marian isel wellness

Brooklyn Food Conference 2012

admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:38:36 +0000

So many great conferences happening, and this one is FREEEEE! The Brooklyn Food Conference is happening Saturday, May 12th at Brooklyn Tech High School. Food policy, fracking, cooking demos, midwifery, food & faith, farmworker justice and so much more. You can also order a yummy lunch for $8. Hurry, there is limited space! Register here now. See you there!

Harlem Wellness Day!

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:20:02 +0000

This Saturday, April 28th, the good people of Duke University Alumni are hosting a FREE Community Wellness Day in Harlem. Yours truly will be conducting a “Healthy Food, Fast” cooking class. You know those times you come home from work tiredddd and don’t want to spend an hour and change cooking dinner? I’ll show you how to get it done in under 30 minutes, deliciously. Other topics will include How To Talk to Your Doctor, Ways to Reduce Stress, Get Fit at Home and lots more. And did I mention it’s FREE? See you there!

Sarah Steingraber on Anti-Fracking

admin — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:05:57 +0000

Photo: Marian Isel Wellness

I had the opportunity to hear anti-fracking activist Sarah Steingraber speak at SUNY Oneonta on Thursday. She is a biologist and a poet (what a lovely mix) and says that our current environmental crisis is a human rights issue. That’s right!

Fracking is a form of extreme energy extraction. Drills dive down a mile deep into the ground’s surface. Tons of chemicals have to get dumped in to make this possible (bad) and tons of caca gets seeped into our water (worse) and can remain this way for THOUSANDS of years. This can toxify our water, land and our bodies. What else will be left??

Sarah has a new book out called “Raising Elijah: Protecting Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis”. Sarah named her son after abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy. She compared the fight against fracking to the fight against slavery. Lovejoy did not believe in “phasing out” slavery. He demanded that slavery come to an end IMMEDIATELY. Sarah applied this view on the fracking fiasco occuring upstate. We have no time for building “safer” forms of this abomination on nature, it simply has to not happen and a sustainable national energy plan needs to be put into place. Wouldn’t that be a better use of our time and energy? (Pun intended)

This is how bad-ass Sarah is. She recently received an award for $100,000 and she donated it ALL to the cause.

Act Now: The Town of Middlefield needs help fund the appeals process of their recently won NYS Supreme Court case to keep fracking out of their town. Find out how to send your tax-deductible contribution by clicking here.

Farmworker Justice Rally This Sunday

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:38:45 +0000

Stand in solidarity with farmworkers this weekend by demanding Chipotle sign the Fair Food Agreement. This agreement increases farmworkers pay by 1 penny per pound of tomatoes picked. McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, Whole Foods and most recently Trader Joe’s has signed on. What’s taking Chipotle so long? This is a company that claims to serve food with integrity. Let’s help them align with their motto!

When: Sunday April 15, 2012 at 12pm noon

Where: Chipotle and 17th Street and Broadway, NYC

Photo: www.foodchainworkers.org

My CSA Article on Mamiverse

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 23:20:17 +0000

I recently wrote an article for Mamiverse on CSA’s and how this model could serve as a tool against the growing (no pun intended) Latina/o childhood obesity epidemic. Getting children involved with growing and being connected to their food is a sure way of getting more vegetables into their diet. I had the wonderful opportunity of interviewing Ana Isabel Rodriguez Angel of Angel Family Farm and Jessica Cortes, Farm Network Coordinator for Just Food for this piece. Have you registered for your local CSA yet? Read my article (and find a local CSA) here.

P.S. That’s me planting baby kale at Conuco Farm last year at my CSA Volunteer Day. Baby kale!

I’m so excited about this!

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 04:27:25 +0000

Donation Based Yoga in Clinton Hill

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:43:39 +0000

The Brooklyn Free School is offering donation-based Vinyasa yoga classes three times a week. 50% of all donations benefit the school. Here are the details:

When: Mon & Thurs. 6:45-8pm, Sun. 11-12:15pm

Where: 372 Clinton Ave (btwn. Green & Lafayette) 2nd Floor

Contact: freeschoolyoga AT gmail DOT com

Namaste.

Free Event! “Taking Root..” Screening

admin — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:33:07 +0000

Photo: takingrootfilm.com

Wangarí Muta Maathaí was a community-based environmentalist and freedom fighter. She showed the world how one woman’s actions could impact global change. The New York City Dept. of Parks and Recreation is hosting a free screening of “Taking Root: The Vision of Wangarí Maathaí” at Marcus Garvey Park.

Details:

When: Thursday, December 29, 2011 7:00-10:00pm

Where: Pelham Fritz Recreation Center, Marcus Garvey Park, 18 Mt. Morris Park West, Manhattan

Did I mention this was a free screening? To learn more about Wangarí’s life and the film, click here. For more details on the screening, click here.

My Work on Mamiverse.com

admin — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 16:10:02 +0000

Check out this piece I wrote for Mamiverse. Mamiverse is a newly launched site for Latina moms and daughters. In this article, I talk about my love affair with Greens and wonder why they are so freakin’ ABSENT from the typical Latina/o diet. The buck stops here! When future historians look back at this time, they will know me as a Latina who changed the Latina/o culinary landscape and made it greener. Join me!

You can read the article by clicking here.

Just Food Community Chef Demo

admin — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 04:20:20 +0000

On Sunday July 24 I served as a Just Food Community Chef at the Summer Streets Festival in the Bronx. I made my ‘”It’s Too Hot To Cook! Summer Squash Salad, quite fitting for a 91 degree afternoon! There were lots of great children present who sampled raw zucchini, learned how to say ‘carrot’ in Spanish and that veggies are good to help you poop. This was met by a great big ‘Ewww!’ followed by giggles. Click ‘more’ for the recipe.

It’s Too Hot To Cook! Summer Squash Salad

Serves 4-6

Equipment:

2 bowls

Chopping board

Knife

Grater

Measuring cups and spoons

Ingredients:

1 cup cous-cous

1 cup water

1 1/2 cups diced summer squash (1/2 large zucchini)

1 1/2 cups grated carrots (2 medium carrots)

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup vinegar

2 tbsp. soy sauce

salt and pepper or your favorite spice blend to taste

Procedure:

In a large bowl, add cous-cous and water. Allow water to absorb for 15 minutes. In the meanwhile, dice your squash, carrots and cilantro. Add olive oil to cous-cous; mix well. Add vegetables, vinegar, soy sauce and spices. Toss and serve. Enjoy!

P.S. You can always substitute other veggies in this dish. Have fun experimenting!

Author:

Recipe contributed by Marian Isel Barragán, Just Food Community Chef