VHF Project 4 | 2020 | Autumn by Henk_Lamers

VFH project | 4

2020 Autumn

Jeanne de Bont Henk Lamers

Table of contents

Autumn 2020

Weight

Price

Origin

Transport

Farming

Environmental score

Global costs

Markets and Supermarkets

Quality labels

Blockbrush

Waste

Quick noodle soup with mushrooms

Resources

CZU (San Mateo-Santa Cruz) Lightning Complex, fires along Butano Ridge. Source wikipedia.

A view of the A68a iceberg from a Royal Air Force reconnaissance plane near South Georgia Island on November 18. U.K. Source: Wikipedia.

Autumn 2020

In 2020, the astronomical fall began on September 22 and lasted through December 20. Severe wildfires raged in the United States. You have to think of an area the size of half of the Netherlands. And that happens every year. In October, Donald Trump and his wife became infected with the corona virus. But that seems trivial to us. On November 2, a temperature of 19.1º Celsius was measured in de Bilt. That day was the warmest November day since 1901 when measurements were taken for the first time by the KNMI. In December, the largest ice floe in the world heads straight for the island of South Georgia. This ice floe broke off the Larsen C plateau in Antarctica in 2017. At that time, the ice floe had a size of six thousand square kilometers. Just for comparison. Luxembourg fits in twice. The ice floe would lie up to 200 meters below the surface of the water. Meanwhile, extreme snowfall ravaged the Alps and farmers were blocking the distribution centers of various supermarket chains in the Netherlands. Everyone had to deal with a tough lock down. This was due to an excessive number of corona infections. Let‘s see what our data has to say about this fall period.

Weight

Autumn is a season that serves as preparation for a long cold period with short days and long nights. In this season we need different nutrients than in summer or spring. You also see the range of vegetables, fruit and herbs changing. It is a stage of transition to some more solid food that protects us from the cold. This creates new possibilities for preparing recipes that we really only like to eat during this period. Think of all types of cabbages, Brussels sprouts and potatoes, but also of the fresh supply of walnuts, chestnuts and hazelnuts. A new season with different food to eat. For our future food forest garden it is very important to know what we can plant for this period.

The origin of the endive is very uncertain. Some information tells us that endive probably came to the Mediterranean via trade routes with China. However, the plant belongs to the chicory family. And it occurs throughout the Mediterranean area up to and including Turkey. The name endive is derived from the old French endive. Endive, which goes back to the Latin endivia via medieval Latin intibea. Which in turn is derived from intubus which stands for chicory. The common explanation is that via Greek entúbion, éntubon, literally ‘plant growing in February,’ the word goes back to Coptic ṭūba ‘February.’ The vegetable is available almost all year round. There are two types of endive, whole leaf or curly endive. The curly endive is also called frisée. The curly endive is more bitter than the whole leaf endive. In the winter months and in early spring the endive comes from the greenhouse horticulture, these crops are much smaller and softer than those from the cold soil.

Endive is related to chicory and therefore has a slightly bitter taste. That is why endive is often combined with sweet or sour flavours. The leafy greens can be eaten cooked or raw. Or stir-fried with onion and serve with rice and peanut sauce.

Nutritional value per 100 grams Endive Cichorium endivia, Asteracae General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates Sugar

68.00 16.00 1.50 1.00 1.00

Vitamins Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Vitamin B6 Vitamin C

0.05 0.06 0.06 1.00

Minerals Calcium Iron Magnesium Phosphorus

54.00 1.20 11.00 36.00

kilojoules kilocalories grams grams grams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

When the temperature drops, you crave warm, solid foods. You can see that in our potato use. Over eight pounds. We also started making recipes with a vegetable that was new to us: parsnip. It is an old-fashioned and almost forgotten vegetable, but it tastes very good. You can make a delicious soup with it.

A change in vegetable consumption is also reflected in the almost two kilos of white cabbage. It is also (still) clear that we like to eat cherry tomatoes. This season we ate almost three kilos of it. Real troublemakers are the green asparagus. We bought 455 grams green asparagus.

But we should actually avoid them in the fall since they come from South America.

This fall, oranges are also the most purchased fruit, 31.174 grams. Followed by kiwi, grapefruit and lemons. Figs are a delicacy. We ate 481 grams of figs this season. We prepare them topped with Parma ham, mozzarella, mint and a dressing of olive oil, honey and lemon juice. With our future food forest garden in mind, we tried a new fruit: quince. Just to see if we should plant a quince tree. The quince is a forgotten fruit. But unfortunately we found them raw absolutely inedible. That‘s why we had to throw them away. Not all experiments lead to euphoria.

Mint is also number one on the list this season. 1.672 Grams. Next in line is garlic weighing 622 grams. But mint and garlic are almost never in the same dish, except with couscous. Basil also stands out in the chart with its 385 grams.

