How a Good Food Goes Bad

Sweet Potato Fries–Do they deserve a healthy halo?

Another good food gone bad.  It was bound to happen.

I’m not talking about some broccoli gone bad in the bottom drawer of the frig.  I’m talking about the industrialization of poor sweet potatoes.

You might remember five or so years ago, when roasting became popular.  In the midst of our roasting fun, someone discovered the joy of roasted sweet potatoes, a/k/a sweet potato fries when cut to resemble French fries.

Back in those good old days, we started with high quality sweet potatoes.  Consistent with healthy roasting technique, slices were tossed with a moderate amount of high quality olive oil (e.g. 1-2 Tablespoons for 2-3 potatoes.)  Next came a sprinkling of salt that could be very moderate because high-quality, unrefined salt was used, bolstered by freshly ground pepper and sometimes other herbs and spices.  Roasted at high temperatures, the outsides browned while the natural sweetness of the potato condensed and intensified.

Not only did these fries add marvelous flavor and delightful color to our plates, they provided us with increased nutritional variety.   They were also great for people who can’t tolerate regular potatoes very well.

Downfall of the Joyous Sweet Potato

Something so ideal was bound to catch the eye of the industrial feeding machine.  First, trading on their healthy reputation, restaurants began offering sweet potato fries made like regular French fries, i.e., drowned in a vat of fat and coated with half a day’s worth of sodium.  In some restaurants, sugar is even being added to complete the addictive fat-salt-sugar triad that is the hallmark of our addictive fast food industry. (1)

Now the sweet potato itself is being subjected to an “industrial transformation,” not unlike that of countless foods from hamburgers to burritos and noodle bowls to stir fry.  Once perfectly fine and healthful, they are now classic examples of junk food.  Evidentially, the same fate awaits the poor sweet potato.  With consumption rising 30% over the last decade, The Wall Street Journal reports that food behemoth ConAgra has launched its biggest bet in years:  “to reinvent the sweet potato for mass consumption, starting with its shape and sugar content.” (2)

What exactly does it look like when a food goes from edible fruit of the earth to industrial product?  Many of industrial ag’s products (note the use of “products” not “foods”) have been a part of the foodscape so long we don’t even notice them or their effects.  But the re-making of the sweet potato is happening right now, under our noses, providing insight into how our modern food system has been shaped and why it no longer serves us.

The Model  ConAgra hopes to make the sweet potato a modern-day equivalent of the russet potato, which in the mid-1940s was “elevated” by entrepreneur J. R. Simplot from kitchen staple to multibillion-dollar franchise.  Simplot’s “genius” lay in developing a standard-sized, brick-like potato that could be efficiently machine-processed then quickly and conveniently cooked for mass consumption.(3)

The Fallout  We have mass consumed alright–right into an obesity epidemic in fact, with French fries a leading contributor.  Besides shifting the national diet away from nutritional balance, Simplot’s profit-driven efforts lessened valuable plant diversity,(4) diminished potato flavor(5) and compromised small farmers in favor of large corporate farms and mono-culture production.(6)

The Process  20,000 sweet potato lines are evaluated annually, from which scientists breed just a few that have a certain amount of sweetness, consistent deep orange color, a brick-like shape instead of pointed ends, a denser weight and the ability to store for a year rather than six months.  (Side Note:  In a world plagued by hunger, isn’t it interesting that millions and millions are being spent to create a boutique sweet potato for unhealthy frying instead of just growing and distributing plain old sweet potatoes to starving consumers?)

The Motivation  Not to be confused as an avenue to boost consumer health, all of ConAgra’s work is dedicated to the production of deep-fried sweet potato products, driven by the hope “that new, improved sweet potatoes will fuel growth and profit in its $2.2 billion potato business.”  As even the Wall Street reporter acknowledged, although sweet potatoes “are widely perceived as healthier, . . . when fried it’s debatable whether they are healthier than regular potatoes.”

