Extended Essay 2 Final Draft

Making a Comeback with Locally Grown Food

Food has changed. It’s as simple as that. It seems almost impossible that something as fundamental as food could have changed at a very basic level, but it has. Imagine walking into the local grocery store, seeing all of the different products showcased in even lines along the shelves. Each box or jar with some bright color or design to catch the eye, none of the actual food out for people to see. Today people don’t buy food when they go to the grocery store. They buy the shiny thing that it’s wrapped in or the promise of an abundance of vitamins and nutrients. No longer is the value of the product determined by the consumer, but rather by the marketing team that is telling you how healthy it is. This is a trend that I had never really noticed as it took over my own life. It seemed perfectly normal for food to come in square, cardboard boxes, hiding from the consumer what the food actually looked like. Today I go through the produce aisle and it’s becoming difficult for me to pick out the freshest items because I’m used to just being able to look at the expiration date. I remember the days where I could go out to my grandma’s garden and pick cherries right off the trees as snacks seeing and feeling that they were ripe and ready for eating. My own food culture has changed in a very unhealthy way and this is why I am going to try to introduce fresher, more locally-grown food in my diet.

One of the main concerns in buying fresh and packaged food at the grocery store is how the food was processed. Food has to be shipped all across the country every day because there are very few places in the country where a variety of food is produced. For example in his book “Tomatoland” Estabrook discusses the life of your average Florida tomato. He discusses how a tomato is changed chemically so that it can endure the long trek across the country. The tomatoes are also designed to be the perfect shade of red and the perfect round shape. While this genetic altering may cause the tomato to look more appealing once it’s out on display at the local super market, it is a great mask for the lack of taste that awaits the consumer. With all of the changes to the tomato, it loses its flavor with the U.S. Department of Agriculture stating that most consumers consider commercially grown fresh tomatoes to be tasteless compared to tomatoes grown in their own back yards (Estabrook 1).

Many other types of produce see the same treatment so that they do not lose their visual appeal once they arrive at their destination. This process, while unhealthy and not in the best interests of the consumers, is not as unnerving as the variety of “extras” that are put into packaged food items to preserve their color or taste from factory to super market. Looking at the ingredients list of almost any popular shelf product can be disconcerting with food additives that sound like they would be more in place in a plastics factory then in my Campbell’s Soup with names such as xanthum gum, gelatin, ethanol, and benzoic acid. These additives provide no nutrients or taste to the product. The first two are used as thickening agents and the second two are used as food preservatives. While many of these products are not directly harmful to the body, why do we need them if their only benefit is that companies can sell more food?

With all of these different issues that surround highly processed food, buying food locally or growing your own food seems like the obvious solution. While in the not too distant past buying locally grown food or only organic may have seemed unusual or unnecessary today it is a growing industry. According to research done by Arnab Basu, a professor of economics at the College of William and Mary, studies have found the number of consumers all across the world that are focusing more on the health and quality of the food is increasing. Consumers also tend to buy food that detail how and where it was grown, stating whether it’s organic, locally grown, or fair trade (Basu).

With people paying more attention to where their food comes from it follows that according to Kathyrn Onken, a member of the Department of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Delaware, local foods have seen a dramatic increase in availability and demand (Onken). One of the main ways that this increase is seen is in farmers markets. Farmer’s markets were the original grocery store, being the primary supplier of produce and other goods to the public. Then with the advent of more advanced technology and the need for greater efficiency, the farmer’s market steadily grew into the enterprising food culture that we see today. Few remember its humble beginnings. However, with the addition of the Farmer-to-Consumer Direct Marketing Act of 1976 to the law which reestablished the right for farmers to sell their produce directly to the consumers, the popularity of farmer’s markets has grown (Hamilton). These small stands run by local farmers provide what many consumers crave with their food—control. Consumers know where their products are coming from and, because there is no corporate middle man, are able to get a fair price for them. Farmers markets are also a lot more common in big cities now to fulfill the need that many people have for fresh produce. The increase in farmers markets can clearly be seen in Onken’s article which states that farmers’ markets witnessed a 201 percent increase from 1994 to 2009 (Onken). With this increase in farmers’ markets numbers and the sale of locally grown food, it is slowly becoming easier to buy fresh products in America.

