Guess Who's Home?

Well, it has been a laborious but wonderful ride!  I am back in the good ole' US of A as "they" say.  One more paper to go until I officially complete my classes in Italy, which I am hoping to finish this week.   

So now onto the internship and thesis -- then my ultimate finish in March with my Master's!  

I just wanted to share some (seemingly extensive!) exciting news with you.  I've landed an amazing internship in which I will be working under the famous Manhattan-based editor Silvana Nardone (who launched Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine as the previous Editor-In-Chief).  She also has an amazing blog, which I encourage you to check out called Silvana's Kitchen.  Her newest undertaking is that she is the Editor-in-Chief of a new online, eco-friendly, gluten-free lifestyle magazine, Easy Eats.  This is the magazine I will be the newest Intern with, mostly working with the Publisher and Marketing Director, Amie Valpone, who also has a great blog called The Healthy Apple.  Not bad, right?  It has begun and I have been working pretty hard so far.  It will give me great experience in the marketing world, and I will see if I like it and where it takes me.  I am already forming amazing contacts and (so far) seem to be impressing the Publisher.  So that's good news!


I also just became a writer for Examiner.com!  Please check out my Profile here.  Subscribe to my articles, follow along, and become inspired!  And please ask me questions, give me critique, offer your ideas.  My main goal is to promote small, local start-up businesses.  I have become quite passionate for the people behind the scenes in these areas of work.  The daily toil and constant dedication I witnessed while studying in Italy was compelling.  After witnessing and participating in the blood, sweat, and tears it takes to run a company who barely gets by, I was forever affected.  I knew I had to somehow support the true, honest efforts in this field.
  

Because of my need for hands-on training, I am going to be teaming up with some of the start-ups in the Minneapolis area and beyond.  I will be working most closely with Pashen, a delicious raw food product.  The founder of this is Lisa Wilson, a passionate and uplifting woman, who also founded The Raw Food Institute.  I will be working closely with her sister and brother, Wendy and Pol, who have taken the lead with the production and sales of the (did I mention delicious?) Pashen bars. 

One of the places they are closely tied to and in collaboration with in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area is Kindred Kitchen, which sustains many small businesses in the area with their kitchen and working space.  Their vision is to provide a high-quality, yet affordable environment for food entrepreneurs who wish to start up and continue to succeed as a business.  Please check them out.  They provide a truly amazing concept, one I am so honored to be a part of.  


I will also be working with Beyond the Grain, company who started a gluten-free baking mix, which is also based in the Twin Cities area.  The story behind this product is very lovely, one I will be sharing with you on the Examiner.  


I will be learning from and spending some time with Crapola, a really fun and amazingly delicious granola company that started in Ely, Minnesota.  Check their website out -- you won't regret it.  More on them later (on the Examiner) as well.  


I've also been in contact with a new co-op in a cute small college town, St. Joseph, Minnesota.  The co-op is called Minnesota Street Market and they get a TON of volunteers from the college students who attend The College of St. Benedict and St. John's University.  I will be volunteering my time to this local food and art co-op; maybe teaching some classes, helping with their newsletter and promotion, and just whatever various projects they need help with!  


So, do you think I will be busy enough until March?  I think so.  I won't be getting a TON of income, so I've been applying to Dietetics jobs that are out there and even considering taking a barista position in the cities somewhere, as I miss my time at the Porpoura Coffee House.
  

For anyone who knows me, this isn't a surprise at how crazy and random all that I am doing seems.  It sounds like a lot, but I am valuing the fact that it's my time to learn.  (Honestly, I will be forever learning, though, right?)  I will re-evaluate where I truly fit in March, when my internship portion of my Master's is officially over.  


I just seem to be in constant yearning to learn more, seeking new ways to become inspired.  This is part of the reason for my continued change, I believe.  I am living and loving the best I can and I am confident I am doing what I am intended to do.  I believe we all follow the path we are intended.  It is right to say that we are all exactly where we should be, even if it's not what we want or how we would imagine.  To be content with the current state of being, I've found, is a small secret to happiness. 


Time will tell where I go and what exactly I will do.  I know that one thing always leads to another and I will continue to discover myself more and more every day, learning from living, establishing what makes me most happy.  At this point it is being near my family and friends while doing what inspires me, thus making me a better person.  That's it, that's all -- for now, anyway!

