Food city area

Salmon, Bears, and Trees

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-YNZObJzNMYs0h2wGXY9mNzq6DDkBLXkF3pCuT1QFotBRrLYt_WSKZbKd7H-jjoiCs8eaWfviuZIkSLaIfyJHBnBvCxDJOJVpAgdMhmeEqZWQ89IIOd4L4xqc9LS5j0mdrH-H-P5Pl55/s1600/salmon1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-YNZObJzNMYs0h2wGXY9mNzq6DDkBLXkF3pCuT1QFotBRrLYt_WSKZbKd7H-jjoiCs8eaWfviuZIkSLaIfyJHBnBvCxDJOJVpAgdMhmeEqZWQ89IIOd4L4xqc9LS5j0mdrH-H-P5Pl55/s640/salmon1.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tlingit Totem Pole depicting salmon, Sitka Historical Park</td></tr></tbody></table>Salmon! Last week in southeast Alaska we hiked and kayaked beside streams crowded with salmon swimming upstream to spawn and die. We saw salmon jumping in the waterways near our ship, the Sea Bird. We watched bears snatching salmon from the streams and eating their favorite parts. We heard lectures on the natural history of salmon and on its importance to the local native people, the Tlingit. We visited a fishing village, Petersburg. And several times, we ate local smoked, cured, or fresh salmon.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSr_sXvyAZm-Cyis2Dsuhb7VBVpjpF3t2tfWEJJubSgSoGvkW24GvzTUAnZZtB9Sz9ZLohf1AQyccYmn8V6CypbUNHNCS1wVi-4KgzXrOKGUEvQhAjEa_aqrF53-w5X96sME9LU75UX95g/s1600/salmon-len.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSr_sXvyAZm-Cyis2Dsuhb7VBVpjpF3t2tfWEJJubSgSoGvkW24GvzTUAnZZtB9Sz9ZLohf1AQyccYmn8V6CypbUNHNCS1wVi-4KgzXrOKGUEvQhAjEa_aqrF53-w5X96sME9LU75UX95g/s640/salmon-len.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Salmon swimming up a stream (Len's photo)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMf2QaSOmT3tfZInJkxNARhyme11AKIV6-m8CDIJf8ls6T-smM36n3xSKtFgSwEw3EBlowqV2PUiHkuyQ64aKKMYJSmufHZBp-6IhGZax3vzm6Y7amljHU51kjIGeS9O8CQaNUxd1KDlBt/s1600/salmon3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMf2QaSOmT3tfZInJkxNARhyme11AKIV6-m8CDIJf8ls6T-smM36n3xSKtFgSwEw3EBlowqV2PUiHkuyQ64aKKMYJSmufHZBp-6IhGZax3vzm6Y7amljHU51kjIGeS9O8CQaNUxd1KDlBt/s400/salmon3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dead salmon in the stream</td></tr></tbody></table>The salmon, we learned, are not just good for human food. They play an incredible role in forest ecology, bringing the nutrients they ate while at sea back to the forest where they were born: "When they return to spawn, salmon become a veritable conveyor belt for nutrients. For example, an adult chum salmon returning to spawn contains an average of 130 grams of nitrogen, 20 grams of phosphorus and more than 20,000 kilojoules of energy in the form of protein and fat; a 250-meter reach of salmon stream in southeast Alaska receives more than 80 kilograms of nitrogen and 11 kilograms of phosphorous in the form of chum salmon tissue in just over one month."<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuKLs75UQzZWyjDJl9886LhXXwluutl_m2MiaoOQ9LWnvxaBNOobJOOXNj_4uzva1MJmSmJnJRBCT0lg9AMIUg3VppGm_Le3RF-H5jYDD2qJchZh4GcxmDrFgv0u29P1mqMzWMAW2jVpLz/s1600/salmon4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuKLs75UQzZWyjDJl9886LhXXwluutl_m2MiaoOQ9LWnvxaBNOobJOOXNj_4uzva1MJmSmJnJRBCT0lg9AMIUg3VppGm_Le3RF-H5jYDD2qJchZh4GcxmDrFgv0u29P1mqMzWMAW2jVpLz/s400/salmon4.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trees by the salmon stream</td></tr></tbody></table>Using all these nutrients, trees near salmon streams grow faster and larger than trees further away: beside the streams, "Sitka spruce take 86 years, rather the usual 300 years, to reach 50 cm thick." Growth rings in the trees are larger in years with good salmon runs.<br /><br />"And just as trees need salmon, salmon depend on trees. Every part of a tree participates in enriching a stream for aquatic life, from its tiny needles to its strong twisted roots. Streamside vegetation shades spawning streams, keeping developing eggs cool." -- from "<a href="http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=407">Why Fish Need Trees and Trees Need Fish</a>" by Anne Post.<br /><br />Distribution of the nutrients brought back from the sea by salmon is the job of the bears who fish in the streams and then spread the leftovers and their droppings nearby: "each adult female grizzly bear on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska eats about 3000 lbs of salmon per year". The bears are much better nourished by salmon than by the berries and other plants or small animals that they feed on: "Grizzly bears that eat a lot of salmon are 80% larger, produce 25% more cubs, and live in populations that are up to 50 times denser than grizzly bears that fatten primarily on fall berries." -- <a href="http://nrs.wsu.edu/Research/Bear-Center/research/ecological.html">Washington State University Bear Center</a>.<br /><br />The entire quality of the stream is created by nearby trees, birds, animals, insects, and other plants. All are nourished by salmon that died after spawning or were partially eaten by bears; the salmons' bodies particularly feed the insect life that later feeds the growing salmon larvae. A tight food chain!<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifiR9qt5ES4H7wfHAMA-atO0Z3uqfDabYnmf6ltEtUhmW8yfh8ZowqK_6n3i8n8IB7G_QgBvQQ5J9Rj-cBeiOFjBPI3pg0jEk2gpC7ZjazYlGBcItGNgaq2WrUSM_5VlHmK4-CLS7m8X4m/s1600/salmon5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifiR9qt5ES4H7wfHAMA-atO0Z3uqfDabYnmf6ltEtUhmW8yfh8ZowqK_6n3i8n8IB7G_QgBvQQ5J9Rj-cBeiOFjBPI3pg0jEk2gpC7ZjazYlGBcItGNgaq2WrUSM_5VlHmK4-CLS7m8X4m/s640/salmon5.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From a kayak we saw this bear with a salmon in  his mouth: gulls were waiting for leftovers.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Note: for a quantitative study of the transfer of nutrients, see this: "<a href="http://fish.washington.edu/people/naiman/contemporary/papers/helfield_manuscript.pdf">Fertilization of Riparian Vegetation by Spawning Salmon: Effects on Tree Growth and Implications for Long-Term Productivity</a>" by James M. Helfield and Robert J. Naiman</i></span>

