Eat Good, Eat Well

Unlike most farmer’s markets and CSA’s in the area, the MIT Produce stand will continue to operate through the winter.  It’s a great, inexpensive alternative to local chain supermarkets.

“Beginning Tuesday, October 27th, the MIT Produce Market will move to its winter location in the TSMC Lobby of the Stata Center. The market will continue on Tuesdays from 12pm – 6pm through March 30, 2010. The market will be closed on December 22 and December 29. The MIT Produce Market is operated by Russo’s, a family-run company that has been serving the Boston area for over 75 years. Russo’s won top honors in Boston® Magazine’s 2007 Best of Boston® contest for Best Produce.”

I started off this series by mapping all the farmer’s markets near me to see if it would be feasible to buy the majority of my food from local suppliers.  The next logical step was to actually head to one of the markets and see what the selection was like.  Here are my pictures to the Central Square Farmer’s Market, at the corner of Norfolk and Bishop Allen drive, in Cambridge.

Click to see the Flickr Album – it shows selection, prices, and the general atmosphere.

This is why I’m such a big fan of the New York Times: fantastic, in depth reporting by journalists who actually know something about what they write on.  I hope NYT finds a way to survive in the new market for news.

My favorite passage (so far) from this issue:

[On why experiments with making Britain's school food system healthier have had mixed results:]  What’s really happening is about more than old habits dying hard or the love of frying. The reason the world is still waiting for the Messiah is that most people don’t actually want one, no matter how many fresh fruits and vegetables he’s carrying. Oliver expects some of the same pushback in Huntington, whether it comes from recalcitrant teenagers, petty bureaucrats or parents who don’t like being told they’ve failed.

See the original article, or go directly to the Magazine’s Food Issue.

In this TED Talk, Architect Carolyn Steel makes a more-convincing-than-average argument for developing government policy and architecture cities to encourage sustainable eating.  She argues that people need to be more intouch with where their food comes from, so that they will value it more and pay more attention to eating sustainability and nutritiously.  Beyond the individual level, her ideas have impacts on how cities should be planned to encourage such habits.

Ms. Steel makes as compelling an argument for responsible eating as I’ve yet heard, but it still doesn’t seem like her “sitopia” is an attainable solution. Yes, increasing awareness of where food comes from would help everything from nutrition to family bonding, but can our energies be spent better elsewhere?

I think we should be specifically targeting the 1 billion starving and 1 billion obese that she mentions in her talk. Obese people contribute to unsustainable healthcare costs and promote irresponsible eating and marketing habits. Helping the starving would allow hungry children to pay attention in school and hungry parents to look for work.

Neither of these two groups would benefit greatly simply from eating local or getting in touch with food culture. The obese have plenty of food and the starving don’t care where theirs comes from.

How about this for an idea: Sallie James of CATO says Walmart can provide cheaper access to fresh fruit to the poor.  Activists might be repulsed at the thought of Walmart being mentioned in the same breath as good food or nutrition, but the fact remains that the mega-chain has the most efficient distribution system in the world and an enormous percent of market share, particularly in the working class demographic.  Why not let Walmart get better food to people and make money too?

A New York Times article published on Friday says that the important thing about eating together as a family is actually eating together: what you eat, when you eat, where you eat, or even whether you look at each other while slurping down big mac’s doesn’t seem to matter as much. The article argues that to promote family interaction, its fine to gather in front of the TV is that is easier than forcing schedules around to accommodate dinner.

Of course, eating home-cooked food will typically be more nutritious than fast food even fast food branded as “family style” or sold as a “family dinner”. Then again, studies have shown that people tend to eat more when in the company of others…

Fresh Vegetables, every Tuesday from Noon to 6 at MIT!  The produce is supplied by Russo’s, a food store located in Watertown, MA, so I guess this doesn’t technically count as a farmer’s market.  Still, the MIT Produce Stand is a great, nearby alternative to chain supermarkets and another option in addition to all the other farmer’s markets nearby.

I recently stumblied upon “Grow. Cook. Eat.“, a blog by another resident of Cambridge, MA (howdy neighbor) and it got me thinking about eating local again.  I keep telling myself that I need to get out of the habit of buying crappy food at the supermarket, but the local Shaw’s is literally minutes from my apartment, and the temptation is usually just too great.

So I decided to find out how lazy I’m really being: how easy is it to go to do all of your shopping at farmer’s markets in Cambridge, MA?

First, the schedule:

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