ChewsWise Blog

ChewsWise Blog

Who Knew? International Compost Week

Compost1

This is from the "who knew?" department. It's International Compost Awareness Week. I realized that cruising around a site in Australia of all places, then found a link here about events in the United States running this week.

I get asked a lot of questions about compost, since I have a bin in my yard and we compost all plant waste from the kitchen.

Compost2

Does it smell?
No, if your pile smells like rotting vegetables you are doing something wrong. Most likely, you have added too much "green" waste, such as fruits and veggies, and not enough "brown" waste, like leaves and hay. You need roughly equal amounts of both. What I do is throw down a layer of leaves saved from the fall then put "green" waste over the leaves, then cover the whole lot with a few shovel fulls of soil. It's also a good idea to throw in some existing compost, if you have it, to stimulate the biological activity. Then water the pile so that is has the consistency of a damp sponge. If it's too wet, the green matter will rot. If it's too dry, it won't decompose. As the bin fulls up I mix it with a shovel every week or two.

Compost3

Does it attract rats?
I have a closed compost bin made of hard plastic. I have never seen a rat anywhere near the bin and I've been composting in the middle of DC for four years.

Does it take a lot of time?
Once you get into the habit, making compost is like taking out the garbage or putting out the recycling. It's just something you do. So no, it doesn't take a lot of time.

Compost4

It's spring and I didn't save any fall leaves. What should I do?
You can still build the pile with hay. You can try newspaper but I found it took too long to break down. Same with sawdust and any woody matter, which I avoid. Buy a bale of hay if you can, or run to your municipal compost operation and pick up a few bags of leaves.

I don't have space but still want to compost. Can I compost inside?
You can investigate worm composting. I have not tried the technique but know it works. The classic text for this is Worms Eat My Garbage. And speaking of worms, that last picture shows a tiny earthworm I pulled out of the bottom of the bin, which was teeming with the critters.

So what do I do with compost?
Grow plants!

Plants

If my chatty instructions on making compost leave you dumbfounded, then check out Ed Bruske's video series about making a compost pile. It's a good introduction for the beginner. The one below is just the first in the series.

- Samuel Fromartz

Kellogg Meeting Notes: Good Food, Good Business

I’m attending the Kellogg Food and Society Conference outside of Phoenix, which is notable in a couple of ways. The meeting gathers about 550 leaders from the non-profit world - everybody from policy wonks working on the Farm Bill to those working with farmworkers, in urban community gardens, on immigration or with inner city healthy food initiatives.

Secondly, it’s being held at the luxurious Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort, a complex in the middle of the Gila River Indian Community which is actually owned by Indian tribes. The upscale nature of the place is certainly jarring for non-profits more accustomed to pinching pennies (Kellogg is picking up the expenses). But notably, the entire place was designed with Indian themes - artwork, bedspreads, even the architecture - and it provides a lot of jobs at all levels to the local Pima and Maricopa tribes.

Unlike the focus of much of my past work, the people at the conference are coming at things from the not-for-profit angle. Curiously, though, I’ve been engaged workshops where the overt theme was business - how do you grow local food? How do you bring more food to people? What’s needed in distribution? What type of ventures can make this happen? There’s a recognition that business can do this, but it’s business incubated or formed by non-profits for clear social goals.

Given the discussion, it’s clear these people would benefit from engaged business people on their boards, as advisers, if they’re not there already. In the food world, at least the organic wing of it, there are many people who have dealt with the same issues, who have gone from small to big, who have done so with clear missions. While those businesses might not always have a social component, the veterans of those paths could offer tools and strategies to get the business right -- so that it provides a solid foundation for the social goals these non-profits want to pursue.

It’s also clear from the discussions I’m having that the food movement is out-growing the farmer direct models that have been extolled for so long (farmers’ markets, CSAs). The new emphasis is on wholesale models that are necessary to bring more food to places where people actually shop - like supermarkets. That’s the next wave. But I will be interested to see how non-profits play a role in tackling this scaling issue, or whether they will be a footnote among the efforts of profit-minded entrepreneurs.

I would also note that the profit-based companies involved in the food world have largely sidestepped social justice issues. Environment, animal rights (to a degree), worker participation (to a degree), fair prices for farmers (to a degree) find a place, but social justice and affordability don’t hold an equal place at the table. That is, for people on the bottom income rungs. What businesses are starting grocery stores in inner city low-income areas - those food deserts we hear about so often? Can it be done? Or is the food bank, or government-led effort the only solution? I mean, the model exists for the unhealthy kind of store in these neighborhoods - liquor and convenience stores. Why can’t there be a healthy store model? Or maybe I just don’t know about ones that exist.

