Posts in Civil Eats
Sonoma County Says its Grapes Can Be ‘100% Sustainable’ By 2019

Wine is usually a fun topic, but in the Golden State, the fourth-largest wine-producing region in the world, it’s also big business: 85 percent of domestic wine comes from over 600,000 acres of grapes grown in California. Operating at this scale means the wine business must also consider land stewardship. Two of the state’s biggest and best-known wine counties—the neighboring communities of Napa, which has more vintners, and Sonoma, which has more growers—are both working toward achieving goals of 100 percent sustainability within the next few years.

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How One Woman Changed the Supermarket Produce Section Forever

It all started accidentally. Frieda Caplan, new mother and UCLA political science graduate, was looking for a job with flexible hours. Through her relatives she found an opening at Giumarra Brothers Fruit Company’s stall in the Seventh Street wholesale produce terminal in downtown Los Angeles.

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These Kids Recipes Are Worthy of the White House

Timothy Burke describes his trick for making spring rolls with rice paper, which is notoriously difficult. With a bit of translation from his mom, the shy eight year old said, You dip them in a wide plate of hot water, and turn them, then take them out of the water and place them on another plate before they get soft. Then you add the vegetables and roll it up fast. Easy.

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Kernza: Can A Perennial Save Our Soil?

Kernza’s arrival has been a long time coming. The new grain variety from the Land Institute is derived from an ancient form of intermediate wheatgrass, a perennial that is actually a distant relative of wheat. And there’s a widespread team of researchers hoping their work will pave the way for an entirely new form of food.

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Recap: TedX Manhattan 2015

“The food movement needs money,” announced Shen Tong to hundreds of attendees at last weekend’s TedX Manhattan. He paused, thanked the crowd, and pretended to walk off the stage as if to end his talk there. “That’s probably the shortest TED talk you’ll ever hear,” he said. Virtually everyone at the one-day conference clapped and cheered at the investor and Food-X founder’s point (and it wasn’t the end of his talk). And while the food movement does need investment, it’s not as simple as writing a check.

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This Urban Farmer is Breeding Seeds for Rooftops

Urban farmers in New York City face many obstacles—from high winds, to lack of space, extreme temperatures, and more. But now, there’s a line of seeds made just for them. Zach Pickens of Rooftop Ready Seeds, a small NYC start-up, has been cultivating, packaging, and selling seeds bred specifically for New York urban farms for the past four years.

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