Microwaved Oatmeal: Study reveals it can still be tasty

When I came home last night, I was greeted with the glorious news that we were without heat, hot water, or most of our electrical appliances. Which meant no stove. Alas.

However, my dad ran in an extension cord so we could use the microwave this morning. And contrary to what you may think, you don't actually need to cook oatmeal on the stove for that thick, steaming bowl of breakfasty delight. 

I love oatmeal. It's my favorite breakfast for a cold winter morning... and since it was 50 degrees inside, it was more or less perfect. The steam issuing into the frigid air was quite picturesque. Silver lining and all that.

Microwaves definitely get a bad rap among foodies and traditionalists. I'm not in a position to say how much or little the microwave has contributed to the decline of home cooking or the family meal, but I can say that the microwave is a tool, and like any tool, it can be used for good or evil.

I will confess that I've used microwaves to cook. And I'm not alone - Harold McGee, a regular writer for the New York Times and author of best-selling books On Food and Cooking and Keys to Good Cooking, talked about using microwaves in a Fresh Air interview last year. According to McGee:

It turns out when studies have been done on retaining vitamins in vegetables, for example, microwave ovens do a much better job than boiling or even steaming. It's a very good, very quick way to heat food, and I do cook vegetables in the microwave. I cook thin fish fillets in the microwave in just a matter of a minute or so.

So since we've established that microwaving food isn't a morally reprehensible offence, let's talk about oatmeal.

Stove-less Stovetop Oatmeal

Ingredients

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 cup milk

Toppings - I'm partial to honey, raisins and flax seeds

Pour oatmeal and milk into microwave-safe bowl and stir. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Microwave oatmeal in one minute increments, stirring occasionally. Keep an eye on it in case it starts to boil over.

Continue to alternate between microwaving and stirring until oatmeal is the consistency you want. Add toppings and enjoy.

My opinion: You definitely can't tell the difference between stove-top and microwaved oatmeal. However, it's slightly more time-intensive to cook in the microwave, since you have to stop every 30 to 60 seconds in order to prevent boiling over. But then, you also don't have to clean a saucepan. Decisions, decisions.

Happy Nutrition Month! Also included - Dietary Guidelines and I ♥ Beef!

That's right... March is Nutrition Month, brought to you by the American Dietetics Association. It might not be as prestigious as African American History Month or LGBT Pride Month, and it does have to share March with the likes of "Help Fight Liver Disease" Month and National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. So who knows how many people will actually hear about it. But despite sharing the limelight, the ADA has lofty ambitions, and is preparing to bring everyone better nutrition in 2011 with their theme, "Eat Right With Color".

Everyone who has anything to say about nutrition wants Americans to eat more fruits and vegetables. It's old news, really. When the USDA released the 2010 Dietary Guidelines on January 31st, no one was shocked to read that they want us to fill up on produce.

Now, I know I'm a little late to be talking about the 2010 Dietary Guidelines a month after the fact. They've already been picked over by experts and bloggers with far more insight than I - Marion Nestle is everyone's go-to girl for all things food policy related, and La Vida Locovore did a very nice job boiling down what all those experts seem to be saying. FoodNavigator.com also did a series of articles on the aftermath of the guidelines, compiled here by Marion Nestle.

Regardless. Here are my humble observations:

1. Everyone is happy that the USDA is telling us to eat more fruits and veg (at least half your plate, they say), but in our consumerism-dominated culture, telling anyone to eat more poses no problems. It's when you say to eat less that people start getting snarky, which leads me to...
2. In their own roundabout way, the USDA did say to eat less red meat. But they sidestepped it by couching it in euphamisms like "saturated fat" and "SOFAS", which stands for "solid fats and added sugars". This spares them the anger of the formidable meat industry, but just adds confusion for everyone else. 
3. Most of the reactions I read are lukewarm. The guidelines get a passing grade, but definitely not A+ material. Most responses point out that the USDA did state more explicitly than ever that obesity is indeed a problem, they did say we need to decrease our salt intake, and they did say we need to increase our fruit/veg consumption. But still a failure so far as reining in the food industry is concerned, or telling us point-blank what foods to avoid.

