Food for Thought

Image source.

I don't plan on talking politics in my blog (I'll leave that to the other DC student blogs, thanks) but earlier today, President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act, making it law.

Originally introduced in the Senate as S. 510 in March 2009, it was finally passed by the Senate in November 2010.  Amendments were presented and this act emerged in the House as H.R. 2751. People didn't expect it to go anywhere from there with the turnover of the House to Republicans and this act being put on the back burner.  Surprisingly, H.R. 2751 was passed in the House in June of 2009 and then passed in the Senate on December 19, 2010 (73 for, 25 against) - right before the turnover.

This legislation affects the FDA only, which regulates all foods except for meat and poultry, which is regulated by the Department of Agriculture.  This marks the first time that food regulation in the US has enjoyed major change since 1938.  It also marks the first time that the US has set food safety standards for imported foods.

Note: this post originally published on my personal blog.

Actually looking into where my food comes from... novel concept, right? (2nd post in food series)

I adapted an essay from my Local/Global Food and Farm Systems class, where we had to write a Food Diary:

I am a vegetarian, so I let some of my food habits slide because of the many ways that vegetarianism avoids environmental problems associated with factory farming. I have not yet admitted to myself that processed vegetarian foods also have negative environmental impacts and can also be part of the industrial animal-abusive food chain. I eat many unprocessed foods, like salads and vegetables, but they are rarely local, and often eaten with other processed foods like salad dressings.
Most of my food is organic or otherwise labelled as eco-friendly and targeted to concerned consumers like me. I have to look beyond the images of trees and the claims of "natural" and "green." For example, instead of butter, I use Smart Balance because it is labelled as healthier, yet its ingredient list is filled with names I cannot decipher, and one I wish I couldn't: “TBHQ for freshness,” a form of butane described by Pollan as  “the most alarming ingredient in a Chicken McNugget.”[i]

Urban agriculture event on campus Oct 9 ~ First in a series about food

Last Saturday, EcoAction and Georgetown Community Garden (formerly called GUSGI) co-hosted an event with food from the Burleith Farmers Market and three amazing speakers.

First, Christopher (Director of Business Operations) and Christian (Farm Manager) from Engaged Community Offshoots spoke about their awesome farm in Edmonston, Maryland.

 

Their story is inspiring; the four-person staff recently got a grant and found park land in Maryland, where they now have hoophouses so they could grow vertically, partner with groups like Whole Foods to get waste for their compost and restaurants like Busboys and Poets to sell their food, and teach hands-on classes for immigrant workers and college students so they can replicate this model in their own communities.

This is their mission statement from their website: “ECO seeks to reverse the effects of systemic poverty, racism, and environmental destruction through establishing and promoting social venture community-based businesses.”

DC VegFest

Tara and I at the DC VegFest with the Carrot.

Last weekend, on September 11, my friend Tara and I headed to GWU for the DC VegFest, an annual festival celebrating vegetarianism.

Neither of us had been before, so it was a really great experience.  We bought delicious falafel from Amsterdam Falafelshop, located in Adams Morgan, and vegan cupcakes from Sticky Fingers Bakery, located in Columbia Heights.  (Yes, the cupcakes were delicious - just ask the winner of Cupcake Wars, a vegan chef!  We got strawberry and cookies-and-creme cupcakes, FYI.  Both delicious!)

We also had samples from Gardein, a company that makes vegetarian meats, and some protein shakes from Vegan Bodybuilding (no lie!).

So why am I writing about this on a blog about environmental issues?  It's been suggested that the meat industry as it exists today in the United States is a major contribution to carbon emissions - according to the Environmental Defense, if every American skipped a meal of chicken a week for a vegetarian substitute, the carbon dioxide savings would be equivalent to taking more than 500,000 cars off the road.

You can save tons of carbon emissions (literally) by reducing your meat consumption - meat is a much more greenhouse-gas intensive product than vegetables are (due to the emission of methane and the huge amounts of corn required to feed the animals, not to mention the emissions due to transportation).

From Personal to Social Responsibility on Food with Marion Nestle

If Dr. Marion Nestle (pronounced aptly like the verb meaning "to nurture" as opposed to the name of the food company) could teach the American public one thing, it might be that larger portions equal more calories. Alas, that is not as easy as it sounds.

