The event is TODAY (11/11) from 6pm-7pm ET over Zoom. We’ll also host a watch party in the CAFS conference room (with snacks!). We share this because it’s an interesting and pressing issue in the food law and policy arena AND it’s organized by none other than Julia Wickham and Nicole Renna!
Overview: This virtual panel will explore the challenges faced by rural grocers and the impact of consolidation on food security in their communities. By 2023, just four grocery chains control nearly 70% of the market, a sharp increase from 42% in 2000. At the same time, family grocery bills have risen by 25% since the pandemic. The rapid expansion of dollar stores in rural areas, has further strained independent grocers, who are 5% more likely to close when a dollar store opens nearby. With grocery price gouging spotlighted in Vice President Harris’ economic plan, the recent FTC trial to block the Kroger-Albertson’s merger, and reports from institutions like the University of Chicago highlighting disparities in food access, this is a timely and urgent discussion. Join us as we delve into the forces shaping food availability and affordability in rural America.
*Blog Content by Caitlion O’Neill, FLSN Regional Rep.
As we have been forced to narrow our social sphere and change our everyday practices, many of us have developed a new relationship with food. Maybe it has taken the form of developing new hobbies like baking, planting a garden, supporting local businesses through takeout, dealing with food shortages, or even a fear of working in or visiting a restaurant or grocery store. One thing is likely common with us all- it’s much harder to sit around the dinner table with our loved ones.
Since meeting and sharing a meal in person is currently impossible, we are hoping that our FLSN community will join us in a project- sharing meaningful recipes to compile into a community cookbook! We will then choose a few of the best recipes to center a few virtual community cooking parties in which FLSN members can all cook the same food, then join in a Zoom dinner party. Share your recipes to FLSNcookbook@gmail.com and see the below formatting tips and example recipe.
We especially want to see:
Recipes that preserve a unique foodway. Cuisine from your hometown, state, or country that is representative of that place and a culinary tradition.
Example- tender Southern biscuits, Southwestern green chile enchiladas, Midwestern hot dish, Goan fish curry
Recipes that you began to cook during quarantine.
Example- sourdough pretzels from a starter you made or were gifted
Recipes that you developed after growing, harvesting, or foraging the ingredients.
Example- salsa made with heirloom varieties of tomato and chile that you grew in your container garden
Recipes that were your favorite entertaining dishes pre-Covid
Example- a beautifully decorated layer cake or crowd-pleasing appetizer
Recipes that are too yummy not to share!
Have an amazing dish that you’ve just got to tell your FLSN friends about, but it doesn’t fit into the above categories? No problem! It’s a community cookbook, and we are happy to feature anything you would like to take the time to submit.
If these are your own recipes, family treasures, or a recipe that you have adapted heavily from the source over time, no credit is necessary. However, if you are using a recipe from a cookbook or online with minimal changes, you must credit the original in your submission. While pictures would be amazing, they are not required.
FLSN will compile these recipes into a PDF document that may also be available in physical form depending on community demand!
Be sure to mark your calendars for these Zoom dinner party dates:
September 25th (deadline to submit recipes for this party is September 15th!)
October 23rd (deadline to submit recipes for this party is October 10th!)
Stay tuned for more Dinner Party info shortly! Please email your recipes, stories, photos, and memories to FLSNcookbook@gmail.com. The deadline for the community cookbook will be in early Spring of 2021. If you are interested in becoming a part of this project, please email coneill@my.loyno.edu to get added to our Cookbook and Dinner Party team!
Formatting Tips
When submitting your recipe, please keep in mind these formatting tips for ease of compiling the cookbook.
If you have a family story or memory about the dish, we would love to hear it! We can always edit these down, so don’t hold back.
Please be specific when using terms like “1 cup of cherry tomatoes, diced” vs “1 cup of diced cherry tomatoes”. The first implies that you measure whole cherry tomatoes into a one cup measure to fill, then dice this amount. The second implies that you dice cherry tomatoes until you have enough to fill up a one cup measure, and these are very different amounts!
If you have separate wet and dry ingredients, or a spice blend, please label and separate these in the ingredient list.
For ease of editing, please submit in word processing format, not PDF.
Example recipe:
Banana Pancakes from Caitlion O’Neill , FLSN’s Regional Rep. for the South
Serves 2 as a main dish or 4 as a side
I always hated bananas but I wanted to like them because they always seemed so nice in smoothies and pancakes! It wasn’t until I tried the dwarf Thai variety bananas at the age of 25 that I realized I actually like bananas in general, just not the Cavendish banana. If you live in New Orleans or another region where banana trees grow, feel free to substitute in a local variety (Ice Cream bananas are delicious here). If you do like the Cavendish banana, eat up because it may not be around much longer- 99% of the worlds export crop of bananas are Cavendish clones, and a fungal disease is beginning to wipe out Cavendish plantations worldwide because none of these clones have resistance.
Dry Ingredients
.5 c whole wheat flour
.5 c White Lily self-raising flour (or white flour)
2 TBSP sugar
If using White Lily, add 1 TBSP baking powder. If not, add 1.5 TBSP baking powder.
Wet Ingredients
3 TBSP Just Scramble (the liquid) or one flax egg (1 TBSP ground flaxseed mixed with 3 TBSP water, let sit for 5 minutes)
.75-1 c oat milk. Start with .75 cup and use more if too dry.
1 TBSP oil
1 banana, mashed, preferably Thai
Sift together all dry ingredients. Mix all wet ingredients well, making sure no big chunks of banana remain. Add wet ingredients to dry and gently whisk just until no dry patches remain. The batter should be thick.
Heat a cast iron or non-stick skillet on medium heat. Add vegan butter or other solid fat (coconut oil is good) to pan and let melt. Add batter and make pancakes! They will brown quickly because of the banana and sugar but they are not burning, promise.