Salmon, Bears, and Trees

Tlingit Totem Pole depicting salmon, Sitka Historical Park Salmon! Last week in southeast Alaska we hiked and kayaked beside streams crowded...

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11.32

Just before leaving Alaska

Just before leaving Alaska

Happy Birthday to Len: our last evening on the Sea Bird You can see the dining room behind us. The food was great, and I'll be posting m...

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20.09

Pike Place Market

<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/9483541940/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="SaturdayMae 3 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="SaturdayMae 3" height="375" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3753/9483541940_1c6a9501c8.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seattle's Pike Place Market, right beside the docks, has fresh shellfish, regular fish,<br />and lots of fruit, vegetables, flowers, and miscellaneous stuff.</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/9480750861/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="SaturdayMae 4 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="SaturdayMae 4" height="480" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7422/9480750861_7c4382c463_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jack's serves fresh market fish, their own smoked fish, and shellfish. <br />We enjoyed some oysters for a mid-morning snack.</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/9480751107/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="SaturdayMae 1 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="SaturdayMae 1" height="375" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3790/9480751107_fae27b14f1.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We loved looking at all the fish for sale.<br />Then we had clam stew and crabcakes for lunch at the Steelhead Diner.<br />The Diner prepares the fresh fish and serves a bit more formally than this stand, which sells raw fish and<br />various paper cups full of shellfish to eat while walking around the market.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />

Pike Place Market

Seattle's Pike Place Market, right beside the docks, has fresh shellfish, regular fish, and lots of fruit, vegetables, flowers, and misc...

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18.29

Ann Arbor Farmers Market

Ann Arbor Farmers Market

7:00 AM -- too early to pay the parking meter!

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04.54

What color is your breakfast?

