What's in your lunch box? An extended answer.

Elaine writes about lunches at home and at school:<br /><blockquote>I just wish someone would make me the Bon Appetit lunches--an awful lot of work even for a retired person. I usually eat at home, often one of the Yoplait yogurts that you decry for their lack of good nutrition, a piece of fruit and some bread and butter and jelly. (Or cookies or pie or cake if we have some). I think eating the yogurt in addition to a sandwich would be excessive, but instead of it's not so bad. I used to often pack the same lunch when I was working. </blockquote><blockquote><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/89/2828/1600/delmar-harvard.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/89/2828/320/delmar-harvard.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Delmar-Harvard Elementary School where we ate those lunches<br />(though the cafeteria was in another building)</td></tr></tbody></table></blockquote><blockquote>I mentioned earlier this year that I've gone back to peanut butter after many years hiatus, but now I sometimes use creamy style horseradish instead of jelly. I remember once as a kid that Mom put butter on my peanut butter sandwich instead of jelly. It was probably worse for me and tasted weird. I also remember the Halloween peanut butter open face sandwiches, cut round with jack-o-lantern faces. Those were served at home on Halloween, before we went back to the school parade. (Butterscotch pudding with jack-o-lantern face was I think for dinner dessert). I loved those! </blockquote><blockquote>As a member of the local school parent council when the kids were small, I designed and administered a survey at the elementary school to see what the kids liked and didn't--most of the disliked stuff went into the trash, since there were no eating enforcers. The items they hated the most were green and gold salad (cheese and peas) and Reuben sandwiches. We shared our results with the cafeteria directors but am not sure we got much attention. The staff wanted to open the minds (palates) of the children, but the kids were pretty much completely closed to some of the ideas, and I doubt they actually tried some of the food.</blockquote>

What's in your lunch box? An extended answer.

Elaine writes about lunches at home and at school: I just wish someone would make me the Bon Appetit lunches--an awful lot of work even for ...

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What's in your lunch box? Another answer.

Evelyn wrote about what's in lunch boxes packed at her house:<br /><blockquote>I read your blog entry about packed lunches, and I think maybe I don't agree with some of it. <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/AVvXsEha3l4WWe8AMD0PHeWKyUstbbFTBp-froQfJb94LFkcAiCZzbjv1ImYuzCe5Ak1PNJ9dVTVSQL2gcThF0zjgmblE2fFnhj_qHioTkyH1RKBwZDqRVNOvMr1JAqz6gDJFf0VFBU1u7R-MTPl/s1600/pesto-chicken-rolls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3l4WWe8AMD0PHeWKyUstbbFTBp-froQfJb94LFkcAiCZzbjv1ImYuzCe5Ak1PNJ9dVTVSQL2gcThF0zjgmblE2fFnhj_qHioTkyH1RKBwZDqRVNOvMr1JAqz6gDJFf0VFBU1u7R-MTPl/s320/pesto-chicken-rolls.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pesto-Chicken Rolls <a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/family-meals/slideshow/25-quick-and-easy-school-lunches-to-pack-for-your-kids/?slide=25">from Bon Appetit</a></td></tr></tbody></table>For example that <i>Bon Appetit</i> article -- maybe a little pretentious, but I am going to show it to Alice, because I bet she would get up early to make herself some of those lunch ideas. They actually sound very good for dinner with leftovers for the lunch. Maybe that's why it sounds pretentious -- I seriously doubt anyone really makes those only to pack in a lunch, whereas as a leftover that would be completely reasonable. Miriam even made sushi for dinner a few times for the purpose of taking it in her lunch the next day. </blockquote><blockquote>I don't think that Miriam and Alice's lunches are too far off from the norm, or they would rebel, and yes they often have a piece of candy or a yogurt, but they don't seem all that much worse than what you described you bringing healthwise. For example, today Miriam had a PBJ sandwich, 5 ritz crackers, a bit of candy, a peach, and a chocolate milk (It's not really just her lunch -- she has been eating a little lunch at school and finishing it up the rest for afternoon snack). </blockquote><blockquote>Alice had the same crackers and candy, but she had a tortilla wrap with melted swiss cheese for her sandwich, a fruitable for her drink (it is fruit juice with water added), and blueberries for her fruit. This seems to be well within the range. Yes, it has more sugar than you had, but not enormously more. </blockquote><blockquote>My own lunch was leftovers from the salad last night for dinner -- quinoa, avocados, tomato, corn cut off the cob, garlic, onion, and the wonderful Cajun seasonings you brought me from Baltimore (which I have been adding to pretty much everything all summer). That is just as pretentious as any <i>Bon Appetit</i> lunch in that article! But this was an exceptional day -- on Tuesday I didn't have time to make a lunch at all and had a pain au chocolat from the coffee shop. And  I'm sure that kind of lunch is exactly what Michelle Obama is talking about.</blockquote>

