The Organic Myth

This is the cover story from BUSINESS WEEK ONLINE OCTOBER 16, 2006, written by Diane Brady. For any readers concerned about the quality of our meats, food, water and more, this article will shed some light on the issues facing organics today. As the big agrobusiness corporations are stepping into the booming "organics" market, the level of quality is suffering. Equally troubling, the small family farms that are conscientious in producing healthy foods, and who have survived by offering organic foods, are being pushed out by the big corporations. This is a serious political situation, one that troubles me greatly. This is why I'm posting this article.

Pastoral ideals are getting trampled as organic food goes mass market


Next time you're in the supermarket, stop and take a look at Stonyfield Farm yogurt. With its contented cow and green fields, the yellow container evokes a bucolic existence, telegraphing what we've come to expect from organic food: pure, pesticide-free, locally produced ingredients grown on a small family farm.

So it may come as a surprise that Stonyfield's organic farm is long gone. Its main facility is a state-of-the-art industrial plant just off the airport strip in Londonderry, N.H., where it handles milk from other farms. And consider this: Sometime soon a portion of the milk used to make that organic yogurt may be taken from a chemical-free cow in New Zealand, powdered, and then shipped to the U.S. True, Stonyfield still cleaves to its organic heritage. For Chairman and CEO Gary Hirshberg, though, shipping milk powder 9,000 miles across the planet is the price you pay to conquer the supermarket dairy aisle. "It would be great to get all of our food within a 10-mile radius of our house," he says. "But once you're in organic, you have to source globally."

Hirshberg's dilemma is that of the entire organic food business. Just as mainstream consumers are growing hungry for untainted food that also nourishes their social conscience, it is getting harder and harder to find organic ingredients. There simply aren't enough organic cows in the U.S., never mind the organic grain to feed them, to go around. Nor are there sufficient organic strawberries, sugar, or apple pulp -- some of the other ingredients that go into the world's best-selling organic yogurt.

Now companies from Wal-Mart (WMT ) to General Mills (GIS ) to Kellogg (K ) are wading into the organic game, attracted by fat margins that old-fashioned food purveyors can only dream of. What was once a cottage industry of family farms has become Big Business, with all that that implies, including pressure from Wall Street to scale up and boost profits. Hirshberg himself is under the gun because he has sold an 85% stake in Stonyfield to the French food giant Groupe Danone. To retain management control, he has to keep Stonyfield growing at double-digit rates. Yet faced with a supply crunch, he has drastically cut the percentage of organic products in his line. He also has scaled back annual sales growth, from almost 40% to 20%. "They're all mad at me," he says.

As food companies scramble to find enough organically grown ingredients, they are inevitably forsaking the pastoral ethos that has defined the organic lifestyle. For some companies, it means keeping thousands of organic cows on industrial-scale feedlots. For others, the scarcity of organic ingredients means looking as far afield as China, Sierra Leone, and Brazil -- places where standards may be hard to enforce, workers' wages and living conditions are a worry, and, say critics, increased farmland sometimes comes at a cost to the environment.

Everyone agrees on the basic definition of organic: food grown without the assistance of man-made chemicals. Four years ago, under pressure from critics fretting that the term "organic" was being misused, the U.S. Agriculture Dept. issued rules. To be certified as organic, companies must eschew most pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, synthetic fertilizers, bioengineering, and radiation. But for purists, the philosophy also requires farmers to treat their people and livestock with respect and, ideally, to sell small batches of what they produce locally so as to avoid burning fossil fuels to transport them. The USDA rules don't fully address these concerns.

Hence the organic paradox: The movement's adherents have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, but success has imperiled their ideals. It simply isn't clear that organic food production can be replicated on a mass scale. For Hirshberg, who set out to "change the way Kraft (KFT ), Monsanto (MON ), and everybody else does business," the movement is shedding its innocence. "Organic is growing up."

Certainly, life has changed since 1983, when Hirshberg teamed up with a back-to-the-land advocate named Samuel Kaymen to sell small batches of full-fat plain organic yogurt. Kaymen had founded Stonyfield Farm to feed his six kids and, as he puts it, "escape the dominant culture." Hirshberg, then 29, had been devoted to the environment for years, stung by memories of technicolor dyes streaming downriver from his father's New Hampshire shoe factories. He wrote a book on how to build water-pumping windmills and, between 1979 and 1983, ran the New Alchemy Institute, an alternative-living research center on Cape Cod. He was a believer.

But producing yogurt amid the rudimentary conditions of the original Stonyfield Farm was a recipe for nightmares, not nirvana. Meg, an organic farmer who married Hirshberg in 1986, remembers the farm as cold and crowded, with a road so perilous that suppliers often refused to come up. "I call it the bad old days," she says. Adds her mother, Doris Cadoux, who propped up the business for years: "Every time Gary would come to me for money, Meg would call to say 'Mama, don't do it."'

Farming without insecticides, fertilizers, and other aids is tough. Laborers often weed the fields by hand. Farmers control pests with everything from sticky flypaper to aphid-munching ladybugs. Manure and soil fertility must be carefully managed. Sick animals may take longer to get well without a quick hit of antibiotics, although they're likely to be healthier in the first place. Moreover, the yield per acre or per animal often goes down, at least initially. Estimates for the decline from switching to organic corn range up to 20%.

Organic farmers say they can ultimately exceed the yields of conventional rivals through smarter soil management. But some believe organic farming, if it is to stay true to its principles, would require vastly more land and resources than is currently being used. Asks Alex Avery, a research director at the Hudson Institute think tank: "How much Bambi habitat do you want to plow down?"

IMPOSSIBLE STANDARD
For a sense of why Big Business and organics often don't mix, it helps to visit Jack and Anne Lazor of Butterworks Farm. The duo have been producing organic yogurt in northeastern Vermont since 1975. Their 45 milking cows are raised from birth and have names like Peaches and Moonlight. All of the food for the cows -- and most of what the Lazors eat, too -- comes from the farm, and Anne keeps their charges healthy with a mix of homeopathic medicines and nutritional supplements. Butterworks produces a tiny 9,000 quarts of yogurt a week, and no one can pressure them to make more. Says Jack: "I'd be happiest to sell everything within 10 miles of here."

But the Lazors also embody an ideal that's almost impossible for other food producers to fulfill. For one thing, they have enough land to let their modest-sized herd graze for food. Many of the country's 9 million-plus dairy cows (of which fewer than 150,000 are organic) are on farms that will never have access to that kind of pasture. After all, a cow can only walk so far when it has to come back to be milked two or three times a day.

STEWARDS OF THE LAND
When consumers shell out premiums of 50% or more to buy organic, they are voting for the Butterworks ethic. They believe humans should be prudent custodians not only of their own health but also of the land and animals that share it. They prefer food produced through fair wages and family farms, not poor workers and agribusiness. They are responding to tales of caged chickens and confined cows that never touch a blade of grass; talk of men losing fertility and girls becoming women at age nine because of extra hormones in food. They read about pesticides seeping into the food supply and genetically modified crops creeping across the landscape.

For Big Food, consumers' love affair with everything organic has seemed like a gift from the gods. Food is generally a commoditized, sluggish business, especially in basic supermarket staples. Sales of organic groceries, on the other hand, have been surging by up to 20% in recent years. Organic milk is so profitable -- with wholesale prices more than double that of conventional milk -- that Lyle "Spud" Edwards of Westfield, Vt., was able to halve his herd, to 25 cows, this summer and still make a living, despite a 15% drop in yields since switching to organic four years ago. "There's a lot more paperwork, but it's worth it," says Edwards, who supplies milk to Stonyfield.

The food industry got a boost four years ago when the USDA issued its organic standards. The "USDA Organic" label now appears on scores of products, from chicken breasts to breakfast cereal. And you know a tipping point is at hand when Wal-Mart Stores Inc. enters the game. The retailer pledged this year to become a center of affordable "organics for everyone" and has started by doubling its organic offerings at 374 stores nationwide. "Everyone wants a piece of the pie," says George L. Siemon, CEO of Organic Valley, the country's largest organic farm co- operative. "Kraft and Wal-Mart are part of the community now, and we have to get used to it."

The corporate giants have turned a fringe food category into a $14 billion business. They have brought wider distribution and marketing dollars. They have imposed better quality controls on a sector once associated with bug-infested, battered produce rotting in crates at hippie co-ops. Organic products now account for 2.5% of all grocery spending (if additive-free "natural" foods are included, the share jumps to about 10%). And demand could soar if prices come down.

But success has brought home the problems of trying to feed the masses in an industry where supplies can be volatile. Everyone from Wal-Mart to Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST ) is feeling the pinch. Earlier this year, Earthbound Farm, a California producer of organic salads, fruit, and vegetables owned by Natural Selection Foods, cut off its sliced-apple product to Costco because supply dried up -- even though Earthbound looked as far afield as New Zealand. "The concept of running out of apples is foreign to these people," says Earthbound co-founder Myra Goodman, whose company recalled bagged spinach in the wake of the recent E. coli outbreak. "When you're sourcing conventional produce, it's a matter of the best product at the best price."

Inconsistency is a hallmark of organic food. Variations in animal diet, local conditions, and preparation make food taste different from batch to batch. But that's anathema to a modern food giant. Heinz, for one, had a lot of trouble locating herbs and spices for its organic ketchup. "We're a global company that has to deliver consistent standards," says Kristen Clark, a group vice-president for marketing. The volatile supply also forced Heinz to put dried or fresh organic herbs in its organic Classico pasta sauce because it wasn't able to find the more convenient quick-frozen variety. Even Wal-Mart, master of the modern food supply chain, is humbled by the realities of going organic. As spokesperson Gail Lavielle says: "You can't negotiate prices in a market like that."

While Americans may love the idea of natural food, they have come to rely on the perks of agribusiness. Since the widespread use of synthetic pesticides began, around the time of World War II, food producers have reaped remarkable gains. Apples stay red and juicy for weeks. The average harvested acre of farmland yields 200% more wheat than it did 70 years ago. Over the past two decades chickens have grown 25% bigger in less time and on less food. At the same time, the average cow produces 60% more milk, thanks to innovations in breeding, nutrition, and synthetic hormones.

It's also worth remembering how inexpensive food is these days. Americans shell out about 10% of their disposable income on food, about half what they spent in the first part of the 20th century. Producing a budget-priced cornucopia of organic food won't be easy.

Gary Hirshberg's quest for organic milk. Dairy producers estimate that demand for organic milk is at least twice the current available supply. To quench this thirst, the U.S. would have to more than double the number of organic cows -- those that eat only organic food -- to 280,000 over the next five years. That's a challenge, since the number of dairy farms has shrunk to 60,000, from 334,000 in 1980, according to the National Milk Producers Federation. And almost half the milk produced in the U.S. comes from farms with more than 500 cows, something organic advocates rarely support.

What to do? If you're Hirshberg, you weigh the pros and cons of importing organic milk powder from New Zealand. Stonyfield already gets strawberries from China, apple puree from Turkey, blueberries from Canada, and bananas from Ecuador. It's the only way to keep the business growing. Besides, Hirshberg argues, supporting a family farmer in Madagascar or reducing chemical use in Costa Rica is just as important as doing the same at home.

