Late Fall 2004 Issue
Chef’s Perspective on the Season
Musings on the Fall
I have yet to meet anyone who does not like the fall. Sure, we’re sad to see the light, the warmth, the color of summer fade, but we replace it with a warmer kaleidoscope of color and flavors at this time of year.
Personally I think that fall is one of the best times of year to teach people through the senses; to put down the nutrition facts for a little while and simply ask people to close their eyes and taste the difference. We have over 2500 varieties of apples in the USA and yet if you check most grocery stores, you’ll find maybe half a dozen varieties. The same ones they carry year round. Small wonder some people don’t like apples. They usually don’t taste good year round.
This is the time to help consumers broaden their horizons, reconnect with something they may not have tried in years, taste something really fresh for the first time. Take time this fall to visit a farmers market, an orchard, a local foods store and sample varieties from your region. Print off a list of markets and orchards, scribble some flavor and variety recommendations and hand one to every client you work with. As my partner Mark says, when you put food in people’s mouths, it opens their ears. The greatest impact we can have is to create a change via the palette. Our handouts are meaningful and thoughtful, yet real change will take place when we can help people experience the very food we aspire for them to eat.
Miracles in the Desert
"Wheat flours make me sick. I think it has no strength. But when I am weak, when I am tired, my grandchildren make me gruel out of the wild seeds. That is food."
—Maria Chona, 1933 Papago Woman
Homage has finally been paid to the Native American Indian with the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) to honor their heritage and their culture in Washington DC. This was of special significance to me personally (and to so many others) because I was privileged to meet with and learn from the inspiring people of the Tohono O’Oodham Nation, the people of the desert.
The story of the desert people is both devastating and inspiring. In less than 80 years, the Tohono O’odham has moved from a system of food self-sufficiency to a system of virtual food dependency. In the 1960s, diabetes was almost unheard of among these native people; now more than 50% suffer from diabetes, equating to the highest rate in the world. One in ten of these people who inhabit a corner of the Sonoran Desert succumb to dialysis on a regular basis.
In the 1920s, more than 20,000 acres of their land was under cultivation. In 2002, less than 25 acres were farmed. In the 1930’s Tohono O’odham produced 1.8 million pounds of tepary beans, a staple in their native diet; in 2001, less than 100 pounds were produced. The native foods of the Tohono O’odham, which include tepary beans, corn, melons, squash, chilies and sorghum are nutritionally dense foods were complimented with wild foods which the desert people gathered or hunted in the desert. These included mesquite bean pods, cholla buds, acorns, different cacti, havalina, deer and rabbits. Their diet fit the scientific recommendations of today: high protein, low fat, high fiber, low glycemic index; a diet, in fact ideal to prevent the onset of diabetes. Why then the paradox?
Experts from the Tohono O’odham Community Action Program (TOCA) and the Tohono O’odham Community College (TOCC) state that the reasons are complex and multifarious, but boil down to a few basic issues. Labor which used to farm native lands was slowly siphoned off to other farm interests that were adjacent to the Reservation. The Second World War also leached young men from the fields, leaving their families unable to farm as they had done before. Extensive development in southern Arizona has depleted the very water table that flooded their lands for thousands of years, allowing them to farm and eat sustainably. As their plight grew, Federal programs stepped in with food and assistance that was not native to these people’s diets or their culture. As community experts explain, " in a few short years the Tohono O’odham Community went from being self sufficient to almost entirely food dependent." And in a few short years, the change in their food and habits which have sustained them for centuries, risks eradication along with their traditional songs, ceremonies and way of life.
Terrol Johnson, a member of the Tohono O’odham community and Co-Director of TOCA decided that enough was enough. An acclaimed basket weaver, Johnson could no longer witness the devastation of his own people, as they succumbed to a disease that is slowly crippling the community. In 1996, he formed TOCA with Co-Director Tristan Reader. Together they set out to evaluate the community and implement a plan that would once again bring life to the ancient fields, put native foods in the bellies of the Tohono O’odham and bring economic reward and pride back to the community.
TOCA is teaching the Tohono O’odham how to grow their native foods again. It is inspiring these ancient people to reach into their culture and their traditions; to grab hold of their heritage and infuse it into their lives again. This means learning how to grow and prepare their native foods again. Learning to eat and digest the foods that were part of their health, not their plight. To farm the land that their ancestors farmed, and to bring new life and hope to their economy, by creating a demand for their products among chefs and restaurants in southern Arizona. In short, TOCA is bringing hope to a community that millions of dollars in medical research and aid could not.
But more than anything else, TOCA is inspiring the Desert People to rekindle the desire to grasp onto their culture, their traditions and the wisdom of their ancestors. When grocery stores replaced native foods in the fields, sacred ceremonies began to die out. The Tohono O’odham used to "sing down the rain" to irrigate their desert lands during the saguaro wine ceremony. This ceremony is now rarely performed. When fields are no longer planted, they die along with the traditions that defined a culture, a people, a way of life. As the authors of "Community Attitudes Toward Traditional Tohono O’odham Foods" state "People did not stop planting the fields because the ceremony was dying out; the ceremony began to die out when the people stopped planting their fields."
And when the people stopped planting the fields, they began to lose the seeds, that grew the roots that drew from the very soil that nurtured their past, and now their future.
For more about the Tohono O’odham people and the Tohono O’odham Community Action (TOCA) Program, visit www.tocaonline.org. Information in this article was based on my discussions with Terrol Johnson, Tristan Reader and Mary Paganelli of TOCA and from Community Attitudes Toward Traditional Tohono O’odham Foods, published 2002 by TOCA and TOCC.
Field to Plate Happenings
May we first thank the hundreds of you around the country that have been part of our audiences and part of the Field to Plate experience this year. May we also thank you all for your enthusiasm for the work that we are all doing to promote the season, to promote locally grown and to promote healthier lives and better food for Americans.
Announcing a Delicious Idea
Field to Plate teamed up with fellow foodie, Kate Geagan of ITNutrition to create food experiences in Europe, beginning in 2006. Our food experiences are CPE-approved experiences for dietitians and health educators. We plan to integrate didactics with flavor and taste experiences against the culinary backdrop of Europe. Our 2006 programs include a focus on the Mediterranean Diet in Tuscany and a Wine in the Fields experience in Provence.
We become more adventurous in 2007, adding an Avalanche of Flavor experience in Austria. We are also investigating a program focusing on childhood nutrition and school foodservice and nutrition in France. This tour will combine in-school tours with a flavor and taste program featuring the foods and wines of the Loire in northern France.
New From Field to Plate
Food Fan Guides
Field to Plate announces the 2005 launch of Food Fan Guides with Nutrition Connections, Boulder CO. Food Fan Guides are beautifully designed convenient guides that help consumers make flavorful fresh food choices in the store, and successful simple dishes at home. Our first Food Fan Guide, called The Produce Partner focuses on popular and less common vegetables. By taking these portable guides to the store and back again, consumers can learn how to identify and select fresh vegetables in season, store them and prepare delicious, simple recipes. Look for the Produce Partner on Field to Plate’s Farmstand, and later in popular bookstores and online stores.
Gifts from the Land
Coming to our Field to Plate Farmstand in 2005, a new series of notecards and panoramic folding postcards. Our 2005 series called “Gifts from the Land” features the stunning photography of Aaron McCoy and the talent of Field to Plate designers Kellie Greene Verne and Matt Bain. Look for these beautiful additions to our Field to Plate collection in early Spring 2005.