Six on History: Food
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY (WRGB) — "In February of this year, CBS 6's Liz Bishop spoke to Alan Richer about his work as a potato chip historian - and his upcoming appearance on the History Channel's “The Food That Built America.”
This former tax lawyer is now collector of hundreds of historic chip memorabilia.
Primarily anything 'Saratoga Chips,' the original generic name of potato chips until the mid-20's.
“When I first started out it was kind of a joke. Now, I literally get calls from all over the world. Australia, New Zealand, Europe.”Alan has been in at least three episodes one on Pringles, another called 'Chips Dynasties' and another not even about potato chips called Burger Wars."
Drive up to any South Shore dock between Jamaica and Shinnecock bays on a summer day, and you are likely to find it lined with crabbers. Recreational clammers, meanwhile, saunter about known clamming areas, which tend to be in shallow bay areas or tucked inside North Shore harbors."
WASHINGTON - "Ben & Jerry's co-founders Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield on Wednesday said they "unequivocally support" the ice cream maker's decision to end ice cream sales in Israeli settlements.
Cohen and Greenfield – offering their first public comments on the controversial decision – described themselves in a New York Times op-ed as proud Jews, saying "it’s part of who we are and how we’ve identified ourselves for our whole lives." They noted that they remain supporters of the State of Israel, highlighting how it was one of their first overseas markets amid international expansion.
Cohen and Greenfield do not have any operational control of the company they founded in 1978, though they described their pride in the company's decision, saying it's on the right side of history. "In our view, ending the sales of ice cream in the occupied territories is one of the most important decisions the company has made in its 43-year history," they stated, describing the company's move as brave while knowing the eventual response it would elicit.
The two said their support for the decision is not anti-semitic, saying it "can and should be seen as advancing the concepts of justice and human rights, core tenets of Judaism." They added that "we see the company’s recent action...not as anti-Israel, but as part of a long history of being pro-peace."
- Jewish groups urge U.S. governors not to use anti-BDS laws against Ben & Jerry's
- Ben & Jerry’s and 'terrorism'? Lapid and Herzog are embarrassing Israel
- Unilever CEO appeals to Jewish establishment organizations over Ben & Jerry’s uproar
They added that the decision does not constitute a boycott of Israel, nor did Ben & Jerry's endorse the BDS movement, but is simply a rejection of Israeli policy. "As Jewish supporters of the State of Israel, we fundamentally reject the notion that it is anti-semitic to question the policies of the State of Israel," they wrote.
The op-ed was published hours after 90 lawmakers – including Meretz lawmaker Yair Golan and five Labor lawmakers – signed a letter imploring Ben & Jerry's to reverse its decision. Golan and the Labor lawmakers eventually pulled their signatures after progressive organizations such as Americans for Peace Now reached out through public and private channels."
"Two farm workers died during a recent heatwave in Washington and Oregon. While this is outrageous, it’s not unusual. Farm workers die in hot weather every year.
Part of the reason is climate change — as temperatures soar, outdoor working conditions get deadlier. But another part of the problem is centuries old.
The fact is that Europeans brought an exploitative agricultural system to this continent. Although its form has changed throughout time, our food system is still built on exploited labor.
Market pressures incentivize this exploitation.
Farmers are price takers twice over. They purchase equipment, fuel, seeds, and credit at prices set by the market, and they sell what they produce at prices determined by the market as well. As farms often operate on thin margins, one way to compete is by exploiting labor.
Until 1865, one form of exploited agricultural labor was slavery. After the Civil War, the U.S. government broke a promise to give freed African Americans 40 acres and a mule, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation by white land owners.
Even the New Deal left these workers out. In order to secure the votes of southern segregationists, the New Deal’s labor reforms excluded domestic workers and farm workers. Both jobs were often done by African Americans.
Nowadays, farm workers are paid piecemeal rather than hourly — which incentivizes long hours without breaks, which can be deadly in a heat wave. Farm workers and their families are also often exposed to pesticide drift.
The result is an efficient system that produces large amounts of cheap food. Americans spend less of their disposable income on food than people from any other country. That’s a good thing by itself — but the price is paid by exploited laborers.
Exploited populations have always been people who are vulnerable in some way. They are often the targets of racism, and sometimes coerced by violence.
For example, when Anglo-Americans first settled the Owens Valley, California, they declared Native Americans’ ancestral lands private property and deprived them of their food sources. The settlers controlled Natives by violence, forcing some to serve as a compliant workforce in order to survive. Others resisted or died.
Today, citizenship and documentation are sources of vulnerability.
The recent farm worker deaths are a reminder of two big problems that need systemic change: the climate crisis and labor rights in agriculture. How can we have vibrant rural communities, a food system that doesn’t leave people hungry, fewer greenhouse gases, and labor rights for all who work in agriculture?
Plenty of billionaires, like Bill Gates or California’s Resnick family, profit from agriculture. I feel no sympathy for them. But we do need to consider the pressures on family farmers, as well as the need to keep food affordable.
The solution needs to involve labor rights for farm workers, more democratic land ownership, and more general efforts to mitigate climate change and reduce poverty. In short, it’s time to move away from the exploitative farming system we inherited centuries ago."
HOOPESTON, IL— "Whether it’s baked into a tasty bread, popped in oil as a savory treat, or enjoyed fresh and right off the cob, sources from across the nation agreed Wednesday that, whatever differences they may have, Americans still grow themselves some mighty good-lookin’ corn. “Regardless of which part of the country we come from or what we may be arguing about at the moment, we can all of us share in the belief that no one grows a taller, sweeter, or purdier stalk of corn than we do right here in the ol’ U-S-of-A,” said Illinois native Grant Hardway, 56, who reportedly joined together with millions of Americans as they looked back and forth between one another and the seemingly endless rows of gorgeous, freshly sown corn that stretched beyond the horizon, bathing the countryside in a magnificent golden glow. “Some folks say we’re more divided than ever, and I reckon there’s some truth to that. But this here—this handsome, buttered, homegrown cob you see in my hand—by God, it ain’t changed one bit. Be it raw, boiled, grilled, creamed, or extruded into a cheese-flavored snack puff, we here in the land of the free have got us some damned fine corn. Yes, sir.” At press time, an estimated 333 million U.S. residents nodded solemnly toward their neighbors as they sat on porches, patios, and stoops to begin shucking corn for their evening meals."
