Local fruits and veggies are appreciated, but no one can subsist on them alone.
The Appalachian Staple Foods Collaborative facilitates the local growing, processing and distributing of foods such as beans and wheat. Their goal: localize necessary foods.
“With something as simple as food, we can have an impact on our own health, and the health of the economy in the area where we live,” Michelle Ajamian, director of the collaborative, said. “Our mission is food security in our area.”
Ajamian will speak at today’s Brown Bag Lunch and Learn, co-hosted by the Ohio University Womens’ Center and the Office of Sustainability in honor of Earth Month. The informal speech and conversation will occur at noon in the Women’s Center, Baker Center 403.
“As someone who is conscience of their food choices, I am grateful to have Athens Staple Food Collaborative in Athens, because they fill in the gaps between many fruit and veggie and dairy producers in the area,” Hannah Simonetti, an Earth Month organizer and sophomore studying environmental geography, said. “They provide staple foods you need to complete a fully local diet.”
The collaborative started in 2008 when Ajamian and Brandon Jaeger, now operations manager, won a grant to grow 20 plots of high nutrition staple foods in the area. At the time, finding locally grown staple foods in farmers’ markets throughout the country at the time was nearly impossible, she said.
When word spread of their efforts, demand rose and a consumer market materialized. With the help of local activists and farmers, Shagbark Seed & Mill Company was founded.
“2008 was the first wave of super high gas prices, and it had a huge impact,” she said. “We could kind of look down that tunnel and see oil prices going up up up, so we need food security in our local area. And we can’t have food security without protein and B vitamins.”
With burgeoning gas prices, eventually the United States won’t be able to import the staples received from other countries, she added.
Many farmers in the area did not grow staple foods, because there was no place to process it. The business opened a process plant, and in the fall of 2010 they were able to start working with spelt, amaranth, black beans and corn.
“The food people buy isn’t just a package on the shelf. There is a whole string of people and expertise all the way back to the field that makes that product,” she said. “It really takes humanity to grow our food.”
Tortilla chips made from their corn are now available in campus dining halls. And with a larger location, more can be processed, she said.
“We take care of our cars better than we take care of our bodies,” Ajamian said. “We need to take care of the first vehicle we get: our bodies, and we can take care of our economy and our community.”
jc543108@ohiou.edu
@ThePostCulture
