That's a wrap (not a burrito)

My mom and dad grew up in the piney woods of southern Arkansas during the Great Depression. Most folks kept chickens in their dirt yards (nobody could afford a grass lawn), and just about everybody grew a little food like potatoes, onions and tomatoes. My maternal grandfather was a traveling preacher, and their family moved a lot through little towns like Marvell, Holly Grove, Marianna and Gould. Oftentimes, the country congregations couldn't afford to pay their pastor in cash, so my mom's family often dined on the generous contributions of the community her father served: a couple dozen eggs here, a chicken there, a wheelbarrow full of potatoes here, a bag of flour there. My grandparents had three kids to feed, and food was pay.

Back then, the trees and shrubs in southern Arkansas were copious providers of a slew of edible fruits and nuts. From the mulberry trees bursting with sweet purple berries to the joyously red Mayhaw fruit to the nut-filled burrs of the Ozark chiquapin (a sub-species of chestnut) to the trout, bass and crappie filling the streams and lakes, free food was all over the place. My dad had a soft spot for chinquapins as a kid, and even played a game called "hully-gully," which involved several kids shaking the tree so the other kids could catch the delicious nuts falling into their waiting hands. There was a song that went with it too -- Chinquapin Woman -- but I won't recount that here. The point is, even in an era where many Americans were living in what we would today call "abject poverty," including my ancestors, there was plenty of food.

I bring up these familial memories here as we wind down the Hunger Challenge because this week has really got me to thinking about the state of our food system. It is broken, and in danger of getting worse. A whole lot worse. Sure, there are amazing things happening right now, particularly here in the northwest: the many urban agriculture projects now up and growing or in the works; the proliferation of city-dwellers keeping chickens and goats, and planting gardens; the numerous P-Patches and community gardens in Seattle; community kitchens and the revival of the communal meal; the Beacon food forest. All these and other projects happening now illustrate the ingenuity, resourcefulness, consciousness and authenticity that make living in Seattle hard to beat.

BUT. There are many corners of our glorious land that are not so lucky. By the time I was born, my grandmothers' chicken neck-wringing days -- and those of most everyone else -- were long past. Chicken didn't come from the yard anymore, it came from a styrofoam tray wrapped in plastic.  The chinquapin trees had all but died out in the South. The delectable Mayhaw jelly folks used to make and stockpile for the year had become the stuff of legend.

And while there are laudable efforts locally and worldwide to revive the populations of the vast array of edible plants and animals our forebears enjoyed in great bounty (like the chinquapin tree), the sad truth is that overall, the diversity of our food system has drastically dwindled; the nutritional value of even our best organic fruits and vegetables is measurably less than it was even a generation ago; and people in general are severed from the source of what's on their plates. Homogeneity is the name of the new game, and it is spelled with letters including G, M, and O. The hour is late, but it is still not too late to change.

At last week's Hunger Action Forum, keynote speaker and food system activist Ellen Gustafson urged everyone present to "Occupy your kitchen!" Here's how I took her admonition: cultivate a meaningful relationship with your food -- know where it comes from (including where it was grown or raised and by whom), know how it was harvested or slaughtered, know how it tastes, know how to prepare it, know what goes with it, and know what kind of nutritional bang you're getting for your buck. Cook with other people. Keep it simple and delicious. Explore. Grow. Share. Eat.

My colleagues and I who have reported our experiences here have all taken slightly different approaches to the Hunger Challenge.  Some of us failed to stay on budget, some of us bent (or broke) the rules a little, some of us did okay on all counts. But we all spent a lot of time thinking about, talking about, shopping for, preparing and eating food for ourselves and our families.

If you're wondering whether my chicken and bean stew made it through the week, I can tell you it went even farther than I expected. We had it for three full meals and there's still enough left for a couple of bowls full! We made it through five days and stayed on budget, even with almost all of the foods we ate 100% organic. We did not turn to the miles of aisles of cheap processed foods, we neither bought nor consumed anything remotely "fast." We didn't even make burritos. And that's a wrap.

Ridiculously Delicious Hunger Challenge 'Roca'

Tyler and Sylvia help line the cookie sheet with Saltines.

Before my family and I made the Hunger Challenge plunge, one of my first thoughts, "Oy, does this mean we'll have to skip dessert for a whole week?"

I wasn't about to skimp on wholesome stuff to squeeze in ice cream, cookies or cupcakes.
That's when a simple yet impossibly scrumptious recipe came to mind. A friend of mine had shared it with me just a few weeks ago.

Three of the four inexpensive ingredients would be multi-purpose: butter, brown sugar and Saltines. I've used the butter in scrambled eggs and in mac and cheese, the brown sugar in oatmeal and to sweeten my coffee, and the Saltine's as snacks.

