Locavore bashing in the NY Times

There's more to being a locavore than just food energy costs and miles travelled.

Yet, the author of the op-ed piece, Math Lessons for Locavores, in the NY Times argues that:

The local food movement now threatens to devolve into another one of those self-indulgent — and self-defeating — do-gooder dogmas. Arbitrary rules, without any real scientific basis, are repeated as gospel by "locavores," celebrity chefs and mainstream environmental organizations. Words like "sustainability" and "food-miles" are thrown around without any clear understanding of the larger picture of energy and land use...

The statistics brandished by local-food advocates to support such doctrinaire assertions are always selective, usually misleading and often bogus.

I would argue the author is using the same math legerdemain to support his case. He's ignoring the "buy fresh" part of the equation. I'd like to see where he's getting his numbers and how his calculations compare to food grown in season, that don't require excess energy inputs (e.g. a hothouse, etc.). You know, the kind of food that locavores generally choose. Yes, growing tomatoes in a hothouse in NY is going to take a tremendous amount of energy inputs, but again, that's not what being a locavore is about.

Being a locavore has a lot to do with supporting local economies, creating a stronger local food security net in addition to eating foods in season. Not just avoiding trucked in tomatoes in the middle of winter.

What do you think? Is being a locavore just about food miles or is it a lot more than that?

Salish Sea CSA

I finally signed us up for a farm produce delivery this Sunday. But, this isn't any ordinary CSA. This delivery from farm to table is about as carbon neutral as you can get. Even though the farms are miles away from Seattle, I will be picking up a box of vegetables and fruits that use only a little bit of diesel to get it here.

How does that work? Well, the pickup is done by sailboat. The Salish Sea Trading Cooperative sails from Ballard in Seattle up to Sequim on the north end of the Olympic Peninsula and picks up goodies from such lauded farms as Nash's Organics and we fully expect to be getting some mid-summer delights.

According to their website, Salish Sea Trading Cooperative relies on wind and tide to transport locally produced goods up and down Puget Sound by sailboat. Their goals are to conserve precious energy resources and re-introduce the idea of sail as everyday transport while building resiliency into our local foodshed. The boxes are delivered from dock to pickup via electric truck.

According to Kathy Pelish of SSTC from this article on the operation, "Oil is a declining resource. We're reawakening to the dangers of relying on it so heavily, whether it's used for transportation or to make fertilizers for our farms. Renewables can help, but ultimately our lives are going to be a lot more local. What we buy, what we manufacture, how we move goods, where our food comes from... we'll transition to greater dependence on our local communities and nearby resources."

If you live in the Seattle area and are interested in getting more involved or just want to hang out with the folks that pull this whole thing together, they are having a social get-together tonight, at 7 PM (August 3rd) at the 24th Street NW Public Dock in Ballard, next to Stimson Marina. Anyone interested in revitalizing sail transport around Puget Sound is welcome! Look for the 34 foot Catalina flying the "Pirates for Sustainability" banner.

Photo courtesy of Ballard News Tribune

McDonald's localwashing

I keep seeing these McDonald's billboards around town advertising their local selections. Yesterday it was an ad that said, "Grown in Washington, Dipped in Ballard", referring to their apples (Ballard is a neighborhood in Seattle where I live). A few weeks ago, it was "Served in Ballard, Grown in Richland", regarding the potatoes for their fries.

Of course, when you are driving down the freeway, you don't notice the fine print that says, "Participation and duration may vary." A McDonald's spokesperson stated that 95 percent of the fries served in the Northwest are grown on farms in Washington, Idaho, or Oregon, 95 percent of the fish in their sandwiches comes from Alaskan waters where the Seattle fleet fishes and 88 percent of the apples come from the Treetop Company which buys apples from Washington State orchards.

It economically makes sense for the company to use local resources and these statistics haven't changed in years. They are just now promoting it, but it makes it sound like as if they are just now going out of their way to choose local. The impression is that they are doing it to support local business or to reduce carbon emissions. But, it's just good for business.

According to some, the recent local marketing efforts in the food-service sector are all about "removing the impression that they're taking money away from the 'mom and pop' shop that doesn't really exist." I wonder if they use the same potatoes, fish and apples nationwide and we just happen to be "local" to those resources.

So, should it matter that they are promoting the local angle? Isn't that what it's all about? Or is it greenwashing? Do you have McDonald's "local" billboards in your area?

Mega food manufacturers go local?

