Food Security

During high school summer vacations, I worked in a gift catalogue warehouse. I loved climbing up the racks to pull inventory off the shelves and then packing them in boxes.  The machine that filled the boxes' empty space with peanuts was particularly fun.  I couldn’t have made more than $8/hour, but as a high school kid this was great.  I loved the organization of the work flow and the sense of accomplishment when the UPS man came everyday to ship off our hard work.

The warehouse was in an industrial park just outside DC, on the other side of the Potomac River from Anacostia.  There were no grocery stores, cafes or even food trucks.  If you wanted lunch, you either had to bring it from home or rely on the vending machine in the staff lunchroom.  I was lucky… I came from a home where dinner was cooked every night, and groceries were bought every week.  I had access to a full refrigerator every morning to make a full meal with two mid-day snacks.

For my colleagues, this was less than ideal.  The warehouse manager was an older man, in his late 50s or 60s.  He had been with the company for years and his wife packed his lunch every day.  The sticking memory for me was a big, black woman.  She had 5 kids at home and a husband who worked a similar blue collar job.    Though I had little concept of this at the time, it’s hard to imagine she made more than $12/hour.  A fine wage for a single person, just getting her start in the world.  But for a 40-something woman with significant responsibilities at home, this would barely cover the rent, much less put a satisfying, warm meal on the table.

Every day at lunch, I would pull out my bag, brimming with delectable treats.  And she would slip 2 quarters into the vending machine for a packet of peanut butter crackers.  I had no concept of hunger, but I knew the basics of a healthy diet.  And as I watched her waddle around the warehouse, I would think that for the same 50 cents, she could get an apple – a more healthy choice for her money. 

But if you’re hungry, you’re not thinking about which choice is healthier.  You’re thinking about which choice will ease the hunger pangs a little longer.  I would have made the same choice. I was too ashamed to ask more about her home-life.   As much as I enjoyed working with her, I was uncomfortable with the disparities of our “financial realities” (a term I co-opted from business school). 

After I graduated from cooking school, I started teaching cooking classes to low-income families in danger of hunger and malnutrition as part of Share Our Strength’s direct service program Operations Frontline (now Cooking Matters).   My former colleague would have been an ideal candidate for this program.

I was teaching a group of women originally from the Caribbean.  I had heard rice and beans were popular in their culture.  So I pulled out a New Orleans cookbook, found a great recipe and then adapted it to be healthier and more economical.  The class was a flop!  My version of stewed beans over a bed of rice was night and day away from their tradition of rice cooked together with beans. The message of adapting recipes was lost.  (I’m sure you saw that coming)

Twenty-five years after my first encounter with food security and hunger, these challenges still plague families across the country.  But as I’ve learned over the years, the issues are complex.  They range from access to affordable, healthy choices to understanding the needs and traditions of the local communities to education.

I still don’t know the answer.

Two people working on solutions in Massachusetts are Dave Jackson and Glynn Lloyd.

Dave owns and manages Enterprise Farm in Western Massachusetts.  He primarily sells his organic produce through his farm-stand and CSA subscriptions.  This year, he’s starting something new.  He purchased an old school bus which he retrofitted with display shelves.  Throughout the growing season he will drive his bus around the Boston-area food deserts selling his impeccably fresh produce at discounted prices to people who may not otherwise have access.

Glynn tackles the issues from both educational and access perspectives. Having grown up in the underserved neighborhood of Roxbury, he understands the needs and traditions of this community.   His first company, City Fresh Foods, is a leading meal delivery food service provider in the Metropolitan Boston Area.  They serve meals to children enrolled in child care, school students, guests in various residential programs and homebound elders.  Based in the neighborhood where Glynn grew up, he employs people from the community – not only giving them a good job, but also educating them in how healthy, affordable food is prepared.

Glynn’s second business, City Growers, is creating access to fresh food by converting inner-city brown spaces into viable green spaces that grow produce to be distributed within the community. 

Who are the food-heroes in your community?

The Cost of Organics

About a year ago, a commercial aired on TV with a woman lamenting the high cost of organics:

“I don’t understand why organics cost more when you’re getting less.”