Living in a big city like St. Louis, has been one of the main causes of my detachment from fresh food. It’s easy to just buy the cheaper, processed food from the supermarket then to go out of my way to buy locally grown food. One of the ways that I plan on enacting my eater’s manifesto is to frequent Soulard Market. Soulard is a very old neighborhood in the heart of the city of St. Louis. Brick houses line every street with an interesting shop or pub on every corner. However, the main landmark of this neighborhood is Soulard Market. It is a huge farmer’s market that people from all around the city and the county frequent for fresh produce. Because it is a fair distance away from my house it never seemed to be worth it to travel all the way downtown just for a few vegetables. However, learning about how healthy locally grown food is compared to processed food is changing my opinion of the worth of the trip.

Despite the growing popularity of farmer’s markets in America, there is always the possibility that it may not be an option in certain areas. Because of this people need to find alternatives to get locally grown food. One example is the CSA, or the community supported agriculture. A CSA is a system in which a person may purchase a share of a farm, and this farm will send a box of fresh food to them each week. This system has many benefits to both the farmer and the consumer, such as early payment and better marketing for the farmer and fresh, healthy food for the consumer. These CSA’s are growing throughout the country with tens of thousands of families using this practice (Community Supported Agriculture).  This system does provide some risk to the consumer because they do not always know what produce they are going to get if they get any at all. Because of this one of the easiest ways to get locally grown food is to grow it yourself. In most cases it’s a simple matter of buying seeds and watching them grow. From my own experience I know that tomatoes are the easiest, practically growing like weeds. My family has always seemed to have some type of produce growing in the backyard from cherry tomatoes and green beans to mint leaves and chives. This form of eating locally grown food is one that I have always had and one that I hope to continue on when I live on my own.

Now, many people might say that eating organic and locally grown food does not necessarily mean that you will be eating healthier food then could be found at the grocery store. “Locally grown” is a difficult concept to define. Local may mean just down the street to one person, while another could take local to mean from anywhere within the state. This lack of definition for locally grown food does provide some concern for where the food is coming from. However, most food that is labeled as locally grown will also give details as to which farm it came from. This provides the consumer with enough information to make their own decision as to whether it is locally grown or not. Another concern with locally grown food is that it might contain bacteria and other harmful things that would otherwise be eradicated in a food processing plant. Many of these ideas are unfounded and some have been shown to be exact opposite. In the critically acclaimed documentary Food, Inc. Joel Salatin, owner of the self-sustainable Polyface Farms, discusses how a university tested its chicken against a government-inspected chicken. The test found that the government-inspected chicken averaged 10 times more bacteria than the chicken from Polyface Farms (Kenner, Taylor). This shows that many of the direct-to-consumer farm products that are not inspected by the government can often be healthier than those that have been inspected by the government.

Along with the studies done at Polyface Farms, a study done by Ramona Robinson-O’Brien showed the health benefits of eating locally grown food. In her study, the dietary habits of males and females between the ages of 15 and 23 who ate either locally grown, organic food or processed food were studied. Her results found that adolescents who valued eating food that was either locally grown, organic, non-genetically engineered, or non-processed were more likely to have a healthy dietary pattern of fruit, vegetable, and fat intake (Robinson-O’Brien). This study shows that people, especially teenagers, who value where their food comes from and how it is grown, are more likely to have an overall healthy diet. With a diet that focuses more on eating locally grown food, you are more likely to make wise food choices overall.

Gaining all of this insight on the growing industry and benefits of locally grown food has caused me to reevaluate my food choices. I look back on some of my favorite meals over the year and many of them involve me helping my grandparents harvest the vegetables out of their garden in their backyard to make a delicious stew or emptying my grandmother’s gooseberry bush so that she could make us gooseberry pie. These meals were amazing because I was able to eat food right out of my backyard. Even though I was too small to have been able to consider how good it was for my health and how much better for the environment it was, I think that I could tell its benefits extended past the taste. There’s something about eating a fresh cherry right off the tree that no company will ever be able to manufacture or put into a shiny box with pretty labels. Because of this desire to return to fresh food I am going to eat more locally grown food. This is important to me because it is an idea that I lived as a small child, but grew apart from as I grew older. Because of this I am going to return to having more locally grown food in my diet, whether it is from Soulard market in downtown St. Louis or from my own backyard.

