Let us create a hypothetical situation: I am at the grocery store, and I see a tantalizing mountain of organic cherries imported from Michigan. I think to myself “Oh good, I am going to buy these cherries because paying the extra $3 is worth it to help the environment and to evade Parkinson’s from pesticide ingestion!”

…..But wait, right next to the pile of organic cherries is another pile of cherries grown in a non-organic farm just a few miles from my house. Automatically one might think “No, these are not organic and the organic man would be mad if he knew I had the option to purchase the ‘better’ choice and I didn’t because I found a less expensive option”

Although the cherries grown miles from your house are not organic, they are local, which means the amount of fuel used to transport them to your grocery store was much lower than those flown in from Michigan. It seems that buying non-local organic vegetables kind of contradicts the purpose of buying organic and supporting the environmental movement in the first place.

So I ask my readers, what do you think is more important when buying produce? Local or Organic?

(of course if something is both local AND organic you find yourself in an ideal situation, though this is not always the case)

Ethanol is a type of fuel that is most commonly derived from Corn. After the corn is crushed into a powder, mixed with water, and heated, an enzyme is added that causes the corn mixture to ferment and turn into alcohol. Another process then breaks this mixture down further to create a highly alcoholic substance. After a small amount of gas is added to the formula, ethanol becomes a viable replacement to gasoline as an alternative fuel.

An alternative to gasoline? Sounds great, right? Lets break it down into some pros and cons (because I seem to love doing that lately):

Pros:

• Ethanol is renewable
• Produced on US soil (getting us out of bed with the Middle East)
• Burns cleaner than gas.

Promoters of Ethanol push the above three pros to the extreme, claiming that ethanol is the answer to our search for alternative fuel. Why the debate then? What seems to be the problem with making our cars drunk enough to operate? Here come the cons:

Cons:

• Requires more energy transport than it supposedly saves: Ethanol cannot travel in normal pipelines and must therefore be shipped or trucked to its delivery destination.
• Requires more energy to produce than it supposedly saves: All of the resources used in growing and breaking down corn into ethanol require more fossil fuels than are saved with ethanol. Thus, completely defeating the purpose.
• More expensive than Gas: At the time of analysis, ethanol was $3/gallon where gas was $2.28

Like it or not, Ethanol is already becoming incorporated into our gas. Right now, gasoline at the pump is about 10% ethanol, and these numbers will probably grow in the future.

An energy bill passed in 2005 requires ethanol production to increase by 7.5 billion gallons by 2012.

Who benefits most from increasing ethanol production?? Surely not you. Mr. Monsanto is quite pleased though! At least now, the copious amounts of zombie corn have a place to go besides slaughterhouse feedlots! GREAT!!!!!!

Ultimately? By upping ethanol production, our government is pouring even MORE money into subsidizing corn and that does very little to improve our current economic and environmental situation.

Sure on the outside ethanol seems a lot better than drilling deep into the earth, or calling our friends the Bin-Ladens for oil, but this is only a surface level analysis of the situation.

Perhaps it would be more viable in the future when better technologies are developed to make production and transportation methods more efficient. But right now, Ethanol is nothing more than environmental alcoholism.

Unfortunately I can’t be too judgemental on the restaurants that haven’t (yet) jumped onto the Green train. Why? Because with the current state of our economy, it is impressive to even have a restaurant that can stay open, let alone transform its entire food and production system to be more environmentally friendly.

What does it mean to be Green?

• Adios to Styrofoam (the biggest offender): Styrofoam is not biodegradable and is filled with toxic chemicals that don’t make the Earth happy.
• Get Rid of Energy Eating Equiptment: Regular refrigerators and other kitchen/cleaning appliances require quite a bit of energy to run. According to Panasonic, the average refridgerator eats up about 1000 kwH of energy per year, but they just introduced a new fridge that boasts a 350 kwH/year energy use. (I am not endorsing the product but that is a pretty impressive reduction.)
• Low-Flow Faucets/Flushers: Restaurants consume a ridiculous amount of water, from dishwashing, cooking, and bathrooms. Low-Flow faucets increase the amount of air in the water and ultimately lower consumption. Double flush toilets, well, no more “if it’s pee let it be” rule.
• Sustainable Eating: For a restaurant to be gastronomically green (and not in a way that causes food poisoning) it has to serve foods that come promote the long-term health of the ecosystem: foods from local sources, organics, foods produced with sustainable agriculture (energy/resource conservation), etc.

Consumers want their restaurants to be Eco-friendly these days so they can feel like they are making a small contribution to saving the world with each bite of their lunch. This is easier said than done.

Reading an article in the LA Times, the exec chef from the Wilshire Restaurant in Santa Monica gives a little perspective on how difficult it truly is for a restaurant to ‘Go-Green”.

It is much easier to go green at home, and much less expensive. But if you are fixed on eating out on a regular basis, www.dinegreen.com provides a pretty conclusive link of restaurants around the US that are certifiably Green.