What I found especially interesting is that mere weeks after the USDA released these new guidelines, the UK health agency released a warning to limit red and processed meat consumption to 3 ounces or less per day, after it has been linked to bowel cancer. And they actually said "red meat" and "processed meat". How quaint, using actual words to describe things. Don't they know acronyms are the way of the future? Those silly Brits.

To add insult to injury, the American Heart Association has announced a partnership with the Beef Board (a program that markets beef, controlled by the USDA of all people), where they will endorse certain cuts of lean beef as "heart healthy". As Marion Nestle (her again!) said, at least this seems to be a slightly more considered choice than their endorsement of certain sugary breakfast cereals. Slightly.

And because everyone needs a fabulous advertising campaign, the I ♥ Beef! people are mounting a full scale assault. According to the website, "Steak is well-known as a "best match" for love, passion and romance." Who knew?

Aw....the steak is even vaguely heart-shaped. It must be true. But somehow, I don't think mowing down a 16 oz. steak is the sexiest thing in the world, so forgive me if I skip out on Longhorn for my next date.

My 2011 Goals and Sweet Potato Pecan Pie

As you may or may not remember, I've been hired by an organic farm for the 2011 growing season. First, I must get celebratory impulses out of my system, not unlike Colin Firth the other night.... so, YAY!
 

Or maybe I'll just celebrate with some PIE.

Now that I have that out of my system, I find myself wondering what role this blog is going to play in the upcoming year. I originally created it to chronicle my WWOOF-ing adventures, which have somehow morphed into accepting an internship on a family farm. My reasons for having this blog haven't changed much, though. And since I'm starting so soon - March 21st, to be precise - I want to take some time now and reflect on my goals.

Document my adventures, thoughts, experiences, etc. Just like a real diary... only a lot less private. I'll keep my own separate journal for my less public musings. Here, not only do I want to keep track of what I'm doing and learning every day, but I want to write about issues facing small family farms, organic and sustainable agriculture, food culture, and so on. All heavily seasoned with my own personal commentary, of course.

Hone my writing skills. While I love to write and think I'm pretty good at it, I know I have a lot to learn. A blog is as good a platform as any to practice writing regularly. Which brings me to...

Write regularly. When I keep a journal, I'm very good about writing regularly, but something - an inherent need for sleep, perhaps - often causes me to give up on keeping up to date when I get busy. And I'm sure this year is going to be nothing if not busy. So I'm setting a goal for myself to update this blog at least once a week. I'll revisit this after I start work, but I think this is a doable amount, leaving me plenty of wiggle room.

Run out of space on Picasa. What I mean by this hyperbolizing is, I want and need to do a great job of visually documenting this year, despite having a lardball of a digital camera to lug around. Besides, blog entries are so much more interesting when they have pictures accompanying them.... as anyone who compares my last few entries to a month or two ago can attest.



Now that all that seriousness is finished, let's talk about pie.

My grandad is visiting us right now and will be leaving soon, so I decided to make a gigantic dinner tonight, which was received with great acclaim. It consisted of pasta puttanesco and a spinach and fennel salad with strawberries and shitake mushrooms, topped with goat cheese and a floridly-colored homemade dressing that involved pureed strawberries.* And, to wrap up, a Sweet Potato Pecan Pie. Capitalized.


Nothing says "I love you, Grandpa!" like anchovies, garlic and salmon-colored salad dressing.

Here's the back story: last year, I had a Julia Child page-a-day calendar. Since I was living off the AmeriCorps $4.50 per day food budget, I couldn't try very many recipes, so I ended up saving them all. This weekend, I spent many an hour organizing the recipes, gluing them individually onto sheets of paper, cross-referencing them and putting them in a binder. I know it seems strange, but one thing you must understand about me is that I get weirdly excited about organizing things...especially if it involves color coding.
  
