tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71116964975059693722024-03-14T01:12:29.209-07:00~ OREGON CULINARY INSTITUTE ~For required program disclosure info please go to
http://www.oregonculinaryinstitute.com/consumer-infoAbout Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-21477038088362778052015-02-05T14:30:00.001-08:002015-02-05T14:54:58.484-08:00Hello everyone! It's been awhile and a lot has changed! For those of you wondering what we have been up to, check out our new Blog <a href="http://www.oregonculinaryinstitute.com/oci-blog">here</a>.<br />
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<br />About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-33437733666493271582011-10-12T09:50:00.000-07:002011-10-12T09:50:21.489-07:00True Grits - Chef Instructor Paul Warner<i>Chef Warner teaches second term culinary students in the PM shift. </i><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><b>How did you learn to cook? <o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">My mother was a baker. She baked bread for a local restaurant in Northampton, Massachusetts, where I grew up. The guy who owned the restaurant gave us a mixer and would drop off ingredients and she would make bread at home while she watched the kids and my dad worked. We would be running around playing and she taught me how to make pies and cakes and breads and by the time I was seven or eight I would know how to make all kinds of things. The first recipe I memorized was oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. We never had store bought food in our house. Twinkies were a treat because we never had them. We’d barter home made cookies for that kind of stuff at school. A dozen home made cookies – that’s power in elementary school. But I always knew I was going to be a chef. I always loved it. Other members of my family, a few of them were in the food business, there was always food around. You couldn’t walk into Grandma’s house without being fed.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>When did it get serious for you? <o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Well, I joined the 4H “Chef’s Club” when I was 12, which was run by the same chef who owned the restaurant my mother worked for. He would bring in a group of kids and for four hours he’d teach us new stuff everyday. The first thing we learned was crepe suzettes. You teach a boy to set food on fire and he’s hooked. But we learned how to make a roux, all the mother sauces, how to make pasta, a good deal of desserts like crème caramel and chocolate mousse. We always made some kind of app, entrée, sides and desserts every Saturday for two years. At the 4H competitions there were animal husbandry and gardening projects and there I was competing in the cooking and baking competitions, and often winning. We were a farming community. We always ate fresh-off-the-farm food. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I got a job as a dishwasher in the same restaurant between my sophomore and junior year of high school. I worked my way up, and by Christmas they let me start cooking. I was on the pantry station. It had an oyster bar, and I was shucking clams and oysters quite a bit. From there, I moved over to short order and grill. The first night I cooked on the hot line by myself was because the chef was passed out in the walk in. The owner was really helpful – we might have fed about 30 people, but at the end I felt great. I stayed there for a year after high school, then I got a job at a ski lodge in Vermont. I had been accepted at CIA but had to wait. After the snow melted, I came home and worked for a couple months hauling bricks for my dad – the only non food job I had (I hated it). I started at CIA in June of ’79. I walked up to meet the Dean of Students and as I’m shaking his hand, he told me that I needed to shave my sideburns and mustache or he wouldn’t let me go through admissions process so I had to go back to my car and dry shave. At CIA, there were master chefs from other countries – it was a whole new world to me. It was an amazing experience.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>What did you do after the CIA?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">I met a chef from Royal Orleans in the French Quarter in New Orleans at a job fair in Hyde Park and he hired me. I borrowed $500 from my uncle and drove down there. I went to work three days later and on the first day I made fried grits for 2,000 people at a big fundraiser for the Governor. I had never seen grits before in my life and I would have been happy to have never seen them again after that. I worked my way up and stayed for about a year. There were about five languages spoken in the kitchen. There was Spanish, Arabic, French, German, Italian -- it was the most intense kitchen I’d ever worked in. I grew up working in restaurants in a town of 400 people. This was culture shock. I worked a lot and after work we’d hit the bars. The social network there is tightly knit, and I met some great people. I learned many dishes from their mothers and grandmothers, many of whom lived in the Ninth Ward, making red beans and rice, veal birds (a piece of veal stuffed with vegetables and pickles rolled off and braised with spicy gravy), collard greens, etouffe…I’ve learned more about cooking from grandmothers than a lot of the chef’s I’ve worked with. I ended up pretty homesick and moved back to Massachusetts and got a job in a German bakery making pretzels, pastries, and breads. We sold a lot of the pretzels to students (there were five colleges in the area) and I swear some students subsisted on those pretzels. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>How did you end up in Portland? <o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">It was 1982 and I needed a change of pace. I called an old college friend to wish him Merry Christmas and he offered me a job at the Portland Hilton as his baker where he was the Executive Chef. I hopped on a plane on Groundhog’s Day in 1983 and I went to work right away. I was moved to the hot line as Sous Chef and I helped my friend clean house and turn the place around. I mostly did banquets and ran the kitchen in the hotel. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Did you stay there?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">No, I moved to Richards 5<sup>th</sup> Avenue on the 21<sup>st</sup> Floor of the First Interstate (now Wells Fargo) building. That restaurant closed in ’85 and I travelled for a few years. A guy I knew named Art Marshall called me when I was working at a bakery, he wanted me to be the Executive Chef in the cafeteria division of the food service company he was running (they supplied food for cafeterias all over Portland – Textonic, Intel, places like that). Some places fed as many as 1,300 to 1,400 people at lunch. Their system of cooking was something he called “stick cuisine,” in which each kitchen had a pot and a stick and everything was pre-measured. He wanted me to go to each cafeteria and teach the cooks how to actually cook (mostly large batch cooking). These employees had been doing the same thing for 20 years and I had to show them how to do it differently, and they didn’t necessarily want to do it. I learned a lot about showing a lot of people what to do without pissing them off. While working for Art, I met and married my first wife. I got promoted to Executive Chef in the Entertainment Division of Tiffany Food Service, which included Multnomah Greyhound park, Autzen Stadium, OSU entertainment for all athletics, and Portland Meadows. We seated as many as 900 on the fourth floor of Multnomah Greyhound Park, which was the largest restaurant in Oregon at the time. I stayed there for six years.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Did you ever think about opening your own place?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Yes, in fact. When my daughter was 18 months old, we had the opportunity to buy a restaurant. Unfortunately, I thought I knew more than I did. We bought a place in NW Portland at the corner of NW 23<sup>rd</sup> and Overton and named it “Genevieve’s” after my daughter. We were two blocks away from a new restaurant called Wildwood. The only time we got really busy was when they had a wait of over an hour. We had a half vegan menu, half local seafood and free range poultry, and no red meat. We had an organic juice bar, made own breads and desserts, the food was gorgeous and people who ate there loved it, but we went broke in eight months. The day we closed was the worst day in my life. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>What did you do?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">I went back to Jake’s. They had instituted a chef training program, and since I had worked there before, I got hired and went through the program. They sent me to Denver to be the chef at McCormick’s Fish House, but losing the restaurant put me in a funk, and I wasn’t emotionally prepared for a new experience like that. I moved my whole family there but I worked every day. My daughter hardly recognized me, so we came back to Portland after about eight months in Denver. My first marriage didn’t survive, but I did. I was able to pick up a job with Tiffany Food Service and worked for them at Eastmoreland Golf Course. An old friend was working at the Washington Park Zoo in 1999 and said the chef there had been let go, so I applied and got the job.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chef Warner with Packy the Elephant's Birthday Cake</td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">At the zoo, I was Executive Chef. I ran the restaurant, catering, concerts, picnics, you name it. The process by which we selected different food items was pretty intense. When you taste 40 different kinds of hot dogs, you learn that they’re really not all the same. But the formula we had in place was to get the best quality for the best price and there was a lot of research and negotiation that went into doing that for each food item. But I had a lot of fun at the zoo. We did a lot there with a rag-tag bunch. We diverted up to 40 thousand pounds or more a week from landfills by composting. We brought on a lot of externs which is how I got to know the folks from OCI. This job is probably the only thing that would have taken me away from there. I met (OCI Executive Chef) Wilke a few years ago and told him that teaching students is something I’d like to do. It’s unbelievably satisfying. I like to share information and teach and doing it in a real school environment was always appealing to me. What we’re teaching people here is pretty impressive. The ones who take their education seriously here can be very successful. What stresses me most is when students miss class – if you miss a couple days there’s an enormous amount of information you’ve missed out on. We don’t teach to give them a pass/fail grade, we teach so they actually learn something. Watching someone go from not knowing how to peel an onion to seeing all these lights go off in the learning process, like flipping an egg or knowing how to tell when a steak is done, for me that’s all the fun.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>What’s biggest surprise or challenge?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">When I run into a student who is not taking it seriously. They’re investing time and energy and money, and I have to wonder what they’re doing here. But seeing that moment when someone who really wants to learn start to “get it” is very satisfying. The ones who get the best grades in my class are the ones that show up every day and turn in homework. If you’re going to miss shifts in this industry, you’re going to be unemployed a lot. Chefs need their cooks to show up. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Final thoughts?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s good to be me. And I encourage singing in my kitchen. </div>About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-16922764050027749732011-06-03T11:10:00.000-07:002011-06-03T11:10:37.713-07:00Chef Ramona White Teaches (and Practices) Food Ethics and Social Responsibility<strong><i>Food Ethics and Social Responsibility</i> (course description) - </strong><i>This dynamic course addresses issues in society regarding the commercialization of the modern farm. Students will have the opportunity to study marketing terms, their legal meaning and consumer perception, consumer protection laws and ethical responsibility, methods of raising/growing food and its social ramifications, and social health issues facing our society as a result of the modern industrialized food chain. Concepts such as sustainability, local, free range, and organic will be explored.</i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iWJ7_dY2b60/TekgDuWDlTI/AAAAAAAACU8/A-m36e9TFQo/s1600/DSC00112.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iWJ7_dY2b60/TekgDuWDlTI/AAAAAAAACU8/A-m36e9TFQo/s320/DSC00112.JPG" width="260" /></a></div><b>We recently sat down with the new instructor of the Food Ethics and Social Responsibility class, Chef Instructor Ramona White, to ask her a few questions about herself, the class, and how a chef wins the “Hottest Pepper” award from Chef’s Collaborative. </b><br />
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<strong>Why are you qualified to teach the Food Ethics class?</strong><br />
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Well, I’m not qualified to teach any class that has the word “ethics” in it.<br />
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<strong>Come on…</strong><br />
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OK, I have a B.A. in Anthropology is the quick answer. The real answer, though, is that I have a hard time thinking of anything more important to me than local food security and supporting local agriculture and your local farmer. Maybe it’s because I like to eat and I love it here. I love the Willamette Valley and Oregon. When I first moved here in 1995, you couldn’t get local arugula. I’ve been a part of <a href="http://sassafraskitchen.com/wordpress/">Chef’s Collaborative</a> since about 2000 (I won the “Hottest Pepper” award in 2006, which the chef that uses the most local products in their business wins. That year, 100% of the product for my food cart was locally sourced). Because of Chef’s Collaborative, chefs and farmers began communicating and really working together. And the thing is, farmers brought things to chefs they hadn’t seen before and took a chance with things like arugula, all varieties of peppers and tomatoes and all sorts of stuff.<br />
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<strong>Where do you start with the class?</strong><br />
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I start with “What is ‘ethics’?” “What is ‘social responsibility’? Even “What is ‘food’?” Then we start talking about food taboos and the history of agriculture.<br />
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<strong>How do you make a concept like “food ethics” something tangible and “hands-on” and not just academic?</strong><br />
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Let me put it this way. Two out of three of the most intimate acts we do as humans are done in private, at least I hope, but eating is the one thing we do in public and socially. We take it for granted. Someone, somewhere right now is thinking “48 oz. or 36 oz. Big Gulp?” Before coming here, some of our students have never tasted a ripe tomato or a strawberry. We are going to do seasonal tastings each week. Local vs. shipped in product. Fruit, vegetables, seafood, eggs, and locally processed foods.<br />
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<strong>It’s Week One for your class. What comparison are you doing?</strong><br />
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Well, this week’s comparative tasting is going to be on an American classic – the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, because anyone with kids pretty much has this as a staple in their house. At least it was a staple when I was growing up. I want to compare not just flavor and cost, but also the perception of an item based on marketing and packaging. The Western Family brand is touted as being “local,” but what exactly does that mean? Just because something is packaged here doesn’t necessarily make that product “local,” and there’s no legal definition for labeling your product as such. We don’t actually know the origin of the peanuts in the peanut butter. But the other sandwich will have hazelnut butter, and the hazelnuts are from Oregon. As for the bread, Franz is a local bakery, and we’re using their 12-grain bread which if you read the ingredients closely you see contains high fructose corn syrup. The other bread is NatureBake’s “Oregon Grains” bread. The preserves, same deal. The Western Family one has high fructose corn syrup and the other does not. Still, I want them to think about the fact that choosing Western Family over Jif or Skippy still means that at least they’re supporting the local economy.<br />
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<strong>What makes a cook or chef an ethical one?</strong><br />
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The chefs I admire, like <a href="http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/entry/view/higgins_greg_1958_/">Greg Higgins</a> and <a href="http://www.culinate.com/mix/slowfood/cathy_whims">Cathy Whims</a>, who were both instrumental in getting Chef’s Collaborative off the ground, are the ones who believe in an ethical responsibility to support local agriculture, being good to your employees, and practicing sustainability. If you say something is local, seasonal, and organic and there’s a perception that it’s going to be of higher quality, then you have an obligation to follow through on your promise. The more we buy from those farmers, the more they can support you. We owe the farmers and then have to represent them in the best light that we can.<br />
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<strong>What farms and food producers do you think are good role models for the industry?</strong><br />
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<a href="http://www.galesmeadow.com/">Gales Meadow Farm</a> grows heirloom vegetables and is a family farm, <a href="http://www.kookoolanfarms.com/">Kookoolan Farm</a>s, <a href="http://www.tricountyfarm.org/farms/sudan-farm">SuDan Farm</a>, <a href="http://www.fragafarm.com/">Fraga Farms</a> Goat Cheese, <a href="http://www.sweetleaforganics.com/">Sweetleaf Farm</a> --- these are people I know. Of those I don’t know, I think <a href="http://www.truittbros.com/index.html">Truitt Brothers</a>, <a href="http://www.organicvalley.coop/">Organic Valley</a>, and <a href="http://www.mudcitypress.com/beanandgrain.html">Southern Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project</a> are allawesome. The whole local food security thing is important and the bean and grain project is really designed to help with that.<br />
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<strong>You recently watched the <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/album/1510257">OCI Heritage Pig Project</a> again. What are your thoughts on the project and the documentary?</strong><br />
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The project was an amazing project. An amazing idea. To give students the unique opportunity to be able to taste those back-to-back and having them both raised within an hour’s drive of the school, to be able to see the farms, meet the farmers, to see the cycle almost from birth to death and then understand the difference between them and the costing…it was great. There was nothing proselytizing or preachy, it’s like how I teach my class, give them the info and don’t make a judgment about what’s better and give them the opportunity to make up their own minds. It’s like parenting. To be able to do this in an education environment, I think it changed those students deeply. How those students talked about it – it was powerful for them.<br />
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<strong>What is the goal, the intended educational outcome, of the Food Ethics class?</strong><br />
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To become better critical thinkers about what is ethical consumption, in terms of purchasing and selling. How does one make food choices? I want to help them understand that they will be making purchasing decisions and I don’t want for that to be an afterthought. I don’t want to tell them what to think, but I do want them to think about the impact of buying this milk over that milk.<br />
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<strong>Are there any subject matters that you are adding to the curriculum?</strong><br />
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The concept of food security is something we will be talking about in class. It’s more than just hunger and knowing where your next meal comes from.<br />
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<strong>This is heavy subject matter. How do you instill hope?</strong><br />
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Honestly, it’s a big challenge. But every book I assign has an addendum about what any single person can do to be conscientious and part of a solution. Some of the knowledge is not pretty or sexy but it’s empowering. They’re going to have a lot of difficult emotions and hopefully I will have an impact.<br />
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<strong>Introducing -- the 20011 “OCI Ethics in Food and Farms” project: “Plan Bee.”</strong><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Package Bees arriving at Ruhl Bee Supply</td></tr>
</tbody></table><strong><u>Timeline (links to video)</u></strong><br />
Package Bees ordered – February 2011<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/ocikitchenninja#p/u/0/6VcjgX_C80s">Bees Arrive at Ruhl Bee Supply</a> and are <a href="http://www.youtube.com/ocikitchenninja#p/u/10/xsu22g2W6HI">picked up</a> – April<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/ocikitchenninja#p/u/1/B4g3EpGl5tY">Hive Installation #1</a> at OCI Chef Instructor Dan Brophy’s backyard garden<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/ocikitchenninja#p/u/8/eM9SP2SJ_cg">Hive Installation #2</a> at OCI graduate Stacy Givens’ <a href="http://www.thesideyardpdx.com/">The Side Yard Farm</a> annex<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/ocikitchenninja#p/u/7/_NHKdwANvrI">Hive Installation #3</a> at <a href="http://wealthunderground.blogspot.com/">Wealth Underground urban farm</a> <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chefs Brophy, White, Wilke</td></tr>
</tbody></table><strong><u>Q&A with <a href="http://www.oregonculinaryinstitute.com/x-factor/chef-biographies/">OCI Key Players</a></u></strong><br />
<strong><u><a href="http://www.oregonculinaryinstitute.com/x-factor/chef-biographies/"></a></u></strong>Woody Bailey, OCI Jack-of-all-Trades<br />
Brian Wilke, OCI Executive Chef and Director of Education<br />
Dan Brophy, OCI Chef Instructor (and Master Gardener)<br />
Ramona White, OCI Food Ethics Instructor<br />
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<strong><em>How did “Plan Bee” originate?</em></strong><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8sEc_cmSICk/TbdcQ4mfdkI/AAAAAAAACUI/71xpxNWasQE/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-04-26+at+3.50.54+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="114" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8sEc_cmSICk/TbdcQ4mfdkI/AAAAAAAACUI/71xpxNWasQE/s200/Screen+shot+2011-04-26+at+3.50.54+PM.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woody Bailey</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Bailey: I think Chef Brophy brought up the idea because he had received a notice for a beekeeping class, and Chef Wilke liked it. So the two of them attended the class at <a href="http://www.ruhlbeesupply.com/">Ruhl Bee Supply</a> and from there, it was on. <br />
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Brophy: Keeping bees is a way you can eat locally and sustainably, and sugar is hard to find out in the wild. You can’t grow sugar cane in this climate. Also, as a gardener, more bees means more pollination and I’m very interested in that. <br />
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<strong><em>What’s “Plan Bee” all about?</em></strong><br />
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Wilke: It’s another wild idea I let Dan Brophy talk me into (laughs). We want to make our students aware of the importance of bees in the homosapien picture. Einstein said if bees go away, humans have about four years left. The hive collapse issue, people don’t understand how critical it could be. It’s not just another sound bite on CNN. So we purchased a few hives and put them in a few different urban gardens around the area, and we’ll be documenting our experiences trying to grow healthy hives. <br />
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<span id="goog_1390752344"></span><span id="goog_1390752345"></span><br />
<strong><em>How concerned should we be about the health of the honeybees worldwide?</em></strong><br />
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White: Because we depend on bees as a critical part of our food chain, we can’t afford not to pay attention to this. From an educational perspective, any food production process that students get to watch from beginning to the end is fascinating and important to understand. <br />
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Brophy: We’re hoping to learn more by going to see <a href="http://www.queenofthesun.com/">Queen of the Sun</a> – but it’s pretty well documented that they’re having a hard time. All three farms we put our hives on are organic producers, and pesticides seem to be a part of the problem, so I think we’re helping out. <br />
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<strong><em>What’s your take on the project so far?</em></strong><br />
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Bailey: We’re still early in the process, but I’ve already learned a lot. Like a culinary student coming into term one, there’s so much to learn and so many different levels of education. For example, just in terms of “<a href="http://www.beeclass.com/dts/packagebees.htm">package bees</a>,” how the queen is introduced to a colony, how they’re distributed, how the hives are built and function, and most of all, the life cycle of the hive. I purchased <em>What Makes Bees Buzz</em>, <em>Bee Hive Maintenance</em> and <em>Bee Maintenance</em> just to educate myself. <br />
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Wilke: I’d never kept bees before. When you’re actually looking at them and seeing and feeling them in the hive, it’s pretty amazing stuff. They’re bees, not dogs, so they don’t exactly sit if you ask them to. When Dan and I pulled the marshmallow out at Wealth Underground, they weren’t interested in us --they were all about the queen bee. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q8bK0nV9N20/TbdcrwWIQvI/AAAAAAAACUM/xGTaAPkPBUA/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-04-26+at+3.51.50+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="376" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q8bK0nV9N20/TbdcrwWIQvI/AAAAAAAACUM/xGTaAPkPBUA/s640/Screen+shot+2011-04-26+at+3.51.50+PM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chef Brophy and Stacy Givens at her Side Yard organic farm annex, installing the hive</td></tr>
</tbody></table><strong><em>Do you have much experience with bees?</em></strong><br />
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Brophy: I’m a beginner but I’ve had native bees living at my place for three years -- I just haven’t known much about what they’re doing. But I put a bee box over the utility box they had made a hive out of and sold my first honey harvest from them last fall.<br />
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<strong><em>What’s different about the new hives that OCI acquired?</em></strong><br />
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Brophy: I wasn’t familiar with <a href="http://www.bees-online.com/PackageBees.htm">package bees</a>, but we ordered them through Ruhl Bee Supply and got our three pounds of bees that were shipped from Northern California. All three were installed with only the most minor of inconveniences.<br />
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<strong><em>What’s the next step in terms of the OCI hives?</em></strong> <br />
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Bailey: Next up is the seven week inspection of all three hives. We’re checking for the health of the hive, that the queen is intact, and that eggs have been laid. We also add another box, another level, to the hive, at that point. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4KKAJfTQHlk/TbddL4DHh1I/AAAAAAAACUQ/S-gc61JQWnU/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-04-26+at+3.51.11+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="392" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4KKAJfTQHlk/TbddL4DHh1I/AAAAAAAACUQ/S-gc61JQWnU/s640/Screen+shot+2011-04-26+at+3.51.11+PM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nolan (left) from Wealth Underground Farm and Woody Bailey (right) installing a hive</td></tr>
</tbody></table><strong><em>Any other reasons why “Plan Bee” is especially interesting or important?</em></strong><br />
<br />
White: Well, the students are going to experience terroir and how what the bees consume affects how the honey tastes. It’s the same with grapes or pigs or whatever, the fact that they get to understand the farming process and witness a farm that is trying to be completely integrative and sustainable as possible by completing as many cycles as possible, especially in an urban setting, on a small scale, is really exciting. The bonus is tasting local honey and seeing the difference between local vs. mass produced clover honey. <br />
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Bailey: I’d like to point out how passionate the beekeeping community is about what they are doing. It’s a tight knight community, and there is a lot of information sharing. For example, the sheer variety of honey types is due in part to this community of sharing. For me, the realization of the impact potential of beehive collapse, when you’re talking about 70% of all food produced (source) being contingent upon bee pollination, was an eye-opener. This made me appreciate this beekeeping community even more.<br />
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<em>We will continue to post video and other info about Plan Bee on the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Oregon-Culinary-Institute/61912980699">OCI Facebook page</a> throughout 2011 and for as long as the project continues to have educational value.</em>About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-57007044570560158942011-04-15T09:54:00.000-07:002011-04-15T09:54:51.278-07:00(Genetically Modified) Milk Does the Body No Good<strong><em>by Culinary Management Degree student Michelle Toman</em></strong><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RJFTwiaxnXY/TaOc1dftu7I/AAAAAAAACTc/soe2g8-27SI/s1600/Cow.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" r6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RJFTwiaxnXY/TaOc1dftu7I/AAAAAAAACTc/soe2g8-27SI/s1600/Cow.png" /></a></div><br />
Beautiful green pastures and flowering meadows are a vision of the past. Today’s meat industry looks more like thousands of wire cages and pens, crammed tightly with sick and injured animals who never see a ray of sunshine, or even have room to turn around. Hormones are pumped into animals to induce quick growth, causing their limbs to succumb to the weight before they are given the opportunity to build the muscle to sustain it. Most animals are fed large quantities of corn, which is not a natural diet. Even chickens are foragers, who stay healthy on small bugs, grasses and seeds. Cattle, pigs, turkeys, ducks, geese and other animals require similar foraging diets to maintain health.<br />
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Today’s meat industry is focused heavily on quantity and devoid of quality. Problems with filth and poor diet have encouraged growth of contaminates such as salmonella and E. coli. As production levels continue to rise, so do instances of poisoning and even death, related to food borne illnesses.<br />
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The ugly fact of dairy and meat (especially beef) is that many large producers are extensively using growth hormones to boost supply. This is not a new issue, bovine growth hormones used in the United States to boost beef and milk production has been the focus of debate for some time now. Those asserting the safety and efficacy of rBST - including scientific institutions, government authorities and the dairy and pharmaceutical industries - have seen their reassurances dismissed and their credibility attacked. (http://www.articlesbase.com/causes-and-organizations-articles/growth-hormones-in-food-507273.html) (rbstfacts.org)<br />
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Hormones are used to make cattle grow faster and America’s dairy cows are given a genetically-engineered hormone to increase their milk production. Although the United Stated Department of Agriculture and the FDA claim these hormones are safe, there is growing concern that hormone residues in meat and milk might be harmful to human health and the environment.<br />
