Progress 08/15/23 to 08/14/24
Outputs Target Audience:During this reporting period, we reached a total of 247 customers and 15 middle and high school students from the greater Philadelphia region. Details can be found below. Customers: Total number: 247 Demographics: We did not collect demographic data from all customers. Our subsample data: 5% receiving subsidized seafood (self-reported eligible for public assistance) 14% Asian 14% Black Students: Total number: 15 Demographics 67% Asian 33% Black Total contact hours: 358 Staff Total number: 9 Demographics 44% Asian 56% Black We also worked with the following community institutions: High schools: Mastery Charter Thomas Campus Colleges: Haverford College, Bryn Mawr College Bethel AME Church of Ardmore Philadelphia Parks & Rec / FDR Park Our Fishing Log podcast and educational project North American Marine Alliance (NAMA) Mid-Atlantic Chapter American Fisheries Society(MAC-AFS) Seafood suppliers: Viking Village, Sweet Amalia Oyster Farm, Randall's, Maxwell Shellfish, Barnegat Oyster Collective, Point Pleasant Fishermen's Dock Co-op, Barnegat's Best Changes/Problems:There are a variety of changes that we made from our original plan so that we could better focus on serving our clients well and expanding our client base. After careful financial analysis, we decided not to purchase a refrigerated van. We decided that it was a financially wiser choice to contract with someone who owns a refrigerated van rather than taking on the responsibility of owning and maintaining such a vehicle ourselves. We have partnered with Barnegat Oyster Collective for this purpose, which also enables us to support a local seafood harvester. We decided to focus on our distributed seafood subscription club rather than attempting to expand to mobile truck-based sales. This decision also factored into our decision not to purchase our own refrigerated van. A cornerstone of Fishadelphia has been our youth program. However, we made the extremely difficult decision to temporarily suspend our youth program during the 2024-25 school year in order to reduce burnout among staff, and make space to focus on effectively and efficiently serve our current clients, as well as put in structures and systems in place to work towards goal #4. This has given us the opportunity to be more proactive in moving seafood and establishing partnerships, as well as reflective on what impact we want to ensure Fishadelphia is and will continue to have on the diverse stakeholders We are working hard now on focusing our vision and impact and are looking forward to having exciting things to share with you in the upcoming year! What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Fall 2023: Technology Director (TD) Omi Masika took a Python course Fall 2023: ED Talia Young accepted for 8th cohort of Santander Cultivate Small Business program Participated in semester-long class aimed at skill building for food entrepreneurs Won $10,000 prize for Action Growth Plan Graduated from course in December Through the year 1:1 mentoring Director of Operations Victoria Oh has done extensive 1:1 mentoring for ED Talia Young, TD Omi Masika, and DSD Tasha Palacio on business skill development May 2024: DSD Tasha Palacio and Assistant Packing Manager Ronnie Sterling attended the North American Marine Alliance's gathering for Black and Indigenous seafood leaders July 2024 staff retreat: New TD Harmony Lu provided spreadsheet training to the packing team How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Shared Inclusion guide and paper with: Local Catch Network (350+ small fisheries businesses) NAMA newsletter (3000 people) 3 NJ state extension officers NJ Sea Grant office November 2023: Presented about inclusion guide, a guide for community-supported fishery and other food programs who want to reach broader audiences, especially communities of color and low-income communities, at MAC-AFS 2023 annual meeting https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0634/3439/1793/files/Fishadelphia_Inclusion_Strategies_Guide_2023.pdf?v=1695993712 Fishadelphia's inclusion guide was featured in MAC-AFS (Mid-Atlantic Chapter American Fisheries Society) newsletter Fishadelphia Quarterly Newsletters Fall 2023: 1810 recipients, 612 opens Spring 2024: 1824 recipients, 686 opens Summer 2024: 1873 recipients, 758 opens Fishadelphia was featured in the PBS docuseries Hope in the Water Hope in the Water Changing the Menu Episode 3 PBS Weekly social media posts about seafood supply chain and harvesters, examples included below from Fishadelphia (@fishadelphia.csf) • Instagram (May 24, 2024) Fishadelphia (@fishadelphia.csf) • Instagram (Sep 18, 2024) Fishadelphia (@fishadelphia.csf) • Instagram (Oct 2, 2024) See also the many workshops and events under "What was accomplished" What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Goal 1: Increase access to fresh, high quality, locally harvested seafood Sep 2024 - Jun 2025: continue to run community seafood subscription program serving 150+ families in the Philadelphia region Goal 2: Increase awareness and connections among diverse stakeholders Sep 2024: Seafood Stories Extravaganza event to showcase suppliers, and connect seafood eaters, and students Nov 2024: Attend CFP directors' meeting Goal 3: Increase business experience & capacity We are pausing our youth program for the year in order to be able to focus on moving seafood and honing our goals and desired impact. Continue working on HR systems including offboarding, onboarding, and employee handbook. Goal 4: Implement a model for a financially self-sufficient community seafood program Fall 2024: Engage in vision / impact process to clarify desired impact and best vehicles to accomplish that impact
