Welcome to the blog for Colgate University's interdisciplinary course on food. This is the place to keep up with what students in the course are experiencing in their work at Common Thread Community Farm and through their everyday encounters with food.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Food: An Important factor during the semester

My semester only ended twenty four hours ago–technically right now if you still count this post. I think it is only fitting to reflect back on the semester and see what role food played. First, it is unquestionable that food was my fuel. It was "brain food" in the truest sense of the word.

However,  finals week is so unpleasant for me because my eating schedule gets messed up. The culprit is the all-nighter. Working on the second floor of case with less than 24 hours to finish all my papers is stressful beyond belief. I usually end up working every minute right up until the paper is due. As a result, I miss breakfast and sometimes even lunch. It feels awful. The body needs food.

Food serves a very important function during our semesters. It is our comfort food, as many people in the Case Cafe can attest. It is very important to have comfort food over the semsester. That is the very idea behind the care package. The care package is great because you feel the warmth and care of your family back home, and also, the food that comes with it is good for packing in your backpack and bringing to Case. I received my first Care Package ever over the weekend. I was about ten minutes into a nap when this slamming on the door woke me up. "Fire Department!" I hear the yelling but was not sure what was going on. "Fire Department!"Disoriented, I ran to the door pulled it open and was greeted by a bunch of the fire department staff. "Care Package, its for you from your parents." It was the best feeling in the world at that moment. So great. I brought it inside thinking, "Yes! Food. This is great, especially because I missed lunch writing that paper."

The care package gave me a second wind, and I was able to go to Case and finish my paper–not before putting half the contents of the care package into my backpack. The next day I found out the Care Package had been sent to my roommate from his parents. Didn't matter. Food is comfort food and helps you get through the semester regardless of who it belongs to. 

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Dinner for 60?

Although I'm a bit unsure if we were supposed to be done with our posting by last Friday, I really needed to post about a food excursion (one might call it) that I went on this past weekend. My friend Skylar and I volunteered to cook a buffet meal for the entirety of Outdoor Education, meaning around 50 students and 8 adults, for our annual holiday party. I've never cooked for almost 60 people before and I'm not sure if I will ever do it again. We came up with a number of smaller side dishes including roasted brussels sprouts, a spinach salad with pear, almonds, tomatoes and feta, a veggie platter, hummus (which I decided to make myself and it was a bit of a disaster), pigs in a blanket, and sweet potato salad. Here are some of the recipes below for our side dishes:

Tortellini (aka food of the gods) recipe that we just threw in a bowl (no skewers necessary): http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/mustard-dill-tortellini-salad-skewers

Sprouts:
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_brussels_sprouts/


It was more difficult to come up with main dishes to serve, Skylar decided to make these cool spanakopita-like quesadillas (recipe here: http://www.closetcooking.com/2010/02/spinach-and-feta-quesadillas.html) and I was very worried we weren't going to have enough food. So, in sticking to basics, I decided to make pizza. Slices sells pizza dough for $1 a pie so we made four large pizzas with various toppings, some with veggies & some with hot italian sausage that comes in a clump at Price Chopper. We also made hella mac and cheese and a few apple pies.

It was such a fun and stressful and sweaty experience, and I was terrified that we weren't going to pull it off but somehow we did. I love experiences that are stressful and hurried only because those are the moments when you really get to know yourself. When you are stressed and have to coordinate efforts with someone else to finish a task, the way you handle that is really telling of what type of person you are. This was one of those moments. Anyway, enough philosophizing for now. Enjoy the holiday foods coming your way soon, and if you find yourself in the position where you have to cook dinner for 60 hit me up and I'll throw you some tips on how to pull it off successfully.