Perhaps, but doing so risks a consumer backlash, especially when the organic food is from China. So far there is little evidence that crops from there are tainted or fraudulently labeled. Any food that bears the USDA Organic label has to be accredited by an independent certifier. But tests are few and far between. Moreover, many consumers don't trust food from a country that continues to manufacture DDT and tolerates fakes in other industries. Similar questions are being asked about much of the developing world. Ronnie Cummins, national director of the nonprofit Organic Consumers Assn., claims organic farms may contribute to the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, although conventional farming remains the proven culprit.

Imported organics are a constant concern for food companies and supermarkets. It's certainly on Steve Pimentel's mind. "Someone is going to do something wrong," says Costco's assistant general merchandise manager. "We want to make sure it's not us." To avoid nasty surprises, Costco makes sure its own certifiers check that standards are met in China for the organic peanuts and produce it imports. Over at Stonyfield, Hirshberg's sister, Nancy, who is vice-president of natural resources, was so worried about buying strawberries in northeastern China that she ordered a social audit to check worker conditions. "If I didn't have to buy from there," she says, "I wouldn't."

For many companies, the preferred option is staying home and adopting the industrial scale of agribusiness. Naturally, giant factory farms make purists recoil. Is an organic label appropriate for eggs produced in sheds housing more than 100,000 hens that rarely see the light of day? Can a chicken that's debeaked or allowed minimal access to the outdoors be deemed organic? Would consumers be willing to pay twice as much for organic milk if they thought the cows producing it spent most of their outdoor lives in confined dirt lots?

ETHICAL CHALLENGES?
Absolutely not, say critics such as Mark Kastel, director of the Organic Integrity Project at the Cornucopia Institute, an advocacy group promoting small family farms. "Organic consumers think they're supporting a different kind of ethic," says Kastel, who last spring released a high-profile report card labeling 11 producers as ethically challenged.

Kastel's report card included Horizon Organic Dairy, the No. 1 organic milk brand in the U.S., and Aurora Organic Dairy, which makes private-label products for the likes of Costco and Safeway Inc. Both dairies deny they are ethically challenged. But the two do operate massive corporate farms. Horizon has 8,000 cows in the Idaho desert. There, the animals consume such feed as corn, barley, hay, and soybeans, as well as some grass from pastureland. The company is currently reconfiguring its facility to allow more grazing opportunities. And none of this breaks USDA rules. The agency simply says animals must have "access to pasture." How much is not spelled out. "It doesn't say [livestock] have to be out there, happy and feeding, 18 hours a day," says Barbara C. Robinson, who oversees the USDA's National Organic Program.

But what gets people like Kastel fuming is the fact that big dairy farms produce tons of pollution in the form of manure and methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide -- gases blamed for warming the planet. Referring to Horizon's Idaho farm, he adds: "This area is in perpetual drought. You need to pump water constantly to grow pasture. That's not organic."

Aurora and Horizon argue their operations are true to the organic spirit and that big farms help bring organic food to the masses. Joe E. Scalzo, president and CEO of Horizon's owner, WhiteWave, which is owned by Dean Foods Co., says: "You need the 12-cow farms in Vermont -- and the 4,000 milking cows in Idaho." Adds Clark Driftmier, a spokesman for Aurora, which manages 8,400 dairy cows on two farms in Colorado and Texas: "We're in a contentious period with organics right now."

At the USDA, Robinson is grappling with the same imponderables. In her mind the controversy is more about scale than animal treatment. "The real issue is a fear of large corporations," she says. Robinson expects the USDA to tighten pasture rules in the coming months in hopes of moving closer to the spirit of the organic philosophy. "As programs go," she says, "this is just a toddler. New issues keep coming up."

Few people seem more hemmed in by the contradictions than Gary Hirshberg. Perhaps more than anyone, he has acted as the industry's philosopher king, lobbying governments, proselytizing consumers, helping farmers switch to organic, and giving 10% of profits to environmental causes. Yet he sold most of Stonyfield Farm to a $17 billion French corporation.

He did so partly to let his original investors cash out, partly to bring organic food to the masses. But inevitably, as Stonyfield has morphed from local outfit to national brand, some of the original tenets have fallen by the wayside. Once Danone bought a stake, Stonyfield founder Samuel Kaymen moved on. "I never felt comfortable with the scale or dealing with people so far away," he recalls, although he says Hirshberg has so far managed to uphold the company's original principles.

The hard part may be continuing to do so with Danone looking over his shoulder. Hirshberg retains board control but says his "autonomy and independence and employment are contingent on delivering minimum growth and profitability." Danone Chairman and CEO Franck Riboud expresses admiration for the man he considers to be Danone's organic guru, but adds: "Gary respects that I have to answer to shareholders."

The compromises that Hirshberg is willing to make say a lot about where the organic business is headed. "Our kids don't have time for us to sit on our high horses and say we're not going to do this because it's not ecologically perfect," says Hirshberg. "The only way to influence the powerful forces in this industry is to become a powerful force." And he's willing to do that, even if it means playing by a new set of rules.

THE TIME IS NOW

This article was sent to me recently. I think it is relevant in many respects. Mao Tse Tung said, "Women Hold Up Half the Sky." Women are the greatest untapped resource in the world. We are not screaming out to be "bra burning" feminists. We are asking that men and women work alongside one another as equals for the greater good of everyone. The V.Q.

By Roz Shepherd

I have heard Stephen Lewis speak several times, in person, on the radio and on videos. Each time, he inspires me to feel real rage at the injustices done to women and children. My ancient rage comes again to the surface. The rage I felt each time I worked in Africa with the street children, with the women. The rage I have felt throughout my life as a woman, when I have been disrespected and intimidated and devalued as a woman by men, even by other women. The rage I felt as a little girl when I was spanked again and again by a big strong man, or encouraged to wear cute little dresses and make- up. It all seemed like a huge conspiracy to keep me from being who I really was, and from accomplishing all that I was capable of.

In Africa the injustices were strangling, and I cried again and again. And often the rage spurred me on, to form an NGO, raise funds, build program after program to ‘save’ lives, change lives, etc. etc. But it was never enough, and it did little to affect a global conspiracy against the well-being of women and children.

In ancient times women in some cultures wielded power – spiritual power. It frightened the men to the point where they constantly tried to destroy the women. The witch hunts were only one example. Sometimes men were wise enough to recognize the importance and value of Woman’s spiritual power to heal, to resolve, to elevate, to bring love and harmony.

Now is the time, women of the world. We all know we have enormous spiritual power. We have felt it, seen it, we know it. It is familiar, it is amazing, and it is the only thing that will turn around the destruction happening now – the wars, ecological holocaust, genocides, AIDS, starvation, and most importantly, the torture of children.

I don’t need to explain to you what I mean by spiritual power. It has nothing to do with what religion you believe in, or what church you attend. It has nothing to do with groups, or culture, or race. It has to do with calling on your own inner wisdom. And the deep knowing that comes with being a mother, birthing a child, being in touch with the loving energy of the Universe, and the loving energy of Truth. It has to do with standing firm, speaking clearly with all the wisdom of all the generations of woman-hood. Having the courage to take control of your life, and saying “No” to anything that harms children, or that takes from you the right to live in safety. And it means standing strong to support all our sisters, all the other women who are holding bright lights for us to follow. And equality is not just a nice platitude. It doesn’t mean that women want to be the same as men, or take on the same tasks as men. It means that women have the right to have all the strengths and talents that are inherent in being female – and those are beyond measure! The reason they are beyond measure is because there is a component which is beyond this world – the spiritual component. We can understand the longings of the heart, the connection to the soul, and the depth of loving kindness. We can transform hate into love. We can transform sorrow into joy. We can heal the sick, and comfort the grieving. We do it every day, and we need to call on these gifts to overcome the hatred and destruction now happening.

Stephen Lewis is calling us into action. Enough is enough, and we have suffered too much at the hands of those who worship money and status and sex. Women can transform the world. Let’s get on with the job.

The first step is to get in touch with the deepest wisdom that resides deep in your heart and soul. Close your eyes and take a deep breath, and call on the loving energy with which you were born. Ask for guidance to know your next step in bringing the children into this safe, loving place. Ask what role you can play in creating a world of safety for women and children. Ask that each daily step, each moment-to-moment decision be based from this place . You will be called on to draw on your greatest well of courage, strength, grief, and joy. You will find new sources of energy. You will know that you are where you are meant to be in each moment, and that you have the power to change the world because it is all based on Truth, your own truth. You will find yourself turning away from the rules and impositions of the old ways, and you will find yourself creating new pathways for yourself and those around you. You will find that you have untold strengths and knowledge, based on humility, but with a power beyond measure. You will no longer listen to the small voices of politics, commerce, dogma, or even education and television. You will know that the ways of control used by the systems of government and the systems of the military have no bearing on your path for the well-being of the Earth. It is time for the women to call on this power, this ancient power that can bring forward what we are all dreaming of.

WHY WE IN THE UN ENVY THE WORLD'S CUP

This is an article written by Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the UN. I thought it was marvellously candid. He is correct; the UN has every reason to be envious of how the World's Cup brings people everywhere together, aware of each other's countries, and the skills of the players no matter where they come from! P.R.

Published: 2006/06/07
By: KOFI A. ANNAN

You may wonder what a secretary-general of the United Nations is doing
writing about football. But, in fact, the World Cup makes us, at the UN, green with
envy.

As the pinnacle of the only truly global game, played in every country by
every race and religion, it is one of the few phenomena as universal as the
United Nations.

You could even say it's more universal. Fifa has 207 members. We have only
191. But there are far better reasons to be envious.

First, the World Cup is an event in which everybody knows where their team
stands, and what it did to get there. They know who scored and how and at what
minute. They know who missed the open goal and who saved the penalty. I wish
we had more of that sort of competition in the family of nations.

Countries openly vying for the best standing in the table of respect for
human rights, and trying to outdo one another in child survival rates or enrolment
in secondary education.

We would like to see states parading their performance for all the world to
see, governments being held accountable for what actions led them to that
result.

Secondly, the World Cup is an event which everybody on the planet loves
talking about - dissecting what their team did right and what it could have done
differently - not to mention the other side's team.

People sit in cafés anywhere, from Buenos Aires to Beijing, debating the
finer points of games endlessly, revealing an intimate knowledge not only of their
own national teams, but of many of the others, too, and expressing themselves
on the subject with as much clarity as passion.

Normally tongue-tied teenagers suddenly become eloquent, confident and
dazzlingly analytical experts.

I wish we had more of that sort of conversation in the world at large.

Citizens consumed by the topic of how their country could do better on the
Human Development Index or in reducing the number of carbon emissions or new HIV
infections.
Thirdly, the World Cup is an event which takes place on a level-playing
field, where every country has a chance to participate on equal terms. Only two
things matter in this game: talent and team-work.

I wish we had more levellers like that in the global arena - free and fair
exchanges without the interference of subsidies, barriers or tariffs; Every
country getting a real chance to field its strengths on the world stage.

