A great visual that highlights our need for meat.

Personally, I think this speaks for itself.

Related posts:

1. Bring Me the Meat! (weekly menu 13)
2. “The Portland Meat Collective” (or) The Grass-Fed Manifesto (part 4)

In my classroom I make the agenda clear.

• I want participants to think critically about their food consumption.
• I want participants to question the source of foods they eat and the production used to grow and distribute the food.
• I want participants to realize the power of consumption in choosing what to eat and where to spend their money.
• All the while, I want to present participants with information on “alternative” food choices – be it raw milk, pastured beef or fair-trade coffee.

Tonight I explained the conflicted meanings of popular food buzz words. The activity is often enlightening for families because they see the meanings of words in a new way. This process of shedding light is both overtly political and downright practical. At the moment, I find myself walking along this ever-thinning line.

The lefty in me comes out when I talk about grass-fed meat, raw milk and the oppressive rules of organic certification standards. It’s so difficult not to get preachy. The more I’ve learned about industrial agriculture and CAFOs and their disastrous consequences on our health and the environment, the more I want to share this ‘other’ perspective.

How strange and distressing that the ‘otherness’ is seen as whole foods! If we want to people to eat healthy, do we not promote whole foods? If we promote whole foods, are we not rejecting processed goods? Is it so bad to desire stronger local economies? If not, why not support the local food movement?

All of these issues overlap and I believe it is futile to deny this. Just as we draw a line on right and wrong, should we not draw a line on healthy and unhealthy? I can’t stand by and debate this issue too much. Too many people are sick or dying because they lack the knowledge of resources to do better for themselves. To this end, I am an activist.

I am a preachy teacher.

Like the late Howard Zinn said, “You can’t be neutral on a moving train.”

Related posts:

1. The Food Curriculum Project (part V) “Lesson Plan 3″
2. New Year’s Resolutions
3. Living off the grid

Eggs!

I have not eaten an egg for 64 days. As you may recall I began an elimination diet on the first of January, and I have diligently (and strictly) avoided the 19 items on my allergy list. Tomorrow I will visit the narturopath to discuss the effects of the cleanse on my digestion and general health. As agreed, the 2-month elimination will cease after the allotted time has passed. Therefore, tomorrow begins a new stage in the “allergy experience.”

For the next 19 weeks I will re-introduce each of the individual foods items back into my diet. Now that I have experienced the effects of strict eating restraints, I will soon learn the nuanced needs of my body. Each week I will introduce one item from the list; I will consume the “foreign” food for 3 days. Thereafter I will end the consumption of that same item. In 3-4 days time I will likely grasp the varying intensities of each food allergy.

It is my hope that I can choose the order of food introductions. Some I crave far more than others. The most difficult foods have been eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, yeast and lemons. If I can reintroduce at my leisure, I will surely begin with the egg.

As you might expect, breakfast has been challenging. Yes, I have grown to enjoy the texture of porridge and the sweet summertime taste of smoothies, but there’s something about eggs that leaves me satiated. To both celebrate the egg I intend on eating lots of eggs for 4 days. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will find room for my egg binge. If I’m allergic, I’ll have to say good-bye to a food I really enjoy. Given this uncertainty, I want to treat each ingredient like its the last time we’ll dine together.

To this end, I want to write a series on this process. Each time I re-introduce a food item, I will write an article on that item, with emphasis on the different recipes or dishes I want to make with the ingredient. In this particular case, I think it’s important for me to note that todayI will not be posting a typical weekly menu post. I have decided instead to write a list of meals I look forward to making that require the use of egg(s).

Starting this weekend and going through the first couple days of next week, I hope to eat many egg dishes. Here are a list of ideas/desires that I want to fulfill in the coming days:

• quiche or souffle
• a tasty banana muffin recipe I have awaiting me
• salty caramel ice cream
• an omelette with broccoli and cheddar cheese
• a desert with meringue
• corn pudding

I’m salivating just at the thought of making any of these much-wanted treats!  Please allergy-gods, please let me eat eggs again!