To be more specific, I suggest you read over the following sections:

• Section 201: Administration of National Program
• Section 401: Prohibited Acts
• Section 403: Notification and Recall
• Section 405: Civil and Criminal Penalties
• Section 506: Regulations

In my humble opinion, after reading over this bill, the establishment of Food Safety Administration seems like a small death to civil liberties. The administrationwill have the power to determine what food passes regulation standards based on very broad (and some arbitrary) guidelines left up to the determination of the the ADMINISTRATOR (dun dun dunnnnnnnnn)

The motivation behind this bill is to keep our food safe and out of the hands of contamination and bioterrorists. Though (if passed) this might prevent the occasional tomato and peanut scare, it seems like more wasted funding for another one of our government’s anti-terrorist moves that will do nothing more than infringe on our rights as citizens.

Anyone remember the Patriot Act? Well, more than anything else this seems like the beginning of government intervention into multiple realms of domestic life, a change none of us were hoping for.

….what?

The way Costco is marketing this shift to organic produce and dairy products is by playing the “we’ll save the economy” card. “Sure organic stuff is expensive, but when Costco can cut the price in half, and sell you about 234325345 times more than you need, why wouldn’t you want to buy it?!”

This is where it gets fishy… Costco says you can buy cheap and still be environmentally friendly.. but then how are they justifying the ridiculous packaging and preparation processes that make these organic products so cute and convenient?

For example, in a Costco article discussing what consumers can look forward to, here is what they have to say about their organic apple line:

• “These hearty, good-for-you, crisp apples are pre-cored and cut into wedges for the ease of eating…Equally nice is the fact that these organic apples are packed in one-cup, single serving portions.”

Ok, I am sorry, but with all the plastic and energy they are using to package this stuff, they may as well just open a few more nuclear plants around the country and call it a day.

Do apples really need to be pre-sliced and cored for the ease of eating?! Why don’t we just have a convientent robot we can buy that will manually move our jaws open and closed to ease chewing? and then another robot that will wiggle our throats to ease the swallowing process? Are you freaking kidding me?

I am happy that Costco is willing to jump on the organic train (even if it is only for business purposes) but in my humble opinion this is a one step forward, two steps back plan.

Pros:

o Increased demand for organic products=more farms converting to organic practices. (as of now less than 10% of American farms are certified organic)

o Allows the average American to eat a healthy organic diet at their own convenience, perhaps offering an motivation with increased availability to buy organic.

o Lowers prices of organic products (though there is a con to this that I will address momentarily)

o According to Costco, the organic foods are supplied by a ‘variety of regional farmers’

Cons:

o These organic products are still being processed in large plants (how else do you think that this stuff gets distributed all over the country by the truckload…or by the bargeload)

o Costco will never break its fascist ways of slapping their Kirkland name on it and packaging it in a way that costs more than the product itself.

o Plastic packaging and the machines that do so are bad for the environment.

o Though the prices of these products are lower, how many of you can go to Costco and come out spending less than $500 dollars, “Sure honey, we definitely needed that automatic milkshake maker with a built in plasma T.V.”   (I think not)

Therefore, If you are going to go to Costco and buy organic, good for you, but keep in mind that your buying bulk organic is not going to single-handedly solve the world’s environmental problems. It might be better for your health, but you’ll still be breathing in the pollution omitted from their processing plants…

In my opinion, developing a palate for the push away from GMO foods would actually probably save  us money in the longrun, devoting more funding towards the exploration/development of food systems that benefit our wallets and stomachs.

What do you think? Is there/should there be space for focus on food in the world economy at this point? or are industrialized food sources here to stay and grow to even more astronomically large and monopolized levels?

Also, with Obama as the supposed Messiah of the world, do you really think he will do much to save the current state of our national health and food mentality, or are we (for lack of a better phrase) Gastronomically screwed?

There is so much potential for new jobs to be created in these fields, it is just a matter of motivation and strength of knowledge within the global market. (both by consumers and producers)

So just a quick bit, I am currently reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma because naturally as a foodie thats into the environment, this book is right up my alley.

Anyway, though I have only just begun I have already been introduced to so many horrifying statistics and factoids that I am considering becoming an AIRitarian….that’s right, I’ll just eat air from now on….

For example: Apparently there is corn or some sort of corn by product in about 80% of all the processed foods we can find in the supermarket. To list a few: Mayonnaise, nondairy creamer, frozen yogurt, cheez whiz, soups, snacks, cake mix, frosting, frozen waffels, syrups, hot sauces, hot dogs, bologna, salad dressing, VITAMINS. my GOD!

Why is it so bad be having this much corn? Who cares if you’re eating corn in basically every foodstuff that enters your mouth? Well, amongst the ridiculously long list of reasons, corn has become a commodity, not only a food product. In fact, many farms across the midwestern “corn row” (an area of America completely filled by acres and acres of corn fields, about twice the size of New York state) are growing corn that is not even directly edible by consumers. This genetically modified, easy to maintain, governmentally subsidized product, is grown in obscenely large amounts (larger than any American consumer can eat) to feed livestock, fatten them up more quickly, to make us some Grade A meat, and FAST!

…And what’s worse, is that these livestock (and EVEN SALMON) are not accustomed to having a corn-based diet, making these animals sick or extremely vulnerable to disease. But thank god for antibiotics right? I love me some antibacterialized beef.