Being healthy, Dr. Nestle, the author of Food Politics (which Kristin reviewed earlier) and What to Eat who spoke on campus yesterday for the Ellen Catherine Gstalder Memorial Lecture, explains, isn't difficult to do. In reality, it's quite straightforward: Eat less, move more, eat more fruits and vegetables, don't eat junk food, and enjoy your food. However, with the barrage of corporate messaging we see today about the health miracles performed by everything from your peanut butter hyped up on omega 3s to your Immunity Rice Krispies, a trip around the supermarket can become a mix of cognitive dissonance and visual overload.

How, though, did we get to be where we are today?
Dr. Nestle spent most of her early career focusing specifically on nutrition; however, she has with time realized that we need a more systematic or holistic approach to understanding our food, one uniting agriculture, food, nutrition, and public health (obesity, hunger, food safety).

She traces back the issue of obesity to the early 1980s, noting four major changes that have influenced the American diet. First is agricultural policy. In the 1970s, farm policy shifted; rather than paying farmers not to grow, the government began paying them to grow as much as possible. Something had to be done with all of that excess food, right?

Second was the wave of deregulation that came with the Reagan administration. With this wave came an increased marketing to children from corporations. This sector grew from $4.2 billion in 1980 to $40 billion in 2010. Granted, not all of this is food-based, but just turn on Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel and count how many sugary snacks or breakfast cereals you see in the commercials. It's not hard to see.

The third factor cited is an increase in women working outside the home. Dr. Nestle, however, notes that this gets overemphasized too much because the trend had already been started in the 1960s, decades before the obesity epidemic hit.

Last but not least was the shareholder value movement. In 1981 Jack Welch of GE changed the dynamic of Wall Street, pushing for immediate return rather than consistent return over time. Food companies, then, had to sell a lot more in order to grow.

Over that same span of time, the price of fruits and vegetables has seen a steady increase (relative to inflation), and the prices of beer, butter, and soda have all fallen drastically. Not the formula for a healthy public, is it?

The information we are being fed along with the food has changed, too. Health claims on food were not possible before 1990, when the Nutrition Labeling Act was passed. Food companies, consequently, could say whatever they wanted to on their products regardless of the existence or nonexistence of scientific evidence to back up their claims. This has been upheld by courts out of a gross corruption of the First Amendment. Dr. Nestle aptly noted that when she was in school, she learned that the founding fathers included this in the Bill of Rights to protect the freedom of religious and political speech, not the freedom of corporations to lie to us about their products.

There is, however, some hope in the future. Dr. Nestle was very optimistic about Michelle Obama's commitment to this issue with her Let's Move campaign. Moreover, the health care legislation included an amendment mandating that all chain restaurants release nutritional information on their menus.

What does she recommend that we do, both as consumers and as citizens?

As a consumer (i.e. personal responsibility), you can buy food, not "products," you can make your own food or even grow your own food, and you can teach your children about where food comes from.

One of the best pieces of advice I can personally give about making sure that what you are eating is actually "food" is to look at the ingredient list. If you were given all of those items separately, could you put it back together? Could you take those monoglycerides, diglycerides, triglycerides, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, natural and artificial flavors, xanthum gum, dyes for every color of the rainbow, and make food out of it? Probably not. Stick to what you know and can pronounce.

Also, your food should be rich in color, naturally occurring color that is. I have always attempted to make my plate look as attractive as possible and have always gotten comments from friends about how colorful and crafted my salads look. Just look at the photo above of Marion Nestle from her Food Politics blog and try to tell me that the array of yellow, red, and orange does not catch your eye.

As a citizen, moreover, we must advocate for more nutritious school lunches, more access to sustainable food, and regulations on marketing lies and campaign financing.

In the words of Michelle Obama, then, LET'S MOVE!

Farming Extraordinaire Joel Salatin

This past week, I had the true pleasure of speaking to Joel Salatin, the author, farmer, and most important, owner of Polyface Farms, a holistic “beyond organic” farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Salatin describes himself as a “Christian-Libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist farmer,” and after hearing his lecture I can tell you, none of those is an exaggeration.