As I was putting the recipes in their nice, safe little page protectors, I happened to stumble upon one for Sweet Potato Pecan Pie. I like sweet potatoes, I thought. And I like pecans. And I LOVE pie. And wonder of wonders, I had all the ingredients, including sweet potatoes from the Indy Winter Farmer's Market. Unfortunately, I did have to resort to a frozen pie crust, for time was simply too short. But otherwise, the pie was a resounding success, and was absolutely perfect as a mid-winter dessert. Safe to say, the pie will be reappearing for Thanksgiving 2011.

Sweet Potato Pecan Pie

Ingredients

1 9-inch frozen deep-dish pie crust, thawed and pierced all over with fork

(Again, you can make your own crust. I definitely will next time. But this way is certainly time-saving.)

1 1-lb sweet potato, pierced with fork

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. allspice

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup light corn syrup

(Yes, I know it's the devil - you can substitute honey or sorgham or whatever you want. You can also boil water and sugar and make simple syrup.)

 2 large eggs

1 cup pecan halves

Preheat oven to 400 F and bake crust until pale golden, about 8 minutes. Set aside and reduce oven temp. to 350 F.

Cook potato in microwave on high until tender, about 6 minutes per side. Cut in half and scoop flesh into medium bowl and mash - measure out 1 cup and set rest aside. Whisk brown sugar and next 5 ingredients into mashed potato; spread mixture over pie crust.

Whisk syrup and eggs in bowl to blend, and stir in pecans. Pour over potato mixture.

Bake pie until filling is set, puffed, and brown - about 45 minutes. Let cool before serving.

*No, we did not go out and buy strawberries in February. What a notion. My parents get a co-op sort of deal through Green Bean Delivery, through which they get a box every week full of local, organic produce. At least, it's supposed to be local... they seem to have some difficulties in winter, and I've noticed a lot of items coming from Florida... kiwis, lemons, oranges, and the like. At least it's organic, although it raises questions. Check out the FRESH: The Movie blog for a discussion about what goes into a food mile, Part 1 and Part 2.

Recipe: Academy Award-winning Hummus

Om nom nom.

A few days ago, I was flipping through one of those nice glossy magazines my mom buys with giant pictures of food that always look superb and far more presentable than anything I ever make. I came across a recipe that said, simply, "Hummus". And it looked delicious. And not too hard, either. So I decided to make some for tonight, when I join my friends to watch the Oscars.

Well, actually what happened is that when I ransacked Trader Joe's yesterday in search of ingredients for white chili, I managed in a fit of incredible ineptitude to grab Garbanzo beans instead of Great Northern. It even says GARBANZO! in really big letters on the can. So I decided to make lemonade out of lemons.... or, in this case, hummus out of garbanzo beans.*

It wasn't hard. It took me longer than it probably should have, since I had trouble with the blender and I insisted on squeezing actual lemons instead of just using lemon juice, because I have issues like that. But it tastes good. Too bad mine doesn't really look anything like the picture... isn't there somewhere I could take a class on making my food look like it does in the glossy magazine pictures?**


I bet my hummus will look exactly like this.

So here's the recipe. I made a couple changes, mostly due to my lack of sambal oelek, a bright red chili sauce that the magazine rather unappetizingly descripes as a "chunky condement". Maybe I don't want it in my hummus after all.

The original recipe can be found in Mother's Best Comfort Food: Wholesome dishes that take you back home. (And don't tell my mom, but I spilled tea all over its glossy innards while writing this. Whoops.)

Hummus

Ingredients

2 15 oz. cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon cold water

5 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

2/3 cup lemon juice (about 3-4 medium lemons)

2 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 1/3 cups tahini (sesame paste - check the international aisle of your store)

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 cup chopped sundried tomatoes

Half an hour before making the hummus, set the sundried tomatoes to soak in the cold water for at least 30 minutes. 

Note: I added some extra water that I froze for later- soaking the tomatoes makes the water all nice and flavorful, which is good for making soups down the road.

Drain sundried tomatoes and set aside, reserving water. Place the garbanzo beans, water, garlic, lemon juice, salt, tahini and cumin in a food processor or blender. Process until smooth, at least 3 minutes. (Or, if you're me..... maybe 20 minutes, because you fail at using blenders.) You may have to stop to scrape down the sides and stir the mixture. Taste and add more salt or lemon juice if desired.

