at homeP16November 1 - 7, 2007

The Epoch Times

Adventure in local eatingBy MARY SILVEREpoch Times Atlanta Staff

“It’s about making choices that make the land more beautiful and lively, or choices that lead to its de-struction,” said the author of a best-selling new book on local eating.

Barbara Kingsolver recently gave a talk at Emory University in Atlanta about the choice to eat lo-cal foods rather than foods shipped thousands of miles to one’s table.

Kingsolver, her husband Steven Hopp, and their daughter Camille Kingsolver are the authors of “Ani-mal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life,” a book about their fam-ily’s adventure in local eating. Since its release in May this year, the book has stayed on the bestseller list, as welcome and vivid as real, home-grown tomatoes.

Free tickets to Kingsolver and Hopp’s talk at Emory quickly ran out, and they had to create a wait-ing list. There was a packed audi-ence as people stood in the back and crowded into all the balconies and choir lofts.

‘Locavores’More and more people are be-

coming interested in buying and eating local food, and the word “lo-cavore” has caught on as a term to describe them. The word was first coined by a group of women from Northern California in 2005, on the occasion of World Environment Day, to promote their passion about eating locally. They say that the choices we make about the foods we eat have important impacts po-litically, economically, environmen-tally, as well as healthfully.

The local food movement has continued to grow, despite some rather gloomy, lugubrious local food stories that sometimes surface. We’ve read the one about an unhap-py “locavore” man in New York who neglected his family while spending enormous hours gardening, and an-other one about a Canadian couple who ended up involuntarily losing weight eating locally.

The Kingsolver book is not one of these stories.

Kingsolver’s family had in fact chosen to move to where it had roots, in Appalachia, and set out to cultivate a fertile “holler” (a small valley). They gave consideration to what they were not willing to give

up—coffee, and flour for home-baked bread. They decided that it was reasonable to sup-plement local food with fairly traded exotic products. They did not go to extremes.

Chickens with names Kingsolver and her

family waited to start their local year until the propitious time, when asparagus was up and the local farm-ers’ market was open. The younger daughter could finally indulge her passion for chick-ens by starting an egg business, called “Lily’s Lovely Layers,” selling eggs from chickens that had names. The young entrepreneur bought chicks that would lay different coloured eggs so that she could please her customers with blue, white, and brown mix-tures.

No one lost weight on their lo-cal food regimen. Lily both gained weight and grew. However, the pur-pose of the experiment was not to enhance the family members’ own health, or to gain or lose weight; it was for the health of the community and the earth.

“I’m the facts guy, the academ-ic,” said Steven Hopp, waving his hands.

In the book he writes, “Ameri-cans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars. We’re consuming about 400 gallons of oil a year per citizen—about 17 percent of our nation’s energy use—for agriculture, a close second to our vehicular use.”

Besides farm machinery that uses petroleum, and synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides which all use oil and natural gas, the “lion’s share,” he says, “is consumed dur-ing the trip from the farm to your plate.”

Human cost of globalized cropsEven more than energy consump-

tion, the human cost of globalized commodity crops concerned Hopp and his family.

“Most people no longer believe that buying sneakers made in Asian sweatshops is a kindness to those

child labourers,” wrote Hopp.“Farming is similar. In every

country on earth, the most humane scenario for farmers is likely to be feeding those who live nearby—if international markets allow them to do it.”

He invited readers to visit vi-acampesina.org for more informa-tion.

Some of these concepts may sound high-minded, but the book is funny, playful, and intimate, like hanging out in the kitchen with a witty old friend.

When a member of the audience asked, “How exactly do you roast to-matoes?” the authors hollered, smil-ing, “Read the book!” Their book is full of recipes, directions to more information, article citations, and websites. It is densely researched and yet remains passionate.

Read it. Plant a tomato. Not now, wait until spring.

But even before you start your garden, go to a local farmers’ mar-ket, tell your grocery store you want local foods, and support your own local farmers. Kingsolver asked the farmers in the audience to please stand. They received a heartfelt ova-tion.

Kingsolver rarely speaks in pub-lic, but she decided to speak at Emo-ry because the university has made a commitment to a sustainable lo-cal food program. She donated her honorarium to Georgia Organics and related organizations.

Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver, authors of Animal, Vegeta-ble and Miracle. HANK DANIEL

By EMMA-KATE KNEZEVICEpoch Times Australia Staff

Taking a closer look at the numerous uses of hemp—nature’s strongest, most du-rable plant fibre—it is surprising this envi-ronmentally friendly fibre isn’t used on a more commercial basis.

As a society that now openly embraces the reality of environmental consequence, green campaigns are popping up every-where. Is it possible the use of hemp could play a part in saving our planet?

