Good as Gold

abby goLd Leads LocaL foods moVement

Abby Gold is a city girl to her core. She grew up in the Boston metro area enjoying freshly grown food often from within the city limits.

“Paris has a long history of growing food within city limits,” Gold said. “In fact, enough food was grown to feed its whole population.

Gold became interested in nutrition science in high school when her infant sister had feeding problems. She worked at Bread and Circus (it’s now the popular grocer Whole Foods) and learned about wholesome, nutritious foods. Her parents loved to cook and have dinner parties. Gold was fortunate to have a garden in the back yard of her brownstone apartment building.

“To get me to eat unusual foods like avocados, pomegranates, lamb, and liver, my mother would tell me the food was only for adults, but I could have a little taste if I wanted!”

After college at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Gold had her first garden at a community plot in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Think …Then Eat

Gold believes that food is more than nutrients. Gold thinks about where her food comes from, how it’s raised, processed, sold, and prepared — as these factors are as vitally important as the nutritional density of the food.

“I think about how different cultures view food and learn from them,” she said. “I think about the soil where the food is grown so we can take care of our land for future generations of eaters. I also think about the cycle of life so animals and plants are cared for together.”

Gold enjoys the process of cooking and preparing food so it’s relished rather than gobbled down only for calories. Her goal is to extend mindful eating and farming practices to those who live on and near the fertile land of the Red River Valley.

“Healthy food can become accessible to people of all socioeconomic levels,” Gold said. “The cultivation of sustainable food has long been important to me as a dietitian, nutrition researcher, and Extension specialist.”

Food: Don’t Waste It

As a dietitian, Gold is trained to write diets and impart nutrition education. This task can be tricky.

“As a nutrition educator, it’s most important for me to get the simple message across about healthy eating,” Gold said. “A colleague found a World War I poster put out by the US Food Administration. The concepts in this poster still apply ... even more so now.”

1) Buy it with thought.

2) Cook it with care.

3) Use less wheat and meat. (Now adapted to say, “Use more whole foods.”)

4) Buy local foods.

5) Serve just enough.

6) Use what is left.

“Health professionals tend to confuse people with the science of nutrition,” Gold observed. “This confusion has bred our obsession with dieting, vitamin supplements, and herbal remedies that will supposedly give us superior health and vitality.”

Gold holds a dual appointment with the University of Minnesota Extension and NDSU Extension Service as a nutrition and wellness specialist and assistant professor. The purpose of the dual appointment is to bring resources to both states.

“Food and nutrition are integrally entwined, and people are exceedingly interested in knowing where their food comes from and how it is grown,” Gold said. “The Extension Service can help people understand the complexities of this system.”

Be the Change

Gold is a founding member of the Probstfield Organic Community Garden and the Cass Clay Food Systems Initiative. Last spring, she organized the “Scaling Up Local Foods” research symposium at NDSU and helped the Moorhead School District access $15,000 allocated by the state of Minnesota for local foods promotion. The district planted apple trees at its elementary schools in Moorhead.

“Many people believe that healthy foods are more expensive, but that’s simply not true when you factor in the external costs of high production agriculture and food processing on our health and environment,” Gold said. “If you purchase less processed foods, grow some of your own food and get some food directly from the farmer, it can be cheaper or at least the same price.”

Gold encourages small steps that will yield big results over time like purchasing eggs from pastured chickens from a local farmer.

“That’s what the local foods movement is all about right now ... small sustainable changes and then building on that foundation.” [AWM]