My thoughts on Pancakes


Pancakes are without a doubt one of my favorite foods to eat and one of my favorite foods to cook. And being from Vermont a little has something to do with it. What is better than having pancakes with fresh maple syrup for breakfast? Maybe having them for dinner too! I am an avid pancake maker. I make pancakes for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. Some people think making pancakes is easy–sure, but that means your pancakes are probably not coming out perfect. A lot of care and skill goes into making the perfect pancakes. There is skill in mixing the batter just right. There is a learning curve for getting the temperature of the pan just right, for being able to power the batter into the pan without your pancakes crowding each other. You can't just pour the batter however or else you won't have enough room to flip them. And of course the flip. The flip is the easiest part for some people, and the hardest part for others. There are three stages to the flip: the slide, where you slide the spatula under the pancake; the flip, when you flip said pancake; and the landing. If your pancake lands on top of another one then it wasn't a very successful flip. Also, making pancakes gets more difficult as you add fillings, because the batter cooks slower around berries–the bigger the berry the slower the batter will cook. If you don't know what you are doing you will end up with beautiful golden pancakes on the outside, and uncooked batter on the inside. The secret is all in how you cut the apples for apple cinnamon pancakes, or how you cut the berries for triple berry pancakes. Personally, I believe in only putting berries in pancakes; no chocolate chips! Pancakes are breakfast not dessert. Cooking pancakes also requires patience, and attentiveness. You always have to be watching for the signs that the pancakes is ready to be flipped. The edges start to curl in, and the top has the air bubbles, and it has a different look to it. When I am done with finals, I am going to celebrate with pancakes. 

crime against chickens

This is a video about a commercial chicken farmer for purdue who allows cameras in on his operation. He is like a chicken farmer whistle blower of sorts. The video effectively illustrates what we have talked about in class. One, the trivialness of labels. The chickens in this video are labeled "cage free". Yet they live in their entire life without natural sunlight, and without access to fresh air. This video accompanies Galusky's "Chicken of Tomorrow"very well. It shows the physical effects of pumping our chickens full of growth hormones and antibiotics to make them grow bigger and faster. It is remarkable how many chicks die in the video, and how the chickens live, squatting in their own feces on the floor. After watching the video you certainly understand what Galusky meant when he said we shouldn't kill our animals twice. The fact that so few people have gained access to these types of operations in order to film and document it speaks to the industry's power. But farmers such as these, who let people pass, are cause for optimism like we discussed on the last day of class. It goes to show there are people inside the industry looking to make a change.


http://www.upworthy.com/perdue-execs-are-probably-terrified-that-this-video-exists-too-bad?c=tkp1

Friday, December 12, 2014

Now What?

With this class coming to end, I am considering what role I can play to shift our current food system. Last  class, professor urged us not to be too skeptical about the future of food. We are the generation capable of making a change and pessimism will only serve to limit our potential. I must admit that throughout most of this class I was pretty pessimistic. To me, the future of food seamed very daunting. Sometimes I felt like there were far too many obstacles to overcome and that our current society was not ready to overcome them. For example, to change the food system we must snap our addiction with fossil fuels, break the norms of mass production, and foster a social paradigm shift that emphasizes food justice around the globe. That change will not be easy.

After last class, I received a little wake up call about my role as an ordinary food consumer. To be completely honest with myself, it is people like me, the skeptics, that will inhibit food change in the future. So I guess it is time for me to change. What can I do to make a difference?  I think my best plan of action is just not to not be a part of the problem, if that makes any sense. I don't see myself as being on the front lines of the food revolution. As sad as it sounds, it just isn't my style. Instead, I view myself as playing the role of the conscious consumer. I will hold myself responsible for making the right food choice whenever I have the chance. I now recognize that, though the obstacles seam insurmountable, I must play my part. There is no point in being skeptical. It isn't going to get us anywhere.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Last Food Blog!

For my last food post, I thought I would talk a little bit about the topic of my research paper.  

My paper focuses on Fair Trade Coffee and how effective fair trade really is for coffee farmers, focusing special attention on the effect it had on coffee farmers in Nicaragua.  

Coffee is one of the top commodities in the world.  It is not only important in terms of consumption, but it also keeps many small farmers in business and employs many people in third world countries.  

The majority of the world's coffee farmers currently live in extreme poverty.  The price per pound of coffee is very low and does not produce enough income for these farmers and their families.  Fair Trade was founded in order to help these farmers receive fairer wages for their product.  Fair Trade acts as a sort of "middle man" for the coffee industry, working to mediate prices between the producers and the consumers.  