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1: Increase access to fresh, high-quality, locally harvested seafood Purchased: 1529 (lbs) finfish, 515 (lbs) scallops, 9,384 oysters & 17,130 clams Purchases from local suppliers for seafood and processing totaled $37,502, which is cycled back into the regional economy. Suppliers/Sources: Viking Village, Sweet Amalia Oyster Farm, Randall's, Maxwell Shellfish, Barnegat Oyster Collective, Point Pleasant Fishermen's Dock Co-op, Barnegat's Best (new as of Spring 2024) Distributed: 3,397 shares of seafood 217 free shares through the Neighbor Share Program 129 half price shares through the Community rate program Goal 2: Increase awareness and connections among diverse stakeholders Community Engagements February 2024: Held virtual recipe cooking competition with prizes; 9 participants shared 12 unique recipes Recipe Contest 2024 Report - Google Docs Partnered with Our Fishing Log program and podcast to do workshops with youth program on gyotaku (fish printing) and create a zine about porgy fish Fall 2023: Partner Pentridge Children's Garden started oyster shell recycling July 2024: Staff retreat, including gyotaku workshop with Our Fishing Log Summer 2024: Partnered with Our Fishing Log to participate in photo exhibit of local seafood at the main branch of the Philadelphia Free Library Sharing results, publicity, networking Oct 2023: Featured on NOAA Fisheries website https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/insight/faces-sustainable-seafood#seafood-processors-and-distributors Oct 2023: Featured in Haverford College Headlines post https://www.haverford.edu/college-communications/news/building-broader-audiences-alternative-food-programs-0 Oct 2023: Two staff members attended SMTP Workshop + Connect 2023 hosted by the Schmidt Foundation November 2023: Director of Operations (DO) Victoria Oh attended Pacific Marine Expo December 2023: Executive Director (ED) Talia Young attended CFP Directors meeting and presented Feb 2024: Presented as invited speakers on behalf of NOAA NMFS Saltonstall-Kennedy Program at Aquaculture America National Conference Presented by: Director of Member Experience (DME) Harmony Lu and Communication Intern Lindsay Damon (undergraduate student) February 2024: 2/23: Nominated for PACDC's 2024 Equitable Entrepreneur Award April 2024: Director of Seafood Distribution (DSD) Tasha Palacio, Ronnie Sterling and Feini Yin invited to Savannah for NAMA retreat for Black and Indigenous seafood leaders May 2024: Participated in Interview with Marketplace Morning Report June 2024: Invited to and presented at CHOW Panel: https://preconvirtual.com/chow-agenda-2024/ Presented by: ED Talia Young Event: Margaret Davidson Visionaries June 2024: Invited to and participated in panel for Hope in the Water Documentary premiere in Portland, ME Presented by: ED Talia Young on panel Staff in attendance: Intern Lindsay Damon July 2024: Fishadelphia was featured in the PBS docuseries Hope in the Water Hope in the Water Changing the Menu Episode 3 PBS Goal 3: Increase business experience & capacity Created and shared social media accessibility guidelines (Summer 2024) Business infrastructure adjustments (Summer 2024): Prepared new retail pickup location at Common Space Ardmore, a community space focused on supporting adults with developmental disabilities. Built relationship with Barnegat's Best to do fish fileting and packaging Built relationship with Barnegat Oyster Collective to do refrigerated delivery from shore Youth program to facilitate running the business Local Schools: Mastery Charter School - Thomas Campus 15 unique students total, averaging ~8 students per week at club events, with a total of 358 contact hours College intern program as staff of Fishadelphia Worked with 7 college interns from Haverford and Bryn Mawr colleges to support operations and facilitate experiential learning with community based organizations Goal 4: Implement a model for a financially self-sufficient community seafood program Oct 2023: Codified fish distribution communications and mechanics, solidified social media brand Fall 2023: Built system for regularly cross-checking profit & loss Jan 2024: Released seafood subscription pause functionality Jan 2024: Obtained a dedicated shared operations space at Alt Kitchen Spring 2024: Built system for cash flow monitoring Summer 2024: Built staff onboarding and offboarding systems Summer 2024: Obtained all necessary permits from City of Philadelphia to work in commissary kitchen
Publications
- Type:
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
V Erwin@, E Graham#, G Cumming, T Young. 2024. Seeing change in seafood: Examining impacts of globalization and climate change on Mid-Atlantic Black foodways. Geographical Review 1-15.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Released summer 2023 but publicized this year: A Tse#, MK Tran#, T Young. 2023. Casting a wider net: A guide for community-supported fishery and other food programs who want to reach broader audiences, especially communities of color and low-income communities.
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Progress 08/15/22 to 08/14/23
Outputs Target Audience:Target Audiences and Efforts: New Jersey Fishermen and Harvestors - these are the suppliers we sourced from: Viking Village Sweet Amalia Oyster Farm Randall's Seafood Barnaget Oyster Collective Point Pleasant Fisherman's Co-op Maxwell Shellfish George Mathis - Supports Fishadelphia in purchase of fish from the New Jersey shoreand delivery into Philadelphia.George is a third generation clammer, a clam farmer for over 40 years, and a member of theHeritage Shellfish Cooperative. He became involved in Fishadelphia because of his interest in farmer/fishermen-to-consumer food distribution systems. The People's Kitchen - Organization that processed(i.e. filleting) the fish Fishadelphia purchasedfrom Aug 2022-June 2023. The People's Kitchen is a collaborative of chefs, students, and community members responding to Philadelphia's chronic issues while growing and cooking free, delicious meals. Fish racks are used to make fish stock for free community meal distribution and fertilizer for local urban farm. Randall's Seafood - We source some of our seafood from Randall's (as noted above), and have additionally partnered with this business for our proecessing (i.e. filleting) needs for the 2023/2024 season. Wharton Business School - Partnership withstudents that assessed areas of opportunity forFishadelphia. Local Schools - Mastery Charter School - Thomas Campus and Simon Gratz High School Mastery Charter Youth Programming: 15 students total,46.5 contact hours Both served as host schools, providing space for fish packing, storage, and fish sale sites. Fishadelphia Staff - a diverse group,all people of color (Black andAsian) + LGBTQIA affirming 8 employees local to Philadelphia 1 employee based in New York 1 employee based in Washington state Changes/Problems:A major lesson we've learned over the last year is that growing Fishadelphia from a pilot project to a sustainable business is hard (and slow, and frankly, expensive). Some examples: Making hard choices. We can't actually do all the things we want to do, well, and at the same time. We need to prioritize and choose what to focus on, and that process involves giving some things up, or at least pausing things temporarily, and that is hard (but necessary). Slowing down to speed up. We constantly feel the urgency of our work - we want to get more seafood out, we need to make more money so we are less reliant on grants. But in order to be able to scale up, we need to "get our house in order" - we need to have clearer and more efficient systems. And to build those systems, we need to slow down what we're doing, and figure out how to do it better. Which feels at odds with the urgency, but is actually the only effective way to grow. Skill building and changing culture takes time. Our leadership team is phenomenal: values aligned, hugely dedicated to the project, whip-smart, and deeply competent. But, aside from our recently hired Director of Operations (Victoria Oh), none of us are experienced in running a profitable (or at least break-even) business. So our staff has a bunch of skill building and mindset growth to do, which Victoria has been supporting us in (see Training and Professional Development, above). But of course, this process doesn't happen overnight - it takes time. Making our software work for us. About a year ago, we switched our web hosting service to Shopify at the advice of a business consultant who had been working with us. But our existing tech team is still learning to take full advantage of Shopify's functionality. The process of figuring out how to implement the tech features we need (for example: customizable subscription and integrated and trackable texting) takes time. Overcapacity and living wages. Our staff is currently operating at or overcapacity to maintain our current programming. To do the system building we need to do, we need to scale back, focus on increasing efficiency, so that we are able to do the things we need to do. Another staffing consideration is that we need to increase our payscale to make our wages livable, which adds expense to our budget. ? What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? As a finalist of the Making Space program, completed a series of four "Creative Coaching" sessions with REC Philly's Creative Director, William Toms Shared (with approval) recorded sessions with all staff and interns at Fishadelphia as a resource We formalized our after-school Youth Program curriculum and developed lesson plans for 20 workshops as part of that curriculum. Technology - Created