Irony?

Candy next to a brochure for Safe, Local, Organic Food from Food and Society Class.
There is this conference that is being promoted in the brochure and I tried to convince our professor to somehow exchange our final for going to the conference… The conference is really expensive and 3 hours away- but the idea was considered I think. In class we have spent all semester discussing & debating the impact of cheap food, CSA’s and farming, mass produced and processed foods and their contribution to the world’s hunger problems, food deserts…

Our project due this week is a solution to a food desert right here in our city. Do you know what a food desert is? Essentially a food desert is an area where there is limited access to enough, GOOD quality (nutritious), affordable food.

Food deserts typically cluster and there are studies showing trends of food desert clusters from the Rocky Mountains east-ward, and from North Dakota south-ward to Mississippi but they are in nearly every state.  One cause of these food deserts are the introduction of big retailers such as Walmart and Costco. These big-wigs sell at discount prices, yet they also decrease the economic status of the area that they are placed because they put any local, smaller grocers out of business. People in that area that were once stable subsequently have to drive further to get to the affordable food (Walmart) or the good food (farmer markets) so they turn to gas stations and convenience stores that offer nothing but cheap junk. Food desert! Here is some more information on them: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ap/ap036/

Our class is no food desert though: a fellow classmate April makes this killer “Hopi Pumpkin” – there are nuts, apples, raisins, and maybe more baked inside a pumpkin and she serves it on crackers with cream cheese. She made that for class and I just love the inside because its delicious ( bottom)…

Above the hopi pumpkin cup is more samples. My other friend Gabe had coupons for free meals from a newly opened, Noodles. Who says graduate students don’t eat well?

Another lunch this week: Salad with mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots, organic baby greens and a chobani…

MNT class covered Prebiotics and Probiotics, so of course we had the chance to sample yogurts!

I had brought an Amazing Grass SuperFood bar that I snagged at Whole Foods before class because I was so rushed…

Breyer’s Inspiration vanilla bean yogurt was tasty, sweet, and just as good as any other yogurt on the market of its type. I don’t think its fair to compare it to greek yogurt though, which on top of offering an excellent source of protein usually offers more probiotic cultures as well.
 
That was a jam packed post. Hope all of you had a fantastic week and maybe I can catch up with everyone this weekend!