yes! P owerful I deas , P ractical A ctions
winter
Beyond GMOs: U.S. Food That Europe Won’t Touch Why This Doctor Wants Us to Eat a Little Dirt Soak Those Oats: What Our Ancestors Knew
2014
Vandana Shiva: Freedom Starts With a Seed
HOW TO EAT LIKE OUR LIVES DEPEND ON IT 6
Ways to Feed a Community
+ Why Climate Change Needs a Winston Churchill
“Food is the unifying fabric of humanity, connecting us to the earth and each other.� Ed Kenney, chef
photo by patrick barber
ISSUE 68 YES! MAGAZINE THEME GUIDE
THE FOOD THAT HEALS US We’ve lost our taste for cooking, and with it the pleasures of sharing food with family and friends. We’ve been told industrial food is quicker, cheaper, and tastier. Turns out that’s wrong. Here’s how we rediscover the joy of real food, spiced with love and tradition.
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24 Why cook? Our food policy has us hooked on salt, sugar, and fat. Three good reasons to cook at home. ent to prev all designed ases. They were dise rather diets nerative thier life These we and dege to a heal When chronic lead you d loss. to weight , we foun claim ising by side g: Cut prom e thin than up side them the sam strial stacked mostly say s, indu up on d food they Load esse that proc sugar. fruits. out the and added es and icals, vegetabl chem nic , orga fresh
GAN VE :
THE IDEA als and health ical for anim Concernas well as phys ent : HOW be sourced can als s that anim Eat food ut harm to witho EAT: peanuts, tofu, Beans, oa, kale quin
ANEAN D IE RR T TE
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fiber , at dairy
low-f poultry, s, oats skinless apple kale,
RAW
28 30
AN TI
O NATI NAL IN S
s difference Their r on ideal s cente meat mostly s of lean . ntage carbs perce e-grain and whol
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, lean USDA t to the of mea According serving size of is any t the meat es - abou with less s) (3 ounc of card fat, 4.5 a deck s total 95 10 gram fat and than rated ol. s satu ester gram s chol milligram
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THE IDEAins and vitam enzymes. Preserves boosting cooked diet. immune- ies of a calor : r Half the HOW s, neve ic plant ees organ degr Eat 80% d above 115 heate EAT: almonds, , kale, s, beets cheeses apple raw milk
g eatin ia is an by Orthorex acterized der char excessive disor me or with an extre ation preoccup s perceived ing food althy. avoid unhe to be
have rally ens gene tions of Microgre concentra ins and higher l vitam their healthfu ids than The caroteno terparts. re coun some matu use up . grow plants as they nutrients
NDEX D IC I IE EM :
THE IDEA r to -suga blood tes. Control of diabe cut risk : good HOW r. Swap d suga carbs. No adde for bad carbs EAT: e grain , whol ts, carro lean meat , kale, bread cabbage
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F HEAL TE O TH TU ( TI :
Very low soluble and high
AL DIE STR T CE IDEA:
DIET ONLEETHEM ALL?
longer THE s live ses. Asian show tive disea Studies degenera . : with less HOW no dairy eration, in mod Meats EAT: , fresh and rice, miso tables, Oily fish, ented vege ferm eeds seaw
IDEA
one of y every Nearly specificall diets leafy these dark, calls for kale. s like green
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IDEA:
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AL AS IA ION IT
prescribes healthier soil for healthier humans. Add a little dirt to your diet.
THE carb h from Switc fat burning. to burning : HOW calories: ent-dense rs, no se nutri added suga Choo s, no foods. no grainprocessed EAT: fermented kale, meat, dos, Grass-fedfoods, avocaoil coconut
environm alorie, is a low-c in high rfood food A supe dense h is nutrient- micals, whic ing. phytoche its color in s are found superfood k kale, So most ed. Thin tly color and beets. brigh es, blueberri
Healing in the ground. A doctor
contantly es are eat to Our bodi what we is to which reacting of 7.3, your ve a pH Help achie alkaline. g slightly out by eatin s food body orming age, alkaline-f coli, cabb nds, like broc almo ts, kale, ns. carro melo , avocados
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se t disea THE IDEA of hear the risk ated : Decrease HOW r and satur . suga carbs added ies from meat, Limit 50% of calor fats. , EAT: bread grain oil whole olive Fish, tomatoes, kale,
AN
T TO T OU WE SE T WHAT OU FIND THY DIET E. AL A HE OKS LIK LO
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simply prepared, beats the junk-food dealers at their own game.
