tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49344386116928129002012-02-20T14:28:28.991-08:00the day by day of my travels through life, eating, India, and the existential journey known as the PhD thesisoblanoreply@blogger.comBlogger541100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-24789151109511600752012-02-16T15:12:00.000-08:002012-02-20T13:09:54.881-08:00

I've been avoiding writing this afternoon by listening to a retrospective of food radio on CBC, the peak of which was a clip of Pierre Berton making a plea for real food back in 1967. It's a 5-minute piece that aired on the TV show Telescope following the release of The Centennial Food Guide. I've never felt so close to Pierre (although the coy expression when he compares a good meal to

oblanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-49411736239709240682011-12-21T12:43:00.005-08:002011-12-22T12:53:46.213-08:00

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oblanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-82526678307335109162010-05-22T12:36:00.004-07:002010-05-22T12:42:49.732-07:00

Travelling to India - first as a fresh, naïve 20-year-old volunteer in an orphanage, and later as a graduate student researcher - changed the course of my life inextricably. A colleague recently asked me what it is about India that raises such strong reactions in travellers. I’ve thought about this a lot in the past, and I knew it had something to do with the intensity of the place, but could

oblanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-7735236346752649382009-08-23T00:12:00.021-07:002009-08-23T11:13:10.403-07:00

Tonight I went to see the film Julie and Julia and my head hasn't stopping spinning since. I laughed, a lot. I cried a lot too. I relived the past 6 years of my PhD in 123 short minutes. And I thought I was just going out for a nice light evening at the movies.Where to start? I had of course been planning to see the film: Julia Child, writing, and food all in one place! Yesterday I was having

oblanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-59451424804660531912009-08-11T17:52:00.021-07:002009-08-23T11:14:16.572-07:00

Much of the summer, I've either been escaping the city for beautiful places or hiding out trying to make a visible dent in my long dissertation "to do" list, and I haven't been paying a lot of attention to the things that normally inspire posts. In lieu of that, I think it's time I tell The Bacon Story.I've been thinking a lot about the progression of my dissertation over the past few years.... I

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-28861625913160363602009-07-24T23:44:00.011-07:002009-07-25T10:19:16.470-07:00

I'm recently back from a 10-day trip to Yellowknife, NWT. I was happily sent there by work to attend the International Congress of Circumpolar Health, and stayed on an extra few days to see the sights and visit with my friend Shannon. If you haven't been to Yellowknife, I highly recommend it. It's a kooky little place with about 18,000 people who are tough enough to brave the cold winters and

oblanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-91203930840744983472009-06-26T13:27:00.006-07:002009-07-29T13:52:48.232-07:00

My mother recently sent me one of those little tidbits of email wisdom that plague the internet from time to time, confusing people. I emailed her my thoughts, but thought I might just as well expose the rest of you my little rant. First, here's the gist of the email:Written by Zola Gorgon - author of several cookbooks.. Watch out for those spoiled onions. I had the wonderful privilege of

oblanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-29145627356143629272009-06-24T10:29:00.010-07:002009-06-24T11:02:26.151-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I had the great opportunity to be part of a panel discussion following the screening of a new documentary call FRESH here in Vancouver. I encourage everyone to see this film if you get the chance. There are no more screenings scheduled for Canada, but you can arrange to host one, or order a copy of the DVD for yourself. Here's what it's about:FRESH celebrates the farmers,

oblanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-9436634394160030752009-06-21T19:04:00.011-07:002009-06-21T20:00:01.449-07:00

In all my talk about the importance of connecting to our food, I try to do what I can to reconnect with mine. Usually this comes though in the way I acquire (i.e., buy) food, but I'm trying my best to step outside the usual retail system whenever I can. Food to me should be elevated beyond something as base as unconscious financial exchange. I think we can become far more nourished by our food if

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-79331840724318706542009-05-30T21:47:00.005-07:002009-05-31T13:32:22.661-07:00