What’s absolutely disgusting is that the corn in all of our food increases the caloric value astronomically, but for no reason at all. Maybe THIS is the reason for such high rates of type 2 Diabetes, and obesity in America?

I will make more updates about this book as I read it, seriously I am just turning each page, more and more horrified.

There is much more to say about corn, but to be honest, I don’t have the mind or the stomach to list all of them right now. I am being haunted by the corn in my pantry, I think I just heard my box of Special K taunting me… wow I need a nap.

Has anyone else out here read this book? Any reactions to the corn section?

The majority of fruits and veggies you get at the supermarket are  produced and cultivated because these particular varieties can withstand trips from long distances and remain seemingly fresh for weeks before showing signs of age. The taste however, is usually closer to cardboard than a fruit or vegetable.

We begin to ask ourselves, where did all the real fruits and veggies go? The ones that our grandparents told us about when they were kids? These sweet, succulent, fresh, and delicious fruit and vegetable varieties, or heirlooms, can be readily found at local natural foods stores and farmers markets. This is where the consumer goes when he is fed up with the fake stuff.

Heirloom, or antique, is a word that is used for a fruit/veggie variety that has been cultivated for many generations. These varieties were cultivated much more at the beginning of human agricultural history than they are now on a large-scale.  Heirloom seeds have a long history, constantly adapting and changing to thrive properly within their respective environments, making them resistant to local pests and diseases.  Because these heirloom varieties have a pedigree,  they come in interesting shapes and colors, such as white tomatos, purple carrots, and striped beets.

The flavors of these products speak for themselves. Because they are only grown during their respective growing seasons, when purchased, these fruits and veggies are at the peak of freshness, and usually come from a relatively local farm.

So you may be asking, “If these Heirloom things are such a big deal, then why wouldn’t supermarkets carry them?” Well, unfortunately heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables are not as profitable as your generic mass produced varieties. They usually perish more quickly and can therefore not sit for long on shelves or keep well for cross-country/international shipments. Also, the varieties bred for the supermarket usually all look the same both in size and color, and ripen at the same time, allow for a more convenient/reliable product.

The commercial grower’s hybrid bred varieties are a sacrifice not only to taste, but to the rich culture and history of American agriculture. For example, before the mass production of commercialized hybrid produce varieties, nearly 7,000 varieties of apples existed in the country in the early 1900s, now unfortunately less than 1,000 exists and the number is constantly diminishing. This reality exists for a large array of our fruits and vegetables, including potatos, lettuce, carrots, and tomatos.

Home gardeners and small farms continue to cultivate heirloom varieties to maintain the richness of our agricultural past. It is something of a tribute to a memory of the centuries old fruit and vegetable lineage that is slowly dying out for more capitalistic motivations. This is the biodiversity that is being lost to the industrialization of agriculture, and what a shame. We are being denied the fundamental right to gastronomical pleasure, just so the commercial growers can make an extra buck!

To gain some perspective. Lets do some photo comparisons.

Apples:

The Grapple

Because who doesn't want an apple that's genetically modified to taste like grapes?

Heirloom Fuji Variety

Tree-ripe Heirloom Fuji: I'd prefer an apple that tastes like apples thanks.

Carrots:

The Supermarket Carrot

Initially, it seemed like a foolproof plan, however; as the company continued to gain momentum, its success gave it enough power to almost completely take over the entire agricultural industry, bringing with it some severe environmental consequences.

Monsanto Cartoon

The Monoculture: Death of Biodiversity: Before the birth of advanced agricultural technology, the United States flourished with endless varieties of fruits and vegetables, all growing in their respective local climates. Agriculture was biodiverse and soil was rich. Now, with the obvious profit benefits of creating an monoculture, that is: The agricultural practice of producing one crop over a large area, has made it almost impossible for other plant and crop species to flourish.

The Consequences? Catastrophic Crop Failure: If this one crop strain becomes affected by a pathogen, that means the entire harvest is gone. No variation=less adaptability to changing environmental conditions.

According to Ag-Journal Online “Statistics show a vastly shrinking innovation in biotech submissions and doubling of time to approval by USDA. Agriculture is in danger of losing its innovation due to single trait crop development many experts think. Roundup Ready herbicide resistance has so dominated the World’s commodity corn and soybean growing areas that few even bother to submit alternative trials. Studies by three major watchdog groups shows innovative biotech plant submissions drying up.”

The company has patented this seed, and made it almost impossible for small farmers to live in peace, without the anxiety of this seed to accidentally become entwined in their crops. The video below, a clip from the documentary, “The Future of Food,” gives some insight about the current situation that exists with Monsanto, its patenting of seeds, and the toll this takes on our environment and the jobs and financial security of small farmers.

To see more of “The Future Of Food” you can purchase a copy from the Grassroots Gourmet Online Store that can be found in the list of links to your left!

Monsanto is developing problems for our environment, economy, and personal health, but these problems are way too vast to try and swallow in one entry, plus, I wouldn’t want to ruin your appetite.

Monsanto posts will be regular, with updates and sections based on the environment, health issues, and economical issues as well.