Category: Readings

Students respond to some aspect of the reading for that week.

Monoculture of the Mind

by Hannah Levin

I’m staring at rows upon rows of perfectly lined, perfectly straight trees. All the same height, color, evenly spaced and fully spruced. My assignment is to look into the upcoming industry of genetically engineered Chestnuts, Loblolly pines, Eucalyptus among others. I fee like I am in a Sci-fi novel of some dystopian future, where we reminisce about the vague concept of natural forests, while the Lorax wanes some woeful dearth for the forgotten green giants. Dr. Shiva’s term: “Monoculture of the Mind”  seems an apt title for my Twighlight Zone-esque scenario.

The scary thing  is this is all very real. Genetically engineered tree plantations are used to supply paper, pulp, and biofuel industries. The GE tree varieties are spun by biotech PR agents as the solution to climate change as a way to preserve forests by strengthening trees. The ‘superior’ trees have denser wood, faster growth rates, resistence to disease and frost, among other super power traits. Their definition of what constitutes a forrest is dramatically different from mine.

These biotech companies promote a ‘Monoculture of the Mind’ outlook. This way of thinking, as Dr. Shiva describes, establishes man’s empire over a world where nature is dead. The land can be owned, patented, injected with hormones, packaged, and sold for profit. In a corporate, commodity based world, sameness reigns.

Severing ties to the Earth, as Ms. LaDuke points out, means cutting the roots to our ancestors. LaDuke explains that food is all about relationships. She says, “Food for us comes from our relatives, whether they have wings or fins or roots.” In this vein of thought, man cannot own land, but like a relative must take care of the Earth and in return the Earth will take care of man. As evidenced by LaDuke’s story of wild rice, this philosophy is tied to religious aspects of her tribe. Most religions share similar stories that describe the partnership between nature and humankind. For example, the Garden of Eden. I know that Thai Buddhist monks will only eat what is given to them, and it is a great honor to offer food to a monk, because you are fueling their holy lives. Aristotle once described honey, the first sugarer, as dew given to man from the gods and the stars….but I am off track.

Essentially, we need to escape the monoculture of the mind and  rediscover the interconnectedness of nature. A real forrest is diverse and lush and can provide for man if we can provide for it.

 

 

Fake It ‘Til You Make It

by Diana Wilkinson

By Diana Wilkinson

 

I’m still caught off guard when I’m served mint chocolate chip ice cream and it’s not green. You would think because mint leaves are green it would make green ice cream, isn’t that why it’s green most of the time?

It’s fairly obvious to me now, but that bright green color is just added to look appealing–that’s the only purpose, color! You can also find this fake coloring in pickles, salad dressing, and so many more everyday food products.

In the Nabhan Ted Talk, she mentions a synthetic grain that’s gaining popularity. It looks like the real thing. Tastes like the real thing. But she says no matter how similar it seems we cannot fool our bodies.

Real foods have superior nutrition, taste and are often have less impact on the planet. Instead of trying to replicate sweetness or bright colors, the average consumer should instead look for the simplest ingredients and work to make those accessible to everyone.

Someone, somewhere had the ingenious idea to instead NOT add the food coloring, and I think it’s representative of a greater trend in the food system. People don’t want synthetic dyes and will choose to alternatively eat more natural products.

Kraft even announced it’s famous macaroni and cheese would take out the almost iconic, unnatural orange color!

If a large company like Kraft is making these changes as a result of consumer demand, I have faith consumers will eventually drive the market away from the processed to the whole and real foods.

 

Closing the Loops

by Nina Dewees

 

We call our food system a “system” because it is supposed to contain cycles and loops. Everything that starts within the system should remain within the system. There should be no waste. There should be no excessive inputs. Modern agriculture uses a great amount of artificial inputs—pesticides and synthetic fertilizers—and creates large amounts of waste—unused animal manure or uneaten parts of foods.

I have often heard the phrase, “our food system is broken.” This means a lot of different things, from the dependence of our agriculture on fossil fuels to the rising rates of obesity in America. Listening to Vandana Shiva’s talk, however, made me focus on the broken cycles of our food system.

