Items

• 
  2020-04-14

  Sweetness At Home During the 2020 Covid Pandemic

  I had just quit my job on February 28, 2020 since my military spouse and I were about to PCS (Permanent Change of Station) from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to New Orleans, Louisiana in late March. Mid-March the DOD issued a Stop Movement order for all troops so we ended up not moving until it was lifted on July 1. During the wait, we were in limbo not knowing what would happen with our moving situation, but fortunately we still had our house and stuff. My spouse picked up Covid on our house-hunting trip to New Orleans the first week of March before the Stop Movement was issued, but was never diagnosed since there were not enough tests to go around in North Carolina. For about two months we stayed home together, enjoyed each other's company, and made the best of it. I spent a lot more time in the kitchen than was previously normal, and loved every minute of it. Two years previously, my spouse gave me an ice cream maker for Christmas, but I never took it out of the box and it ended up in one of my difficult-to-reach upper cabinets. When I was organizing my pantry and kitchen cabinets one day to prepare for the time we would actually get to pack up and move, I spied it and thought I would finally give it a try. I have wonderful childhood memories of sitting around with my family and grandparents outdoors while the homemade ice cream my mom and grandmother made, churned in the electric ice cream maker on a hot summers day. I called my mom for her recipe and found a similar one online to reference (published by the Taste of Home test kitchen). The military commissary was out of a lot of groceries, so I made an online order at Sams since they had still had milk and heavy cream, and picked it up. I already had plenty of sugar and vanilla in my pantry. Before Covid, I rarely had time (because of work and school) to make desserts, so this dish was a real treat, a simple recipe, and was super fun to make. The taste of homemade ice cream was so lovely and smooth, with texture velvety, eating it right from the churn. It brought back all the wonderful memories eating homemade ice cream with my family as a childhood, to comfort me during a time I could not travel to see them. Food memories like this can transport one to a time when the world was full of closeness with one's family, when forced to separate due to a world-wide pandemic.
• 
  2020-03

  Baking: Impossible

  Back in December of 2019, my wife and I were visiting my parents and grandparents in Mesa, Arizona. It was Christmas time, so we were enjoying a bit of leisure time that we typically didn't have. I had just graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho with a degree in History Education, and my wife just finished a rigorous semester in her study of English at the same school. We were ready for a break. Before meeting up with the family, my grandmother brought up the idea to teach my wife and I how to make homemade bread. It was her grandmothers recipe, and I loved it, as she would occasionally make the dough to make scones or kraut biscuits. This particular recipe made a lot of dough and needed to rise three times. Because of this, making bread was an all day event. Just a few short months after learning to make bread in my grandmother's kitchen, COVID-19 shut down the world. We were living in Rexburg, Idaho at the time-a small town of around 28,000 people located in south-east Idaho. Given that we were in a rural location, we didn't feel the immediate effects of the virus like Seattle, New York City, and Los Angeles. However, around early March, schools shut down and we were told to stay indoors whenever possible. Given that I was a teacher, I was suddenly learning how to run applications like Google Classroom to teach from home. The school district wasn't sure how long I would be working from home for. Initially, they only wanted to close for two weeks to deep clean the school. However, this ended up lasting through the end of the school year. My wife was now also at home. Her studies switched from in-person courses to online courses. Professors who had spent their life in the classroom were suddenly figuring out how to teach via a new medium. It was challenging for all, but everyone seemed to be more patient with each other. Given that my wife and I were home, and given that we had more time, we decided that we would make the bread recipe that my grandmother had taught us over Christmas break. Everyone was encouraged to only shop when absolutely necessary, so we added the flour and yeast to our shopping list. However, when we went shopping only a few days later, the baking isle had been decimated. The only types of flour that were left were expensive bags of specialty flour that came in much smaller portions. Yeast was nowhere to be found. Even things like baking soda were gone. When I think back to the early days of the pandemic, I think of panic. While my wife and I were able to remain calm, many people worried they would not be able to find basic necessities. Grocery stores ran short on many items-toilet paper, canned food, flour, sugar, paper towels, cleaning supplies, amongst other things. Many things that were taken for granted were now an uncertainty. So while we did have more time on our hands, baking bread wasn't an option.
• 
  2020-03-14

