Amaranth-Millet Polenta Recipe vs. Agrofuel Myopia: Intervene, Naturally

What's Behind My Variation on the Polenta Recipe?
As I mentioned last week, my recent (Yoga Meditation Retreat) menu plan hoped to be a loving, peaceful meditation, a silent manifestation if you will, of what I refer to as "thinking globally by eating region-ably." This to me implies employing as much local, fresh, organic produce and foodstuffs as possible and continuing to consider vigilantly the bigger picture, when choosing foods that come from elsewhere. My bigger picture analysis also seeks to promote a conscientious consumption that "naturally" (almost easily) intervenes in broader issues related to supporting sustainability in economic, social and environmental terms.

In this sense, of course, most of us are happy and aware that buying food grown close to home cuts greenhouse emissions from long-distance transport and that "organic" produce is both healthy for our families and preserves many of our most precious resources, not least clean water, in various ways. We also understand that participating in food cooperatives and supporting local farmers who are "doing the right thing" means investing in "food security," which helps to make these foods available to folks at various levels of income, in the long-term, and builds a better community on all fronts.

I see the local-global praxis of "eating regionably" as a reinterpretation of the wisdom in the old feminist adage, "the personal is political." More available to me as a daily strategy than merely mapping all of the ways that my actions here at home in San Diego impact others in my community and elsewhere, I begin, rather, by looking at where global processes intersect my own needs, choices and preferences in various areas of my life simultaneously. For a specific example, as US-Americans begin to consume processed foods more judiciously, preferring fresh foods for personal, nutritional reasons and local for its myriad sustainability virtues, many people are taking a moment to look at what goes into even "healthy" processed food. These include, in particular, soy, corn, and wheat--all primary actors in the centuries-old human drama called "Agriculture" now playing on the global stage. Not incidentally, more and more people in my world (and ours more broadly) are developing food sensitivities to these very foods.

The recipe below is followed by a discussion of the agrofuels boom, to which amaranth-millet polenta offers a healthy, "natural" intervention in several ways! I have nothing against corn, wheat or soy per se, but there is a lot to be said about how the advantages of certain mainstream agricultural practices fail to offset the palpable dangers of mono-cropping (e.g., how it affects small farmers and the biodiversity that is vital to longterm food security, and who benefits anyway?, etc.) not to mention the presence of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in our foods. However, one thing this is certain: our bodies are registering sensitivities that reverberate throughout our planetary organism!

Millet/Amaranth Polenta (with Ratatouille): A Mouthful of Biodiversity

Millet and amaranth are great because they are often easy on the systems of wheat (gluten) sensitive folks, especially those with celiac disorders, and all those seeking grain variety. Also, these grains are chock full of vitamins, Millet is especially good on the B's, and amaranth is "high in protein (15-18%) and contains respectable amounts of lysine and methionine, two essential amino acids that are not frequently found in grains" (see KR in Health & Beyond).

*Couple this with the "flavor-intensive" ratatouille recipe, previously posted, using fresh local ingredients.*

Ingredients

• 3¼ cups water, broth,or stock
• 1/2 cup rinsed millet
• 1/2 cup rinsed millet
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Preparation

1. In a medium or large saucepan, bring 3¼ cups liquid (water, broth, or stock) to a boil.

2. Add 1 cup of rinsed millet and return to a boil.

3. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan, and cook for 45 minutes. The texture is porridge-y, to say the least.

4. Pack the cooked millet into a 9 x 5 loaf pan. Smooth the surface of the millet using a spatula or spoon. Place wax paper over the millet, and chill for several hours or overnight. (This interim would be a great time to make a ratatouille, and read what I've posted below about agrofuels!)

5. Carefully remove the wax paper. Whereas polenta is easily removed from the pan by simply turning the pan over, it may or may not release from the pan as one congealed mass.

6. If it comes out in a mass, GOOD FOR YOU! Cut the polenta into ¼ to ½ inch slices, which can be sautéed in olive oil with or without a little butter. If however, your mixture remains mushy, sauté a large spoonful of the mixture pressing it into patty-lumps, which my sources inform me is the truly, authentic Italian way to prepare polenta!

