The Future of Food Conference & Michael Pollan!

My apologies for not posting in awhile...I always seem to get busy no matter what time of year it is!

In any case, I had a wonderful end to finals week with the conference The Future of Food: Transatlantic Perspectives on May 8th and 9th. And the next Tuesday, I finally saw Michael Pollan speak at the West Roxbury Branch Library!

The Future of Food Conference, organized by the Institute of Human Sciences, was meant to encourage people to think more consciously about the food they buy and eat. It discussed some of the present problems regarding our food systems and sustainability, and also presented some potential solutions to these problems.

The two day conference began with the workshop "Wild Fermentation," which featured Sandor Ellix Katz, author of the books Wild Ferementation and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved. Katz taught us about fermentation and how easy and simple it is to make sauerkraut. In vinegar or acetic acid fermentation, yeasts convert carbohydrates -> alcohol + CO2, and bacteria subsequently convert the alcohol -> acetic acid + water, producing vinegar (1).

After Katz, Bryant Terry, whose latest book is Vegan Soul Kitchen, talked to us with a lecture, cooking-demo, and dinner. Terry, also an eco-chef and food justice activist, spoke with us about his experiences; and the menu included recipes featured in his book, such as citrus collard greens with raisins.

Next up was a free screening of King Corn, with an introduction by filmmaker Ian Cheney and subsequent discussion with film director Aaron Woolf. The film discusses how corn has become a commodity and is in almost everything we eat. Additionally, corn is one of the U.S.'s most over-produced and over-subsidized crops. If you have not seen this film yet, I highly recommend it!

Saturday was comprised of five panels and two keynote addresses. The presenters included Satish Kumar, editor of the magazine Resurgence; Mark Winne, author of Closing the Food Gap; Benedikt Haerlin, president of Save our Seeds; Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fair Trade Foundation; Michael Ableman, farmer and author of Fields of Plenty, and many more!


Numerous thought-provoking facts and comments were made, such as:

• 40% of greenhouse emissions are food related
• 30-50% of food produced in the U.S. is thrown away
• 30-40% of the cereal production in India is rotting after harvest
• The food crisis is the product of cheap food/food subsidies
• Many genetically modified plants are marked with antibiotic-resistant marker genes, which has led to some controversy.
• In the Union of Concerned Scientists report "Failure to Yield" by Doug Gurian-Sherman, genetically engineered crops actually do not increase yields! See the press release here.

There were many great discussions, questions, and comments made on Friday and Saturday, and hopefully videos of the entire conference will be up on the Institute of Human Science's website soon!

For another take on this conference, read Slow Food BU's blog post or my friend Elizabeth's post.













Last year I had made a trip to Brown University in Rhode Island to see Michael Pollan, only to be told that the room was packed and that I could not get in. So on Tuesday, May 12th, I was very excited to finally see him in Roxbury!

Michael Pollan highlighted a few topics from his books, which include "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food."

In short, Michael Pollan suggests that we should "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." A few other things that Michael Pollan touched upon:

• Nutrition science- it started in the 1830's/1840's, so it's not very strong yet, and it's arguable at best. Most often, they are based on food frequency questionnaires, which are not the most reliable.
• Nutrition labels- can be off by ~20-30%!
• Companies/committees can say to eat less of a nutrient but not less of a food.
  -This caused the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition to recommend to ''Choose meats, poultry and fish that will reduce saturated-fat intake," and to not to give their original recommendation to "reduce consumption of meat," due to uproar from the meat and dairy industry (1).

The traditional Western Diet, which includes everything but vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, often leads to chronic disease. Thus, we need to rethink about what we're eating, and so Michael Pollan is currently collecting Food Rules to make this transition for Americans easier. Some rules he has already collected include:

• Don't eat anything you've ever seen on TV
• Eat all of the junk food you want, as long as you make it yourself
• The Japanese quotation: "Eat until you are 80% full"

If you have any other helpful food rules, e-mail them to Michael Pollan at foodrules[at]michaelpollan.com!

And if you would like to read another recap of Michael Pollan's visit to Roxbury, read my friend Elizabeth's blog post here.

For those of you in the area, hope you've enjoyed the long weekend and the lovely weather!

Who Owns Your Food and Water Globally and Locally?

Last Friday, Simmons hosted the 12th annual International Women's Day breakfast: Who Owns Your Food and Water Globally and Locally?

