ABQ Stew: New Mexico’s Food for Thought will contain a compendium of student research on New Mexico’s diverse food system and food value chain. As a part of the SUST-364 Growers’ Market Practicum course, University of New Mexico Sustainability Studies students will develop and post compelling blog entries about sustainable food and agriculture in New Mexico. We will interview local foodshed heroes, describe successful New Mexico-based food businesses, discuss agricultural challenges the state faces (and potential solutions), and provide ‘how-to’ guides on various sustainable topics. Our aim is to create an accessible, engaging web-based resource for community members interested in learning more about New Mexico’s foodsheds.

Image credit: Dreaming New Mexico

ABQ Stew will focus on our regional foodshed, loosely defined by La Montanita Co-op as the area within a 300-mile radius of Albuquerque. A foodshed is modeled after a watershed, and is the geographic area in which food flows from where it is grown and processed to where it is marketed and consumed. Whereas the majority of Americans consume products from the global foodshed, we endeavor to support and expand New Mexico’s burgeoning local and sustainable food movement.  As consumers, we know that there is nothing more powerful than voting with our forks!

Why ABQ Stew? The name embodies the rich mixture of ingredients that go into the making of the central New Mexico foodshed. As with any stew, our foodshed has various components. None is more important than the other: it is only together that the unique flavor is created. As such, we cannot visit just one farm or interview just one restaurateur and expect to understand the entire story of food in our state. We must look more holistically at the web of connections in our local and regional food system, through the lens of the food value chain. The upcoming blog posts will document our attempts at a deeper understanding of this system.

Image credit: Dreaming New Mexico

Posted by Jessica