  One Last Family Gathering

  The world changed as we Alabamians knew it on Friday, March 13th, 2020, as that was the last day that our school systems remained physically open before our governor mandated forced early system closures ahead of the approaching COVID pandemic. As a high school teacher, I uneasily said goodbye to my students and promised to see them on ZOOM the following Monday. When I arrived home, I found that my wife had contacted each of her family members to invite them to a seafood feast planned in our home for the next day, Saturday the 14th. We had recently purchased a tremendous variety and quantity of seafood for a planned early summer river gathering, including shrimp, crawfish, and fish; however, the pandemic was likely not going to allow for such a future gathering, and we knew of no way in which we could consume so much seafood ourselves, and were equally incognizant when we might gather as a family again, so this was essentially planned as a “McRight family last supper” (pardon the blasphemy, but that’s how we coined it). We had prepared each of the dishes before, save for Tamsie’s new experiment, her crawfish cheesecake. We had enjoyed crawfish and shrimp cheesecake at a wonderful restaurant, Roux 66, while traveling through Natchez, Mississippi several months previous; that culinary experience informed our desire to recreate the recipe at home! Thus, our sensory memory of better times and a delicious meal beckoned us to return to that sensory experience and give the recipe a try. We researched online recipes to combine basic ingredients, including shrimp, crawfish, cream cheese, onions, eggs, and bell peppers, with two cheeses, minced garlic, Creole seasoning, salt and pepper, heavy cream, and a shrimp boil mix. The cheesecake was delicious, and the combination of garlic, crawfish, and shrimp contrasted with the sweet richness of the cream and eggs to make for a delightful dish. To this day, the smell of shrimp makes me think of those early days of the pandemic because our kitchen was filled with the aroma of that decadent crawfish cheesecake, shrimp scampi, a shrimp boil, fried fish, boiled shrimp, and fried shrimp. We hosted approximately twenty-five family members, we laughed, we talked about the future, and we expressed concern over what the coming days might bring. Afterward, we dismissed pandemic talk to release our concerns for the shank of the evening, as we were living for the moment and celebrating our being together. I remember thinking but it might be a long time before we could get fresh seafood again, because we did not know if the opportunity to find fresh seafood would avail itself again in the near future, nor did we know if grocery stores would remain open. That was a time of complete uncertainty. I will likely never again enjoy a shrimp meal without thinking about March 14th, 2020, as the world in which we had lived mere days before somehow now seemed different, foreign, and unsettling.
• 
  2021-06-20

  Comfort Food Redefined

  I spent the first few weeks of the pandemic and subsequent banishment to my home by my workplace eating bag after bag of potato chips. Something about crunching down on food was calming to me. I didn’t eat a lot of other food; when I am stressed, my digestive system is the first body part to put up a fuss, so besides the therapeutic potato chips, I didn’t feel much like eating. I don’t own a scale and didn’t feel that I was putting on weight, but one day I looked at my dog, who was the recipient of the chips I had dropped on the floor, and thought to myself that he if had gained weight. I made the leap in thought that if he had gained weight, perhaps I had too. I had to redefine my notion of comfort food from fatty food that crunched to food that truly comforted both my digestive system and my nervous system. This food was comprised of roasted veggies (to get that crunch!); veggie, protein powder, and fruit smoothies to give me the nutrients to deal with pandemic stress; and nuts and fish such as salmon for omega-3 fatty acids to counteract inflammation, fight depression, and nourish those brain cells so necessary to deal with all the changes required by the pandemic. All these changes in my daily food menu have had a massive and positive effect on me. I’m calmer, my intestines aren’t complaining, and I have more energy. And, I've maintained a health weight. I haven’t gained weight. Before the pandemic, I hated to cook and mostly just ate to survive without paying much attention to what I was putting in my body. The pandemic and its accompanying stress forced me to realize that the quality of one’s life is truly related to the quality of one’s food choices. Healthy food is truly comfort food.
• 2021-02-07

