Paccheri with slave-free tomatoes

If you read Em-i-lis during our trip to Italy in March, you might recall that I wrote about my love of and experiences there with paccheri, this wonderful, fat, tubular pasta.

The first time I had it this past visit was the night we moved to Florence from Venice. I bought some paccheri at a local market along with some eggplant and other pretty produce and while cooking up a beautiful dinner, felt myself grow sicker and sicker: the vomitous ailment that had plagued the boys in Venice had jumped to me, and I spent the next three days upchucking. Due to negative association, I looked askance at paccheri for the remainder of our trip until our penultimate night in Italy. Tom, my father and I went to Fabbio Picchi's Teatro del Sale, a truly marvelous "dinner theater" (that phrase does not even begin to do justice to the evening we had). One of the seemingly innumerable courses we enjoyed that evening was paccheri in the MOST incredibly creamy, unctuous, fresh tomato sauce. It slurped and sucked as your fork overcame the noodles' cling to one another, and really, I feel that's always a good and authentic sound. I have no idea how that sauce came to be, but it was truly a nectar of the gods and rendered me speechless for quite some time.

I made the tomato sauce this morning in honor of that wonderfully fun night at Picchi's place and so served it over some lovely paccheri. Mine doesn't even touch the magnificence of his complexly simple sugo di pomodoro at Teatro del Sale, but it was fun to muse about the larger-than-life Picchi - Attenzione! Attenzione!!- and a special night. As always and especially today, these tomatoes are slave-free. If you haven't yet signed this letter to supermarket CEOs urging them to sign on in support of the Fair Food Program, please tTake 30 seconds right now to raise your voice: sign your name to help ensure that supermarket tomatoes are slave-free!

Slave-free Tomato Tuesday

Slave-free tomato Tuesday is here. And while I'll be cooking with and eating happy tomatoes all day and sharing a few recipes with you, I want to first provide some information about the issues surrounding slavery in Florida's tomato fields and an amazingly easy, won't-take-more-than-a-minute way to act!

The Problem Slavery is not just happening overseas. Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Molloy once called Florida’s tomato fields “ground zero” for modern-day slavery in the United States. In the past 15 years, 7 cases of forced-labor slavery have been successfully prosecuted, resulting in over 1,000 people freed from slavery in U.S. tomato fields.

The Solution Recipe for Change–a campaign led by International Justice Mission in partnership with the Fair Food Standards Council and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers–is targeting three major supermarket chains this summer (Ahold, Publix and Kroger’s), and asking its CEOs to support the Fair Food Program. Corporations that join agree to pay a small price increase for fairly harvested tomatoes (1.5 cents more per pound), and promise to shift purchases to the Florida tomato growers who abide by these higher standards–and away from those who won’t.

Major fast food companies, like McDonalds and Subway, have already endorsed the Fair Food Program as have Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, but many of the largest U.S. supermarket chains have yet to support this collaborative effort to eradicate modern-day slavery.

Call to Action Supermarkets can help eliminate slavery and other serious abuses from the tomato supply chain when they join the Fair Food Program. But in order to change its policies, CEOs need pressure from consumers. That's where you come in! Take 30 seconds right now to raise your voice: sign your name to help ensure that supermarket tomatoes are slave-free! Please also visit The Giving Table to learn more about food philanthropy.

Now, head out to a local farmers market, Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, buy yourself some beautiful perfectly-in-season tomatoes and make yourself a marvelous lunch. A basic tomato sandwich on good bread with mayo and salt is both easy and delicious.

My Lusty Sungold Love dish is amazing on crostini and/or ricotta, and if you want a simple dinner tart, try this marvelous Corn, Tomato, Basil and Bacon Pie. Both are truly scrumptious.

Lusty Sungold Love

Picnic in a pie

Tomato Tuesday is coming

You might recall a post I wrote a few weeks back regarding Food Bloggers For Slave-Free Tomatoes, a day -next Tuesday, 7/24- on which food bloggers nationwide will be donating their posts to increasing awareness of injustices in the U.S. tomato industry and creating a recipe utilizing and celebrating slave-free tomatoes. The Giving Table created this event to support the International Justice Mission's summer campaign which is focused on bringing attention to the plight of the tomato growers in Immokalee, FL, and their movement, The Coalition of Immokalee Workers. The goal of the IJM and Giving Table campaigns is to push supermarket CEOs to sign on to the Fair Food Program, guidelines that would ensure that tomato growers have rights, are treated according to human rights-based Code of Conduct (ex: no forced or child labor) and are paid a fair and living wage, none of which is happening now.

I'll post more information on Tuesday as well as my recipe using happy tomatoes and easy ways that you can act and make a difference!

In the meantime:

Where can you find slave-free tomatoes? Your local farmers markets and CSAs as well as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, the two national chains who have already signed on in support of the Fair Food Program.

How can you learn more? Visit The Giving Table to learn more about Tomato Tuesday, the Fair Food Program and food philanthropy.