Fourthly, the World Cup is an event which illustrates the benefits of
cross-pollination between peoples and countries. More and more national teams now
welcome coaches from other countries, who bring new ways of thinking and playing.

The same goes for the increasing number of players who, between World Cups,
represent clubs away from home. They inject new qualities into their new team,
grow from the experience and are able to contribute even more to their home
side when they return.

In the process, they often become heroes in their adopted countries - helping
to open hearts and broaden minds. I wish it were equally plain for all to see
that human migration in general can create triple wins - for migrants, for
their countries of origin, and for the societies that receive them.

Migrants not only build better lives for themselves and their families, but
are also agents of development - economic, social and cultural - in the
countries they go to work in and in the homelands they inspire through new ideas and
know-how when they return.

For any country, playing in the World Cup is a matter of profound national
pride. For countries qualifying for the first time, such as my native Ghana,
it is a badge of honour. For those who are doing so after years of adversity,
such as Angola, it provides a sense of national renewal.

And for those who are currently riven by conflict, like Cote d'Ivoire, but
whose World Cup team is a unique and powerful symbol of national unity, it
inspires nothing less than the hope of national rebirth.

Which brings me to what is perhaps most enviable for all of us in the United
Nations: the World Cup is an event in which we actually see goals being
reached.

I'm not talking only about the goals a country scores. I also mean the most
important goal of all - being there, part of the family of nations and peoples,
celebrating our common humanity.

I'll try to remember this when Ghana plays Italy on 12 June. Of course, I
can't promise I'll succeed.

The Politics of Fear and Why We Must Eradicate War

For some of you who will read this, I am preaching to the choir. For others, this may be shocking news. And finally, there are many who believe that war is absolutely necessary in order to preserve our safety and way of life.

No one is right or wrong; it is the way we perceive the world and our personal perception of reality. My perception of reality is that war only breeds a greater division of people who, in reality, must be working together if we are going to save the planet we live on. The sooner we are able to value each person without creating a bias based on race, color, religion, culture or country-of-origin, the sooner we can begin healthy dialogs toward world change.

Something I have learned through the creation of my vanilla business and the subsequent International Tropical Farmers Network, is that one white woman, in the United States who is not a farmer, who has earned no money from working with the farmers, but who values those who work so hard for our benefit, can make a significant difference, think of what we can do as a group! The fact that I have a life threatening disease and am in active treatment has not stopped me from my work. In fact, the cancer has acted as a catalyst toward bringing the farmers I work with closer together. If I care enough about them and what they do, they now feel a responsibility to continue my legacy and to support one another in creating greater opportunities for personal empowerment in their work. I am seeing major change; I am attempting to do something that no one, to date, has felt important enough to actively jump in and do something about it.

Find your passion and breathe it to life. It is a small gift to give to a world in need and a great gift to your children, grandchildren, and others who deserve a healthier planet!

The V.Q.




Published on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 by CommonDreams.org Their Barbarism, and Ours
by Norman Solomon

The Baghdad bureau chief of the New York Times could not have been any clearer.
"The story really takes us back into the 8th century, a truly barbaric world," John Burns said. He was speaking Tuesday night on the PBS "NewsHour With Jim Lehrer," describing what happened to two U.S. soldiers whose bodies had just been found. Evidently they were victims of atrocities, and no one should doubt in the slightest that the words of horror used by Burns to describe the "barbaric murders" were totally appropriate.

The problem is that Burns and his mass-media colleagues don't talk that way when the cruelties are inflicted by the U.S. military -- as if dropping bombs on civilians from thousands of feet in the air is a civilized way to terrorize and kill.
When journalists maintain a flagrant double standard in their language -- allowing themselves appropriate moral outrage when Americans suffer but tiptoeing around what is suffered by victims of the U.S. military -- the media window on the world is tinted a dark red-white-and-blue, and the overall result is more flackery than journalism.

Based on the available evidence from Abu Ghraib to Afghanistan to Guantanamo, anyone who claims that U.S. foreign policy does not include torture is disingenuous or deluded.

Reporters for the New York Times and other big U.S. media outlets would not dream of publicly describing what American firepower does to Iraqi civilians as "barbaric."
An eyewitness account from American author Rahul Mahajan, during the U.S. attack on Fallujah in April 2004, said: "During the course of roughly four hours at a small clinic in Fallujah, I saw perhaps a dozen wounded brought in. Among them was a young woman, 18 years old, shot in the head. She was having a seizure and foaming at the mouth when they brought her in; doctors did not expect her to survive the night. Another likely terminal case was a young boy with massive internal bleeding."
Hundreds of civilians died in that attack on Fallujah, and many more lost their lives when U.S. troops attacked the city again seven months later. Since then, the U.S. air war has escalated in Iraq, often putting urban neighborhoods in the cross hairs.

Days ago, in mid-June, independent U.S. journalist Dahr Jamail tells us, "a hospital source in Fallujah reported that eight Iraqis, some of whom were women and children from the same family, were killed and six wounded when U.S. warplanes bombed a home in the northeastern Ibrahim Bin Ali district of the city."
We hear that of course the U.S. tries to avoid killing civilians -- as if that makes killing them okay. But the slaughter from the air and from other U.S. military actions is a certain result of the occupiers' war. (What would we say if, in our own community, the police force killed shoppers every day by spraying blocks of stores with machine-gun fire -- while explaining that the action was justifiable because no innocents were targeted and their deaths were an unfortunate necessity in the war on crime?)

Meanwhile, routinely absent from the U.S. media's war coverage is the context: an invasion and occupation fundamentally based on deception.
"The Bush strategy for victory is about to begin," author Beau Grosscup said Tuesday. "U.S. and Iraqi forces have surrounded the city of Ramadi. Food and water have been cut off. Next is the 'Shock and Awe' strategic bombing of the city, to be followed by 'mop-up' operations: ground troops, snipers and aerial 'support.'"
Grosscup, a professor of international relations at California State University in Chico, added: "It is the hallowed 'Fallujah' model, intended to bring 'stability' by flattening the city with civilian death and destruction. It is a 'clean' way to victory, one supported by Rep. Jack Murtha, who would withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq but continue to engage the 'enemy' from far away and from 15,000 to 30,000 feet above with air power. By October 2004, this 'clean war' had killed close to 100,000 Iraqi civilians and thousands more since. But, as any enthusiast of strategic bombing would say, it is the price of victory and somebody has to make the ultimate sacrifice. Terror from the skies, anyone?"
Without maintaining a single and consistent moral standard in their work, journalists -- no matter how brave, skilled or hardworking -- end up prostituting their talents in the service of a war machine.

Norman Solomon is executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and the author of "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death." E-mail to: mediabeat@igc.org.

HELP US GET MARIAM AND NORMA TO THE WLW!

We need your help to get Mariam Mukalazi from the countryside of Uganda and Norma Vallejo from a a rural agricultural city in Veracruz, Mexico, to the Women Leaders of the World cohort July 22 - 30, 2006 sponsored by the Global Women's Leadership Network (GWLN) and the Leavey School of Business in Santa Clara, California. These two women are natural leaders dedicated to assisting indigenous, poor, and abused women in their countries to become independent business women.

The Global Women's Leadership Network (www.gwln.org)is a remarkable group, providing training and a network of resources for women who are already leaders to be able to fulfill their goals in affecting change. The Mission of the GWLN and the Leavy School of Business at Santa Clara University includes: Unleashing the world's greatest untapped source of leadership

"Today's economic, social, political, technological, spiritual, and environmental challenges demand new levels of creativity, talent, and innovation. The Global Women's Leadership Network at Santa Clara University is working to meet this demand by building an international network of women leaders who dare to transform the future of their organizations, communities, and the world.

"The Global Women's Leadership Network provides programs that cultivate powerful international leaders and establish worldwide connections that will support their success. Through these women, we touch the lives of many more."

As an alumni of the inaugural program, I speak from firsthand experience about how the network of resources provided through the GWLN has assisted me in organizing and uniting tens of thousands of tropical farmers, most of whom are vanilla producers, and working with them to create greater opportunities for their lives and to bring change to the ways that tropical commodities are traded.

Part of my vision has been to establish women's collectives in countries where vanilla is grown as a way to employ women who otherwise have few, if any, personal resources, independence, or means of support. The most effective way to do this was to identify women leaders who could implement this vision and to create model programs that can then be replicated in other regions of their country or even otehr countries. By empowering women by creating meaningful work and an income to sustain themselves and their children, their self-esteem will increase. This, in turn, will be passed along to their children who will hopefully have an opportunity for an education. The health of the tropics brings health to us all.

Mariam Mukalazi is a Muganda woman from the Lake Victoria region of Uganda. She has two boys, Faisal, who is six and Sula, who is four. She fled an abusive marriage but the tribal elders forced her to return home. Her husband then harmed the boys and nearly killed her. She now lives in a small home in the countryside and represents the Yeboah Farmers, a group of farmers throughout a large region of Uganda. She earns $60 a month to support herself and two boys.

A couple of years ago Mariam organized over 200 women at her church in Kampala. Some of the women fled the war and violence in Northwestern Uganda. This region is affected by the Darfur war in Sudan, the remnants of the terrible genocide in Rwanda, and the war in the Congo. Others are widows or fled abusive marriages. Many have AIDS and most have children. These women live in a treeless compound of small houses with no electricity or running water. Open sewers surround the property. Mariam started a program where the women could be of emotional support to one another, make crafts, and get counseling.

Mariam and I met over the Internet. I knew immediately that she has strong leadership qualities. I saw her through the forced return to the home of her husband and helped to convince her to flee. Despite poverty and bouts of malaria, Mariam has maintained her goal for a better life, not only for herself and her sons, but for the women of Uganda.

When Mariam was nominated to be part of the WLW, she was asked what she could do to raise money toward her scholarship. She spoke with the women's group and her pastor and they agreed to put on a program of music and dance, and to sell crafts and food. She so much wanted the training that she was also willing to sell her four cows that she had recently inherited from her grandmother.

The GWLN women told her, "Don't Sell the Cows!" Instead, we have created a way that people may buy shares of Mariam's cows to bring her to the conference.

Norma Vallejo grew up in Papantla, Veracruz. Her father was originally from Michoacan and came with his family to California during World War II to work in the fields as all the American field workers were drafted into the war. He chose to stay here to complete high school, learned fluent English, returned to Mexico and went to college, and began life in Mexico City working for RCA. He realized that his true passion was farming, so he and his family moved to Veracruz where they have had a farm with dairy cattle, a cheese business and they also grow vanilla and chili. Norma is a sociologist who has lived in Mexico City for decades. She has a grown daughter in Germany and she speaks fluent German as well. She has worked in the corporate world as a sociologist and has organized many women's groups. Now that her father is in his 70s Norma is moving back to the countryside to run her father's farm.

It has been her dream to work with the Indigenous women, so she readily agreed when I approached her about heading up a women's collective where the women would make vanilla ornaments and other value-added products that could be sold through Fair Trade channels in the US and Europe and also to the tourist market in Mexico.