She was referring to less chemicals and additives.  Thankfully, I haven’t seen that commercial air again… it makes no sense!  But it raises the more important issue of why organics cost more than conventionally grown and raised produce and meats.  As I scoured the web for facts and figures, I discovered some interesting findings:

Organic farming is often more cost effective than conventional:

1.    Farms that switch from conventional farming practices to organic reportedly have lower yields in the first 5 years.  But as the soil health recovers and nitrogen levels increase, yields improve. Over time, organic farms have greater yields than conventional farms, especially in drought conditions.

2.    Because organic farms utilize sustainable farming practices like crop rotation, composting and cover-cropping, the inputs (such as water, fertilizer and insecticides) can be less expensive, one study reporting 28% less.

Nonetheless it is more expensive at the supermarket. The reasons are numerous, and several relate to the infamous “Farm Bill”

1.    Labor on organic farms is higher, anywhere from 15% – 35% higher, depending on which study you reference.  The higher labor cost, in part, results from implementing sustainable farming practices such as crop rotation and cover cropping.   These farming practices require year-round labor.  Further, organic farmers are more likely to work on their own land without “billing” the farm.

2.    For farmers raising livestock, the cost of organic feed is more expensive.  Commercially raised grains are less expensive due to the subsidies in the farm bill that keep the cost of “commodity crops” artificially low.

3.    For processed foods like frozen dinners or baked goods, incorporating commodity crops into the production keeps the costs low.

The 2008 Farm Bill is over 1,700 pages, and covers a range of topics including the infamous “commodity” crops: wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, long grain rice, medium grain rice, pulse crops, soybeans, and other oil seeds.  Farmers receive payments for these crops when prices fall below a certain threshold.  The more the farmer grows, the greater the payment.  And with more commodity crops flooding the market, the price drops further – a simple function of high supply with level demand. 

To bring it full circle, many farmers, food producers and other large companies are figuring out ways to use these less expensive commodity crops in the normal course of operation to save money.   For example, cattle farmers feed their animals corn instead of grass and grain, even though it is not part of their evolutionary developed diet, because it is cheaper.

Recent changes made to the farm bill have made organic farming more financially viable.

1.    Previous versions of the Farm Bill dictated that organic farms must pay a 5% surcharge for crop insurance.  This has been revoked.

2.    Up until recently, organic certification could cost on average $750, plus .5% of revenues, with the farmer bearing the cost of the certification process.  For farmers raising livestock, there’s an additional cost based on the number of heads.   In the current version, funds have been allocated to reimburse 75% of the cost of certification, up to $750 per farm.

The 2008 Farm Bill is over 1,700 pages, and covers the following “commodity” crops: wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, long grain rice, medium grain rice, pulse crops, soybeans, and other oil seeds.  Farmers receive payments for these crops when prices fall below a certain threshold.  The more the farmer grows, the greater the payment.  And with more grains on the market, the price drops further. 

Given the wealth of information about the costs of organic, I had hoped to offer you a clear reason for the price discrepancies.  But the best I can argue would be that the cost-savings in fertilizers and other inputs is erased by the increased labor costs.  As more farms transition to organic and realize the increased yield potential, prices may drop.

Resources
Biotechnology Fails to Increase Farm Yields
Organic vs. Conventional Farm Yield Study Overview
Cornell Study evaluating the costs of organic vs. conventional farming
The 2008 Farm Bill
Organic Farm Certification
Farm Bill Programs and Grants for Organic Farmers

 

Sweet Corn Chowder

Corn-chowder
For all the malign commercial corn receives from the sustainable agricultural community, sweet summer corn is literally a whole different beast… and savored for its sweet, crunchy flavor. Sweet corn growers limit their production to varieties meant for eating “unprocessed” – fresh off the cob or frozen. The corn of “Food, Inc infamy”, dent corn, deserves all the flack. The more starchy varieties get processed for corn starch, corn syrup, and animal feed. Dent corn, treated with lye, is used to make masa harina and tortillas.

You can still be a self-respecting sustainable agriculture advocate and enjoy sweet summer corn. I do!

