Open Blog 3

One of my favorite parts of the local food course was visiting the City Roots farm. It was not only an educational experience, but an entertaining one that I probably never would have done without taking the course. I was very impressed by the way City Roots utilizes its space in a sustainable and efficient way. And it was surprising to learn that it is the only farm within city limits. Having a sustainable farm with a variety of crops in such close proximity to the city is beneficial to the community in many ways. For starters, it’s a great source for individuals to get fresh vegetables. It’s also a good resource for local restaurants. Restaurants can buy produce to supply their stores and can use the local ingredients as a selling point for their patrons. Even if it is more expensive, many community members may be willing to pay higher costs as people are becoming more and more concerned with where their food is coming from. There is a larger desire to support local farms like City Roots rather than corporate farms located well outside of the community. I also learned the space is even open to the community to rent out to host events.

Open Blog 2

Mediterranean Eating

A few weeks ago, Patricia Moore-Pastides, President Pastides’ wife, visited our class. She came to discuss healthy eating habits and how a Mediterranean diet can be offer a variety of health benefits. This is because it includes many basic essentials to the human diet that Americans often do not include in theirs. She emphasized the fact that limiting meat consumption is good for one’s diet. People do not need to cut out meat entirely by any means, but it has been proven that Americans consume a much larger portion of meat in their diets than recommended. She also made a great point in saying that a healthy diet does not necessarily constitute an expensive diet. Ingredients such as rice and beans can be purchased at a very low cost and the proteins in them can replace proteins consumed through eating meat. While this is true, it is still difficult for many Americans to abide by a strictly healthy lifestyle. Fruits, vegetables and organic food in general are more expensive than processed food. Educating oneself in making the right decisions while shopping and selecting food is also expensive and time consuming. The most difficult part for some is simply adjusting one’s personal eating habits.

Open Blog #1

Springfest at the Columbia Farmer's Market

For a special projects trip I visited the Soda City market for their Springfest. At the market I was really able to see the way the green ideology incorporates community. The market was not just a place to buy fresh, locally grown food, but it also provided a variety of entertainment for the early afternoon. There were live street performers, a selection of local restaurants and local vendors selling jewelry, clothes and more. It was located in the heart of downtown Columbia, on Main Street, which was beneficial for the businesses located on the blocks it was held as well as surrounding blocks. The businesses took full advantage of the event and were able to bring in farmer’s markets patrons. To me, this trip summed up everything we have learned in the class about an idealistic green community. Its location catered to all classes as it’s a convenient distance for those living in other parts of the greater Columbia area. It’s located very close to bus stops so those without their own transportation can get there easily. And by taking place on a Saturday, it accommodates most peoples’ work schedules, unlike the many farmers markets that are on weekday afternoons.

April 9

Probably the biggest way locally sourced foods in South Carolina has a direct impact on SC’s economy is job production. The bigger agribusiness is in South Carolina, the more jobs are produced. This is vital in a state that struggles increasingly with unemployment. Employment is also the biggest indirect impact that locally sourced foods in South Carolina has on SC’s economy. When food is produced here, we also need people to handle manufacturing needs that come as a result of local farming, such as packaging, and more.

While it is still too early to know for sure whether the money put into the CSCG program is worth it, it potentially can see a high return economically. In terms of sustainability, it is certainly worth it. Identifying what is grown in South Carolina puts knowledge in the hands of the consumer. By allowing them to know where their food is coming from and seeing for themselves the difference between locally grown food and nationally/internationally distributed food they are well on the path to becoming food-literate and therefore knowledgeable about sustainability food-production wise. Giving that understanding to the consumer is probably the most important step toward a more sustainable society.

I was a little lost in understanding the methodology in the comparison between SC, NC and GA, but from what I do understand, the most important farming industry to expand would be tree-nut farming, because that seems to be where the biggest discrepancy lies.

