TIME’s Bryan Walsh writes:
“As a member of both the Hopi and Pima tribes of Arizona, David Pecusa is more than familiar with the ills of the American food system. The Hopi and Pima, like many other Native American tribes, suffer from dangerously high levels of obesity, higher than Americans nationally — and it’s not like the rest of the population is in great shape. The possible causes are many — genetics, stress, poverty — but there’s little doubt that one of the biggest problems is simply food. Native Americans who live on reservations often lack access to fresh, wholesome food, while at the same time they’ve lost connection to their own healthier traditional diets. “Hopi people call themselves the ‘farmers of the desert,'” says Pecusa. “Growing food and living off the land is who we are as a Hopi people, and if we don’t do this anymore we can’t call ourselves Hopi anymore.”
“The modern sustainable-food movement has more energy and momentum than the traditional environmental movement has been able to generate in recent years. FoodCorps is just one more example of that success.”
“The food movement, after all, has always been about more than food. It’s about ideals — and 50 very smart young people are about to get the chance to put those ideals into practice.”
