Inkwell ANNIE WRIGHT UPPER SCHOOL
NOVEMBER 2018
THE FOOD ISSUE
>> Vending machines out >> How to get your nutrients >> Using food as a weapon >> Restaurant reviews
ANNIE WRIGHT UPPER SCHOOL
Letter from the editors We spend a lot of time preparing, eating and thinking about food. It shapes our daily routines. Food, however, is more than just what’s on the plate; it is also the complex web of people, places and systems behind it. This issue illuminates deeper connections with food: connections to politics, to the environment and to our Annie Wright community. Articles in this issue detail how food can be used as a weapon of power, explore farms and restaurants committed to protecting the environment, and describe the eating habits and routines of our students and community. Inkwell endeavored to report on topics around food that are meaningful to you. We offer nutritional advice from a dietitian, review most of the restaurants within walking distance of the school and share stories of family connections to food. We hope you enjoy!
Allison Fitz, Editor-in-Chief Nina Doody, Food Issue Editor
Inkwell NOVEMBER 2018
827 North Tacoma Avenue Tacoma, WA 98403 inkwell@aw.org | 253-272-2216 Issue 1 | Volume 58 EDITOR IN CHIEF Allison Fitz PRINT EDITOR Nina Doody ONLINE EDITOR Abby Givens ARTS EDITOR Gabrielle Krieger FEATURES EDITOR Jade Cheatham NEWS EDITOR Young Seo Jo OPINIONS EDITOR Samantha Salamone SPORTS EDITOR Kaitlin Tan STUDENT LIFE EDITOR Julia Henning Inkwell aims to provide the Annie Wright community with dependable and engaging coverage of school, community and global topics. Inkwell publishes articles of all genres weekly at anniewrightinkwell.org as well as four themed magazines during the course of the school year. Submissions of articles and photographs, correction requests and signed letters to the editor are most welcome. Please email the editors at inkwell@ aw.org. All published submissions will receive credits and bylines.
The Proctor District's Olympia Coffee offers compostable straws. Photo by Gabrielle Krieger. cover photo by Allison Fitz
anniewrightinkwell.org
Contents
Chocolate and vanilla buttercream cupcakes from Tacoma's Hello, Cupcake bakery. Photo by Abby Givens.
Agricultural & sustainability What happened to the vending machines? Food as a weapon Getting the nutrients you need Connection through food photography Restaurant reviews
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Unhealthy beauty standards for produce
by Abby Givens and Gabrielle Krieger
Grocery stores in the United States are full of shiny, ideally shaped and unbruised produce. This is not because imperfect specimen aren’t grown in nature, but because grocery stores won’t buy them. This has contributed to food waste across the country. According to the USDA, food waste is estimated at 30-40 percent of the food supply in the United States. The USDA Economic Research Service estimates for the year 2010 that 31 percent of food was lost at the consumer and retail levels, equating to be approximately 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food. Imperfect Produce, an organization founded in San Francisco, California, buys produce that farmers are unable to sell to grocery stores due to scarring, shape, size, or cosmetic imperfections. This produce is then delivered to customers for about 30 percent less than grocery store prices.
The American expectation for near perfect produce creates not only a loss of food that could provide nutrition, but also is making the energy, water, and land used to grow it virtually worthless. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an estimated 1 to 30 percent, depending on the crop, of food grown by farmers doesn’t make it to the grocery stores. As stated by Peter Lehner of the NRDC, “80 percent of our water, 10 percent of our energy, 40 percent of our land is used to grow our food. Up to 40 percent of the food produced never gets eaten.” The American expectation for near perfect produce creates not only a loss of food that could provide nutrition, but also is making the energy, water, and land used to grow it virtually worthless. Additionally, as food rots, it releases methane into the atmosphere, which is a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide. While companies like Imperfect Produce are working to combat American stereotypes and misconceptions of the taste of produce with imperfections, a larger shift in American culture needs to occur in order to truly address the greater issue of food waste in the United States. Kale from Imperfect Produce. Photo by Gabrielle Krieger.
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Going global to keep it local by Abby Givens
Burns created a spiral herb garden (an idea in permaculture) on Shambala Farms on Camano Island, Washington. All photos courtesy of Tyler Burns.
As a college student, Tyler Burns, teacher of Global Politics and Environmental Systems and Societies for the Upper School for Girls, became intrigued with the issue of food access and its effect on the environment. “I came away with this pretty passionate view that if we could localize the food systems and provide access to clean, healthy food for everyone, a lot of the issues in the world would be reduced,” he said. While this idea seems naive to Burns now, he said he still believes that food availability is “a baseline issue that needs to be solved before many others.” His passion for broadening access to food and localizing food sources took him to a two acre farm in Johannesburg, South Africa, in order to learn about permaculture. Permaculture is a combination of the words permanent and agriculture (see sidebar to learn more). “We could conceive of permaculture as an alternative route for development, or at least to tackle some issues in development in Africa,” he said Forty years before Burns’s time on the farm, his teacher in Johannesburg helped design one of the earliest permaculture farms. Burns and his teacher educated people living in dense urban
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developments on how to maximize their space by growing food on small plots of land and up the sides of their house. Burns was beckoned back to the United States by his brothers’ weddings, after which he presented at the Washington State Permaculture Convergence. After Burns’s presentation, a woman asked if he wanted to manage her 10 acre homestead on Camano island, and Burns accepted. The owners had horses and cows, but according Burns, “It was mostly old orchard and cut grass, but they wanted to take the next step and plant more trees and design a food forest (an idea in permaculture). We hosted educational events, we did farmers markets, we had our own farmstand, our nursery had 5,000 plants that were all edible or useful in some way, and we had a food forest in the three acres that weren’t pasture. They now own a bakery in Mount Vernon called Shambala bakery where they use produce from the farm.”