Our goal is to have both Mariam and Norma at the WLW cohort because the training is so exceptional. It also makes it possible for the three of us to work as a team to design the women's programs in Mexico and Uganda and to get funding in place. The WLW training is very intensive and includes world-class executive training. The cost of the program, which includes food and lodging, is $6500. We depend on donations to make this possible.

This Spring I mentored a high school senior in Walnut Creek who did her senior paper on vanilla. For her community service project she threw a bake sale. Unfortunately, it was supposed to be on the big sports day of the year at her school, and everything was rained out! Nevertheless, she raised over $200 for Norma and Mariam.

We are holding a fundraiser June 19th in Palo Alto, California. If you live in the area and would like to attend the fund raiser, please go to www.gwln.org. You will see the invitation posted there. There will be a raffle (with some of our gift baskets), a silent auction to bid on some great events and services, ( go here to see the auction items; new items posted daily: http://gwln.blogspot.com/) refreshments and presentations by some of the 2005 attendees of the WLW. I will be presenting a slide show of our ITFN group and projects.

If you don't live in the area but would like to contribute to bringing Mariam and Norma to the WLW cohort, follow this link: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=112648.

Any assistance you can provide will be greatly valued, not only by Mariam and Norma, but by hundreds of women in Mexico and Uganda who will benefit from their training and assistance. Together we can make a difference!!


To buy shares in Mariam's cows, cut and paste this link in your browser:

CLICK HERE.

SHARING A PROFOUND MOMENT

We tend to expect touching or profound interactions to occur regularly between humans, though we are often especially touched when it occurs between a baby or small child and an adult. We also know that our interactions with dogs and cats may produce truly heartwarming responses. But with species in the wild, it's both surprising and awe-inspiring. I think it must be because we don't have the opportunity to have inter-species contacts often, especially with animals in the wild.

I was really touched when I read this note passed on by a friend. As I've chosen to write about things that are positive, that show hope and possibility, I decided to share this with readers of this blog. I hope that you are equally touched by the care of the rescuers and the gratitude of the whale.

Sharing a profound moment...

If you had read the front page story of the SF Chronicle on Thursday, Dec
14, 2005, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become
entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by
hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She
also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body-her tail,
her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farralone Islands (outside the
Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few
hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the
only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her-a very dangerous
proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer. They worked for
hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.

When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous
circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and
nudged them, pushed them gently around-she thanked them. Some said it was
the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the
rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time, and he
will never ever be the same.

Chef Deane and Dominican Hospital

If you read newspapers, listen to or watch the daily news, you may feel, as I do, frustration, anger or despair about all of the tragedies and depressing issues going on in the world. In fact, there are many very serious problems and untold tragedies, but that isn’t all the news or all of what is occurring daily. Apparently news of doom and gloom sell papers and draw listeners and readers. About ten yeas ago there was a man somewhere in the Midwest who started a newspaper that focused on all the good news; the paper went out of business!

As my blog isn’t a newspaper and I can write about whatever I wish, I’ve decided to write about issues that are hopeful or have the possibility of positive outcomes. Fortunately, I don’t have to look far a field to find stories about people who are making a difference and bringing about positive change, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

Chef Deane Bussiere is one of our Chefs in Residence (http://www.vanilla.com/html/chefs/dbussiere.html). He has been the Executive Chef at several critically acclaimed restaurants and is known for his innovative cuisine. However, after becoming a parent, he realized that he never was home to read his sons bedtime stories, and his hours were very long and demanding. It was time for a change.

One and a half years ago Deane went to work as the Executive Chef at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, as his hours were built around a regular workday. But he also went to work at the hospital to bring about positive change for the patients and the community. As any of you who have experienced standard hospital food, it’s anything but haute cuisine. So one of the first things he did was to teach the kitchen staff how to cook vegetables properly and how to create more palatable food for patients. The staff got permission to build a vegetable garden and he worked on expanding it with them and organizing the planting and harvesting so they could utilize the produce. Once the land was secured, they set up a program for students to work in the garden. The entire garden is grown organically. While the produce has not yet been approved by the health department for patients’ meals, the medical staff and hospital employees may dine on fresh carrots, lettuce and other delectables. The hope is that approval will occur soon so that everyone can benefit from the garden. The garden has since doubled in size and fundraisers have made it possible to expand garden projects as well.

Recently, while visiting a friend at Dominican, I saw Chef Deane and asked what was new. He told me about the recycle project and how they are using worms to compost all of the kitchens produce trimmings (an additional 90,000 pounds of waste is now being diverted from the land-fills from when he first arrived), the classes he’s teaching on nutrition for cancer patients, and that Dominican would underwrite his getting a degree in nutrition. New patient menus using Deane’s recipes and organic whole-wheat pasta and other organic produce should be up and running by June 21st. He has time with his boys who, along with his wife, are involved in the garden project, he’s happier than he’s ever been, and he’s changing the way hospitals deal with food, nutrition and the extraordinary amount of waste that’s generated maintaining a large facility.

The following article by Chef Deane gives a nice overview of the recycle project they’ve set into motion and how the entire community is affected by the shift in consciousness of the local hospital. If you would like more information about Chef Deane’s work at the hospital or how to get a similar program underway, please contact Deane at Deane.Bussiere@chw.edu.



We Shall Recycle the Earth
By Chef Deane Bussiere

My thoughts are on the future and what Dominican Hospital is doing to protect the environment around it, to secure that future for our children. I am so proud of the ecology task force and those who promote and maintain the efforts of recycling, reducing and reusing materials. The kitchen has made huge strides in this area. We are using worms to compost all the produce trim created during our daily production, and this is being put to use in our garden near the BHU, enhancing the soil quality on our grounds, the food we eat and the air we breathe.

Dominican Hospital is now a drop site for ALBA's CSA (community supported agriculture) program. Employees can pick up a weekly box of organic goods right here at work. (See www.albafarmers.org for more information.)

Tin cans are washed and flattened, and lids are recycled, as we’ve switched to the new safety can openers. Used kitchen grease from the deep fryers and the cooking of meats is recycled and we using trans-fat free oil in the fryers. Milk and egg containers are now being accepted by the county and recycled as well. Tetra-pak containers are also rinsed and flattened to conserve space in the blue recycle bins. All glass bottles and jars are washed and recycled. All plastic trays, tubs and jugs are crushed and recycled, and our engineers and other staff are reusing the 5 gallon pickle buckets.

Another program we have is Dominagain. Dominagain is actually the garage of Sister Beth's house, which she makes available for all the unused products, which have been phased out by the hospital, or packaging materials and anything else that can be used for another purpose rather than being recycled or thrown out. Then it is opened to the public once a month on the first Thursday from 1:30 to 4:30 pm, first come, first served. Everything from chairs to paper is available. Local teachers are finding out Dominagain and putting these free materials to good use in our kids’ classrooms, where materials are becoming scarce and art classes are going by the wayside due to lack of funding.

Finally, by supporting the local organic movement through the purchase of produce from ALBA, Dominican is helping to maintain a future generation of family farmers, who in many cases were poor farm workers stuck in low paying, high risk jobs. We have had to increase the number of recycle bins that are dropped here by waste management twice now, and are diverting another 90,000 lbs of materials from the landfill annually!

International Women's Day

Last summer, as many of you are aware, I was in the inaugural Women Leaders for the World Cohort, held at Santa Clara University. The program is a joint venture of the Leavey School of Business, The School of Engineering, and the Global Women's Leadeship Network, all based at SCU. But the real driving force of this program is a most extraordinary woman, Linda Alepin.

Linda set up and ran a Fortune 500 Company and has been a very influential business woman in the Silicon Valley. She is also the mother of I believe four grown children. She is a force to be reckoned with in the finest sense of this phrase.

Linda sent out an open letter about the importance of International Women's Day on March 8th. It was so powerful that I decided to copy it into my blog so that others could read it. Here it is:

An open letter from Linda Alepin
Dear Sisters and Friends,

Today matters. Today is International Women’s Day. It marks women's efforts to attain justice and equality for themselves and their children. The story of the day is the story of ordinary women, like each of us, who are the makers of history. It is a day when we all celebrate being “sisters and friends” as Lydia and Annette from Uganda taught us last year during the Women Leaders for the World program.

It is a day when both women and men can put aside differences - national, ethnic, social, economic and political – and honor those who have come before us for their progress towards equality. It is an opportunity for us to re-dedicate ourselves to the unfinished business of women’s rights.

Why women’s rights? The other evening after giving my dinner speech at the Finance Executive International chapter in Silicon Valley, I opened the floor for questions. One gentleman challenged me about how the world was going to support its growing population and the rising standards of living in both developed and developing economies. My answer was simple. I said, “Educate the women.” This answer was met with a loud round of applause.

In country after country, educated women make their family’s health a priority, thus cutting infant and child mortality. They have fewer children. They make their children’s education a priority (including the girls), thus breaking the vicious cycle of poverty and building economic sustainability. They contribute to increases in GDP.

In her speech at Microsoft last month, Joan Holmes, President of the Hunger Project, made three points about the distinct impact of gender equality –

¨ “First, there is an inextricable link between women’s well-being and the overall health of a society.”

¨ “There is the enormous, yet largely unrecognized and unsupported, contribution of women to the world economy.”

¨ “And, finally, there is an unparalleled benefit to society when women have voice in decisions that affect their own lives.”

I encourage you to read the entire text of her speech to this audience of some of the world’s most powerful women at http://www.thp.org/reports/jh/jhms0106/ .

Her words bring home why the members of GWLN believe that the quality of life on the planet is directly related to the quality of women’s leadership. As global citizens, we are unwilling to have -

A woman die in childbirth somewhere in the world every minute for lack of medical information and attention

Over 10 million children die each year of malnutrition

¨ 2/3 of the world’s illiterate populace be female

¨ Women own less than 1% of the world’s property while working more than 2/3 of the hours of labor on that same land

Most of us reading this email have grown up in a world where women have the right to vote, to be educated, and to own property. We take these rights for granted – for ourselves and for our children and grandchildren. We may think that the fact that these are not universal rights has no impact on us. Such thinking is denying the inexorable march of globalization.

In 2001, I wrote an article called, “What Matters?” In it I asked the question, “What matters in these difficult times?” I ask the same question today – on International Women’s Day. What matters in this world in terms of gender equality?

What matters is what we are committed to. Yes, it is more important than ever that we take bold stands, speak out, and pursue our visions of equality in leadership, worldwide.

What matters is communication with each other and with those around us. It is time to be aware of the gender inequality facts on a global basis. Not to be overwhelmed by them, but rather to have the gap inspire our commitments and our actions.

What matters is our orientation towards the future. What matters is the answer to the question, “Who am I with regard to the gender equality?”

We are fortunate: we are taught from childhood what is possible, reasonable, and predictable. We have formed a view of the world that is useful, and at the same time, limiting. We know that more than what’s predictable is possible. We know that concerted actions by small groups of people can, indeed, change the world. We need to act from our knowing on behalf of those who may not yet know.

