Shana tova

September 21, 2006

Get a gander at the cool card I got from my friends Liora and Carlos. ‘My First Rosh Hashana Art’ was made by Carlos Jadraque who channeled himself into the body of an 8 yr. old Jewish girl with impossible hair, in order to create this work. That’s the spirit, Carlos!

Dear Friends, Friends of Friends, Friendly Family and good folks I haven’t yet met,

Happy New Year.
May the MASSIVE FAT AND LASTING BIG ASS SHALOM reign down upon us ALL.
Every single last one of us.
May we all have the grace to behave a little more like the mishpocha that we are.

Carpe diem, only ten days left to drop all our bad shit.

Love a dove dove,

Debra

-ps, fortunately not everyone sucks although I’m wary about peace becoming a design process

debra at 1:21 | Comments (2) | post to del.icio.us

What, you don’t like my not cooking?

September 19, 2006

The only thing that bothers me about this Soil Association press release is that the ‘mums’ are getting the lion’s share of the blame. Surely in 2006 both parents are responsible for feeding the cubs?

18 September 2006 - for immediate release

Soil Association Dinner Lady, Jeanette Orrey and London Parents Group, Merton Parents, call on the “fish and chip” mums to stop the deliveries.

On the day that Jamie Oliver’s school meals show hits our screens, Soil Association school dinner lady, Jeanette Orrey, and London Parents group ‘Merton Parents for better food’ [1], are to meet the Rotherham mums to call for a stop in the lunch time junk food deliveries.

Image of Jamie Oliver in a fatsuit © Jamie Oliver and used entirely without permission

In response to genuine concerns raised by the Rotherham parents, the Soil Association, Merton Parents and local parents are to meet to discuss how all parties can work together to achieve healthy school meals that pupils will eat.

Jeanette Orrey, Soil Association’s School Meals Policy advisor, said,

“We now have a golden opportunity to change the eating habits of the next generation. For some children school meals are the only hot meal of the day. It is vital to feed those children properly. We must all work together, head teachers, catering staff, parents and children to make these new menus work.”

In Merton there has been dramatic improvements in the quality of the school food.  Jackie Schneider, Chair of Merton Parents, said,

“Children who previously claimed to ‘hate all that healthy stuff’ are now wolfing it down, regardless of their backgrounds. The Rotherham mums should stop their lunch time deliveries. Let’s focus on the real issues in the school canteen: how long do kids have to queue? Are the meals made from good quality ingredients, well cooked and tasty? We need to listen to the students concerns if we are going to have any success in increasing healthy food uptake.”

Rotherham Mum, Julie Critchley, said,

“I want my children to eat healthy food. The issues here are about the lunch hour and the food. I am delighted that the Soil Association and Merton Parents want to meet, I want to find out from them how other schools have done it.”

The experience gained by the Soil Association, through the Food for Life campaign [2] and Merton Parents working together with over 750 schools has shown that children, whatever their background will eat healthy food.

For more information please contact:

Emma Noble, Soil Association Food for Life Manager Emma Noble +44 (0)7900 376 462 or Chair of Merton Parents, Jackie Schneider, on +44 (0)779 521 3425
Victoria Record, Soil Association Media Office Co-ordinator on +44 (0)117 9874580

1. Food for Life is the Soil Association’s school meals campaign. In all schools that have radically changed their school meals, following the Food for Life model uptake has nearly doubled

2. Merton Parents Group formed in 2005 and has helped radically reform the meals in Merton

Press Office  T: +44 (0)117 914 2448  ISDN: 0117 314 5040
Soil Association Campaigning for organic food and farming and sustainable forestry
Bristol House, 40-56 Victoria Street, Bristol BS1 6BY T: +44 (0)117 314 5000  F: +44 (0)117 314 5001
www.soilassociation.org
Version 290.1 | Issued18/09/2006

Thank you Peter Redstone for the headsup. I’ll make sure to try the Rocombe Organic ice cream next time I’m in England.

Jamie Oliver’s Junkfood Amnesty project

Image of Jamie Oliver in a fatsuit © Jamie Oliver and used entirely without permission

debra at 14:55 | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us

Got a cutting-edge food-related project?

September 18, 2006

A Delhi street kitchen doing booming business

The deadline for the DOORS OF PERCEPTION 9 conference on “JUICE” (FOOD, FUEL, DESIGN) has been extended until September 30, 2006. If you think your project should be included in this event, please put your nose to the grindstone forthwith. Any questions, contact me via the comment below and I’ll get back to you within a day or two.

A] CALL FOR PROJECT CASE STUDIES
Doors of Perception 9 takes place in New Delhi 28 February to 4 March 2006. The theme is “Juice: Food, Fuel, Design”. Doors 9 begins with a two-day Project Leaders Round Table that is limited to 50 participants. This is followed by an open-to-all one day conference at India Habitat Centre, plus a Social Technologies Bazaar, on Saturday 3 March.

For the Project Leaders Round Table, we are looking for sixteen participants whose project raises interesting design issues in relation to:
• Food information systems (food miles, energy use, GMOs);
• Localisation of food systems (Community Supported Agriculture);
• Urban farming (rooftop, vertical…);
• Sustainable packaging and distribution;
• Slow food using high tech;
• New forms of community cooking (meal assembly centres);
• Agritourism;
• Street food.

Your project proposals will be reviewed by: Aditya Dev Sood, Centre for Knowledge Societies; Debra Solomon, culiblog.org; Juha Huuskonen, PixelAche; Amy Franseschini, futurefarmers; John Thackara, Doors of Perception. Send us an email in answer to these six questions:

1. Why? = the main question asked by the project
2. Who are the actors/partners?
3. Where? (the locality or situaton)
4. What are the desired outcomes/results of the project?
5. When (timeframe)?
6. How can the Project Leaders Round Table help? What problem, challenge or dilemma does the project face, that the assembled experts can help you with?

Send your project description email (Subject header: “juice project”) to: editor@doorsofperception.com

B] OPEN PROGRAMME
A one-day conference on Saturday 3 March, in the India Habitat Centre, will address the key issues to do with food, fuel and design. The results of the Round Table will be presented. And a social technologies bazaar will provide participants with a show-and-tell opportunity. Conference participants are invited to the Doors Holi Party the following day.

Bhang ice cream ready for Holi

C] HOW TO WIN A FREE TRIP TO DOORS 9
Doors has teamed up with the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and Designs of the time (Dott07) to offer travel-included scholarships to Doors 9. The scholarships are for up to eight winning teams in the 2006-2007 RSA Design Directions competition. Dott 07 has set two themes – on food information systems, and sustainable tourism. All you have to do is win. Details at:
http://www.rsadesigndirections.org/dott07.html
http://www.dott07.com/go/education/dott-rsa-design-directions

D] LIMITED EDITION PACKAGE DEAL FOR DOORS 9
For those not eligible to compete in Design Directions, we can offer a limited number of all-in packages comprising flight, registration, accomodation and food for the whole Doors 9 week, for 1,000 euros. To be eligible for this package, we must receive your project proposal by Friday 29 September (which is when our cheap flights expire).

The original Doors 9 call for participation is here.

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