Agrofuel: Is Ethanol Becoming the "Diesel of De-forestation"?

As we have seen recently, many US corn growers see ethanol production as a positive way to produce fuel at home and stimulate the domestic economy; however, there is a significant downside to shifting our fossil fuel-dependence to a reliance on ethanol, especially the dangers to the environment, food security/sovereignty issues, and biodiversity. If these issues are insufficient to sound the skeptic-alert about the promise of ethanol, yesterday's Americas report from the IRC arrived by email just in time to help me raise awareness that as petrochemical companies set their sights on agrobusiness, our governmental bodies, desperate to resolve our fuel crises, are proposing agrofuels as a longterm solution without considering that ethanol is merely a short term, 10 percent solution with heavy consequences including investing our future resources heavily in massive monocultural agriculture projects, dedicating subsidies to multinational corporations (rather than small or local growers) and committing to problematic, binding multinational dependencies as outlined in various recent, binational compacts.

"Monocropping genetically modified biomass is neither natural nor earth-friendly" (L. Carlsen, IRC) (Leer el artículo.)

Firstly, agrofuels "compete for land and resources directly with other agricultural products, especially food. . .[which is] a threat to the global food supply, to hunger alleviation, and to the aspirations of nations to feed and employ their populations—their ability to attain food sovereignty" (Carlsen, IRC-online). Some other obvious problems with the production of agrofuels on a global scale include endangering the very rain forests we need to "offset" the carbon emissions of our fuel consumption in countries such as Brazil (for sugar-cane), Ecuador (same), and Colombia (for palm oil).

Secondly, we need to look at the implications of international development in the so-called third world. The article, "Indigenous People Challenge Peru's Soy Highway," effectively describes the real costs of building an infrastructure to support the kind of global industrial agricultural complex that agrofuel production necessitates.

The conscientious critics suggestion, however, is not to abandon all hope in these alternatives, but to "reject the promotion of ethanol production based on corn and the advancement of biofuels within the . . .hyper-industrial and transnational logic

-- [which] will harm not just peasant families and rural communities, but also less powerful nations. In the long run, these "solutions" will be counterproductive for the very problems they seek to address. . .The path to follow entails the small-scale production of biofuels from diverse sources so as not to enter into conflict with food production nor fall into the cultivation of monocrops." (V. Quintana, IRC)

In sum, exploring the many tasty and salubrious applications for exciting grains such as amaranth and millet can help us to nourish our bodies, which--often through food sensitivities--are awakening us to the value of variety (otherwise known as biodiversity) to planetary health!

My Heart Beets for Slow-Roasted Roots!

Readers, few and celebrated, you will be happy to note that the retreat went well. Of course, my labors were a bit exaggerated with the loving preparations extended to fifteen plates per item. That said, each meal was a triumph, and so I begin posting the recipes in the order they were requested.

Don't mind me, if the preparation suggestions reflect the meditative pace in which they recently manifested themselves.

Conscious Heart Beets Meditation: Easy Does It and Slowly

The color of beets touches a deep, emotional core for me, so I sat down and peeled them slowly, occasioning to glance out the window at the bird-filled trees and shrubs beyond the pool reflecting a perfectly blue southern California sky. Perhaps it was the water that brought a few tears so easily, sweetly. My thoughts flowed toward the significance of this silent task. Fulfilling work that is appreciated, that nourishes and sustains, I considered myself lucky. My mind wandered toward the future, will this practice bring together the many aspects of my professional and personal self? Will I make my family and build community through my natural relationship to "regionable" foods? Back to the present, I rinsed my hands and noted how pink and clean it makes the nails, like a natural manicure, a blessing in itself.

Ingredients
beets
carrots (one third the amount of beets)
turnips, sweet potatoes, potatoes (if you got 'em, cook 'em)
onions (one white or yellow, and some small onions with their greens or shallots, etc.)
olive oil (up to two tbsp below and some to drizzle on top)
your favorite spices (Herbes de Provence, I like fennel, too)
asafoetida (I add it where I might be inclined toward garlic, which not everyone likes)

Utensils
paring knife
chopping knife
pyrex/enamelware/ordinary baking dish
aluminum foil (I don't always use it, and when I do I wash and reuse, but we'll investigate how to live without it, very soon!)