The Misfortune  Nature has given us a joyously sweet edible.  Why do we demand more, to begin with, and when we demand more, what careful natural wisdom are we upsetting?  Contrary to modern industrial thought, we can’t have it all.  Just look at the tomato.  Clever engineering made it ripen more evenly for easier harvesting, but oops, that engineering also “contributed to making tomatoes less sweet.” Breeding for a redder tomato had similar unfortunate consequences.(7)  So what tradeoffs will be required to make sweet potatoes sweeter, or more uniform in color or able to store for an entire year?

The Solution   Easy.  No need to engage in civil disobedience, donate all your money to an environmental group or even write a letter.  Just be smart, be wise, be mindful of what you buy–and start making different choices.

Remember the Every Day Good Eating Motto   You can’t buy good nutrition in a box–or a package or at most restaurants.  So go home and make your own roasted sweet potatoes with real, nature-produced sweet potatoes, minimal amounts of fat and salt and NO added sugar!  They are easy.  You’ll love them.  And it will feel so rewarding to make your own, nutritious food.   Here is the recipe.

Notes:

While this isn’t meant to be a scholarly research paper, many authors have carefully researched and documented the industrialized food system.  Here are some citations that might be of interest as you begin understanding what has happened to our food system:

(1)  Fries or Sweet Fries?  Should you be eating either?  Bonnie Liebman, December 28, 2013, Nutrition Action

(2), (3)  “ConAgra Pushes Sweet Potato to Straighten Up and Fry Right,” Ilan Brat, The Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2010

(4)  “Consider that in the Andean highlands, a single farm may host as many as 40 distinct varieties of potato. . . , each having slightly different optimal soil, water, light, and temperature regimes. . . . (In comparison, in the United States, just four closely related varieties account for about 99 percent of all the potatoes produced.)”  Eat Here, Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a global Supermarket, Brian Halweil, W.W. Norton & Company, 2004, p. 71  (As climate change takes hold, we may find ourselves wishing we had more potato varieties with different tolerances.)

(5)  “About 90 percent of the money that Americans spend on food is used to buy processed food.  But the canning, freezing, and degydrating techniques used to process food destroy most of its flavor.  Since the end of World War II, a vast industry has arisen in the United States to make processed food palatable.  Without this flavor industry, today’s fast food industry could not exist.”  (Leads one to wonder whether the loss of a food’s natural flavor coincides with a loss of naturally-occurring nutrients as well.)  Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser, Perennial, 2002, p. 120.

(6)  “Over the past twenty-five years, Idaho has lost about half of its potato farmers. . . .  Family farms are giving way to corporate farms that stretch for thousands of acres.”  Schlosser, p. 118.  Sadly, Brat reports that Louisiana sweet potato farmers are eager to see ConAgra’s entry into the market, believing that the company’s new, $155 million sweet-potato processing plant as a key to their survival.

(7)  “Why Your Tomato Has No Flavor,” Jie Jenny Zou, The Wall Street Journal; “Bring Back Those Tasty Tomatoes,” The Los Angeles Times in The Daily Camera, “Monsanto Digs Into Seeds,” Ian Berry, The Wall Street Journal, June 27, 2012, p. B9:  “For years, seed companies have emphasized shelf-life and durability in shipping at the expense of taste, Consuelo Madere, vice president of Monsant’s vegetable-seed division, said in an interview.”

Antioxidants and IV Drips: What They Have in Common

. . .  and why we need to stay steady on the vegetable eating.

I learned something new about vegetables this week.  We’ve known they provide mega doses of antioxidants.  But research now shows that those antioxidants don’t stick around forever.  In fact, they don’t stick around very long at all.  So if we want to benefit continuously from the disease-fighting benefits of antioxidants (and who doesn’t as flu season descends upon us), then our vegetable-eating needs to be continuous.  Kind of like an IV drip, you need to be filling the antioxidant pipeline continuously by eating a steady stream vegetables.

