Food Education Part 2: Richard

The second person to have a dramatic impact on me during my time at the Co-op was Richard*. Richard was noteworthy for his momentous produce purchases, his friendly disposition and clothing, which looked like he was prepared for much colder conditions.

"Rutabaga, parsnips, arugula, daikon radish, romanesco..." I rapidly typed in the codes for all of the fresh goods on the touch screen at my register. It had become a sort of game to see if I could get all of the codes entered in correctly without having to look at my reference sheet. In between my hasty typing and transferring of grocery items across the register, we started talking.

Richard was a personal chef for people with health ailments and he cooked in a way that attempted to ease the issues his clients were experiencing, through dietary changes dependent on fresh foods. I don't remember seeing him buy anything in a package. I doubt that he ever did. We began sharing recipes, books, and information about different uses for produce, though I have to say that I was more of a student, due to my then limited experience with fresh food and cooking in any way. In any case, we started discussing a lot of environmental issues and the politics of food. I shared with him the changes that I had identified when I was living in Thailand and he related to my experiences through his time living in Hawaii.

Richard lived on the island of Kauai, where he had learned about a different way of life from the local people. He had been embraced by a peaceful, loving, patient culture - much like what I had found in Thailand - and he made his home there. Throughout the years, he learned about the community and their tie to the natural environment. They grew an assortment of produce on the tropical, bountiful land - establishing a sustainable way of life that thrived in this island oasis.

However, the island, with its rich soil, natural resources and superb growing conditions, also became of interest to companies like Pharmacia - the former Monsanto (Monsanto's website) as place to work on genetic seed cultivation. With this expansion of seed companies and biotech industries, the environmental conditions on the small island began to drastically change.

In a haunting article from Truthout, a non-profit news source, "On the Front Lines of Hawaii's GMO War", Mike Ludwig writes, "The GMO seeds produced on Kauai are not considered food items, so the agrichemical companies are allowed to use more pesticides than traditional farmers. Together, the four biotech and agrichemical companies use an estimated 18 tons of "restricted use" pesticides on their plots each year, and local doctors and activists worry about the chemicals drifting in the air and water."

"Biotech agriculture facility and irrigation ditch near the beach on the Hawaiian island of Kauai." (Photo and caption: Mike Ludwig)

Richard lived next to one of the fields being sprayed with chemicals and over time began developing serious health problems. The doctor he visited in Kauai told him that he needed to leave the island or he would die. Devastated by the idea of leaving his home and his community on Kauai, but suffering a myriad of health problems, Richard decided to return to the mainland and ended up in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I asked if he was thankful that he had the option to leave - an option that local people are not afforded. He looked deeply saddened by the question as he responded, "that was my home."

"Rutabaga, parsnips, arugula, daikon radish, romanesco..." I type.

Heartbroken by his displacement, Richard still dreams of his life in Hawaii, a place he can never return to. 

Sources: 

Ludwig, Mike. (2013, November 13). On the Front Lines of Hawaii's GMO War. Truthout. Retrieved from http://www.truth-out.org/ 

*Names have been changed due to the personal material in this post.

Food Education Part 1: Juicing

During a year of this culinary rediscovery, one in which I preserved food, built upon my previous baking experience of just add oil and water, and explored the trend of juicing, I began to get to know food. Some of my "concoctions", as my sister would warmly describe my attempts at food creation, turned out better than others. In time, I started to get a handle of things. I began speaking with people more qualified on the subject of cooking, who became my resources for learning and my inspiration to challenge myself. In the cooperative grocery shop environment, the collection of teachers available was bountiful.

Each from diverse backgrounds, and in many cases interacting with food in very different ways than I had ever considered, the people I was in contact with had a profound impact on me. There was Lola Moonfrog, a co-op regular who I assisted one day in a quick therapy session (for both of us) and the bagging of her groceries in individual cloth bags. It felt intimate to be so carefully handling heirloom tomatoes and delicately placing the beautiful fruit into her shopping cart.
(Blog post on Lola Moonfrog and "listening")

There were folks who wouldn't allow you to scan their purchases or refused to stand next to the scanners, so I spent a fair amount of time typing in barcodes and conversing with people who held very different opinions than myself. There were, during this work experience, two people who influenced me the most: the first was a juicing advocate.

