A Summer at Waltham Fields Community Farm

This summer, I worked on the weed crew at Waltham Fields Community Farm.

Founded in 1995, Waltham Fields Community Farm is a nonprofit organization "engaged in food production, hunger relief, and education." The farm consists of 11 acres, it supports a 500-share CSA, and it offers various other programs. Some of the produce grown at the farm this season included kale,

Kale. Harvest from the bottom up, and it continues to grow and produce new leaves!

swiss chard,

Swiss chard was everywhere

a variety of flowers, and much more.

 

 Fresh flower bouquet

I saw okra growing for the first time, too!

 Okra flower

The weed crew position was part-time, Mondays - Fridays from 8 am - noon, from June - August. The crew consisted of four members, and from Tuesday - Friday we worked with drop-in volunteers, from 9 am - noon. It was great to meet and to work with volunteers of different ages and backgrounds! Most of the work that we did was by hand, and we occasionally used hand-tools. The weeding we did ranged from detailed work such as weeding carrots, to weeding weeds that were taller than me (I am five feet tall).

One great benefit of the job was receiving fresh produce from the farm. I fermented both pickling and salad cucumbers using the recipe from the book Real Food Fermentation (a book that I contributed writing to), and both batches of fermented pickles came out very crispy. I had grape leaves on hand to add to the fermenting jars as well, which are supposed to help pickled cucumbers to keep their crunch.

Fermenting cucumber pickles

Other ways I preserved the harvest included making sauerkraut and a variety of pestos, freezing, and canning tomatoes with other members of the weed crew. To make the tomato sauce, we modified a recipe from Pick Your Own, took the appropriate precautions in order to avoid botulism, and with three people, six hours of work, and a water bath canning set, we had canned 10 pint jars of tomato sauce.

Canned tomato sauce

 Cantaloupe ice cream

(Recipe from Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book) 

Despite Waltham Fields Community Farm's abundance of tomatoes this year, this has been a tough tomato year for some farms in the area because of late blight. Late blight appears sporadically in the northeast, and unfortunately returned this season. Also known as "Phytophthora infestans," late blight caused the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s, and it infects tomatoes and potatoes. If late blight is not managed, it can destroy entire crops in days. While some farms in the area lost crops due to late blight, others who have been able to manage the disease have had a very productive tomato season. Read more about late blight in this handout, and for photos and for more information, visit this webpage.

Another crop we weeded was parsnips, a crop that we needed to weed in long pants, long sleeves, and gloves! Why? Because parsnips contain furocoumarins, a photosensitive compound that can cause phytophotodermatitis. If the plant juice from parsnips gets on your skin and the skin gets exposed to sunlight, it can cause serious burns and blisters that can last even up to a year. Although many people are already familiar with these burns from wild parsnips, the burns can occur with cultivated parsnips, as well. Luckily we were warned about the dangers of parsnip beforehand! For more information and pictures regarding parsnips burns, check out these articles: "Burned by wild parsnip," "Parsnips gave me blisters! Gardener covered in sores after brushing against vegetable leaves," and Parsnip Dangers from Wikipedia.

Over the summer, I also attended several meetings with Emasscraft, the Eastern Massachusetts Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training. "CRAFT is a free, collaborative group...From April through October farmers, farm workers and apprentices from CRAFT farms gather at one farm for a visit and/or workshop. Each visit includes an overview of the farm as well as a discussion about one or two specific topics. CRAFT discussions are also scheduled November through March if there is sufficient interest" (http://emasscraft.org/wordpress).

I went to three CRAFT meetings this season. At the meetings, I learned about weed management techniques at Drumlin Farm, tomatoes at Wright-Locke Farm (a farm that I also wrote an article about for the Lexington Farmers' Market), and irrigation systems at Moraine Farm. I enjoyed visiting new farms, and seeing how each farm operates differently from one another. The schedule for Emasscraft meetings can be found here, and I would highly recommend signing up for their listserv.

It was a great summer working on the weed crew, and also with the wonderful staff at the farm.

Waltham Fields Community Farm Staff of 2012 (minus Marla)

(photo courtesy of Waltham Fields Community Farm)

Although I am sad to no longer be working at Waltham Fields Community Farm, I am looking forward to sharing a winter CSA with some of my fellow weed crew members this winter. Waltham Fields Community Farm's annual Waltham Farm Day is also coming up on Saturday, September 22! For more information about Waltham Fields Community Farm, visit their website.