Anyone who follows the news in Canada will no doubt have heard the recent flurry of news/uproar/vilification/praise over Governor General Michaëlle Jean's recent consumption of seal at an Inuit ceremony in Rankin Inlet. For those of you who have had your fingers in your ears and your eyes closed while yelling "lalalalalalalalalala" for the past week: our über-cool and highly respectable Queen's

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-2057599090961745682009-05-19T09:06:00.013-07:002009-08-23T01:34:25.998-07:00

It seems that life of late, and really since I started my PhD, has been about undoing. At the risk of embarking on a rant of academic drivel, the existential journey I call a dissertation has become about deconstructing my entire education. This all came about because of my efforts to do a dissertation based in the social sciences after years of training and work in the health sciences. Suddenly

oblanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-42799468201430863352009-01-09T20:12:00.006-08:002009-01-09T21:12:20.918-08:00

It seems that my scholarship from Shastri was just the start of a series of serendipitous events that are, I hope, the beginning of a year that will see me back to India. It seems that old and new connections are making sure I don't stop thinking about India. In the first week of 2009:- I received a scholarship from the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute.- I saw a fabulous movie set in Mumbai called

oblanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-41206319339312962742009-01-03T10:47:00.008-08:002009-01-03T14:13:30.171-08:00

Well, it's another new year (and no need to count how many there have been since I started this PhD thing) and time to start fresh. My dissertation has been on extended hiatus since I came back from India in June - it lost out in favour of things like teaching, finding a place to live (twice!), and earning a living. I think I've found some degree of balance in that, and am looking forward to

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-5934071025123367872008-10-13T21:46:00.007-07:002008-10-14T13:27:53.904-07:00

With a potentially devastating (read: another 4 years of Harper) election looming tomorrow, I can't help think about, well, food. Where is it? Why has nobody mentioned it during this election? In this of all years, I would have thought there was a chance to get food on the agenda. Until the bottom fell out of the economy last week, it's all there was in the news all year. Rising grain prices,

oblanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-14328584840807881032008-08-26T13:56:00.008-07:002008-08-26T14:09:26.768-07:00

I may not have been blogging much of late, but I have been hosting one of a series of forums hosted by Slow Food in lead up to Terra Madre 2008 in October in Torino, Italy. For those of you not familiar with the event, Terra Madre "brings together food producers and workers from around the world, giving them the opportunity to discuss the major themes of food production. Together they share and

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-4538751564113143762008-07-09T21:48:00.008-07:002008-07-09T22:25:10.535-07:00

Anyone who has been within a 5km radius of me in the past few years has probably heard me rant on about corn syrup, and I hinted at my feelings toward the substance here. Corn syrup — specifically high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) — has been in the news lately because:1. The food industry has been trying to promote it as a "natural" ingredient.2. The US Food and Drug Administration recently

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-61672856415400125732008-06-11T07:07:00.005-07:002008-06-11T07:29:50.309-07:00

I've had reports of complaints regarding my absence from the blogworld. I apologize, with the excuse that my trip to India became very busy, with almost no free time for such endeavours. On the up side, I finished all the India based field research I had left to do for my thesis. I'm now taking a short vacation with friends (and a surprise visitor) in Israel, and head back toVancouver on Friday.

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-512534952204958192008-05-24T09:29:00.004-07:002008-05-24T23:42:28.815-07:00

The saga of my complicated relationship with India continues. As I near the end of my last planned trip to India I am filled with mixed feelings. In many ways I am looking forward to ending my time of trying to live in two different countries, always packing up and moving to the other just as I get back into a routine in one. It's been an exhausting year and a half and it will be nice to stay

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-72485344340689536862008-05-20T00:26:00.007-07:002008-06-11T07:28:25.019-07:00

Finally, a week after leaving Italy, I think I may soon be hungry again. Maybe. I Spent the first few days talking food at Slow Food, and spent most of the rest of my visit just eating food. My diet was basically wine, espresso, gelato, cheese, and cured meats. And pasta of course. The few days I spent in Bra let me see a little of the inner workings of Slow Food and its University of Gastronomic

