Another Decade Bites the Dust

We’ve finally reached that fabled year of 2020. This has seemed a far distant marker for so long, often serving as a benchmark for reaching ambitious targets or achieving technological advances. Yet, it simply marks another one of Earth’s orbits around the sun. As such, expecting earth-shattering changes to suddenly manifest seems a bit unreasonable. That said, the issues we’ve explored in this blog have indeed evolved over that time. I wanted to take a quick look at a few big topics of interest in 2019, and reflect a bit on what is still a challenge and where we’ve made progress since 2010.

A smoky sunset in Southeast Queensland

Deforestation, biodiversity loss, and fires, oh my!

My Munchable Musings was largely founded on the concerns over connections between deforestation, biodiversity loss, and food production systems. And while I’ve written a fair bit about drivers of forest loss (e.g. oil palm) and conservation of biological diversity, fire has not featured prominently on the blog in the past. But this year, forest fires across the world have made headlines, repeatedly. The Huffington Post even called 2019 the Year the World Burned, citing massive fires in Australia, California, Brazil, Indonesia, Russia, and Lebanon. Global Forest Fire Watch estimated that in 2018, around 3.6 million hectares of tropical forest was lost to fire, an area the size of Belgium (though, note, that this year over 4 million hectares of forest have also burned in Australia alone). 

The implication of these losses are not just the immediate effects on habitat, species, property, and air quality: burning vegetation releases carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gases) into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change and elevating fire weather conditions; humid forest fragmentation and loss influences local precipitation and can possibly cause a shift to more arid ecosystems like savanna; and forest habitats often take decades to recover, leaving wildlife without a home for the intervening years. If you want a rundown on the year for tropical forests, Mongabay has put together a pretty comprehensive retrospective post on the topic. Although fire has been a common part of many of these landscapes, a combination of poor policy decisions, destructive land use practices, and climate-change-induced higher temperatures and drier conditions have pushed fire from a concern to a catastrophe in the last decade.

Climate marchers start young!

Climate strikes and climate emergency

On a related yet separate note, climate change has also steam-rolled its way into the public consciousness this year. Changes in climate - including increased global average temperatures, more intense extreme weather events, and shifts in rainfall timing and intensity - have been projected, refined, and communicated with increasing urgency over the last few decades. Ten years ago, the Cancun Agreements were established at the 16th UN Framework Convention on Climate Change conference, which set the groundwork for financing of climate projects in developing nations and highlighted adaptation. And while the world may have briefly rejoiced at the end of 2015, when the most ambitious agreement was made in Paris, international climate policy has merely limped along (not to mention a slightly disappointing UNFCCC this year). In the past year, however, we’ve seen a massive rise in public outcry over climate inaction, catalysed by none other than a Swedish high-school girl.

While I still worry that, on the whole, we are doing too little too late, I feel inspired and more optimistic by the fact that climate strikes spear-headed by youth have grown rapidly in the last year. The last two Fridays of September marked massive climate marches across the globe, trying to elevate the issue to the emergency it deserves. It was also such a contrast to the levels of energy and urgency at the first climate change rally I went to back in 2013. There were 35,000 people marching through the streets in Washington, DC. On 27 September, in Montreal, half a million people took to the streets. So despite some critical political incompetence, I think there is hope that the tables are turning and change can happen quickly. 

How to feed the world

The first two topics in this post mostly focus on problems, but this last one could be considered solutions-oriented: plant-based diets. Now, understandably, this blog has sat in the vegan camp for the last decade, but I have discussed meat and the impacts of livestock on the planet at length before. The crux of the issue is that raising livestock (especially those bovine belchers…) contributes substantially to greenhouse gas emissions through land clearing for pasture and feed production, and natural ruminant gut processes. Mid-decade, we started to see a growing number of researchers calling for a reduction in meat in people’s diets or even complete global transitions to vegetarianism in response to environmental and health concerns. But I think the biggest development in the last year or so, is the rise of mainstream fake meat products and the stir they’ve caused on the global stage.

We are well passed the age of Garden Burgers and Tofurkey deli slices that characterised my teen and university years as a vegetarian. With the development of more passable meat substitutes, like the Impossible Burger and Beyond Meat, fast-food chains and even meat giants like Tyson have embraced the trend and rolled out plant-based options. The Economist chalked up some of this proliferation to a shift in lifestyle and the associated high demand for vegan products among Millennials; however, the total vegetarian and vegan population remains woefully low (less than 5%). Despite strict meat-free diets remaining firmly in the minority, there has been conspicuous speculation about the consequences of the world going vegan (not all of which are positive - e.g. negative impacts on developing countries). But that’s what is a bit confusing to me; this is not an all-or-nothing affair nor does it seem likely that the entire world is trending toward plant-based. But better meat-free options mean that people have choices, which make it easier to reduce consumption if not necessarily eliminate it. And for high-meat-consuming developed countries, like the USA and those in Europe, this is what really matters.

