VFH Project 3 | 2020 | Summer by Henk_Lamers

VFH project | 3

2020 Summer

Jeanne de Bont Henk Lamers

Table of contents

Summer 2020

Weight

Price

Origin

Transport

Farming

Environmental score

Global costs

Markets and Supermarkets

Quality labels

Blockbrush

Waste

Chicory salad with blue cheese

Resources

Luckily, corona regulations allowed us to go out for a walk. Photograph by Henk Lamers, summer 2020.

A new phenomena in Eindhoven, people waiting in-line to enter the supermarket. Photograph by Henk Lamers, summer 2020.

Summer 2020

The astronomical beginning of summer is determined by the summer solstice, around June 21. This day the sun reaches its highest position above the horizon. It is also the longest day of the year. The origin of the name summer is probably derived from the middle Dutch ‘somer’ and related to old Saxon, old High German and old Norwegian ‘sumar’. On our building plot, located in Almere Oosterwold, the company Baas installed an outdoor electrical cabinet specially for the construction of the house. Other than that, and to our great regret, noting else happened. In the mean time the coronavirus was spreading all over the world, causing the economy to largely come to a standstill. The government closed schools, universities, libraries, cafés, hairdressers, museums, cinemas, sports facilities and restaurants. It became mandatory to wear a mouth cap when leaving your home. People had to work from home and rarely went out, so it was extremely quiet outside. Due to the pandemic, we were only allowed to go out to do some shopping or, if we really couldn’t stand it anymore, go for a walk and get some fresh air. In the meantime we were busy with the elaboration of the house, the design of the kitchen and the layout of the garden. Which vegetables, fruit and herbs can we plant in the future? How will this influence our diet and what do we like to cook in Almere Oosterwold? Armed with face masks we still visited the local market, to buy fresh vegetables, herbs and fruit. It was a very hot summer that year with highest temperatures of 35° Celsius. Let’s have a look at the data this summer brought us.

Weight

We were very curious if we bought more or less vegetables, fruit and herbs during the summer compared to the spring. A quick comparison with the data of spring 2020 teaches us that we roughly ate four kilos less vegetables. We ate ninety-six kilos of fruit during the spring and in the summer one hundred and eleven kilos. So we ate more fruit. A small difference with herbs too. In spring we used almost five kilos while that summer we used four kilos of herbs. It looks like we ate a little less during the summer. Let’s see what this will yield for the whole year in a later phase.

Contrary to popular belief, bananas don’t grow on a tree but on a plant, which is actually an herb. To make things a bit more complicated. www.boredpanda.com Daniel Lewis

Banana The wild ancestor of the banana was found in a large area that stretched from India through Southeast Asia and Indonesia to New Guinea. There are indications that the banana would have been cultivated in the latter area as early as 7,000 years ago. It is likely that Indonesian settlers who settled on the coast of East Africa, the Comoros and Madagascar brought the banana to East Africa around the beginning of our era. From there, banana cultivation spread over much of Africa in a few centuries. The origin of the banana is not the story of a tasty fruit. After all, the first banana varieties were inedible! They were raw fruits full of seeds. But probably the first farmers used the leaves and stems of the plant as building material. It is only through cultivation and selection of varieties that the banana also became a tasty fruit. But it was still a long way to the ‘perfect’ banana as we know it today.

Nutritional value banana Per 100 grams General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates Sugar

391.00 92.00 1.10 20.00 15.50

kilojoules kilocalories grams grams grams

Vitamins Vitamin B1 0.04 milligrams Vitamin B2 0.03 milligrams Vitamin B6 0.29 milligrams Vitamin C 8.00 milligrams Minerals Calcium 6.00 milligrams Iron 0.30 milligrams Magnesium 28.00 milligrams Phosphorus 28.00 milligrams

The absolute highlight are the cherry tomatoes. Over three and a half pounds. The potatoes and onions also appear to be a stable factor. Broccoli, celery, cucumber, aubergines, leeks, peas, spinach and the vine tomatoes, about two kilos this season. It is striking that we only used one avocado! 7

The absolute winner in the category weight is the orange, followed by kiwi, grapefruit and lemons. During our weekly walks in the local nature we like to eat a few bananas.