Fresh picked corn needs little adornment, just barely a hint of salt or butter. Its peak flavor is best appreciated with 48 hours of harvesting. After that, the sugars begin converting to starch – even the texture deteriorates.

Recipes abound for corn chowder with all sorts of seasonings and flavors. But when corn is super fresh, I like mine very simple.

Corn Chowder

6 ears corn
2 tbs. butter
1 tbs. chopped garlic
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
¼ cup white wine
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup cream
Salt and pepper to taste
3 small Yukon gold potatoes
2 scallions or one cubanelle pepper, diced

1. Shuck the corn. Cut the corn kernels off the cob. Save the corn cobs.

2. In a large pot, over medium heat, melt 1 tbs. butter. Add ½ the corn, ½ the garlic, and the onion. Let cook for about 3 minutes before stirring. Add the wine, corn cobs and chicken broth. Let simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile… cut the potatoes into a medium dice. Toss them with salt and let sit for 5 minutes. Rinse off excess salt.

4. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add remaining butter and potatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. When potatoes are al dente (timing will depend on how small you cut the potatoes) add the remaining garlic and corn. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in cubanelle peppers and/or scallion.

5. Finish making the corn chowder… fish the cobs out of the broth and scrape all the juice out and back into the pot. Puree the broth in a blender – be careful with the hot liquid – and be sure to take the center plug out of the center of the blender top to let the steam escape.
6. Return the corn stock to the pot and stir in the cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Serve the soup with the corn and potato garnish. Top with a dollop of romesco sauce or sun-dried tomato pesto if desired.

High Summer (Recipe: Homemade Mozzarella)

Caprese-salad
At the peak of summer, local tomatoes burst with juicy, sweetness. Their bright acidity calls out for the rich, creamy taste of fresh mozzarella. Now-a-days, you can find so many varieties of heirloom and hybrid tomatoes at the local farmers’ markets and kitchen gardens – and when they are truly vine-ripened, they have a wonderful texture and chin-dripping juiciness. It almost doesn’t matter what variety you pick – they are all delicious! Taste around and pick your favorite. I prefer lower acidity and sweeter flavor.

Why can’t you get a good tomato in February, even if they’re labeled “vine ripened”? Tomatoes go through several phases of development and ripening. Once the fruit has formed behind the flower they go through the green stage, when the tomatoes have a matte sheen and the ripening state when the skin has a more shiny gloss. Tomatoes picked in the green stage will never ripen. On a commercial level, these green tomatoes are treated with ethylene gas to commence the ripening process. Unfortunately, the USDA does not regulate the definition of “vine-ripe” and many commercial producers of tomatoes use the term at their marketing convenience. Because tomatoes are shipped across the country and around the world, producers rely on these tricks to stabilize tomatoes for shipment and increase overall shelf-life. And this is why a February tomato is sometimes referred to as No-mato and can be used in a game of baseball (see video on this page – it’s funny and sad!)

Now that we’re in peak tomato season, I’m savoring them in all sorts of preparations… sauces, pasta and a quintessential summer caprese salad. To do justice to these fine summer jewels, I made my own mozzarella cheese. Sort of. I purchase the curd and then pull it by hand.

Mozzarella curd can be purchased at Armenian markets or through a restaurant wholesale distributor. If purchasing in bulk, I recommend cutting the curd down into 1 pound blocks, wrapping it tightly in plastic and freezing it. The curd will last for 2 years this way.

Mozzarella

mozzarella curd

milk

salt

1. Bring large pot of heavily salted water to a boil

2. Break curd apart into small pieces in a stainless steel bowl.

Mozz-curd-1
3. When water is just below a boil (about 190-200F), pour water over curd to cover.

Mozz-curd-2

Stir just a little, and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Keep remaining water hot.

Mozz-curd-3

4. Meanwhile, fill a bowl with ice, milk and water. The milk bath will be the final storage place for the freshly made mozzarella. The ice will quickly cool the cheese so that it will hold its shape. The milk will keep a balance of flavor in the cheese so that the flavor doesn’t leach out into the storing liquid. The ice bath is all crucial for your hands – to help cool them before stretching the hot curds.

