This week, the United Nations issued a landmark report on climate change. It warned that global warming is accelerating, and human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases are the overwhelming cause.
There is clearly a connection to the food we raise and consume, the goods we purchase from around the world, and their impact on the earth.
It’s time to be thoughtful about what we eat, and where we source it. Our actions alone won’t save the planet — there has to be involvement by big corporate players — but we can participate.
I grew up in a thrifty family. My parents both lived through the Depression, which had an economic impact on both of their families.
That deprivation stayed with them, and as a result, we recycled and reused before there was a name for it. My papa used to walk around the house, switching off lights in vacant rooms, declaring, “What, do you think we own stock in Detroit Edison?”
When I was in school, two energy crises hit the United States, resulting in shortages and high prices. That made all of us aware of our gas mileage, and ways that we could conserve the fuel that we used. For the past 13 years, I’ve owned a Toyota Prius, whose odometer just crossed 155,000 miles, and hope to keep it going as long as I can.
Those thrifty lessons faded a little when I enjoyed some career success, and my culinary knowledge grew. I still recycled, and I have two shelves full of reusable containers, but I also was eager to learn about wines from Europe and Australia, try cheeses from France and Italy and England, purchase European olive oil, and enjoy all manner of products from Asia. Like so many food lovers, I wanted to educate myself, both through travel and by shopping, without a second thought to the impact of my habits on the global environment.
But, all that has a cost, not only in monetary purposes, but in its climate impact, too.
Food and the planet
I’ve visited the big Benton Harbor Fruit Depot in Southwestern Michigan, known as the Fruit Belt, where wholesale growers gather to sell to regional markets and grocers. There’s nothing more evocative than the scent of all that lovely fruit at dawn, when the sales take place.
Granted, there are environmental costs involved in moving around Michigan fruit, but logically, they are lower than shipping from 500 miles away, across the country or from different parts of the world.
For instance, peaches are plentiful at our farmer’s markets right now, raised here in Washtenaw County as well as other parts of the state. Agriculture is the second-biggest industry in Michigan, behind manufacturing.
We’re constantly encouraged to shop local - there’s even a small business Saturday after Thanksgiving. I aim to put our local growers first, too.
Now, of course there are myriad food items that aren’t raised or made in Michigan, or even the Great Lakes and Ontario. Our climate used to be too harsh in winter and our summers not long enough for many products.
Moreover, different parts of the world have centuries of expertise, such as the spice merchants in Madagascar, Morocco and India, and the pasta made in Italy that people prize. As vast as America and Canada are, we don’t have those traditions or geographic features, so we can’t expect to match those flavors - at least, the argument goes.
Finding closer sources
However, just as those places started with someone getting an idea way back then, modern entrepreneurs are doing so, too. When I lived in Phoenix, I discovered Queen Creek Olive Mill, founded by former residents of Windsor, Ontario.
Starting with a small grove not far from the Superstition Mountains, Queen Creek became Arizona’s only working olive farm. It now has 7,000 trees in 16 varieties, and owners Perry and Brenda Rea have transformed their property into a beautiful gathering spot. You can take a class in olive oil production, which of course I’ve done, order wood oven pizza and sit outside (when it’s not 115F) to enjoy music and the surroundings.
Queen Creek’s products are as well-crafted as anything European that you would use for every day cooking, and they regularly update their lineup to reflect food trends. I’ve purchased and gifted a dozen bottles of their Meyer lemon olive oil, which is made by pressing the olives and locally grown lemons simultaneously.
I’ve walked and driven across their farm, where they are using sustainable growing methods (it’s such a challenge to raise anything in Arizona that environmental considerations have to come first. Mother Nature is always going to win.)
Arizona olive oil doesn’t have the tradition or cultural cachet of an international product, and I don’t blame anyone who wants authenticity or a particular flavor found only in Umbria. But it gives us a choice, and if we care about the planet, we food lovers need to make some choices.
Some useful questions
I’ve developed a mental check list that I run down when I weigh the environmental concerns of something that I eat. Here are some of the questions you can think about.
That last question rules many of my food purchases, for a couple of reasons. Growing up, my family’s next door neighbors owned a huge orchard in Washtenaw County.
Every fall, we’d come home to find sacks of apples on the back porch and sometimes an entire bushel. My mother and I canned endless batches of apple sauce. We made tomato sauce from the tomatoes we grew ourselves, and chili sauce from peppers a friend gifted us. Another neighbor kept us in rhubarb. Still other friends owned farms in Belleville, a small town nearby, where we got our strawberries and corn. (Their grandchildren still run them.)
