A Literary Culinary Journal
To be interested in food but not in food production is clearly absurd.
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“EATING IS AN AGRICULTURAL ACT: I begin with the proposition that eating is an agricultural act. Eating ends the annual drama of the food economy that begins with planting and birth. Most eaters, however, are no longer aware that this is true. They think of food as an agricultural product, perhaps, but they do not think of themselves as participants in agriculture. They think of themselves as ‘consumers.’ If they think beyond that, they recognize that they are passive consumers. They buy what they want — or what they have been persuaded to want — within the limits of what they can get. They pay, mostly without protest, what they are charged. And they mostly ignore certain critical questions about the quality and the cost of what they are sold: How fresh is it? How pure or clean is it, how free of dangerous chemicals? How far was it transported, and what did transportation add to the cost? How much did manufacturing or packaging or advertising add to the cost? When the food product has been manufactured or ‘processed’ or ‘precooked,’ how has that affected its quality or price or nutritional value?”
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by Jonell Galloway
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From artsy
Photo courtesy of Ilian
to philosophical and literary
The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture (Photo credit: elycefeliz)
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by Adriana Pérez de Legaspi
Care for things of the earth; cut some firewood, cultivate the earth, plant prickly pears, plant yucas.
You will have to drink, eat, get dressed.
Thereafter you will be standing, you will be your true self, you will walk on your own two feet.
Thereafter you will be well spoken of, you will be praised.
Thereafter you will be known.
Ten cuidado de las cosas de la tierra; haz algo corta leña, labra la tierra, planta nopales, planta magueyes.
Tendrás que beber, que comer, que vestir.
Con eso estarás en pie, serás verdadero, con eso andarás.
Con eso se hablará de ti, se te alabará.
Con eso te darás a conocer.
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by Jonell Galloway
I begin with the proposition that eating is an agricultural act. Eating ends the annual drama of the food economy that begins with planting and birth. Most eaters, however, are no longer aware that this is true. They think of food as an agricultural product, perhaps, but they do not think of themselves as participants in agriculture. They think of themselves as “consumers.”
—Wendell Berry, The Pleasures of Eating, Center for Ecoliteracy
The Times They are a-Changin’: Move Towards a Local Economy
After a few very difficult years, we are now only starting to talk about the importance, and even necessity, of maintaining and supporting a local economy. This is important not only to our health and taste buds, but also to our vital economic self-sufficiency. It is perfectly in line with the concept of Mindful Eating, and, by definition, involves local farmers as well as others who contribute to eating and drinking.
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The Urban Dictionary now lists the word “foodwired” as part of the American vocabulary.
People who are foodwired are extremely conscious about the food they eat and the food they buy, as well as where it came from and whether it is healthy and sustainable.
According to the Urban Dictionary, if you are foodwired, you:
She asked the waiter whether the chicken was organic. She is totally foodwired.
The neighbors are growing food in every inch of their small urban yard. They are really foodwired.
Today, I’m really foodwired. I cooked with totally organic, local ingredients.
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by Jonell Galloway
There’s probably no better short overview of Wendell Berry‘s views on agriculture and sustainability than Mark Bittman‘s interview of Berry in The New York Times in 2012.
Wendell Berry speaking in Frankfort, Indiana
Here are a few excerpts about agriculture and sustainability:
“That’s one of Wendell’s recurring themes: Listen to the land.”
“If you imitate nature, you’ll use the land wisely.”
“The two great aims of industrialism — replacement of people by technology and concentration of wealth into the hands of a small plutocracy — seem close to fulfillment.”
Mark Bittman (Photo credit: rebuildingdemocracy)
“You can describe the predicament that we’re in as an emergency, and your trial is to learn to be patient in an emergency.”
“[N]o great feat is going to happen to change all this; you’re going to have to humble yourself to be willing to do it one little bit at a time. You can’t make people do this. What you have to do is notice that they’re already doing it.”
“I’ve been thinking about that question about what city people can do. The main thing is to realize that country people can’t invent a better agriculture by ourselves. Industrial agriculture wasn’t invented by us, and we can’t uninvent it. We’ll need some help with that.”
Read The New York Times entire article here.
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So around the world, environmentalists and scientists are mobilizing to fight the plague of over-nutrition. That’s where the new USDA document comes in. It lays out a host of steps that farmers can take — and will have to take, if they get funding from certain USDA programs — to minimize the spread of nutrients outside farm fields.
Essentially, it involves putting farmland on a sensible diet. Only feed the land as much as it really needs. And don’t apply fertilizer, including manure, when the crops don’t need it. Also, try to capture and store any excess nutrients. For instance, grow wintertime “cover crops” that can trap free nitrogen before it leaches into groundwater.
Click here to read this on NPR’s blog.
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Swiss television station TSR has just produced a version of Food, Inc. in French.
Click here to watch it.
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A scotch eggstravaganza: A just-set egg in sausagemeat with a light and crisp crumb coating is a lovesome thing, The Guardian
Is Wall Street Driving World Hunger?, The Atlantic
Notes from my Slow Food Challenge dinner, by Joe Yonan, The Washington Post
Walmart’s Fresh Food Makeover: Can the retailer known for its poverty wages solve the problem of urban “food deserts”?, The Nation
The world’s most expensive whisky: Dalmore 62: A bottle of Dalmore 62 scotch whisky has been bought for a new world record of £125,000, The Guardian
Tomato Carpaccio (Mark Bittman), The New York Times
Work starts on York’s Chocolate Attraction (theme park), BBC
American History, Seen through a Shot Glass, NPR
Closing the Productivity Gap for Women Farmers, Impatient Optimists
Ahoy Matey! International Talk Like a Pirate Day – September 19, The Rambling Epicure
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Meet Jonell Galloway, a freelance writer and editor specialized in French cuisine. 
