Filed under: Food for Thought, fun!, san francisco | Tags: dream jobs, Flour Bakery, Frankenartmart
Filed under: environmental issues, Food for Thought | Tags: 10 to the 100, change the world, google
Do you have an idea that could change the world for the better and truly make a difference? Google thinks with all the information out there that some of us must. They created a whole project dedicated to that assumption called 10 to the 100th. For their 10th anniversary they have committed to invest $10 million dollars in a winning idea(s). The deadline to submit ideas on this one has passed (unfortunately, it was Oct. 20th), but you can still sign up to vote for the winners. Voting starts Jan. 27th. Google will post the top 100 ideas, the public will narrow it down to 20 projects, and then an advisory board will select up to 5 for funding.
The intent of the project is to take advantage of “crowdsourcing”. That’s the Internet-age idea that the collective wisdom of mass audiences can be leveraged to find solutions to design tasks. Interesting thought… maybe one person can’t change the world, but together we all can.
Rebecca_ SF
Filed under: Food for Thought, san francisco | Tags: Joel Salatin, Polyface Farms, San Francisco victory garden, slow food nation, The Omnivore's Dilemma
Get excited, Slow Food Nation is coming to SF next weekend! The Slow Food Movement (as we’ve mentioned before) has been gaining momentum for some time now. They’ve organized one of the largest events so far and it’s coming up next weekend, right here in San Francisco.
Here are some of the highlights you should check out:
-Attend a lecture by Joel Salatin of Polyface farms. He’ll talk specifically about the sustainable farming practices he employs. (He’s a featured in the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma.)
-You can browse thousands of booths in the taste pavilions and gorge yourself on some really tasty food.
-You can sign up to volunteer for various projects around the city. For example, they planted a Victory Garden outside city hall on July 1st and all the food that’s harvested from it will be donated to local food banks and meal programs.
-Listen to some great music from people like Gnarls Barkley, The New Pornographers, and more.
-Pick a special dinner to attend with one of your favorite Bay Area restaurants
You better hurry, they’ve already sold out of morning tickets for both Saturday and Sunday!
_Rebecca, SF
Filed under: environmental issues, Food for Thought | Tags: farm raised, Fish terms, freshwater fish, Salmon, salt water fish, Trout Unlimited
Do you ever find yourself hovering over the fish counter at your favorite market or local grocery store trying to figure out which fish looks the freshest? When is comes to fish, there are so many different terms out there such as “organic”, “fresh”, “natural”, “wild-caught” it’s hard to keep them straight or know what to believe. Thanks to Trout Unlimited, below is a guideline to help you understand where exactly your fish, specifically salmon, is coming from.
Pacific Salmon – Born in freshwater on the pacific coast, migrates to sea to grow and mature, then returns to stream to spawn and die.
Atlantic Salmon– Majority of salmon farmed in Pacific waters are non-native Atlantic’s, causing major problems for wild Pacific salmon, steel head and ecosystems. Wild stocks native to Atlantic coast severely diminished and not fished commercially.
Steelhead – Ocean going rainbow trout that return to freshwater to spawn. Highly prized by recreational anglers. Wild steelhead almost never marketed for food, which means steelhead in stores are most likely farmed.
Wild Salmon – Spawned, hatched and lives naturally in the wild. Feeds on insects and other small water creatures. Migrates to sea and returns to freshwater to spawn and die.
Hatchery Salmon – Born in captivity, raised on an artificial diet, and released as juveniles to be caught as adults.
Farmed – Spends entire live in captivity; fed artificial diet and treated with chemicals. The meat is often grayish and dyed pink to be sold in stores. Contains unsafe levels of toxins and reduces health benefits. Alaska has no salmon farms whereas other salmon territories do. (See Image below)
Wild-Caught – Caught in open waters, salt or fresh. Some mixed stocks of wild and hatchery.
Line-Caught – Caught and handled individually by a fishing boat trolling with lines & hooks.
Fresh– Usually a term to disguise “farmed”. If it’s “fresh” Atlantic salmon from B.C., Chile, or anywhere in the pacific, it can only be farmed.
