Re-Thinking Soup

Great minestrone soup made from freshly harvested vegetables that very morning from the Jane Adams Hull House Kitchen garden! I attended this monthly public conversation at the Jane Adams Hull House - University of Illinois Chicago campus today, which focused on the sustainability food movements that are peppered across Illinois and the US.

The conversation was led by Josh Viertel of the Slow Food movement, which grew out of a protest to the opening of a McDonald's near the Spanish Steps in Rome, Italy! The small group of protesters showed up with a big cauldron of prepared penne pasta and soup bowls and distributed free soup to the crowds. This eventually led to the chanting of wanting slow food as opposed to fast food represented by the American fast food chain.

A majority of the sustainability food movements in the US are primarily manifested in community gardens in urban areas. Not big enough to have a real impact on the mono-culture cash crop food programs which have taken over the majority of the agriculture tax dollars. The structure of the Farm Bill has led to the demise of the small farmer growing food for consumption and the growth of growing food as a commodity!