This is an amazing video! Martha Carlson is a farmer raising sugar maples, a teacher, scientist and now a climate activist. she explains that the rise in temperatures in the last three decades is matched by a parallel drop in sugar content of the sap, trees dying early and the possibility of maple sugars vanishing by 2100. We all know that correlation does not mean causation but the problem is evident, “on page 2” as she puts it, and it is time to find a solution.
Posted in Climate Change, Food Security, Green
Tagged climate change, food security, Green
There has been a lot of discussion this week on an article on farms in Mexico growing organic tomatoes to supply the American market. While, the decision to buy organic is understandable, the idea of demanding tomatoes in winter is not such a good one. Tomatoes are out of season in winter so they have to be shipped in from Mexico: this process, while profitable for the farmers poses sustainability issues. The climate is conducive to growing tomatoes in winter but it is essentially a dry, desert area which means that, even though the farmers are using drip irrigation methods, water reserves have been almost exhausted. Many consumers feel that if they buy organic, they are doing the right thing by the family they feed and the planet. Unfortunately, these decisions are more complex than they seem at first look. The cultivation of asparagus in Peru to ship to European markets in winter presents a similar story.
Here is a basic rule to live by: buy in season. There are no tomatoes in winter so choose recipes that do not require them to be produced in an unsustainable way and shipped using fossil fuels just because we think we must have organic tomato salad. It is hard: I know because I am a tomato devotee having a tough time avoiding those luscious piles of redness at the grocery store but it has to be done to conserve our resources and ease the strain on our planet.
Posted in Food Policy, Food Security, Living, Nutrition
Tagged food decisions, food policy, Green, Living, nutrition, organic tomatoes
How’s that for a new year’s resolution? We knew this time would come: time to put away the cookies and reach for the kale, time to start paying off the holiday bills and trying to stick to a budget. It’s not difficult if we make good choices, such as the helpful tips posted by Chef Marcus Samuelsson . He lists healthy choices like oatmeal and beans which are big on nutrition and easy on the budget. Sometimes, though, we face time constraints and instant oatmeal or a frozen entrée seems to be the only option. In such a case, one can adopt a middle path: beans yes, but canned ones which have been thoroughly rinsed or we could still use the dried beans but cook them in a pressure cooker. If you have never used a pressure cooker before, please do try one. They cook food in far less time than the stove top so that you save money on utilities as well. And as always, eating fresh produce that is in season means you spend less since the food is not processed and has not been transported over a long distance. And with all that healthy stuff inside us, we will be ready to tackle the tough issues: school lunch, Farm Bill, climate change, food justice, it is a long list!
Posted in Climate Change, Food Justice, Green, Living, Nutrition
Tagged climate change, farm bill, Food Justice, Green, Living, nutrition
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,900 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 32 trips to carry that many people.
Posted in Uncategorized
It has been a hectic few weeks as the year closed, in fact it seemed like a hectic year all throughout! At times like these, harried and rushed we forget to pay attention to the fuel we are using and reach for the sweet treats and turn into the nearest fast food place. So, here is an idea for a resolution: before we eat, let’s stop and think about our choices. Apparently, we are starting to make better food decisions, eating more fruit and yogurt and cutting back on beef. But we still cannot seem to let go of the corn and potatoes, the cheese and sweets so that needs some work.
Thank you for reading and supporting Thought+Food this year, that is what keeps this endeavor going. I will continue to follow the Farm Bill and the school lunch issues more closely and bring you information that is essential to keeping you, your family and the planet healthy. A very Happy New Year! See you in 2012!
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged farm bill, food decisions, happy new year, school lunch
I came across this interesting article which captures the two basic problems in the kitchen today: time and skills. The writer makes the point that for parents getting home from work and then ferrying the kids to various activities, there is very little time to prepare a dinner from scratch with fresh ingredients. Add to that the fact that many of these parents grew up on TV dinners themselves and their culinary skills are basic or even in some cases, lacking and the problem gets more complicated. So, what is the harried parent to do? Is stopping by a fast food place or heating up a packaged dinner in the microwave once a week completely off the table? No, I don’t think it should be, not if this happens once a week. Unlike the cooking shows we all love to watch, we do not cook in a beautiful kitchen studio or a sunny deck in some gorgeous countryside with all the time in the world. We cook in a time crunch, while supervising homework and doing chores and we have to clean up afterwards. Opting out once a week so we stay sane and actually enjoy the kids ice-skating or playing soccer and talking to them is just fine.