Hopefully, that brought this post back to a positive note. Since I’ve been completely remiss about blogging this past year, I don't have much to rehash from a year of posting. But, since I just submitted my PhD thesis, keep an eye out for more musings in 2020!

Catch up on the last ten years… 

Another Year in the Books - 2018

The Sun Sets on 2017

The Best of Times, The Worst of Times - 2016

Another Decade, Another Degree - 2015

One Hodge-Podge of a Year - 2014

New Year's Resolution - 2013

A Year in Food - 2012

New Year, Empty Fridge - 2011

A New Year's Resolution - 2010

It's a New Year! - 2009

Food for Thought on Climate Change

It feels as though every time I read the news these days, it seems like the world is falling apart. Whether that's because of the political climate or the actual climate, well, it's hard to tease apart sometimes. It's hard to stomach the actions and inflammatory language of intolerance and prejudice, openly condoned by supposed 'leaders'. But it's also increasingly terrifying to imagine the future world we seemed to have built for ourselves. Only about a month ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released one of its semi-regular reports on the state of our understanding of climate change - the anticipated impacts based on potential scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions. While the past few reports have stressed the importance of a low-carbon pathway forward, the conclusions of this report reached a new level of concern and urgency. To avoid catastrophic warming - 1.5 degrees Celsius - we have about a decade to get our act together as a planet (though a few countries really need to pull their weight).

Now, it's not like we're completely devoid of ideas how to do this. Most of the world has made the important step of recognising climate change is an important issue and pledging to do something (albeit, too little) to halt it. Alternative energy technologies have made amazing progress in terms of efficiency and affordability. Private companies and local government alike have taken steps to curb their emissions and adopt environmentally-friendly practices. While these disparate actions are important contributions and make a statement, we need something bigger and more concerted. And we will have to sacrifice now so as not to suffer too greatly in the future. 

So a couple of weeks ago now, I went to a seminar on climate change beliefs and behaviours. The speaker Neil Lewis Jr of Cornell University raised a key point of debate - should those interested in climate-related behaviours focus on individuals or policy? The scale of the problem - and the fact our atmospheric pollution is a massive tragedy of the commons - necessitates broad sweeping changes likely instigated by policy. But without public pressure to elect officials that will push for those policies, and some willingness to make the sacrifices (I like to think of them more as opportunities...) those policies would require, we're not going to get anywhere (...smile for the new congress!). 

Now Dr. Lewis noted that people often agree that something needs to be done, but not that it must be done by them. So in theory policy change is acceptable, but when it might raise costs (e.g. the carbon fee on Washington State's ballot), then it's a no-go. But people can and do change their behaviour, and perhaps the thinking around meat consumption is a good current example. According to a recent report by by the UN, dropping meat and dairy from our diets would contribute substantially to curbing greenhouse gas emissions. This isn't really news - I mean it made the news - even right after arriving in Australia, I reflected on some recent studies on the topic of meat consumption and environmental problems. While I definitely don't expect everyone to jump ship and turn vegan overnight, people are generally eating less meat and younger generations are more likely to go vegetarian. 

And over the years, we've learned a thing or two about what influences people to change ingrained behaviours. Psychologists have demonstrated there are a number of structural and psychological barriers to changing behaviours - not the least of which is that facts don't seem to matter much when they fly in the face of strongly held views (#fakenews). A crucial point here is that motivations vary between people and backgrounds - so for food choices climate, the environment, or even animal rights (which is sometimes but not always related to the environment) aren't always forefront. But health and costs also may be deciding factors. To me, this suggests we need to do a better job of framing, and in the case of climate change actions doing so in terms of so-call 'co-beneits'!

As a final point, I just want to highlight that climate change mitigation presents challenges from behavioural psychology that don't apply as much to shifting diets, namely timing and proximity. Regarding the first, even William Nordhaus, who pioneered early work on discount rates for climate change action and one of this year's Nobel prizes in economics, has warned that it's too late to wait. However, discounting is very much in-line with how people approach planning and problem-solving. The future is distant, and very much future-self's problem. The immediate costs seem far greater than the avoided ones months, years, decades down the line - let's just say we prefer instant gratification and hate the feeling of loss. For the second, researchers have noted that there is a disparity between countries that emit the most greenhouse gases and those that will suffer most from the impacts of climate change. The U.S., for instance, has started to experience some of the effects with increased wildfire risks and greater intensity storms; but for the most part, the impacts are still this geographically distant phenomenon that don't directly affect many people's lives. Again, psychological studies have shown that people are much more likely to believe in and act on things related to personal experiences. 

