Wilma Stephenson and Rachael Ray

Philly high school teacher Wilma Stephenson is what you might call a benevolent bully. Pressure Cooker, a just-out-on-DVD documentary about Stephenson's "culinary boot camp," gets some laughs from her drill sergeant-style tactics.

But there's nothing funny about all the obstacles facing her inner-city students in their efforts to win scholarships to the country's best culinary academies. Having a mentor like Stephenson to goad and guide them gives her kids opportunities that would more likely pass them by were it not for her passion and dedication.

Seeing Pressure Cooker made me fall in love with Wilma Stephenson, and Rachael Ray did, too.

Ray was so impressed by Stephenson's success rate with her students that she enlisted the resources of her non-profit Yum-O! and the Rachael Ray Show to honor Stephenson for her extraordinary devotion to her students.

So, on Monday, May 3rd, the Rachael Ray Show will air an episode entitled "Room 325," which will introduce the tender-hearted terror of Frakford High to the rest of America. By a happy coincidence, Eating Liberally is hosting a screening of Pressure Cooker here in NYC on the same evening. Please come if you're in our neck of the woods, and if you're not, get a copy of the DVD--you'll see why Rachael Ray wanted to go and meet Stephenson for herself!

I asked Ray to tell me a little more about why she chose to feature Stephenson, and she kindly took time out to answer my questions via email:

Kerry Treuman: You snuck into culinary teacher Wilma Stephenson's Philadelphia high school over spring break like some kind of Secret Santa, and gave her kitchen and classroom a total makeover with state-of-the-art equipment. What inspired you to do this?

Rachael Ray: Wilma inspired us to do this! This is one of the few culinary programs left in public schools and they are so important. I was interested in Wilma's program as a whole because not only is she teaching kids values and a vocation, but she is also a mother figure and a mentor to her students. You have to celebrate someone like that!

In a school where 40% of the students don't graduate, 100% of Wilma's students graduate with the ability to get a decent job in the food service industry if they don't pursue college. That's amazing!

KT: You've never made any bones about the fact that you had no formal culinary training yourself (and it doesn't seem to have, um, held you back, exactly.) But in addition to giving Wilma an "extreme kitchen-classroom makeover," you awarded each of her 10 graduating seniors a $5,000 scholarship. What do you hope this will do for them?

RR: These kids have so much stacked against them that the scholarships are a small gesture. They are an ingredient dropped in the recipes of the next step in their lives!

KT: Michelle Obama is inspiring millions of Americans to get off the sofa, bag the chips, get digging, get cooking, and get healthy. As one of America's best-known celebrity chefs, you have an incredible platform from which to help her rally the troops.

Clearly, you're stepping up to the plate. So I'm gonna pitch you a softball--do you have a strategy to help the First Lady hit this campaign out of the park?

RR: Healthy eating has to be a conversation. My approach to getting families to eat healthy is multi-pronged -- I believe everyone must become an activist in their community around the concept of good health and nutrition. In order to achieve substantial changes, you need to take baby steps.

People want food that is familiar to them. It's very hard to ask families to stop eating burgers, fries and macaroni and cheese all together, but you can arm them with information in order to do so in a slightly healthier way. Making simple changes in peoples meal routines, such as switching out white bread for whole wheat bread and white pasta for whole grain pasta. Whole grain pasta alone is a great source of protein and fiber.

Another example is instead of making regular mashed potatoes, you can make mashed sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are the number one most nutritious vegetable in the produce department -- and they are delicious! Small steps can add up to big changes in the overall health of an entire family.

It's also very important to give your kids ownership of the food they eat! Let them get involved in the process. Whether it's in your yard or in your windowsill, introduce growing fresh vegetables to them. By helping grow what they eat, kids know where food comes from and they can choose to eat what they watched grow.

