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Welcome to WFAEats — a fun adventure where we explore all things tasty and interesting in the Charlotte food scene. We want to share stories, recipes and culinary escapades and hear about yours!

Food Activism: Big And Small Things You Can Do

Storey Publishing

Here’s a must-have book for all food lovers. The Food Activist Handbook by Ali Berlow is not a cookbook, but it’s guaranteed to satisfy another kind of appetite: our hunger to make a difference.

Some of the ideas will be familiar: Contribute to a food pantry, plant a school garden, join a food co-op.

But there are plenty of fun and unusual suggestions, too: Have a cow parade, host a food-themed poetry slam, hold a food swap (this is already happening monthly in Charlotte at Snug Harbor in Plaza Midwood).

The author explains that the book itself is a “glean” – its materials have been gathered from activists working everywhere from grassroots to policy-making levels of change.

The information is presented in an easy-to-use format, and invites readers to thumb through its pages to sample the tips, ideas, suggestions and success stories. Banners at the top of project pages proclaim cheerily “You Can Do This,” as they offer step-by-step instructions. Other sections are helpfully labeled “Advice From,” “What’s Going On,” and “Lessons Learned,” for easy navigation. Farmers, beekeepers, preachers and teachers share their wisdom.

Want to restrict food and beverage advertising in schools? The book shows you how. Shop smarter? A map of a typical grocery store will help you “eat from the edges.” Interested in learning how to “green” your city spaces? If Detroit can do it, so can you.

Most importantly, Berlow dispels the myth that we need to have special qualifications in order to make a difference. She writes: “Perhaps you never considered yourself to have enough of whatever it is that’s necessary to be a food activist. …Or maybe you think someone else, someone more qualified, is going to do it for you.”

If that’s the case, Berlow’s advice is elegantly simple: “Start cooking.”

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Amy Rogers is the author of Hungry for Home: Stories of Food from Across the Carolinas and Red Pepper Fudge and Blue Ribbon Biscuits. Her writing has also been featured in Cornbread Nation 1: The Best of Southern Food Writing, the Oxford American, and the Charlotte Observer. She is founding publisher of the award-winning Novello Festival Press. She received a Creative Artist Fellowship from the Arts and Science Council, and was the first person to receive the award for non-fiction writing. Her reporting has also won multiple awards from the N.C. Working Press Association. She has been Writer in Residence at the Wildacres Center, and a program presenter at dozens of events, festivals, arts centers, schools, and other venues. Amy Rogers considers herself “Southern by choice,” and is a food and culture commentator for NPR station WFAE.