What's in your lunch box? Another answer.

Evelyn wrote about what's in lunch boxes packed at her house: I read your blog entry about packed lunches, and I think maybe I don't...

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What's in your lunch box? First answer.

Arny wrote on my FB page:<br /><blockquote>"This is my 60th consecutive year of going to school. When I'm not on sabbatical, I nearly always bring a lunch bag. Nowadays it's usually a small insulated bag that lasts a year or two. I still use a couple of baggies; I haven't made an effort to find the right containers for the peanut butter and jelly sandwich and the cup of carrots, but I do recycle the coke can, and the apple doesn't need packaging."</blockquote>

What's in your lunch box? First answer.

Arny wrote on my FB page: "This is my 60th consecutive year of going to school. When I'm not on sabbatical, I nearly always bring a...

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What's in your lunch box?

<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/AVvXsEjBaRBvbdbeWZR8hGUow8G8ufCtuSBevzDGH4KsYMYfQuT5rqF6JQulS0Y_Y_evgMxQWeeKBRqBShlZrJggDa14bdiohUNdt2aPpekdu4p9dKPLqpGvtMdGJbVZ76uPb70LwX6B_FDTRMqC/s1600/mona_lisas_dachshunds_canvas_lunch_tote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBaRBvbdbeWZR8hGUow8G8ufCtuSBevzDGH4KsYMYfQuT5rqF6JQulS0Y_Y_evgMxQWeeKBRqBShlZrJggDa14bdiohUNdt2aPpekdu4p9dKPLqpGvtMdGJbVZ76uPb70LwX6B_FDTRMqC/s400/mona_lisas_dachshunds_canvas_lunch_tote.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mona Lisa Lunch Tote from <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/+mona_lisas_dachshunds_canvas_lunch_tote,690632398">Cafepress</a></td></tr></tbody></table>School started yesterday, so I've been thinking about what goes in all the lunch boxes and lunch bags all over the country. I remember from childhood the smell of a lunch in a brown paper bag. When I was in elementary school, I went home for lunch almost every day. But in Junior High, I remember the smelly brown bags with wax-paper-wrapped sandwiches, probably on white bread, and an apple every day. Maybe a carrot stick or a cookie. Inside the sandwiches: peanut butter (no jelly for me) or sliced cheese; cream cheese or some sort of meat; maybe tuna fish. My mother, who packed our lunches, didn't think it was a lunch without a sandwich. I almost always brought my lunch right through high school. I didn't like and rarely ate cafeteria food -- for one exception, <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2011/10/its-school-lunch-and-chili-month.html">see this</a>.<br /><br />Here's what I think is odd: the lunches my mother packed would mainly comply with the advice that parents are getting now to encourage healthier eating. If the food industry made small-sized bags of potato chips then, we never heard of them; Lunchables were distantly in the future. Yogurt wasn't a commonly sold or eaten food until some time after I was in school; it seems to have become a staple of lunches brought from home. Most yogurt -- especially the ones targeted to kids -- is a heavily sweetened and not particularly wonderful food masquerading as healthful.<br /><br />The lunches we rejected from the cafeteria were probably no better in nutritional value than the ones that are under scrutiny now, and probably didn't taste any better than the nutritionally improved ones kids are rejecting, either. I suspect that politics is behind some of the big objections that kids (no doubt encouraged by their parents) are making to the changes in school cafeteria food when the objectors seem to all be from tea-party country and they mention Michelle Obama by name and hold her responsible. I have this funny feeling that only a satirist (like <a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/mom-unaware-little-note-she-packed-with-sons-lunch,29281/">The Onion </a>or Andy Borowitz) could do justice to the politicization of school lunch contents as well as to some of the other excessive trends.