Tidbites | Week of Sept 11, 2014

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CURED’S FLOOD COMMEMORATION SANDWICH

Cured, “Boulder’s premiere cheese, charcuterie, wine and artisanal provisions market,” is teaming up with local companies to create a Colorado super-sandwich. And while the merits of the Colorado super-sandwich are self-evident, there’s more to it than just location and superior ingredients: a good cause.

The sandwich will benefit local farmers by raising awareness and money for those impacted by last September’s flood.

Cured searched Colorado far and wide to create a sandwich they call the “PLT,” made of 100 percent homegrown ingredients — Tender Belly Ham in a house made Porchetta, Cure Farm Egg Aioli, Avalanche Cheese Company’s Cabra Blanca Cheese, BonaVida Growers’ Tomatoes, and Oxford Gardens Summer Lettuce mix.

This special sandwich is being sold at the special price of $10 and 10 percent of each one purchased will be returned to Oxford Gardens and BonaVida Growers, who were hit especially hard by the 2013 floods.

– Nadia Mishkin

FOOD SECURITY NOT CONSISTENT ACROSS STATES

A report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week shows that the proportion of American households classified as “food insecure” has declined to the lowest level since 2007, 14.3 percent.

However, those numbers vary greatly from state to state. There are many states that deviate significantly from the ration of food stamp participation to reported food insecurity. States such as Mississippi, Arkansas and New Mexico have higher rates of reported food insecurity, but lower rates of food stamp participation, because of variations in how states define eligibility and administer enrollment in the program.

According to a recently-released study on the prevalence of food insecurity from 2011-2013, food insecurity ranged from levels of of 8.7 percent in North Dakota to 21.2 percent in Arkansas. During the three-year period, the prevalence of food insecurity in Colorado is recorded as “near U.S. average.” Only 13 states recorded the prevalence of food insecurity below the U.S. average. Eight states recorded food insecurity above the U.S. average.

Get more information or read the full report at http://www.ers.usda. gov/.

– Nadia Mishkin

FAST FOOD PROTESTS

Fast food workers protested en masse last week, with demonstrations in approximately 150 cities across the nation. Their demand? A $15/ hour minimum wage, which they say is what they would require to meet their financial needs.

The demonstrations led to dozens of arrests, including three in Denver, where college student Tucker Plumlee, Rev. Patrick Demmer of the Graham Memorial Community Church of God in Christ and McDonald’s employee Christian Median were demonstrating in front of a McDonald’s, and then forcibly removed by police from a crosswalk on Colfax Avenue where they staged a sit-in.

The protests were part of the now year-old Fight for 15 campaign.

The Denver Post reported that the National Restaurant Association wrote the protests off as “an attempt by unions to boost their dwindling membership.”

– Josh Gross