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXKUdyVYIB6BUOXJTTk6ZIcyVx6Nkoyg5wd0A_J5Z2KkE9U0x919hjeJw2-JBgBuAQpbhnL0WqlkCDPnxj-TmNBuh0WJ2xoDClgkBoQjs_hxPndbidmtX6W29nCsgcXebyDEfRotYrT8X1/s1600/peaches2889.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXKUdyVYIB6BUOXJTTk6ZIcyVx6Nkoyg5wd0A_J5Z2KkE9U0x919hjeJw2-JBgBuAQpbhnL0WqlkCDPnxj-TmNBuh0WJ2xoDClgkBoQjs_hxPndbidmtX6W29nCsgcXebyDEfRotYrT8X1/s320/peaches2889.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>This morning everything I ate was a cheerful shade of yellow-orange: scrambled eggs, peaches (both fresh and in a compote), and orange juice. A bright yellow pencil volunteered to be in the  photo as well. Quite a contrast to the chilly, damp, and gloomy weather that's set in this weekend.<br /><br />I think I am fully back from Paris in my mind now, and no longer comparing everything I eat to what I ate (or was too full to eat) in Paris. The strong but pleasant taste of French cheese, which really doesn't travel successfully, is now a fading memory and I can eat my usual sliced cheese sandwich without feeling deprived. The sauces I make are sad but I'm getting used to them again.<br /><br />Yesterday we went to the local art museum on the University of Michigan campus. I doubt if it's as big as 1% of the Louvre, but fortunately it currently has a delightful exhibit of brush paintings by Isamu Noguchi and his Chinese mentor -- "<a href="http://www.umma.umich.edu/view/exhibitions/2013-beijing1930.php">Isamu Noguchi / Qi Baishi / Beijing 1930</a>."<br /><br />After viewing it, we ate sushi for lunch nearby -- American sushi. I enjoyed it.

What color is your breakfast?

This morning everything I ate was a cheerful shade of yellow-orange: scrambled eggs, peaches (both fresh and in a compote), and orange juice...