Shiva brings up a very basic but crucial rupture in the recycling of nutrients in the food system in India: humans harvest and eat crops, but when they go to the bathroom, the released nutrients end up polluting the rivers rather than returning to the soils. Soils lose nutrients and farmers must purchase expensive fertilizers to replenish them. The break in this nutrient cycle causes two problems: river pollution and excessive fertilizer use. Shiva says that humans have to start thinking in terms of cycles and get rid of “mechanistic” thought that encourages technological fixes to agriculture.

This discussion of cycles reminded me of Polyface Farm, a cow farm discussed by Michael Pollan in the Omnivore’s Dilemma. The farmer at Polyface lets his cows roam on his wide-open pastures. The cows eat the grass and their manure acts as fertilizer to help replenish the soils and grow the grass again. This farm demonstrates how agriculture can work with rather than against natural cycles. The farmer does not add inputs like fertilizer, which cost money and damage the environment, and nothing is wasted. The cows are grass fed, free ranging, and probably very happy. (The cows are not confined in small pens, living in a pile of their own manure, which, instead of acting as fertilizer, pollutes nearby bodies of water.)

I want to keep reading about sustainable farming methods that focus on closing natural loops, eliminating both inputs and waste!

Everything Really Is Connected

by Fredy Rosales

As an environmental studies student at Middlebury, I’ve been inculcated a sense of interconnectednes that I think is essential to understanding our environment. I think that only by thinking holistically- beyond the components of systems and cycles, into their interactions and mutual influences- can we come with viable solutions to the challenges we face.

Both of the TEDx Talks we watched and the excerpt we read touch on many different connections related to our food systems, but the connection that resonates with me the most is that of us human beings with nature. Whether it’s understanding that forests provide much more than timber, that crops and food have a history and story, or the methods to surviving in different environments, the importance of revitalizing that connection cannot be understated, but we are still far from reaching it. As Dr. Shiva points out as long as our lives continue to be driven -or even indirectly dictated- by greed, and as long as we don’t shift our mindsets to understand that nature is not “out there” but that we are part of it, that this planet is our common home, it will be impossible to solve the biggest environmental issues we face which often result in other social and economic problems. The challenge lies in the different perspectives from individuals on different stages of any system or cycle, as their conditions might hinder them from being able to see themselves as part of nature. This is why I found Dr. Shiva’s comment on the fact that we all eat (or rather need to eat) so interesting: it provides a sense of interconnectedness in a parallel way rather than cyclical or circular which i think increases the potential for different people to connect to each other -and thus with nature- through food.

As an urban farm intern, I’ve gotten the chance to work on the land, and reestablish my relationship with nature, and although I don’t I don’t necessarily consider plants or trees my ancestors, I appreciate them more each day, and can feel more connected to them, and to our mother Earth.

Re-planting food narratives and traditions

by Sarah Wall

I remember when my family moved to Minnesota one of the first pieces of advice we received was that we needed to learn how to make the traditional Minnesotan dish: chicken wild rice soup. I didn’t realize how popular it was until I started seeing it everywhere—in our school lunches, at potlucks, in packaged soup mixes at the grocery store. Once we settled in, my mom found a recipe and started to make it more regularly. At first I was skeptical of it, but as the temperatures dropped I soon realized that it was the perfect comfort food for a cold fall or winter day.

Before listening to Winona LaDuke’s TedTalk, I did not completely understand the origin of wild rice and its rich history as a native crop in Minnesota. I did not know that there were diverse varieties as well as certain cultivation and parching techniques, all of which LaDuke and her Ojibwe ancestors have used for thousands of years. LaDuke perfectly identifies what we should be thinking of when we think of food; she says, “Food has a culture. It has a history. It has stories, it has relationships that ties us to our food.” These values are easily lost, especially as we look towards monoculture and large agricultural corporations to address food insecurity at the local, national and global scales. LaDuke points out the startling statistic that over the last 100 years, we’ve experienced a 70% decrease in agrobiodiversity. In the process we’ve also lost a great deal of nutritional value in our food as it is modified and packaged to cater to the American consumer, a consumer that is all to often accustomed to valuing the price and calorie count of a food over its quality and history.