Most Indians have always bought their fruits and vegetables at the stall at the corner of the road, or the nice store that would deliver even a bunch of cilantro or a bunch of carrots to your home if you were in a fix. The supply chain that brought this produce to the market was haphazard at best. Now, all that is set to change, with the Indian government deciding to allow foreign investment in the retail sector, upto 51% for multi-brand retailers like Walmart and Carrefour. There will be various conditions that they will have to satisfy, such as a minimum amount invested in 5 years, support for rural infrastructure and jobs etc. How all these plans work out remains to be seen but the retail scene for food will change drastically. The new policy is expected to dampen inflation, bring in more efficiency and productivity and reduce wastage. Matthew Yglesias pointed out that it will probably result in the top 1% getting extremely rich but so along as the families around the median and the extremely vulnerable are not squeezed, the policy should be a positive one. I am not so sure ,mostly for the food sector. All the people involved in growing, transporting and bringing this food to the family table ( and they number in the millions)will be affected as this policy is put in place. In time, they may benefit but the initial impact will be hard. At a time when there is mounting hunger , malnutrition and concerns about the impact of climate change on agricultural productivity ( specially in South Asia), this new policy will add another variable to an already volatile situation. Caution and a long term perspective should be the way to go in this regard.
Posted in Climate Change, Food Justice, Food Policy, Food Security, Price Rise
Tagged climate change, Food Justice, food policy, food security, Hunger, Price Rise
The Environmental Working Group has just published its report on farm subsidies in the US based on data from the year 2009. Before getting to the analysis itself, it is important to note that the report is based on 2009 numbers because the USDA demonstrates a troubling lack of transparency when it comes to giving out information. What emerges is a clear picture of a subsidy program gone astray. First off, the recipients of these payments are not required to even work on or won a farm. Indeed, the biggest beneficiaries of a program intended to help farmers are actually big agribusinesses, particularly in the south. How uneven is the distribution of this pie? The top 10% of the beneficiaries of this program received 55% of the total payments. Even this cursory reading will reinforce what we know already: small farms which are more vulnerable to the vagaries of prices and weather are not befitting from direct payments at all. This program is merely handing out cash to big players in crops like corn, wheat and soy. Remember that fruits and vegetables are not even covered by this program. So if we are looking to overhaul the food system, eliminate junk and encourage healthy eating, subsidy reform seems like a really good place to start. The EWG data presentation is detailed, fascinating and even available by state here.
Posted in Food Justice, Food Policy, Food Security, Nutrition, Price Rise
Tagged food policy, food security, nutrition, Price Rise
Worldwide, food inflation is a worry.The rising prices have been attributed to failing harvests, rising population and increased demand for food, increased consumption/changing consumption patterns in emerging economic powers, the demand for ethanol etc. But a key factor that is not often mentioned is speculation in agricultural commodity prices which often cause severe fluctuations in the price of staple foods like corn, wheat, or soy, for the consumer. When we click a button to execute a trade and then look at the profits afterward, we may sometimes lose sight of the fact that food is not like any other commodity and trading in food is often the same as trading in hunger. It would seem obvious that there is a need to ban or at least limit trading in essential food commodities. Like other contentious issues such as subsidies, however, there is a lack of political will and consensus in making this happen. More on this here.
Posted in Food Policy, Food Security, Hunger, Price Rise, Uncategorized
Tagged food policy, food security, Hunger, Price Rise
Fruit snacks often do not contain any fruit at all, they merely deliver sugar from fruits. In other words, they are just the same as candy. This is the rationale behind the Center For Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)’s lawsuit filed against General Mills. So, why are these products filling up shelves at grocery stores? Most people do not read the list of ingredients or nutritional information on packaged products. If it says “FRUIT” in bold letters on the front, this is often accepted at face value. Kids love these snacks, they are easy to pack in lunch boxes and take on the daily round of activities. A child who will turn up their nose at slightly tired looking apple slices will happily eat up a fruit snack. But the truth of the matter is that these are not fruit, but sugar. The underlying issue, though, is one of time. We live our lives at a blistering pace where time for cutting up fresh fruit or reading labels closely just does not exist. It would be better for us all, as people and as a nation, if we stopped to take a breath and rearrange priorities. In the meantime, consumer must take the responsibility of reading the label and be sure of the contents of the product that is being purchased while companies need to be honest and accurate in the information they provide.
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