Ok, so at the end of the day, where does that leave us? Lots of super smart people are grappling with this question. But as with many problems related to common-pool resources (the atmosphere is everywhere!), it often requires some sort of rules in place to govern how people use it. Although it seems like there are so many causes we can be vocal and active about these days, climate change is not one that can wait, as it threatens the very existence of life on this planet.

Related Posts:
Eating for the Planet - April 2016

Visions of Sheep - April 2015

Veggie Considers Meat - December 2012

Eating for the Planet

“By eating meat we share the responsibility of climate change, the destruction of our forests, and the poisoning of our air and water. The simple act of becoming a vegetarian will make a difference in the health of our planet.”

Thich Nhat Hanh, The World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology

Abstaining from eating animal products has long been the domain of animal rights activists, hippies, and tree-huggers (at least in Western cultures). In academic circles, ethicists and philosophers have mused for decades about the moral implications of consuming meat, but not so much the scientists. Yet, these days it seems like studies connecting diet, health, and climate change are all the rage, building up an evidence base of why a meat-free diet is a key strategy for the planet and us.

A few University of Oxford researchers published a paper this year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (for those who don't know, is a well-regarded and widely-read publication), which shows on a global scale that the less meat consumed, the greater the greenhouse gas emissions reductions and the more health benefits. It was a win-win-win scenario: food-related emissions would decrease by more than 60%, fewer people would die 'prematurely', and the world would save up to $31 trillion otherwise lost to healthcare, environmental restoration, and missed work hours ... we just (all 7.4 billion of us) have to shift to an entirely vegetarian diet. No biggie.

A Nature Communications piece (a more main-stream 'pop-science' journal), which came out about a month ago, suggested that only plant-based diets are compatible with wide-spread re-forestation. This is both due to the sheer quantity of meat people consume (read: alot) and what we feed livestock (largely soy and maize). So vast swaths of forests are destroyed to grow grain to feed to animals. Let's just say it's not very efficient.

Finally, this month a group of researchers at the World Resources Institute (awesome think tank based in DC) pubished the 11th in a series of the "Creating a Sustainable Food Future" brief series. They provide some nifty graphics comparing the environmental impacts of different protein sources, and then go on to model some scenarios of different diets (both for the world and the US). The takeaway? Animal protein uses a lot of resources, and the average American eats more than his fair share. If you're curious about how feasible they thinking shifting the American diet away from meat is, there are even more colourful pie charts that detail how.

You're probably thinking, 'Ok ok, enough already, get off your vegan high-horse'. But, let me just say that I'm under no illusions that the world is going to give up meat tomorrow. Nor do I honestly believe everyone should (and if you want to know my thoughts, peruse this earlier post and this one). In fact, after traveling around Southeast Asia for a month, I feel even less convinced that people would willingly give up meat, fish, dairy, and eggs. It was actually a bit surprising, as I thought predominantly Buddhist countries would at least limit consumption (apparently that's not how it works...). Fish sauce was nearly impossible to avoid anywhere but explicitly vegetarian restaurants, and other animal proteins dominated the main courses.

At the same time, the proportion of meat to grain was usually pretty small. People are still living on very little, and meat is expensive. Following periods of food scarcity in the not-so-distant past, effort went into planting hectares of rice fields rather than prepare pasture. Sure, water buffalo graze on hillsides, and pigs and chickens roam rural villages, but it's not on the same scale as most industrialized nations (and increasingly China...yup, that's also a favourite of academics). So while I agree that diets around the world have been moving in an unsustainable and unhealthy direction for quite a while, it is important to remember in these broad global studies that the more local contexts matter a lot. The WRI report does mention poverty implications, and there are definitely people out there looking at regionally-specific 'sustainable diets'. But it is still a good thing to keep in mind when reading these broad-brush studies.

Well that's all for now. Happy Earth Day! With the theme of Trees for the Earth, it seems only right to focus on a driver of deforestation, no?

"My own view is that being a vegetarian or vegan is not an end in itself, but a means towards reducing both human and animal suffering and leaving a habitable planet to future generations."

Peter Singer

Some lovely plant-based pulses!

Most people in the region still eat a predominantly rice-based diet

A Taste for Travel

Many travelers, especially self-proclaimed 'foodies', visit new places to try on a different culture, a different cuisine. While I support and often even embrace that mentality, anyone with dietary restrictions understands how difficult that can be at times. The is particularly the case in countries where diets centre around meat or dairy. So at some point, any traveler following a restrictive diet voluntarily must ask his/her self what are the reasons for eating this way and could there be negative social implications by doing so. Because food is such a central part of our existence as humans, refusing a meal can offend a host, or you might diminish the experience of a place by avoiding a traditional regional dish. Perhaps now you might begin to grasp why, when presented a menu of vegan versions of 'typical' cuisine, I find it difficult to contain my joy and enthusiasm.

