Coffee Buzz (Option One): How Coffee Affects the Lives of Those That Grow It

                                    http://www.chefseattle.com/articles/black-gold/4.html

 

In the documentary film “Black Gold”, several coffee farmers are shown as well as an individual that is a higher official that fights to get farmers more money for his country's coffee farmers. The background information for the film is that coffee farmers in Ethiopia are making next to nothing for their coffee (but yet coffee sells for $2.90 a cup and the "middle men" reap the rewards when the farmers do the hard, backbreaking work). Since these farmers live in a third world country there are no subsidies to assist these farmers with their small incomes. Their only income is that dictated by the buyer of their coffee (they have no choice but to accept the price presented to them or sell nothing at all).  One of the personal stories that caught my attention was the tale of a generation farmer (his father was a coffee farmer, etc.). He had been selling coffee his whole life and was living in, what looked like, extreme poverty. He had 15 people living people with him that he was trying to support. The coffee is selling for less and less in Ethiopia each year, so this farmer’s situation is doing the same. By the end of the film, they show him destroying his coffee fields so that he may plant another crop called chat. Chat is an addictive narcotic that is popular in Africa and sells fast (for a lot more money than coffee). He explains that he doesn’t want it to be this way, but he has to or he and his family will die. He has no other choice. This reflects the injustice of the exchange because he has to compromise his morals just to survive. He also has to compromise his fields because he will make no income at all while transitioning the fields from coffee to chat. Coffee consumers would obviously overlook this because this personal story doesn’t really affect them. In the consumers mind, they just see that one more coffee farmer has left the business.

                Another personal story that caught my attention was that of the child at the feeding oasis. There was a major famine in the area and a feeding station was set up. A child came in that was very clearly malnourished, but she was turned away because “she was moderately malnourished but severely malnourished”. They did not mention how far her family had travelled to get there, but I’m sure it was no easy trek. So this child will probably die. They also did not mention if any of her family was in the coffee business, but it was mentioned that several families there were. It was so awful to see the starving children being turned away and their poor families can do nothing. The families are making hardly any money from the coffee trade. The families have to make the tough decision of feeding their child and feeding themselves so that they can work and bring in their little income. The injustice with the trading association is that there are representatives that travel and tell other coffee capitals that they are experiencing famine, poverty, etc. and that if the farmers were given more wages (a small increase would change their lives) then a lot of the issues in the region would dissolve, but still not much is done. Coffee consumers would overlook the famine issues because famine is rampant in a lot of third world countries.  The coffee consumer would ration that this happens in a lot of areas whether the wages of coffee are the cause or another crop, it would happen anyway.

            This brings up a viewpoint from Wilk’s “Home Cooking in the Global Village”. He sort of argues that we should want to know where our food comes from because of the effects it may have on the people that grow/make it. The people that grow and make the products often do not get to use them because they are too expensive. He also mentions how some cultures are lost due to heavy industrialization/ globalization.  We should care because often abused, battered, and severely underpaid workers are preparing our grub. Sick animals may also be harvested and served on your plate. He also mentions several other reasons, but these reasons correlate to the coffee farmers in Ethiopia. It should pull out our compassion for the workers now that we know their circumstances. In conclusion, there is a severe injustice being served with your cup of coffee and they come in the forms of malnourished children and poverty stricken coffee farmers and their families.

 

References

Grant Chen, Conclusion - Black Gold a Call to Fair Trade, 2008 (http://www.chefseattle.com/ articles/black-gold/4.html) (Image)

Wilk Response: How Far Does My Food Travel Before It Reaches My Plate

           While currently reading Wilk’s “Home Cooking in the Global Village”, I am reminded of how far the food on my place has come from to get to me. Wilk mentions a can of Fuze fruit juice to make these connections. Ingredients of the drink came from various places abroad and contain several preservatives to get them to our grocery stores. However, the actual packaging mentions nothing of how “exotic” the drink is. Instead the beverage claims that it is “an energizing and stress reducing” product (yeah, right). He mentions the ingredients in the drink and where they may have come from (Brazil, India, Ecuador, China, etc.). These are simply educated guesses though because actually finding out where your food comes from leads to dead ends and more questions.                                                        