Colin Buckler of G.R.E.E.N Hemp be-lieves so. Buckler became involved with the hemp industry after seeing “how cotton grow-ing practices destroyed valuable rich land.”

G.R.E.E.N Hemp, which stands for Glo-bal Revival of Environmental Economic Nations, has been producing hemp prod-ucts in Australia since the late 1980s.

“We at G.R.E.E.N support a global hemp industry and encourage hemp from all countries,” Buckler said.

Hemp has a very long agricultural his-tory, having been used for textiles, paper, building materials, food, skincare, and medicine for over 6,000 years.

Until 1883 hemp was the source for 75 to 90 percent of all paper production. Hemp paper is acid-free, thus resistant to dete-rioration and will not turn yellow. It has a lifespan of 1,500 years, comparatively long-er than that of paper made from wood pulp, which lasts about 75 years.

Overall, the reduction in environmental waste is astounding when hemp fibre rather

than wood pulp is used to make paper.Bleaching hemp paper requires an en-

vironmentally safe hydrogen peroxide, whereas the chlorine bleach used for wood pulp paper causes large amounts of toxic waste that is dumped into rivers.

In addition, there is no need to use any in-secticides or pesticides on hemp paper, since it is disease-resistant. In the production of paper and other materials, such as canvas and clothing, it is the hemp stalk that is used, which contains no psychoactive elements.

Although hemp has numerous environ-mental advantages, it is still considered an alternative resource rather than part of mainstream consumerism. Buckler says there is a need for more education about hemp.

“There’s still an enormous stigma con-nected to hemp in many different facets of our community,” he said.

“I have been contacted by some schools that cannot download info about industri-al hemp, as school computers have ‘hemp’ listed as a blocked subject, so everything is blocked out...connecting industrial hemp with the THC drug variety.”

Hemp is a relative of the narcotic plant Cannabis Sativa.

When we take a look into the past it is ironic to observe it was at times illegal not to grow hemp! In 1535 Henry VIII passed a law that required all farmers to produce 25 percent hemp for every sixty acres of culti-vated land. During this period hemp was a massive contributor to the textile, food, and building industries.

The uses of hemp do not stop at its fi-bres. The seeds are also very useful. Hemp-seed oil is used to produce hemp-enriched shampoo, conditioner, hand and body lo-tion, bath and massage oil, moisturizing cream, salve, and lip balms. It has also been known to help relieve acne, minor abrasions, and eczema.

As more consumers become environ-mentally conscious and seek out eco-friend-ly products, it is good to know that hemp provides an excellent alternative in helping preserve our natural resources. Its diversity of uses, along with being biodegradable, makes it only a matter of time before this valuable plant carves out a bigger niche in the market.

Hemp–an eco-friendly alternative

By CHANI BLUEEpoch Times Australia Staff

Pesto is one of those condiments you just can’t do without. It can be added to almost any savoury dish to give it an unmistakable gourmet fla-vour, which adds so much to basic meals.

Pesto has a long history, dating back to the Roman times. The word pesta means “to crush.” It is also con-nected to the Latin word pestle, as pesto was originally crushed by hand using a mortar and pestle.

The common pesto recipe that most people are familiar with origi-

nates from the city of Genoa in the north of Italy. It is made from fresh basil, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, parmigiano-reggiano and peccorino sardo cheeses, and pine nuts. The flavour is zesty, with a nutty texture. It can be used as a main flavouring in pasta sauces and soups, or as a spread on crusty bread.

Sicily has its own variant on the original recipe that uses a lot less basil and adds tomato instead. Oth-er contemporary styles of pesto may use walnut, ricotta cheese, cashew, sun-dried tomato, lemon rind, and black olives.

If you have a food processor at

home, you can make your own pes-to—a cheaper option since store-bought pesto can be expensive.

Try adding pesto to baked veg-etables, steak, gnocci, egg dishes, or drizzled over salad. You can make it either smooth or chunky depending on the amount of time you process it in the food processor. Spread chunky pesto over meat before cooking, such as chicken, lamb, or beef, to give a roasted crunchy crust.

When making your own pesto, en-sure that the ingredients are always fresh. If you are creating your own recipe, add the ingredients little by little and check the taste frequently.

Basic traditional recipe for Genoan-style pesto

30 fresh basil leaves 100 ml extra virgin olive oil 40 g pine nuts 25 g freshly grated parmi-

giano-reggiano cheese 25 g freshly grated pecorino

cheese Salt Add the basil, olive oil, and a

pinch of salt to the food proc-essor. Process at medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the rest of the ingredients and process again to the desired consist-ency.

HEMP FASHIONS: Models wearing Oscar de la Renta and Halston gowns at a fash-ion show demonstrating biotechnology in the textile industry. The Oscar de la Renta gown (L) is made from silk, hemp, and Polylactic Acid (PLA), a corn-based polyester. SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES

Presto pesto