This past week I spent in Berlin, the capital of a country known for its love of sausage. While I'm not a huge fan of meat substitutes, I was feeling the deprivation when confronted with some cheesy spätzle (an egg noodle). Luckily, after late nights reporting on a tropical agriculture conference, I was able to tuck in on the last night. We went to an apparently more posh vegan restaurant, Viasko, where spätzle and flammkuchen, a flatbread usually with meats and cheeses, were on the menu. Though I doubt its complete authenticity, the food was tasty (if the service excruciatingly slow), and I felt like I walked away with at least a little taste of Germany.

But now I'm in Scotland, the land of sheep and haggis. Perhaps if I were in Edinburgh, but I am hiking the West Highland Way through and away from the big metropolises. That said, I've been pleasantly surprised by the options: stirfry at the first hostel, authentic Indian curry at this bunk house, but no veggie Scottish fare. I guess I must be satisfied with Scottish oatcakes and jam...

Amendment! My last night on the trail I supped at the Bothy Bar next where I stayed. Veggie haggis burger with chips and pickles on the menu, score!

Fifteen Years and 'It's Complicated'

The questions come up a lot. It is a main topic of conversation after meeting someone for the first time. 'How long have you been a vegetarian?' in a tone of mild interest. This is generally followed shortly thereafter by some variant of 'why'.

I don't mind the questions. In fact, they make me constantly revisit and reflect on my dietary decisions. Thanksgiving - the holiday for which 45 million turkeys are destined to sate one country's appetite - achieves the same end. My earliest vegetarian memory dates back fifteen years to my middle-school self celebrating the first meat-free Thanksgiving - a day I now mark as 'the beginning'. Yet it dawned on me last week, as I gathered with friends over a meatless meal, that in the intervening years the rationale for abstaining from meat and subsequently other animal products has become increasingly nuanced and complex. It makes the explanations in conversation trickier, while also making everyday choices more difficult.

So why am I a vegetarian (or rather, vegan at this point), and what makes it so complicated?

1. If you care about climate change, then you should care about what you eat. Generally speaking, eating no animal products has a lower carbon footprint. Livestock release 15% of the global greenhouse gas emissions, with beef and dairy cows contributing the most (hence vegan, and not just vegetarian). There is strong evidence that reducing meat consumption, especially in developed countries and the big emerging economies, will be necessary in order to have any meaningful impact on our warming planet. If you think about it, it makes sense. In an herbivorous diet, you are simply eating the product of photosynthesis - the conversion of photons (sunlight) into sugars - whereas animal products require intermediaries (the animals...) to convert plant material to calories with associated lost energy along the way.

But, like I said, it's complicated. There are all types of vegans and vegetarians, and if your plant-based diet happens to consists primarily of processed soy (read: tofu), oils (like canola, etc.), and hothouse tomatoes in the winter, not to mention lots of frozen vegetables, you are still running up a pretty hefty carbon bill. This calculator will give you a sense of what's big.

2. Not all places or contexts are the same. It's incredibly important to be respectful of other cultures and ways of living, especially as a stranger in a strange land. When I say that I've followed a vegan diet on-and-off for six years, it is for the very reason that some places my rationale for herbivory just doesn't hold up and insisting upon it could be just downright rude. Particularly in developing countries, in many cases consuming animal products and not just staple grains signifies a special occasion or is a gesture of respect, gratitude, or hospitality. Over the summer, many of the households I visited in Ghana prepared stew for us (usually a groundnut or green), and to refuse would be the pinacle of offensive behaviour. One woman in particular would offer up two perfectly oblong chicken's eggs whenever we came through the community - despite being ill and barely able to provide for her three children.

Sure, it is one thing to dictate my own grocery purchases, and align my diet with a certain notion of what I perceive as sustainable and ethical. But coming from a place of priviledge, having the luxury to choose not to eat certain things, I think it wholly unfair to transpose that value system on others when I am a guest in their home (be it house or country). I'm not saying throw in the towel and go carnivore if you happen to find yourself in a remote corner of South America, but be conscious of local customs and propriety and the potential implications of saying 'no' in certain contexts.If the thought of sometimes just not knowing is terrifying, perhaps sticking to these 'safer' countries is a better bet.

3. Ok, ok, enough with the soapbox. But really, at the end of the day, it's about what you care about, your values, your objectives. Figuring out how to make that worldview of eating align with the complex realities of our modern world and food system is difficult at best. Though I would like to consume foods that are healthy for me and the planet, and that come out positive for both 'the environment' and for people in the supply chain, a black-and-white binary decision is often just not possible. I think we all live with those little (and some perhaps not so...) incongruities in our every day choices and underlying values.

