Food Bloggers for Slave-Free Tomatoes: Tomato Flatbreads with Anchovy Oil

If you've ever purchased an out-of-season tomato from a grocery store, there's a very, very good chance that your tomato was picked by a slave. In the United States. In or around the region of Immokalee, Florida.

It's shocking, isn't it? Slavery was abolished in this country, but the problem persists. The workers that are not enslaved, threatened with beatings, or held against their will, often live in sweatshop-like conditions in trailers, sheds, and homes in the region. It's no way to live, and it's entirely unacceptable that lawyers still deal with an average of 10-12 slavery cases at any given time. (Still not convinced? Meet Antonio, a former slave who escaped.)

But the good news here is that there's actually something we can do about it.

"Yam" by Bruce Guernsey + Sweet Potato Puree with Charred Corn

How are you coming along on the resolutions you set back in January? One of my 2012 goals that I like very much, is to curate my life. It means I'm going through my closet and getting rid of anything I don't love. I'm not renewing magazines that I don't read cover to cover. I'm only saying yes to social activities that have a value-added component for me. Also, I culled my RSS feed.

Things had gotten out of control the way zucchini plants do this time of year. I'd just had enough. I was subscribed to too many blogs, and I accepted the fact that I couldn't get to them all. Also, my priorities had changed. Since launching The Giving Table last year, you can only imagine how the category of the food system has emerged in my feed. Suddenly, I was subscribing to more and more blogs tackling issues like school lunch reform, the food bill, and global hunger, and reading less design blogs. So I took the plunge. I kept the handful of design blogs I really enjoyed, and let my new priorities lead the way. Even worse, I was subscribed to well over 100 food blogs, which wasn't sustainable, either, so I hit delete without remorse.