Jan 27 Monday

  • Toast with jam and cheese for breakfast with a cup of tea
  • Sushi and a smoothie for lunch
  • Steak and ratatouille from the cafeteria

Jan 28 tuesday

  • 2 fried eggs with cheese and 2 banana pancakes for breakfast
  • Sushi and a smoothie for lunch 
  • Chicken and spinach and mashed potatoes for dinner

Jan 29 Wednesday

  • Toast with jam and cheese for breakfast with a cup of tea
  • Poke bowl
  • Salmon with ginger and lemon, roasted potatoes and spinach salad for dinner

3 common food items: toast, sushi, spinach salad

Toast

  • What is the main ingredient of the food item? Note: If one of your foods is raisin bran, please look at the ingredients list on the box of cereal. The dominant ingredient is always listed first (in this case, wheat).
    • Organic wheat flour
  • Research the most common production practices used to grow/raise this ingredient. What resources (energy, chemical, environmental, human) are required in its production?
    • Wheat gets planted in the fall
    • It is difficult to produce entirely organic wheat due to the need for high nitrogen levels in the soil
    • Once harvested the wheat is cleaned and bagged
    • For control against pests freezing is an option if you can’t mill it all right away. This prevents pests from invading the areas where the wheat is stored
  • In what geographical location is this ingredient most commonly grown?
    • Montana, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Wyoming represent half of all organic grain acreage
    • Grown in the plains states and in the west
  • Identify and describe significant social and environmental impacts resulting from production, procurement, distribution, and consumption.
    • Requires lots of machinery and manpower to harvest and process wheat, specifically organic wheat free from pesticides
    • There is currently a rise in demand for organic wheat and grains but it is difficult for farmers to switch from conventional to organic
    • Farmers say a large benefit of growing organic wheat is not having to handle dangerous chemicals and pesticides
    • Organic farms produce much less than conventional ones because they can’t use synthetic pesticides or fertilizer
    • There is an increasing trend for artisanal bread in the grocery stores
    • Bread is quite perishable so there have to be a lot of distribution centers
  • Calculate the average miles each ingredient traveled in order to end up on your plate, bowl or cup.
    • Organic wheat flour probably traveled around 1500 miles from Kansas to Pennsylvania where I bought the bread

Sushi

  • What is the main ingredient of the food item? Note: If one of your foods is raisin bran, please look at the ingredients list on the box of cereal. The dominant ingredient is always listed first (in this case, wheat).
    • Rice 
  • Research the most common production practices used to grow/raise this ingredient. What resources (energy, chemical, environmental, human) are required in its production?
    • Produced in irrigated fields
    • Producers seed their fields aerially in dry or flooded fields
    • After harvesting rice it has to be milled to remove the husk
    • Rice is then dried and in the case of white rice the hull is removed and it is polished
    • White rice is enriched to replenish vitamins and nutrients lost during milling
  • In what geographical location is this ingredient most commonly grown?
    • Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas account for almost all of the rice production in the US
  • Identify and describe significant social and environmental impacts resulting from production, procurement, distribution, and consumption.
    • Rice cultivation originated in China and then spread
    • History of rice production in the US is rooted in slavery, once slavery ended the production costs of rice rose significantly because it is a laborious crop
    • Lots of technology goes into modern rice production 
    • In order to irrigate the fields machinery is required to create uniform fields for flooding and controlled draining
  • Calculate the average miles each ingredient traveled in order to end up on your plate, bowl or cup.
    • Sacramento valley: 2,700 miles 

Spinach salad

  • What is the main ingredient of the food item? Note: If one of your foods is raisin bran, please look at the ingredients list on the box of cereal. The dominant ingredient is always listed first (in this case, wheat).
    • Spinach 
  • Research the most common production practices used to grow/raise this ingredient. What resources (energy, chemical, environmental, human) are required in its production?
    • Needs full sun and well drained soil
    • Organic spinach needs to be maintained by hand which requires weeding, cutting it during harvest, washing the product and bagging it
    • Thinning and weeding is the only cultivation required
    • Spinach can survive in the cold so can be grown late into the season
  • In what geographical location is this ingredient most commonly grown?
    • Most spinach in the US is grown in California
  • Identify and describe significant social and environmental impacts resulting from production, procurement, distribution, and consumption.
    • Water is required to grow spinach
    • The spinach I consume is from the Dickinson College farm usually
      • Students and apprentices care for and harvest the spinach, the packing house manager cleans and bags the spinach to prepare for distribution
      • Typically the farm managers run the deliveries to the college where the spinach is distributed between dining locations
      • Students then can all have access to the spinach for consumption
  • Calculate the average miles each ingredient traveled in order to end up on your plate, bowl or cup.
    • About 6 miles away

A major takeaway I had from this activity was recognizing the complexity of the foods we eat. I try hard not to eat super processed foods however this activity showed me that even what I consider “simple” foods still have a long life before they reach my plate. Even the spinach I eat from the Dickinson College farm has to undergo many steps before it reaches the cafeteria.