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<strong><em>History</em></strong><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j9lqn3y_xi8/TaOdL7OHapI/AAAAAAAACTg/o8Lm5RB_K28/s1600/Scary+Cow.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" r6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j9lqn3y_xi8/TaOdL7OHapI/AAAAAAAACTg/o8Lm5RB_K28/s200/Scary+Cow.png" width="200" /></a></div>The female sex hormone estrogen was also shown to affect growth rates in cattle and poultry in the 1930s. Once the chemistry of estrogen was understood, it became possible to make the hormone synthetically in large amounts. Synthetic estrogens started being used to increase the size of cattle and chickens in the early 1950s. DES was one of the first synthetic estrogens made and used commercially in the US to fatten chickens. DES was also used as a drug in human medicine and was found to cause cancer and its use in food production was phased out in the late 1970s. But although growing numbers of consumers and scientists have expressed concerns about potential human health risks of this practice, in the 1970’s the USDA and FDA had approved the use of six hormone growth promotants (HGPs) in the cultivation of beef. The six hormones include three which are naturally occurring; Oestradiol, Progesterone and Testosterone and three which are synthetic; Zeranol, Trenbolone, and Melengestrol and one more hormone used to increase milk productivity which is called recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH for short) and also known as rBST. (envirocancer.cornell.edu), (articlesbase.com) <br />
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As early as the 1930s, it was realized that cows injected with material drawn from bovine (cow) pituitary glands (hormone secreting organ) produced more milk. Later, the bovine growth hormone (BGH) from the pituitary glands was found to be responsible for this effect. However, at that time, technology did not exist to harvest enough of this material for large-scale use in animals. In the 1980s, it became possible to produce large quantities of pure BGH by using recombinant DNA technology (Recombinant DNA is a form of artificial DNA that is created by combining two or more sequences that would not normally occur together through the process of gene splicing). In 1993, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), also known as bovine somatotropin (rBST) for use in dairy cattle. Recent estimates by the manufacturer of this hormone indicate that 30% of the cows in the United States (US) may be treated with rBGH. (envirocancer.cornell.edu)<br />
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When injected into cows, rBST (also known as rBGH) increases milk production 10-15% and in some cases up to 40%. 2011. (sustainabletable.org)<br />
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<strong>rBGH</strong><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vbm9lz-hbsM/TaOdjGzhLrI/AAAAAAAACTk/mGHjrZ0yefY/s1600/Cow+Syringe.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="153" r6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vbm9lz-hbsM/TaOdjGzhLrI/AAAAAAAACTk/mGHjrZ0yefY/s200/Cow+Syringe.png" width="200" /></a></div>The hormone rBGH is normally administered to a cow via a hypodermic syringe. The injection is usually made in the animal’s hindquarters near the base of the tail. The increased amount of BST introduced into her body stimulates the cow to increase her intake of food and water. rBGH is designed to be used in synchronization with the cow’s natural lactation cycle. That cycle begins with very high milk production immediately following the birth of a calf. Sometime thereafter, milk production begins to decline and decreases at a fairly steady rate until she goes dry. rBGH is administered to cows just before their lactation cycle begins to go into decline. It has little effect on a cow in the first phase after freshening; the animal is then already at peak production and additional rBGH will generally not yield more milk. (rbstfacts.org)<br />
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The six hormone growth promotants are implanted or injected into cattle in various stages of maturity. The FDA, however, does not permit injecting calves with these hormones. The male hormone testosterone and its synthetic equivalent trenbolone acetate, and the female hormone progesterone--including three synthetic derivatives zeranol, 17 beta-estradiol, and melengestrol acetate (MGA)--are either implanted or injected into the cows. Melengestrol is a feed additive and is not injected, but added to the feedstock. Hormones are also said to help the animal improve its nutrient absorption. This translates into feedstock needed for the animal to reach its finish weight (market weight). Hormones help to improve meat quality by changing the distribution of fat, producing the lean meat that consumers desire. (articlesbase.com)<br />
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Industrial farms use a number of methods for increasing milk production in dairy cows, including selective breeding, feeding grain-based diets (instead of grass), and exposing cows to longer periods of artificial light. Yet, one of the most common and controversial ways to force greater milk production is to inject them with rBGH. (sustainabletable.org)<br />
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Manufacturers benefit from the use of the hormones manufactured by the company because it results in an estimated 12% increase in the US milk supply. However, it is argued that the US did not need higher milk supply. It is said that since the l950s, America's dairies have consistently produced more milk than the nation could consume, the surplus being bought up every year by the Federal Government to prevent the price from plummeting. (articlesbase.com)<br />
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Beef producers inject their cattle with growth hormones because they improve meat quality by increasing the development of lean meat and decreasing fat content. This increases feed efficiency thereby allowing more growth with less feed, and reduces costs for producers, thereby reducing the price of meat and meat products for consumers. (copperwiki.org)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>In 1987, Monsanto submitted to the FDA a new animal drug application for Posilac, a synthetic growth hormone that increases milk production in dairy cows (also known as an rBST or rBGH). It took Monsanto over six years to bring rBST to market, and Monsanto supplemented the application with studies and reports documenting the safety and effectiveness of the drug. They contend that rBST is a supplement used to help cows produce more milk. Because of the fact that the supplement is injected into the cow and not the milk, they insist that the resulting milk is exactly the same. After reviewing those materials, the FDA approved Monsanto’s application for the use of Posilac in 1993. In January 1994, a Congressional task force concluded that the FDA’s position was adequately supported. The FDA relied solely on one study administered by Monsanto in which rBGH was tested for 90 days on 30 rats. The study was never published, and the FDA stated the results showed no significant problems. (sustainabletable.org)<br />
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<strong>Labeling</strong><br />
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In addition to approving rBST for public use, the FDA had to determine whether milk from rBST treated cows should be labeled differently than regular milk. Vermont Senators Patrick Leahy and James Jeffords asked the U.S. Health and Human Services Department to formally investigate the FDA's approval of rBST in 1998 especially since the FDA employee in charge of labeling guidelines for rBST, Michael R. Taylor, had been a Monsanto vice president. And the FDA researcher charged with evaluating rBST levels in milk had done the same work at Monsanto. (Rosenberg)<br />
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Besides enforcing requirements necessary to ensure that the labeling is not false or misleading, the FDA is prohibited from placing some additional requirements on labeling - the agency cannot require labeling based solely on differences in the production processes of identical foods. After an extensive agency investigation, the FDA found that there was no material difference between milk from rBST-treated cows and milk from non-rBST-treated cows, and accordingly it could not impose additional labeling requirements. The standard for determining if two foods are the same is a materiality standard. Materiality relates to nutritional, organoleptic, or functional characteristics of the food. In general, the FDA has not found that foods from genetically modified organisms are different than their conventional counterparts. Therefore, the FDA could not require any additional labeling of rBST milk. (fda.gov)<br />
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In International Dairy Foods Association v. Boggs, the 6th Circuit determined that Ohio’s 2008 law prohibiting the labeling of milk from non-rBST treated cows was unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The court based this decision in part on its finding that the two milks were in fact different, thus overruling the FDA’s prior determination. The court cites three reasons milk produced by rBST-treated cows is different: increased levels of the hormone IGF-1, a period of milk with lower nutritional quality during each lactation, and increased somatic cell counts in the milk. The court further noted that higher somatic cell counts indicate milk is poor quality and will turn sour more quickly. (ohioaglaw.wordpress.com)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R74LzUKFSC8/TaOeVzNoe5I/AAAAAAAACTs/HpJ6CV4_U9Q/s1600/rBGH+Free.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R74LzUKFSC8/TaOeVzNoe5I/AAAAAAAACTs/HpJ6CV4_U9Q/s200/rBGH+Free.png" width="200" /></a></div>Later, the FDA advised that milk from untreated cows could be labeled as such, but recommended the inclusion as a disclaimer that accompanying the statement “from cows not treated with rBST” with the statement that “No significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rBST-treated and non rBST treated cows.” The FDA continues to assure consumers that rBGH is safe for cows and humans, despite evidence to the contrary. (sustainabletable.org)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SN3GhdlcqvI/TaOfN11H90I/AAAAAAAACT0/sj-NVTDuKhY/s1600/Normal+Cow.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="127" r6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SN3GhdlcqvI/TaOfN11H90I/AAAAAAAACT0/sj-NVTDuKhY/s200/Normal+Cow.png" width="200" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MDXUr0r0Um8/TaOe6aZ4AfI/AAAAAAAACTw/lNCnib1IgXg/s1600/Genetically+Mod+Cows.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" r6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MDXUr0r0Um8/TaOe6aZ4AfI/AAAAAAAACTw/lNCnib1IgXg/s200/Genetically+Mod+Cows.png" width="200" /></a></div>The FDA, which approved rBST, requires a package insert that lists 16 harmful medical conditions that rBST increases. Some examples: The use of Posilac may result in reduced pregnancy rates, cows injected with Posilac may have small decreases in gestation length and birth weight of calves, may result in an increase in digestive disorders such as indigestion, bloat, and diarrhea, cows injected with Posilac had increased numbers of enlarged hocks and lesions (e.g. lacerations, enlargements, calluses) of the knee, and second lactation or older cows had more disorders of the foot region. In some herds, the use of Posilac has been associated with increases in somatic cell counts, cows injected with Posilac are at an increased risk for clinical mastitis. This potentially fatal mammary gland infection is the most common disease in dairy cattle in the United States. This disease can be identified by abnormalities in the udder such as swelling, heat, redness or pain. Other indications of mastitis may be abnormalities in milk such as a watery appearance, flakes, clots, or pus. "Mastitis 101 – The Basics, UC Davis Veterinary Medicine Extension." (vetmed.ucdavis.edu)<br />
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The USDA’s National Animal Health Monitoring System 2002 study said that “cost and animal health were major concerns” identified in all regions of the country by farmers. A 2008 study on the California dairy industry found that “current and prospective users still had concerns about the effect of rBST on the health of their herds . . .” and in a survey found that 15% of farmers cited high veterinary costs as a “very important” reason for disadopting rBST. (vetmed.ucdavis.edu)<br />
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RBST has been shown to evoke a response in all cows that receive it. However, the range of that response will vary among individual animals. In some cows, the resulting increase in milk production will be considerable. In others, it may be less pronounced. A farmer may decide that, in some animals, the cost of supplementation as well as the cost of the increased food and water the animal consumes may not be offset by the increased milk she yields. Cows that receive this hormone typically last only two lactation cycles before they are slaughtered and non-rBGH cows normally produce milk for 4-7 years and can live as long as 10 years. (vetmed.ucdavis.edu)<br />
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Despite warnings from scientists, such as Dr. Michael Hansen from the Consumers Union and Dr. Samuel Epstein from the Cancer Prevention Coalition, that milk from rBGH-injected cows contains substantially higher amounts of a potent cancer tumor promoter called IGF-1, and despite evidence that rBGH milk contains higher levels of pus, bacteria, and antibiotics, the FDA gave the hormone its seal of approval, with no real pre-market safety testing required. (consumersunion.org)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rGUQPW5igAs/TaOh6xfMQ1I/AAAAAAAACT4/Haj5wK5ykn0/s1600/Bad+Milk.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rGUQPW5igAs/TaOh6xfMQ1I/AAAAAAAACT4/Haj5wK5ykn0/s200/Bad+Milk.png" width="151" /></a></div>There are also questions whether hormone residues in the meat of "growth enhanced" animals and can disrupt human hormone balance. rBGH is said to be responsible for a number of health issues ranging from premature puberty in children, causing developmental problems, and even leading to the development of breast, prostate or colon cancer due to the increased antibiotic residues and elevated levels of IGF-1. (Rosenberg)<br />
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Children, pregnant women and the unborn are thought to be most susceptible to these negative health effects. Hormone residues in beef have been implicated in the early onset of puberty in girls, which could put them at greater risk of developing breast and other forms of cancer. A recent study found that women who routinely ate beef were far more likely to give birth to boys who grow up to have lower-than-normal sperm counts. Other health concerns, especially in regards to women, is how this genetically modified hormone can interfere with a woman’s sensitive hormonal system and could also affect human reproduction as it is currently doing to cow’s reproductive system. (sustainabletable.org), (copperwiki.org)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XS1MNunl4i4/TaOiK6G4HwI/AAAAAAAACT8/aSXKRJnzL-s/s1600/Health+Canada.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" r6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XS1MNunl4i4/TaOiK6G4HwI/AAAAAAAACT8/aSXKRJnzL-s/s1600/Health+Canada.png" /></a></div>In a 1998 assessment by Health Canada (Canada’s equivalent of the FDA) determined Monsanto’s results of their 90-day study showed concern and reasons for review before the approval of rBGH. The unpublished rat study Monsanto supplied to the FDA for drug approval claimed no rats absorbed rBST in their blood stream--hence there was no need for long term toxicity studies--but Canadian scientists who obtained the study discovered that 20% to 30% of the rats did absorb rBST with biggest concentrations in the prostate and there were also thyroid cysts. (Rosenberg)<br />
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Both Canada and the European Union explicitly turned down use of rBST due to adverse animal health impacts. The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association Expert Panel of rBST, set up by Health Canada, found that that use of rBST was associated with an increased risk of various animal health problems: mastitis up by 25%, infertility by 18%, lameness by 50%, and culling by 20-25%. Health Canada announced in January 1999 that it “had to reject the request for approval to use rBST in Canada, as it presents a sufficient and unacceptable threat to the safety of dairy cows.” A scientific committee in the European Union found that “BST use causes a substantial increase in levels of foot problems and mastitis and leads to injection site reactions in dairy cows. These conditions, especially the first two, are painful and debilitating, leading to significantly poorer welfare in the treated animals. Therefore from the point of view of animal welfare, including health, the Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare is of the opinion that BST should not be used in dairy cows.” Today, 25 nations of the European Union, Japan, Australia and Canada have all banned the use of rBGH due to animal and human health concerns. (organicvalley.coop)<br />
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<strong>Environment</strong><br />
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Nutrient flows from animal production systems are also of particular environmental concern. Only a proportion of the cow's daily intake is captured in milk, with the remainder excreted via feces and urine. Dairy manures therefore contain appreciable quantities of nutrients and production in a ratio that is inefficient in meeting crop nutrient needs. Applying sufficient manure to fulfill nutrient requirements may saturate the soil's production-holding capacity, allowing excess to transfer into water courses via surface runoff and increasing the potential for erosions to occur. (sustainabletable.org)<br />
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Carbon dioxide is recognized to be the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas, with emissions from animal agriculture resulting from two main sources: livestock metabolism and fossil fuel consumption. The total reduction in global warming potential conferred by rBST supplementation of one million dairy cows is equivalent to removing ≈400,000 family cars from the road or planting ≈300 million trees. (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)<br />
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Fossil fuel consumption raises two major environmental concerns: atmospheric pollution and resource sustainability. As a consequence of the reduced herd population and total feed requirement from rBST supplementation of one million cows, the energy required from fossil fuels (cropping only) and electricity for milk production is decreased by 729 × 106 MJ per year and 156 × 106 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, respectively. To put these figures into context, the savings in gasoline alone would be sufficient to power ≈1,550 passenger cars, each traveling an average of 12,500 miles per year. Furthermore, the total fossil fuel British thermal units (BTU) and electricity savings would provide sufficient annual heat and electricity for ≈16,000 and 15,000 households, respectively. (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)<br />
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To date, the U.S. has yet again allowed Monsanto the freedom to unleash its possibly lethal products on the unsuspecting consumer. And so, it comes down to a battle between the FDA (and its supporters) and those who don’t follow the FDA. Proposed bans on rBGH-free labels are not to protect the consumer, they are to protect Monsanto’s pocketbook.<br />
<br />
Manmade chemicals and genetically modified foods pose very serious health issues to your family. This is why it’s very important to learn what chemicals and ingredients are being put into packaged and processed foods in order to take greater control of your health and life and to help to avoid serious health issues. <br />
<br />
Purchasing meats in the grocery store is not the only source of concern. Most restaurants, fast food suppliers, and even children’s lunch menus at school are in question. Don’t be afraid to ask where the meat your child is being fed at school comes from, and don’t be afraid to challenge these sources if you don’t agree with them. Anyone who is willing to take up the fight to demand safe food for their families can help diminish some of the problems caused by mass meat production.About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-43985716713340915392011-03-29T14:20:00.000-07:002011-03-30T10:06:26.054-07:00The Sound and Fury on the Line<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZXm7Va-gTh0/TZJMngKH50I/AAAAAAAACTY/bmS5V6VnbXs/s1600/DSCF1552.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZXm7Va-gTh0/TZJMngKH50I/AAAAAAAACTY/bmS5V6VnbXs/s200/DSCF1552.jpg" width="155" /></a></div><i>by Laramie Bradbury, Culinary Management Degree student Laramie Bradbury</i><br />
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The sound is silent. I can hear myself breathing. Moving at two hundred miles an hour and still standing in the same place. My heart is pounding, creating the drum beat that sets the pace. The machine on the counter sounds like a train chugging away into the night spitting paper out of the top. My brain categorizes the steps to complete the ticket. <em>Call the order out</em>. I wait for my teammates to sound back from different locations in the kitchen. <em>Pull the plates</em>. I set the appropriate plates on the counter as a reminder of the ticket without need to look at it again. My inner monologue repeats the recipe in my head as my arms and hands operate by muscle memory. <em>Heat the pan</em>. It takes a matter of seconds due to constant use-check. <em>Add oil</em>. It reaches the proper temperature in about 30 seconds. Timing is critical, every step I make could be the mistake that stops the whole night. Meanwhile, I reach under the counter and grab pre-portioned meats, vegetables, sauces for sides, etc. <em>Add proteins</em>. I give them a quick toss to evenly brown all sides and add salt. <em>Toss the veggies in</em>. Flame bursts out of the pan, screeching due to the water vaporizing. The flame warms my face and my eyes reflect the flame. I let out a mischievous grin. The flame dies down. <em>Add stock aromatics and a little reduction sauce then cover</em>. Steam bursts through the lid causing it to rock back and forth because the constant use has warped the aluminum. Has the sauce reduced? <em>Taste. Taste. Salt. Taste</em>. 30 more seconds. I grab a hot plate from the oven without using a towel. My skin is as warm as the oven. Sweat beads up stinging my eyes and clings to the rim of my clothes. <em>Slice the bread</em>. <em>Toss it on the grill and lather with garlic oil until warm</em>. One small handful salad, 2oz vinaigrette, giving a quick toss it goes down on the plate. I silently sing the “Meat Song” as I finish the plate “The meat goes down on the bread, then I put the veggies on, it smells so good, through my nose, I want to eat it all night long!” The song changes slightly depending on my mood and the plate. <em>Wipe all of the finger prints off the plate</em>. Set it in the window. It’s followed closely by the plates from the other workers. <em>Ring the bell</em>. Adrenaline is pumping through my veins. I don’t even see who takes the plates – already too busy with the next ticket. The silence is surprisingly loud as the night roars by in the blink of an eye.<br />
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(written as extra credit for English 115)About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-72138539301874762582011-01-21T14:00:00.000-08:002011-03-31T15:12:22.029-07:00A Poet in our Midst<em><strong>An Interview with Donald Dunbar, English Instructor in the Management Program</strong></em><br />
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"I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." <br />
- Henry David Thoreau, <em>Walden</em><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TTn9-Fn4d8I/AAAAAAAACSk/HTiIydqm3vg/s1600/DSCF1101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TTn9-Fn4d8I/AAAAAAAACSk/HTiIydqm3vg/s320/DSCF1101.jpg" width="251" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">English Instructor Donald Dunbar</td></tr>
</tbody></table><strong>Where are you from?</strong><br />
I grew up mostly around Ann Arbor, Michigan, and did my undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin. I then escaped the Midwest, which is awful, for Tucson, Arizona, where I got my MFA in Poetry from the U of A. As for my family, I have a younger brother who lives in San Diego and a younger sister in Austin, Texas. My parents live in Michigan but they’re going to try out living in France in 2012. <br />
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I was a pretty typical nerd growing up. I loved reading and computers, and got grounded a few times from each (my parents packed up my books at least once). The food scene was pretty great. My mom cooked pretty fantastic dinners every night, and my sister--who’s a culinary school grad--and my brother were both quick learners. I didn’t really start cooking until three years ago when I moved to Portland and started learning from my housemates. I haven’t cooked meat since I spent four hours uselessly torturing shish kabobs in Montana, but I’m an eating-out omnivore.<br />
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Nowadays I spend most of my time writing poetry. I’ve published a bunch of poems in magazines, and two little chapbooks online, and co-run a reading series called If Not For Kidnap. When I was a kid I wouldn’t have imagined I’d be into poetry. I thought poetry was stupid and boring. I thought I was going to be a programmer, which I did not think was boring. But I accidentally got into a poetry class and have been doing it ever since.<br />
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<strong>What was your path to working at OCI?</strong><br />
I had been travelling for about a year after graduate school. I lived alone in a cabin in the Upper Peninsula (Michigan) for three months in the fall. The only time I saw people was when I went to town to get groceries. It was pretty wild. Then I spent the first part of the winter in Florida with my grandfather before going to Europe for three months. I spent most of my time in Germany (where my brother was living) and Portugal, but also visited London and Amsterdam. I mostly travelled by myself. When I got back to the states, I made my way out to Portland. <br />
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I had difficulty finding paying work when I first moved here and then again for a summer after the restaurant I had been working at in Northwest Portland closed. After an unemployed summer that was great for my writing but terrible to my bank account, I started looking for work. I was in a cafe with a friend and we opened up the weekly with the Free Will Astrology and both our signs had been circled by someone. Mine read something like “If you spent half as much as much energy on your professional life as you do on your personal life you’ll be a great success.” So for the fiftieth time that summer I opened up Craigslist, but this time found an ad for an adjunct English teacher at Pioneer Pacific in Clackamas.<br />
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I worked at the Clackamas campus for ten months or so, and came to OCI to teach one class on loan. As the term ended Chef Wilke pulled me aside and said, “Hey why don’t you come teach for us full time?” The next term I started teaching and sitting in on management classes to better understand the program. From the first class I was really interested, and learned a lot. It was very interesting to learn all these solutions and approaches to the problems I had noticed working at restaurants throughout college, and I got to understand the principles that the management curriculum is designed around. The ethical and sustainable approach to leading a restaurant, the direct involvement with the students that every instructor and administrator has. I was already glad to be here but that’s how I came to feel really proud.<br />
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<strong>Which classes do you teach?</strong><br />
I teach three English courses and a communications course (Diversity Issues in Communication). I’ve developed each of my classes from the ground up, getting them to really complement the business side of the management program and the students’ pursuit of culinary knowledge. But I’ve also got total control over how I teach, which is very important to me. School was very boring to me when I was growing up. <br />
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English 115 is a blast. We basically do a bunch of writing, and rather than try to re-learn formulas we’ve all forgotten, we focus on improving writing skill and learning how to be more active readers. Many of the assignments are focused directly on developing skills necessary for restaurant writing--correspondence, menus, business plans, marketing--but we do a lot of weird stuff in the class. Surrealist writing exercises, collaborative writing, and the final exam... English 121 is called English Composition, and we interpret that through a term-long blog project. Each student formulates a blog project that they design, update, and learn to utilize for professional networking. They’re pretty awesome, the blogs we’ve had so far. Right now there’s a student blogging reviews of Portland food carts, one developing a blog exploring the many aspects of cake creation and sugar artistry, and another one written by a mother of five reporting on the chaos that is her kitchen at home. I could go on. English 221 is a research paper class. Students choose topics related to food, farming, restaurants, etc. and learn skills for structuring a long argument. Topics range from microbrew beer to vertical farms to the raw food movement to traditional food preservation methods. I learn so much about food, all about food, it’s always an education for me too. In Com 150 we discuss food as a major aspect of culture, and develop different ways to understand what make up our cultures and how we and others are affected by that. This knowledge is particularly useful for someone running a kitchen, and I think anyone taking their position of authority seriously should seek to expand their understanding of it.<br />
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<strong>Why did you structure your curriculum the way you did?</strong><br />
Everyone has got their own skill at communication, and their own goals. This structure makes it so I can help the student identify what those are in English 115, develop them for an audience in 121, and apply them to furthering their own and other people’s knowledge in 221. I’m hearing or reading at least one piece of writing from each student every day in both 115 and 121, and reading various drafts of their research paper in 221. Com 150 then examines how what we value affects how we communicate and how we interpret other people’s communications.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TTn-3Q48MtI/AAAAAAAACSo/8zlO6mElDLk/s1600/DSCF1117.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TTn-3Q48MtI/AAAAAAAACSo/8zlO6mElDLk/s400/DSCF1117.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Management students performing a group sketch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><strong>For the most part, the people taking the management program came to OCI to learn to cook or bake. What is their reaction to taking English classes?</strong><br />
Chefs are creative people, so usually most everyone is on board pretty quick. There are a lot of different skill levels, from people who could pretty easily publish stories or articles to people who’ve failed every writing class they’ve ever taken. But there’s so much to discover. Everybody can improve their skill at communication, simply because there’s so many different ways to do it, with so many different effects. Some students get comfortable with the basics and learn to have confidence in their ability to write, and some students further hone the finer points of it. It’s like the term one culinary student who hasn’t mastered knife skills and the term one culinary student who has worked in a profession kitchen for a decade--there’s always more to learn. And I think everybody realizes the importance of good communication skills. The ability to communicate ideas and emotions to other human beings, and to persuade and entertain people, is what separates us from cows.<br />
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<strong>Do students ever tell you whether or not your classes have helped them?</strong><br />
Oh yeah. It’s a rewarding job. <br />
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<strong>Do you notice differences between culinary and baking students, or how they get along in class?</strong><br />
No, not really. All classes are built so much on group interaction that by the third day it doesn’t matter what program the student is in. They’re all just management students in my classes.<br />
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<strong>What do you do when you’re not at work?</strong><br />
Listen to a lot of music.<br />
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<strong>Where can your poetry be found?</strong><br />
Poetry journals like <em>Action, Yes!,</em> <em>Slope</em>, <em>Poor Claudia</em>, and <em>absent</em>.<br />
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<strong>Any final thoughts?</strong> <br />
