Healthy Food

WE NEED to be careful about declaring national metaphorical war - the war on drugs is a costly black hole, the war on poverty a mixed bag. But the war on hunger? That's one we can win. And did win, back in the '60s and '70s. We wiped the floor with hunger. The battle began in 1968, not long after CBS aired a documentary, "Hunger in America," that shocked the population into awareness and action - prodded by the public outrage, Congress funded national school-lunch programs and food stamps, and within a decade the problem was licked.

Just out of college and giving the entertainment business a go, Aaron Matzkin, owner of Center City's Rotisseur, found himself starring in a familiar L.A. story. He needed affordable food, and fast - but wasn't willing to sacrifice taste or his health. The answer? "I ate a lot of rotisserie chicken," Matzkin said. "It's everywhere in L.A. It's part of the fast-food culture. " On jaunts back home to Philly, searches for his beloved diet staple were fruitless. "All Philly had was supermarket chicken.

In this land of plenty, it seems unfathomable that across the Philadelphia region thousands of people feel the sting of hunger pains every day. But it's true. In the cities and in an affluent suburban communities, there is not enough food to go around. This region is home to some of the most pervasive poverty in the country, made worse by a sluggish economy in which jobs are scarce and government benefits to bridge the gap are even harder to come by. Feeding the needy for decades, STEVEANNA WYNN stands out among the dedicated antihunger advocates who work tirelessly to provide to those less fortunate.

"Don't come in here with no soup, 'cause that's not Thanksgiving. " That's the edict 73-year-old Gertrude Johnson, the queen of the kitchen, issues to her fellow Faith Chapel volunteers, who prepare and serve meals for over 100 Germantown residents on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. They must take it to heart, because I didn't even see a ladle. What I saw was a feast - turkey, ham, stuffing, string beans, salads, candied yams, macaroni and cheese, rice and gravy, and apple, pumpkin, and lemon cream pies.

HERSHEY, Pa. - If you thought Farm Aid went the way of the Sony Walkman or the Grateful Dead, you weren't in Chocolate Town USA on Saturday, when 30,000 people turned HersheyPark Stadium into an organic oasis celebrating the family farm and the healthy food movement - not to mention homegrown American music. Now in its 27th year, the all-star benefit concert, started by country-music legend Willie Nelson to help farmers survive the mid-1980s foreclosure crisis, is still going strong.

On Sunday from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Longview Center for Agriculture in Collegeville, Greener Partners will host its weekly Tiny Test Kitchen workshop for ages 5 to 9. The theme is Jack and the Beanstalk and the feature ingredient will be the green bean. Vegetarian farm volunteer Jacqueline Melendez will teach participants about local and seasonal eating. Kids will tour the farm, pick the vegetables, and clean and chop them on their own. After the tour kids will create their own green bean dish.

FORMER FLYERS BRUISER Riley Cote wants you to know that just because he founded an organization called Hemp Heals, that does not make him a pothead. Cote, whose foundation is sponsoring a Saturday concert at Festival Pier featuring Cypress Hill and Sublime , says he was inspired to launch a pro-hemp charity when his sister Jaime , who has multiple sclerosis, found that eating foods with hempseed ameliorated her symptoms. Cote, who lives in Delaware when he isn't coaching the Adirondack Phantoms in New York, says he believes in the value of medical marijuana, but the hemp plant he endorses is different from the one that produces the drug, as it contains no THC, the active ingredient in pot. "People are foreign to it, but hemp is a superfood, like almonds," Cote explains.

On Sunday afternoon from 2 to 6, Whole Foods Market Jenkintown and the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture transform the market's parking lot into the Fresh Beets Music & Food Festival, featuring performances, kids' activities, a local celebrity chef demonstration, local farmers, and more. The purpose of the free festival is to promote healthy eating. Festivities begin with a jazz performance by the David Joel Quartet. Other performances include children's music by Peter Moses, the R&B acoustic sounds of David & Melissa, the Jeffhouse Band, and reggae by New Kings of Rhythm.

Champagne and hors d'oeuvres are in order from 5-8 p.m. Friday as Weavers Way Co-op ( weaversway.coop ) holds an open house to celebrate the co-op's new wellness and pet supply store, Weavers Way Across the Way, at 608-610 Carpenter Lane. It's across from Weavers Way's Mt. Airy store, currently undergoing renovations. Street food enthusiasts have narrowed the field a bit, but there are still difficult choices to be made as 12 food-truck vendors compete in the Philadelphia Vendys, 3-7 p.m. Saturday?

A sobering new report on obesity has more bad news about the country's losing battle against the bulge. Americans are getting fatter, but at a slightly slower rate, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Currently, more than a third of U.S. adults are obese. But the numbers will likely jump drastically by 2030 to include an additional 32 million people. The report said 42 percent of the population will be obese and 11 percent will be severely obese — 100 pounds or more overweight.