Preparation
Clean and cut your veggies. Start your oven at 450. Put the onions on the bottom of a deep baking pan. Add your oil and 1/2 of your total spice mixture. Add the beets. Stir and make sure everybody is a little bit oily. Add the carrots on top, the rest of your spices, a little more oil, and stir just a little bit, so the carrots don't end up on the bottom. Sprinkle the asafoetida atop and cover with foil. Now wait.

This could take awhile, certainly at least an hour, so just check on them once in awhile and stir them occasionally (twice is good), so they don't burn, a little sticking is yummy though. (The clear pan makes the vigil easier.) When they are nearly done, tender to your fork and aromatic to your nose, take off the foil and add a little oil, if you've been terribly sensible. Now, broil them for five minutes to put a gratin-y veneer on top.

Eat with a big salad! (Or with the lentil walnut burgers coming soon!)

To Quicken this Process
You could boil the beets first, if you need to cut down the prep time or wish to decrease how long you use the oven. (Add the carrots, use baby carrots for even less prep, and any potato-like things later or they will get very soggy.) You could even sauté the onions with the spices while you're your boiling.

Or you could practice breathing or read a novel or play with the kids. (It'll be fine, just turn it down to 350, if you're going to be outside for more than 1o minutes.)

These veggies are worth the wait.

Think Globally: Eat Regionably

Yes, we've been quiet on the blogosphere, but not to worry, there's always grease, smoke and fire in the culinary vegenator!

A couple of months ago, my beloved yoga instructors asked me if I'd like to take charge of the food for their annual silent meditation yoga retreat, something they've always done themselves. Of course I leapt at the opportunity to present a five-day culinary treatise on what seasons and regions mean to conscious eating for me.

What an honor and what an endeavor! I've been preparing menus and meal plans and ingredients lists and wholesale orders for at least a week. We'll be getting almost all of our produce from Garden of Eden Organics, our CSA run by Jennifer & Paul, and dry goods from People's in OB.

What's on? Well, here's my menu plan, and I'll post the recipes later when I get a moment!

Plant a Garden of Hope & Dig for Healing

We sneaked out to the mountains to catch some rays on Saturday, for the "May Gray" has descended again here in San Diego. Basking happily, another friend who made the drive asked the collective to remember how long we have been sunless on the coast. (A long time, we concurred, definitely more than a week!) Today though, and back at home, as my eyes squinted against the glare, I noticed that the fragrant flowers and herbs of dawn and dusk are soothing all day long this time of year, and there is something particular about being outside near to the ground amidst this synesthetic rainbow of intensely saturated, smelly colors. I planted something new and vibrantly purple, a gift from a friend, and I felt so lucky to be working this urban plot outside my rented bungalow. I was trying to imagine how I will feel when I am ready to walk away, having left the place better than I found it, but abandoning so many plants to survive under an unknown someone's or, worse, no one's care.

Then, the song by Leon Rosselson came to me. I have pasted the words (as transcribed by Seedstar) and an audio link to the original version below. Despite what might seem an unhappy ending to the digger's tale, the song offers comfort. While I take so much personal joy in the practice of planting and tending, I often feel impatient. I want to see the signs of broader, social healing that extends beyond me and my (hokey-happy-hippie) intentions. The words to the song, if you haven't heard them in a while, relate a transcendent historical moment when a group of folks were brave enough to improve the land without the promise of permanence or ownership.

I am convinced that a peaceful solution to the global condition will have to be equally and radically, spontaneous as well as simple. What do you think?

THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN by Leon Rosselson

(**Open Link in a New Window & Read along to His Audio Version)

In 1649 to St. George's Hill
A ragged band they called the Diggers came to show the people's will
They defied the landlords, they defied the law
They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs.

"We come in peace," they said, "To dig and sow.
We come to work the land in common and to make the wastelands grow.
This earth divided, we will make whole.
So it can be a common treasury for all."

"The sin of property we do disdain.
No man has the right to buy and sell the earth for private gain.
By theft and murder, they steal the land;
Now everywhere the walls rise up at their command."