Works Cited

Basu, A.K., and R.L. Hicks. 2008. "Label Performance and Willingness to Pay for Fair Trade Coffee: A Cross-National Perspective." Discussion Papers on Development Policy 125, Center for Development Research, Bonn, Germany. <http://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/ubzefd/44336.html>

“Community Supported Agriculture.” LocalHarvest.com 2012: LocalHarvest, Inc. <http://www.localharvest.org/csa/>

Estabrook, Barry. “Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit.” 07 June 2009: Andrews McMeel Publishing. Introduction

Hamilton, Lisa M. “The American Farmers Market.” Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture. Summer 2002; 2, 3, Research Library p.76. <http://0-proquest.umi.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/pqdlink?index=null&did=552149481&SrchMode=5&Fmt=10&retrieveGroup=0&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1337664137&clientId=48347>

Kenner, Robert; Pearce, Richard; Schlosser, Eric. “Food Inc.” 2009: Magnolia Home Entertainment. DVD.

Onken, Kathryn A; Bernard, John C; Pesek, John D, Jr“Comparing Willingness to Pay for Organic, Natural, Locally Grown, and State Marketing Program Promoted Foods in the Mid-Atlantic Region.” Agricultural and Resource Economics Review40. 1 (Apr 2011): 33-47. <http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/872340131?accountid=14608>

Robinson-O’Brien, Ramona; Larson, Nicole. “Characteristics and Dietary Patterns of Adolescents Who Value Eating Locally Grown, Organic Nongenetically Engineered, Nonprocessed Food.” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior; Volume 41, Issue 1, January-February 2009, pp.11-18. <http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/science/article/pii/S1499404608000882>

Taylor DA 2008. Does One Size Fit All?: Small Farms and U.S. Meat Regulations. Environ Health Perspect 116:A529-A531. <http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.116-a528>

Blog Reflection

Going through this course was a very interesting experience. Learning about all of the different ways that authors can look at food showed me the scope that authors can use. I think it's interesting that the videos and essays that I remember most were the ones that were the most shocking like watching Food, Inc. It was almost disturbing to hear about all of the different ways that we are eating unhealthily. I think that this also shows one of the most important things to remember about research. That as scientific or objective as the data and research might be, any good author can spin a story. In this class we mostly read about how certain things are bad for you. We never really read or saw anything that detailed how healthy meat can be or how slaughterhouses might reduce the risk of bacterial infection. Most of the research followed the same basic principle. This shows how you really have to be careful with how you research a subject because anyone can take research and use it to their own ends. It's up to the reader to distinguish between fact and opinion. This is one lesson that I will definitely take with me from this writing course. From now on I will make take the time to make sure that I fully understand both the data and the intent of the analysis of the data while researching a subject.

EE2

Making a Comeback with Locally Grown Food

Food has changed. It’s as simple as that. It seems almost impossible that something as general as food could have changed at a very basic level, but it has. Imagine walking into the local grocery store, seeing all of the different products showcased in even lines along the shelves. Each box or jar with some bright color or design to catch the eye, none of the actual food out for people to see. Today people don’t buy food when they go to the grocery store. They buy the shiny thing that it’s wrapped in or the promise of an abundance of vitamins and nutrients. No longer is the value of the product determined by the consumer, but rather by the marketing team that is telling you how healthy it is. This is a trend that I had never really noticed as it took over my own life. It seemed perfectly normal for food to come in square, cardboard boxes, hiding from the consumer what the food actually looked like. Today I go through the produce aisle and it’s becoming difficult for me to pick out the freshest items because I’m used to just being able to look at the expiration date. Gone are the days where I could go out to my grandma’s garden and pick cherries right off the trees as snacks. My own food culture has changed in a very unhealthy way and this is why I am going to try to introduce fresher, more locally-grown food in my diet.

One of the main concerns in buying fresh and packaged food at the grocery store is how the food was processed. Food has to be shipped all across the country every day because there are very few places in the country where a variety of food is produced. For example in his book “Tomatoland” Estabrook discusses the life of your average Florida tomato. He discusses how a tomato is changed chemically so that it can endure the long trek across the country. The tomatoes are also designed to be the perfect shade of red and the perfect round shape. While this genetic altering may cause the tomato to look more appealing once it’s out on display at the local super market, it is a great mask for the lack of taste that awaits the consumer. With all of the changes to the tomato, it loses its flavor with the U.S. Department of Agriculture stating that most consumers consider commercially grown fresh tomatoes to be tasteless compared to tomatoes grown in their own back yards (Estabrook 1).