Banana flavour: There are more than a hundred varieties of bananas in existence. Including red-skinned ones. But you wouldn’t know it from the selection on offer in most shops, where bananas come in just one Cavendish variety. The whole point is that you expect them to taste the same: not the most delicious thing you ever ate, but cheap, filling and fairly wholesome – compared to a bar of chocolate if not to other fruit. Bee Wilson: ‘The Way We Eat Now’

In the summer of 2020, mint was the most commonly used herb. Garlic and ginger didn‘t even come to half the weight of mint.

Price

In the Netherlands we have green onions, spring onions and salad onions. What are the differences? The green onion (bosui in Dutch) owes its name to the fact that it is sold in bunches. The green onion is long, with a white trunk that does not thicken at the base. The white parts contain a soft, sweet taste reminiscent of the onion. You can eat them raw or cooked. The green onion is completely edible (the white and green parts). The green onion is usually available year round.

According to the CBS, Statistics Netherlands, the prices of healthy foods

Spring onions have a small onion-shaped bulb at the base. These come from onion varieties that produce these bulbs. Spring onions are riper varieties of green onions. They are planted as seedlings in late fall and then harvested in spring. Hence the name spring onion. Spring onions are sweeter and milder in taste than regular onions. The green parts have a more intense taste than the green onions.

types of dried beans. In general, fruit is more expensive than vegetables.

And as an anti-climax: a salad onion is the same onion as a spring onion. The name salad onion is an invention by the Dutch Albert Heijn supermarket. Hooray for marketing!

Cherry tomatoes Cherry tomatoes are subtropical fruits and therefore do not like low temperatures. Plus, they lose a lot of flavour while storing them in the fridge. Unripe tomatoes will ripen completely in a warm place. The cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum variant cerasiforme) is a tomato variety of the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Cherry tomatoes range in size from a thumb tip to the size of a golf ball, and can be spherical or more elongated, cylindrical in shape. The tomato is originally from South America.

have risen by an average of twenty-one percent in ten years. That is quite exceptional. Actually healthy foods should be the cheapest in the supermarkets. Unhealthy foods, on the other hand, rose only fifteen percent. To us that is a very wrong development. So when you earn little money, you are obliged to choose unhealthy food. Now you can get creative with that too. For example, you can choose cheaper vegetables such as: broccoli, onions, spinach, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and various It is hard to find out why. The cheapest fruits are bananas, apples and mandarins. However, mandarins are only available from November through February. And then there is one last option, every week our market man had a crate of fruit that was out of date. You can buy it for just a few Euros.

Nutritional value cherry tomatoes Per 100 grams General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates Sugar

126.00 kilojoules 30.00 kilocalories 0.90 grams 3.90 grams 4.00 grams

Vitamins Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Vitamin B6 Vitamin C Vitamin E

0.05 0.02 0.01 24.00 0.60

Minerals Calcium Iron Magnesium Phosphorus Sodium

7.00 milligrams 0.40 milligrams 11.00 milligrams 33.00 milligrams 3.00 milligrams

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

Very striking is the amount of money we spent on cherry tomatoes. I checked it in the spreadsheet, just to be sure. Alfalfa, green asparagus, rocket, spinach and spring onions have also had quite a financial impact. You might wonder what makes spring onions so expensive? 11

We‘ve spent almost a hundred Euros on kiwi. A decent, but very healthy, cost item. We even spent more money on it than we did on grapefruit, lemons, and oranges. The white and red grapes also add up to a decent amount. Looks like we are not fans of apples, limes, plums and strawberries, yet.

Although the herbs are the smallest expense item, the mint remains a winner. We are very curious how this will change in the near future. Indeed, dill and garlic are two spices that we wouldn‘t want to miss either.

Origin

It is good to know that during the spring we bought a lot of vegetables that were produced in the Netherlands. On the other hand, in some cases it may be wise to look beyond something that makes perfect sense. Because locally produced food is not always better. For example, when you buy a tomato in the Netherlands during the winter, it is better to choose a tomato from Spain. Tomatoes from the Netherlands are grown in greenhouses which use a lot of extra energy and their taste is not great. Products from Southern Europe may have a lower environmental impact than locally produced greenhouse products. Roughly speaking, you can say that locally produced food is better because the transport is short and has little impact on the environment. It also shortens the time between harvesting and purchasing a product. In this way, considerable savings can be achieved. An additional advantage is the daily offer of fresh vegetables. Food from far away countries loses important nutrients due to the time it takes to transport over large distances.

