Sad news

This week saw the passing of Tom Ishibashi of Ishibashi Farms in Torrance. This farm has been in Torrance, CA for decades. My last visit to the farm was a few weeks ago during which time I purchased one of the best batch of strawberries I have ever had along with a sweet pea bouquet. It is a family owned farm in the middle of the city near the Torrance airport. This is the last urban farm in Torrance, a city that used to be full of farms many decades ago.

Condolences to the Ishibashi family.

Food Site

Current obsession that's food related: www.food52.com

This site is completely awesome. It's all about food. Wonderful recipes, tips and cookware, reviews and contests.

Exploding Watermelons

Watermelon farmers in China are experiencing a problem with their crops: exploding watermelons. The farmers in order to have the watermelons grow faster have been using the chemical forcholorfenuron however administered wrongly they did too "good" a job and the melons have been literally bursting from growing so quickly. 

What is disturbing is that this chemical has been popular for 3 decades and accelerates growth by a reported 20%. We add chemicals in order for our food to grow faster and to look better in order to sell them. But do we really need to? How has decades of adding chemicals to our food in order for our meat, fruit and vegetables to grow bigger faster changed our taste, let alone our health?

For the full article please go to http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/05/17/growth-chemical-leads-to-exploding-watermelons-in-china/

The Food Desert Landscape of the United States

What exactly is the food desert landscape? It is describing the areas in the US where food is scarce and the poverty level is about 20% or higher. So the places where they need more access to food are the very same places where they cannot afford food which means that grocery chains or corporations do not find it lucrative enough to establish stores in these areas. And the food, as you can imagine, that is available in these areas are not healthy, not nutritious, and certainly not beneficial which fits the criteria of the definition of food security (availability and access to food that is nutritious and beneficial).

To see how your neighborhood/region does please go to http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/fooddesert/fooddesert.html and enter your zip-code.

What are we doing? The First Lady's initiative "Let's Move," the Treasury Department, Health and Human Services, USDA and the Economic Research Service forms the Healthy Food Financing Initiative which will "expand the availability of nutritious food to food deserts--low-income communities without ready access to healthy and affordable food--by developing and equipping grocery stores, small retailers, corner stores, and farmers markets with fresh and healthy food" explains the USDA's website. Can we add educating and promoting community gardens and individual gardens (or urban farms) to these communities as well? Because if these communities are at a poverty level of 20% or greater I am not sure how good a solution grocery stores, small retailers, corner stores and farmers markets will be if not supplemented with community and individual gardens/farms.


This map is actually very horrifying...

Clinton in Rome to Discuss Food Price Crisis

On Friday, May 6, 2011 Secretary of State Hilary Clinton spoke in Rome about the pending global food shortage and rising prices of food which could spark an international crisis and riots in developing nations that would be most affected by both scenarios.

Matthew Lee, AP

She urged the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that steps must be taken immediately to hold down prices and increase production.

Clinton also warned that emergency aid is only a band-aid solution and that real steps towards stable prices and production must be taken to prevent riots similar to what happened in 2007-2008. During the 2008 crisis, Thailand, Vietnam and India, countries that happens to be the world's biggest rice producers placed a cap on rice exports to protect domestic rice supply. This action increased global prices on rice to a record high. Last year Russia banned export of wheat due to domestic drought in order to protect domestic wheat supply.

This is a case in which the global trade presents a serious problem overall. The actions of a few countries in which they justifiably take actions to ensure their own people are able to eat affects other nations in whether or not they get to eat. Again as in another previous blog I do not want to say global trade is bad but in the case of food it has too much influence and we should decrease our reliance on this system and push domestic trade and production of goods that can easily be produced w/in home country to the forefront to stabilize prices and reliability of food availability.

For the original article please go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/06/food-prices-hillary-clinton_n_858446.html  

Recipe Time: Mother Nature Network's 5 Declicious Garden to Table Recipes

For the actual recipes please visit this link as the pictures below will not work:

http://www.mnn.com/food/recipes/photos/5-delicious-garden-to-table-recipes/edible-landscapes

improve your world

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

MNN.COM›FOOD›RECIPES›PHOTOS› 5 DELICIOUS GARDEN-TO-TABLE RECIPES 5 delicious garden-to-table recipes Photo: Enrique Gili

The Blame Game Continues Over Hunger and Rising Food Prices

First, I must mention just briefly about today's news. I cannot begin to remark on what a momentous occasion it is in our world history let alone nation's history except to say pax et bonum (peace and goodwill).

Moving onto the topic of food...There are many reasons or excuses for the rise of food and weakening of food security for millions of people: rising price of oil, overpopulation, weather, etc but now they're throwing in banks and stock brokers speculating on commodity prices. This is a concern that I have mentioned throughout this blog's history. Speculation is partly why the price of oil has been rising and speculation is partly why commodity prices have been rising as well (corn stock, cereal stock, etc). But this is a dangerous game to play because these people are interfering with a very basic right of the people--the right to eat, the right to food that is good and satisfying. This speculation and inflating the prices of commodities are driving millions into hunger. This isn't just about making money in the stock market but about whether or not hundreds of millions of people can afford rice, bread, etc for their families on any given day. Food prices have gone up 36% compared to last year which pushes 44 million more people into hunger. This means 44 million more people whose ACCESS to food has been drastically limited or if you will, shut off.

Food is a basic right and a common good for everyone yet the way we produce it and treat it as an economic good, industrial production product is making it into a luxury or a privilege. It is unhealthy both literally and figuratively. It is about time that we start pushing for a system change when it comes to how we produce and obtain our food both on an individual and community level.

For the short article on big banks and their influence on our food prices please go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/02/banks-speculation-commodities-index-food-prices_n_856399.html