Before reading this I did have somewhat of an idea of the connections between extortion and our food. For those that aren’t aware, a vicious cycle goes on to obtain our food at the prices we do (Diaz 2009). The citizens of developing countries have back-breaking jobs that pay very little (pennies on the day for some) (Diaz 2009). These jobs cannot be filled by people that actually consume the product because they will not take them (because they don’t pay enough for such hard work) (Diaz 2009). These jobs then get outsourced to other countries for low wages (Diaz 2009). The workers live in poverty and work several hours a day (way more than eight) (Diaz 2009). The irony is that they are working to harvest food for the richer and more powerful countries, but do not have enough food to feed themselves or their families (Diaz 2009). I learned this from watching a documentary for an Honor’s Sociology class last semester. The documentary is titled: “The End of Poverty” (http://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=pktOXJr1vOQ&list=TLIid086AUfgI). I will admit that the documentary is very biased, but it does contain copious amounts of truth. I’m over simplifying the cycle here, but this gets to the jest. The documentary explains the cycle very well, but not many people have one hour and forty five minutes to explore such a depressing topic.

                         http://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=pktOXJr1vOQ&list=TLIid086AUfgI

While taking Wilk’s concept about the Fuse drink into consideration, I decided to tie this to a more local arena (me). I love mandarin oranges! They are so tangy and wonderful, plus they provide a giant amount of Vitamin C. So I decided to look at a can of them and see where its origins may lie according to the can. The can said it was “a product of China” and was “manufactured for Dole® Packaged Foods, LLC, Westlake Village, CA”. So clearly this was not totally grown in the USA. The actual oranges probably came from China. The processes to make them sweeter and prettier probably happened in California. So this links my oranges to two very far away distances. Why couldn’t the oranges come from Florida? Florida is the orange state after all. This is most likely due to the price increase that would result from Americans harvesting the oranges. The imaging on the can claims of "green" production, healthy eating,  and freshness but does not make a big claim as to where it came from. So while I’m eating and enjoying my oranges, I realize that what I am munching on has been to more continents than I have.

 

Sources

Phillipe Diaz. Film: "The End of Poverty". http://www.youtube.com/movie/the-end-of-poverty. 2009.

Did Cooking Make Us Human?

Did Cooking Make Us Human?

The question proposed has some interesting aspects that were mentioned in the documentary “Did Cooking Make Us Human?”. The documentary displayed many different experiments that showed how our diets were different than our previous ancestors, how cooked food provided more energy, how we digest raw and cook food, and many other contributions to the question. The film tried to answer if cooking contributed to the evolution of a primate/human hybrid link becoming more human like due to the advantages of cooking (if cooking was the extra push that contributed to our ancestors becoming more human). I found the snake and rat experiment most interesting. The snake experiment was geniusly designed. Obviously, it’s going to take less amino acids and digestive enzymes to break down something that is already cooked (denatured) than something that is raw and has to denature significantly more muscle and tissue fibers. I never would have thought to use pythons to find digestive energy patterns. The mice experiment was intriguing as well. Again, it was another obvious outcome, but greatly designed. Not too complicated but still answered a very complex question. I’m beginning my thesis now and I have to design my own experiment so watching their experiments definitely gave me some inspiration for what I want to do.

For my own personal taste I prefer cooked food. Everything tasted better if it is cooked. It releases more sugars which increases tastiness. Raw vegetables are a no-no for me. When you chew a raw vegetable it just gets bigger and bigger in your mouth and more and more unappetizing. Cooked broccoli is great though. Fruit is a special exception. It can be raw or cooked and it’s still delicious. It already has a high sugar content when it’s raw so it does not need to be cooked to be classified as appetizing. Meat must be cooked! I will not eat anything uncooked (not even sushi). There are so many toxic microbes in raw chicken, pork, and beef that make it a must on the cooked list. Plus, it is so unappealing in its raw form. Our digestive systems would not handle raw meat well any way, and not just from the microbes. Our bodies would not take well to it because we are not used to eating it. All of these opinions are highly influenced by personal preference. The film did not change any of my opinions on raw or cooked food.

Based on the film I learned that cooking was a huge mechanism for humans to advance. It increased energy given by the food and reduced energy required to digest the food. This increase in energy provided an avenue for the species to evolve over generations into a more fit organism. Cooking also has an effect on culture. It is clear that food is not just associated with a biological necessity, but sometimes a social event. We are the only organism that cooks our food. Food can be a source of sadness, happiness, etc. It’s not just an energy source, but a component of emotion, memories, etc. I don’t think other organisms correlate those things to food, and if they do it is not as strong as ours.

