Feed Me Like You Mean It: Bikes Not Bombs

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Bikes Not Bombs

And now for something completely different… Well, not completely. I'm writing to ask for your support. I am riding my bike in a bike-a-thon to support a Boston-based non-profit called Bikes Not Bombs. It's a fantastic organization. Here's part of what they have to say about themselves: Bikes Not Bombs promotes bicycle technology as a concrete alternative to war and environmental destruction. They do it both in the US and elsewhere. Click here for more info, and to pledge money for my bike-a-thon Last year I raised over $2000 (out of a total of $100,000 raised). The economic times have changed, and things may or may not go as well this year, but every little bit helps. I can make it relate to food if I have to:

One of the things they do is support the conversion of bicycles into human-driven milling machines, grinders, and blenders for grains, coffee, cacao, etc.
More bikes = fewer cars = less pollution, plus less arable land used for ethanol and biodiesel and more used for growing food
More bikes = easier to transport water = possible to grow food

and so on.

No comments:

Books I've Read Recently

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, by Weston A. Price: Rather that theorizing abstractly about human nutrition, the author sought out isolated groups of healthy people around the world (this was in the 1930s, when there were still isolated groups of people), and documented their foodways. Price's book is jaw-dropping (literally). He describes group after group of people who are healthy in isolation, and become sick, miserable, and toothless when they adopt a "modern" diet. Aren't you curious what they were eating when they were healthy? Full write-up coming soon.

Other Books I've Read

The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America's Emerging Battle Over Food Rights, by David E. Gumpert: Is the government engaged in a covert and illegal campaign to discourage people from making their own food choices? Read the facts and decide for yourself. Full review here.
Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art, by Shizuo Tsuji and Yoshiki Tsuji: A masterwork on the subject of Japanese cuisine, and by extension, Japanese culture.
Winning Bicycle Racing, by Jack Simes: A short, fascinating book on the subject of bicycling, published in 1976, when the majority of men still wore moustaches. And as with any bicycling publication, there are some great facial expressions.
The Secret History of the World: As Laid Down by the Secret Societies, by Mark Booth: A truly fascinating, meticulously documented look at the evolution of human consciousness and religion. What are some of the connections among different religions' creation myths and pantheons? Why are there astrological and other "pagan" symbols in Christian rites? Did you know that "elohim", the Hebrew word in Genesis typically translated as "God", is actually a plural noun? And so on. N.B.: the book describes an almost exclusively male experience. I think Booth could have done more in the front material to explain this, or at least to notify the reader of the orientation.
The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy, by Sasha Issenberg: The history of sushi and the sushi supply chain, detailing the journey that your fish takes from the cold ocean to your neighborhood sushi bar, often by way of Tokyo. Sasha Issenberg focuses on the lives of the people involved in the sushi trade. Fascinating and well-written.
The Story of Sushi: An Unlikely Saga of Raw Fish and Rice, by Trevor Corson: The story of some students at a sushi academy—and more generally, the story of sushi itself. A wonderful book, entertaining, thorougly and carefully researched, and instructive. It makes me want to eat sushi. Or write about it. Similar, but only a bit, to The Making of a Chef, by Michael Ruhlman.
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan
The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century, by James Howard Kunstler
The Earth Knows My Name: Food, Culture, and Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic America, by Patricia Klindienst

Food Preserving Reading List

Wild Fermentation, by Sandor Ellix Katz
Ball Blue Book of Preserving
Putting Food By, by Janet Greene, Ruth Hertzberg, and Beatrice Vaughan: A classic work on the subject of food preserving, with an emphasis on canning.
Preserved, by Nick Sandler
Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning: Traditional Techniques Using Salt, Oil, Sugar, Alcohol, Vinegar, Drying, Cold Storage, and Lactic Fermentation, by The Gardeners and Farmers of Centre Terre Vivante, with forewords by Deborah Madison and Eliot Coleman
ServSafe CourseBook with Online Exam Voucher (5th Edition): You, too, can be ServSafe Certified!