I'm sorry, but I just can't sit idly by and let the Tea Party stain the reputation of a beverage beloved by cultures the world over for centuries. How did a delightful afternoon ritual steeped in civility and gentility become a synonym for angry mobs of Fox populi with holsters on their hips and foam on their lips? Give me clotted scones, not sotted clones.

Don't get me wrong; I feel the Tea Party's pain. Hey, I'm angry, too. There's a lot to be angry about. As New York Times columnist Bob Herbert noted recently, "People are upset because they are mired in economic distress and are losing faith that their elected representatives are looking out for their best interests."

So it's no wonder that populist rage is all the rage; pundits and politicians have brought the Tea Party to a boil. Sadly, much of their anger is a toxic brew of bigotry, ignorance, and fear. And many tea partiers suffer from what Barbara Ehreinreich has aptly dubbed "an empathy deficit," a belief in the notion that if you're poor, or sick, or otherwise challenged, you must have brought your misfortunes upon yourself and are therefore to be despised and mocked.

The Tea Party ridicules the notion that government could be--or should be--a force for good. It also maintains that the media (with the exception of Fox News, of course) cannot be trusted.

How ironic, then, when one of Glenn Beck's sponsors turned out to be a con artist who'd been fined $400,000 by the FTC back in 2005 for making false and unsubstantiated claims for the "Himalayan Diet Breakthrough," a dietary supplement containing Nepalese Mineral Pitch, "a paste-like material" that "oozes out of the cliff face cracks in the summer season" in the Himalayas.

This miraculous product supposedly enabled you to achieve rapid and substantial weight loss without dieting or exercise, while still consuming unlimited amounts of food. I asked:

Who could possibly buy the notion that you could sit on your ass all day eating crap and still lose weight by ingesting some mysterious substance harvested in the Himalayas?

Maybe the same folks who think that slashing taxes and shredding regulations is a dandy way to shore up our crumbling bridges and highways, boost our children's flagging academic performance, clean up our environment, guarantee affordable health care, protect consumers from makers of defective products (like, say, cars that accelerate unexpectedly, or a diabetes drug that's known to cause heart attacks); and prevent financial institutions from ripping people off through fraudulent, predatory practices.

An indignant tea bagger named 'Richard' responded:

Look at the list of things you expect from your government. Wouldn't you feel better if you would take it upon yourself to make sure that you 1-quit worrying about the 1 in 3 million chance that you will have a bridge collapse beneath you; 2-realize that parents are mostly responsible for our flagging academic performance and throwing more money at it wont fix it; 3-where is all of this nasty environment you guys are always complaining about...it is beautiful where I live; 4-find a way to pay for your own healthcare so I don't have to..if it is that important to you, drop your cell phone or your cable TV to afford it and try shopping around...do it yourself; 5 - I can't go on, I have to get back to work since we are rapidly approaching a situation in America where there are more people riding in the cart than those of us pushing it. Good luck man, with your attitude, you will need it.

And there you have the Tea Party philosophy in a wingnutshell:

1. I should stop worrying about our decaying, woefully neglected infrastructure, because the odds of a bridge falling on me are slim to none;

2. I shouldn't care that our kids are lagging behind the children of other industrialized nations, because the fault lies primarily with their parents;

3. I shouldn't be concerned about, say, the disastrous oil spill off the Gulf Coast, or the fact that an unprecedented 33 retired US military generals and admirals declared yesterday that "Climate change is making the world a more dangerous place" and "threatening America's security," because 'Richard' lives in a lovely place untainted by environmental degradation.

4. If I just gave up my cell phone and cable TV, it would free up the $600 a month I need to be able to afford a decent heath insurance plan;

5. Richard is sick of having to work so hard to support all the freeloaders who are dragging our country down.

Hey, Richard, you know what's really dragging our country down? The Tea Party's selfish, misanthropic mindset.

You know what would lift our country up? A groundswell of support for Drinking Liberally, the social network that has led to 353 Living Liberally chapters, giving progressive-minded folks in all fifty states a place to hang out and chat in a convivial environment.

