Reblogged from occupyallstreets
Whistleblowing Wednesday: Children As Young As Six Harvest 25 Percent of U.S. Crops
Knowing the farmer who grows your food has become an important tenet of the modern food movement, but precious little attention is paid to the people who actually pick the crops or “process” the chickens or fillet the fish. U Roberto Romano’s poignant film, The Harvest/La Cosecha (2011), being screened across the country for Farmworker Awareness Week (March 24-29), informs us that nearly 500,000 children as young as six harvest up to 25 percent of all crops in the United States.
What’s illegal in most countries is permitted here. Child migrant labor has been documented in the 48 contiguous states. Seasonal work originates in the southernmost states in late winter where it is warm and migrates north as the weather changes. Every few weeks as families move, children leave school and friends behind. If you’ve had onions (Texas), cucumbers (Ohio or Michigan), peppers (Tennessee), grapes (California), mushrooms (Pennsylvania), beets (Minnesota), or cherries (Washington), you’ve probably eaten food harvested by children.
This isn’t a slavery issue, or an immigration issue per se. What’s remarkable is that most of the migrant child farmworkers are American citizens trying to help their families. This is a poverty issue and it gets to the heart of what we, as consumers, see as the “right price” to pay for food.
Children earn about $1,000 per year for working an average of 30 hours a week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. When you consider that the average annual pay for a migrant family of four is $12,500-$14,500, it’s apparent why some families feel they have no choice but to bring their children into the fields with them. Half of these kids will not graduate from high school because they’re always moving around, perpetuating the cycle of poverty that caused them to be day laborers in the first place.
but you guys don’t understand you guys no animals are hurt so it’s still cruelty free you guys!
cruelty-free my dimpled ass
(via girlfungus)
Butter Beer for Adults! ;)
What you need:
- 8 ounces Butterscotch Schnapps
- 2 liter Cream Soda
- 1 small container Marshmallow Creme.
How to make it:
In a small bowl, combine 4 tablespoons of marshmallow creme and one tablespoon of butterscotch schnapps. Microwave for 30 seconds, then stir together and set aside. Pour 8 ounces of schnapps in the bottom of a pitcher, then fill the rest up with cream soda and stir gently to mix together. Pour marshmallow mixture on top. As you pour the butter beer into drinking glasses, the marshmallow will aerate, creating a creamy foam on top of the drink.
oh
my GOD
(via abutterflyexposed)
Lavender Purple Magic Fancy Times Punch
You Need:
- 1 cup water
- a cinnamon stick
- 1/2 tsp whole cloves
- 5 tbsp. dried lavender
- 1 can frozen pink lemonade mix (regular lemonade, or flavored, or limeade, whatever)
- 2 cups grape juice
- limes, oranges, lemons (whatever the heck citrus or fruit you want sliced up)
- a bottle of lemon lime seltzer or sparkling wine/champagne (for non sober version)
-Simmer water, lavender, and spices for 5 minutes and then let steep for 15. Strain and mix with lemonade mix and grape juice, stir and then cover and refrigerate. Mix 50/50 with sparkling/carbonated stuff of your choice and garnish with a handful of sliced fruit. Extra fancy points if you put lavender or rose petals in the ice cubes.
In case anyone missed this the first time around when I posted it to my personal blog, I give you my all time favorite punch recipe -Joelle
I wanna try.
It was so worth the ten dollars I spent on ingredients.
Romain Lettuce (chopped)
Red Pepper (diced)
Avocado (diced)
Half Red onion (minced)
Tomato (diced)
Can of Chick peas (drained)
Juice from a lemon (squeezed)
Olive oil (drizzled)
Kosher Salt and Fresh ground pepper (sprinkled)
…
No Bake Nutella Cheesecakes
Yield: 4-6 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
For the Crust
12 Oreo Cookies, crushed into crumbs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, meltedFor the Filling
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup Nutella
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 (8 ounce) tub frozen whipped topping, thawedFor the Garnish
whipped topping, optional
chocolate shavings, optional
toasted, chopped hazelnuts, optionalDirections:
1. In a medium bowl, stir together the Oreo cookie crumbs and melted butter. Evenly divide the crumbs between your individual serving dishes and press into the bottoms of the dishes to form a crust layer.
2. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and Nutella until smooth. Add vanilla and mix to combine. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the whipped topping until well blended and no streaks remain.
3. Evenly pipe or spoon the filling into individual serving dishes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.
4. If desired, garnish with additional whipped topping, chocolate shavings, and/or toasted, chopped hazelnuts.
Nutella…
Cheesecake…
No…bake…
aesrdfgkhljkl
(via keeliwiththecrappyphone)
Shrimp has been hovering near the bottom of the list of things I will eat for a while. Unless you make a point to get it wild, chances are very good it has been raised in a crowded pond and treated with loads of antibiotics. Factor in its mammoth carbon footprint, and the fact that many of the developing world’s mangroves have been displaced in recent years to make room for shrimp farms, and my appetite for these crustaceans all but disappears.
Now we can add labor abuse to shrimp’s laundry list of problems.
A group of shrimp workers has been protesting dismal conditions in a Thai factory for weeks. The factory, Phatthana Seafood, is one of several brands under a corporate umbrella called PTN Group, and is distributed by Rubicon, a major supplier to Walmart here in the U.S.
Not only is Phatthana being accused of skimping on the pay they’ve promised to workers (and keeping a percentage of it against the debt workers incur to travel to the factory — a practice described in the human rights community as “debt bondage”), but they’ve also reportedly been keeping the workers’ passports and releasing them only for a (steep) fee.
Sok Sorng traveled from Cambodia to Thailand to work in a large, industrial seafood factory and is now regretting the choice to leave home. According to the Bangkok Post, the 20-year-old was told he “would have the job for two years and would receive living arrangements and a food allowance.” But when he arrived, he found that fees for both living expenses and passports not mentioned in the original contracts had been deducted from workers’ salaries. The Thai paper also reports:
He found he had to work 26 days a month. He got his salary every two weeks, but half was withheld to ensure he did not run away. “Most of the workers wanted to go home, but we will be in debt from preparing to travel and an unknown amount we are told to pay to get passports and transportation,” he said.
All this might explain why Sorng has become a spokesperson for the protest. And while the Asian news outlets covering the story don’t pretend the seafood processor is using practices unheard of for Thailand, the mere fact that so much of the product is being distributed globally — and to Walmart, no less — has helped raise the profile of the protests.
To put this in context, shrimp is America’s top-selling seafood. Walmart, meanwhile, is our biggest grocery retailer. Put the two together and you can picture how the massive global stream of frozen, cooked shrimp pours into American households. (This also explains how the shellfish went from being a rare, expensive delicacy to a $1.99 fast-food menu add-on.) There are still a few sources of domestic shrimp in the U.S. (the Gulf of Mexico being one of the largest), but around 90 percent of the shrimp we eat comes from abroad, and most of that comes from Thailand, Vietnam, and South America. (China is also a large producer, but they eat much of what they produce.)
In other words, this is not an obscure story about one of those less important foods. And if the recent media spotlight on Foxconn Technology and its relationship with Apple have taught the American public anything, it’s that most things made for the U.S. travel en masse a convoluted path from one closed-door operation to another. And it’s never easy to access the truth about the way workers are treated behind those doors. The foreign factories producing our food are no different.
Organizers for Making Change at Walmart — a project of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union — have been helping the shrimp workers at Phatthana Seafood raise their profile and put pressure on the multinational retailer. The group recently sent a letter to Walmart [PDF] detailing the abuses in the factory (as well as a second factory in Thailand that ships over 70 percent of its canned pineapple product to Walmart).
