Genetic Catastrophe

Today in class we watched a movie on genetic modification of both plants and animals. I found myself being both angered and concerned by the film. The idea of genetically modifying foods is a wonderfully utopian thought of trying to feed large groups of people while growing crops that are resistant to certain pesticides and insecticides yielding a larger crop. However, these crops can go horribly wrong as these genetically modified Franken-foods cause both legal and health problems.

The part of the movie that concerned me was the health effects. As foods change, their effects on humans can be catastrophic. The movie showed examples of foods that had developed genetic alterations that ended up harming humans. The other problem with genetically modified foods is that they tend to phase out crops that may be inferior to their genetically modified superiority. Genetic alterations are not just seen in plants however. They can also be seen in animals like cattle. The cow in the world has been greatly altered throughout its existence becoming more harmful to humans and even becoming carcinogenic.

As new crops are created they tend to become more dominate than others as they are genetically altered to withstand certain conditions like insecticides. As a new strain of plant that is resistant to weed killer is planted, all the old species of the plant are wiped out as they are not able to withstand chemicals leaving only the newly created plant. This can cause two separate problems. First, the newly created super plants are surprisingly patentable. You can actually claim a patent on a plant. Where this becomes an issue is if a genetically modified seed blows onto the ground of a farmer, the farmer can be sued and have his crop either repossessed or be forced to have his seed bank decommissioned. The other issue behind these crops is certain genetic characteristics can arise like the suicide gene. The suicide gene is a genetic mutation that prevents crops from growing back year after year just like the one seen in All Over Creation. Instead, after one year the seed self-destructs and don’t allow for a second germination. This is a problem seen in other countries around the world forcing farming communities to purchase new seeds year in and year out. This reminded me of a Peace and Justice class I took in high school that contained a large section on third world poverty. The photos in the film were just like those we looked at in the class. They showed how third world countries were being unfairly affected by the decisions of first world countries.

(Imaage from non-gmfarmers.com)

The Cob Experience

Today my aspirations for the cob oven were realized in the form of pizza. During class today we were given pizza dough during our preparation of the day’s lentil soup. I’ve only used pizza dough a very few times so I began to roll it out with not a very exact idea of what I was doing. After a while it started to look somewhat like an actual pizza crust. I gave it a toss or two in the air, more for my own amusement than a part of the rolling out process. After a few minutes I developed a few rips in my dough so I balled it up and started over. However, my second time around I couldn’t seem to get my dough to roll out the way I wanted. Finally I passed my dough off to Jamie in bitter defeat hoping she could save what was left of my pathetic crust. She had some experience at rolling pizza dough so after a few minutes of working with my “angry dough” (as the group referred to my dough ball), I finally had a working pizza crust. The crusts were then covered and put away only to wait until later that afternoon.

I sat at the pick nick table that afternoon waiting for the oven to be ready as bees buzzed past my head. My anticipation grew as the time progressed and soon it was time to start preparing the pizza. I pulled out my dough and slowly worked it off the plate as it had become rather attached during its midday storage. Finally, I worked my dough free and began to apply the sauce. I like a light amount of sauce on my pizza as too much can overpower the toppings. After the sauce, I put on a layer of cheese and then moved over to the large granite slab to put on what we were all waiting for. In front of me stood an array of fresh vegetables picked that afternoon from the UW student garden ready for our consumption. I started first with some green peppers (a personal favorite of mine) and then kept it simple adding only shallots to accompany my rows of green. I then walked my pizza over to the oven and handed it to Keith. Keith was willing to put off his own pizza making to instead bake for everyone else. Despite the heat and hunger Keith carried on without a complaint. The atmosphere created by Keith was greatly appreciated by all. It reminded me of our post-prom party where I cooked crepes for two straight hours. I didn’t get to do anything else during that time or even eat a crepe but my work was appreciated by those around me as I supported the gathering of people.

When the pizza came out, the smell and the appearance were what you wished most of the pizza you ate looked like. I quickly sliced my creation into fours but couldn’t start right away as it was still too hot. After a few minutes I took my first bite. The pizza was better than any pizza I had eaten in a long time. It was not at all greasy leaving you feeling like you hadn’t eaten a brick for dinner like some pizza do. Also the fresh vegetables were so much better than any restaurant purchased vegetable pizza. The pizza outing has been my favorite food project so far

An Alternative to Meat

The concept of an Omnivores Dilemma falls heavily upon my family. We tend to not eat foods with added corn syrup sweeteners if we can but we still live under the escapable shadow of our corn driven food environment. My family could never be mistaken as vegetarian. We fill the description of omnivore eating all types of food at every meal, including meat. Meat is and has always been a large part of my diet. Not that I eat excessive amounts of meat or anything like that but aside from breakfast I typically eat meat during the other two meals in my day. Despite the warnings of this corn fed carnivore cycle, I can’t imagine my food life without meat.