Price

You see a wave of price changes with each new season. The first available products are sometimes very expensive, but when there is more supply, the prices drop. The supply therefore largely determines the price of a product. The marketing experts encourage people to buy those expensive products. Because then you will be the first to eat a certain product this year and you can share your experience with others. It is up to us whether or not to use it. In general, therefore, some products that are less available become more expensive and others that are widely available are cheaper. When we have covered all seasons, we will compare how prices differ across the seasons. But in the fall of 2020, our number one spot is still cherry tomatoes.

Cauliflower descends from the wild cabbage. This also applies to all types of cabbages. The oldest known data on cauliflower comes from –600. But there is a difference between the oldest known records and a reliable record. The first reliable mention of the plant is in Kitab al-Filaha (‘Book on Agriculture’) in 1200. Written by the Seville Arab agronomist Ibn al-'Awwam. Three varieties have been described in Spain. All three were from Syria. Cultivation first occurred in the Netherlands and Belgium around 1500. The name is formed from a combination of two words: flower and cabbage. As a loan translation of the Italian cavolfiore (cabbage flower). Or via the French chou-fleur. Cavolfiore comes from Latin caulis ‘cabbage’ and flōris ‘flower’. Other European languages made a similar kind of translation. Such as German Blumenkohl and Swedish blomkål. The English cauliflower is derived from Latin, with influence from Middle English cole, caul ‘cabbage’. The cauliflower consists of still young flower buds. This is in contrast to broccoli. There are varieties of white, purple, orange and green cauliflowers. Contrary to popular belief, cauliflower leaves are also edible. 10

Nutritional value per 100 grams cauliflower Brassica oleracea var. botrytis General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates Sugar

107.00 25.00 1.90 3.00 2.40

kilojoules kilocalories grams grams grams

Vitamins Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Vitamin B6 Vitamin C Vitamin E

0.05 0.06 0.13 25.00 0.00

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

Minerals Calcium Iron Magnesium Phosphorus Sodium

28.00 0.30 12.00 48.00 0.00

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

Cauliflower is a popular vegetable in the Netherlands. This is probably due to its mild taste. We find the taste very neutral. That is why we always feel the need to add a slightly less mild flavour, such as tomato sauce with black olives.

Despite the fact that we are global cuisine eaters rather than seasonal eaters, you see a small change of products in our data. We still bought a lot of cherry tomatoes, rocket, cucumbers and even green asparagus. But we also bought potatoes, spinach and different kinds of mushrooms.

We spent the most money on cherry tomatoes. About 19.35 euro. Then come the potatoes with 17.90 euro. We are actually very curious if this will change when we have our own food forest garden. It is also questionable whether it makes sense to grow potatoes yourself. Because they are available all year round anyway.

This season, the kiwi is number one in terms of price. We bought kiwis for 99 euro. This season we also see figs on the list that we spent 6.80 euro. Besides the kiwi, oranges, lemons, grapefruit and red and white grapes remain the most purchased fruit. All in all, we bought 410.55 euro worth of fruit in the fall.

If you use almost no salt you can compensate this by adding a lot of fresh herbs to your food. Preferably fresh herbs if available. This adds more flavour to the food. In the fall of 2020 we still drank a lot of fresh mint tea. You can see that in the expenditure of 27 euro for all the mint we bought. Basil is one of our most used herbs. There is always a basil plant in a pot in the kitchen. We bought basil plants for 8.79 euro. Then come dill, tarragon, coriander and chili peppers. All in all we bought for 80.21 euro worth of herbs this season.

Origin

The origin of the vegetables, fruits and herbs are essential for the success of our VFH project. Fortunately, we buy more and more products that are produced locally. But unfortunately this is only possible if the shops and markets in our area also offer them. With regard to the vegetables group, we see that the largest part is produced in the Netherlands. There are still two culprits: Chile and Peru. But the longer we work on this project, the more we hopefully become aware of what products we buy and where they come from. The fruit group is still the most difficult because many products come from abroad. Bananas do not grow in the Netherlands. Although research is being done on this at the Wageningen University and Research. So for now we have to make do with apples and pears. The fruit culprits are the countries: Peru, Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Israel, Panama and New Zealand. There are still far too many and so we have to do our best to eat other fruit from Dutch soil.

Pak choi is closely related to Chinese cabbage. It originates from China, Taiwan and Japan. The vegetable was mentioned in northern China as early as –500. The Dutch name ‘Paksoi’ is a corruption of the Cantonese designation for the vegetable, baak choi. The form for this in Standard Chinese is Xiaobaicai, which means ‘little white vegetable.’ Another explanation states that the name ‘Pak choi’ is derived from the Chinese word ‘soup spoon’ due to the shape of the leaves. Pak choi belongs to the ‘Brassica rapa’ family and is therefore a type of cabbage. However, like lettuce and endive, it is a leafy vegetable. Pak choi can be divided into two types, namely the open and the closed type. The open type is mainly grown in the Netherlands. This type forms rosettes with bare, short, thick, light coloured petioles. The leaf color is glossy green to dark green and the veins are strongly accentuated.