Related posts:

1. The Elimination Diet and a Cleanse
2. Bring Me the Meat! (weekly menu 13)
3. Where have all the simple meals gone? (weekly menu 12)

In lieu of the ominous warnings around us there are measures of hope and idealism. The challenge is acknowledging what is hopeful and what is not. In the context of public health and our national food system, I believe there are some powerful ideas out there for mending it. At the same time, the most provocative and powerful measures are strongly disliked by too many people. When it comes to weight (60% of Americans are overweight or obese,) a long-overdue position has been put forth. To combat obesity and the foods linked to it, why not simply tax junk food?  Will taxes change our behavior and make us healthier? Or just make folks more angry with the federal government?

Like our nation’s addiction to tobacco, sugar is the new target of public health initiatives. The main distinction being: tobacco smoking is addictive and linked to disease – if you smoke you are likely to get sick and die. Sugar on the other hand, is not so transparent. Yes, many people consume multiple sugary foods and beverages every day and this is linked to weight gain and health concerns. But, you can have a soda every once in a while or junk food on occasion and not be distressed over obesity and heart disease.

So where does taxation enter the issue? Well, as mentioned before, our economy is still in trouble and job growth remains stagnant. As far as the government (both state and federal) is concerned, jobs = revenue and happy Americans. When there is a drop in revenue, government programs are cut or underfunded and Americans are pissed off. To bring in money (and disregard the happiness of the population) taxes are sometimes introduced. Given the plethora of studies linking sugar/soda/junk food to obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, there is a real incentive to taxing the beast(s) of unhealthy foods and beverages.

A recent study that was published in Psychological Science discovered in important piece to the taxation conundrum. Scientists at SUNY Buffalo found that an increase in junk food cost led to an increase in healthy food purchases. Since the idea makes sense, I suppose it’s good to hear the assumption proved true. The assumption being that expensive junk food will prevent shoppers from purchases and instead, further the investment in healthy food. That said, a counter discovery was also exposed. Tom Laskawy, a writer for Grist.org wrote a great article on the study. While discussing the findings, Laskway explains that the increase in healthy food does not suggest a profound change in consumer behavior.

The junk food taxes caused a real shift in nutritional quality because the money saved on junk food was spent on healthy food, which has more nutrients per calories. However, when the researchers subsidized healthy food in their test, many participants spent the savings on—wait for it—junk food. A subsidy for health foods actually increased the amount of fat, protein, and carbohydrates from that simulated shopping trip by about 10 percent each.

It seems the interest in eating healthy is not so intentional, instead its plain ol’ economic. If expensive junk food makes people purchase healthy food, which by contrast (in the study) is cheaper. Doesn’t that prove the importance of subsidized healthy food choices?

The playing field is currently unequal, drastically so. The subsidization of corn, wheat and soybeans has provided industries the opportunity to vastly expand the processed food market. Meanwhile, a farmer interested in growing fruits and vegetables has to compete at the same store as subsidized food items.

The last time I wrote about the soda tax, I argued against the logic of it. I think it’s ludicrous to tax soda and still subsidize corn. This time around, it is clear that subsidization of healthy foods must happen. In another article, Laskway writes, “It’s nice that we are finally willing to start taxing unhealthy food. But without doing something about the good stuff, we’re only fighting half the battle.” For a country that prides itself on the “free market,” the grocery store is an awful example of this economic ideal. At any grocery store, you have whole foods competing with processed foods, and the latter has the advantage of subsidized ingredients. If we want to practice what we preach, the least we could do is subsidize the whole foods too.

If the study at SUNY Buffalo is to tell us anything, it’s that the average person seeks junk food over healthy food. Taxes will likely change people’s behavior. I would like to think that over time, when people’s taste buds regain form and can distinguish tasty food that has no sugar, returning to the study would make for interesting analysis.

If the subsidization of whole fruits, vegetables and grains is out of the question. If removing the subsidies on corn, wheat and soy are also out of the question. Then I say we tax the hell out of soda and junk food. As many agree, the billions in revenue would be more than enough to create farmers markets across the nation, especially in poorer communities. Shoot, we could even use the revenue to support (subsidize) the growth of healthy food and make the playing field equal. Even though I think the subsidization of corn, wheat and soy is outrageous, I think it’s high time we pay the real price for a hamburger, a can of soda and bag of chips.

