Comments on: Food For Thought

By: Nelson

Nelson — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:47:43 +0000

Your article is inspiring, thank you.
Living the vegan lifestyle is to be commended particularly from the viewpoint of the animals. There are also the many environmental issues that crop up and my family have taken to avoiding leather products completely in favour of natural sustainable cork fabric, and it helps some of the Iberian wild life too.

By: Lyons Filmer '74

Lyons Filmer '74 — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:33:25 +0000

What a fabulous plan — my best wishes for its success! I have forwarded the article to a few food/ag people and organizations in West Marin (where the family farms and ranches are in Marin county, just north of San Francisco), who may be interested in future interns. (A local community college has begun a food studies program here.)

I am program director at the only radio station in Marin County; a non-profit community station, on which we have programs covering food and ag issues, local to global. http://www.kwmr.org.

best,
Lyons Filmer

By: David Waters '81

David Waters '81 — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:36:27 +0000

As someone who has built his career in the food industry, with a focus on food justice issues in underserved communities, I think this is a tremendous idea for Middlebury. I run a nonprofit food and nutrition program for those struggling with critical illnesses in Eastern Massachusetts, which also offers nutrition education, food service job training, local foods programs, and school nutrition. We’ve provided 4.5 million free meals over hte past 20 years. I’d be happy to consider Midd students for internships, as we’ve done with Midd externs in the past.

By: Sharon Simas

Sharon Simas — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 23:40:19 +0000

Seeing the damage done to the human body and analyzing the lab results for a family member who was a committed vegan for 5 years has caused our family to be far less romantic about totally plant based diets. Having learned the hard way, we now have more respect for the lipids, amino acids, and vitamins the human body needs from a diet that has at least some animal component. We have also dealt with serious food allergies (corn, wheat, eggs and dairy proeducts), which are on the rise across the country – up to 45% of the population is intolerant of at least one food. Much of this is due to current mass agricultural and food processing practices. Health

problems caused by poor nutrition are breaking our country economically – obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and mental illness can all be traced to the chemicals our body runs on, which we get from food. Any discussion of a solution should incorporate health – what should people eat to be healthy and how can we build sustainable food systems to deliver it? Having seen the video, I was disappointed not to see any mention of biochemistry or anthropolgy, where many of these answers lie. This is a very complex problem, it deserves a cross-disciplinary scientific approach.

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By: Maria Theresa Stadtmueller

Maria Theresa Stadtmueller — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:19:01 +0000

Then again, not eating “the animal” at all can be an important consideration (certainly for the animal). At the above-mentioned discussion, Professor Young referenced a study in the scientific journal Nature showing that a shift to plant-based diets will be essential in order to feed the Earth’s human population. Factoring in the methane production of ungulates (and grass-fed cattle belch much more methane than their unfortunate factory-farmed brethren), the related UN reports of the dire climate impacts of worldwide livestock production, the overwhelming destruction of other species’ habitat for grazing and feed production, and the degenerative human health impacts of meat-based diets, a case can be made that leaving animals off the dinner plate is better for all–human and

otherwise.

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By: Sharon Simas

Sharon Simas — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:29:36 +0000

Very much wish I could have been there and am pleased to see Middlebury thinking about this. Having unraveled several serious family health problems, we’ve learned how proper food is critical to avoiding disease (and keeping health care costs down).

It has been dismal to learn about how the food industry’s practices promote disease, and frustrating to see much of the medical community turn a blind eye to the role of nutrition as a cornerstone for health. Profit seems to be a big driver dictating what we eat – little numbers on spreadsheets rule! Amazing also is how recently we have lost many food customs, like fermented and sprouted foods and eating all of the animal, which provided critical nutrients

that one can’t find in most modern meals.

A liberal arts view of this is welcome, where anthropology, biology, biochemistry (what are people designed to eat?),environmental science, economics, political science, sociology and psychology can be used to examine how we can eat wisely and enjoy a better quality of life. Critical thinking, communication and leadership skills will be needed to make a dent in this vast and perplexing problem. I hope Middlebury takes this challenge on.

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