Nutritional value per 100 grams Pak choi Brassica rapa var. chinensis General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates Sugar

58.00 14.00 1.00 1.04 1.04

kilojoules kilocalories grams grams grams

Vitamins Vitamin B1 Vitamin B6 Vitamin C Vitamin E

0.01 11.00 21.00 0.01

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

Minerals Calcium Iron Magnesium Phosphorus Sodium

54.00 0.60 7.00 27.00 0.20

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

Strangely enough, Pak choi does not have a typical cabbage taste. It tastes rather spicy. We like to eat it in combination with ginger, red pepper and soy sauce.

The potatoes pop out with 8.647 grams. They cover almost the entire width of the chart. We have no idea how this came to be. Apparently we felt the need to eat potatoes often in this season.

Next come onion, leek, white cabbage and mushrooms and then the rest of the vegetables. We promise each other not to buy green asparagus anymore, when they come from Peru.

In that respect, this project is a disaster. Your entire purchasing policy will be undermined if you‘re not careful. If you‘re careful too.

Apart from the few apples and pears from the Netherlands, all the fruit comes from abroad. It is not surprising that we bought 21.301 grams of oranges because we use two every day. Fortunately, this time they come from Spain, which limits the damage to the environment. It remains a problem with the kiwis. It is a healthy fruit with many vitamins and it is also very tasty. But the kiwis come from New Zealand! We could have prevented grapes from Peru by buying the Italian variety. It would be fantastic if we could put fruit from our own garden on the list in a year‘s time. But we have to let go of that idea for a while. 16

Our neighbours in Almere planted three apple trees in 2020. In the following year one apple arrived. So we think we will only get fruit from our own garden on a much longer term.

It is actually too crazy for words that you can only buy a 100 gram bunch of tarragon coming from Israel. That also applies to chives, dill and tarragon, which come from Kenya. While you would expect that these herbs are easy to grow in a greenhouse here in the Netherlands. But that in turn is environmentally unfriendly because of the high heating costs. In addition, these herbs are also very small and often of mediocre quality. Unless you go to a supermarket. There you can often buy bunches of herbs that are good and affordable but come from far. And the word organic is never on the packaging.

We also bought 1.672 grams of Spanish mint. Mint is, also in previous seasons, a significant outlier. We have also been able to limit the origin of herbs to herbs from Israel and Morocco. France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands are fortunately within the safety zone. When we soon live in Almere Oosterwold, we can plant herbs in the garden ourselves. We are working on it theoretically.

Transport

Transport remains a difficult subject that we cannot get a grip on. But we are finally on the right track which gives a good feeling and motivation to continue. It‘s really nice to be so aware of what you buy and the climate impact it has. This way you can do something yourself to limit the impact on the climate as much as possible. Maybe it‘s also because the products we eat in the fall are locally grown. A little less exotic, but just as healthy and tasty.

‘If only the know-how could be equalled by the will-to-serve, by compassion for human suffering caused by hunger and deficiency diseases, there is no reason why fully balanced diets consisting largely of plant-foods should not be made available for hundreds of millions of undernourished people in the West as well as in the Third World.‘ Robert Hart, Forest Gardening, published by Green Books, May 1996.

The parsnip originates from the Mediterranean and was already known to the Greeks and Romans. On their journey north, the Roman soldiers took the parsnip along. The plant was originally the size of an ordinary carrot. It turned out that the parsnips grew much larger in colder regions. It is also known that Charlemagne recommended growing parsnips. The plant came to Western Europe in the Middle Ages and was an important food before the introduction of the potato. The parsnip was often used in dishes where we now use potatoes. Pastenāke, Postāke and the Latin pastināca means: ‘root’. That word is also connected with the verb pastināre: ‘to dig the vineyard’. And in the dialect: ‘planting, transplanting young shoots’. The word has also been adopted in the Roman languages: pastenaga, pasnaie or panais. Parsnip, Pentecost or White Carrot is a plant from the Apiaceae family of umbellifers. It is an approximately twenty centimeters long root crop with a cream-white colour. Due to the length of the taproot, the vegetable is not suitable for cultivation on clay soils. Which is unfortunate for us. The taste is intense, aromatic and slightly sweet. It is somewhere between the taste of carrot and celeriac. We think the taste of parsnip also has something of anise. It has only been a popular vegetable with us for a year or two.

