Awareness is the best way to revolt!
http://www.undergroundhealth.com/non-gmo-food-companies-with-printable-list-of-brands/
source: http://www.gmo-free-regions.org/gmo-free-regions/maps.html
NONsanto
source: http://covvha.net/monsanto-gmo-brands-and-foods-printable-shopping-list/#.UZ5JA9jNnTp
Congrats to Connecticut..
http://grist.org/news/connecticut-senate-passes-gmo-labeling-bill/
The 1950-60s ignited radical change in the food system—for eaters, producers, & everything in between. This is an except from one of the best books ever written about our current global food system, The No-nonsense Guide to World Food by Wayne Roberts
WHAT CHANGED?!
1. HOW FOOD WAS PRODUCED
– From respectful and nature-assisted farming to extremely industrialized reliant on intensive inputs
2. WHO PRODUCED OUR FOOD
– From a small to medium family farmer to an unknown member of the global market
3. WHERE FOOD WAS PRODUCED
– From a localized food system to a system based on transport, shipping food a lot of the time 3000 miles. This was possible due to a to progressive methods in packaging and highway infrastructure.
4. HOW FOOD WAS PROCESSED BEFORE SELLING
– The amount of ingredients in a package item surged.
Canned food, boxes, and heat-n-eat become popular.
5. WHERE CONSUMERS PURCHASED FOOD
– From small local markets to big box stores, drugstores, and gas stations.
6. HOW FOOD WAS PREPARED
– Kitchen skills amongst the public began fading….
7. WHERE FOOD WAS EATEN
– Kitchen to TV room
– Home to fast food
8. THE MANNER IN WHICH FOOD WAS EATEN
– From purposeful to gorging double portions
Every single day, America creates enough food waste to fill the Rose Bowl. The 90,000-seat football stadium in Pasadena, California gives us a terrifying visual estimate of the amount of food that is wasted daily. The EPA’s statistics determine food waste as the second largest waste stream in America.
Photo Credit: UN Food and Agriculture Program
Below are kitchen tips for reducing your food waste. The bulk of the ideas listed below are taken straight from this site. However, I have made many edits, including deleting entire ideas, adding to some, and rewording some. Additionally, there are other ideas incorporated in from my own head, as well as editor-in-chief of Food & Wine Magazine.
This is a great list– Print it and post it in your kitchen!
Using Up Vegetables
1. Don’t toss those trimmed ends from onions, carrots, celery, or peppers. Store them in your freezer, and once you have a good amount saved up, add them to a large pot with a few cups of water and make homemade vegetable broth. This is also a great use for cabbage cores and corn cobs.
2. Before it goes bad, blanch it and toss it in the freezer. This works for peas, beans, corn, carrots, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and leafy greens like spinach and kale.
3. Roasted root vegetable leftovers can be turned into an easy, simple soup the next day. Add the veggies to a blender, along with enough broth or water to thin them enough to blend. Heat and enjoy.
4. If you’re preparing squash, don’t toss the seeds. Rinse and roast them in the oven, just like you would with pumpkin seeds. The taste is pretty much the same.
5. Leftover mashed potatoes from dinner? Make them into patty shapes the next morning and cook them in butter for a pretty good “mock hash brown.”
6. Swiss chard stems are great to just saute and enjoy. If that isn’t for you, chop the stems and use them in a casserole. Even better– this one you can use for kale or chard stems.
7. Use up tomatoes before they go bad by drying them in the oven. You can then store them in olive oil in the refrigerator (if you plan on using them within a week) or in the freezer.
8. Canning is always a good option. If you’re doing tomatoes, you can use a boiling water bath.
9. Too many zucchini? Make dark chocolate zucchini cake, zucchini bread or muffins. If you don’t want to eat the bread now, bake it and freeze it, then defrost when you’re ready to eat it.
10.Pickle it. Cucumbers are the first veggie most of us think of pickling, but in reality, just about any vegetable can be preserved through pickling.
