Food, Community and Justice have been in seen as interconnected values at least since biblical times, when the concept of the “open table” accessible to the poor, infirm and marginalized (as well as all of those who need daily reminders of their plights) was so radical an idea that it got Yeshua the Jewish craftsman from Nazareth crucified.
This week in Tucson, we hold a public dialogue on how traditional and contemporary knowledge of food and water in arid lands can bring us into fuller capacity to reduce hunger and improve food security.
Friends and thought leaders from Italy, Turkey, Iran, Peru, Mexico and Zimbabwe and many Native Nations are joining us at the University of Arizona, Thursday through Saturday, for this UNESCO City of Gastronomy event. But we need to be reminded that not all in our community has access to capital or start-up capacity for participating in such dialogues. That’s why all of us need to support food businesses being jump started by some of the most marginalized in our community.
To show how such initiatives (like a microlending and seed grant program thru the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona) really matters to our entire city’s economic recovery, we have released a new essay on Food, Community and Justice in the Slow Money Journal. Alternative financing is to help food entrepreneurs in blighted areas get back on their feet. Slow Money is THE organization in the U.S. doing the most to move such dialogues along.
Brother Coyote, OEF