As Burns puts it, “The business model wasn’t there, but we had an amazing time.” After leaving the farm, Burns and his partner backpacked around South America.
They periodically worked on organic farms to supplement their travels, through the organization World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF). WWOOF connects volunteers and organic farms around the world, according to their mission statement, “linking volunteers with organic farmers and growers to promote cultural and educational experiences based on trust and non-monetary exchange, thereby helping to build a sustainable, global community.” People like Burns work at these organic farms in exchange for food and a place to stay. Burns then went to Hawai’i through WWOOF and worked at a botanical garden for a year with tropical plants from all over the world. He then took care of a permaculture farm down the street from the botanical garden, while its owners were on an extended vacation on the East Coast of the United States. Burns said that this garden “had every fruit tree you could imagine; papayas, all the different kinds of bananas, plantains, and an ice cream bean tree; citrus and guava and sweet potato fields as far as the eye could see, and chickens. What they really needed help with were goats.”
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at an animal sanctuary in Bolivia, with a Gibbon
in upstate New York with five goats
Permaculture Permaculture is designing an agricultural system to imitate natural ecosystems in their diversity and stability, in other words, to work with nature to source our food. According to the Permaculture Research Institute, “Permaculture integrates land, people, and the environment - imitating the no waste, closed loop systems seen in diverse natural systems.�
on Shambala Farms, Camano Island, Washington with Turk, a pet turkey
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on Camano Island at a livestock husbandry workshop
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Despite Burns and his partner not having any previous experience with goats, they took care of them for many months. “We made cheese, sold it in town, ate a lot of cheese and drank a lot of milk,” he said. We consumed a gallon a day, at least, of product.” After about three years in Hawai’i, Burns and his partner came back to the mainland and worked odd jobs before Burns became a teacher in the Tacoma public school system. While Burns is no longer working in agriculture, he hopes to share his extensive knowledge on the subject, especially permaculture, with the wider community. Burns said that he believes the best way to achieve food sustainably is to eat self-grown food. Community Service Agriculture (CSA) baskets are a way to
Growing local by Nina Doody
source one’s produce locally and support farms in the area. According to Burns, “Customers buy shares in the beginning of the season for a few hundred dollars, and they’re guaranteed a box of produce a week.” Burns took his Environmental Systems and Societies class to Wild Hare Organic Farm on River Road, in Tacoma, where people, such as USG History teacher Jeff Freshwater, pick up their produce through the CSA program. According to Burns, CSA baskets are beneficial to farmers because they incur most of their expenses at the beginning of the growing season, before they have crops to sell. CSA members pay for their baskets up front, which helps offset the costs.
Burns believes, however, that the most beneficial choice a consumer can make is to eat less meat. “A large portion of our arable land is used to grow grains and soybeans for cattle, whereas that energy, all that land, could be used to grow food for our consumption, and it would provide us with many more calories because calories are lost once they’re consumed by the next trophic level,” he said. Additionally, cows produce waste that contains nutrients that can pollute waterways and that releases methane, which is more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of its ability to trap heat in our atmosphere and contribute to the greenhouse effect. The hooves of cattle compacts the soil, which destroys its ecosystem.
Washington State grows more than 300 different types of crops, due in part to its diverse landscape. Unsurprisingly, apples are the state’s largest crop, providing 70 percent of all apples in the U.S. Some of Washington’s other iconic crops are cherries, pears, blueberries and sweet corn. The juxtaposition of Eastern and Western Washington make it a state full of fertile soils and natural resources. Washington boasts the Columbia River as a border to Oregon and the Puget Sound that harbors salmon, oysters, clams and more. Farming in Washington is a major industry. It makes up about 12% of Washington's economy, and provides over 160,000 people jobs.
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Do straws suck? Local organizations ban plastic straws by Gabrielle Krieger
Olympia Coffee in Tacoma offers only compostable straws. Photo by Gabrielle Krieger.
Last July Seattle officially banned plastic straws, becoming the biggest US city to do so. Although it might be awhile until Tacoma does the same, several local restaurants, bars and organizations are participating in the ban. A local advocate for this cause is Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. Recently they hosted a flash mob protesting plastic straws and the amount of pollution they contribute. On the zoo’s website you can find ways to help and an ever increasing list of businesses in Tacoma, including local restaurants like Indo Asian Eatery, Tacoma Cabana and Olympic Coffee Roasting Co., that have taken the pledge against plastic straws on their website. While straws make up only a small percentage of plastic litter in the ocean and otherwise, they can have detrimental
effects on the creatures that rely on the ocean’s ecosystem. Turtles, for example, can get plastic straws stuck in their noses, as demonstrated by a video from 2015 of Marine Biologist Christine Figgener removing a straw from the bleeding nostril of a sea turtle. Though this video is from three years ago, it has since gone viral and become a large motivator in the fight to stop the use of plastic straws as well as proof of just how harmful plastic straws can be. Some examples of bigger corporations phasing out the use of plastic straws include Alaska Airlines, McDonalds in the UK and Ireland, American Airlines and Starbucks (by 2020). Many colleges have also begun banning plastic straws, including Tacoma’s Pacific Lutheran University.