Thank you all for your constant love and support.  

I feel unbelievably blessed in the presence of unconditional love.   

Hunting for Truffle

 

Most who know me well know that I am a Minnesota girl at heart.  I am proud of where I am from for reasons which have been previously mentioned, but mostly for the fact that Minnesota is beautiful and full of the God-given gifts of wildlife, wild foods, and the forest.  Is that convincing enough?

I've been talking a lot about what I love most about the Land of 10,000 Lakes to many of my classmates, who are probably getting sick of it by now.  "Please come visit, I know you'll love it!' is my usual request.  One of the main things I rattle on about is the ways in which we can procure food in Minnesota.  I love that I can go into the "wild" and collect berries and mushrooms, we can cultivate wild rice and maple syrup, and that we can hunt and fish to stock up for the year.

Now I know that this is, in fact, feasible in all parts of the world and that Minnesota isn't particularly unique, but I believe I appreciate this fact having grown up and being a part of the use of the land in this way.  An example of this procurement in Piemonte, Italy?  Truffle hunting.  I am not only fortunate enough to live in this region of Italy, but I got to participate in the hunting (gathering?) of this high-esteemed mushroom of sorts.  A quick warning, though, this is not the typical mushroom hunt.  It's not like in Minnesota when you are riding (rollerblading) on the bike trail, see some mushrooms on the side of the path, and pick them up for later cooking and consumption.  Oh no, this is serious stuff.

Stefano was our guide.  Not as integral to our guide was his cute little dog Kira.  We met him just outside of the small town of Alba, where we trekked through the woods in search of the famous fungi.  Apparently one can obtain the white truffles (of which we found two) for a steep price of no less than 3000 euro per kilo.  Yes, you read that right!  I love a frugal find, and the fact that I could find an expensive and glorified delicacy in the woods was right up my alley (or wooded path in this case).  The taste: nothing compares; it is earthy and meaty in the expected mushroom kind-of way, but somehow more unique.  We whipped up dishes from pumpkin soup to risotto to eggs with added distinct truffle aroma.  It is the best addition for a truly rare flavor.  One of my friends suggested slicing it between butter, leaving it for a day, then using the butter for whatever your fancy--Yumm.






The fact that I love mushrooms in Minnesota (both the hunting and the eating) should not come as a  surprise that I came to live in the land of the famed truffle in Italy -- my senses suitably led me.  But, alas, my senses will also lead me back home to Minnesota the Beautiful where I will again hunt for the morel, the chanterelle, and the bolete.  

Salute!

To add a little to this description of the truffle hunt, I will add this video done by my classmate Catherine Desforges of our day out in the Piemonte woods.  Thank you, my friend, for this.  It was perfectly captured.  Enjoy:

Thank you, also, to Kerstin Bergmann and Rose Colon for the pictures!

A Full Life

To learn by doing – this is the way to reach understanding in my mind.  I can honestly say that until I do and experience can I really know. 

This is my excuse for some of the choices I have made in my life thus far.  I never want to look back and ask myself, “What if?”  Through every experience, what arises is new perspective; insight into the world, myself, and those around me.  I have come to appreciate areas of life I would maybe not have prior.

I am, of course, mostly talking about my choice to study in Italy, but these thoughts come from every adventure trail I seem to travel down.  For some reason I choose the rocky path, the one that looks like it goes uphill, with potholes along the way and running waters to cross over.

I believe the reason for these advancements in my life is that it truly fulfills me to do so.  I enjoy challenge and I feel that I always benefit when hard work is accomplished. 

My latest question, though, is why do I always choose the laborious route?  Why don’t I allow life’s simplicity to fulfill me? 

I think in the end it comes down to balance.  I know that in order to let my light shine and be the person I am put on this earth to be that I need structure of some sort – a system where I can put forth my best and receive the satisfaction of a good and fair job well done.  However, I also know it is important to be happy and content – I need to realize that I am worth enough to and truly enjoy and get the most of the life I’ve been blessed with.  

I’ve said it before, but I need to keep repeating that the key is balance : a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions : an equilibrium in body mind and spirit. 

As a reminder that my best is often more than enough, I will continue along these paths, knowing I am not always in charge of the directions they go.  I will continue to persist in my full life, keeping the often crazy with the seldom quiet in equilibrium.  

