Letter From The Editor

In our collective American imagination, summer is synonymous with two things: leisure and food. The season conjures images of the iconic watermelon slice, ice cream cone with a single drip, and hot dog adorned with ketchup in a perfect s-shape—the kinds of foods one eats on a boat dock or in a backyard. Perhaps the ultimate portrait of this intersection of food and leisure are the twenty-somethings sprawled across oversized inflatable doughnuts and pizza slices, their manicured toes submerged in pool water. (Lest that be interpreted as smug, let me be clear there’s literally nothing else I’d rather be doing right now.)

And yes, one of my favorite things to consider as summer approaches is what, for three glorious months, I’m going to eat. At the dinner table a few nights ago, in Bubba Gump fashion, my husband actually listed all the ways he intended to prepare the still-green tomatoes in our garden—generously sliced and topped with the neighboring basil, turned into pasta sauce, diced and tossed with avocados and red onion, grilled with corn and black beans, roasted and spread with goat cheese on crostini—on and on until he elicited moans from the children.

We love summer’s bounty. But what we’re apt to forget amongst all those ubiquitous images of summer foods is that for many in Greenville, the end of school means the end of the breakfasts and lunches provided there. For many in Greenville, summer is a time of hunger.

Thanks to dedicated locals who work to meet the needs of school-aged children even after backpacks are stashed out of sight, meals are provided at many locations in the summer. On page 28, Mamie Morgan explains the problem of food insecurity and details the ways local organizations have rallied to keep our community’s kids full all summer long.

Another organization that shifts into high gear during the summer food frenzy is the South Carolina Department of Agriculture. Industry insiders may hear the acronym SCDA tossed around, but sometimes even farmers can’t nail down all the things the government organization actually does. On page 22 Stephanie Burnette introduces us to the people who test animal seed and inspect deli scales and check for water in the state’s gasoline pumps. You might be surprised the scope of benefits you’re getting from this government entity.

This issue celebrates both the visible abundance of summer and the often unseen, unacknowledged work it takes to feed our state. May we be grateful for both, and may summer bring both leisure and food in perfect measure for not just the few but the many.