Many owners and shoppers have seen the P6 label around Seward Co-op for years, now, and have grown accustomed to using it in order to find the products that are either local, produced by co-ops, or produced by small farmers (companies must meet two of the three criteria to carry the P6 label).
But did you realize that P6 is growing to become a national movement? You can find the P6 label now in stores ranging from Massachusetts to Tennessee to Arkansas.
If you’d like to meet some of the other grocery co-ops, farmers, and stakeholders in the national P6 program, watch the brand new video created by local James Beard Award-winning producers of Perennial Plate, Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine!
Seward Co-op’s December SEED recipient Isuroon is the recipient of $18,558.25, collected from 39,702 individual donors at Seward Co-op registers. A check was presented to Isuroon Executive Director Fartun Weli in a small ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 15.
This represents the largest single award in the history of Seward Co-op’s monthly at-the-register donation program.
“We’re excited and pleased for Isuroon, whose mission matches Seward’s so closely,” said Sean Doyle, Seward Co-op’s General Manager. “We hope this money helps bring greater and more equal access to nutritious food for everyone in Minneapolis.”
Isuroon is seeking to create a halal food shelf because some East African elders immigrate to the United States only to find themselves in need and unable to eat the food from food shelves. Isuroon’s focus will be on culturally appropriate and minimally processed foods—rarities in Minneapolis food shelves, yet essential for the well-being of Somali elders.
Isuroon Executive Director Fartun Weli says that a donation from the co-op’s SEED program would not only help the project’s “bottom line” but would also help to cast the food shelf program as an attractive venture, making fundraising a great deal easier for the non-profit in the coming year.
Pictured:
Isuroon Executive Director Fartun Weli, second from left; LaDonna Sanders Redmond, Seward Education & Outreach Coordinator (far left); Abigail Rogosheske, Seward Education & Outreach Coordinator (second from right); Nicole Cina, Customer Service Coordinator (far right).
In September, CoMinnesota and Nexus hosted an event to address the issues of economic development and cooperatives in African American communities. The event featured author Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, author of “Collective Courage: A history of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice.”
During her talk, Dr. Gordon-Nembhard discussed the history of cooperative economics and co-op formation. Her book “Collective Courage” highlights a little known and forgotten history: cooperation and cooperative economics are principles and survival tactics of African American communities.
Dr. Gordon-Nembhard’s book begins by expanding the definition of cooperatives by including the development of mutual aid societies. Mutual aid societies share contemporary co-op principles such as voluntary ownership, owner-led and owner-organized, and participatory democracy. In her talk, Dr. Gordon-Nembhard discussed the Free African Society, founded in Philadelphia in April 1787 by Richard Allen, who is also the founder of the African Methodist Church. The purpose of the Free African Society was to serve the spiritual, economic and social needs of Philadelphia’s African American community.
The book also uncovers numerous examples of cooperative economics throughout the history of social justice movements in the United States. Many pioneers in the Civil Rights Movement have their feet rooted in cooperation economics. From Frederick Douglass to the Black Panther Party, the human rights movement is filled with examples of economic self-help.
However, successful use of the cooperative model has come at a cost for some African Americans. The increased visibility and success of black-owned cooperative businesses makes them more visible as targets for racially motivated violence.
Ida B. Wells, journalist and anti-lynching advocate, found out first hand that the quest for ownership, economic control, and access to food was a dangerous undertaking. In 1889, Peoples Grocery was a cooperative owned by 11 prominent blacks, including postman Thomas Moss, a friend of Ida Wells. The store was created to serve the needs of the black community in the black community in Memphis called “the curve.” Peoples Grocery was very successful and attracted customers, black and white, from all over Memphis. The popularity of the new store negatively impacted the business of the white grocery store owner William Barnett, however, and this created tension between white and black customers.
As a result of an altercation between two children at the store, Moss and two of his workers were lynched by a mob organized by the owner of the white grocery store across town. In the end, Peoples Grocery was sold to the white store owner for a fraction of its value.
The Peoples Grocery story isn’t about food. It is about equality and freedom. Similarly, the co-op movement is not just about food either; it’s about community-based economics and activating whole communities. The disparity between co-ops arises, however, because cooperative principles don’t specifically address race, per se. Ideally, cooperative principles would include points on racial equity and justice, in order to appeal more directly to communities of color and empower them.