Nutricional value per 100 grams parsnip Pastinaca sativa, Apiaceae General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates Sugar

298.00 71.00 1.80 11.00 5.40

kilojoules kilocalories grams grams grams

Vitamins Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Vitamin B6 Vitamin C Vitamin E

0.23 0.01 0.11 17.00 0.00

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

Minerals Calcium Iron Magnesium Phosphorus Sodium

41.00 0.60 23.00 74.00 0.03

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

Excellent result with ninety purchases of vegetables from the Netherlands! Then we come to products from Spain, Italy, Belgium and Germany. Fortunately, these countries fall into the safety zone. This season we have only made two questionable purchases coming from Peru and Chile.

When Leiden was relieved by the Beggars in 1574, a bronze cooking pot with stew was found on the entrenchment, which was left behind by the Spaniards. This stew consisted of parsnips, yellow carrots, onions and meat. The ‘white carrot’ has remained popular in Great Britain and Ireland. In the United States, the immigrants initially also ate parsnips, brought by the English. As elsewhere, the parsnip has been replaced by the potato. The parsnip is currently being revalued and is again for sale in the supermarket.

The amount of fruit transport in autumn scores significantly higher than the vegetables. In total, the fruit we bought travelled a distance of 93.212 kilometers. And that for 100 purchases. The largest amount of transport comes from Spain and Italy. Then we see transport from South Africa and the Dominican Republic. We have to check again which types of fruit we will put in our food forest garden later so that we can also eat from them in the fall.

Of all the herbs we bought this season, most of the shipments come from Spain. Closely followed by transport from the Netherlands with sixteen purchases. Transports come from far away from Israel, Kenya, Morocco and Peru. In total, the herbs travelled 24.948 kilometers before we could use them in our daily meals. We can improve a lot here in the future.

Farming

We are very happy with the sustainable weekly market on Saturday morning in Eindhoven. We try to buy all vegetables and herbs there for the whole week. The products may not be healthier. But eating products that have been grown in a natural way without pesticides or fertilizers gives a very good feeling. Every week it is therefore a joy to buy the beautiful products and cook with them at home. The Sumerian king Ur-Nammu had leeks grown in the gardens of Ur around –2100. It is known that the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans also ate leeks. Leek was the favourite vegetable of the Roman Emperor Nero. And therefore also known as Porrophagus (leek eater). Subsequently, the vegetable was spread all over Europe. In the year 640, the mythical British king Cadwallader uses leeks as a mark of identification for his troops. The leek is part of the national emblem of Wales. The name porey is probably derived from Old French poree ‘vegetable soup of leek‘. This goes back to the Latin porrum, also porrus, ‘leek’. The oldest Dutch form ‘poret’ also occurs in Old French and may have been borrowed from medieval Latin porrata ‘leek dish, product of leek’. In Middle Dutch and Early New Dutch the composition porlooc also existed, literally ‘leek look’. Leek is a monocot plant. In the vegetative phase, the plant is made up of leaf sheaths and leaf discs. The leaf sheaths are folded over each other and form the white part of the leek as long as they are covered with soil. No stem is present at this stage. Only under the influence of cold in winter does the leek start to form a flowering stem at the end of April or the beginning of May. Leek is an aromatic, spicy vegetable. Leek belongs to the garlic family that also includes onion and chives. You smell that. And because we are talking about taste here, you can taste it too. We regularly make leeks with chickpea soup. 22

Nutritional value per 100 grams leek Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates

92.00 22.00 1.10 2.10

kilojoules kilocalories grams grams

Vitamins Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Vitamin B6 Vitamin C Vitamin E

0.03 0.03 0.10 5.00 0.08

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

Minerals Calcium Iron Magnesium Phosphorus Sodium

41.00 0.30 10.00 22.00 0.01

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

This fall we bought 39.221 grams of organic vegetables and only 4.336 grams of non-organic vegetables. The organic potatoes stand out with 7.675 grams. But apparently we also bought almost a kilo of non-organic potatoes. This chart provides an insight at a glance that we are doing well with our purchase of vegetables.

We eat 241.65 grams of vegetables per day. But ‘Het Voedingscentrum’, recommends to eat 250 grams of vegetables per day. And we have to add a caveat to that. Many vegetables have unavoidable waste. Avocados, parsnips and carrots sometimes have to be peeled depending on the recipe. We would then have to subtract that weight in order to determine it more accurately. We‘ll look at this later on an annual basis.

In this graph we see the opposite situation as with vegetables. We are far from doing well with the fruit category. We bought only 12.456 grams of organic fruit. Organic fruit is often of poor quality. On the other hand, we bought 92.146 non-organic fruit. That could be much better. How? Just make sure we go buy organic fruit somewhere else.