Radicchio rosso Red chicory has been grown in Italy under the name Radicchio rosso for centuries, but the correct origin has been lost over the years. By 1900, Radicchio rosso di Treviso had become such a well-known specialty that special exhibitions were held. It is a variety of wild chicory, like chicory, and has a bitter taste. It is a leafy vegetable that grows just like a lettuce crop. The cultivation mainly takes place in the Italian region of Veneto, located between Venice, Verona and Treviso.

Nutritional value radicchio rosso Per 100 grams General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates Sugar Vitamins Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Vitamin C Vitamin E Minerals Calcium Iron Magnesium Phosphorus Sodium

97.00 23.00 1.743 4.48 0.60

kilojoules kilocalories grams grams grams

0.02 0.03 8.00 2.26

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

0.06 milligrams 0.57 milligrams 13.00 milligrams 40.00 milligrams 22.00 milligrams

Cherry tomatoes from Belgium, about three-and-a-half kilos. No idea how this happened. Many of our recipes seem to involve cherry tomatoes. Potatoes and onions about three kilos each.

Broccoli, carrots, celery, cucumber, aubergines, leeks, spinach and vine tomatoes, those were the highlights of the summer.

And then we approached the battlefield of fruit. More than sixteen kilos of kiwi from New Zealand. Fifteen kilos of grapefruit and fourteen and a half kilo of oranges from South Africa. Fortunately, you can almost eliminate the South African oranges against the oranges from Spain. No idea if that’s allowed. But even then, kiwi from New Zealand and grapefruit from South Africa remain. Bananas from the Dominican Republic are also not very nice. How to deal with this in the future?

Garlic from Argentina and ginger from China and Peru are the excesses within the herbs category. But also a large share of Dutch herbs in this overview. The one and a half kilos of mint from Spain is no problem at all. Except that it’s not organic. But we have also found a solution for that when we have moved to Oosterwold.

Transport

Fruit and vegetables that are grown in the Netherlands and in a favourable season, need little transport for Dutch customers. Sounds logical right? Products imported from European countries are usually transported with trucks. These products need cooling or even freezing while being transported resulting in a negative impact on our climate. Products that come from far away are usually transported by freighter. Unfortunately shipping is one of the most polluting, unregulated and non-transparent industries in the world. But because a great amount of containers can be carried by a ship, they are often even less polluting than a truck. For example, a kiwi from New Zealand is about as good a choice as a kiwi from Italy. Air transport is the most polluting of all transportation. Even if a product has been grown extremely organically, the pollution caused by the transport will remain. The plane is the reason why you don‘t want sugarsnaps from Kenya for example.

Rocket Rocket is an annual plant and has been cultivated in the Mediterranean region since the Middle Ages. Rocket has a spicy, slightly bitter, nutty taste. Other names for Rocket: Arugola, roquette, rocket salad, ruccola and mustard herb. Rocket is easy to sow and grow yourself. You can keep picking from it, because the plant keeps forming new leaves. The seedlings are eaten on bread. The young plants are used as a flavor enhancer in lettuce and raw vegetables. The use in lettuce is typically Tuscan in origin. It is also eaten stewed. Rocket has a high vitamin C content, but also a high nitrate content and should therefore not be eaten in large quantities. In Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India, oil called jamba or taramira is pressed from the seeds of the plant. The oil is used for pickling vegetables, in salads and as cooking oil.

Nutricional value rocket Per 100 grams General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates Sugar Vitamins Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Vitamin B6 Vitamin C Vitamin E Minerals Calcium Iron Magnesium Phosphorus Sodium

94.00 kilojoules 22.00 kilocalories 3.60 grams 0.00 grams 0.00 grams 0.08 0.17 0.14 2.00 0.80

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

271.00 milligrams 2.60 milligrams 41.00 milligrams 57.00 milligrams 33.00 milligrams

Yet again nearly thirty-five thousand kilometres of transportation. Chili, Peru and Zimbabwe are the culprits. But actually we are. We should not have bought those products. At least that seems to be the solution. But it is a little more nuanced. We will see that next year.

We were already afraid for this. Our fruit has travelled more than a hundred thousand kilometres! But it gives a distorted picture. We probably need to reinterpret the transport category.

Unfortunately, it is also bad with the herbs. We see Argentina, China and Peru. We need to consider how to change this.

Farming

This chapter was called ‘Organic’ in the previous publication. That was actually not the right title because this chapter deals with organic and non-organic farming. We have now called it ‘Farming’. In the graph we make a distinction between organic and non-organic agriculture.