Fair Trade is more complicated than it lets on and although companies love to advertise their use of fair trade coffee, these movements only make up less than 1% of the total coffee produced globally. It is not yet on a large enough scale to pull coffee farmers completly out of poverty. 
The Fair Trade cooperation needs to grow in terms of how much money they put into their projects and in how much they are raising public awareness. The majority of Nicaragua relies on coffee harvesting for jobs, and if there is not enough money put into the industry, they do not have any way to support themselves. 

It is also important to make sure that all products you buy are Fair Trade CERTIFIED and not just "fair priced" or "fair waged" as these products do not have the Fair Trade label and its profits will not necessarily  benefit the farmers and their families who have produced this product.  

In case you do not know what the Fair Trade certified sticker looks like here it is below: 



Things are looking up in the industry, however:

According to the latest Coffee Impact Report released by the Fair Trade Cooperation, more Fair Trade coffee was imported into the US than ever before and Nicaragua brought in 16% of the United State's coffee supply, just behind Peru.  This is good economic news for Nicaraguan coffee farmers: more money is being infiltrated back to these farmers and their families. 

The Fair Trade coffee cooperatives are also expanding the amount of farmers that can join Fair Trade cooperatives and creating stronger ties between villages by giving back more money and building new schools, health centers, and office buildings.

For more information on the Fair Trade Coffee Impact Report, please visit this site below: 
http://fairtradeusa.org/sites/default/files/Coffee_Impact_Report.pdf



If you were to start a farm in West Virginia...

... where would it be? In my GIS class this semester I was inspired by our class and by Common Thread to do a project about CSAs! I decided to do a spatial analysis to find ideal locations for building a CSA in West Virginia. I chose that state because they are tied for the most obese in the nation, yet they have a lot of arable land that could be (and possibly should be) farmed on. These people could use some local veggies!

A spatial analysis means taking a lot of variables into consideration and picking the areas that fit all of your criteria. The variables I analyzed including social factors (such as poverty rate, education level, unemployment rate and the number of people on food stamps) as well as locational factors. Was the area near a farmer's market? Was it near a large enough town or city to have customers? Were there vegetable farms in the area and how many?

I created criteria for area I wanted based off what I thought would work, which included information from Asher and from Sarah and Professor Henke (and their colleagues) research. I wanted to be in a place where farming was going on, where there was a community to join as Asher indicated as very useful when starting to farm in a new region. His ideas also convinced me that being near a farmer's market would also be a good idea. For the social factors, I decided to use counties that had a low enough poverty rate and unemployment rate that people would be able to purchase produce, but was not concerned with a high level of income as CSA veggies are no more expensive than grocery store veggies.

At the end of of the day, I found 67 plots that would be viable candidates as locations for a new CSA in West Virginia. It was a very interesting analysis as it required me to take into consideration a number of factors associated with current efforts to provide local produce to communities, and it got me thinking of how we might pursue a potential future in civic agriculture.

Here is my final poster if anyone is interested in the methods or mapping:

Curtis BBQ

The other night I went to Frank's Farm Fresh night (I think that's what it's called?) which was surprisingly very good! It goes to show that dining hall food can be good too if you just add to it a few of the right ingredients.

One of the dishes Frank was serving on this special occasion was barbecue pork. This in turn reminded me of my favorite barbecue place: Curtis' BBQ in Putney, Vermont. Curtis is a man from Georgia who has been preparing BBQ for decades, but he only sells barbecue during the summer months. Curtis BBQ is a must see if you are passing through Vermont and I highly recommend that if the opportunity presents itself you all go!

The venue is unconventional. Instead of a roadside stand or restaurant, Curtis owns two old school buses. He converted the interiors into a kitchen and register. As a customer you don't actually get to go into the school buses, but instead you can walk up to the window and order. All around there is a nice sitting area with plenty of pic-nic tables. The best part about Curtis BBQ is his homemade bbq sauce, and the fact that everything is cooked over a woodfire. Here is his website so check him out!

http://www.curtisbbqvt.com/


Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Holiday Baking

Since I've been procrastinating on Buzzfeed and Pinterest I thought I would share some holiday recipes I found to make during break. Enjoy!