Dr. Gordon-Nembhard’s book, “Collective Courage,” serves to reconnect communities of color to cooperative principles and practice. The book is also an opportunity to discuss how the cooperative principles might include the values of equity and justice. This reconnection is essential to viability of the co-op movement as a whole, and of local Twin Cities co-ops in particular.
* Join the Seward Co-op Book on February 25 to discuss Gordon-Nemhard’s book Collective Courage. Details here.
Tai Ethnic Gourmet (TEG) has issued a voluntary and pre-emptive recall on three products that have been carried at Seward Co-op. TEG is recalling these items due to the possible presence of peanuts. People who have an allergy to peanuts run the risk of a serious allergic reaction if they consume this product.
Affected TEG product has been removed from Seward Co-op shelves, however, it is possible that we’ve sold some of the affected lot codes in the past.
If you have purchased the following TEG brand products (with lot codes and “best by” dates found on the packaging) you may return them to Seward Co-op for a full refund.
• Bombay Curry 16 oz (UPC barcode: 718687-30010) w/ best by date 15OCT16 • Calcutta Masala 16 oz (UPC barcode: 718687-30011) w/ best by date 15OCT16 • Punjab Saag 16 oz (UPC barcode: 718687-30013) w/ best by date 16OCT16
The price on all three products was $4.99 per jar.
Any additional updates can be found at http://seward.coop/posts/productrecalls
Anyone who visited The Craftsman restaurant in Minneapolis, or Chet’s Taverna in St. Paul back in the day, knows that chef Mike Phillips is a wizard at creating delicious, ingenious meat dishes. But with Red Table Meat Co., his latest venture, Phillips brings a whole new level of inventiveness and food awareness to the Twin Cities.
“The IQ of our local food scene is about to skyrocket,” says Seward Co-op Meat & Seafood staff member Karl Gerstenberger, about Red Table Meat Co.
That’s because most local food enthusiasts can shout the names of three local pork producers faster than you can say “Michael Pollan,” but how many local charcutiers can you name? How many know what salumi is or what lonza or coppa are? Red Table Meat Co. specializes in exceptional charcuterie, that is, cold cuts and other prepared meats, some of which you have simply never tasted before. Seward Co-op was lucky enough to be among the very first grocers in the Twin Cities to carry Red Table Meat Co. meats.
While Red Table Meat Co. may be new, charcuterie is as old as fire and hunting. It was originally just a method of food preservation, not a culinary art, but things changed when, as a matter of public health, French meat guilds in the 15th century were separated into butchers and cooks. Because charcutiers could no longer sell raw cuts as butchers did, they began creating new pre-cooked pork products such as bacon, sausage, terrines, galantines, ballotines, pâtés and confit to keep their businesses alive. And so modern “charcuterie” (French, the “cooking of meat”) was born.
Red Table Meat Co. approaches their charcuterie with that same tradition of creativity. Certainly there are the familiar cuts (lonza is a loin cut and dissolves like butter on the tongue; coppa looks and tastes a lot like prosciutto), but Red Table is offering new recipes, too. The “Extra Vecchio,” for example, and the “Francois” are both salami-style sausages that were inspired by Phillips’ 77-year-old teacher Francois Vecchio, a Swiss butcher and master of charcuterie who travels the world educating chefs in the ancient art.
“All our salumi [with ingredients] are subtly spiced, the way Francois Vecchio taught Mike,” says Liz Hancock of Red Table, “so that the pork can actually be savored.”
Vecchio’s teaching matched perfectly with Mike Phillips’ philosophy regarding his farmers. He wants his customers to taste the pork and the farmers’ excellent work.
Regarding his farming partners, Phillips says, “We pay them what they need, what they ask for. We want to make sure they’re making a living and we want everyone to be in business and to win.” “Mike grew up with farmers, [and] knows how hard they strive to create such excellent product,” Hancock says. “So he has long-time with these farmers, has visited their farms, and scratched the pigs. Minnesota and Wisconsin offer great pork, and Mike wants his customers to taste for themselves how good those farmers are at what they do.”
Hancock says buying local pork heightens Red Table’s transparency, as well. “You know how far this meat traveled to get to you, from Afton and one-stop in Northeast Minneapolis before it comes to Seward. Good food is a celebration, and we want everyone, Seward Co-op shoppers included, to feel part of this.”
“Those guys are great,” Phillips says of the co-op’s Meat & Seafood department staff. “I know a few of them very well, so we’re excited to have [Red Table] in your store.”