Organic farming is a production system that supports and maintains the health of the soil, ecosystem and people. Biodiversity, natural cycles and ecological processes are the basis of organic farming. Paul Kortekaas, Agriculture & Food team manager at Triodos Bank

Beetroot The beetroot is closely related to the sugar beet and the Swiss chard and, like this one, is a cultivated variant of the beet (Beta vulgaris). The Romans brought them to Central Europe. This cultivated plant originates from the Mediterranean region, probably from North Africa, and was grown from the wild beet. While the beetroot may be the best known, there are also white, orange, pink and yellow beets in different sizes and shapes. The red color is due to the natural colorant betanin. The beetroot is eaten as a tuber as a vegetable, whether grated raw or cooked. Grated raw may have an earthy taste. It is an important ingredient of borscht, Bodeun black pudding and red chrein. In the past, beetroot was considered a little poor people‘s food because it could be grown on poor soil. Today it is offered more as a specialty and is a common vegetable in natural restaurants.

Nutritional value beetroot Per 100 grams General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates

158.00 38.00 1.70 6.00

kilojoules kilocalories grams grams

Vitamins Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Vitamin B6 Vitamin C Vitamin E

0.005 0.005 0.005 2.00 0.10

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

Minerals Calcium Iron Magnesium Phosphorus Sodium

10.00 0.40 14.00 40.00 70.00

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

And this chart shows that the vegetables have achieved a good result. More than thirty-seven kilograms of organic vegetables have been purchased. Against that are about six kilos of nonorganic vegetables. That is of course still quite a lot. But there is some indication of a change in our purchasing process.

The previous chart was moving in the right direction. But with the fruit it is exactly the opposite. This is where things go horribly wrong. Bought almost a hundred kilograms of non-organic products. There are twelve kilos of organic products in return. So there is still a lot to gain.

It is slightly better distributed with the herbs. It’s about fifty-fifty. You can see that the decisive herb (mint) is not organic. If it had, this graph would have looked different. Then it would have been acceptable to us. At the moment it’s not.

Environmental score

These publications focus on the products of our diet. We assume that these products are made with great craftsmanship, attention and effort. But apart whether we buy organic or non-organic food, someone has to grow it. That is why we opt for organic farming in the long term. Organic farming improves the soil, increases biodiversity and produces food without fertilisers. The latter stands or falls on a healthy soil. Because the healthiest crops grow on healthy soil. What is the amount of environmentally friendly purchases we made in the summer of 2020. We check the score.

Environmental score explanation We have again interpreted the fruit and vegetable calendar as accurately as possible. A B

Comes from the Netherlands, is in season, from a field (organic) and has a quality mark. Comes from the Netherlands or Europe, is in season, from a field or a greenhouse (organic) and has a quality mark. Comes from the Netherlands or Europe, is in season, from Dutch greenhouses (not organic) and has no quality mark. Comes from countries such as Israel, Egypt, Morocco (about three thousand kilometres), is out of season, comes from Dutch greenhouses (not organic) and has no quality mark. Comes from Africa, South America, Asia or New Zealand (about ten thousand kilometres), outside or within the season (it doesn’t matter), comes from Dutch greenhouses (not organic) and has no quality mark.

Environmental score chart On the left side of the chart we listed the countries where the products come from. Products themselves are listed in the second column from the left. In addition, there are five columns with A, B, C, D and E. In those columns you find white small squares. The number of squares indicates how often we bought a product in spring with that particular classification. At the bottom of the graph, the total is again shown per column.

Most purchases are made within the A and B scores. Seems like a good score to us. 27

The fruit is (and remains) a problem. We tend to buy to many purchases in the C, D and E scores here. We must try to change this in the longer term. No idea how to do that yet. There are only nine purchases that can be justified under the A and B scores. We need to get serious with our purchasing policy.

Fortunately, the herbs look more hopeful than the fruit. Twentynine purchases under the A and B scores. Seventeen purchases under the C, D and E scores. But this too can still be improved.

