Food of the Week

While food shopping today, I was thinking how much awesome food is out there so I thought it would be fun to highlight a food once a week!  For the first week I present to you...KUMQUATS!

This little citrus that is just as fun to say as it is to eat, originated from Asia.  It comes from a small tree (sometimes classified a shrub) with dark green leaves and white flowers.  The fruit is somewhat unique among citrus in that you do not peel it.  In fact, the best part is the peel!  That is the sweetest.  The inside juice is sour.  Pop one of these babies whole in your mouth and you have a beautiful mixture of the sweet and sour! 

I am not a big citrus fan but these are one of the only citrus fruits that I really get excited about.  Usually they are just eaten raw as a snack, but they can also be sliced into salads or you can get creative and try them candied!  Here's a recipe for Candied Kumquats (not my recipe, it's taken from here: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/candied_kumquats/)

Candied Kumquats Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 cups of roughly chopped kumquats (roughly 1-1½ lbs.)
• 1 cup of water
• 2 cups of sugar

Method

1 With a pairing knife roughly chop the kumquats. Discard any seeds you can that are easy to get too, but they're edible so don't fret if some get chopped up or stay in the fruit. Feel free to leave any small kumquats whole.
2 Heat the water and sugar over high heat until it comes to a boil. Simmer for 4 minutes. Add the kumquats and simmer for 10 minutes.
3 Drain the kumquats through a sieve set over a bowl. Return the syrup to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes to reduce the syrup. Combine the kumquats and 1/4 cup of the syrup together.
Serve or jar and refrigerate. Can be stored for up to two weeks.

Shit....Say

Since these video's are spreading like wildfire and, admit it, they are highly addictive, I thought I'd post one on here.  I was trying to find a more green or eco-themed one but they weren't as good as the vegan ones. 

Frack You

Fracking...a funny word, a serious debate.

I was reading an article about fracking the other day and it really raised my hackles.  Yes, I understand if we want to be more independent while still consuming the same amount of energy we need to look to other sources of energy besides oil BUT natural gas is not the solution!  Sure it creates jobs, but only temporarily so you will have a quick boom and then back to a bust...not a long-term solution.  Some argue it is just the bridge between oil and renewable energies...screw a bridge!  Lets not waste time and money on a bridge when we should just walk straight into the renewables garden.

So, whats so bad about fracking?  Lets see...it uses millions of gallons of water and thousands of toxic and radioactive chemicals (we don't even know which ones because the companies do not have to disclose what they use), it leaves the land devastated, it has potential to leak chemicals into our drinking water, it tears apart small towns with its noise, smell and land usage devaluing the land surrounding it and it causes earthquakes!

 Do we really want all this just for a few years or decades worth of energy?  It doesn't solve our long-term energy crisis and the only ones seeing a substantial sum of the profits will be the energy companies.  East coasters, let your voice be heard!  Call or write to your representatives and say no!

Don't know what the hell fracking is??  Here's the full article that started this rant: http://www.emagazine.com/magazine/fracked-to-pieces

Victory/Victoria

There has been some recent good news on the environmental and health front.
The big one, that I'm sure many of you have heard about, is the rejection of the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline by the Obama administration.  To briefly summarize, it was a proposal to bring tar from Canadian tar sands down to the gulf area to be refined into oil by building a huge pipe across the US.
Another victory, that wasn't as widely publicized is a 20-year ban on any new mining in the Grand Canyon.  There is a lot of uranium in the Grand Canyon area so special interest companies (many of them foreign) are eager to grab it up, however Ken Salazer, our Interior Secretary, did not bow to pressure citing the need to protect sacred grounds and a river that provides drinking water to millions of people, as well as one of the biggest tourist attractions in our country.
Another little interesting bit of news on the health front is the big three fast food joints (Burger King, McDonald's and Taco Bell) have decided to stop using ammoniated beef, commonly referred to as "pink slime."  This refers to fatty beef trimming, usually reserved for pet foods and other byproducts, being used as fillers for hamburgers.  Since these trimmings have a high risk of containing bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella, they were mixed with ammonium hydroxide.  Yum!

Now, these may be considered successes but notice that they are all about stopping.  They have all halted a negative and while I believe they are important, I think this is why the environmental movement gets such a bad rap...it's so focused on saying not this, not that.  I think true victories would be to see more positives happening.  Environmentalists are great in the defensive position, now we need to strengthen our offense.  Instead of legislation saying no to tar sands, I want to see a yes to renewable energies, instead of a stop to destroying wild lands, I want to see legislation focusing on increasing the acreage of wilderness areas.  Again, I'm not saying these successes are not important, just that I would like to see a shift in the victories.

I've seen a surge of cute sloth video's making the rounds so I thought I'd leave you with a video that will shed some light on the true nature of sloths:
Sloths 

What about Sporks?

Has anyone seen or heard of this movie?  There's apparantly big buzz about it, especially in Hollywood.  I keep hearing about celeb's saying this movie changed their eating habits but I never knew exactly what it was about.  I decided to do a little research and not only learned a bit about it but found out there's gonna be a free screening of it this weekend....good timing!

So, from what I can gather, it follows two doctors who started questioning our SAD (Standard American Diet), conducted heaps of research and both came to the conclusion that eschewing animal products in our diet can lead to prevention or reversal of many diseases our society is infected with.  Seems like right up my alley so I'm definitely gonna go check out that screening.  If any Portlanders want to join, let me know!  Also, for any Rocklanders, it is playing in West Nyack in a few weeks.  Here is the full list of scheduling:

http://www.forksoverknives.com/showtimes/

I got this sticker with my (much-needed) new wallet today.  Hmmm....I'm sensing a theme for this week.