  Instant Pot cooking

  I bought an Instant Pot a year or two ago when it was the new and big thing in cooking. When I got it, I like many felt quite overwhelmed by the device. Therefor, I really only used it every once in a while to cook rice. Otherwise it stayed packed away in my kitchen. Then the Covid lockdowns started in March, which resulted in more time at home and a desire to do other types of cooking. I started to watch Youtube videos on the various functions and countless recepies. During the lockdowns, I have used my Instant Pot to make everything from soups/stocks/stews to tacos and all sorts of different types of dishes. I would say that I used the Instant Pot more than (or as much as) any other tool in my kitchen during the lockdown.
• 
  2021-01-19

  The Happy Little Chef

  The media focuses a lot on the losses children are facing during the pandemic. And while I certainly would prefer that the virus was contained and my son would be able to attend school in person, take piano lessons with his piano teacher beside him instead of on a Facetime call, and play with a friend outside of his older sister, my six year old son is genuinely enjoying quarantine. I realize this is a privilege - we have a backyard, space, two working adults who can afford food and technology, and a live-in grandma who can help with any distance learning issues. But my son seems to be thriving in this much simpler and quieter life. We always did a lot together as a family, but we did not spend a lot of time actually at home. Now that we’ve been home together for over ten months, we have settled into this new life that involves my son helping my husband make dinner every night. And he LOVES it. It’s not as though he had never cooked before, but to be able to do it every night, side by side with his dad is an experience he did not have in our pre-quarantine life that was much faster paced and on the go. Many nights, the little chef will bring me a menu that outlines the dinner and asks for my order. He takes such pride in telling all of us what parts of the meal he was in charge of. He assures us he is both the owner and the “cooker” of the restaurant and that his daddy is his employee. When dinner is over, he asks to take my plate, and has recently become very interested in washing all the dinner dishes himself (no complaints here). I certainly long for the day that we can go back out in the world, but I feel very blessed that my son will be able to look back at this year with happiness, even in the midst of such a dire situation.
• 
  2021-01-18

  Filling the Void with Food...and Failing

  Food is the centerpiece of all of our family gatherings, even the informal ones. Before quarantine, my in-laws would drop by regularly, and always with enough food for an army. In the almost twenty years I have known my mother in law, I have never seen her without being given food - even if it’s a fresh bao she pulls out of her purse (true story - this happened at my kids’ student of first trimester awards last year (pre-Covid). I saw her for a total of 20 minutes, just enough time to watch my son and daughter get their awards and dash back to work, and that saint of a woman gave me three warm bao she had picked up on the way from a local bakery. “Pretty good” she said, which is her seal of approval.) It is hard to admit as I type this that I have not physically seen my in-laws beyond waving through the front window when they drop off homemade jook (rice porridge) since March. We Facetime with them and text, but it is not the same. That is a long time to be away from people that have a house less than five miles from ours. My in-laws are over 70 and a huge part of our lives, to lose this year with them hurts in ways I can’t describe. And culturally, food is their “I love you” - they don’t say the words, they show it through sharing food. And we haven’t had a meal together in almost a year. My husband still cooks Chinese dishes. On Monday, we had 蔥 油 餅 (green onion pancake), dumplings, Hong Kong waffle, shrimp with peas and lumpia (yes, I know, that’s really Filipino, but it’s sort of a staple in our family), and it was delicious. But there is this odd shadow that sort of hangs over our meal, knowing how much his parents would have loved to share it with us. And yes, we Facetimed them so the kids could show them how well the waffle turned and my mother-in-law said she couldn’t wait to come over and try it. The feeling is very, very mutual.
• 
  2020-06-10

