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Foodie Week: Books, Movies, Links, Resources…

As part of my personal, family and social food revolution, these are the resources that have changed the way relate to food.

THE OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA

Out of everything I’ve watched, read or listened to, this is by far the number 1 item on my list. I would recommend this book to everybody as a starting point to think about where our food comes from and the relationship we have with it. After this book, I became a Pollanaut. Nearly totally buying in to what Pollan says about the way in which we purchase and consume food.

You also can’t beat listening to this book rather than reading it. If you get the audible version, it’s read by Scott Brick who is one of the best readers around. He brings the book to life and I’d suggest there’s no better way to read this one.

OTHER BOOKS/COOKBOOKS

Food Rules – Easy digestible condensed version of Michael Pollan’s, “In Defense of Food.”
The Maker’s Diet – Interesting read about how a guy who was basically dying went back to the traditional, Biblical, kosher diet and it essentially saved his life.
Jamie at Home - Seriously, there are thousands of cookbooks in the world. The reason I love this cookbook is that I end up feeling gourmet, with simple fresh food. And it’s intended to be a resource to help you eat foods in-season.
Jamie’s Food Revolution – A simple cookbook to help you cook great simple meals from fresh ingredients. Same old same old from Jamie Oliver, but worth a look.

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TALKS

A Few TED talks

Michael Pollan: A Plant’s Eye View of the World

New York Times Food Writer Mark Bittman on “What’s Wrong With What We Eat”

Ann Cooper “Talks School Lunches”

Again, Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize Talk

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FILMS

Food Inc. the movie…

I’ll let the trailer speak for itself.

Pollan’s other book, The Botany of Desire was made into a documentary that ran on PBS. It’s worth a watch even though it isn’t directly related to food issues.

Food Inc., A Participant Guide – This book expands on the stories and themes of the movie and takes them into a bit more detail.

Supersize Me

A little Docu-drama following filmmaker Morgan Spurlock as he sets out to eat McDonald’s every meal for a month including super-sizing his meal every time he’s asked. Within a month his health deteriorates and he works to reveal the half-truths about the health claims of the fast-food industry. It’s an oldie but a goodie.

King Corn

I just happened to be flipping through the channels one night and came across King Corn on PBS. Fantastic. Love the way this film dismantles the historical rise to prominence of corn as currency in America. If you eat anything in the middle isles of the grocery store, the stuff in boxes, you are undoubtedly consuming corn in some way.

Fresh

Fresh is definitely interesting. Not quite as polished as some of the above films. Not as interested in the darkside of the industry, more interested in the upside of people and movements to get people eating real fresh food once again.

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LINKS

Local Harvest.
This is the best site around to find locally grown food whether it’s locating farmer’s markets, stores that carry local foods, CSA Farms (Community Supported Agriculture). Go there end zero in on your area of the map to find out what is available in your neighborhood.

A Good Food Manifesto by Will Allen.
Short, Sweet and to the point. Growing real food can happen anywhere.

I’ve got so much more, but this list is getting exhaustive, and I’m getting exhausted. Just wanted to share some of the resources that have changed my perspective on food.

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Thoughts: Who Killed the Electric Car

So, I just got done watching “Who Killed the Electric Car?” and here’s my main thought…

All things being equal, I think most logical, coherent and breathing people can agree on 1 thing: No pollution is better than some pollution. End of argument. Smog=bad. Clean air=good. It’s only slightly above neanderthal in its comprehension quota.

I have little doubt, before or after watching this film that big business is self-intererested in serving the needs of its share price far beyond it’s responsibility to further the health and well-being of humanity. I have little doubt that our democracy has holes in it like swiss cheese where money is the filler that closes the gaps. I have little doubt that if these guys can make the Tesla Roadster run on electricity, then GM, Ford and Chrysler could come up with a long-term, viable, profitable solution to the problem of vehicle emissions.

Bottom line, I think most of us were told when we were kids to, “put it back the way you found it, or better.” There’s no excuse for demoralizing future generations by not solving problems that we can solve today. Electric car or no electric car, we should be interested in taking care of this world we’re here to steward. Zero emissions is a stewardship goal, not just an environmental freak movement.

