Terra Madre Forums

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 compare the diverse and complex issues that underlie what “high-quality food” means to them: issues of environmental resources and planetary equilibrium, and aspects of taste, worker dignity, and consumer safety."

The online forums are available at http://forum.terramadre2008.org/. Each forum will culminate in a workshop at Terra Madre, facilitated by the online host. I am hosting the forum titled Stop the Cement - Preserving Farmland for Food, a discussion of issues facing protection of farmland globally that was jointly proposed by Heather Pritchard from Farm Folk City Folk and me. The forum focuses on the protection and preservation of agricultural land. Here is the complete description:

Preserving Farmland for Food

One of the biggest issues facing our ability to feed ourselves in the future is the protection and preservation of fertile land – and ensuring that land is used for food production and ecological services. Without adequate farmland and knowledgeable farmers to farm it, it will be impossible to produce enough food for a growing population.

Fertile land, much of which is located near cities, is at risk of land speculation and 'cementification' by commercial or residential development. Even protected farmland reserves may not be as secure as we think. Farmer attrition is becoming a serious problem as farmers either sell their land for retirement income or can’t find a new generation to take over the farm. In some regions, young people are interested in farming but can’t afford high land prices.

Through this forum STOPPING THE CEMENT, we hope to identify ways to protect farmland from price speculation, expropriation, and urban development; preserve indigenous rights to land for traditional hunting, gathering, fishing, and agricultural activities; educate and encourage the next generation of young farmers; and promote access to farmland for farmers. We also hope to highlight issues faced by communities from around the world related to farmland and farming the land. Ultimately, our goal is to share creative ways of preserving farmland for food and learn from the experiences of others.

I will be facilitating the actual workshop at Terra Madre in Torino, Italy in October, where I will also be representing the UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems as an academic delegate to the meetings.

One more thing about corn syrup

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 reversed a ruling stating that HFCS could not be labeled as "natural" because it contained synthetic fixing agents.

Well, an article in FoodNavigator, a popular food industry news site, explains why:
The process sees the enzymes for making HFCS being fixed to a column by the use of a synthetic fixing agent called glutaraldehyde. However, this agent does not come into contact with the high dextrose equivalent corn starch hydrolysate and so it is not "considered to be included or added to the HFCS"

Sounds like typical regulatory doublespeak, right? Right. They are saying that although this chemical, glutaraldehyde, is used in manufacturing this "natural" substance (Side note: Since when are natural things manufactured?), it is not actually in the food. That's all well and good, but perhaps the FDA neglected to reflect on the toxicity of a chemical like glutaraldehyde. They should know all about it, because they have been strictly monitoring occupational exposure to it for over 60 years.

Now, I know a whole lot about this relatively obscure chemical. Perhaps ironically, I wrote my master's thesis on, of all things, glutaraldehyde, along with few other chemicals that were being introduced to eliminate the use of such a toxic substance altogether (summary here). Glutaraldehyde is long known to cause respiratory and skin allergies as well as a debilitating and little understood form of occupational asthma—not from ingesting it but from just being around it.

Glutaraldehyde is commonly used in leather tanning, and as a high level disinfectant for delicate hospital equipment. It is used to clean endoscopes and other medical equipment that can't be subject to heat sterilization. This stuff can kill tuberculosis and HIV, and they are using it to manufacture "natural" "food" products?! Something is not right here.

Definitions of natural notwithstanding, this leads me to another perhaps more serious concern. Because glutaraldehyde is so toxic, occupational health regulations require that its use be minimized in hospital settings and it can only when there is no safer alternative for cleaning medical equipment. So why are we exposing factory workers to it and putting them at risk of debilitating respiratory illness simply so we can use up all that subsidized American corn to make a cheaper form of sugar for food processing? I suspect that those handling the substance in these factories don't have the same level of protection as Canadian hospital workers.

The FDA, nor its Canadian counterpart Health Canada, does not have a spectacular record of protecting employees over ceding to industry demands. After two years of pestering both agencies, along with the manufacturers of glutaraldehyde and several supposedly safer alternatives, I found that it didn't take much for these companies to convince the regulators that their new thing was not only safe enough for market, but safe enough to relax occupational health regulations.

Still here

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. I've been saving up stories and promise I will get up to date soon. Since this is the end of my research travel, I'll have to work on making my life in Vancouver more interesting so I'll still have something to write about!