  Restaurant food is low risk

  A meme describing the safety of food in restaurants, with a face of doubt implying that food service standards for health and cleanliness are either insufficient, or not followed.
• 
  2020-08-25

  Why Black-owned businesses have been hit hardest by COVID-19

  Black restaurant owners and other Black business owners have been hit harder than their white counterparts during COVID-19. This article details the why of this occurrence, including lack of access to assistance, and the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on Black communities compared to others.
• 
  2020-07-29

  How BLM and COVID-19 impact L.A.’s Black Restaurant Week 2020

  A news article detailing an event in LA focusing on Black owned restaurants, and the ways it has been affected by COVID-19 and the BLM protests. Interviewing Warren Luckett, who started Black Restaurant Week as a way to highlight the Black food scene in LA. During COVID-19, they are moving their event digital, and aiding Black owned restaurants that are close to closing.
• 
  2020-10-11

  Mask Required For Service.

  “Do not pout. Do not whine. Do not argue.” A sign inside a restaurant explaining the requirement to wear a mask while inside the location. Whether or not to wear a mask has been a surprisingly contentious issue during the pandemic, and this sign explains, humorously, the problems with the anti-mask arguments.
• 
  2020

  Cooking with the Sopranos

  As a huge fan of the Sopranos and a lover of Italian food, my latest rewatch of the show has gotten me interested in trying my hand at the dishes that are cooked on the show. Being shut in for long periods of time during the pandemic, I found the free time to be the perfect opportunity to try out the Sopranos cookbook.
• 
  2020-03

  Food Planning in a Pandemic

  With many families not knowing quite what to do during the coronavirus, the government has laid out guidelines on how to safely plan during such a chaotic time.
• 
  2020-07

  Starbucks Food

  With the pandemic making life much more difficult both emotionally and financially for many Americans, the company I work for, Starbucks, has made things much easier for its employees by allowing each partner to redeem one free food item each day. I very much appreciate this benefit, as it allows my coworkers and myself to have anything ranging from a breakfast sandwich to a salad, and not worry about the cost. This picture shows a friend and coworker of mine named John eating his free sandwich in a very silly pose.
• 
  2020

  Shopping in a pandemic

  While online grocery shopping has become incredibly popular during the pandemic, many people still choose to brave the outside world and go to the store. Due to the coronavirus, shoppers are required to wear masks, as well as maintain social distancing and only travel one direction down aisles.
• 
  2020-11

  Red Curry Tofu Rice Bowl at Bon Banh Mi in Charleston, SC

  Bon Banh Mi is a small local restaurant with two locations in the Charleston, SC area owned by two friends. Like many other restaurants in the area, they were hit by Covid-19 and had to figure out how to continue service in order to stay open. They just recently started offering inside service, however most people sit outside to enjoy their food. Masks are required at all times, except when eating food.
• 
  2020-06

  Panang Curry at Gathering Cafe

  During the pandemic many restaurants in Charleston, SC were shut down or only offered limited service. Gathering Cafe in Charleston only offered takeaway orders with two tables for outside dining. The restaurant is family owned and has a limited staff because of Covid. They also had a new baby, so in order to keep people separate from the restaurant, a large glass window was installed. They had to do their best to keep their restaurant open while also protecting the new member of the family.
• 
  2020-11

  Chef Serigne Mbaye Collaboration with New Orleans restaurant Turkey and the Wolf

  Sergine Mbaye a popup chef who owns Darak in New Orleans, collaborated with a famous restaurant, Turkey and the Wolf. He was able to share his knowledge of Senegalese cooking and history.
• 
  2020-07-07

  Roy Choi’s Locol is Reborn, Thanks to New Black-Owned Delivery Start Up

  Chef Roy Choi has set up a food delivery system that has helped to put money in the city of Watts. It has helped create jobs and opportunities for residents of the community.
• 
  2020-03-25

  Whataburger Employees Considered Essential Workers

  This is a short post from someone that works at a Whataburger in Texas. This story is important because while I believe fast food to not be essential, but rather an expensive convenience, it is important to keep in mind that some customers were not able to get their regular groceries at the stores during the pandemic. There was a panic that ensued amongst not only the nation but the globe as COVID-19 spread. Although fast food would not be something we would view as essential normally, during the pandemic, it may have been vital for some people as their shopping abilities may have been limited.
• 
  2020-04-23

  What grocery store workers say they’re facing during the pandemic.

