Skip to content
Grist home
All donations doubled!

Articles by Bonnie Azab Powell

Bonnie Azab Powell was Grist's food editor until February 2011. A dot-com-bubble rider turned university refugee, Bonnie co-founded one of the first "food-politics" blogs, The Ethicurean, in May 2006 -- also coining that term to describe someone interested in sustainable, organic, local, and ethical (SOLE) food that also happens to be tasty.

Obsessed with our broken food system, she switched from writing freelance business and technology articles to SOLE food. Her work has appeared in a bunch of places printed on dead trees. She lives in the Bay Area, where she gardens half-assedly and cooks wholeheartedly while running two meat CSAs for small local farms. She loathes the word "foodie."

All Articles

  • Chicken expert Gail Damerow answers readers’ questions

    Grist’s recent Q&A with chicken expert Gail Damerow, the author of the best-selling Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, elicited several questions from readers. Damerow took time out from her busy farm in Tennessee to answer them via email. Q. From Jean Kaiwi: I live in the country where everyone has roosters. The local chicken guru […]

  • Stephen Colbert’s going on a hot, sweaty field trip

    A few weeks ago, to inspire realistic discussion of immigration reform, the United Farm Workers launched a tongue-in-cheek campaign called Take Our Jobs — a website where American citizens can sign up for work in the field. Experienced farm workers were standing by to train legal residents and place them on farms in California, Florida, […]

  • Arsenic found in Utah kids’ pee traced to their pet chickens’ feed

    Backyard chickens: Fun for the entire family! That is, until your kids get arsenic poisoning from them. The Utah Department of Health tracked worrisome levels of arsenic in two kids’ urine to the family’s backyard chicken coop, reports Judy Fahys in the Salt Lake Tribune (hat tip to Cookie Jill). More specifically, to the arsenic-based […]

  • Cool digs for urban chickens [SLIDESHOW]

    So you’ve consulted your city’s municipal code regarding backyard poultry — or just decided, “Cluck the neighbors, I’m getting chickens!” Next you’ll need a home for your birds that offers room to roam, warmth in winter and ventilation in summer, and protection from urban thugs like dogs and raccoons. (For details on space requirements and […]