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-27445326192494270352008-04-30T11:01:00.002-07:002008-04-30T11:05:32.490-07:00

I’ve been in Italy 2 days, and already have had some great adventure. I spent the first two days in Torino with Nathan and his mom. We ate a lot. I had a meeting with some folks at Slow Food on the day Mrs. Leamy had to fly out, so I left on the train early in the morning with plans for Nathan to meet me in Bra (the town) later that afternoon. It seemed very simple: I had train ticket to

oblanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-74829259048319969752008-04-14T20:58:00.024-07:002009-06-26T18:36:51.278-07:00

Doing a PhD can be a long and lonely path. At one point it felt like an existential crisis, but I've since begun to think of it as an existential journey. From time to time along this journey, I question what I'm doing, how I'm doing it, why I'm doing it, and what might come out of it at the end. (I'm hoping it will actually end one day). That often makes me think about how I became so interested

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-60340083019577357182008-03-28T20:41:00.015-07:002008-03-30T13:29:08.855-07:00

The Newfoundland seal hunt officially began today, and I don't feel I can let the moment go unnoticed, especially as I know Paul Watson's ship is on its way to the Grand Banks. Some might say my history makes me biased, but I've thought about this a lot and I think I have a fairly balanced view of the whole situation.Watson and his Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, along with other groups such

oblanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-12109597560462841732008-03-24T20:08:00.015-07:002008-03-24T21:01:41.327-07:00

Back in October, I was at Bija Vidyapeeth, home of Navdanya's organic teaching farm and seed bank just outside of Dehradun, India. While I was there, Bija Vidyapeeth was host to Vasundhara, a huge gathering of farmers from all over India who came together to talk about farmers' rights, traditional regional crops, and seed saving.Tonight, while cooking up a nice late winter supper of noodles, kale

oblanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-12534455827677363642008-03-22T16:14:00.009-07:002008-03-24T20:46:11.502-07:00

Um, I should probably refrain from writing about this until the shock wears off, but I just can't wait. Thanks to one of my trusty food-nerd listervs, I just discovered this new "food," if I can use the term loosely. Batter Blaster is a spray can of pancake/waffle batter. It's like CoolWhip or spray cheese that you squirt directly onto the skillet and cook like a pancake. This alone is worthy of

oblanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-25495197141239425542008-03-10T18:01:00.009-07:002008-03-23T22:46:28.471-07:00

I'll be the first to admit that I insulate myself somewhat from mainstream media. I watch TV only while falling asleep in hotel rooms in strange cities. I only listen to CBC radio. My occasional magazine reading is limited to things like Harper's, Shambhala Sun, The Walrus, and The NewYorker. Somewhere along the way, the world went even crazier than I had suspected.Today I was at my cushy

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-5478857044182406932008-03-08T17:51:00.008-08:002011-10-19T18:01:12.578-07:00

I found myself saying that the other day while talking about Michael Pollan's new book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. Nothing personal Michael, but there are some ideas in there that relate closely to what I have been planning to write either in my thesis (which, sadly, is still just in my mind) or to a lesser extent in a different sort of manifesto that I plan to write. The elusive

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-81533996271304919922008-03-07T02:25:00.013-08:002008-03-22T16:51:48.697-07:00

I had the great fortune to spend my most recent birthday in Paris. It was my first trip to Paris, to France, and to continental Europe, which was exciting. It was my first real vacation in a few years. It was a much needed break in the midst of lots of work. And I was going to visit Nathan, which was even better than all that.So, Paris. It's hard to sum it all up. Mostly, we ate, walked, and then

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-46753557006478069012008-03-06T19:24:00.005-08:002008-03-08T18:03:35.223-08:00