Hot Cocoa Cookies 

http://www.pipandebby.com/pip-ebby/2011/11/14/hot-cocoa-cookies.html

Glazed Ginderbread Donuts 

http://www.a-kitchen-addiction.com/glazed-gingerbread-donuts/ 

Molasses Ginger Cookies

http://www.tablefortwoblog.com/molasses-ginger-cookies/

Peppermint Bark

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/11/22/peppermint-bark/ 

Snowball Cookies 

http://www.cookingclassy.com/2012/12/snowball-cookies/


Dark Molasses Gingerbread Cake

http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-dark-molasses-gingerbread-cake-recipes-from-the-kitchn-155934


Paleo Sugar Cookies

Healthy, right?

http://blog.meaningfuleats.com/the-best-almond-flour-sugar-cookies-gluten-free-grain-free/



Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Last Blog Post: 1) Foods for Finals & 2) Final Research Paper

For my seventh blog post, I wanted to give you guys seven foods to help you power through finals!! According to Huffington Post, here they are:
1) Avocados
2) Tea
3) Fatty Fish
4) Milk
5) Yogurt
6) Nuts
7) Dark Chocolate

Here's the link to the full article:
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/spoon-university/7-brain-foods-to-help-you_b_5358180.html)


I also wanted to use this seventh and final blog post to give you guys, who won't have a chance to read my final paper, a brief insight on the topic I chose to study because it is something that affects almost all of us. For my final Food paper, I chose to research the topic of kid-targeted marketing and one of its major effects--obesity. Targeted marketing is when businesses aim their advertising efforts at a specific group of people in hopes of influencing them to purchase their products and become loyal customers to their brand. Targeted marketing exploits certain consumers' feelings, thoughts, and experiences. Most of the time, the easiest consumers to exploit are children ages 2-12. This is because they do not yet have the cognitive development to recognize the persuasive intent of commercial appeals. Marketers use this naivety as an engine to drive their marketing campaigns. Using this, they exploit children through certain media and marketing tactics. They mostly reach out to children through television and newer technologies, such as the Internet, video games, and advergames. Within these certain media mediums, they use a variety of marketing strategies to capture the attention and appeal of their audience. Some of these strategies include: repetition of the message, branded characters, celebrity endorsements, and premiums. Here's an example of how marketers use branded characters and premiums in their advertisement campaigns:


Branded characters and premiums. One of the most successful strategies of food advertising to children is branded characters and premiums. Branded characters are media characters associated with a company that promote its brand name (Calvert 2008). For example, Teletubbies—one of the highest rated public television program for toddlers—was sponsored by both Burger Kind and McDonald’s (Nestle 2002). McDonald’s gave out toys characterizing the four Telletubies with each Happy Meal. These toys are what marketers consider premiums—promotional items, such as toys, collectables, souvenirs, and household product—offered with the purchase of a product. Little toys of Nickeloden’s Spongebob Square Pants and the use of the show’s characters on packaged boxes and commercials are also examples branded characters and premiums. Advertisers use these kinds of television programs to promote their products because they are popular among children. Nickeloden, for example, is viewed in “63 million homes across America and accounted for than half of children’s viewing time, and one of the three most profitable networks in television” (Nestle 2002). Using networks like Nickeloden, Disney, and PBS Kids attracts kids.

(See Marion Nestle's book Food Politics if interested for more info) 

This exploitive type of food marketing has many consequences. One chief consequence is childhood obesity. Obesity rates among children have skyrocketed in just the past few years--obesity rates among racial and ethnic minorities especially. Racial and ethnic minorities are specifically exploited in food advertising because they watch the most amount of television among American children. Ways to combat this food marketing scheme is by monitoring what kind of television children watch, what websites they play on, and what kind of magazines they read. Combative efforts can also start at school with media literacy trainings where educators teach kids about the persuasive intent of food advertisements. Other efforts to stop the exploitation of kids in food advertising can also come from an industrial and governmental level. The Federal Communications and Federal Trade commissions can both start enforcing rules and regulations on food marketing in order to protect the health and lives of America's kids! 