My childhood experiences taught me the growing calendar, and because I’d been exposed to so much fresh produce, it made me wary of anything out of season. Nowadays, I simply won’t buy asparagus in winter, or strawberries in the fall - it is not their time. Any place they might come from will be far away, meaning they spent hours and days in transport. That has costs in money and flavor, and an impact on the environment.
It’s difficult to get through Michigan winters without fresh fruits and vegetables, but I have discovered to my delight that you can freeze them, along with the canning techniques my mother taught me.
I made sauce this weekend with the last of my 2020 tomatoes, in time to pick up fresh ones. I would much rather eat things preserved at the peak of their flavor than suffer through strawberries that are white inside, or tasteless tomatoes.
This isn’t about being a food nanny: everyone has a perfect right to eat whatever they like, and buy it whenever and wherever they like. I patronize a number of food importers, whose businesses make valuable contributions to their local economies.
But, you can be thoughtful about your relationship between the earth and food. If we fail in our responsibility to the planet, food won’t survive climate change, either.
A renewal, and a new series to bookmark
I’ve written about the wonderful Netflix series High On The Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America, hosted by Stephen Satterfield, which made its debut this spring.
The episodes were educational and emotional, as well as visually striking.
Last week, Netflix announced that it has ordered a second season. That’s probably not a surprise, given that the first season explored the first half of historian Jessica B. Harris’ book with a similar title. It seemed only logical that the show would go on.
However, there are no guarantees in the mysterious world of streaming, so it’s great news that there will be more episodes. Production and release dates are TBD.
You can set a reminder, however, to watch an upcoming PBS special from chef Pati Jinich. La Frontera will air in two parts, on October 15 and 22 (check your local station for exact days and times).
As the name implies, Pati visits the vast U.S.-Mexico border, including places like El Paso, Ciudad Juárez, Laredo, Nuevo Laredo, McAllen and Brownsville, and delves into the rich, diverse and unique border cultures in each place.
Segments will look at everything from cattle ranging to Space-X, mariachi to muralists. While there will be plenty of Mexican and Texas cuisine, Pati also looks at the influence of Syrian and Lebanese food on the region.
I can’t wait to watch this. I first visited the Rio Grande Valley when I was in school, because my mother’s best friend from Chicago lived in McAllen. The Poseys were kind enough to give us a tour of both sides of the border.
In Mexico, we met wonderful restaurant owners, whose cooks beamed with pride showing me their absolutely spotless kitchens. I felt a kinship with them that has lasted my whole life. I think we’ll learn a lot from Pati’s series.
An Overdue Conversation
In my latest Washington Post column last week, I looked at efforts to get a fourth round of bailout money for the restaurant and hospitality industry. Before that happens, however, or at least as a condition of awarding the money, there needs to be a national discussion about fixing toxic restaurant culture.
I don’t think the industry benefits from getting another big check to sustain itself, when so many people no longer want to work in restaurants. There are at least 1 million vacant restaurant jobs across the country, and many reasons beyond the availability of additional unemployment money why staff is so hard to find.
I understand the Independent Restaurant Coalition’s point that if the industry isn’t saved, there won’t be an industry to fix.
But, to be blunt about it, some restaurants don’t deserve a free lunch.
Good operators aren’t hurt by a discussion of equity: in fact, they can lead it, and are eager to do so. Bad operators shouldn’t be rewarded for harmful practices, and can’t plead poverty as a cover up. This is business, after all, and that carries risk.
The car companies had to agree to reforms back in 2008-9 to get $82 billion in bailouts. It’s time for restaurants to change, too.
Keeping up with CulinaryWoman
A little drumroll: Satisfaction Guaranteed: How Zingerman’s Built A Corner Deli Into A Global Food Community is going to be an audio book! More details to come. (Yes, I hope I get to narrate it.)
Meanwhile, you can place pre-orders at your favorite bookseller, whether large or small. Thanks to Howard Mortman of CSPAN for the Twitter shoutout last week, including the clip of Barack Obama’s 2014 visit to the Deli.
(This essay on Medium explains how many authors feel these days, by the way.)
I’ve started to schedule some appearances around its publication on Feb. 22. If you are interested in hosting me, feel free to reach out. The best email is CulinaryWoman at gmail dot com.
You can find me @culinarywoman on Twitter and Tik Tok. My Instagram is @michelinemaynard and I’m on LinkedIn and Facebook, too.
It’s been so much fun meeting and hearing from newsletter readers. I’m so pleased to know you find CulinaryWoman valuable. You are welcome to upgrade to a paid subscription or become a founding member, which makes you eligible for our book giveaways. The next one is coming soon.
Mask mandates are returning in many places. Be nice to the people working in food business. Please be safe, and see you next week.