If for no other reason than to be entertained and make you say, huh? add “Who Killed the Electric Car? to your netflix queue.

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Foodie Week. – No, for real this time.

So, last week I was going to have a foodie week. Turns out, I hit a wall with my workload and couldn’t muster up the energy to do any writing.

This week will be foodie week.

Here’s how I’m going to break it down.

Tuesday: Books, Movies, Links, Resources that have changed the way I think about food
Wednesday: Living off the land this summer
Thursday: Cookbooks that I use for inspiration (I rarely follow recipes, so they need to be inspiring…)
Friday: Two of my personal recipes that always get a warm welcome

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The Paradox of More.

More sounds better.

More resources.

More stuff.

More beautiful.

More productive.

More is the standard I have set for myself.

More outputs.

More accomplishments.

More pats on the back.

More results.

More is what I want and more is what I’m getting. In order to get more, I’m putting in

More time.

More stress.

More money.

More of my life.

In order to get more, my family is getting

Less daddy.

Less husband.

Less patience.

Less love.

I’m ready for

Less perfect.

Less outputs.

Less pride.

Less friction.

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Another Recent Identity Package from Redwire Creative.

My company Redwire Creative recently helped give a visual identity to the EnterChange, a consultancy that helps organizations learn about themselves and navigate into seasons of change.

Here’s the Visuals:

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I don’t want my kids to get fat and die early. Foodie Week #1.

So, you may know that I do have a mild obsession with food…

Eating it. Cooking it. Thinking about where it comes from. Loving it. Hating it.

For the next week I’m going to take a few posts to talk about food. If you’re not a foodie, feel free to tune out or tune in to get a few ideas.

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About 3 years ago, I watched something that every so inexorably changed the course of my life. No really. It was a half hour TV show and it did just that; it changed me.

It was Jamie Oliver’s cooking show called “Jamie at Home,” on the Food Network. It was all about getting real food (or growing it yourself) and cooking fresh meals that are relatively easy, sometimes gourmet, always tasty. Admittedly, I was not a cook at the time and I had little understanding about “food” other than what the current diet fad was. We ate Lean Cuisine’s and McDonald’s regularly in the same day as if they offset each other.

Within watching this show about 2-3 times, I was bitten by a cooking bug and a personal food revolution that persists all these years later.

We cook nearly everything we eat from scratch (with the exception of a few quick meals out and some pregnancy emergency foods we’ve got on hand at the moment). We buy vegetables, try to buy our meat straight from the farmer whenever possible. We’ve rid the house of corn syrup and as much of the other crap that gets called food that you can buy at the grocery store. We even dug up a bit of the yard last year and grew some of our own herbs and veggies.

Last week, I watched with anticipation as Jamie Oliver received his 2010 TED Prize and talked about his TED Wish that he wants to mobilize people around. It’s an issue I totally agree with and want to find ways to support.

Take a minute to watch his talk and engage in the conversation around keeping our kids from getting fat and dying from the foods we let them eat.

I would love to hear your thoughts…

Jamie Oliver is on twitter @jamie_oliver

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Excerpt from my conversation with author Dan Pink

A few weeks ago I gave away a copy of Dan Pink’s new book, “Drive.” I’ve had the chance to get through most of it at this point and it’s quite good. If you’re interested in a synopsis of the book take a look at his  TED talk from last year. Great info.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about wanting to dive deeper into my blog and deeper into writing in general. I had the chance to correspond with Daniel Pink, about his evolution into writing and what keeps him motivated.

Me: When did you decide to write?

DP: It was a pretty slow evolution. I wrote for school newspapers and the like, but never envisioned becoming a writer.  In my mid-20s, though, I found that writing was what I was doing during my discretionary time. In law school, I wrote magazine articles and op-eds for newspapers. When I worked in politics, despite some pretty demanding jobs, I also wrote magazine articles on the side. That gave me a hint about what I really wanted to do. But it wasn’t until I left politics to work for myself that I began to consider myself a writer.