How You Can Help 1. Ask for no straw or don’t grab a straw with your drink.
2. Use a reusable cup or carry a metal straw with you.
3. Remember that compostable
straws can be detrimental to the environment if not disposed of properly; make sure to compost them.
4. Support places that have made the switch and share these places with others. One way to do that is to post a picture of your drink, tag where you got it from, and use the popular hashtags #stopsucking and #strawfreetacoma.
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The vanishing snack
by Allison Fitz
Administration removes school-run vending machines
The school vending machines sold candy, cookies, chips and soda. Senior Simran Rakhra estimated students purchased from them once or twice a week. Graphic by Gabrielle Krieger.
“The vending machines were always empty after the weekends,” senior sevenday dormer Brittany Wu said. Barber said the weekend continental breakfast includes toast, bagels and cream cheese, cereal, fruit and yogurt. “They [the students] may want potato chips...but it’s not that there’s not breakfast,” he said.
The school vending machines were removed from the laundry room on October 8. The machines dispensed common snacks, including chips, candy and soda. Head of Schools Christian Sullivan explained the decision: “They do not encourage healthful eating...There may be better ways of providing snacks to the dorm students.” Without an announcement from the administration, the decision seemed abrupt to students. “The decision was very quick and students were not informed properly,” senior seven-day dormer Simran Rakhra said. Sullivan, however, said he “began a conversation about removing the machines nine years ago” when he arrived at the school. Residential Life Director Jeff Barber also said there
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has been talk of removing the vending machines over the past few years.
Several students also reported rumors of some Upper School for Boys students placing Tide Pod laundry detergent in the vending machines as a prank.
“More recently it came up that one student was bragging about drinking three energy drinks from the vending machines,” said Barber. This sparked conversations about the nutritional value of the machines’ offerings. “They weren’t serving students’ best interests...and the school store has most of those same things.” He also mentioned that dorm students could buy such snacks anyway on grocery store runs which happen “at least a couple times a week.”
Juniors Raven Chen and Jennifer Wang, leaders of the student-led club Annie’s Investors, are planning to bring studentrun vending machines to school, roughly by the end of the first semester and ideally in the student lounge. The removal of the school vending machines “definitely helps increase the need of our vending machines among the student body,” Wang said.
Some dormers, however, mentioned a reliance on the vending machines for snacks over the weekend, when brunch, the first hot meal of the day, is served at 12:00 p.m. “The only food that we were able to eat was from the vending machines or the toast in the cafeteria,” Rakhra said.
Their vending machines will dispense “popular snacks, stationary, and living goods,” like Sour Patch Kids, Pocky, pho, and White-Out. They plan to conduct a monthly survey to assess product demand from students, and then will adjust their inventory accordingly.
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Food as a weapon of power How food is used as leverage for people in power
Food can be used as a weapon as effectively as a real gun.
We live in a culture where food is always available, but regions around the world suffer food scarcities. The necessity combined with rarity of food allows for environments where those in power are able to use food as a weapon. Food has been used as leverage during different points in history. “When we discuss the concept of food as a weapon, the lack of food takes on a decidedly insidious, sinister and human-induced process,” said Annie Wright Upper School for Girls history teacher Jeff Freshwater. This tactic was used prominently in the Soviet Stalin regime. Regions under Stalin’s rule operated under the collectivization policy where all forms of food produced by the public became the state’s property. Authorities used brutality and physical force to enforce collectivization. The people had to rely
article and photos by Young Seo Jo
solely on the government’s promise to distribute the food. According to Freshwater, the government’s refusal to allocate food in 1930s Ukraine led to millions of starving people. Holding food over their people gave the leaders of Stalin’s regime all of the power. An uproar among the people in response to Stalin’s unwillingness to accept responsibility for the deaths led to peasants sabotaging their own future by killing their livestock and crops in order to undermine the state’s economy. “For decades the USSR used these tactics to award loyalty and punish dissent,” said Freshwater. The Cold War provides another possible example of food as weapon. Britain and the United States were accused of deliberately delaying essential food aid supplies in Ethiopia in hopes of the Pro-
Soviet regime of Mengistu Hali Mariam ending. Though Britain and the United States’ intentions were never confirmed, Reverend Charles Elliot, then leader of the Christian Aid, firmly believed so. While this accusation is still in question, it was also reported that Mengistu used the little food available as leverage within Ethiopia itself. Mengistu gave the rations to the urban populations, whom were likely to start riots, and held back food from the rest of the lower-class populations. There were also speculations then that Mengistu was denying food to Northern Provinces to starve rebels. More recently, food became a weapon in the Yemen Civil War between two
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branches of Islam: the Shia, supported by Iran, and the Sunnis, supported by Saudi Arabia. There are reports of Saudis blocking aid from the UN’s World Food Programme at ports and even reports of bombings to disrupt aid distribution. According the Los Angeles Times, however, Saudi Arabia has recently pledged to provide $1.5 billion for humanitarian aid at the beginning of 2018. Weaponizing food also occurs in North Korea today. Multiple factors regarding the natural environment and state policies lead to the country’s 25 million impoverished and malnourished people. The government operates under similar rules of 1930s Ukraine, as everything is governed by the state, so people lack the motivation to produce food. According to Freshwater, nepotism and cronyism (where people of power favor close relatives and political allies) lead to poor people not being able to acquire even small amounts of food. While the number of totalitarian regimes exercising these methods are declining, some leaders are still willing to execute severe measures to maintain power.