Blog 4/2

Yes, the political influence that Nestle writes about in the “Politics of Dietary Guidance” is (subtly) evident in the MyPlate guidelines. For instance, it never specifically tells you to avoid certain foods. The closest it comes to that is recommending you avoid ‘certain drinks high in sugars’, though it doesn’t specifically name what kind of drinks (soda, etc). It instead leaves it up to you as the consumer to determine what ‘too much sugar’ is and what drinks have too much in them. Specifically, the area that refers to meat appeared to be a direct product of the meat producers mentioned in Nestle’s article. Instead of saying ‘avoid red meat’, ‘stick to lean meats,’ etc, it simply says to ‘vary the meats’ you eat.

 I think a few bullet points on the MyPlate guidelines are helpful, but no, they are not specific and informative enough to affect people’s diets. I was kind of surprised by the bullet point that says ‘Enjoy your food, but eat less.’ What? That makes no sense to me. It assumes the reader is over-eating, first of all, and even if they are, they shouldn’t necessarily eat less. They likely just need to make better choices about what they are eating.

New research on the soil-health connection for the food system imply that attention to soil quality is equally important as attention to crop quality, and that many nutrients come from the soil. This would affect farming because large-scale, year-round farming can be very destructive to soil quality. Farmers would need more land would need to do more to protect and nourish the soil.

Blog for 3/31

First two articles

I am unsurprised that HFCS is now linked to obesity, or that the authors of this article were accurate in their assertions of its poor nutritional value. I think it was even eerily accurate in referring to HFCS as an ‘epidemic’, being that our country’s obesity problem has also been labeled as such. From what we saw in Food, Inc., it seems that corporations have been playing a part in ‘playing down’ the consequences of HFCS.

I wholly agree with the article about the non-effectiveness of ‘downstream’ nutrition education. In fact, the argument in favor of it is barbaric and hypocritical to me. The FDA strictly regulates the drugs we are and are not allowed to put into our body. So in that regard, it is handled in an ‘upstream’ fashion. Yet with food, which is also considered a drug and also controlled by the FDA, there is little regulation. HFCS is proven to be bad, but it is left entirely up to the consumer to recognize this and make the decision to try to avoid it as much as they can.

Why to Eat Like a Greek:

I am Greek, and while I don’t strictly follow a Mediterranean diet (unless you count binge-eating Greek dishes on holidays, and occasionally getting a gyro at 2 am…) , I’ve grown up witnessing my yiayia’s (grandmother’s) strict adherence to a Greek diet. She’s 87 years old and while she has experienced some health problems, is overall very healthy. She carefully portions all of her meals, which always consist of some type of bread or pasta, sometimes meat (typically lean meat or fish), and always a vegetable. And there is always olive oil. Always. I’m not sure how this compares better with the diets of other places, but many of the meals do strike me as being much more varied, controlled and leaner than others.

Blog 3/26

FOOD MATTERS ARTICLE:

The article cites ‘farmers, ranchers, anti-hunger activists, nutritionists, environmentalists, public health educators, and city planners’ as being the pioneers of the Community Food Security movement. I think creating a social justice framework around food insecurity issues in alliance with both a health/nutritional approach and a legislative/regulatory approach is necessary. Many variables contribute to the lack of food security in some Americans and if we ignore even one we can’t be wholly successful in making positive changes. Speaking from the Social Justice standpoint, I think we need to promote the ideology that Americans who may not be as financially secure as others or live in an area that does not provide an abundance and variety of foods, are still entitled to a certain amount of food security and certain quality food that they may not be getting.  With the Missoula County case study, findings showed that cultural beliefs and level of education greatly affect the community food system.

SNAP/DOUBLE BUCKS READING:

 My first concern is how educated people are about the snap/double bucks program. Do people even know about double bucks? How in-depth is their understanding of the program? Until the class, this is something I’d never heard of, which is a little disconcerting as someone who has grown up in South Carolina. It seems like work needs to be done on making ‘double bucks’ as wide a household term as some other government-assistance programs are. Secondly, to whom does double bucks benefit in South Carolina, and how can we expand this? We talked about how in S.C. it mostly exists farmers markets.  How accessible are those farmers markets? Could this be expanded into supermarkets like in other states?