The school lunch menu in the Bend-LaPine School District looks more like fine dining under a new program that delivers local seafood to Central Oregon cafeterias. Menu items include Oregon shrimp salad loaded with tomato, cucumber, cauliflower, a hard-boiled egg, and a lemon wedge, and baked ginger-soy Dover sole served over coconut rice and topped with fresh pineapple salsa. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Sustainability, Foodie Friday, Farm to school

Who are your local food heroes? Edible Portland magazine holds a Local Food Hero contest every year to recognize businesses that go the extra mile for social, environmental and economic sustainability. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Sustainability, Foodie Friday

Look closely at the trees in Northeast Ohio and you can see plastic bags fluttering alongside some of the sugar maples. They've been tapped for their sweet sap! Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Forestry, Foodie Friday

Last week, a new report released the news that 30 to 50 percent of the world's food is wasted. Food waste makes up 18 percent of the waste currently going into landfills in the U.S., according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Continue reading →

Filed under: Sustainability, Composting, Foodie Friday

A new Portland company called Fishpeople is making packaged meals with sustainable local seafood and other ingredients that can be traced back to their mostly local sources. Continue reading →

Filed under: Agriculture, Foodie Friday, Sustainable seafood

A lot of us know how to find some kind of wild food: fish, mushrooms, berries…I even figured out how to gather wild chestnuts in Portland. Continue reading →

Filed under: Sustainability, Foodie Friday

While I was reading up on beef earlier this week, I came across this graphic of worldwide meat consumption. One of the takeaways from my reporting on grass-fed and grain-fed beef is that environmentalists encourage people to eat less meat in general to reduce environmental impacts that come from producing it. Is that happening? Continue reading →

Filed under: Agriculture, Foodie Friday

Rick Boatner has picked up on an emerging trend in the local food movement: People who want to grow their own seafood. Continue reading →

Filed under: Sustainability, Aquaponics, Foodie Friday

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported this week that the U.S. seafood catch hit a 17-year high in 2011. The leap from 2010 in the pounds fishermen landed and the value of the catch is staggering: From 1.9 billion pounds to 10.1 billion pounds and from $784 million to $5.3 billion. Continue reading →

Filed under: Sustainability, Foodie Friday, Sustainable seafood

Well, Portland. We’ve nearly made it a year with our kitchen compost buckets and curbside bins. What do you think? Continue reading →

Filed under: Sustainability, Composting, Foodie Friday