creative project: maps, maps, maps

Here are my maps for the final project. I chose 10 random (yet regular) food items from our cafeteria (baby lima beans, Barber's milk, chicken tenders, Frito Lay potato chips, green beans, Heinz marinara sauce, honey mustard, Juicy Juice, Nestle water, and canned pineapple), and mapped a minimum distance which they traveled to get to our cafeteria (thanks to google maps, Mrs. Melissa, and a bit of research).

Some foods could be traced farther back (for example, I could trace the tomatoes in the Heinz marinara all the way back to plant and seed), while others I couldn't get information on past a certain point in shipping (like the honey mustard).
Let it be noted that all of our food from the cafeteria (excluding what occasionally comes out of our garden) comes through Sysco Food Services of Central Alabama, located in Calera. That adds an automatic 30 miles to everything coming through our doors (which seems like a miniscule amount compared to the hundreds/thousands of minimum miles most foods traveled).

I was suprised to find that the chicken tenders are local- although I admit I couldn't figure out where they had been breaded (hopefully in the same plant?). Barber's is a local milk company. All the rest were from out of state, the farthest being (not suprisingly) the pineapple- which I lost track of at its shipping port in Singapore (a mere 9,520 miles away).

so here they are (you can't read the text, so added it above):

Baby Lima Beans- 1149 miles

Barber's Milk-57 miles

Chicken Tenders- 135 miles

Frito Lay potato chips-1,877 miles

Green Beans- 1,055 miles

Heinz marinara- 3,428 miles

Honey mustard- 1,218 miles

Juicy Juice- 2,085 miles

Nestle water- 1,058 miles

Canned (port royale) pineapples- 9,520 miles (the dotted line is to Singapore)

The results are, at a basic level, incomparable because not all of the foods could be traced to their origin, ingredient for ingredient (e.g. the multiple ingredients in marinara, honey mustard, and canned produce). But, as an image of base-line transportation, I think the maps can be informative.

...Hope you find them interesting!

what produce was from the Netherlands? an interactive food game

The food and water watch may be a LITTLE anti-imported food (understatement- e.g."learn about the hidden dangers your imported produce might contain"), but they did make this interesting tool/game tracking imported foods in the average american's shopping cart.
You look through a grocery store and select the foods you would normally buy (canned, frozen, fresh)- like canned peaches, frozen spinach, and onions... and add them to your shopping cart. For each food you select, it gives you the odds that product was imported, percent increases of exports of that product from 1993-2007, and top exporters of that product to the U.S.
I "shopped" for 10 pieces of produce I would normally/feasibly buy in the store (apples, avacados, bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers, eggplant, garlic, lemons, oranges, pears) and ended up with a 98.9% percent chance of buying imported food, an average of 47 lbs. of these imported foods my house buys annually (I'm not sure how they got that statistic), and 13 possible countries of origin (Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Netherlands[?? woah], New Zealand, South Africa, and Spain).

try it out!

"sweet surprise"

Corn syrup, corn syrup...
this website displays the Corn Refiner's Association's 20-30 million dollar campaign trying "to dispel myths and correct inaccuracies associated with this versatile sweetener and highlight the important role high fructose corn syrup plays in our nation’s foods and beverages."

The site is really trying to push LOGOS and ETHOS- lots of scientifically backed, recognizable and creditable sources... but I find their advertising campaign hilarious (with a touch of rediculous on the side). Check out the video and magazine ads, the little "quizzes" (“which of the following sweeteners is considered a natural food ingredient: HFCS, honey, sugar, or all of the above”), the slogans...


.... also interesting to note:

from the CRA's website-
"Why did food and beverage manufacturers switch from sugar to high fructose corn syrup to sweeten products?
High fructose corn syrup has gained a prominent position in the U.S. food industry for many reasons: it is stable in acid systems…it inhibits microbial spoilage…it helps canned foods taste fresher…it is easy to transport and incorporate into recipes"


and the lovely wikipedia:
"The preference for high-fructose corn syrup over cane sugar among the vast majority of American food and beverage manufacturers is largely due to U.S. import quotas and tariffs on sugar. These tariffs significantly increase the domestic U.S. price for sugar, forcing Americans to pay more than twice the world price for sugar, thus making high-fructose corn syrup an attractive substitute in U.S. markets."

Hooray Bibb County!

It seems as if the "hunger" for local, fresh produce has expanded to the depths of Bibb County.
The Alabama Cooperative Extension System, along with a handful of growers and farmers, are planning to set up a farmers market this summer supporting local farmers by selling tasty peaches, beans, corn, zucchini, and other fruits/vegetables to Bibb county residents (and I guess whoever else stops by!)... Even a certified organic farmer is on the list- with herbs, fruit, and vegetables (and maybe cut flowers?)! I thought I would never see the day when local organic produce was readily available in the backcountries of Alabama... (yay!)
If my memory is correct, they are going to hold the market at the BC Chamber of Commerce? or somewhere in Centreville...
I saw this first in the Centreville Press, but here's a seperate link to an article mentioning it.

I'm also doing an internship with Jones Valley Urban Farm all summer, which includes some Saturdays selling produce at the Pepper Place farmer's market! Not to mention some quality physical labor in the hot sun through the week. (my idea of a good time!)
So- this summer, I'm going to be eating like a queen.


(if queens like fresh black-eye peas).