  This article is important to share because although I was not a Wal-Mart employee through the pandemic, the employees interviewed in the article are relatable as the company has never been proactive and instead reactive. While I understand that no one was prepared for the pandemic, the way the employees were treated during this time was very typical to the way our store employees were treated, and still are, in situations where health is being risked for the sake of a sale. “The manager’s response, according to Hall: “Wash your hands every 15 minutes, so you don’t need a glove or a mask.” ‘She just walked away from me and started laughing, like it was funny.’ Hall said.” The article also goes on to state that it wasn’t until employees began speaking out against conditions and fear for their own safety due to the company’s lack of procedures and precautions, that they started implementing safety precautions for customers and employees.
• 
  2020-04-27

  Toilet Paper Shortage During Pandemic

  While many of us living through the pandemic understand the meaning behind this photo, future generations may not. This photograph was taken by a Walmart employee when his store had received a shipment of toilet paper. During this time of the pandemic, toilet paper was a hot commodity and would not stay stocked on the shelves because so many people were buying it. Although this is not an item that we may think of as essential during a pandemic, toilet paper was difficult to come by and the employees had put this out on the floor as soon as it had come off of the truck. Before they could put the item on the shelves, people had already grabbed it from the pallet.
• 
  2020-05-01

  Walmart Associate Checks Coworker’s Temperatures

  The day this photograph was taken was the day that my father, a Wal-Mart employee, was commissioned to begin taking the temperature of all Wal-Mart employees in the store. His regular duties were covered by another employee and each time a fellow coworker entered the building, they had to have their temperature read, recording, and asked a number of questions to ensure it would be safe for them to work their shift that day. This was never a procedure until COVID-19 spread and Wal-Mart employees were deemed “essential workers”.
• 
  2020-07-22

  Black Friday for Walmart Employees

  What I have submitted is important to me, because while I have worked retail and understand the important of everyone being able to share Thanksgiving with their families and friends and also the importance of everyone’s safety during the pandemic, I happen to be someone that did not celebrate Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving day. My family was always working and instead of being home alone on the holiday, I went shopping by myself, or if I was lucky, with a friend. I’m beyond ecstatic for retail workers that will finally get to spend the holiday with their families and friends as some have not had the holiday off in over 20 years. Perhaps this year, we as a family, will celebrate on Thanksgiving day for the first time in almost 15 years.
• 
  2020-03-31

  Retail Workers Rushing to Fill Non-Essential Shelves

  When the panic at the grocery stores happened, essentials were the first to go, but shortly after everyone was forced to stay inside, many were looking for a way to fill their time in their homes. People were creating crafts, sewing masks together, exercising, playing board games, you name it. It’s important because while grocery worker employees were overwhelmed with the demand of essential items that were selling before they could even get them off the pallets, nonessential items were flying off the shelves as well, making their regular duties even more difficult to keep up with.
• 
  2020-04-07

  Permission Slip for Essential Workers

  This photo was sent to me from a former coworker that was “served” a “permission slip” as she called it, for being an essential worker during the pandemic while working for Walmart. It’s important because while we would normally think of an essential worker as someone who is in healthcare or emergency services, grocery employees were considered essential for the items they sold that were in serious demand during the panic of the pandemic. All hands on deck is the most appropriate phrase here.
• 
  2020-06-08