While I don't eat meat, nearly every other week I sell it. One of the farms I work for raises pastured sheep and pigs, which they subsequently bring disassembled to the farmers market. The vast majority of people are not going to turn veg overnight or at all, but those same people can choose to eat meat fewer times per week and buy it from producers that treat animals well and as part of a larger system. Which brings me to the second point here, that domesticated animals and crops co-evolved and the interactions play an important role in closed-loop systems. Sadly, I'm not naive enough to think we will revert to these idyllic (and idealized) systems with chickens running around eating pesty insects and fertilizing vegetable row crops. But it is a direction we should probably veer toward, away from the energy and input intensive, and frankly vulnerable, agricultural production systems that dominate today.

Finally, if ethics are your thing, simply cutting meat from your diet still leaves a wealth of issues to confront. Most recently, there has been quite a stir about demand for quinoa, a favourite veggie 'grain', from western nations and the implications for traditional Bolivian farmers. But think about the child labour scandals, the exploitation and lack of fair wages in many commodity crops systems, the deforestation in the Amazon spurred not just by cattle ranching but also soy and sugarcane, and similar destruction in Indonesia for oil palm plantations. We can each try to live as closely to our principles as possible, but it is vital not to get too caught up in striving for an impossible goal and miss all the joys in food.

So, it is important to note that not all vegans and vegetarians are so for the same reason (though many would consider my "flexivegan" ways as misrepresentation). On this 'vegiversary', if we go back a decade and a half, the reasons would be vastly different (and something along the lines of "I like animals..."). That's the trouble with labels; they restrict us to a 2D plane when we in fact need a 3D, textured landscape.

Read More:
Livestock - Climate Change's Forgotten Sector - Chaltham House
Importance of food-demand management for climate mitigation - Nature Climate Change
The Carbon Footprint of 5 Diets Compared
What's Wrong with What We Eat - Mark Bittman Ted Talk
The Future of Food - National Geographic

Frugal Foodie on a British Pound: A Seed Saved is a Seed Grown?

We live in a pretty funny world. One in which companies, big ones in fact, can obtain the intellectual property rights for a piece of the natural world. But sure, their scientists may have happened across a certain plant gene first or had the resources on hand to submit the patent application (this is even more true for genetically modified organisms...). We also live in a world where most of the seeds farmers plant (particularly in developed countries) does not actually produce a second generation of viable seeds. You might as well just toss them in the compost heap. 

Why sell these 'hybrid' seed varieties, then? Through controlled 'field trials', laboratory-like settings of cross-breeding, crop breeders can produce seed that yields uniformity and consistency, perhaps crops enhanced in certain favourable characteristics (super-sweet corn, anyone?). It also puts the control squarely into the hands of seed companies. In contrast to thousands of years of history, in which farmers saved the seeds of their best producing plants, this process is removed from the farmer or backyard grower. It also passes over a critical function that seed-saving performed: preserving the vast genetic diversity found over hundreds, thousands, millions of farmers' fields! This year, while planning out our backyard allotment, the importance of sovereignty over our seeds came out in catalogue perusal. We ended up ordering only non-hybrid seeds with the grand aspirations to contribute to, rather than detract from, crop diversity. 

Now, I bring this up in my frugal foodie segment because saving seeds, and actually being able to cultivate a next generation of crops from them, is critical to the livelihoods of many of the poorest farmers in the world. While there is much talk around generating "improved varieties" or genetically engineering traits favourable to projected climatic shifts, there seems to be little talk over what adopting these seeds means for planting the next year or the year after. Does taking on bigger and better seeds wrest control of a farmer's future out of her hands and place them into the seed supplier's? Good question. And if anyone has an answer (or a thought), I'd be keen to hear. But for now, our little seed packet purchase was a mini-rebellion and a very practical step for a set of thrifty grad students!

Sitting on my window sill, furthermore, is a plate filled with drying winter squash seeds. The beauty of saving is that favorite varieties (in this case buttercup squash) are at our disposal. And, hopefully come next fall, so will be some fabulous winter squash pie! Here is my standard vegan pumpkin pie, with pretty consistently tasty results, and at times the ability to win over even ardent butternut squash haters.

Classic Winter Squash Pie (1 9-inch round)

1 medium butternut (or firm and dense fleshed squash - like buttercup or crown prince!!), quartered, roasted, skinned, and pureed (so about 2 1/2 cups) 1 cup full fat coconut milk (or almond milk)

2/3 - 3/4 cup golden granulated or turbinado sugar 1/3 cup cornstarch 1 tsp. vanilla extract 2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1 tsp. ground ginger ¼ tsp. ground allspice (optional)

1 tsp light molasses (optional)

1 deep-dish pie crust (you can try a gluten-free one)

0. Take your winter squash and chopped it into quarters or slightly smaller. Place in a greased or lined baking dish and pop it into a preheated oven (~200C). Bake for 35-45 minutes, turning over once halfway through, until the flesh is melty and the skin wrinkly. Yum. Do not consume yet!!

1. Blend squash flesh after it has cool for ~15 minutes. Add in all remaining ingredients barring the crust. Yes, it is really that easy. Keep going until you have reached a smooth consistence. Test the flavor; if you don't have a huge sweet tooth, make sure to start off with the lower measures of sugar.