The Goody reading showed how foods were made more readily available for people from other regions. Some of these techniques for doing so were freezing, excessive salting or pickling, new transportation machines and routes, and retailing. In the article it showed that traditional cooking (open flame) was not required to make new foods. Worcestershire sauce was made through chemical implications. Later on, it wasn’t just about meat and preserving. The sauce also required a fermentation process to taste edible to its makers. Fermenting whine has been around for a very long time, but fermented sauces seem to be at an introductory stage during the time period in the reading. It also introduces today’s concept of how we get our food. We don’t really get foods much on street corners any more, but we do purchase most of our food from stores and restaurants. From this reading, the way we get food has changed significantly from the techniques discussed in the film.

The Yasmeen reading discussed how restaurants, servants, and grocery stores are primary ways the citizens of Thailand get their food. Cooking is still a central part of meal time. It just isn’t prepared by the people eating it very often. This isn’t that different from us and our culture. Working people often get food from grocery stores due to lack of time to cook it themselves, but yet they still eat with their families. The social aspect of food is still there, but they just aren’t cooking it. Functionality is also a central part of food in today’s world. Cooking isn’t as primary to the average person as it used to be. Everyone always has somewhere to go or be so you grab food that is already prepared for you. It seems that Thailand is adopting a lot of the “got-to-go” urgency of our culture. The coffee cart ad is an example of that. They never had coffee carts, but the ad indicates so. I guess to bring a trendier feel to it. The relationship to food seems to be the same, they just aren’t making it. Access is also another significant change with the article in our relationship to food. Food is much cheaper (depending on the kind of food), and portion sizes are significantly bigger. Food isn’t as scarce as it used to be. In the film it is celebrated when the tribesmen catch a porcupine. We don’t really celebrate when someone brings home a pizza.

So in conclusion, cooking helped our ancestors to evolve due to the energy component in the cooked food and digestion. New techniques in food transportation and preservation aided in food availability, access, and introduced new foods to other regions. In today's world we are connected to our food, just not the way it is made. For some (where food is not easily accessible) it is celebrated when they do have something to cook. For others, when we do cook it is a celebrated event.

 

Just a few pictures of really cool looking bentos! The cat is my favorite! I want to make one!

 

 

Instagram Your Lunch

                This is what I had for dinner as of January 7, 2014. It is a grilled cheese sandwich, chicken noodle soup, and water. My dinner reflects my identity as a student (obviously there will be no caviar here). The meal also illustrates my temporary identity as a flu victim (I have had the flu since Friday). It has also been very cold the last few days, so the meal reflects that as well. Relating to Salazar’s study, visualization was not a huge part of this meal (like the children in the study); it was more about function. The children complained of the eco-friendly boxes that were used as trays because their food would mix. My soup reflects a similar aspect, I am a college student (currently taking 22 hours) so I don’t have time to deal with a bowl. The drinkable soup works best for my routine and that is shaped by the crazy amount of material and homework my professors have me study. Plus, according to our culture it is common to have soup with a meal when ill. In the Allison reading, the obentos are a product of doting mothers that are trying to show that they care for their children and are willing to spend ours of meticulous planning and cooking to do what is expected of them by the daycare workers too. My meal is sort of the opposite. It displays how humble and small in quantity it is, so that I can have more time to dedicate to my studies. This in turn will hopefully impress my professors and result in good grades on my work. Like the mothers want to be received as caring and proper for their work.You can’t see it in the photo, but I am drinking water. If I had my way I would have something caffeinated, but I have an 8 o’clock class the next day so that limits my drink choices. If I drink something caffeinated or sugary I will not sleep well for my class in the early morning. The cold shapes my choice for the grilled cheese sandwich. I was just in the mood for something hot and gooey for my scratchy throat. Culture indicates that I should have something to drink with my meal so that is why it presented with the meal. I did not use silverware with this meal as culture dictates (I’m a rebel sometimes). The meal is not large in quantity either. This is because I didn’t really have a lot of time to eat, because of all the homework I had to accomplish. So at the end of the day GRU shapes my meals and most plans I make when the semester is in session. I am a student slave to GRU.