Sophie's Food Blog

My final little meal within my 24 hours of food blogging was a midnight snack I had after coming home from a bar with some friends. I had a Gabriel’s Bakery (Local Portland bakery) Bagel with some butter  on it.

THE BAGEL 

Gabriel’s Bagels (Jalapeno Cheese) are made in Northwest Portland and shipped across town via trucks which burn carbon fuel.  The bagels are composed of “local sustainable wheat flour” which comes from Eastern Washingtonian farmers and is certified as sustainable by Food Alliance (an organization which “provides the food and agriculture industry with sustainability standards, evaluation tools, and a voluntary, third-party certification program based on these principles” – foodalliance.org). The next ingredient is water, which comes from the bull run watershed which provides nearly all of Portland’s water.  After water, Gabriel’s Bagels use brown sugar which is either a naturally occurring product or is made by adding molasses to white sugar.  Following brown sugar on the ingredients list is the Jalapeno.  Gabriel’s Bagels use locally sourced ingredients whenever possible, so the jalapenos are most likely shipped via trucks from a local farm or supermarket which buys from local farmers.  Next up is yeast.  Yeast, according to Wikipedia is a unicellular classified in the kingdom fungi.  At Gabriel’s Bagels they use these fungi to help their bagels rise.  Gabriel’s bagels also use salt, which they probably buy in bulk from a major food distribution company and is shipped by truck from a salt mine, to a packaging plant, to a distribution center in Portland or the surrounding area, and then, finally, to Gabriel’s Bakery.  The final ingredient is Monterrey Jack Cheese which is composed of pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt and enzymes.  This cheese is made in a factory and is then shipped via truck to Gabriel’s Bakery.  Once it is in the bakery, it is put in an oven and baked onto the bagel post-boiling.

Here is the bagel label

THE BUTTER

The butter that I spread on my bagel was “natural, unsalted, Darigold butter”. It contains only cream and says that it is churned from sweet pasteurized cream. It is distributed by Darigold from Seattle, Washington and then transported down to Oregon on trucks. I imagine that it would require fuel for machines that churn the butter, package it, and the transportation to Oregon.

REFLECTION:

Even when I am having just a small bagel snack a surprising amount fuel is used in the process! This blog has made me re-evaluate things like freeganism and 100-mile diets. There are so many resources and energy put into the transportation and processing of food for even a simple healthy meal. I have appreciated finding out more about where my food comes from and look forward to buying more local unprocessed food!

My favorite Spanish dish

For dinner I made another one of my favorite dishes, the Spanish tortilla. Unlike the Mexican corn/flour tortilla, the Spanish tortilla is composed of eggs and potatoes cooked in a skillet in a cake-like formation.

And some nice Spanish guitar to go along with it:

Entre Dos Aguas

THE INGRIDIENTS

Potatoes, eggs, butter, olive oil, garlic, chili powder, onion.

THE POTATOES

The potatoes were non-organic russet potatoes from Idaho. As such, synthetic fertilizer which used natural gas was probably used, the fuel to go into the machinery they use for harvesting the potatoes, as well as fuel for transport

THE EGGS

I used about seven eggs in this tortilla and melted about a tablespoon of butter into the eggs that I scrambled in a bowl. These eggs were also from our family friend’s farm and only necessitate the fuel needed to transport them about 15 miles.

THE BUTTER

The butter that I melted into the scrambled eggs was “natural, unsalted, Darigold butter”. It contains only cream and says that it is churned from sweet pasteurized cream. It is distributed by Darigold from Seattle, Washington and then transported down to Oregon on trucks. I imagine that it would require fuel for machines that churn the butter, package it, and the transportation to Oregon.

OLIVE OIL

The olive oil that I used was also manufactured by Trader Joe’s, in Monrovia California. So, once again, we need water to go to the factory and the olives to be shipped in from somewhere, and then shipped out once it is processed using more and more fuel!

GARLIC

The garlic I used was also from my mother’s garden so no fuel was needed to transport it, only the transportation of the water that was necessary for it to grow demanded fuel.

CHILI POWDER

The Chili powder I used was a McCormick brand chili powder. It is packaged and distributed in Maryland so if I had to guess I would say that the chilies were not from Maryland. Thus, they needed to be shipped in, ground using machinery, packaged, and shipped out, all using fossil fuels

ONION

The onion was from Walla Walla Washington and was organic so no synthetic fertilizers were used there, but transportation fuel is still needed.