Red sunflower

I am also excited for some new opportunities that are coming up. I will be participating in Goldthread Herb Farm and Apothecary's Farm to Pharmacy Intensive this September 22-28. This week I also begin working at Blue Heron Organic Farm in Lincoln, and in addition to my waitressing hours at the Spanish wine and tapas restaurant Taberna de Haro, I will be working as a cook. Stop by the farm or the restaurant sometime and say hello!

Getting Involved with the Food Movement: Careers and More

I am very excited to be joining the Weed Crew with Waltham Fields Community Farms this summer, from June through August! (And for those of you interested in volunteering with us, volunteer information is here!) In addition, as former president of Slow Food Boston University, I've had many individuals ask me, "How do I find a job related to sustainable food, or become involved in the sustainable food movement?" From my experiences, and after attending the Real Food Challenge's webinar, "Cultivating Food Movement Careers," I felt inclined to share some resources and tips.

Below are several resources to get you started. Because I live in the Greater Boston, Massachusetts area, you will notice that many of the resources may be focused on the northeast region of the U.S., although not all of them are.

Resources for sustainable food-related jobs and opportunities:

• Good Food Jobs
• BostonEco on Facebook and on Twitter
• Real Food Challenge Alumni Network (even if you were not previously involved with the Real Food Challenge)
• Listservs, such as:
• COMFOODJOBS
• NEFOOD: The Northeast's Food and Farm Network
• BFS (Boston Food System)

General listings that may include opportunities related to sustainable food:

• AmeriCorps
• Peace Corps
• Idealist.org
• Craigslist

Interested in farming? Farm positions may be found in the resources listed above. However, here are some farm-specific links:

• Eastern Massachusetts CRAFT listserv (and additional resources recommended by emasscraft here)
• ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service - Sustainable Farming Internships and Apprenticeships
• NOFA Directory of Organic Farming Apprenticeship Programs
• Volunteer through WWOOF: World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (read about my experience WWOOFing)

Additional suggestions:

• Get on LinkedIn
• Visit individual websites of farms, companies, and organizations to find postings
• Contact a farm, company, or organization that interests you, asking if they have any job and/or volunteer opportunities
• You may find opportunities through social media, such as Facebook and Twitter
• Consider doing a paid or unpaid internship
• Volunteer! For example, with a local Slow Food chapter, a local farm or farmers market, and more
• Meet, talk, and network with people through everyday conversations, events, conferences, and even Meetup groups, such as The Urban Homesteaders' League based in Greater Boston
• Let people know that you are looking for opportunities to get involved. This can include friends, family, mentors, past and present colleagues, and more
• Take classes (the Boston Natural Areas Network, for instance, offers gardening education)
• Start your own business (this may seem a bit daunting, and will of course require some thought and planning. However, if the job that you would like is not out there, why not create it?) Read these articles: Forget a desk job: Young foodies are betting that their bright ideas are their ticket out of the rat race, and Boston food entrepreneurs: Food fighters who are uprooting an empire. One local resource is Boston Young Entrepreneurs.

Remember, these are just a few resources to get you started. If you know of any other helpful resources, please share!

A Weekend in Chicago

This past weekend, I visited Chicago with my brother and sister. We were only there for less than forty-eight hours, but it was fun exploring the city for the first time!

Because the three of us are foodies, we pretty much arranged our schedule according to where we dined. And while I will not cover everything that we did throughout our trip, I will highlight some of the places that we visited!

Friday I arrived in Chicago before my siblings, so while I was waiting for them, I set out for the Chicago French Market. Along the way I passed by Kramer's Health Foods.

Kramer's Health Foods

In the front of Kramer's, there is a health food store with prepared foods, beverages, produce, supplements, and more. Meanwhile, upstairs there is a healthy vegetarian cafe and juice bar. Unfortunately the cafe was closed when I stopped by, but I still purchased a prepared tuna sandwich from the front of the store, which was made with (real) tongol tuna, mayonnaise, Ezekiel Bread, tomatoes, green onions, celery, and barrel pickels. For only less than $6 it was a great, delicious, and healthy purchase!

After walking a little over a mile I arrived at the Chicago French Market- a year-round, indoor marketplace with local artisans and purveyors.

At the Chicago French Market, I stopped at Raw, which offers 100% raw and plant-based foods. While I am not raw nor vegan, I love trying new and different healthy foods! 