Living Liberally is the antidote to the Tea Party; as my mentor and super hero Justin Krebs, co-founder of Drinking Liberally, says in his soon-to-be-published 538 Ways to Live, Work, and Play Like a Liberal:

Liberals believe that we are better off when we're out for each other than when we're out only for ourselves...

...It all comes down to an approach to life that acknowledges that we're sharing this planet, sharing our cities and roads, sharing our fortunes (and even our misfortunes), sharing our resources and our surpluses, our creative impulses and pleasures, even sharing our weather, with those around us. We truly are all in it - in all of it - together.

Another one of my Liberally colleagues, Baratunde Thurston, the self-proclaimed 'vigilante pundit' and tweet-happy stand-up who's also Web & Politics editor at The Onion and author of the forthcoming book How To Be Black, (see preview from SWSX), wrote a post yesterday to spread the word about Living Liberally's 4th Annual Spring Celebration & Fundraiser and why Living Liberally merits your support:

Around the country, people need this type of liberal network more than ever. As we hear about the Tea Baggers in the news, many of us ask, "Where is OUR Tea Party?"

Well, the fact is there are liberals in over 300 cities that are drinking something stiffer than weak tea. Drinking Liberally chapters are often the first stop for candidates trying to reach progressive audiences and for local advocates looking to recruit for their campaigns.

In some cities, it's the only event that welcomes "liberals," providing a necessary destination for those who want to create a more progressive future for our country.

Baratunde adds that:

The Living Liberally team is only able to create this network with your support. Each year, the Annual Celebration gathers allies, honors partners and pulls in the necessary resources for the work ahead.

This year, Living Liberally is honoring SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, "for promoting a progressive America and being a great ally to the netroots," and my beloved mentor Dr. Marion Nestle, for her "fearless championing of the grassroots good food movement."

In keeping with Eating Liberally tradition, the menu will pay tribute to our honorees. Here's a partial list:

César Chávez Salad
Working Class Heroes
Un-Feta'd Capital-lini
Won't Take No More Shitake-Bean Salad
Faux Populist Popovers (full of hot air)
Bananny State Cupcakes
Hands Off My Entitle-Mint Pie (small slices only! there might not be enough!!!)

Laura Flanders of GritTV is our special guest host, and you can bet that a fine time will be had by all. If you're leery, or weary, of the Tea Party and its enraged citizens, come join Living Liberally and raise a toast to the engaged citizens!

Goldman Sachs was betting against its clients
but couldn't explain to the Senate
whether this was an ethical lapse of any sort.

The GOP caters to the Tea Party anti-bank rhetoric
but has opposed Dem proposals for reform
calling them "big bank bail outs"...
even the proposals to prevent & prohibit bail-outs.

And the Dems who now come riding to the rescue
were the party under Clinton that eased regulations
& are advised by all the same bankers today.

It's not just Lloyd Blankfein who's full of it.
Everyone's putting the "bull" into bull market.

Yet we may still get some real reforms out if it.
What odds would Goldman give us on that?

Two commodities we're ready to invest in:
beer & conversation, and we'll go long on both
as we share ideas, the night & a few pitchers
at our local progressive social club.

DRINKING LIBERALLY
Find - or start - a chapter near you.

Fresh off a debate in LA with George W. Bush (played by Laughing Liberally vet James Adomian), Congressman Alan Grayson offered a message to the good people of Living Liberally.

Thank you, Congressman -- and keep on fighting!

Though he won't make it person, we know Congressman Grayson is with us in spirit at this year's Living Liberally Annual Celebration -- this Saturday, MAY DAY, in New York City.

Come partake in this proud tradition of living -- and drinking -- liberally.