5. Drain water off mozzarella curd. Cover a second time with hot water.

6. Using wooden spoons to grab the curd, pull it out of the water and let it stretch back in… this will smooth out the curds.

Mozz-pulling-1
Mozz-pulling-2

7. When there are just a few lumps left in the cheese, grab about a ¼ pound lump and stretch it into a ball. As you’ll be using your hands at this point, it helps to briefly cool your hands in the ice water before grabbing the cheese.

Mozz-cooling-hands
Mozz-ball-1
Mozz-ball-2
Mozz-ball-3

8. When the balls are smooth and round put them in the ice bath to cool and store. Slice and serve.

Thanks to Wes for taking the action shots.

Chocolate Give-Away — and Investing in a Sustainable Food System

People have become accustomed to cheap food. At the grocery store, we expect to pay less than $3 for a gallon of milk, and $1/pound for whole chicken. Many people scoff at the “high” price of organics and farmers’ market produce. Unfortunately, conventional and processed food has hidden costs, externalities not factored into the price structure:  The farm subsidies which keep the costs artificially low, the extra health care costs from a culture that has become fatter and fatter from the “western diet”. And the environmental impact of processing and shipping food, and soil erosion.  Worse still, conventional food producers do not have the same commitment to paying workers and farmers a fair wage.

The economics of our food system are broken.  We need to make investments in farms and food producers that not only sell high quality products, but also practice sustainable farming.  We need to shift our focus from solely looking at short-term financial returns to include long-term social returns. 

Equal Exchange has been championing a sustainable food system since 1986 by helping small farmers bring chocolate, coffee and tea to market and earn a fair profit for their crops. And Slow Money is a new organization that is looking for ways to invest money in our local food economies so that we not only grow more healthy food, but preserve the land and our environment.

Several weeks ago, I went to the National Gathering for Slow Money in Burlington, VT. The highlights were listening to Joel Salatin (from Polyface Farm) and Gary Hirschberg (CEO of Stonyfield) speak about the nature of their organic businesses.

You may recall Mr. Salatin from Omnivores’ Dilemma and Food, Inc.  He’s an engaging speaker whose business focus is not on earning or profits, but on producing the highest quality product and protecting the environment.  He posits, if revenues drop, the solution is not in marketing, but in improving quality:  a high quality product sells itself.

Gary Hirschberg provided an interesting counterpoint to Polyface’s business model. You may recall that Stonyfield was sold to DANONE several years ago, and has since brokered a deal with Wal-Mart to sell yogurt in their stores. Stonyfield got a lot of flak from the “organic” community for this decision. But Mr. Hirschberg reminded us that we need to help organic become a mainstream food item, not an elitist luxury. Selling through Wal-Mart is an important step in that goal.

I was also impressed by some of the real, tangible cost savings that Stonyfield reaps by being organic. Humanely raised cows yield more milk and live longer. Ultimately, the cost of milk produced from his cows is less expensive than the commercial counterpart. As such, he pays more to the farmers for their milk so that they can earn a respectable wage for their work.

Equal Exchange is an important player in a sustainable food economy. In addition to being a champion of all farmers having the right to earn a fair profit for their crops, they also give out $65,000 in grants to organizations who are working to support Fair Trade, small-farmers and co-operatives. In fact, every year they give out 7% of net profits in this manner.
Equal Exchange appreciates your interest in sustainable food systems.

As a thank you, they will give a $40 gift certificate to one lucky reader. All you need to do is leave a comment here. And please share your thoughts on sustainable food systems and organic vs. conventional. A winner will be announced on Tuesday, July 6th. You must have an active PayPal account to receive the gift certificate.

Update: The deadline has passed for the give-away and the winner has been notified.  Congratulations to Miss Maya who won the gift certificate.  Thanks to all for the wonderful comments.

Soil Amendments (Recipe: Banana Bread)

Banana-bread Photo Credit: My Recipes

I thought I had just watered the ficus tree in the hallway, but when I looked at it this morning, the soil was bone-dry. I gave it a quart of water, but the water quickly raced to the bottom of the pot into the base plate. Within hours, the soil was dry again. It’s a miracle the plant is still alive.