The courage of women in the early 1900’s inspired the song "Bread and Roses" which has become associated with International Women's Day. Bread symbolizes economic justice and roses represent the quality of life. Let these symbols be visual reminders of the work we have ahead.

One phrase from Joan Holmes rings in my ears. She said, “Gender discrimination is the greatest moral challenge of our age. And, history will judge us on how we respond.”

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said: “Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.”

All of us are leaders. By being global innovation leaders, we will make a difference – one that will be celebrated on future International Women’s Days by men and women, boys and girls worldwide. You matter. Today matters. What you do today matters.
* * *

These are powerful words, well spoken. I hope that they resonate with you and hopefully will stimulate either a personal internal monologue or a dialogue with others. Women are the greatest untapped resource in the world. By honoring women's roles in the world we honor and validate ourselves.


__________________________________________________________________________________

The San Francisco Winter Fancy Food Show

What could be more fun (aside from being there) than to write about the three ring culinary attraction of the year in one of the great food destinations of the world? Fabulous food in San Francisco is an oxymoron as nearly everyone knows that the San Francisco Bay Area has cutting edge international cuisine with restaurateurs and chefs whose names evoke star status. Being part of the buzz was great fun for us despite the work, the exhaustion, and the weeks of following through with calls to interested clients.

Although this was our company’s premier at the Fancy Food Show, I’ve worked at numerous food shows as well as walked the aisles as a visitor for years. In other words, I was well prepared for the inevitable assault to the senses and the swollen feet that come with the territory.

Food shows fall into the category of culinary spectacle, given such a staggering number of specialty foods where even the most sophisticated gourmand is bound to find something new to titillate a jaded palate. After all, there aren’t too many places in the world where you can experience green mole, dark chocolate enrobed caramel with sea salt, Tibetan yak cheese, Golden trout caviar and pomegranate green tea all within a few yards of each other. And that’s just mentioning a few of the 80,000 products that were displayed by 1100 exhibitors.

Although the show was somewhat quieter than in the recent past, there were still 16,500 store buyers cruising the aisles for something unique to please shoppers. Chefs, producers of unique artisan food products, culinary students and the press all prowled the aisles, ready to pounce on the perfect ingredients or prepared treats to taste, discuss, order or write about in their weekly columns.

So what was unique and special besides our Sweet Treats Sugar Sampler and fragrant extracts and beans? A product touted in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Mercury News and that caught our eye is Adora Calcium. It’s the first calcium supplement that isn’t chalky, and the chocolate that contains the bone-building ingredient is smooth with a deep flavor. It comes in milk and dark chocolate and will be available soon at Target. www.adoracalcium.com.

The Republic of Tea, a socially conscious business, continues to produce wonderful beverages filled with ant-oxidants. www.republicoftea.com.

Palapa Azul is a terrific ice cream company that is producing “paletas” those fabulous icy fruit bars available from Mexican push carts, but with unique new flavors. They also have Mexican-style sorbets and ice creams. www.palapazul.com.

Guittard Chocolate Company, a San Francisco tradition since 1868, continues to produce high quality chocolate for home bakers, professional pastry chefs, confectioners and artisan ice creameries. They have recently begun producing chocolate varietals for serious chocolate lovers, including a Single Origin Chocolate Tasting Kit with 16 small bars from four distinct regions in Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and Madagascar. The kit additionally contains information about each chocolate growing region, what makes each variety unique, and descriptions that bring to mind the descriptions of fine wines. You can find out more about where to purchase this fun tasting kit at www.eguittard.com. It’s also available at www.cocoasphere.com.

One of the most interesting products that caught my eye, not only for its taste but because it is a perfect crop for Indonesian vanilla growers to consider as secondary crop, is Island Crisps. Island crisps are made from the seeds of the Melinjo tree. After the fruit is gathered, the seeds are roasted in a hot wok filled with sand. The seed is then removed from the outer shell and pounded into a disk while still warm. It is then dried, sprinkled with Balinese sea salt, and it’s ready to eat. A family tradition for over 1000 years, Island Crisps are now available in the US. This is a great way to have a healthy, crispy, gluten-free treat while also supporting sustainable agriculture in Indonesia. For information contact islandcrisps@bigtreebali.com.

It was fun to see friends at the show, both exhibitors and customers of ours. Choctal, an extraordinary chocolate and ice cream producer, brought us three pints of their amazing frozen bit of heaven. Their chocolate ice cream is creamy smooth and deeply flavored, making your taste buds come wide awake while simultaneously making you swoon. This is not your ordinary chocolate ice cream, but rather, an essential chocolate ice cream experience! Their vanilla ice cream is equally as richly flavored, using our ground beans and extracts blended with fresh cream and cane sugar. You can learn more about Choctal at www.choctal.com.

Looking for the best saffron in the marketplace? Let me introduce you to Juan San Mames, the saffron king! Juan is originally from Spain and for years imported saffron from La Mancha. However, Spain no longer produces enough saffron to export; even if it says it’s from Spain, it has been imported to Spain from Iran and then from Spain to the U.S.

In fact, the autumn-blooming crocus varietal from Iran is a better quality flower and produces deeply rich threads to flavor everything from breads to paella to pilaf. Although more research needs to be done in this regard, it appears that saffron has medicinal value for the liver. True or not, adding a few threads of saffron to water or tea is both flavorful and refreshing. Fresh saffron ice cream and saffron flavored chocolates are exceptional. To learn more or to order, visit www.saffron.com.

While this barely breaks the surface of the show's offerings, it will need to suffice for today. I am attempting to be more consistent in posting blogs and I promise I will write more culinary adventures very soon.

For The Love of Vanilla

This is a re-do of a blog I posted last summer that raised the hackles of a particular company as I implicated the company without checking for the veracity of my comments. The issue remains the same. Many large frozen dessert manufacturers are not using pure vanilla despite the price collapse. This has left thousands of farmers with tons of vanilla they can't sell. As the prices drop lower and lower, farmers have fewer incentives for growing vanilla, and it could be lost. Read on for more about the new vanilla crisis.

SAVING PURE VANILLA


The holiday season is here and most of us are stocking up on ingredients to make our celebratory meals. Vanilla is certainly a must have for anyone who bakes, as our cakes and cookies, eggnog and ice creams would taste very different without its delicate yet all-important flavor. We can count on finding it in the grocery, in specialty foods stores, and even in the discount markets, reliable, ready and oh, so delicious!

Now imagine for a moment that you go to the store to buy your baking ingredients and there is no vanilla on the shelf. In fact, the only ingredient available is imitation vanilla. So you go to a second store and a third. No pure vanilla. You look online. No pure vanilla.

This isn’t a fantasy, unfortunately, as it could actually happen to us in the next few years. At this moment, less than one percent of all the vanilla flavored and scented products in the world contain pure vanilla. We are currently balanced on the threshold of losing pure vanilla forever!

Those of you who use vanilla regularly are well aware that the prices of pure vanilla have been unusually pricey during the last several years. Most likely you’ve even grumbled about it. For those of you who didn’t know about why the prices were so high, between 1999 and late 2004 there was a world shortage of vanilla. Initially driven by such low prices that the farmers tore up their vanilla, the shortage was fueled by weather-related disasters and political unrest. The shortage created a crisis and prices escalated to unprecedented levels. Although there is now an abundance of vanilla in the market as farmers throughout the tropics planted vanilla, we are faced with a crisis of even greater proportions. Why? Because the big corporations have switched to a new generation of synthetic vanilla!

Most of us don’t know a whole lot about the flavors and spices we use on a regular basis, and vanilla is no exception. For instance, did you know that vanilla is the most labor-intensive agricultural product in the world? Did you know that vanilla is grown only in developing countries as a commercial venture because there is a ready supply of workers willing to produce vanilla for a fraction of the cost of growing it here? Are you aware that even though there no longer is a shortage of vanilla, many of the ice cream and frozen dessert manufacturers, the companies who use the most vanilla in the world, are still using “flavor identical alternatives,” the euphemistic term for synthetic vanilla? Finally, are you aware that you are paying the same price for these desserts as when they contained pure vanilla?

This current crisis could spell the end of pure vanilla. If large corporations that have used pure vanilla in their formulas in the past don’t switch back to pure vanilla, people will grow accustomed to the flavor of imitation vanilla. The prices for vanilla will fall so far below the cost of production that the farmers will have no incentive to grow it. And since the majority of people won’t recognize the difference between the flavor and fragrance of imitation and pure vanilla, vanilla could go the way of so many other valuable rain forest plants, animals and birds.

There are specific regulations for producing ice creams and other frozen desserts that were established by the FDA in the 1960s to regulate an industry that had no specific rules or controls either for product quality or the inclusion of ingredients. Active legislation ensued and now vanilla extract is the only flavoring with both an FDA Standard of Identity of its own and an FDA ice cream standard.

In order to be labeled vanilla ice cream or pure vanilla ice cream, the product must be made with 100 percent pure vanilla. It can be made with vanilla extract or vanilla beans. Usually pure vanilla ice cream is made with top-quality ingredients, as the pure vanilla will not mask any “off” flavor or fragrance notes. “Super-premium” and “premium” ice creams usually have a high butter-fat content, so double-strength pure vanilla extract is most often used. At least, this was true until recently. (Detailed information on the FDA regulations and Standard of Identity can be found in Vanilla: The Cultural History of the World’s Favorite Flavor and Fragrance, written by Patricia Rain: www.vanilla.com.)

If you look at the ingredients on a container of many vanilla or “vanilla bean” ice creams in the US, you will notice that it says, “natural flavor” on the package. While this may not sound suspicious, “natural flavor” actually means vanillin made from plant substances such as beets and paper pulp (conifers contain vanillin, which is why Ponderosa pines smell somewhat vanilla-like). In fact, many premium ice creams contain no pure vanilla at all. It is flavored with chemical vanillin and has flecks of flavorless “exhausted” vanilla beans (left over from the extraction process) added for appearance. For this, we’re paying a premium price.

How does this affect us?
Not using pure vanilla in premium products is in defiance of the FDA Standards of Identity. Both the ice cream companies and the companies that produce and sell large quantities of synthetic vanillin would very much like the Standards of Identity to be revised in their favor. There is now a proposal to the FDA to allow vanilla flavor from sources other than pure vanilla to be used and still sold as premium vanilla ice cream.

At this time, tons of vanilla, worldwide, are going unsold. Why? Because there isn’t a market for the beans. Historically, the frozen dessert industry has been the largest buyer of vanilla. Because they are now using synthetics, the pure vanilla is sitting in warehouses around the world.

In 1998, 2300 metric tons of vanilla beans were used worldwide. In 2004, it was 1200 tons and dropping! Farmers who have not been able to sell their vanilla will be forced to change to another agricultural crop, which often means tearing out their vanilla plants. Crises such as this often leads farmers to immigrate to industrialized countries in search of work. This is a crisis of major proportions for the tropical growers of vanilla.

What you can do
The most effective thing we all can do is to create a populist movement to get pure vanilla back into ice cream, frozen yogurt and other vanilla-flavored products we buy regularly. Call or write the company whose products you normally use and ask if they use pure vanilla extract or flavor in their products. If they don’t, let them know that you want products with pure vanilla.