“When we discuss the concept of food as a weapon, the lack of food takes on a decidedly insidious, sinister and humaninduced process.”
“The truly heartbreaking element is that though there are incredible people and organizations standing by ready to assist, the political leadership either disallows or restricts it, leaving the people to suffer the effects of their policies,” said Freshwater. During an interview with Sputnik News, David Beasley, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, revealed that man-made conflict is the main source of increased starvation around the world and spoke of the hope of using food differently in the future. He spoke of various ways in which food has been used as a weapon during wars, including as a leverage for recruitment. “We want to use food as a weapon of peace, a weapon of reconciliation, a weapon of sustainable development, a weapon of resilience against extremist groups, because if a mother and father can't feed their little girl, and the only food available is through ISIS, they're going to sign up,” said Beasley. Many organizations hope to end world hunger. Various sources show that the first step is to end man-made conflict. “It’s a disgrace on humanity, the number of innocent victims of conflict, children, that are starving to death because of nothing but man-made conflict,” said Beasley.
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Governments around the world have withheld food from people as a means of control.
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Organic food is usually significantly more expensive than non-organic. Photo by Jade Cheatham.
Why healthy food is more expensive by Jade Cheatham
Many consumers believe that food considered to be healthy tends to be more expensive than food that is not as healthy. Is this true? For two types of food considered healthy, organic food and meals that contain fruits, vegetables and a good source of protein, the answer is often yes.
ORGANIC FOOD According to Annie Wright Environmental Systems and Science teacher Tyler Burns, “the label ‘organic’ is a USDA designation, meaning that it is a stamp of approval from the government saying that you have only used specific chemicals and fertilizers
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that are labeled organic.” On the other hand, some inorganic foods use pesticides and fertilizers to produce their food. Since there are no synthetics in organic foods, people gravitate towards them as a healthier option. Organic foods are not genetically modified and do not contain additives. Organic farmers have to look for more conventional ways to protect their crops from pests and diseases, without using pesticides and fertilizers. “Organic produce has more restrictions and fewer products to use to prevent the produce from molding, spoiling or ripening too soon, whereas inorganic produce can be sprayed or dusted with all sorts of chemicals that make them last longer,” Burns said. As a result, organic
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farmers spend a lot more time growing and protecting the crops than inorganic farmers do. The methods used in controlling pest and diseases are functional, but do cost more than regular pesticides. Time requirements of growing the crops correlates to how much it costs to produce the crops.
increase the price about $550 a year for only one person. This works out to be about $1.50 a day more. For some this may not seem like a lot, but many families do not have the option to eat a healthier diet. The cost of healthy foods limits better diet habits.
Organic foods also tend to be more expensive because of the supply and demand for healthier food. “Organic producers know that when they stamp that label on their produce as organic, people who think this food is safer for them are more willing to pay higher prices,” said Burns. This popularity causes a rise in prices. On the other hand, inorganic foods are produced quicker; therefore it is easier for a non-organic farmer to meet the demand for that food.
According to the study, a “healthy diet” comprises fruits, vegetables and a good source of protein, while “unhealthy” diets are usually made up of foods high in sugar and fats, and fast food. There are many reasons for this. Similar to organic and inorganic foods, healthy foods like even non-organic fruits and vegetables also tend to take longer to produce than unhealthy foods. Fast food is cheaper, because the cost of production is also cheaper.
NUTRITIOUS MEALS
Creating a meal that has all of the necessary nutrients can cost a lot more than getting a whole meal from a fast food restaurant. According to the Harvard study, on average, a single person spends $173 to $200 dollars a week on food, which averages about $25 to $29 dollars a day. In contrast, a meal at a fast food restaurant like McDonald’s costs $5 to $7 dollars.
According to a study by the Harvard School of Public Health, a healthy diet can cost more than $2,000 a year more than a unhealthy or unbalanced diet for an average family of four, and
Nutrition for Teens by Kaitlin Tan
Consuming the right nutrients is seldom top of mind for teenagers, who juggle busy schedules, heavy workloads, extracurricular activities and irregular sleep schedules. As teenagers, however, we are still growing. We need nutrients to consistently fuel our bodies and support our final stages of development, cognitive health, and, in general, to meet our activity demands. According to Pediatric Dietitian at Seattle Children's’ Hospital Mary Verbovski (MS, RDN, CSO), teenagers often lack nutrients like iron, calcium, zinc, and vitamin D. Lacking a vital nutrient like iron can cause a deficiency, in this case, anemia, which, according to Verbovski, causes teens to be “sluggish, weak, have decreased immunity, and decreased school performance.” Foods rich in iron include red meat, fish, poultry, spinach, legumes, egg yolks, and iron fortified cereals or breads.