ME DI
Food for pleasure. Fresh food,
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MMATO FLA RY IN :
r's THE IDEA Alzheimetion. like diseases to inflamma Chronic ers linked : for and canc HOW s and aim ga 3s. ssed food in Ome proce Limit fats heavy 30% EAT: olive oil, kale, salmon, avocados Wild yogurt,
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Fermenting revolution. The benefits
What’s the real healthy diet?
Good food on wheels. The food cart
of the wild art of fermentation. It’s not just about sauerkraut.
There’s an array of diets out there to heal what ails you. Turns out they’ve got a lot in common.
scene serves it up fast and fresh—and is good for the local economy.
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6 ways to feed community. Veggies
An Italian love story. Carlo Petrini
It starts with a seed. Vandana
in liquor stores, a Jewish-Iraqi pop-up restaurant, cottage laws, and more.
on Slow Food, Piedmont festivals, and feeding the world.
Shiva says we have to resist GMOs. Why protecting the seed is essential. yesmagazine . org
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ISSUE 68
Reclaiming the Joy of Real Food 18
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It’s TIME TO STAND UP TO THE FOOD INDUSTRY AND TAKE PLEASURE IN BUYING AND COOKING AND EATING REAL FOOD
Arun Gupta
A
s a graduate of New York’s French Culinary Institute and former chef, I’m obsessed with great food. I can remember the first time I tasted chocolate mousse, pine nuts, and avocados. Years, even decades later, I can recall the succulence of fresh prawns on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, and the fiery savoriness of street food in India. All these moments were shared with family or friends, which made them especially memorable. Breaking bread with others is part of what it means to be human, and the act is wrapped up in emotional well-being, especially love. Some of my most cherished moments include my mom greeting me on Christmas morning with oven-warm chocolate-chip cookies, or learning at her elbow how to make a proper chicken curry, or watching contentment spread across my partner Michelle Fawcett’s face when I whip up her nostalgia food in the form of salmon teriyaki and rice. But it’s increasingly uncommon for Americans to eat meals home-cooked from scratch. Instead, 19 percent of us eat fast food several times a week and fully 80 percent eat it once a month or more. The food we eat at home is mostly a matter of heating up food from a factory. And that’s true even though 76 percent of us say that fast food is unhealthy—testimony to the effect of writers like Michael Pollan, Marion Nestle, Eric Schlosser, and Frances Moore Lappé, who have shown how industrial food is laced with toxins, designed to be as addictive as crack, and chock-full of worker exploitation, animal cruelty, and climate change.
“We want fare that’s good for us and good for the planet, but we also want bliss on a plate. The good news is we can beat the junk-food engineers at their own game.” Left, Arun Gupta with some of his Portland farmers market bounty. YES! PHOTOS BY PAUL DUNN
So why do we keep eating junk? The conventional wisdom is that we’re all pressed for time and money, and industrial food is quick and cheap. At least when it comes to cost, that’s not necessarily true. Feeding a family of four at McDonald’s can set you back $25. If you went shopping and cooked at home you could feed four people a hearty, healthy meal at half the price. And time is not really a problem. Americans on average watch television five hours a day, plus surf the web, play with smart phones, and update Facebook. And if you eat out, not only is it much more expensive than cooking at home, it’s just as time-consuming. The real issue is pleasure. The food industry spends billions a year on gleaming research centers staffed with white-coated scientists who concoct foods that electrify our brains like Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Their tricks range from the simple—add bacon and cheese to everything—to the sophisticated: U.S. Army scientists discovered years ago that we prefer flavor medleys, which is why colas, which are symphonies for the mouth, far outsell one-note orange sodas. Food science tells corporations precisely how to manipulate our inborn fondness for fat, salt and sugar, smoky flavors, and umami, the savoriness found in foods like mushrooms, aged cheese, meat, and shellfish. If food companies can convince us they’re the only practical source of the pleasures and sensuality of the table, then we’ll be hooked on their products. The path to modern food
Now, the idea that everyone can eat for pleasure is relatively new. In the past eating for pleasure was the province of the upper crust, who equated it with refined French food. The rest of us had simple country fare, but we worked hard for it and shared it. The Great Depression and World War II provoked a sea change. Starting in the 1930s, farmers got subsidies and price supports, which boosted production and lowered consumer prices. Wartime explosives chemistry led to yesmagazine . org
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ISSUE 68
Gupta and his partner Michelle Fawcett spent about six hours making the Portland feast. Dinner—all four hours of it—was served in the garden of the home of Anne and Chris Prescott. Also there were long-time friends Tom Kiessling, a food scientist, and Juan Ordoñez.
» synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and
quickly made their way into the food chain. Americans welcomed the postwar cornucopia of cheap food. The high-tech field rations that fed the GIs were reengineered by food scientists and hyped by Madison Avenue as the liberators of housewives from scullery work. The price of that freedom was food stripped of flavor and nutrients. By the ’60s, low cost and convenience weren’t
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enough. This produced a new food revolution heavily influenced by Julia Child’s democratization of sophisticated food in her PBS show, The French Chef, and Alice Waters of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse championing local, seasonal food sourced directly from farmers. At the same time, Rachel Carson warned in Silent Spring of the perils of industrial science. The contours of our current food culture took form
during the ’70s: the local, organic and artisanal food movements arose, but at the same time fast-food outlets more than quadrupled in number. Real food, real simple
For those who care about food, it’s a dilemma: We want fare that’s good for us and good for the planet, but we also want bliss on a plate. The good news is we can beat the junk-food engineers
ISSUE 68
Why Cook? Research by Doug Pibel
We spend less time in the kitchen than ever.
There are 5 fast food restaurants for every 1 grocery store.
Minutes each day spent cooking by those who cook men
women
92% cook
120 minutes
Low-income households cook at home more than other income groups.
Percentage of calories consumed at home 100%
1966 1978
100 1991
60
40
per square mile
80 1996
42% cook
29% cook
Black neighborhoods
2.4 fast-food restaurants
68% cook
80
2004
High income
2008
Medium income
White neighborhoods
Low income
1.5 fast-food restaurants
20
per square mile
60
1965-66
2007-08
“Cooking might be the most important factor in fixing our public health crisis. It’s the single most important thing you can do for your health.” author
It’s cheaper. Roasted chicken dinner for four:
$14 Dinner for a family of four at McDonald’s:
Michael Pollan
It’s healthier. Half a roasted chicken breast, peas, baked potato, applesauce, milk:
$23 to $28
571 calories
Average meal ordered at McDonald’s:
1,038 calories YES! MAGAZINE INFOGRAPHIC 2013 Source citations at yesmagazine .org/jtf68 Illustrations by Vec tor pro / Shutterstock
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And it could add years to your life. A recent Cambridge University study of 1,888 people found: Those who cook up to 5 times a week were 47% more likely to still be alive after 10 years.
ISSUE 67
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Res ear c h by yes ! m ag a z i n e , 2 0 1 3 inf o g r aphic by tim o th y s a n d e r s
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ISSUE 68
Food Cart Revolution IMMIGRANTS AND OTHER RESTAURANT WORKERS GET A WAY TO RISE IN LOCAL ECONOMIES. communities GET THE BEST FAST FOOD THEY’VE EVER HAD.
YES! PHOTOS BY PAUL DUNN
Food carts are changing the way we do fast food. From top left clockwise, Nong Poonsukwattana bought her first Portland food cart in 2009 and now employs 10 people. One of Portland’s vibrant food cart pods. A neighboring vendor. Poonsukwattana’s signature rice and chicken dish.
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ISSUE 68
Beyond GMOs: U.S. Food That Europe Won’t Touch
Which Foods?
Example United States
European Union
Checks for 16 drugs
Checks for 50 drugs
Widely grown—corn, soy, canola, sugar beet
Two crops
None
Required
Banned in 2012
Banned in 2011
Widely used
Permitted, but banned in France as of 2015
Widely used. Banned in some states
Banned
Widely used on poultry
Ban on use or import
Widely used
Banned
Beef hormones
Permitted
Banned
rBGH (biotech hormone used on dairy cattle)
Permitted
Banned
Widely used
Banned
Permitted
Banned three types in 2013
Banned for animals, allowed for fruit trees
Allowed for animals, banned for fruit trees
Drug residue tested in seafood imports Cultivation of genetically engineered crops Labeling for genetically engineered food Bisphenol-A (BPA) in baby bottles Bisphenol-A in canned goods Gestation crates (confining cages for breeding sows) Antiseptic washes on meat Antibiotics used to promote growth of meat animals
Atrazine (herbicide, potential endocrine disruptor) Neonicotinoids (pesticides suspected in bee colony collapse disorder) Use of antibiotics in organic farming
Research by Food & Water Watch , foodandwaterwatch.org photos by Gail Palethorpe, Joe Gough, grynold, Geanina Bechea / shutterstock YES! MAGAZINE INFOGRAPHIC 2013
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ISSUE 68
Carlo Petrini interview by Sarah van Gelder Illustrations by Julie Notarianni
I
An Italian Love Story Slow Food
n 1986, Carlo Petrini and a group of friends threw a big pasta feed in Rome’s storied Piazza di Spagna (the Spanish Steps). The event was a protest against the opening of the first McDonald’s in Italy. Out of that grew Slow Food, an organiza-
tion that now includes 100,000 people in 150 countries, all committed to local food and the traditions associated with it. Buon gusto!
