Dr Mr Pollan

I would like to say a massive (and sarcastic) thank you to michael pollan for completely making over my dining experience. I apologize for this late post due to my being a member of the U of M women's lacrosse team, we were in Georgia this past weekend, and flew home at a delightful 1 am this morning. However, this trip did serve as massive inspiration for this very blog entry

While traveling with thirty some girls it is generally regarded to be most convenient to eat on the road, because of all the typical american justifications, time crunch, cheap (ish), little personal labor involved (thus conserves energy for the games), lots of options for various preferences, etc... Normally i regard this style of fast food dining, although not practiced at home, to be acceptable on the road. But Michael Pollan has destroyed this for me, toting along The Omnivore's Dilemma was the worst possible decision for my eating habits over the trip. They say ignorance is bliss, well i am now in full agreement with that statement. Although i could ramble on and on i about my decisions of what to eat for every one of our 9 meals there i will spare you the time and select a particular moment, Wendys.

While on the road we travel in 7 passenger vans and it is ultimately each van that functions as a unit, making a decision on where to go for food, but the individuals within the van are the rational actors. I believe that our van was inline with the neoclassical economic model, making rational decisions. Reasoning was sound in that we chose our restaurant based on the following, level of hunger, price range, time (both to get there and to wait) and type of cuisine offered. However, due to Pollan, i, as a newly-informed rational actor, was now not only reasoning economically by price but also in consideration of social responsibility and utility. Wendys, the grease can be smelled from the moment we step out of the car. yum. But shit, i no longer smell the former deliciousness of cheeseburgers and nuggets, nope now i smell factory farms and lakes of toxic manure. I feel a social responsibility to oppose this factory of obesity, to refuse to give them my hard earned money, to stand up for the rights of hormone-fed cows everywhere, but then my stomach grumbles and i enter.

When consulting the menu i bombarded with processed food, everything wrapped in plastic, and practically made of oil. The employees behind the counter (with their delightful georgia twang) have virtually no part in the labor of the meals they serve, they push buttons and swipe credit cards, while the food is being engineered thousands of miles away. Yet they do labor in one important economic function, taxes, they are the grass-root enforcers of this governmental policy, in georgia there was a tax on my wendys. Ultimately i made the rational choice to forgo meat all together and instead invest in a Frostie and small french fries, with the justification being that at least i know that these are awful for my body, and neither option masquerades as healthy.

Not only where the economical factors at play within my meal selection but also ethical factors as well. I am not a vegetarian, nor am i a patron of whole foods, or an organic label advocate, but i do make an effort to have a colorful plate, hitting all the major food groups, and limiting fatty "junk" food. I was raised to eat this way, that food is necessary, but not to be used as a coping mechanism (for boredom or sadness). But it is more than this, while at home i make an effort to buy locally, farmers markets and the like, but at school this is difficult and on the road nearly impossible. Normally, i do not support the massive fast food chains, because i lean towards the kenesian principle that democracy and capitalism are incompatible, and thus ethically i side on democracy, then capitalism, in the form of big business agriculture which feeds Wendys nation wide, becomes the enemy. However, when faced with the decision of choosing democracy and forgoing my lunch, or sacrificing my values for $3.50 of trans fat, i selfishly chose the latter.

Finally the politics, i think that particularly within the fast food industry the politics surrounding food gets very messy very quickly. Primarily, because fast food is so prevalent in our culture today, in the media (billboards, news, commercials) and also literally around every corner and on almost every block. Furthermore, fast food is linked to the current obesity crisis, a hot topic today, this links it to the entire medical field, which is irrevocably connected to the insurance industry another form of big business. Let alone the fact that the food used in food chains is grown on massive agricultural farms. There are laws and bi-laws surrounding each of these elements, and together they have a massive effect on the fast food industry. Ranging from health inspections to nutrition label laws.

My wendys meal of frosty and fries would most likely not even qualify as a meal by Pollan's standards. But as you can see within this meager lunch food selection (on a sunday afternoon) my decision was affected by ethics, politics, and economics, all of these things complicating my choices. The Omnivores Dilemma.

choosing food

I used to weigh a LOT more than I do now. I now make a choice every day about the food I eat based purely on the ratio of calories, fiber, and fat, in increments of 50 calories. I eat more vegetables because the have no fat and a high ratio of fiber to calories, and are more filling than other, more calorie-dense foods. I often make this choice at the expense of my bank account, but I make it anyway because that I place a higher value on the caloric content (or lack thereof) of my food than otherwise.

However, when my boyfriend's parents came to visit and I met them for the first time, I made a choice to eat something waaaay more calorie-dense than I would have otherwise. What were my reasons?
-I wanted to appear as though I did not "obsess" about my weight/food intake
-I didn't want them to think I was a picky eater
But most of all, I didn't want to seem like I was wasting their money (they paid) by spending 10 dollars on a salad and soup instead of 10 dollars on pasta or meat. Interestingly, vegetables and fruit are considered to be (too) expensive because they are not seen as ACTUAL food. They are seen as sides, or additions, as superfluous. Therefore, in order to appear to be getting VALUE out of the money they spent, I ordered food that was less good for me, calories I didn't need.

Plus they seemed like the steak and potatoes sort. Republicans. "Salt of the earth" kind of folks. And I wanted to fit in. I didn't want them to know I was a pro-choice, healthcare reform-loving liberal. Which OBVIOUSLY a soup and salad would have revealed?

Last week while on my routine shopping trip to Target, wandering through the grocery aisles, trying to rule out what I did and didn't really need to buy, I stopped to grab a familiar box of cheesy snacks that I realized I was starting to miss from home. Though Annie's Cheddar Bunnies aren't exactly the pinnacle of the organic foods industry, or the best possible example of virtuous eating habits, as they sit on my desk they are coming to represent something more to me and serve as a reminder of these things.

Sounds goofy, I know. But recently I've realized how drastically my eating habits have changed since I've moved out of my house--and definitely for the worse. I can't totally justify this happening by the change in circumstances and surroundings; I have to own up to the fact that to some extent I've chosen to eat less healthily. However, my setting has made a big difference, and the shift in availability of different kinds of foods has had a major impact on what and how I eat. I grew up in a house where healthy eating was stressed, especially by my mom who's a bit of health nut. Not only did both my parents eat relatively healthy and balanced diets, they both avoid buying processed foods and try to buy organic and local when they can. We bought about half our groceries at Seward Co-op and half at Rainbow, a necessary compromise because of economic constraints. It's true that organic food tends to be pricier, however, it doesn't have to be unreasonable, seeing as my parents managed to find a balance between price and quality on an income that's somewhere between working and lower middle class. To me it seems that not buying processed foods, regardless of where they come from, is a key part of this, as that seems to be where things become most overpriced.

