Beginning to End Hunger: Food and the Environment in Belo Horizon, Brazil, and Beyond

Beginning to End Hunger presents the story of Belo Horizonte, home to 2.5 million people and the site of one of the world’s most successful food security programs. Since its Municipal Secretariat of Food and Nutritional Security was founded in 1993, Belo Horizonte has sharply reduced malnutrition, leading it to serve as an inspiration for Brazil’s renowned Zero Hunger programs. The secretariat’s work with local family farmers shows how food security, rural livelihoods, and healthy ecosystems can be supported together. In this convincing case study, M. Jahi Chappell establishes the importance of holistic approaches to food security, suggests how to design successful policies to end hunger, and lays out strategies for enacting policy change. With these tools, we can take the next steps toward empowering people throughout the world and ending all hunger, everywhere

Praise for Beginning to End Hunger

“Beginning to End Hunger will inspire new thinking around the practical mechanics of a just food landscape anywhere. The book is also funny, generous, and incredibly well-read but not obnoxiously so. Like a good drinking buddy.”

–Rob Wallace, Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Global Studies at the University of Minnesota and author of Big Farms Make Big Flu

About the Author

M. Jahi Chappell is a political agroecologist with training in ecology and evolutionary biology, science and technology studies, and chemical engineering. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) at Coventry University, a Fellow of FoodFirst/the Institute for Food and Development Policy, and an Adjunct Faculty member of the School of the Environment at Washington State University. Check out his website and follow Jahi on Twitter @mjahi  and Facebook @BTEH Book.

Real Food Reads Recipes

Our resident recipe guru Jessica Jones weighs in with some tasty treats that’ll take your book club to the next level. Check out Jessica’s blog and podcast, Food Heaven Made Easy, an online resource for delicious and nutritious plant-based living.

Pickled Vegetable Black Bean Tostadas

From Food Heaven Made Easy

Ingredients

For the tostadas:
15oz can or 1 3/4c cooked black beans
3 tablespoons medium chipotle sauce
3 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
6 tostada shells

For the pickled vegetables: 
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 cup red cabbage, thinly sliced
1/4 small onion, thinly sliced

Instructions for the pickled vegetables 

  1. In a small pot, bring the vinegar, water, salt and sugar to a boil.
  2. Add the vegetables to a large jar, pack them tightly into the bottom of the jar, and add the hot vinegar/water mix into the jar
  3. Place the lid on tightly, let the jar cool, and leave in the fridge overnight*

Instructions for the tostadas 

  1. Blend the beans, sauce, water, and cumin into a consistent paste
  2. Spread it onto the tostadas, and top with the pickled vegetables (see below) and avocado. Enjoy!

Notes
The longer you leave the pickled vegetables in the fridge, the more the flavors will develop. Store any leftover pickled vegetables in the jar, in the fridge

Header photo by Paulisson Miura