To serve, spoon hummus into bowl or platter. Sprinkle the sundried tomatoes in the middle of the hummus. Let it come to room temperature, and eat with warm pita bread or raw vegetables.



What do you mean, it doesn't look like the magazine picture?

As I mentioned, the original recipe calls for sambal oelek and chopped olives for garnish, but hummus is one of those recipes that is perfect for creating endless variations. Hence, the sundried tomatoes, which I love to snack on and therefore have hanging around in droves. For future recipes, I'm going to look up some versions that don't require as much tahini, since that stuff is pricey.

I think it turned out well, but I will have to see what the judges think.

*I sent my brother to the store to get the appropriate white beans, and the day (and my chili) was saved. I know how worried you were about that.
**It's called culinary school.

Flexitarianism - just a red herring?

 


 When I first heard the term "flexitarian", I laughed. Another word to describe another way not to eat meat? How unnecessary. Silly, even. Little did I know that, one day, I would become one.

There doesn't seem to be an exact definition for flexitarianism out there, but the ones that exist are variations on the same theme. Flexitarian was voted by the American Dialect Society in 2003 as the year's most useful word, and defined as "a vegetarian who occasionally eats meat." A 2008 Newsweek article called it "being a vegetarian of convenience...cutting back on meat, rather than abstaining completely". As TIME magazine described last year in the article Weekday Vegetarians, "Part-time-vegetarians, a.k.a. flexitarians, choose what to eat and when." Okay, I get it now. I think.



Flexitarian is joining an already disginguished list of words that are slightly different versions of the same thing. Vegetarian. Vegan. Pescetarian.  Lacto-Ovo-Vegetarian. Part-time vegetarian. All of them describe various levels of eliminating flesh from your diet. Just want to eliminate red meat? Be a pollotarian, and you can still enjoy your Chicken Divan. Do you not want to eat anything that has been exposed to tempuratures above 115 F? Go raw. Don't want to eat any animal products at all, even ones that don't require said animal to be killed, like honey or dairy? Vegan, baby. But be careful... those naughty animal products can hide in the unlikeliest of places, just like the Commies.* 



AND she eats meat! The horror!

Maybe that's part of why being a flexitarian is so attractive. They're not asking you to make a full time commitment. You can start off small, just one night a week, as advocated by the Meatless Monday movement. Even by doing this small amount, the non-profit says, "we can improve our health, reduce our carbon footprint and lead the world in the race to reduce climate change." And if you like your Meatless Monday, maybe you'll consider a Meatless Wednesday. Or Meatless Weekends. Or Daily Meatless Snack Time. Think of it as the gateway drug for vegetarianism.

There are all kinds of reasons that people choose to embrace vegetarianism in one of its many forms. Health, weight loss, a tight budget, they saw it on Oprah,  "I can't eat anything with a face", and so on. I didn't start down the flexitarian path until a little over a year ago, but I didn't do it to lose weight or because some dude from Glee said it was cool. I did it because I felt like being socially responsible.

Let me backtrack. When I was a kid, my cousin became vegetarian (although he was later caught sneaking leftover turkey from the fridge after Thanksgiving), and I was treated to a series of lectures/rants on how the animal industry exploits and mistreats our gentle bovine and porcine friends. My twelve-year-old self questioned this. Why, I wondered, would you boycott all meat and eggs in order to take a stand against the industry, when you could (and should, I figured indignantly) instead buy free-range, farm-raised, organic versions that promote the values you claim to uphold? You vote with your dollar, after all. Then I got distracted by something that twelve-year-old's get distracted by (probably Jonathan Taylor Thomas or something), and I forgot about it for the next decade.

