The VHX is a movement, not merely an event. Last Sunday my friends and I held the first "official meeting" of our new food club, the Venice Harvest Xchange. Modeled after the San Francisco Underground Market, backyard gardeners, urban foragers, and food producers who cannot afford a commercial kitchen license, now have a venue at which to offer their goods. Sunday brought out 12 food producers and over 100 attendees, who tasted, traded for, and purchased whole foods like kale, rainbow chard, salad greens, lemon verbena, hummus, celery and apple cardamon soup, an assortment of dried mushrooms, spinach and feta quiche, raw chocolate raspberry bars, roasted peppers preserved in garlic infused oil, plum butter, chocolate flourless cake, cilantro pesto, cabbage wraps topped with cashew cream, fresh fruit smoothies, and the most delicious and healthy granola that I've ever had the pleasure spooning into my mouth (thank you, Andre!). The hit of the day was the wood-fired pizza, baked in a hand-built earth oven (designed by Andre and built by he, Nicolas, and yours truly), which was loaded with heaps of fresh vegetables, basil, and a hint of mozzarella. What a joy it was to see this event finally come to fruition, after living it out only in my mind for the past 2 years.
Consuming locally produced and sourced food (as opposed to food-like products) should not be a privilege, available only to those who can afford to stroll the farmers markets or the isles of upscale groceries that claim to offer "whole" or "conscious" foods. That said, I don't take my privileged food access lightly, especially here in the United States, where our food is literally killing us. The over-consumption of food is to blame for 3 of the 4 leading causes of death, making our water toxic, and contributing to serious changes in our climate, not to mention reeking havoc on our social and political reputation. Ironically, the problem with our current food system is a direct result of its success. In fact, we have been so successful at industrializing agriculture that we now produce about 3,800 calories per person per day, leaving nearly 70% of all Americans either overweight or obese and costing society billions of dollars in healthcare costs annually. Retired military officials recently claimed that food has become a threat to national security. In a report entitled “Too Fat to Fight,” it is claimed that “being overweight or obese turns out to be the leading medical reason why applicants fail to qualify for military service.” At the same time, many Americans live in “food deserts” and struggle to obtain food. Something has gone terribly wrong, and what can we do to fix it?
Return to VHX. I am not such an optimist, or perhaps such a fool, that I believe the VHX is the ultimate solution to our food crises. It is a start--giving freedom to those who want to speak to the chef, know where their food comes from, and support a local economy that promotes bartering over buying. I do hope that it continues to be educational, fun, community oriented, and most of all open to anyone who wants to participate. Other markets, including the San Francisco market that gave rise to my idea to form VHX, have been shut down for fears of "food safety." Did you know that the FDA inspects less than 1% of all food imports, down from 8% in 1992? Ask me how I made my hummus, now that's food safety.
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