Food in Your Life

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the “Food in Your Life” dinner with a wonderful group of eco-minded peers, hosted at the home of Professor Susan Brison at 13 East Wheelock. The weather outside was chilly and , but as soon I stepped into the doorway, I was each warmly greeted by Professor Brison and offered the first of what would be a number of delicious home-cooked courses.

As I sipped my butternut squash soup, all twenty-something of us introduced ourselves and told stories about a particular recipe that was special to us. We heard stories of recipes passed down from generation to generation, of traditions kept alive by culinary practice and gastronomical discoveries born from a college student’s practical needs. More importantly, though, these recipes served as the introduction to the reason why we were all here: to discuss the importance and role of food in our lives.

The evening progressed, and our conversations meandered from one topic to another. How do we become more involved in the food sustainability activities on campus? What is available to us? What does Dartmouth Food Connection do? How can we incorporate more of the campus into our existing sustainability events? These threads of action-oriented questions were punctuated by stories from the faculty present and, invariably, comments on the amazing food in front of us (I don’t think there was anyone who didn’t get up for seconds!) The hour rushed by, and before we knew it, it was eight o’clock and our dinner had ended. I know left that night not only with a full stomaches, but a heart full of excitement about implementing the ideas and projects our talk had produced. I know I wasn’t the only Dartmouth Food Connection member present who felt that way; for most of us, the motivation and sense of energy we left with was truly the most important and most inspiration aspect of our get-together.

And for those of you wondering the dinner included the following items – all locally produced and seasonal.

Butternut Squash Soup with Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Local Sliced Tomatoes with Mozzarella drizzled with olive oil, salt & pepper
Mixed Greens w/ Pumpkin Seeds, Garlic Croutons & Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
Roasted Vegetables
Roasted Herb Potatoes
Assorted Rolls with Olive Oil & Italian Herbs

Local Honey Crisp & non-local Granny Smith Apples with Caramel Dip
Assorted Cookies

Ice Tea
Local Apple Cider
Hot Cocoa & Hot Cider
Assorted Teas

-Hui Cheng, Dartmouth Food Connection

Food Stamp Challenge

When shopping with my parents, whatever I picked usually went into the shopping cart. The only thing restricting me was if the food was deemed sufficiently nutritious. As I got older, I didn’t go on grocery trips as often as before. I usually performed my part by dutifully coming out to bring in all the groceries into the kitchen from the car. When I did go grocery shopping, I would leave it to my Mom to buy all the food while I wandered around looking at things.

But this time around, I had a budget of $1.48 per meal for 3 days. I stood in a shopping center in Flushing, NY with my Mom by my side. She was not going to do the shopping. Instead, she would help me as I complete the Food Stamp Challenge from the Food Bank for NYC. What do I buy? All those years of not paying attention to grocery shopping was coming back at me with a vengeance. Where do I start? And by the way, I do not know how to cook. Just great.

I, or rather my mother, planned my meals. While walking around, she was able to form meals in her head as I just nodded and took notes. Her thought process was so fast that I even had to ask her to repeat ingredients for the meals so I could write them down. She knew where the best value could be found. She said BJ’s was best for bread. The Chinese supermarket on the floor above had everything else at low prices. Originally, ramen was one of my meals but soon; the food my Mom was able to find quickly took that out.

Of course, if I had done this alone, I would have only ate peanut butter sandwiches and ramen. My food choices would not be as healthy as I would look for the most convenient and cheapest. It would have taken so much time, especially with my poor mental math skills. My mother, on the other hand, had great mental math and could calculate the total cost while I scrambled to confirm her calculations on my cell phone’s calculator.

As I watched the documentary Food Stamped, I remembered how lucky I was to have someone help me shop. The couple who shopped had a lot of knowledge on nutrition. The wife especially knew a lot and was able to craft nutritious meals for an entire month. In addition, they, like me, had access to a grocery store with an excellent variety of food, especially fresh food.

But not everyone has that type of access or knowledge. The man who called himself a thrifty shopper had to travel far for a grocery store that sold food at low prices. Then there were the communities that had no fresh produce in their stores and were ecstatic when farmer markets were set up in their neighborhoods. Finally, people always look for the quickest and most convenient method. For most, that meant purchasing processed foods with low nutritional value. We take our nutrition knowledge for granted. When interning at the Food Bank for NYC, I saw families come in for classes on cooking and buying nutritious food.

When we reached the end of Food Stamped, I shared many of the same feelings as the couple. I did not feel as satisfied. I sometimes felt full, probably because the Food Stamp Challenge I was on had a larger budget by $0.48. But then I always felt that there was a lack of variety. Even for just three days, I usually ate the same dish or there were so few ingredients that it felt boring. Then on my third day, I had to attend a gathering with friends. It was a potluck. The Food Stamp Challenge rules said that I could not accept free food. I brought dinner, which was only a piece of bread and shrimp with scrambled egg. My dessert was a peach as I saw others gorge on cookie and cream cupcakes and fried noodles. I resisted… but I gave in at the end. I had not had dessert for three days. That may seem like a short time, but I have a rather large sweet tooth. I understand the man in the documentary when he said he missed desserts.

Although you can be physically full, there are certain aspects of food, whether it is the taste or texture, which you yearn for. That is what makes food so enjoyable. On such a challenge, those things are forgotten as you focus on keeping yourself full and on budget. Processed food tend to satisfy the condition of being cheap and fast while also being flavorful, which unfortunately makes them so tempting.

During your winter break, consider going on the Food Stamp Challenge for three days, a week, or even a month if you are feeling ambitious. Learn what it takes to live on a Food Stamp budget. Learn the difficulties that people face. For you, it maybe temporary, but for those who are on food stamps, this is their life. Take the time to understand. Go to http://www.foodbanknyc.org/foodstampchallenge to see if you can complete the challenge.

 

-Victoria Li, Dartmouth Food Connection

Forty Years interactive timeline of the food movement created by Small Planet Institute

Enjoy our interactive timeline of the food movement | Small Planet Institute.