opportunities of learning and exposure related to technology and product management. Examples include: August 2022 Shifted former website/e-commerce platform to Shopify. Additionally, with the move to Shopify's platform, which includes out-of-the-box features that connect with customers, Fishadelphia no longer needed Mailchimp and was able to streamline services and reduce costs. Equipped staff with access to technology coding resources (https://codewithmosh.com/) to foster their continuous learning and development, and enhance their skillset. Identifying technology stack weaknesses and remediations (e.g. Keap decommission/replacement) Identifying technology opportunities to increase product reach underserved communities (e.g. Forage) July 18-19, 2023: Staff Retreat - work on elevator pitches, supply chain presentation by Feini Yin, leadership exercises Oct 2022: Our Executive Director and Director of Operations visited the Skipper Otto Community Supported Fishery in Vancouver, and spent a day touring the operations with the COO to learn about Our leadership team participated in a biweekly reading club of the business improvement book, Traction, by Gino Wickman. In January, we hired Victoria Oh as our Director of Operations. Victoria's previous experience lies in the tech industry, and in her role, Victoria has been providing training and professional development for the staff around business strategy and skills in the following ways: Sharing readings on, examples of, and creating space for group discussion on business frameworks, including: strategy and planning, outputs and outcomes, systems and design thinking, policy, process, and procedure, leadership and management, mentoring and supervision, product, project, and program management, marketing, SEO, and Service Level Agreements Supporting staff to use project tracking tools, assess and plan available time How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Presenting/networking at various workshops and events we are invited to and/or host (see response regarding events under "What was accomplished") Met with Senator Cory Booker's office to discuss legislation supporting working waterfronts and improving the approval process for community supported fisheries to to accept EBT. We also connected Cory Booker staff to the New Jersey Aquaculture Association, a community of growers and allies working to foster the sustainable development of local aquaculture businesses. Participated in the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's East Coast Climate Change Scenario Planning process as a representative for community supported fisheries and direct marketing seafood businesses https://www.mafmc.org/climate-change-scenario-planning Oct 2022: We co-facilitated a workshop ("True Confessions of CSFs on the Journey of Scaling Up") at the LocalCatch Summit in Girdwood, AK, and connected and shared resources with many other small-scale seafood businesses there. See training / professional development section above What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We have learned that the transition of a pilot project to a sustainable business is significant and, though we plan to continue providing programming and support our fish distribution operations, we are strategically pausing on most new initiatives /projects for the next reporting period. Our objective for the next 1-2 years will be on "getting our house in order" as a business: Building a back office and systems Tightening up existing operations processes and programming (e.g. honing branding, business model, youth program and ensuring these are all in alignment) Growing our membership base through community engagement. Over the next reporting period, we specifically plan to continue focusing on building-up the business skillset of the organization (slow down now, to ramp in the future). Strategy/Planning; Program/Project Management; Leadership, Management, & Supervision; Departmental budgets; Working with data to help answer questions; Working cross-functionally across teams Additionally, towards the objectives above: Continue building a back office and systems: Reevaluate Fishadelphia's business classification. Fishadelphia was started as a sole proprietorship under Dr. Talia Young. As the organization has grown and changed over the years, we need to ensure that Fishadelphia's business structure is in alignment with current needs and goals. Continue identifying and mitigating risks to the organization: operational, financial, and legal Human Resources: payscale, review system, benefits Continue tightening existing operations processes & programming: Dig into our financials to assess any financial bloat/inefficiencies Scale back programming/operations, as deemed necessary Defining and creating clear departments and roles + KPIs/metrics and tracking data Continue to grow our membership base through community engagement For the next reporting year, we plan to continue learning more about social media as a marketing tool, and apply the learnings into executable events that we hope will lead into conversions (new members), while continuing to engage existing members.
