CULTURE

Bringing Filipino flavors to a wider audience

Krizzia Yanga’s restaurants deliver traditional dishes with a modern flair Story and Photography by Angela Lee

Hidden in a quiet corner of the neighborhood of Grandview is the restaurant Bonifacio. Amidst the walls of flourishing greenery and the woven furniture is a kitchen radiant with the heat of cultural discovery, food curiosity and tradition redefined. And at the heart of it all is Krizzia

Yanga.

An emigrant from the Philippines at the age of 3, Krizzia and her family took up residence in the suburb of Pickerington. Surrounded by limited cultural representation within the community and a gap in the food industry, Krizzia’s family felt encouraged to open the original Red Velvet Café and slowly introduced the flavors of the Philippines to their original menu of cupcakes and coffees. With a new influx of curious customers, the family found inspiration to create a space where culture, tradition and identity could be explored; thus, Bonifacio was born.

Named after Krizzia’s maternal grandfather, Bonifacio Yanga, the new restaurant became a beacon for generations old and new to find their source of community and family. Bonifacio made a name for itself as a place where the Eastern and Western cultures collided and became something new, yet familiar. At Bonifacio, tradition meets innovation in the form of savory, rich and aromatic flavors that tease the taste buds and leave them wanting more.

Within these four walls, strangers became friends, neighbors became family and the restaurant became a home. Here in this hidden sanctuary, breaking bread became an act of celebration and comfort. True to its original intent, Bonifacio evolved to represent the living embodiment of the Filipino phrase “Kumain ka na ba?” (“Have you eaten yet?”).

Like the phrase suggests, Bonifacio created a space where care and comfort are interwoven into the dishes that are served and a space where people of color can connect and find community. And it is here where people are welcomed to the table. At this table, authentic Filipino foods such as tapa (brisket smoked in banana leaves with an adobo dry rub) and pyanggang (fire-grilled chicken marinated in burnt coconut and lemongrass) are offered and ready to be devoured.

From the success of Bonifacio, Krizzia found herself taking on a new endeavor as a chef partner at Budd Dairy Food Hall and opening up Boni Filipino Street Food. Taking influences from the night markets of Asia, Boni serves to create an approachable take on a traveler’s quest for new flavors and thirst for adventure, perhaps with a pork longganisa skewer and kalamansi juice in hand.

For Krizzia, a highlight of Bonifacio and Boni has been the ability to create a space where Filipino food such as lumpia (deep-fried spring rolls), inasal (fire-grilled citrus and lemongrass chicken) and kwek kwek (battered quail eggs) is not only recognized, but also celebrated—and a space where diversity is welcomed and loved. Through Bonifacio and Boni, Krizzia has created a “window into the culture” of the Philippines and a place where customers are “treated like family.”

But as a small-business owner, she also has found herself facing difficult decisions as the country continues to deal with the COVID pandemic. The biggest challenge has been “making moral decisions as a small business, like public health decisions,” she says.

“It’s tough for us to figure out already with the labor shortage we have. A lot of restaurants are having to close because of COVID going through their entire staff. How do we keep our employees safe? How do we keep our guests safe?” Krizzia asks. “If someone is sick and unable to work, how do they pay for their bills? It’s tough to make those decisions.”

Along with the challenges of the pandemic come continuing cases of anti-Asian sentiment. Krizzia recounts turning on the television and watching a news report on yet another incident against Asians in this country. “It’s pretty scary,” she says. “We are living in a weird time.”

She describes the long history of colonialism in the Philippines, which included American military men looking for Filipino wives. “During the pandemic, when I was in the drive-thru, some old guys said, ‘We were in the military, hey, are you married?’” she recalls. It was offensive to her, “but you’re also in customer service, so how do you handle that? Because people have been targeted for speaking out and I don’t want to put myself or my staff at risk. It’s tough. Especially after what happened in Atlanta,” where six Asian women were shot to death in one night last year.

As an Asian woman business owner, Krizzia has seen first-hand the inequities faced by minority groups. “I think it’s great that we are becoming more aware of it. We have some Gen Z folks here and we see how the world is changing,” she says. Seeing them be “more aware and more thoughtful in how they live their day-today lives is really encouraging.”

Even so, she says thoughtfully, “There’s a lot more work to do. It’s still scary. It’s always been a challenge of being Asian American. It’s tough to think about. But there is optimism for the future.”