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08.20

The American Paradox

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw6QoTLOqjzoI2yAzDaasiG2Lzy2WwWPT74AGzrG79ugPwJ8rI5Zvc3X2gPLmfKD0cMeWYGQoiXtEV5HqePE0Z20WZVhTXr7MRZhVq3RrVMSSm2Nj_CMuHGBOkB9o5Eo0k0ChoEY33vIjb/s1600/endofovereating-kessler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw6QoTLOqjzoI2yAzDaasiG2Lzy2WwWPT74AGzrG79ugPwJ8rI5Zvc3X2gPLmfKD0cMeWYGQoiXtEV5HqePE0Z20WZVhTXr7MRZhVq3RrVMSSm2Nj_CMuHGBOkB9o5Eo0k0ChoEY33vIjb/s320/endofovereating-kessler.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>Why do Americans get fat and stay fat? When did they start getting fat? Why weren't they fat before that (whenever it was)? Can legislation make them stop getting fat?<br /><br />The number of books and articles on the subject of American fatness is vast, and the answers aren't really conclusive. And every day, it seems, there's news of another country approaching or even surpassing American fatness.<br /><i><br /></i><i>The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite</i> by David Kessler is one of the many to ask what can be done. Kessler examines not just the food Americans eat, but the way it affects them. Specifically, he argues, carefully engineered food products of many types change people's brains to make them crave more and more of their favorites. Beyond describing how food affects people, <i>The End of Overeating</i> offers advice on how to overcome the effects of this manipulation, though I'm doubtful that most people have the willpower to do so.<br /><br /><i>Crave</i> is the key word here. Creating food that people just can't stop eating is the goal of many industrial food laboratories, and Kessler describes both how they do it and how they express their goals of making people into a kind of food-crazed zombies: not his choice of words, but I think the current obsession with zombies reflects a kind of pervasive fear that we have been seized by forces that we can't control, and this is one of them.<br /><br /><i>Satisfying food</i> is the alternate to cravable food, according to Kessler. Satisfying food is the old-fashioned kind that could be eaten until one had enough. Satisfying food was plain food that didn't have a lot of added salt, sugar, and fat but also included complex traditionally cooked dishes. I think the American paradox, as suggested in Kessler's book and others, is that satisfying food has been crowded out by cravable food. Many people who have been conditioned by cravable food have simply lost the ability to recognize when they aren't hungry any more. The products of the food industry, Kessler demonstrates, make many consumers helpless. Though they often see themselves as victims, they keep eating and overeating, unable to stop.<br /><br />Kessler uses a number of examples of such individuals who say they just can't stop thinking of some favorite donut, cookie, sandwich, pizza, or other cravable delicacy -- people who engage in what he calls <i>conditioned hypereating</i>. The foods they mention share certain not-very-natural characteristics, Kessler demonstrates in a number of chapters. There's some overlap here with <i>Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us</i> by Michael Moss (as I wrote in <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2013/04/whos-rational.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">Who's Rational?</a>) but Kessler emphasizes how people experience the food in real life, while Moss concentrates more on the labs.<br /><br />It's not just the content, which includes meticulously researched combinations of fat, sugar, and salt. To create a product that people can't stop eating, food labs also engineer the way that the food behaves when it's chewed. A potato chip may begin with a rush of salt and crunchiness, but it quickly melts away in your mouth: cravable food doesn't have too much fiber. A slice of pizza is layered with several flavors that pop and excite your mouth, but can be chewed and swallowed easily, allowing you to take another bite, another bite, another bite. Cravable meat dishes use tenderized or ground meat that requires minimal chewing compared to a real steak. A Cinnabon roll has a super appealing aroma and sweet spiciness, along with a creamy frosting that provides just the right mouth feel along with the flavor.<br /><br />Kessler talked to the food engineers whose research has provided Americans (and those to whom we export) with the perfect cravable foods, and he talked to their victims who couldn't stop. He provided statistics about how very young children studied in the past seemed able to keep eating until they had had enough to grow normally, and even how their food choices were balanced to match their needs. Recent research, he pointed out, suggests that this is changing: the engineered foods (like MacDonalds) hijack this innate ability, so children lose the capacity to know when to stop eating.<br /><br />Kessler mentions the French Paradox: why French people don't seem to get fat in the same statistical sense that Americans do -- or at least why that hasn't happened yet. As I read the book, though, just after my recent trip to Paris, I was struck by Kessler's category of satisfying foods: those that one eats with great pleasure, but that don't trigger the <i>hypereating</i> that he discusses. Satisfying food -- highly satisfying food -- is what's on the menu in the traditional homes, restaurants, bistros, cafes, and brasseries where I ate in France. Is that what most young French people are eating now? Maybe not. Maybe the French paradox will dissolve as their food industry catches up with ours and discovers how to make much more money with fat, sugar, salt, and engineered textures.<br /><br /><br />

The American Paradox

Why do Americans get fat and stay fat? When did they start getting fat? Why weren't they fat before that (whenever it was)? Can legislat...

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05.05

Macarons in the News

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5WCzGJN78rJzicMor_wioSFwkDom6y_ChisFvjmn1nSva3KyhKfbSGiI_Rr3oVK8BXUpwCG82AlJ5KeIUN8wisc0r7uHNFiHqGvMTBLmB2RCcd0hJ5MbYyPjtuh6MzuvyjvBzlfG5yd07/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-07-23+at+7.24.57+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5WCzGJN78rJzicMor_wioSFwkDom6y_ChisFvjmn1nSva3KyhKfbSGiI_Rr3oVK8BXUpwCG82AlJ5KeIUN8wisc0r7uHNFiHqGvMTBLmB2RCcd0hJ5MbYyPjtuh6MzuvyjvBzlfG5yd07/s400/Screen+shot+2013-07-23+at+7.24.57+AM.png" width="271" /></a></div><br />Today: a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/07/24/dining/20130724-MACARON.html">wonderful slide show</a> from the <i>New York Times</i> on French macarons, including history and a tiny bit about technique -- see sample photo above. The complete article is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/24/dining/fads-aside-the-perfect-macaron-is-timeless.html">here</a>. There's even a recipe, though not for the amazing filled macarons at Laduree.

Macarons in the News

Today: a wonderful slide show from the New York Times on French macarons, including history and a tiny bit about technique -- see sample p...

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04.27

Food city area

Salmon, Bears, and Trees

Just before leaving Alaska

Pike Place Market

Ann Arbor Farmers Market

What color is your breakfast?

The American Paradox

Macarons in the News

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