Frozen at Sea – Wild salmon caught, processed, and frozen while still at sea, typically w/in an hour of being caught so that it’s freshness and quality are preserved. Good option for getting wild-caught salmon off-season.
“Organic” – Does not currently exist in the US because there are no standards or USDA certification process. Imports may be labeled as “organic”, but it’s important to know that it might be from a country with weaker environmental/ health standards.
“Natural” – A way to market farmed salmon that has been raised with fewer chemicals. Even though there may be fewer chemicals than “farmed” salmon, it is still often raised in open net pens, emitting water, disease, and escapees putting wild fish at risk.
I hope this list has informed you to make the best decision when selecting your fish for tomorrows dinner. I know it’s helped me!
Kelsey – Vail, CO
Filed under: environmental issues, Food for Thought | Tags: Eat your view, Michael Pollan, slow food, The Omnivore's Dilemna
SF is a foodie town. Before moving here, I didn’t know much about wine or the pleasures of cooking and pairing different courses together to create the perfect combination. The closest I’d come to this culture was really my time in France. In Europe, in general, people seemed to focus much more time and thought on what they were going to eat, how they would prepare it, and who they would share it with. They take their time with meals and enjoy the great conversation it generates. It’s been a pleasure to discover the same sentiment here in San Francisco. You’ll find very few fast food joints in the city and chain restaurants are practically nonexistent. Farmers markets are plentiful and most menus at restaurants change with the seasons.
This local culture really got me thinking a lot more about where my food comes from and what I put into my body. As a result, I picked up “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, by Michale Pollan. I highly recommend it. He evaluates 4 different meals and tracks their entire life from the farm to the plate. The 4 meals include: an industrial/fast food meal, the whole foods version of an organic meal, a locally produced/ farmers market meal/ and finally a meal that’s been hunted, gathered, and foraged for directly by the person eating it.
The story behind each meal fascinated me and really made me take another look at what I eat. Just like buying recycled products to support the green movement, you can make a statement with what you eat as well. “Eat your view” is a new bumper sticker seen often in Europe now and I think its something that Americans should start considering a bit more. I’m not implying that everyone become a vegetarian and only eat from the farmer’s market. That’s very unrealistic, but just think about things a bit more before you buy them. Look at what’s in season, how local it is, how many chemical products did they add to it? Is it healthy? How do they treat the workers, animals, and farmland on their farms?
Pollan says in his book that this change in the market will “require a new kind of eater. One who regards finding, preparing, and preserving food as one of the pleasures of life rather than a chore.” One whose sense of taste has ruined him for a Big Mac, and whose sense of place has ruined him for shopping for groceries at Wal-Mart. ”
It’s the same mission as the Slow Food Movement started back in 1989 in Italy. The intent is “to remind a generation of industrial eaters of their connections to farmers and farms, and to the plants and animals we depend on.” The movement focuses on “fighting industrial eating by recalling people to the infinitely superior pleasures of traditional foods enjoyed communally.” The founder Carlo Petrini says, “The consumer becomes a coproducer- his eating contributes to the survival of landscapes and species and traditional foods that would otherwise succumb to the fast-food ideal of “one world, one taste.”
They insist that doing the right thing is actually the most pleasurable thing as well. Just some food for thought…
Rebecca_SF
Filed under: environmental issues, Food for Thought, Politics | Tags: Chris Jordan, Running with Number, US Statistics
I got this in an email a couple weeks ago and thought it was very interesting in a disturbing yet artistic kind of way. Artist Chris Jordan has put together a unique collection of art involving quantities of specific items based on statistics of the American culture.
The images below depicts 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds….
Partial Zoom
You think this is impressive? … Visit http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=7 for more.
Kelsey – Vail, CO
Oddly enough, this was included in some sales material from Restoration Hardware for their new commercial line of products, but I really liked the advice…
1. Dream more while you are awake.
2. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful, or joyful
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Burn the candles, use the fancy sheets, and wear your best shoes… don’t save them for a special occasion.
5. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
My grandma & brother- a picture that always brings me joy. 🙂
Rebecca_SF
Look at me making a smoothie … on a bike! The pedaling motion is creating enough energy to power the blender and make me a tasty treat on a hot summer day!
Kelsey – Vail, CO
Filed under: environmental issues, Food for Thought | Tags: developers, good work ethics, LEED, resort design
I don’t know if it’s just my goegraphic location, or if it’s the same everywhere, but it’s extremely hard to get developers on the same page when it comes to LEED certification. Everybody knows that global warming is on the rise and let’s face it… new construction and building efficiencies aren’t the most environmentally and economically friendly things in the world. Am I right?
Resort design tends to be my main focus when it comes to work….primarily because I live in a resort town. Working with developers is huge in resort design and I’ve learned that it’s not exactly the same as working with owners or operators. After being in the industry for just a couple of years, anybody would know that developers only want to build as cheap and as quickly as possible.
One very important thing to know about LEED is that there aren’t going to be any upfront cost savings in the construction process, but the life cycle costs is where the savings are. Not to mention you’re contributing a tremendous amount in helping our planet. Most developers don’t care about this; probably because once the structure is built they’re out of the picture. In most cases that I’ve seen it’s been the owner or operator making the decision to update the building to meet LEED standards later in the game.
This being said, I would like to hear anybody and everybodies professional opionions and/or personal thoughts on how to pursue developers to build up to the USGBC standards. The only thing I can think of is to remind them that they will be practicing good work ethics and I’m sad to say that’s just not going to cut it.
Kelsey – Vail, CO
Filed under: environmental issues, Food for Thought, san francisco, social issues | Tags: homelessness, park bench house, replate, Sean Godsell
v. (re-plate): To place unwanted leftovers, typically in a doggie bag, on top of the nearest trash can so they don’t go to waste.
Since moving to San Francisco, I’ve become much more aware of the homeless population in our cities across the nation. It’s disturbing how many people are sleeping on the street and digging through the trash for food. I read there’s something like 7,000 homeless people in SF alone. There are things we can do to help. Some are more controversial than others. One simple, very uncontroversial thing, is volunteering at your local shelter. You can help prepare or serve meals or donate time to fixing up the facilities. A great site that lists all the opportunities in the Bay area is www.handsonbayarea.org. I’m sure there’s something similar for wherever you live as well.
I’ve also heard of a new term called “replating”. Anytime you go out to eat and have leftovers, you get them to go and place the doggie bag on top of the nearest trash can. It’s good quality, easily accessible food, that people can access without being forced to dig for it. It also helps reduce the amount of waste that restaurants are producing. Check out http://www.replate.org/ for more info. This obviously applies to bigger cities and places where the homeless population is much larger. I can guarantee that here in SF the food won’t have a chance to get cold before someone snatches it up. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. Maybe I just don’t like to admit that some people dig through the trash for their dinner. It seems degrading to encourage the activity, but the fact is: they’re hungry, they need food, I have food; and that’s the easiest, most sanitary way for me & you to get it to them quickly & efficiently. I’m not sure what other people’s thoughts are on the matter, but I think I’m all for it. I’ve started to make it a habit of mine.
I went to a lecture a few months back by an Australian architect named Sean Godsell (www.seangodsell.com). He has a similar approach to addressing the problem of homelessness. He believes that urban infrastructure should be built to provide for the homeless as opposed to running them off. The design for most bus stops & park benches in big cities includes being as uncomfortable as possible to discourage the homeless from sleeping or staying there. Mr. Godsell takes a completely different approach. His stance is that any humane city would provide for these individuals in any way they can, even if its with the most rudimentary shelter. Take his park bench house for example. It’s an average park bench by day, but the top can flip up at night to provide shelter from the elements. A small light is flipped on by the action of opening it to provide some sense of protection for the individual sleeping there and also to alert others that the bench is in use. He has similar ideas for bus shelters and new types of trash cans that seperate the food from the trash. It’s an interesting take on the issue. I’m curious what others think about it and what other things we can all do to help end homelessness.
-Rebecca, SF
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