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Eating Green

• Months after the Piney Point wastewater disaster, a massive red tide has killed 1,600-plus tons of marine life—a huge blow to the local fishing community July 29, 2021
  In late March, Florida officials began to discharge contaminated wastewater from an abandoned fertilizer plant in Florida called Piney Point into Tampa Bay at an alarming rate of up to 22,000 gallons per minute. The release—meant to relieve pressure on a leaking reservoir that threatened to flood neighboring communities—ultimately lasted 10 days. It also introduced […]
  Jessica Fu
• The pandemic-era restaurant menu: How Covid-19 is reshaping the way we eat July 29, 2021
  Earlier this year, on a brisk May evening at the El Sereno Night Market in East Los Angeles, dozens of people lined up outside the tent where Elvia Huerta and Alex Garcia of the “metal taco” duo called Evil Cooks were selling, among other dishes, tacos and tortas filled to bursting with pork basted in […]
  Patricia I. Escárcega
• NYC’s just cause laws dramatically shift the power dynamic between fast-food managers and employees. Will other cities follow? July 29, 2021
  In the fall of 2019, Yeral Martinez was stacking boxes inside the walk-in cooler at the Chipotle restaurant in Manhattan where he has worked since 2016 when he felt a shock of pain across his lower back. Martinez, who estimates the boxes he unloaded that morning each weighed between 40 and 60 pounds, reported the […]
  Patricia I. Escárcega
• A consolidated meatpacking market leaves ranchers struggling July 27, 2021
  Shad Sullivan has stopped paying for cable TV, yearly vacations and trips to movie theaters. He’s contemplated ending his health insurance, even though he needs it for his chronic bone marrow cancer. A rancher in Olney, Texas, Sullivan, 47, has cut costs as producers like him have felt squeezed by the beef market. While consumers […]
  Mary Hennigan
• When Covid-19 left my catering business in ruins, becoming a father gave me new life July 26, 2021
  When we scrambled to secure childcare in the beginning of February 2020 we were, by most accounts, woefully late. My partner’s due date was Leap Day; our soon-to-be-born child should have been creeping toward the top of waitlists for months. Then our son came early, and appointments to interview childcare providers fell to the wayside. […]
  Charles Dabah
• GRAPHIC: Meat processing workers earn an average of $15.53 per hour July 23, 2021
  Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics shows meat processing workers were paid an average hourly wage of $15.53 in May 2020, its latest calculation. Workers experience higher illness and injury rates compared with other manufacturing jobs, but their average wage is lower than the average wage for all manufacturing employees, […]
  Eli Hoff
• Forever chemicals: California unveils health goals for contaminated drinking water July 23, 2021
  California took a major step today towards regulating dangerous “forever chemicals” in drinking water by proposing new health limits for two of the most pervasive contaminants.  State environmental health officials recommended goals of one part per trillion and less—a minuscule amount 70 times smaller than the federal government’s non-binding guideline for drinking water nationwide. Called “forever chemicals” […]
  Rachel Becker
• The Farm Workforce Modernization Act is back on the table. Who is it really for? July 22, 2021
  After four months of languishing, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (FWMA)—a proposal that would give undocumented farm workers a pathway to citizenship while also freezing wages for foreign guest workers—appears to be picking up steam again. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the proposed legislation Wednesday, which included testimonies from worker advocates, growers, […]
  Jessica Fu
• Thieves are stealing California’s scarce water. Where’s it going? Illegal marijuana farms. July 22, 2021
  One day last spring, water pressure in pipelines suddenly crashed in the Antelope Valley, setting off alarms. Demand had inexplicably spiked, swelling to three and half times normal. Water mains broke open, and storage tanks were drawn down to dangerous levels.  The emergency was so dire in the water-stressed desert area of Hi Vista, between […]
  Julie Cart
• The pandemic closed her popular Philly restaurant. Now she makes hot sauce. July 21, 2021
  Kiki Aranita and her former business partner Chris Vacca spent years building and perfecting every aspect of Poi Dog, a Philadelphia restaurant that celebrated the diversity and complex flavors of Hawaiian food culture. When the pandemic forced them to close shop last summer, Aranita, a culinary dynamo who is also a food writer, teacher and […]
  Kiki Aranita and Patricia I. Escárcega