Many other types of produce see the same treatment so that they do not lose their visual appeal once they arrive at their destination. This process, while unhealthy and not in the best interests of the consumers, is not as unnerving as the variety of “extras” that are put into packaged food items to preserve their color or taste from factory to super market. Looking at the ingredients list of almost any popular shelf product can be disconcerting with food additives that sound like they would be more in place in a plastics factory then in my Campbell’s Soup with names such as xanthum gum, gelatin, ethanol, and benzoic acid. These additives provide no nutrients or taste to the product. The first two are used as thickening agents and the second two are used as food preservatives. While many of these products are not directly harmful to the body, why do we need them if their only benefit is that companies can sell more food?

With all of these different issues that surround highly processed food, buying food locally or growing your own food seems like the obvious solution. While in the not too distant past buying locally grown food or only organic may have seemed unusual or unnecessary today it is a growing industry. Studies have found the number of consumers all across the world that are focusing more on the health and quality of the food is increasing. Consumers also tend to buy food that detail how and where it was grown, stating whether it’s organic, locally grown, or fair trade (Basu).

With people paying more attention to where their food comes from it follows that according to Kathyrn Onken’s research, local foods have seen a dramatic increase in availability and demand (Onken). One of the main ways that this increase is seen is in farmers markets. Farmer’s markets were the original grocery store, being the primary supplier of produce and other goods to the public. Then with the advent of more advanced technology and the need for greater efficiency, the farmer’s market steadily grew into the enterprising food culture that we see today. Few remember its humble beginnings. However, with the addition of the Farmer-to-Consumer Direct Marketing Act of 1976 to the law which reestablished the right for farmers to sell their produce directly to the consumers, the popularity of farmer’s markets has grown (Hamilton). These small stands run by local farmers provide what many consumers crave with their food—control. Consumers know where their products are coming from and, because there is no corporate middle man, are able to get a fair price for them. Farmers markets are also a lot more common in big cities now to fulfill the need that many people have for fresh produce. The increase in farmers markets can clearly be seen in Onken’s article which states that farmers’ markets witnessed a 201 percent increase from 1994 to 2009 (Onken). With this increase in farmers’ markets numbers and the sale of locally grown food, it is slowly becoming easier to buy fresh products in America.

Now, many people might say that eating organic and locally grown food does not necessarily mean that you will be eating healthier food then could be found at the grocery store. “Locally grown” is a difficult concept to define. Local may mean just down the street to one person, while another could take local to mean from anywhere within the state. This lack of definition for locally grown food does provide some concern for where the food is coming from. However, most food that is labeled as locally grown will also give details as to which farm it came from. This provides the consumer with enough information to make their own decision as to whether it is locally grown or not. Another concern with locally grown food is that it might contain bacteria and other harmful things that would otherwise be eradicated in a food processing plant. Many of these ideas are unfounded and some have been shown to be exact opposite. In the critically acclaimed documentary Food, Inc. Joel Salatin, owner of the self-sustainable Polyface Farms, discusses how a university tested its chicken against a government-inspected chicken. The test found that the government-inspected chicken averaged 10 times more bacteria than the chicken from Polyface Farms (Kenner, Taylor). This shows that many of the direct-to-consumer farm products that are not inspected by the government can often be healthier than those that have been inspected by the government.

Along with the studies done at Polyface Farms, a study done by Ramona Robinson-O’Brien showed the health benefits of eating locally grown food. In her study, the dietary habits of males and females between the ages of 15 and 23 who ate either locally grown, organic food or processed food were studied. Her results found that adolescents who valued eating food that was either locally grown, organic, non-genetically engineered, or non-processed were more likely to have a healthy dietary pattern of fruit, vegetable, and fat intake (Robinson-O’Brien). This study shows that people, especially teenagers, who value where their food comes from and how it is grown, are more likely to have an overall healthy diet. With a diet that focuses more on eating locally grown food, you are more likely to make wise food choices overall.

Gaining all of this insight on the growing industry and benefits of locally grown food has caused me to reevaluate my food choices. I look back on some of my favorite meals over the year and many of them involve me helping my grandparents harvest the vegetables out of their garden in their backyard to make a delicious stew or emptying my grandmother’s gooseberry bush so that she could make us gooseberry pie. These meals were amazing because I was able to eat food right out of my backyard. Even though I was too small to have been able to consider how good it was for my health and how much better for the environment it was, I think that I could tell its benefits extended past the taste. There’s something about eating a fresh cherry right off the tree that no company will ever be able to manufacture or put into a shiny box with pretty labels.