By Bec Zajac

This earth day, PBS is screening its incredibly engaging and moving documentary feature, American Experience: Earth Days, directed by Robert Stone. As you might guess, it is about the creation of earth day, the first of which was the largest national demonstration in American history, involving a record 20 million people in events around the country! I watched Earth Days on my Netflix ‘watch instantly’ (it is streaming both on Netflix and on the PBS site) and found it to be a fabulous way to both ease myself into the spirit of the day and learn about its significance. Moving beyond discussions of Earth Day demonstrations themselves, the film really tells the story of the birth of the environmental movement and its many accomplishments during its early years.

What was most surprising to me about the film was how similar contemporary conversations in regards to global warming, conservation, renewable energy, sustainability, innovative technology, and reducing carbon emissions are to discussions that took place during the movement's pioneering days. Far from being simply a nostalgic historical narrative, Earth Days offers a refreshing lens through which to look at the current debate, as it is told from the perspective of a group of incredibly articulate folks who have been thinking about these concepts for the last 40 years.

The film follows the personal stories of several leading figures in the early movement—among them Former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, biologist/Population Bomb author Paul Ehrlich, Whole Earth Catalog founder Stewart Brand, Apollo Nine astronaut Rusty Schweickart, renewable energy pioneers Hunter Lovins and Dennis Hayes, Republican Congressman, Pete McCloskey, and environmental journalist, Stephanie Mills. It begins with each one discussing their formative years and is brought to life by the accompaniment of brilliant archival footage. We watch video footage of fifties TV commercials for cars and new appliances; the early nuclear tests; the launch of the interstate highway system; Rachel Carson’s book launch; and the one-mile-long gas lines during the 1973 oil crisis. Not to mention the images of the breathtaking natural landscapes that inspired these activists to begin with.

As one listens to these prolific folks wax lyrical about what events most influenced their early decisions and were crucial to the formation of their ideologies, it is difficult to not be somewhat mesmerized by their passion, thoughtfulness, and compassion for the world around them. Each one is an accomplished storyteller, and each brings something unique to our understanding of the era. Steward Udall discusses his upbringing during the depression, a time when he learned to live simply and get sustenance from the earth, and when, he says, people were conservationists because they had to be. For Stephanie Mills it was the nuclear bomb that made her realize that humanity's survival was now in its own hands.

For many of these activists who grew up in the fifties with the idea that progress was everything and the idea that more material goods meant more happiness, their environmentalism grew out of disillusionment with the ideology of the time. Incredibly, despite the fact that it is now 30 years later, and the world is a very different place, many of their thoughts could apply to the ideology of today, and much of their disillusionment is the same disillusionment being felt by our generation.

More after the jump...

If you've got your doubts about whether those corndog-diggin', nugget-lovin' French fry fanatics in Huntington, West Virginia have the capacity to rediscover the joys of real food, look no further than Katie Lee. And I mean, really look at her. Get past the pretty face, the famous former husband, and all that superfluous stuff. This native daughter of Huntington could be Jamie Oliver's greatest ambassador to the Appalachians and beyond; she's on a mission to reacquaint America with the kind of comfort food that's life-affirming, not death-inducing.

In her books The Comfort Table and The Comfort Table: Recipes for Everyday Occasions, Lee makes a tasty case for "conscious consumption." You'll find her on CBS's Early Morning Show whipping up fresh foods with ingredients your Grandma (and hers) would find reassuringly familiar--not like the slop that got Jamie Oliver so distraught when he descended on Huntington.

Lee is proof positive that back in the day, people in West Virginia knew how to make wholesome meals from scratch and took the time to sit down to savor them with friends and family. And so did the rest of us. What's truly extraordinary about the people of Huntington is really how ordinary they are, a microcosm of the rest of the country, by and large (as it were.) I asked Lee if she would share her thoughts with me about her hometown and her passion for good food, and she graciously obliged:

Kerry Trueman: What was your first thought when you heard that Jamie Oliver had chosen your hometown of Huntington, West Virginia in which to launch 'his' Food Revolution?

