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Occupy Big Food Rally Set For 1 PM Across From Zuccotti Park Today
By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 19, 2011
Modified Nov 19, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 19, 2011
Modified Nov 19, 2011
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After their last gathering coincided with the freak October snowstorm, Occupy Big Food is staging a rallyat Union Square in front of the big red cube sculpture at 140 Broadway (across from Zuccotti Park) at 1 p.m. today as a "protest against the corporate feeding of America." The group are an off-shoot of Occupy Wall Street hoping to take meat, dairy, and other agricultural industries out of the hands of a few large corporations—just as OWS wants to take control of the financial sector from large corporations.
You can read more about them and their founders, nutrition expert Kristin Wartman and NYU Food Studies grad student Erika Lade, in this NPR feature—and you can check out more interesting info about how the food movement developed in Zuccotti Park via Slow Food USA.
Among other things, Occupy Big Food have created a petition against Butterball—the number one producer of turkeys in America—telling the company that signers "are no longer going to purchase turkeys that are inhumanely treated, or support a factory-farm system that creates dire environmental and health consequences."
On a related note, Occupy Wall Street will be having their own makeshift Thanksgiving next week outside of the city. Eric Smith, former chef at Sheridan New York, has organized the event for approximately 1,000 Zuccotti Park regulars, with 150 turkeys, 400 pounds of potatoes, 300 pounds of stuffing and 250 pounds of cranberry sauce (they're still looking for someone to donate 300 pies). “We hope on Thanksgiving we can bring solace to all these people,” said Smith. “Get together. Give everyone an inspirational boost. These people need a chance to rejoice. It’s been a rough two months.”
The "very traditional" mean may be held as far upstate as rural Woodstock: “People need a chance to get away from the noise of the city. We do plan on bringing everyone back.”
And one fun fact about turkeys: the turkey you'll eat this at your Thanksgiving meal is almost definitely the result of artificial insemination. How come? As Freakonomics Radio explains, it's because the modern turkey has quite large turkey breasts, and it physically gets in the way when the male and the female try to have sex.
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manhattan
occupy big food
occupy wall street
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protest
Zuccotti Park
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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