REFLECTION

It is surprising how even a simple dish like this uses so much energy and fuel to make. I would also speculate that there were many more processes and fuels that went into processing this food that are not listed on the packaging. This kind of thing makes me wonder about how many places my food is really from. 100? 200? Almost every element of every item seems to come from a different place so it has to add up!

For lunch I had a delicious garden salad.

THE GREENS

The greens used for the salad were harvested from a family friend’s farm in the northwest part of Portland. At their farm the do not use synthetic fertilizers, or much machinery at all, so not a lot of fossil fuels are used there. To transport the greens the only fuel that was used was to get it from about 15 miles away at the farm to my house in southeast.

THE DRESSING

However, the salad dressing and toppings take up a bit more energy. The olive oil that I used in my salad dressing was also manufactured by Trader Joe’s, in Monrovia California. So, once again, we need water to go to the factory and the olives to be shipped in from somewhere, all using fuel. The vinegar has basically pretty much the same story; just as the olives need to be pressed using machinery the vinegar requires production and transportation fuel.

THE VEGGIES

My salad toppings were avocado, bell peppers, onion, green onions, and sunflower seeds. The avocado was the other half of the avocado from California that I had eaten with breakfast. The bell peppers were also grown in California and were not organic so probably used synthetic fertilizers, which need natural gas, as well as the gas needed to bring the peppers to Oregon. The onion was from Walla Walla Washington and was organic so no synthetic fertilizers were used there, but transportation fuel is still needed. The green onion was also growing in my mother’s garden so no need for synthetic fertilizer or transportation costs. The sunflower seeds were harvested, dried, and salted (by Trader Joe’s) in California and then shipped up to the grocery store in Oregon.

REFLECTION

It is actually quite shocking how much fuel is needed for even a simple salad with a lot of ingredients that come from local gardens! I wonder how much the fossil fuels needed to create a meal would increase in a largely processed and manufactured meal. It makes me wonder about things like ‘lunchables’. If there are strange ingredients in something as simple as a Trader Joe’s tamale, what kind of strange ingredients are in foods that are processed significantly more?!

mmmmmm that doesn’t look so appetizing to me!

My first meal in Portland was my absolute favorite homemade breakfast. I had a Trader Joe’s brand green chili and cheese tamale with one slice of bacon, two tablespoons of pico de gallo, half of an avocado, and one fried egg. These flavors go extremely well together and this is an easy to make delectable breakfast.

THE TAMALE

Let’s begin with what goes into making the tamale. Trader Joe’s is my absolute favorite grocery store. The prices are affordable, they have an impressive selection of frozen delicious foods and it is very affordable (due to the fact that they buy directly from suppliers), especially when it comes to cheese (which I am an absolute sucker for).

The ingredients listed on the tamale are as follows: water, corn maze flour, Monterey jack cheese, green chilies, corn oil, red chili peppers, vinegar, carrageenan, paprika oleoresin

Here it isn’t difficult to find out what fossil fuels go into producing this tamale. First, the water. The back of the package says that the tamale is produced in Monrovia California, which is in the San Gabriel valley in Los Angeles County. The first thing that comes to mind here is how all of the water that is needed for basic life (and tamale production) in desert towns. Nearly every ounce of water needs to be transported or shipped in to sustain the population. This takes a lot o fuel! Upon doing a little bit more research I was shocked at how much fuel is needed to transport water in California alone. Statewide, the processes that go into moving, filtering and treating water consume 20% of the state’s electricity, 30% of the state’s natural gas and 88 million gallons of diesel fuel yearly (http://www.aquafornia.com/where-does-californias-water-come-from/)

Obviously, all of this water transportation isn’t necessary to produce the one tamale I ate but nonetheless these numbers are shocking. California’s water system is designed such the most populated areas are in desert climates, thus all of their water has to be shipped in, as is the case in Monrovia where the tamale is produced.

Next is the corn maze flour.