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Leafy greens, which are high in iron and zinc, is one of the foods that Verbovski recommends for a teen's nutritional intake. Photo by Kaitlin Tan.
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Calcium is crucial to teens because it strengthens bones for growth and development. A lack of calcium over time can result in bone fractures and even osteoporosis, a condition in which one’s bones become brittle and fragile. Foods high in calcium include seeds, cheese, yogurt, beans, lentils, almonds, tofu and milk. Vitamin D has a similar function to calcium and is thought of as a hormone in disguise, because of its impact on teen’s moods and relationships. Foods rich in vitamin D include dark, leafy greens, soybeans, dairy products, some fish, and vitamin D fortified cereals or juice. Zinc is important for the immune, reproductive and endocrine systems. An insufficiency of zinc can result in lack of focus, poor sleep quality, skin irritations & hair loss. Food rich in zinc include shellfish, cereals/grains, beans, and poultry. To ensure that teens are getting enough nutrients, Verbovski suggested that teens vary their foods, which is crucial to maintaining a holistic diet. “We all tend to get in a rut or 'food jag' where we eat similar foods all week long,” she said.
“Variety in proteins, carbohydrates, fat, fruits and vegetables every day is key to having a well-rounded diet and meeting growth needs.”
Nourishing Athletes
Q&A with pediatric dietitian Mary Verbovski Inkwell: What nutrients do athletes specifically need in order to perform well? Verbovski: Same as [left], yet often in larger quantities to meet the demands of the sport and muscle/ tissue recovery. Inkwell: What can happen if athletes don’t get a sufficient amount of nutrients? Verbovski: Most often, a lack of good quality nutrition and hydration can result in athletes losing their ability to play the game at their best. They may get fatigued more easily, have less power, get dizzy and recover slowly. Inkwell: How can an athlete achieve a well-rounded, holistic diet? Verbovski: Eat enough, eat well, focus on more whole foods and less processed snacks, eat a variety, cut back on sugar & sugary drinks, get good rest and drink enough water. For more information about nutrition for teenage athletes, check out Feeding Young Athletes by Cynthia Lair and Dr. Scott Murdoch.
Verbovski also stressed the importance of achieving a sustainable diet by combining proteins, carbohydrates and fats. She provided this example: If a student were to eat plain toast in the morning, it would not sustain her until lunchtime. Instead it would cause an instant spike in energy, which would quickly drop within an hour. Now, if the student were to spread peanut butter on the toast, she would have fats and carbohydrates, which would provide for a gradual increase in energy and a gradual drop in energy within 2 hours. If, however, she were to add an egg on the side, she would now have protein, fat, and carbohydrates. This would provide an even slower gradual increase in energy and and even slower gradual decrease in energy, which would most likely hold her over until lunchtime.
Senior cross country runner Anna Haddad, who has attended the state meet for the past four years, incorporates good nutrition in her daily routine. Photo courtesy of Tim Haddad.
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Will your food spoil your teacher's mood? Have you ever been in such a rush to school that all you have time for is a quick donut on the way, or a bagel from the dining hall right at 7:59 am? You eat it as fast as you can but end up running into your class with a mouth stuffed full, trying to not let the teacher notice. Or maybe it’s the end of the day and you’re hungry, but you’re depriving yourself of a snack because you think the teacher won’t approve.
by Julia Henning
YES TO FOOD IN CLASS
L. Barber - only if there is enough for everyone, Bush, CoreyBoulet - but nothing messy or big, just small snacks, Droubay, Freshwater - as long as students clean up, A. Lynn, E. Lynn, Orr, Rubin, Shawver, Soustelle - as long as it’s not distracting, Well, odds are that four out of your six teachers will allow you to Weir, Wenzlick - if all garbage is cleaned up and students eat have food in class, because about two out of three teachers are quietly; no dishes from cafeteria, Weston, Yu - if scheduled for perfectly fine with a simple snack during their class, particularly if you clean up. Check out the list on the right to find your teacher’s name and rules on food.
YES NO
activities and if it helps you learn
NO TO FOOD IN CLASS Burns (or as long as he doesn’t notice) - because of mess and distraction, Considine, Cuthbertson, Everitt - doesn’t want ants, Hirschmann - it is difficult to talk in a new language and eat at the same time, Keithly - although on Mondays it is ok because it’s all self-directed work, Sidman
Hungry? Some teachers allow snacks in class; others do not. Photo by Julia Henning.
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Q&A with an almost vegan
by Jade Cheatham
Annie Wright college counselor Scottie Hill explains why she became vegan and describes her experience eating a mostly vegan diet. Inkwell: We are publishing an issue about food, and it came up that you are a vegan. Is that correct?