To me, Salatin represents everything that could be right in agriculture, and if extrapolated, in business. Polyface Farms is a for-profit entity whose goal is simple: create value through their core competency of producing great meat. However, this value-generating purpose is couched in an understanding that most industries ignore: the fact that every successful long-term business venture must internalize the costs of its actions. Right now, the American food system relies on petroleum-based fertilizers and federal government subsidies. These create several external costs that go unrecognized by the market, including soil erosion, dead zones in our seas, and aquifer depletion (the list can go on and on, but I’ll spare you, dear reader). What does it mean to externalize these costs? Well, basically, our food system is causing long-term costs for which we will have to eventually pay, but fails to include these costs in their prices. This is why Americans spend less on food (as a percentage of income) than any other society in the history of the world, why McDonalds French fries might be cheaper than the potatoes at your farmers market, why our food system is obsessed with cramming extra calories into any processed food it can find.

Joel Salatin defies this system at Polyface Farms. Polyface Farms, in its current operation, could still be around 500 years from now. Think you can say that about Monsanto, or any other food giant?

The lessons Salatin is teaching to the agriculture industry are valuable for all business ventures. The baseline responsibility for all businesses should and must be to internalize the costs of all tangible externalities their operations create, whether environmental, social, or health-related. This is easily accomplishable if done voluntarily, rather than by government regulation. Salatin understands farming, his farm, and his land. For these reasons, he is in the best position to make his operations sustainable, and it shows in his product. It also shows in his costs and, subsequently, his prices.

It has been said that the slave of destructive business practices is the consumer who makes purchasing decisions based on price. It doesn’t need to be that way. If the food industry internalized costs the way Salatin does, Polyface Farms would be the cheapest meat you could find.

New Year's Resolution Time

In honor of the new year, the blogosphere erupts with new year's resolutions. The shift from one year to the next, for many, presents the ideal time to make new personal commitments, new pledges for self-betterment. I have been pondering writing a set of new year's resolutions for myself or for Georgetown students in general; however, I feel that framing advice as a "new year's resolution" is inherently flawed. I create new self-goals all throughout the year, and I do not feel that one specific day is needed to spur them. For example, late last summer, I made a promise to myself that I would go to the Dupont Circle Farmer's Market every Sunday (as long as the weather allows), and I have kept true to this (and HIGHLY recommend that you do it, too!).

When one creates a new year's resolution, there often seems to be an undercurrent of self-doubt built into it. How many people make a resolution of better diet or more exercise and break it after the first month? We make a resolution, knowing that we might forget about it later on. However, ongoing processes of self-improvement have more meaning and, at least in my opinion, can accomplish more.

Nevertheless, I will make some recommendations of some great opportunities for progress in living an environmentally conscious lifestyle.


1) See more documentaries. This will not necessarily change your habits, but being informed is very important. Seeing movies like The Cove, The End of the Line, and Food, Inc. (which we will be screening in a few weeks) is a great way to keep the mind stimulated and active.

2) Reduce consumption of animal-based foods. I have gone on a gradual process of this over the past few years, and I think it works best as a process, not "cold turkey." Switch out a meal every so often to falafel or lentil curry or some other flavor-rich, plant-rich culinary concoction. Having already given up red meat and poultry (I still eat fish but only once in a while) and eggs, I still consume my fair share of dairy because of my love of European-style and Greek yogurt. However, as I noted, progress is a process.

3) Buy things with less packaging. This is one of my goals whenever I go shopping. For example, when I found out that England began to phase out cereal boxes (in favor of bags only), I switched from boxed to bagged and then, later, to bulk. Less packaging also means less to carry and less space taken up in the bag.

4) Find creative ways to reuse things. I have seen artwork made out of plastic bags. Make sure to pay attention to "reduce" and "reuse" in the three R's slogan for recycling.

5) Try to get the interns at your congressman or senator's office to know your name. Hopefully, Congress will make progress on climate legislation, so make your voice heard!

6) Spend less time on a laptop and more time lapping up fresh air. My rarely ever being off gmail probably sucks up a lot of energy.

Happy new year!

Slowing down food, Slowing down money

Yesterday, EcoAction hosted a lecture by Woody Tasch, the Founder of the Slow Money Alliance. He has a long background in venture capital and philanthropy, having served as the Chairman of Investor's Circle for ten years before coming to Slow Money.

