Giuseppe Collia
31 January 2020
FDST 400
Assignment 1

What I ate for three days:
Jan 27
Breakfast: skipped
Lunch: 1 bun, 3 slices breaded eggplant, lettuce, tomato, applesauce, another bun, applesauce, 2 more slices of eggplant, seasoned chickpeas, asparagus, 2 glasses of water
Snack: M&Ms with peanuts
Dinner: yogurt (some greek, some vanilla), granola, raisins, sunflower seeds, honey, quinoa cake, tomato sauce, ½ glass of lemonade
Snack: A few banana chips, a raisin, 2 pieces of toblerone, 2 Dove milk chocolate, 1 candy cane kiss

Jan 28
Breakfast: frosted mini wheats, soy milk, glass of water, blueberry muffin, a coffee, sugar, oatmilk
Lunch: beet burger, brioche, frisee, peas, fries, ketchup, 1 half strawberry, 2 glasses of water
Dinner: 2.5 quinoa meatballs, vegan chili, omelet, spinach, muenster cheese, 1 slice of whole wheat toast with peanut butter and honey, 1 glass of water
Snack: 1 small red banana, 1 dove chocolates, 100 cal pretzels

Jan 29
Breakfast: 1 red banana, handful of nuts and cranberries
Lunch: beet burger, 2 slices white bread, bbq sauce, chana masala, cous cous, 3 rugelach
Snack: chocolate chip cookie, iced mocha
Dinner: BBQ tofu, bun, lemon pie, ¼ waffle with honey

  • Ingredients that stand out:
  • Wheat – bread, muffin, waffle, buns
    • Worldwide, most production is industrial. This includes seed drilling, large swaths of lands in monoculture, combines for harvesting and threshing, and crop rotation with other staple crops.
    • Wheat production is worldwide, significant production in North America, Europe and across Asia, with other smaller but often growing swaths in Africa, South America, and Australia. This represents significant growing on every continent but Antarctica.
    • Industrial ag, including that which grows wheat, is a main cause of deforestation worldwide. It also contributes to air and water pollution. Consuming wheat supports demand for this process.
    • Miles: Probably from within the USA, because we export it.
  • Chocolate – chocolates, hot chocolate, coffee, cookie
    • Cocoa, in its various forms, are the main ingredient in chocolate.
    • Cocoa beans are grown in agroindustrial fields and by millions of small-holding farmers, the majority coming from small plots. A tree takes 4 to 5 years to come into production. Once in production, it may have up to 6000 flowers per year, but usually just about 20 bear fruit annually. 40 pods are needed to make 1 kg of cocoa paste. Hershey’s, Nestle, and Mars are major procurers and source from various sources.
    • Cocoa’s native range is Mesoamerica. Today’s largest producers of cocoa are these countries in descending order: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Brazil, Ecuador, others – note: most cocoa is grown outside of its native range which represents a replacement of native ecosystems with this crop.
    • Displacement of native ecosystems, exploitation of cheap labor in lesser developed countries, exporting of raw materials from lesser developed countries, commodities that represent the majority of the economies of these countries are some sustainability challenges related to cocoa production
    • Miles: avg between Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Indonesia: 6666 miles
  • Chickpeas – chana masala, sides
    • Chickpeas can be planted and harvested mechanically like other legumes. It is considered a specialty crop in the US, but its production method does not vary significantly from that of soy.
    • Likely originally from the Middle East. Important in Indian, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern cuisines. In 2017, 67% of chickpeas were grown in India.
    • Machines contribute to soil disturbance, and water and air pollution.
    • Miles: Average between Montana and India: 4000
  • Water – I drink mainly water
    • Comes from the Conodoguinet, needs processing, mostly electricity uses – the majority of our electricity comes from fossil fuel sources.
      Comes from close.
  • BBQ sauce – tofu, beet burger, dipping for most things
  • Sugar – in a ton of stuff, including some of the things I listed above
  • More fruit than I had expected, to be completely honest

My diet is primarily plant-based, which significantly reducing my carbon footprint, nevertheless food production, not unlike any other activity, has an impact on the world around us.