For most of my life I was vehemently against even the idea of becoming a vegetarian, being a self-proclaimed "meatetarian". It wasn't until I came to AmeriCorps NCCC and found myself more or less in charge of my entire team's $4.50 per person, per day food budget that I felt responsible for spending our money wisely, and began questioning my food choices. But  I didn't really start thinking about cutting meat from my diet intentionally until reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

The book chronicles Kingsolver's year-long attempt to become a full-blown locovore with her family. (Locovore... another crazy word, this time meaning people who only eat locally produced food.) At one point in the book, Kingsolver discusses her family's decision, made years earlier, to only eat meat that is ethically, organically, and sustainably raised. This really struck me. As early as twelve, I had thought of this, if not in those exact terms. After some deliberation, I decided to try it out, starting January of last year. The way I defined my own personal version of flexitarianism is as follows:

I solemnly swear to only eat meat that has been ethically, organically and sustainably produced. I will only eat meat products that have been fed on their natural diets, that are not treated inhumanely, and that are given space to roam and graze to their little heart's content.

There are, of course, a couple exceptions. If someone fixes me a meal with meat in it, of course I will eat it. They took the time and the effort, it's my own fault if I didn't tell them about my diet, and I'm not about to be wasteful. Alternatively, if I'm at my parents' or grandparents' house, I'm not going to demand that everyone else change their eating style to accomodate me. I could - and sometimes I do - fix something seperately for myself, but that's unusual. My family always dines together. It's an important part of our dynamic, and when I'm home, I don't mind cooking and eating something I wouldn't normally eat, in the interest of being a family and all that warm fuzzy stuff. Plus.... well.... it's tasty.

One way in which I absolutely do not waver, however, is eating out. I will not buy a meat dish if it is not explicitly stated that the meat came from a local organic farm that treats its livestock ethically. And although I'm less strident about it, I try only to eat fish and seafood that is sustainably farmed and/or harvested, although I'm not as good with that.

That being said,  it's going to be interesting to see how my semi-vegitarian leanings will pan out this year, when I'll be fixing and eating food alongside the other workers at the farm. Susan and Dean, who run the farm, are definitely not vegetarians.

Last comment: if you're one of those militant and unbending people who is thinking right now, "You can't be a little bit vegetarian. That's like being a little bit pregnant! Who on earth do you think you are?" all I can say is go bite yourself. Except I guess you can't, since you're probably a vegetarian. Too bad. You're probably delicious.

  

*Speaking of communism...the dye Natural Red 40 is made from cochineal insects, making it a big no-no for vegans. When crushed, the cochineal makes a beautiful red dye known as carmine, which has been used as a clothing dye since the 1400's and became an important export to Europe in the 16th century. I wrote a paper on it in college. Well, I thought it was interesting.

The one where I get hired

Blog, meet Brightwood Vineyard and Farm. Brightwood Vineyard and Farm, meet blog. You two are going to be spending a lot of time together.

That is because I've been hired at Brightwood Farm as an intern for the 2011 growing season! *does a dance* I'll be starting in mid-March.

As you may recall, I've been fairly busy for the last week, with the road trip and everything. And not only did I visit Brightwood Vineyard and Farm in Virginia last Friday, but I've had phone interviews with four further farms: Kettle Run Farm in Berkley, Massachusetts; Pacific Crest Farm on Vashon Island, Washington; Well School Farm near Peterborough, New Hampshire; and Rocklands Farm in Poolesville, Maryland.

These five interviews were the distillation of the dozen-plus applications I sent out, in addition to probably another dozen emails expressing my interest in various farms and internships and asking for more information. Just like any job search, securing a farming internship took hours of legwork, from researching farms to emailing questions to updating my resume. But worth it!

When I first arrived at Brightwood Farm, I was given a brief tour and introduced to all the animals by Keriann, a neighbor who works on the farm a few days a week. And there are certainly animals - chickens, both for laying eggs and eating, ducks, sheep, goats (who like to slip through the fence and scare the bejeezus out of people driving by, as I can attest), three donkeys, and several dogs.

I then met Susan, the woman who runs the farm, and she took me on a more far-ranging tour to see the cabin that they rent out in a bed-and-breakfast sort of deal, the yurt and platform tent where interns sleep (I get to sleep in a yurt!), and the greenhouses. We also went for a small hike - the farm has 100 acres of land, full of rolling hills and woods and streams, not to mention a big river - it is absolutely beautiful, being in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Later in the afternoon, we went to the farm where Keriann and her husband live - Susan has another greenhouse there, and it's where she grows the vegetables.

