Inside out

Things change constantly. One year you have to wear skinny jeans while the next year you cannot go out without a loose fit model. While time passes by, trends come and go eventually influenced by external circumstances. So it goes for food habits.

Long before people were able to enjoy food in a way we do now, people mainly lived to collect food and then ate the food to survive. Everyday again men went out in the fields to hunt animals while the woman took care of the babies and the ‘houses’. A life in which everything is centered on food seems like a dream come true for many people in modern life but those days were hard. Hunting was (and is) dangerous and if no animal was killed, there was no food. And no food means less energy for next days’ hunting trip.

After centuries some lazy (or you could call them clever) hunters started to create areas which we would now call farms. They looked for fertile areas where crops could grow and animals where plenty. Either because they were attracted to come to a certain spot to gather food or water or because they were caught and put in an enclosed area by a farmer. Cities came grew and gathering food did get less important in peoples life. As long as you had money or something else to exchange you would be able to buy food.

This enables people to concentrate on other things like philosophy, politics, arts and sciences. The population started to grow and got wiser. This finally resulted in the industrial revolution which also caused a revolution for the food discipline; trains enabled food to travel over longer distances, food could be prepared in different ways, and thanks to electricity dinner could also be eaten after sunset.

Another result of this revolution is the fact that machines took over the work of human hands. This meant people needed to work less and had time left to spend with family or friends. What’s better to enjoy a meal then? Well, apparently lots’ more. Because relatively soon after the Industrial Revolution machines where invented which relieved housewives from the hard kitchen work they had to do each day. Microwaves, fridges, stoves and electric ovens took over her job. And supermarkets and low food prices encouraged them to buy ready-to-eat meals which meant more and more time could be spend on other things than the preparation of food. Eating became a necessity instead of a pleasure.

Only some of us really take time to sit down and eat. Eat and enjoy. In bad economic it would be done in your house where you sit down at your own dining table tasting all the different flavors of the dish in front of you. Or when things go better you go out and meet others and discuss your week with friends and family while being served a good three or four course diner. It actually doesn’t matter how as long as you realize that food is still indispensible if one wants to survive. So you better enjoy it!

See this TED talk on 'What's wrong with what we eat' by Mark Bittman (NY Times).

The importance of....tourism

Whether you prepare it yourself or order it at a restaurant. You are fine as long as the ingredients are local.

Today this blog exists exactly one year. To celebrate this I will introduce a new – monthly – series which is called ‘The importance of…..’ Of course the normal posts will also continue to be posted weekly.

Tourism is not a very old phenomenon. Even though people have been travelling around the world for centuries, their motives were different than those of the contemporary tourist. Western explorers travelled to discover, research and reign ‘new’ countries. Some of them reached their goals, others failed. However, these travels have had a big influence on the worlds’ history. Small European countries like The Netherlands and Great Brittan ruled over faraway destinations for centuries. Thereby behaving like monsters and treating the inborn like minor races. People where traded as slaves all over the world.

The good side of this impetus to explore the world is that it not only spread people over the world, but with them cultures and their specific food habits. Because until that moment food – like people - didn’t travel either. People ate what was available in their proximity. When they had to go to other places, they just ate what was served there. Now we can still recognize the regional dishes which can be as local as the size of an island or of deserted valleys in mountainous areas.

Nowadays people go around the world like they visit their neighbor. Some of them still have the faith to discover unknown places and people. Others are less adventurous and just want to be away from home and to be spoiled in a comfortable environment. But no matter what kind of holiday you prefer, you need to eat anyway! Here is a good chance to get to know another culture.

In most countries food is part of local culture. For a inexperienced tourist it might take some time before he gets’ to know the food habits of their holiday destination. Do people have breakfast and what is it like? When can we have lunch? And what if I do not want to eat meat? Is there still a possibility to get diner? Well, I guess you have to go out and explore!

When you booked a hotel room in a small place you might be lucky to find a nice hostess which serves you a breakfast typical for the country you are in. This might be a spicy soup when you are in Asia or just a cup of cappuccino and some sweet pastry when you are in Southern Europe. When you are filled up, its time to go out. Go out to the local market. A perfect place to get to know local products. Farmers sell their fruit and vegetables but maybe also some meat, tasty cheeses, cakes and what so ever. Collecting diner here is very good for everyone involved: local farmers profit of tourism which helps them to survive and gives you a tasteful meal, a beautiful landscape which he maintains and a good feeling because the food didn’t have to travel over long distances.

Big hotel and restaurant chains also figured out the importance of using local produce. Some of them now serve a daily menu composed of vegetables and meat or fish from nearby farmers. This enables the lazy tourist to relax and helps the farmers to profit from tourism.

So, don’t feel ashamed to go on holiday every now and then. As long as you act responsible towards local environment and economies you’ll be fine. Did you start to plan yet?