Anyway, the point is that growing up I was surrounded by relatively healthy foods. Whatever my parents bought and cooked was what I ate, and for the most part that meant eating things that were pretty good for me. Moving out of my parents and into the dorms, a very different picture of food has been readily available to me, namely easy access to all kinds of junk that I rarely used to eat or drink. Not to say I've been totally sheltered from pop and fast food, it's definitely been a part of my diet, but is now much more prevalent. Once I realized this, I found I had a lot more conscious choices to make than I have been if I want to eat well for either myself, the environment, or both. Unfortunately my grocery shopping habits have been shaped both by environment and economics. Going to Target is cheap, easy, and fun to do with friends, not to mention convenient because you can get EVERYTHING there, but doesn't really offer me the best options for food. Next year I will be in an apartment, meaning much more groceries and cooking on my own, which presents me with both a challenge and an opportunity. My homework for myself is to find out if and how I can get and make economic, healthy, and hopefully ethical food for myself so that next year (hopefully sooner) I can start making better eating choices.

Perhaps Too Practical

When looking at what I eat I guess I can conclude that I usually try and make 'rational choices'. Rational to me, means buying food that is practical, that I will get maximum utility out of, and that is on the more healthy side, and if not, then moderated portions of it. Anytime I go to a restaurant, I try and get smaller porttions, or food that will last as left overs. I always feel really guilty when I don't finish food that I, or someone else pays for, so I either feel the need to eat it all (which can be very bad) or take it home for later. I guess this can be looked at as a good thing in some ways. I like knowing that food isn't going to waste, into a garbage can to just rot away in a dump. I also like knowing that I am getting full value for what I paid for. Even beside buying food, I have always been a practical buyer. It is hard for me to go shopping for clothes or anything that isn't necessarily needed, because I feel like I could be spending my money on something more important. Usually social settings will change this thinking, for example going out to eat with other people. If I'm by myself, I'll opt to just eat whatever I have sitting in my house.
Keynesian economics looks down upon "hoarding" or saving for no intentional later use, but especially in this ecomomy, I find it hard to believe that people save there money with no reason behind it. Whether it is to save your self from extra uneeded calories, or saving a dollar by buying something only when it goes on sale, saving can be a rational choice too.

Meat

There is something immensely satisfying about buying fresh meat. Choosing the fresh cut of your choice, to bringing it home and making something delicious makes me happy. I like meat. I could never be a vegetarian. The amount of energy and sustenance I gain from a meat filled meal is noticeable to me. Plus I just like the taste. Unfortunately, I rarely contemplate the actions that go into providing me with the meat I so readily devour. As a culture, we are completely removed from the processes that provide us the food. Besides a small few, none of us have ever slaughtered a cow, or defeathered a chicken.

It makes it almost impossible to understand the implications of our actions when we are so far removed from how it is created. However, at my cabin food is provided very differently. Often, we will buy meat from the farm down the road. We buy it because it has good meat, and because we like the people. However, if the farm was a large corporate farm where the animals were treated poorly, as a commodity rather than an actual living creature, we would probably not buy food from them. It would seem unethical. The reason why we choose the smaller farm is because we were able to see first hand where and how the meat was brought to us. Unfortunately, most meat does from large corporate farms, but since I am so far removed from it, I don't think about the ethics.

Close to Home

Whenever it is warm on campus there are always stations set up over by the mall area that sell fruits, vegetables, and I have even seen flowers at times. At first I would never buy from these stands, figuring that I can get the same thing at the grocery store when I'd need to shop and thinking that it was inconvenient to be picking up produce with a handful of books.
However, I began to learn more about locally grown foods and its benefits. Buying locally grown food helps out the local economy within my community. Many farmers that need to ship out their products need to spend more money on transporting their goods, refrigeration and packaging. They only make approximately 1/5 on every dollar that is spent. Farmers who grow locally receive full retail value.
I fully and completely support locally grown foods because they are also known to be safer for you to eat. The Center for a New American Dream says “Local food is often safer, too.Even when it’s not organic, small farms tend to be less aggressive than large factory farms about dousing their wares with chemicals.”
From a political standpoint, locally grown food can also help with reduce global warming. With foods that need to be shipped in from great distances fuel is being burned at an outrageous rate but with foods grown locally the farmers are fairly close to where they need to be sold.
Now whenever it is warm I always shop there as often as possible. I find here that Keynesians may not be happy about this because the government it not interfering what so ever within these independent sales.

I personally save the planet (or not)

When I was 10, I made the choice to stop eating meat and fish because I felt sad at the idea of cute little pigs (and chickens and cows and and and and and). Eight years later, I’m not quite as sensitive, but still choose not to eat meat because I don’t wish to contribute to an industry that I see as largely harmful to the planet (both environmentally and economically)*. I skip out on steaks, fish sticks, and all kinds of delicious state fair food to suck profits away from The Big Bad Meat Industry, which then stops mass feed production, overuse of antibiotics, and other questionable practices. At least, that’s what I tell myself and others when I need a coherent explanation for my choice or feel the need to prove that I’m conscious of the impact of my eating practices in some way. However, I think the idea that not eating meat is automatically a good ethical choice (something many of my fellow vegetarians have told me as well) is suspect. Presumably, we substitute meat with other foods, each of which has their own “politics”. Where does it come from? How is it produced? Who does the money go to? What is it made of? Essentially, the questions Pollan seeks to answer in his discussions of food politics and what counts as a “good choice.

I decided to conduct my case study with my frequent meat-substitute of choice: the veggie burger. Specifically, a Boca Burger bought in a package of 6 from Whole Foods. I’ve been eating Boca Burgers almost as long as I’ve been a vegetarian, and over the years have spent a great deal of money purchasing boxes every several weeks or so. I’ve always assumed (rather, chose not to question) that they were from some small, natural company with ecologically sustainable farming practices and fair wages and blah blah blah. But, after a little research, I’ve discovered my choice might not be so awesome after all.