Writing is fun when it’s not stressful. Even if you don’t take one of my classes, I totally encourage you to take ten minutes and write something just for yourself. A mysterious package arrives on your doorstep. What’s inside it? What happens then?About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-32244127190610883612011-01-10T11:39:00.000-08:002011-01-11T15:58:26.637-08:00The Legacy of James Beard in Oregon<em>by Lance J. Mayhew</em><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TStgJ4GKJmI/AAAAAAAACSg/0bJkEzoxCso/s1600/Beard+wine.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TStgJ4GKJmI/AAAAAAAACSg/0bJkEzoxCso/s320/Beard+wine.bmp" width="207" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">James Beard. Photo credit Dan Wynn, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">©Elisabeth Wynn and </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;">courtesy </span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;">of </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;">the James Beard Foundation</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Oregon is a place full of culinary riches. From the Oregon coast, abounding with mussels, clams, and Dungeness crabs -- to the Columbia River, full of salmon, sturgeon, and steelhead -- to the lush forests steeped with morel and chanterelle mushrooms -- to the orchards blossoming with cherries, pears, and apples, Oregon is the land of plenty. It is from this special place where James Beard, America's foremost food expert and the “Dean of American Cuisine,” was born and raised. The experiences James Beard had while in Oregon shaped his appreciation for food and the Pacific Northwest.<br />
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Visitors to Oregon can still follow Beard's trail: from the cooking school he ran during summers at Seaside High School, to the site of the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition, now occupied by Meriwethers Restaurant, to Huber's Restaurant, famous then as it is now for roast turkey, to the Original Pancake House, a restaurant Beard once named as one of the top ten in America, many pockets of James Beard’s Oregon are still thriving. While some of the physical places Beard enjoyed still exist and can be explored, the spirit of James Beard lives on in the do-it-yourself ethic of the locals and in the famers markets, restaurants, and general food philosophy of most Oregonians. While the term “foodie” is quite common today, Beard is said to have preferred the word “epicure” to being called a “gourmet,” as, he once stated, “the epicure is a man who likes food, the gourmet is the man who likes talking about food.” Beard reminisced about the quality and quantity of the produce in Oregon and even though he moved to New York City, Oregon continued to play a major role in his life. “I went shopping today and just the size of the fresh vegetables, the rhubarb with its brilliant red stems and its red and green leaves and the magnificent spinach with huge lovely tender leaves and the first little tender peas of the year and tiny new potatoes and exquisite strawberries...” he once marveled about the produce he found on the Oregon coast. <br />
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In the years since Beard lived in Oregon, generations of great chefs have chosen to make this special place their home. The best of the best have been nominated for James Beard awards, and the very best of them have been honored with the award. Local cooking schools have continued Beard's commitment to culinary education, helping to inspire the next generation of great Oregon chefs. No matter what style of cuisine, or the cooking techniques used, Oregon chefs celebrate the richness and diversity of foods available in Oregon and in doing so, they honor James Beard's legacy with every dish that they produce. <br />
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In March of this year, we celebrate James Beard's legacy in Oregon with the James Beard Foundation's award nominations here in Portland Oregon. For one evening, every James Beard award nominated and winning chef in Oregon history will be come together to honor James Beard. Come celebrate Beard, the Oregon chefs and a continued commitment to culinary education in Oregon during this event. <br />
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<em>Tickets for the James Beard Award nomination gala will be available at www.TicketWeb.com and the event occurs Sunday, March 20, 2011 at the Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland Oregon. Visit www.jamesbeardinoregon.com for more information and to purchase tickets.</em>About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-33943748988125768532011-01-07T08:59:00.000-08:002011-01-07T08:59:40.240-08:00Interview with OCI Grads and Business Partners Kat Liebman and Zoe Hackett<em>Kat and Zoe, both OCI alums, will be opening a new restaurant together in March of 2011. We sat down with them for lunch at OCI last month to find out more about their story.</em> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TSdF5cr8ccI/AAAAAAAACSc/a8V7J6ssaS0/s1600/DSCF0960.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="303" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TSdF5cr8ccI/AAAAAAAACSc/a8V7J6ssaS0/s320/DSCF0960.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kat Liebman (left) and Zoe Hackett (right)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><strong>How did the two of you meet?</strong><br />
<br />
Kat: We met at Lucy’s Table after I’d been there for three months. <br />
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Zoe: I had just finished my externship at Beast, then I travelled a little bit. When I came back, Nina (Tuthill, OCI Career Services Director) helped me get a job at Lucy’s Table. I started in pantry.<br />
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K: I was moving from pantry to sauté. <br />
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Z: Brian, the Chef de Cuisine, hired me that day. The restaurant has 60 seats, and it was just a staff of Kat, Brian, and me. Sometimes it was only two of us, and we’d be dealing with lunch, happy hour, and dinner, with the only other back of house staff being the dishwasher. <br />
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K: Pretty soon after we met, we realized our styles and goals were similar. We immediately started brainstorming. We both wanted to be more efficient and do it our way.<br />
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Z: When we met, Kat was helping me get up to speed in the kitchen, but after that, we got to be really creative every day. We created the specials. Kat would do daily sauté and salad specials, I was doing the amuse bouche and au revoir. We always had specials. We also had to squeeze in an hour of creative prep for the specials, all in addition to the huge menu.<br />
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K: The bar menu has 20 items different from the dining room menu. The dining room has both small and large plates. <br />
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Z: Plus, we made everything in house – sauces (demi and remis), and pasta, gnocchi, barbecue sauces -- anything you could think of. Nothing came in that was premade. <br />
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K: We fabricated all proteins in house, too, large cuts of meat. And we managed costs. When the Chef de Cuisine left, we basically did the job of an executive chef. We got really good at ordering, managing schedules, all that stuff.<br />
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Z: Plus, we had a bare bones kitchen. There was no line refrigeration. Everything was hotel pans with ice. That’s like another 45 minutes changing that out every day. <br />
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K: It was a great experience.<br />
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Z: Yeah, it was like a year long extension of school. Hands on, practical. Once we got up to speed to make it happen, we were able to constantly talk about where we wanted to go next, together. <br />
<br />
Z: Originally, we thought about a sauce business. We brainstormed and even created homework assignments, but before we really got started, Kat started expanding it to a real business plan and a restaurant, and that was the long term plan anyway, so we couldn’t turn back. <br />
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K: One of our best nights at Lucy’s Table was when we expected 20 covers, and we ended up with over 80 between the bar and the dining room. There were no mishaps, with exception of the gas burner not lighting, and our point and click wasn’t working, so we were lighting the burner with flaming paper towels! That’s when we knew we could be successful managing a place and the food correctly on our own. After that night, we said “we can do this.”<br />
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Z: It got to the point where we were so productive on the time we had off together that we decided it was time to put in our notice and get busy with our business plan. The last item on the business plan was finding the right property. <br />
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K: I started reaching out to brokers, and I got a couple tips here and there, and then on the first day of unemployment, I randomly got an email from a broker who asked if I would be interested in the old Fats place. He didn’t want to announce it, so we were able to do it quietly. It was a perfect match for us. There were six more prominent Portland food people than us, but Micah (the Fats owner) decided we were the best fit for the area and the street. The business plan that we were working on had the most developed concept. Micah and the broker were confident in our concept and liked that we were two new food chicks on the scene. <br />
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<strong>Do you know what you are going to call it?</strong><br />
<br />
K: “Cocotte” is the name. The concept came first. We had a few working names that we dropped. We were looking for a word that could be feminine, edgy and inviting, and carried a food connotation. We also wanted a name that would coexist well with the neighborhood, being near DOC and Beast. <br />
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Z: I found the name in an old French book. I was looking for an approachable word people could say. <br />
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K: “Cocotte” has a few different meanings: <br />
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- Casserole or stew pot, a dish, earthenware or cast iron;<br />
- my baby chick or hen;<br />
- honey, darling;<br />
- and in comtemporary French, it can be slang for a “painted lady” or “lady of the night.” <br />
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We have the concept of it being a feminine and warm place, even a little bit sexy. We don’t want it to be pretentious. It will be a Parisian style bistro in look and feel, with food inspired by classic French cuisine. But the food will be very contemporary.<br />
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Z: We’ll have rustic touches, but not “smack you in the face” French bistro. There will be old world French elements. Right now we’re finding ‘20s era antiques, light fixtures, and china. <br />
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K: The space lends itself very well to the theme. We even have old French doors on the building, which is from the turn of the century. <br />
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Z: The kitchen will be semi-open. We want the warmth and femininity to come through in the food. <br />
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<strong>How many seats and when do you plan to open?</strong><br />
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K: There will be 38 seats, including 8 in the bar. We are aiming for a March 1, 2011 opening date. <br />
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<strong>What is the address?</strong><br />
<br />
2930 N.E. Killingsworth St., near Beast and D.O.C.<br />
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<b>How have Ray (Colvin, OCI Business Program Architect and Location Director) and Maxine (Borcherding, Management Instructor) helped you? </b><br />
<br />
K: Ray and Max have been like advisors. I’ve had an entrepreneurial goal ever since I came to OCI. Max has been amazing. She asked Ray to get involved, and they’ve been great.<br />
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Z: They really backed us up so we didn’t feel like young dreamers. They really believe in us, pointing out little details that would help us. <br />
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K: It really helped when we met with Max for the first time and she wasn’t terrified of our idea!<br />
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M: Max said, “Don’t be afraid to give your dishes a good, fair price point,” and that was good advice. <br />
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Z: She also told us to have wine distributors come in and walk us through the wines. And she told us to be open as often as possible. There will only be five on staff, and we planned on only being open Wednesdays through Sundays, but she pointed out that we’re paying rent all those days, so we should be open as much as we in the beginning. Then, when we’re dialed in, we can bring in help so you can have a weekend. <br />
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<strong>So what will the hours be?</strong><br />
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K: Every Monday will be an office day, while we work on new menu, because we want to change the menu every couple weeks. We’ll only be closed Sunday nights and Mondays. We’ll only be open for dinner on Tuesday through Friday, on Saturday we’ll be open for brunch and dinner, and on Sunday we’ll be open for brunch only. Zoe and I feel like we work so well together, this is our baby, it is a labor of love, and the goal here is for us to establish ourselves. <br />
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Z: Yep.About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-74879997978451161312010-12-08T13:56:00.000-08:002014-12-15T12:28:40.234-08:00Organic - Behind the Label<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<em>by OCI Culinary Management student Alex J Pekar III</em><br />
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Pretty much anyone would agree the United States has become a country of consumers that feeds into the media and follows celebrities much more in every passing year. Fads and trendy practices make their way from city to city. If a famous movie star or sports star is doing it, more than likely it will catch on and the public will think it’s the next new cool thing. Pretty soon, everyone will be doing it. There’s a need to be fashionable for both women and men and it would seem we are all very impressionable. US and Cosmopolitan are some examples of magazines that show all of these beautiful celebrities and models wearing all of these expensive clothes, then show consumers ways to be able to buy similar things for cheaper. There’s music, with music videos portraying a certain lifestyle or just something as simple as the Top 40—people will listen to whatever their radio station tells them are the “hottest songs”. And then there’s food. Yes, even food. Starting with diet fads, such as the Atkins Diet, or the South Beach Diet, if a celebrity is endorsing it, it’s pretty much a given that soon you will see a large segment of the public catching on and getting involved. Now usually people aren’t going to do any research on whatever this new fad is all about. Not to say people don’t at all, but the majority will just do it because they saw the celebrity endorsing it. So how do they know it works? The answer is they don’t know. They assume it will. People believe what they see on TV. But even deeper than just the fad diets, there’s another practice that people have caught on to that is sweeping the nation. I’m talking, of course, about buying and consuming Organic Food.<br />
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So what is organic? Organic production is a system that is managed in accordance with the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 and regulations in Title 7, Part 205 of the Code of Federal Regulations to respond to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. <span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">(<a href="http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/nop"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">United States Department of Agriculture, National Organic Program</span></a>) </span>United States Department of Agriculture, National Organic Program) Now maybe you’re asking yourself what that all means. Basically the word “Organic” refers to the way farmers grow and process agricultural products, such as fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy products and meat. These practices are designed to encourage soil and water conservation and to help reduce pollution. <br />
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Organic agriculture is the oldest form of agriculture on earth. Farming without the use of petroleum-based chemicals (fertilizers and pesticides) was the sole option for farmers until after World War II. The war brought with it technologies that were useful for agricultural production. For example, ammonium nitrate used for munitions during World War II evolved into ammonium nitrate fertilizer; organophosphate nerve gas production led to the development of powerful insecticides. These technical advances since World War II have resulted in significant economic benefits as well as environmental and social detriments. Organic agriculture seeks to utilize those advances that consistently yield benefits while discarding those methods that have led to negative impacts on society and the environment, such as pesticide pollution and insect pest resistance. Instead of using synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, organic farmers utilize crop rotations, cover crops, and natural-based products to maintain or enhance soil fertility. These farmers rely on biological, cultural and physical methods to limit pest expansion and increase populations of beneficial insects on their farm. Because genetically modified organisms constitute synthetic inputs and pose unknown risks, GMOs, such as herbicide-resistant seeds, plants, and product ingredients, like GM-lecithin, are disallowed in organic agriculture. (<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://extension.agron.iastate.edu/organicag/history.html"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Organic Agriculture</span></a></span>) Some major differences between Conventional methods of farming and Organic methods are: conventional farmers will apply chemical fertilizers to promote plant growth while organic farmers will apply natural fertilizers such as manure or compost to feed the soil and their plants. Conventional farmers will spray insecticides to reduce pests and diseases while Organic farmers will use beneficial insects and birds, mating disruption or traps to reduce pests and disease. A Conventional farmer will use chemical herbicides to manage weeds, but an Organic farmer will rotate crops, till, weed or mulch instead to manage weeds on their farms. Some techniques with animals raised on a conventional farm are animals are given antibiotics, given growth hormones and medications to prevent disease and spur growth. On an Organic farm, animals are given organic feed and are allowed access to the outdoors to graze freely. They will use preventive measures such as rotational grazing, a balanced diet and clean housing to help minimize disease. (usda-fda.com/articles/organic.htm) <br />
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The National Organic Program was created by federal legislation in October of 2002. They are the ones who have established the laws and regulations, and established the different levels of certification for organic products, to ensure that all products are labeled properly. If a produce bears a label that states it is 100% Organic, these products have to be completely organic, or made of all organic ingredients. If a label has a USDA Organic label, it means that these products have to be at least 95% organic, or have at least 95% organic ingredients. If the label states that the product is made with organic ingredients, these products have to contain at least 70% organic ingredients. The organic seal cannot be used on these products. There are actually penalties for the misuse of labels on products not meeting the criteria of these standards. A fine of up to $11,000 can be levied on any person who knowingly sells or labels as organic a product that is not produced and handled in accordance with the National Organic Program’s regulation. (<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop"><span style="font-size: x-small;">National Organic Program</span></a>).</span><br />
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Now, you might see other labels on products and get them confused with being organic, such as “All Natural” or “Free Range” or “Hormone Free”. These labels are only stating information about how the product was made or raised and have no association with whether or not the product is Organic. <br />
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Organic labels carry a lot of weight these days, considering how most consumers read the Organic label and instantly want to buy it instead of the product to the side of it that may not have the Organic label. Now, what people don’t know is that there are a lot of smaller scale farmers that choose not to pursue these Organic certifications due to very high costs imposed by the USDA. They can be charged anywhere in the range of $1000 to $4000 per year to label products Organic. There are a lot of these smaller farms that are only producing about that much in product a year, so certification isn’t really worth the cost. But the problem for these part-time farmers is that it is limiting their market opportunities. Without the certification, many consumers may look past their product. Not only that, but they are missing out on the opportunity to sell their products at a premium price, a price most consumers would pay for because it is Organic. Now if a farm is producing less than $5000 a year in produce, they have the opportunity to write on their label that it is organic as long as the standards have been met, but the official USDA Organic label cannot be used. This can help their efforts, but without the official label, competing with larger organic farms is still a challenge. <br />
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The problem with all of this is that there can be some manipulation of regulations with these strict Organic procedures. Large scale production farms, mainly located in California, have leverage within the system and can produce legally organic products produced in ways similar to Conventional methods. Not only that, but larger companies such as Wal-Mart and Anheuser-Busch have joined on board the Organic popularity train because they see the potential money to be made from consumers. And if a huge corporation like Wal-Mart wants to sell more Organic foods, because of its size and power, they usually get what they want. But because of this, several lawsuits and investigations have been filed against these larger corporations saying they might be misleading consumers as to whether or not their Organic products are in fact actually Organic. Retailers and farmers involved in organic foods worry that giants like Wal-Mart may muddy the waters about what is and is not organic. Some are upset over the allegations and wonder whether other supermarkets will take steps to bend the rules similar to those alleged. "A huge amount of work went into coming up with a standard of quality in the organic industry," says Randy Lee, CFO at PCC Natural Markets, the largest co-op operating in the U.S., which runs eight stores in the Seattle area. "If these allegations are true, then it very easily erodes those standards and comes with a significant business impact on other retailers that have higher standards." Lee also says that if Wal-Mart is placing nonorganic items under its organic banner, then it will have a ripple effect on other national grocery chains. PCC and other organic retailers say that they train their employees and store managers rigorously to ensure high organic standards. They wonder how strong Wal-Mart's commitment to organics is. "Where is the USDA in all this?" asks Lee. <span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">(<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jan2007/db20070117_887392.htm"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Bloomberg Business week, 2007</span></a>)</span><br />
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The USDA has come under fire in the past for not taking action on similar complaints. Two audits of its organic program, performed by the American National Standards Institute in 2004 and by the USDA's Office of Inspector General in 2005, were highly critical of how the USDA has handled complaints of potential violations of organic standards. The 2005 report states that "in fiscal year 2003, the eight complaints referred to the national organic program for a decision have not been resolved, one of which involved a possible prohibited substance being added to an organic product." The USDA counters by saying that complaints about organic food aren't treated like an emergency. "It's not like this is a food safety issue," says spokeswoman Schaffer. <span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(</span><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jan2007/db20070117_887392.htm"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Bloomberg Business week, 2007</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">)</span></span><br />
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Here’s another example of how these rules and regulations are being tampered with. With the "USDA Organic" seal stamped on its label, Anheuser-Busch calls its Wild Hop Lager "the perfect organic experience." But many beer drinkers may not know Anheuser-Busch got the organic blessing from federal regulators even though their Wild Hop Lager uses hops grown with chemical fertilizers and sprayed with pesticides. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003741899_organic10.html">The Seattle Times, June 10, 2007</a>)</span></span><br />
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The USDA is considering a proposal to allow 38 nonorganic ingredients to be used in organic foods. Because of the broad uses of these ingredients—such as spices, colorings, and flavorings—almost any type of manufactured organic food could be affected, including organic milk, cereal, sausages, bread and beer.<br />
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Organic-food advocates have fought to block all or parts of the proposal, saying it would allow food makers to mislead consumers. <span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(</span><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003741899_organic10.html"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Seattle Times, June 10, 2007</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">)</span></span> They say that this proposal is basically saying that these big powerful corporations want to be able to label their products “USDA Organic” without doing any of the hard work it takes. These 38 ingredients could cause further watering-down of the USDA Organic label, which, you remember, means really only 95% of the actual product is truly organic. <br />
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Many consumers who are willing to spend more for organic believe that the foods themselves are more nutritious, safer, and tastier. But a USDA proposal itself noted that, "No distinctions should be made between organically and non-organically produced products in terms of quality, appearance, or safety." So, what they are actually saying is, you can’t claim that the foods themselves are better for you, or are even different! Some consumers believe that buying foods that use organic agricultural practices are better for the environment. Many buyers of organic foods believe that the extra money they pay will ultimately benefit the environment by encouraging more farmers to use organic methods. But doing this cannot have much effect because organic agriculture is too inefficient to meet the current world's food needs. Moreover, the dividing line between organic and conventional agriculture is not sharp because various practices are not restricted to one or the other. An example of this is organic farmers tend not to use pesticides, but faced with threatened loss of crops, they may change their mind. If certain patterns of pesticide use cause more harm than good and there is a way to remedy the situation, the people concerned about it can seek regulatory solutions. I don't believe that paying extra for food will benefit anybody but those who sell it.<br />
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So are organic foods more nutritious for you? Organic foods are certainly not more nutritious. The nutrient content of plants is determined primarily by heredity. Mineral content may be affected by the mineral content of the soil, but this has no significance in the overall diet. If essential nutrients are missing from the soil, the plant will not grow. If plants grow, that means the essential nutrients are present. Experiments conducted for many years have found no difference in the nutrient content of organically grown crops and those grown under conventional agricultural conditions. (Newsome R. Organically grown foods) <br />
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Many organic supporters suggest that their foods are safer because they have lower levels of pesticide residues. However, the pesticide levels in our food supply are not high. In some situations, pesticides even reduce health risks by preventing the growth of harmful organisms, including molds that produce toxic substances. (Newsome R. Organically grown foods) To protect consumers, the FDA sets tolerance levels in foods and conducts frequent "market basket" studies wherein foods from regions throughout the United States are purchased and analyzed. Its 1997 tests found that about 60% of fruits and vegetables had no detectable pesticides and only about 1.2% of domestic and 1.6% of imported foods had volatile levels. The annual Total Diet Study has always found that America's dietary intakes are well within international and Environmental Protection Agency standards. (FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition) <br />
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Organic food is the fastest growing sector of the American food marketplace. U.S. sales of organic products continue to grow despite the distressed state of the economy, according to the Organic Trade Association’s 2010 Organic Industry Survey. Organic product sales in 2009 grew by 5.3 percent overall, to reach $26.6 billion. Of that figure, $24.8 billion represented organic food. The remaining $1.8 billion were sales of organic non-foods. <br />
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People have definitely bought in to the Organic Hype, and are definitely sticking by their decision. It isn’t the fact that people are buying and consuming organic foods and using organic products. It’s a free country; people can buy and do as they please. But I don’t believe people even understand what it actually is that they have bought into and this is where I see the problem being; they’re not being properly educated about things like Organic. Organic is fashionable, it’s cool, an attitude, a chance to try and identify yourself with being all natural and trying to be green, trying to be all environmental. But people still don’t do the research to see what Organic really is. <br />
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Back in the day, everything was local farms. People got their fruits and vegetables and dairy from Farmer Al down the way. They got their meats from the local, butcher, who got the meat from the local slaughter houses. Everything was local because you had no choice. You weren’t going to travel to another town, let alone another state to get food. Depending where you live, local farmers markets are set up to be able to give your local farmers a chance to reach out to the public eye and sell to you what they have worked so very hard for. Most of your local farmers may actually participate in organic practices, but also use conventional practices as well. The fact of the matter is, you’re putting money back into your community rather than into the big pockets of corporate America. That should be the important thing. So supporting local farmers, organic or not, should be the new trend. It should be the new cool thing. <br />
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<strong>CITATIONS</strong>: <br />
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<strong>Bloomberg Business Week, 2007</strong><br />
<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jan2007/db20070117_887392.htm">http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jan2007/db20070117_887392.htm</a><br />
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<strong>FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.</strong> <br />
Pesticide Program: Residue Monitoring 1999, August 2000.<br />
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<strong>National Organic Program</strong><br />
<a href="http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop">http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop</a><br />
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<strong>Newsome R. Organically Grown Foods</strong><br />
A scientific status summary by the Institute of Food Technologists' expert panel on food safety and nutrition. Food Technology 44(12):123-130, 1990.<br />
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<strong>Organic Agriculture</strong><br />