While many of us consider local food to be food grown within a certain range close to home, it also invokes the idea of sustainable agriculture, small, family farms and low environmental impact. Well, mainstream food manufacturing has started to co-opt the term "local", hoping to take advantage of this buzz word that has gained in popularity as consumers attempt to understand better where their food comes from. In other words, getting to know their producer by buying their food at farmers markets, local farm stands and the like.

When Frito-Lay and other mega manufacturers, who have more to do with junk food than sustainable agriculture, announced they were coming out with advertising campaigns to capitalize on this latest trend, many in the local food movement have been less than pleased. Sure, they are advertising the fact that the companies are buying produce and meat local to their manufacturing plants, the end result from the consumer's standpoint is anything but. Unless you happen to live near one of these mega-processors, those chips are still not going to be "local".

From their press release:

In addition to the national and regional television spots, the "Lay’s Local" campaign will be supported by a comprehensive marketing effort that celebrates the local connections of the brand through national print advertising, on-pack messaging and 40,000 in-store displays that are customized for each participating state to celebrate local connections and contributions to Lay's Potato Chips. The brand also will participate in more than 50 local-market events throughout the country celebrating the local communities that play a role in making Lay's Potato Chips.

On one hand, they are lowering the total food miles involved in the manufacturing process. Or are they? Based on Frito-Lay's press release it looks like they have changed little in the way of how they obtain their potatoes, they are just marketing the proximity of their source farms. They've made no changes in the way they grow the potatoes as far as I can tell either. Just another incidence of jumping on the bandwagon and beating the meaning out of it.

What do you think? Do you feel this is misrepresentation by greedy corporations or is this a step in the right direction to more sustainable food, by letting people know where the food source is located?

Image courtesy of The Onion

Doomer dinner party

Well, my guests sure didn't know that we were doing a doomer dinner, they were just enticed to come over by the invite and the menu. What's a doomer dinner party? Well, Peak Oil Hausfrau suggested hosting a dinner made entirely out of food you had stored on hand.

I had so many tomatoes stored in the chest freezer from last year's harvest that I made tomato sauce out of them on Saturday in preparation for homemade pizzas. Since we had stored up olives, flour, yeast and cheese, it was the perfect compliment to the stored root vegetables that I roasted. Drinks consisted of cocktails and wine from supplies that we had stored as well.

While I was digging out the tomatoes, I noticed that we had a ton of frozen raspberries also left over, so I was planning on making a Raspberry Amaretto pie for dessert, but never got around to it, which is fine because we were too full with what we had.

So, in spite of my complaining that we would be serving peanut butter and crackers if we were to do the doomer dinner party, we really do have a lot of food stored and ended up making a fabulous blow-out dinner for my mom and my brother (who is leaving for Paris* for a month on Tuesday). I can't say it was as good as the food he'll be experiencing in France, but MREs it was not!

Ooh la la!

*And, for the record, in case you are thinking of my previous post about the carbon impact of air travel, my brother more than makes up for it - no kids, works from home, buys most of his food from Pike Place market (a few blocks away), eats local/homemade, and drives a hybrid for the few miles he and his wife do drive.

Eat Local for Thanksgiving

It's not too late to start thinking about your Thanksgiving meal and how to make it as sustainable as possible. The most effective thing to do is to focus on providing foods that are in season, local and organic.

You've already heard me blathering on (and on) about the reasons for eating locally, but here's a reminder: On average, for each plate of food obtained locally, 2.2 pounds of CO₂ emissions are prevented. (This is from a University of WA study, so I'm not sure how it extrapolates out to other areas of the country.)

So, in another effort to encourage you to do more, you can pledge to Eat Local for Thanksgiving by adding a comment to this post. In your pledge you can state what you are planning to do, whether that be acquiring a local turkey to getting all your vegetables at a farmer's market, etc. It's totally up to you. The point is to think about where each food source comes from and buy it locally or don't serve it if it's out of season or has to travel miles to get to your plate.

Now, we all have our family favorites, and I'm sure Aunt Agnes might be upset when she doesn't see her favorite green bean casserole because the season is over in your neck of the woods and you neglected to can or freeze any. So, for those of you who want to take the opportunity during your Thanksgiving meal to discuss the issues surrounding food and where it comes from, the Puget Sound Fresh website has some printable discussion cards for your Thanksgiving table that may help you explain why certain things are missing.

Between now and Thanksgiving, I'll keep a running counter in the sidebar for the amount of CO₂ emissions prevented based on the number of people pledging to eat local.*

Now go forth and choose local for Thanksgiving!

*This won't be extremely scientific, but I'll just assume one plate worth of savings for each pledge, unless you specify otherwise. In other words, if you know you'll be serving all local food to 10 people, I'll count that as 10 plates worth.