Home Away From Home

Friend: “Living away from home must be hard, don’t you miss it?”

Me: “Well, yeah!” 

The thing is, it can be, but you simply have to do the often uncomfortable and scary.  Not only that, but you have to find your home away from home.  On occasion I step back and wonder, “but where is my home and where am I supposed to be?”  Well I am 100% certain that home is where the heart is – it is where you make it to be; it is inside of us; it is where the people we know (or come to know) and love are!

I have had this conversation on numerous occasions with my classmates, who are from all over the world; also out of their natural and usual environment.  We are in Italy, but all striving for the answers of where to go and what to do from here.  The longer I am away and the more I learn, listen and observe, I realize this really is a lifelong search.  It puts me at ease because, really, it should be an ongoing endeavor – that is what life is all about, right?  We should always challenge ourselves further and learn more.

Nonetheless, there is always comfort in the knowing. 

I have said it before and I will say it again – I am here for the people!  What I mean is I am not put on this earth to be alone, and the great thing is, I am not alone and never will be!  With that realization I am confident there is life everywhere and in every single thing - which I am also a part of and affected by.

 
I have found that my paths have led me down roads where I have felt alone many-a-time, and through those experiences have realized something needs to change, even if it is just my perspective.  Instead of giving up, I just turn around, go back to the fork in the road, and choose the next route.

Along the way I have come across hundreds of people - some just in passing, but others who have been there in great times or have picked me up when I’ve fallen, kept me company on my trek, provided new perspective – those who have gotten to know the true me, my “inner self”.  It is in these either random acquaintances or in the dear relationships I hold where I feel my best and brightest.  I am fulfilled when there is an exchange of sorts – either a conversation or just simply a presence.  

I am so blessed with all those in my life I have been influenced by and (hopefully) returned such blessings to, for this is how I grow.  I know I am influenced even from those I have not met, and for all those bonds as well I am grateful.

Amongst all the uncertainty in this time of life I feel a sense of clarity and know everything will follow how it is meant to if I continue to interact, share, and connect - no matter where I am on my journey and in which direction I am traveling. 

- Embrace the Detours; Happiness is a Direction, not a Place -

Ideas for the Future of Food

When asked from my Professor Colin Sage about what I would do if I were hired in my country to implement change to the national food system, I was amazed at the amount to which I could expand.  This gave me the realization that maybe I've found it--my niche (my new French-inspired word). 


Last week in class was intense and not just because of the time spent in lecture, reading, researching, writing, studying; but the material and the topics at hand provided significant strain for us.  The reasons I think for this are the new found interpretations and the honest concerns we have for it all.  

Oh, and not to mention the constant rain for about a week now, but that's beside the point.  

 The topic of our class was Food, Environment, and Sustainability.  Our professor is one who is very well-versed and experienced in the connections of the environment and food, and he has many publications on the subject.  His articles are very informational and truly impassioned.  This rang true for his lectures as well, but there was this air of frustration for us in that we feel our global food system has so much reshaping to accomplish.  The discontent for me came from just not knowing where to start, but also if what I start will really achieve the transformation I hope for.  


Professor Sage truly pushed us to think through the environmental dimension of the food system as it is today.  He pushed us to analyze the pros and cons of the rise of the global food system and to address the challenges our food system faces at various scales.  We talked about the social-ecological-political-and environmental problems we are facing today.  See why there was such unease?  Over the weekend we were asked to do a project and paper with two others on what we see as the prospects/challenges in building a more sustainable food system.
  

I have now grasped our need for greater localization of production, and the crucial but obvious reshaping of consumption.  I feel it is now our duty as grad students to take the vital role of communicating and promoting the shift to more sustainable diets.  This is not only just for us, it is for the land and all that surrounds us.  What I love is the unselfishness in it all--the fact that we need to join as a community of people and support each other while looking after all living beings: all the plants, animals, creatures, fauna, flora, fishes (you catch my drift?).  