2. Stick the unbaked pie crust into the oven while it preheats to 180C (~375F) and you prepare the filling. When ready, pour filling into the quasi-warmed pie crust. You may have extras that can be baked in ramekins for tasty pumpkin puddings! Replace pie in oven and bake for another 30 minutes until crust starts to brown. Top of pie will look firmly set and maybe even a little browned, as well.

3. Remove from oven. Allow to cool completely. Refrigerate overnight. This is important. It is much better and much firmer if allowed to rest. Serve with some coconut whipped cream or some vegan ice cream!

Check out: a much better explanation on why NOT hybrid seeds!

Frugal Foodie on a British Pound: Lost in Translation

It dawned on me only recently. For the longest time, I could just not figure out what swede was. Did it refer to the Scandinavian people (I'm sure in some contexts it did)? Perhaps it was shorthand for a posh pudding, like Swedish rolls? And then one day, while helping with a veg stand at market, I commented on the beautiful rutabaga. The what? Ah yes. Rutabaga. Such a distinctly American word (with roots in the Swedish rotabagga), that of course there must be a softer term used across The Pond. Swede is this cabbage relative's preferred name in England, Wales, Australia, and New Zealand, though yellow turnip sometimes wins out. We all could just go by the scientific name, Brassica napus rapifera (a cross between cabbage and turnip).

This (often quite large) root seems prevalent in mashes and roasts. However humble, this veg played a central role in food security in northern reaches of Europe (in fact, there is a whole institute devoted to the rutabaga)! Swede predates potato as a staple in Ireland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, thought to have originated in Scandanavia and first described in the early 17th century. By the early 19th century, it had also reached North America and was prevalent throughout England. It can grow in rough and cold climates, providing an essential dose of vitamin A and C, as well as important nutritious fodder for livestock.

Considering swede's history characterised by humble origins and economy, I thought that it rightly belonged in a student's budget. It is dense, keeps well, and with roots (haha...) in peasant subsistence, comes pretty cheap. Combined with two of my other winter mainstays - potatoes and pumpkin - rutabaga serves as a satiating light supper or side dish.

Swede Baby Cakes

1 medium rutabaga, grated

2 medium purple potatoes, grated

1 cup winter squash, grate (I used buttercup)

2 tbs arrowroot or flour

1 tsp salt, to taste

1 tsp cumin, to taste

1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

1-2 tbs olive oil, for cooking

1. Mix together all ingredients in a bowl. Pressing down, turn bowl sideway and let some liquid drain out.

2. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Drop a piece in; when it starts to sputter the oil is hot enough. Taking about 1/8 of the mixture, form a patty, flattening between your hands. 

3. Place in the skillet and allows to cook for about 5-8 minutes, checking that there is a nice golden color before flipping. Repeat on the other side. Remove once both sides are browned, plate, and serve with applesauce or something lovely like that.

Need more ideas for swede? You can also honey-roast it, mash it with carrots, add chickpeas and casserole it, or even turn it into a curry!

 

Back into the swing of things, check out more healthy bites on Wellness Weekends!

Friday Coffee Break: Making Vegan Videos

Let me preface this by saying that I don't usually just throw a video up and call it a day. Also, I don't normally base an entire post on the premise of veganism. However, let's just say that this little series made me particularly happy and makes light of what many vegans take way too seriously - their 'diet'. Isa Chandra Moskowitz (of Veganomicon fame) moves into new media, trying her hand on-set. While she is quite amusing, the chocolate chip rosemary cookies on Make it Vegan enticed me enough to watch the other episodes.

Swamped with work this week (you may not have noticed, but nothing happened on Wednesday...), but hope to be fully functional next!

Frugal Foodie on a British Pound: An Orphan Crop

Quinoa has been the talk of the town for a few years now. It's the vegetarian superfood - a powerhouse of protein and micronutrients, all the while gluten-free. That may be true, but it's not the be-all and end-all of grain-like substances. In fact, during my first brush with the Live Below the Line Challenge, I honed in on millet as a very inexpensive, nutritious, and satisfying staple. However, millet is likely more of an "orphan crop" than its more well-known counterpart, quinoa. Orphan crops are those that generally lack institutional funding in research and development for improving the yield and production practices of crop varieties, or building strong connections with markets and trade.

Millets, another group of small-seeded grasses, is most widely consumed by humans and livestock in developing countries, where 97% of the production takes place. And although the centre of origin for millets is likely situated in Africa, it has been cultivated as a staple in East Asia for the past 10,000 years. What makes millet so enticing, is its ability to grow in poor and infertile soils, and under drought conditions. More recent research programs are exploring the diversity within millet that could help boost nutrition while also weathering some of these impending shifts in growing environment. Though finger and pearled millets are the most common around the world, Proso millet is cultivated in the United States and is likely the variety you will find on your grocery shelves.