Back to the basics - crazy food lady

I'm going to spend the next couple of posts discussing some of my "back to the basics" lifestyle habits. No, I don't mean trying to live lightly, growing my own food and the like. You already know about that.

What I'm talking about are the things we do that are somewhat the antithesis of modern America. Primarily, we don't watch TV. The kids don't watch TV at all and only the occasional movie from our collection of maybe 8 DVDs. They just don't like watching TV for whatever reason. And we don't exactly push it. They weren't exposed at all the first two years of their lives and that probably set the stage for finding other things to do instead.

So, we need something to do to fill all those extra hours that are freed up. To start this discussion, I'll tell you about what I call "Sunday Family Meal Night" wherein any family member in the area is welcome to come over for Sunday dinner. I love to cook and this gives me a great excuse to try out new recipes from my favorite cooking magazines and books, integrating my principles of local and organic eating. This is when we set up the formal dining table, making the night seem more special than the average dinner.

At the very least my mom is in attendance. She's the gorgeous lady in the photo above. No, not the one stuffing her face in the corner - that's me. When my brother-in-law was in town for two months earlier this summer he made most of the nights. He's the one drinking the enormous beer. He recently joked after coming over that it was liked visiting the Amish since we pretty much hand-made or grew everything served.

Hopefully, my brother and his wife will be joining us occasionally once their schedules calm down a little. I suspect there will be times when it will just be my husband and the kids and me, but that's okay too.

I really look forward to these nights. It's not like we need to celebrate anything in particular to get everyone together to reconnect and enjoy each other's company. I also enjoy the planning, shopping and preparations involved. It's not so overwhelming as having a holiday, birthday or other celebration, so it's much more relaxed.

This is a great, casual way to keep in touch with people and it doesn't need to be just for family. As long as people let you know a few days in advance whether or not they are coming, it can be rather stress free. And, if you have last minute guests, they can always bring their own food, too.

By the way, I realize I dropped the ball on The Perfect Meal. I've spent many a sleepless night wracking my brains trying to figure out how I'm gonna wing this one. I didn't want to cheap-out with a vegetarian meal with just grabbing crops from the backyard and stealing some neighbors' fruit. But I don't fish, I don't trust shellfish and the thought of shooting something is beyond my grasp. I'm still working on it though...

Tomorrow, in the Back to the Basics series -- reading. (I know, what a surprise.)

Eating seasonally

I know we've been discussing a lot lately about eating locally and little of seasonal eating from our reading of The Omnivore's Dilemma. It's been a bit of a cheat having Local Food Month during July when, for many places, that's when the selection and bounty of fruits and vegetables are available.

But I wanted to discuss a little more about eating seasonally (an extension of eating locally, really) and find out what your favorite eating season is.



Don't forget that The Perfect Meal is coming up soon!

Soy - the good, the bad and the ugly

A couple people have mentioned how they have either stopped eating soy or were concerned about eating soy after reading some of the reports that have come out over the last few years.

These reports claim that there were several health hazards associated with eating non-fermented soy products. Examples of non-fermented soy products are soy milk and tofu while examples of fermented soy products are soy sauce and tempeh.

In addition to the increased breast cancer claims, I have also seen information (see above article) of the dangers of feeding too many soy-based products to children due to the amount of estrogen in these foods. This is a particular concern for growing boys and I'm sure, according to the claims, there are issues for girls as well (pre-pubescence being one).

I did a little poking around at some of these reports. It seems that one of the most quoted articles and books was written by a woman who is a huge proponent of raw milk products. Her PhD is from a distance learning program and is non-nutritionally related. Now, that's not to say that her claims do not have merit. Many of the other articles point out how non-fermented products contain "anti-nutrients". I haven't found any good sources about what this actually means, but it is always considered with a nefarious tone.

Now, I am no research scientist, nor have I spent a great deal of time analyzing the different reports and have yet to find anything concrete in a medical journal, but I do think there is some merit in the issues with soy processing. For example, the chemicals used to process soy into soymilk sound like bad customers. There is also the issue with genetically modified soy or non-organically grown soy products. Not to mention the fact that soy, in some format or other, shows up in a considerable number of processed foods (snack foods, protein products and the like).

So, suffice it to say, I think that if you consume reasonable (read: small) amounts of soy milk and tofu that is either made yourself or without the massive processing you are probably safe. This is more in accordance with traditional Chinese and Japanese diets. In other words, the diets that generally get all the high marks for health and longevity -- the ones that include fermented soy products like tempeh and soy sauce with some modest amounts of tofu and soy milk and lots of green tea.