Maybe that would be a source of non-profit/for-profit partnerships going ahead, much like my impression of the economic development provided by this resort. It’s transforming the community (as one of several economic ventures) creating a social outcome but with the tools and methods of business.

- Samuel Fromartz

Rice Rationing, Freeze in California

By now you've probably seen the news that Costco and Sam's Club are limiting sales of rice, seemingly to discourage hording now that prices are skyrocketing and Vietnam and India are placing bans on some rice exports due to shortages.

"There is no rice," saidRita Patel of San Jose, a native of India who couldn't find any at Costco on Hostetter Road in northeast San Jose on Tuesday night, the San Jose Mercury News reports.

This applies to Jasmine and Basmati rice, though there is no shortage of US-grown rice. Costco is also limiting soybean oil sales, according to the Wall Street Journal:

Food hoarding appears to be driven as much by budget worries as concern of shortages. Consumers, feeling pinched by inflation, are loading up before prices rise again. A Queens, N.Y., Costco limited sales of soybean oil several weeks ago. The store had noticed customers buying up flour and placed a brief limit on purchases. The oil limit is still in effect.

Meanwhile, a freeze on Monday and Tuesday in California has damaged organic crops. Organic Partners reports:

Heavy hit are: Prunes, peaches, apricots, walnuts and other tree crops.  Vegetable crops will not show the full extent of the damage until there is some hot weather to accelerate the decay in the plants.

Wal-Mart's Green Index

Wal-Mart's tracking adoption of certain "green" products among its customer base, showing which ones are leading and which states are further ahead. The adoption rate is the percentage sales of these products in the overall category.

Among the findings:

- CFLs (compact flourescent  lightbulbs) are at a 19.7 percent adoption rate.
- Organic milk, 1.58 percent.
- Eco-friendly cleaning products, 4.77 percent. Product launched in January.
- Organic baby food, 4.12 percent
- Extended-life paper products, 67.5 percent
- Sustainable coffee (fair trade certified, USDA organic, or rainforest alliance certified), 0.35 percent. Product launched in April.

The figures on CFLs were encouraging. Remember when Al Gore implored people to swap out their light bulbs at the end of "An Inconvenient Truth?" But other figures left me scratching my head.

I wondered what "extended life paper products" actually were. As it turns out, this does not mean they have recycled paper content. All it means is the roll is four-times larger than average. Why does that qualify as a green product? Because it saves on driving trips to the grocery store to pick up toilet paper and on packaging. By this logic, any supersize offering would qualify as green.

The figures, while up, also show how modest they are for categories like organic milk.

- Samuel Fromartz

About

I started ChewsWise for a simple reason: I wanted to keep a discussion going on organic and sustainable food related to my first book, Organic Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grew. Since then I've branched out, obviously written a lot on bread baking which in turn helped inform my most recent book In Search of a Perfect Loaf: A Home Baker's Odyssey.

My background is as a journalist, so some of these posts follow more journalistic conventions of interviewing people, or digging up information. Some posts, however, are more opinionated.

Overall, I try and be opinionated without being simplistic, smart but not condescending, and will try to look at issues from multiple angles, since food choices are never one-dimensional. Other points of view routinely get expressed in the comments section of the blog.

Conflicts of Interest

There's an old saying, "if you don't have a conflict, you don't have any interest." I eat. I grow food. I'm engaged with this subject. So yes, I have an interest.

On occasion, I also speak at industry-sponsored events. These have included speaking engagements at meetings like Eco-Farm, the premier organic farming event in California; Oregon Tilth, a similar event in Oregon; Natural Foods Expo, an industry trade show; the Co-Operative Grocers Association; and Northeast Organic Dairy Farmers Alliance. Occasionally, I have also addressed food companies and consulting groups. Why do I take these gigs? After a bit of stage fright, I've actually come to enjoy public speaking. I also learn a lot from these events, usually in the highly stimulating Q&A sessions that follow my talks. Of course, being an author, there is also the PR element of promoting oneself and one's book.

Do these "ties" show up in these posts? My writing here represents my opinions and not those of the companies or people I cover. I do not get paid to post by any company, person or organization. Although I get email pitches for stories, I only follow them up based on merit.

Advertising

The only advertising on the site currently consists of Amazon.com and Google links. I choose the books. Google chooses the ads. If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising, contact me below. Although I'd like to have a wall between editorial and advertising, that's not possible with a one-person shop. 

Contributors

Occasionally, guest writers offer posts. But these occur very rarely and usually from people I know and ask to contribute.

Contact

This blog is owned and copyrighted by Samuel Fromartz. 

If you have questions on the recipes, I welcome them, but please put them in a comment on a blog post. I cannot answer questions about bread making techniques by email.

For other inquiries, please write me at sam[at]fromartz[dot]com. 