11. Chop fibrous dark green tops of leeks, saute them with butter, then toss it in mac n’ cheese.
12. Julienne broccoli stalks to create a broccoli slaw.
Ideas for Cutting Down on Fruit Waste
13. Make smoothieswith fruit before it goes bad. Berries, bananas, and melons are great candidates for this use-up idea.
14. Make sangria from bruised fruits.
15. Jam is really easy to make, and will keep for up to a year if you process the jars in a hot water bath. If you don’t do the water processing part, you can keep the jam in the refrigerator for a month, which is a lot longer than the fruits would have lasted.
16. Dry your fruit and store it in the freezer or in airtight containers.
17. Make fruit leather.
18. Date pits can be roasted and pureed to be added to desserts.
19. Use up the fall bounty of apples by making applesauce or apple butter.
20. Don’t throw out those watermelon rinds! Pickled watermelon rind is a pretty tasty treat.
Putting Extra Grains to Good Use
21. Make croutons out of day-old bread.
22. Turn day-old bread or bread crusts into homemade bread crumbs. Add Parmesan cheese for an extra kick!
23. Save potato skins. After peeling, fry them in some oil, then bake with parmigiana in the oven.
24. All of those little broken pieces of pasta in the bottom of the box? Collect them and mix with rice and veggies for a simple side dish.
25. Add chopped bread to a soup. It will dissolve and thicken the soup.
26. A few tablespoons of leftover oatmeal isn’t enough for a meal, but it is great sprinkled on top of yogurt. Or– add it to your pancake mix for a heartier texture.
27. Made too many pancakes for breakfast? Put them in the freezer, then toss in the toaster for a fast, tasty weekday breakfast. Ditto waffles.
Make the Most of Meat
28. Don’t toss those chicken bones after you eat the chicken. Boil them to make chicken stock. Same goes for bones from beef and pork.
29. The fat you trim from beef can be melted down and turned into suet for backyard birds.
30. Turn leftover bits of cooked chicken into chicken salad for sandwiches the next day.
Use Dairy Before It Expires
31. If you’ve got a few chunks of different types of cheese sitting around after a party, make macaroni and cheese.
Herbs and How to Get the Most Out of Them
32. Chop herbs and add them to ice cube trays with just a little water. Drop whole cubes into the pan when a recipe calls for that type of herb.
33. You can also freeze herbs by placing them in plastic containers. Certain herbs, such as basil, will turn black, but the flavor will still be great.
34. Make pesto with extra basil or parsley.
35. Dry herbs by hanging them by their stems in a cool, dry location. Once they’re dry, remove them from the stems and store them in airtight containers.
Don’t Waste a Drop
36. Leftover coffee in the carafe? Freeze it in ice cube trays. Use the cubes for iced coffee or to cool down too-hot coffee without diluting it. You can do the same with leftover tea.
37. If there’s a splash or two of wine left in the bottle, use it to de-glaze pans to add flavor to whatever you’re cooking.
38. If you have pickle juice left in a jar, don’t pour it down the drain. Use it to make a fresh batch of refrigerator pickles, or add it to salad dressings (or dirty martinis).
39. You can also freeze broth or stock in ice cube trays, and use a cube or two whenever you make a pan sauce or gravy.
40. If there’s just a bit of honey left in the bottom of the jar, add a squeeze or two of lemon juice and swish it around. The lemon juice will loosen up the honey, and you have the perfect addition to a cup of tea.
Finally….
If there is no way of using scraps, compost it! All raw vegetable scraps can break down into compost, to then grow more food 🙂
This Friday, the 21st of October, in collaboration with the Green Team, I will be holding a ‘Real Food Seminar’ in the Food Co-op from 3-6pm! We are encouraging the implementation if the Real Food Campus Commitment. If we have a good response from students, Chartwells will pledge to buy 20% real food by 2020. Their tremendous purchasing power will help to support a healthy food system that strengthens local economies, respects human rights, ensures ecological sustainability, and facilitates community involvement and education.
