Ellen Tarlin has recently started an online experiment at Slate.com to investigate some of the ways of thinking about food and nutrition at the individual and household level. She calls this project “Clean Plate: Outrageous Experiments in Sensible Eating.”
Tarlin’s experiment is quite accessible. She writes brief posts in a conversational style, and engages her readers in the comment threads. Among the pages on her blog are brief analyses of nutritional guidelines (i.e., the USDA food pyramid) and diet schemes, photos and prices of each item she’s eaten during the day, and questions to her readers about what she’s doing.
Tarlin’s project got me thinking about related initiatives, films, books, etc., on the topic of of food, food systems, and nutrition. Below the fold you’ll find a list of some of these other projects. The list is by no means exhaustive, so feel free to recommend others in the comments.
In general, see the links of interest under the “Agriculture & Food Systems” label on the SHP website, and some of the links on the Sources pages. These links focus predominately on initiatives and organizations based in the Pacific Northwest. Other sources include . . .
- Website contains many links to other relevant sources. Online activism platform for social change that raises awareness about important causes and connects people to opportunities for powerful action.
City of Portland, Oregon: Sustainable Food Policy and Programs
- The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability focuses on policy and programs that support local, sustainable agriculture, economic development in the region and access to healthy, culturally appropriate food for all residents.
- Cooking Up a Story (CUpS) is an online television series (and blog) about people, food, and sustainable living. CUpS offers a variety of original, short form video programming that examines our food system, up close and personal.
- Film and resource website; contains many links to other relevant sources. Filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA.
- Film and resource website. Documentary about the role of corn in the modern American diet and economy.
Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution
- Television program and resource website; contains many links to other relevant sources. My philosophy to food and healthy eating has always been about enjoying everything in a balanced, and sane way. Food is one of life’s greatest joys yet we’ve reached this really sad point where we’re turning food into the enemy, and something to be afraid of.
- Author & advocate; website contains many links to other relevant sources. For the past twenty-five years, Michael Pollan has been writing books and articles about the places where nature and culture intersect: on our plates, in our farms and gardens, and in the built environment.
- Seeks to reconnect people with the food they eat and the cultures, community, and production behind it. At the heart (and belly) of our activities, we believe that every individual has a right to Good, Clean, and Fair food in their daily life.
- Goal: To shift sustainable food from niche to mainstream.
- Website contains many links to other relevant sources. Celebrates local sustainable food, educates consumers on food-related issues and works to build community through food.
- Blog. I yearn for an acre or two to be truly self-sufficient, but for now my family live on a small block in suburbia. We grow veggies and dwarf fruit trees, making do with what we have, learning to mend, sew, bake and grow, trying to live lightly and more sustainably to reduce our ecological footprint and help maintain the earth for future generations.
- Seeks to transition the entire State of California to a sustainable food system. The California food industry leads the world, yet the industry is suffering economically, rural communities are struggling, and the public is still not guaranteed a delicious, equitable, quality food system. While there are examples of small, successful models of sustainable food system practices, no detailed vision or plan exists on how to transition the whole system.
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Sustainability History Project 
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