A sad tale in the life of chocolate…
I know I just posted yesterday, but as I read an article this morning …. i had to post. And, I’m not completely off -topic. Chocolate is food.
Today’s post, however, is not about fair trade chocolate. It is about genetically engineered chocolate. A monster – coming to a supermarket near you.
I know some people are big fans of genetic engineering. They see it as a way to produce more crops and help feed many more people. They think it’s sustainable. They see it as the way to fix the food crisis. You may be one of them.
We used to think that too.
But after looking at all the angles & researching and talking with people, now here’s what we believe: We believe the independent studies that show mutations in 1st generation off-spring of GMO fed mice and other animals (GMOs are unsafe). We believe that the food crisis is not that there is not enough space for growing food, but that so many of our resources are being used for livestock and to grow food for livestock (most of which is GMO). We believe and have seen that once GE plants are introduced into an area, they cannot be completely kept to themselves – they will have pollen and seed carried off to other farms, who do not want them.
We have seen GMO companies like Montsanto crush small, whole foods farmers who do not want engineered crops on their land. We have seen that GMO crops require more pesticides and have created “super weeds” which lead to more pesticide spraying, harming farm workers & the earth. We think that putting plants that have pesticides (or other man-made contaminants) in their DNA into our bodies will never be a good thing. We see GE plants & salmon as the fault line of an environmental and social earthquake. And, it’s not something that will be easily reversed.
You may agree. You may not. You may just not know. In any case, do what you can and learn. And don’t’ just read the side you are inclined to believe. Read it all. Consider the impacts, the real impacts of what’s already going on and what more will happen.
And for a starter lesson, read the article that got me started on this post in the first place.
A taste of (technically) Asia…
Hope you had a great, safe 4th of July full of friends, family, and good food. Which, notably, brings us to our next food post. 
Cheers!
+++++
“Around 70% of all Palestinians worldwide are refugees, constituting the world’s largest refugee population. Around half of them are stateless.”~ PASSIA facts & figures
As per my last post, the next coming posts are all about food. Why, you ask? Because unlike gifts, we require food every single day. Some of us need coffee every. single. day. But coffee is for another post. Today we are moving in Asia to Palestine (not going to lie, I was surprised it was considered Asia..) , an area of great need that has been impacted by war. But thanks to Canaan Fair Trade, your local grocery can now offer fairly traded organic olive oils, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and couscous. It’s a good thing I’ve already had lunch today!
And the food isn’t even the best part. Canaan is promoting organic farming, developing trade while protecting culture. I think they summed it up nicely on their website, ” at Canaan, the net result of our sustainable practices is a capacity to enrich the world by sharing our traditions while vigorously participating in the modern economy. We do this through selling products rooted in our soil and in our culture. This is a way to make traditional communities self-sustaining and
productive. It creates a world where prosperity is shared while the richness
of individual cultures is sustained.”
And their working with the environment too… From Canaan FT’s website, ” The essence of organic agriculture is working with nature, rather than against it. By focusing only on crops, not soil, conventional farming depletes the earth’s inherent abundance. Only by keeping our environment healthy can we truly have sustainable agriculture. Yet if we nourish the soil without respecting the human beings who farm it, then we are still compromising our future. By combining a Fair Trade structure that works on all levels of our community with organic practices, we hope to serve as a model for genuine sustainability.
can't you just picture this with some herbs and crusty bread?
So now that we’ve got you hungry… go out and ask your local grocery to carry Canaan Fair Trade Olive Oils and other great foods.
A Focus on Food: Be ready for the Fourth of July!
Let freedom ring we say! In every form and fashion!
Truthfully, there’s a TON of room for expansion in the Fair Trade Commodities (food) market, so the hunt to find certified foods has been a challenge. With that in mind, I’m going to point you to a company I’m sure you know all about: Ben & Jerry’s. They’re nice, and they have a good sense of humor. See?
Besides, Fourth of July wouldn’t be complete without cookouts & ice cream, right? And, seeing as how Ben & Jerry’s aims to have all of its products sourced with fair trade ingredients by 2013, they are perfect candidates for today’s post. They have 18 flavors sourced with fairly traded ingredients! And, though I tried to snag an image of their new flavor “Fair Goodness Sake!” for this post, alas, I was unable.
So in lieu of a tempting picture of ice cream, you can imagine a bucket of crazily flavored creams or get the standard vanilla and make an American classic for the Fourth. Grab your fair trade bananas (good article here), chocolate, sugar, & vanilla and maybe some strawberry preserves from Food for Thought (who makes their jams with fair trade sugar), and have a Fourth of July Split! Ok,ok, maybe I will tempt you with a picture…
Homemade Chocolate Sauce
Adapted from Sal at Allrecipes.com
Ingredients
* 2/3 cup unsweetened Fair Trade Cocoa
* 1 2/3 cups Fair Trade sugar
* 1 1/4 cups water
* 1 teaspoon Fair Trade vanilla extract
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine cocoa, sugar and water. Bring to a boil and let boil 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Or for those of us who prefer non-dairy, start with nondairy ice cream like those from Blue Mountain Cashew Creamery or Coconut Bliss. And then, go to town with fair trade toppings mentioned above!