So, I talked about ways to change your eating habits but I didn't really talk about why.  Oh, there are soooo many reasons!  Too many to get into now so here's one...environmental degradation of CAFO's.
 "The whaty what of WHAT?, "  you ask.  Good question I say.  First, let me explain CAFO or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation.  It means pretty much how it sounds, lots of animals in a small space pumped food in a mechanical matter.  When people talk about factory farms, they are talking about CAFO's.  This is where the majority of US meat comes from, not pasture farms that you think of when you hear the word farm.  And by majority, I mean 99%. 
So, what do all those animals tightly packed together mean for the surrounding environment?  I'll let the EPA tell you:
Manure and wastewater have the potential to contribute pollutants, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, organic matter, sediments, pathogens, heavy metals, hormones and ammonia, to the environment. 
The environmental impacts resulting from mismanagement of wastes include, among others, excess nutrients in water (such as nitrogen and phosphorus), which can contribute to low levels of dissolved oxygen (fish kills), and decomposing organic matter that can contribute to toxic algal blooms. Contamination from runoff or lagoon leakage can degrade water resources, and can contribute to illness by exposing people to wastes and pathogens in their drinking water. Dust and odors can contribute to respiratory problems in workers and nearby residents.

---

Now substitute the words "have the potential to contribute" and "can contribute" to "are contributing" and you have exactly what is going on because it's easier and cheaper for business's to pay off the fines for breaking the rules then to ensure they are not polluting. 
Also, by waste, they mean shit.  Lots of animals means lots of animal manure and it has to go somewhere.  Farms set up shit lagoons to hold the manure but these often break or overflow and, whoops, now it's in your water supply.
Maybe you're thinking, "So, ok,  these farms are causing pollution but I live in a city, nowhere near one of these.  This is not affecting my area."  That is where I tell you that these farms are also polluting on a global scale.  Yup, I'm talking about their contribution to climate change.  All those animals are giving off a whole lot of methane (a gas worse than carbon dioxide in contributing to global warming)  causing scientists to place factory farms as the single biggest contributor to climate change.  To put that in perspective a NY Times article reported that, "if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan—a Camry, say—to the ultra-efficient Prius.”

That is just a quick overview of ONE problem with factory farming.  Don't worry, I'll let you in on all the other issues soon. :-)

"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology." -Carl Sagan

Challenge #1 - Mindful Eating

The best way to change what you don't like is to go out and do something about it.  Sounds simple enough but I tend to hear a lot of talk and complaints and rants about how this corporation is terrible or that bill will be horrible if it passes but not a lot of action to counter these problems (I'm talking to you OWS!).  So, I am going to propose challenges to start making us doers instead of just complainers...small tasks that will hopefully start to add up in a big way.  And my first challenge is to eat mindfully!  Now, this can mean different things to different people but as long as you start to consciously think about what you are putting on your plate that is a step in the right direction.  This week, do one of following:

1. Reduce (or eliminate) your consumption of factory farmed meat and dairy.  The agribusiness model of meat production is terrible on so many levels.  Fortunately it seems like most people in the US are already on this trend: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/were-eating-less-meat-why/#more-117677.  Not sure where to start?  How about Meatless Mondays: http://www.meatlessmonday.com/

2. Buy local.  The carbon footprint of that Chilian apple is much higher than the apple grown at the local orchard.  Plus, local food tends to be tastier and cheaper!  So hit up your local farmers market, CSA or co-op.  You can find what's near you here: http://www.localharvest.org/

3. Buy in season.  This sort of goes with number 2 as buying local produce will tend to make you buy seasonal.  It's cheaper to get produce in season as well.

4. Buy organic. Who wants pesticides and herbicides in their meal?!  Can't afford all organic and want to know the worst offenders?  Meat and dairy!  Don't eat those?  Then check out the dirty dozen list of produce the Environmental Working Group puts out: http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-214

5. Grow your own.  Sure, not everyone lives on a farm but even apartment-dwellers can grow some potted herbs.  It is highly satisfying and will give you an appreciation for where your food comes from.

6.  At the supermarket, fill your cart with items from the outer edges of the store (as opposed to the aisles).  This is where the produce, deli and bakeries are = fresh food.  It's more bang for your buck, less preservatives and odd junk in your food, and less packaging.

7. Dumpster Dive!  Ok, not something I've personally done and, admittedly, find it kinda gross, but hey, to each their own.  Also known as freeginism, it's where you "rescue" food that others have thrown out in the trash.  It does help to reduce waste and is very easy on the wallet (read free).

Sure, you may not be able to (or want to) do all of these but that is why I said pick ONE.  You shouldn't feel overwhelmed, just empowered with your choice.  Already doing one of these?  Great, then pick another.  Have another suggestion you don't see on here?  Let me know in the comments!  Happy Eating! :-)

A New Beginning

A new year, a new city, a new blog!  I thought a blog would be a good way to both improve my writing and give me an outlet to talk about subjects that are important to me.  I will mostly focus on environmental issues, and probably a lot of food politics, but will freely delve into other topics as I see fit.  I don't know how successful this will be, how long I'll keep it up, or if it will be interesting to anyone other than myself but I won't know if I don't try.  To put it another way, I will quote one of my favorite authors, Edward Abbey (from the book that is the inspiration for my blog's title):

"Life is a bitch, his dark companion said - and then you die.  Not so! cried Henry.  Life is a glorious shining and splendid adventure - and then you die." ~The Fool's Progress