<br /><br />Lunch boxes, for some reason, weren't cool when I was a lunch-taker; neither were thermoses. I think they were for littler kids. After lunch, we could throw away everything that came with lunch. That didn't usually include any food: we were all inducted into the Clean Plate Club though no one ever named it. A few years after I was in school, instead of waxed paper or waxed sandwich bags, plastic baggies became common. Much more recently, schools have been nudging both mothers and kids towards reusable containers instead of disposable wrappings.<br /><br />Will this trend continue? Two years ago, an article in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/27/business/energy-environment/education-officials-and-retailers-push-for-environmentally-friendly-school-lunches.html?_r=0"><i>New York Times</i> reported</a> "Sales of environmentally friendly back-to-school products are up just about everywhere." By that time at Miriam and Alice's Oak View Elementary school, kids had already done an experiment to compare the trash on a day when everyone brought lunch in disposable bags and on a day when everyone who could brought their food in reusable containers. The resulting trash quantities really impressed the whole school! Nobody wanted to be seen making piles of trash like that.<br /><br />In the family, Miriam says she plans to take only a little bit for lunch because she'll be eating very early, so she got  a new small lunch box to start Junior High. Alice says she doesn't have a new lunch box yet. <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2012/10/school-lunch.html">Last year in Minnesota</a>, they did eat school lunches, which were designed to have healthy food and lots of vegetables in them and also were usually served on reusable plates. They also had a deal with a farm to send the edible leftovers and plate scrapings to the pigs.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2BgWFCBXi6Qrs4wqsxMOVvZAWvKT4fNLTMbepqmDVJqux4jqABMmAMoyPoSrMkTfS7GhC8OyAGnJObxvAZ1PBaTjHOvwaq8Sm8VTfVZueutRFAe4e8gbU9t5n9aQhbpy5ilb_Aw3UBj2j/s1600/bento-lunch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2BgWFCBXi6Qrs4wqsxMOVvZAWvKT4fNLTMbepqmDVJqux4jqABMmAMoyPoSrMkTfS7GhC8OyAGnJObxvAZ1PBaTjHOvwaq8Sm8VTfVZueutRFAe4e8gbU9t5n9aQhbpy5ilb_Aw3UBj2j/s320/bento-lunch.jpg" width="284" /></a></div>Overall, in lunch boxes this school year, I suspect that there will be lots of interesting and exotic foods as mothers strive to meet more and more competitive demands for health and fanciness. A few mothers might follow the trend of making highly decorative Japanese lunches, as illustrated by a screen shot from google images. A few might make labor-intensive gourmet treats based on recipes like those in a<a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/family-meals/slideshow/25-quick-and-easy-school-lunches-to-pack-for-your-kids/?slide=1"> pretentious article in <i>Bon Appetit</i>.</a><br /><br />Most kids' lunches, according to the news, will be some combination of convenience lunch food like yogurt cups and mini-bags of chips or carrots and traditional choices like my mother made. I hope there's really a trend towards better health and environmental responsibility, but that might be wishful thinking.

What's in your lunch box?

Mona Lisa Lunch Tote from Cafepress School started yesterday, so I've been thinking about what goes in all the lunch boxes and lunch bag...