I bought the ficus tree a few weeks after moving into my first Boston apartment. Like me, it’s had several homes in the last 15 years… moving into larger and larger pots. Its current home is a 5 gallon, ceramic planter.

The soil is depleted of nutrients and structure. After several years in the same pot without refreshing the soil, it can no longer hold water. The tree has sucked out every ounce of life from the soil. Sure, I can add fertilizer or plant food to the soil, but it won’t rebuild the soil to help it retain moisture and nutrients to slowly feed the roots.

The same type of soil erosion happens in our gardens and in our farm lands. Plants take the nutrients out of the soil to support their growth. And if we don’t replenish the soil, we can’t continue to grow healthy plants. Many commercial farmers (and home gardeners) opt for chemical fertilizers and amendments to add the nutrients back.

The chemical soil amendments give the requisite nitrogen and phosphorus, and commercial farmers can grow more corn and wheat. But unless the soil is regenerated, these fertilizers are like a crack addiction: the farmers must add more and more to get the same effect. And the sea-life becomes collateral damage. The run-off from these chemically treated fields in the corn belt of the US flows into the Gulf of Mexico, creating algae bloom, depleting oxygen levels in the water, and suffocating sea life. The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, where fish no longer survive, spans approximately 7,000 square miles.

Photo_deadzone

Image Credit: Fair Food Fight

A primary tenant of organic, sustainable farming is to maintain healthy soil so that it can regenerate itself without artificial enhancements, and without creating run-off that kills other plants or animals. We can amend our soil naturally, keeping its structure healthy so that we don’t need chemical fertilizers.

Organic and sustainable farming practices implement a variety of methods to maintain soil health: crop rotation, cover crops and compost. Cover crops, such as legumes and clover, are planted in off-seasons to replenish the soil naturally with nitrogen.   For large-scale farmers this also would mean growing a variety of crops (and
not just miles and miles of corn), rotating the crops across different
plot of land, and letting the land lay fallow every several years. 
Unfortunately, most commercial farmers do not do this, nor do government subsidies support this.

For the home gardener, compost offers another option.

Compost is decomposed organic matter, it can be animal scraps (or waste), vegetables or leaves. Compost looks like dirt and has no smell. It can be worked into existing soil to help replenish the nutrients and structure. My compost bin is a receptacle for food scraps, harnessing all the left-over nutrition to feed back into the ground.

Around my house, I have other natural sources of nitrogen. The spent coffee grounds are chock-full of nitrogen, as is the leftover ash from the charcoal grill. I sprinkle these all over the garden in the spring.

As for my ficus tree, I will take it out of its pot, add the old dirt to my compost bin and give it fresh soil.

Banana Bread

The banana peels get tossed into the compost bin. In a few months, I’ll have fresh soil for the garden (and my ficus tree).  It also goes great with a cup of coffee.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or more all-purpose flour)
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
6 tbs. butter
2/3 cup sugar
zest from 1 lemon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
5 bananas – to yield about 1 1/4 cup mashed pulp

  1. Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder.
  2. In an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.  Add the lemon zest, vanilla, eggs and banana.
  3. Fold in flour.
  4. Bake in a greased loaf pan for 1 hour at 350F.

Fair Trade (and CHOCOLATE GIVEAWAY)

If life were fair, everything would cost more.

Regularly, books and movies report on the commercial agricultural industry’s dependence on corn, and government subsidies are revealed to keep food prices artificially low. While we still pay for the high cost of food, we do so in taxes, and not at the supermarket.

Small-scale farmers, who do not receive these subsidies, must charge more for their food to earn even a modest wage. While sustainable farming can be less expensive in the long-run, it’s a costly path. I try to support the local farmers, even if it costs more, because I know that I’m helping to preserve our food-systems and keep more money in my community.

In second- and third- world countries, from where we get most of our coffee and chocolate, farmers make even less. The path from field to table is long, and provides little (if any) support for the farmer. They make pennies a day – most of the profits go to the middlemen in this supply chain.