Related posts:

1. A Tax on Soda = Illogical Food Policy
2. Michael Pollan strikes again!
3. Urban farming, Low-Income Communities and Burgeoning Dietary Epidemics

As our collective food-conscious develops, and we consider, even question the origins of our food, it is only a matter of time before farmed salmon pays its dues. With the release of the Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc., Americans are coalescing around the importance of ‘real food.’ Whether health, economic or environmental concerns lead the way, people from all parts of town are wanting better quality whole foods. The focus of the food movement is seemingly fixated on the production and distribution of fruits and vegetables. Though undercurrent issues occasionally come to the fray, and these include dairy, meat and fish.

In the past I have written extensively on the importance of pastured animals over grain-fed cows, chickens, lambs, etc. (See here, here and here.) It is only a matter of time before large swaths of carnivorous Americans want grass-fed meat to feed their family. And this liberation from CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operation) must include both mammals and fish. Be it marketing or general ignorance, most people do not acknowledge or understand the catastrophic implications of farmed fish.

The video above is an excellent documentary on the practice and consequence of farmed salmon. Just like the cows and chickens of middle America, large quantities of fish are crammed into small spaces. These oceanic CAFOs also utilize the fattening qualities of grain on fish. Like their mammalian brethren, salmon are not supposed to eat grain. Depending on the age, wild salmon’s dietary choices range from other small fish to plankton to kelp. The hype over Omega-3s and healthy fish oil is directly related to the sustenance of wild fish, specifically plants. Just like grass-fed cows, wild salmon also have high levels of Omega 3s, 6s and healthy fats.

But, just like industrial meat production, farmed salmon is disastrous for the environment. Along the coasts of countries around the world, habitats that once streamed with abundant sea life are now desolate. The farming of salmon not only effects the portion of sea that the farm inhabits, but also endangers the rivers and streams where wild salmon spawn and feed. Again, like industrial cattle or pigs, farmed salmon consume excessive amounts of antibiotics because the proximity of so many fish will inevitably breed disease. At the same time, nature’s way of constraining overpopulation brings sea lice to the farm.

A juvenile salmon with sea lice.

According to Watershed-Watch,

Sea lice are small ocean parasites that feed on the skin of fish. Lice normally do not harm adult salmon; however, small numbers of lice may kill juvenile salmon. Scientists agree that the pink salmon collapse in the Broughton Archipelago in 2002 is likely related to sea lice from salmon farms. From an expected 3.6 million salmon, only 147,000 spawning fish returned.

Unsurprisingly, the proliferation of sea lice among farmed salmon spreads to the lives of those that are wild. It is no coincidence that many of the farms are located along the same routes taken by smolts (juvenile salmon) on their way to the ocean to mature. When the wild fish swim near  or through the farmed populations, many of them receive sea lice. It is mentioned in the video that the size of these oceanic parasites are equivalent to 40 pound bugs eating away on a human body. As you might expect, the lice are killing large numbers of farmed salmon and infecting more populations of wild salmon.

In the context of climate change or any macro environmental concerns, these issue have severe implications. Indigenous communities that have thrived on salmon for generations will be greatly affected. Bears and eagles will lose one of their main forms of food. When one piece of the ecosystem is broken, it is only a matter of time before many more factors are disabled.

Without serious regulation and/or the dismantling of fish farming, it is very possible that salmon populations will become so damaged that extinction is a real possibility.

Related posts:

1. The Grass-Fed Manifesto (Part I)
2. The Grass-Fed Manifesto (part 3)
3. The End of Tuna

The food movement has many faces. I often give Michael Pollan or Alice Waters or even Michelle Obama all the attention, but I think it’s high time we praise the activists from the other side. The other side of the ocean, that is. Introducing to you, Mr. Jamie Oliver.

Part prime-time personality, food activist, culinary celebrity and sexy man in the kitchen (aka “The Naked Chef,”) Jamie is driving the food movement to higher ground. Utilizing his fame and wealth, he created the Fifteen Foundation in England (and other cities) to train youth from disadvantaged situations in the restaurant business. He also started some television shows in England and now America, where he teaches families how to eat healthier food.

The video above is an awesome performance by Mr. Oliver, as he inspires the best of us trying to make sense of the food movement’s purpose and direction. After watching the video I was truly energized for the work I am trying to do. I also found his video to be an engaging narrative for the ideas I espouse on the blog and around town.

For all the politics of the local food movement, I appreciate the fact that Mr. Oliver puts a human face on the problems we face today. For all the devastation of processed foods on public health, I find it completely reassuring to know and hear, that we can prevent the bad things from happening. We can educate one another on healthy eating choices. We can teach one another how to cook. We can change to the way we eat and live. Sometimes it just takes a speech like this to re-light the fire under our bums.