First and foremost, what is Slow Money? Many of you have probably heard of the slow food movement, which began in Italy (growing out of a protest against the construction of a McDonald's)--a movement aimed against the widespread fast food culture in which we exist. A movement designed to slow down that process so that we pay more attention to what we eat and, most importantly of all, from whom and from where it came. Slow Money works out of that same ethos, applying it to the financial system. The Slow Money Alliance (with the apt acronym SMALL--hearkening back to E. F. Schumacher's "Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered") is positioning itself to revolutionize the financing of sustainable agriculture. As it stands, of the $500 billion given out by private foundations each year, only 1/100 of 1% goes to sustainable food enterprises (only $50 million--I'll do the math for you). The Slow Money Alliance is aiming at getting 1 million investors to donate 1% of their assets to what sounds like an Americanized version of microfinance. This would create a whole new stream of money devoted solely to changing the food system.

Woody Tasch's lecture was very interactive--he enjoyed quizzing the audience about the statistics he was about to throw at us, many of which were alarming. Take a moment to consider these:

• Out of every $1 spent on food, only 9 cents goes back to the farmer.
• 70% of all grains end up in cars and livestock.
• 70% of antiobiotics go to animals (mainly via factory farming), not humans.
• China built more roads in 2008 than it did in the past 50 years

The list could go on and on, but just these alone help show that we need to put our money where our mouth is and fix the actual systemic problems in the way the investment world works. To put this issue bluntly, Woody cited Nobel Laureate Joseph Stigilitz: "We aren't fixing the structual parts of the economy because we don't know what they are."

He brought up many good points throughout the talk (I would recommend checking out his recent book, "Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered"--which is now in the bookstore-- or checking out the Slow Money principles). However, I want to quickly address one of them.

The 2nd statistic: Where does our food really end up? This is an important issue with which to grapple when one is going to defend organic farming. Critics will cite that the industrial system with pesticides and GMOs produces much more and that we could not possibly feed our population with organic farming. However, so much of the production, as is, is not going to feed our population. The corn that is heavily subsidized by the government is being fed to cows that can't digest it or transformed into the chemicals that you can't pronounce on the ingedient lists of processed foods. Imagine if all of that corn (grown organically) went from the farm to our plates.

Ouch! Greenopia Gives Georgetown Lowest Environmental Rating

Greenopia, an organization that provides consumers with the information necessary to make eco-friendly decisions, released their own version of college rankings (after the US News & World Report, Forbes, Sierra, etc.). Georgetown was given only 1 out of 4 possible "leaves." Why did we rank so poorly?

Georgetown suffered because of bad environmental reporting. The survey said, "Simply put, Georgetown had some of the worst reporting we came across and this is unacceptable."

Georgetown was also criticized for lack of eco-friendly food options and alternative fuel vehicles.

Georgetown was called out for not signing on for the President's Climate Commitment, but we were commended for having a recycling rate of 37% (above average).

The summary of the report said that Georgetown is doing enough to count as "light green" but needs more aggressive action in some key areas. Agreed.

Welcome Class of 2013! Part Two (for those moving in today)

As I noted, my welcome to the class of 2013 was note quite over yesterday

We ended our list of easy steps to sustainability by talking about fueling your trip home, and now (after all of that arduous work packing) what better to discuss then how you fuel yourself?

6. Care for the WHOLE Person!
Organic farming uses less energy than conventional farming (and is better for the land), and local food requires less transportation and less pollution from produce-carrying trucks. Georgetown is in an ideal location to take advantage of the organic and local offerings of the city. And don't forget that a low-meat diet (rich in plant-based protein) is both good for you and for the planet.

Whole Foods Georgetown: 2323 Wisconsin Avenue NW (0.9 miles from the Hospital)
Trader Joe's West End: 1101 25th Street NW (1.2 miles from the Gates)

Farmer's Markets:
Dupont Circle: Sundays 9 am to 1 pm
Foggy Bottom: Wednesdays 2:30 to 7 pm
Glover Park/Burleith: Saturdays 9 am to 1 pm
Rose Park: Wednesdays 4 to 7 pm

And while we talk about shopping, don't forget to....

7. Think outside the bag!
Instead of getting plastic bags from Leo's, the Corp, CVS, or the grocery store, bring your own bag. The Corp and EcoAction sell reusable bags for shopping and Grab & Go. Plus, you'll get a discount at Vittles!

Think before taking a bag: if you can carry it or stick it in your pocket, then you probably don't need a bag! However, if you forget your bag or have too much to carry, make sure to reuse the bags when you get back to extend their lifespan.

While we talk about shopping...

8. Transparency in purchases doesn't mean window shopping!
You are conscious about the work you hand in for class, so be conscious about the products others try to give you! Whether it's organic cotton T-shirts, eco-friendly cosmetics, organic household cleaners, or recycled paper towels, there are hundreds of consumer choices than can help clean up the Earth.

