The Chocolate Revolution

Yesterday afternoon and evening I tabled at Lehman Alternative Community School (LACS) and Castaways, representing GreenStar Cooperative Market, showing our support for fair-trade at The Chocolate Revolution tour.  This tour is sponsored by Equal Exchange, a leader in fair-trade products, and is propelled by the band Left on Red and Grace Stumberg, who are traveling from New York City to Buffalo spreading the message of fair-trade chocolate to New York State schools/communities through music and education.

Left on Red & Grace Stumberg performing at LACS

It was both overwhelming and refreshing to set foot in a middle/high school during school hours after a long time being out of that environment.  I have been on a college campus for the past 4.5 years, but there is an overall shift in mindset that comes with the difference of education level.   Although college campuses are bustling with motivated young minds, the youthful aspect can too often be buried beneath too much caffeine, too little sleep, and endless to-do lists.  It was great to see so many young people full of life and energy at this event for an extremely important cause.

According to FINE (an informal association of the four main fair trade networks) fair-trade is "a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers – especially in the South. Fair trade organizations, backed by consumers, are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade".  Fair-trade is ultimately working to ensure that workers get paid - especially those at the lowest level who most often get forgotten in the larger picture, and beyond that, get paid well enough to survive and support themselves.  Furthermore, fair-trade companies also support and fund community development projects (building roads, houses, etc.) in these predominately low-income areas.


In America it is easy to forget about where our food comes from and it comes as a shock to many that people who are producing this food may not even be getting paid at all.  Fortunately this awareness has been increasing and is coming to a forefront in the food industry.  However, we still have great leaps to make in order to ensure all food is fair-trade and/or organic.  I am not normally one for labels, but unfortunately in the food industry (especially in regards to fair-trade) this is currently the only way we can truly tell that products are being produced in a humane way.  Unlike organic products where we have more accessibility to visiting local farms to see how they grow their crop/raise their livestock, most fair-trade products are produced in faraway countries (coffee, chocolate, tea, etc.), which many of us are simply unable to go to and check out first hand to see how the workers are being treated.

During the afternoon presentation at LACS, GreenStar marketing manager, Joe Romano, made a very interesting point about fair-trade, worded in a way that expanded upon and solidified my perspective.  He briefly talked to the students about how this truly is a revolution in the sense that fair-trade is a revolutionary way of thinking; for the first time in human history (or at least since the agricultural revolution) we are thinking about the wellbeing of other people, whom most of us will probably never meet, instead of just our own personal gains.  

Spending the day tabling and getting to know the wonderful girls touring this event across my home state was so motivating.  It was definitely one of the days that served to remind me why I believe what I do and inspired me to keep working toward this food revolution, even if it sometimes feels like my lonesome decisions won't add up.  I know they will.  But sometimes it takes organizations, events, and people like these to remind me not to give up and that this movement truly is something bigger than myself.

Urban agriculture

In the past few years urban gardening and farming has been growing rapidly and becoming much more popular, although this is not at all a recent fad; ancient cities such as Machu Picchu in Peru and Maya sites throughout Mesoamerica were surrounded and supported by terrace farming, along with other forms of agriculture.  There is a strong focus being made back toward eating local and organic produce in Western society, which had turned its back on this mindset with the expansion of technology in a growing, globalized nation.  This is a very important step to help create more sustainable communities and to open eyes to the fact that gardening/farming can also be successful in urban environments, not just the country.

The Dervaes family in Pasadena, California gives an inspiring example of how this can be done (and beyond!) with limited backyard space:

Growing Your Own

In Brooklyn, New York Rooftop Gardens works as a great example of how we can transform otherwise unused spaces into flourishing organic/local farms, which also work to make the city a little bit greener by reducing long-distance transport of food into the city, creating an alternative irrigation source, and reducing the overall heat of the city:

New York Organic Rooftop Garden

This can seem like a daunting task to embark on, however supporting these small-scale producers and/or even just having a windowsill herb garden is a start.  I have new sprouts growing in mine and can't wait to have an even bigger/better backyard garden this year!  I feel very lucky to live in an area that, although it is technically considered urban, is a small enough city to be surrounded by farmland on all sides, and the farm I volunteer at/get my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share from is only a 10-15 minute drive from my apartment.

There is so much growing information on this topic that I could devote this entire blog or even all of my research to it - for more information just hit up your favorite search engine and I can guarantee you'll be buried in reading/viewing material ;)

