I’m working for a food incubator (focused on restaurants) in DC, and considering the fact that there are a few other food incubators in the area, the article about the Taos County Economic Development Corporation caught my eye. Food incubators create a low-risk space for people to produce food, and this organization did just that.

 

The two women who started this organization, Terrie and Patti, are standouts. The community of Taos is known for having a deep knowledge in farming and ranching, and these women really tapped into these invaluable resources. The community is relatively rural and they wanted to help create more economic opportunities that created a good local food economy. Their development: create a space where different individuals can make homemade food products. Because the permit process and education about food production can be complicated, they streamlined the process making it easier for individuals who want to be food producers.

 

To me, the most striking food producer that came out of their corporation was a mobile meat processing truck. This is great for small scale farmers who raise their cattle in a humane way but cannot afford to process their meat humanely because of outrageously expensive equipment or certification costs. I’ve read plenty of stories of ranchers or meat processors struggling to get by because they attempt to humanely raise and slaughter meat. This creates a way for them to do both, but is low risk because they don’t have to pay for the expensive equipment. The meat currently does not go out into the rural community, but Terrie and Pattie are working to make the locally raised meat is available to local individuals.

 

From what I’ve seen in DC and this article, I feel like more people should look into this business model. It could probably help many small business owners survive; it would probably also be a great way to have more sustainable local foods and support a local economy.

A huge issue all of these authors seem to be addressing is the loss of tradition as a result of globalization of food; the sad thing about globalization: health along with culture is sacrificed. This was clearly the case for Native Americans, and may be the case for Indians. It’s also the case for many cultures who have recently began importing “American foods.”

 

The issue of monoculture comes up again, but monoculture and the lack of biodiversity makes a huge impact on nutrition. Furthermore, “we are now eating eight commodities” (Shiva), meaning variety is almost nonexistent. How can humans attain all the vitamins and minerals needed to stay healthy when we’re only eating a handful of crops?

 

It was amazing to me to hear about all of the crops the Indians in the desert ate; they knew the land so well they could transform a seemingly inedible food into staple food. (I’m from the desert in California and have almost no knowledge of the vegetation there, so I’m impressed with the knowledge of the land.) These individuals had variety in their diet, and suddenly, individuals unfamiliar with their culture want to change their ways because their foraging method isn’t “productive enough.” Then, a slew of health problems followed.

 

It’s encouraging that LaDuke’s relatives are working to change the lack of biodiversity and reviving their culture. The fact that the corn and squash they grow, which are non-GMO, are more resilient is amazing, too. Planting different crops gives us different nutrients, and the non-GMO variation can be more nutrient dense, non-GMO plants a more viable option for agriculture.

 

Obviously, eliminating GMO’s isn’t as easy as just looking at something small like this. In some cases, like Vitamin-A-rich golden rice, which helps prevent vitamin A deficiency in countries where rice is a staple food, GMO’s are actually a good thing.[1] Last semester a professor mentioned that a GMO banana containing vaccines for diseases like cholera and hepatitis is in the making. Other than that, I don’t really think GMO’s are a good thing. Some people might argue that they’re necessary to fee the world population we have, but maybe if more individuals took an interest in farming or we stopped the insane amount of food waste[2] we could feed more people.

 

As a nutrition major, I think GMO’s, culture, and food waste are an important thing to consider because I’ve found that many people in nutrition just focus on nutrients and nothing else (not all nutrition majors are this way, but I’ve found a lot of people to be this way). In reality, these issues could be part of the root of our diet related health problems.

 

About a month before my semester ended, I had a short conversation with a food studies grad student. Her thesis was about food waste, and she did a project involving waste from slivered almonds. A company that sold organic, slivered almonds would throw out the crumbs that didn’t get slivered. She collected trash bags full of the wasted almonds and turned it into almond butter. These were perfectly usable almonds that were getting thrown out. Like me, she studied nutrition during her undergrad years, but decided not to become a dietician. She wanted to be involved in food policy because she felt that too many individuals in nutrition did not care enough about where food comes from. I’m not sure how, but I would like to be someone in nutrition who cares more about more than just nutrients, but the nurturing aspects of food, too.

[1] http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/agriculture/problem/genetic-engineering/Greenpeace-and-Golden-Rice/

[2] America wastes 31% of its food, and 1 billion dollars are spent just to get rid of this food waste (http://endhunger.org/food-waste/)

“The dough for pie crust or biscuits… had to be neither too flabby nor too stiff; it was right when it felt right.” I couldn’t help but think about my grandma who has her own recipe for piecrust. As a matter of fact, last summer she taught me the “proper” way to make pie crust, which ended by two year boycott of homemade pie (At Thanksgiving a few years before I made three pies, all of which were terrible; luckily she was there and had a few pies to save dessert the most important meal of the year.) Any time I’m at her house she has a pie on hand and a few in her freezer downstairs.