  When Restaurants Become the First Line of Support

  During the BLM protests this past summer, many restaurants supported the protestors by providing free food, and acknowledging that the damage to their property was less important than the damage being done to Black people by police. They also performed support tasks such as hosting makeshift medic tents for the protestors.
• 
  2020-05-29

  Rioting in the streets of Eugene, Oregon

  On May 29th, 2020, a strip mall in Eugene, OR was vandalized by protestors of George Floyd’s death.
• 
  2020-07-29

  Elk Horn Vows Not To 'Let Up' After Weekend Riot

  A restaurant in Eugene, Oregon, was vandalized during the initial protests over the death of George Floyd. The damage was in excess of $500,000. The restaurant owner claims that the Black Lives Matter movement is being undermined by violent agitators. The owner has been criticized in the past for anti-homeless views.
• 
  2020-10-30

  Shopping Online

  With the ongoing pandemic, it has become safer to stay indoors rather than venture out into public often. Because of this many people elect to do their grocery shopping online and have their food delivered to avoid the crowds of the stores.
• 
  2020-10-30

  Food donations during the pandemic

  This tweet is from the St. Louis Area Foodbank urging people to donate food to their organization. Due to restrictions from the pandemic, the food bank offers contactless pickup, allowing citizens to drop off their donations without risk of getting sick. This allows them to help their communities without spreading the virus.
• 
  2020-10

  Using downtime to cook

  I’ve always enjoyed cooking, but between working and going to school full time, I often find it very hard to find the time to try new recipes. When I was furloughed from my job for a few weeks, I used some of that downtime to try exciting new recipes. This picture is of my sister-in-law Elise’s pasta and sausage dish that she makes. Since it is my favorite meal, I made it myself a few weeks ago and it was fantastic!
• 
  2020-10-30

  What can we do?

  This is just one example of the effects that Covid has had on people. WIth the summer coming to a close, the last real possibility to have any outdoor dining. But as the number of Covid cases continues to rise everyday the Governor decided to restrict indoor seating and placed curfews on how long business could stay open. Because of this many restaurants will have no choice but to close their doors. Leaving many people back on unemployment only weeks before the holiday season starts. Covid continues to change and effect everyone differently, unfortunately it does not seem like we will see the end of this anytime soon.
• 
  2020-10-30

  Chicago Restaurants.

  This shows how vulnerable we are as a country to covid 10 months in. As many restrictions were lifted in the summer, almost as quick as the summer heat was gone more restrictions were placed on restaurants. As many attempt to figure out some way to have outdoor dining in Chicago, in the winter, many know that the end is near. Many restaurants barely were making ends meet with the limited capacity seating and take out, and this latest round of Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you. This shows how vulnerable we are as a country to covid 10 months in. As many restrictions were lifted in the summer, almost as quick as the summer heat was gone more restrictions were placed on restaurants. As many attempt to figure out some way to have outdoor dining in Chicago, in the winter, many know that the end is near. Many restaurants barely were making ends meet with the limited capacity seating and take out, and this latest round of restrictions will be too much for many restaurants to overcome.
• 
  2020-10-25

  Brunch With Friends

  I flew to California for a wedding and the day after we went to brunch. It was the first time since February since I had gone to a restaurant with friends. It felt weird, but I almost cried to be sitting at a table with people that I love so much.
• 
  2020-10

  Cooking in the Fire Pit

  Avoiding restaurants in an attempt to quarantine and social distance has led me to try new things. One of those new things is cooking over coals in my fire pit. I cut up a pineapple and seasoned it with Tajin, wrapped it up in foil and placed it in the hot coals for about 15 minutes. Took the pineapple out, let it cool for about 5. Delicious! Absolutely delicious!
• 2020-04