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Vandana Shiva interview by Sarah van Gelder
Trained in physics and philosophy, Vandana Shiva is renowned for her activism against GMOs, globalization, and patents on seeds and traditional foods. She co-founded Navdanya, which promotes seed saving and organic farming and has more than 70,000 farmer-members.
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Freedom Starts With a Seed
ISSUE 68
6 Ways to Feed a Community Serving Each Other Big Ideas Shannan Stoll
BACKYARD BOUNTY
EXTRA INCOME
A cooperative food economy with the neighbors
“Cottage” laws allow home cooks to sell their goodies
In the Westwood neighborhood of Denver, Re:farm Denver is growing a cooperative food economy from the backyard out. Re:farm supplies families with everything they need for backyard gardens, from irrigation systems to seeds. The program has grown rapidly, from seven families in 2009 to more than 200 this year. Ninety percent of participating families live on less than $15,000 annually; for most, the food they grow is food they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford. Re:farm co-founder Eric Kornacki attributes the program’s growth to its promotora model, with former participants training new backyard farmers. This model cultivates future community leaders and provides local jobs in the process. Families may join the new Westwood Food Cooperative to sell excess produce and share in any profits. Above, David de Santiago, his wife Irma Lopez, and two of their children stand proudly with the day’s harvest in their household garden.
Cottage food laws allow artisans to sell breads, jams, candy, and other foods made in their home kitchens. Without these laws, the cost of renting a commercial kitchen can be prohibitive for many small-scale food entrepreneurs. While specific restrictions on the condition of home kitchens and allowed annual earnings vary from state to state, there are currently 42 states with at least some type of cottage law. Beth-Ann Betz makes sweets with a Middle Eastern twist in her New Hampshire kitchen, and sells them at a farmers market and a local food co-op. Customers love her pistachio ma’amoul, flaky rugelach, and juicy plum torte, she says, and income from the business provides a nice supplement to her Social Security. “It gives me the option to be independent and selfemployed at 66.”
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EDIBLE INVESTMENT
ULTIMATE POTLUCK
A neighborhood restaurant where slow food meets slow money
Thanksgiving in Laguna Beach is a community feast
Small food businesses don’t often find eager investors on Wall Street. Just ask Tony Ferrari and Jonathon Sutton, chefowners of San Francisco’s Hillside Supper Club. When they needed money to turn their popular pop-up restaurant into a permanent neighborhood business, they didn’t find it at a bank. They turned their loyal customers into investors using a service called Credibles. It’s a bit like Kickstarter for food businesses, but instead of token rewards, Credibles provides full return of money invested. Within weeks of their Credibles campaign, Ferrari and Sutton had more than 40 customers with prepaid balances of up to $400—enough to open a permanent location. The concept is simple: Customers prepay for food and receive edible credits to use like a gift card. Large prepayments can even earn edible interest like a garlic basket or more food at a restaurant. In the meantime, food businesses get the money they need to survive and grow.
At the Community Thanksgiving Potluck in Laguna Beach, Calif., dinner isn’t served—it’s shared. For more than 25 years, Laguna Beach community members—folks with homes and folks without, single people, families, city council members, and the jobless—have gathered to share food and community on Thanksgiving Day. “It’s a wonderful chaos,” says Friendship Shelter Executive Director Dawn Price. “We make sure everybody has a place to sit, a fork, and a napkin. The Neighborhood Congregational Church provides a space. The rest always seems to work out, and the dinner will be what it needs to be each year.” It was a small gathering until 1993, when it provided food and community to people displaced by a devastating fire. Since then, the event has grown, drawing hundreds each year. “This is my favorite day of the year in Laguna Beach,” says Price. “People from all walks of life gather to celebrate our community.”
Photos by Jess Elysse, ALison hancock / shutterstock , paul dunn for yes! magazine, DAR AL SULH PROJECT
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