Hill: I have been vegan and I’m no longer vegan. Inkwell: Oh seriously? What happened? Hill: So I used to be vegan for a long time. Now that I live in
the Pacific Northwest, I eat fish. I can’t have dairy and I don’t eat meat. I was vegan for six years, I want to say, but in general when I'm in social situations I’ll just say I’m vegan because it takes too long to say “I eat this and I don’t eat that.” It’s a total pain. So I will often be the person who says "I'll bring the vegan entrée."
Inkwell: Why did you choose to become vegan? Hill: I had a lot of health problems that I thought would be solved by being vegan, which turned out to be true. About a month after going vegan completely, I did not have those problems again.
Inkwell: Wow, that’s amazing. Hill: I think it was mostly the dairy. I also happened to read
a book, which I don’t recommend reading unless you want to be vegan, called Eternal Treblinka, which is about Holocaust survivors and what they saw as the connection between the mechanism of the concentration camps and farming of animals. A lot of people who survived the Holocaust and were in concentration camps looked at the mechanized farming. After reading that I was just like, OK I'm done, I’m done, and I won't
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Since moving to the Pacific Northwest, college counseling director Scottie Hill now eats fish, but still doesn't eat meat and can't eat dairy. Photo courtesy of Oona Copperhill.
eat meat again. So I read too much is the short answer.
Inkwell: Did you feel like you were getting all of
the essential nutrients when you were eating a vegan diet?
Hill: Definitely. This might be too much information,
but around the time of my cycle I would occasionally get a headache if I didn’t have enough iron that week, but that was easily solved by eating a baked potato and broccoli. [It’s about] just eating good foods. I definitely think I get more nutrients now because I don't have food that upsets my system and gets in the way of my absorbing nutrients. My hair is better; my nails are stronger. I'm just healthier overall.
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Inkwell: So would you say you saw a significant change in your health?
and things for other people, and I will occasionally look at that and think that looks really good.
Hill: Yeah, definitely for the better. It makes it easy to say
Inkwell: What's your least favorite thing to be asked
no to the foods that look really good, but I know I shouldn't have because I can look at cake or cookies or something or like cheesecake, which I do occasionally crave, [and] I can look at that and think like ‘that's going to hurt me.’ It's not worth it.
Inkwell: So you miss cheesecake? Hill: Occasionally. My grandmother would send me a
cheesecake for my birthday, so it’s sort of a nostalgia thing. I don't miss meat. I don't miss cheese, really. People often think that that’s the hardest thing to give up.
Inkwell: Are there any other foods that you miss?
about being vegan?
Hill: It's funny because everybody said that the question is
usually ‘How do you get your protein?’, and I thought, nobody is going to ask that, but I get asked that all of the time. And at this point I get a little snarky. It’s in food. It exists. I think the most frustrating piece is that people often assume that I'm gluten free and give me things that are gluten free but have dairy in them. I'll say “I’m vegan,” and they will say “I know, there's no gluten in that,” and I’m thinking, that’s not what that word means. That’s a frustration, but it means that people are trying. I’m incredibly grateful for people making any kind of accommodation. I travel a lot for this job to visit colleges and I will often say, “I’m vegan” and then I'll often send a reminder but will still go with a completely nutritionally balanced meal in my purse in the form of bars and things just in case.
Hill: I miss my husband's chocolate cake. He's a really good
cook and so he will make birthday cakes and souffles, brownies
The Plounge
A dormer's kitchen away from home
by Nina Doody
The Plounge -- a term coined from the combination of “Prefect” and “Lounge” -- is the dorm kitchen. During lunch and after school dormers are free to use the Plounge as long as it is open and they clean up after themselves.
of dirtiness and usually includes sweeping and mopping the floor, checking the fridges for spoiled food, wiping down the counters, cleaning the sink, cleaning the microwave, taking out the trash and emptying the trash bins.
Every weeknight members of the boarding community clean the Plounge. Dorm groups split cleaning duties, which rotate on a weekly basis. If, for example, you are a member of the “Aquila” dorm group, you and other members might clean the plounge twice a week.
"Noodles and other food waste in the sink are typical examples of Ploungeclosing infractions."
Every night at dinner during announcements a dorm parent announces the Plounge cleaning assignment for that night. The Plounge gets cleaned at 9:45, 15 minutes after study hall ends. A full cleaning takes about 15-20 minutes for a normal level
A quick and easy solution to curb your hunger while the Plounge is closed is to use the hot water machines to cook instant noodles from the bookstore, which is opened by dormers on a nightly basis. Uber Eats is also an option for the savvy foodie.
INKWELL | NOVEMBER 2018
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Annie Wright
&
food Finding the right catering solution article & photos by Young Seo Jo Flik employee Kelsie Moceri refills the sandwich station.
Annie Wright Schools have partnered with FLIK, a company that specializes in independent school catering, to provide all of the food at school since 2015. According to Jennifer Haley, Annie Wright’s the Director of Institutional Advancement, the school previously hired its own kitchen staff. “For many, many years we had our own staff who ran our kitchen, which worked pretty well most of the time,” she said. “Then we had a director of food service who left abruptly, and we decided at that point to outsource the kitchen and bring an outside company.”