Works Cited

Basu, A.K., and R.L. Hicks. 2008. "Label Performance and Willingness to Pay for Fair Trade Coffee: A Cross-National Perspective." Discussion Papers on Development Policy 125, Center for Development Research, Bonn, Germany. <http://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/ubzefd/44336.html>

Hamilton, Lisa M. “The American Farmers Market.” Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture. Summer 2002; 2, 3, Research Library p.76. <http://0-proquest.umi.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/pqdlink?index=null&did=552149481&SrchMode=5&Fmt=10&retrieveGroup=0&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1337664137&clientId=48347>

Estabrook, Barry. “Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit.” 07 June 2009: Andrews McMeel Publishing. Introduction

Onken, Kathryn A; Bernard, John C; Pesek, John D, Jr“Comparing Willingness to Pay for Organic, Natural, Locally Grown, and State Marketing Program Promoted Foods in the Mid-Atlantic Region.” Agricultural and Resource Economics Review40. 1 (Apr 2011): 33-47. <http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/872340131?accountid=14608>

Robinson-O’Brien, Ramona; Larson, Nicole. “Characteristics and Dietary Patterns of Adolescents Who Value Eating Locally Grown, Organic Nongenetically Engineered, Nonprocessed Food.” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior; Volume 41, Issue 1, January-February 2009, pp.11-18. <http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/science/article/pii/S1499404608000882>

Taylor DA 2008. Does One Size Fit All?: Small Farms and U.S. Meat Regulations. Environ Health Perspect 116:A529-A531. <http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.116-a528>

Kenner, Robert; Pearce, Richard; Schlosser, Eric. “Food Inc.” 2009: Magnolia Home Entertainment. DVD.

Evil Nutrition

Today in America, we have lost touch with the food that we are eating. Food is no longer seen as food. They are seen as specific nutrients and vitamins that our body needs to survive. However, this has caused us to lose our relationship with food. This notion can be very clearly seen in the two articles, “Unhappy Meals” by Pollan and “Angels and Vegetables” by Du Puis. In Pollan’s article he discusses how we have changed from eating food to eating nutrients. He discusses the problem that nutritionism poses to America. This idea of focusing on the nutrition is too complicated for scientists to understand. Food is so complex and dynamic that it is impossible to break it down into perfect separate components that have no effect on one another. This can be seen with the ever-changing dietary advice that is provided to the general public. One day you are told that you need less trans-fat. Another day it’s more omega-3s. This focus on the nutrition behind the food is what is causing Americans to eat so unhealthily. According to Pollan we should go back to focusing on the food that we are eating.

                This view by Pollan is shared by Du Puis in her article. Du Puis focuses on how Americans have to come to depend on scientists to share information on what “invisible” vitamins and nutrients that we need. This dependence on nutrients has become too focused so that we no longer eat healthy food, just healthy nutrients. Du Puis does compare this to how nutrition was viewed a few hundred years ago. Nutrition was a religion based idea. Health advice was given by the angels to their followers. One of the easiest ways to become good was through a good diet. Both authors give interesting views on how the idea of nutrition has destroyed health in America. It’s a difficult idea to process. By concentrating so hard on eating healthy, we have become even more unhealthy. America needs to go back to basics. Eating food that looks healthy, not just trusting the promises of healthier heart or stomach on the box. Nutrients have to no longer be the focus of a diet. Science can no longer be the champion of a healthy diet. 

Food Facts

Reading the short essays of my classmates has proved to be very interesting. Reading Rebecca Conrad's post, I learned about how healthy cereal can be for you. As I have never been a big cereal eater, I never really though too much about how healthy cereal is, but reading this article it seems like it can actually be one of the healthiest meals you can have in the morning. According to her research eating a bowl of cereal can be healthier than eating eggs or waffles. Reading Quinn's post was equally interesting. He talked about how unhealthy soda can be for you. The comment that I found most interesting was that drinking soda can actually prevent your body from getting the nutrients that it needs.

SE 5

Eating Healthy on Campus Is Possible?

Living on a college campus can have a strong effect on what you eat every day. With classes and activities, the last thing on most people’s minds is eating healthy. Looking over the food journals of members of the class, I noticed that snacks were one of the main ways that people ate, especially over the weekend. It’s easy to grab a bag of chips in between classes or snack on a bagel before leaving for the day. Snacking usually tends to lead people to eat less healthy than they should with so many different kinds of fattening snacks available around campus. However, based on my observations there are a lot of people that are eating fairly healthy snacks. One of the main forms of this that I saw was yogurt.

