Meet Hal Meng

Teaching the Art of Food Preservation

Hal Meng grew up in a small community where gardening and home food preservation was the norm. After livling through two earthquakes, a forest fire, and two tropical storms, Hal became acutely aware of both the fragility of our food distribution systems and the power of food preservation to provide life-sustaining nurition, not only during disasters, but all year round.

Emergency Preparedness is Year Round Preparedness

Hal began to volunteer with emergency preparedness organizations like ARES, CERT, and the Red Cross, which gave him valuable information and first hand experience about how well communities recover from disasters or scarcity. The communities that already had experience working together to provide for themselves had greater resilience and recovered more quickly.

People Eat Organic Because They Can

Canning, pickling, fermentation, and other methods of food preservation have been used for hundreds of years, and sometimes much longer. These are old and ancient techniques that help preserve the nutritional value of food long past the time they would normally spoil. In addition to that, food preservation is immensely valuable during natural disasters or economic disruption, and can even help people who are experiencing poverty provide fresh food for their families. Sometimes the answer can be as simple as a dollar or two worth of apple cider vinegar!

Gardening and Food Preservation for Health and Security

In 2013, Hal decided that gardening and food preservation would be a great way to build security for himself and his family while also giving back to the community. As part of his work, we at Food is Free Washington are excited and happy to announce that Hal will be presenting a series of six food preservation classes in 2022!