 

The attention to detail in her cooking, along with the grandmother in Berry’s piece, is something I hope I am capable of one day. I don’t think many Americans, or at least younger Americans, have this culinary ability, which is tragic. Tragic because it has probably contributed to the growth in processed foods and knowing less and less about where our food comes from or even how to make certain foods.

 

Maybe if Americans paid more attention to the little details like the caramelized sugar on pie rust or the subtle flavor differences in maple syrup we would have a better relationship to food as a whole. Trying to understand the differences in something like maple syrup really forces an eater to slow down and appreciate what he or she is putting into their body: what is the difference? Why is there a difference? Maybe if I taste it again I will be able to better decipher the differences?

 

Again, time plays a key role in understanding the seemingly trivial components of food. An individual cannot rush through a wine tasting or sampling of maple syrup if he or she desires to truly appreciate that particular foodstuff. Furthermore, cooking or baking something with small details that really make a difference in a food item often time takes more time than one would think. Americans are always told we don’t have enough time, or that time is money, but that shouldn’t always be the case. We should invest more time into cooking and savoring flavors. Maybe it would force us to think about where our food comes from or other aspects that can really affect the flavor profile of a dish.

 

Recently, my employer was telling me the best way to get a consumer to enjoy a cherry is leaving the pits in; it forces the person to eat the pie slowly (so they don’t eat a pit), allowing the person to understand the way the pie tastes. She also said the same thing about fish with bones. Maybe making food a bit more of a hassle to eat is the key to making Americans think more about what is going into their bodies and where it comes from.

This weeks readings were a bit of a reality check for me; like Agyeman mentioned, I’m one of those people who believe I am doing something good when I find alternative food methods. I always feel so proud that I buy as much food as I can from the farmer’s market and avoid food that isn’t local as much as possible because I truly believe that I am making a difference. But, a back story exists that I usually put little thought to, and the story, which most people like me are oblivious to, would be food justice.

 

While I’m busy studying the label on the back of a product or asking a butcher if their cows are grass finished, someone is buying processed food (or going hungry) because that’s all he or she can afford. What’s even more baffling; the people who grow food I eat (even if it is local) can’t even afford to eat their food. As one woman put it “we provide people food- why don’t they respect our work?”

 

So much truth exists in that statement. It takes so much time, energy, and knowledge to grow food, yet our society views farming as a sub-par job that old men do. In all honesty, I’d probably die if I had to feed myself with what I grew being that I know next to nothing about farming. I can barely keep the herbs in my window alive for a week; hearing the farmer I bought the plants from explain how to move the plant into a planter gave me a anxiety. I’d probably kill the plant in the transferring process. Clearly, it takes a vast amount of knowledge to be able to take care of an entire field. Farmers and farm workers deserve our respect because without them we would be dead.

 

Changing society’s view of this is probably difficult, especially considering the structure of our economy and food system in general. Food has become a commodity in our society which is clear in the monoculturing of food and animals. This past week in DC, we discussed contracts of corn farmers typically sign to protect themselves financially. Individuals who never even see the corn can make a profit off of it, which I think is absolutely ridiculous. Yes, it does protect the farmers, but they need the protection because their work does not have enough value to keep them afloat. Furthermore, in this type of market, all corn is considered the same and quality does not matter, so farmers are producing as much as possible regardless of environmental effects or the overworked farmworkers who play a key role in the food justice story.

 

Producers and consumers are so concerned about making or finding the lowest price that they’ll resort to treating employees unfairly. Some are so desperate that the government convicted (seven Florida growers) of slavery involving more than 1,000 workers.” These people produce the food that nourishes us and keeps us healthy, yet they can’t afford to eat what they’re making. This is a huge problem; the alternative food movement (or whatever movement that likes eating food contrary to pop culture) should consider food justice and the hungry people of this world more.

 

Before we spend time focusing on the locality, anti-GMO aspects of the food we’re eating, maybe we should also consider the treatment of the people working on the farm too. We should also consider dignified ways to ensure the availability of healthy food access for individuals who cannot get this food and in a way that is as dignified as possible (ie maybe allowing these individuals to choose what food they receive rather than just receiving unwanted food or “left overs”).

 

As Janet Poppendieck asks activists, don’t just think about eliminating hunger, think about eliminating poverty, the root of hunger. Yes, seeking out food that treats workers fairly probably costs more, but just think about it. If you were a farmer worker you would want to be treated fairly and be paid enough to afford what you are producing. Furthermore, you are putting this food into your body. (Cheap food that exploits workers probably contains a large amount of chemicals.) Hunger and poverty are huge problems in general, but that is a way to start.