<a href="http://extension.agron.iastate.edu/organicag/history.html">http://extension.agron.iastate.edu/organicag/history.html</a><br />
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<strong>Organic Trade Association, GREENFIELD, Mass. (April 22, 2010)</strong><br />
<a href="http://www.organicnewsroom.com/2010/04/us_organic_product_sales_reach_1.html">http://www.organicnewsroom.com/2010/04/us_organic_product_sales_reach_1.html</a><br />
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<strong>The Seattle Times, June 10, 2007</strong><br />
<a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003741899_organic10.html">http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003741899_organic10.html</a><br />
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<strong>United States Department of Agriculture: Agricultural Marketing Service</strong><br />
<a href="http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/nop">http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/nop</a><br />
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<strong>USDA-FDA Organic Foods</strong><br />
<a href="http://www.usda-fda.com/articles/organic.htm">http://www.usda-fda.com/articles/organic.htm</a>About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-79693773181687001502010-11-29T12:13:00.000-08:002010-11-29T12:13:29.252-08:00How to Fight Childhood Obesity and Have a Blast Doing It<b><i>By Brenda Fleck, OCI Culinary Management student</i></b><br />
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Most parents are always looking for ways to improve the health of their children, whether it is the child’s physical or mental health. One of the greatest problems with our children in this country is childhood obesity. There is one easy and fun way that you can help this problem and greatly improve your child's success in life. It will greatly increase their self confidence, self esteem, manners, grades, nutrition, self respect, time management, and communication skills. Taking one hour a day with your children cooking a meal and eating it as a family can greatly reduce the threat of obesity and Type II diabetes, blood pressure, stroke and depression. <br />
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It comes down to getting back to spending time as a family, which has been cast aside in our busy lives and replaced with fast and processed food and the computer, phone and video games. As a parent of several teenagers, both my life and my children’s lives are very busy and chaotic, but having dinner as a family has greatly improved our family as a whole. We have decided to face this chaos together and have benefited from it. Now we would like to pass on some information to other families who may be facing some of the issues we did.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOsOtXibWwI/AAAAAAAACRU/COCj_dsb1LM/s1600/obese+child.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOsOtXibWwI/AAAAAAAACRU/COCj_dsb1LM/s1600/obese+child.jpg" /></a></div>Obesity is a huge epidemic in America. The rate of obesity among children and adolescents in the United States has nearly tripled between the early 1980’s and 2000. In 2008 the rate of overweight or obese children in the US was 32%. <br />
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One out of three children and teens are overweight or obese it is the #1 health concern among parents in the United State topping drug abuse and smoking. As a parent that really concerns me we seem to be fighting a food monster. This monster is attacking our homes and we seem to be losing the battle, but we don’t have to there is way to help at home. (Ogden,)<br />
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Those extra pounds aren't just baby weight or something they grow out of, but can put children at serious risk for developing health problems including Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, elevated blood cholesterol levels and asthma. That is just the physical risks; it can also take an emotional toll. Overweight and obese children often have trouble with playing sports and activities, other children may tease and exclude them leading to low self esteem, negative body image and very often depression. Depression can often cause fatigue, isolation, lower grades, and more severe cases, suicide. ( hekpguide.org)<br />
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<b>Health Benefits of Cooking and Eating As a Family</b><br />
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There is a fantastic and easy way you can directly help your children with this problem. Through healthy habits that start at home, like cooking at home and eating as a family, you can get your family on the right track.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOsPn807iqI/AAAAAAAACRc/kzDGbJlNYWo/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOsPn807iqI/AAAAAAAACRc/kzDGbJlNYWo/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div>Cooking at home with your children promotes better eating habits. Children involved in the kitchen tend to be more receptive to trying new foods. Children are more apt to eat more fruits and vegetables, consuming more whole grains, and choosing leaner types of meat, like fish. You can involve your children in meal planning, shopping and food preparation. That way you can offer healthier, lower calorie foods and they are more receptive to the idea. (hekpguide.org)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOsPuETa43I/AAAAAAAACRg/K2hJ7F4IP18/s1600/heart_healthy_diet_193.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOsPuETa43I/AAAAAAAACRg/K2hJ7F4IP18/s1600/heart_healthy_diet_193.jpg" /></a></div>Children are also more apt to try healthier foods when they help prepare them. The basic knowledge of where food comes from can promote more healthy eating choices even as they become adults. Meals prepared and eaten at home are usually more nutritious and healthy. They usually contain more fruits, vegetables, dairy along with other nutrients like fiber, calcium, vitamins A and C. People tend to eat less fried and salty foods at home. They have also found that soda and sweetened beverage consumption are usually lower at the dinner table. (Hand)<br />
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Teens that rarely have family dinner are three and a half times more likely to abuse prescription drugs or an illegal drug other than marijuana. They have also found that girls who have five or more meals a week with their families are one-third less likely to develop unhealthy eating habits, which can range from skipping to meals to more serious diseases like anorexia, bulimia, and abusing diet pills.<br />
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As parents, we all know about coming home and everyone is plugged in to a computer, video game, iPod, whatever, usually eating some type of junk food in the process. When we have children in the kitchen, they are up and active, using their brains and bodies, increasing their creativity and imagination, and they are generally not eating junk food, but whole fresh food. (WebMD Magee)<br />
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Encouraging your children to cook can create healthy eating habits while also promoting parent and child bonding; it has both short and long term benefits. <br />
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<b>Basic Life Skills</b><br />
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These benefits can really apply to their basic everyday life, such as learning about hygiene. The idea of washing their hands and washing their food when necessary will help them see the importance of hygiene. Also, washing hands and face before sitting at the table is a great way showing kids good hygiene and leading by example, and requiring everyone to have the same rules, gives them a sense of awareness and respect for the table. <br />
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Children are more likely to sit down with the family if they help prepare the meal. This really gives them a sense of accomplishment, while boosting their self-confidence and self- respect, not to mention their self-esteem. Children can also learn about a sense of service by cooking for the family. They learn to care about the food they are serving—how it looks and tastes really become important when they have a hand in making it. This also promotes the plain enjoyment of eating a good meal, and the understanding how much work actually goes into preparing that meal. <br />
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There are some great long-term benefits of cooking with your children. Learning to cook is a life skill. Learning to plan menus and how to shop for food is a very important skill that carries many benefits, such as budgeting. Even if you are on a tight budget, being able to shop and still get good, whole food, like fresh produce from a garden instead of Spagettio’s and Top Ramen, can provide a healthy meal for a entire family for under $20, maybe less if that gardens your own (which is also a another great skill that will last a lifetime). <br />
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It can benefit them with time-management especially for busy families with many events going on in the evening, being able to cook something quick and healthy is a true life saver. Some experts have determined that cooking with your kids promotes better communication and coping skills that lessen the likelihood of substance abuse. (WebMD, Magee)<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Social Benefits</span><br />
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The bottom line is bringing children into the kitchen is a great way to get to know your children. If you take a relaxed approach they will respond to you in many ways. They may start by asking about just the task at hand, but those questions can grow into more serious topics as they get more comfortable. As your relationship grows, children tend to be more open to let you help with problems at school, friends, ect.. You will find dynamics of your relationship change in a positive way. <br />
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It is six o’clock in the evening and do you know where you family is? <br />
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You might be surprised how many families are find themselves separated running their own lives and not really coming together to regroup and catch up on each others’ lives. Children and parents alike need that time to remind them of the family dynamics that brings wholeness to this chaotic world. Children need structure and a safe place where they can be themselves without the pressure of having to behave a certain way like they do around their peers. <br />
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The idea of sitting together as a family might sound a little June Cleave-ish and antiquated but it can really boost your family’s relationship as a whole. Eating dinner every night keeps the doors of communication open and lets them know that they are a priority in your life. Sitting across the table is where and when you can find out more about your children’s likes, dislikes, and daily life. Regular family meals is a great way for a parent to share ideas and to be involved, discuss rules, monitor activities, friends and most important be a good role model. <br />
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Coming together at the table can be a opportunity for parents to teach and display appropriate table manners, meal etiquette, and social skills. Make sure try not criticize, keep the mood light, relaxed and most of all loving just lead them by example.<br />
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<b>What to talk About?</b><br />
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Having trouble knowing what to talk about? Here are a few ideas you can try at your family table. Ask everyone what was their favorite and worst parts of their day. Exchange memories from your favorite family past times a funny story about Uncle Norton could really boost the mood at the table. (Especially with teenagers that are surly in nature, laughter is a great medicine for crankiness). You can talk to your children about a book they are reading or a movie they have seen--you might even be able to motivate them in wanting to have a move night. Discuss a family outing or activity you can do together and be sure to put it on the calendar. <br />
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Of course, you can ask your children about their classes, assignments, and teachers, and find out if they need any help in or want to brainstorm on an upcoming assignment. There always is planning the next day’s menu and preparation--you can discuss who will help with what keeping your next meal more organized and easier for everyone all round. (family.samhsa.gov)<br />
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<b>Explore Different Foods and Countries</b><br />
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Children love to explore new worlds. Encourage your children to try new foods without forcing or bribing them. Introduce new food with an old standby favorite so they do not feel threatened. Be patient. It can take up to 8-10 exposures to a new food before it is accepted. Make sure you get your children involved let them pick the country or a new vegetable from the farmer’s market. Then have them look it up online or from a cookbook, newspapers, magazine and find a recipe. This is another great way to bond with your children while opening them up to new ideas in food and cultures. (Hand) Have a whole night dedicated to a new country every month decorate with the theme and explore this country together through food. Don’t tell your children they won’t like certain things--let them try everything be adventurous together.<br />
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<b>Educational Benefits</b><br />
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Children do better in school when they eat more meals with their parents and family. Teenagers who eat with their family four or more times a week with their families have higher academic performance compared to those who did not. Children who feel that their parents are asking about their assignments are more likely to want to please and get better grades. Coming home and announcing a good grade on a test, assignment or a whole class gives them a sense of accomplishment and acknowledgement from the whole family. Children all need praise by coming together at the table gives them a chance to celebrate their success with people who love them.(Hand)<br />
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<b>Your kitchen can also be a classroom in disguise.</b><br />
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Recipes can improve a child’s math skills. Following a recipe requires knowledge of measurements which most often includes fractions. Younger children can practice counting when measuring multiple cups or spoons of ingredients. If you have six cups of flour in a cake, let them count them out loud. When doubling a recipe, have your children figure out the right amount. This is a great way to practice their fractions.<br />
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Reading from recipes and following directions in order can improve their problem solving. If you are missing an ingredient you can teach them to improvise, when possible. For example, if you do not have buttermilk you can use one cup milk to three tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar and create sour milk which will work in its place.<br />
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There are also some really fun scientific concepts are in cooking such as freezing solids, and how yeast works with gluten to bread rise. Try and experiment with your children: freeze vinegar in one container and water in another, and discuss why the vinegar won’t freeze. Look online together why water freezes at 32 degrees, what causes this? ect... This is a fun way to get your children interested in science.<br />
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The physical side of cooking can improve motor skills. The activity of mixing ingredients, kneading dough, rolling cookies, and peeling carrots exercises the muscles in their hands, improving their dexterity. Children really like to get in there and get their hands dirty playing with your food is not always a bad thing! In fact, it can be quite educational and fun for all.<br />
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<b>Financial Benefits</b><br />
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Family dinners save money. Right now the restaurant industry share of total food dollar is more than 46%. The cause of this mostly is busy schedules, commitments and activities such as sports, music lessons, scouts, but whatever it may be, families eat out several times a week. You can change that by eating later in the evening. Planning quick, nutritious meals that take 30 minutes or less there are many cookbooks and shows that are geared to help in that area. It saves a lot of money and time by shopping once a week rather than daily, and you can process all fruits and vegetables for the week getting set for success. Plus, you can get together and plan a menu that is fun and engaging for all of the family, and with the money you save you can plan a treat for the family to all enjoy together.<br />
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</div><b>No More Excuses </b><br />
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Let’s face it: this is a crazy world we live in. It seems that we are all going and going without stopping to realize what is important to us. Your family is a blessing that must not be taken for granted. Children are learning not to smell the roses, so to speak, and they are suffering. We love our children and want what is best for them. Giving our children the tools to be able to pass on this great tradition of cooking and eating as a family is a godsend. Our children hopefully will be able to give their children these tools and create healthy habits for their children. Just taking the time to impart these skills and habits to our children could greatly affect our future grandchildren, great grandchildren and so on! Why not? There are no more excuses. We can do this! Parents should unite and make cooking and eating as a family a normal occurrence, instead of a once-in-a-while thing or just on the holidays.<br />
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There is no one right answer to the epidemic of obesity, but if we are going to help our children become healthy adults, we must take stock in what we can do for them as parents. There are ways to cook and eat as a family if there is a little effort on our part. It might take some extra planning and ingenuity, but it is possible. Some examples are: if your children have sports, music, ballet, etc.: eat later. Instead of eating at six o’clock, eat at seven thirty. The use of a crock pot (slow cooker) can be a life saver for the busy family--it cooks while you are gone, giving you the chance to go about your day. There are tons of cookbooks out there that concentrate on cooking good, whole foods fast that you can use to plan ahead for the next day. There are also TV Shows like 30 Minute Meals from Rachael Ray that can show you great, healthy recipes that are quick and easy. There are even cookbooks on 15 Minute Meals by Rachael Ray if you are even more pressed for time. The resources are out there, you just have to have the desire to go get them. The internet is a fantastic source for all types of quick, easy meals and oftentimes, has the nutritional information for those meals are easy to find as well. <br />
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Organization is the key to success. Planning menus ahead of time can greatly increase your success in accomplishing this goal. Parents have busy schedules, true, with work, trying to keep the house running (laundry, cleaning, cooking, feeding the dog, etc.) and, of course, dealing with children and their lives. It can be tough, but it is possible to do if you make cooking and eating with your children a real priority in your family’s life. We as parents are responsible for our children’s well being, and it is up to us to fight against all things that threaten our children. If obesity was a child molester, we would fight them to the death to protect our children, but why are we not willing to take an hour a day to help our children fight against this terrible epidemic that is scarring our children for a lifetime? We must fight with all of our being to make this epidemic of childhood obesity no longer the number one concern of parents in this country. We as parents should stand together for our children and bring back the family dynamic that is created in the kitchen and at the family table.About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-65053174168688463542010-11-15T13:55:00.000-08:002010-11-15T13:58:16.766-08:00Coffee - Panacea or Poison?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGcOJS8nEI/AAAAAAAACQE/yffXOFxy-ho/s1600/Robert.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGcOJS8nEI/AAAAAAAACQE/yffXOFxy-ho/s1600/Robert.jpg" /></a></div><em>by OCI Culinary Management student Robert Lindner</em><br />
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First consumed as a beverage in Ethiopia in the 9th century, coffee has become one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. The social impact of coffee over the centuries has been two-fold: on the one hand, coffee has been used as part of religious ceremonies and a sign of high esteem; on the other hand, it was banned in many societies due to its association with rebellious political activities. Historical and societal impacts aside, I will focus on the ongoing arguments surrounding the consumption of coffee and its positive or negative impacts on a healthy lifestyle.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGccXfZZ5I/AAAAAAAACQI/IIuA-SYZaxw/s1600/coffee_drinker_print_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGccXfZZ5I/AAAAAAAACQI/IIuA-SYZaxw/s200/coffee_drinker_print_web.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>It’s hard to dispute the popularity of coffee. Over 70 countries in the world, all along the equator, grow coffee, and more than 400 billion cups of coffee are drunk each year worldwide. Coffee is the second most traded commodity on earth, second to oil. With such an impact on us humans, various scientific studies have focused on what impact, if any; coffee consumption has had on human physiology. As with anything we consume, moderation is the key. I firmly believe that coffee’s contribution has had a positive influence on all that enjoy the beverage. I will show both sides of the argument and will support my belief by referencing scientific studies, magazine and newspaper articles.<br />
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<b>The History of Coffee</b><br />
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Although the story of the of the goat herder, noticing that his goats were more lively after eating berries from a certain bush, is very popular, there is no hard evidence to show when the discovery of coffee actually happened. The coffee tree probably originated in what today is known as Ethiopia (www.cosic.com). Before it was discovered to have a stimulating effect as a beverage, the fruit of the coffee tree, or cherry, was consumed as a food. Around 1,000 years ago, some evidence has shown that cultivation of the coffee tree began in monastery gardens and commercial cultivation followed some time later in the 15th century.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGcxM4UmgI/AAAAAAAACQM/9vOct4Zf-So/s1600/coffeeArabs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGcxM4UmgI/AAAAAAAACQM/9vOct4Zf-So/s200/coffeeArabs.jpg" width="148" /></a></div>Although the history of the coffee as a beverage is murky, sometime in the 9th Century Arabs began boiling the beans for make a stimulating drink called ‘qahwa’, which literally translates to “that which prevents sleep” (www.firstscience.com). This drink, offered at these early coffee houses, became known as Arabian Wine. The Muslim religion forbids the consumption of alcoholic drinks, so coffee became a very popular, stimulating alternative. It wasn’t until the 13th century that it was discovered that roasting the beans provided a much better taste and flavor, and thus the modern coffee drink was born. <br />
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In 1554, the first coffee houses opened in Istanbul, Turkey. (www.ico.org). These coffee houses were a far cry from the genteel, pleasant environments found in modern day coffee houses. The coffee houses of the Ottoman Empire were apparently dens of iniquity and offered much more than coffee to its patrons. Along with the newly popularized coffee beverage, one could also partake in gambling, drug use, prostitution, as well as watch plays and dance performances. Needless to say, these early coffee houses were controversial, especially since the orthodox Islamists considered these activities sinful. Despite the opposition from the religious conservatives, the coffee houses flourished, and by the 16th and 17th centuries, Ottomans from various social ranks converged to discuss, socialize, and enjoy coffee. It is believed that the growing coffee house culture contributed to the development to the early capitalist system and that growing consumerism was changing the face of the Ottoman Empire (feeds.bignewsnetwork.com). <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGdKxlPW1I/AAAAAAAACQQ/CLiuuviEANU/s1600/story2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGdKxlPW1I/AAAAAAAACQQ/CLiuuviEANU/s200/story2.gif" width="146" /></a></div>Soon, the popularity of coffee eventually grew to those outside of the Muslim religion. Through various traders traveling to Europe, it wasn’t too long before coffee gained a foothold in England. By 1675, there were over 3,000 coffee houses in England, and shortly thereafter its popularity spread to the Americas. The Dutch were instrumental in the proliferation of the coffee in the western world. Although the Arabs attempted to prevent the cultivation of coffee elsewhere, the Dutch were able to smuggle a few plants in the early 1600’s to the Netherlands and successfully grow them in greenhouses. By the late 1600’s the Dutch were growing coffee in India and Indonesia, and with these plantations, Dutch traders became the main suppliers of coffee to Europe and the Americas.<br />
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<b>Coffee Today</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGdbE_wEVI/AAAAAAAACQU/nsbGaGZTN7o/s1600/coffee_plantation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGdbE_wEVI/AAAAAAAACQU/nsbGaGZTN7o/s200/coffee_plantation.jpg" width="197" /></a></div>Today, coffee retail sales are estimated to be about $70 billion worldwide. Approximately $6 billion goes to the producing countries and $64 billion garnered by retailers. The coffee industry is unusual in that 70% of the world crop is grown on farms that are less than 25 acres large and are family-run, and provides a living for over 20 million people worldwide (www.firstscience.com). It is interesting to note the disparate conditions in profit between the growers and retailers. Coffee prices to consumers have continued to rise, however the small farmer producers are seeing very little of this growing market. More often than not, the small farmer is left in the dust while the large corporations continue to have record profits. To counter this, the Fair Trade movement was created to ensure the vast majority of the small growers receive a fair price for their harvests. Generally, the small farmers create collectives that, in turn, give them some guarantees at minimum price per pound regardless of market, credit, and establish long term relationships with retailers. These fair payments provide economic stability, health care, education, and independence for these cooperative farmers. Today, there are over 100 companies, such as Starbucks, Peet’s, and Tully’s that have developed relationships with Fair Trade Cooperatives (globalexchange.org). <br />
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</div>Coffee is made in a number of ways and can be of varying degrees of concentration. But before one can make coffee though, the beans first need to be processed. The smell and flavor that you get from the coffee that you purchase is obtained through the roasting of the bean. Coffee beans, which are green when picked, are heated between 180 and 240 degrees Celsius for up to 15 minutes, depending on the intensity of the roast required. During the heating process, water evaporates from the beans and a chemical process called pyrolysis. This is where the starches in the bean are converted to sugar and the proteins are broken down, changing the chemical structure of the coffee bean. It is important to monitor the beans during the roasting process: too much heat and the beans will burn and the caffeol, the substance that makes coffee smell so good, will be diminished. If the bean is not roasted enough, then not enough of the caffeol is released, and the aromas are not as ideal as they can be. Roasting is an art, and usually done in small batches in order to control the process and create a consistent product (www.ico.org).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGeIk9Q_yI/AAAAAAAACQc/kAeaQtcVfCI/s1600/drip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGeIk9Q_yI/AAAAAAAACQc/kAeaQtcVfCI/s200/drip.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Brewing coffee can be done in a myriad of ways, and is usually dictated by personal preference. The most popular method today is probably the filter method in which finely-ground coffee is placed in a paper lined, cone shaped container with a hole in the bottom. Hot water is poured over the coffee enough to cover all the grounds and fill the cone. The water then passes through and the coffee flavor is extracted as the water empties into the receptacle. This process can be done either manually or automatically via electric coffee machines.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGfMdv-azI/AAAAAAAACQo/SldRlZeydHw/s1600/howtofrenchpress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="93" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGfMdv-azI/AAAAAAAACQo/SldRlZeydHw/s200/howtofrenchpress.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>One of the best ways to extract flavor from coffee is through the Plunger or French Press method. Thought to have been invented in the 1930’s, the method is simple: coarsely ground coffee is placed into a pot, and hot water is added to the pot. After stirring the grounds in the water, it is allowed to steep for up five minutes, at which time a plunger with a finely meshed metal filter is pushed down through the liquid. This process separates the grounds from the freshly brewed coffee, leaving you with perfected brewed, intensely flavored coffee.<br />
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</div>One of the fast growing popular methods of coffee making is the espresso method. A specially designed machine forces hot water through finely ground coffee into small glass cups. A very high level of pressure is required to make this type of coffee, and thus the equipment tends to be very expensive. The important thing to keep in mind when making espresso is to not over-extract the coffee. A perfect crema, the golden-brown liquid from a perfectly brewed espresso is what each barista or coffee jockey strives for. <br />
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</div>One of the popular alternatives to brewed coffee is instant coffee. Instant coffee was developed by Satori Kato in Chicago in 1901 and marketed by Nescafe in 1938. Although flavor and aroma are sacrificed in its making, convenience is the main advantage that instant has over brewed coffee. Instant coffee is made from roasted, ground coffee beans which are then concentrated through water removal either by heating or freezing. The resulting products are tiny granules - the instant coffee (www.ico.org). <br />
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<b>Coffee and Religion</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGfxYN1poI/AAAAAAAACQ0/1Y3B5zfT2Jk/s1600/clement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGfxYN1poI/AAAAAAAACQ0/1Y3B5zfT2Jk/s1600/clement.jpg" /></a></div>Coffee and religion have had a tumultuous relationship. Although initially accepted by the Muslim religion, it ran afoul with the orthodox imams in Mecca in 1511 for its stimulating effect. Interestingly, although conservative Muslims condemned coffee, it was extremely popular with the general population and became an integral part of both their religious and secular lives (www.nationalgeographic.com). As coffee’s popularity spread throughout Europe, devout Catholics damned it as “the drink of infidels” (www.nationalgeographic.com) and, as a result, sinful. A movement by monks to ban the drink in the 1500’s was foiled by Pope Clement. Seeing that coffee enabled the monks to stay awake during Mass, instead of banning the drink, he blessed it. <br />
