Food Friday, Part I

It's raining. The boys got a taste of gardening yesterday and now it looks like we'll be inside all day, so I may not have a chance to post as much as I wanted to. To start, I wanted to share the article that got the ball rolling for me. I've never purchased a copy of Vanity Fair and didn't necessarily associate cutting-edge investigative journalism with that particular magazine, but last Easter we were on vacation and I found this in the cabin. The most depressing thing about it(to me) is the degree to which this company controls seed production. The sheer wastefulness of it really angers me. It's kind of a long article, but take a moment to read it through. Then try not to leap out of your seat and go plant some wheat in your back yard :) In the(paraphrased) words of Wendell Berry, "What we eat determines how the world will be used." We need to eat better. I've never thought of myself as an environmentalist. To me, the term always conjured up visions of unwashed hippies who think trees are more important than people. Since having children I've grown up a little, and I realize that how the world is used is directly my concern if I want to feed my boys good food. Yesterday we were digging up a patch for planting some vegetables, and Matteas sampled the dirt. I realized that what is in my own back yard is within my control, and I know I don't have to worry about my kids eating the dirt. I'm not looking for the fastest way to maximize the profits of my vegetable garden, so I'm content to let nature take its course with our plants. The same cannot be said of commercially produced food. I have no problem with a company making lots and lots of money for providing a quality product. I do have a problem with a company making lots and lots of money for producing crap and insisting it's good for me. Industrial agriculture is doing just that, taking all the integrity out of farming to produce a lesser product in order to make more money faster, and poisoning the soil in the process. I understand that a benefit to genetically modified crops is that they allow food to be grown where it could not be sustained using traditional farming methods, but the world's food supply problem isn't a problem of supply, it's a problem of distribution. Right now, America is producing about 3,900 calories per person a day. That's enough to feed the entire country TWICE. So American kids are obese while others are starving. Seems to me we don't actually need a way to produce more food, just better food. The money is there, it's just tied up producing lots and lots of corn syrup for the 219 gallons of soda the average family drinks in a year. If you are sufficiently riled after reading the Vanity Fair article and wondering what you can do about it, one small thing we've starting doing is buying more organic food, a few ingredients at a time. A PCC recently opened a few miles from our house, and we're still getting our produce bin deliveries. It's not as expensive as you might think, and in some cases it's actually cheaper(the cost of flour is about the same). I've been buying all our flour from PCC and making bread, which is always a very exciting time in the kitchen. Whenever Jack hears the mixer on he asks what I'm making, and when I tell him "Brown bread," he shouts "I love brown bread!" I haven't graduated to using all whole-wheat flour yet, but I really want to get some freshly-ground whole wheat flour and try it out. This bread is excellent simply sliced with butter, but if you let it cool completely and then slice it thinly it also makes fantastic sandwich bread. No high-fructose corn syrup, no genetically modified wheat, no pesticides, and a whole lot of goodness. If you're daunted by the prospect of making homemade bread, I promise this is easy. I literally make it with one hand most days. If you don't own a mixer you'll have to do the kneading by hand, which is very therapeutic if your baby is safely sleeping and you can do it in peace. Jack's Brown Bread Makes one loaf 1 pkg. yeast 1 1/4 cups warm water 1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup honey(maple syrup or brown sugar would work too) 1 tsp. salt 2 cups white unbleached flour 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour In bowl of mixer, dissolve yeast in warm water(water should be warm, but not too hot to stick your finger into). Add oil, honey, salt and all of the flour. Using dough hook attachment, mix dough on lowest setting until combined. Continue mixing with dough hook(or by hand) an additional ten minutes. Pick up dough and drizzle mixing bowl with a small amount of olive oil, then replace dough and cover bowl with a towel. Leave in a warm spot to rise for about 45 minutes. Grease a 4x8 loaf pan. After the first rise, place dough gently in loaf pan and let rise a second time, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. When dough has completed second rising, bake on 350, 30-40 minutes. Let cool in loaf pan for five minutes before loosening the sides with a knife and turning out onto a cutting board or cooling rack. If you slice the bread too soon it will fall apart, so let it cool at least ten minutes. It is amazing eaten warm, but if you plan to use it for sandwiches let it cool longer before slicing.