In their letter, the American labor union references Walmart’s standards for suppliers, which states that “all labor must be voluntary” and “workers must be allowed to maintain control over their identity documents.” The union’s letter reads:
As you know, the confiscation of documents is a violation of Thai law as well as Walmart’s Standards for Suppliers. Receiving half the hours and pay promised to them and without promised lodging and transportation, many of the workers face malnutrition because they are unable to even afford enough to eat.
Walmart, meanwhile, has spent the week promoting the company’s progress on its sustainability milestones (which they presented to the public in a glitzy meeting that was webcast around the world). The company’s goals, as it describes them, are: “To be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy; to create zero waste; and to sell products that sustain people and the environment.”
Meanwhile, around 300 of the migrant workers at the shrimp factory must rely on a donated rations from an NGO because they can’t currently afford to eat. As organizer Sok Sorng told The Phnom Penh Post: “They need food so much because [they have received] no money from work.”
Yeah, I basically can’t eat anything anymore without feeling like a total douche. As I should because this shit is fucking dystopian, man.
(Source: mohandasgandhi)
Pokémon - JELLY FILLED DONUTS
I LOVE jelly filled donuts! I love making them for friends to take on all of our adventures, because what could possibly be more nutritious, hearty, and just keep you going than a jelly filled donut? Not to mention how AMERICAN they are! And kid friendly! So everyone, make jelly filled donuts for your hiking trip which involves battling little critters and half-brained villians today!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
- 1 cup Whole-wheat pastry flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoon (or 0.25oz packet) Yeast
- 1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon Sugar (separated)
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
- 3 tablespoons Melted Margarine
- 1/2 cup Superfine Sugar
- 1/2 cup Jelly/ Jam
Directions
- Mix yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar with 1 cup of warm water in a measuring cup. Let stand for 5 minutes or until the mixture is frothy and smells yeasty.
- Whisk together flours, remaining sugar, salt, baking powder and nutmeg in a large bowl. Grease separate bowl with oil.
- Stir yeast mixture into flour mixture with a wooden spoon until sticky dough forms. Add up to 1/4 cup warm water to make smooth dough.
- Stir in the melted margarine.
- Dough is very soft and sticky at this stage. Turn it onto a well floured surface and knead for 6-8 minutes using extra flour as kneaded, until the dough is soft, smooth and pliable.
- Transfer to the oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap or towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours.
- Flour a baking sheet. Roll the dough into 1/4” thick round on a well-floured surface. Cut into circles using 2” round cutter and place them on the floured baking sheet. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.
- Heat oil until hot but not smoking. Fry donuts in oil for 3-5 minutes, or until deep golden brown on all sides, flipping 2-3 times. Drain on paper-towel lined baking sheet.
- Roll the donuts while still warm in superfine sugar. Cool.
- Poke small hole in side of each donut with a toothpick or a skewer. Using a pastry bag fitted with small round tip, fill each donut with 1tsp of jam/jelly.
(via ohnosiro)
ben: are you okay?
me: yeah, why?
ben: i don’t know, you’ve been doing weird stuff lately.You know. I really never thought it’d come to this. This cookie recipe is just the start of my insanity - I have a feel this year is going to be a really angsty year. Why’s that, oh audience that hasn’t asked, but I assume you have? Well, there’s been a lot of hints. Like today, I shot of video of me eating an orange. At least it’s not in HD, but that’s because I’m lazy. But still…
dark nutella-chocolate cakeys (cookies)1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup nutella (or as you wish)
1/4 cup dark cacao powder
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of flour (give or take an extra 1/4 cup)
1 egg
+ as much chocolate chips as you wishheat oven 375. beat softened room temperature butter with sugars. mix in egg and vanilla until smooth. add nutella. then mix all dry ingredients (flour, cacao, baking powder, salt…) together before stirring into wet mixture. it should be sticky but not overly so. use an ice cream scooper or two spoons to set on baking tray. bake 10-15 mins - poke with toothpick to check. best if you can fit all onto several trays into the oven at once, bake 12 mins and then turn the oven off and leave them in to cool. cookies taste better the longer you wait.
(via heroin-e)