                Now most people could guess that yogurt is a healthy snack—it’s dairy and usually has fruit in it. Still most people do not realize how healthy it can be for you. Yogurt is full of various nutrients including protein, niacin, thiamin, vitamin B12, magnesium and of course calcium. These various nutrients are very important to people of any age. An article by the International Journal of Obesity discusses the health benefits of a diet that has yogurt in it. One of the ideas that it discusses is how studies have found that a calcium-rich diet promotes healthier eating all around. Dairy provides both children and adults with many nutrients that are very beneficial and is proven to combat obesity by lowering a person’s total body fat (Zemel). Yogurt can also be found to have a greater variety of options to the average consumer. Walking down the grocery store aisle, you will probably see dozens of different yogurt options from plain vanilla yogurt to key lime pie yogurt. These different flavors make eating yogurt easier to eat on a daily basis. You can choose from a variety of flavors every day, giving you something different to try every day.

                As you can see yogurt is a great way to get calcium and other nutrients, but the same could be said about drinking a glass of milk with every meal. However, yogurt does have even more benefits that outweigh the benefits of drinking milk. In an article by the International Journal of Dairy Technology, the author discusses how yogurt can be eaten for probiotics and by people who are lactose-intolerant. Yogurt is one of the leading ways that probiotics are available to consumers. Probiotics are living microorganisms that, when introduced to the body, have numerous health effects. Most of the proposed benefits of probiotics are centered on the digestive system; however, some have been linked to helping with some types of cancer.  Another benefit of yogurt is that people who are lactose intolerant are able to eat it without reacting to the lactose. This is because during the fermentation process the lactose is turned into glucose. Therefore yogurt is a great way for people who are lactose-intolerant to get the numerous nutrients that are normally only available in milk and other dairy products that contain lactose (McKinley).

                With all of the numerous health benefits that are available just from eating yogurt every day, it is impressive that it is so easy for people to obtain it on campus. Sometimes the easier choice can be the healthier one. Most people will warn you about gaining the “Freshman 15” and getting into really bad eating habits. However, we seem to be choosing right and getting our full recommended amount of dairy products with yogurt, a tasty nutritious snack for any college student.

Works Cited

McKinley, Michelle C. “The nutrition and health benefits of yoghurt.” International Journal of Dairy Technology. Volume 58, Issue 1, 14 Jan 2005: Society of Dairy Technology. <http://jc3th3db7e.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=The+nutrition+and+bealth+benefits+of+yoghurt&rft.jtitle=International+Journal+of+Dairy+Technology&rft.au=MICHELLE+C+MCKINLEY&rft.date=2005-02-28&rft.issn=1364-727X&rft.volume=58&rft.issue=1&rft.spage=1&rft.externalDBID=NTDT&rft.externalDocID=875786231>

Zemel, M B. “Dairy augmentation of total and central fat loss in obese subjects.” International Journal of Obesity. 29, p. 391-397 11 January 2005: Nature Publishing Group. <http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v29/n4/abs/0802880a.html>  

Food Journal Observations

Looking at everybody's food journals I see a lot of interesting things. Because it was the weekend, most people  had different schedules for eating than they would have during the week. Our group seemed to have some opposites. About half ate very healthy things and had more legitimate meals, while the other half mostly snacked and ate unhealthy food. I think it is interesting how during the week most college students follow a schedule that allows them to eat better and within a more structured time. During the weekend, when we have more flexibility with when and what we eat, we can go either healthier and better structured or more unhealthy with most snacks.

Food Journal

Just to preface this lovely and completely healthy food journal, I thought I should just mention that I usually don't eat breakfast, in case you might think that I forgot to put that in there. 

Day 1

10:00 - Chocolate milk bought from Olin for breakfast

12:00 - Chicken pasta soup (only a few bites taken of this, did not taste very good), salad, 1 slice of pepperoni pizza, washed down with a Dr. Pepper. (Nelson)

7:00 - Salad and pepperoni with black olive pizza, Kool-Aid (Nelson)

8:00 - Bag of goldfish and a blue gatorade

11:00 - Movie night! Ate a crunch bar and a bag of barbecue pop chips with a sierra mist while watching Captain America

Day 2

10:00 - A single bite of friend's Poptart

12:00 - Pepperoni and green pepper pizza with burntish curly fries and a Dr. Pepper. (Nelson)

6:00 - Salad and some green beans, there was nothing good at Halls that day (Halls)

Day 3

1:00 - Chocolate milk, 2 sausages, plate of potato cubes, and a slice of raspberry bread (Halls)