We can bring about change, but we need to act now. Tell everyone you know to support pure vanilla. Call your favorite talk radio station and bring up this topic. If you know people in the media, ask them to write an article about the vanilla crisis. Even if you don’t buy commercial ice creams, yogurts or other dairy products, this is an issue of critical importance to the growers and to all of us who want vanilla to be available in the years to come. Large corporations need to know that they are being watched and that we want them held accountable.

Please purchase vanilla products that have been bought at fair prices whenever possible. Vanilla is not part of the Fair Trade movement as it is a very small industry compared with tropical commodities such as coffee, chocolate, sugar and bananas. As a result, you will need to ask vendors how they buy their vanilla. The Vanilla.COMpany, located at www.vanilla.com buys their vanilla beans and extracts at Fair Trade prices. Wholesale and retail purchases from this company help to fund grass-roots projects for vanilla growers and their families worldwide. For more information about this, contact Patricia Rain at rain@vanilla.com.

We are no longer isolated from one another in the world. We are a global community and we need to think and live as a community. Every choice we make, every action we take, can affect people around the world. This is especially true regarding the choices we make in the foods we purchase and consume every day.

Vanilla is a rain forest orchid whose fruit, the vanilla pod (bean) contains medicinal value that is just now being discovered and researched. It has value in aromatherapy. It is a key component in many perfumes. And it is a luscious substance that flavors the foods we love. Please join in the movement to keep pure vanilla alive and available. Bring vanilla out of your cupboard and put it with the other condiments you use daily. Vanilla is a magical ingredient; in fact, it’s world’s favorite flavor and fragrance. Support the growers who bring us this remarkable product: Help us to save pure vanilla!

Beginning A New Adventure

November 8, 2005

I was interviewed this last weekend by the African correspondent for the Baltimore Sun. Scott Calvert, the correspondent, had just returned from a trip to Madagascar and learned from the locals in the vanilla industry there, including some farmers, that they feared that vanilla may be drawing to a close as a way to support themselves. As the prices for vanilla have collapsed, growers worldwide wonder what will happen next. How low will the prices go, and is there a possibility that the prices will ever go up again, even if not as high as they were between 2000 and 2004appen next. How low will the prices go, and is there a possibility that the prices will ever go up again, even if not as high as they were between 2000 and 2004.

The farmers have reason for concern, and we should as well. The reality is that the new generation of synthetics made from plant sources (beets, wood pulp, and other sources) offer cheap substitutes for vanilla. Frozen dessert manufacturers changed their formulas during the period where vanilla’s prices were so high, and they haven’t had much incentive to switch back. The rationale, I’m sure, is to save a few pennies on vanilla, especially as the cost of butter and cream has increased, and the sharp rise in gasoline costs has affected the prices of most products.

There are a number of reasons for concern: Will consumers become accustomed to the flavor of the imitation vanilla and not recognize pure vanilla when they taste it? Will farmers give up when the prices go too low, tear up their crops and either plant something else or immigrate to other countries in search of work? And, even though there is a demand in the gourmet-foods, natural foods and food service niche markets, will this provide enough demand for vanilla that farmers can still eke out a living growing vanilla?

From my point of view, the current situation is very troubling. Vanilla is a rain forest plant, though very little vanilla is now actually grown in rain forests. Nevertheless, like many other plants from the forest, it has proven medicinal value. Could we lose a plant that might have great value in cancer treatment or DNA repair? We have already lost many, many rain forest plants that could well have contained useful medicinal components.

The flavor of pure vanilla is unique and no flavor scientist has been able to come close to replicating it. This, after continuous attempts by flavorists and scientists for more than a hundred years.

The livelihoods of thousands of farmers would be endangered with the loss of vanilla, and their families would suffer the consequences of increased poverty, compromised educational opportunities, and the likelihood of having their families split apart as the head (or heads) of household move to another country in search of work. This last is not uncommon as children are placed with relatives while both parents, frequently with limited skills for working in industrialized countries, attempt to cross borders illegally in search of a way to support themselves and their families back home.

It’s so easy for us to forget how each choice we make, each action we take, can have a ripple effect that reaches far beyond our immediate lives. Our planet is so small now; we can have a positive or negative effect on people we have never met who live thousands of miles away. For the love of my family and the desire for a healthier planet for my grandsons and the children of the future, I feel very strongly about keeping vanilla a viable, healthy crop. I would like to see Fair Trade prices for vanilla, not as an exception, but as a rule. It’s the most labor-intensive agricultural product in the world and yet the farmer’s make only a few pennies on each dollar created through the sale of vanilla.

If you want to know more about what you can do to help save pure vanilla, attend one of my lectures. Better yet, create an event where I can come to speak, show my slide show of the faces and places of vanilla, do a special taste testing of vanilla or a meal based around vanilla and educate people about the importance of saving pure vanilla. Together we can make a difference.

In Santa Fe, New Mexico

September 18, 2005


It has been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to update this blog, which has been frustrating, especially as my intention was to keep readers current with what’s new in our business, issues relating to vanilla and other tropical commodities, and more. We are currently developing new products for the holidays, creating a brochure and a new homepage for the website, among other things. It has been a matter of priorities and which project screamed loudest for my attention. Now I have a few quiet moments before returning home to the busy-ness of daily life.

I am writing this in Santa Fe, New Mexico where I have just completed a program called, “Real Speaking,” facilitated by Gail Larsen, an exceptionally skilled speaker and, for several years, the President of the National Speaker’s Association. One of our coaches at the Women Leaders for the World cohort, Joanne Brem, strongly suggested that I work with Gail as she is brilliant in assisting people in identifying their core message and the best ways for engaging our authentic voices. If you are interested in working with Gail, visit www.realspeaking.com. If you sign up, please mention that I referred you.

This is my first visit to Santa Fe, though I’ve wanted to come here for many years, not only because I knew I would feel a kinship with the people who live here, but because my cousin Thom and his wife, Judith, live in El Rito, in the high desert mesa outside of town. Judith is currently in Atlanta directing a play, so Thom took me on a tour of the region, first to Taos Pueblo following the back roads along the Rio Grande Gorge, and the next day into Georgia O’Keefe’s country in Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch. We completed our tour by visiting Chimayo, known for the miracles that have occurred in the Chimayo sanctuary. The monsoon season has just ended and the countryside and washes are filled with chamisa, sunflowers, asters, mullen and blooming plants, and the pinon pine cones are filled with their delicious seeds. It feels so familiar because of the years of seeing pictures in magazines and movies made in New Mexico, and it is truly beautiful. The sky is saturated with blues and with a multitude of colors so intensely bright at sunrise and sunset that it appears as if it has been painted with acrylics by the Great Creator.

Right now, the sky near my cousin’s home is filled with thick, choking smoke and the roar of flames devouring the Pinon, the firs, the junipers and cypress. Eight firefighters were in his driveway earlier this evening, eating rations and waiting for bulldozers to cut a fireline. We had planned to connect this afternoon to share a meal after the training ended. Instead, this morning Thom called to say that a fire had broken out and that while it appeared to be under control, he’d get back to me a little later as to whether he’d been down this evening or tomorrow morning.

When I left the Bobcat Inn this afternoon, I saw a huge pall of smoke drifting across the mesa. I wasn’t able to reach Thom until this evening. Apparently the fire exploded this afternoon around 2:30 and raced up the ridge behind him, surrounding the region. His car was ready to roll with the dog and cats inside, and his truck was loaded with their most beloved possessions. I am writing while I wait for his arrival with the animals; the truck has been moved to the home of friends who live a safe distance from the fire...at least for the moment. There are two fires that have merged into 2000 acres of burning or blackened mesa, and the fire is has zero containment. It appears that I am getting the full Santa Fe experience.

A Post Script: The fire was contained and my cousin did not lose their hom.

Women Leaders for the World.

No, I haven't been absent from blog writing after retracting my statements about Haagen Dazs because of embarrassment. On the contrary, I have invited Haagen Dazs to use me as their spokesperson. They haven't yet responded....

I've been absent because of the extraordinary opportunity to participate in the first ever twelve day residency program at Santa Clara University, Women Leaders For The World (WLW). Women from diverse places have come to participate -- Uganda, Uzbekistan, Mexico, Indonesia, South Africa, and the United States. Each participant came with a vision or to create a vision in a supportive environment, with the goal of making the world a better place. While many of the visions are focused on women or women and children, ultimately, each involves everyone, and empowers all to have a better life. Challenges women in developing countries face, and specifically Uzbekistan, are nearly unimaginable to those of us who live in more democratic environments. Their courage and determination is moving.

Initially my intention was to work on the International Tropical Farmers Network, still in its nascent state, but garnering a lot of enthusiasm with our core group. However, I realized that in order to focus time on the network it was first necessary for me to focus on growing our core business. By creating a very profitable business we can implement more of the projects that we hold dear and important to us.

I have set a goal to have our vanilla sugar into Starbucks by October. Rather than feeling daunted, I feel determined. While I certainly see this as doable, if for any reason Starbucks decides it isn't the right product for them (though I can't imagine why they wouldn't want it!), there are many other avenues we can explore.

We are also interested to get our products into more specialty food and natural food stores such as Whole Foods, as well as to provide our premium extracts and beans to more restaurants, ice cream stores and bakeries. If you who read my blog will point us in the direction of your favorite places to eat, small-to-mid-size ice cream producers, or bakeries, we'll be sure to follow your suggestions.

On Friday we visited Google in Mountain View. What an amazing place!! We were all impressed with their vision, their goals, their eco-friendly environment and beautiful facility. It was a community in the truest sense of the world. They even provide their employees with their meals for free! Well, yes, I do that too, but only for four, not for thousands. They have great desserts -- maybe they'll be our next big account.

The women and men who are facilitating the WLW cohort have impressive credentials and a strong presence in the business and academic communities. Our classes are varied, with some segments focused on leadership and vision, and others on ethics, cultural diversity, etc. For instance, Saturday was devoted to understanding cultural differences as a way to better interact within our global community.

Perhaps one of the most powerful tools has been to understand how the lenses through which we view our lives impact ourselves as well as our way of doing business or running organizations, or even relating to our friends and family. I went to the conference knowing that I would learn a lot but I had not known that the experience would be transformational. I look forward putting into motion what I have learned. Watch out world, I have big plans! I will write more about the WLW after we have completed the cohort.

On a sadder note, on July 20th my oncologist, Richard Shapiro, died quite suddenly of a heart attack. He was only 41 years old and had no history of heart disease. It has been a huge shock for his family, friends, patients, and for the community at large. He was funny, irreverent, compassionate and gave us a sense of hope. We all were his favorite patient. I feel blessed to have had him in my life and sad to let go of an extraordinary human being.

RETRACTION OF STATEMENTS POSTED IN SAVING PURE VANILLA

On June 24th I posted an article in this blog about Saving Pure Vanilla. I expressed concern that many premium ice cream manufacturers (and I specifically mentioned Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean ice cream) do not contain pure vanilla extract or flavor in their ice cream. I was also concerned about how ingredients are represented on the packaging. I requested that people write to Nestle Corporation asking that they comply with the FDA Standard of Identity and to put pure vanilla extract in their premium ice creams.