First, the Boca company is owned by Kraft, the largest packaged foods company in the country (and has been since 2000–before I even started consuming their products). So much for helping out local/small farms. My money went from one huge industry to another. Additionally, each boca burger comes individually packaged in plastic, a probably unnecessary practice that necessitates a whole lot of plastic production. The most common type of plastic used for food packaging is PVC, which is difficult to recycle and whose production mandates the use of a bunch of toxic chemicals to make it pliable enough for packaging. Boca fail #2. Additionally, until very recently, the eggs they used in their products were from chickens in “battery cages”–very small cages used by industrial agriculture for mass production. Not only are the cages ethically questionable, but they are owned by big agribusiness, whose near monopoly on production in the US has proved disasterous for many a small farmer and good antibiotic use and decreased use of artificial fertilizer and and and (see list of things I try to avoid by not eating meet, above). To top it all off, the burgers contain corn oil and hydrolyzed corn protein (WTF is that) and are then browned in more corn oil. Based on the rest of source of their eggs (and the fact that in their other more expensive burgers they specific “organic ingredients” and here they do not) I would be the source of their corn is not the small local farm down the road (insert reasons big corn business is bad here–thank you, Pollan). So, Boca burgers: not so awesome a choice if I want to make my stand for the world.

What then, is the solution? I think it is better not to give up on specific types of food but instead focus on the sources of the food we eat (and by this I do not mean it’s a good idea to eat loads of Little Bear Chedder Puffs instead of Cheetos). What is wrong with eating the free range chicken grown on organic, local feed from the small farm in Southern MN? Probably nothing. Clearly, just being a vegetarian doesn’t mean much. While Boca Burgers are delicious, they aren’t the most ethical choice. What is? Guess I need a new substitute…

*Other (probably more accurate) reason I don’t eat meat: I have developed kind of a weird thing about ingesting flesh after not eating it for so long? Difficult to explain, goes back to a fear of cannibalism, which I think has its own rich cultural history…

food from across the world

Normally, i try to eat food from my country so me and my family always shop from African's store. This friday i wanted to eat some yam, so me and my mother went to the African store near us to get some yam and later we cooked it. The geographical location we talked about in class is what permits me to eat food from my country anytime i want to and i am very grateful for that.
Pollan wants people to buy locally, but i don't know if me and my family purchasing food that comes from another continent is buying locally. I may not be helping locally, but i am glad to buy food that comes from my country. In that way i feel like i am helping the farmers of my country and the owner of the store in his business. I also act ethically in eating food i know. The foods me and my family buy from the African store, are food we know and it is the correct behaviour to not deny foods from your country.
When i wanted that yam, my mother could have refused to buy it because foods coming from another continent can be expensive, but as Keynes says hoarding is bad so in my family we always spend the necessary to feed ourselves. That is why we don't buy more than the necessary because trowing food is not acceptable. As Pollan says the nature of human body can consume only so much food no matter how plentiful the supply(49), so we only buy the necessary and we go shopping a few times in a week when we are in need. Like when i decided to eat that yam, we had to go and get the one we saw that we could finish.

Crazy Craisin Consumption

I imagine it’s pretty correct to assume that everyone has one or more staple food item that he or she can’t live without and finds absolutely crucial to have stocked at all times. However, I recognize the peculiarity of Ocean Spray dried cranberries in becoming my most essential food item in the past few years. I love eating them in pretty much any type of edible form whether it be in salads, cookies, bread, muffins, cereal, or just by the plain handful. They just add to everything!

I don’t know exactly why I have grown to love the taste as well as the consistency of Craisins, but since I’ve been away at college it’s really hard to keep my constant supply of them, since I live in the dorms and rarely go grocery shopping due to my meal plan that I have. Whenever I go home on breaks, I have the opportunity to get my share of them to bring back with me to Minneapolis (at least for a little while.)

When I first discovered how much I enjoyed this dried fruit, I had just been buying the smaller bags at the store which I believe are about 6 oz. They sell for around $3.00. That was fine when that bag was able to last me a week, but once I was able to eat 6 oz. in a day, it was getting a little ridiculous. Sam’s Club in my hometown sells food in bulk quantities, and ever since the day I stumbled upon the 48 oz. bags of Craisins as I was walking down the aisles, I have been able to maximize my utility while saving money in the long run. I’m able to get 8 times the amount of product for only $8.00 a bag, or just $4.00 more than I was spending for the small bag.

Due to my limited accessibility in comparison to when I was living at home, my consumption has decreased overall. My mom was sending me two 48 oz. bags a week at the beginning of the school year, but she’s stopped, since it was costing a ton of money to ship them, and now I’ve settled with only eating my favorite food when I visit home, because it didn’t make sense to be spending so much money each additional week. Not to mention it can’t be good to consume two 48 oz. bags in a week, which is what I maximized at. I’ve been having to make do with raisins, which hardly compare, so I’m predicting my consumption will once again be in full force when I move back to Wisconsin this summer.

The Top Drink

The most appealing day to day drink for me no matter what is the Arnold Palmer. It starts with two lemons that along with sugar and water make home made lemonade. Next I turn on the teapot and make iced tea. I prefer Twinning’s black tea. After a little bit a sugar everything is set. Four ice cubes and half lemonade/half iced tea.

Not only is this drink cheap, it is very refreshing on a summer day and one can control how sweet they want it. That is what I like about making this drink the way I do. This is about control. I have control over the ingredients, if I want to add half a lime or make the tea stronger I do so.

The only thing I don't control is the price of lemons, sugar, and black tea. I don't assume those will change before Arizona Iced Tea increases their price on Arnold Palmers. If the price of the ingredients goes up, I assume it won't be by much. I also know what I am putting in my drink (without high fructose corn syrup).

I wouldn't say that Arizona Iced Tea is my rival because when I am far from home and I really want a good drink I buy their product, but when I have the resources in my kitchen I make an even better Arnold Palmer. I support the company only when I have to.

$$$$$

When I first started college, I decided that I would try to be more conscious about what I ate. My grandfather only ate food if he knew where it came from, and to me, it seemed like a good policy to follow. Of course, I couldn't hunt for my own meat or grow my own vegetables like he had, at least partly because I lived in an apartment complex in Minneapolis, so I tried shopping for organic and local food instead.

Baby steps.

Because I'm Muslim, I considered eating meat that was dhabiha/halal, or slaughtered in a prescribed way. There are some "ethnic" grocery stores in the area that sell this meat, so for a while, I also only ate meat that I cooked at home. However, it didn't seem like a "good Muslim" thing to do to eat meat if I didn't know how the animals were treated before they were killed, so I stopped eating meat entirely.