If you are truly concerned with the health risks raised by soy, then I would encourage you to do some of your own research. If what you find bothers you but you are not ready or willing to give up soy products, then perhaps switch to an organic soy product and/or think about making it yourself.

As for me, I don't consume a tremendous amount of soy - maybe a couple cups of soymilk a week and tofu or okara on occasion and I make it all from organic soybeans. My kids still drink organic cow's milk. I'm sure we still ingest more soy by-products than we know and it's something I may be more cautious of, but it's not something at this point that I'm going to avoid. Who knows, non-fermented soy products may turn out to be the next witch hunt like trans-fats.

In the meantime, keep an eye open for new studies and results. As we all know, health food claims or warnings can change with the tides as new research is done.

Omnivore's Dilemma book discussion - Section III (chapters 15 -17)

Like last month, I'm splitting up this final section into two chapter chunks (the next one will be posted in two Tuesdays). Not only to give those still behind on the reading a chance to catch up, but for me to pace myself too [it's been a little crazy around here].

Anyway, here are the questions for the first part of the third, and final, section: Personal - The Forest.

Chapter 15: The Forager Hunting is still very much a popular past time (at least here in the U.S.) but foraging seems to be a totally lost art. There's a great stand at our local farmer's market called Foraged & Found Edibles. This time of year they offer morels, sea beans and other delights. The owner, Jeremy Faber, a forestry major turned chef, manages to find and offer something year round. Do you or do you know of anyone that regularly forages - mushrooms, wild berries?

Chapter 16: The Omnivore's Dilemma First off, I thought the whole idea of "reducing the tension of indigestion" was interesting. That eating corn with lime, corn and beans, raw fish with wasabi, etc. either provided protection from food-borne illness and/or made nutrients more bio-available. Another point made in this chapter is regarding the fad diets in America, rotating through fat is bad - carbs are good, protein and fat is good - carbs are bad, blood type diets and more.

Why is it Americans are always in need of some quick fix or diet gimmick instead of eating until sated and slowing down and just enjoying food? I love the whole concept of the Slow Food Movement and the French culture of food which allows one to enjoy food without ruining their health - it's a mixture of culture and neophilia. Are Americans even able to slow down our eating habits and get back to a more "meal"-centric culture that is still enjoyed by Europeans? Or is everything else we do, rushing around like maniacs, driving our kids to far too many over scheduled activities anathema to Slow Food?

Chapter 17: The Ethics of Eating Animals There are two quotes that stood out for me in reading this chapter. The first: "The disappearance of animals from our lives has opened a space in which there's no reality check on the sentiment or the brutality." I've mentioned this in previous posts, but the fact that meat purchased from the supermarket is completely devoid of any semblance of the animal it came from removes (or helps remove) any guilt or thought towards the ethics of eating that animal.

The second quote: "... domestication took place when a handful of especially opportunistic species discovered... that they were more likely to survive and prosper in an alliance with humans than on their own." I remember reading an article many years ago about how fortuitous it was of wolves (which became the domesticated dog) to have, essentially, foisted themselves on humans. They provide humans some protection and companionship and, in turn, they get food and shelter. Clearly (at least for many cultures), dogs are not kept around for food. In this case, it's a pretty amiable relationship. No food ethics involved. But, what about the domesticated critter kept as "food crops"? This definitely gets down to a philosophical argument. Do animals have the same rights to freedom as humans? Even if they are taking "advantage" of us?

When is eating local worse?

Sometimes focusing strictly on eating local can be a bad thing. What if your local producer uses conventional methods? What if your local producer is a mega-agribusiness that practices farming techniques that are deleterious to the environment? Think giant hog farms.

When choosing to eat local you need to weigh your options among your local growers. Choosing sustainable or organically grown over conventional is an easy decision if it's grown locally. But what if all you have are conventional products locally? Does it make sense to buy organic products if you have to ship it in from outside your "area"?

This is a decision that everyone has to make for themselves. As discussed in Michael Pollan's, The Omnivore's Dilemma, one farmer argues that buying organic from a giant producer at the very least removes those acres of produce from being farmed conventionally. So, even though that produce is grown in a mono-culture or those chickens have only "access" to the outside (but not truly free-range), it's better than the alternative.

Does this same line of thinking hold for conventional and local versus organic and distant? When it comes down to it I think each situation will depend, but my yardstick will be organic and distant over local and conventional. Of course, when choosing a U-Pick farm or facing down the options at the local farmer's market, this may just waver a bit. Sometimes I forget that just because I'm at a farmer's market doesn't mean that the grower is practicing sustainable farming. I have to remember to ask.