With the herbs it‘s almost fifty-fifty. Just as much organic as nonorganic herbs. Organic herbs are hardly or not at all available. That is unfortunate. The (super) market is not ready for it yet. The only solution is to grow all these herbs yourself. That should work except for the chili peppers. We thought. While visiting our new neighbours they showed a pot with a chili pepper plant. They didn’t know what to do with it and in the end made sambal from it. There are 48 different types of sambal according to Wikipedia:

Sambal andaliman Sambal asam Sambal bajak Sambal bawang Sambal belimbing Sambal bengkoang Sambal berandal Sambal bongkot Sambal buah Sambal cibiuk Sambal durian Sambal ebi Sambal gandaria Sambal goang Sambal goreng Sambal jenggot Sambal jengkol Sambal kalasan Sambal kacang Sambal kecap Sambal kecombrang Sambal kemangi Sambal kemiri Sambal kenari

Sambal lado mudo Sambal lampung Sambal leunca Sambal luat Sambal matah Sambal petai Sambal petis Sambal pencit Sambal plecing Sambal roa Sambal rujak Sambal setan Sambal taliwang Sambal tauco Sambal terasi Sambal teri lado Sambal tomat Sambal tuktuk Sambal tumis Sambal tumpang Sambal udang bawang Sambal ulek Sambal stroberi Sambal uyah-lombok

Environmental score

About 82% of the American people believe labelling should take place with regard to genetically engineered ingredients. All over this country people are increasingly concerned about the quality of the food they are ingesting and the food they are giving to their kids. People want to know what is in their food, and I believe that is a very reasonable request. Bernie Sanders, American politician and activist. A B

This is also such a handy chart where you can see at a glance whether we made the right choices when purchasing our products in the past season. There should be as many white blocks as possible on the left under group A. If there are blocks under group B, that is also a very good result. We prefer to see no blocks at all in groups D and E.

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

Fortunately, there are no white squares in group D and only two in group E. Those are the avocados from Chile and green asparagus from Peru. Dutch people eat 2.2 kilograms of avocados per person.

The same goes for green asparagus from Peru. But there is another aspect to that. Asparagus cultivation provides employment for thousands of people. In Ica, Southern Peru, 25.000 families alone.

Here, too, we see the opposite of vegetables with fruit. There are far too many squares in groups D and E. This result is caused by the bananas, citrus fruits, kiwis and the red and white grapes.

With the herbs you can see that it is a bit divided over all groups. Except group E has no white square. Tarragon, chives and dill don‘t have to come all the way from Kenya or Israel as far as we‘re concerned. The mint pulls the result in the negative even if it is in group C. But in group D there are still too many squares. We should pay more attention to that.

Global costs

‘Food is an incredibly complex system, with social, economic and environmental components. The food system is responsible for about a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. According to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN, the economic costs of food waste amount to €900 billion per year, with an additional €800 billion annually in social costs. That’s why just continuing like this is not an option.’ Peter Jackson, Chairman of the working group that wrote the report ‘A sustainable food system for the European Union’.

European scientists agree that a radical change is underway in our food production and distribution to ensure food security and healthy nutrition for all. The report ‘A sustainable food system for the European Union’ (sapea.info/topics/sustainable-food) provides an empirical basis for the scientific advice of the Chief Scientific Advisors, the main scientific advisors to the European Commission. The report was written at the request of the College of Commissioners by a multidisciplinary group of leading scientists nominated by academies across Europe.

The portobello is an oversized chestnut mushroom. And the chestnut mushroom is the light brown variant of the white mushroom. Mushrooms simply grew in forests and fields. The first documented mushroom cultivation took place in 1651 near Paris. In the Netherlands, mushroom cultivation started on a larger scale around 1900. This mainly happened in the Velvet Cave in Valkenburg and in the SintPietersberg near Maastricht. The name mushroom is derived from the French mushroom (edible mushroom). In Latin campaniola ‘mushroom’. This may be a derivation from Latin campania ‘plain, field’. In that case, the location determined the name (as in Dutch the meadow mushroom). Another possibility is that campaniola goes back to Latin campāna ‘clock’. In that case, the mushroom was named after its shape. Exactly as it happened with the chanterelle ‘cup’. The breeding ground for mushrooms is compost. The mushroom fungus is inoculated into the compost. On top of this is a layer of about five centimeters casing soil. A mushroom grows its own size every day! The portobello has a diameter of twelve centimeters. Due to its size, the portobello is very suitable for filling.

The portobello has a fleshy structure and is fairly neutral in taste. We usually bake it upside down filled with tallegio on a layer of cherry tomatoes.