So the latest news from the New York Times is that MSG ain't really so bad for you after all. The Guardian came up with the same idea two years ago. They put forth a good argument. MSG is a synthetic form of the the amino acid glutamate. It was first commercialized by the Ajinomoto* Corporation in Japan in 1909.According to these articles, glutamate is naturally found in many foods, most notably

oblanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-49564478110450621232008-02-16T19:18:00.001-08:002008-03-08T18:07:52.796-08:00

Now that I am living back in Canada and have regular email access, I can't seem to post any blog entries. Hmmm. Time seems to go by at warp speed here, unlike in India where weeks can seem like months (and vice versa at times). Coming back to the western world, living in Heather's spare room for 2 weeks, moving into a new home, and getting to know a new roommate took a lot more energy than I had

oblanoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-27307168319535501102008-01-22T19:42:00.001-08:002008-03-02T09:14:31.517-08:00

Today was the day. I went for my first run since leaving Vancouver in September. I didn't run in India because the crowds, the traffic, and the smoky air would be too much for me. So needless to say, I'd been anticipating this moment for some time, and it was indeed glorious. Now that I'm living 3 blocks from the beach, the logical place to go was along the sea wall. I headed out in the late

oblanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-12528454898183903282008-01-18T22:57:00.000-08:002008-01-18T23:11:26.940-08:00

I finally made it back home to Vancouver, with mixed feelings as usual. I don't quite feel at home yet, even though I've been back for 10 days now...probably because I haven't had a home yet. I've been sleeping in Heather and Charles' spare room (thanks guys!) waiting for my new apartment to get painted. My stuff finally got moved in today, and I will follow it tomorrow. Life back in Canada, i.e.

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-43563435639014925242008-01-05T10:20:00.000-08:002008-01-06T10:21:40.874-08:00

I had a little trouble finding a flight from Kochi back to Delhi. Internet booking with a foreign credit card doesn't always work, and travel agents tend to be sketchy and largely useless. They either call the airline or go to a public online booking website. The one agent in Kumily couldn't find me anything on an airline I was willing to fly, and my attempts online got me nothing. I was getting

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-69665424898974296232008-01-05T10:03:00.000-08:002008-01-06T10:20:03.939-08:00

We spent the last few days of our vacation with Nathan's sister Claire up in the Western Ghats of Kerala, in the little town of Kumily, which is nestled between the Periyar Tiger Reserve and endless spice, tea and rubber plantations. It was a long bus ride, and we arrived tired and dirty but happy to have some cool air after the heat of Kochi.Day 1 - Dog attack!Kumily may be a quaint little

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-70741645713041167692007-12-31T09:08:00.000-08:002008-03-02T09:09:53.768-08:00

These things we cannot change. We can only observe.(Principal Dhatt of Landour Language School, regarding the oppressive place of women in Indian society.)Some of my best friends are Muslims.(Dr. in Dharamsala.)That is a tall man, a very very tall man. Very tall, very blond.(Stranger walking behind Nathan and I at the India International Trade Fair in Delhi, November 17, 2007.)Is Canada a

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-31361796617240665672007-12-31T09:03:00.002-08:002008-03-02T09:10:44.844-08:00

Please allow us to frisk you for your safety.(On the screen at the PVT Saket movie theatre in Delhi during the previews of Leonardo di Caprio’s film The Eleventh Hour.)Not suitable for children.(On the label of a sugar free ice cream.)Gluttony Restaurant(The Library Mall, Mussoorie)My husband forgot to use his contraceptive last night. What should I do?(I-pill advertisement on Mumbai commuter

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-12343960018503703972007-12-31T09:02:00.000-08:002008-03-02T09:03:28.017-08:00

Two men and a goat on a motorcycle (outside Udaipur, Rajasthan).Two men and a bicycle on a bicycle (on highway in Punjab).Four goats in a basket on the back of a scooter (Trivandrum).Nine mattresses on top of an auto-rickshaw, which was filled with pillows (Trivandrum).About 25 flats of eggs and a man on a scooter (Trivandrum).