  Celiac Disease and Quarantine

  In April of 2020 I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and had to immediately stop eating anything that contained gluten, so no wheat, barley or rye. Gluten is in EVERYTHING. Bread of course, but sauces, candy, condiments, cheese dips, frozen foods, you name it. It is even in beauty products and lotions. Learning to live with CD meant learning how to change the recipes to some of my favorite dishes. I started with a Gluten-Free loaf of bread, which ended up being a disaster. Unlike a regular loaf, GF flour is not sticky or elastic, but acts more like a batter. The “dough” was ultra soft and wet, and especially hard to form. I followed the instructions, but the bread came out hard on the outside and dense and wet on the inside, like an old 50s cake recipe. Quarantine and baking hasn’t been the greatest combo.
• 
  2020-05-13

  David Chang Permanently Closes Momofuku CCDC Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic

  This article covers what is happening in the fine dining industry during Covid-19. All restaurants are dealing with the pandemic and the loss of revenue. Many fine dining restaurants are closing because the cost margins are so narrow and for these restaurants to stay in business they need a full house. It also highlights the decision making that David Chang had to process and look out for the well-being of his employees if they did take-out and delivery. #foodislife, #davidchang #momofuku, #covid19 (Arizona State University, HST 580)
• 
  2020-07-01

  Tipping 50%

  High-end food servers rejoiced when this article hit. The back of the house food staff and ma-and-pa restaurant servers did not. Why? Because prep cooks, line cooks, bussers, barbacks, dishwashers, and everyone who makes a restaurant run don't get tips. In some cities and states it's illegal to pay tips to the back of the house. Back of the house gets paid minimum wage while some waiters can make hundreds of dollars in tips a night. As for ma-and-pa restaurants, waiters still make more then back-of-the-house but 50% tips would make food unaffordable for their customers leading to no tips at all. This article means well but requiring 50% tips of customers would only further hurt the food industry.
• 
  2020-06-17

  Aunt Jemima is getting a new name.

  Aunt Jemima the popular syrup and pancake mix is getting a new name. The brand which is based on a racial stereotype is getting a much-needed overhaul.
• 
  2020-07-30

  Institutional Fatphobia

  This post shared publically through Instagram discusses the issues that fat people face when seeing a doctor. This was shared in response to not only the weight bias spurred on by the pandemic but to highlight the institutionalization of fatphobia in the medicine. The media and health experts have been having a field day pointing the finger at obesity for death rates and complications for months. All while toting the advice to lose weight and their preferred diets to do so. Despite the fact diets fail 90% of the time no matter how dedicated the individual or that obesity is not a condition but a symptom of conditions that put people at a higher risk from COVID-19 complications such as other health issues, poverty, access to medical care, access to nutritional foods, access to sick pay and sick leave, and so on.
• 
  2020-07-22

  The Food Industry Has a Well Known Secret

  This meme created from a Facebook post has been making the rounds among food industry people. It's a well-known secret that food workers don't take sick days so why would they start now? If you've ever worked in food service you know you don't call in sick even when you are violating food safety rules. It's hard to find a job in food service, it's even harder to keep that job, and you can't afford to lose that job.
• 
  2020-07-04

  Who Died for Your Dinner?

  Foodservice has been glorified in recent months for its workforce staying on the front lines and stocking the shelves that hoarders quickly cleanout, picking apples, or working in food factories. This article details the cost of human life along the food supply chain in order to keep Americans fed.
• 
  2020-05-12

  We Are Brave. We Are Hopeful. We Are Resilient. We Are San Francisco.

  This is a photograph of a piece of street art in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley. Stores across San Francisco closed their doors during the city's shelter-in-place orders that begin mid-March. Many stores boarded up their windows in response to shelter-in-place orders and because of looting that took place across Bay Area cities. Artists responded by creating beautiful murals on boarded up storefronts. This art piece was created by an owner of the restaurant Dobbs Ferry Of San Francisco, Lee Ann Frahm. Taken from the restaurant's instagram account, "When she decided to paint this, it was about finding a message that would connect with someone as they walked by... words can heal, they can make us smile, they can make us feel, they can make us laugh or cry, and they are powerful enough to stop us in our tracks and make us take one extra minute to breathe and appreciate who and where we are."