Grounded Grub Weeklies! 05.26.2020

Hello Grounded Grub Community!

Every week we’re sent amazing articles, books, podcasts and other content from our community. We love hearing from everyone and having these resources, so we decided to start pooling together these recommendations, as well as some of our favorites, and sharing them once a week on Tuesdays. We hope you enjoy and feel inspired to share with us if you see/hear/try something that inspires you in the future!

Today: May 26, 2020

What happened on Grounded Grub last week: 

• Kicking off the week Hannah put out a classic curry potato recipe that makes french fries look boooooring. This is a great comfort food to add to your quarantine rotation and we were so excited to share it with you! Check it out!

• Then, this past weekend, Ben kepts our Drinking Responsibly series going with a special on rum. Including everything from sustainable rum production, to its rich history, to some classic cocktail recipes, this article will make you a rum expert yet! Did you see our previous articles on Tequila and Mezcal and Gin? 

• Finally, we finished off the week with an article that we’ve been meaning to write for quite a while: a deep dive into “organic.” We often get questions about organic certification, what does it mean? Is it actually important? Is it worth the money? We tried our best to answer all of these complicated questions this week. Check it out!

Coming up on Grounded Grub…

It has been a flurry of activity in the Grounded Grub email inbox, and we are thrilled about all the different things we have in the works...but we’ll just stick to what we have going on this week: 

• Kicking off this week Ben help us navigate the world of sustainable fish consumption. With so many options ranging from how fish are caught, managed, raised, and transported, it can be complicated to ensure that we’re making as little impact as possible while shopping for seafood. We’re excited to put out this brief guide (full of resources) to help you shop and eat more sustainably!

• Then, Hannah gives an update on how emergency food and anti-hunger organizations are responding to COVID around the country, how they’re being innovative, what challenges their facing, what the government is doing, how programs are diverting food waste to serve more people, and more!

• Finally, we close out the week with a recipe to take all of those herbs slowly wilting in your pantry or refrigerator and #UseItUp! Ben shows us how to turn these flavor packed herbs into a bright and delicious Chimichurri (an herb-packed fresh sauce) that brings everything it touches to the next level!

• In a non-content related note, we’re doing a bunch of website redesign initiatives to make it easier to search, read related articles, and find that popular banana bread recipe that Ben posted the first week but everyone still loves… That being said, if you see something on our website that looks a bit “off” or seems like we may have missed, let us know! We’d be really grateful if you point it out then let it remain messed up for too long. 

Have any other ideas for things we should cover? Reach out on Instagram, Facebook or email. We love hearing from you and some of our best articles have been from community suggestions.

Media articles of the week: 

• Pandemics aren’t limited to people: How the world’s most famous seed vault defends plants against their next big outbreak, Simran Sethi, The Counter.
  This article discusses the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a “‘library of life,’ [with] a collection now topping over 1 million seeds from 85 different global seed collections, intended to secure our future food supply.” As our climate becomes more erratic and our food systems continue to limit and even decimate regional biodiversity, plant species around the world require this kind of precautionary conservation more than ever. Thanks to Laurie Gershgorn for sharing this resource! Read it here. 

• This Indian Philosophy Made Me a Better, More Resourceful Cook, Akanksha Singh, Bon Appetit.
  ““Jugaad”—where resources fail and resourcefulness steps in. A uniquely Indian concept, the word is a catchall term for many things. For cutting corners, for being innovative—it's what people have to do to get by, it's the length they’ll go to seek out the Indian dream. Jugaad rejects consumerism by necessity and shows the astonishing possibilities that arise when people are forced to make do with what they have.” In the wake of their transition to a new living situation that necessitated sharp reductions in waste and a huge increase in home-kitchen ingenuity, Ankaksha looks back on how being raised in a culture of “Jugaad” has both prepared them and shaped their perspective on this kind of living. Read it here.

• Eaters of the earth: How the fertilizer industry leaves a trail of destruction across the American South, Boyce Upholt, The Counter.
  “Phosphate rock allowed farmers to stop using manure fertilizer, kicking us into the modern era of agriculture. But those who live near the mining industry’s epicenter fear its huge towers of radioactive sludge will pour into their backyards.” This comprehensive piece dives into how phosphate mining paired with a massive commercialized agricultural industry is wreaking havoc on local communities and ecosystems across the country. Read more about this here.

Podcast of the week:

White vs. Wheat: The Food Fight of the Centuries — Gastropod

“White vs. wholewheat: this episode, we dive into the world's longest-running, highest-stakes food fight. Along the way: the invention of sliced bread, the science behind Wonder Bread's curious bounce, and a light dusting of eugenics. Listen in now as Aaron Bobrow-Strain, author of White Bread: A Social History of the Store-bought Loaf, unpacks the anxieties and values underlying the bread wars, while wheat breeder Steve Jones introduces us to the "approachable" loaf that he hopes will win the battle for once and for all.” Check out this Podcast here, or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

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