Global costs

According to Acting chairman Wim Bens, LTO (Agricultural and Horticultural Association) Netherlands: ‘Farmers and horticulturists are proud to produce good, healthy and affordable food. The consumer, both in the Netherlands and in neighbouring countries, benefits from this. At the same time, society has more and more wishes about the way in which food is produced. We have an eye for that. Farmers and horticulturists themselves invest a lot in sustainability, but too often do not see this reflected in the price they receive for their products. Research shows that the Dutch do not always realize how cheap the food actually is here.’ In this chapter we want to find out how much money we spent on buying vegetables, fruits and herbs. But what we specifically wanted to know here is to which country the money went to. A small note should be made about the fact that not all money flows back to the country of origin. Of course, part of the money is also covered by the transport and distribution sector. Unfortunately we have no data about that.

Broad beans Broad beans were cultivated and eaten in the Mediterranean as early as –6000. However, the seeds were still quite small at the time and were first found in archaeological excavations at Nazareth in Israel. The largeseeded broad beans as we know them today do descend from these beans. The small-seeded varieties are originally from Asia. In Europe, the broad bean is mentioned before 1492. The beans are very nutritious and cultivation can greatly improve the soil. Due to the simplicity of cultivation, broad bean cultivation has been popular for centuries.

Nutritional value broad beans Per 100 grams General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates

211.00 51.00 5.00 4.00

kilojoules kilocalories grams grams

Vitamins Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Vitamin B6 Vitamin C Vitamin E

0.010 0.15 0.07 80.00 0.05

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

Minerals Calcium Iron Magnesium Phosphorus Sodium

20.00 0.90 28.00 100.00 0.01

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

If we assume that we regard locally grown vegetables, fruit and herbs as a priority, then the Netherlands should stand out positively. And that is the case. Together with Spain, a large part of our purchases went to the Netherlands. And almost two hundred Euros went to New Zealand and South Africa.

This is interesting. Most of the money for non-organic vegetables, fruits and herbs went to Spain. This is probably caused by the oranges, grapefruit and lemons. New Zealand and South Africa are the suppliers of kiwi’s and grapes. Let’s see how this will develop in the next seasons.

This graph clearly shows that most organic purchases came from the Netherlands. The Dominican Republic was a necessary evil because that’s where the bananas come from. But keep in mind that these are organic bananas.

Markets and supermarkets

We usually go shopping three times a week. On Friday to the Sligro. On Saturdays we go to the sustainable weekly market. And on Tuesday we visit the regular market in Eindhoven. We visit Albert Heijn as little as possible. Jumbo is our fall-back scenario. And the EkoPlaza is new to us. At some point in time, the fishmonger at the Sustainable weekly market sold samphire.

You can save a lot of money by going to the market. Fresh products such as fruit and vegetables are often cheap here. Especially at the end of the day. Don’t buy more than you need so you don’t have to throw away food at the end of the week. Het voedingscentrum

Figs The fig is the fruit of trees of the genus Ficus (Ficus carica). This fruit is originally quite dry and has a sweet taste. The fig is one of the oldest known fruits. Already around –9000. Figs were grown in an early Neolithic village in the Jordan Valley, eight miles north of Jericho. In some cultures, figs also have symbolic value. The fig tree is often mentioned in the Torah and the Bible. In Buddhist and Hindu texts, the proverb ‘to look for a flower in a fig plant’ is sometimes used, referring to the absence of flowers on this plant. This proverb is used when something is virtually impossible, or when quality is totally absent. Moreover, fig flowers are sometimes spoken of as something that is very rare.

Nutritional value figs Per 100 grams General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates Sugar Vitamins Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Vitamin B6 Vitamin C Vitamin E Minerals Calcium Iron Phosphorus Magnesium Sodium

1095.00 kilojoules 259.00 kilocalories 3.30 grams 54.10 grams 47.90 grams 0.09 0.08 0.11 1.00 0.40

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

162.00 milligrams 2.00 milligrams 67.00 milligrams 68.00 milligrams 10.00 milligrams

This chart clearly indicates that we have made a lot of purchases in the mainstream market. This is not a sustainable market, but a regular market you will find in most cities and villages in the Netherlands. We buy most of our fruit there. The sustainable weekly market does offer organic products. Especially vegetables. But we still have a lot of work to do. Our purchasing behaviour needs to change in the long term.