Me: What motivates you to write and write better?

DP: There are lots of motivation. I sometimes write to figure things out — and the process of discovery is one of my favorite things in the world. I also write in a small effort to influence — to change the way people think and perhaps even how they act. When I get an email from reader telling me one of my books made a difference in that person’s life, I’m motivated for another week!  As for writing better, it’s constantly on my mind. Writing is the sort of undertaking that is impossible to master fully. That’s one of the things that makes it both frustrating and alluring.

I found his thoughts encouraging. I love my job. I love a lot of things. Sometimes that’s a problem for me because I don’t always feel settled being in one place. I want to do some writing though. Even if it’s just on this blog or in a few other places, I want to feel like I have something to contribute to the greater good of this world. I’m definitely motivated by making a difference in people’s lives and I think I can have an impact in some way great or small through my desire to write.

Is there anything you’re itching to do, but have been hesitating to give yourself over to? Are you slowly evolving into that passion? What’s motivating you?

BTW: Read his book. Go get yourself some Drive at Amazon or listen to Dan Pink read it by getting the audio at Audible.

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A pair identity projects

I haven’t really been updating the portfolio much lately. Here’s two recent identity projects:

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Brainwashed: Seven ways to reinvent yourself.

What an awesome mini-manifesto from Seth Godin over at ChangeThis.com

It’s like this: we were brainwashed. Brainwashed into believing a set of rules that aren’t true (any more). And because the brainwashing has been so complete, the shifts in our world and new opportunities they open up are easy to see as ways to shore up yesterday’s faltering system. Please, don’t fall for that. Don’t use the tools of today to support your effort to do yesterday’s job better.

This is an opportunity to completely reinvent your role in the system.

Here are seven levers available for anyone (like you) in search of reinvention:

1. Connect
2. Be generous
3. Make art
4. Acknowledge the lizard
5. Ship
6. Fail

Seth’s thinks this is the time. If you’re going to make a big move in life, if you’re going to live an extraordinary life, if you’re going to “do something with yourself,” now is the time.

Guess you’ll have to read it to figure out exactly what he means by “Acknowledge the lizard.”

It’s on you now…Go get the short, 15 page, BIG TYPE, easy read pdf.

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Leading Through Change: Thriving in the Unknown.

Many of you may know, my friend, pastor, and boss of 6 years has been called to a new position. Efrem Smith will be moving on from Sanctuary this summer to a new position as Superintendent of the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church. It’s a huge honor with a new realm of influence and a higher call on his life in leadership.

This is really awesome for him, and while transitions are really hard, I think great things can come to Sanctuary during this time.

Anytime time there is a major shift in leadership in an organization there are emotional, visionary and team dynamics that are affected by the changes taking place. So how do you survive?

During this time of leadership change I’m planning on focusing on 3 areas as we move into a new season.

1. Being a TEAM PLAYER
   At this crucial moment, there is no room for  sanding against the grain. When you sand against the grain, you leave deep wounds in the wood that requires you to remove even more layers to get things smoothed out again. Being a team player will make it less painful to readjust when new leadership is in place.
2. No Better Time for SELF EVALUATION
   – How does my personal spiritual journey affect the spiritual journey of our community?
   – What do I need to improve, let go, start or stop?
   – Where have I been dropping the ball and what’s my plan for picking it up?
   – Am I acting from my strengths and mitigating my weaknesses?
   – How does my performance affect the whole team?
3. Finally, I plan on BEING HONEST about the future.
   This will not be easy. In fact, if it is easy, I think we’re probably not living up to our potential. Being honest about what this team needs in order to fulfill the vision in front of us means we won’t dance around the holes. The holes in our team, the holes in ourselves and the holes in our faith.

Even though this will be a tough transition and I will miss Efrem and what he brought to Sanctuary, I’m looking forward to being pushed and pushing myself to grow in new ways.

What are your thoughts about leading through a leader change? Have you been on a team that lost a key player? How did you navigate?

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