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-19029267931113773972007-12-27T08:23:00.001-08:002008-03-24T20:42:15.602-07:00

I finally made it to Kerala, and more importantly, I'm finally on vacation. I arrived here with my nasty chest cold still hanging on, so I figured I should take advantage of being in the birthplace of ayurveda and get some treatment. I went to see the doctor at Ayush Bhavan Ayurvedic Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram who gave me a mysterious collection of black tablets (which had to be CHEWED!) and

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-76830901690533337042007-12-27T07:38:00.000-08:002008-01-06T10:23:54.414-08:00

Mumbai is famous for its food, and although I was still sick and having trouble breathing, I wanted to get out and experience some of the local eats. So last Saturday, I dragged myself away from the comfort of the air conditioned hotel room and wandered the back streets well off the tourist track to find the Britannia Restaurant. I found this place thanks to my handy Rough Guide, which sometimes

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-17832343086310364772007-12-25T20:35:00.000-08:002008-01-06T10:25:31.045-08:00

I went to Mumbai in mid December partly to visit the Navdanya outlet there and partly to learn more about the Dabbawallas. The Dabbawallas are a caste of people from a village near Pune, a city not far from Mumbai. They have the formidable task of delivering home cooked lunches to office workers all over Mumbai. (The word Dabbawalla actually means “one who carries a box’”.) Thanks to these guys,

oblanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-57643148395396763142007-12-24T09:38:00.000-08:002008-01-06T10:25:05.405-08:00

After much anticipation, I am back to the virtual world. I’ve spent much of the last few weeks being a combination of frantically busy and horribly sick. The Delhi air - cold, foggy, and really really dirty - finally got to me. My lungs remembered they were asthmatic and started to revolt. It all started after I started to get a burning feeling whenever breathing in, and then it just gradually

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-1173242458208951192007-11-23T04:29:00.000-08:002008-01-06T10:29:30.940-08:00

Yesterday was American Thanksgiving, and I was thankful for my ability to buy a better health care system. I was up bright and early at 5am to take the morning train to Dehradun to interview some farmers near there. Just before rushing out the door I ate some new bread I had bought at a bakery the day before. Just as I was about to stuff that second slice into my mouth, I noticed a disturbingly

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-65552695720581578292007-11-19T01:30:00.000-08:002008-01-06T10:27:26.159-08:00

What with all the moving around and looking for a home, work got left behind last week. Now it’s back to the grind. I’ve found a translator/transcriber to help me with my interviews. Transcription of tape to text costs about half the Canadian price here, which is good considering all the hours of tape I have. I feel a little strange about outsourcing to India, but I guess since I’m living and

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-85435976953322409752007-11-18T21:10:00.001-08:002008-03-24T20:43:10.012-07:00

My usual palatial home in Delhi, at my friend Lauren’s apartment, is full up with Lauren’s out of town friends this month, so I had to seek out other options. I arranged with a colleague from the Schumacher Centre for Development to stay at an apartment they keep for visitors, but discovered that the hot water geyser wasn’t hooked up (and you need hot water during Delhi winters), and it was a

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-91533873371622016022007-11-15T01:06:00.000-08:002008-01-06T10:30:47.341-08:00

Having bailed out from the slightly oppressive vibe on the farm, I moved to a hotel in the town of Mcleod Ganj, just north of Dharamsala. Mcleod is the town most people are referring to when they say Dharamsala. This is where the Dalai Lama’s temple and residence are. It’s a town full of Tibetan refugees, Indians who have lived here since before the influx from Tibet, and many many western

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-88481041139466306082007-11-10T01:00:00.003-08:002009-05-24T20:42:54.496-07:00

From Amritsar, I came north to Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh to visit my friend Ramesh on his farm outside of town. I also wanted to visit some folks I met at a local community health organization called Nishtha. Ramesh lives on a 14 acre organic farm that he started 3 years ago. He is experimenting with different crops and growing methods, and is trying to preserve some of the traditional local

oblanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-68846656890511177252007-11-09T23:23:00.000-08:002008-01-06T10:30:24.915-08:00

