mind body planet

Alright so last time I talked a little bit about tofurky and the prospects of everyone eating nothing but vegetarian meals at every holiday from now on, just kidding. I talked about tofurky and the alternatives to the traditional turkey holiday. I did have the feast I was talking about yesterday and it was amazing. We did have our own favorite dishes, all vegetarian, and I made my own homemade tofurkey. When we were eating the dinner we were all talking about various things and somehow the subject fell on the lovely centerpiece that I had made. The question came up as to what seitan is and then it morphed in a discussion over soy. I think that the things we talked about may have just been questions that everyone would like to know the answers to before eating something like this. 

Everyone who is reading this post has surely eaten something with soy in it within the last month. In this society it is impossible to get away from soy oils or lecithin. For my tofurkey I didn’t used soy I simply used seitan which is a form or wheat gluten. That is all it is even though it sounds like it comes from another planet, I know. Though I made mine this way, the commercial loafs will typically use soy instead because it is much cheaper for them to produce with soy on a large scale. Though this may not be true for every brand out there, I think that most brands I have eaten are all soy based and much different than  Seitan based loaves. I personally don’t use soy that much in my diet because of some possible health issues caused by the bean, as well as by the need for diversity in our diets.

The research that has been done on soy is still too young to conclude to effects of the product on humans, but there are some big issues that could be a risk factor. The biggest issue that has been raised over soy is the amount of the isoflavaoids in the beans which are a source of phytoestrogens. These phytoestrogens are just naturally occurring forms of estrogen that can cause some issues when ingested on a large scale. For women especially the chemicals can cause increased risk of breast cancer, though the research is still relatively young. The issues for men seem to be less severe but they still exist. Though I am cautious about my intake of the popular bean, I don’t think we need to be afraid of it, just eat it in moderation like everything else. With soy especially though, we have to check labels because if you look now it is really in most packaged foods out there. 

I am well aware that this holiday is all about the giving of thanks and sharing of good feelings for all. At least that is what I think that it is supposed to be all about. For most though I think when we really think about Thanksgiving as the holiday that it is our first thoughts will fall on food. The food of the Thanksgiving holiday is essential to what we all think the holiday to be about. For most this is the traditional items like Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and warm breads. All of these things surely resonate within the minds of many of us as being essential to the holiday itself. As with all of the seemingly aggregate images of the holiday in this country, there are always exceptions. 

In my family I was raised as a vegetarian and thus our thanksgiving holiday is a little bit different than that traditional image of the holiday that we all know and love. For us the holiday was all about the root vegetables that are typical but our centerpiece was something like a veggie loaf. When I was in high school I suggested that we try something a little bit different and so we went out and bought ourselves a Tofurkey. For any of you that don’t have any idea about what that is, let me give you a little background. A tofurkey is a loaf of seitan, or vegetable protein, that is roasted and served up with bread filling like stuffing. When we got ours we bought it from the store originally from the main brand www.tofurky.com.  Since then though I have been slowly perfecting my ow way of making the alternative dish and this year I actually will be making a feast with some friends since we can’t afford to go home right now i the semester. This dish in particular is something that is quite unique to vegetarians because most of you have probably only ever eaten turkey as the main dish. The recipes aren’t hard to find ad for the most part they are pretty simple. The cool thing about making tofurkey though is that you can still make your traditional stuffing and all but you can switch up the recipe for the outside of the loaf as much as you like or depending on what veggies you have to mix with the Seitan. 

I wouldn’t think that anyone is going to change their tradition over this post but since we still have a couple of days until the holiday, maybe some of us could try something new as a side dish. It’s just a thought.

I know that my last few articles have sort of jumped around a little bit and missed oe big thing that is sort of the key to my love of Organic foods. Organic farming is all based on the ideas of sustainability and on keeping the surrounding soil and ecosystem clean and preserved. For me my experience with it has been fun and interesting, though I prefer biodynamically raised foods, and I think everyone should know where their food comes from. 

The background about the real facts of pesticides is something that sheds a great deal of light on the importance of eating an organic diet.  Pesticides have been documented ad shown to cause some serious issues among the farmers who work with them.  Even when the techniques are done properly and precautions take, issues can arise from even a slight amount of simple exposure. Many phosphate pesticides are known to cause abdominal pains, dizziness, headaches, nausea, vomiting, as well as various skin and eye conditions. Then there are also other studies which have show much more serious problems like respiratory issues, memory loss, cancer, depression, and birth defects. I have never actually been a witness to any of these but the research doesn’t lie. 