3:00 - Snacked on some Pringles

5:00 - Sneaked a Dr. Pepper into the movie theater to watch the Avengers

7:00 - Caesar salad, penne with marinara sauce, and bread from the Corner Bakery down on 16th street

11:00 - Late night Jimmy John's BLT sandwich with avocado

The History of Avocados

As a kid I wasn’t known as much of a picky eater. I was, within certain limits, willing to try almost anything. However, when my parents offered me a bowl of green mush to try I was more than a little hesitant. I carefully dipped my Tostito chip into the dip, making sure to get as little of the repulsive stuff on there as possible. Imagine my surprise when I realized how tasty it was and was almost begging for more. Ever since that moment I have not been able to get enough guacamole, and by extension avocados. Avocados are becoming increasingly more popular in the U.S., with it being used in everything from salads to cosmetics. It is an interesting little fruit that has an interesting back story.

                The oldest known origins of the avocado are from Puebla, Mexico from over 10,000 years ago. Over time the cultivation of avocados spread across South and Central America. Many artifacts have been found that suggest that both the Aztecs and the Incas grew and consumed the fruit. When the Spanish explorers traveled to the Americas in the 1500s and 1600s they too discovered the avocado from the Aztecs. Unable to pronounce the Aztec name for it, the ahuacatl, the Spanish decided to change the pronunciation and called it the “aguacate”. Seeing its nutritional value, the Spanish brought it back to the Eastern part of the world to distribute the wealth (Freir). First, the avocado plants were brought to Indonesia and then later to everywhere from South Africa and Australia to North America and Europe. Once brought to Europe the English translated the Spanish term aguacate to what it is known as today, the avocado. Now, the avocado is grown commercially all across the world (Whiley).

                Avocados grow and mature on trees similar to a banana. The avocado can be left on the tree for several months once it reaches maturity before it needs to be picked. Once the avocado is picked from the tree it begins to ripen. Because of this the avocados are transported commercially at cool temperatures to prevent them from ripening.  Once the avocado is in a room temperature area, it will ripen within two to three days. Many grocery stores use ethylene gas so that they can sell pre-ripened fruit. Ethylene gas is a natural gas that is given off by many different types of produce that help keep the surrounding produce from becoming over-ripe. However, many sellers will use a synthetic ethylene gas to slow the ripening process, rather than counting on it to do so naturally (Smith).

                Today the main center of avocado production is still its place of origin, Mexico, with more than one million metric tons produced in 2005 (Galindo-Tovar). Along with Mexico, different variations of the avocado can be found all over the world because of its distribution back in the 1700s and 1800s. The avocado plant itself can be grown in varying climates, which is how the plant can be grown in so many different locations. Despite the worldwide growth of avocados and the majority grown in neighboring Mexico, the United States sells only American grown avocados fearing the affect that foreign insects and diseases may have on other types of produce.

                In the United States most avocados are grown in either California or Florida. California is the main center of avocado production in the U.S. by being where the two favorite types of avocados, the Hass and the Fuerte, originated. The Fuerte avocado is named such because of how it originated in America. Avocado plants were brought to California in 1911 in the hopes of building up production of avocados in the U.S. However, in one year every tree had been killed by a particularly disastrous frost except for one. The entire Fuerte avocado industry has been built from this lone, surviving tree. The Hass avocado has a similar story. In the 1920s a man named Rudolph Hass, decided to start his own avocado farm, trying to build upon the growing trend of avocado production. He bought seeds from Mexico and combined this plant with the Fuerte variation that had been started in the U.S. 10 years earlier. This seed combination proved to be tricky, with every tree that he planted dying before any avocados had a chance to grow. About to cut down his final attempt, a friend convinced him to let the tree grow and see what happened. After some time the Hass avocado grew, which has grown today to be the most popular avocado in the U.S. Like the Fuerte avocado, all of the Hass avocados that are eaten today descend from that first tree (Freir).

                Avocados have become important in American food culture today. They are extremely healthy with more potassium than a banana and high levels of varying vitamins. Studies have been done that show that avocados can lower harmful and raise beneficial blood cholesterol levels. New studies today are also being done to see if avocados may contain certain chemicals that help prevent cancer (Ding). With all of the great benefits of eating an avocado, it makes it a very important ingredient in our food culture. Seeing how the majority of avocado production in the U.S. is naturally done, has caused me to look at it in a different light. No longer do I see a fruit that can be turned into a particularly tasty green, mushy dip, but something that can be used to better the way that we eat.