Fossil fuels are used to harvest the corn with machinery. Then the corn is ground into flour using machinery that also consumes fossil fuels. Then the corn flour must be packaged, presumably with paper bag packaging that is shipped in, once again using fossil fuels. The trees used to make the bags use fossil fuels, and then the trucks that ship the corn flour out in the bags use fossil fuels. I’m starting to realize just how much goes into making something as simple as flour.

The cheese needs to be produced (maybe using machinery that requires fossil fuels?) from a dairy farm somewhere presumably, and then transported using fossil fuels to Monrovia to use in the production of the tamales.

The green chilies need to be harvested and transported to the factory in Monrovia as well, which also demands the use of fossil fuels. The same can be said for the green chilies, corn oil, red chili peppers and vinegar.

According to the Wikipedia page, Corn oil takes quite a few resources to produce as well. One bushel of corn contains 1.55 pounds of corn oil and has to be mechanically pressed which has higher yields of oil. Unfortunately I also read that it may “increase the probability of a number of diseases and depression”. So this particular oil must be harvested, pressed, and transported, all using fossil fuels.

The carrageenan is from a family of linear sulfated polysaccharides that are extracted from red seaweeds. It is used in batter due to its gelatin nature. It needs to be boiled, which necessitates gas, and cooled, which necessitates energy to cool a space. Also, about 80% of the world’s supply of carrageenan comes from the Philippines so it also needs to be transported all the way across the Pacific Ocean, which takes a considerable amount of fuel.

The paprika oleoresin (paprika extract) is produced with a variety of solvents, primarily hexane, which are removed before use. This also needs to be manufactured in a plant that uses fossil fuels and then transported.

THE BACON

 With this delicious tamale (while is beginning to sound less and less delicious) I had one slice of bacon. The bacon was Fred Meyer brand pepper bacon that contained: Pork, water, salt, sodium phosphate, sugar, sodium nitrate, and ‘spice’. It is distributed by Inter-American Products out of Cincinnati, Ohio, and cured and smoked in Canada. This means that this pork had to travel from Ohio, to Canada, and then to Oregon at the very minimum. This in itself requires a lot of fossil fuels. Also, the water and salt need to be shipped in for the curing and smoking, as well as the sugar and spices. Then of course, the gas that is used on my stove top to fry up the bacon, as well as the energy it takes to transport water to my house to clean the pans etc.

THE EGG

Luckily for the length of this blog post the egg that I ate came from a neighbor’s chicken coop! I think there are significantly fewer fossil fuels that go into this. Although it does require the transportation of their food from the feed store to our neighbor’s house, as well as the electricity that is used for chicken heat lamps in the winter. All in all this egg does not necessitate a lot of fossil fuels! That said, I did cook the egg on my gas stove, which obviously uses gas, with the bacon grease to avoid the use of butter.

THE AVOCADO

The avocado I ate was purchased from a produce stand near my house in southeast Portland. It came from a southern California farm and thus necessitates the fuels needed for transportation up to Oregon.

THE PICO

I made the Pico de Gallo the night before. I chopped up some cilantro, white onions and tomatoes, and then squirted a bit of lime juice on it. The tomatoes and onions came from California and thus had to be transported to Oregon using gas and the cilantro was from my mother’s herb garden in our backyard.

My favorite food cart in Portland

Welcome to my food blog!

I am very excited to be doing this assignment and throughly enjoy discovering what really goes into making the food that I eat. This assignment comes at a particularly interesting time for me because I will be doing my 24 hours of food blogging while visiting home in Portland. Portland is an interesting city when it comes to food. Comprised of food cart pods, fancy restaurants, vegan restaurants, fast food, Mexican food, and many other types as well the gastronomical scene is certainly an interesting one.

Within Portland there is an interesting set of dynamics and social constructs around food. Many people in Portland have enthusiastically adopted freeganism, (http://freegan.info/) that began in San Francisco in the 1990s with a strong anti-consumerist ideology. This is just one of Portland’s peculiarities when it comes to food. Many people have their own chickens, goats, pigs, even within city limits. That said, there is also a plethora of Grocery outlets (http://groceryoutlet.com/), Winco, Costco etc that sell less environmentally conscious products, and they are certainly not going out of business.

I am excited to completing this assignment in such a dynamic environment when it comes to food and look forward to telling you all about it!

And here is an adorable picture of my boyfriend’s Persian kitty