Nutritional value per 100 grams portobello Agaricus bisporus General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates

75.00 18.00 2.30 0.04

kilojoules kilocalories grams grams

Vitamins Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Vitamin B6 Vitamin C Vitamin E

0.07 0.30 0.12 4.00 0.1

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

Minerals Calcium Iron Magnesium Phosphorus Sodium

6.00 0.20 9.00 80.00 0.01

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

In the fall we spent a little less money on vegetables, fruit and herbs. In the summer that was still 763.98 euro. In the fall the total expenditure was 706.51 euro. A difference of 56.47 euro. It‘s not really clear what causes this. Maybe some products are cheaper in the fall. Or maybe we ate less. We‘ll take a look at it in the latest publication of 2020. The results of the Netherlands, Spain and Italy are positive.

‘To transform the food system, we will also have to implement changes in existing forms of governance, both from the government and by the market and society.’ By reducing food waste and changing our consumption pattern, but also – and above all – by asking ourselves again how we actually look at food. Katrien Termeer, Professor at Wageningen University & Research

What a downer. We have spent much more money on nonorganic products than on organic products. 440.57 Euros for nonorganic expenditure compared to 265.94 euros for organic products. Wrong stuff. On top of that, we spent the money in Italy, New Zealand, South Africa and Spain. The question is, of course, whether it is bad that we support these countries by buying their products. But it would be better if we could buy organic products from them.

This seems to be a good result with a score of 152.65 euros spent on organic products from the Netherlands. Spain comes in second place, but unfortunately the Dominican Republic comes in with 22.45 euro. Unfortunately, because these bananas from the Dominican Republic did have a journey of 7.419.87 kilometers behind them. But there are always several sides to a case. They are organic bananas. We wonder how these were transported. Probably by boat. The shipping sector is relatively clean when you look at emissions per tonne of cargo transported. Shipping is responsible for about three percent of global CO2 emissions.

Markets and supermarkets

’The first supermarket supposedly appeared on the American landscape in 1946. That is not very long ago. Until then, where was all the food? Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests. It was near kitchens, near tables, near bedsides. It was in the pantry, the cellar, the backyard.‘

A few weeks ago, somewhere in November 2021, Jeanne asked a shop

Joel Salatin: Folks, This Ain‘t Normal: A Farmer‘s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World

is worth more. Fruit and vegetables are often cheaper there than in the

assistant at Albert Heijn: ‘I am actually disappointed that your range of organic fruit and vegetables is so small.‘ To which the shop assistant replied: ‘Not me!’. End of discussion. You will not often see something like this on the market. The market is a form of street trade. Your euro supermarket. And, if you go there regularly, you build a good relationship with the market people. You can often buy products unpacked so that you have less paper and plastic waste. And there are people who find shopping at the market a pleasant activity.

The wild vine probably comes from the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean region. The wild plant is the Vitis silvestris with smaller seeds than the cultivated form Vitis vinifera. In Armenia, from –4500 transition from Vitis silvestris to Vitis vinifera. In the early Bronze Age, a highly developed grape cultivation arose in Palestine, Syria and Egypt. It were the Romans who brought grape cultivation to more northern regions. The grape is the fruit of the vine. The name comes from Old Saxon thrubo, Old High German thruba, druba (grape or bunch of grapes). We are all familiar with the vine as a climbing plant with a root reaching deep into the soil and large hand-veined leaves. You can recognise the plant most easily by the bunches of grapes, which arise after flowering in the summer and are harvested for consumption or the preparation of wine. Grapes are sweet, crisp and fresh. Unfortunately, in some seasons grapes are only available from (distant) foreign countries like Chile or Peru. For us they are only an option if they come from Europe.

Nutritional value per 100 grams grapes Vitis vinifera, Vitaceae General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates Sugar

331.00 78.00 0.60 16.80 16.20

kilojoules kilocalories grams grams grams

Vitamins Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Vitamin B6 Vitamin C Vitamin E

0.04 0.01 0.05 2.00 0.30

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

Minerals Calcium Iron Phosphorus Magnesium Sodium

17.00 0.20 25.00 9.00 0.01

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

All in all, the result shows that we still buy far too many products on the regular market. The regular market is not a supplier of organic products. We think in the longer term we will go to the supermarket as little as possible. A fall-back option now consists of the Ekoplaza. We also try to visit the regular market less. Unfortunately because we had built a good relationship with a family of Turkish descent for our fruit. Such a bond with market people can therefore also become an objection if you know that you will soon be moving. And that threatens to happen. On December 14, 2020, the first pile went into the ground on our plot in Almere Oosterwold.

The supermarket concept is to fill your shopping cart as quickly as possible and pay at the checkout. Everything is efficient. The more efficiently a product is produced, transported, stored and packaged, the lower the environmental impact. And it is precisely the supermarkets that have arranged their transport very efficiently, so that they drive as much as possible with full trucks. On the market it is almost the opposite. The atmosphere, the offer and the prices are more important.

