Addressing the US Food system

Credit Rob with finding and sharing this, but I figured it was time someone updated the blog. He thought you all would enjoy reading this article.

It's written by Michael Pollan (Omnivore's Dilemma, and other great books). It's addressed to the president elect and it's all about the food in the U.S.

not necessarily cooking...

I think no matter what your political persuasion is you have to agree that being dependent on foreign oil puts the US in a difficult position.

I clearly have a dog in this fight, but I thought this article was interesting and important as many Oles are in Turkey right now.

Recent Olaf News

I don't know how often you guys check out the college mainpage, but recently there have been several articles pertaining to mission of our house. Two spotlight Menning's Dad and Kristin Johnson.

Links for your reading pleasure:
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/26423049.html?page=1&c=y
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=521347
http://www.minnpost.com/brianvoerding/2008/08/12/2915/when_st_olaf_students_say_bon_appetit_they_really_mean_it

Food Culture

As summer is winding down, and I am actually getting time to thoughtfully read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle a very interesting topic stuck with me, the idea of a food culture. Coming back from a camping trip and being secluded in a car for hours on end I began to think about it. Do we have a food culture? It is easy to think of other food cultures, we eat them here all the time; Indian, Thai, Greek, Italian, Chinese (sort of). It begs the question, what is "American Food"? Greasy McHamburgers made from more high fructose corn syrup than anything else? I hope not.
Can we come up with a food culture for ourselves? I know as a kid a big part of my food culture was hotdish and potlucks. Meat, potatoes, and greens were present at every dinner, even when potatoes or peas weren't growing in my grandpas garden or anywhere else within 500 miles for that matter. Is it even possible to eat seasonally in Minnesota when we have long, cold winters? This is what I am hoping to find out through the Wendell Berry House and experiment with the other guys who have decided to cook their own meals. Barbara Kingsolver relates how they were able to eat seasonally and locally for an entire year, but is it feasible for a college student living in a smaller community to do the same? If I haven't reverted to Easy Mac and Ramen by the end of the year, I think it will have been a worthwhile experience.

Earlier this month I changed my cafe meal plan to the 90 meal option. This was mostly because David Beck and Will Tanner were not only going to, but they were excited about doing it. For a while I was super nervous, I wondered how difficult it would be. For the first time in my life I would be responsible for providing the majority of my meals.
Then, this last week while I was working at the STOGROW farm, I got really excited about the idea of cooking for myself. I’m not sure what changed exactly, but I decided I wanted to make the most of what’s to come. So, yesterday I picked 4-5 pounds of basil and Abby Benson (a fellow farmer) helped me make pesto with it. I’ll put the pesto recipe I used below.
This morning I went out and picked 7 ½ pounds of strawberries from Lorence’s Berry Farm. I then sliced the strawberries, sprinkled a little sugar on them and threw them in the freezer next to the pesto. Frozen strawberries are excellent on ice cream and in smoothies.
Once STOGROW tomatoes start coming in, I hope to sun dry, can, and make some tomato sauces for next year too. I’ll post again in early September on the results.

Pesto
Ingredients:
1 Cup (packed down) of fresh basil
Anywhere between ¼ to 1 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese.
1-2 garlic cloves
1 lemon slice
A handful of Pine nuts
6-8 tablespoons of olive oil

Directions:
Using a food processor of blender (preferably a food processor) dump the basil, olive oil, garlic, parmesan cheese, pine nuts into the food processor. Then squeeze the lemon over everything. Run the food processor until you get the texture you want. If you want freeze the pesto, pour the pesto into an airtight bag or Tupperware container then pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil on top of all the pesto and seal the container.

I am wary of fiction in which the narrator uses the term "I reckon" regularly, but in Wendell Berry's short story Stand By Me published in this month's Atlantic Monthly I think that he is successful.

enjoy!

fun

Fun in NFLD. with the Wendell Berry boys

The lighter side...

So I've been noticing a bunch of more serious, thought provoking posts and thought I would break the routine. Check out this video, it's pretty good and ties in with Kingsolver's book... sort of...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiJ8jQZCfjY

Enjoy!

Kingsolver on NPR's "Speaking of Faith"

We have, or at least should have begun reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle this summer to help clarify the mission of our house next year. I would also encourage you to watch the documentary King Corn, as we will be showing it during one of our early house events. This past weekend, I was driving down I-35 past the exit for Greene, Iowa to return home to Grinnell with my girlfriend and listening to NPR's "Speaking of Faith" and to my surprise, the spotlight this week was on an interview with author Barbara Kingsolver.

The focus of this interview was on the ethics of eating, and the audio of the broadcast and further reading can be found below at the link to the NPR website:

Ethics of Eating

Solar Powers Time to Shine

Solar photovoltaics have their challenges, from shortages of silicon to the sheer cost of purchasing and installing solar panels, but a new report from the Prometheus Institute says that both these problems will be addressed over the next few years, leading to cheaper solar and an abundance of capacity to produce.

Based on their research, Travis Bradford, president of the Institute, says that prices for traditional silicon-based panels should fall from $3.66 per watt (2007 figures) to $2.14 per watt in 2010, and more impressively, thin-film PV should go to $1.81 per watt from $2.96. When coal, currently the least expensive source of power, is around $2.10 per watt to generate*, the expected drop in price for solar will make it far more competitive.

Any news that solar is becoming more affordable is great as it will encourage more individuals to install them at home, and businesses to do likewise, either to offset their electricity consumption or installing them in a for-profit initiative. The report, however, also highlights an interesting figure - and companies who are currently building silicon-producing facilities that will come online in the next couple of years, should pay attention: The current global production capacity for silicon and thin-film panels is around 3.14 gigawatts, but will hit 12.36 gigawatts in 2010. That's an increase of just under 400%, an enormous amount that is sure to be welcomed by the environmental community.The demand, however, is only expected to be 6.76 gigawatts, up from 2.94 gigawatts in 2007, leaving over 5 gigawatts of unused capacity. Hopefully this will drive prices further down, resulting in greater demand, but this may have already been reflected in the statistics.

The reason for the drop in prices is due to the expected hike in silicon production, a shortage of which is currently being felt. It is expected that silicon availability will quadruple to 125,302 tons by 2012, providing a massive oversupply of the material to the industry. Thin-film manufacturers who use no silicon will not be affected by this overabundance, however they will have to compete with the dropping prices of conventional panels, hence the drop in price.

It may also, though this is probably wishful thinking, push governments to start offering more incentives to those who install solar in a bid to use up the remaining capacity and financially support their manufacturers who by this point will be a very large industry, employing tens of thousands of people.

Source: Ecogeek.org