It was nice, while it lasted. I felt good about my decisions and the way I ate, even if I made no difference on any level with my food politics. But my financial situation since then has changed a LOT. I can't afford to even think about those specialty grocery stores anymore, and buying organic is a luxury I can't afford. I still don't eat (much) meat, but it's for a different reason entirely- I can't justify the expense.

I usually check out the sales before I go to the grocery store, and then I pick up the bare essentials... enough to facilitate eating somewhat "healthy" meals, but certainly not the kind of local or organic foods that some of my friends eat. I buy the cheapest loaf of bread, the vegetables that are on sale, and whatever else I can fit into my budget.

In the end, my desire to eat beat out my desire to make "ethical" choices. One of the posts suggested that it was important to pay the full cost of food, and while I agree on a theoretical level, it's not something I'm willing to commit to.

If my financial situation becomes better, I'll have to reevaluate what I eat. But for now, I'm pretty much guilt-free-- I eat to survive.

Why I eat what I eat

I'd say that the choices I make when I'm buying food are pretty typical of a college student. When I shopping, or at UDS, I try to get food that is at least a bit healthy, but its not really my top priority. Saving money probably is. Even though I actually do pretty well for myself (especially considering I'm a college student) I grew up in a pretty poor family so, out of habit, I go cheap when I shop. For example, I usually try to get some sort of lean meat when I get groceries, which usually ends up being chicken breast because it's relatively expensive and is super versatile. I typically grill up 1 package of chicken breast (which I get off of Gopher Grocery because I don't have a car and don't like bringing groceries on the bus) that usually contains 3 breasts sometime during the weak, cut them into pieces and use it pasta or salads or by itself. Thus, I can make sure I'm eating at least some protein everyday and am able to stretch out that one package for at least a week.

Waste is my biggest issue when it comes to food. Whether it be wasting my money (why spend more money on more expensive food when I can get the same value for a lesser price?) or wasting food, I have a hard time doing it. (Keynes would probably say I'm hoarding my money) This largely stemmed from working as a dish washer at a fairly upscale Italian restaurant (okay, it's in Mankato, so it's not all that fancy) where our customers would regularly compliment the food, yet still send at least half their plates back untouched. In one 5-6 hour weekend shift I would easily throw away enough food to feed at least 50 people a full meal with salad, a main course and dessert. And we actually served pretty small portions.

The huge gap between myself, as someone who grew up without an excess of money, and the usual patrons of the Neighbor's Italian Bistro, who are generally in the $150,000+ per household bracket, is actually a fairly interesting phenomena to me now. After being a first-hand witness at how much useless waste we generate, first while working at a restaurant and then at a grocery store, as well as the fact that my dad really pushed being frugal onto me and my brothers, I find myself extremely reluctant to contribute to the problem any more than necessary. To put the matter into some perspective, every year Japan (not to pick on them, they're just the only country I know off hand) throws away about four times as much food as gets sent by aid programs to starving nations (~23.2 million tons vs. ~5.9 million tons). So, being able to keep the amount of waste I produce at a minimum is just as important to me as taste or initial cost when I make decisions about food.

A Tale of Two Tomatoes

I wondered how tomatoes could be so different. This weekend, I purchased two types of fresh tomatoes: Bushel Boy brand beefsteak tomatoes, grown in Owatonna, Minnesota, and generic Roma tomatoes, imported from Mexico. The varietal difference aside, I judged these tomatoes poles apart in appearance, aroma, flavor, and texture. The Bushel Boy tomatoes were deep red, juicy, and robustly flavored. The Mexican tomatoes were anemic pink, unyieldingly firm, and bland. The Minnesota product cost $3 a pound, and the Mexican tomatoes, $1.50. My food purchase is a case study in agriculture economics, politics, and ideology.

Bushel Boy Farms grows its tomatoes in climate-controlled greenhouses and uses petroleum-based fertilizers and heat. The company benefits from low distribution costs and maximal product freshness. The Mexican growers also use artificial fertilizers but ship their tomatoes thousands of miles in petroleum-fueled trucks. The Minnesota tomatoes meet Pollan’s “buy locally” polemic but fall short of his campaign against petroleum-based agriculture production. The Mexican tomatoes meet none of Pollan’s desirable food criteria.

Bushel Boy Farms avoids direct involvement in an ongoing tomato trade debate between Mexico and the United States. (Florida growers claim that Mexican growers unfairly price their tomatoes.) Bushel Boy has the advantage of catering to an exclusive regional market. The product offers consumers a significant point of difference: a so-called vine-ripened freshness unmatched by most other commercial tomatoes.

In a way, the company embraces a Friedman-inspired economic philosophy. It developed and commercialized a unique approach to tomato growing and distribution. I assume investors rather than government subsides helped capitalize the venture. Bushel Boy Farms success can only be due to producing a product that meets a consumer need.

Organic is better

Earlier this week I took a trip to my local Cub Foods. On this particular trip I planned to pick up some salad greens. When I approached the cooler I made the choice to purchase Earthbound Farms Organic Spring Mix. The decision to choose organic over standard greens has many ethical, economic and political implications for me.

I choose organic and local produce whenever possible because I believe it is important to pay the full cost of food. I don’t mind paying the high prices because I know that agro¬chemical agriculture is heavily subsidized through the government, whereas organic farming receives no subsidies at all. Therefore the renowned productivity and efficiently of our food system is an economic illusion. Food in America is cheap because we can avoid paying the total costs. Some costs have been paid by farmers forced into bankruptcy because they can’t compete with large agribusiness. Some costs have been paid by workers who suffer exploitative wages. Some costs are paid by the government through subsidies, price fixing and health care. Furthermore, future generations bear the burden of environmental degradation and social injustice caused by the system.

My economic view of the food closely follows the Friedman view. I think government intervention in the American food system has brought the market out of equilibrium, leading to more problems and erroneous solutions. In my view, the food system would be better off if the government did not regulate grain production or supply the guidelines for the food pyramid. Balance in the market could be achieved if private firms had control. They would ultimately provide products and services that would lead to a better industry. In terms of labeling this viewpoint as a political party, it most closely resembles the Republican Party’s virtue of a free market economic system with little intervention by government.