The past two meals we have made in class (not including pizza although that was meat free) were both vegan containing no meat products at all. Very few dinners take place in house where there is not some form of meat so eating meals that are completely vegan is an interesting change for me. Neither good nor bad it’s interesting to explore what kind of meals can be created to provide protein without requiring that meat be consumed. Lentils and black eyed peas are both legumes and both good sources of protein. My mom makes a few different lentil soups but all to my knowledge either contain meat or are prepared in some form of meat stock. I really enjoyed the lentil soup we made in class. Not only did it remind of home being a lentil soup but it was also good to take on the challenge of preparing a soup using only water. Following the proper steps we managed to make the water not at all boring but instead a wonderful lunch. While I don’t think I’ll ever be able to actually remove meat from my diet (unless a natural disaster forced me to stop eating meat), it’s good to explore new options that might allow me to obtain protein from other sources.

Super Sized Society

Over the past two years I have seen the movie Super Size Me many times. I first saw it sophomore year of high school in my health class. I’ve seen it numerous times since in other classes as well as on T.V. The movie is just as relevant now as it was then. The movie for me is poignant in multiple levels both personal and societal.

America as a whole is the most overweight country in the world. A land of prosperity where food is always readily available has turned the country into a land of excess. People in the U.S. want everything bigger and faster all the time. However, this process of quick production of large portions comes back to haunt the consumer in the form health problems.

Morgan Spurlock entered his “burger binge” being an above average healthy adult. He ate relatively well and stayed fit. He did many diagnostic tests at the beginning of his of his month of McDonalds so he could compare the before and after chart numbers. Spurlock’s binge sent all his numbers from cholesterol to blood pressure through the roof at an alarming rate. He gained 25 to 30 pounds in one month and was told he was on his way to liver and heart ailments if he didn’t cut out his new found diet. Spurlock’s film shows that America’s consumption of junk food is causing a health downfall that will show itself down the road in forms like “one in three children born in year 2000 will develop diabetes at some point in their life due to a high fat diet”.

Is McDonalds really the only one to blame for the country’s obesity epidemic? Of course not, the film focused on McDonalds as that was Spurlock’s diet but it also showed other problems around the country. Most of America’s schools serve food that not only lacks nutrition but also falls into the category of just being bad for you. In the movie, kids were consuming lunches of Soda, French fries and cookies. Not only is there nothing healthy in their lunch, it’s downright bad for you.

For me, Super Size Me is a good reminder to stay away from certain foods. I already didn’t fast food before originally viewing the film but seeing it only helped to reinforce a self imposed ban of fast food. The movie also reminds me that when I’m in a hurry to make an attempt at reaching for something healthy. But what can be done to cure America’s lean toward an unhealthy lifestyle? For starters, places like McDonalds don’t need to serve the quantities they serve. “Nobody need 40 oz. of soda and a half pound of fries.” As for the schools, they could start serving healthier options like the alternative school in the film. Also the open option to buy candy and other junk food at lunch should either be limited or removed all together. Super Size me does a wonderful Job of outlining one of America’s growing problems.

The Freshman 15 From Home

Considering the fact that we have a long break due to Labor Day, I decided to go home for the weekend to catch up on some sleep, see a few friends that hadn’t left yet, do some things in Portland you can’t do elsewhere, and lastly but certainly not least eat some good food. I came home Thursday right after class, making the three hour car ride that put me into Portland in the late afternoon. Portland looked exactly as I had left it. The sun was out but getting distant in the late afternoon sky as I crossed over the Willamette River providing an excellent panorama of both the west and east sides of downtown. I had missed the city but not realized just how much until I came back. The bridge I was on is very tall and gives you a good view of much of the city. It was fun to be in a city where I could see building, shops and streets that I actually knew the names of and had even been to on a regular basis. Seattle has a lot offer and to entertain with but it’s slightly tricky when you don’t know where or what those things are.

