I noticed Earl Butz died on February 8.  If I had not read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, I would not have known, nor cared, who Earl Butz was.  However, it seems that as a highly powerful Secretary of Agriculture in the 70s, Earl Butz was responsible for a major shift in agricultural economic policy—a shift that was responsible for the explosion in the farming of corn—“from fencerow to fencerow.”  His mantra was “Go big or go home,” and what may have seemed to have been technological and industrial progress, it led ultimately to the demise of the family farm, the raping of the soil, and is directly responsible for the metastasis of corn into every area of our lives—not just at the backyard barbeque, but in our drives to work, in the meat we eat, in every supermarket aisle, in the pause that refreshes, and in the bottle it’s made in.

In all fairness to Mr. Butz, his legacy spanned decades that were different from the way we see our world now.  He served under Dwight Eiasenhower for three years as assistant secretary of agriculture in the 50s when returning World War II veterans were moving into assembly line Levittown homes; and when petrochemicals were revered as the save of the future (remember the line in The Graduate:  “There’s a great future in plastics”?); when freedom and convenience were embodied in the TV dinner.  His response to concerns about the use of pesticides and fertilizers was “Before we go back to organic agriculture, somebody is going to have to decide what 50 million people we are going to let starve.”   

So, let’s assume that Mr. Butz was well-intentioned, but that it is now time for a re-evaluation of his farm policies and the way they have impacted our environment, our farmers, and our health.

I went shopping today, taking my Prius on a 13 mile loop from my home, to Griggstown Quail Farm and Farm Market, then to the supermarket for a few staples, then to Maple Tree Farm for another loaf of Calandra’s Panella bread.    Admittedly, I spent kind of a lot:  $114 at Griggstown, $58 at the supermarket, and $13 at Maple Tree.    But I’m hoping my purchases will get us through the week.

Tonight we’re going to have roasted young chicken (as a vegetarian, I will abstain); and perhaps some of the wild rice I bought at Griggstown, or mashed potatoes.   We’ll also perhaps have some carrots.  The root vegetables are staples of a winter harvest, so I’ll try to stay away from things that are not seasonal in the Northeast.  

This week I’ve put together a couple more locavore, corn-free meals:

Melba toast topped with brie and sliced hard-boiled egg.

Oatmeal topped with granola and Sugar in the Raw, and a splash of soy milk.

A dinner of Vermont Cabot Cheddar slices, a pear (ok, not local, but corn-free), melba toast and glass of Cabernet

Haven’t gotten my accounting system in place yet, but I would guess my breakfast of brie and egg was roughly $2.50 to $2.75 (the Brie was the most expensive part of that); the oatmeal and granola was surely less than $1, and the dinner was probably maybe $2.00, minus the glass of wine.  

Oh, by the way, I am supposing, after reading the label on the orange juice, that Tropicana may be off limits because it has citric acid—which I think is a corn derivative, but I’m going to check it out.  

Links:  www.griggstownquailfarm.com

I almost missed the boat on my project.  As I said earlier, I was in the middle of doing market research for a company developing a new diabetes drug, and I was spending long hours traveling and interviewing primary care doctors, endocrinologists, podiatrists and neurologists.  The last two specialists get involved with diabetes when diabetes has advanced to the microvascular complication of diabetic peripheral neuropathy.  This is a condition that brings on tingling, burning and numbness of toes, feet and sometimes hands due to damage to the nerves.  If its progression cannot be stopped—and to date there are no medications to halt or reverse nerve damage--the patient ultimately winds up at risk for leg amputation.   My sister-in-law was a victim.  Her diabetic symptoms drew worse and worse, and when she finally had to have a leg amputation, she may have lost the will to live, because very shortly after she got an infection and died at the age of 48.

I’ve been talking to doctors who treat diabetes for many years now, and I see the population of diabetics rising.  The first question we typically ask is, “How many patients do you treat in a typical month” and then “What proportion of those have diabetes?”  I have seen that proportion climb and this past week when I did research the average response was “30%.”  30%!  This is a national epidemic of a disease which can be prevented or controlled by proper diet and exercise. 

That being said, I do not believe that the patients are completely responsible.  While it seems easy to blame to patient if all they have to do is eat right and exercise, I can attest that many of them do exactly that.   Yet, as one of the doctors we interviewed said, “They try to be good, but the supermarkets are booby-trapped.”  What she meant by that was, people THINK they are buying breads that are good and healthy, but they contain all kinds of ingredients that can actually be bad for their glycemic control.   “So,” she said, “I write them out a list of brands of breads that are safe.”  

After the research, which was held in Manhattan, I thought I’d take the time to spend the night with my daughter (the vegan) who lives in Brooklyn.  When I got there, she had ordered Chinese from a “healthy” Chinese restaurant and she had also brought me a few “BabyCake” cupcakes from the bakery where she works.  According to their website, “BabyCakes offers all natural, organic and delicious alternatives free from the common allergens: wheat, gluten, dairy, casein and eggs. ….All sweeteners have been chosen responsibly and used sparingly.”

Frankly, up to that point I had too busy to think about my corn-free Lent.  Here it was Ash Wednesday when I went to visit Britt, and I hadn’t really “prepared,” either mentally, or by creating a shopping/food preparation strategy.  But this seemed to be Star #4 lining up—who would have thought that rather be faced with my typical fast food dinner at home, rife with corn derivitatives, I wound up at my daughter’s house on Ash Wednesday, and was offered a healthy, non-toxic, allergen-free, non-corn repast.    And then when I tested my idea with her, she said, “Mom!   You should do it!”  Another endorsement—this time from my twenty-something daughter.   It held no less sway for me than that injunction from Isaiah. 

So I’m on my way.   I then decided to blog this experience, because it’s sure to be a learning experience for me, and recording the details will help me get the most out of it, and perhaps provide me the opportunity to bring some folks along with way. 

I’m slightly behind on this effort because my dear mother-in-law landed in the hospital on Thursday with pulmonary emboli—but it will not take me long to catch up.  This is the first Sunday of Lent, and so I think I’m off to a decent start, even if I haven’t really created my shopping lists and strategies.  As they say, one day at a time.

By the way, about the doctor’s comment about the supermarket being booby-trapped.  This morning my husband Jim offered to go out and get my breakfast—as we had spent the weekend in the hospital the cupboard was bare.  I told him to go to Maple Tree (a local farm stand) because they’ll be more likely to have bread with no high fructose corn syrup.    

He came back, shaking his head.  “Well, you can forget about commercial breads. Every one has high fructose corn syrup.”  He did manage to buy a lovely loaf of whole wheat bread at Maple Tree.  The bread was from Calandra’s Italian and French Bakery and had only four ingredients:  Enriched stone ground whole wheat flour, purified water, salt and yeast. 

It took the same amount of time and effort to buy this “simple” loaf of whole wheat bread (which is delicious by the way) as it would have been to choose the booby-trapped bread.   The hard part was picking out the real deal from among the imposters.

Cost of breakfast today: 

2 certified organic eggs (Alderfer Eggs, Telford, PA),  and 2 slices of Calandra’s whole-wheat toast: Total--$1.    

NOTE:  I also had a glass of Tropicana orange juice and a serving of canned stewed tomatoes, so you might say the actual cost was probably about $1.50.  As I continue with this blog I’ll refine my accounting methods so that I can hopefully debunk the “It’s expensive to eat healthy” myth. 

Links:

www.calandrasbakery.com

www.babycakesnyc.com