It’s not enough to eat a big salad on Sunday and think you’re covered ’til Tuesday.  Nor is it ideal to cram in all your daily vegetables at dinner.  Experiment with spreading your veggie intake over more hours of the day.

Interestingly, I’ve been eating vegetables for breakfast, lunch and dinner for many years, simply because I feel better in terms of energy and lightness.  Now I see there are even more benefits.

One of the many ideas in the Veggie Diaries: A no-chemicals store-bought sauce plus frozen green beans and sweet potatoes makes this a super simple breakfast or lunch option. Make enough for two meals at a time and you can have it for both! Of course if feature whole grain, brown rice pasta.

Eating a continuous flow of vegetables has also prepared me for the inevitable question that arises whenever vegetables and meals are mentioned in the same sentence:  “But don’t vegetables take too much time?”  I can now say, based on lots of experience, “No, fixing vegetable-based meals doesn’t take any longer than driving to pick up an Egg McMuffin or a bucket of Kentucky Fried.  The key lies in know fast vegetable combos.  That’s what you learn from my Tweets.  Join me on Twitter and you’ll be first in line for all the ideas I come up with.

It’s a Green, Green World: Recipes for a Week’s Worth of Summer Greens

For seasonal eaters in cold climates, the green in the fields is looking pretty good after months of dreary brown and gray. But remember that saying about “too much of a good thing?” That’s what came to mind the last couple weeks at the Farmers Market and when picking up my CSA boxes. Lots and lots of green: spinach, lettuce, bok choy, mizuna, frisee and komatsuna. All gorgeous, all delectable, but all green and all leafy.

In the words of the positive thinkers, this is not a problem but a challenge. So this week will be devoted to some ways I’ve been having a little fun with the plentiful greens of the season:

• adding some color
• adding fast flavor
• adding some texture
• featuring it in a main dish,
• cooking it a different way
• adding substance with proteins or grains

See how the techniques work and you can make up other uses for all your greens.

Sunday’s One Dish Meal: Spinach and Sweet Potato Soft Shell Tacos

Makes 10-12 tostadas

Spinach has renewed appeal when paired with bright orange sweet potatoes and black beans. Make this colorful dish fast enough for weeknights by thinking ahead: Microwave or bake some sweet potatoes one night, but cook extra so you’re set for this dish a couple nights later.

• 1 large red onion (or yellow), diced to about ½ “
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil

In a large sauté pan, heat oil over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add onion and sauté about 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.

• 2 tsp. minced garlic (fresh or bottled)
• 1 tsp. chili powder (more or less to taste)
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. dried leaf oregano

Stir into onions, in the order given, and cook just 3-4 minutes, stirring a couple times.

• 2 med. cooked sweet potatoes (about 1 to 1½ lbs.), peeled and cut into roughly 1” cubes (about 3-4 cups)
• 1 bunch spinach, stemmed and cut roughly into 2” squares (or 6 to 8-oz. bag pre-washed spinach)
• 1 15-oz. can black beans, undrained (or black soybeans, for a change)

Stir gently into onion mixture, in order given, and simmer on low heat for about 10-15 minutes, stirring a few times and adding a little water or broth if necessary to prevent sticking. While filling simmers, assemble desired toppings and place in small bowls:

Optional Toppings:

• Chopped cilantro
• Diced avocado
• Salsa
• Shredded cheddar cheese (or goat chevre would be very nice)
• Sour cream

When filling is done, wrap

• 10-12 corn tortillas (preferably freshly made)

in a lightly dampened cloth napkin, cheese cloth or tea towel. Microwave 30-60 seconds until soft but not mushy. Serve immediately, placing a tortilla on each plate, topped by about ¾ cup filling. Roll or eat open-faced. Pass optional toppings at the table.

On the side: Plate of jicima sticks and baby carrots, sprinkled with fresh lime and chopped cilantro

Read on for Monday’s Red, White and Greens Stir Fry: Super Simple, Very Versatile