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Today, coffee is enjoyed by many people from diverse religious and socio-economic demographics. People from many different countries around the world drink coffee. Starbucks, the largest coffee chain house—16,000 outlets worldwide as of 2008—is at the forefront of the coffee culture throughout the world(www.msnbc.msn.com) The US, with the largest single market for coffee products in the world has a bottomless need for the dark brew. Germany comes in at number two, but with regards to the most coffee consumed per person, that honor belongs to Finland where the coffee drinkers there average about four cups of coffee per day (www.enotes.com). In the US, coffee drinking has become a very social event; a chance to meet with friends and catch up or to just sitting quietly while enjoy a cup. However, there is one country today that practices a very elaborate coffee ceremony. Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, takes drinking coffee very seriously. As described by Emily Doyle from Epicurious.com (www.brewed-coffee.com):<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGgADVPE_I/AAAAAAAACQ4/FTiave5Ru3o/s1600/Coffeetigrai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGgADVPE_I/AAAAAAAACQ4/FTiave5Ru3o/s200/Coffeetigrai.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><i>The ceremony is usually conducted by one young woman, dressed in the traditional Ethiopian costume of a white dress with coloured woven borders. The long involved process starts with the ceremonial apparatus being arranged upon a bed of long scented grasses. The roasting of the coffee beans is done in a flat pan over a tiny charcoal stove, the pungent smell mingling with the heady scent of incense that is always burned during the ceremony. The lady who is conducting the ceremony gently washes a handful of coffee beans on the heated pan, then stirs and shakes the husks away.</i><br />
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<i>When the coffee beans have turned black and shining and the aromatic oil is coaxed out of them, they are ground by a pestle and a long handled mortar. The ground coffee is slowly stirred into the black clay coffee pot locally known as ‘jebena’, which is round at the bottom with a straw lid. Due to the archaic method used by Ethiopians, the ground result can be called anything but even, so the coffee is strained through a fine sieve several times.</i><br />
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The youngest child is then sent out to announce when it is to be served and stands ready to bring a cup of coffee first to the eldest in the room and then to the others, connecting all the generations. The lady finally serves the coffee in tiny china cups to her family, friends and neighbours who have waited and watched the procedure for the past half-hour.<br />
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<b>Coffee and Health</b><br />
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The ritual and social observance of drinking coffee by the Ethiopian culture is as elaborate as any of those for tea, and is an integral part of the Ethiopian societal structure. <br />
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With its popularity, the benefits and hazards of coffee has come under greater scrutiny. From the beginning, coffee has been consumed due to its stimulating effects from caffeine; a chemical found in coffee that has shown to affect stamina, mental acuity, mood, and the digestive system. Caffeine, scientifically known as 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine, is the most widely used psychoactive drug in the world, and about 80% of the world’s population consumes it on a daily basis (www.medicinenet.com). Caffeine is found in coffee, tea, soda, cocoa, and chocolate.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGh5pHwj6I/AAAAAAAACQ8/D69draeZIew/s1600/Caffeine+Health+effects.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGh5pHwj6I/AAAAAAAACQ8/D69draeZIew/s200/Caffeine+Health+effects.jpg" width="175" /></a></div>Unfortunately, like all drugs, there are side effects. Caffeine increases blood pressure and heart rate and can cause palpitations, diarrhea, tremors, and insomnia. Compounding these maladies, coffee withdrawal can also lead to headaches, depression, and drowsiness. Too much caffeine may lead to sleep deprivation and may lead one to ignore the signs that the body needs rest. Two substances in coffee, kahweol and cafestol (www.health.harvard.edu), have led scientists to believe that the consumption of unfiltered coffee, as in made from a French Press or through an Espresso method, may lead to an increase in bad LDL cholesterol (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com). Scientific study has also looked into the connection between caffeine, heart disease, and osteoporosis, but has come to no definitive result. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGqx5BP06I/AAAAAAAACRA/44Tne2EEyDs/s1600/diabetes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGqx5BP06I/AAAAAAAACRA/44Tne2EEyDs/s1600/diabetes.jpg" /></a></div>Fortunately, there is compelling evidence that coffee’s positive effects greatly outweigh the negative. Studies have shown that although caffeine may be addictive, most that drink coffee do so out of the pleasure of its aroma and flavor (www.medicinenet.com). A Harvard Women’s Health Watch study (www.health.harvard.edu) has revealed that moderate drinking may offer some health benefits. Research has shown that moderate consumption may also reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes than those who do not drink coffee. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes found today. Although millions have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, many more are not aware that they have the disease. In type 2 diabetes, the body does not make enough insulin, or the cells ignore the insulin it produces. Insulin is important because it helps break down glucose, which is made from the sugars and starches we consume, and provide energy for the cells. When the glucose is not utilized by the body and continues to build up due to Type 2 diabetes, it can cause severe health issues. Coffee may contain chemicals that lower blood sugar as well as increase your resting metabolism rate, which may forestall the development of diabetes. Furthermore, coffee may also reduce the potential for gall stones, help prevent colon cancer, reduce the risk for liver and Parkinson’s disease (www.physorg.com). <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGrKW-4lkI/AAAAAAAACRE/rXczpHUovU4/s1600/liver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGrKW-4lkI/AAAAAAAACRE/rXczpHUovU4/s200/liver.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>One of the most interesting discoveries of coffee’s benefits is that it may be a buffer for the liver against alcohol. In a report first published in 1992 in the Archives of Internal Medicine (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com), from 125,500 Kaiser Permanente health plan members, heavy alcohol drinkers cut their chance for cirrhosis of the liver by 20% per cup of coffee. Cirrhosis is a condition in which the liver slowly deteriorates and malfunctions due to chronic injury. Scar tissue replaces healthy liver tissue, partially blocking the flow of blood through the liver. A healthy liver is able to regenerate most of its own cells when they become damaged. With end-stage cirrhosis, the liver can no longer effectively replace damaged cells. A healthy liver is necessary for survival. (www.medicinenet.com). The researchers surmise that when the liver metabolizes coffee, a side effect is the inhibition of inflammation of the liver when alcohol is present. Studies in the Harvard Health Letter further suggest that coffee may be able to fight liver cancer. In a recent study, coffee drinkers were 50% less likely to develop liver cancer than non drinkers (www.health.harvard.edu). <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGrTK-ZVrI/AAAAAAAACRI/g6vmBMyHKdo/s1600/dopamine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGrTK-ZVrI/AAAAAAAACRI/g6vmBMyHKdo/s200/dopamine.jpg" width="192" /></a></div>Caffeine has also shown to increase the production of dopamine in the brain; dopamine is a chemical integral to pleasure and stimulation. What is dopamine? Dopamine, as described by Phillip Newton, PhD, “ is a neurotransmitter, one of those chemicals that are responsible for transmitting signals in between the nerve cells (neurons) of the brain.” (www.psychologytoday.com) Very few neurons actually make dopamine. Some, in a part of the brain called the substantial nigra, are the cells that die during Parkinson’s disease. This is important because it’s been shown that coffee can help prevent Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is a progressive nervous system disorder that affects movement. It starts gradually with a barely noticeable tremor, but can include the slowing or freezing of movement. Speech becomes jumbled or slurred and eventually all these symptoms become worse with time as the disease progresses. There is no cure for this disease. The cells that produce dopamine are also the same ones that cause Parkinson’s, and if the cells are busy making dopamine, they are not working on the disease. It is important to note that this benefit against Parkinson’s is evident only in males. One theory suggests that the hormone estrogen in women prevents this beneficial effect of coffee (www.health.harvard.edu). <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGreLGIFSI/AAAAAAAACRM/lPtCIoqsijc/s1600/antioxicants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGreLGIFSI/AAAAAAAACRM/lPtCIoqsijc/s1600/antioxicants.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Coffee is also rich in antioxidants - vitamins, minerals, and enzymes long known to fight against ageing and disease. In a study conducted at University of Scranton, in Pennsylvania, it was discovered that, of 100 popular food items generally consumed by people in the US on a daily basis, coffee offered the most antioxidants at 1,299 milligrams daily; the second highest was tea at 294 (www.psychologytoday.com). Generally, antioxidants are found most in fruits, vegetables, and herbs. However, because few people eat the necessary amounts of fruits in vegetables, but drink large amounts of coffee, which has become the dominant source of antioxidants in the American diet.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGro0u7UUI/AAAAAAAACRQ/p6PvmyziHik/s1600/coffee+love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TOGro0u7UUI/AAAAAAAACRQ/p6PvmyziHik/s200/coffee+love.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>So the question remains: Is coffee a poison or a panacea? It’s hard to refute the impact that coffee has had on the world’s history. It has spurred religious fervor in both the Muslim and Catholic Church, not without controversy mind you. Coffee fueled the growth of economies and exploration during its early expansion. The Dutch traders not only were instrumental in the hooking the Western World onto the coffee craze, but they also helped develop and expand the reach of the western world into the undiscovered new world. From the planting, growing, distribution, and sale, coffee today holds pride of place as one of the top commodities traded in the world. This impact has, in some way, changed in the way people treat with their fellow man. The Fair Trade act, which began with the coffee trade but now, includes many other industries that affect third world countries, has allowed the profits from this economic juggernaut to be spread more evenly to the farmers who provide this vital bean to the world. Grassroots movements led by the coffee consumer have brought the recognition that, if we do not help small grower succeed, then the coffee industry will fail. With regards to the medical impact of coffee, it’s hard to refute the benefits that coffee potentially has on humans. The studies have shown that coffee can have a positive impact on some of the most prevalent diseases that afflict mankind today. Studies continue to discover further the value that coffee could bring and it all looks good. The important thing to remember, as with anything, is that moderation is the key. When one takes in too much of anything, regardless of whether it is considered “good for you”, it will have detrimental consequences. Instead, I suggest that you take pleasure in your cup, or cups, of coffee. Enjoy the aroma and the flavor and remember that coffee is your friend.About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-48704112531519101362010-11-01T13:54:00.000-07:002010-11-01T13:54:18.770-07:00Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, GMOs Have Got To Go!<strong><em>by OCI Culinary Management Student James Bonanno</em></strong><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TM8oHC_ceCI/AAAAAAAACPo/LsSntP0UCX4/s1600/James+Bonanno.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" nx="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TM8oHC_ceCI/AAAAAAAACPo/LsSntP0UCX4/s200/James+Bonanno.jpg" width="135" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Author James Bonanno</td></tr>
</tbody></table>What is genetic engineering? Is it the science of creating mutant super-heroes? Killer tomatoes? The walking dead? These questions are posed to us, the consumer, because it is a very scary science. It may not re-animate the dead or create super-heroes, but the science of genetic engineering is a somewhat new and unknown technology, and can be just as scary as that fore-mentioned. Genetic engineering is a technology that alters genetic make-up of a said organism to produce the desired effects for the manufacturer. This technology has been pushed upon the civilians of this planet without full understanding of the consequences it may have on earth’s inhabitants. In my opinion, GMO’s have not been tested nor studied for the long term and should not be used for human consumption.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Genetically Modified Organics have many agricultural applications such as pest/drought/frost resistant plants, novelty foods, livestock medications, crop yields, and pesticides. With minimal long-term studies being done on Genetically Modified Organics there is no doubt in my mind that we should be questioning the prevalent use of this little-understood technology in our environment.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TM8ojSsdTcI/AAAAAAAACP8/4b7PuanT6dw/s1600/gmo-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" nx="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TM8ojSsdTcI/AAAAAAAACP8/4b7PuanT6dw/s320/gmo-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Genetically Modified Organic is a somewhat self-explanatory term, which simply means the insertion of a new gene or enzyme into the DNA structure of a plant, animal, or bacteria to achieve a desired result such as larger fruit, pest-resistant plants, animals that create cancer-fighting enzymes and higher crop yields.<br />
The catalyst for many researchers and geneticists today was Darwin’s book The Origin of Species, published in 1859, describing how evolution results from natural selection. Today scientists subvert this natural selection by altering plant and animal DNA, in essence acting as a laboratory god to create animals and plants with a higher tolerance to common ailments and environmental factors.<br />
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The idea of genetic engineering has been around for thousands of years. Many early civilizations used selective breeding in livestock to produce larger, healthier animals. Early civilizations also used cross-pollination to produce a larger variety of edible vegetables and fruits. With early practices of hybridization and cross-pollination, there were no environmental, nor physical damage done to the animal, human, or plant. Within the last forty years the scientific community has taken leaps and bounds with mapping out the genetic make-up of many plants and animals we use in our everyday life. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TMoEqcxVN-I/AAAAAAAACPU/-fOdcl03UPE/s1600/piggy+gmo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: left; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" nx="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TMoEqcxVN-I/AAAAAAAACPU/-fOdcl03UPE/s200/piggy+gmo.jpg" width="170" /></a></div>The first successful genetic engineered experiment came in 1973, when a gene from an African clawed toad was inserted into bacterial DNA, heralding the era of Recombinant DNA technology. (Recombinant DNA [rDNA] is a form of artificial DNA that is created by combining two or more sequences that would not normally occur together.). Scientists are cloning mammals resistant to disease, plants resistant to pests, and pets that are exact replicas of the animal their DNA was originally taken from. With this technology there have been many follies and risks to the animals’ and plants’ health. For example, in 1988 the USDA inserted human growth hormones into a pig’s genes, resulting in a hairy, lethargic animal so arthritic it can barely stand. Today, we as consumers come in contact with GMO’s on a daily basis.<br />
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Our food sources have been saturated with plant and animal material that has been directly or indirectly affected by Genetically Modified Organics. The development of techniques in genetic modification which include recombinant DNA technology and cellular techniques of introducing DNA into an organism have resulted in tremendous advances in agriculture, human health and the processing industry.<br />
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The emergence of genetically modified plants, animals and microorganisms with superior genetic traits and their subsequent release into the environment have currently raised concern among the public at large and highlighted issues regarding safety.<br />
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One directly affected food product that we consume is BT corn, which is a corn that has been genetically combined with BT, a naturally occurring pesticide in our soil. Although BT is naturally occurring in soil, it is still unsafe for human consumption. Today 45% of all corn grown in the US is genetically modified, and has been deened safe by the USDA for human consumption. Another crop that is directly affected is soy. Ninety-one percent of soy crop in the US is genetically modified with a Monsanto Round-Up Ready herbicide. Recent tests have shown that GM soy has adverse affects on lab rats. When the test rats were rationed genetic soy some of the rats became sterile, infertile, and otherwise suffered detrimental effects on their reproductive organs. It is estimated that 85 % of processed foods in the US today contain Genetically Modified Organics.<br />
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In 1996 there was a UCS-authored report titled The Ecological Risks of Engineered Crops. In this report they described six kinds of potential risks genetically modified crops pose in our environment.<br />
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• Genetically engineered crops could become weeds. By definition, a weed is categorized as any plant that causes undesirable effects. <br />
• Cross-pollination of genetically engineered crops with wild plants, which in turn will cause genetic pollution in an environment that is not controlled. <br />
• Crops that are engineered to harvest viruses for human health research in the plant cells can facilitate the creation of new viruses that are more virulent and easier contracted by the masses. <br />
• Crops that are engineered to express potentially toxic substances may pose risk to other organisms like birds, deer and humans. <br />
• Crops that have been genetically engineered can possibly agitate the natural order of the eco-system and cause ripple effects through our environment. <br />
• Last, genetically engineering crops with terminator gene (which renders a plant’s seeds infertile) can cause undesirable effects through cross-pollination that might threaten plant and crop diversity. These potential risks described above will not be evident immediately, but with no long-term studies done on genetically engineered crops we can expect genetic pollution as a very real threat to our livelihood in the future.</div><br />
Nor can we say that there have been no adverse effects on our environment because there may be subtle effects taking place with other plant species and animals that we have not yet noticed. The only monitoring systems that are in place right now for these genetically modified crops are insect and weed resistance. (<a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/">http://www.ucsusa.org/</a>)<br />
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Genetically Modified Foods should not be deemed safe for human consumption due to these four factors:<br />
• There have been no long term studies done on human consumption of genetically engineered foods. <br />
• As many new genes are introduced into plants that do not normally carry allergenic genes the threat of higher allergic reactions looms. For instance, if a biotech company introduced peanut genes into a soy product, mortality rates could soar. Allergenicity, as a matter of principle, the transfer of genes from commonly allergenic foods, is discouraged unless it can be demonstrated that the protein product of the transferred gene is not allergenic. <br />
• Gene transfer from GM foods to cells of the body or to bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract would cause concern if the transferred genetic material adversely affects human health. This would be particularly relevant if antibiotic resistance genes, used in creating GMOs, were to be transferred. <br />
• Another problem we face with genetically engineered crops is the movement of genes from GM plants into conventional crops or related species in the wild (referred to as “outcrossing”), as well as the mixing of crops derived from conventional seeds with those grown using GM crops, may have an indirect effect on food safety and food security. (WHO.int)<br />
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Well how did this all get started? In 1973, Cohen and Boyer perform the first successful recombinant DNA experiment, using bacterial genes. Essentially, these two scientists were the godfathers of genetic engineering.. It wasn’t until the mid 1980s that the first field tests of genetically engineered plants, specifically tobacco, were conducted. Within a year, Advanced Genetic Sciences’ Frostban, a genetically altered bacterium that inhibits frost formation, was field-tested on strawberry and potato plants in California. These were the first authorized outdoor tests of an engineered bacterium. After six years of field tests, the FDA declared GMO foods are “not inherently dangerous” and did not require special regulation.<br />
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In 1994, Calgene’s Flavr Savr tomato was introduced to the world. With this genetically modified tomato, Calgene hoped to slow the ripening process and prevent it from softening while maintaining it’s normal color and flavor. It was not long after that tomatoes introduction that the genetic boom started to take hold. Genetically Modified soy and corn were both planted in 1995. Only one short year later, these crops hit the supermarket shelves and were deemed safe without being tested. The following year, the GM soy crops jumped drastically to seven percent of the total soy grown in the United States and GM corn was nearly two percent of the total national corn grown.<br />
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While geneticists were working on genetically engineering plant matter in the US, something more sinister was brewing across the pond. In February 1997, the Roslin Institute and PPL Therapeutics plc announced the first production of Dolly, the cloned sheep who was the first mammal to be cloned from the somatic tissue of an adult. Dolly was of almost the same genetic composition as the sheep from whose cells she was developed, but she was not genetically engineered as such.<br />
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Five months later, on July 24th, PPL announced that Polly, a genetically engineered lamb, had been produced by the same method of nuclear transfer that had produced Dolly. In addition to her usual complement of sheep genes, she also contained a human gene which had been added to the cells while they were still a cell culture.<br />
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It was in 1999 that European nations became more aware of Genetically Modified Foods, and thus began to for a negative opinion of them. This helped bring GMOs into the world’s spotlight. Many Europeans believed that the use of bacteria, or human DNA in our food supply was ethically, morally, and socially unacceptable. The year 2000 brought the first known case of GMO corn polluting the human food supply. Starlink GMO corn that was approved solely for animal feed ended up in corn products for human consumption as well. In 2002, another biotech company named Prodigene became the center of attention. Prodigene violated the US Plant Protection Act by allowing experimental biopharmaceutical corn to mix with a commercial soy crop. Next, another biotech giant, Monsanto, developed a GM wheat. They did however, decide against selling the wheat due to negative public perception.<br />
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By the end of 2004, 85% of soy and 45% of corn crops grown in the US were genetically modified. Currently in the US we have 92% of the world’s genetically engineered crops, comprising 58% of our national crops. In the last few weeks, genetically engineered salmon has been approved by the USDA for human consumption. And, as I type, Monsanto is experimenting with genetically engineered pigs for human consumption. The Biotech companies are definitely not slowing down in their pursuit of patenting all living animals and plants! (<a href="http://www.ncbiotech.org/">http://www.ncbiotech.org/</a>)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TMoFrN67RCI/AAAAAAAACPY/L1-8ZVnx16w/s1600/scarygmo+veg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="259" nx="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TMoFrN67RCI/AAAAAAAACPY/L1-8ZVnx16w/s320/scarygmo+veg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Here are is a study done by Steve Connor showing that there are no real economic benefits to farmers that grow GMOs.<br />
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It pays NOT to cultivate GM crops!<br />
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The first economic analysis of growing genetically modified crops on a wide scale has found that the biggest winners were the farmers who decided not to grow them. The study, which looked at maize yields in the corn belt of the United States, found that farmers who continued to grow conventional crops actually earned more money over a 14-year period than those who cultivated GM varieties.<br />
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All farmers benefited from the significantly lower level of pests that came about after the introduction of GM maize to the US in 1996, but the conventional farmers who continued to cultivate non-GM varieties also benefited financially from not having to pay the extra costs of purchasing GM seeds. Previous studies into the economics of growing GM crops have concentrated on the farmers who have taken up the technology but, latest research looked at a wider area, including non-GM fields that may have benefited from being near fields planted with GM varieties.<br />
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Paul Mitchell, an agricultural economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where the work was carried out, said the main corn-growing states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska experienced a total economic benefit of $6.9bn (£4.6bn) over the period from 1996 to 2009 as a result of less maize being lost to the corn-borer pest.<br />
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But the non-GM corn areas accounted for 62 per cent of this total economic benefit because, in addition to preventing crop losses resulting from lower levels of pests, these farmers did not have to spend any extra money on the technology fees associated with the purchase of GM maize.<br />
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"Previous cost-benefit analyses focused directly on transgenic crop acres. This study is the first to include the value of area-wide pest suppression and the subsequent benefits to growers of non-transgenic crops," Dr Mitchell said.<br />
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"In this case, the value of the indirect yield benefits for non-Bt crops exceeded the net value of direct benefits to the BT corn acres.<br />
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"The study, published in the journal Science, found that Wisconsin farmers benefited to the tune of $325m as a result of the overall suppression of the corn borer pest between 1996 and 2009. About 75 per cent of this cumulative economic benefit went to the farmers who cultivated non-GM maize.<br />
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William Hutchinson of the University of Minnesota, the study's lead author, said an analysis showed that the European corn borer moth has declined in the fields neighbouring those of GM crops by between 28 and 73 per cent, depending on the initial level of infection. The scientists were able to make these estimates because of good records of pest populations going back 45 years.<br />
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Steve Connor, Science Editor<br />
In Steve Connor’s research, I see without a reasonable doubt that we, as consumers and tax-payers, have no need for these GM products being sold in the United States. He has shown that farmers growing conventionally can make more money without GM crops. When the biotech companies claim that Growing GM crops is more cost efficient, (I say “the results speak for themselves.”) With conventionally grown crops, there is no need to buy seeds every year. You can save seeds and re-use them next season. With GM crops, the plants seeds carry a terminator gene, which causes that plant’s sterility.<br />
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With the terminator gene in place, you are obligated to buy seeds year after year from big biotech companies, which cause the farmer to spend more than a conventional grower that saves seeds.<br />
As consumers, we need to be more aware of what we put into our bodies, especially those products that contain Genetically Modified Organics in which we do not yet understand the long term effects. Vandana Shiva, author of, Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and peace, stated “In nature’s economy the currency is not money, it is life.” Let’s not jeopardize our lives or those of innocent plants and animals so that agribusiness corporations can gain an extra buck.<br />
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We need food reform in the United States as well as the rest of the world. We the people need to stop the use of genetically modified foods and return to conventional, growing methods. Sustainable agriculture is an approach to agriculture that is environmentally, economically, culturally and socially sustainable. Sustainable growing practices emphasizes crop diversity and rotation, conserves natural resources, and favors small and medium-sized farming rather than agribusinesses and large corporations. Moreover, it focuses on food security (ensuring there is enough food for people to eat) and thus prioritizes the production of staple crops (rather than cash crops for export). It is a key livelihood strategy for small organic farmers, who have recognized that their best hope for a sustainable future is to nurture and protect the environment. How can we promote sustainable farming? If we want to make a change from using GM food that we, as consumers, still don’t know that much about, we need to take steps to change the growing practices now in use in our country. First, we need to use aid to maximize the potential of sustainable agriculture to reduce poverty in struggling regions of our country. Next, we need to stop viewing agriculture as an export. We also need to change international trade rules so that they do not force developing countries to ‘liberalize’ their economies – instead, we ought to enable these countries to invest in sustainable agriculture and rural development. I believe the quickest and easiest way to change the climate of GMO’s in our food supply is to re-create victory gardens. During World War II food supplies were in high demand for our soldiers overseas, so American communities all across the US started Victory Gardens. These Victory Gardens were run by communities to feed the people within.<br />
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If Americans today were to start Victory Gardens once again as a form of protest we might be able to send a message to these large corporations and biotech firms. We don’t want to eat your pollution! Currently, there are many co-op farms, farmer’s markets, community gardens, and green grocers that we can support. By supporting these small businesses we will not only be eating food that is locally produced, and good for us, we will also be giving money to farms and small companies that believe in farming practices that will not pollute our earth, nor our bodies.<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b>About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-37275587554112016182010-10-21T09:23:00.000-07:002010-10-21T09:23:26.084-07:00The Importance of Beer and the Benefits it Provides<strong><em>by OCI Culinary Management student Kerry Powell</em></strong><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TMBo21lrBEI/AAAAAAAACPQ/2Uyg1Ii_fKc/s1600/DSCF0614.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TMBo21lrBEI/AAAAAAAACPQ/2Uyg1Ii_fKc/s200/DSCF0614.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>All around the world-- from Europe, the Americas, Asia, and beyond-- beer is celebrated as the drink of choice for various people of differing cultures and lifestyles. However, there is also a lot of controversy surrounding beer and is often seen in a more negative light than positive one. This paper is a collection of compiled research that supports the idea that, when consumed in moderation, beer has a vast array of benefits. For starters, beer has a long and extensive history that appears beside mankind for thousands of years. Many cultures have evolved around beer, and beer has become its own culture in many countries worldwide, much like the Microbrew Culture Revolution in the United States. The sale and distribution of beer boosts the economy by providing jobs, paying taxes, and encouraging consumer spending. Alcohol is known to have a number of health benefits, and beer especially has added nutrients to contribute to one’s overall wellness. Given the vast amount of benefits that beer has to offer, it should never be forgotten that abusing the substance can cancel out many benefits that it initially provides.<br />