Above everything, my decision to buy the organic salad greens was a moral act. Choosing what I believe to be a fundamentally right and good way of life is a testament of my ethics. I know my individual food choices will not change the global food system, change the world or change the future of humanity. But I only get one body and what I put it in greatly affects how it works so I want to feed it food that is good quality.

fair trade

To me and you, to walk through a grocery store with a cart full of Fair Trade/Organic stamped food is to be politically correct. It is a consumer fad, surely, a marketing tool, yes. It is one that we feel great about jumping on. I only buy FTO coffee because I know that the Fair Trade stamp is based on a business model that puts workers and the environment first, not last. I have worked in the coffee business for four years, and have many friends who roast beans and have visited coffee plantations. It is an incredibly complex, interesting industry that accounts for the second largest product. Coffee is consumed by all of us - we know it well. I look at coffee the way most look at wine (actually, a cup of coffee has more complexity in flavor than a glass of wine). The major difference is that coffee comes from third world countries, where wine comes from first. People don't mind paying $8 for a nice glass of wine, but refuse to pay more than $3 for a cup of good coffee.

Behind each cup of coffee consumed lies an explosive situation. In regions that rely on coffee production, out-migration, robbery, violence, and drug cultivation have all increased exponentially. Many growers have succumbed to the temptation to take the machete to the coffee plants and be done with it.

Ironically, coffee is one of the products where Mexican and Central American farmers should be profitable according to the theory of comparative advantages. But instead of a bonanza, coffee cultivation under current conditions has condemned the growers to poverty, exile, death, or charity. Meanwhile, transnational traders and international investment funds accumulate huge fortunes.

The crisis in the coffee industry has caused severe problems in the economic, social, and environmental aspects of coffee growing countries. Economically, there has been a clear drop in profits, mainly for small and medium growers and their cooperatives. Simultaneously, the international coffee market generates hefty profits for the large intermediaries, especially the roasters and branders. Transnational corporations have significantly increased their presence in national markets, as buyers, processors, or retailers. This has led to a reduction in investment for the small farmers, which in turn leads to a greater drop in employment and income. Agricultural export earnings for farmers have plummeted. The increase in unemployment has deepened poverty for rural families and forced emigration. Many growers have destroyed their coffee to plant basic grains and corn, reducing the environmental benefits that coffee production provides.

Fair trade coffee is the first product that has a whole system dedicated to making sure it was produced under just conditions for the farmers.

Source: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/

Why do I buy Pizza Rolls?

Yesterday, I decided to purchase a 90 count bag of Totino's pizza rolls for work. I definitely didn't eat all of them; in fact, I will probably end up making them last for 5 or so days of work. Perhaps the main reason that I purchased this bag was for the value. On one hand, I love the taste of pizza rolls, and on the other hand I am frugal. By finding a happy medium between the two I found an acceptable value although I didn't maximize my utility.

One of the other reasons I purchase this product and feel good about my purchase ethically and politically is the fact that it is made in the U.S. I feel that by purchasing this product, I am supporting the U.S. Also, by purchasing this product, I know that I am supporting a company in the U.S. who is paying their employees at least minimum wage; therefore, I am not supporting ethically bad business practices such as child labor or cheap labor. Finally, by purchasing the pizza rolls, I am supporting Target and the manufacturing store which essentially supports the individual employee and would possibly result in more employees being hired.

Blog Posting #6 (due Sunday 3/28, 11:59 P.M.): 'Freely' 'Choosing' 'Food'

We've been talking all week about the many 'invisible hands' (economics, science, politics...) that determine food production and consumption. We'll soon take our work into more personal, more 'pleasure-able' more 'body' aspects of cooking and eating.

Let's look at the degree to which we really are 'free to choose' what we eat. Let's analyze a specific eating act.

• select a moment when you made a choice about what to eat (or purchase, or cook, or whatever eating dimensions turn out to be important). 'Food logs' are an obvious place to look, but any recent, interesting food choice is fine.

• explain it in terms of its ethics, politics and economics.

No-BS guideline: it's really easy to say 'I ate the chocolate raised doughnut because I always do, and I was hungry and they were on a plate in the kitchen.' Right. But that doesn't say much. Our models here—and the ideas / concepts / ways of explaining, even the terms—come from Friedman, Keynes, Posner, Pollan and our discussions and Background Reports. Use 'em.

How Much is Too Much?

Imagine a billionaire exotic fish collector. What would s/he have inside his/her aquarium?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/science/23aquarium.html?ref=science

Donna Simpson's Non-Surgical Approach to Body Shaping

The following article (from Fox News) describes a gross (literally) tale about a woman who's life goal is to increase her weight from 600 to 1000 lb. This approach to body-shaping is an alternate to the surgical techniques described by Frank in Emily's Scars. Of course, here we have an extreme example the obesity epidemic so graphically documented by Pollan.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589377,00.html

• Print
• ShareThis

YouTube

Donna Simpson, who already weighs 600 pounds, is determined to become the world's fattest woman.

• 
• 
• 

Meet Donna Simpson. She's going to cost you. A lot.

Simpson, of Old Bridge, N.J., is 42 years old, has two kids and a boyfriend, and she weighs 602 pounds. That's right ... 602 pounds.

She's on a diet, of course, because she a goal in mind:

She wants to weigh 1,000 pounds.

That's right ... 1,000 pounds. It's a nice, extra-round figure — almost as big as what her unhealthy choices will ultimately cost taxpayers.

Slideshow: Woman Wants to Be 'World's Fattest'

Simpson claims she is normal and healthy, and she has a right to eat what she wants and weigh what she wants.

“I love eating and people love watching me eat,” she says. “It makes people happy, and I’m not harming anyone.”

But she needs to use a motor scooter when she goes grocery shopping, because she can't walk more than 20 feet. The human body, after all, is not designed to scarf down 12,000 calories a day in the quest to weigh half a ton.

Simpson is definitely harming someone — herself, says Dr. Carla Wolper, a registered dietitian and research faculty member at the New York Obesity Research Center at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York.

And you, the taxpayer, could wind up paying for it.

“We don’t know her medical history, but one of the most dangerous health issues she faces is an increased risk of sudden death from having a heart attack due to electrical problems in the heart,” Wolper said.

Other possible causes of death for Simpson include stroke, immobility, breathing problems, congestive heart failure, diabetes, and inflammation of heart tissue. Each year, nearly 300,000 Americans die from heart failure.

Simpson, experts say, is putting herself at risk for all these medical conditions, and those conditions have a hefty pricetag.

“The baseline cost for someone like Simpson to go to the emergency room is $993 for one visit,” Daniel Emmer, public relations manager of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, the largest health insurance provider in New Jersey, told FOXNews.com.