My kids helped me make our Hunger Challenge "Roca" on Sunday night.
Here's the recipe:

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

36 to 40 Saltine crackers

1 pkg chocolate chips

Preheat oven in 425. Line cookie sheet with foil. Arrange crackers on cookie sheet. Bring butter and sugar to a boil and boil for 5 minutes stirring constantly. Pour butter and sugar over crackers so all crackers are covered. Bake in 425 oven just until you see bubbles on all crackers (5 min or less, be sure to watch closely). Pour chocolate chips over hot crackers and let melt then spread. Freeze for 20 minutes, break apart and store in airtight container in the fridge.

Sylvia helps me break up our "Roca."

All told, it cost us $9.38 and has lasted us all week. We've been missing some foods this week, but it's been nice to have a treat this yummy to look forward to at the end of each day.

Day 3 - So far so good

We've plowed through half of our budget. We're not big planners so we're proceeding with caution, only buying a day or 2 in advance. I think we're doing good so far - already 3 days into the challenge we have a really good idea about how filling our meal choices have been, what we need to do differently and what we need to buy at the next trip to the grocery store. 

All in all not so different from our usual - we've been in college mode for a few years now and have it down to a science. But like Allison we're realizing that it's hard not being able to use any existing food in the pantry. Because we can't fall back on anything we've stocked up on, $12/day doesn't seem to go as far as it usually does. We're finding ourselves having to re-examine our eating habits.

I've come to realize that the toughest part for me is the snacking! I guess I've always known that I'm a snacker - I prefer to have smaller meals and to munch throughout the day on crackers or popcorn or nuts or something. But not this week. B and I dedicated most of our budget to making sure we had 3 full, rounded meals leaving little wiggle room for snacking. Going into this, I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. But then I lost count of how many times I got up to check the kitchen for something to nibble on yesterday afternoon, only to return empty handed, stomach growling. And when I'm out of the house and I feel like stopping into a store or a cafe for a quick bite? Nope. A quick bite is not in the budget. Sorry. 

B's biggest issues is the lack of seasonings. He's one of those people that puts salt on everything he eats. And as the chef of the house, he takes his seasonings seriously. So now he goes on and on about how bland everything is. But other than that he's doing a little better on the challenge than I am; He eats big meals with few snacks in between. And even though he got roped into this - he's actually been the one keeping me on track.

But, I think he is keeping a mental list of all the things he will eat when this week is over. I have a feeling that next week we'll be eating like kings. 

Now we have a better understanding of our individual eating habits and what it takes to sustain us throughout the day, we've slightly adjusted our shopping plan. While at Trader Joe's today getting our rice milk we were able to squeeze a couple of snacks into the budget. 

So far so good.  

Same Old, Same Old (Sort of)

Mama-daughter Hunger Action Week art

Halfway into my family's Hunger Challenge, our lineup of meals hasn't changed much from the usual: nothing fancy (oatmeal, PB&Js, rice and beans ... more rice and beans) and mostly healthy (fruits, veggies and whole grains with most meals).

The main things we're missing are variety and protein.

We could afford just three fruits: a bag of mandarin oranges, some applesauce and frozen raspberries.

And four veggies: two heads of broccoli, some pre-washed organic spinach (our go-to green leafy vegetable), a medium-sized bag of carrots (non-organic so we'd have enough to last all week) and some frozen green beans.

The only meat in our $22/day budget this week is a can of tuna I'll be whipping up with some penne pasta and spinach Thursday or Friday night.

We're sort of missing snacks. I hadn't realized how much I relied on a munch here and a munch there throughout the day.

Our meals have been pretty bland -- no room for spices or salsas or anything in our budget this week. 

For mac & cheese, I usually boil some whole wheat shells or elbows, drizzle in some olive oil, sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese and stir. Simple, and my kids love it. Last night, I went with the 59-cent-per box variety, which tasted pretty processed. Made me wish I had done a side-by-side cost comparison with my stand-by recipe before budgeting for what I assumed was the cheaper alternative. 

All in all though, when my daughter and I sat down to do some Hunger Action Week artwork together, we noticed our drawings had quite a colorful variety of foods we like. Sylvia added yogurt and a few things she misses, but still said, "Hey! We have a lot of good stuff here!"

That was before we ran out of cheese for the week. And we've almost polished off our only box of cereal. Good thing I kept our Hunger Challenge grocery bill $15 and change shy of what we have to spend through Sunday.

So ... do I replenish the cheese and cereal or follow through with my surprise plan to pop into our neighborhood butcher shop for a small cut of beef tomorrow night?

RVFB & Hunger Challenge