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To help gain a better understanding of the significance of beer, it is important to look at its origins and the role it has played in history, and what is considered “beer”. In the modern world, beer is an exclusive reference to hopped malt beverages, commonly used to describe lagers. This wasn’t always the case as hops are only a more recent innovation in the use of beers. Prior to the use of hops and the development of the cold maturation process that makes lagers; the beverages brewed were actually ales (beer100.com). <br />
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Beer (ale) goes back in history almost as far as civilization does, perhaps even earlier. There are arguments as to whether it was the need for bread or beer that led the nomadic tribes to settle down to form agriculture, though these statements are not proven. The earliest chemical evidence of beer is found in pottery dated back 7,000 years ago from modern day Iran. In contrast, the earliest depicted evidence of beer occurs in a 6,000 year old Sumerian tablet that portrays people drinking from a communal bowl through reed straws (beer100.com).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TL9uAqrJeAI/AAAAAAAACOs/_a2Iov6-hxc/s1600/ancient-beer-for-health.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="259" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TL9uAqrJeAI/AAAAAAAACOs/_a2Iov6-hxc/s320/ancient-beer-for-health.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In the beginning of Western Civilization, beer continued to play an important role in society. It is widely accepted that the Egyptians used beer as a form of currency. Slaves were paid in beer, and currency units were based off of the amounts of ingredients and materials required to make the beverage. In Ancient Egyptian texts, there are over 100 medical prescriptions calling for beer (Dunn). Beer was passed down to the Ancient Greeks, and Plato wrote, “He was a wise man who invented beer.” The Greeks passed their knowledge of beer to the Romans, where it played an important role during the empires fledgling years. However, during the Republic, wine surpassed beer in importance, and beer was regarded as a drink for barbarians (Raley).<br />
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Prior to the Middle Ages, the primary responsibility for brewing beer fell on women, since it was considered both a food and a drink for celebration. During the middle ages in Europe, monasteries began centralizing beer production for hospitality to traveling pilgrims. Families started to expand their homes and brewing operations to become inns with public houses, or with the Latin phrase tabernae which becomes tavern. By the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the brewing began to become more of an artisanal practice done primarily by monasteries and pubs for the purpose of mass consumption (Raley). In many ways, these were some of the first establishments to resemble today’s hospitality industries.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TL9uNCpiXQI/AAAAAAAACOw/kQzNR5LXK_s/s1600/growing-hops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TL9uNCpiXQI/AAAAAAAACOw/kQzNR5LXK_s/s320/growing-hops.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Hops weren’t always used for beer. They have been grown in France since the ninth century, but the oldest reference pertaining to the use of hops for beer wasn’t until the eleventh century when writer Abbess Hildegard of Bingen wrote, "If one intends to make beer from oats, it is prepared with hops." (beer100.com). Prior to the use of hops, various herbs and spices would be used to flavor the beer. For example, in Ancient Scotland the native Picts brewed ale made with Heather. In 1516, a new purity law in Bavaria first appeared. This law was done under Bavarian brewing guilds and made it illegal to use any ingredients but water, hops, barley, and later yeast (when it was discovered) in the process of brewing beer (Raley). The law eventually spread throughout all of Germany, and was initially made to ensure that the quality of the beer was to a certain standard by forbidding the use of lesser quality ingredients.<br />
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Beer, or ale, played a role in the founding of the United States. The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock because their beer stores were getting low. As the colonies grew, colonists began putting ads in London, and other foreign newspapers calling for experienced brewers to come over to the colonies. Many of the founding fathers of the United States-- George Washington, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and William Penn-- all brewed or had their own commercial breweries (Raley). <br />
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During the 1800s, Oktoberfest was declared a celebration. German immigrants introduced cold maturation lagers to Americans. From this, the roots of Anheuser-Busch, Coors, Miller, and Pabst had begun to grow. With approximately 2,300 breweries in 1880, beer in America was enjoying its glory years. With such a large amount of competition, combined with growing public dissent for alcohol, the number of breweries went down to 1,400 by 1914. By the early 20th century, in many Nordic countries, Canada, and the United States, Prohibitions began occurring. In the United States, Prohibition ran from 1920-1933. After Prohibition had ended, only 160 breweries hadn't gone out of business (Raley). <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TL9uYs1M0VI/AAAAAAAACO0/E-26rhQ7ab0/s1600/beer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="138" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TL9uYs1M0VI/AAAAAAAACO0/E-26rhQ7ab0/s200/beer.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>During the years that followed Prohibition, the giants we all know today that dominate the American beer market began their domination. These are almost like the dark ages of beer in America. Hardly any breweries survive “the plague” of prohibition, and the ones that do eventually twist and evolve to a flavorless substance made with cheaper materials and in a larger volume to make money. However, we are currently in a Renaissance of Beer in the United States. Microbreweries are rising in numbers and the larger corporations are (kind of) starting to up their product.<br />
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As well as having an extensive history alongside human kind, beer also has a number of benefits associated with it. Some of the most major of these are the economic benefits that come with the production, consumption, and distribution of said beverage. Beer helps benefit the economy by providing jobs, putting more money into the economy, and providing governments with revenue from “vice” taxes. In 2008, the malt beverage industry generated $41 billion in business, personal and consumption taxes (Business Source Premier, Beverage Industry).<br />
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To put it simply, beer puts money into the economy. “Brewers, beer importers, beer distributors, brewer suppliers and retailers directly and indirectly contribute more than $198 billion annually” (Business Source Premier, Beverage Industry). This all starts with the agriculture industry, which brewers support by purchasing the necessary grains and hops to make their product. Then it affects the wholesale and hospitality industry by providing product, revenue, and potential customers. A large portion of a restaurant’s income comes from the bar, and beer is one of the more popular beverages that appear in restaurants. Other tiers that the malt beverage industry affects are the suppliers, shipping, and even governmental tiers that regulate the industry (Dunham).<br />
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The malt beverage industry also opens up, supports, and provides many jobs. It is said that the beverage industry provides, or influences to provide over 1 million jobs in the United States (Business Source Premier, Beverage Industry). Think of the amount of jobs that indirectly involve the sale of beer. Beer makes up a healthy amount of sales in the places that provide and distribute it. Farmers work to grow the necessary ingredients. Truck drivers trek across country to deliver it to distributors. Warehouses hold the product in its various forms of completion. Manufacturers make the equipment necessary to make the beer. People pay taxes when they buy their beer. The brewing industry pays taxes to make their product. The industry is a driving force in the United States economy and it's undeniable how much something simple like beer can affect our everyday lives. The amount of jobs in each industry is as follows:<br />
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Retail/Hospitality – 888,400<br />
Wholesale/Storage – 95,400<br />
Production – 42,950<br />
Other affected firms – 441,300 <br />
(Dunham)<br />
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The effects beer has don't only lie in the money it generates, but in the spark it gives many cultures. Beer plays a very central role in many European cultures today, and many countries pride and associate themselves with their beer. The countries in Europe that have openly embraced beer culture are Belgium, Germany, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Czechoslovakia (Raley). <br />
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In the Americas, beer culture is changing very rapidly. American beer has had a bad reputation for being tasteless and cheap, but that is changing. Beer connoisseurs are becoming ever more common, and microbreweries and brewpubs are putting out product that is dedicated to quality and flavor. These places and people are popping up all around the country, making it evident that this change is going to stay. <br />
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Beer is the drink of preference to the majority of Americans, and many advertisements and events are centered on beer. Sports events and beer go hand in hand, whether you're at the game waiting in line at the beer stand whilst gazing upon the 80 foot beer billboard, or at home watching the game's beer centered commercials. America loves its sports, and watching sports fits perfectly with consuming beer.<br />
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With so many places and events that have beer available, and the social aspect related to these events with the consumption of beer, it's safe to say that beer, in many ways brings people together. Events such as Oktoberfest and other beer festivals bring together people of many backgrounds, having them all celebrate this commonality together. The arts can also get involved with beer and its culture. Artistic beer labels, bands playing at beer festivals or in advertisements, dancing for the silliness that often ensues during a night of drinking all add to the beer culture.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TL9uw50yMzI/AAAAAAAACPA/vFQa7A2VhHI/s1600/Cooking+with+Beer+&+Beer+photos+069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TL9uw50yMzI/AAAAAAAACPA/vFQa7A2VhHI/s320/Cooking+with+Beer+&+Beer+photos+069.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Beer also has an effect on food culture. Everyone knows that wine complements food, and can be used in a variety of cooking methods. A less popular, but still known, notion is that beer and food also can marry well, and beer can be used in cooking just as wine can. Beer can be used as a marinade, in braising, stewing, deglazing, sauce making, baking, poaching and simmering. Beer also brings an array of flavors to the table; bitterness and acidity from the hops, and a hint of sweetness from the malt. The yeasts in beer help contribute to a light, fluffy batter ideal for frying. The acidity and the yeasts also contribute to the beer's marinade qualities, helping to tenderize. In baking, the chocolate-y, roast-y flavors found in stout beers harmonize well with chocolate recipes, such as brownies or cake. Beer is an excellent ingredient to have available in the kitchen for some creative cooking ideas (drinkfocus.com).<br />
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In the United States, craft beer and microbreweries are becoming ever more popular and common. There are over 1,500 breweries in the United States, and 90% of them fit into the small, micro brew definition. Microbreweries are defined as producing no more than 2 million barrels of beer annually (craftbeer.com). <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TL9u-KMzMYI/AAAAAAAACPE/hzP3mLgKg_I/s1600/W_0_brewery_169187_1016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="178" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TL9u-KMzMYI/AAAAAAAACPE/hzP3mLgKg_I/s320/W_0_brewery_169187_1016.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
The micro brew revolution began in the early 1990s, when the rate of microbrewery growth had rapidly started to increase. In 1982, there were only 82 breweries of all sizes in the entire United States, which rose up to 258 by 1992. As 1994 came, a new microbrewery opened every three days, raising the national total of microbreweries to 745. In the year 1995, an additional 287 microbreweries and brewpubs opened their doors. Through the early 1990s, microbrew sales were expanding 40-50% annually during a time when per capita alcohol consumption was declining. The year of 1997 saw a total of 1,273 breweries, which was the first time the United States breweries outnumbered their German counterparts. Today there are 1,531 establishments that brew local beer (Schnell & Reese).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TL9vLv9GCgI/AAAAAAAACPI/m6cY_FGjWdo/s1600/saupload_bud.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TL9vLv9GCgI/AAAAAAAACPI/m6cY_FGjWdo/s320/saupload_bud.png" width="213" /></a></div>With the growing recognition of craft micro brews, the big guys in American beer (Budweiser, Coors, Miller, etc.) are facing a steady decline in popularity and are losing customer loyalty. For example, in 2003 Budweiser appeared at 13th place on a beer brand loyalty list, today in 2010 it is placed at number 220, quite the drop in only seven years (Hoffman).<br />
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The big brewers aren’t taking this lightly; they want in on the micro brew gold mine. Since craft beers can be sold for a premium price, there is a lot of money to be made there. Anheuser-Busch started faux micro brews of Red World and Elk Mountain, Coors started up Blue Moon and Killian’s Red, and Miller introduced Red Dog. However, these faux micro brews didn’t succeed as much as the breweries had hoped, though many continue to be in production today (Schnell & Reese). It is evident that the micro brew revolution is going to change the way the world sees American beer, which may create a high demand for it in other countries.<br />
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Most people have a lot of misconceptions when it comes to beer in relation to one's health. Although it is true that when abused, beer can help cause some adverse health effects, but there are many benefits associated with the moderate consumption of the drink. Studies show that participants who drank 1-2 beers a day had their B6 vitamin levels raise by 30%, twice as much as the increase caused by wine or spirits (Life Extension, 8.2). <br />
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Alcohol in general is known to decrease the risk of heart disease, stroke, and blood clotting. It raises the levels of “good fat” (HDL Cholesterol) in the blood, which stack with the cardiovascular benefits. It is also said that moderate consumption of alcohol causes insulin resistance, which may help prevent type 2 diabetes down the road. Alcohol also helps to reduce the risk of suffering from inflammatory diseases. Keep in mind that most of these benefits come with the moderate consumption of alcohol, over consumption would negate any of the benefits (Witheridge, 11).<br />
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There are many studies underway trying to determine if beer and alcohol consumption can help delay senile dementia in elders. Evidence suggests that elders who consume alcohol are less likely to develop dementia; perhaps due to reduced narrowing of blood vessels in the brain, or even the social contact that drinking can cause by going out to drink at a bar or at a friend’s house. Other studies are trying to find out if beer can help prevent osteoporosis, or the weakening of bones, in women partly by raising blood oestrogen (estradiol) levels (Witheridge, 17-18). Estradiol is a hormone found in both sexes which supports bone growth (Henderson). Other suggested benefits are reduced risk of gallstones, and reduced risk of developing Parkinson's (Witheridge, 17-18).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TL9vYLt6LtI/AAAAAAAACPM/ofSdNwic4cY/s1600/healthhappinessbeer.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="159" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TL9vYLt6LtI/AAAAAAAACPM/ofSdNwic4cY/s200/healthhappinessbeer.gif" width="200" /></a></div>Lastly, there are the psychological benefits associated with the moderate consumption of alcohol. There are many that believe that the relaxed feeling that one or two drinks provide is a psychotherapeutic effect that is beneficial to everyday living. Moderate consumption of alcohol is linked with reducing tension and stress, more so in moderate drinkers than in abstainers or heavy drinkers (Witheridge, 19). It is also worth noting that the common belief that drinking beer will cause a “beer belly” is a myth and has been proven to be untrue. Although over-consumption of beer can result in fat gain, it isn't site specific, and won't just accumulate in the stomach area (Schütze). <br />
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With the careful, mindful, moderate consumption of alcohol comes a great many beneficial health effects. Over-consumption of alcohol can reverse many of its benefits. However, alcohol fits perfectly into a healthy lifestyle that is balanced and active.<br />
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The adverse effects of the abuse of alcohol are also worth noting. Alcohol abuse can cause organ damage, lead to alcoholism, cause psychological stress, and even contributes to deaths every year through Alcohol Poisoning or drunk driving incidences. The best known effects of heavy drinking are the damage it can cause to one's liver. The body prioritizes alcohol above other things when it enters the body, so it is quickly absorbed. The liver follows along on this path, sometimes pushing aside fatty acids to metabolize the alcohol first. This can cause the liver to accumulate a bunch of unnecessary fat that impairs its function. It is worth noting that the moderate consumption of alcohol doesn't have this effect, as it allows the liver enough time to metabolize it (healthchecksystems.com).<br />
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Alcoholism is a huge problem to many across the world. Alcoholism is an addiction to alcohol, and many times the cravings are so primal that a person who is an alcoholic has a brain that is telling them they need the alcohol as much as they need food, sometimes more. Most of the time, alcoholics need to be treated with assistance from either a doctor or an alcoholic support group such as AA to put their disease under control. Alcoholism not only affects the individual, but their environment, family, and friends (healthchecksystems.com). <br />
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Binge drinking is a good way to cause harm to one’s health. Binge drinking is usually described as having more than five drinks in one sitting (Witheridge, 7). Heavy drinkers have higher risk of kidney disease, liver disease, heart disease, cancer of the liver, pancreas, esophagus, breast, and mouth, obesity, and more. If women choose to drink while pregnant they risk behavioral and abnormal qualities in the fetus (healthchecksystems.com). It is important to be mindful about personal alcohol consumption, try to reap the benefits, not delete them.<br />
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Given that beer has a rooted spot in humanity, and the vast array of benefits the beverage provides, beer should be respected among society. That doesn't mean that everyone must drink a beer every day, but to know that it does have a positive impact. Negative impacts often caused by alcoholic beverages are due to overindulgence. Overindulgence in just about anything in life can cause negative effects. Eating too much food can cause obesity, exercising for too long and too hard can cause injuries, too many vitamins or nutrients can be damaging to one’s health, taking too much medicine also has negative health effects, and people can even die from drinking too much water (called water intoxication). It is important to remember that it is the overindulgence and abuse of such things that causes the negative impact, not the substance alone. When someone respects beer and drinks it in moderation, it can be part of an extremely healthy and satisfying lifestyle if they choose to live in balance. Beer brings people together, provides health benefits, boosts the economy, and gives a certain cultural flair to society. It's important to respect it and, in a way it will respect you. Most of all, it is important for the individual to respect themselves and their body.About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-88434704557146183912010-10-13T13:14:00.000-07:002010-10-13T13:14:21.468-07:00An "Actual" Foodie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Interview with Annie Tonsiengsom from Actual Industries<br />
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<em><a href="http://www.actualindustries.com/">Actual Industries</a> is partnering with Oregon Culinary Institute to film and edit a three part documentary intended to capture the scope of the Red Wattle Heritage Pig Project, including the progressive food philosophy, the food and beverage pairing angle, and the final dinner events (“Suds and Swine” on Tuesday, November 9th and “Wine and Swine” on Wednesday, November 10th).</em><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TLYRzEcS6QI/AAAAAAAACOk/t1Z4uTG6PBs/s1600/DSCF0561.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="258" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TLYRzEcS6QI/AAAAAAAACOk/t1Z4uTG6PBs/s320/DSCF0561.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annie Tonsiengsom from Actual Industries</td></tr>
</tbody></table><strong><em>You own a video production company but have a serious love of food. Where do these two worlds meet?</em></strong><br />
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My husband, Brad Mosher, and I started Actual Industries with Tiffany Davies, our business partner. Brad and I started our careers in New York City, which is a wonderful place to get started in this business. Landing at Food Network, for me, was fortuitous. I’ve always loved food, but I didn’t know how deeply until I took that job. It sounds corny, but I truly believe food can change the world – when talking to someone, anyone, about food, your differences, political, cultural or whatever, don’t have to come up. Food is the common uniter – we all have the basic need to eat. Personally, that’s why I love food programming. When you start talking about good food and memories people have of favorite foods and past experiences, you can connect with anyone, there’s a lot of bonding that happens. <br />
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<strong><em>Tell us more about the New York experience.</em></strong> <br />
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I remember reporting into NBC, being handed a badge, and walking onto the Saturday Night Live floor. It didn’t take me long to realize that Manhattan is one big movie set – on the commute to Madison Square Garden, at Penn Station, I’d take the subway up to Times Square and look around thinking “I am definitely in the middle of the action.” I recently watched ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and I kept thinking that’s what my life was like. <br />
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<strong><em>How did you get the Food Network job?</em></strong><br />
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I went the temp agency route, since I knew many of them were working with different production companies. I got really good at taking those standard temp agency tests. So I would go in, ace their test, then ask “who are your clients?” I was pretty bold. I found the one that worked with the Food Network and got a job there. After a month I got a job offer from them as the Executive Assistant in the Programming Department. At that time, back in 1999, the Food Network was strictly about cooking. Emeril was on the air, and he was the network’s number one commodity. The idea for Iron Chef came up, and I was one of the very vocal people on the team stating the belief that Iron Chef could really put our network on the pop culture map. Chef Morimoto vs. Bobby Flay was the first one. I remember sitting in the audience during the live taping of the first U.S. episode. At one point, the fans were chanting, and we knew instantly that it would be a runaway hit. I was able to have a lot of input on the programming at that time, and that was fun. The programming was smart, interesting, and educational. <br />
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<strong><em>What changed?</em></strong><br />
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For me, it started with 9/11. Brad was working in the World Trade Center in insurance while I was enjoying a blossoming TV production career. On that particular day, I had made him late, and he ended up missing the train. He was on the first train that was diverted because of the attacks. As we processed what had happened, I remember saying to him “Life is too short for you to die working in insurance. We both went to school for video production. Let’s give our dream a shot.” So he got a job as a Production Assistant on Emeril’s show. We got married after in 2002 and honeymooned in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, B.C. We fell in love with Portland and decided to move here. <br />
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<strong><em>How did Actual Industries begin?</em></strong><br />
<br />
Brad and I had both been working at Nike. I started by freelancing at the Internal Communication department doing video production. Brad had a staff position. We were a part of the reduction of force a year and a half ago right before Maggie, our daughter, was born, and we decided it was the right time. I believe when something that seems negative happens, you have to find a way to turn it into a positive, and that’s what we did. We launched Actual Industries in 2009. <br />
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<strong><em>What has it been like since you got Actual Industries off the ground?</em></strong><br />
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Creating a company with my values at the heart of it has been really exciting for the next phase of my career. I have to keep it close to my heart or I’ll be creating something that I can’t sustain. All of the people involved, as we keep adding people, that collective personality and shared values are what’s really exciting. But it has been a crazy ride. It is a constant learning process, but we are now getting our feet firmly beneath us. As a necessity, I’ve had a lot to learn about being a business person. It has to come as a vision of what company can be, and while it’s a shared vision, it’s what we are passionate about. Food, apparel, sports and tech – those are the areas of passion and expertise for our team. Getting to this point where we understood this about ourselves and could call these our core competencies was important, because when you deliver a project, the gut feelings and instinct that you’ve developed help you to understand what’s working and what you need to be successful. <br />
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It’s kind of crazy that we started this when Maggie was born. We’ve given birth to two babies at the same time. Knowing that the love, passion, and hard work that we put into each will feed and nurture each one is really motivating. <br />
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<strong><em>How did you get involved in OCI’s Red Wattle Heritage Pig Project?</em></strong><br />
<br />
Well, we met some people from OCI, and in the first meeting it was obvious we had a lot of shared values, including a shared passion for food. Business wise – what makes OCI so special is that everyone wants to be there. Nobody is treated like a line item in a budget. This energy and passion will show in the end product (the video) that we create of this project. And the food industry and the film production industry have a lot in common. Our worlds match really well in terms of the work ethic you need to have to make something special. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TLYSGrYBPBI/AAAAAAAACOo/CqWfxDkJULI/s1600/Still+1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TLYSGrYBPBI/AAAAAAAACOo/CqWfxDkJULI/s320/Still+1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The team from Actual Industries filming the Chehalem Winery tasting </td></tr>
</tbody></table><strong><em>Any other thoughts on this project?</em></strong><br />
<br />
Personally, I’m interested in the outcome. As a consumer, I buy what I call “happy meat,” that is product from animals that are treated humanely. Sadly, I’m not always impressed with the differences. I started learning about organic certification process, and while it’s another tangent, it shed some light on some things for me. But OCI, being a local business with an educational mission…I want to be there to capture all those moments when the light bulbs flash in the students minds, that “a ha!” moment, because that‘s also the experience you want diners to have. You want them to understand the food and what went into it cultivating, harvesting, and preparing it. There are ethical and financial considerations to consider. Your average person can taste the difference between the pizza from Hot Lips and Pizza Hut. Most people, especially in Portland, understand that you are going to pay more for what’s local and sustainable. This is what attracted me to the project. Tiffany and I both have a passion for food and a dedication to the local/sustainable food movement. I believe that’s also one of the reasons students choose to attend OCI and why our company wants to be involved in this project. We both share a common commitment to the future of our food and community. I can see that OCI is creating the next generation of culinary professionals going out into the industry and that’s something that is special about the school.About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-16630597119082652202010-09-30T12:15:00.000-07:002010-10-01T10:16:57.101-07:00The Pig Project<em>Interview with Brian Wilke, OCI Executive Chef and Director of Education</em><br />
<br />
<strong><em>What exactly is the OCI Pig Project?</em></strong> <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TKTeWpG8brI/AAAAAAAACOU/4_yLgeR7dJo/s1600/At+Heritage+Farm.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="176" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TKTeWpG8brI/AAAAAAAACOU/4_yLgeR7dJo/s320/At+Heritage+Farm.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chefs Wilke (center) and Brophy (right) at Heritage Farms</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We decided to purchase three red wattle piglets in the spring from <a href="http://www.heritagefarmsnw.com/">Heritage Farm Northwest</a>. “The Pig Project,” as it came to be known, was conceived out of a desire to introduce our students to several concepts at the same time. The first is the concept of sustainability, and how this concept can affect them as food service professionals. The second concept is an awareness of and interaction directly with the local food farm and food purveyor community – not just the pigs, but also the connection with the brewer and the winemaker that we are partnering with. The third concept is from an ethical standpoint – we are introducing them to a way of raising animals that is much different from the way a pig would be raised on an industrial farm. The fourth concept is flavor. All three are genetically almost identical (<em>see next question</em>). We brought two of them to <a href="http://sweet-briar-farms.com/">Sweetbriar Farms</a> to be pen-raised and left the other one at Heritage Farm Northwest to be pasture-raised. One current hot button in the food and farms debate is the more common grain fed practice vs. pasture-raised, (which, by the way, is the way all farm animals were raised until the 20th century). We will prepare the rendered product from, again, nearly identical pigs and in the exact same manner -- the only differences between the finished dishes will be the manner in which they were raised and their diets. Again, two pigs are being pen raised and grain fed, while the other is being raised the way pigs were raised in the past, roaming around and foraging for food. <br />
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<strong><em>What can you tell us about the red wattle pig?</em></strong><br />