When Nathan and I travelled to Chandigarh and Amritsar for a five days, odd things seemed to keep happening. Just when we thought things wouldn't get any stranger, well, you get the ideal....28 October 2007: ChandigarhThe thali place, which serves only thali (no sharing), has no thali. Went to the surreal Whole Foods market.Distain from hotel man when we mention possibly taking a rickshaw from

oblanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-54969248526267830052007-11-06T03:20:00.001-08:002008-03-24T20:45:47.458-07:00

For some reason, I’ve had the great misfortune to experience much more of the Indian male attitude toward western women recently. I’m not sure if it’s the places I’ve been going, if I’m just tired of pretending it’s not happening, if the extremely tall blond man I’ve been travelling with attracts more attention, or if I’ve lost some of my precious inner bitch, but there’s something up. I have

oblanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-8300521696624926302007-11-06T03:13:00.000-08:002008-01-06T10:26:52.581-08:00

Just a few thoughts on some of my adventures in eating so far here in India. Photos to come once I get to a decent internet connection....SugarPeople here put sugar in everything. I have consumed more sugar in the last month than I have in the last year. The little place where I took breakfast on my way to Hindi school in Mussoorie sells chocolate waffles. I'm not kidding. They are full of

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-19724562149510024092007-11-02T07:52:00.000-07:002008-01-06T10:27:53.772-08:00

I've come across a few health food stores so far in my travels in India. There aren't many out there, and those that are there are, well, a little strange. In general, there seems to be either a focus on simple organic foods, or else a slightly disturbing illustration of how the nutrition science and food processing industries are taking control over ideas of what makes food good to eat. Health

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-25329543395316237282007-10-25T07:50:00.000-07:002008-01-06T10:31:13.292-08:00

It’s hard to believe it was almost a month ago that I arrived in Delhi in the middle of the night, feeling a little jet-lagged but otherwise pretty good. It was really nice to be able to help out a Canadian traveller on her first visit to India before I even got out of the airport. Somehow she had sensed that this wasn’t my first time here. When I walked out into the Delhi night at 3am and felt

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-85460380965990296222007-08-19T14:43:00.002-07:002008-03-24T20:45:09.079-07:00

This was written for Vandana Shiva's quarterly journal "Bija," but I foolishly missed the publication deadline........As someone who has lived most of her life in North America, the supermarket is a familiar sight. Until recent years, I found them almost comforting. I could go to any city or town in North America and find a store that sold almost every kind of food imaginable. Aside from a few

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-81510821179006837032007-07-17T14:39:00.000-07:002008-01-13T13:42:51.651-08:00

This is a piece that emerged out of a conversation I had with Satish Kumar, editor of Resurgence, in December 2006. It's available on the Editor's Choice page here.Resurgence is a fabulous UK-based journal focusing on ecological and spiritual issues. It is associated with Schumacher College in Devon.There is no point in innovation for its own sake – innovation must have a purpose. Innovation in

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-53781172459818802072007-03-05T13:35:00.001-08:002008-03-24T20:44:12.127-07:00

I heard some sad news tonight. Wild Oats Markets, which owns Capers Markets in Vancouver, has been bought out by Whole Foods, the massive US corporate monolith of industrial organics. It was hard enough to take that Capers was bought by an American chain, but at least they left Capers as Capers. They still support the local community, and most importantly, they still source as much as possible

oblanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934438611692812900.post-45178875433608780142007-02-09T13:30:00.001-08:002008-03-24T20:44:34.402-07:00

“You can eat well by following Canada's Food Guide!”It’s the answer to all our modern health problems – obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and the list goes on. Right? The much-publicized new Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating hasn’t really changed much in 30 years. Sure, the pictures now include hummous, tofu, and soy milk in addition to milk, eggs, and beef, but is that really so radical?

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