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Sustainable Fishing

<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/AVvXsEiRrLRpzslIFVINTfnXinkJF0Y2QllyseD9nPjTZlt3D1DRi-VbHZ1N6L9-Geh77dJtoLuARDLHhf6iqFKjmlui3HndTpxNfDRsJb_1gNVPNZMNWVhXZNaZipdWOYj82UF2wz67Kkblkvj1/s1600/petersburg3315.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRrLRpzslIFVINTfnXinkJF0Y2QllyseD9nPjTZlt3D1DRi-VbHZ1N6L9-Geh77dJtoLuARDLHhf6iqFKjmlui3HndTpxNfDRsJb_1gNVPNZMNWVhXZNaZipdWOYj82UF2wz67Kkblkvj1/s400/petersburg3315.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Truck parked near the docks in Petersburg, Alaska</td></tr></tbody></table>Alaska salmon is all wild, never farmed. The <a href="http://blueocean.org/">Blue Ocean Institute</a> and <a href="http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx?gid=49">Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch</a> both rate it "green" -- that is, one of the most sustainable fish. "Abundance of salmon, particularly Pink and Sockeye, is high in Alaska due to good management and healthy habitat," writes Blue Ocean. "The majority of salmon is caught with purse seines, followed by gillnets and troll gear. These fishing methods cause little habitat damage and result in moderate levels of bycatch, typically other fish."<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/AVvXsEg3PNCt5SFmEZ3C1TxF9mT_swyQWRRRSFmH-waIZmLoCORJNhoV9b6Hbe5_I5l3CpyfqOnifaSPcP1ZMy9sZZZ2JJ24TCBRgljDqQaOZbcxUuPVwyxU3CzlZXN5ZK0li2OFQEBhmUXldjVZ/s1600/tlingit-food.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3PNCt5SFmEZ3C1TxF9mT_swyQWRRRSFmH-waIZmLoCORJNhoV9b6Hbe5_I5l3CpyfqOnifaSPcP1ZMy9sZZZ2JJ24TCBRgljDqQaOZbcxUuPVwyxU3CzlZXN5ZK0li2OFQEBhmUXldjVZ/s400/tlingit-food.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tlingit food, display in Sitka National Historical Park</td></tr></tbody></table>The Tlingit tribes that have lived in southeast Alaska for centuries depended on salmon, which they preserved by smoking or drying to make a variety of long-lasting foods. Traditionally, they also ate other seafoods, including seal meat, and used seal fat to preserve berries. Their fishing and hunting practices were very sustainable and efficient, but of course the population was small and there were no exports.<br /><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/AVvXsEi3-sSJ7V0uCtRWmtkoGRabd6ZMbAA4D2KVRHWEA7qgmM0MhC_EqbfpBGBiyecJ-7ob5Hzaqja0EVoyhdwAvP5t4J9hn5LhHgJLFPxbZFqXKLt18FbUa3ST-afboRAaV_7XH1BsOamwPexM/s1600/petersburg6128.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3-sSJ7V0uCtRWmtkoGRabd6ZMbAA4D2KVRHWEA7qgmM0MhC_EqbfpBGBiyecJ-7ob5Hzaqja0EVoyhdwAvP5t4J9hn5LhHgJLFPxbZFqXKLt18FbUa3ST-afboRAaV_7XH1BsOamwPexM/s320/petersburg6128.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boats in Petersburg (Len's photo)</td></tr></tbody></table>Now the Alaska fisheries are among the most productive anywhere, and their products both fresh and preserved, go all over the world. In view of the utter depletion of other fishing grounds, such as Atlantic cod, it's encouraging that Alaska fisheries still seem sustainable.