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
Fish Retail/Packing/Distribution: Purchased: 4,776(lbs) finfish, 411(lbs) scallops, 30,052(eaches) oysters & clams Purchases from local suppliers total $35,753, which is cycled back into the regional economy. Processed: 4,011(lbs) finfish Distributed: 595 shares of seafood Suppliers/Source: Viking Village, Sweet Amalia Oyster Farm, Randall's, Maxwell Shellfish, Barnegat Oyster Collective, Point Pleasant, Fishermen's Dock Co-op In the spring of 2023, we successfully distributed 70 shares of fresh finfish and shellfish through our Neighbor Share mutual aid program July 26, 2023 - Announced our price change for the Fall 2023/Spring 2024 season https://fishadelphia.com/blogs/news/price-changes-for-our-upcoming-season https://www.instagram.com/fishadelphia.csf/?next=%2Ffishadelphia.csf%2F Quarterly Newsletter Newsletters can be found https://fishadelphia.com/blogs/news Distributed by email:October 2022 (Fall) - shared to 2576 recipients; December 2023 (Winter) - shared to 1721 recipients; March 2023 (Spring) - shared to 1749 recipients; June 2023 (Summer) - shared to 1778 recipients February 6, 2022 - Presented at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton Business School Presented by: Talia Young & Omi Masika Event: Planet Week 2022 Sustainable Seafood Panel Audience: 20 Students October 2, 2022 - Presented "True Confessions of CSFs on the Journey of Scaling Up", in Girdwood Alaska Presented by: Talia Young, Tasha Palacio, Omi Masika, Mimi Tran Event: 2022 Local Seafood Summit (https://localcatch.org/seafood-summit/) Audience: 175 attendees April 15, 2023 - Hosted Dock Trip Attendees included: 27 Chinese-speakers 10 children under 12 3 high school students and their families 3 chefs through the Slow Fish Rising Tide movement 15 college students from Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges Event focus: learn about local marine species & fisheries Ticket prices were sliding scale and ranged from $10-$60/person. Trip included a tour of the Viking Village dock (where Fishadelphia purchases seafood frequently) Conducted 8 video interviews with attendees about motivations for attending and experiences about the trip Partnered with Jetty Rock Foundation (JRF) to organize and provide support funding for this trip. The Hope in the Water docuseries (release scheduled June 2024) team joined this trip to film additional Fishadelphia footage, with the expectation to feature Fishadelphia in one of the four episodes.? April 24, 2023 - Presented about sustainable sourcing and Fishadelphia's community supported fishery model to local chefs and food leaders at Slow Fish Rising Tide Philadelphia event Presented by: Feini Yin Provided fish 12.5 lb whole fluke for event Audience: ~35 Philly chefs, restaurateurs, business owners, distributors, food writers, and seafood advocates https://slowfoodusa.org/rising-tide/ Blog post recap: https://onefishfoundation.org/philly-special-chefs-camp/ May 19, 2023 - Attended Upper Delaware River Shad Fest Staff in attendance: Feini Yin Shared about Fishadelphia and local seafood supply chains at angler meet up during this annual celebration of shad in the Catskills ~100 attendees Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/Csg28Y1Jrai/ May 5, 2023 - Facilitated college tour for Youth Program Worked with college students to establish a field trip to visit Haverford and Bryn Mawr colleges 2 Youth Program students attended Youth Program: Local Schools: Mastery Charter School - Thomas Campus and Simon Gratz High School Mastery Charter 17 unique students total, averaging ~10 students per week at club events, with a total of 612.5 contact hours Fishadelphia's transition from project-based to a self-sustaining business model gained momentum during the period from August 2022 to August 2023. Key initiatives included: August 2022 Shifted former website/e-commerce platform from Squarespace to Shopify (https://fishadelphia.com/). Additionally, with the move to Shopify's platform, which includes out-of-the-box features that connect with customers, Fishadelphia no longer needed Mailchimp and was able to streamline services and reduce costs. April 2023 - Completed Fishadelphia merchandise project: which aimed to improve Fishadelphia's merchandise purchasing flow