Equal Exchange, a national leader in fair-trade, created a new path for small farmers to get their products to market. They do this by partnering with small-scale farmer coops. Through this process, we can be closer to the source of our food and the farmers see a greater portion of the profits – enabling them to better support their own community.

Fair Trade includes:
• Direct purchasing from those who are poorly served by conventional markets, specifically small farmers and their co-operatives.
• Agreed upon commodity floor prices that provide for a dignified livelihood.
• A promise by importers to make affordable credit available to the farmer co-operatives.
• A worldwide network of non-profit certifying organizations.

Equal Exchange chocolates continue to win awards for its quality and taste. The Panama bar was a finalist in the New York City Chocolate Show in October. And one of their Peruvian cocoa producer partners won a quality competition!

And now for the giveaway… 
The Deadline has passed.  Chocolate Winners:  Judit U-M and Grace, Congratulations! You were randomly selected to win the chocolate sampler boxes from Equal Exchange.  Please email your mailing address to julia [at] growcookeat [dot] com.  And thanks to all for your great comments and supporting fair trade!

Just in time for your holiday baking, Equal Exchange wants you to taste the difference. They are offering a gift box of either chocolate sampler box (6 different 3.5 oz. bars) or sweet and spicy chocolate sampler to 2 lucky readers of Grow. Cook. Eat.

To enter the drawing, please leave a comment here telling us something you can do to support fair trade. Also, please include your email address, so that we can be in touch with you if you win. While anyone can support fair trade, you must be a US or Canadian resident to win this drawing. Winners will be announced on Wednesday, November 18th.

Seed a New Economy

By now, most of you have heard of the Slow Food Movement.

Slow Food International was started in opposition to fast food, specifically, to a McDonald’s opening in Italy. The founders feared that the everyday pleasures of an artisanal cheese or cask aged balsamic vinegar would vanish if we did not step in to preserve food heritage.

The beauty of slow food is that it preserves the land and environment. Food is produced the way it has been for a millennium — sustainably with respect for the land so that it may continue to produce food for generations. This contrasts commercial agriculture which pumps chemical fertilizers and insecticides into the soil so that vegetables grow faster and bigger (and less flavorful). And the by-product are a dead-zone in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the run-off of chemicals, and soil that needs more and more chemicals to maintain its fertility.

Slow Food may seem more expensive. At the grocery store it is, but in reality it’s actually cheaper. Because slow food does not receive the government subsidies that commercial agriculture does — the subsidies that keep the price of corn artificially low, which in turn keeps the food cost low. We still pay for the higher cost of “com-ag,” but hidden in our tax burden, instead of transparently at the grocery store.

Slow Money is an off-shoot of Slow Food. A few weeks ago, I participated in the inaugural national gathering of the Slow Money Alliance in Santa Fe, NM, and I am extremely excited about the opportunity for this new organization to have major impact on our food system and our economy.

Slow Money is a non-profit dedicated to steering new sources of capital to local food systems, empowering individual investors to reconnect with their local economies and building an entirely new financial sector – sometimes called nurture capital or patient capital. Rather than waiting for government to realign its priorities when it comes to food, this gathering of over 450 people met to ensure we can financially support slow food. As the founder, Woody Tasch put it, “Investing as if food, farms and fertility mattered.”

The principals of Slow Money are inspiring:

In order to enhance food safety and food security; promote cultural and ecological health and diversity; and, accelerate the transition from an economy based on extraction and consumption to an economy based on preservation and restoration, we do hereby affirm the following Principles:

I. We must bring money back down to earth.

II. There is such a thing as money that is too fast, companies that are too big, finance that is too complex. Therefore, we must slow our money down — not all of it, of course, but enough to matter.

III. The 20th Century economy was an economy of Buy Low/Sell High and Wealth Now/Philanthropy Later—what one venture capitalist called “the largest legal accumulation of wealth in history.” The 21st Century economy will usher in the era of nurture capital, built around principles of carrying capacity, care of the commons, sense of place and non-violence.

IV. We must learn to invest as if food, farms and fertility mattered. We must steer major new sources of capital to small food enterprises.