After you finish up with your goods, don't forget too...


9. REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE!
There is a reason why this slogan has three parts.

REDUCE
Water bottles, made from fossil fuel-rich plastic, are rarely recycled--only 12% of bottles are recycled, leaving 40 million a day in the trash. Try investing in a Brita water filter/pitcher and a reusable water bottle. Why spend over $1 a day for a new bottle when you can carry your own and refill it at the nearby water fountain?

When you are printing out notes, syllabi, or papers for class, print them double-sided. Double-sided printing is less of a burden for you to carry and less of a burden on the environment.

REUSE
Keep old sheets of paper (like all of your NSO documents!) to use for scrap: to-do lists, notes, and doodling.

Be creative with your old water bottles. Why not put a plant in one of them to liven up your room?

Just as you should keep a reusable water bottle, take a reusable mug with you when you go to get coffee or tea, and expect a discount!

RECYCLE

Go here for information about recycling on campus.

And here for off campus.

And ask us any questions you have!

And on the topic of waste.....


10. A Good Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste: You got into Georgetown, right? Do you know what that means? It means that you definitely have the smarts, so make sure they are put to good use! Stay informed on the issues, and make sure to think about the impacts that your actions can have on yourself, your community, and your country. And get involved!

Whole Foods: What's the Whole Story?

Last Wednesday, John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, wrote an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal on health care reform. His piece, entitled "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare" has caused a lot of buzz over liberal blogs over the past week.

Mackey, a self-professed libertarian, began his piece by quoting Margaret Thatcher: "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." He, as noted, accuses the Democrats' plan of socialism and avers that health care is not a right.

The end of his piece is heavy on the logic of individual empowerment/fault, i.e. if you aren't healthy, it is your fault.



He writes,
"Recent scientific and medical evidence shows that a diet consisting of foods that are plant-based, nutrient dense and low-fat will help prevent and often reverse most degenerative diseases that kill us and are expensive to treat. We should be able to live largely disease-free lives until we are well into our 90s and even past 100 years of age."

Although this point is true, it completely ignores the issue of access to such food (as discussed in Food, Inc., Fresh, and many other documentaries), and it also ignores the expansive array of health problems (from injuries to inherent conditions) that cannot be reduced as easily. Believe me, I am all for advocating dietary habits (I can go on for hours about the needed reform of the "American diet"); however, not everyone can afford Whole Foods, a farmer's market, or other such options. We at Georgetown are lucky to have a 4 Whole Foods stores within 3 miles, over 5 Farmer's markets in that same range, a Trader Joe's, and a few small natural markets. However, this is not the case everywhere.

Mackey's critique--especially the use of the misnomer "Obamacare"--has brought about much negative attention for Whole Foods. You can read about some of the blogging rage here. Many are calling for a boycott of Whole Foods because of Mackey's talking out of line and out of touch.

Moreover, Whole Foods has been called out in the past for its troubled relationship with labor issues, having forbidden its workers to unionize.

However, one point that I think is important not to ignore is this simple fact: Mackey's salary is only $1. Back in 2007, he decided to reduce his salary and donate his stock to charity because he didn't feel that he truly needed the money.

A boycott on Whole Foods, thus, would not be hurting John Mackey's bank account.

Whole Foods also has been one of the biggest champions of green power purchasing, animal cruelty prevention, an array of community organizations, and organic farming. Whole Foods, with its branding, has attracted many people to organic and all-natural foods, improving their health and the soil at the same time.

Whole Foods has founded the Animal Compassion Foundation and the Whole Planet Foundation to expand our notions of community, and it donates 5% of its net profits to charitable causes every year.

So, whoever out there has also been following the Whole Foods controversy, what are your thoughts? I don't think that the op-ed is reason for a full-out boycott. However, trying to buy more of your produce locally is always a good idea--if that's what you decide to do (which I have been trying to get myself to do).

Regardless of what you do, always remember to think before you buy an think before you bite.

Preventive Medicine

All of this talk about health care is making me hungry for some preventive medicine...or..however you want to say that creatively.

Anyways, preventive medicine is a great way to include principles of sustainability in the health care reform because what is good for your health and what's good for the planet often coincide.