Quality labels

In the Netherlands we have about three hundred quality marks for the environment, animal welfare, human rights and conditions. But here we concentrate on quality marks for the food industry. Then you quickly end up with a quality marks such as Fair trade, Max Havelaar or to a quality mark for responsible frying of food. It is also questionable whether deepfrying is a responsible way of preparing food. These publications mainly deal with vegetables, fruit and herbs. According to Milieu Centraal, we have ten top quality labels for these foods in the Netherlands. A top quality mark meets three requirements. It is strict (stricter than usual). It is transparent (clear and concrete) and it is reliable (independent control). In the summer of 2020, we came across three quality labels: EU Organic label, Rainforest alliance and PlanetProof. EU Organic label Makes it easier for us to recognize organic products. That logo may only be used for products that contain at least ninety-five percent organic ingredients and that those ingredients meet additional strict requirements for the remaining five percent. Rainforest alliance The Rainforest Alliance is creating a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities. They achieve this by working together with allies around the globe in driving positive change across global supply chains and in many of our most critically important natural landscapes. The PlanetProof quality mark Is an independent quality mark. It proves (‘Proof’) that a product is more sustainable. With the quality mark, farmers, horticulturists and other companies are working towards a production that is in balance with the carrying capacity of our planet. It is therefore a better choice for nature, climate and animals. And a development of taking ever further steps to put less strain on our planet.

A striking fact is that when you buy organic vegetables at the sustainable weekly market, there is no organic quality label. You just have to believe the seller. It is assumed that the products sold there are organically grown. Apart from that, there were still vegetables that we bought in the supermarket that did not have any quality labels.

In the case of fruit, the sale of products without a quality label is even the highest of all purchases. Nearly a hundred purchases without a quality mark. That in itself raises quite a few questions. Who is responsible for the quality here? Who checks the product quality? Or is it just assumed that everything is fine!

The herbs also have hardly any quality labels. But the number of purchases there is much less than with vegetables or fruit.

Blockbrush

This is a small variation on the May 2013 program. The only thing that has changed is how the keys on the keyboard are filled in. In the previous setup, ‘all’ keys had the same gradient in the background. The gradient ran from a certain colour to black. And this from the top to the bottom. The characters have remained the same. But the letters Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee and Ff have a gradient that now goes from left (colour) to right (black). That’s a small difference, but visually it makes a big change. This time horizontal and vertical lines are created in the shopping lists.

Early prototypes of the typewriter have been around since the 16th century. Still, it was until 1870 that Reverend Rasmus Malling-Hansen created a commercially viable option. Known as the ‘Hansen Writing Ball,’ this machine had fifty-two keys arranged in a semicircular pattern. How the keys were arranged was determined by how often they were used; a concept embraced by later models. Malling-Hansen looked at the way a pianist's hands moved to appreciate the mechanical design of the device. Unsurprisingly, the device was known as the ‘writing ball’ because of its shape. allthingstypewriter.com

Shopping list 2020-06-25

Shopping list 2020-07-02

Shopping list 2020-07-09

Shopping list 2020-07-16

Shopping list 2020-07-23

Shopping list 2020-07-30

Shopping list 2020-08-06

Shopping list 2020-08-13

Shopping list 2020-08-20

Shopping list 2020-08-27

Shopping list 2020-09-03

Shopping list 2020-09-10

Waste

This chapter is about unavoidable food waste. Think of apple and potato peels, broccoli stems or mint tea leaves. Although we usually use the broccoli stalks in the soup. But then again... you always have a left over. So if you want absolutely no waste, you should choose vegetables that you can eat completely. Such as Alfalfa, bean sprouts or cherry tomatoes. Most mushroom species also contain hardly any unavoidable waste.

In addition to unavoidable food waste, edible food is also thrown away in the Netherlands. The Dutch waste about thirty-four kilos of food per person per year at home. And that is food that is still edible. All Dutch households together waste five hundred and ninety million kilos of edible food per year. It is distressing to know but the number of people worldwide who are on the brink of famine is now forty-five million. Even worse is the cause of that waste: ‘We bought too much!’, ‘The food was past its expiration date.’ Or, and that is also possible, ‘It just didn‘t taste good!’ Milieucentraal

Peaches The peach is a tree of the rose family. They are drupes just like the cherry, plum and apricot. The peach is fertile, so it can fertilise itself. Scientifically, the fruit is called the Persian plum (Prunes Persica). The origin is from the Zhejiang province in China. It is an ancient fruit tracing back to –6000. The peach arrived in India around –1700. Alexander the Great conquered Persia in –333 and spread the fruit throughout his kingdom, including Greece. The Spaniards brought the peach to the New World in the sixteenth century and the English biologist George Minifie planted the first peach in his Virginia garden in the seventeenth century. Within the varieties, a distinction is made according to the colour of the flesh: white, yellow or red. The whites are sweeter and less sour. Famous peach dish: Pêche Melba was developed by the French top chef Auguste Escoffier (1846 — 1935) for the Australian opera diva Nellie Melba (1861 — 1931), whom he greatly admired.

