Ay, There's the Grub

I've committed myself to feeding people; illuminating the connections between poverty, malnutrition, and institutional racism; and working to create a more just and sustainable food system for everyone.

How we produce our food and what we eat has an immense impact on the environmental health of our planet. Ask anyone who lives within a two-mile radius of a factory farm. They'll smell -- I mean tell -- you a lot about this relationship.

After writing a book -- Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen -- that hit shelves in April, Anna and I started "grub parties" and created an online educational space. We also began a Grub Tour, traveling the country speaking about the food-justice movement at bookstores, farmers' markets, food co-ops, churches, clubs, cafés, and universities. I'm planning and fundraising for an offshoot of our Grub Tour that will specifically target people of color.

I walk (from the bedroom to the kitchen in my apartment).

I started learning about food systems and sustainable agriculture in my grandparents' backyard gardens in Memphis, Tenn., when I was just knee-high to a June bug. When I was getting my master's in history at New York University, I learned about the "Free Breakfast for Children" program started in 1968 by the Black Panthers. Within one year, the program spread across the country, and they were feeding over 10,000 African-American youth each morning. Other groups working to create social change (e.g., Brown Berets and Young Lords) replicated this model.

I was born in Memphis, Tenn. I moved to Oakland, Calif., in January 2006 after living in Brooklyn, N.Y., for eight years. Before that, I lived in New Orleans.

Getting booed off stage by about 100 high-school students for describing some of McDonald's unsavory practices. That's when I realized how powerful advertising and "fake food" can be.

Handing my parents a copy of Grub.

The U.S. government's refusal to label GMOs [genetically modified organisms]. Most people don't realize that up to 70 percent of processed foods in the U.S. market contain products of genetic engineering.

The Green Worker Cooperatives in the South Bronx, N.Y.

I don't compost at my new home yet.

I read a lot of cookbooks and books about food politics. When I can, I fit in some fiction. I'm currently reading Shooting Water by Devyani Saltzman, daughter of filmmaker Deepa Mehta.

In the summer, it's grilled corn and heirloom tomato salad with fresh purple basil.

I hug trees.

Cape Cod.

Then: A Tribe Called Quest. Now: Madlib. He's a musical genius.

Right now my favorite film is The Five Obstructions by Lars von Trier.

Paul Robeson.

Do their unique part as community members, consumers, and citizens to help create a more just and sustainable food system. Every positive action we make with our voices, votes, and our dollars makes a significant impact. And I must say that reading Grub is a great place to start.