V. Let us celebrate the new generation of entrepreneurs, consumers and investors who are showing the way from Making A Killing to Making a Living.

VI. Paul Newman said, “I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer who puts back into the soil what he takes out.” Recognizing the wisdom of these words, let us begin rebuilding our economy from the ground up, asking:
• What would the world be like if we invested 50% of our assets within 50 miles of where we live?
• What if there was a new generation of companies that gave away 50% of their profits?
• What if there were 50% more organic matter in our soil 50 years from now?

With our support, Slow Money can jump towards its ultimate goal of one million signatures for the Slow Money Principles, on our way to building a Slow Money Alliance that steers tens of millions of dollars a year of creative financing to local food systems.

Please join me in pledging to donate $5 to the Slow Money Alliance on October 6th. Do so here.

can a grassroots movement seed a new economy? FriendsOfSlowMoney.com

Can You Taste HFCS?


Once a year, at least in the US, Coca-Cola bottles a version of its classic soda with sucrose instead of high fructose corn syrup. And it's a time-honored tradition for Coke-fanatics (both Jewish and non) to snatch up every bottle of the Kosher-For-Passover version to last through the year.

Passover starts Wednesday at sundown, and for eight days Jews abstain from eating wheat, legumes, corn and anything else that might be construed as leavening. Apparently, the religious Jews hold a sufficient share of the soda market, because Coke, Pepsi and Canada Dry all make version of their beverages without HFCS. But no soda drinker is quite as fanatical as the Coke drinker.

Last week, while most Jews started their holiday shopping, I began a quest to buy some Kosher-for-Passover Coke. I'm not much of a soda drinker (for both caloric and HFCS reasons), but was nonetheless curious to see if I could taste the difference between the two versions. At the kosher market, crates of soda lined the front wall. One and two liter bottles and 12 ounce cans of every variety and style. Except Coke — only the 2-liter bottles remainded. When I inquired if there were more of the smaller sizes in back, I was told no, but there was still plenty of Pepsi — proving the point that Coke breeds a higher degree of loyalty.

The verdict: The sucrose Coke seemed lighter and a bit cleaner in taste. The HFCS coke had the same degree of sweetness but it seemed to assault my taste-buds. The differences were subtle but perceptable. Perhaps, if I drank soda (and Coke specifically) on a more regular basis, the difference would be more stark.

Have you bought sucrose sweetened soda before? Can you taste the difference?

My family arrives on Wednesday for the first seder — including my mom and aunt who grew up drinking Coke. I'll save a bottle for them to see if they can taste the difference.

Gratitude

I recall a visit to Even’ Star organic farm many years ago to visit my friends Brett, Chris and their daughter. We sat down for dinner, a beautiful plate of beef rib- eye before us. We all bowed our heads slightly as if to say grace and 5-year old Allesandra summed it up in three words: “Thank You, Lemo.”

Lemo was the name of the limousine cow that Allesandra, along with her dad Brett, raised on their farm. Brett didn’t need to read The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan to know that commercial cattle industry has strayed from sustainable practices. Many commercially raised cattle no longer eat a grass-based diet as they were biologically designed, and they are housed in tight quarters that harbor disease, requiring many animals to be injected with antibiotics. By raising his own cow, Brett would know the animal’s diet was appropriate to its heritage and roamed freely within a clean stable with access to the outside. He chose the limousine breed for its “growth efficiency,” lean meat, and flavor comparable to the prized-Angus.

While many of us have no qualms about eating meat, most people get squeamish when they’ve seen the animals in the live state before cooking or eating it. Some won’t even purchase whole chickens at the supermarket because of the visual recognition that the meat they’re about to cook was once a live animal. I was quite impressed with Allesandra’s maturity to accept that the meat we eat comes from a once living being. And she expressed her gratitude to the animal for giving us a wonderful meal.

_____________________
Speaking of gratitude, many thanks to Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen for sisterhood award
And to Heather of Diary of a Fanatic Foodie for the butterfly award.

I've really enjoyed making new blogging friends, reading about your culinary adventures (whether it's a wedding cake made of towels or a drink called loneliness). And I'm delighted to know that you've enjoyed reading mine.