<br /><br />Petersburg, which we visited, has only a few thousand people, but ranks sixteenth among US fishing ports, with a total of 101 million pounds of seafood, worth $65 million, caught in 2011 (<a href="http://www.ufa-fish.org/CFF/2012/25.Petersburg%20Community%20Fish%20Facts%20V%202012.1.pdf">source</a>). When we visited, most of the salmon boats were out at sea where the salmon were running.<br /><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/AVvXsEjASAy4A-Mj2AqstZU3oSGjlwGMLILb8RoL7Y6O7EnYlmPp31UFPYrRuJ9lL8Juft2At7tWLVDQwpJk3x0xhpf-J8wGRf4Q09LqjSaCh9SVHUcJeRUpyNNFY5VjxVFxFwkdBlRFh8LnltpM/s1600/petersburg6160.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjASAy4A-Mj2AqstZU3oSGjlwGMLILb8RoL7Y6O7EnYlmPp31UFPYrRuJ9lL8Juft2At7tWLVDQwpJk3x0xhpf-J8wGRf4Q09LqjSaCh9SVHUcJeRUpyNNFY5VjxVFxFwkdBlRFh8LnltpM/s320/petersburg6160.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Petersburg Alaska (Len's photo)</td></tr></tbody></table> Petersburg fishermen also catch other Alaska seafoods rated environmentally responsible: Dungeness crab; red, blue, and golden king crab; pink shrimp, Dover and rock sole, and sablefish. Halibut, another valued fish, is abundant in Alaska. Monterey rates it green, but Blue Ocean classifies it as yellow (not as desirable) because of the danger of mercury.<br /><br />As I wrote yesterday, we tasted several of these, as well as some type of rockfish (which I suspect is only available locally so the Alaska version doesn't appear in the ratings).<br /><br /><table 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/AVvXsEjh8Ei9JucMC45pIjcWR6fRZcYKPcZ4JrPi8R95xbYMlscXlL6_ww0f48dn45ebwNg_Dk8lI9UJwd5FtLPOpLZXzm_Dtu8jLQ8U0PvaVIJej4UhycPDjAvP2kotOAC96B5F21oL_HLIBN5o/s1600/petersburg3304.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/AVvXsEjh8Ei9JucMC45pIjcWR6fRZcYKPcZ4JrPi8R95xbYMlscXlL6_ww0f48dn45ebwNg_Dk8lI9UJwd5FtLPOpLZXzm_Dtu8jLQ8U0PvaVIJej4UhycPDjAvP2kotOAC96B5F21oL_HLIBN5o/s400/petersburg3304.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cannery on the wharf in Petersburg</td></tr></tbody></table>Now that I'm home, I am definitely missing the wonderful flavors of many types of fresh fish. However, I do try to comply with the suggestions of the two rating agencies that suggest responsible ways to eat seafood; as it happens, I shop for fish at Whole Foods which has partnered with both of them and committed to sell only recommended fish.<br /><br />Both the Blue Ocean and Monterey ratings agree with the fisherman in Petersburg in condemning farmed salmon for its dangers to the environment. In contrast, by inspecting a variety of farms, Whole Foods claims to have identified responsibly and safely designed salmon farms that satisfy higher standards. These farms use "carefully monitored, low-density pens and tanks without antibiotics, pesticides or added growth hormones." They also are believed to prevent the escape of fish or their toxins and diseases into the wild.