When I wrote these statements in my newsletter and web log, I honestly (but unfortunately) was not considering that this could possibly be harmful to the reputation of Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, Inc., to Nestle, or to Haagen-Dazs. It was based on information I received from a meeting at the Flavor and Extract Manufacturer’s Association (FEMA) and from the labeling I read on the Haagen-Dazs ice cream package. It was also based on my interpretation of the FDA Standard of Identity for premium vanilla ice creams. And finally, it included my concern about the vanilla producers worldwide and my interest in seeing increased use of pure vanilla in premium products.

On June 30th I received a letter from Mark LeHockey, Vice President and Counsel of Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, Inc. Mr. Le Hockey writes:

“First and foremost your statement that Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean ice cream contains synthetic vanillin is completely false. Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean contains only pure vanilla extract, supplied to Dreyer’s by one of the most reputable ingredients suppliers in this country. For the same reason, your statement that “Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean ice cream contains ‘no vanilla at all’ is false.

“From there, it unfortunately only gets worse. Based upon your misstatement that Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean contains no vanilla at all, your further assertions that Dreyer’s or Nestle are defying FDA regulations, using ‘fraudulent packaging, which is illegal’, and for the past few years ‘they’ve ignored the law’, are both false and presumptively malicious based upon the actual facts and your failure to ascertain the true facts before making such scurrilous charges.

“In fact, in addition to using only pure vanilla extract in its Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean ice cream, Dreyer’s has spent and continues to spend millions upon millions of dollars ensuring the highest quality of Haagen-Dazs ingredients and communicating those benefits to our customers. In this connection, the false statements and accusations contained in the June 24th web site do severe damage to our work and the reputation and goodwill of one of the most valuable brands in this country. Each passing day that these false statements and claims remain posted only exacerbates the problem.”

As a journalist, I attempt to report accurate information to readers. In fact, I did not contact Dreyer’s or Nestle in advance of publishing information on my web log or in the newsletter. I placed a call to Mr. Mark LeHockey on July 1st, but as I have not heard back from him, I can neither confirm nor deny that Haagen-Dazs ice cream contains pure vanilla extract. As a result, I will assume that Mr. LeHockey’s claim is accurate. I respectfully apologize for misinformation I may have provided regarding Haagen-Dazs premium ice cream and for any fraudulent or false statements I have made. I have removed the web log statements and am contacting all newsletter subscribers to apologize for inaccurate or misleading information.

As those of you who read my blog are fans of pure vanilla, I encourage you to enjoy premium ice creams containing pure vanilla and to continue to support vanilla producers by purchasing and using pure vanilla products.

Regards,
Patricia Rain,
Vanilla Queen

Out on the Road

From May 31st to June 4th I was "on the road," though not far away -- just the East San Francisco Bay Area. Even ninety miles away is fun, however, as so much of my time is spent in front of the computer in Santa Cruz, so I feel as if it's a holiday when I'm doing book events. The best part of this trip was that I stayed with my daughter and son-in-law and my "job" was to entertain (and be entertained by)my grandson, Theo. He and I are so fond of one another that we play from the moment he wakens until he goes to bed, and it's always difficult to leave at the end of the visit.

Theo is just turning 16 months and he's determined to talk. He went to a birthday party while I did my event at Black Oak Books, and was served a cupcake. He doesn't get a lot of sugar, and so he was thrilled with that sweet taste that's a natural pleasure for us humans. His dad reported that he said, "Ummmm. Oh wow! oh, ummmm, wow, oh MAN!" Clearly he takes after his grandmother who has a full set of sweet teeth!

I did a reading and slide show in Berkeley Tuesday evening at Black Oak Books, and after, attendees were treated to an amazing dessert selection by Chez Panisse. Chez Panisse prepared two-bite sized eclairs filled with Chantilly cream and decorated with caramelized spun sugar, cat's tongues (a thin vanilla wafer cookie), and a remarkable tapioca pudding with a tiny scoop of a fantastic ice cream. I was so busy answering questions that I don't remember what the ice cream was flavored with, but it was all extraordinary. Vintage Berkeley Wines poured a delicious Moscato dessert wine.

As you can see, I don't do a standard book event. First I read some of the "wow" details about vanilla from the Introduction, and then begin a slide show that features the cycle of vanilla and the faces and places where it's grown. I always have an interactive table set up with our extracts and beans so that people can see and sniff for themselves the differences between vanilla of various origins. They can also taste our vanilla sugar, smell a bag filled with vanilla beans (a heady aroma, to be sure!) and enjoy a picture book with additional pictures.

The following day I taped a radio show for KCRW Los Angeles (an NPR station)from KQED in San Francisco, then enjoyed lunch right on the Bay with an old friend who is both interesting and extremely creative, a perfect companion to share a meal with. On the 4th I spent the afternoon at The Pasta Shop in Berkeley. The Pasta Shop event was a culinary extravaganza. They had three tasting dishes of Creme Anglaise (a thin pouring custard) flavored with the varieties of vanilla I carry (Madagascar, Tahitian, and Mexican),as well as carry-out containers of the custard, and a sampling of the Smoked Turkey, Cranberry, Cous-Cous Salad with Vanilla Vinaigrette from The Vanilla Chef along with carry-out containers of the salad. They also sell an impressive variety of pre-made foods, including salads, sandwiches, and hot foods, and gorgeous desserts, meats, freshly made pasta, breads, cheeses, and hard to find cooking ingredients. I was in heaven! Even better, there are several streets filled with small shops so it can be an afternoon outing to visit 4th Street in Berkeley. I discovered Tacubaya, a Mexican restaurant next to The Pasta Shop, and found they carry fresh masa. Since returning home, I've been eating fresh tortillas for lunch. Regretably, I don't have the technique down well, but even though they look like lopsided pancakes, they taste like Southern Mexico, and that's what really matters!

I signed books, visited with customers, and had my larger traveling display set up with samples of vanilla from around the world. Store manager, Porsche, a trained chef, answered questions about the many different items I've collected in my travels. More than just vanilla beans, there are woven containers for holding vanilla from Tahiti's Central Market, woven vanilla bean ornaments from Madagascar and Mexico, a clock made from a coconut and decorated with vanilla beans, coffee beans, and banana fiber from Bali, money embossed with vanilla beans from around the world, and even a display of the most commonly purchased synthetics from Mexico and the Caribbean. It's a true hands-on vanilla experience. And the best part is that people purchased not one but THREE bottles of extract, the foods, and the books. This is wonderful to see in the summertime when most people don't think about baking. My dream is to have everyone use vanilla year 'round (ideally, daily), putting it in summertime salads, lemonade and other beverages, in rubs and sauces for grilled meats and seafood, and in delicious ice creams and fruit desserts.

I'm back in Santa Cruz for a while though I may be off to Mexico with Alton Brown of Food Networks "Good Eats," in July or August. This is the hottest time of year in Mexico but it will still be great to "return home." I haven't been to Mexico in three years and I'm really homesick for the delicious small, thick tortillas, black beans and the culinary specialties of Veracruz, as well as to see my "family" of friends whom I love dearly.

The Vanilla/Mosquito Connection

Last year I received a phone call from a popular call-in talk radio station asking if imitation vanilla would repel mosquitoes. Word was out that wearing the vanilla would protect you from being bitten. I also received several e-mails from people, and one man in Canada actually considered creating a mosquito repellent with a vanilla aroma.

At the time I was busy completing the history book and I didn't get around to testing the theory. I know that spiders aren't wild about vanilla and that you can put a vanilla bean in furniture polish to keep them off the furniture (at least until the aroma wears off), so it seemed reasonable to me that mosquitoes might not like vanilla either.

This year I decided I should try the vanilla approach to combatting flying insects. I live next to a lake and it is full-on mosquito season here. West Nile Virus has shown up in the area and health officials anticipate a real problem, so the time was right use myself as a guinea pig. I bought some imitation vanilla at the grocery store and put it on the left side of my face, neck, and left arm. On the right side of my face, neck and right arm I put pure vanilla extract.

The first thing I noticed is that the pure vanilla smelled better on my skin than the imitation. I also found that the aroma seemed to fade fairly quickly, at least to my human nose. Undaunted, I went out into my garden to work. It was late afternoon and the mosquitoes were definitely coming out in force.

The results? Two bites on the left side of my body; two bites on the right! Now, I probably should have had more bites given the number of mosquitoes buzzing around me, but one bite is one too many if the mosquito is carrying a virus. So, chalk up the buzz to another urban legend!

One thing that DOES work is citrus peel. I was out in the fields alongside a river in Mexico several years ago. The mosquitoes were everywhere and all I could think of was malaria or dengue fever. However, we were walking through Mandarin (tangerine) trees, so we picked some Mandarins and I introduced my Mexican friends to the joys of smelling like a Mandarin. I rubbed the fragrant inside of the peel over my face, neck, arms, and hands, and they followed suit. The result kept us from being "eaten alive."

I spoke with the local company that is working on mosquito abatement using natural methods rather than spray. The director said that the most effective mosquito protection continues to be DEET. Although Deet's producer says that it's safe even for small children, it can lift paint off of things, so it can't be perfect. He said that there is a product called Picindirin (or something close to that) that's a little less invasive and there should be a new lemon eucalyptus product coming out next year. Finally, there is a product called "Off." If you have any additional ideas, please let me know and I'll post them.

The moral of the story is that while vanilla may be able to help with cancer prevention it doesn't make it with mosquitoes!

Power Foods

After receiving the information about vanilla as an anti-mutagenic and that it can repair DNA strand, I've thought a lot about how we can incorporate more vanilla into our diets as yet another healthy food to use in cancer prevention. As many of you know, I was diagnosed 15 months ago with advanced breast cancer, and I'm now cancer-free. Was it the vanilla? Who knows. All I know is that I'm currently fine and I'm working hard to stay well. And...I'm certainly incorporating vanilla and herbs and spices into lots of what I call "power" foods, foods known to be high in vitamins, minerals, phyto-chemicals or amino acids.

Here are some examples: White tea -- especially silver-needle white tea -- is extremely high in antioxidants and quite mild in flavor. Further, you can brew the leaves from white tea several times and still get the health benefits it. Adding a few drops of pure vanilla extract enhances the flavor and boosts the health benefits further.

Research at Pace University in NY showed that white tea is better than green at slowing the growth of viruses and bacteria. The Linus Pauling Institute has found that it helped prevent tumors in laboratory studies more effectively than other teas.

The Wall Street Journal rated white teas, giving Upton Tea Imports Organic China White Paklum the highest rating.(uptontea.com) They also recommended Adaggio Teas, White Peony, the most affordable (adagio.com), and The Republic of Tea's Silver Rain White Tea (republicoftea.com)as excellent. The only downside of white tea is cost; it's considerably more expensive than green or black teas as only the youngest tea leaves and buds are used, limiting the harvest to days or hours for the very finest tea leaves.