Take, for example, your food and beverage. New York talked about passing a tax on sugared soft drinks to much outrage from conservative talk radio. However, the Center for Science in the Public Interest presents this calculator that shows how much revenue could be gained from placing a small tax on sugared beverages. Getting people to eat a more healthful diet (less high-sugar, high-fat, high-sodium, highly processed food in favor of more whole foods) benefits the environment because of the energy savings from the production process--the bottling, packaging, high-fructose-corn-syrup making process that characterizes our food industry.

What else would be a part of preventive medicine?

Also valuable to both people and planet would be an increased sin tax on cigarettes, another possible source of revenue. Cigarettes, unlike other drugs, have a direct health effect on those around the user (not just the user him/herself). Smoke pollutes the air and your lungs, releasing toxins into both. If we want clean air and healthy people, smoking needs to go down.

It would not be politically feasible to levy too high of taxes on these goods; HOWEVER, the volume of the purchases produces the revenue. Money can be reinvested in healthful school lunches and anti-smoking campaigns (and the people-friendly cities noted below), and overall consumption would go down a bit (maybe just slightly--but every bit makes a difference). Food companies would be able to innovate their way out of the problem if need be--finding ways to offer healthier options to the American public. (How nice would it be to see fewer--and more prounounceable--items on the ingredients of your food!)

However, the energy you take in is not the entirety of preventive medicine; one must also think about the energy put out, i.e. exercise. Making cities and suburbs more friendly to walking and biking as alternative means of transportation keeps waistlines thinner and emissions levels thinner as well.

Healthy people, healthy planet, healthy budget, healthy reform.

The photo comes from the CSPI's site (linked above), where you should go to take action!

Who Says Mondays Can't Be Fun?

This summer, I have been reading a lot of HuffingtonPost Green, a site I would highly recommend to all of you environmental advocates out there. It is my top way of finding out about policy, analysis, trends, and fun stories connected to the environment.

In honor of today (everyone's favorite day of the week, Monday), I wanted to write about Meatless Mondays, a nonprofit initiative of The Mondays Campaign, in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which is encouraging people to give up meat (at least) one day a week. Their ultimate goal is to reduce meat consumption 15%, a goal that would benefit both the health of the public and of the planet.



The Meatless Monday's website outlines a number of the health benefits from jumping on the bandwagon with this movement.

Health Benefits:

• Reduce Risk of Heart Disease: Plant-based foods have less saturated fat and cholesterol.
• Maintain a Healthy Weight: Most Americans don't get enough fiber, and fiber comes from the bounty of the Earth!
• Improve Overall Quality of Diet: The more (natural) colors, the healthful and vitamin-rich it will be.

Environmental Benefits:

• Reduce Your Carbon Footprint: According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the meat industry emits about 1/5 of total greenhouse gases, putting it ahead of the transportation sector.
• Minimize Water Usage: From 1,800 to 2,500 gallons of water go into a single pound of beef (as opposed to 220 gallons per pound of tofu).
• Help Reduce Fossil Fuel Dependence: About 40 calories of fossil fuel energy go into every calorie of feed lot beef in the US. Plant-based protein, on the other hand, takes only 2.2 calories.

Meatless Mondays is something I would love to see brought to Leo's in the fall. Granted, it is hard to eliminate the meat options, but you could make the vegetarian options more attractive by getting some intriguing recipes.

Lost on what to eat for protein without your meat? There are plenty of options (and not just tofu), don't you worry?

• Tempeh: I like tempeh more than tofu becuase it has a more pleasant texture and a slightly nutty flavor; it's great for stir-frys.
• Edamame: the soybean itself
• Chickpeas: Do you love Middle Eastern food? Try falafel with some hummus.
• Lentils: How about some Indian food? You could try a lentil curry.
• Greek yogurt: Greek yogurt (Fage, Oikos) is delicious and very protein-dense.
• Eggs: Have breakfast for dinner, and make an omelette!
• Cheese: Make a pizza!

These are just some basic thoughts, but I'd suggest going to site above and searching for recipes. You might find something you like!

Agraria: Farmers & Fishers: The Waterfront Gets a Renovation

I just discovered today that Agraria, one of the restaurants lining Georgetown's beautiful waterfront and a long advocate of sustainable agriculture/dining, has undergone a name and menu change. Now known as "Agraria: Farmers & Fishers," it brings the influence of the water to its sister restaurant Founding Farmers (which I highly recommend and which Kristin reviewed a few months ago). Thew new Agraria has a more affordable menu with MANY more options than before, including "farmhouse pizzas" and "heritage tacos" (made in homage to the field workers who plant, tend, and harvest our food).