Annie Wright Schools first hired CFM Catering Limited (a catering company that began in the UK), who stayed with the school for only a year and a half, because, according to Haley, the school wasn’t satisfied with the food. After that vendors visited Annie Wright, and administrators visited other institutions to sample their food vendors. Annie Wright eventually chose FLIK as the best fit. Haley said,
“We really loved the food, and we loved the presentation of the food, and so we decided on going in that direction." FLIK also stood out due to its focus on private institutions like Annie Wright. “They focused on independent schools versus the first company which was more on the corporate business side… FLIK is only in independent schools; that’s what they do and so they are used to the school environment and kids,” Haley said.
Hot lunch on October 29 included chicken or vegetable tetrazzini, roasted butternut squash, and sautéed dinosaur kale.
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Based on the feedback the school had received from day and boarding students, Haley believes that hiring FLIK was the right choice for Annie Wright. “Our current families are happy with the food choices, I think the staff and faculty are happy with the food offered downstairs,
and as far as I know the feedback has been really positive,” Haley said. According to Melanie Aamidor, the Assistant Director of Finance & Operations for Annie Wright Schools, the school’s relationship with FLIK is not only beneficial for Annie Wright, but also for the company itself. FLIK originated and is based in the East Coast and Annie Wright Schools are their first client in the West Coast. They hope to use Annie Wright as a business opportunity to expand along the West Coast to Oregon and California. “They want to make sure we as their client are happy, ...so that they can go down the west coast and say: ‘Hey we came to the west coast and had a great experience with this client in Tacoma and we want to talk to you in California or Oregon," she said. As a catering business focused on independent schools, FLIK is promoting various campaigns around the school to promote healthy and sustainable eating at Annie Wright. Some of the campaigns include “Healthy Food Matter,” “Traveling Food” and the “SEED” (Sustainable Eating and Environmental Dining) program. These also reflect Annie Wright Schools’ mission and contributed to the decision to hire them.
1 INKWELL | NOVEMBER 2018
Uber Eats: uber expensive If you stand outside Annie Wright between 4:00 and 10:00 pm for just a few minutes, odds are you will see a dormer waiting for bubble tea or McDonald's. Uber Eats has become increasingly popular with dormers. Students can easily go on the app and with a credit card and order any food they wish.
by Julia Henning
early lights the next day,” she said. When a restaurant decides to offer Uber Eats, they have complete control over how often they use it. Don’t be surprised if you see food available at 6:00 p.m., but
a clear pattern for when the restaurant allows ordering bubble tea, which can be frustrating when I want to get some and then the restaurant is unavailable on Uber Eats,” she said. “The other day, I wanted bubble tea, and Brittany and I got really disappointed because Infinitea was unavailable on Uber Eats.”
Uber Eats stemmed from Uber, a service to The pricing of Uber transport people, as Eats can also get a way to deliver food. proportionally The founders of the expensive. The delivery original Uber launched fee increases the the standalone app farther away from in 2016, after a your location it is (see test in Los Angeles below for examples). called Uber Fresh Restaurants will also within the original bump up their prices Uber app in 2015. on the app. The founders even The Uber Eats app is user-friendly, but the mark-ups are not. Photo by Julia Henning. experimented with delivering toothpaste and medications, go on the app 30 minutes later to order There are few restrictions on who can but ultimately found the largest demand it, and it’s gone. If a restaurant gets too deliver for Uber Eats. According to the for food delivery. packed in their space, they can decide Uber Eats website, you must meet the to not use Uber Eats that night in hopes minimum age to drive in your city (16 Annie Wright senior Simran Rakhra is a of having better service to the people in in Tacoma), but you must have at least frequent customer of Uber Eats, ordering their restaurant. one year of driving experience. Your car food an average of twice per week. The must be less than 20 years old, and you service is not always reliable, however. Senior Jaskiran Pental orders Uber Eats must maintain a valid driver's license, “I was late for in-rooms by 10 minutes around once a week to get bubble tea registration and vehicle insurance in the because my pizza was late, so I had to do with her dorm friends. “I haven’t noticed car with you.
How much more does it cost to order with Uber Eats? Indo Asian Street Eatery: Chinese egg rolls: at restaurant: $8 + tax; with Uber Eats: $9 + $2 delivery fee + tax Farelli’s Pizza: Spaghetti and meatballs: at restaurant: $14.29 + tax; with Uber Eats: $14.29 + $3.49 delivery fee + tax McDonald's: Big Mac: at restaurant: $3.99 + tax; with Uber Eats: $4.99 + $3.49 delivery fee + tax
1 INKWELL | NOVEMBER 2018
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a selection of Ye's social media posts
Creating connection through food photography article and photos by Nina Ye “Hold on, don’t touch anything yet!” or “Wait, give me a second,” are some of a food photographer’s common phrases when food is served.
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consumption, which… increases attitudes and taste evaluations of the experience when consumption actually takes place.”
I am guilty of being one of those people. I am that person who takes pictures of everyone’s food and shares them on social media platforms. It can seem like I put a lot of effort – tweaking the camera angle, capturing the natural light or using flash to capture that perfect picture. At times, the people I’m with ask why I bother photographing the food, or even poke fun of me.
Here is my personal answer: sharing food photography online is similar to sharing any other pictures on social media. Some may interpret this display of consumption as a means of showing off, when really it is an alternative way to share culture, traditions and lifestyle. People who share pictures of the food they are eating are often sharing a piece of their lives with their friends; they are conveying a message that includes their interests, likes and hobbies–just in food form.