Sustainable Fishing

Truck parked near the docks in Petersburg, Alaska Alaska salmon is all wild, never farmed. The Blue Ocean Institute and Monterey Bay Aquari...

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Eating Alaska Salmon

<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/AVvXsEgEekMA1cZAxEybeZ5thpbPjwjwuObsa92O22QfJr3mhHtaKNYwVrAm6m-F8MTGWMOKRYAUQ-q99zEmJVIC5k_AnZpEaBwcy0-mSWURiYProsQcedRfpId8hMU6NsPJwB3pSdlp0X8lJdz6/s1600/salmon-on-seabird2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEekMA1cZAxEybeZ5thpbPjwjwuObsa92O22QfJr3mhHtaKNYwVrAm6m-F8MTGWMOKRYAUQ-q99zEmJVIC5k_AnZpEaBwcy0-mSWURiYProsQcedRfpId8hMU6NsPJwB3pSdlp0X8lJdz6/s400/salmon-on-seabird2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Breakfast one day on the Sea Bird: locally cured lox with bagels, cream cheese, etc.<br />Serving himself: Justin the ship's fabulous diver, who narrated his dives as we watched videos <br />or (once) narrated live from underwater.</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="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgib0f7SzhT4f2uVzGy6etracglHirTIxaBPTxtsHXgBbZtW_3Syv7vz1u74x4uNavNcvanAFBdGPtfHxJUQ15cdFV2EV5UrxxYkypHO-CwBUAz1o3EomPHhrUv1doC29fSXrNxxk1Ho5rR/s1600/salmon-on-seabird3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgib0f7SzhT4f2uVzGy6etracglHirTIxaBPTxtsHXgBbZtW_3Syv7vz1u74x4uNavNcvanAFBdGPtfHxJUQ15cdFV2EV5UrxxYkypHO-CwBUAz1o3EomPHhrUv1doC29fSXrNxxk1Ho5rR/s640/salmon-on-seabird3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A dinner appetizer on the Sea Bird: smoked salmon from Petersburg, Alaska</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="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXPZaGN2mcihHPvueOlQsh0PwJn_n_B5DcbtXYsRhZiN_VD_XaPL7CuEfKcpBOMLc-blK5mwZWWI6tL5FitleDHcoaefCySXLFE6BXN6wv-RiQtxvjlFufehWXazarnay_HR4UYsBHXOrN/s1600/salmon-on-seabird4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXPZaGN2mcihHPvueOlQsh0PwJn_n_B5DcbtXYsRhZiN_VD_XaPL7CuEfKcpBOMLc-blK5mwZWWI6tL5FitleDHcoaefCySXLFE6BXN6wv-RiQtxvjlFufehWXazarnay_HR4UYsBHXOrN/s640/salmon-on-seabird4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White-fleshed King Salmon: a local Alaska delicacy served as our main course the last night of our cruise.<br />We also enjoyed dinners of pink salmon, whole steamed crab, crabcakes, halibut, rockfish, and true Alaska cod.<br />(If you count, that's all 7 dinners in our week on the boat!)</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="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiyZrmZhktvfk7WKzlhUnGKGI_MIDs65uLR0G4nSD6fm5kxv8v5Z5_mm8U0oCQ2huYyCNXZXt2iY8DWYYONbBNEdh6W0BYnTAB2ysvQJBEClg2VIa1pHUtL-tDNm1p84WhVdnFOS57Rrmt/s1600/salmon-pikeplace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiyZrmZhktvfk7WKzlhUnGKGI_MIDs65uLR0G4nSD6fm5kxv8v5Z5_mm8U0oCQ2huYyCNXZXt2iY8DWYYONbBNEdh6W0BYnTAB2ysvQJBEClg2VIa1pHUtL-tDNm1p84WhVdnFOS57Rrmt/s640/salmon-pikeplace.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pacific Northwest salmon for sale at Pike Place Market in Seattle</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="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjUfn-cT4RNRDNm1k3n9Quh7M2JgkEzv1YuL4qt60wUdJqSO2AmqexKfJLMQOVjttOgXICSl2rkR_yiUkwkQGMTa9ve95X9OT49wPf7uMU1WvWxUnUOU7V1EnhuVK61UsaJZvBiWciH2s7/s1600/salmon-whlfoods2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjUfn-cT4RNRDNm1k3n9Quh7M2JgkEzv1YuL4qt60wUdJqSO2AmqexKfJLMQOVjttOgXICSl2rkR_yiUkwkQGMTa9ve95X9OT49wPf7uMU1WvWxUnUOU7V1EnhuVK61UsaJZvBiWciH2s7/s640/salmon-whlfoods2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At Whole Foods in Ann Arbor today: Alaska salmon in cans -- as available in various brands for many years!<br />My mother made salmon croquettes from such salmon, including chopped onion and celery, egg, & cracker crumbs.<br />I think everybody's mother made something like that.</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="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7URXdEdqYWE3HLCnOBHJ2W0_sm4FZXtIJ-cjYTkkmv3lG9muyOY9NfrKmT3mNRnwzcA3eZgqzdjbSFfNPYGBoNxAD0zDA1_HRWuiEVpAc9Y3CGaXRNdbfZbKNZ5A4v9pQ2oSHKy8h8z6J/s1600/salmon-whlfoods3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7URXdEdqYWE3HLCnOBHJ2W0_sm4FZXtIJ-cjYTkkmv3lG9muyOY9NfrKmT3mNRnwzcA3eZgqzdjbSFfNPYGBoNxAD0zDA1_HRWuiEVpAc9Y3CGaXRNdbfZbKNZ5A4v9pQ2oSHKy8h8z6J/s640/salmon-whlfoods3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whole Foods: fresh and previously frozen fish from Alaska.<br />Whole Foods observes the recommendations of the <a href="http://blueocean.org/seafoods/">Blue Ocean Institute</a>. <br />I'll say more about sustainable seafood in a later post.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />

Eating Alaska Salmon

Breakfast one day on the Sea Bird: locally cured lox with bagels, cream cheese, etc. Serving himself: Justin the ship's fabulous diver, ...

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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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