You can check out the new menu here.



What I am most intrigued to try:

Summer Hummus with Griddled Navajo Bread

Spicy Tuna Farm Salad

Veggie Farmhouse Pizza

Agraria's new menu still celebrates the diversity of the American family farm. With a new menu that looks this good, you may overeat, but there's at least no guilt to be felt from the sourcing of your food!

Image taken from restaurant's website.

Advocating for a Healthy Future

Rep. Louise Slaughter from New York's 28th District, seen in the photo, introduced the Protection of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act last March, and the discussion around it has been revived amidst the health care reform debates.

PAMTA is of significant importance for both environmental and medical reasons.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists,

"70 percent of antibiotics produced in this country -- nearly 13 million pounds per year -- are used in animal agriculture for these nontherapeutic purposes. This amount is estimated to be more than four times the amount of drugs used to treat human illness."

If you saw Food, Inc. (which you need to see if you have not already), you would probably remember the discussion about the feeding of antibiotics to animals to account for the settings of the factory farming situation and to make them grow faster.

These antibiotics go through the animals' digestive systems and end up in the ground, from which they will leak into the groundwater. Rep. Slaughter, a microbiologist by profession, spoke about the damaging effect this can have on human resistance to drugs.

Do you want safe food and water? Do you want people and animals do be in good health? I'm sure you do. So, go here to get your voice heard.

The photo is taken from Rep. Slaughter's website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22483217@N06/

Another reason to be a vegetarian

For all you pescetarians, I highly recommend you see this movie: End of the Line.

It is about overfishing, and while I have only seen the trailer, it looks like something everyone should see. Here's the description:

"Narrated by Ted Danson and based on the book by Charles Clover, THE END OF THE LINE explores the devastating effect that overfishing is having on fish stocks and the health of our oceans. Scientists predict that if we continue fishing at the current rate, the planet will completely run out of fish by 2048."

Here is a website that gives some examples about what to do: Seafood Watch. If you don't think you can give up eating fish, at least check to see which fish populations are less endangered, or how the fish you eat were caught. The more you know...!



(Image from: http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2011/finalwebsite/problem/problem.shtml)

Book Review: Food Politics

Leaving the realm of traditional environmentalism for a minute to quickly discuss Food Politics by Marion Nestle, a professor from NYU and an adviser to/member of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Agriculture, and the Food and Drug Administration.

SIDE NOTE: She also keeps a blog, appropriately titled Food Politics, dedicated to giving consumers/readers up-to-date information about food in the news.

This book was particularly interesting to me, since I have a particular affinity for the relationship between food and the environment. It may be a bit too in depth for some likings, but it is very (as the title alludes to) political.

For example, the FDA is powerless to recall many products, particularly beef. Following the mad cow disease breakout, Oprah Winfrey had a guest from the Humane Society on her show, where they discussed the fact that cows are fed to other cows. (Gross.) She replies, "It has just stopped me cold from eating another burger!"

As a result, she got sued by the beef industry under veggie-libel laws, i.e. for inciting fear in consumers. She went to trial in January 1998 and ultimately won, but the legal fees were astronomical - and certainly enough to quiet any regular consumer.

(Nestle also discusses "McLibel," which I won't get into here but I found fascinating. It was a group of poor activists who distributed "libelous" pamphlets about McDonalds in the UK and were sued by McDonalds. They won.)

At the heart of this book, is the fact that some foods are good for you and some are bad for you. This goes against what food providers want you to think - since if you believe that every food can be good for you, then you can't write their food off.

Nestle discusses how companies/lobbying firms can seem bigger than governments - at least in terms of the amount they have to spend on advertising/lawsuits. The connections between food lobbies and members of Congress seem pretty indicative to me that there's a lack of impartiality going on.

This book also provides certain insights into how government agencies work regarding food. Nestle devotes a large section to supplements, which are in limbo regarding regulation - not food, not quite medicine. They essentially have free reign over how they market their product.

Most disturbing is the fact that the FDA is powerless to carry out many of the actions that it is meant to do. The FDA has not banned any supplements following the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, although there have certainly been harmful products, because of budget deficiencies.