Raw

Signature Muffin (Carrot and Raisin, left) and Kale Chips (right)

I purchased the carrot and raisin signature muffin and the dehydrated kale chips. Although dense, the muffin was very tasty! The kale chips were alright, although I was not a big fan of the seasonings. These kale chips were made with kale, tahini, lemon juice, HSS, garlic, agave, spirulina, nutritional yeast, and cayenne. However, when I make kale chips, I usually season them more simply: a little olive oil, salt, sesame seeds, and optional garlic powder. Raw also had some delicious looking and sounding salads, other prepared foods, beverages, and more. Check out the menu here. If you are looking for healthy food in Chicago, I'd recommend to stop by Raw!

After the Chicago French Market, I took a train to Green Grocer Chicago. Green Grocer Chicago is a small, neighborhood market featuring locally grown and produced produce and specialty food items. The store is small, but a neat place to check out if you are interested in local and organic food items! At the store, I picked up a copy of Edible Chicago. And of course, my visit to Chicago would not have been complete without a tasting of a local kombucha brew. Green Grocer Chicago offers NessAlla Kombucha as a local brand option, which is produced in Madison, Wisconsin. I tried the raspberry kombucha. It was slighty sweet and had nice effervescence!

Green Grocer Chicago (left) and NessAlla Kombucha (right)

Saturday morning, my brother, sister, and I had lunch at the Mexican restaurant, Xoco. My favorite item that we got were the churros. They were light, crunchy, and delicious!

Churros with a chocolate shot (left) and Aztec hot chocolate (right)

Afterwards, we visited The Art Institute of Chicago. I enjoyed the Impressionism and Post-Impressionism exhibit the most, which features works of Claude Monet, Georges Seurat, Vincent van Gogh, and more.

Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877

American Gothic by Grant Wood

Next, we went to Mana Food Bar, a vegetarian/vegan food bar that also offers smoothies and freshly squeezed juices. Everything that we ordered was beautifully prepared and delicious! Some of the items we ordered included the mana slider made with a brown rice and mushroom burger with spicy mayo, chilled yellow wheat noodles tossed in a spicy sesame peanut sauce with shredded peapods and carrots, and spicy tomato braised okra over blue-cheese grits.

Mana Food Bar's outdoor patio

Spicy tomato braised okra over blue-cheese grits

On the next day, Sunday, we had Easter Brunch at Nana. Nana is a family-owned restaurant that sources from organic, local, and sustainable food producers. We enjoyed the food here, and ordered the sweet potato doughnuts made with dark chocolate, cherry gastrique, and sweet potato chips as an appetizer. For entrees, we shared the nanadict (made with pupusas, chorizo, poached eggs, poblano cream, and home fries) and the "biscuits and duck gravy" (made with two eggs, biscuits, duck confit gravy, cipollini onions, and seasonal veggies). The biscuits in the "biscuits and duck gravy" dish were huge, but other than that, the dish was perfect!

Nana

"biscuits and duck gravy" at Nana

After Nana, we visited Millenium Park, and we were lucky that we had such nice weather over the weekend! Of course, we also stopped by Cloud Gate at Millenium Park, also known as "The Bean."

Millenium Park

Cloud Gate

Overall, we had a great time in Chicago. The city is more spread out than other cities, such as compared to New York City, and to get around we made use of the city's public transportation and Zipcar. Other noteworthy places that we dined at in Chicago included Avec and Urbanbelly. In addition, we had deep-dish pizza at Gino's East, but were not impressed. Places that I would have liked to stop at if we had had the time includes the Dill Pickle Food Co-op, a farmers market such as the Green City Market, and other cultural attractions. I will just have to visit those the next time I am in Chicago!

Sacred Plant Medicine Journey: Costa Rica

In December, I went to Costa Rica for the very first time for a Sacred Plant Medicine Journey retreat with The Gaia School of Healing & Earth Education. Needless to say, it was an incredible experience!

The retreat was located at La Cusinga, a Rainforest Eco Lodge located in Uvita, Costa Rica, and right next to Ballena Marine National Park. While I did not see any whales during my stay, I did see a boa constrictor, toucans, and heard howler monkeys for the first time. Howler monkeys are loud! It was also a pleasure to see the local flora of the Costa Rican rainforest, and the view from La Cusinga was simply incredible.

The view from La Cusinga

Capuchin Monkey

Ceiba tree

The Plant Medicine Journey was for eight days, from December 10 - December 18. We were a small group, with around twelve people in total. Each day began with yoga taught by Annie Hoffman and an opening circle afterwards. In addition, Banghan Nabi Kim led afternoon yoga and movement sessions.

