Food Access

Kosher Food Pantry items in jars

Season of Giving: Kosher Food Pantry

This charity goes to people in need, particularly rural residents.

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Picture of honeybee

‘No Bees, No Food’ – Missouri Group Pushing for State Ban on Bee-killing Chemicals

A Missouri environmental group is seeking statewide support for proposed legislation that would ban the use of a class of insecticides believed to be contributing to a decline in the population of honeybees.

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Kristen Hanks, who works in the Fort Osage school district cafeteria program, hands out lunches at Susquehanna Baptist Church in Independence, Missouri, a government-funded summer meal site. For children in the Kansas City metro area, food insecurity rises in the summer, but food sites like these are rare in rural areas. (Lindsay Huth | Flatland

Rural and Hungry

  The rush hits at noon. That’s when kids start pouring into the gym at Susquehanna Baptist Church. On a scorching Wednesday last month, they lined up to choose their lunches: pizza, subs or PB&J. Most picked pizza. The Independence, Missouri, church is one of more than 350 summer food sites around Kansas City that…

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Summer Meal Programs Work, But …

The quest to address childhood hunger in the Kansas City region unites concerned citizens of all types around one of the most admired programs in our area: BackSnacks Run by Harvesters — The Community Food Network, the program sends 19,000 needy children home from school with backpacks filled with weekend meals. As the largest program…

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Nature’s Own Opens In River Market; Owners Want to be Full-Service Grocer for Growing Downtown Neighborhood

By Kevin Collison It didn’t take long for Jeff Henkle to know he found the right spot to reincarnate Nature’s Own. Residents in the River Market were so eager to shop at his new full-service grocery store at 310 E. Fifth St. he opened several days earlier than anticipated on June 18. “So many people…

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‘Supersizing Urban America’: How U.S. Policies Encouraged Fast Food To Spread

A new book examines how federal government policies made it easier for minorities to open fast-food franchises than grocery stores. Today the landscape of urban America reflects this history.

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Detail of the cover of Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings: The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation, By Joel Chandler Harris

‘Tar Baby’: A Folk Tale About Food Rights, Rooted In The Inequalities Of Slavery

The tar baby story in which Bre’r Rabbit outwits Bre’r Fox is a classic trickster folk tale. But like all fables, it is a double-barreled affair, with entertainment firing in tandem with a serious message. The question the story addresses is a fundamental one: Who controls access to food and water? Or, more crucially, who…

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More Salt In School Lunch, Less Nutrition Info On Menus: Trump Rolls Back Food Rules

The Trump administration has said it wants to remove burdensome regulation, and on Monday it served up a taste of what that looks like when it comes to two aspects of food policy: school lunch and calorie labels on menus. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced a plan to delay a mandate that would require schools…

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The Truth About Ugly Foods: They’re Delicious, Abundant And Good For The Planet

Tim Wharton bristles at being called a “foodie,” with its connotation of lush, sumptuous “food porn.” He prefers “gastronaut,” a label popularized by late British television chef Keith Floyd, for its evocation of intrepid culinary exploration. Wharton’s provocative new book Ugly Food: Overlooked and Undercooked, written with fellow gourmet Richard Horsey, is a celebration of…

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I Want To Eat Fish Responsibly. But The Seafood Guides Are So Confusing!

All reputable seafood guides are science-based, and yet can offer conflicting advice, because they have different goals. Some support sustainable fishers. Others aim to recover declining populations.

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