And remember that this ties directly in with nutrition, my first-found passion.  If we shift back to local sourcing of our food we can cut down on the need for preservatives usually needed for "durable" produce after transport/sitting on the shelf.  We will reconnect again with the idea of eating and health.  If we start eating seasonally, we will benefit from the best of the best--both in taste and in nutrition.  We will get to shake the hand of the farmer or producer we are buying from.  Most importantly, however, we will put an end to the one billion people in the world who are experiencing hunger and malnutrition because of their lack of entitlements and financial power AND the over one and a half billion in the world who are overweight or obese and susceptible to a range of diet-related diseases.  

It is not only our health and well-being that is suffering from our current system.  We need to realize that what we pay for in food has these named hidden costs, which causes our ecological services to suffer, depletes our resources, impairs the earth system processes, and costs the health and well-being of humanity.  

What we need is a change of attitude from demanding convenience and time to becoming empowered by what we put on our tables, knowing we are supporting all of life from start to finish.  We need to ask ourselves and others if our global system is really effective in delivering sound nutrition while sustaining our natural resources and environmental services.  If not, let's do something about it.  What should we do?


1.  Question our patterns of settlement, our lifestyles, our systems of production.  Increase our knowledge on production, consumption, natural resources, and public policy.   


2.  Shift our efforts to building more localized and self-reliant production and distribution networks.  It truly might be the only way we can reconnect food security with nutritional well-being and environment sustainability within the resource capabilities of the earth.   


3.  Form food policy councils to help government think about food more comprehensively.


4.  Cut down on the use of packaging, thus less reliance on the petro-chemical industry.  


5.  Fight for equity--because our food system is currently failing the inner-city poor.  This could start by encouraging convenience stores to carry fresh foods, bringing farmers markets to inner cities, or helping entrepreneurs sell fresh produce in these areas.  It could go as far as lobbying for state funds to develop healthy food outlets in underserved neighborhoods.  


6.  Expose children to nutritious alternatives to their food choices, and teach them to garden!  Become active in school lunch and other institutional reform efforts.


7.  Consider more implementation of public transportation and encouraging exercise (biking) as a means for commuting, thus less use of fossil fuels for transportation.


8.  Get back to the idea of using draft animals for production, thus cutting down on the need for diesel-powered machinery and use of synthetic fertilizers.  


9.  Find our priority values: What we are eating?  Where does it come from? What does it do to the environment? Are we informed enough?  How are the animals taken care of?  Are the Regulations effective enough?  All of the above?


10.  Do as much as you can, start small: turn off the lights when you leave a room, walk instead of drive, grow your own herbs, go explore and learn from the land!  Most of all, just start by talking about it!  

This might sound all well and good, but we also need to be the devil's advocate sometimes and ask ourselves these questions as well:


1.  Can America and other nations possibly produce enough food from smaller, environmentally sustainable resources to feed the world's growing population?


2.  How can we possibly reduce environmental degradation and the cruelty imposed on billions of animals when we need to feed the hungry?  


3.  We need compromise between increasing food production while minimizing the negative impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem services and society, but what is the right development for farming in the food chain?


4.  Isn't global sourcing enhancing the camaraderie in our world?  The short answer: Yes, but it depends on their way of production and the possible hidden costs involved. 

After all of this, I bet you are as confused and exhausted as I have been all week!  However, we truly need to make this a priority, for it is our livelihood at stake.  The first step: just talk, question, become informed.  

"We cannot hope to create a fairer food system without some kind of rough blueprint that takes on these and other related questions." -Nancy F. Koehn, New York Times

ps, if you'd like any book recommendations, just ask! Ciao!

Adventures in Italy ~ Article

I was asked to share my experiences with an Agritourism organization in Minnesota, and this is just my first draft, which was very long.  The version I submitted was much shorter, but I gave him both, so he might mix it up a bit.  We shall see.  Here it is :

Most Registered Dietitians would not normally choose to go on to get their Master’s in something other than Public Health or Education.  However, I knew going into the field of nutrition, I would end up treading my own path somehow.  After working as a Dietitian for WIC, I am now in the Piedmont region of Italy studying Food Culture and Communications.  This will lead me toward an internship of my choosing and after a full year, obtain a Master’s in the subject.  I am attending the University of Gastronomic Sciences in the small town of Pollenzo, Italy.   So how did I get here?

Growing up in northern Minnesota is just a primer to where I am today; being raised in a family of biologists and educators is a secondary cause; and as a third defense, I would have to say that my call for adventure and need for multifaceted understanding of my place in this world brought me here.  