by making it a single, unified and branded transaction experience on our Shopify-based website. Prior to this improvement, merchandise had not been integrated into the shopping experience of the Fishadelphia website. Customers interested in purchasing merchandise were taken to a 3rd-party merchant site to order and complete their transaction. June 2023 - Established a new processing partnership with Randall's Seafood for the 2023/2024 season (runs Sept-June). This processing partnership was sealed by a contract negotiated by both parties. Fishadelphia created a contract template that can be used with partners to ensure our business requirements are met and mitigate risk as best as possible. Generating 3-year descriptive vision + begin the work of clarifying Vision, Mission, Core Values, and target customers/personae. Created an organizational chart detailing internal structure and relationships within the organization? Restructured meetings and meeting note systems to make use of everyone's time more efficiently Began pursuit of a new facility for packing space in May 2023; we will be moving into AltKitchen, a shared commercial/commissary kitchen space in Jan 2024. Rate for space is well below what's available at other shared kitchens, and includes storage and ice. This facility will allow Fishadelphia to pack out of a refrigerated space, as well as access to expensive equipment (e.g. blast freezers), which we could use to test product features we have in mind. Creating and strengthening financial systems and planning: Set up Quickbooks, and built a new bookkeeping system with a new bookkeeper training a former student as the assistant bookkeeper Updated Fishadelphia's Chart of Accounts and Financial Projections December 2022: First Fishadelphia Holiday Party May 2023 Leadership team begins reading entrepreneurial self-help book "Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business", by Gino Wickman The concepts and book were recommended by mentor, Sonia Strobel of Skipper Otto Traction specifically follows the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), a set of tools and practices that can help businesses of all sizes run more efficiently and effectively. July 18-19, 2023: Staff Retreat for bonding and alignment July 18th: Leadership-only - concretely establish Mission, Core Values, Org Structure assessment + roles breakdown, 3 Uniques, Value Proposition, etc July 19th: All-Staff - icebreakers, leadership style exercise, communicating the Vision along with Mission, Core Values, and state of financials, work on elevator pitches In Fall 2022, Fishadelphia applied to the Making Space program, an initiative by Philadelphia Parks & Rec that reimagines Philadelphia recreational centers as community hubs where innovation & creativity happen. We were selected as one of the Top 10 finalists. As one of ten finalists, Fishadelphia received $1500, a year's membership to REC Philly, business coaching, network opportunities, and an opportunity to apply for rent-free space in a Philadelphia recreation center.? March 2023: Participated in Making Space press event at Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center; Completed a series of four "Creative Coaching" sessions with REC Philly's Creative Director, William Toms June 2023: Submitted a RFP to the city of Philadelphia for a chance at rent-free space for a year (and possibility for more); final bid announcements pending This entrepreneur-in-residence program attracted more than 600 applications from local creatives, makers, and entrepreneurs in Philadelphia. https://philanthropynetwork.org/news/parks-rec-and-recphilly-announce-10-local-entrepreneurs-selected-finalists-making-space-program
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
T Young, G Cumming, E Kerns, K Hunter-Thomson, T Manik-Perlman, T Palacio, N Veang, WX Weng, F Yin, and C Cuite. 2023. Strategies for increasing participation of diverse consumers in a community seafood program. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 36:18.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
V Erwin, E Graham, T Young, G Cumming. In review. Seeing change in seafood: Examining impacts of globalization and climate change on Mid-Atlantic Black American foodways.
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