"They make the laws that chain us well;
The clergy dazzle us with heaven or they damn us into hell.
We will not worship the gods they serve:
The god of greed that feeds the rich while poor men starve."

"We work, we eat together, we need no swords.
We will not bow to the masters or pay rent to the lords.
We are free men, though we are poor.
You Diggers all stand up for glory; stand up now."

From the men of property the order came:
They sent hired men and troopers to wipe out the Digger's claim.
"Tear down their cottages. Destroy their corn!"
They were dispersed but still the vision carries on.

You poor, take courage. You rich, take care.
This earth was made a common treasury for everyone to share.
All things in common. All people one.
"We come in peace," the order came to cut them down.

Link to This & Other Audio Versions

Debt Relief in Africa: What's Love Got to do with It?

Just as we thought folks might run out of ways to harness the vast commercializing apparatus of Valentine's Day for love, here's this:

When they found that the conference to discuss the foreign debt of the West African country of Liberia would be held on February 14th, a consortium of orgs decided to launch a campaign and got over 9000 people to send pink and red construction paper hearts with the message, Dear Secretary Paulson, Have a heart for Liberia, Cancel the Debt Now." (Check out the Foreign Policy in Focus article.)

Hoorah for the Love Squad!

Further Activist Love Notes & Romantic Interventions

As the capitalist machine cranks out its various pink and red commodities, two notes of consequence mentioned in today's Women's e-newsletter (sign up, it's free!) include:

1) The American Bar Association geared up for V-day with this toolkit for the second annual National Teen Dating Violence Awareness Week (commencing Feb. 4), and

2) Dr. Galician will name these and 26 other 2006 "Realistic Romance" award winners today:

“Failure to Launch”
will receive the "Stupidist Cupid Award" for reinforcing the most damaging romantic myths and stereotypes.

“Date Movie”
will win the Realistic Romance Grand Prize" for effectively spoofing on these myths.

Hopefully their site-links will be updated sometime day.

And if you want some fodder for rumination on how US consumption on Valentine's day impacts folks, check out this article on the global flower industry. (I'll be picking flowers from my garden. Apologies to those barried under a foot of snow today.)

It's a Nice Day for a Green Wedding

As I've been reading quite prolifically these days at the intersection of enivronmental and social justice efforts, I am heartened, rather than roused to cynicism, by the mainstreaming of organics and green commodities. As this NYT article demonstrates nicely, the "green wedding" trend is allowing an increasing number of folks to celebrate, raise consciousness, and include all one's extended loved ones in an event that truly takes loving the earth and all of its inhabitants as the big point of departure. (What a nice intervention.)

Back to the Feminist Future with Mud Floors and Quilting Bees

We have begun to seriously reconsider how a healthy lifestyle and a feminist politics of consumption requires concerted attention to the commodity chain. Here are two interesting points of intervention:

As mainstream takes note of the environmental fringes in natural building, NYT writes about mud floors, and the women's enews folks follow the feminist impulse in women's crafting, knitting, and DIY community.

In "Young Women Re-Craft Feminism as DIY Project," Courtney E. Martin points out that "almost half of crafters in the $13 billion-a-year industry are under 45 years of age and two-thirds are women," and, increasingly, these women see themselves as making a difference on several fronts:

. . .[I]n an era of rising anxiety about the effects of globalization--on everything from the economy to social cohesion to the biosphere--many young women in their teens, 20s and 30s are joining a push to make things local and more personally connected. And for many of them knitting and stitching is the way in.

OED Sustainable Practice of the Day

xeriscape, v.

The OED word of today arrived as encouragement to continue transforming the garden into a space where plants may thrive long after I'm gone! This garden is but one example. (See links below.)

OED DRAFT ENTRY Sept. 2003

Hort. (orig. and chiefly U.S.).

Also with capital initial. [<>ERISCAPE n.]

trans. To landscape (an area) in such a way as to minimize its need for irrigation, esp. by using plants and features suited to a dry climate. Also intr.