Great places

Shops, a park and more shops and cafes. The perfect ingredients for a great area.

More and more people start to meet each other in popular places like coffee bars or cafes. Not only to talk to friends, but also to do business. Spots come and go. You need to stay updated about which places are hot and which are not. But some little secrets stay perfect forever!

In my hometown there is such a lunchroom. It is in an area which is developing. Governments puts in a lot of money to make it a flourishing area. But in my opinion it is already working very well. The ground floors of the buildings are dominated by small supermarkets owned by Turkish or Moroccan people, bakeries, (take-away) restaurants, a drug store, a flowershop, a bike repairer and so on. It actually is a street Jane Jacobs would love. It functions as the center of two areas of which one is dominated by social housing while the other is full of beautiful decorated buildings which could only be afforded by those who have a well-paid job. Both groups meet somewhere along the street.

In the middle of this street is a small green spot where dogs can be walked, cars can be parked, children could play and adults could meet. It sounds impossible but the picture tells you what I mean. On one of the sides of this square a small lunchroom is situated. It is such a place with good food in which you can wake up after a long night out, where you can relax if you worked hard or where you finally are able to read a newspaper. The staff will spoil you if you ask for it and leaves you alone if you need some time for yourself.

It also is a place where people come to meet each other. If you come regularly not only staff but also other guests will start to recognize you. After a while you say hello to them and, before you even notice, your share a table and the story of your live. It is a place which is used as an office or a meeting room. People meet each other, discuss about business, the work of art they are currently working on (art could be any creative activity in this lunchroom), discuss their best friends new boyfriend, relax, make plans for the future, and so on.

What’s so good about this place is that it is not only inhabited by one group of people. Although well educated young people dominate it is also visited by people who seem to be a bit ‘strange’ in the entourage of the simple interior and outside terrace. People who clearly entered because they have been shopping in the area and looked for a place to rest, something to eat or a visit to the bathroom. But unlike in any other places dominated by a certain group of people, also ‘strangers’ are welcome. People do not gaze at the newcomer. They just know that they also belong to the area to which the lunchroom belongs to.

This place is a good example of a not designed but very welcome and very successful place of social interaction which just seems to work. Here food catalyses the relationship between two different groups having to share the same public space. I wish I knew what ingredients are needed to create more of them!

Farming the city

Should the farmer start a food factory?

Loads of articles, documentaries and books are written about people in cities which start to grow their own food. Also now it should be known by most people that more people live in cities than on the countryside. Is there still room for farmers?

In countries where cities are expanding fast - like China and India – governments buy up land like it’s for free. Land around cities which used to be used by farmers. Farmers are sold out and promised a better life in city. A life in which they can live in luxury. A life in which they do not have to work that hard, in which they are not dependent on the harvest. A life which everyone likes to live.

This phenomenon causes two problems. The first one is that farmland is now used as land for developers filling it with houses, big apartment blocks and offices. As a consequence no food can be produced close to the cities anymore while actually more food is needed. Although it seems a big problem, the local and national governments of these fast growing countries have already found a solution: They buy land in other countries like Ethiopia where land is plenty and prices are low. This seems a smart solution but it actually only shifts the problem from one country to another and makes it even a bigger problem: where does the Ethiopian farmer get’s his food from, who will pay him the right wage, how do we handle carbon emissions caused by long travel distances between Africa and China, and so on?

The second problem is that farmers in those developing countries usually have no education. They are brought up by their parents and started to work on the farm as soon as they were old enough to help. When they move to the city it is hard for them to find a job since they cannot read and are not used to work in the hierarchy of a company. If the ex-farmer is able to find one he probably has to work hard for a minimum wage most probably as a construction worker on one of the many building sites.

Some of them seem to be smart. They build an apartment block for themselves which they rent out to others. Others resist the shift in their life and continue farming. Not in the way they and their parents and grandparents used to do this, but in a way adapted to the modern city. So called urban farming. Rooftops and leftover spaces are used to produce their own food. Partly because those farmers just love their profession, partly because they cannot do anything else other than farming. It is their way to deal with the circumstances they are forced to live in.
Those urban farmers have not chosen for this type of live. But sooner or later they might become very important for their neighborhood. When it gets more difficult to import food into those enormous cities the small urban farmers are capable to still produce food. Food which will be appreciated by others living close by. Not only because it is food, also because prices are reasonable and not influenced by transport costs, import taxes and big companies.

For the same reasons mentioned above it could be good for us Western people to start or continue urban farming. Like it used to help Londoners a few years ago to survive in an unexpected and exceptional situation. So as soon as spring turns up, go to the shop, get your hands dirty and start to farm!

If you like to have more information on current initiatives or urban farmers check Farming the City (the Netherlands) or - among others - Zappata Romana (for Italy).