Simpson’s main source of income to support herself financially is by appearing on a Web site where men pay to watch videos of her gorging on food and showing off her hundreds of pounds of extra bulge in a bikini.

But it's anyone's guess whether her revenue from Web videos will cover the cost of her inevitable health risks.

“Someone with diabetes costs $11,744 more per year to provide health care, which is twice as much as the average person,” Emmer said.

It is unclear what type of insurance Simpson has, if any. But Emmer said there is no question that whatever her health care position is, it comes at a high cost.

“Her obesity alone causes a minimum $1,429 increase, or 42 percent in medical costs,” Emmer said. “Research shows lifestyle choices and behaviors drive 87.5 percent of the cost for health care claims.”

“When people are very, very overweight, they are at an increased risk for a condition called prolonged QT syndrome,” Wolper told FoxNews.com.

Prolonged QT syndrome is a heart rhythm disorder that can potentially cause fast, chaotic heartbeats, the Mayo Clinic says on its Web site. In some cases, the heart may beat erratically for so long that it can cause sudden death.

"Another problem this woman faces is related to the circulatory system,” Wolper said. “When people are that big, circulation is often impaired in the legs. This can cause blood to pool in the legs leading to formation of blood clots. This leaves morbidly obese people at an increased risk for a pulmonary embolism.”

A pulmonary embolism occurs when one or more arteries in the lungs become blocked. In most cases, pulmonary embolism is caused by blood clots that travel to your lungs from another part of your body — most commonly, your legs, according to the Mayo Clinic. One of the major risk factors is excess weight, which increases the risk of blood clots, especially in women who smoke or have high blood pressure.

“The work of the heart is tremendously increased when someone is that big because there’s so much more blood in the body,” Wolper said. “When this happens, the heart has to pump against the pressure of all that fat that is pressing against the blood vessels, and as a result the heart enlarges, and not in a good way.”

As Simpson’s appetite increases, so will the cost of health care for the severe medical conditions that she is likely to have — conditions that are preventable by healthier lifestyle choices. Whereas her $750-a-week grocery bill is merely gastronomical, her hospital bills will be astronomical — and the taxpayers of New Jersey may well have to pay her tab.

Meanwhile, in her effort to boldly go where no woman has gone before, Simpson says she tries to stay sedentary, so she burns as few calories as necessary.

She consumes five times more than the recommended daily calories for a woman her age.

“My favorite food is sushi. But unlike others I can sit and eat 70 big pieces of sushi in one go,” she told the Daily Mail.

“I do love cakes and sweet things, doughnuts are my favorite.”

The current record for fattest woman is held by a woman also from New Jersey, who weighed an unbelievable 1,800 pounds when she died in 2008. She was 49 years old.

Simpson is proud of the Guinness World Record she holds now for the world’s fattest mother, and her boyfriend is proud of her too.

Philippe, 49, supports her thousand-pound goal, even if that is nearly seven times his own weight of 150 pounds.

“I think he’d like it if I was bigger,” Simpson said. “He’s a real belly man, and completely supports me.”

Someday, the experts say, we all may support her.

Click here to read more from The Daily Mail.

FoxNews.com's Karlie Pouliot contributed to this article.

Today on Science Friday: GMOs

Today, March 12, Science Friday will present a one-hour discussion on GMOs. Representatives from academia, agriculture, an environmental group, and industry (Monsanto) will participate. You can listen to the show on MPR, 91.1 FM, at 1 PM. The program will subsequently be archived on sciencefriday.com.

The following link provides more program information:

http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201003121

From the Website:

Drought-resistant corn, wonder rice, and cassava packed with vitamins are all promises of biotech for farmers in developing countries. But how has biotech delivered on those dreams? In this hour of Science Friday, we'll talk about transgenic crops. What does it take to get them from the lab to a small farmer's plot? Are these crops turning traditional farming upside down? Plus, how far off are crops that could thrive in saltier, drier soils, and tolerate higher temperatures? A recent paper says biotech is key to safeguarding our food supply as the climate changes. But is it the only way? We're broadcasting live this week from St Louis, Missouri, as the guests of KWMU

Ethopolitics, racialized

There was a pretty interesting article that honestly has its fingers in all the cups of koolaid: race, politics, economics, "science".

http://www.mndaily.com/2010/03/09/race-related-controversy-causes-drug-flop

"“It doesn’t at all; it just means different,” she said, “and there’s nothing wrong with different."

The Eating Habits of a Debater

So, I spent this past weekend in the beautiful, (and NOT dilapidated), city of East Lansing, Michigan. I was there to participate in the last debate tournament I'll ever be eligible for. (I'm graduating in May). I figured that I could chronicle the "nutritional demands", and the absolutely disgusting fares that come with the activity.

I am posting so late because I didn't have internet access over the weekend, and by the time I got home, I simply forgot to post this.

So, hero goes...

When: Friday, 12:00PM

What: Gobstoppers, and a bag of Baked Cheddar munchies. (Bag was about 1/3 done, and then one of the other debaters stole it.

Where: Somewhere in Illinois, honestly I don’t know. I couldn’t find a name.

Why: Because I was starving. I had not eaten breakfast because my stomach hates to have food put inside of it when I am tired in the morning. It’s finicky.

When: Friday, 3:00PM

What: Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich (Lettuce, Mayo), Fries, Diet Coke

Where: Somewhere in Indiana, again, I missed the name of the Town while I was driving towards the exit.

Why: Well, I wasn’t that hungry but I knew that it would be my last chance to eat until later that night so I figured I just should.

When: Friday, 7:35PM

What: Deep Dish Pizza (Pepperoni) I know, I know, I am a healthy eater.

Where: The hotel room in which I was staying in East Lansing, Michigan. We had ordered in.

Why: Because I was hungry, this one wasn’t too complicated.

When: Friday, 11:53PM

What: Gobstoppers

Where: Hotel room

Why: Because I was craving some of the gobstoppers that I had bought earlier.

When: Saturday, 1:33PM

What: Two pieces of spicy chicken pizza

Where: Debate Tournament, Day 1, Lunch

Why: Well, I was starving after I didn’t eat earlier that morning. I didn’t get enough sleep, and so my stomach felt fairly sour until the morning wore off.

When: Saturday, 7:45PM

What: Chicken Vindaloo, Butter Naan, and a Mango Lassi

Where: An Indian restaurant named “Sindhu” in Michigan.

Why: Because two years ago when I had gone to this tournament, we had dinner at this restaurant, and I had the incredibly spicy version of Chicken Vindaloo.