An amazing yoga space
Photo courtesy of Sage Maurer

Every day we learned about a different chakra, to cover each of the seven chakras: the Root, Sacral, Solar Plexus, Heart, Throat, Third Eye, and Crown Chakra.

The Seven Chakras 
(Photo source)

We also harvested and learned about local medicinal plants, and we made herbal teas, infused oils, and tinctures. Sage Maurer, the director of The Gaia School of Healing & Earth Education, facilitated the retreat and taught us about the medicinal herbs and the chakras.

Harvesting ylang ylang (left) and preparing ylang ylang for tea, infused oils, and tinctures (right) 
 Photos courtesy of Sage Maurer

It was great to see plants for the first time in their natural habitats, plants that I had never heard of, and plants that I had previously only dealt with before in their dried, essential oil, or other forms.

Dormilona (Mimosa Pudica)
The plant leaves close when you touch them!

Pineapple plant - I never knew this is how pineapple grows!

Raw cacao

Plumeria

Some of the medicinal plants we learned about included:

Turmeric (Curcuma longa), which has been found to help prevent and treat cancer, arthritis, and more.

Fresh Turmeric

Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) is traditionally used as a calming herb to address anxiety and insomnia.

Passionflower

Hombre grande (Quassia amara): It is said that traditionally, drinking a strong infusion made with the bark can be used to help treat worms, parasites, and malaria; and a topical application can kill lice, fleas, and insects. Read more about hombre grande here.

Hombre grande leaves 
(Photo source)

I was introduced to many new concepts throughout the retreat. For example, instead of taking a tincture directly,  we learned that we could add a dropper full or two of tincture to a cup of water, and drink that instead. In addition, the herbal infusions we made were made with only one herb. By consuming a tea made with only a single herb rather than a blend, one can better discern the effects an herb has on the body and mind.

There was downtime during the retreat  as well, allowing us to visit the beach, go on hikes, and just to relax. It was only a short hike to the beach from the lodge. In addition, the food at La Cusinga was amazing. Every meal was a feast, exquisitely prepared and made with local ingredients. For anyone traveling to Costa Rica, La Cusinga is a great place to stay!

Lunch

I had a wonderful time at the Sacred Medicine Journey, and I am looking forward to applying what I learned in the future, and keeping in touch with the friends that I made during the retreat. I would highly recommend attending future Costa Rica herbalism retreats with The Gaia School of Healing & Earth Education, and if you have any more questions about the retreat, please don't hesitate to contact me or visit the website for more information. 

Sunset

Photo courtesy of Sage Maurer

Recap: Weston A. Price Conference 2011 - Mythbusters!

Due to a scholarship, I was very lucky to be able to attend the Weston A. Price Foundation's 12th Annual Conference - Mythbusters! in Dallas, Texas in November.

In short, The Weston A. Price Foundation is "a nonprofit, tax-exempt charity founded in 1999 to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of isolated nonindustrialized peoples established the parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets." The Weston A. Price Foundation is run by President and Treasurer, Sally Fallon, and a board of directors. To read the rest of the foundation's mission statement, go here.

The main part of the conference ran from Friday, Nov. 11 - Sunday, Nov. 13, and there was always plenty to do: lectures typically ran from 9 am - 10 pm, with breaks for meals and time to visit the exhibitors, in addition to optional yoga and and a few other pre-breakfast activities. There were so many lectures at the conference that it would be impossible to cover everything, so I will highlight just a few of them here!

Exhibitors at the conference included Fab Ferments, Cultures for Health, and many, many more

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride spoke about GAPS: Gut & Psychology/Physiology Syndrome. GAPS is a condition that establishes a connection between the health of the gut and the health of the rest of the body. The father of medicine, Hippocrates (460-370 BC) stated "All diseases begin in gut." We also learned that gut flora:

• Are "the housekeepers of our digestive system"
• Protect us from invaders
• Aid in detoxification, vitamin production, digestion, and absorption
  
• Compromise 90% of our cells
• Help to modulate the immune system
  
• Is important for the health and integrity of the gut

Many factors can damage gut flora, including: poor diet, antibiotics, drugs, steroids, birth control, bottle feeding, stress, infections, disease, pollution, radiation, alcohol, dental work, toxic chemicals, and more.