One of my readers brought up a book that addresses these issues: The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter. I haven't read it yet, but it looks like it makes for a good read along with The Omnivore's Dilemma.

What about you? How will you decide? What do you do now?

Local Food Month challenge

So, you've done Low Impact Week and you're still continuing with some of the things you tried out. You feel good about reducing your energy and water consumption and your garbage output. What's next? Well, let's focus on the food now.

There's so much energy expended in buying food not grown, produced or packaged locally. For those of you following along with the Omnivore's Dilemma Book Club, you've read the statistics. You may still be troubled by the idea of eating organic versus local. Either way, you can't deny that buying fruits and vegetables from thousands of miles away consumes a whole lot of petroleum products.

Now, here's the challenge:

During the month of July you're going to increase your consumption of locally and sustainably grown food and decrease your consumption of imported and packaged food. You choose the level of participation you want to do.

Think of this as an a la carte menu - you can pick as many or as few items to focus on.

Eat local:

• produce (fruits and vegetables)
  
• dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese)
  
• meats and seafood
  
• breads and grains

Limit:

• pre-packaged food
  
• frozen food
  
• fast food

Make your own:

• cereals
  
• pastas
  
• breads
  
• soymilk
  
• yogurt

FAQs
What about beer, wine and spirits? Well, that's up to you. You can continue buying your regular brands of beverages or you can see if you can find a local equivalent.

What is considered "local"? Again, you have a choice. You can follow the "100 mile" yardstick, but I know a lot of you don't have growers in your area. So, for those that have few resources, you can choose your "region", whether that be your entire state or including neighboring states. One thing to do to see what's available in your area is to check out the list of farmer's markets nearest you.

Does this mean all day, every day? It's up to you. If you want to have Saturdays off, go for it. Do you want to limit it to dinners only, that's great. Set up something you think is workable for you. I want you to think about what you are putting in your mouth, but I don't want to make it so onerous that you give up. Each individual is different, so decide for yourselves how far you want to take it. Or start slow and work your way up to being more involved by the end of the month.

What else? Take into consideration how things are grown. If possible, opt for food items that are grown organically over conventional methods. Or at least without chemicals. Find out if your meat producer practices rotational grazing. Make sure your fish is acquired from a sustainable fishery and only buy farmed seafood that is sustainable.

Considering it's summer and there's lots of food in season, the produce part shouldn't be too hard to do. However, if you still must have that avocado for your guacamole and the limes for your margaritas, well, it's up to you.

The goal is to try and to let you see how easy it is to add local products to your diet and, hopefully, get you in the habit of shopping at those farmer's markets and farmstands. In addition, depending on what level you are doing, you will become more aware of where your packaged foods come from.

Like during Low Impact Week, I'll be adding a list of links to fellow bloggers so we can see what everyone else is up to. Go ahead and grab the graphic if you want to co-sponsor this or participate on your blog. I hope that with the encouragement of each other we can keep the momentum of Low Impact Week going!

Organic dairy queen

We eat a lot of dairy. Mostly because we don't eat much meat and it's one of our big sources of protein. Recently I've started making our own yogurt instead of buying the 20-odd little plastic vats of yogurt per week. And I've been getting organic cheese too.

We've been buying organic milk for about 8 years so I was quite excited to see organic glass jarred milk at our local co-op store. You pay a deposit for the jar and then return it to the store for a refund. You know the drill. The milk is from a local dairy and is hormone-free. Plus, it fits into that whole 100 mile diet thing. Not that I'm a strict locavore adherent but I'm trying to choose local when I can.

I'm very excited because we go through so much milk with the kids and I hate those plastic milk jugs. We use the 1/2 gallon milk cartons to hold food waste, but I thought I'd try out the glass and help support a local dairy.

Loco for local

I started getting really interested in the local food movement recently. I've been a big proponent of organic foods for a long time and have been rather dismayed at the changing standards of organic food labeling since the USDA took over a few years back.

Now, your "organic" food may come from overseas where organic certification doesn't quite meet up with the same standards we have come to expect. One way of getting around this issue is to purchase local foods, organically raised. In fact, there's a movement of people called "locavores" that proposes trying to buy mostly locally grown food. Some individuals have gone so far as to try the "100 mile diet" wherein you attempt to purchase all your food from sources within a 100 mile radius of your home. This greatly reduces the impact of transporting food across long distances -- mainly the reduction is in energy consumption and pollution from burning fossil fuels.

If you're bothering reading this blog, this probably isn't much news to you. But it sets the stage for some of my future ramblings.