An Article and a Video

First, I have enjoyed the recent trend against bottled water (at least here in Seattle it has especially become the green target). I have never been a fan, and really tried to limit my own consumption except in instances when the convenience just outweighed all other factors. Anyway, this article highlights the real lack of common sense in buying this stuff.

Desalinated seawater from Hawaii, meanwhile, is being sold as "concentrated water" — at $33.50 for a two-ounce bottle. Like any concentrated beverage, it is supposed to be diluted before drinking, except that in this case, that means adding water to ... water.

Also, I have been on the producer of Iraq For Sale's spam list since buying the movie. Most of his subject matter I find a little too partisan and one-sided, but his latest project has been much more interesting and you can see the latest and best interview here. (30-ish minutes long). And in the producer's words:

You are not a progressive until you have seen this interview with Tom Hayden and Naomi Klein.

Not sure that I go that far, but its good.

Going Bananas, Gone?

Bananas now represent a special significance in my life. I can actually attribute bananas in a large part to where I am today. Cliche as it may sound, I was literally sitting in a bus, riding across the landscape of Ecuador (in 2000), reading The Ecology of Commerce, and watching thousands of acres of banana plantations go by. All the while these bananas were being sprayed with pesticides by farmworkers wearing only a bandanna for protection. It was at this point I decided I wanted to work in a career that could affect change in today's world. It was also at this point that I became committed to eating locally and organic as often as possible. Eventually, I would meet Jen, we would move to Seattle, she would study Naturopathic Medicine and learn that Bananas are mucogenic. She would eventually convince me to give up bananas in my diet (at least in my purchases). I fought a little, given the convenience and affordability of bananas, but ultimately what they represent in corporate oppression and a huge eco-footprint made the choice easy enough. Now I do not even miss them.

Anyways, that was a long-winded way of saying that I found this recent article in the Seattle PI particularly interesting ... and of course, I recommend it!

The Food Culture of Madrid

Anyone that knows me, knows I love food; and when you travel I find that food is one of the things that leaves the biggest impression ... at least on me. After all, eating is one of those things you do more than most activities, and in Spain it may even dominate sleep in number of hours per day.

Before I traveled to Spain, friend's opinions of the food of Spain ranged from amazing to horrible. One of my absolute favorite restaurants in Seattle is a Spanish Tapas place just down the street from my house, so I was pretty excited for anything that even was of resemblance.

More than the quality or style of food in Madrid, what left the biggest impression upon me was the schedule of how the Spanish people eat and how much meal times dictate the the flow of the day. In the states, we are very accustomed to being able to get a wide variety of food whenever you want it. Not the case in Spain. To illustrate, I'll walk through a typical day of eating in Madrid:

9am :: Madrilenos do not go to bed early, so the day begins late. And breakfast is a rather simple affair. The typical meal in the morning would be a cafe con leche (coffee with milk) - often a mix of hot and cold milk - a croissant, and a glass of orange juice. For more of a gut bomb, one might get churros (fried bread - see below). Eggs are not common for breakfast in Madrid.

Cafe and pastries


Noon :: Hope you aren't hungry, because if the place is a lunch cafe they won't even be open for another hour, and probably not serving for an hour and half. If the place was open for breakfast, you might get lucky with a limited menu and a strange look.


2pm :: Madrilenos like to eat a late lunch, and this is the most important meal of the day. The classic lunch is ordered from the menu del dia (meal of the day). First, a drink (wine, beer or soda - drinking at lunch even as a business person is very common ... no taboo here!) and of course some pan (bread). Then start with a first course - gazapacho being my favorite (cold tomato soup). For the second course, maybe some fish and patatas fritas (french fries), but likely it will be some form of pork. Finally, you get a postre (dessert) or cafe to finish. Or with a smile and a wink to the waitress, both :) My choice: Flan and a cafe cortado (espresso with a little milk on top).

One of my favorite lunch spots:


4pm :: Don't bother the service business ... while the siesta is proclaimed to be dead by many, especially the lawyers in Spain, this time of the day is a time to slow down and prepare for the night.

7pm :: Cana and Tapas time. Cana (Supposed be Canya but I don't know how to put the squiggly on top of the n) is a small beer and the tapa was invented as a small plate of food placed on top of the beer so that people wouldn't drink on an empty stomach. Brilliant! Many places carry this tradition on with a free tapas. The freebies might be olives, potato chips, or even Chorizo or Bocarones (fried spanish anchovies). But the list goes on with just about anything open for Tapas. There couldn't be a better institution than the tapas for seeing a city. Just walk around getting drink and a little food for hours as you take in the sights.