Related posts:

1. Food in the News
2. The “hidden cost” of convenience (follow-up)
3. Cookbooks – What do you have? What do you want?

When we talk about sustainability, especially in the context of resourcefulness, permaculture is way of the future. For philosophical, practical and environmental reasons, my wife and I decided to attempt some of permaculture’s ideas in our backyard.

We currently have 3 raised beds in the backyard and each of them is equal in size – 4 x 4 x 8. Over the fall and through our (current) mild winter, we planted kale, chard, greens, cauliflower and a few other hearty crops. All the while we’ve had time to ponder over this year’s garden. We are excited to try something different.

Instead of following neat rows of plants, we tossed seeds all over the place. In what felt like Darwinian-guerilla gardening, we scattered 5 or so plant varieties all over the bed. The technique we used is called polyculture gardening. The goal is to combine two similar gardening practices and create a plant environment that maximizes the plant’s natural inclination, while also improving the quality of the soil. The two interwoven techniques are interplanting and companion planting.

• Interplanting – combines crops that minimize the competition for sun and nutrients.
• Companion planting – blends plant varieties that enhance one another.

Following the belief that plant ecologies are dynamic rather than static, polycultural planing provides an environment where plants function as they would “in nature.” What seems like competition between varieties is actually a productive ecology of different plants. Simply put, polyculture suggests growing more plants together in a given space.

…in more sophisticated polycultures, the plants themselves tune their environment to the best conditions for their growth. Given the chance, heat-shunning lettuces will snuggle for protection under a leafy canopy of cauliflower. Slow-germinating wildflowers will bide their time in the moist shade of an early-leafing currant bush…

We can create gardens in which plants nestle together in minimally competitive patterns, bolster each other with beneficial interactions, and shift their composition to ecological succession, all combining to provide lengthy and varied harvests of food, blossoms and habitat.

To contrast, when we think of gardens that utilize a row structure, we see a “clean” and understandable garden. We employ our math skills and create an easy-to-maintain, means of food production. Mainstream agriculture values efficiency over health – in this case, the health of the Earth.

There are two things that strikes me about polyculture permaculture. On the one hand, we sacrifice an efficient means of food production for healthier soil, plants, insects, etc. The second aspect that challenges us, is the fact that we are planting seeds in a way that mimics plant systems in nature. What seems like a chaotic scatter of plants, will actually develop into a dynamic and plant-intentioned (not human-intentioned) grouping of plants.

Assuming is works, the sustainability piece comes each season. The choice of crops on our part, combined with the plant’s ability to resume its natural inclinations, creates a soil that is rich in nutrients and ready for the next set of crops. In a system that mimics nature, the cycle is born and recycles itself. Thus, when these plants die and decompose in the soil, their nutrients will “pave the way” for the next set of plants. I suppose we could say that the ‘circle of life’ in the garden begins with permaculture. And so we begin a new way of life too.

(By the way, most of this post and analysis was gleaned from reading Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture by Tony Hemenway)

Related posts:

1. Grow(ing) Your Own Food
2. Urban farming – a world of possibility
3. Cooking Class Takes New Direction

For the past 5 months or so I have provided an entry devoted to weekly menus. The premise is simple: we plan our meals for the week so we save money and prevent wasteful last minute shopping. The food for the week is purchased on one day, all most always over the weekend. Now this may be the goal, but there are underlying realties. For example, maybe we don’t want to eat the meal on the menu that evening; or maybe neither of us have the interest in cooking. When we just don’t care (and this happens), we eat out or defrost a previous meal, or sometimes scrounge something together with random ingredients in the cupboard.

All the while we have expectations for ourselves. I need to eat certain foods and this prevents eating out most of the time. My wife and I both want to eat healthy meals more often than not. We want to eat seasonally but are not as strict as we have been in the past. We want to eat meals from scratch, but sometimes we don’t want to spend more time in the kitchen. There’s a balancing act here – aspire to live by certain values vs. being human and finding comfort in laziness.  We also want to spend a certain amount of money. We may get lazy but we don’t have the finances to eat out everyday. Hence the meal planning, the leftovers and all the frozen food in the basement.