Works Cited

Ding, Haiming “Chemopreventive characteristics of avocado fruit.” Seminars in Cancer Biology. Volume 17, Issue 5, October 2007. P. 386–394. 2007: Elsevier Ltd. <http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/science/article/pii/S1044579X07000272>

Freir, Pam. “Avocado’s history filled with lust, luck: Fruit got its name from Spanish explorers.” Calgary Herald. 12 Nov. 2006: Calgary, Alta. <http://0-proquest.umi.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/pqdlink?did=1161572321&Fmt=3&clientId=48347&RQT=309&VName=PQD>

Galindo-Tovar, Maria Elena. “The Avocado (Persea Americana, Lauraceae) Crop in Mesoamerica: 10,000 Years of History.” Harvard Papers in Botany. p. 325-334. 12 Dec 2007: Harvard University Herbaria  <http://0-dx.doi.org.bianca.penlib.du.edu/10.3100/1043-4534(2007)12[325:TAPALC]2.0.CO;2>

Smith, Andrew W.J., Poulston, Stephen. “A New Palldium-Based Ethylene Scavenger to Control Ethylene-Induced Ripening of Climacteric Fruit.” Platinum Metals Review, Volume 53, Number 3, July 2009, p. 112-122. Johnson Matthey <http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/matthey/pmr/2009/00000053/00000003/art00001>

Whiley, A. W. Schaffer, B. B. Wolstenhome, B. N. “Avocado: Botany, Production and Uses.” 2002: CABI Publishing Wallingford, Oxon, GBR p. 1-15.

Food production in the U.S. articles

Reading all of three of these articles has given me a new perspective on food production in the United States. I think that the one main thing that all of these articles touch on is how separated food production has become in America. Animals used to be killed and then eaten by the same person that killed the animal. They were raised on farms where they were respected and treated humanely. However, nowadays most people will never see the animals that they are going to eat. These animals are shoved into small confined spaces that may never see the light of day. I think that this was one of the most important things that these articles touched on because it is one of the main reasons that food production is so out of the general public’s control. There is no transparency to what is involved in raising and slaughtering animals. Pollan’s essay, “An Animals Place” focused on this fact more than either of the other articles. He poses the notion that perhaps if the general public could see more of how food is produced than they would be far less likely to eat meat from animals that are raised in common slaughterhouses. This idea really got me thinking because looking back at all of the meat that I have eaten, I have no idea where any of it came from. It’s strange that in a society so bent on eating healthily, most people still do not care about how their main ingredient was raised.

                Along with this lack of transparency within food production, these articles focused on how the workers at these farms suffer the most. The “Tomatoland” article showed how many workers on tomato farms work under such poor conditions that the only people that are still willing to do the job are illegal immigrants. Many of these farms enforcing slavery so that their quotas can be met. I found this article extremely interesting because it was a topic that I had done some research on in high school. I learned a lot about how the farms that grow crops can very easily force people into working on their farms. Reading these articles was very enlightening and is causing me to reevaluate some of my own meal choices. 

Pollan Article Response

In his article “America’s Eating Disorder” Pollan discusses the problem behind American eating. He notes the paradox of other cultures eating foods that are much higher in fat and calories having a healthier average weight. He says that this is mainly due to the fact that Americans worry much more about food. Being the great Melting Pot of the world, we have standard meals from almost every culture, but not our own history of food. Because of this we have no stable eating pattern passed down like other countries do. With the increase in available choices, we have forgotten how to choose foods for taste and health. Pollan notes that “we've learned to choose our foods by the numbers (calories, carbs, fats, R.D.A.'s, price, whatever), relying more heavily on our reading and computational skills than upon our senses” (Pollan 4). Food is chosen based on the nutrition facts that are supplied by the companies that make the products themselves. Americans have become so worried about eating the proper amount of different nutrients that we have lost the ability to choose food instinctually. We eat what we are told is the proper amount to eat. With this great concern for what we are eating, Americans end up eating the wrong amounts of the wrong food. We assume that because we ran two miles we can trade this for having a lot of snacks for the rest of the day. This is an interesting observation compared to the French culture of eating. Because they have a stable eating schedule and do not worry about what they eat, they ultimately end up eating healthier than the average American.

                This is a very interesting analysis of how Americans eat. In my own paper I focused about how Americans do not choose the healthiness of a food product enough. However, in this paper it shows how focusing too much on the health can become a problem. We forget to trust our own instincts on what to eat, and focus way too much on what our culture is telling us to eat. Looking over these observations it’s causing me to reevaluate my own food choices and the way that I view food.