DART Partners with the Arts at Museum of the City of New York
Friday, March 25, 6:30 m
Is Local Agriculture Good for the Environment: The Hidden Costs of Food in New York City

In conjunction with the exhibition, Moveable Feast: Fresh Produce and the NYC Green Carts Program, MCNY invites you to a panel discussion about large and small issues that tend to complicate our understanding of this important subject.

Moveable Feast:  Fresh Produce and the NYC Green Carts Program features the work of LaToya Ruby Frazier, Thomas Holton, Gabriele Stabile, Will Steacy, and Shen Wei, photographers who have turned their lenses on city neighborhoods where there is little access to nutritious food, documenting street scenes and urban environments in the process. The exhibition, which opens today, also reveals a new, important use for a nearly ubiquitous and historic urban icon: the pushcart. 

Moveable Feast is organized by the Museum in conjunction with Aperture Foundation, which commissioned the photographs with support from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.

Left: Gabriele Stabile, Untitled, from the series Street Smart. Right: Thomas Holton, 8th Avenue Traffic, 2010. Images copyright the artist, courtesy Aperture Foundation.

When it comes to eating sustainably, the question of locally sourced agriculture versus importing food is far from settled. Are New Yorkers willing to eat in season only and only what New York has the comparative advantage to produce? New Yorkers penchant for eating out adds for an additional complication. What does that mean for the city’s carbon footprint, given that restaurants are often more wasteful than home kitchens – even those committed to the new ideal of “farm-to-table” production? What are the real environmental costs associated with New York’s food system?

Join a panel of experts on Friday, March 25 at 6:30 pm for a fresh perspective on the issues. Peter Hoffman, chef and owner of Savoy; Gabrielle Langholtz, editor, Edible Manhattan; James E. McWilliams, author of Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly (Little, Brown, 2009); David Owen, author of Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability (Riverhead, 2009); and Jennifer Small, owner and farmer from Flying Pigs Farm will evaluate the environmental and social costs and benefits of the city's food infrastructure.

This special program is being offered to DART subscribers at the half-off MCNY member's price of $6 when you contact 917.492.3395 or programs@mcny.org. Just mention DART and your tickets will be held for you.

Please do not reply to this email  but mark your calendar for Saturday, April 23, when MCNY presents a family workshop, Moveable Feast - From Farm to Table. 

The Museum of the City of New York is located at Fifth Avenue and 103^rd Street.
By bus: M1, M3, M4 or M106 to 104th Street, M2 to 101st Street.
By subway: #6 Lexington Avenue train to 103rd Street, walk three blocks west. #2 or #3 train to Central Park North (110th Street), walk one block east to Fifth Avenue, then south to 104th Street.