

Photo: Victory garden outside San Fransico's City Hall at Slow Food Nation. Credit: Krista Simmons