Farmlab Public SalonMark VallianatosPresented w/ Next American CityMagazineFriday, October 31, 2008 @ NoonFree Admission

The Politics of Food

About the Salon

Next American City is a Philadelphia-based national nonprofit magazine that cover cities across the country. Our goal is to highlight what is working and not working our cities, so we can promote sustainable growth.

As part of our new event initiative, we want to visit the cities we walk about - so starting in Los Angeles, Next American City will be visiting a different city across the country each month. In each city we will be hosting a series of events to bring out like-minded individuals and engage them in conversation pertinent to the future of their city. In Los Angeles, we will kick off the first in our lecture series, "The Livable City," with a conversation about food and its role in an urban city like Los Angeles.

"Mark Vallianatos, policy director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College, will discuss Los Angeles' politicized food landscape—from the city’s agricultural heritage, food justice and the fast-food ban, to the future of food in a city transformed by immigration and global trade."

About the Opening Presentation

Prior to Vallianatos' lecture, Farmlab is pleased to welcome another pair of special guests, Los Angeles artists Charles Hachadourian & Poorang Nori, as they present their performance piece, "Toneer Lavash."

From the duo:

"Baking bread is poly-ethnic, multi-tribal ritual shared by most grain-eating peoples. Whether baked in a simple earthen oven, tandoor, or toneer, the simple act of dropping or plopping of a rolled out billet of dough on a wall of semi-porous clay or earthen conical vessel heated by a simple fire, provides a quick nourishing, tasty morsel.

"The toneer is a cylindrical or conically shaped baking oven use both in the Near and Middle East. It is buried in insulating earth where a small intake hole acts as a manifold for a wooden fire that quickly heats the vertical inner walls of the toneer. A ball of dough is rolled out and stretched on top of a cotton covered pillow that is filled with straw. The pillow then is “puffed” on to the toneer wall. After a few seconds the baked lavash bread is removed from the wall with a pointy skewer."