1987 Los Angeles Times 5 Nov. 1 Several homeowners throughout the county have had their yards ‘xeriscaped’ to save water and maintenance costs. 1990 Southern Living Mar. 92 (heading) Xeriscape to save water. 1992 Kiplinger's Personal Finance Mag. May 106/1 The Carlisles..Xeriscaped their small garden. 1997 Salt Lake Tribune (Nexis) 15 June (Utah section) B1 If all Salt Lake County residents were to xeriscape -- or convert their yards into native, thirstless landscapes -- existing water supplies would satisfy population growth for decades to come. 2000 ANQ 13 44 Recently, a woman in an Albuquerque subdivision xeriscaped her garden. [Suggested addition] 2007 GS&F "Among the many things we hope to do with the abundance our planet offers is to create "thirstless gardens," through sustainable practices, such as xeriscaping," exclaimed Sombramorena (TM) from her Southern California apartment complex.

For those thinking about relandscaping their apartment complexes or creating other sustainable homescapes, the internet yields various "xeriscaping" resources such as Xeriscape demo gardens and Green Builder (with detailed practical advice on green building and landscapes).

Vegetarian Link of the Day

Vegetarians often create "paradise," wherever they are! This picture gives some insight into how (link) folks are "making it" in L.A.

A Sustainable Clothing Network is Haute!

As many of my readers know, I've been referring to the Revolving Closet Project for years, based on my rewarding experience in college with sharing clothing among 8 or so young women who wore roughly the same size and had a common interest in off-beat fashion, as well as in handmade accessories and shoes reflecting our diverse, multinational backgrounds, home regions, and travels.

Our shared closet nurtered our friendships, as well as our growing, collective awareness. We learned that our relationships extended to women's collectives, local artisans, vendors in out-of-the-way markets, and thrift-stores in various Metropoles, and that we were constructing our own "organic" approach to fashion. We felt cool, and we were often haute!

Now as so many people wake up to the ways that uncritical consumption of so-called "Fast Fashion," ignores the Full Circle of Life, including everything from the environmental impacts to the hijacking, commercialization of women's body images to the real repercussions for workers everywhere, perhaps we get another chance to be on the cutting edge of chic!

Check out this article in the NYT!

And don't forget to check the related comments. I'd love to see your answers to the question, Would you lease your clothes? (Leave a comment for me here!)

Reasons and Ways to Eat the Things We Least Prefer

Just the other day, I received an email requesting recipe-suggestions to make quinoa more palatable. This was a challenge, precisely because I LOVE QUINOA more than almost anything. One important point of awareness that this friend, who is so boldly challenging her own palate, has raised for me, is that food allergies often assail those of us who neglect to vary the foodstuffs we love. Of course, this wasn't the reason in her case, but as I reflected on my sense that I will eat anything that is vegetal and good for me, I had to admit that there are foods that I find difficult to use when I see them in my box (and so guiltily watch as they languish at the bottom of my fridge. What a missed opportunity to do as my sage friend and change things up a bit. (Hay que variar!)

The obvious squandered opportunities includes carrot tops--and here I vow to post a singular, proprietary (just kidding) recipe utilizing carrot tops, very soon--but radishes also come to mind, so I began to look and here (click) I have a found a few recipes for radishes and even radish-top soup on the web, and below are some ideas for quinoa and a link or two.

Cheers!

On Coaxing Quinoa to Express Its Tastier Virtues

1. Spice this lovely "fruit" up by cooking it in vegetable stock, or sauteing an onion/shallots to throw into the water. . .I like to add vegetables (carrot, corn, edamame are fine frozen). There are suggestions for toasting it, too. Also try using less water when cooking it, boil it fast and add more water as you go if it needs it.

2. And then there is also eating it cold. Made like tabouleh sweet or savory with vinegar/oil/lemon dressing overnight, one might add cucumbers/tomatoes/lots of parsley/avocado/pinenuts/dried cranberries.

3. Or consume it for breakfast as a hot cereal with fruit/raisins/nuts.

4. Usually I make something with flavor to go with it. My all time favorite is sauted onion/tofu/kale with bragg's on quinoa. I didn't used to like it, but somehow my taste changed--so much better than soy souce (much less salt, not fermented, full of amino acids).

5. I also like to treat it like pasta/polenta, with something saucy or curried. There's a recipe for ratatouille here on this very blog!

Commencing a Relationship with Quinoa

Useful Tips on Preparing Various Bulk Grains