According to Dr. Campbell-McBride, diseases are related to an unhealthy gut, such as autism, ADHD/ADD, dyslexia, epilepsy, depression, schizophrenia, any digestive or autoimmune disorders, and more. Thus, by addressing the health of the gut, one can positively impact many health conditions. To learn more about GAPS, visit Dr. Campbell-McBride's websites here and here, and read her book: Gut and Psychology Syndrome- Natural Treatment for: Autism, ADD, ADHD, Depresseion, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Schizophrenia.

I also listened to David Wetzel, owner of Green Pasture Products. Green Pasture Products produces high-vitamin butter oil and fermented cod and skate liver oils. Cod liver oil is the most important superfood of the Weston A. Price Foundation, because it naturally contains vitamins A and D, "which Dr. Price found present in the diet of primitives in amounts ten times higher than the typical American diet of his day." In addition, the foundation recommends consuming cod liver oil with high-vitamin butter oil, because Dr. Price "found that cod liver oil on its own was relatively ineffective but combined with butter oil produced excellent results" due to the presence of vitamin K2 in grass fed butter oil.

David Wetzel spoke of how his fermented cod liver oil differs from other cod liver oil brands on the market. For example, some brands of cod liver oil may go through processes that remove some of the natural vitamins, resulting in a product with low levels of vitamins A and D, or a product that has manufactured vitamins A and D added to it. Green Pastures cod liver oil is a naturally produced, "fermented high-vitamin cod liver oil that is made using a filtering process that retains the natural vitamins." The business aim of Green Pasture Products is to "provide high-quality sacred-food oils just as they were made prior to the industrialized food and farming revolution...Fermenting the livers of fish to extract the oil is an old world practice that may go back as far as biblical times..."

Vitamin D is important because although the skin can synthesize Vitamin D with sun exposure, in northern latitudes one cannot make adequate amounts of vitamin D from sun exposure alone, especially in the winter. Learn more about vitamin D here and here.

Samples of Green Pasture products were available in the exhibitors section. The Cinnamon Tingle BLUE ICE Royal Butter Oil/Fermented Cod Liver Oil Blend was by far the tastiest of the fermented cod liver oils, and I did not even attempt to try the Skate Liver Oils given the negative reactions of some of my fellow peers. However, they do have capsules of their fermented fish liver oils if one prefers not to taste them. I also took home a sample of one of their skin balms made with their cod liver oil and butter oil blend. Even though I make my own natural body products, my skin never felt so soft as when I used their skin balm, so incorporating cod liver oil in my own body products is definitely something that I will be working on in the future!

Dr. Joseph Mercola gave the keynote address at the conference awards banquet on Saturday. He spoke on a variety of topics, including some of the dangers of fructose. Fructose is one of the leading sources of calories in the U.S., often in the form of high-fructose corn syrup, such as in sodas and processed foods. Fructose causes wrinkling, cellulite, beer belly, and obesity, and is also a major cause of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Fructose itself isn't bad, however the problem today is that individuals are consuming fructose in much larger quantities than in the past. Around a century ago, individuals only had around 15 g of fructose per day, such as from vegetables and fruits. Today, the typical adolescent may get as much as 73 g fructose/day from sweetened drinks. Read more about what Dr. Mercola has to say on fructose in these articles.

Dr. Mercola also discussed fitness. He says what many exercisers do wrong is doing too much cardio, which causes oxidative stress. Instead, Dr. Mercola recommends what he calls peak fitness: an exercise program in which for no more than three times a week you exercise, by raising your heart rate up to your anaerobic threshold for 20-30 seconds, recovering for 90 seconds, and repeating this cycle for 8 repetitions. You would also begin this exercise with a 3 minute warm-up, and end with a 2 minute cool down. If you follow this routine, every time you exercise will only be an investment of 20-25 minutes, which he says is better than traditional cardio. Peak fitness exercises increase the amount of human growth hormone (HGH) you produce naturally, because it engages the white muscle fibers, which are the only muscle fibers that increase production of HGH. HGH is "key for strength, health and longevity." Dr. Mercola first learned about this approach to fitness from Phil Campbell, author of the book "Ready, Set, Go!". For more about peak fitness, read Dr. Mercola's articles: "The Major Exercise Mistake I Made for Over 30 Years..." and "Flood Your Body With This 'Youth Hormone' in Just 20 Minutes," which includes an explanation and demonstration of the peak fitness program with Phil Campbell himself.

The food provided at the conference was in line with the Weston A. Price Foundation's nutrition principles, including grass-fed meat, butter, and dairy products, plenty of bone broths (have you ever had beef broth in a Starbucks cup?), fermented foods, and much more. I thought there should have been more vegetables with the meals, but the lack of vegetables may have been due to the drought in Texas.

