Asheville's always felt like a sister city to us. Even though there's a list of 'official' sister cities - from Ghana to Germany - Asheville's like a kissing cousin, a brother from another mother-city.

It's like looking in a mirror. Similar geography, similar culture, similar size and feel.

Just days ago, Food as a Verb was talking with restaurant industry leaders there. They have an independent restaurant association that carries a lot of weight. Could we create one here?

Then, Hurricane Helene.

And so much has been destroyed.

There are several ways to help, according to a Citizen-Times report.

The most urgently needed?

Money.

A list of vetted organizations is here.

On Tuesday, Emily Heid from the Southeast Tennessee Young Farmers emailed out a list of "resources available to impacted farmers and those who wish to help."

Here is an excerpt from her email:

• For those impacted by the storm:
  • Appalachian Sustainable Development has compiled a helpful list of resources: ASD Hurricane Helene Resources.
  • RAFI USA also offers disaster support information: RAFI Helene Support.

For those outside the affected area:

• The University of Tennessee is coordinating a list of people who can house or transport livestock for farmers in need. If you can help, sign up here: UT Livestock Support.
• Donations for farmer support can be made through the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project: Donate to Farmer Support. Every bit of help counts as farmers work to rebuild their livelihoods.
• For those eager to offer hands-on assistance, Blue Ridge Women in Ag is organizing a farm recovery volunteer corps. You can sign up here: Farm Recovery Volunteer Corps Signup.
• The Organic Growers School is organizing an ongoing list of impacted farmer needs. The list includes options for donating money directly to the farms. 

I'm no weatherman, but the thought remains:

Had the storm steered west a bit, would that same destruction have hit us instead of North Carolina?

The loud narrative of enemy-making remains strong in our culture, yet, especially in times like these, we can often see it's a straw man. (Thank you, JD Vance and Tim Walz, for a reasonable, civil, mature debate.) Post-Helene, strangers immediately rush to help strangers. It is instinctual and immediate, our generosity and selflessness highlighting our innate sense of connection to one another.

Natural (and unnatural) disasters always demonstrate this.

So, too, the table, food and drink. They are places where we connect.

• Speaking of water ... since Food as a Verb began publishing, we've included a little tag at the bottom of each story.

Many of you have noticed.

This story is 100% human generated; no AI chatbot was used in the creation of this content.

There are lots of reasons for this, including what we see as a coming confusion between art generated by humans versus AI-generated art.

It creates for all sorts of fun/not-fun Blade Runner-ish scenarios. Would you read a novel if a robot wrote it? Would you stop subscribing to Food as a Verb if a computer wrote the stories? Or a computer generated and fabricated the photos?  

Would you receive therapy from a robot? Would you eat at a restaurant if robots prepared your food?

We believe clear distinctions need to be made - ethical, spiritual, artistic, financial - between products generated by human hands and those coming from non-human sources.

Now, of course: I'm typing on a laptop. Thesaurus.com is nearby. This whole landscape is computer-based.

But these are images, words, designs that we - Sarah, Alex, David - artistically created. They carry our humanity, our signatures as artists. They aren't ... fabricated.

Here's another reason we don't rely on AI.

Water.

According to a jaw-dropping Washington Post report, a simple 100-word email generated by AI chatbot requires one bottle of water.

Why?

AI data centers require power and energy to generate their (not-human) responses. In turn, keeping it all cool requires gobs of water.

"Each prompt on ChatGPT flows through a server that runs thousands of calculations to determine the best words to use in a response," the Post reports. "In completing those calculations, these servers, typically housed in data centers, generate heat. Often, water systems are used to cool the equipment and keep it functioning."

The Post cites Shaolei Ren, an associate professor at UC Riverside, who compares the process to the human body using sweat to keep cool.

When we send AI-generated emails, we're using more water than we realize.

Imagine how much water's used to train and maintain large AI data centers.

So, we send emails. Lots of them. Twice a week.

Even though none are AI-generated, we still want to rebalance our share of  resources by planting trees, turning Food as a Verb into a carbon-positive business. Would donating to Tennessee Environmental Council's Tennessee Tree Program help? Or the Tennessee River Gorge Trust's carbon-offset program?

• The Food for Thought art exhibit opened at the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga.

We had a lovely evening last week at the opening reception. Ann Treadwell has created an exhibit like no other: art from around the globe and Chattanooga, QR codes used brilliantly, all thematically centered around food and our connection to one another.

Check with the Federation on days and times, but the exhibit is on display through the fall.

• And, we all had such grand time at our one-year party.

A big-hearted thank you to everyone who showed up. Despite the rain on a work-week-school-night, we packed Cherry Street Tavern - Matt and Marty, take a bow - with 60 or so friends.

Chef Jocelyn Kernahan served a beautiful local sausage-chicken gumbo as Nathan Wasserman took the stage. (Matt Downer, we missed you.)  

We passed out free tote bags and buttons until they ran out.

You won't be seeing the last of those.

Or the last of us.

The hugs, toasts and encouragement felt really cloud-nine good. Without ya'll, there is no us.

• Finally, this Sunday, we're going on a field trip to one Chattanooga school unlike any other in the state.

Have a safe and kind week, everyone.

All photography by Sarah Unger (sarah@foodasaverb.com)

All design by Alex DeHart

All words by David Cook (david@foodasaverb.com)

Story ideas, questions, feedback? Interested in partnering with us? Email: david@foodasaverb.com

This story is 100% human generated; no AI chatbot was used in the creation of this content.