Quality labels

Last year the amount of organic fruit cultivation increased to 3.5%. According to the CBS, 6 organic certified fruit companies have been added. And 6 companies are in the process of switching to organic farming. There are now a total of 173 organic fruit farms in the Netherlands. It's going slow but it's coming. CBS Centraal bureau voor de Statistiek. CBS.nl

How organic is a product if it says ‘organic’ on the packaging? If you want to do your shopping sustainably, you are almost obliged to pay attention to the quality label. Such a quality label must meet various requirements. But the basic principle is always that the product has less of a burden on the environment than comparable products from conventional cultivation. The word mark or logo shows that a product meets certain requirements that have been drawn up for the relevant quality label. For example, whether a product is a more sustainable or healthier choice. The easiest way is to be guided by the Dutch top ten quality labels. You can therefore assume that these guarantee the environment, control and transparency.

Top ten quality labels for food

ASC Farmed fish, crustaceans and shellfish

MSC Sustainably caught wild fish, crustaceans and shellfish

Better Life Animal Welfare

PlanetProof, dairy, eggs, fruit, vegetables, flowers and plants

Demeter Biodynamic Agriculture

Rainforest Alliance Tropical fruits, coffee, tea and chocolate

EKO Organic products

Fairtrade Fair prices for producers

EU Organic label Organic products

UTZ Sustainable agriculture for people and nature

Vegetables Organic cultivation is free of chemical synthetic agents and fertilizers. In addition, organic plants always have their roots in the ground and they are given time to grow in their natural rhythm. That is the great advantage of organic cultivation. The attention that is paid to the purity of quality. One could also come up with a quality label for that. This season we bought 91 vegetables that were grown organically.

Fruit Organic fruit grows in open ground and is fed with animal manure (from organic animals) and organic compost – certainly no fertilizer. Although crop rotation is important in the organic cultivation of vegetables, it is different for fruit. You cannot put an apple tree in a different place every year. A tree prefers to be in the right place with sufficient space and sunlight. You can make sure that different plants are put under the tree every year. 78 Purchases did not bear any quality label this season. 21 Purchases were organically grown. And one had the Rainforest Alliance label.

Herbs A mixed result. Eighteen organic products. Three products with an EU Quality label and twelve with the label planet proof. 23 Products without even a label. This while the Italian grower Simonato has been one of the most important players on the European and Italian market for the cultivation of organic herbs for more than twenty years. Herbs such as: basil, rosemary, sage, mint, marjoram, thyme, oregano and peppers. In the Netherlands we have BelleMarie, grower of more than 40 varieties of organic/dynamic fresh herbs. So they are there, but how come we can‘t buy them?

Blockbrush

Another small variation on the program from May 2013. The program is still the same. Only a minor change has been made with regard to the key colour matching on the keyboard. In the previous set-up, the interpretation of the keys for the numbers had remained the same. But the letters Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee and Ff had a gradient, which went from left (color) to right (black) instead of top to bottom. In this version the letters Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll and Mm have also been given a gradient, but this goes from bottom (color) to top (black).

The shift key was first introduced as far back as 1878. It was also referred to as a ‘carriage shift.’ The main purpose was to move the typebar in such a way that a different piece would be placed in contact with the inked ribbon. As a result, it was possible to type two separate letters at the same time. This was essentially intended to enhance the efficiency of existing models as well as to lessen the number of typebars. Obviously, it was very important in the event that both upper- and lower-case letters could be accessed. The shift key also enabled numbers to be associated with symbols. allthingstypewriter.com/history

Shopping list 2020-09-24

Shopping list 2020-10-01

Shopping list 2020-10-07

Shopping list 2020-10-15

Shopping list 2020-10-22

Shopping list 2020-10-29

Shopping list 2020-11-05

Shopping list 2020-11-11

Shopping list 2020-11-19

Shopping list 2020-11-26

Shopping list 2020-12-03

Shopping list 2020-12-10

Waste

Waste is actually a thing on its own. It has nothing to do with organic cultivation but rather with the type of product and its skin. Some vegetables or fruits produce more waste than others. And a lot of vegetable waste that people throw away can still be used. Think of animal feed or compost for your garden. Once you discover these secrets you will see that in the end there is almost nothing left to throw away. Even potato peelings, for example, can be roasted in the oven and turned into great chips. We think it is going too far to buy special vegetables that do not have any waste. But it is good that you are aware of this issue.

The oldest bean remains found date from Peru and are from about –6000. Later findings from Chile date around –2700. The common bean was brought to Europe from South America in the sixteenth century. The many varieties that we know today originated in Europe. The string bean is a variety of the common bean. The name is derived from the fact that the pods used to be cut crosswise into strips This was done with a string bean grinder, in order to cut the tough threads into short pieces. Old varieties form a string because the back seam of the pod lignifies. But today, most breeds are stringless. The string bean is a flat bean that can grow up to 25 centimeters long. It is a legume with broad, flat pods that is eaten cooked as a vegetable. When you buy them they should look fresh green and they should feel firm. String beans have a typical ‘bean taste’ and slightly sweet. The toxin lectin naturally occurs in raw (string) beans. Lectins are plant defenses against outside invaders. In large quantities, they can weaken the intestinal wall by binding to cells. Heating makes lectin inactive.