Schlosser brought up a really good point in the intro to his book: “The whole experience of fast food has become so routine, so thoroughly unexceptional and mundane, that it is now take for granted, like brushing your teeth or stopping at a red light.” Fast food is ingrained in pop culture that life is unimaginable without it. When comparing the real food Pollan and other writers beg us to eat to fast food, it makes fast food seem novel. One hundred years ago, getting something to eat like that would take much more time. Furthermore, the individual eating a burger would be much more involved in the process: going to the butcher to get the meat, maybe grinding it themselves, seasoning and forming the patty, and then cooking it.

The thought of getting a “hamburger sandwich” in five minutes or less was preposterous 100 years ago. Today waiting ten minutes is a long time.

 

Clearly Americans have become passive about our food if something that actually takes times to make is just an uneventful part of our daily routines. We don’t think about where the meat came from, who made it, or even what is in our meat. Although the passivity of our food system is changing, it still exists in many places. If you’ve ever made a burger, you know it takes time, and if you want a mouthwatering, to-die-for burger it takes even more time. There are several factors that go into this burger: what cut of meat, should I age the meat, what spices go into the meat, the spices in the patty, what toppings should I include (artisanal ketchup, caramelized onion, sautéed mushroom), and what bread will bring together the other elements of my burger.

 

Cooking takes time, and many Americans just don’t take the time to cook or spend time on their food. Yes, some individuals are crunched for time, but there are plenty of busy individuals who spend a little time planning their meals in order to be able to have better quality food.

 

Food should be so much more than passive because it takes time to grow and prepare food. As Pollan said, “Eating turns food into culture,” which I think is so true. Eating says so much about a person and where they come from. If America just passively eats fast food everyday, that says a lot about us as a population: we are time crunched, and will do anything at any cost (like turning butchering as a skill into a dangerous job) to save time, which translates to more time to be productive. Not that productivity is a bad thing, but it isn’t the only thing in life.

 

Schlosser, Pollan, and McKibben are questioning our current food system and the commodification of food. We should be questioning the five-minute burger, the conventional method of getting honey, and the insane amounts of corn produced in America. We should try and take the time to understand the problems with our food system and challenge our food system by taking the time to purposefully pick out ingredients and cook.

I am an individual who is attempting to eat healthy, ethical, “good” foods, but with our current food system, it can be really complicated. All of the authors we read present the world’s current food system in a way that attests to the confusion I have. I am still developing what I like to call my food “philosophy” (i.e. what I will and will not eat and my reasoning behind my choices), but all the information and claims about food that exist confuse me and make me wonder if eating good food is even possible.

 

It can be overwhelming to think about eating food that is good for me, the environment, and other people because there are just so many factors that play into eating one food; then add all the other foods I have to eat because I’m an omnivore, and it gets even more complicated . Petrini also sheds light on (and Pollan mentions about the French) the fact that food should bring pleasure. I thoroughly believe that everyone should enjoy food, but it usually comes at a cost. I get excited about food trends and trying weird food combinations like fennel ice cream or spicy chocolate, but sometimes I have to step back and think about other people who may not have this pleasure. As an Italian, Petrini probably puts a huge emphasis on pleasure because eating without it is akin to committing a crime in his culture. It may be at the cost of another person, but as Pollan mentioned, cultures that take pleasure in food are often healthier and have a better relationship with their food.

 

During these readings, I also couldn’t help but think of bananas. Yes, I know, it’s an odd thing to think about, but I love them! I don’t think I could ever give up bananas. The taste is unique and they contain the perfect amount of sweetness, and I typically have at least one everyday. But, there is a problem with bananas: they will never be a local food because most climates in the United States don’t support banana growth (Hawaii might be an exception). I would like to eat foods that aren’t exploiting the labor of someone else or being transported miles and miles (harming our environment); I would also like to know where my food comes from, but that is extremely difficult when it is being exported thousands of miles or even continents away. Even though I may never have a local banana or know much about where it comes from, I just don’t know that I could give them up, and eating a banana might technically contradict my developing food philosophy.

Pollan asks readers to try to be local, humane, and just whenever possible because sometimes sourcing real food is too difficult to find. In another one of his books, he attempts to make a meal from ingredients he sourced himself and found making that meal to be extremely difficult. Our society is far removed from agriculture and farming (as Berry points out) that having a good food all the time is impossible, but we can attempt to change by avoiding processed, unjust foods whenever and wherever possible. So, I guess for now I’ll have to live with my mysterious bananas.