Each week in Kickstarter Love, Feed52 will feature a Kickstarter project that focuses on food and the community. Basically, it’s about cool people doing cool things with food. This week, we bring you a food mini-series from an award-winning filmmaker.

We try to be as conscious as possible when we eat. More often than not, we buy organic, we buy local, we favor small producers. Somehow, our asparagus tastes better if we can call the farmer who harvested it by name.

These are all contributions to our food system on a local level, but can we do more? Before we can play a role in redefining it, though, we must first understand what it is, how it works, and the changing of hands our food experiences in going from plot to plate. We’ll soon have help.

In a new, on-screen reincarnation of the internationally syndicated radio show, Deconstructing Dinner aims to “inspire all of us to question the origins of our food, and in doing so, stimulate the emergence of new and vibrant food cultures.” Its six-episode series will focus on ways that we, as conscious eaters, can play a more involved role in the food system from which we are nourished. Watch as world-renowned chefs and experienced farmers explain how to raise your own chickens, or make your own sausage, all in an effort to fortify your investments in your own dinner.

Contribute twenty-five dollars, and in return, you’ll receive a digital download of the complete season. One hundred will get you a whole slew of rewards, including a signed photograph from a set, a Klean canteen, and the entire first season. All pledges will go toward Deconstructing Dinner’s production budget, so that funding-willing, they can teach us how to eat smarter with their series by the spring of 2013.

Deconstructing Dinner - A Mini-Series on Food from Kickstarter

Each week in Kickstarter Love, Feed52 will feature a Kickstarter project that focuses on food and the community. Basically, it’s about cool people doing cool things with food. This week, it’s all about authentic, Mexican food.


Minerva Orduno believes that pork fat is a gift from the gods. She can grab a piping-hot tortilla with her bare hands, and can make a batch of creamy, goat’s milk caramel with her eyes closed. She does all of this (completely and painstakingly by hand), at Muñeca Mexicana, a project that stands for the artisanal production of mouth-watering, authentic Mexican fare.

The name translates to ‘Mexican doll,’ and is a nod to Orduno’s adolescent nickname. As such, it represents her food perfectly: the confections of Muñeca Mexicana channel her strong sense of culture through the home-cooked food of her childhood.

Orduno is committed to cooking the traditional way - which, for her, is the right way - even if that means longer cooking times. Take her Cajeta de Calaya, a rich caramel made from goat’s milk that evaporates slowly over three hours. Or her coyotas, pastries carefully stuffed with an unrefined sugar known as piloncillo.

Above all, Orduno wants to “show the world that Mexican food is more than just rice and beans.” Her pastries, seasonings, and moles speak for themselves, but your donation will help to make that happen. Pledges will contribute to equipment, and eventually, the physical storefront her products deserve.

Muñeca Mexicana Handcrafted Food from Kickstarter

Today: Tom gets into a tight spot with some bees -- but makes the most of his situation with a honey granola tart.

"Crazy-drive, dad, crazy-drive," both girls yell in unison from the back seat of the car.

So in the soft yellow light of a warm spring morning, I do. I weave the car back and forth, fishtailing and tossing gravel from the drive into the tall prairie grass all the way up to the bus stop. If it wasn't so fun, it would be an offense to the quiet of first light.

Amanda's got a handy trick for using a rimmed baking sheet to hack a tart pan. 

Life gave Jenny some lemons, so she made a tart. 

What's a Wobble Bowl? Aside from being fun to say, these nifty, all-purpose, brightly colored bowls are pretty fun to play with. Yep! A Wobble Bowl is meant to rock, tip, and twirl, but its low center of gravity means that your cereal or salad will never be in danger of spilling. Who knew that dishware could dance?