When I write the weekly menu post I have two goals in mind. On the one hand, I want readers to see what we eat in our home on a weekly basis for less than $100 a week. It’s difficult to know what the average household spends on food since most people don’t keep track. It depends so much on the number of people and what they like to eat and if they like to cook. For the two of us who want to eat ethically-raised food and I like to cook, we spend a bit less than 20% of our income on food costs. Note that the average American household spends less than 10% on food.

The other intention of the menus is to show the ways in which one can meal plan. Sometimes, though not regularly, I discuss some of the meal planning strategies that come to use each week. I do not expect others to eat like we eat. I do hope that others will see what we are doing and maybe be inspired, if anything, maybe think more about the opportunity to cook a meal at home. By no means are we a model for “how to eat healthy,” but I want others to acknowledge and attempt our way of life. The more our friends cook, the more food there is to share! That’s what it’s all about – community building.

All of this said, before I ramble any more, let me share the plan I put together for us this week:

• Nutted brown rice pilaf with greens
• Steak tacos (no recipe yet)
• Coconut braised beef (too good to not make again!)
• Penne with broccoli

I’d also like to mention that on Sunday I’m going to a ‘competitive potluck,’ for which I am very excited. The theme is New Age casserole! I can’t share my idea just yet, but I promise to write about the event with pictures to share. Next week is also the last week of my elimination diet (hard to believe, I know). After next week, I’ll reintroduce a food item one at a time and see how my body reacts. I’ll have more than this later.

For now, have a great weekend! Cook a feast, share it with loved ones and enjoy some R&R.

Related posts:

1. Kale, how I love thee (weekly menu 5)
2. Asian Madness (weekly menu 9)
3. New York, New York (weekly menu 1)

When I saw this slideshow a couple days ago on grist.org, I knew I had to share it with my readers. Even though I don’t live in a overwhelming metropolis like New York City or Paris or Tokyo, I am constantly inspired by the innovation of other people who want to grow their own food. Many, if not all of the images, remind me that size is no longer an issues when we talk about urban farming. Sure, if you want to raise chickens or grow a dozen different varieties, you may need more room. But for the simplest of foods to grow – like salad greens – these ideas are really awesome.

The industrialization of food has led many to believe that healthy food means processed food. Stickers and marketing ploys provide the nutritional data needed to eat healthy. And yet, nothing shines more of healthiness than a real, live head of lettuce. Or bush of berries. Or vine of cucumbers and tomatoes. Pretty pictures and flashy packaging may suggest healthy choices, but having food plucked fresh from the dirt transcends anything bought at the store.

Related posts:

1. Urban farming – a world of possibility
2. Critical Food Literacy and a Sustainable Food Movement
3. The Food Curriculum Project (part V) “Lesson Plan 3″

According to the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability,

The Food Policy Council is a citizen-based advisory council to the City of Portland and Multnomah County. The Council brings citizens and professionals together from the region to address issues regarding food access, land use planning issues, local food purchasing plans and many other policy initiatives in the current regional food system.

For any of readers of this blog that live in the county, this is a really great way to see what creating policy looks like. I think many people (myself included) have a naive understanding of how ideals take form in policy. When a council like this evolves and wants to enable ALL members of the conversation to participate, the challenges arise. Obviously, those who seek to make money by improving the local food system will be present and eager to have their agenda pushed. And then of course, politicians will want to support businesses because their financial support helps re-elect them.

At the same time, a council like this is incredibly important for citizens like myself (and many of you.) If you have any interest or stake in the food system in this community, here is an opportunity to voice your ideas. When you look at the food system as a whole there are many distinct functions. They want to hear from those participating in production, distribution, access, consumption, processing and recycling. Since most of us are consumers, and consumer’s money influences the means of production and distribution, we have a strong voice in the conversation.

As consumers we need transparency. In order to improve the health of ourselves and families, as well as sustain the environment and economy, there must be a clear and understandable connection from production to distribution to consumption to waste and recycling. There are multifaceted effects to each of these steps, and each of these impact the quality, cost and accessibility of healthy food. As long as any of these issues are of concern to you, I suggest you join me in attendance of the next meeting.

See you there!

Related posts:

1. Critical Food Literacy and a Sustainable Food Movement
2. A Future Food Project (or) An Idea is Born
3. “The Portland Meat Collective” (or) The Grass-Fed Manifesto (part 4)