In order to break down these tendencies that are engrained in our food culture and industry, we’re going to need to return to our roots like LaDuke suggests and “re-establish relationships with ancestors.” This means that we need to prioritize biodiversity among our crops. LaDuke acknowledges this and in response to the popularized “local food movement” states that “it’s not just that you grow local food, but it’s also what you grow.” As we work to develop policies that will make local food more accessible and affordable to people, it is important to keep this in mind.

I think traditions like chicken wild rice soup help to highlight the relationships between food, culture and place. However, it is also necessary that we recognize and understand how these food traditions are deeply connected to the agricultural processes that are unique to certain lands and people. If we can return to prioritizing these historical, traditional food narratives in our food system, I think there is hope that we can re-establish sustainable, diverse agricultural practices.

Inspired by Almond Butter

by Lindsey Leteillier

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/)

Thinking too highly of ourselves

by Hiu-Tung Lee

“Nature is not out there, we are part of it”. I find myself guilty, as Shiva says, to think that I am not part of nature.

Growing up in a city, we had hard definitions of what is nature and what is not. It seems like there is certain metro station that divides the city into rural nature and bustling city. This division also applies to our knowledge of the land. My friends that lived in the city very rarely had contact with nature. Their weekends would mostly be around the city, attending tutorial lessons and different extra-curricular activities. I was already the one who interacted the most. Our family often goes hiking, but we had no deep connection or understanding of the land. It was as if we are not part of nature at all.

I really thought that Shiva’s advice, to think in circles and cycles, is very important and thought-provoking. With so much scientific research in the environment, we should have learnt that everything in this world operates like a cycle. The water cycle in nature, or the monetary system in economics, everything is interconnected. What we choose to do, or input into the system will definitely be returned back to us. As humans, we often think too highly of ourselves, why do we, out of all things have the right to make a change to everything? As Nabhan points out, problems of diabetes in the O’odham people would not have happened if people did not forcefully alter the land. Although God made us arms and legs so that we can move and control things, we still have to depend on land. If we don’t respect or treat it well, this world of cycles will show that we have to pay a price in the end.

I think what ties to this is the story of Pawnee corn that Winona talked about. First, her husky voice truly captivated me because it was like she was going to tell us an old legend, something with a meaning and moral behind it. The corn seemed to have a life of its own. It remembered the land it came from, and it stopped growing until it was back in Nebraska. If we believe in cycles and still depend on the land, we should stop thinking about ways to alter it to give way to economic issues that we believe is priority. Learning to respect and adjusting in habit to natural conditions is key.

Closing the link

by Jeanne Penn

The separations that have been made between those who grow the food and those who eat the food, if only that link could be closed…miracles would start to happen” – Vandana Shiva

Relationships with food must include a relationship with the environment; the environment is inclusive of the cultural, physical, and political aspects that comprise every item we see in the grocery store.

A few weekends ago I joined two other FoodWork’s fellows, Grace and Sarah, for a day at Common Good City Farm. This urban farm is truly a unique part of DC. On the farm, it felt like I was so far removed from the city; the wooden gate and sprouting vegetables prevented me from thinking about the world I was not currently and physically interacting in and communicating with.

I was excited to spend the day weeding and eager to tackle the tasks in the garden that lay before me. I crouch down, balancing in a squat position, with my back slightly arched, and my hands completely entrenched in the dirt as it squeezes its way beneath my fingernails.

Unfortunately, most of the world’s food supply does not come from carefully tended organic farms like this one. For the most part, the focus is on the quantity, rather than the quality of yields. This approach does not promote biodiversity and fails to recognize that we do not have an endless supply of resources.The economic and ecological sustainability of our agricultural system is thus severely threatened.

Environmental issues (i.e. global warming) can feel so far removed and not substantial enough to make individual changes to our daily routines. Some underestimate the impact small changes can collectively have on a farmer and the impact on the environment. Farming, however, can help one appreciate what it takes to achieve what is sometimes taken for granted. The labor that is put into food is not truly acknowledged until one has to do it themselves. In order to be conscious of the thankless work farmers and environmentalists do to preserve culture and ecological diversity one must experience it for oneself.