Other than the greens, which are being grown in the greenhouses, Brightwood Farm grows a wide variety of vegetables that they sell at a farmer's market and sell to local restaurants. Susan mentioned that last year, the farm grew a lot of heirloom okra, which I thought was pretty cool, since I like okra and I don't think there's enough of it in the world. They also grow American grapes for local wineries, and berries. Additionally, they produce their own compost on site.

Susan invited me to stay for lunch with her and Carrie-Anne, which ended up being a very tasty vegetable soup and a mixed greens salad. All in all, I think the visit was really useful for allowing us to feel each other out and see if the farm and I are a good match - which I think we are. Having done four phone interviews since, I feel confident saying visits are far preferable - rather than just shooting questions at me, Susan and I learned a lot about one another through simple conversation.

Tricky, tricky goats.

Since I've already written a bit about what I want in a farm, I'll just go through them one by one and talk about how Brightwood Farm measures up.

"Learning Experience" - Internships as Education. One reason I was drawn to internships instead of WWOOF-ing this year was that education is built into farming internships, and Brightwood Farm certainly takes this seriously. The farm is a member of the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training, or C.R.A.F.T. - a coalition where farmers work together to educate future farmers. I'm not exactly sure what this will mean, but at this point I believe it will involve visiting other organic farms in the region to see how they work and to learn about different aspects of farm life.

In addition, Susan takes her interns on monthly field trips - to other farms, as mentioned above, but also other areas. She mentioned going to Monticello last year to see the formal garden. After she said that, I was ready to sign up on the spot.

And of course, let's not forget the practical aspect of the internship. There will be no shortage of hands-on work for me to do, between the organic produce production and animal husbandry. In general, I think Brightwood Farm has a nice balance of organized, planned educational activities, and "learning by doing". (See "Learning new skills and trying new things" below for more details.)

Money and stuff. Brightwood Farm provides room and board for the interns (did I mention the yurt?), and everyone eats meals together, which is made with produce and eggs from the farm. Although the yurt doesn't have indoor plumbing, we can use a bathroom in the house, and have internet access there as well. And yes, there is a stipend - less than I made as a Team Leader, but I'm used to living on very little. There will be an ample amount for me to cover my student loan payments, and since I doubt I'll be out carousing every weekend, there will be enough for me to set some aside after getting shampoo and toothpaste and whatnot.

Travel and Adventure. Virginia sounds pretty adventurous to me.

Learning different skills and trying new things. According to the internship description, I'll get to do the following:

On farm training in planning, planting, care, harvest, market prep. Farmers market. Post-season clean up, and preparation for winter greens growing. Animal Husbandry: Routine care and feeding of meat goats, laying hens, ducks and donkeys. Working with livestock guardian dogs and a herding dog. As much as possible, we tailor the experience to the interests of our interns.

I'm pretty satisfied with how diversified the farm is - I'll have the chance to learn about the business of running a farm through farmers markets and the farm-to-table connection with local restaurants, in addition to working with animals and produce production.

And although I didn't talk about this before, I like that there will be one or two other interns to work with. Brightwood Farm also takes WWOOF-ers during their busy seasons. I always like meeting and working with new people, so the more, the merrier!


That's that - I'm really looking forward to starting at Brightwood Farm, but there is plenty to do at home in the meantime. I'm going to visit my grandparents this week, and I'll probably be driving to visit my brother in Minnesota (and perhaps another grad school) at the end of the month. Another road trip - huzzah!

Girls just wanna have fun... at Chatham University?

 

I had the pleasure of wrapping up my week long Road Trip O' Fun on Tuesday with a visit to Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who happen to be the proud parents of an bouncing baby Master of Arts in Food Studies program.

