Coffee Talk

This morning I visited a local coffee roaster, Deborah Di Bernardo, at Roast House Coffee. They are doing some really great things there with coffee. Beyond fair trade, Roast House is developing what is now being called "relationship coffee." The idea is that fair trade is great, but if you can get to know those who are growing the coffee, guarantee them a place to sell it season after season, help them figure out how to grow coffee in the best way for them, for the environment, for the market and for taste, even better.

Over half a cup of a new blend and a cup of their Guatemalan blend, we talked ethics and coffee and food. We talked sustainability, making small different choices that lead to big differences, and the best ways to educate gently about the choices we all make. We even talked a little philosophy as Deborah told me how she thinks of things and my response was--that's Aristotle! And we talked like only two Italian American women from northeast cities can talk -- a hand gesture here a polite interruption there that leads to the fullness of conversation.

Deborah told me that some of the people they buy from used to grow their crops, come down from the mountains to the streets and hope someone came by to buy from them. That's just not sustainable--people have to be able to make a living. Growing coffee is hard work, it's hot work, too. Relationship coffee takes some of the risk out of the endeavor for the grower and that is a good way to support the value of the work. These are people growing this coffee and they are trying to eek out an existence on it.

The coffee from Roast House is the private label coffee for places like the Main Market Co-op and other local restaurants and shops. It's organic, meets standards that are higher than fair trade, and shade grown. This coffee is what I call "trifecta" coffee. "Shade grown" is just starting to get into people's coffee vocabulary. A lot of places where coffee is grown were clear cut to put in the coffee trees, but that is completely unnecessary and reduces the habitat for birds and other creatures that make for a balanced eco-system. It also means the workers spend more time in the blistering sun. So the concern over shade grown is one of the environment, one of animal welfare, and one of working conditions as well. And as a student wrote in an essay on her final exam, we should look for fair trade organic coffee, and if you want to be a "super star" shade grown, too.

I guess that makes Roast House a super star!

Thanks much to Deborah and Dave of Roast House for their hospitality this morning. It was a delight. (And thanks for the cups of coffee to get me through my grading, the good conversation and the beans, too!)

If you want to learn more about Roast House you can find them at www.roasthouse.net.

Dining Services

This past week I spent two days in all day workshops offered by the university on a pressing university matter. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the meetings went. They had the potential for tedium and division, but they did not surface. This is an unusual thing for faculty to say about a summer meeting.

These kinds of conferences usually feed people. I think they do it so there is something to look forward to and so people will come back after lunch. Both mornings started with coffee and pastry from the University catering service. The coffee was from a local grower, although it was not possible to tell if it was one of their fair trade, organic varieties, I drank it anyway. I needed a little caffeine boost. I think that is ok. I know that the bringing in of the local coffee roaster was in part because students had an interest in making sure there was fair trade coffee on campus. (Kudos, students!)

Lunch however was a different thing altogether for eating ethically. Still from the University caterer, which is not the best at this, but by far not the worst either. Each day there was a buffet dominated by a salad, which is at least a healthier option. On the first day there was grilled salmon as the protein available, which I skipped. I don't really like it and have no idea if it was wild or farmed. Even in the northwest there is no guarantee. Heck, there is no guarantee if unless you catch it yourself or take it to a lab to test for the dye they use to make farmed salmon pink. If Dean and De Luca got duped, I am sure others have been, too. The fresh fruit salad included things that were clearly not season or local (watermelon and pineapple) but I had some of that too. There were a couple more hours of meetings and then class for me to teach before getting home to eat something else.

Second day may have even been more questionable than the first. Also, a buffet featuring a salad, but airline cut chicken stuffed with crab meat. When I sat down at the table without any chicken a friend asked if I was skipping it because it was unethical. Well, yes, at least in part. I am not crazy about crab meat either (I am not crazy about fish or seafood generally). I told her the chicken was no more questionable than the crab meat. But that I wasn't going to talk about why. It seemed inappropriate when the menu was limited and people had food on their plates.

For lots of folks who travel for work and attend conferences, it is an excuse to eat food one wouldn't normally or to eat out for every meal. For some it is a minefield because of health concerns. For me, it has become a minefield because of ethics concerns. But this workshop at the University got me to thinking--I should know more about where the food comes from that is served on campus. I don't eat campus food every day, but often enough so I should know in order to make better choices. I know a little about it, but not a lot. Oddly enough, having dinner with a friend and colleague last night after the workshop the conversation turned to food and ethics (I love eating with people who share my food values--it is so much easier) and she mentioned working with the University dining services on a project a few years back and found it challenging because each side was using language differently--language like "local" and "sustainable."

A new project emerges.

New England Holiday Part 2: The Wedding

While I was back east this summer I attended the wedding of an old college friend. Actually, I planned my trip back east around it. I have gotten into the habit of planning my summer trip to New England around some event or other and deciding which summer school session to teach given that. This was actually just a wedding reception -- the fun part. And it was a total blast catching up with the bride and some other college friends I had not seen in far too long. But with banquets like weddings and other similar events, eating ethically gets tricky. Here we were at the absolutely beautiful Wadwanuck Yacht Club in Stonington, CT, just outside Mystic, CT. The weekend in Connecticut was great fun as I was catching up with all sorts of friends. I had good Italian food in Bridgeport and got my Dunkin' Donuts coffee, too (which is had usually once a year because while it is good, it does not meet my regular fair trade standards, although I recently found out that their espresso roast is fair trade).

This was more casual than many such "yacht club" weddings, perhaps in part because it was just the reception, the destination wedding took place in Mexico in April. So it was not your traditional New England sit-down plated dinner. There was a raw bar on the beach (not something I eat because I don't like it, not because of the ethical implications and honestly I didn't look closely enough at what they were serving to have an opinion about it other than I was told that most of what they were serving, minus the shrimp I would guess, was local). Noticing the raw bar did make me think of those losing their livelihoods in the Gulf of Mexico. There were also crab cakes and fajitas (an odd choice perhaps, but they were tasty). It was more like very heavy hors d'oeuvres and a lot of drinking. I did tell my friend who accompanied me that these were my "fun friends" from college. They did not disappoint. I believe a good time was had by all.

Instead of traditional champagne, or from my own Italian heritage, the dreaded Asti Spumanti, there was prosecco, which I greatly prefer. It is crisper than champagne but much more like it than Asti. I always liked it, but fell in love with it again while in Florence a few summers ago. It is now my go-to bubbly, so was thrilled it was the choice for the wedding. It is, alas, imported and has some environmental implications because of that. But, it is far more affordable for the average person than champagne or even many of the good California bubblies.

Lastly, there was no wedding cake--just a collection of beautiful, from scratch cupcakes. Which brings me to my last ethical note -- the pistachio. Like the almond, the pistachio is grown widely in the US, but many people think of it in terms of Italy (just like the prosecco!) which is one of the regions it is likely originally from. The US grows more pistachios than any other country but Iran. Pistachios are actually really good for you--good fat that lowers LDL cholesterol and anti-oxidant levels that rival green tea. This was a very good cupcake, but likely some of the health benefits of pistachios were off-set by the other cupcake ingredients. It was dense and not too sweet, like a home made, not from scratch, cupcake. It wasn't dry like wedding cake can sometimes be either.

But wedding feasts are an ethical triumph in different respects than much consideration of ethical eating. It is the joining of friends and family in celebration and food is one way we celebrate with one another. While the food was good, it was secondary. Honestly, I did not eat all that much -- I was too busy talking, laughing and having fun, and having a little more to drink than usual. So, the wedding, when it comes to ethical eating, likely rated higher on community value than on environmental, but I have to say it did good for the soul!