Lakota “culture grief”

by Emily Robinson

This weeks readings and talks resonated with experiences I had last summer volunteering with a nonprofit called Simply Smiles. I worked on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, in a community of around 200 Lakota people. Much of my work was building and preparing raised bed for the growing season. From what I understand about food deserts, this small community on the reservation was the epitome of one. The land is hard as a rock in the sun and becomes clay when wet so growing in the native soil is out of the question. The nearest place to buy food is Walmart, at least an hour and a half’s drive. With no means of growing food and no resources to buy healthy or local, these people who’s traditions are rooted in the earth have lost all connection to their food. They have no choice but to eat the only food they have access to, cheap, greasy, American food.

Before arriving on the reservation I was completely naive, unaware of the realities and the stories of the Lakota people living on the reservation. My experience in Louisville so far has similarly exposed yet another untold story of a population of colored people living in deep poverty in a food dessert.

The “culture grief” that LaDuke spoke of was very evident on the reservation. Before being relocated by the US government, the Lakota people lived in the Black Hills, an abundant sacred area with rich soil and beautiful earth. Their ties and relationships with their ancestors, culture and religion were deeply rooted in the Black Hills. As Michelle, one of our speakers 2 Friday’s ago suggested, it’s important to approach these stories with grief rather than guilt. LaDuke mentioned that her tribe believes that food “comes from our relatives, whether they have wings or fins or roots.” It makes me grieve to imagine a group of people ripped from their homeland, a land that is so woven into their culture and religion.

In many ways the Lakota people were the epitome of “local food,” “back to the land,” and “environmental appreciation” all movements in the headlines today. The government stripped these people of their dignity, culture and self-reliance when they took away what was most important to their livelihood, their land. The Lakota people agree with Shiva that “nature is not out there, we are part of it.” Instead of approaching these people and cultures with an us and them mentality we should be learning from them and aspiring to become stewards of this earth, as their tribes always have been. In order to move forward as a nation we have to accept the stories of our past that include racism and greed. We must open our hearts and let ourselves grieve over our nations mistakes and history. When we are done grieving we must all understand that in order to move forward, we must move forward together.

Thriving Through Tradition

by Nina Buzby

Like Berry’s exploration of grandmother’s homemade pie, this week’s selection of works explored the value of tradition and passed down knowledge in creating sustainable and resilient food systems. LaDuke and Nabhan explore food traditions through the lens of folklore and indigenous survival, something we have yet to investigate in this course. I really enjoyed the points brought up in LaDuke’s talk and Nabhan’s excerpt because it brings in a population that’s sometimes even marginalized from food sovereignty or justice talks. Indigenous peoples like the O’oodham have knowledge of American soil and ecosystems to a much greater extent than any other demographic group in the country – why, as Nabhan highlights, do we continue to provide people with the complete opposite?

Vandana Shiva’s talk is definitely the piece that stayed with me most prominently. She perfectly encapsulates (pun intended) a holistic thinker. Her criticism of monoculture of the mind points out quite succinctly the root of most food issues. Pointing out that many farmers are committing suicide due to an inability to profit from their efforts exacerbates the point that federal efforts generate a cycle where no person, let alone the land can flourish. A lot of the “help” that governments believe they are providing, such as welfare food to the malnourished O’oodham or synthetic fertilizer to desperate soil, are not tapping into the time tested knowledge of tradition.

I do wish that Shiva had expanded on the point that women are a core position in starting, as she calls it, a “food revolution”. Women are often the ‘designated’ homemakers and with that profession comes an incredible knowledge of food and food preparation. This sort expertise is usually very specialized to a specific local or region. Orosco from Nabham’s chapter recited a very unique diet of foods for an ecosystem that to many modern food systems would seem to produce almost no sustenance. Industrial farms in no way could survive in the desert as the O’oodham had. What baffles me is why we are using the vast and specialized knowledge of indigenous peoples, more specifically native women, to figure out how to thrive in even the remotest of places.

There is no need for the extra calories in synthetic dahl a.k.a. modified soybeans when there is millet that, as Shiva describes, reproduces in the millions. A boiled down version of this collection of talks and writing proves the task of specializing and localizing the approaches to providing nutritional and substantive food to not be as difficult as it may seem. Traditions that our ‘monoculture of the mind’ has been blind too, might have already figured out a resilient and sustainable food system!