Water Bottle Watch: Canada Scrapping BPA

Canada is expected this week to become the first country to ban a potentially toxic chemical used in packaging, known as bisphenol A (BPA), while a US government report for the first time linked the substance with cancer. BPA is found in the liners of cans, in hard plastic containers and infant formula packaging. The Toronto Globe and Mail Reports:

Major retailers across the country yesterday began clearing theirshelves of products made with a compound that Health Canada is expected to declare a potentially dangerous chemical as early as today.

Canada's imminent action contrasts with the US government, which until now seen little risk from the substance. But a report by the National Toxicology Program acknowledged for the first time that the chemical, detected in the urine of 93 percent of the population over 6 years of age, may be linked with cancer and other diseases. Advocacy groups such as EWG have been warning about the substance, but companies such as Nalgene - the water bottle maker - insist it is safe. The Globe writes:

Governments are reviewing the safety of BPA because its molecular shape is similar to estrogen, which allows it to mimic the female hormone in living things. It is also biologically active at extremely low concentrations, just like natural hormones, leading to concerns that the tiny amounts leaching from food and beverage containers could be a health threat.

Dozens of studies by independent researchers have linked low exposure to BPA in animal and test-tube experiments to illnesses, such as cancer, that are thought to have an origin in hormone imbalances, although industry-funded studies haven't been able to find the same effects.

WaPo has a piece on how to avoid exposure to BPA, noting "recycling code #7 may mean the product contains BPA." And this family health blog offers a cheat sheet on BPA-free bottles and sippy cups.

Time To Boot HFCS out of Organic

In my mind, the words organic and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are oxymorons. How could you have such a product? Well, among most of those I talk to in the organic world, you can't.

A recent comment by the FDA seems to seal the matter further, since the agency deemed the substance "non-natural." Why is that an important distinction in the world of organic foods? Because unnatural food ingredients cannot be organic. Indeed, so called "synthetic" food ingredients cannot be used in organic food production unless they are specifically given an exemption on a regulatory list, and then, they cannot account for more than 5 percent of the ingredients in an organic product.

So what's the status of organic HFCS? Well a Santa Cruz-based company (and OTA member) sells an organic version of HFCS, which is produced by an Austrian ingredient company. Now organic HFCS may actually be allowed under EC rules, but given the "non-natural" distinction at the FDA, at the very least, it should not be allowed under US organic rules without an exemption. And I'd love to see the response to that application!

Do Higher Prices Mean Better Food Choices?

Well, now that  I'm back in the saddle and already forgetting what little Japanese I learned, I'm catching up with the news. (And by the way, I'll be posting more on the Japan trip soon...)

Right now, in the food world, the big issue is food prices -- and my sense is it's gonna be for a long time. I noted previously that bread bakers organized a march in DC, and now we have independent truckers protesting higher diesel prices. But these are feint social  stirrings compared to what might happen with continued fuel and food inflation.

And this is not necessarily the impetus that will drive people to make better food choices, as Kim Severenson's recent article in the Times suggested.

I always thought the assertion that people "should pay more for food" was a non-starter with consumers. Although I agree with the underlying argument - that cheap food production externalizes costs in pollution, pesticide use, even obesity - it is not an easy one for people to grasp. What they hear is that they should pay more for food. People don't want to pay more for food, especially when they are having trouble paying the mortgage. But they will, in some cases, pay more for products they perceive as higher value.

Example: consider the $40-plus billion spent on dieting products (twice as large as the organic food industry). People are spending that money because they perceive they are getting value - in this case, products that will make them thin. What is the value people get by making sustainable food choices? Until now the most compelling argument, surveys show, is that they are making a "healthier" choice. That has resonated most with the public and been the major factor behind the growth of this industry.

Unlike my friend Michael Pollan in the Times article, I have doubts about whether the current rise in commodity food prices will cause a shift to sustainable alternatives. The argument presupposes that price is the main factor keeping people away from better food choices. I think the bigger factor is education and availability. You will not buy the product if you don't perceive it as better. Instead, you'll stick with your current brand choice, even if the price goes up. Maybe you'll just buy less of it.

Perhaps I sound a little cynical, but this movement will not expand if it's predicated on the idea that you should pay more for food. You should buy better food, even if, in some cases, it's more expensive. Why? it's a better value (and that value can be defined in many ways). This post on the Jew and the Carrot blog had a similar perspective.

And not to throw more cold water on the argument, but it should be noted that rising commodity prices undermine one of the main arguments for producers going organic or pursuing more sustainable solutions. (I wrote about that in my column here). Already, a handful of organic dairies are switching back to conventional production because the economics are now better. And fewer farmers are converting to organic -- meaning more organics will come from overseas.