I wasn't really sure what to expect. For one, this is their first year doing the program, and I was a little wary of a brand new enterprise. Second, I had never heard of Chatham University before, and it was only by the grace of Google that I knew about them at all... and don't they (meaning just about everyone who has given me advice about grad school) say that going to a well-recognized school opens doors? Third, Chatham college (the undergraduate portion) is a girls-only school, which - let's be honest - weirds me out a tad. So, when I arrived at Chatham, I was pretty sure it was not what I wanted.

I was first disarmed by the beauty of the campus. I mean, it's really beautiful. Really. I say this having attended Indiana University, which regularly wins accolades for its limestone-encrusted charm. Chatham's Shadyside Campus is small, but chock full of historic buildings and grand old houses. Also, it had been snowing all night, turning all the hills and architecture into some kind of postcard-perfect wintry learning paradise.

Then I started my full slate of morning meetings with Michael May, the Director of Graduate Studies; Alice Julier, the Food Studies Program Director; and several of the students. These chats had the effect of quickly stripping me of any remaining uncertainty. For example, as Alice explained, this program was created with food systems and social justice in mind. It's almost as if they have people interested in advocacy (*ahem*) in mind. Oh, wait..... they do.

Just because I had never heard of Chatham doesn't mean they aren't unknown, especially in the sustainability world. Their innovative approach to education and their ideas for the future (more on that below) are gathering a lot of attention and momentum in the very areas I hope to penetrate one day.

And even if they are a new program, most of the students there view that as a plus. They have the opportunity to help shape the program, and the flexibility to do almost anything they want, said such helpful folks as Amanda, Teresa, Jerallyn and Arielle. Plus, as they jovially pointed out, they are the guinea pigs in this situation. By the time I would get there, a lot of the kinks would already be worked out.

As a brand new program, Chatham is building the MA from the ground up - literally, as it turns out. I speak of the Eden Hall Farm Campus, which is about 45 minutes from the main campus. It is to be the site of their pioneering sustainable campus, and the home base for the new School of Sustainability and the Environment. They will be breaking ground this spring and should finish construction by Fall 2012 - which happens to be when I would start. Oh, serendipity!

The Eden Hall Campus Master Plan has a lot of great information about the future of Chatham's sustainability initiative, including the MA in Food Studies - it gives details about what the campus will look like, the phases of construction and development, and their goals for academic excellence, community building, and proper stewardship of the environment. Their vision summarizes it up pretty well:

As a living and learning community, Eden Hall Campus will encourage students and faculty to immerse themselves in a setting that promotes the study and advancement of sustainable development based on restorative principles. This is a dynamic, exciting place—a living laboratory in which to explore fundamentally different approaches to how we manage resources, both physical and intellectual. It will inspire us to model development and behavior, changing the way we occupy the land, design buildings, interact with our communities, fuel our economies, and design systems for energy, waste, water, transportation, and food.

Chatham claims to be the first academic institution to design and build a campus that integrates sustainable design, academics, and community in this way - and as far as I can tell, they are. I haven't found a single other program with this kind of approach. As Alice explained to me, most other schools that offer some version of a Food Studies program, like Boston University (who I visited in October) or NYU, have just stuck it into their existing coursework, rather than build their coursework around the concept.

As a result, this makes Chatham look very attractive to someone like me, who is less interested in the cultural/historical context of food - done very well by BU and NYU - and more into the nitty-gritty, hands-on, experiential methods that Chatham is piloting. (Not that you can't study such things at those schools, but it's much harder.) When I asked Alice what they have that the above-mentioned, more established programs don't, she immediately responded, "A farm!" with a laugh. Meaning an actual physical place where students can put into practice what they learn in a classroom? But of course.

The farm isn't the only place where Chatham students are getting practical experience. There are also experiential classes in Culinary Arts - although that's hardly unheard of, and is even a requirement at NYU. But beyond even that, the Food Studies program here has already established relationships with restaurants, farmers markets, urban gardens, and non-profits in the Pittsburgh area - and students are required to do three credit hours of internships with them.

I could probably write for another hour about everything that excited me about Chatham, but instead I'm going to sign off here. This entry is already slightly (and by that I mean ridiculously) long.

Next time... breaking news on internships for the 2011 growing season!