Katie Lee: I met Jamie in London last summer, just a few months before he launched his revolution. A mutual friend, chef Adam Perry Lang, introduced us when he realized I was from the Huntington area. As a long time fan of Jamie Oliver, I was so thrilled to hear he was taking his ideas of healthy living that had worked so well in the UK and bringing them to my hometown.

Listening to him speak so passionately about his ideas was very inspiring. Huntington may be statistically the most unhealthy city in America, but it's not far off from most areas in our country. I think it's an opportunity for people in Huntington to not only get healthy, but also be role models for the rest of the country.

KT: Can you tell us how the food that Jamie's show depicts the folks there eating now compares to how you ate as a child?

KL: I was very blessed to grow up in a family that appreciated good food. My mom and I lived in the same neighborhood as my grandparents, my great grandmother, and my great aunt and uncle. My grandfather had a green thumb and grew all kinds of vegetables, he had a cousin that raised cows, and a cousin that raised pigs, and everyone shared their food. At any given time, you could go in my grandma's kitchen and find her cooking up something delicious.

We had a handful of fast food restaurants in the area, but more "mom and pop" local restaurants that served homestyle food. It wasn't necessarily low-fat, but it was real. It wasn't the processed crap that you get in a drive-thru. People cooked at home more, too.

Nowadays, most of those locally run restaurants are nowhere to be found, replaced by one junky fast food restaurant or chain after another. I watched cafeteria food change while I was growing up too -- while in elementary the cooks actually cooked and by the time I got to high school, the cooks were reheating frozen chicken nuggets and pizza.

It really makes me sad. I believe everyone can cook if they set their minds to it, and their lives would be enriched by it.

KT: What did your friends and family have to say about Jamie and his show when you went home for the holidays last week?

KL: Jamie's revolution is the talk of the town. It was in the local newspaper every day that I was there. I think the feelings on the premise of the show are mixed -- some people really believe he can help the town, others think it's impossible to change, much like Rod the DJ. I was so incredibly disappointed when I watched that first episode and saw Rod's reaction. Jamie is there with the best of intentions and it's important to be open-minded.

I was in Huntington for the taping of the final episode and Jamie had a street fair. People were out and about, enjoying eating healthy food and celebrating the revolution. I'm hoping as the show progresses, we will see more people like Rod have a change of heart.

KT: Given that you're known for your prize-winning Logan County Burger (which is really more of a patty melt) and your meatloaf recipe, it might come as a shock to some people to hear that you were once a vegetarian. What role does meat play in your meals these days?

KL: Yes, the burger queen was once a vegetarian! I went meat-free for about five years, during high school and part of college. As you might imagine, I caught some grief in high school, as I was the only vegetarian in our class.

I do eat meat now, and I enjoy it very much, but I am very conscious of where I get my meat and how it was raised. My diet is not meat-heavy, so when I am cooking meat I seek out the highest quality.

I also participate in Meat-Free or Meatless Mondays, an initiative to not eat meat one day a week. Going without meat just one day can make a huge environmental impact.

KT: Your pug Fionula is quite the lucky pup--you make all her food from scratch. What inspired you to start making your own dog food?

KL: I started making much of Fionula's food because she got pancreatitis a few months ago. I've always been very strict with her diet, only feeding her organic dog food, but after her sickness I decided to cook her food myself. She eats mostly organic chicken, rice, and veggies.

KT: Your definition of comfort food is based on the notion that since we are what we eat, we ought to know what we're eating. Would it be fair to describe you as a kind of homegrown cross between Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver? A populist Michael Pollan? A 21st century Edna Lewis? A lean Paula Deen? All of the above?

KL: All of the people you mentioned are people I greatly admire for what they have accomplished. The world of food is so consuming that there is room for all different opinions and personalities. I always think that comfort food starts at the source. To be truly comforted by your food, you need to know where it comes from and be comfortable with the way it was raised and how it got to your plate. I believe in eating healthy, real food and being comfortable.

Cross posted from The Green Fork