Curried Millet Sweet Potato Cakes

1/2 cup cooked millet

1/3 cup brown lentils, dry

1 medium sweet potato, roasted in oven until soft

1/4 yellow onion, chopped

1 small clove garlic, minced

1 tsp curry powder

Salt to taste

2 tsp olive oil, for skillet

1.  Heat 1 tsp of oil in a skillet on medium-high heat. Sautee onions for about 3-5 minutes, until beginning to become translucent, then add in garlic. Pour in 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil. Add lentils and cook for 15-20 minutes until lentils are soft.

2. Remove skin from sweet potato. In a bowl, mash the potato flesh and lentil mix until pretty smooth. Add in cooked quinoa, curry, and salt and combine until even.

3. Heat remaining oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Form balls (about 3), flatten, and then place onto skillet when oil is hot. Cook until one side is brown, then flip, for about five minutes on each side.

4. Serve over a bed of greens and enjoy!

See also my Millet and Mung Beans. Check out more scrumptious vegan and gluten-free delights on this Wellness Weekend!

Thirsty Thursday: A Pie Full of Love

You are probably thinking, why is she writing about pie on this fine Thursday? And even more importantly, why is she mentioning love? Well, I am not talking about romantic love, but rather the care and compassion one feels for a fellow human being. In a yoga class you might hear the word Namaste, which is a Hindi greeting with many different translations. It essentially acknowledges the spark in another person, where truth and love reside, and then recognizes this same spark in yourself. The light in me sees the light in you.

It's also Pi Day! Yes, you read correctly. Not pie, but Pi, like 3.14, like March 14. Ok you get it. So, in celebration of Pi Day, I made a blueberry pie for work and then brought in mini gluten-free mixed berry rhubarb pies for two of my favorite yoginis (one of whom took the photo)! Giving to others, who you care for, without any expectations of return, is I think one of the greatest joys one can experience. It definitely brightened my morning.

Finally, before I let you get to the pie recipe, I wanted to raise a topic related to both expectations and love. In the Yoga Sutras, one of the main teachings is this notion of non-attachment. In its simplest understanding, this means letting go. Not detachment, and not avoiding connections with someone or something. But rather building an awareness of your attachments and gradually ceasing to be beholden by them. You might have a thirst (ok, it's a stretch for a Thursday), and unquenchable desire for some entity or objective, but relying solely on reaching that end state will not necessarily lead to happiness nor wisdom. For me, having experienced considerable disappointment in the past few weeks, practicing non-attachment has been important in recognizing that my self-worth is not tied up in the achievement of a certain outcome. I think this also comes back to love and the idea that no matter what each of us has spirit and beauty inside. That's enough sappiness. Let's eat!

Very Berry Rhubarb Pie (gf, makes 3 small)

Crust

1/2 cup millet flour

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/4 cup buckwheat flour

1 tbs tapioca starch

3 tbs agave (can use sugar or a pinch powdered stevia instead)

1 tsp salt

1 tbs oil

2 tbs coconut oil

2-3 tbs cold water

Filling

1 cup mixed berries

1/2 cup rhubarb, diced

1 tbs arrowroot

1/4 cup agave (or sugar)

1. Combine flours, salt, sugar, and coconut oil with a fork until the fat coats all flour. Add in vegetable oil, and then water one tablespoon at a time until you can form a ball of dough. 

2. Break into three pieces. Sprinkle more rice or millet flour on a wax piece of paper and roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Place into a small tart pan. You can also just press the dough into the pan. Repeat for other two pies

3. Mix all filling ingredients together and then divide between the three crusts.

4. Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes. Allow to cool completely, because gluten-free crusts tend to crumble otherwise. Enjoy!

Check out Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays and Wellness Weekends for more.

Thirsty Thursday: Be My Valentine?

Today is Valentine's Day, the holiday of love. But it is also one of the many holidays in which we have moved away from the underlying values that motivated it. At present, celebration of Saint Valentine's Day feeds our consumer society, revolving around the purchase of increasingly showy gifts of flowers, chocolates, cards, and jewelry. While that tradition actually dates back to the 15th century, the way we approach it has adjusted to fit the times, tending towards more mass-produced and expensive offerings. With shelves stocked with candy and endless commercials promoting excessive displays of consumer spending, it seems like we have veered away from the thought and care that the spirit of the holiday calls for.

Saint Valentine was also a bit of a radical, going against the Roman Empire to perform weddings for soldiers and Christians. It is interesting to think that even to this day, millennia later, human society is still dealing with issues of marriage rights. Perhaps we should celebrate today by trying to be a bit more mindful of others, open to their perspectives and values, and grateful for those in your life you care for and who care for you. Do a good deed and approach the day with more awareness and intention. One first step is to love yourself and stay healthy, so today we have an antioxidant-rich treat to start off right!