Little Baby Botflies NOMing on my back

Last Monday night I found myself driving to the ER around 11 PM in fear of validating that I have three botflies in my back. Botflies are parasites that lay their larvae on mosquitos, which then transfer the larvae to mammalian hosts (like myself); the larvae then burrow into the hosts skin, where they will continue to grow for 6-8 weeks, when they then crawl out of their hole and leave the host, to lay their own larvae.  We had learned about these parasites in my Belize: Rainforest, Reefs, and Ruins class when we read a book, Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz, that discussed Alan’s run-in with a botfly and how he had to have it removed.  After all my other bug bites had gone away, three on my back had gotten bigger and started to be quite painful/itchy.  Last Saturday night I woke up at 3 AM unable to sleep because of this pain, but still convinced myself it was not botflies and eventually went back to bed.  On Sunday I had a few friends look at them; they couldn’t really tell what they were, but they were shocked at how large and red they were, and suggested I should maybe go to the hospital to have it checked out.  I thought about going, but ultimately decided that I’d wait and try some more home remedies before making a huge deal over it.  I tried taking a 45 minutes Epsom salt bath – which was supposed to make the botflies want to come out for air and then drown/float to the surface; that did not work.  I had also been trying to spray colloidal silver on the bites, spreading the jungle salve that we made with Polo (traditional Maya healer) on them, and taking Rosita Arvigo’s “Traveler’s Tonic” (Rosita is an American who has been living/practicing Maya healing in Belize for about 30 years); none of these remedies helped much – although I did feel like things were more active (pinching/itching) after I put the topical treatments on.  On Monday when I was hanging an art show the middle muscles of my back became extremely tense and hard to move, as if something was pinching on the nerve endings.  I still wasn’t thoroughly convinced a trip to the ER was necessary, but later that evening I had Googled enough and was paranoid enough to be willing to get a second opinion.

After sitting in the waiting room for an hour and a half I finally got to lie on an examining bed and wait even longer for the nurse to come in.  When he was asking me your run-of-the-mill questions, he asked if I regularly take any medicine or supplements.  I answered by saying, “not regularly, but if I need something I usually stick to herbal or homeopathic remedies”.  In response to my remark he said quite snarkily, “you know you have to be careful with that stuff, it can be more dangerous than they let you think”.  This statement almost enraged me to the point of walking out of the hospital.  However, considering that I had already waited an hour and a half to get this far, I figured I’d stick around to see if someone at least knew what botflies were, and if that was in fact what was in my back.  The first doctor that came in had no idea what botflies were, but he came back with a second, older doctor who said that he had pulled botflies out of his wife years ago in the Peace Corps in Africa.  After examining them with a magnifying glass he was able to see a little bit of movement from one of the holes, and although he said it was hard to tell because they seemed very premature, he was pretty sure they were botflies.  Before leaving the hospital they gave me a prescription for an antibiotic to prevent possible infection, but I am not an antibiotic person – especially if it is for a preventative measure.  I figure if it gets infected I will deal with it then, but why weaken my body when it is already tolled by hosting 3 parasites?

the Doctor put gauze & tape over the bites for the night, hence the tape marks...

The next day I spoke with one of the Belizeans whom we stayed with on our trip and she gave me the following instructions to get them out:

EITHER 1a. Mix tobacco (= to 1 cigarette amount for each hole) with vicks vapor rub (I used a “hippie” version of that, which I bought at GreenStar) OR 1b. Mix tobacco (= to 1 cigarette amount for each hole) with rubbing alcohol, 2. Shower OR  clean the affected area with soap or rubbing alcohol, 3. Place tobacco mixture over each hole, 4. Quickly cover with industrial duct tape, sealed very well, 5. Leave on for AT LEAST 1.5 days, this suffocates them and they try to come up for air, but are instead negatively affected by the tobacco mixture, 5. When affected area stops itching the botflies are dead, 6. Pull off duct tape RAPIDLY (NOT slowly) and the botflies should come with – you shouldn’t have to pull them out (they won’t crawl out of the hole completely, just enough to try to get air and then they will die in the tobacco mixture and get stuck to the duct tape).

tobacco/"vicks" mixture

duct taped up!!

I went out and bought the ingredients on Wednesday.  Buying tobacco was interesting and kind of silly because I have never bought any tobacco products, other than shisha for my hookah, before in my life.  I went to one tobacco store a couple blocks away to see if they had loose leaf, somewhat pure tobacco, but they did not.  However, they directed me to another shop a little further away that did.  When I got there and told the woman working what I needed the tobacco for she was so enthralled/excited and asked to see.  After I showed her the bites she proceeded to ask me if she could have one and that she would even buy one off of me… but planning to keep them myself I declined, as after having to go through all of this and have them living in me, I couldn’t just give them away!  I did reassure her that I would be back to show her them when they finally came out.

I had a friend put this on Wednesday night and then immediately proceeded to drink a great deal of rum because I didn’t know if it would be painful or not.  Luckily it was not painful, other than the duct tape pulling at my skin whenever I moved my back much... On Friday I had a friend pull off the duct tape, and although the botflies had come to a head at each of their respective holes, and one was poking out a tiny bit, they did not come out with the treatment:

only really looks so gross because of the excess duct tape/tobacco/salve... but if you look closely at the bottom one you can kind of see a little guy sticking out... 

That meant it was time to quickly shower and reapply the suffocation treatment.  This time I left the treatment on for a about 50 hours, however when I had another friend pull off the duct tape they still did not come out:

the dark spot is just concentrated tobacco...

