Hey there,
I’m back! And I’m tired. Office re-entry shock is no joke. If you work from home and have any trouble sleeping at night, I highly recommend commuting to an office everyday - I can confirm that will do the trick.
Last week, I started a new role focusing on reducing Scope 3 food emissions reduction at Disneyland. I feel strongly that solutions work at this scale can empower me to be better at all that I do - which very much still includes storytelling and Point of Origin. I’m still adjusting and determining how I’m going to balance…everything. And it felt like it would be fairly easy to skip another week of Before the Cutting Board.
I’m picking it back up and planning on figuring it out because I enjoy it. People often ask how much work it is to put this roundup together. And I answer truthfully that it is a significant lift. But, it means a lot to me to stay up-to-date on these topics and be able to help you do the same. I started this with the intention of eventually monetizing it. And then I never did. Because the idea of a free resource to help facilitate access to information and stories that challenge us to think more critically about our food and where it comes from is just really important to me.
All to say, I’m juggling a little more than usual and may need your patience, but Before the Cutting Board will remain.
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Welcome back to Before the Cutting Board, your weekly roundup of food + supply chain hot topics to help keep you up to speed on what’s going down with your food.
Let’s dig in.
-This Week-
Red Lobster
The big news in sourcing is the latest update in the ongoing debate between the Atlantic lobster industry and right whale advocates. Seafood Watch, a seafood harvesting monitor group, placed American Lobster on its red list earlier this month. In doing so, the group is telling consumers and the companies it aligns with - Whole Foods and The Cheesecake Factory, for example - to avoid purchasing American lobster. The lobster industry, which is anchored in Maine and Atlantic Canada, claims the move unnecessarily hurts small-scale fishermen who have been cooperating with recent legislation. It appears the decision will ultimately fall to consumers, as the companies who use Seafood Watch’s seafood sourcing guidelines have yet to make any commitments to avoid American lobster.
The role of culinary in a better food system
Civil Eats put up an interview with Gregory Gourdet, the James Beard award winning-chef behind Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health (one of my favorite cookbooks this year). In the interview, Gourdet discusses his commitment to sourcing produce locally and making food service more equitable.
Yet another shameless self-plug
My piece on okra is out on Life & Thyme! Black families have long passed down stories about how our ancestors brought okra to the South, and I wanted to understand how those stories became obscured by its status as a southern staple. I had the opportunity to interview some really brilliant minds for this one, like food historian Michael Twitty and Chef Serigne Mbaye. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
A shameless not-self plug
My friend Bryce has started an environmental justice magazine called The Margin, centering often unheard stories of those who are fighting against environmental racism and injustice. The first story dug into the impacts of US federal and military Superfund sites on the communities of color they disproportionately affect. This week’s story centers on the Upper Skagit tribe’s efforts to both restore and protect their salmon supply from the intergenerational threat posed by Washington’s hydroelectric dam.
That’s it for this week. If you enjoyed reading this, please forward to a friend. Even if you didn’t enjoy reading it, still tell your friends - misery loves company :)