Looking to the future of her businesses, she remains optimistic for 2022. “We have a lot of cool opportunities that have presented themselves so we are excited for that,” she says with a twinkle in her eye. “With all these changes that continue to come, we’re trying to roll with the punches. I’m proud of what we can provide and create that makes [customers] excited about exploring different foods.”

Krizzia Yanga

View the menu and learn more about the restaurant at bonifacio614.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/bonifacio614.

Angela Lee is a food photographer, freelance writer and social media strategist. She’s always in search of her next culinary adventure. You can find her on Instagram at @FindYourFork or via email at FindYourFork@gmail.com.

FIVE STEPS TO A BOUNTIFUL GARDEN

A garden educator offers advice on growing your own organic produce, in spaces big or small

By Katie Carey | Photography by Rachel Joy Barehl

When COVID took the world by storm, many of us soothed our anxieties by reclaiming vintage hobbies: We fed our sourdough starters, assembled 1,000-piece puzzles and knitted woolly scarves. Vegetable gardening especially took on new appeal.

As the experienced gardener in my circle, I suddenly found myself approached by friends and family members for gardening advice and lessons on the basics. I found this work so fulfilling that I started my business, Columbus Foodscapes, to help people learn how to grow an abundance of organic fruits and vegetables in their yards.

After working with dozens of beginner gardeners, I can confidently say anyone can rise to the challenge of growing their own food. Here are the five steps all of my clients start with to grow a bountiful garden:

1Pick the right location It matters not how green your thumb, nor how healthy your seedlings, if your plants don’t get enough sunlight each day.

The ideal vegetable garden needs over eight hours of sunlight a day.

To find a spot in your house or yard with the maximum sunlight, make a simple, bird’s-eye map of your yard that includes the cardinal directions; any existing structures, like houses or trees; and outdoor faucets and water sources. Then play around with a few locations, ideally a sunny, south-facing spot close to the kitchen for easy harvest and maintenance and near a water source.

Don’t rule out front- and side-yard spaces. Sometimes the best location is a place you hadn’t even considered before.

2Start with raised beds Raised beds offer a myriad of benefits, especially in urban areas: improved drainage, reduced soil compaction, increased ease of access and opportunity to grow more intensively in a smaller space.

When building your raised beds, the two most important factors to consider are the dimensions of your beds and the materials you use. I recommend making garden beds no more than 4 feet wide for easy access (2.5 feet if the raised bed is up against a wall or fence) and a minimum of 11 inches deep to reap the benefits of soil depth. You can use a variety of materials to build raised beds, including concrete blocks, cedar, white pine, brick, stone or steel. Cedar is, by far, the most popular material, and for good reason. Cedar is rot resistant, will last for a couple decades and adds a kind of farmhouse beauty.

3Use a stellar soil Let’s start with a stern, but obligatory, note. Soil is not dirt, but it is of great importance to your plants. Soil serves as both the home for crops and the place where they will receive nutrients. The internet is swimming with contradictory information about the perfect vegetable garden soil blend. Digital sources quibble: Do you use perlite or sand? Compost or rotted manure? What is “loam,” anyway?

Here’s the scoop. There is more than one way to build terrific soil for your vegetables. I recommend not getting too caught up in the details and instead starting with a premixed organic soil blend (I’m fond of the one from Price Farms Organics in Delaware County) amended with manure, worm castings, sand or other amendments.

4Make a planting plan Repeat after me: I will not go to the garden center without making a plan first.

LOOKING TO DIG A LITTLE DEEPER?

Here are some of my favorite resources and local businesses for beginner gardeners to explore:

OSU Extension: The “extension,” as it’s affectionately called in the urban farming world, is an indispensable resource for Ohioans. The website offers a range of science-based articles and gardening advice, and you can personally reach out with any gardening troubles you may face.

The Gardener’s A–Z Guide to Growing Organic Food by Tanya L.K. Denckla: A comprehensive guide to growing just about any fruit, vegetable or herb you can think of. Offers detailed guidance on companion planting, planting conditions, timing and much more.

Rodale’s All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening by Robert Rodale: A musthave book for all gardeners! An expansive encyclopedia of all things gardening that can give you great foundational knowledge and answer many of your questions.

Kitchen Garden Revival by Nicole Burke: This book is a great resource if you want to build your own garden from scratch. Nicole walks you through how to install a new garden step-by-step with tips and tricks for planting and gardening basics.

Beechwold Farm Market: A small shop in Clintonville owned by Swainway Urban Farm that offers a curated selection of organic gardening products. Plus, the owner and employees are extremely knowledgeable and always thrilled to offer guidance on products and techniques.