 
That Valentine's Smoothie

2/3 cup strawberries, fresh or frozen

1/2 red beet, chopped or grated

1/2 banana

1/4 cup chocolate almond milk

1 heaping tbs cocoa powder

5 drops liquid stevia

1/4 cup chopped red kale

A blender would be helpful, but you can also manage with an immersion blender (it will just be a little more coarse). Enjoy!

You guessed it! Also up on Wellness Weekends and Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays. 

What's Cooking? The Smell of Ginger

A delightful aroma, wafting down the stairs from the kitchen (yes, my kitchen is on the second floor), draws my attention away from whatever it is I was doing the moment before. Despite being very decidedly a warm weather crop, ginger often evokes a sense of comfort and well-being most desired during the cold winter months. Gingerbread and gingermen appear in great numbers during the winter holidays. Ginger tea is a staple warm beverage, and ginger ale can cure any upset stomach. It was at one of those holiday parties where I first came across (a veganized version of) David Lebovitz's fresh ginger cake. Perhaps love at first bite, the spicy-sweet and amazingly fluffy cake has almost haunted me. So, I recently took a stab at baking it myself, and yesterday concocted a gluten-free version. It's a little crumbly, but still quite moist and tasty.

Fresh Ginger Cake (adapted from David Lebovitz)

1/2 cup fresh ginger, grated

1/4 cup blackstrap molasses

1/2 cup sugar 

1/4 cup agave

2/3 cup oil 

1/2 cup water

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup: millet, brown rice, buckwheat, tapioca, and almond flours

3 tbs garbanzo flours

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp all spice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

sprinkle powdered ginger

dash black pepper

1 tbs apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup crystalized ginger, chopped (optional)

1. Combine molasses, sugar, agave, and oil in a large bowl. In a small saucepan, bring water to bowl and then add baking soda. Pour water into bowl and whisk until combined; mix in ginger. 

2. Sift in flours and spices, using a large spoon to incorporate all dry ingredients. Add in vinegar and optional candied ginger. 

3. Pour batter into 6 large muffin cups (or a small pan, greased and floured). Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes, until top is set and a knife comes out clean. Allow to cool completely...and then enjoy!

Check out more goodies at Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.

Fifty Second Friday: Sandwiched

I was recently reminiscing about all of the old junk food that characterized the 1990's. Yes, you read correctly, because as any child, I looked forward to the brightly colored and sugar-laden treats my mother would on occasion pack in my lunch. The mere mention of Squeezeit fruit drinks (with those twist off caps), Lunchables cheese pizzas, and Dunkaroos bring back memories of elementary school lunches. TV shows, video games, and pop songs also are fun to add to the mix, but really food is most strongly connected to memories...perhaps because it is something that is more deeply connected to our senses. 

Positive associations or otherwise, it's amazing how strongly sometimes these memories and feelings can be tied to foods of our past. As a child, it was almost like a right of passage, a badge of status, to have a bag of gushers or a hostess snack pack in your lunch. And it is never the baby carrots, or the apple slices, or even the yogurt (unless it was the neon-swirled Trix variety) cup that stands out. It's amazing to me how these priorities have become so distorted that products not even resembling 'food' feature number one on consumers' priority lists.

Now all of that said, I had this craving a couple of days ago for little cookies with a layer of creamy frosting spread on top. But unlike during my childhood, the thought of a dunkaroo was more than slightly repulsive. Instead, I whipped up a batch of slightly sweet peanut butter crackers (gluten-free) and some chocolatey white bean spread. Together, they went together quite nicely to make around 5 or 6 sandwiches.

CocoNutter Butter Sandwiches

 

PB Crackers

2 tbs smooth peanut butter

1 tbs oil (canola, safflower, grapeseed, etc.)

1 tbs agave nectar

1/4 cup buckwheat flour

1/4 cup almond meal

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1. Combine peanut butter, oil, and agave in a medium mixing bowl with a fork until smooth. 

2. Add in additional ingredients, using more flour until the dough sticks together. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat. Roll out the dough so it's about 1/4 inch thick. 

3. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Remove from oven and immediately cut into rectangles or squares. Allow to cool completely.

Chocobean Cream

1 cup white beans

1 tbs creamy peanut butter

2 tsp coconut oil

2 tbs almond milk (unsweetened chocolate is best)

3 tbs cocoa powder

1-2 packets stevia (depending on how sweet you want it)

2 tbs agave

1. In a food processor, combine peanut butter, coconut oil, milk, agave, and white beans until smooth. Add in cocoa and stevia until it's well-incorporated. If too thick, add another tablespoon of almond milk.

2. Spread a layer on one of the cooled crackers. Top with a second cracker. Enjoy!

Find more fun goodies at this week's Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays and Wellness Weekends.