Nestle also discusses food fortification (which she calls "techno-foods"), which has many flaws. Conceptually, it fails because foods like fruits or vegetables are so intricate that isolating one chemical or one vitamin is not the equivalent of eating the entity. Though in some circumstances, it has worked - see: salt and iodine. However, industrialized countries consume much more iodine than they need.

At the end of her book, she briefly discusses "food ethics," which she describes as eating food that is close to its source and local - foods which are good for you and the earth.

Farmer's Market Closer Than Ever!

It's summer time and that means all sorts of yummy fruits are in season - and what better place to go than the NEW farmer's market in Glover Park/Burleith, located at Wisconsin and 34th, right across from where Safeway is (was?).

It's open Saturdays from tomorrow until the beginning of October until 1pm.

For more information, go here. This is a great addition to the other set of great farmer's markets in DC (including the one in Georgetown at Rose Park on Wednesdays from April to October from 4-7pm and the one in Dupont on Sundays year round until 1pm).

Hungry for Change?: Food Inc. Opens Today

Back in April, Kristin, Mara, Alice, and I went to an advance screening of Food Inc. at the National Geographic Center here in DC (16th and M, in case you ever go in the future).

I believe Kristin wrote about it in the past, so I won't go into great detail. You can read a lot of reviews on it at Rotten Tomatoes (linked above) or at Huffington Post.

Regardless, you must go see it! It is, to make an analogy, the "Inconvenient Truth" of the food system...but much more colorful and more enjoyable.

Photo is the movie poster for Food, Inc.: http://www.foodincmovie.com/.

The Norms of Food

In the article "School Lunches Around the World" in the Huffington Post, Marlene Phillips discusses the new Country Watch column from the website School Food Policy. These columns highlight the vastly different mentality that other countries hold toward food, in contrast to the US.

Think back to your high school cafeteria or even the "upgrade" to your dining hall. What food surrounds you? Burgers, fries, pizza, fried foods, overly sugared and overly oiled entrees. Of course, there will be a salad bar, but it, too, feels institutional. This "cornucopia" of the American diet does not change much from elementary school to college--the food quality might get a bit better, one would hope.

Let's take a short world tour to see how other countries engage in the ritual we call lunch...

For Japan,
"Japanese schoolchildren eat lunch in the classroom, and students take turns serving the meal and cleaning up afterward. Their teacher eats the same food with them -- typically rice, soup, fish and milk -- and pays close attention to manners."

The lunch here is actually made into something that teaches manners (the serving aspect) and a balanced diet. It is simple but appealing. Even better, the schools send out a calendar to the parents each month detailing the benefits of the food provided; I doubt most schools in the US would want to detail the "nutritional benefits" or detail the "organic and local variety" of their lunches (Sidwell, excluded).

To move from healthful and simple to a healthful gourmet, look at France,
"Here's what students in one Paris school district ate for lunch last Tuesday: cucumbers with garlic and fine herbs; Basque chicken thigh with herbs, red and green bell peppers and olive oil; couscous; organic yogurt and an apple. For snack, they had organic bread, butter, hot chocolate and fruit."

Reading this made me jealous. I would love to see this in any public school cafeteria or, even more so, in college. A colorful lunch, rich with produce and organic options--and some seasoning. Moreover, how awesome would it be for school to give organic bread, fruit, and hot chocolate as a snack?

When thinking about the environment, health, and community building (aka socialization process), I think Italy would win:
"On a recent Friday, students in the northern city of Piacenza ate zucchini risotto and mozzarella, tomato and basil salad. Tomorrow they're getting pesto lasagna, a selection of cheeses and a platter of garden vegetables. Meat only shows up on menus only once or twice a week, and it's usually not the main course."

I would have to say that the zucchini risotto and tomato and basil salad sound like better meatless options than the mediocre pizza that often characterizes our schools.

Such a diet not only confers environmental benefits (i.e. those conferred by organic diets, local diets, and vegetarian diets), but also promotes good health. Marlene Phillips makes a good point when she notes that we end up paying "twice" for these meals: once for their existence and a second time for the health detriments caused by them. A nation plagued with rising obesity rates and diabetes rates could save money on health care if the national diet of fat, salt, and sugar was eschewed for something like the examples above. I think it would be fascinating to see the economics done on the correlation of such a diet and health care costs; it is very difficult to extract the individual costs of many of the problems people face, but a good diet and exercise are always habits good for a healthy person and, likewise, a healthy planet.

(Photo courtesy of School Food Policy)