About The CONCRETE FOOD .com POST

For a long time there was only one major problem with food: not having enough. In an effort to fix this one longstanding problem, humans invented the refrigerator, the large-scale farm, and, eventually, genetically modified foods. Technology brought the possibility of the promise of never going hungry, but it brought problems as well.

Many small farms of New Netherlands have long since disappeared, as have the larger family farms of upstate New York, and some residents of our city of steel, glass, and concrete have never seen food outside of a restaurant or a grocery store. We take for granted that the food will “just be there.”

As the list of threats from genetically modified foods grows and people are becoming more conscious about the food they put in their bodies, more New Yorkers are beginning to return to older methods of farming, eating, and interacting with food. Some are experiencing for the first time the joy that comes with eating food you have grown yourself. Others are trying out local farmers’ markets. And still others are just happy to have food to eat, no matter where it comes from.

The CONCRETE FOOD.com POST is a multimedia Web site that covers issues related to food sustainability in the urban environment – specifically stories in New York City’s five boroughs.

In the past few years, more and more people have been moving to cities. In 2007, more than half the world’s population lived in urban areas. This demographic shift is changing how people eat, where they get their food, and the interaction between food and communities.

Some of the topics we explore include urban farming, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA’s), the food justice movement, organic foods, locavores, the Slow Food movement, (to counter act fast food and fast life), farmer’s markets, city food co-ops, and food disposal (recycling food, composting).

Kieran K. Meadows was raised in Brooklyn by two urban dwellers in a vegetarian household. His parents were in most ways like other New Yorkers; they went to work in the morning, took the subway, and walked on concrete wherever they went, but take-out food was a rare occurrence, and McDonalds and other fast food was strictly forbidden. Instead, he was fortunate enough to grow up with the Park Slope Food Co-op – he and his parents have been members since 1984 – and local, organic, healthy food was the norm. As a teenager, he worked at a camp (in a rural area), where as a co-head of the kitchen he was able to cook for and feed 50 hungry mouths. There, the importance of food, food systems, and community was reinforced. Now, as an adult and a journalist, he has become particularly interested in food sustainability, food justice, and urban farming (though, he admits, he is still a complete amateur when it comes to farming – after all, he is still a city kid).

Geneva Sands-Sadowitz grew up in Woodstock, New York with a vegetable garden and compost bin in her family’s backyard. Her sister currently raises chickens, guinea hens, and goats in upstate New York. Although she was raised in the country near access to the source of food, Geneva always wanted to live in a city. She spent the last six years living in Washington, DC studying international relations and working in media development. She just moved to New York City, where she is attending graduate school and working as a freelance journalist. Over the past few years Geneva has become increasingly interested the ways city dwellers eat and interact with the source of their food. She hopes to explore the ways that urbanites use limited space they have to create sustainable and fair food practices.