When: Sunday, 9:13AM

What: An Orange

Where: During the first debate round of the day

Why: I was feeling hungry, but I was also feeling slightly nauseas, so I figured the easiest food on my stomach would be an orange.

When: Sunday, 12:17PM

What: Chicken wrap (Lettuce, tomato, onion, mayoish stuff)

Where: Debate tournament lunch table

Why: It was lunch and while I wasn’t hungry, I knew I should eat so I’d have energy for the rest of the day’s debates.

When: Sunday, 7:35PM

What: Grilled Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, and Green Beans/Carrots, and then Chocolate Cake!

Where: Tournament banquet

Why: Because this tournament can be an epic shit storm of crazy, and so it’s nice to relax.

When: Sunday: 11:16PM

What: Bag of Munchies, “Blue” Flavor

Where: Gas Station near the hotel I was staying at.

Why: I was hungry…

monsanto, destructive to the economy and environment

I thought this article was interesting, thought i'd share:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1239069020070313

A federal judge has banned the sale of certain monsanto seeds due to a lack of an environmental impact statement.

food food foodddds

This post is late because I spent like four hours trying to get my internet to work to make this post. I'm pretty annoyed at this point.

FRIDAY

12:30 pm

AT HOME, 1 glass of 1% milk, and a bowl of beef/vegetable curry with rice, because I am hungry and just woke up, and both of those things are already there in my fridge and only require microwaving.

5:00 pm

AT HOME, spinach salad with fresh mozzarella and basil, dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, because I have basil lying around and I want to finish it, and my spinach expires on monday... also, salad involves no cooking. A glass of water, because I'm thirsty (and my only other beverage option is milk).

5:30 pm

AT HOME, 7 dinosaur shaped frozen fish sticks, because I am still hungry after salad, and I like dinosaurs. I imagine I'm still hungry because I forgot to pack a lunch and I couldn't afford to buy anything at school.

7:00 pm

AT MY FRIENDS HOUSE, a couple handfuls of cheetos, because everyone is doing it. a giant bottle of water, because i'm dehydrated.

1:00 am

AT HOME, some general mills plain cheerios, because i like them before bed. another glass of 1% milk, because i also like it before bed, and it's in easy reach, just inside the fridge.

SATURDAY

12:30 pm At home: a banana i stole from my roommate, because i just woke up and I was hungry, and there weren't too many other options, since our sink spewed water everywhere and then stopped working and made everything in the kitchen a disaster. The power pretty much stopped working too. That was so great.

2:00 pm Salted peanuts in my bedroom, because i didn't want to go upstairs and face the mess that was my kitchen.

3:00 pm Two more packets of salted peanuts- stress eating for a test on monday, and still in my bedroom.

5:00 pm Grocery store sushi that I ate at home. Normally, it would be preferable to cook up some kind of meal since it's the weekend and all, but the kitchen is still all broken.

6:00 pm a small tea at a coffee shop nearby, because I needed to study somewhere with working electricity.

SUNDAY

10:30 am at home: banana and tea at home. tea to wake me up and the banana because it was there.

12:30 pm Halls cough drops, because I think I caught something from my roommate.

2:30 pm Couscous salad from the grocery store, because I needed food and our sink was still spewing stuff and our electricity wasn't really functioning.

6:00 pm Delivery pizza at home, because I couldn't be bothered to try and cook something without electricity, and it's just so easy to call and pay and eat.

7:00 pm More cough drops! same reasons as the ones I had at 12:30 pm.

9:00 pm Plain cheerios and a glass of milk, to help me concentrate on studying while not being too fattening, considering that I ate pizza earlier in the day.

2:00 am a bunch of saltines while trying to reconnect the internet by finding a working power outlet in our house. See, some of them work and some of them don't? It was exciting. Normally I'd be asleep by now, but I had to get online to make this post.

This was not really a normal weekend, because I usually don't have a broken house. But.... I ate a combination of cooked food, store bought meals, and snacks, and that's not really atypical. I try to eat food cooked at home usually, because i'm poor, but I did end up eating out anyway. I only drink water or milk, but I do have tea if I need to go to a cafe for internet. I mostly eat at home.

Food

Tuesday 3.2.10

9am: bowl of Quaker's Maple Brown Sugar hot oatmeal; in my room; i like to eat before class and I actually gave myself time to make something

11:30am: lunch at Sanford's cafeteria; crispy chicken sandwich, salad with veggies and dressing, cup of water, and a chocolate chip cookie; ate the food provided at the dorm cafe because I have a meal plan there and its convenient.

*When I'm not eating I'm almost always chewing gum throughout the day; it helps me stay focused and it keeps me from eating food when I'm not really hungry but just eating because its better than doing homework

4p: snack; 4 ritz crackers and Jiff peanut butter and pouch of roundy's brand smile fruit snacks and cup of V8 splash fruit juice; my filler between lunch and dinner; in my room

6:45p: dinner; sanford hall cafe; slice of sun dried tomato and mushroom pizza and a bit of spicy Asian noodles, applesauce, cup of water; available and already cooked

Thursday 3.4.10

9am: handful of dry Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal; easy/fast didn't have a lot of time; less dishes to wash; important to eat before class so i'm not starving

11:30a: Lunch at Sanford's Cafe; grilled cheese with cup of tomato soup, broccoli, cup of chocolate milk, tangerine, and a sugar cookie; have a meal plan there, already cooked

3p: snack; handful of grapes and 3 girlscout peanut butter pattie cookies; in my room; hungry but too early for dinner

5:30p dinner at sanford hall; macaroni and cheese, cup of wild rice soup, cup of diced peaches (corn syrup kind), cup of chocolate milk; eat the cafe food because it is made and available even though its not always something I prefer

Sunday 3.7.10

12p: bag of dry crushed ramen noodles; easy; was in the mood for salty food; ramen noodles are the best

6p: dinner at sanford hall cafe; bit of spaghetti, 2 slices of oven baked ham, cup of apple sauce, cup of water; meal plan; convenient; dinner time;

11p: handful of ranch flavored Munchies; hungry watching Academy Awards; got them from convenient store; good munchy snack food