Nutritional value peaches Per 100 Grams General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates Sugar Vitamins Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Vitamin B6 Minerals Calcium Iron Magnesium Phosphorus Sodium

168.00 40.00 1.00 1.00 7.20

kilojoules kilocalories gram grams grams

0.02 milligrams 0.04 milligrams 0.02 milligrams 7.00 0.40 9.00 22.00 1.00

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

When we take a look at the waste column, we see that we have bought five kilos of waste. That is almost a ninth of the total purchase of vegetables. It is difficult to draw conclusions from that. We could choose not to buy all vegetables that contain unavoidable waste. That’s an option.

But it can also be otherwise. You can eat green asparagus completely for example. And if you peel them, the peels can go on the smoked salmon. Avocado is a difficult case. The large kernel and skin are inedible. So we try to avoid avocado. And so we check per product to see what else we can do with the unavoidable waste. 43

The vegetables were still quite hopeful. The fruit is disastrous though. Almost a third is unavoidable waste. Only the apples, blueberries, figs, red and white grapes produce virtually no waste. Roughly half of lemons and limes consist of unavoidable waste.

The herbs are not much better than the fruit. Almost half is unavoidable waste. This cost item is largely caused by mint. You throw it away completely after you made your cup of tea. We have now solved unavoidable ginger waste by grating the whole ginger. The large amount of unavoidable waste from cress is caused by the fact that it grows on a grow-bed containing nutrition that is packed inside a cardboard box.

Chicory salad with blue cheese

Lead time about 30 minutes For two persons

This salad contains strong-tasting ingredients that still don’t get in each other’s way. For example the dressing. This one is made with a spicy and two sweet flavours: Dijon mustard, red port and red balsamic vinegar. Flavours that you wouldn’t easily mix together, but the combination creates a very tasty dressing. The radicchio and the romaine lettuce is a good combination that also gives a very cheerful and fresh basis of the salad. For the blue cheese we take the organic version of Roquefort. All this together makes a salad that you will want to make repeatedly. Ingredients:

Dressing: 150 Milliliter red port 1 Sprig of rosemary 1 Teaspoon balsamic vinegar 1 Teaspoon Dijon mustard 75 Milliliter olive oil Pepper and salt

Place a small saucepan on a medium heat and add the port and the sprig of rosemary. Bring to a boil and reduce the lquid to a third of the amount. Let it cool down. Mix in the vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and taste it.

Salad: 2 Stalks of chicory 1/2 Head of radicchio 1 Handful of winter purslane 1 Red apple 100 Grams blue cheese 1 Handful of walnuts

Cut the chicory lengthwise into strips. Tear the radicchio into pieces. Mix the chicory, radicchio and purslane together in a bowl. Cut the red apple into thin wedges and divide over the salad. Sprinkle over the walnuts and pour over the dressing. Serve the salad immediately.

Photo by Henk Lamers

Resources Daniel Lewis, community member of Bored Panda. www.boredpanda.com/hey-pandas-what-is-your-best-random-fact/? Albert Heijn supermarket, Ahold, Zaandam, Netherlands www.allthingstypewriter.com Bee Wilson: ‘The Way We Eat Now’. HarperCollins Publishers, New York City, USA CBS Statistics Netherlands, Den Haag, Netherlands De Veldkeuken, Bunnik, Netherlands Duurzame weekmarkt, Eindhoven, Netherlands EU Organic label, European Comission, Brussels, Belgium Het voedingscentrum, Netherlands Nutrition Center, Den Haag, Netherlands Historicus Rob, Belgian historian, https://www.historicusrob.be John Maeda, American designer, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA KNMI. Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, Netherlands Market Eindhoven, Netherlands Milieucentraal, Netherlands, https://www.milieucentraal.nl Paul Kortekaas, Triodos Bank, Zeist, Netherlands Planet proof, https://www.planetproof.eu The Rainforest Alliance, https://www.rainforest-alliance.org Veggipedia, https://www.veggipedia.nl Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki Wim Bens, LTO, Netherlands, https://www.zlto.nl

VFH project Summer 2020