Overall, it was a great conference with diverse speakers on a variety of nutrition and health-related topics, and it was great to meet others who were also interested in nutrition and their health. I also enjoyed visiting Dallas, Texas for the very first time!

The Pioneer Plaza Cattle Drive in Dallas, Texas

Read more details about the 2011 Mythbusters Conference here, visit this page for conference recordings from 2006-2011, and stay tuned about the Weston A. Price Foundation and their next annual conference on their website. I hope this article has given you some food for thought, and here's to a happy new year!

Handmade BU II 12/2

I am very excited to be participating in Handmade BU II this Friday!

"Hosting student vendors, Handmade BU II will showcase the DIY talent of BU, and offer the community a chance to buy fabulous goods for you to keep warm for the winter, to buy gifts for friends and family, or to treat yo' selves.

All are welcome, including students, faculty, staff, and our friends and neighbors in the greater Boston community!

Vendors will be selling vegan cupcakes, homemade lotion, handknit hats and gloves, tooled leather pouches, unique and charming jewelry, originally painted nail decals, chainmail jewelry cuddly plush animals, silk screened t-shirts...

HMBU will be hosting Sustainability@BU as well, bringing in some of the great artists you've seen at the farmer's market all year."

Read more about Handmade BU here, and check out the Facebook event for Handmade BU II. Thanks to The Center for Gender, Sexuality, and Activism at BU for sponsoring the event!

When: Friday, December 2, 2011, from 10 am - 6 pm

Where: The link at the George Sherman Union (GSU) at Boston University (775 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215)

Items that I will be selling include, but are not limited to:

• Handmade moisturizer creams for body, face, and hands
• Deodorant
• Lip balms and lip glosses
• Facial exfoliating scrubs
• 2-in-1 body wash and hair cleanser
• Moisturizing and massage oils
  
• Make Your Own Lip Balm Kit
  
• And more

I'm looking forward to the event and I hope to see you there!

"Food Fight" Screening and Discussion

The Harvard Food Law Society hosted a film screening and discussion of the documentary film "Food Fight" last week on National Food Day, with Director Chris Taylor.

Food Fight "is a fascinating look at how American agricultural policy and food culture developed in the 20th century, and how the California food movement has created a counter-revolution against big agribusiness." Chris Taylor also described the film as a "murder mystery, with taste as the victim."

How did big agribusiness develop? Before World War II, major problems in the United States included an inadequate food supply and malnourishment. Post-WWII, fertilizers, pesticides, and large-petroleum based machinery developed during the war encouraged the growth of large farms, so much in fact that the number of farms in the U.S. decreased from 6 million to 2 million from 1945 to 1970.

In addition, in the 1970s, Earl Butz of the U.S. Department of Agriculture supported large scale agribusiness. While previously the government regulated agriculture by keeping supply and demand in balance, in the 1970s, the government supported large farms by encouraging them to grow large quantities of commodities, such as corn and soy. "Don't worry about overproduction, Butz told farmers on trips through the Midwest. Produce all you can, and we'll the sell the surplus overseas!" This led to the growth of cheap food, and to produce being grown for their shipping qualities, and not for their qualities of taste and flavor. Overproduction of commodities also led to the development of many processed foods, such as foods containing corn and variations of corn, including high fructose corn syrup. Foods were being developed for their cheapness and convenience, not for their quality and taste.

The movie also showed that although food costs have gone down over time, instead, we are paying increasing prices for the cost of health care, which is partly related to more Americans getting diseases from an unhealthy food supply. Below is a graph that demonstrates this idea, although it is a different one than was used in the movie.

Photo link from this article

To counter industrial food, "Food Fight" identifies Chez Panisse in California as a major player in the counter-revolution in California. Alice Waters and Chez Panisse "are convinced that the best-tasting food is organically and locally grown and harvested in ways that are ecologically sound by people who are taking care of the land for future generations." However, originally in opening the restaurant, Alice Waters wasn't looking to promote local and organic food. She wished to provide the most delicious and pleasurable food, and in searching for that, found that this food was local, organic, and sustainably grown.

To wrap up the film, we finished with a Q&A session with Director Chris Taylor, who is also a Harvard alum.

If you haven't previously thought about where the food on your plate comes from, the documentary "Food Fight" is a good place to start. Thanks to the Harvard Food Law Society for putting on the event, and here's to voting with your fork!