City Folks Farm Shop: Also in Clintonville, a shop that offers a wide variety of homesteading goodies and equipment. Everything from seeds to broadforks, you can probably find it here!

Columbus Garden School: Hosts hands-on, in-depth local classes and workshops that are taught by a range of experts in their fields. Topics are varied but center around growing food, homesteading and ecological gardening.

Price Farms Organics: A local company that offers a range of gardening soils and mulches. If you’re not quite sure what products are best suited for your garden’s needs, give them a call. They are happy to help guide you to the best product and even will help you calculate how much of it you need for your project.

Columbus Foodscapes: My company! Columbus Foodscapes makes growing your own organic food abundant and joyful. We design and install new gardens, help fix up existing gardens, offer maintenance services and even offer garden coaching and classes to help folks learn how to grow organic fruits, vegetables and herbs in their backyards.

A planting plan should include two components: 1) a simple, overhead map of your beds that shows what plants and seeds will go where, and 2) a chart that includes important information about what you’d like to plant.

Your planting plan chart should include information such as:

• The name of the plant (tomato, Black Beauty variety) • When to plant it (mid-May) • The spacing between plants (12 inches) • Whether to start the plant from seed or with seedlings (start tomatoes from seedlings) • Any special instructions that might be useful (start pruning suckers about a month after planting, side dress with compost six weeks from planting)

If you’re a brand-new gardener, try starting with some of the easier crops to grow: • Herbs: basil, thyme, oregano, lemon balm, dill, cilantro, chives, cilantro and others. • Leafy greens: lettuce, arugula, kale, spinach, mustard greens (a personal favorite!) and other leafy greens. • Root veggies: Carrots, radishes, turnips and beets.

Once you’ve mastered the basics, move on to plants that require more time to mature and need a bit more care, such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, cauliflower, broccoli and melon.

5Maintain with nature in mind Prevention is better than cure! To prevent disease and pest infestations in your garden and promote plant health, a few simple tasks set you up for success: • Feed the soil to feed the plant: Each time you plant new crops, amend the soil with well-rotted manure, compost or worm castings. • Prune & harvest: Remove any crispy, diseased or browning leaves and stems of plants with clean pruners and harvest regularly to encourage production and plant health. • Check for disease and pests: When you find bugs in your garden, determine whether they are beneficial or not and how to manage them organically. • Water: If watering with a hose head, water deeply and close to the soil surface to avoid splashing water on foliage, which can foster disease.

The best thing you can do, above all else, is just start. Gardens are magical, forgiving things that will bless you with abundance, even if you stumble here and there.

Happy growing!

Katie Carey is a Columbus native on a mission to support her community in edible gardening. She is a Master Urban Farmer, a Master Gardener and has worked at a variety of urban and rural farms both in Ohio and internationally. Now, Katie owns local business Columbus Foodscapes, where she helps people learn how to grow an abundance of organic fruits, vegetables and herbs in their backyard. To work with her, email info@columbusfoodscapes.com or visit columbusfoodscapes.com.

IN LABELS WE TRUST

How food certification labels, seals and standards can help eaters make better choices

STORY BY ELENA SEELEY, FOOD TANK CONTENT DIRECTOR Danielle Nierenberg, Food Tank president, contributed to this article.

Even before the pandemic, choosing what to eat was difficult. What’s healthy? What’s not? Do workers get a fair wage? What’s better for the planet? For eaters looking to purchase products that are fairly traded or BIPOC owned, it can feel exhausting to find delicious foods from producers they believe in.

Certification labels and standards can be useful and necessary ways to help consumers, but they’re often confusing. “Unfortunately, the burden is always on the consumer in terms of evaluating the veracity of the label, doing the research to see whether the information on these labels is properly supported and accurate,” Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports, says.

Focusing on one issue helps, says Jerusha Klemperer of FoodPrint, an organization that educates consumers about food production practices. Decide which issue you’re most passionate about and look for a label that upholds those standards. Labels can help increase transparency and provide insight into how food was produced. They can help eaters vote with their wallets for food choices that support the environment, climate solutions, animal welfare, workers’ rights, and healthy and sustainable diets. But even conscientious eaters can get overwhelmed by the number of choices they face.

Choosing certified labels is a way to avoid empty claims, Klemperer says. But not all certification processes are created equal. Klemperer advises consumers to “do the research before you get to the store.”

PROTECTING WORKERS

In 2020, the World Economic Forum/Ipsos found that 86 percent of people want a significant change towards a more equitable and sustainable world post-pandemic.