The breakfast started off some amazing bread from Mamadou's Artisan Bakery in Winchester. One of IWD's slogan, Bread & Roses, calls for fair pay, decent working conditins, and respect. The phrase originated from a protest in Lawrence, MA, in which women's factory hours were reduced, but production increased and workers' salary was cut.

In the U.S. and many other parts of the world, we are used to the idea of paying for water. However, Patricia Jones from the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee spoke about access to water as a human right.

According to a 2006 Report on the Water Crisis by the UN:

• 1.1 billion people don't have access to safe water
• 2.6 billion don't have access to water sanitation
• 5 million die annually from water-related diseases

Nevertheless, here is a good sign: South African was the first constitution to incorporate water as a human right. Improving water sanitation is within our interests. Every dollar spent on water sanitation benefits the economy by $8!

With the number of water shut-offs rising and increasing water scarcity due to global climate change, among other reasons, we need to learn more about our water. You can start from as little as paying more attention to your water bill, learning more about the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act, or supporting grassroots organizations such as the UUSC. At the moment, the U.S. has no national water policy. What Patricia recommends: the U.S. needs a just and equitable national water policy with women involved, and which has a priority for the poor.

Other speakers included Ruby Maddox-Fisher, the co-founder and past director of the community-based urban agriculture program in Springfield, MA: Gardening the Community. The GtC:

• Makes use of abandoned lots to grow fruits and vegetables
• Helps to educate youth about urban agriculture
• Increases access to locally produced food, and promotes the community
• Contributes to the greening of the city and helps to recycle urban wastes, such as grey water
• Grey water, or water produced from domestic purposes such as dishwashing or doing laundry, can be filtered and cleaned and used for other purposes!

Jenny Ruducha, involved with several NGO's such as Save the Children and PATH, spoke to us about the international outlook on Food and Nutrition. Some interesting facts to note:

• World agriculture produces 17% more calories per person than 30 years ago.
• 982 million people live on <$1/day. And unsurprisingly, around the same number of people, 963 million, suffer from hunger worldwide.
• In Sub-Saharan Africa, 1:3 people are chronically hungry.
• According to FAO, 33 countries are facing critical food shortages.
• Poor nutrition is the cause of more than 1/2 of all child deaths worldwide.

Solutions include food and cash transfers (a project already undertaken in Malawi) and addressing chronic food insecurity through productive safety nets.

Last but not least was the director of Natick Community Organic Farm Lynda Sinkins. Because we all eat, we are all part of the agriculture system. And because 85% of food is imported, and 15% is produced locally, we need to support and buy from our New England farmers so they do not run out of business. And with local CSA's, greenhouses, and urban agriculture, the ability to buy local produce and to do so year round is increasing every day!

And if you would like to learn more about International Women's Day, look here!

The World Food Crisis and Response

This semester, BU is offering a free Gastronomy Lecture Series in Food Studies! (However, you need to call and reserve your space in advance!)

Last Friday, professor of Anthropology Ellen Messer spoke about Food and Security: Crisis, Challenges, and Choices. She addressed hunger, defined as access to nutritionally adequate food. Although enough food is produced worldwide to feed everyone a nutritionally adequate diet, there are the problems of access, unhealthy food choices, and underdeveloped community food organizations.

Photo source: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/356.cho/children_in_poverty_worldwide

One problem decreasing access to wholesome foods is high prices. High prices can result from decreased production (due to weather, politics, and warfare), increased demands for commodity crops and biofuels, a decreasing economy, and more. Because farmers see so little returns for their crops, many end up growing a combination of cash and specialty crops in order to have enough food to eat, while still making enough money to survive.

More than half of the hungry live in 7 countries: Bangladesh, China, DRC, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan.

There are controversial solutions to these problems, including biotechnologies vs. agroecological/organic technologies, large-scale vs. small-scale farming, and free vs. fair trade.





What the individual can do: You can become more a more informed consumer: suggested reads included What to Eat by Marion Nestle and Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé. Several international organizations involved with sustainable food systems worthy to look up are Oxfam International, Care, and Global Exchange.

The next lecture in the gastronomy series: Henry Ford, Colonial Kitchens, and the Performance of National Identity by Abigail Carroll on March 27!

And if you haven't checked out the Culinary Historians of Boston yet- they have a monthly speaker series always open to the public!