Green tea is also very high in antioxidants, is considerably less expensive and is easy to find in the marketplace. I experimented with both teas. The white tea doesn't have the slightly bitter aftertaste that is typical in green tea. It has a very delicate flavor and I found that the addition of vanilla extract enhanced its flavor. I wasn't sure how I'd like vanilla in green tea as its flavor is stronger. In fact, what I discovered is that it cuts the bitter aftertaste and I could add more vanilla to it than I expected I'm now drinking white or green tea daily with a little pure vanilla in it.

It's a "no-brainer" to add vanilla to yogurt and fruits, oatmeal, milk, cereals, power drinks, shakes, etc. Add 1/2 teaspoon or more per serving. It will only make these foods taste better. Add a little cinnamon (especially true cinnamon as opposed to cassia) and you've given the foods an additional boost. Pomegranates, cranberries, raspberries and blueberries are especially good fruits for cancer prevention.

A less obvious choice is to add pure vanilla to vegetables. Sweet potatoes, carrots and winter squash are all high in beta-carotene and antioxidants, are really good for the body, and are all sweet vegetables. Vanilla makes them even sweeter and more appealing. Get the bottle out and add 1/2 teaspoon or more per serving. You might also consider adding a little turmeric, the bright yellow herb found in curries. The curcumin in turmeric is known to be an anti-angiogenic. Be judicious at first, as it can cause slight stomach upset for some people.

Green vegetables are also high in antioxidants and also benefit from vanilla. This afternoon I had a mixture of steamed rainbow chard, English peas and fava beans, all spring vegetables. I added flaxseed oil, fresh lemon juice, Kosher salt and a pressed garlic clove all blended together, and then added 1/2 teaspon pure vanilla extract. The vanilla was subtle as the garlic was the predominant flavor.

Be playful and experiment. Share your best discoveries with us; we'd love to post them for others to use.
* * *

Yesterday I spoke to a group of Culinary Historians in Los Angeles. It was sunny and warm outside, with a pleasant breeze. However, what really impressed me was the Los Angeles Main Library. At 10:00 a.m. when I arrived, people were lined up at all the entrances, despite the beautiful day! I asked the librarians about the crowd and they confirmed that the library is always very busy. There was a photo exhibit featuring the towns and people of Venice Beach, Encino, and Tarzana on the main floor and lovely gardens where people could go outside and read in the sun.

My slide-show and book reading was well-attended, and volunteers had baked cookies from The Vanilla Chef to serve with coffee at the reception. I mention this because with all we hear about the television and computer dominating people's lives, people DO still read and attend educational events! I really enjoy doing programs like this because people are genuinely interested in knowing more about vanilla and its uses, but they're also interested in the people who cultivate it around the world. It's fun to bring my "show on the road."

New Information on Vanilla's Medicinal Properties

Site visitor Bill Oliver sent some remarkable and very interesting information regarding vanilla's ability to repair DNA strands and its anti-mutagenic properties.http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/1997/Suppl-4/stoner-full.html

This is the key paragraph in the monograph:

--Inducers of DNA Repair. There are three possible chemopreventive mechanisms that involve DNA repair (70,71). The first is an increase in the overall level of DNA repair. An example of a naturally occurring chemical that increases the level of DNA repair is vanillin, which inhibits mammalian cell mutagenicity (72). The mechanisms through which vanillin promotes DNA repair have not been determined. Second, the enzyme poly(ADP-ribosyl)transferase (ADPRT) is involved in modulation of DNA damage (73,74), and the level of this enzyme is reduced by chemical carcinogens (75). N-Acetylcysteine prevents the decrease in ADPRT caused by the carcinogen 2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF) (75). The third mechanism is suppression of error-prone DNA repair. Protease inhibitors depress error-prone repair in bacteria (76), and it has been suggested that they could prevent carcinogenesis by inhibiting an error-prone repair system activated by proteases that, in turn, are induced by tumor promoters (!
77).--

Citations of additional information about vanilla as medicine:

http://nar.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/full/31/19/5501

or

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/109741309/ABSTRACT

or (scroll down the page to his information):

http://www.umdnj.edu/umcweb/marketing_and_communications/publications/umdnj_magazine/spring2004/6.htm Here there are two paragraphs about the work of Jeffrey D. Laskin, PhD on the prevention of prostrate cancer.

I intend to follow up on this with more information as I can find it. I would like to find out more about doseage for possible cancer prevention as well as doseage as an integrative therapy treatment for cancer. In the meantime, if any readers have additional information, please either post here or contact me at rain@vanilla.com

Options For Vanilla Growers

Any farmer who has grown "luxury" crops (non-subsistance plants) for more than a few years, knows that supply and demand are the primary factors that drive the market. Several years ago coffee was the big luxury crop. Demand was high and wholesale prices were good. From the perspective of most seasoned coffee farmers, it made sense to produce their normal crop, maybe even increase production. Farmers new to growing luxury crops enthusiastically tore up their food plots on prime land and planted coffee bushes, certain that they would earn enough cash to get ahead.

While the seasoned farmers were careful and the new farmers took a huge risk, neither group had any way of knowing what was happening in other tropical countries. Well-meaning USAID and other government sponsored groups encouraged struggling farmers everywhere to plant coffee as it would be the ticket to their becoming self-sufficient. In fact, suddenly the market was inundated with coffee beans. Further, the cost of living in Vietnam, a country new to the coffee industry, was much lower than Central America where coffee had been grown for generations. Vietnam could afford to sell cheaply, and inadvertently undercut Central American farmers. Farmers who tore up their food crops in favor of coffee were faced with potential starvation. Who benefitted? The large companies who bought the cheap coffee and maintained a larger margin of profit than usual, well aware that people in industrialized countries weren't going to forego their coffee and were willing to pay a good price for it.

When vanilla prices skyrockted, the same pattern occurred. For some coffee farmers, this was an opportunity to recoup from their losses. And even as the prices have now collapsed, farmers contact me all the time to find out how to grow vanilla. Why? Partially because information is slow to reach people who live in the "bush" and haven't access to computers or market information. And partially because cost of living is low enough that it's worth it to take the chance. Unfortunately, it usually isn't in the grower's best interests.

So what should farmers do? First, always keep food crops on prime land so the family eats no matter what. If available land is limited, creating collectives where farmers work together to produce several crops and share in the profits makes sense. This is especially good for getting organic certification or Fair Trade status. Certification isn't cheap, but if costs are shared by several farmers, all benefit as organic crops command a higher price.

Creative planting of luxury crops is another option. An example of this can be seen in the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Central Veracruz has hundreds of hectares in citrus and, at one time, this region produced much of the US citrus crop. Then Brazil planted oranges that were cheaper than Mexican oranges, and Florida's citrus grows near the processing plants, so Mexico was largely cut out of the American citrus market. A few smart farmers started planting vanilla in their orange groves. The trees are excellent tutors, pollination and harvest times don't interfere with one another, and two crops are produced in the same space as one.

One final option is to look for low-interest government or international loans for starting value-added products from crops. In the case of vanilla, create extract for markets in nearby countries or for in-country use. Package vanilla beans and extracts for the tourist market. Start an ice cream factory or bakery in your area where vanilla can be used. Study recipes on my site or in my books and open a cafe in a tourist region featuring local foods flavored with vanilla. Resourcefulness is the key to survival. Work as a team so that everyone benefits. I realize these aren't magic solutions that will completely solve the problems farmers face when prices collapse, but hopefully it will provide "food for thought."

If you have thoughts or ideas to share on this topic, please do e-mail us; we'll be happy to post good suggestions.

The Collapse of Vanilla Prices

Vanilla prices have definitely dropped and everyone who uses pure vanilla is cheering. I'm glad to see the prices drop for several reasons:

When prices hit $250 a kilo at point of origin, most industrial users (mainly frozen dessert manufacturers) stopped using vanilla entirely or switched to cheap synthetics, and vanilla consumption dropped dramatically. In 1998, world demand for pure vanilla was 2300 metric tons of vanilla beans annually. In 2004 it was 1200 metric tons and dropping! Consumption dropped by nearly half in six years!

When prices reached $500 a kilo at point of origin, growing vanilla was as dangerous as growing drugs! Theft, murder, and hijackings were commonplace in most vanilla-growing regions. In Madagascar, workers in the big processing houses had to change clothing when entering and leaving the workplace and were subject to pat-downs. The vanilla was put into large containers and welded shut each night and then opened with a blow torch the next morning! In Indonesia some villages built watch towers and growers all harvested the same day to prevent theft. In Papua New Guinea buses and trucks were ambushed along the highways and the vanilla and cash stolen. Mexico set up check-points along the highway and searched cars for stolen vanilla. Millitary helicopters circled plantations.

Growers harvested their vanilla well before it was ready to avoid theft. As a result, vanilla quality was uneven. Farmers who had paid premium prices to have their crops certified organic no longer bothered with the expensive and time-consuming process because their crops were valuable without certification. As a result, it became nearly impossible to find certified organic vanilla.

Individuals and cooperative groups worldwide planted vanilla with hopes of getting rich -- or at least paying their bills -- as the high prices spoke of hope. Coffee had collapsed a few years before the vanilla boom and growers tore up one crop to replace the other. Eventually an enormous overabundance of vanilla flooded the market from tropical countries worldwide. Some of the vanilla is premium quality, some is mediocre. But most of it was grown with hopes for a better life.

Now the craziness of the past several years is fading into the past...but what is the fallout of a boom/bust situation like this? Unfortunately, it's huge, but it's something that most of us are unlikey to hear about. Vanilla is an insignificant crop when compared with chocolate, coffee, sugar, or most other tropical commodities. We're talking less than 2500 metric tons in a boom time compared with millions of tons of coffee or cocoa beans. More than 97% of the world use of vanilla is from synthetics. So, it's highly unlikely that stories of the impact of the vanilla collapse will be headlines in industrialized countries.

So, here's what's happening currently: Most of the industrial users haven't switched back to pure vanilla, so tons and tons of vanilla are going to waste. Farmers have watched their latest dreams of getting a little further ahead dissolve into thin air. By the way, unless they knew how to properly cure and dry vanilla beans, the farmers didn't really benefit from the high prices. Rather, it was processors who gained from the high prices. A lot of middlemen, hopeful of breaking into the market and making it big-time are now considering new career options. The big vanilla companies are experiencing huge competition for the relatively small marketshare of vanilla sales. And the little companies are hanging on tooth and nail as it's nearly impossible for them to drop their prices rock-bottom to match the prices of the big companies as they haven't the resources to make it through until the prices stabilize. The only people to benefit from this transitional period are the consumers.

Personally, I hope that all of you who read this blog will take advantage of the low prices to use more pure vanilla. If you are at a loss for ways to use vanilla, our site offers hundreds of wonderful recipes and ideas: http://www.vanilla.com/html/recipeintro.html Our chefs-in-residence provide myriad ideas for using vanilla: http://www.vanilla.com/html/chef.html

While most of us won't take the time to do this, if you are so motivated, please encourage your favorite ice cream makers, chefs, restaurants, etc. to use pure vanilla in their products. More on this topic tomorrow.