Life in the Information Age

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 away from airports and large backpacks for a while (notwhithstanding my Big Chill Revisited trip to Quebec in August to visit the old St.John's crowd). Still, when I think that in less than two weeks I will be leaving here with no idea when I will return makes me a little sad. I feel there is still so much to do, so much to see. I've met so many amazing people, and they keep introducing me to more. One thing I am looking forward to is that open, friendly Canadian style of communication....

It would be so much easier to, well, do anything, here if only people weren't so averse to sharing information. One of the NGOs I've been working with had a tendency to ask me why I wasn't at an event, organized by them, that was directly related to my research - the day after. I don't think they were keeping information from me, but it never occurred to anyone to tell me in advance. They seemed to think I would know. Direct and pointed questions are key, but you need to know what to ask. It's also important never to ask a question that could require an "I don't know" reply, because I have never heard these words uttered. This usually happens when asking directions, and if the person doesn't know they will make something up on the spot and tell you with the utmost surity how to get there.

Today was another example of how I will NOT miss this.

I was supposed to take a day trip by train to Alappuzha today to meet with a research contact. We spoke on the phone last night and decided to meet here in Thiruvananthapuram instead, since she has to come here on Monday. This means I could cancel my train ticket. Off I went to the station to make the cancellation and get a refund. I knew there was a separate reservations desk I needed to go to, but I couldn't find it so went to the information booth. I was told my morning ticket couldn't be refunded until after 8pm, and the return couldn't be refunded until today. So I left and went back this afternoon. I got in the wrong line up - 1/2 hour in the midday heat - to be told where the reservation office actually is, in another building. I went there and took a number to find there were 200 people ahead of me. I was clearing going to miss my afternoon appointment so I left and returned a couple of hours later. I was not looking forward to the wait so went to inquire that I could in fact get a refund. I was told I had to write a request for refund on a piece of white paper, which was procured for me with some difficulty, and I was directed to the station manager's office. The manager ripped up my request, wrote something on my ticket, and sent me directly to a wicket (no waiting!). Turns out I was too late to refund my morning ticket (why couldn't they do it last night!?) and because my return train was leaving within 4 hours I could only get a 50% refund. Again, why couldn't any have told me this earlier?! So I took my refund and left, thankful that at least I didn't wait for 3 hours in the line for what turned out to be $3.50. Cost for 3 rickshaw trips: $3.25.

Slow Food IS Good Food

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 Sciences, and I liked what I saw. They truly do seem to be living their rhetoric. Food is really, really important to these folks.

My meetings with the organizers of Terra Madre were fruitful. The workshop on agricultural land stewardship that I proposed along with Heather Pritchard from Farm Folk City Folk has been accepted as one of 28 thematic streams at the 2008 gathering. So, in addition to representing the UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems at Terra Madre, I will be facilitating our workshop, moderating comments from farmers and activists around the world. Based on contributions to the online forum, we will identify the key issues from different places and arrange for as many people as possible to speak at the October meeting. I will then facilitate the discussion at Terra Madre.

What really amazed me about Slow Food and Italy is the way people really seem to live Slow Food. We had the Slow Food restaurant guide and ate at as many recommended places as possible. Unlike in Canada, the best restaurants in Italy are ALL about the food. There's no pretence, no need to dress up, and there's no show. It seemed that most places to eat were about the same price range (expensive). Nothing was really cheap and almost nothing was exhorbitant. The atmosphere in the really great places we went was relaxed and homey. Most were family run places, with the owners doing everything from cooking to serving tables. And they are proud of what they do.

It's completely normal to eat 3 or 4 courses at any meal, even lunch. Once the food was so good that Nathan ordered his main course of oven roasted pork a second time. They didn't raise an eyebrow. We never did figure out how to get tap water, but the wine flows free so it was never a big deal. Most restaurants have their own house wine available by the glass or part bottle. One place we went in Florence had bottles of house red on all the tables. You just pull the cork and drink as much as you like, and they somehow charge you for what you drink. No one was getting trashed, but it's perfectly acceptable, even expected, to have a glass with your sandwich at noon.



In Florence we found a great Slow solution to fast food. There
were sandwich restaurants that were seemed to be an abundance of either open to the streets or just tiny little places. They served only sandwiches, and had a list of combinations of meat and cheese and occasionally vegetables. You just choose one and eat it right there. One even had a little stand for your glass of wine (served in real glasses, even out on the street). It was pretty cheap, pretty healthy, waste free, and only served real food. Nothing in a package. All local ingredients. And simple. So very simple. And did I mention how GOOD it tasted?