Standards from the food sector are working to eliminate forced and child labor, improve workers’ conditions, promote gender equity and ensure better pay. Many fair-trade companies are helping growers shift to environmentally sustainable practices.

“While not a silver bullet, the Rainforest Alliance certification is designed to provide methods and a shared standard for creating a more transparent, data-driven, risk-based supply chain…to make responsible business the new normal,” says Alex Morgan from the Rainforest Alliance.

For foods from the United States, it’s more difficult to find companies upholding fair working conditions.

“Farm employees are still not equally protected under the Fair Labor Standards Act and do not have a federally protected right to a weekly day of rest, overtime pay, sick time, collective bargaining rights or even the right to a federal minimum wage on small farms,” says Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm, an AfroIndigenous centered community farm in New York.

Rosalinda Guillen, founder of Community to Community, says the Food Justice Certified label by the Agricultural Justice Project (AJP) is the most comprehensive label for protecting workers. “We call it the gold standard,” says Guillen, who has provided input on AJP’s certification since 2000. Her BIPOC-

led organization fights for better farm working conditions. She trusts the label because farm workers were deeply involved in setting the standards from the beginning.

Soul Fire is one of just six farms using Food Justice Certified. And it's advocating for the Fairness for Farm Workers Act. “The exploitation of farm labor is so deeply entrenched in the DNA of this nation that it can feel daunting to confront it, and yet we must,” says Penniman.

IS ALL NATURAL MEANINGLESS?

One of the most familiar labels is all natural. It sounds good—even healthy—but it’s an empty marketing tool.

Klemperer says, “Ignore it.” Look for labels like USDA Certified Organic, which is two decades old. According to the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, organic foods can be found in almost three out of every four conventional supermarkets.

To meet USDA standards, foods must be grown in soils that have not been treated with artificial fertilizers and pesticides for at least three years. And organic farmers cannot plant genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Newer labels, like the Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) label, encourage farmers to further improve animal welfare, fairness for farm workers and soil health. The label’s three-tiered system allows producers to earn bronze, silver or gold certification to incentivize action.

This label is also designed to be adaptable. “As science and culture morph and change, we can incorporate that into a flexible or dynamic standard that can adjust at that level,” explains Jeff Moyer, CEO of the Rodale Institute, a nonprofit group dedicated to growing the organic movement.

NON-GMO LABELS DEMYSTIFIED

Many growers avoid GMOs without using USDA Certified Organic practices. GMO products are derived from plants and animals, the genetic makeup of which has been altered, often to create resistance to pesticides, herbicides and pests.

Consumers can look for the Non-GMO Project Verified label, which indicates that produce or products containing fruits and vegetables are not produced with GMOs. For meat and dairy products, this label means that animals were fed a non-GMO diet.

In 2022, products containing GMOs must use a new Bio-Engineered label from the USDA. But some non-GMO advocates argue this label doesn’t go far enough. Many products derived from new modification techniques, including those having undergone CRISPR gene editing and crops meant for animal feed, will be exempt from the label.

HUMANE LABELING

“I think everybody cares about animals and nobody wants to see animals suffer unnecessarily,” says Ben Goldsmith of Farm Forward, a nonprofit striving to improve farm animal welfare. It can be easy for us to imagine ideal scenarios—healthy animals that are free to roam in open pastures—but unfortunately, Goldsmith explains, few animals are raised this way.

According to the nongovernmental organization, Food and Water Watch, 1.6 billion farm animals live on 25,000 factory farms, or concentrated animal feeding operations, in the U.S. These animals face overcrowded and stressful conditions and are regularly subject to physical alterations like tail docking and beak clipping.

To avoid meats from animals subject to inhumane practices, look for the Certified Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) label. Farmers and ranchers qualifying for certification cannot use cages, must provide access to pastures and must ensure animals are treated humanely when they are bred, transported and slaughtered. Producers may also add a Certified Grass-fed label to this certification, meaning animals were fed a 100 percent grass and forage diet. Goldsmith says he appreciates the AWA label because it helps to “support and encourage small producers.”

Another label is Certified Humane from Humane Farm Animal Care. Minimum space allowances and environmental enrichment must be provided for animals raised under Certified Humane standards. That encompasses the treatment of breeding animals, animals during transport and animals at slaughter.

These labels are better for animals—and farmers can find them more rewarding. “You get to see animals exhibit natural behaviors,” says Ron Mardesen, a livestock farmer for Niman Ranch, a beef, pork and lamb company with Certified Humane products.

