cakeaustin

Say Yes! to New Food Rules
Though Michael Pollan couldn’t be here, Austin council members Cole, Martinez and Riley are asking that there be a resolution passed at the council meeting Thursday, March 25th that will ask the city manager and staff to seek other examples of how hot or cooked food is served at farmers markets in other cities across the state– and come up with a solution (within city regs/ordinances) so that Austin can have the same exciting energy that other cities enjoy around food and farms, people and places.

Two actions to take NOW and tomorrow:

1) PLEASE SIGN UP FOR “Affirmative” to this resolution (now Item #54) and SIGN UP, “NOT SPEAKING” This way it will get through in a jiffy in the council meeting and there won’t be any delays to get it underway. Even though you are not speaking, you need to go in person to City Hall to register your “affirm” vote. A person may register electronically “affirmative” on an agenda item from now until this evening and early in the morning before the mayor calls for a vote (council convenes at 10 am) at the kiosk in the lobby of City Hall, 301 W. 2nd Street. 

2) PLEASE SHOW UP AT CITY HALL, Thursday, March 25, just to hear the reading of the agenda — 10 am — and to hear the vote to accept the consent agenda, including the resolution #54. There needs to be a show of solidarity in supporting this type of food activity and foods featuring local farm products. Come at 9:45 and get a “Hot Food” campaign sticker, sit for the agenda reading and vote, and then after the vote, you can leave (about 10:30 am). Tickets for parking in the city garage are validated.

THANK YOU!

- people who eat cake, and hot things too, in Austin

In case you don’t subscribe to Dai Due’s weekly e-newsletter (oh but I’ll bet you do?) here’s an excerpt from today’s release:

Early last week we were informed that the Travis County Health Department will no longer issue the necessary permits to us or any other vendor preparing food on-site at the Austin/Triangle/HOPE Markets.  So, as of April 1st, we will no longer be able to serve any HOT food. This is due to the Health Department’s interpretation of a city ordinance that regulates when and how often an organization can obtain a permit to cook and sell food outdoors.

We hope to keep our booth at the AFM, but don’t know if it will be tenable without our hot food, which accounts for the bulk of our sales.  More than likely, we will shift our booth to the Sunset Valley Market, and are keeping our fingers crossed that this will be a possibility.

We are actively seeking a solution to this issue that will allow us to keep a short and healthful distance between us, the consumers, and our food sources, despite the agenda of the ironically named Health Department.

We will have more information available by next week about how you can take action, too.

Please see below for this week’s list of illicit products.

end quote… (Quite possibly the best intro to a product list I’ve read in my lifetime. It’s like something out of McSweeney’s!)

In case you’re wondering how I’m taking this news, this image sums it up:

The twentieth century may tell us that we have nothing to be complacent about in the recent history of humankind; but it also tells us that there is nothing inevitable about tyranny.
- Rowan D. Williams