Nutritional value per 100 grams string bean Phaseolus vulgaris General Energy Energy Protein Carbohydrates Sugar

93.00 22.00 1.90 2.00 0.70

kilojoules kilocalories gram grams grams

Vitamins Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Vitamin B6 Vitamin C

0.07 0.06 0.05 5,00

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

Minerals Calcium Iron Magnesium Phosphorus Sodium

40.00 0.50 10.00 30.00 0.01

milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams milligrams

Coincidentally, the potato is the most eaten vegetable in this graph. 172 grams of waste and just under 7 kilograms of all potatoes were edible. We also see strange things in this chart, such as the spring onions. The quality was probably not good and we had to throw some away. The waste of the leek can be explained. But not that of the spinach, because you can eat it all. Just like the spring onions. 43

Striking are the quinces that have completely disappeared in the waste bin. It is a type of fruit that we did not like. A constant waste-factor that remains are all citrus fruits, the peels of oranges, grapefruit and lemons. There is also nothing more to do with the banana peels, so they fall under the heading of waste.

To prevent waste, it is best to eat as many herbs as possible because they hardly produce any waste. In relation to the fruit and vegetables, they score well. Only two outliers are the mint and lemon melissa. Both are used to make tea, after which they completely disappear in the waste bin.

Cozze al gratin

Lead time about 60 minutes For two persons

This is a great recipe by our friend Ko Sliggers. We have kept all parts of the recipe for four people. So instead of one kilo we used two kilos of mussels. We forgot the shallot, but replaced it with a spring onion. Maybe use a little more lemon next time. Which is also nice… just eat everything from the baking tin. So no plates but the baking tin with the mussels on the table. Saves on washing up afterwards.

For the herb butter:

125 Grams of butter Half a shallot 1 Garlic clove 1 Tablespoon parsley Juice of a quarter lemon Zest of half a lemon Sniff paprika powder Pepper

Make a herb butter by mixing the soft butter with all the ingredients. Roll in kitchen foil into a sausage and refrigerate.

For the mussels:

Splash of olive oil 2 Kilos of mussels 1 Spring onion 1 Garlic clove 1 Stalk celery 1 Carrot Olive oil 1 Glass of white wine Pepper 120 Grams parmigiano reggiano

Take a large pan in which the mussels easily fit. Cut the vegetables into thin slices and cubes. Fry the vegetables in a dash of olive oil, without coloring them. Add the white wine and let it simmer over low heat with the lid on the pan for 10 minutes. Turn the heat up high. Add the cleaned fresh mussels. Grind over plenty of pepper and put the lid on. Turn the mussels after a few minutes and put the lid back on. After a few minutes the mussels are cooked. Let cool. Preheat the oven to 200ºC or use the grill setting. Remove the mussels from their shells and place them in a single shell. Arrange them in a flat oven dish and spread the herb butter over it. Sprinkle the cheese on top and gratin until golden.

A lighter version:

6 Tablespoons of crumbled bread 1 Clove crushed garlic A dash of olive oil 1 Tablespoon chopped parsley A little tomato sauce Grated pecorino

Photo by Henk Lamers 47

Resources ASC Farmed fish crustaceans and shellfish, Utrecht, Netherlands Better Life Animal Welfare, Beter Leven, Den Haag, Netherlands CBS, Statistics Netherlands, Den Haag, Netherlands Demeter, Driebergen, Netherlands EKO Organic products, Ede Netherlands Etymologiebank initiated by Nicoline van der Sijs, Nijmegen Netherlands EU, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium EU Organic label, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium Fairtrade, Bonn, Germany Greenbooks Publishers, Cambridge, United Kingdom Het voedingscentrum, Netherlands Nutrition Center, Den Haag, Netherlands KNMI, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, Netherlands ‘Koken tussen de Vulkanen’ by Ko Sliggers, Published by Loopvis, Netherlands Little Brown & Company, Hachette, France MSC Sustainably caught wild fish, crustaceans and shellfish, London, United Kingdom Northpoint Press, Albany, California, USA Planet proof, Den Haag, Netherlands SAEA, Science Advice for Policy by European Academies, Brussels, Belgium The Rainforest Alliance, Amsterdam, Netherlands UTZ Sustainable agriculture for people and nature, Amsterdam, Neterlands Veggipedia, NAGF, Zoetermeer, Netherlands Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

VFH project Autumn 2020