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</em></strong><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TKTeuAd2agI/AAAAAAAACOY/psD6JxoGydY/s1600/Red+Wattle+Interviews.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="113" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TKTeuAd2agI/AAAAAAAACOY/psD6JxoGydY/s200/Red+Wattle+Interviews.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interviewing red wattle piglets</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The red wattle is a “heritage” breed. There are only two registered breeders in Oregon, one is Heritage Farm Northwest, where we purchased these pigs. The folks at Heritage Farm Northwest are on a mission to help make this breed popular again because, in terms of flavor, it is a remarkable pig. In the late 1990’s the breed was down to about 45 pigs. It had fallen out of favor because the breed doesn’t respond well to confinement. Now there are about 1,200 registered red wattle pigs in the U.S. The <a href="http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/redwattle.html">American Livestock Breeds Conservancy</a> lists the breed as “critically endangered” still. When Jim at Heritage told me this, I was concerned about buying them to be raised for consumption, but he told us, on the contrary, that this is the way to create demand for the breed, ensuring its preservation. If there’s no demand, no one will care to create the supply, and the breed could die out. I believe you can get more information on the breed at www.redwattleproject.com. <br />
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<strong><em>How is this project a reflection of the school’s philosophy regarding community and education, and what educational outcomes are you trying to create for the students?</em></strong><br />
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From a community standpoint, our students have made a couple visits to Sweetbriar Farm, where two of the pigs are being raised. They are getting to know the farmers and their standards for raising their animals, as well as some of the business and marketing strategies employed there. Additionally, the farmers from Heritage and Sweetbriar will attend the dinner party at the school when we celebrate the pigs.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TKTe80D4mlI/AAAAAAAACOc/rFd0Y1SyNt4/s1600/Students+on+Farm.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="189" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TKTe80D4mlI/AAAAAAAACOc/rFd0Y1SyNt4/s320/Students+on+Farm.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">OCI students and Chef Brophy at Sweetbriar Farm.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>From an educational perspective, there are ethical, technical, and financial outcomes that we are seeking.<br />
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Ethically, having the students go to a local farm and meeting the farmers and seeing how the animals are raised should make an impression that stays with them. As industry professionals one day, they will have to make choices about where their product comes from, and we want to make sure that they understand the ethical considerations of such decisions. <br />
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On the technical side, the students will be involved in the fabrication and production of the hogs. They will use the skills, various cooking methods, and techniques that we are trying to teach them in school every day. Additionally, there will be a lot of attention paid to “snout to tail” use of the animal in production, meaning that the students will be learning how to use as much of the animal as possible.<br />
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And using as much of the animal as possible makes financial sense, which ties very neatly into the third education outcome we are seeking for this project -- teaching the students about the economics of food. It is important to me, and to the other chefs here, that our students understand, from an economic standpoint, what it means for a food establishment to get all of their product from within 50 miles. These hogs will be considerably more expensive than what you’d get from an industrial farm. If one of our students wants to go out into the industry and open a restaurant that serves only local or organic product, they had better understand not just the ethical considerations of doing this, but also the financial ones. <br />
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<strong><em>Tell us about the dinner.</em></strong><br />
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<strong><em></em></strong>The Pig Project comes to fruition at OCI on Tuesday, November 9th and Wednesday, November 10th. We will host dinners on both nights, with identical menus engineered by OCI Chef Instructor Josh Blythe. We are getting all vegetables from the <a href="http://wealthunderground.blogspot.com/">Wealth Underground Farm</a> (we did a <a href="http://www.oregonculinaryinstitute.com/news-and-media/video-gallery/">project</a> with these guys before and really like what they are doing), and Chef Blythe and the students will feature various pork dishes with vegetables that have just been harvested.<br />
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In terms of the bigger picture, we are excited to give industry professionals and food enthusiasts the opportunity to taste various pork dishes, side-by-side, from pigs that are genetically almost identical, but raised and fed very differently. “Pen raised” versus “pasture raised,” for me, has only been a theoretical debate in terms of flavor, but now we get the chance to actually test to see if those two farming styles truly make a difference in the flavor. I can’t think of a better way that we could have done this than the controlled environment that we used. <br />
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<strong><em>Why did you decide to partner with a brewer and a vintner? How did you choose who to partner with?</em></strong><br />
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<strong><em></em></strong>Traditionally, in fine dining, it’s normally a winemaker that you’d partner with. But <a href="http://food.traveloregon.com/">Portland</a>, being the brewing capital of the world (in my opinion, the quality and quantity and diversity of beers supporting this) is as interesting as pairings you might get from a food and wine dinner. There are better pairings in terms of styles and varietals, whether it’s wine or beer. And pork, in particular, lends itself well to both wine and beer.<br />
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Our commitment to being as local and sustainable as possible informed our criteria for choosing our beer and wine partners. We brainstormed options for local wineries and brewers that were committed to the environment and sustainability, and consistently produce products of a superior nature. This lead us to <a href="http://www.chehalemwines.com/">Chehalem Winery</a>, and <a href="http://www.uprightbrewing.com/">Upright Brewing</a>, both of whom we are really excited to partner with. <br />
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<strong><em>Will this be a charitable event? With who? How did you decide?</em></strong> <br />
<strong><em><br />
</em></strong><br />
Yes! We will be partnering with <a href="http://www.ecotrust.org/">Ecotrust</a> and the <a href="http://www.ecotrust.org/farmtoschool/">Farm to School</a> charitable effort on the night of the wine dinner, and the following night we will be partnering with <a href="http://sassafraskitchen.com/wordpress/?page_id=2">Chef’s Collaborative</a>. Regarding the “Farm to School” initiative, we believe strongly in educating children about the food chain, not to mention nourishing them with nutritional and healthy foods. The fact that it all supports local farms and farmers makes it a “no-brainer” for us. And the Chefs Collaborative is an amazing organization. All of our chef instructors are a part of it. The Chef’s Collaborative has been connecting chefs to farmers for a long time in Portland now. We are training and educating our students every day to be food service professionals, so we wanted to include industry professionals in this event. <br />
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Starting with children and finishing with industry professionals made sense to us. <br />
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<strong><em>Any idea what the next food source that OCI adopts in the same manner?</em></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><em></em></strong>Well, the Pig Project isn’t really the first time we’ve done something like this. In varying degrees of student involvement and execution, we’ve done this with goats, <a href="http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/narragansett.html">Narraganset Turkeys</a> from <a href="http://www.tricountyfarm.org/farms/sudan-farm">Sudan Farms</a>, and line-caught Oregon albacore tuna.<br />
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<strong><em>So what’s next?</em></strong><br />
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<strong><em></em></strong>Maybe reptile charcuterie. Just kidding. We have some ideas, but no big announcements just yet.About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-10969169944215281632010-09-24T15:49:00.000-07:002010-09-24T16:49:01.966-07:00Food Ethics and Social Responsibility: My New Classby Chef Instructor (and Goddess Omnieffectus) Melinda Casady<br />
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More than a year and half ago, I started thinking about how great it would be to have a class on food ethics. I found myself in a conversation about it with an old high school friend of my husband’s, and he got excited about the idea as well. He told me I should go ahead and write the curriculum and then maybe an occasion would happen where I could use it. I like that mentality. <br />
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So I started taking notes on things that excited or frustrated me, and things I wanted to learn more about. I am fascinated by the sociological change that grocery shopping for most people now has become not only a decision about what they can afford, or what’s healthy for their family, but also now full of ethical dilemmas. That inorganic apple from Peru is killing the planet and causing wars! (That’s just an example, by the way, please don’t start writing letters about how apples don’t come from Peru), But our political system is restoring the economy of the Peruvians by purchasing their apples. This is what I’m referring to, and it’s a heated subject, and people get really excited about it. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJ03zTPG5cI/AAAAAAAACOA/kqN5rGIgnz0/s1600/DSC00209.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJ03zTPG5cI/AAAAAAAACOA/kqN5rGIgnz0/s320/DSC00209.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Free range chickens voicing their opinions on the food ethics debate</td></tr>
</tbody></table>When Brian and Eric, our Executive Chef and our President, sat me down and asked me to write a sociology class, I suggested that a class on Food Ethics might be a popular one. They were thrilled by the idea. All that time I spent tinkering with ideas for a class and stashing away my notes was about to pay off.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJ04V0XZtpI/AAAAAAAACOE/0lB_dnbJWwc/s1600/IMG_2913.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJ04V0XZtpI/AAAAAAAACOE/0lB_dnbJWwc/s200/IMG_2913.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>The “Food Ethics and Social Responsibility” class, starting next month, will take on many of the hot button issues in this industry today -- food labeling laws, how we raise our food, organic vs. local, food in schools, food lobbying, and consumer’s perception of what terms like “pasture-raised” means, as opposed to what the legal definition is. One of the really exciting things about this class is how dynamic it is. Laws are being passed, food borne outbreaks are occurring, and new ideas about where our food industry is heading are changing every day. This class is going to have to keep up with things that are happening in the news and in politics in order to keep our students educated and informed. The way to be successful in this industry is to be aware of -- even ahead of -- new trends, and what the customers are demanding. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJ04p-NmdVI/AAAAAAAACOI/40jdmVDtgq8/s1600/DSCF0551.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJ04p-NmdVI/AAAAAAAACOI/40jdmVDtgq8/s200/DSCF0551.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>I can’t wait to get started. I have been up to my ears in food politics, new events, and making sure I write rules of engagement for the class debates that I know are going to ensue and that I will be encouraging. I am determined to make sure my students understand the importance of being informed on industry trends and the growing ethical concerns intrinsic in the food industry. If they get this, then no matter which side they take, I’ll have done my job.About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-60574792694410595272010-09-21T09:26:00.000-07:002010-09-21T09:26:09.928-07:00Find Your Fuel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><em>by Ramona White, First Term Culinary Instructor</em> <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJjYcC1ul-I/AAAAAAAACNw/5_llV5kMbq8/s1600/IMG_3447.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJjYcC1ul-I/AAAAAAAACNw/5_llV5kMbq8/s320/IMG_3447.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chef White teaching fresh pasta making</td></tr>
</tbody></table>One of the things I try to get across to my students is my belief that people can taste the intention with which you prepare their food. I know it’s a tall order, but I tell them to cook each dish as if they are cooking for the person they most love and admire in the world. I tell them to try to let their time at OCI be a vacation from work and home and all their daily struggles that try to interfere. Because I believe that the two most important qualities to be successful in this business are patience and dedication, I know that if my students can focus and enjoy what they are doing in the time they are in my kitchen, then they are taking steps towards success. This is the root of my teaching philosophy. I’m not interested in having my first terms students split the culinary atom -- but they do need to develop their chops. They should not spend their time and energy trying to impress their peers and their teacher, when what I really want is for them to show me that they can perform a basic skill three times perfectly before we move on to creativity.<br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"></div>Personally, it’s taken me a long time to figure out that I didn’t have to be Thomas Keller to be good at what I do and to properly perform a service to the community. And that’s what cooks are, public servants. And we are crafts people more than artists. Crafts are important, and can be just as uplifting as art, but what separates them is that the crafts rely upon consistency, whereas art has the freedom to be more whimsical. When I realized that to be good at what I do, I needed to be a craftsperson and not an artist, it allowed me to add structure and discipline to my approach. When I started a booth at a farmer’s market years ago, I had so many ideas about what to put on the menu. So I created boundaries. Now, I have six criteria that have to be met:<br />
<br />
1. It has to be something I want to make<br />
2. It has to be something customers want to purchase and eat<br />
3. It has to be something I’m able to produce consistently and in a consistent manner<br />
4. It has to be of high quality<br />
5. It has to turn a profit<br />
6. The ingredients should be procured locally (whenever possible)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJjYEhEpH2I/AAAAAAAACNo/0RjZ8vn2Suk/s1600/DSC00112.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJjYEhEpH2I/AAAAAAAACNo/0RjZ8vn2Suk/s200/DSC00112.JPG" width="163" /></a></div>The last item is especially near and dear to my heart. Working with local farmers is my raison d’etre. It fuels and motivates me. I LOVE Oregon. I’ve lived in multiple places -- New Orleans, Maine, New York, Washington DC, Maryland, and Colorado -- and I can say from experience that there’s no place like Oregon. The quality of the food grown here is mind-boggling. The love and the dedication that the farmers I’ve worked with have for the growing environment and the food is remarkable. When I started here in 1997, hardly anyone was growing things like arugula. The Chef’s Collaborative, and specifically Greg Higgins, brought farmers and chefs together in Portland and created this lovely, workable environment for chefs and farmers to be able to communicate their needs to each other. With his encouragement, chefs started to make commitments to farmers to purchase the whole lot of what the farmers would grow, so it’s not all on the farmer to take on the risk. Cathy Whims was instrumental in this as well. Those two are my heroes, foodwise, in this town. I was so moved by what I was learning from the farmers that I became more interested in the food itself than what I was going to do with it. I really wanted to support them as much as possible, but I didn’t have a restaurant. So I made a commitment to produce value-added product for farmers. For example, I make hot sauce from peppers from <a href="http://www.galesmeadow.com/">Gales Meadow Farm</a> and give the sauce back to the farmer and she sells it at her booth. Customers sample the sauce on burritos at my booth and we send them to her booth, where they purchase the sauce, thereby supporting her efforts and her farm. This completes the circle. It’s my way of making a commitment to the farmers to support local farms. <br />
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In my first term kitchen, when we talk about vegetable cookery, I’ll often bring in a local example of a vegetable that was picked when it was ripe within the last day or two versus something that was shipped – it’s something I want them to understand. The carbon footprint is a lot smaller when you buy things locally, and the flavor value is way higher when it was picked while ripe. Plus, the nutritional value is greater. Being able to support the local economy ensures that we get local product. In the end, so much of what makes good food is about the quality of the ingredients, and knowing how to prepare them in a way that honors the food you are preparing. Add proper technique and skills and the intention to nourish the one you love, and you are guaranteed to make your friends, guests, or customers pleased and nourished.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJjYxmRa-oI/AAAAAAAACN4/0PsSGclpYoA/s1600/185_8548.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJjYxmRa-oI/AAAAAAAACN4/0PsSGclpYoA/s320/185_8548.jpg" /></a></div>About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-49067820368222646532010-09-16T12:57:00.000-07:002010-09-16T12:57:43.572-07:00Ice Ice...Maybe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJJzcsUH-_I/AAAAAAAACNg/QXF45VtNvms/s1600/IMG_6262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJJzcsUH-_I/AAAAAAAACNg/QXF45VtNvms/s200/IMG_6262.JPG" width="159" /></a></div><i>by Christian Haldeman, 2nd Term Lead Chef Instructor</i><br />
<br />
10” x 20” x 40” and 300 pounds. Although no one, to my knowledge, has written any songs about these dimensions, and fashion magazines have no interest in dressing them up to adorn their pages – to a certain group of people they couldn’t be more perfect. Those are the standard measurements of a single block of ice, and to an ice sculptor, they hold the inner beauty of their imaginations -- most of the time.<br />
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As many paths in my career, ice sculpting was not a planned path, or even something I dreamed of, but it happened. I can recall attending The St. Paul Winter Carnival as a child -- sitting curbside in sub-zero weather to watch a parade I did not understand. After the adults were certain the children had reached a pre-hypothermia state they would march us to the carnival’s center in one of the many snowed-in parks. I remember watching other kids playing hockey on one of the ice patches in the park and thinking how great it would be to be warm. Instead, I would wander behind my family and kick ice chunks at my sisters as they watched guys with chainsaws and chisels turn ice into shapes that got “oohs” and “ahhhs” from the crowd. I did not understand. And I was cold.<br />
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Only one year, in 1986, was the whole trip worth it -- for about three minutes. This was the only year, to my memory, that they actually built an ice palace; one that you could walk into. They had apparently done this before, before, decades earlier, and those had been simpler snow packed structures. So this was a big deal. I wanted to enter the palace. 9,000 blocks of back-lit ice, erected into a 128’ 9” x 90’ x 90’ castle, complete with rooms and ice furniture. Unfortunately, there was also a small patch of ice just inside the entrance that my sister would slip on, sending us all to the medic tent and home before I had my chance to actually see any of it. Once again, I did not understand. And I was cold.<br />
<br />
Of course, I no longer live in Minnesota. I’ve acclimated to milder climates. I enjoy winter sports, but only those where motion is involved and warm refuge is an option. I still have yet to understand the purpose of a parade. <br />
<br />
In early 2000, I was introduced to the ice block. I was helping a friend teach ice sculpting classes -- mostly gathering tools and making sure students didn’t cut through power cords, themselves, or each other. I would dabble in pieces every once in awhile and even created a few originals in my early years: <br />
<br />
1. Angry Bird Defiling Pineapple (I believe the template was an elegant swan);<br />
2. Crooked Oil Derrick (Eiffel Tower);<br />
3. Totally Unintentional Phallic Golf Bag and Pull Cart (that was the design, minus the phallic part, I swear).<br />
<br />
The early carvings were buffet pieces, but they got me to thinking about those childhood experiences and I realized that I enjoyed this mostly because I understood. And I was no longer cold. Around this time, this friend talked me into flying to Canada to compete in a team ice sculpting event. For some reason, I agreed. Perhaps the mild climates and lack of parades in my life had lowered my guard and weakened my faculties to make sound decisions, for I did not account for the weather in the Canadian Rockies in January, or the fact that we would be participating in The Winter Festival in Banff.<br />
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But I had committed, and I did not allow myself to back out. We designed a piece that would require 15 ice blocks. We found a third teammate. We practiced in cozy and spacious professional kitchens. We gathered our tools, booked our flights, and headed off to Calgary. After the gathering of luggage and a few mishaps in customs (for some reason, giant aluminum plates, chainsaws, die grinders, end mills, angle grinders, and propane nozzles tend to attract security personnel…), we boarded a bus for the mountains. We stayed at the Chateau Lake Louise, which features stunning views of the Rockies all around. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJJyqAvfEMI/AAAAAAAACNQ/OyLmS8_fWgE/s1600/100_3394.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJJyqAvfEMI/AAAAAAAACNQ/OyLmS8_fWgE/s400/100_3394.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chef Haldeman next to his team's ice sculpture from another year</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The event was a 32-hour competition over the course of three days. Days One and Two would go from 8:00am to 10:00pm. Day Three would be from 8:00am to Noon of actual carving time. On Day One, we woke nervously before 6:00am, forced breakfast down by 6:30, and were set up by 7:00. We then endured an anxious hour, all by ourselves, of waiting. As the other carvers trickled in, I stood in our work station and watched them walk by. An old familiar feeling was creeping into my very being -- I was watching a parade. And I was getting cold.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJJy1q-UinI/AAAAAAAACNY/hoSBVaUZyNI/s1600/100_3338.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJJy1q-UinI/AAAAAAAACNY/hoSBVaUZyNI/s320/100_3338.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The same scultpure lit up at night.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Day One wasn’t exactly a failure, as we were not sure what to expect from ourselves. We had designed a life-sized river raft, holding two rafters, going over rapids. I believe the height requirement that year was seven feet, which we just met. The rapids and raft dimensions were about 10’ x 5’. My job was to block out, fuse, build, and shape the rapids. Simple enough, I thought. I soon realized, however, that I was not very good at my job. Despite all of the practice, I had not planned properly. When the clock started, when the temperature dropped, when it mattered, I realized I would need to create an actual plan of action. After a solid half hour of wasted efforts, I had destroyed one whole block of ice. We were now in a 14 block completion and in the middle of some serious redesign. My mentor (and still, at least for the moment, friend) turned to me and asked: “Don’t you see the wave? Look into the block, visualize the wave, and remove everything else.” I didn’t say a word, but my expressions said it all: “I see ice. 10” x 20” x 40”, 300 pounds of ice. One big block of ice.” I also didn’t add: “I don’t understand. And I am cold.” Nevertheless, he sent me on an unscheduled break.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJJyWQr5efI/AAAAAAAACNI/pZ2iE_L3TXA/s1600/IMG_4182.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TJJyWQr5efI/AAAAAAAACNI/pZ2iE_L3TXA/s200/IMG_4182.JPG" width="165" /></a></div>I went back to the room in hopes that I would be able to pull myself together. Then it dawned on me. He was an artist, a sculptor. I was a carver. I needed angles, templates, numbers -- that was how I learned. I drew out a few sketches, took them back to the site, we reviewed them, and off I went measuring, scratching templates, and tracing shapes on the ice. Although we were a little behind for Day One, the efforts to catch up really helped. We enjoyed the next two days -- I drew up the plans, my teammates saw the inner beauty of the ice, and we finished somewhere near the bottom of the final results.<br />
<br />
In the seven subsequent trips, we would work our way as high as a third place finish. The third place finish was the only time there that I wasn’t cold, but at least on all of the other trips – I finally understood.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-72625279579617719402010-09-14T14:07:00.000-07:002010-09-14T14:08:05.010-07:00The Sugarbaker<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>by Robert Parks, Baking and Pastry Lead Instructor<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TI_g8Zc9yVI/AAAAAAAACMw/CqxX5o0Kq6s/s1600/ChefStudentLori5-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TI_g8Zc9yVI/AAAAAAAACMw/CqxX5o0Kq6s/s200/ChefStudentLori5-2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I got into this industry, probably like a lot of people, by chance. I wanted some spending money at the age of 14 I got a job as pot washer in a restaurant. Six months later I was on the broiler cooking steaks. Through high school and college I could always get a job in a kitchen. I always enjoyed it because it is hands-on, and for me, that’s very rewarding. I wasn’t the greatest cook in the world, but I stuck at it. (I believe that the race is not won by the person who runs the fastest, but who runs the longest). <br />
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Somewhere along the line, in my mid 20s, I realized that this was something that I wanted to do as a profession. I knew that if I was going to succeed, I needed some education, some training. I spoke a little French at that point (not enough as I found out later) and studied up on numbers and measurements before enrolling at cooking school in Paris. That was the best in year my life. I was young, in Paris, becoming a chef. The school taught French cuisine. It was geared towards the European palate, but technique was such a part of the daily training that you could take the education and go anywhere with it. The course itself was about one-third pastry. Every day we made a dessert. We came out really prepared to work anywhere, and I accepted the job as the sous chef at a place in New Mexico called La Posada. They put me on desserts, too. I wanted to get back to the Bay Area, and a pastry chef position opened up at the Fairmont Hotel. To get the job, I walked in the back door and talked to the chef. Times were different back then -- you didn’t go through Human Resources, you just walked in through the door and talked to the chef. He hired me on the spot. The Fairmont is a high end hotel with great cuisine. We did a lot of banquets in the restaurant. It was enthralling, but hard work. I always felt I had an aptitude for the work. For me, it came pretty easy and I always enjoyed it. I worked my way up to be the head pastry chef in my ten years there.<br />
<br />
“The Petit Four Incident.” <br />
<br />
One day the new Executive Chef, a big, gruff, German guy (he wasn’t very well liked, I remember someone once threw a cocktail table off the roof onto his car), came in to the kitchen. He called out to see who knew how to make petit fours, but he was looking right at me. I’d only made them once in school, but I volunteered. He hit me with an order of over 5,000 petit fours a week -- 700 a night. I was floored. I didn’t know what to do. I realized the chef was trying to get me to squirm, to knuckle under. He was trying to get the better of me. He went on to tell me that he wanted to pipe the name of whoever was performing at the hotel every night on each petit four (Liza Minnelli, Tony Bennett, and Joel Gray were frequent performers at the Fairmont around this time). Again, I was floored. But he wasn’t done. After telling me this and seeing the deer in the headlights look on my face, he asked: “Don’t you want to know the next name of the next star?” I was just trying to come to terms with this project, but I cautiously answered, “Yes…” He responded: “Bernadette Peters.” Oh my God, a 10 letter first name! I had no idea if I could pull it off. It was overwhelming just to hear about it, but the kitchen helped me out, and I did pull it off, so it was a confidence builder. I was learning that if you challenge or push yourself, you’re going to achieve more. <br />
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I eventually moved on to the Pan Pacific Hotel, also in San Francisco. It was modern, nouvelle, upscale. It gave me the chance to be more creative with high end desserts. At the time, architectural desserts were en vogue. These were “highly manipulated” desserts, Eiffel towers or abstract pieces teetering on the plate. The crew at the Pan Pacific was young and cutting edge and we were able to make some pretty amazing desserts. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TI_fnQ_ZEgI/AAAAAAAACMY/czcRwNFaPs8/s1600/IMG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TI_fnQ_ZEgI/AAAAAAAACMY/czcRwNFaPs8/s320/IMG.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I enjoyed working in the industry, but I had always wanted to teach, and I thought I’d be good at it. The final step in learning, I believe, is to teach. So I took the job teaching at a culinary school in the Bay Area. I really enjoy teaching, and it has made me a better chef. I have a real empathy for the students and what they’ll need to navigate the challenges in this industry. It’s very rewarding for me. Teaching is not just about explaining food, it’s about explaining the profession and ushering people into the fraternity and sorority of chefs. Maybe it’s a legacy thing because you’re passing the baton on, to some extent. These are the people who will be running the industry. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TI_gjr8HHpI/AAAAAAAACMo/a5LDOS12DIo/s1600/12460_1024_ts1144876251843.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TI_gjr8HHpI/AAAAAAAACMo/a5LDOS12DIo/s200/12460_1024_ts1144876251843.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>I get asked what my favorite thing to bake or favorite pastry item to make is. The truth is that I like it all. That’s the rewarding part of this business. You don’t have to specialize. There’s no end to it. You can stay fresh in many areas. My style is pretty traditional. Sometimes I question where people are going with food – blending flavors that maybe shouldn’t be together, or putting garish colors in food. I’m all for pushing the envelope, just not for getting out of the envelope completely. Food can’t be just art – it’s something you eat. You have to be objective about some things. People have palates and they are going to taste it. You can fool some people some of the time, but innovation has to come at a slow pace; it has to be carefully undertaken. So many of our clients are meat and potatoes people, we have to give them what they want, but we can do it in a way they didn’t expect it. Sometimes the concepts outstretch the flavors.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>To wrap up my story, I eventually made my way up to Portland for another teaching job. The culinary education industry has changed a lot, but this school is a throwback – it’s about food more than money. I’m so glad I found this niche working with people who care about food and the students. <br />
<br />
