Bring Iowa Home for the Holidays
Chris Schwarz goes all out
This week, I am featuring an essay by Chris Schwartz, Executive Director of the Iowa Food System Coalition (I also do writing work for the Coalition). IFSC was formed to chart a course toward a thriving, sustainable, and equitable food system in Iowa. You can check out IFSC’s Bring Iowa Home for the Holidays page here.
I love entertaining for the holidays and this year I will be doing a lot of it.
From my family's Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations to a fundraiser for the Iowa Food System Coalition; being a stop for a Christmas home tour fundraiser for the American Cancer Society to hosting a holiday party for all Black Hawk County employees and their families (I am a County Supervisor)–visitors come from miles around to see the over-the-top decorations and for the good food.
But this year I will also be focusing on the produce and products of Iowa.
Some of the highlights?
Roasted squash from Hoffman Produce Farms served at Thanksgiving, along with homemade mashed potatoes made with potatoes grown by my brother. Pumpkin pies with locally grown pumpkins. At every gathering, a full relish tray, incorporating my very own home pickled items, like dill pickles made with cucumbers from the We Arose Co-op, and my homemade dill brussels sprouts and cauliflower also from Hoffman Produce Farms.
I am very excited to purchase a half beef this year from Southern Goods/Grazing Cattle, from which I will be serving a slow cooked brisket on Christmas Day, and a prime rib roast. I will also be serving a locally cured ham from Steeges Meat Market. I will also be filling out my charcuterie boards with a selection of items from the Iowa Food Hub and will feature homemade crème fraiche made with heavy cream and buttermilk from Hansens Dairy. The pears and apples are all from Apples on the Avenue this year.
I could go on.
Planning out all of the local food choices for this year’s holiday table has been a lot of fun, but it has also been challenging. Not everyone has the luxury or the ability to plan this far in advance or to make special trips for specific ingredients and products. Fresh grown Iowa food is also harder to find and can often be more expensive, the result of decades of neglect of a local food system. I feel deeply grateful for the farmers, producers, and food artisans whose hard work and dedication make the food on my table possible.
This experience reiterates to me the importance of the work being done by the Iowa Food System Coalition and our 40+ food and farm partner organizations. As a group, we remain steadfast in our mission to make local food the norm, not the novelty. We must continue to build our local food infrastructure and to forge relationships with supermarkets, big and small, until there are Iowa products in every aisle.
I am very excited to be able to tell the story of Iowa through the foods showcased on my holiday table. It is a story of hard work, and stewardship to the land. It is a story of economic revival and good health. It is not a story of returning to the old ways as some might think, but rather a story that embraces the best of what is possible, one that puts great hope and optimism in our future. That hope and optimism is something I know we all need to carry with us into the new year and beyond.
So, from my table to yours, happy holidays and hope in the new year.
Chris Schwartz, Executive Director of the Iowa Food System Coalition
A reminder that the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative is holding a holiday party for paid subscribers on Friday, December 13th, 5-8 pm at the Harkin Institute near the Drake University campus. Come meet the writers like Art Cullen, Laura Belin, Bob Leonard, Doug Burns, Rekha Basu and many others. There will be a short program, plus appetizers. Paid subscribers to the Iowa Capital Dispatch are also invited, with editor Kathie Obradovich taking part.
Not yet a paid subscriber?
If you are a paid subscriber, click here to register for the bash.
Thank you Beth for featuring Chris in this weeks substack. I appreciate the effort of those who grow the food and those who purchase the home grown products. Having events like Chris’s helps educate the public in the possibilities of a food secure future. Until our national,state and local governments recognize the importance that a healthy society depends on a healthy soil, our country will continue down the path of unsustainability.
I am grateful that you acknowledged: Not everyone can afford "good food," meaning nutritious food; not everyone has access to nutritious food, including transportation; not everyone has an in-home kitchen equipped to store, cook, and serve fresh, nutritious food.
Those who have gone through the detailed, everything-that-goes-into-your-mouth logging process, including prescribed and over-the-counter medications, of an elimination diet firstly KNOW, within 6weeks or so, the anti-inflammatory benefits of "good" food. Unfortunately far too many medical schools don't require enough nutrition courses to pass on that information to their students. Very few of those already in healthcare know the benefits.
Congress knows even less. Our food pyramids have historically been influenced by the Department of Agriculture ... which also determines supplemental nutritional benefits.
Medicare only considers nutritional counseling and coaching benefits for those with diabetes. Not for arthritis. Not for autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Congress is not responsible, or has abdicated responsibility, for the details of Medicare coverage. What is included in Medicaid coverage, and who is included in Medicaid, is a mystery to most of us.
It is unconscionable that the United States makes living a healthy life nearly impossible for so many. Happy Thanksgiving.