Red Table meats can be found at the Seward Co-op Meat & Seafood counter. Ask any of our knowledgeable staff which cuts are right for you.
UPDATE: Since this article was posted, Isuroon Ethnic Food Shelf received $18,558.25 in SEED donations from Seward shoppers for the month of December 2014. This is a new record for SEED donations at Seward Co-op.
Imagine emigrating to a faraway nation. The culture, the alphabet, the weather, and everything you encounter on a daily level is completely alien to you.
Strangest of all, the food is so foreign that you can’t eat it. It’s meat (maybe?) but you’re not even sure what animal it’s from. Regardless, you have no money to buy it, even if it was something you could eat. You’re a complete stranger, stranded, poor, and hungry.
New Minnesotans from East Africa encounter this daily, according to newly formed non-profit Isuroon in Minneapolis. Often, newly arrived immigrants too poor to shop aren’t able to find food shelves offering food that their religious views will allow them to eat. The food they need must be “halal” – that is, permissible for Muslims to eat or drink under Islamic law. For this reason, Isuroon Executive Director Fartun Weli said in comments to Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin recently (video via The Uptake), the Muslim immigrant community in Minneapolis needs an ethnic food shelf. In addition to halal food, such a food shelf would need offer whole grain, whole foods, and limit the processed foods available to customers. Somali elders aren’t familiar with or are simply baffled by processed food, so they won’t eat it. (Imagine a Somali elder encountering Spam in a food shelf. Free, yes, but it’s hard for newcomers to understand what Spam even is.)
Here’s the main problem according to Fartun and Isuroon: No food shelves in Minneapolis offer halal foods.
Isuroon’s mission is to create such a food shelf, but securing funding has been difficult: The non-profit needs $150,000 just to start work. When Isuroon came to Seward Co-op to apply as a SEED recipient, Fartun told us that a donation from the co-op’s SEED program would not only help the “bottom line,” it would help to legitimize Isuroon as a viable non-profit, too. Seward’s December donation will probably be the largest and primary funding for Isuroon’s food shelf to date.
“Isuroon” is a Somali word that means “woman taking care of herself,” and while Isuroon’s webpage says they are a group dedicated women’s health and wellness, they see the entire Somali community in Minneapolis as part of their mission, too. Imam Hassan Mohamud, a legal advocate for Isuroon, tells the story that Mohammed had to give advice to his community but the community was angry and wouldn’t listen to him. He spoke to his wife and asked, “What should I do?” His wife gave him advice which he followed and and the community opened up and began to listen to Mohammed.
During this month of so many holidays, sharing, and generosity, Seward shoppers have an opportunity to make a huge impact through SEED donations for Insuroon. All of the food shelves to whom Seward donates SEED money do crucial work, but this is an opportunity for Seward shoppers to help create something that doesn’t exist, something that some of our new Somali neighbors desperately need.
So remember in December….round up at the register!
Fartun Weli and Christine Dietsche tabling at Seward Co-op.
LaDonna Sanders-Redmond, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Seward Co-op, visited KARE-11 recently with a terrific winter soup recipe: Crock Pot Chicken Gumbo.
Gumbo is actually pretty easy to make; it just has a lot of ingredients and a number of steps, so people sometimes get intimidated. Just remember LaDonna’s Important Gumbo Tip: Don’t walk away from the roux! You have to keep stirring it. If you’re patient and tend to it, you’ll have the base for a thick, delicious batch of gumbo. (Look how syrupy and thick that completed Gumbo is!)
Watch the video to get all the steps right, then follow the recipe below. Much thanks to KARE-11 and LaDonna for this video and recipe!
Crock Pot Gumbo (Recipe serves 6)
Ingredients:
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cooking oil
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 12 to 16 ounces chicken sausage, sliced about 1/2″ thick
• 2 to 3 cups diced cooked chicken
• 1 1/2 cups sliced okra
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• salt, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• hot cooked rice
Instructions:
· For roux, in a heavy 2-quart saucepan stir together flour and oil until smooth. Cook over medium-high heat for 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, for about 15 minutes more or until roux is dark reddish brown. Let roux cool.
· Add chicken broth to a 3 1/2 to 6-quart slow cooker. Stir in roux. Add sausage, chicken, okra, onion, green pepper, celery, garlic, salt, pepper, and red pepper. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours, or HIGH for 4 to 5 hours.