WHAT

Wed 3/3

Breakfast- my favorite and most important meal of the day

bacon (one slice)

pancakes with syrup (2x)

sliver of coffee cake

orange juice

pineapple

mini smoothie

coffee

handful of raisins

saltine with peanut butter (2x)

grapes

Reminder of the day

apple

raisins

hot dog

baby carrots

broccoli

munchies

popcorn (buttered and from a pre-popped bag)

milk

Thursday 3/4

Breakfast

1/2 bagel

french toast (2x)

coffee cake

water

pineapple

coffee

Lunch

dumplings (3x)

asian salad

banana

grapes

apple

trailmix handful (dried fruit)

spoonful of peanut butter

Dinner

pancakes (4x)

grapes

cheese stick

pretzels

baby carrots

pita chips

truffle

cream puff

Friday 5/3

Breakfast

pancake

1/2 muffin

3 tate-er-tots

2 bowls of grapes

peanut butter jelly toast

coffee

munchies (handful, cheddar flavored)

raisins

saltines

pretzels

peanutbutter jelly sandwich

princess fruit snacks

popcorn

water

1/2 red pepper

double stuffed oreos (6x)

chips ahoy (5x)

lays potato chips

doritios

fudge ice cream sunday

WHEN

General Eating Trends: I eat a big breakfast that keeps me full for the day, i do this for two reasons 1) the dining hall's breakfast is the most edible 2) it is least crowded at this time

I also am a taster/grazer, although i was pretty lax about recording portions, if i had it would have been more apparent that i in fact eat way less than i appear to because i eat only a few bites of each listed food.

WHY

also it should be noted i'm fairly OCD about the last taste in my mouth and often will have to return to my pantry in quest of the right lasting taste for the night, frequently this includes but its not limited to, bland cereal, toast, icecream, juicy drinks, peanut butter or oranges

i also succumb to eating out of boredom and/or nervousness or if any food is in front of me (not exactly a healthy habit but nevertheless one i possess)

Ideally, and at home, i eat way more vegetables and fruit than i do here however the limited range of "healthy food" available at college is quite disturbing, so instead i stick to the basics, toast and sandwiches

WHERE

I eat a majority of my meals at Centennial dinning hall, because there is a tunnel that connects my residence hall to his dining hall, however i also eat at my sorority occasionally because the food is less greasy and more unique (ie dumplings)

things i eat

Thurs. 3/4-
noon- ramen noodles and 1 $.50 bag of flaming hot Cheetos. (* school)
7:00 pm- 1 Totinos pizza.
10:00 pm- 1 glass of brandy
total water- 4 44oz. glasses

Fri. 3/5-
10:00 am- generic cocoa puffs with 2% milk.
3:00 pm- veggie sandwich (the veggie vega at psycho suzi's) + 2 vodka cranberries for happy hour. (*restaurant)
5:00 pm- 1 glass of brandy
11:00 pm- a grilled cheese sandwich and a fried egg and 2 more glasses of brandy.
total water- 5 44oz. glasses

Sat. 3/6-
noon- pancakes with syrup (the cheap kind) and 1 bowl of generic cocoa puffs and 4 pieces of fake bacon.
7:00 pm- 1 totinos pizza and a bowl of macaroni and cheese
night- 2 tequila sunrises, 4 pabst blue ribbon beers, some vodka, some brandy (*a bar on lake st.) and a caffery's veggie sandwich. (*restaurant)
total water- 3-4 44oz. glasses

I mostly eat at home and enjoy cooking. It was a bit unusual to eat out twice in a weekend. If I do eat out it's only because I'm with other people.
I used to have a regimented diet but that became cumbersome and now do not plan my diet hardly at all. I eat the way I do because it is easy and I do not require expensive meals to enjoy my food. I like to have a strong drink at least once a day and also to drink lots of water. I do not drink soda or coffee.

nom nom nom

(March 4th)
9:50am -- apple in class for breakfast, brought from home. From the state of Washington, I believe.
Noon -- 16 oz black coffee from Espresso Royale, 2 handfuls of dried fruit, nuts (raisins, dried bananas, soy nuts). I run to work to get coffee between classes so I can say hi to my boss, and try to stay awake in my CSCL 5910. The snack I brought from home.
4pm -- Sandwich: turkey, spinach, mustard on rye, made at home for lunch.
7pm -- 1 fish taco and some blue cheese nachos, and a Summit EPA. I had this because I was on a date for a drink at Joe's Garage and it was 1/2 off apps. My date was hungry, and I ate to be polite, I guess. $7 or so?
9:30pm -- a scoop of ice cream cuz I made it, http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chocolate-hazelnut-gelato-recipe/index.html with a cup of lady gray's garden tea while doing homework. The tea came from the Dushanbe tea house in Boulder, CO. http://www.boulderteahouse.com/inside.html YUMMM

(March 5th)
9:05am -- Vitamin water, the green tea kind, bought at the rec because I was working out
10:30am -- 6 oz Vanilla orange cinnamon greek yogurt & homemade granola. Greek yogurt is the best, and I make my own granola because it is more cost efficient and delish.
11:30am -- 1 pot of coffeeee! Peruvian, FTO. made at home while doing homework.
12:30pm -- 2 scrambled eggs with green pepper, swiss, rosemary. 1 piece of toast. Made at home for lunch. Breakfast is my favorite meal ever, and I make it when it is well past breakfast time.
6pm -- A Plymouth Gin, Ginger Syrup, Fresh Lime Juice, Angostura Bitters cocktail, called "the professor". Dinner tonight was at the Bradstreet Crafthouse because my parents came to visit. It was all served on small plates that got passed around a lot. Hummus&bread, basil scallops, edamame, crab cakes, calamari "la plancha", and portobello mushroom salad. With dinner I had glass of Chardonnay. As to cost, I didn't pay.
10:00pm -- cup of coffee after dinner with my fam. Its kind of a tradition for us to get coffee after dinner. (4 hour dinners aren't that normal, but we hadn't seen each other in a while!)

(March 6th)
11:30am -- 1 fairly large banana chocolate chip pancake. I slept at my friends house and he offered to cook pancakes. haha.
3pm -- Kombucha! GT's Raw Organic. This stuff is great. It really makes my tummy happy. Basically it is fermented mushroom tea with a bunch of probiotics and antioxidants. I don't drink it often, because it is about $4.00 per bottle, but my friend offered to give me some of his culture to make it at home.
6pm -- Linguine and chicken in an alfredo spinach sauce. I cooked this at home using my own recipe. I had some time to kill before work.
8pm -- some gummi bears, and a cup of ginger peach tea. I was bored at work, and I really like tea.
1am -- 2 Summit EPAs at the Kitty Cat Club. I met up with some people to watch my friend's cd release, Wapsipinicon. they're really good!