There is the scientific answer, from a study published by The Journal of Consumer Marketing, which suggests the act of taking a picture before eating can actually make food taste better because it “causes a momentary active delay in
Next time you see your friend taking pictures of your food, be patient. You might even find your food to be a bit tastier due to that small delay!
INKWELL | NOVEMBER 2018
A slice of New York in Tacoma by Samantha Salamone
The Spanish Harlem: pepperoni, jalepeño and onion
Growing up in New York, I have many fond memories of eating good food. Sometimes we made food at home, sometimes we went out, and on Fridays, we always either ordered pizza or got Chinese takeout. My dad loves to be in the kitchen cooking food; he always has. So many of my memories are of him making food, or coming home and smelling that distinct smell of rich sauces and boiling pasta that filled the house whenever he was cooking. Going out to eat was great in New York too. Yorktown Heights, my hometown, was filled with many Italians and a lot of Italian restaurants. There were lots of places you could get high quality Italian food. And pizza was everywhere: Tony’s, Frankie’s, Peppinos...they were everywhere. And they were all delicious. New York style pizza, in my completely biased, personal opinion, is the best, probably because that’s what I grew up eating. It was our dinner every Friday night. It was just a normal part of my life in New York, although, I hadn’t exactly realized it until we moved to Washington. Within the first few weeks of living here, we were wondering, where’s the pizza? Where are the restaurants? Where can we get Italian food? We searched and searched, and that was
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The Village: green, red & yellow peppers, olives, mushrooms and onions. Photos courtesy of Becky Brickman-Salamone.
when I realized that Italian food was a part of New York culture. That was the culture that I grew up with, and it was completely different out here. One night, we finally found a place that claimed they made Italian food, and my dad picked some up to take home. But it wasn’t really Italian food, at least not the kind I was used to. That’s when my dad decided that if there wasn’t any good Italian food, we were going to have to make our own. So that’s what he did. My dad dug up some recipes we have, and each week we made a new dish. It actually started to become a routine: every Sunday, we cooked something new. Eventually, I jumped in and helped cook too. It was something we did as a family. When my siblings and I started at Annie Wright and became more involved with Tacoma the next year, my dad started to think of opening a pizza place. He brought up the idea and looked into it. To be quite honest, I thought it was more of a fantasy at first. I wasn’t completely positive he was actually going to open the New York style pizza place right here in Tacoma. But clearly, I was wrong.
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He continued to talk about it and explained how great an authentic New York style pizza place by the slice would be in Tacoma, and it did make sense. Eventually, it became less of a fantasy and more of a reality, especially when he got the space and started working on it. From that point on, the rest of my family went in every day to say hi to him in case he wouldn’t be home until later. And every day, we saw progress. It was quite a process, but eventually, it came to and end and what had been a construction site for basically the entire time, became a restaurant. Every time I go in there, no matter how many times I’ve been in, the smell takes me back to New York. It truly is authentic, and I don’t think I speak just for myself when I say that. We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from people who had lived on the East Coast and tried our pizza. They’ve all said that the smell and the taste takes them right back, which was my dad’s goal. My dad was always going to do something with his passion for food, and this gave him the perfect opportunity to pursue that. And this is only the beginning.
Fall recipe: apple pie fries Prep time: 20 minutes Yield: 10-12 servings Total time: 40 minutes
Ingredients 3 c. apples, peeled, cored, and finely chopped Juice of 1 lemon 2 c. water 1/2 c. packed brown sugar 1/4 c. cornstarch 1 tsp. vanilla 1 tsp. cinnamon Pinch kosher salt 2 eggs, beaten 2 tbsp. sanding sugar Caramel, for serving 2 pie crusts
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Directions
5. Spread one pie crust out
on prepared baking sheet. Spread apple mixture onto 1. Preheat oven to 350 and line pie crust, and top with a a large baking sheet with second pie crust. parchment paper. 6. Brush with egg wash and 2. In a medium bowl, squeeze sprinkle with sugar. Using lemon juice on apples to a pizza cutter, cut into fry keep them from browning. shapes. 3. In a medium saucepan over 7. Bake for 20 minutes, until medium heat, combine crust is golden. Serve with water with brown sugar, caramel for dipping. cornstarch, cinnamon, vanilla and kosher salt. Whisk until - from delish.com fully combined. 4. Add apples to the pan and bring mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook until apples are tender, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
INKWELL | NOVEMBER 2018
An original mural covers the back wall of Moshi Moshi, a ramen restaurant in the Stadium district. Photo by Young Seo Jo.
Restaurants worth the walk
Inkwell reporters set out to review popular restaurants within walking distance for dormers. Each eating establishment is between a 10 and 15 minute walk from Annie Wright and has its own flare. Turn the page to see a map and access the reviews. INKWELL | NOVEMBER 2018
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Restaurants worth the walk Visit anniewrigthinkwell.org or point your camera at this QR code to read the reviews.
Anthem Montamara Starbucks The Spar
Anthem Art House Cafe Indo Jimmy John's Moshi Moshi
Rhein Haus Salamone's Pizza Shake Shake Shake Starbucks