One difficult point about pesticides in fruits and vegetables is when it comes to buying things from abroad. I have worked on Organic farms before in this country and the regulations you have to follow are pretty strict and you have to be quite rigid in every step you take ad what equipment is used every day. Each year the farms have to get checked and things have to be cleared by the certification organization so they maintain a very well ru operation. It was also my experience that these farmers were much more passionate about  their final product than just about their business. The issue for the health of the consumer arises because the organic standards in other nations is not the same as they are here. Other nations don’t place as much value on the same scientific research and thus some food enters the U.S. with levels of pesticides that are unacceptable here. 

I don’t want everyone going out now ad running for the hills because that’s not what I am saying is the solution. What I do what you to do though is read ad get yourselves informed because that is the only way anything is going to change. With your knowledge of what isn’t good for you then you can place your dollar and your power where it belongs.

I left off last time talking to you a little bit more in depth about the particulars of the Organic foods we see cropping up, pun intended, all over the grocery store. I’d like to keep that conversation going today ad get back in to in once again. I think that for now what deserves a little bit of attention are some of the particulars that I have experienced that you may not know much about.

I have worked as a farmer in the past at a few different locations. Several of these were Organic farms, some were not certified but could have been if they had the high cost of being certified. Then some of these places were not Organic at all and that was fine at the time for me. So I really have got to see a lot of differing practices when it comes to farming and the biggest issue for me at this point in my life is sustainability. I feel like the issue of whether or not we are poisoning ourselves slowly with pesticides is not nearly as pressing an issue as that of the complete degradation of the planet. If we have no planet then we have no species thus agricultural techniques are a moot point. Of course when we look at from that perspective the Organic farms are protecting the chemical balance of soil because there is no pesticides used. They are also much better at sustaining lots of biodiversity. This is something that conventional farms don’t really even consider. Organic farms are much more about nurturing rather than simply industrializing the growth of life on this planet. The only problem that some say arises from this is that Organic farms require much more land to grow the same amount as the factory farms. This means for some people that if we were to try and sustain the current world population on Organics we would in turn be leading to more destruction of rainforest to grow food. That would, if it actually was the case, would again negate the point of sustainability. 

I’m going to turn to one of my best resources for food information right now and finish today with a quick word about Michael Pollan. He is a world renowned author and scholar who has written a great deal on things like this. He has studied the primary documents ad the facts on the yields ad his view is simply that we could actually increase the world’s food supply by almost one half if we were to switch everything over to Organics. He claims that where the problem lies ow is in the diversity of types of farming. If we were to switch over today then things would have to change in every single ecosystem to accommodate and that would ot be reflexive of the simple industrial growth estimates that every is looking at.

Once again the class time is a callig and I must be gettin on. We’ll keep on with this discussion next time.

I know that in the past I have discussed organic foods and all of the broad topics that fall under that category but I would like to come back around to this idea again. We have once again reached the time of the year when the leaves fall and the temperature makes most agriculture impossible. Farmer’s markets will be closing up shop soon and leaving only winter markets which sell mostly meets and dairy products. This is an especially important time to know what kinds of things there are out there for you to buy when you go to the shelves at the supermarket. Knowing is half the battle and for those of you on a small student’s budget, then knowing where to compromise because of costs is also very important. 

What do we mean when we say Organic food? Organic foods are produced according to certain production standards, meaning they are grown without the use of conventional pesticides, artificial fertilizers, human waste, or sewage sludge, and that they were processed without ionizing radiation or food additives.  Livestock are reared without the routine use of antibiotics and without the use of growth hormones. In most countries, organic produce must not be genetically modified.  In the U.S. this is something you must watch out for though because there are still modified products out there. Personally I feel that free range meat is better than just organic. If you buy locally then I bet you could find organic and free range from the same producer without having to compromise on that piece of your diet. 

Organic food production is legally regulated. Currently, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Japan and many other countries require producers to obtain organic certification in order to market food as organic.

Historically, organic farms have been relatively small family-run farms — which is why organic food was once only available in small stores or farmers’ markets. However, since the early 1990s organic food production has had growth rates of around 20% a year, far ahead of the rest of the food industry, in both developed and developing nations. As of April 2008, organic food accounts for 1-2% of food sales worldwide. Future growth is expected to range from 10-50% annually depending on the country.

The benefits to organic farming are not simply for personal health reasons, but these purchases effect the biodiversity of the area and the sustainability of the farmland. The last two are things that traditional factory farms do not consider when laying out their production line. 

I have to go to class for now but we will keep talking about this next time. Stay tuned.