Thursday night was kind of a disappointment in the food department as my parents had some party to attend which left me putting together my own dinner. The next day (Friday) was anything but disappointing. For dinner we chicken that was baked with parmesan and prosciutto, accompanied by fresh green beans and mashed potatoes. Both the beans and potatoes had been grown on a farm at the edge of Portland. My past two weeks in class had made me appreciate what it means to eat locally like this. The chicken was also from Oregon, grown a couple hours south of Portland. Tonight’s dinner was as wonderful as the previous dinner. We had steak (grown locally), corn (grown at the same place the beans and potatoes were from) and a dish that had barley and pine-nuts in it. I’m not sure what tomorrow night’s dinner is but I’m sure it’ will be as wonderful as the two previous nights.

The ironic thing about coming home for me is that I think I would actually gain weight if I stayed. Everyone always talks about the freshman fifteen and I decided I was going to try and not put on that weight. In the past two weeks I’ve actually become more conscious in what I eat and I exercise regularly (but I did that in Portland too) and I am actually in better shape after two weeks of college. The curious part in all this is that if I were to stay at home I’d probably actually put on weight as I’m surrounded by good food. Between, the large dinners, home-made granola and block of Dutch cheese I’ve been working on this weekend I think I’ll actually return to school more out of shape then when I came home.

Collard Greens

For years I heard about collard greens but never actually seen them much less eaten them. Collard greens are actually quite old as food goes. They were popular in both the Greek and Roman civilizations. Eventually, collard greens worked their way over to America during the slave trade. Collard greens were common among the southern slave population and since the civil war they have become a notable southern dish that that falls under the classification of “soul food” Collard greens are not seem in the northwest all that much, hence my lack of exposure to the dish. During our discussion on national dishes, we defined a national dish as a stereo-type that uses a food as a generalized symbol of that region’s cuisine. The U.S. itself not only has national cuisines but regional ones as well. Collard greens could be considered a regional dish of the southeastern United States.

Collard greens were the focus of today’s cooking project. We had three stations working. One made a vegetarian stir-fry of collard greens. One group (mine) prepared a side dish of rice, black-eyed peas, onions, peppers, and stock. Then a third group prepared a batch of Pesto made from the Basil given to us by Keith on our Monday visit to the farm. We first chopped up the vegetable and sautéed them in olive oil for a few minutes. Then the stock and black-eyed peas were added. In another pot we had a large amount of rice cooking. We had a tough time in the kitchen because even though it was a commercial kitchen we couldn’t find things like lids and measuring devices. Oh well we estimated (a dangerous activity while cooking).

45 minutes later our food was finished and we had an excellent lunch. Having never tried collard greens I was curious to see what this famous leaf was like. To me it seemed somewhat like a thicker spinach as the true taste of the leaf didn’t come out due to it’s cooking in olive oil. The rice and beans were quite delicious as I ate the first plate but was disappointed because we were out by the time I went back for seconds. I enjoyed today’s cooking adventure and am looking forward to next week’s.

Student Farm

During my first week of school I was walking down the bike path that runs along the lower part of campus. As bikes whizzed by, I wasn’t paying too much attention to the surrounding area which is unusual for me. I usually trip over various things when I walk because I’m too busy looking around to ever look down and see what I’m walking over or in my case what I’m walking into. On my left I saw something that immediately caught my eye as it wasn’t typical to the surroundings I was in. At first glance it looked somewhat like one of those Dog-loos, you know the dog houses shaped like igloos? On closer inspection however, I noticed that it was not at all a home for a pet but an oven. I’d seen such ovens before and thought this was kind of an odd place to find one considering the only ones I had ever seen were in people’s yards or on television shows showcasing other countries. I told myself that I was going to find out what they used it for and at some point hopefully even be able to use it.

Little did I know, the area that I had visited with the large oven was actually the student farm. Today we went on a walking trip down to the campus farm and were shown around by the manager of the garden Keith Possee. Keith explained the history of the garden, it’s purpose and who operated it. Green space like the student garden is rather rare on a campus like UW as we don’t have an agricultural school on campus. Keith showed us all the different things the Student Garden was able to grow. I was impressed to see the variety of plants that could be grown in Seattle’s cool, damp climate. Keith also talked some about how such urban gardens can be quite useful as they can feed a decent sized group of people. After being shown around and seeing the many foods the garden had to offer we spent the next half hour weeding out some of the beds. The garden was similar to that of the gardens in both the Solnit and McKibben article. Both articles talked about self sustaining areas that fed themselves off plants they grew in the city. While I hope the U.S. doesn’t have any sort of political mix up requiring that we grow all our own food, I do like the idea of urban farming. It allows people to A. Grow their own food. B. decide how it’s grown and C. the food is about as fresh as you can get. Once I get fully settled this year, I would like to do some volunteering down at the farm. Until then, I’m excited for next week when we get to use the oven for pizza.