FOOD

It may have seemed a long time coming to some, but the "Sprout Spot" at Irving Primary School, the "Lettuce Grow" garden at Bartle Elementary, and the Highland Park Middle & High School's "Garden of Eatin'" are in full swing. Teachers, students and the community are enjoying the fruits (or veggies!) of their labor.

At the middle school/high school garden, Dara Botvinick often holds class surrounded by the lettuce, spinach, peas, beans, nasturtium, and tomato and squash plants. "I really enjoy the impact of the garden on the students,” says Botvinick.

Not so quietly, a grass roots movement is sweeping through the borough to grow food on the lawns, balconies, and even roofs of private homes and in public places. According to organizers from the Edible Gardens Project, each garden helps undo climate change, builds community, and brings healthy, fresh food in to local homes.

 

You might have seen the raised bed gardens in flower last summer at some thirty homes, at three borough churches, or in front of the Highland Park Public Library. Some of the produce from all of these gardens was enjoyed by the growers; some was traded, while others donated to the Highland Park Food Pantry.

 

Food has arrived. In particular, concern about both global and local food security, a “nice” term for hunger. With a popular cable channel featuring more than 80 programs dedicated to food and cooking; with America anxiously awaiting Gordon Ramsey’s next kitchen nightmare; it’s still just like your mother used to say when you wouldn’t eat your peas: People are starving.

On November 11th guest speakers from Elijah's Promise took to the podium at Rutgers to outline the problem of hunger in New Jersey.

Organizers told the assembled students that something is "terribly wrong" with the way we feed people in NJ.  We live in one of the ten worst states when it comes to food stamps, school breakfast, and summer food sources for school-aged children, according to the agency's director, Rev. Lisanne Finston.

When Labor Day has come and gone and Columbus Day is just around the corner, something begins to nag on nostalgic American hearts.  With the promise of cool nights, rowdy football games, and gorgeous foliage, something stirs within us.  We begin to yearn for fresh apple pie, perfectly gnarly pumpkins, and insanely terrifying haunted houses:  the signposts of Autumn in the Northeast.

Pooja 
1075 Easton Avenue, Somerset 
732.220-0051 
$12-25 per person

A strip mall? And a pretty sketchy one at that?

Don't be fooled by the modest facade at Pooja (located in one of the older strip malls on Easton Avenue) -- this place packs a whole lot of punch with its wide array of Indian specialties.