For products like eggs, terms like humane raised, free range and hormone free sound good, but lack a clear definition. The U.S. prohibits the use of hormones in all poultry, veal, eggs, bison and pork production, so claims of hormone free don’t mean much.

AWA, Certified Humane and USDA Certified Organic labeling standards prohibit the use of antibiotics and synthetic hormones in animal production. Consumers looking to buy meat products raised without these inputs should buy certified labels.

SOMETHING FISHY

The seafood sector is rife with labor exploitation, overfishing, ecosystem damage, fraud and intentional mislabeling. Mark Kaplan, of the company Envisible, calls the challenges in the industry “appalling.”

Envisible works to make supply chains more transparent and equitable. Using blockchain, the company can trace a product from a fishing vessel all the way to the supermarket. Data entered at every point along the supply chain cannot be changed, helping eliminate fraud.

Kaplan recommends consumers look for the Global Seafood

continued

Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices label, a third-party certification that addresses environmental health, social wellbeing, food safety and animal welfare along the aquaculture supply chain.

The Fair-Trade Certified seal, a label given to various species of fish that meet certification requirements, is also helpful. Certification focuses on supporting economies, improving working conditions and protecting ecosystems.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch is a tool to help guide more sustainable choices on a case-by-case basis. Its website allows users to search by species to understand the best options and alternatives, and which species to avoid.

CARBON LABELING

According to Nature Food, more than one-third of greenhouse gas emissions can be traced to the food system. Many eaters are seeing this connection between global agriculture and the climate crisis, and they want to purchase more climate-friendly food. Some businesses are seeing labels as part of the solution.

Numi Organic Tea has Climate Neutral Certification. It helps companies measure, offset and reduce their carbon emissions to reach carbon neutrality—a balance between the amount of carbon emitted into and absorbed by the atmosphere. Climate Neutral also tries to account for the entirety of the supply chain—emissions caused by on-site facilities, purchased electricity, employee transit, shipping and transporting materials.

Instead of specific products, Climate Neutral certifies entire brands once they achieve zero net carbon emissions for one year and requires them to commit to emission reduction targets annually. Jane Franch of Numi prefers this approach. She believes that allowing companies to label individual products as carbon neutral “can give a green halo to that company without necessarily committing to or investing in enterprise level change.”

Numi plans to print on each tea box the precise estimate of greenhouse gas emissions associated with it—something Oatly and Quorn are currently also doing with their packaging.

UNWRAPPING LABELS

Emily Moose, executive director of the nonprofit A Greener World, argues that it’s important for consumers to continually ask for sustainable products. “It can be easy to just say, ‘Oh, there’s too much, it’s too overwhelming, it might not matter.’ But that’s really not true,” says Moose. “That only benefits an opaque food system and practices that will never improve.”

If you care about workers, speak with store managers about carrying products with AJP’s label. For environmental concerns, email store buyers to let them know you’re happy they purchase organic or local products but wish they had more.

And eaters don’t always need labels to do the right thing. BIPOC and women-owned businesses have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Consumers can look to local farmers’ markets or Yelp and Google for businesses with a Black-owned or women-led badge.

Ultimately, labels and certifications are helpful tools, but don’t tell us everything about how food is produced. As eaters, though, we have the opportunity, every time we pick up a fork, chopsticks or a spoon, to choose more economically, socially and environmentally just food systems.

Closing Thoughts From Our Founder

Thank you for joining us on these pages, the fourth in a series of thought leadership pieces from Edible Communities. We would like to send a special thanks to our partners for this issue, Elena Seeley, Danielle Nierenberg and the team at Food Tank, who made this story possible.

Exploring, investigating and changing our food system have been guiding principles of Edible Communities since we first began. And while I know our work has impact and is valued, there is still a lot more to do! In the case of labeling, for instance, it would be so easy if there were one label, one certification, one set of guidelines, one choice to make when it comes to our food, but alas, only one option would allow a broken food system to stay broken. Therefore, we hope you find this thought-provoking and thorough coverage on the topic informative and useful.

As you are reading this, Edible Communities is fully into our 20th anniversary year as a media company. We are approaching 100 titles throughout North America and reach over 20 million readers each year. Those are statistics we don’t take lightly. We are grateful for you, dear readers, who help guide and sustain us. And if you’re an Edible reader, we feel you will enjoy being a Food Tank reader as well. Part of its mission statement says: “We aim to educate, inspire, advocate and create change,” and it certainly does that. I encourage you to visit foodtank.com, to listen, learn, join and be part of the conversation.

Tracey Ryder, Co-Founder & CEO

Edible Communities