Belly of the Beast

Or, My Somewhat Snarky, Extremely Long, and Not Entirely Educated Report-back on Roger Beachy’s (Director of the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture) Talk at UC Davis

Disclaimer: this was written with not just a smidgen of bias against Dr. Beachy, for no other reason than that he worked for a Research Center funded primarily by Monsanto for many years. Also, I know what I'm talking about a little, but I am pretty sure he would destroy me in a game of scrabble, not to mention a debate on the state of world agriculture issues, even though I still think I'm right.

Gathering at the Mondavi Center was my first physical and intuitive realization that I am in the heart of Big Ag research. I mean, I know this fact intellectually, but my entire experience at UC Davis to date has been in a tiny little bubble devoted to sustainable ag and food systems work, and this makes it easy to forget the massive rolling fields of GE research.

Whole Grain Banana-Nut Yogurt Bran Muffins

Hi friends,

I wanted to make bran muffins that had these ingredients: wheat bran, whole grain flour, yogurt, bananas
and not these: excessive sugar, excessive oil/butter
and were not dessert trying to pass themselves off as breakfast but also not possessing that dreadful, super-dry, silica-gel or sawdust quality so many bran muffins unfortunately have. You know, where you feel obligated to eat the muffin because it's supposed to be good for you, and it certainly tastes that way, but there's nothing enjoyable about it. And then you stay away from bran muffins for about a year or more, until you come across one in a bakery and you think, "That looks healthy, I'll get that," but then you have the same unpleasant experience yet again. They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Let me tell you how to vote.

Okay people, I know you want to do the right thing by America and California. So you need to vote. But only if you agree with me. Just kidding, obviously. I am sharing with you how I voted, because I want to spread the gospel of my brilliant political analysis. But you should vote however you think is right.

Soup Swap!

I met a lovely group of food activists at an organic farmers conference in Texas, and one of them introduced me to the Soup Swap concept. It goes like this: you cook up a big ole pot of soup, enough for several quarts, and package the soup in your quart size containers. ( And if you don't have any quart size containers, come to my house because they are seriously taking over. No joke, I have, like, 50 of 'em and I think they are planning a mutiny because I shove them in this overcrowded draw with all manner of plastic tupperware-like things, and the conditions are horrible. I mean, overcrowded, dirty, dark, dank, you name it. I don't know how long these guys are gonna hold out - it's a travesty of justice and somebody needs to do something.)

Why Market Liberalizers Are Dumb

"Given the reality of what consumers can and can't do, market liberalizers' enduring fantasy—that the collective power of tens of millions of conscientious shoppers will force suppliers to correct their bad practices—has been replaced by a grimmer understanding: Until we can make the market see all the costs of unsustainable farming, and until we learn how to temper its obsessive focus on ever greater efficiencies, market-driven sustainability will fail."
From this: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2009/02/spoiled-organic-and-local-so-2008

It's not that I think most people are dumb. Wait. I do think most people are dumb. But that's because I'm a privileged and cynical upper middle class snobby smartypants who doesn't always realize the perspective her liberal college education gave her or that not everyone else shares it.