Menu For the Future

The Northwest Earth Institute is now offering a six-week discussion course on food and sustainability. Anyone can participate. You can do this from anywhere. You just need to find a group of eight to 12 people and meet weekly or bi-weekly in your home, workplace, church, community center, etc. to discuss the course topics.

Course Goals:

• To explore food systems and their impacts on culture, society and ecological systems.
• To gain insight into agricultural and individual practices that promote personal and ecological well-being.
• To consider your role in creating or supporting sustainable food systems.

Anyone in Seattle want to join me in getting a discussion group going?

Cooking Quinoa, the "Mother Seed"

It was only a few years ago that I discovered and started cooking quinoa (pronounced keen-wah). But my life has not been the same since. Often referred to as a grain, quinoa is actually the seed of a plant that is related to the beet, chard and spinach plants. And it's highly nutritious and protein-rich.

The Incas referred to it as the "mother seed," and it has been produced in South America since 3000 B.C.E., according to the Encyclopedia of Healing Foods.

Quinoa contains all essential amino acids, making it a complete protein in and of itself. It also is a good source of vitamin B2, vitamin E and dietary fiber, and contains healthy levels of the minerals iron, phosphorus, copper and zinc.

So what does it taste like? By itself, it has a creamy, nutty flavor. The texture is slightly crunchy. You can use it in place of rice or many other grains. I like to add it to soups and stews, or mix it with beans and add some freshly chopped herbs.

It only takes about 15-20 minutes for it to cook. To do so, simply add one part grain to two parts liquid in a saucepan. Once the mixture has reached a boiling point, lower heat to a simmer and cover. The grains will become translucent and the white "germ" part usually detaches from the main body of the grain. Beware: quinoa expands to about three or four times its size when cooked.

E-mail Me

I know some of you have had issues posting comments on this blog. If you are wanting to leave a comment, or if you have a question or an idea about anything I've blogged about, or if there is something you'd like to see me blog about, please feel free to e-mail me at buildthemovement@yahoo.com

I look forward to hearing from you.

Marion Nestle on Obama's New FDA Administrator and Food Safety

In her recent column for the San Francisco Chronicle, nutrition and public policy expert Marion Nestle discusses President Barack Obama's nomination for FDA Administrator Dr. Margaret Hamburg, along with what issues Hamburg should address to fix the system, as well as other concerns around food safety.

Plan Ahead, Eat Well

A friend once told me casseroles were the key to her sanity in the face of juggling her duties as a full-time student and mother of two. I was skeptical.

Me: A casserole? Really?

Her: Yes. It just takes a little planning. Make it in advance, freeze part of it for using later. Start your week by setting aside time to just make up a couple of casseroles. Then, when things get hectic, you don't have to plan your meals, you just pull out your casserole and heat it and feed yourself and your family.

Me: Hmm...interesting. But what if --

Her: Just make a damn casserole!

I haven't really gotten into making casseroles, but I know my friend has a point. Most of the times that we make poor food choices are because we haven't thought too far ahead about eating. After all, it's hard to think straight when your blood sugar is low and your stomach is growling. But the reality is: you're going to get hungry...several times a day...for the rest of your life. So why not plan for the inevitable by cooking up some things in advance?

While I haven't adventured too much into casserole-land, I have found other ways to follow my friend's advice, specifically by making soup. I love soup. I make some type of soup at least once a week. I make double or triple the amount I would need to make a meal for myself and my family, then divvy up the rest in quart containers and throw them in the freezer.

A few tips for freezing or re-heating soups:

1. As with anything you freeze, make sure to date your containers.
2. Make sure your containers are air-tight.
3. Wait until soup has cooled to put in freezer. If you put hot soup in the freezer it will lower the temperature of everything else in the freezer and use more energy than necessary.
3. Don't freeze soups longer than three months.
4. Soups with potatoes and/or cream don't freeze very well and are best eaten fresh.
5. Pasta doesn't freeze well, either. If your soup includes pasta, add that separately once you've thawed your soup.
6. Thaw soup in refrigerator and re-heat in saucepan.

Please feel free to e-mail me or comment with ideas on how you plan your meals and what steps you take to free up your time around food preparation.

More Americans Using Food Stamps

A recent Reuters article states that one in 10 Americans are now using Food Stamps. Figures from January mark the third time in five months that enrollment set a record. Anti-hunger group Food Research and Action Center cites the weakened economy as the reason so many more people are turning to this government-run food assistance program.

The Federal Food Stamp Program, recently renamed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) offers a basic eligibility screening tool on their website where you can check to see if you or someone you know is eligible for food-assistance programs including WIC (food assistance for Women Infants and Children) and TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). Programs vary state-by-state.

How Our Food Choices Affect the Weather

The fact that it is snowing here in Seattle on the first day of April has me feeling a little out of sorts. This is a city that rarely sees much snow at all, especially not after the month of January. And yet here it is, coming down rapidly.

My mother, who lives in northern New Mexico told me it snowed there last week, a day after the temperature reached 87 °F.

This has gotten me thinking about climate change and the food connection. So I'm looking at how my food choices affect these things.

According to an article by Paul Roberts in the April 2009 issue of Mother Jones magazine, the amount of energy used to produce our food has increased dramatically.

"In 1940, one calorie of energy produced two to three calories of food. Today, it takes 10 calories of energy to produce each calorie of food sold at supermarkets," Roberts states.

Just as with any other business, farming requires burning fossil fuels to make fertilizer, run tractors and process and transport food.

Roberts also notes that Americans spend less than 10 cents of every dollar on food, which is the least in the world. Americans also eat more meat than anyone else in the world — 200 lbs. per year.

Beef production, alone, is a huge drain (literally) on our dwindling water supply. "It takes nearly one gallon of fossil fuel and 5,200 gallons of water to produce just one pound of conventionally fed beef," according to Mother Jones magazine.

"If every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetables and grains, for example, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads. And speaking of cars, it takes fuel to transport food, so buying from local farmers and ranchers cuts emissions even if you don’t cut out any meat," according to an article on the Environmental Defense Fund website, which cites a recent study from the University of Chicago.

So what can you do? Plant a garden, cut down on your meat consumption and buy as local as possible. Local Harvest is a wonderful resource for finding farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food and grass-fed meats in your area.