For more information also check out the really cool documentary called "Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood."  

(Maybe do that over break because I know we're all swamped with work and finals week coming up.....good luck to all!!!! And remember....calories don't count during finals week...) 

Sunday, December 7, 2014

The Whiteness of Alternative Food

Last Wednesday I drew from a source I had found regarding race and alternative food. It discusses the inherent 'whiteness' of the alternative/local food movement. Here is the source for those interested. The Ebook is available on the library website.

Guthman, J. (2011). "If They Only Knew": The Unbearable Whiteness of Alternative Food. In Alkon, Alison Hope, and Agyeman, Julian. Cultivating Food Justice : Race, Class, and Sustainability. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press, 2011. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 5    December 2014.

Good luck this week!! We all need it!!


Thursday, December 4, 2014

The Swedish Fika and Kanelbullar

It was at this time last year I was beginning to realize that my time abroad will soon be coming to an end.  I was abroad in Stockholm, Sweden and loved every minute of it.

The swedes love their coffee, and so do I.  They even have a name for taking a coffee break in the afternoon: Fika. (Pronounced: "Fee-Ka").  It implies drinking coffee usually accompanied by something sweet.  It is a way to spend time with friends and family and it is considered an important part of their culture. It is probablly what I miss the most about Sweden.




What usually accompanies the coffee during a fika are cinnamon buns, called

kanelbullar.  


For some reason, cinnamon buns are huge in Sweden.  You can find them at every shop and every side store, and I must say, they are really good. 



We even had a swedish cooking class in which we learned how to make them from scratch.  (yes, that is sugar on top of them, not salt. I was very confused at first as well)






here are some pictures of the baking process! 

Although I cannot find the original recipe that we used to bake one, I found one online that looks to be very similar.  
The next time you're craving a cinnamon bun, or some other type of pastry, I would recommend trying this one out. 




Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Food for Thought–San Miguel



            I have spent the last week in San Miguelle de Allende, Mexico. While out and walking about, I have noticed some interesting things related to food industry, local cuisine, and service. First of all, San Miguel de Allende is a UNESCO Patrimonio de la Humanidad site. UNESCO sites are chosen where there is supposed to be rich and authentic culture. With that in mind, immediately off of the main Plaza is a Starbucks. I find it interesting that there is a Starbucks at the center of this world heritage site. It seems like these large chains place there stores wherever they'll get the most human traffic with little regard about the fact that they may be encroaching on, and contaminating the cultural authenticity of these places–at least in my view. The cafe did was located in an old, historic building, and so was relatively disguised. There was also no large Starbucks logo on the outside, which was also a good thing. Most likely UNESCO guidelines, or the municipality itself prohibits Starbucks from putting their logo on the outside. I observed a similar occurrence in Antigua, Guatemala. Antigua is also a UNESCO site, and not from the center was a McDonalds–also disguised within an old historic building. 

            I think that there should be more regulation in terms of the storefront advertising of western chains in foreign countries, and even regulating their entrance to certain sites. McDonaldization happens more on their terms than the host country's terms. And as I said earlier, I think that it is cultural contamination.To clarify, I do not have any problem with US food being sold in foreign cultures. That is more than fine, it is great–cultural diffusion can be a good thing. As long as the food is authentic, a "good ambassador" than it is okay. But then the question arises: What is authentic food? Is McDonald's not authentic American? No. I think it is an impostor! Just like many people say the chinese food in the states is not "real" chinese food. But then again, I do not feel like this "unreal" chinese food contaminated our culture, so perhaps foreigners feel that fake American food (McDonald's) did not contaminate theirs. But the big difference with McDonald's is that they spread around the world not out of the interest of cultural exchange, but money, and therein lies the problem. Interestingly enough, the Americans in San Miguel felt the same way. When McDonald's was attempting to open up a store in the center of town, they mobilized and protested against it.