10pm :: Again, a late meal. You are probably not that hungry at this point after many tapas and drinks, so sharing some Paella with a group is common or getting what are called Racions (big tapas). The small peppers where one of my favorites and squid cooked in its own ink was also very good. btw, Spain eats more seafood than any other country per capita. And only 2nd to Japan in total amount.

Paella with my Valencia friends


A little video clip I took from my room around 10pm one night. We would often open the windows (cuz it was hot) to enjoy the street music. I even threw money out the window a few times :) Notice that there isn't an empty seat, even this late on this non-significant street.


1am :: The night isn't even close to being over so maybe a treat to keep you going. Churros con Chocolate:


Well, mix in some school, studying, and some sight-seeing and you get my typical day. I also took full advantage of the siesta to survive this schedule!

$4 Corn

This ARTICLE on the current rise in the price of Corn (to $4/bushel), which I stumbled upon in my local coffee shop, is well worth the read. I found it particularly interesting as it brings together many of my interests - the environment, agriculture, farming, domestic food production, alternative energies, government subsidies, food security/safety, and the corporate intersection of all of this.

For a tease of the article:

Four-dollar corn. The price probably doesn't mean much to many Fortune readers, certainly not the city slickers who wouldn't know a combine from a planter. But in farm country, $4 corn is more than a big deal. It's a phenomenon. "It's the center of conversation in the center of the country," says Elizabeth Hund, head of agricultural lending for U.S. Bancorp.

In the span of just eight months, the price of the U.S.'s most important crop - our biggest agricultural export as well as the staple feed for our livestock - has doubled from $2, about where it had been stuck since the late 1990s, to $4 a bushel. The cause is soaring demand from ethanol plants, which bought 2.2 billion bushels last year, 34% more than in 2005. Previous price spikes were short-lived and usually caused by drought, but the futures market thinks this rally has legs.

May 2008 corn recently traded at $4.20 a bushel, while December 2010 futures were at $3.74. This means farmers can lock in terrific prices not just for the 2007 crop but for the three after that as well.

Problem is, what's good for farmers - and even better for the companies selling them tractors, seeds, and fertilizer - has started to roil other parts of the economy. The feed costs of cattlemen and hog farmers have skyrocketed. Ethanol producers have seen their profits slashed. Food companies are being squeezed and are starting to pass along higher costs to consumers. (This isn't just a U.S. problem: Mexico is in an uproar over soaring tortilla costs.)

I know people have been quick to point out that this is the hidden evil of alternative fuels, but I don't see it quite that way. This goes to the whole Free Market argument ... when the true cost of farming is realized, the cost of subsidized livestock feed and exported crops will be balanced out my local economies demanding the most efficient use for the resource. Read on to realize just how complicated this issue may become.

Eat Food. Not too Much. Mostly Plants

The title of this post is MICHAEL POLLEN'S boiled down and simplified advice to the ever-complex and often confusing answers to the proverbial question: What should I eat. He explains this and elaborates in the excellent article that recently appeared in the NY Times:

CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY.

I strongly recommend reading this article. For a sneak peak:

Of course it’s also a lot easier to slap a health claim on a box of sugary cereal than on a potato or carrot, with the perverse result that the most healthful foods in the supermarket sit there quietly in the produce section, silent as stroke victims, while a few aisles over, the Cocoa Puffs and Lucky Charms are screaming about their newfound whole-grain goodness.

“The problem with nutrient-by-nutrient nutrition science,” points out Marion Nestle, the New York University nutritionist, “is that it takes the nutrient out of the context of food, the food out of the context of diet and the diet out of the context of lifestyle.”

Not everyone can afford to eat well in America, which is shameful, but most of us can: Americans spend, on average, less than 10 percent of their income on food, down from 24 percent in 1947, and less than the citizens of any other nation. And those of us who can afford to eat well should. Paying more for food well grown in good soils — whether certified organic or not — will contribute not only to your health (by reducing exposure to pesticides) but also to the health of others who might not themselves be able to afford that sort of food: the people who grow it and the people who live downstream, and downwind, of the farms where it is grown.

If this kind of reading is of interest to you, (and I think it should at least concern everybody, if not fascinate) be sure to check out Pollen's book: OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA

cheers ...