When people think about juicing, they may still be thinking about Lance Armstrong and steroids, but for those in the nutrition business, "juicing" emerged as a method of liquifying your fresh fruit, herbs and vegetables into a simple juice to be consumed as a dietary supplement or meal replacement. It is an amazing way to get a lot of the nutrients from your fresh veggies, consolidated into an easily consumed form.

I had the opportunity to chat with a customer who had severe diabetes and, as a result, had lost feeling in a part of his face. We started talking after I commented on the massive amount of fresh produce that was gliding down the conveyer belt toward me.

"My doctor said I would never get over the diabetes," he explained, "and he said that the feeling in my face would never return. Then, I started juicing."
I looked up at him from the rainbow spread of fresh foods that were now decorating the register. He smiled, "I juice every meal. I take my juicer with me when I leave town or go on vacation. My doctor can't believe it, but I cured my diabetes and the feeling is coming back in my face."

I was stunned. I grew up with a mom who I called a "health nut", because she was diligent about putting balanced and diverse food on our table. But, we still grew up with processed food. I call it hybrid cooking where packaged food and homemade meals are mixed together. For instance, we would buy a pizza crust and then top it off with broccoli and veggies that, as a child, I could have done without. I remember making complaints about not eating something "normal", but that same kid grew up thinking about healthy, nutritious food and would one day try to help those walking around the grocery store looking for "normal" bananas realize that they meant "nonorganic". And, we didn't sell that stuff.

Though, on the spectrum of food knowledge, I had a ways to go.

Dairy-Sea-Legs

Not too long ago a friend asked me if I had ever thought about being vegan. I told her flat out that I had no interest in it. (I didn't mention that the night before, I had been scribbling on the back of bar napkins angsty comments about vegans who buy meat replacements at places like Costco. Yeah, I've got an opinion or two.)

I explained that I had changed my diet for health and environmental reasons about six years ago, when I began limiting my intake of meat. Excluding all meat, with the exception of fish, is referred to as a pescetarian diet and I have followed that lifestyle for some time now. While still eating animal products like eggs, milk and cheese, I was pretty rigid about the presence of meat in my diet.

Then, something changed. Well, actually, a lot changed and has been changing for some time. Looking back on it now, I guess it has been a long time coming. When I returned from Thailand, I started working at a food cooperative in Santa Fe, New Mexico. After being out of the country for a few years and away from my absolute favorite foods, finding myself surrounded by western food, I embarked on a culinary love affair. It felt like I was rediscovering produce, vegetarian options, cheese - foods I had only dreamed of while I was overseas. However, things were strikingly different.

For one, very quickly, this dream world comprised of joyous, delectable feasts, came to a grinding halt when I realized that I couldn't stomach all of the dairy. Here I was, in the land of glorious, cheesy New Mexican food, pizza and macaroni - delicacies in the land of stir-fry and curry, but my body was being destroyed. I felt terrible. I couldn't believe what a havoc it wrecked on my system, and this was after less than two years of eating a mostly dairy-free diet. Not by choice, but due to regional availability.

During the height of my war with dairy, I met Phil. I think it would be reasonable to say that Phil is a mad scientist when it comes to mac and cheese. When we started dating, he was cooking up the dankest and certainly the cheesiest recipes I had ever tried. I persevered through each meal and somehow got my dairy-sea-legs.

So, I started changing my diet back to "normal", but after being in a different country for so long and seeing a lot of different ways of living and thriving, I could see how things were starting to change for me beyond my difficulties with dairy. I was really taking the time to consider my health, my body and my relationship with food.

It is due to this relationship with food, my body and the world around me, that I have revisited my friend's question and have arrived at a different conclusion than I had anticipated.

This is the beginning of a new adventure. Stay tuned.