Oakland Food Connection Brings "Food Justice" to the Laurelby Meredith Florian | ||
Scenes around Oakland Food Connection. Photos by Bryan Farley.
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While Tori Lanterman was pursuing her degree in Community Studies, she learned about an internship that has inspired and excited her ever since—the Oakland Food Connection (OFC). Tori, who has been helping with volunteer programs, outreach, and setting up the budding Laurel Farmers' Market, in the parking lot of the Laurel Office Center on MacArthur near Maybelle, has become the familiar face at OFC. She can often be found enthusiastically staffing the OFC table on Saturdays.
Her mentor, Jason Harvey, the Director of this three-year-old organization, grew up in East Oakland, acutely aware of food insecurity in poor communities. He wanted to provide an alternative to the poor-quality food available. He started the West Oakland Famers' Market in a neighborhood with 40 liquor stores, but no grocery store. Jason founded OFC to build on his dream of bringing fresh food to Oaklanders.
Tori works with teens from Unity High and EC Reems Academy, who staff the Purple Lawn Café, an integral part of the Farmers' Market. If you haven't tried it yet, do yourself a favor. They offer low-cost organic vegetarian food (such as yummy, belly-filling soups). OFC has garden space at Unity High, and the students come out after school or during summer to learn how to build garden beds and plant seeds. Tori says, "the idea is the kids learn about gardening, cooking, nutrition, and what we really want the Purple Lawn Café to be is an extension of that knowledge—a sort of ownership of it." By now the students work independently. "They know how to set up the booth." Staff is available to the students in the bright OFC kitchen, which was redolent with savory scents when I met with Jason.
For OFC, the key question is how to find the steps "to get fresh, healthy food to everyone." Once students experience it, their tastes change. "I think all of my kids love kale—they really do. They didn't know it a year ago," says Tori. Last fall the students worked with a guest chef who taught them how to do stirfry. "They really got into it." Later they kept asking Tori when they could prepare the stirfry again.'
OFC also allows students to explore outside their immediate community. Last summer the students attended a youth conference in Berkeley, where they met people from other organizations who are also working on the issue of food justice.
While the students have learned, Tori has benefited as well. "They are great kids—I can't get over how much I have learned from them." Through her work Tori has been able to build relationships with them and "start talking about some of the things that I felt it was important for them to learn." Along with food, they have discussed other life issues, such as violence.
Tori has returned to college and will not be able to devote so much time to OFC . Both Jason and Tori told me that they need volunteers with all skills. Can you assist with the new neighborhood garden? Contribute money? Pass out flyers or staff the booth? If so, please contact them. And keep an eye out for the OFC fundraiser on April 18.