When I think back on my career and what is taught in our kitchens today, I’m amazed at how much has stayed the same. The things I was making 40 years ago are still being made today. Through all my experience, the techniques don’t change. Styles, recipes, ingredients, and palates change, like fashion and clothes, but how you build and construct the food doesn’t. The basic laws and techniques will always be there.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TI_iQA2uQ9I/AAAAAAAACNA/vccIl1l6Wwg/s1600/IMG_6250.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TI_iQA2uQ9I/AAAAAAAACNA/vccIl1l6Wwg/s320/IMG_6250.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-90126901856729331152010-09-09T14:44:00.000-07:002010-09-09T14:44:40.089-07:00Chef Cronwell's Excellent Adventure<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIlUCKs8VkI/AAAAAAAACMI/gkN91Xp3itU/s1600/IMG_4256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIlUCKs8VkI/AAAAAAAACMI/gkN91Xp3itU/s200/IMG_4256.JPG" width="151" /></a></div><span id="goog_800618676"><i>by Chef Instructor Randall Cronwell</i></span><br />
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(Chef) Bikram (Vaidya) and I teach together in the first term of the culinary program. We have a connection, we found out, that goes a long ways back. <br />
<br />
Let’s start with my humble beginnings. I am from Detroit Michigan, where there was nothing going on in terms of food when I was growing up. So I went to the Culinary Institute of America in New York. I ended up returning to Michigan and found a supper club type of restaurant in East Lansing to work in that was right up my alley. Around that time, a family friend I knew from living in Argentina as a kid (which is another story entirely) named Steve Vranian, called me up. He had moved to California around 1978. He said “Randall, get your butt out here, right now, I’m working for this guy Jeremiah Tower…there’s something about him. I swear, he’s going to be famous someday.” Now, nobody at this time was talking about chefs as celebrities – there was no Food Channel or food blogging, if you follow. But it sounded good to me, so I packed my bags and headed for the Golden State. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIlTOhvUurI/AAAAAAAACL4/q_pEfFekc8g/s1600/IMG_0004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIlTOhvUurI/AAAAAAAACL4/q_pEfFekc8g/s200/IMG_0004.jpg" width="141" /></a></div>When I got to Berkeley, there was this intersection (Shattuck and University) with all these restaurants that was referred to as the “gourmet ghetto.” Alice Waters was running Chez Panisse, Mark Miller would open Santa Fe Bar and Grill, which Jeremiah Tower would later take over. These chefs were developing this concept of “American regional cuisine” using ingredients that were indigenous to where you lived and worked. Believe it or not, although this is all the rage now, at the time, this concept in America was revolutionary. I started with Jeremiah Tower at Santa Fe Bar and Grill, but moved with him to two other restaurants in a span of four years. <br />
<br />
In late 1983 or early 1984, Jeremiah brought his crew, including me, into the city and we opened up Stars restaurant in the Opera District. It was a huge success from the moment we opened the doors. I thought I knew what busy was, but I was wrong. We’d do 250 cover at lunch at Stars, then turn around and do another 350 covers for dinner. This was every day. People were lined up out the door. You had to make a reservation weeks or months in advance. It was THE place to go. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIlTdlBBjGI/AAAAAAAACMA/9zK6cieZWHg/s1600/IMG_0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIlTdlBBjGI/AAAAAAAACMA/9zK6cieZWHg/s320/IMG_0001.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chef Cronwell at Stars doing prep work while writing menus, from the book <i>American Bistro</i>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>This is the era of Wolfgang Puck, and the concept of “Celebrity Chefs” was starting catching on. Jeremiah wrote a book called “New American Classics,” which came to be the label for this culinary movement – the “New American Cuisine.” Magazines were coming in and writing stories and taking photos all the time. “The Great Chefs of the West” television series had started and he had been featured. And this movement wasn’t just a show. I’ve never been around people so passionate, intense, and dedicated about something in my life. Let me give you an example. The restaurant had a garden up in Napa Valley. We’d get up at three or four in the morning to go up there. We’d write the menus in the back seat of the car after picking whatever was ripe. We’d get to the kitchen and prep, still finishing the menus as we worked. After turning over whatever ungodly number of covers we’d do each day, we’d sit around after closing and talk about food. <br />
<br />
Every day was like that, the focus and intensity was palpable. You could touch it. We were in the eye of the storm. That experience changed my whole way of thinking about food, cooking, and eating. We would seek out the best product that we could serve, and prepare everything very simply. It was all about the ingredients. I learned so much about how to simply prepare and serve food -- don’t mess with it, and you’re going to have a nice product and very happy customers. That was the most rewarding time in my life in cooking – it changed me fundamentally.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIlUrUw42QI/AAAAAAAACMQ/I3iAOcOk-Gg/s1600/IMG_4620.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="157" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIlUrUw42QI/AAAAAAAACMQ/I3iAOcOk-Gg/s200/IMG_4620.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>So – back to (Chef) Bikram. Jeremiah’s faithful Sous Chef all those years was a guy named Mark Franz. As Jeremiah’s empire grew and he moved into his phase of franchising his “California casual” concept, Mark Franz opened Farallon in San Francisco. He hired a young Nepalese cook in 1997 named Bikram Vaidya, and almost 15 years later, here Bikram and I are, teaching students how to cook. And when we figured out this connection, everything from that point on -- he understood where I came from and I understood for where he came from. The mutual respect was immediate. We learn from each other all the time now. He’s Yin and I’m Yang. The students think it’s funny as hell. When we introduce each other at the start, we always talk about the shared background. We don’t dismiss it as chance, there’s a reason this happened – I don’t care what you call it, karma or whatever. Those were formative years for both of us, and it changed my life, and I think it changed his too.<br />
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That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-30639476749092285052010-09-07T10:50:00.000-07:002010-09-07T10:50:51.945-07:00Bobby Atterberry: The Most Interesting Man in the World<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><i>Interview with Robert Atteberry, OCI Maintenance Man </i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><i>by Kevin Richards, Community Relations Director</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIZ5WRHLcvI/AAAAAAAACKo/hExghGYXxzA/s1600/DSCN0920.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIZ5WRHLcvI/AAAAAAAACKo/hExghGYXxzA/s320/DSCN0920.JPG" width="207" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b>Where are you from?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">I’m originally from Great Bend, Kansas. I left there when I was five years old. I moved in with my grandparents in Los Angeles.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b>Then what?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">I finished high school, got married, and worked in Los Angeles for several years. We decided to move to Oregon to slow down. We had three kids. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b>What did you do when you got to Oregon?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">I worked for Cal Roofing putting on aluminum siding. I wanted to buy a house, but didn’t have the money. One day I’m going down the highway and see someone taking the roof off of a house that had a ‘for sale’ sign on it. Every day I’d drive by, and that house just sat there. I finally talked to the owner. He wanted the house off the property, so I bought it for $1 to make it tax deductible, and took the whole house apart. I took everything back to the house I was renting, figuring that if I got my own lumber, and bought a piece of property, I’d build my own house. Then I saw in the paper that an old Victorian apartment complex was being demolished. I went by and got some flooring from the owner, who asked if I had any experience taking anything apart. He asked if I could take apart a barn that was three stories high and 400 feet long. He gave me a year to take it down -- it took me eight weeks. I sold the lumber as fast as I was able to take it apart. This was my training to become a demolition contractor for almost 20 years. The biggest building I demolished was fourteen stories. Most of my competitors were “crunchers,” crane and ball operators, but the interest rates at that time were so high that people started rethinking the idea of demolishing perfectly sound structures. Instead, they moved towards gutting the buildings and putting in new interiors. They’re still doing this today. And that’s how I got so many jobs – I did it all by hand. I understood how to take apart different systems in a delicate manner. I learned a lot about being self-employed and hiring people and managing people. I tried to keep the jobs coming so my employees would have work and money for their families. It was a big confidence builder for me. There’s no room for error in those jobs, there were life and death situations. People falling was the biggest risk. We’d have to take out stairs and elevators and there were all sorts of crazy situations when someone could get seriously hurt or even die. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b>What is your job here?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIZ5h6dQFjI/AAAAAAAACKw/X3z1WIOsiF8/s1600/FacultyStaff+(34).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIZ5h6dQFjI/AAAAAAAACKw/X3z1WIOsiF8/s320/FacultyStaff+(34).jpg" width="256" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Nothing in particular, a little bit of everything. I see myself as a “Caretaker.” I care about what I do. I I try to be a “jack of all trades, a master of none.” I like being pretty good at a lot of things, not just an expert at one thing. I walk around and see if something needs my attention. Stuff that needs cleaning, it shouts out “it’s my turn!” I get sidetracked because I’ll see something that needs my attention and I’ll get involved with a new project, then have to remember what I was working on. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b>How did you get the job?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">I think, another strong belief of mine, over the years all these things I’ve gone through to save a little money for rent here and there, and my wrecking business, was like going to school. I learned a lot. All the things I’ve ever done have got me to this point. (Chef) Wilke and (President) Eric (Stromquist) know I like to keep busy, and they knew me from the other place we worked together. One day we came to get pizza across the street and I saw those guys and they told us about their new school. A couple days later my boss said Wilke called and wanted me to come to OCI for an interview. When I worked with those guys they were good to me. I came over to talk to them and they offered me a job. The application was really a formality; I just had to say “yes” or “no.” I was grateful at the offer. I took it as a compliment because they knew what kind of worker I am. It was the first time in my life I didn’t have to go begging for a job (and that’s what we do when we put on a suit and write a fancy letter and get all gussied up). I told them to give me a few days. I was concerned about making the change at my age, and it’s a good practice to sleep on big decisions anyways. But I agreed to come here. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b>What is your favorite thing about working at OCI?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">The people. And that I don’t have to punch a time clock. Wilke lets me set my own hours. It goes according to need. And I like the variation of my job. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b>What is your least favorite?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">The hardest part is getting up early in the morning. (Bobby arrives between 3:30 AM and 4 AM every morning). But there’s no other way for me to do the job right unless I come in a couple hours before anyone else. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIZ50b41ZPI/AAAAAAAACK4/-VsMXIKY92w/s1600/IMG_5471.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIZ50b41ZPI/AAAAAAAACK4/-VsMXIKY92w/s200/IMG_5471.jpg" width="138" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b>What is the “Magic Closet”?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">I don’t know! (laughs) I think Lori put that on there. It’s kind of a conversation piece. Our vendors come in and see it. The nickname is something one of the chefs saw in a movie. So for names, I’ve got “Robert,” “Bob,” “Bobby,” and now “Ricky Bobby.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b>Do you get to know many students?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">I’m a semi-outgoing person. I like people. But there’s so many of them, it seems like they’re just slipping through here. But I get to know some of them a little bit. Every now and then I throw them a story about how I notice the changes between their terms. I see the confidence growing. That’s not something you can put in your hand. You see it on their faces. There was one girl some time back who was having some kind of difficulty, and she really had to struggle to get a grip on things. Everybody liked her because she was persistent, but it was mentally challenging for her. I watched her each step of the way. The teacher would go over it a few times, and you’d see her get it, that accomplishment of mastering whatever point it was she was learning. I wasn’t quite sure she was going to make it, but she never gave up. It was a delight to see that fighting spirit. She never gave up. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIZ6D5qnQlI/AAAAAAAACLA/esRvpCEtQoE/s1600/tbDSC04526.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIZ6D5qnQlI/AAAAAAAACLA/esRvpCEtQoE/s200/tbDSC04526.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b>If you had to pick an OCI chef to cook your meals for the rest of your life, who would it be?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Probably Wilke. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b>Who would you least want?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Bikram! (laughing, as Chef Bikram walks up right behind him). He makes the garbanzo beans curry(chole). I love it. He’s the only one that I always get food from. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b>Final thoughts?</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Whatever you are doing, you try to learn. Life, to me, is a classroom. I’ve developed an attitude of gratitude. I’m pretty well informed about a lot of the worldly things, world events, and I see what we have over here and what other people don’t have, and a lot of people don’t take a look in this country about how lucky we are. That’s why I don’t have this need to get rich or have a big mansion or car -- we all strive for those things at one time, but for me it’s the simple things that are the most precious – friends, family, good people to work with. Do the best you can with what you’ve got at the time. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b>What is your favorite food?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">A nice salad.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b>Really?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Your whole being is a combination of a lot of things, your being, awareness, I read this book by a guy who was 103 years old, he started eating raw food at age 60, and he looked like he hadn’t aged at all. He had a sparkle in his eye. He said we should eat things that go forward, because we go forward. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b>What do you mean by “go forward”?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">If you throw a piece of meat away, it decays, but a piece of fruit has a seed and it will grow a new plant….<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">But I also eat potato chips sometimes! (laughs)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIZ7NzBDZrI/AAAAAAAACLQ/L1TRbTymnc4/s1600/oci+pic+121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIZ7NzBDZrI/AAAAAAAACLQ/L1TRbTymnc4/s200/oci+pic+121.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div>About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-46806291023716151602010-09-02T16:06:00.000-07:002010-09-02T16:07:26.891-07:00Baby I Was Born to Cook<div class="MsoNormal">by Melanie Hammericksen, Chef Instructor in Culinary Arts and Baking and Pastry</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIAn28Zs2uI/AAAAAAAACKI/x0S_NB8b6QI/s1600/IMG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIAn28Zs2uI/AAAAAAAACKI/x0S_NB8b6QI/s200/IMG.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">I started cooking in the first grade with my Mom. I’d make Jello for dinner, or anything that involved a mix, like muffins. I could handle these on my own. Before long, I was pulling out her cookbooks and going through them on the couch, looking for recipes I wanted to make. I was promoted quickly by Mom to help her with dinners because I have seven siblings (Mom is Catholic and Dad is Mormon – go figure). On the weekends, my brothers and sisters would wake me up with their breakfast orders. There was a stable of recipes hanging from the inside of the cupboard that I’d make over and over again, things like cinnamon roles and pancakes.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal">By the time I was in fourth grade, my Mom started paying me an allowance to make dinner five days a week (she hated to cook). We’d meet on Sunday to talk about it and plan it out. I’d make tacos, casseroles, mac and cheese, or I’d find recipes in the “Made in Oregon” or Betty Crocker cookbook. One day I’d be cooking, the next I’d be baking -- it was never one or the other for me. Through junior high and the start of high school, as my siblings got jobs, all I wanted to do was get a job cooking. Mom called a local catering company and pretended to be me. She got me the job, and I worked there for two years, cooking and baking. I was only 15 when I started, but trust me --I screwed a lot of things up. In fact, on my last day on the job, I did a barbeque event for 300 people. The owner was out of town that day, and her recipes looked like chicken scratches. I had trouble reading the baked bean recipe. It said something about adding four cups of corn starch. I made the mistake of adding the corn starch when the beans were hot, and immediately the whole batch turned solid. I ruined a lot of pots and pots that day, and the owner took it out of my paycheck. I quit that day. I was 16 at the time.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal">My next job was at a natural foods restaurant in downtown Medford. I was in charge of making salads when I started, but I slowly moved up. After seven years there, I was managing the restaurant and running my own catering business on the side. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIApidOW1WI/AAAAAAAACKQ/xzanWHyCReQ/s1600/IMG_0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIApidOW1WI/AAAAAAAACKQ/xzanWHyCReQ/s400/IMG_0001.jpg" width="233" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">I was 23 years old, and people kept telling me that if I wanted to be taken seriously, the next step for me was to go to culinary school. I moved up to Portland and did just that. My plans were to move home and open up own catering business after school, but I got a job waiting tables full time at the Multnomah Athletic Club and then got an externship at Oba doing prep and pantry, which lead to a job offer. Even though I had attended a culinary program, I got to know the pastry chef, who made me her assistant. I learned a lot from her and when she left, they made me the pastry chef there, which I did for three years. There were days that I felt like I had no clue what I was doing. I had to create a new menu with six new items each month. I found myself going to other restaurants to see what other pastry chefs were doing. One time I went to Roux, where Chef Josh Blythe introduced himself to me while I was eating the coconut shortbread grilled pineapple sorbet. Little did he know I was planning on “borrowing” his dish for inspiration, but little did either of us know that we’d end up working together at OCI. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal">A co-worker of mine was an alumnus of the same school I went to and he told me about OCI. I stopped by later that week to say hello to Executive Chef Brian Wilke and we talked about the program. He asked if I’d be interested in teaching. I hadn’t thought about it, but after doing so I told him I would be. It was August, and he said it wouldn’t be until closer to Halloween that the position opened up. One day in early October I had a really bad day at work. I was on my way home, driving and crying, and Chef Wilke called and said they needed someone sooner than they thought and asked if I could come down the following day to interview. So the next day I was put through a bunch of drills, like flipping eggs and a knife skills test (I found out later I was the only one they made do that). I swear I only made it through because Chef Ramona White talked to me the entire time and that helped me to stay calm. Then they took me into one of the classrooms and I was grilled by a panel of the OCI chefs. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIArMhVBwQI/AAAAAAAACKY/H3YDWjZCkmI/s1600/oci+pic+029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIArMhVBwQI/AAAAAAAACKY/H3YDWjZCkmI/s200/oci+pic+029.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Chef Brophy: “What’s your favorite cooking method?”</div><div class="MsoNormal">Me, nervous: “Uh, pan fry.”</div><div class="MsoNormal">Brophy: “Why?”</div><div class="MsoNormal">Me: “Crispy and crunchy on the outside, moist and delicious on the inside.”</div><div class="MsoNormal">Brophy: “Sounds flaky to me.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal">I’m pretty sure to this day that they were just messing with me. But even when I had Brophy in school, he did nothing but pick on me. He gave me a ‘B’ but was never able to tell me why I didn’t deserve an ‘A.’ When I got the call from Chef Wilke with the job offer, it was the best day of my life. When they told me that I’d be working with Chef Brophy, it also became the worst day of my life. Although, he has since told me that he’s changed it to an ‘A’.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal">I never was able to fully commit to just cooking or baking, and now I teach in both the culinary and baking programs at OCI. I am still learning new stuff every day. I work with the most amazing chefs and people I could ever dream of. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIAtLVGfCgI/AAAAAAAACKg/HFikPNEPTI8/s1600/IMG_5441.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TIAtLVGfCgI/AAAAAAAACKg/HFikPNEPTI8/s320/IMG_5441.JPG" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-73266026699729049122010-08-31T11:39:00.000-07:002010-08-31T11:39:08.225-07:00Bad Bosses Kill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
by Ray Colvin, Location Director and Management Program architect<br />
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Studies conducted in Sweden and France have shown evidence that this statement is true. Steven Reinberg, a reporter for HealthDay, in his article Bad Bosses Are Hard on the Heart quotes Anna Nyberg of the Karolinska Institute, and Stress Research Institute at Stockholm University regarding a study involving 3,100 Swedish workers, "This study is the first to provide evidence of a prospective, dose-response relationship between concrete managerial behaviors and objectively assessed heart disease among employees...Enhancing managers' skills -- regarding providing employees with information, support, power in relation to responsibilities, clarity in expectations, and feedback -- could have important stress-reducing effects on employees and enhance the health at workplaces."<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TH09lGW3yvI/AAAAAAAACJQ/eePlvyNmU6c/s1600/Lumberg.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TH09lGW3yvI/AAAAAAAACJQ/eePlvyNmU6c/s320/Lumberg.bmp" /></a></div><br />
The study found a strong correlation between good bosses and good health. “Nyberg's group found that the more competent the men thought their bosses were, the lower their risk of developing heart disease. In contrast, the poorer men rated their boss's leadership ability, the higher the risk for heart disease. In fact, the risk increased the longer someone worked in the same stressful environment.”<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TH09voZc8xI/AAAAAAAACJY/GL0A4zumdQE/s1600/Dilbert+Boss.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TH09voZc8xI/AAAAAAAACJY/GL0A4zumdQE/s320/Dilbert+Boss.png" /></a></div>It sounds so simple, doesn't it? Treat people with care and respect...maybe treat them how we would like to be treated...train them effectively, support them in their efforts by giving them the tools they need and the environment where they can feel appreciated and safe, and company success will follow.<br />
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Leadership is a consistent topic in the Business Management programs I have helped develop at OCI. Leadership skills are the basis for success in any organization, even more so in restaurants and hotels where employees are the frontline of interaction with the customer. To the customer, the company is the employee. After all, it takes a lot of people to get a plate of food in front of a guest.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TH0-L0DOFEI/AAAAAAAACJg/RKL4TYEmzJA/s1600/Franklin+M.+Hart+Jr..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TH0-L0DOFEI/AAAAAAAACJg/RKL4TYEmzJA/s200/Franklin+M.+Hart+Jr..jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I am constantly reminded, when discussing with students and associates their experiences with leadership in the workplace, how much influence bosses have on the personal lives of their employees. Sadly, more often than not, the experiences are not good. Almost everyone has numerous examples of experiences with bosses who are ill-prepared to lead, arrogant, or indifferent in their attitudes toward others, and incompetent and abusive by nature. What is it about our culture that embraces such people and defines them as leaders? Seemingly, this type of leader is everywhere. If every boss in America would take responsibility for the lives of their employees as they come under their influence and treat them with courtesy, decency, and respect I wonder what impact it would have on our economy, our culture, and the cost of our health care.<br />
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In our Business Management classes at OCI, we teach many principles in leadership. They follow simple and basic practices: <br />
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1. Communicate effectively – what are we doing, why are we doing it, who needs to know, what do they need to know, when do they need to know it, and what is in it for them?<br />
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2. Let others lead – if you want to be effective you need to hire competent people. Competent people want to lead, too…let them be leaders.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TH1LAWMpqXI/AAAAAAAACJw/fIwidmXJ1Yk/s1600/oci+112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="136" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TH1LAWMpqXI/AAAAAAAACJw/fIwidmXJ1Yk/s200/oci+112.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">OCI Executive Chef Brian Wilke</td></tr>
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3. Give credit where credit is due – don’t steal other people’s work and represent it as your own. Often this is done by omission. If I don’t give you credit, then by default credit falls to me because I am in the position of authority. So I can say I haven’t stolen your work, but in truth I have done it in a very destructive way.<br />
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4. Hire right…then train right – if you want to build a solid team, you have to focus on character and integrity during the hiring process. Then you need to front load your effort in people in the first few weeks with a comprehensive and effective training program that is administered by the management team, as well as the staff.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TH1LTbCsfDI/AAAAAAAACJ4/npYWkCLmEyE/s1600/IMG_3653.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TH1LTbCsfDI/AAAAAAAACJ4/npYWkCLmEyE/s200/IMG_3653.JPG" width="126" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">OCI President Eric Stromquist</td></tr>
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5. Knowledge is power – but only if it is freely shared. People who withhold knowledge to build their power base are, in the long run, destructive. The organizational knowledge, that knowledge that is the collective experience and expertise of everyone in the organization, is the most important asset in any organization. Great organizations realize this and share knowledge everywhere throughout the organization.<br />
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6. Be a decent human being – leadership should provide discipline and organization. Every great organization whether it is a football team, a choir or a culinary school embraces discipline and organization. We call it Mise en Place. However, discipline and organization don’t need to be delivered with a whip. Whether you are a bully on the playground or a bully in the corporate boardroom, you are still a bully.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TH1K19SKjDI/AAAAAAAACJo/_qXjuQUsV08/s1600/IMG_3431.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TH1K19SKjDI/AAAAAAAACJo/_qXjuQUsV08/s200/IMG_3431.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ray Colvin, Article Author (see above)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>We hope our graduates aspire to be leaders in the organizations they will join. We hope even more that they become leaders we can be proud of by representing these simple truths in leadership.About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111696497505969372.post-64343326322904377382010-08-20T13:11:00.001-07:002010-08-24T12:59:04.636-07:00Ode to Coffee Grounds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TG7iVZQ9sVI/AAAAAAAACIw/pT_PFY49Eok/s1600/DSCF0498.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TG7iVZQ9sVI/AAAAAAAACIw/pT_PFY49Eok/s200/DSCF0498.jpg" width="143" /></a></div>by Lead Chef Instructor (2nd Term) Dan Brophy<br />
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Part of my daily routine involves coffee grounds. Although I am avowed tea drinker for life, coffee grounds have earned a place in my heart.<br />
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<div style="text-align: right;">Oh, Coffee Grounds</div><div style="text-align: right;">How do I love thee?</div><div style="text-align: right;">Let me count the ways.</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TG7i7JtLbhI/AAAAAAAACI4/BG0z44gf6sI/s1600/DSCF0502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TG7i7JtLbhI/AAAAAAAACI4/BG0z44gf6sI/s200/DSCF0502.jpg" width="156" /></a></div>1) A magic ingredient once recycled as coffee grounds. In maintaining five compost bins and two worm boxes, there is an unending call for another layer of coffee grounds. A layer is 4 to 6 five-gallon buckets. My compost is typically a rotating layer of coffee grounds, chicken manure, crushed eggshells, leaves or straw, and any seasonal specialties I can drum up. <br />
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2) Acid-loving plants can be mulched directly with coffee grounds. The blueberries, huckleberries, currants, azaleas, rhododendrons, and lingonberries all get regularly buried with coffee grounds. Potatoes and peas seem to enjoy 8-10 inches every few weeks. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TG7jTZExUsI/AAAAAAAACJA/E72jKs3giKg/s1600/DSCF0500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TG7jTZExUsI/AAAAAAAACJA/E72jKs3giKg/s200/DSCF0500.jpg" width="135" /></a></div><br />
3) Coffee grounds, the unlikely work out aid. A five gallon bucket of coffee grounds weighs about 36 pounds. Load them into the truck, unload the truck, load onto the cart or hand truck, roll across the yard. Empty. Wash. Repeat as necessary. Typically 8-10 buckets a week. Although at the height of my coffee ground madness, I was recycling 20-25 five gallon buckets a week. It’s aerobic, working all the major muscle groups. <br />
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4) Coffee grounds will provide the matrix for a variety of oyster mushrooms. Past experiments have yielded a small-scale project. But a break through in habitat control may result in a larger, more consistent year-round harvest. Stay tuned for future details.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TG7jkwBzgVI/AAAAAAAACJI/GFBdY99Wp7U/s1600/DSCF0516.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ik43G6RfZC0/TG7jkwBzgVI/AAAAAAAACJI/GFBdY99Wp7U/s400/DSCF0516.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>About Oregon Culinary Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08717031091910792983noreply@blogger.com1