The best and most valuable learning thus far has been when I get my hands dirty and actively involve myself in the process while allowing others to inspire my understanding. Since living in Italy, I have found that my purpose involves relationship.  I am inspired by my relationships with people and the land, but also the connection in that.  My value for all of life creates such a respect and sense of gratitude to that which sustains and binds it, and that is food.  Food is a large symbol of biodiversity--the correlation between us and nature. 

I attend class daily with people from all over the world and that in itself is valuable learning.  From these people both in and outside of class, I am being exposed to a wealth of knowledge I could have never found elsewhere.  Our lectures (so far) range from Sensory Analysis to Ethnobiology, Food Technology, Nutrition, Food History, Sustainable Gastronomy and even more to come.  It seems to me that all of us are professors here; we all bring our experiences and talents to exchange with one another.  Every culture has something special, unique, and valuable, and I feel it is important for each person to be empowered by this.  I have an even greater sense of empathy for each culture based on their ideals and beliefs, thus resulting in a strong interest to engage and recognize further.  

During the course of the year, I will be going to each region in Italy for a week to fully immerse in the life and culture there.  The two other places chosen by the University for us to attend are England and France.  We are fortunate enough to go into both small- and large-scale production sites, some as small as a family’s home but some as large as six-story, multi-building production areas.  The diversity in the sites are astounding in themselves: wineries, cheese-making factories, meat curing production sites, butcher shops, olive groves, a rice farm, flour mill, natural reserves, and the list goes on.  

Each stage (or study trip) we attend brings us even closer to the source, and each place we visit we witness the process from start to finish, also involving tasting the final product.  The doors that open with the simple word Prego (or Welcome) from the people in this country has been most gratifying.  We hear and see each facilities’ purpose for existence.  From these people I am witnessing family history, appreciating culture, witnessing Mother Nature and all her beauty, and growing even more as a nutrition expert and educator.  

From these study trips I am more able to see the big picture and put together not just the process from procurement, but its importance.  Because of my need to make links between it all, I appreciate the practice and truly retain that knowledge and understanding. I want to use my last stage as an example of the effectiveness of the idea.

Over a month ago, we had three classroom lectures on Food Technology and Preservation, specifically focusing on cheese.  We were then told that we would have an exam on these subjects in May.  Then last week we went on our first stage to the Italian region of Puglia, where we were fortunate to visit many small and large-scale production areas related to food, the environment, and agriculture.  One of the last sites we visited on this 6-day journey was a cheese production factory.  This particular family-owned cheese production site makes fresh Burrata and Mozzarella cheeses, where they usually work throughout the night so their final product is fresh in the morning.  This company was generous enough to bring in their employees to show us the hand-process they use in their production.  One of the craftsmen has been on staff for 40 years, thus very knowledgeable on the subject.  Because we were motivated to learn this process, knowing an exam was in our future, we probed him the most during the visit.  However, I realize the reason I was so intrigued and asked so many questions is because of the opportunity they allowed for me to partake in the process.  They opened their doors to me and showed me their passion.  I saw in their faces pride and saw sweat dripping from one of the men’s face, and I knew this was what I needed in order to appreciate the process of the particular cow, its diet, the rennet used to curdle the milk, the mixing of the curd, draining of the whey, moulding of the cheese, and of course, the final tasting.  If not for this visit, I would not have been able to sit down, study, and retain the lectured information given weeks before this trip.  I was able to put together not just the process and it’s importance, but fully comprehend and appreciate the people, the animal, and the land behind it all.  

It is hard to stop here at the extensive knowledge I gain daily.  Class lectures, outside conversations, personal presentations, and the immersion into varied cultures produces such a unique understanding.  The people and the relationships we form in this type of training is unexplainable and like nothing I would have ever imagined.  And all of this after only two months?  This year will truly be in my life forever.  

I feel a connection to the country now, and not only just because of my family roots here.  Knowing the process from field to final product is an understanding I will carry with me for the rest of my life.  No matter where we are or what we do, there are always links.  Relationship is the key, and I will never again be able to think of food as just fuel.  We need a balance of the pleasure of food, to feel and appreciate it, and know our responsibility toward it.  For food is history, it is culture, it is life.

Feel free to ask me any questions from my time here!  And do visit!