Do you remember Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez?

Among farmworkers, it's a well-known name.

Last May, after toiling for hours in 100-degree heat, 17-year-old Jimenez collapsed in a vineyard near Stockton. When she died, so did her unborn child.

After Jimenez's death, the state shut down her employer, Merced Farm Labor, for not providing enough training in heat illnesses. The tragedy helped prompt the state to create a new heat-illness campaign.

It stopped in Fresno last week with this message for farmers and farm-labor contractors: Provide water and shade, and make sure farmworkers take advantage of both.

You may think it's only ag types who follow such tragedies and their fallout. But if an emerging movement has its way, epicures will be just as aware of Jimenez and others like her.

From Gourmet magazine to Slow Food -- an international organization that celebrates regional, artisan and sustainable foods -- there's growing concern over farmworkers' welfare.

Josh Viertel, president of Slow Food USA, put it this way to the Naples Daily News almost three weeks ago: "Historically, this movement has focused on the environment, health and preserving small farms. But we've completely missed the boat when it comes to work. Farmworkers need to be part of this movement."

That was Viertel's reaction to another case of abuse that made headlines: Farmworkers in virtual slavery picked tomatoes in Immokalee, Fla. You'll find the details about this case in the March issue of Gourmet magazine and last year's Florida newspapers. Members of the Navarrete family kept 12 immigrant farmworkers on their property. Workers described staying in locked trucks and shacks with no toilets. They say they were beaten and forced to pay for food, as well as the privilege of bathing with a garden hose. Two brothers, Cesar and Geovanni Navarrete, pleaded guilty to counts of deprivation of civil rights.

Why should this matter to the average person? It turns out that the country's supply of tomatoes between December and May comes primarily from southern Florida. And some want to ensure their tomatoes weren't picked by virtual slaves.

Nonprofit groups Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Just Harvest and the Students' Alliance for Fair Food have pushed such retailers as Burger King, Taco Bell and Whole Foods into paying farmworkers a penny more per pound of tomatoes.

But the Florida Tomato Grower's Exchange, which counts most Florida tomato growers as members, resists the direct payments to workers. Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the exchange, called allegations of slavery in tomato fields "false and defamatory" in Senate hearings last year.

As more foodies become aware of such issues, expect to see more stories about farmworkers in glossy food mags.

It's high time we shared Viertel's view: "We need to understand every time you eat something you are eating the story behind that food."

Empty Bowls at Community Food Bank

And here's some information about the 14th annual Empty Bowls benefit for Community Food Bank. Students from the Institute of Technology's culinary program in Clovis will prepare 10 soups in an Iron Chef-style competition. The event will take place 5 p.m. Thursday at the International Catering Co., 4277 N. West Ave. The event will include a reception, silent auction and soup competition. Tickets cost $50. Call (559) 237-3663, extension 111 for more information.