Wouldn’t everyone just want a healthier world? Better food, cleaner air. I’m confused about what the confusion is! Health care costs are skyrocketing, life expectancy is lowering– nutrient deficiency is a major issue even here, while simultaneously, obesity is on the rise. Although food policies still focus on promoting production, the amount of food we produce is not the source of the problem. Instead, the nutrient quality of the food that is most available should be of particular concern. Food production is dedicated to reducing cost, but the reduced price is reflected in it’s quality. Let’s demand more nutritional bang for our buck!
To state main barrier for change, very generally– the U.S. government food regulators are in bed with big business, therefore compromising the health of our bodies and the environment, all for economic gain. Because of this unfortunate connection, the USDA is unable to back their newly created ‘MyPlate’ with their actions.
http://www.grist.org/list/2011-10-11-usda-pushes-veggies-but-subsidizes-meat
This is exactly what is so wrong with the USDA. They release MyPlate (which seems like a step in the right direction), but the Washington Post points out how hypocritical the entire model is. In one of my previous posts, I commented on the USDA’s ignorance to mention the negatives of processed foods, but this is the larger problem. Government subsides– WHERE OUR TAX DOLLARS ARE GOING, don’t support anything in regards to improving the health of citizens, OR the environment. It is recommended that just over a quarter of a healthy plate is dedicated to protein and dairy, yet the USDA distributes almost three quarters of subsides to the protein and dairy industry. In fact, about a year ago, the Michael Moss of the New York Times wrote an article revealing the dirty, sneaky behavior of the USDA. Moss explained that the marketing company, Dairy Management, which spent over $12 million to increase cheese sales for Domino’s Pizza, was actually a branch organization of the USDA. Again, THE SAME SECTOR OF THE GOVERNMENT IS SAYING TWO VERY DIFFERENT THINGS, IN TWO VERY DIFFERENT WAYS.
This is not a big shock or surprise to me, but would be to most people. This kind of irradical behavior is hidden beneath the chaos of the media, all to avoid the questions of why. (Feeling guilty– huh?)
Why can’t our nation afford healthy food– because there is no real funding or actual government support for it. I know in a previous post, I explained the breakdown of how real food wasn’t much of a price difference– but of course, time is money. If we could make the cost of real food much cheaper than fast food, than the time to prepare it would be found. We (meaning our government policies) need to demand the reformation of the food system. This is not going to be easy. This can’t happen with one request. I know that. But, to improve the health of Americans, the first step is to shift the Farm Bill to encourage the production of food that nourishes our bodies, the environment, and the life of the farmers who grow it. To understand the issues associated with the Farm Bill (which is up for review in the House), watch this TED talk by Ken Cook to deepen your understanding of the unequal distribution of subsides amongst farmers. Additionally, see this interactive map to visually learn about subsidy distribution.
If we want better school lunch, and easier ways to feed ourselves, and our families, then we have to push for a redirection of priorities within food regulation. Take action here.
“This study is one of the first to document the consistent occurrence of this chemical in streams, rain and air throughout the growing season,” said Capel. “It is used so heavily and studied so little.”
If you don’t already know, a couple months back, the food pyramid was redone by the USDA to look like a plate. Although I like the shape switch, the figure does not provide any actual information of transforming eating habits. See the USDA figure here– myPlate figure. To ignite some hope of impact, Harvard released a reformed version of myPlate. Harvard’s plate is a much improved version of the USDA version, but I like the one found above the best. Thanks to Jill Richardson for bringing it to my attention! Oh, and of course, thanks to Adam Fields for making it!
Now, only if we could get a little mainstream attention to this. It’s evident that packaged and processed food leads to increased chance of obesity (not to mention the environmental and food safety aspects). Yet, in the urgency of reducing or slowing obesity and diet-related disease, nothing is mentioned about the negatives of processed food. As Fooducate points out, MyPlate is smudged with the fingerprints of agro-corporate interests, according to Walter Willett, Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition and chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard’s School of Public Health.