Once again I showered and had her reapply the treatment.  Now I’m sitting here, no longer much grossed out, but just utterly annoyed that these little buggers won’t come out yet.  I’m not sure if they are too premature and need to grow more, or are just super mutant botflies… I’m hoping for the former, although the latter would be kind of cool…  kind of… In either case, I am putting these suckers in a jar full of isopropyl (rubbing alcohol, which will act as a preservative) and will post an update when they finally decide to suffocate themselves and stop NOMing on my back!

"Eating Healthy Without Breaking the Bank..." article

Check out an article and recipe focusing on produce and bulk foods, published in the latest Ithaca Health Alliance Newsletter (pages 4-5):

"Eating Healthy Without Breaking the Bank: GreenStar Introduces a New Discount Program"

"Ithaca Community Harvest Connects Crops to People" article

Check out my most recent article, published in GreenStar Cooperative's January 2011 GreenLeaf Newsletter:

"Ithaca Community Harvest Connects Crops to People"

Introduction

I finally have a bit more time in my life that I know I could keep a relatively consistent blog for myself and, more importantly, for my work.

Being raised by a 100% Italian mother made food an important part of my everyday life.  Whenever we had company over she was always offering them food or beverage, and there was always enough food for unexpected dinner guests.  Going beyond just having a love for food, both of my parents could be considered “hippies” in the sense that they never allowed us to have high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or hydrogenated oils in our household.  Luckily I still was able to enjoy this healthier food and didn’t find it too restricting – something that could have influenced a major rebellion toward junk food (although I will admit that I often tried to trade my fruit leathers for my friends pre-packaged snacks at lunch).  Moving to Ithaca, NY to attend Ithaca College for undergraduate study only worked to solidify my relationship with “healthy” food because of the extensive food consciousness in this community.  The summer after my freshman year I began working in the deli at the local cooperative market, GreenStar, which further shaped this mindset. 

Beyond merely having a strong connection with my food, I have always been fascinated with medicine. Growing up I always thought I’d become some kind of doctor or nutritionist, although I don’t think I realized to what extent this subject actually mattered to me.  My dad has always had a cabinet in our kitchen stock full of high quality vitamins and although his father was a take-a-pill-for-anything-and-everything doctor, we used more home remedies that most of my friends.  Now that I’m in Ithaca it seems like we barely used any “natural” medicine because of the extremity that I now turn to alternative medicine.  Working at GreenStar definitely helped define that shift, especially once I began working in the wellness department.  Not that I take supplements religiously, but I definitely have a very stocked shelf of supplements and herbal/homeopathic remedies for everyday ailments.

I began my college career as an Exploratory Major, as the process for auditioning for Musical Theatre programs my senior year of High School made me realize that I had other aspirations in life beyond performing.  Although that is still a large part of my life, my focus became much more on my academic career.  I started to take classes to begin a track in Physical Therapy, but decided that was a little too scientifically embedded for my liberal arts focused brain.  I then switched tracks toward Culture and Communications before declaring myself as an English Literature major with a minor in Still Photography.  It wasn’t until the Spring of my Junior year that I realized that I couldn’t ignore my passion for Anthropology, and with a couple classes already under my belt, it would only take one extra semester to graduate with a double major and a minor.  More than merely taking a broad look at Anthropology, I intently began focusing on food and medicine within that discipline, taking courses such as “People, Plants, and Culture” (Archaeo/Ethnobotany), “Integrative Medicine in American Culture” (Medical Anthropology), “Hunters and Gatherers” (Archaeology/Anthropology), and “Archaeology of Food”.  I also focused my individual fieldwork/independent study on “Food as Medicine,” organizing research, participant-observation, and interviews on how/why people change their diet for health.

As I am closing the chapter of my undergraduate career, all of this knowledge and research is continuing on in my everyday work.  I also do not see my fieldwork as something that is yet complete (as this topic is extremely vast), but instead as something that I will continue working on for quite a while.  For my final credit needed for graduating, I went to Belize, Central America with an Environmental Studies class for two weeks – staying a week longer with the accompaniment of my 28 year old brother.  One of the assignments for this class was to work on a conversation project with locals; following my field of study I casually interviewed locals on their perceptions on food and health.  The results of this work deserves an entire post of it’s own, which I will follow up with in the near future.  However, as part of our class trip we also spent two days working with a traditional Maya healer named Polo Romero in the Northern Yalbec Region of Belize.  Polo taught us how to make a stretcher, a sling, and a jungle salve from natural ingredients in the rainforest.  Beyond this he also spoke individually with many of us about our own personal ailments, as well as further explaining his beliefs.  Myself and one other student were assigned (as a favor, not a grade) to create a book about what we learned with Polo (mainly instructions with accompanying photographs).  Because of this assignment I was able to get much closer with Polo than others in my class – we got to pray with him before we went out to harvest the medicinal plants needed, etc.  Between this life-changing interaction, as well as the varying conversations I had with people about food and medicine, I feel like my work became charged with a new focus and drive.

I’m hoping that this blog will allow me to share and express the work I’m doing to a larger community of people, as well as give myself small assignments to stay focused/motivated.