Of course, I am not neglecting the fact that financially, some people see this as the only option. It is conventional knowledge that junk, processed food is cheaper than REAL FOOD. Mark Bittman had an incredible column this past week, defying that assumption. Real food can actually be cheaper than junk food. I am not denying food access as problem, and neither is he. Food deserts lead to major issues in many parts of the United States. As a nation, we need to focus on fresh food availability, and remind ourselves– that a simple, wholesome meal, doesn’t have to be too time consuming, or beyond affordable.
credit: Stone Barns Agricultural Center
This is my first blog post from my phone. I’m hoping this can be my usual method of blogging. I don’t have a car (by choice) so when I’m using public transportation, I can use the time to write about my favorite topic in the world– food! Of course, not just food, but how it forms a broader web of concerns because of pressing issues such as child and adult health, food security, world starvation, climate change, air pollution, food deserts, animal ethics, food waste, soil erosion, depletion of clean fresh water sources, ocean acidification, and even the need to reduce dependency on oil. I also want to stress the link between the food justice movement and social justice. There are farm workers and communities threatened by harsh conditions such as pesticides, as well as crumbling family farms leading to depression all over the only non-corporate farmland in America.
I know I left something out, but I hope to use this blog to make the connections clearer. At the Moving Planet Festival, I will be focusing on displaying the link between our food choices and climate change. This is a crafty chart to visualize the positive impact of eating less meat! [Click to enlarge]
I have to mention Meatless Monday here. The Meatless Monday campaign ROCKS! So does Meatout Monday! Either one– the point is to reduce your meat consumption. This benefits the environment, your health, and your wallet! See how here:
1) As the above chart shows, a lot less energy is used in the production of plant protein. (In case you didn’t notice, beef and lamb are the most inefficient meat to produce.)
2) Reduce dependency on fossil fuels. Cattle raising is a resource intensive practice.
3) Reduce your Carbon Footprint!
4) Minimize water usage!
5) Reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes ALL AT THE SAME TIME.
6) Improve your diet and maintain a healthy body weight!
Check out there sites (linked above) to see more about the benefits of going meat-free one day a week! They also have great resources, as well as recipes to make it easy. I will be posting seasonal meat-free (and most likely vegan) recipes in soon to be coming posts.
I couldn’t have a conversation about food and the environment without encouraging eating local. Although my intentions for choosing local (when I can) sprouted from my awareness of climate change, it also helps reduce dependency on fossil fuels, while simultaneously improving the vitality of our communities. Food can be an incredible way to connect with others through a common love of delicious, fresh, nutritious food. If you live in the NY metropolitan area, come visit me sometime at work– Table Local Market, Bedford Hills, NY. If you’re not, be sure to visit the Eat Well Guide. Then, no matter where you live, let’s thank TreeHugger for existing; and creating the infographic below–>
My last post was actually a repost of my feelings after Powershift. As I mentioned, I had the honor of meeting Bill McKibben. He is on the forefront of activism in the environmental realm, and encourages others to organize and be part of the change with him.
He began the site 350.org as a way to reach other people to ignite change in their communities, using sound science from NASA climatologists as his framework. The United Nations also uses the same information. It is kind of simple (to understand), but as most environmental issues, incredibly difficult to tackle. Our atmosphere has concentration of 394ppm in regards to CO2 (Carbon Dioxide). Science demonstrates the health of the planet (and us!) function best when closer to 350ppm. His site, and his activism, is directly related to this number.
This Saturday, September 24th, is a global action day to shift away from fossil fuels. At Purchase College, where I go to school, we are planning a huge festival. The festival includes everything from environmental workshops to education to crafting with trash, and even music! In tradition of Bill McKibben and his great work, we are taking an aerial photo of a human windmill! BE PART OF THE ACTION!
If you know anyone in the Westchester area, all are welcome. SUNY Purchase– behind the Student Services building, in the grass. (If you aren’t in the area, go to 350.org to find an event near you!) If you are unable to be there, please plan part of your day around this day on consciousness. Driving less, using less electricity, and eating local are all very diverse ways of being part of the change!
foodjusticenow 
