UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH BLOGS

The Office of Undergraduate Research sponsors a number of grant programs, including the Circumnavigator Club Foundation’s Around-the-World Study Grant and the Undergraduate Research Grant. Some of the students on these grants end up traveling and having a variety of amazing experiences. We wanted to give some of them the opportunity to share these experiences with the broader public. It is our hope that this opportunity to blog will deepen the experiences for these students by giving them a forum for reflection; we also hope these blogs can help open the eyes of others to those reflections/experiences as well. Through these blogs, perhaps we all can enjoy the ride as much as they will.

EXPLORE THE BLOGS

 

 

Week Two!

by | Jun 27, 2017 |

The highlight of my second week of summer was a Wednesday night dinner out at Ema with my family, but more about that later on in this post 🙂 First, a little update on my research progress!

On Monday I met with Dr. Welch to go over some content ideas and study names for our sedentary behavior reduction intervention and my interview project. Dr. Welch was out for the rest of the week and Dr. Phillips was at a conference, so it was just me at the office getting started on developing our intervention content! Most of our materials were adapted from the Fit2Thrive study, another project I have worked on at the EHL. For our sedentary behavior reduction program, I wrote a number of weekly feedback emails so the women can stay up to date on their progress, motivational “coaching” emails, and compiled videos of different workouts and individual exercises that we can push to the women as part of the study. I also developed an educational ebook that participants will be able to refer to for more information about exercise, sedentary behavior, and their safety. I sent those materials as well as a few ideas for study names to Dr. Welch and Dr. Phillips and am still waiting to hear back!

The rest of my time in the office was spent on the Fit2Thrive study. I made a few orientation calls to the women to explain to them the different components of the study that they will receive and tried to troubleshoot some of their tech questions. I knew we would run into lots of problems with the app, but I didn’t expect how many hours we would spend trouble-shooting with our tech team!

These types of situations can be very frustrating for our participants. One of my coworkers was talking to a study participant on the phone last week and she was very abrupt about how she was frustrated with the length of the instruction packets and how the apps weren’t working for her. Usually our participants are very grateful and patient, so this was unexpected. This conversation really affected my coworker and we had to take a little break to calm down from some of the participant’s harsh words. We are looking at it as a positive experience, however, because criticism allows you to adjust your work  and better handle tough situations in the future.

On Wednesday night I enjoyed meeting up with my parents and my sister at Mediterranean small plates restaurant Ema. The restaurant’s large windows were open to the outdoors, so even though we were sitting on plush leather chairs inside it felt like we were dining al fresco. Trendy music played in the background while we nibbled on an avocado and sweet pea spread, shaved romaine and farro salad, crispy potatoes, asparagus, and chicken, lamb, and beef kefta among other dishes. We ended the night with a trip to Sprinkles Cupcakes and brought them back to my apartment in Rogers Park.  Spending time with family is the best mid-week pick me up 🙂

Overall, a pretty smooth week! I expect that things will get crazier next week when Dr. Phillips, Dr. Welch, and Monica are all back to work on our summer project. Will update you soon!

-Annie

From the field to the vial

by | Jun 25, 2017 |

The project that I’m doing this summer is actually a continuation of work I’ve done since last September, and it builds off of fieldwork that a Ph.D. student in my lab completed in the summers of 2015 and 2016. Here’s the rundown of everything that’s happened so far:

A sediment core, a bit over half a meter long, was taken from the bottom of Little Sugarloaf Lake in southwest Greenland.

 

 

 

 

 

Many plant samples were collected from offshore, alongside a handful of aquatic plants and plankton growing in the lake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The plants and sediment core were shipped from Greenland to our lab on the Evanston campus, frozen, and stored.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since September, I’ve freeze-dried and solvent-extracted the plants, developed a method for filtering and chemically separating the extracted compounds, and prepared the extracts for analysis. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step by step, I’ve been working to prepare the samples for analysis (via gas chromatography/mass spectrometry—GC-MS—and isotope ratio mass spectrometry—IRMS). Only after those measurements are complete will I be able to reach any conclusions about Little Sugarloaf Lake’s paleoenvironment.

How do you measure past climates, anyway?

by | Jun 25, 2017 |

It can be tricky to grasp the mechanics of paleoclimate research. In part, that’s because it usually involves taking something we can measure, and using it as a proxy for something we can’t. For example, maybe we’d like to know what temperatures were typical in the Midwest a million years ago, or how the Greenland Ice Sheet has changed in the last ten thousand years. We don’t have direct records of temperature, humidity, or other climate parameters that go back past human observations, so we use leftover clues to piece together a picture.

For example, in my research I am taking samples from a sediment core and measuring two parameters: the chain lengths, and the carbon and hydrogen isotope ratios, of the leaf wax biomarkers preserved in the sediment. But the reason I’m making these measurements is to use them as a proxy for the things we actually want to know.

The chain lengths of the leaf waxes—AKA the number of carbon atoms in a row—vary based on the type of plant they came from. So, by knowing what chain lengths are preserved in a sediment core, I can picture what plants were growing around the lake when the sediment was deposited.

 

The isotope ratios—AKA the ratio of 13C to 12C and of 3H to 2H—vary based on a number of factors. Isotope ratios of leaf waxes are affected by the type of plant that made the waxes, where that plant got its water, the temperature while the plant was growing, and a few other factors. So, by measuring the isotope ratios of the leaf waxes preserved in the core, I can understand patterns of temperature and precipitation from when the plants grew.

That’s the general idea of my project: I’m analyzing what is there (the leaf waxes that have been preserved) to get the information that isn’t.

 

Shadowing an Obgyn!

by | Jun 23, 2017 |

Last week I had the privilege of shadowing an obgyn at Northwestern Memorial! Dr. Howard Arof is a family friend from my church and attended Northwestern for undergrad and medical school as part of the Honors Program in Medical Education. He has been there ever since for his residency and practice. With such purple pride and over 30 years of experience, Dr. Arof was the perfect person for me to shadow!

I spent the first two hours of the day at my research office before walking over to Dr. Arof’s office at Northwestern Memorial. Dr. Arof was planning to see a few patients for general exams before doing three procedures in the afternoon. Some of those morning exam patients allowed me to observe, and what really stuck out to me was how close Dr. Arof was to these women. He had delivered many of their children and was well trusted by his patients. Even though he only saw some of them once or twice a year, he knew and remembered them. I really admired that special connection and know that it is something I will want to form with my future patients!

After seeing patients for their checkups, Dr. Arof and I had lunch in his office with a pharmaceutical sales rep. She brought in delicious Mediterranean food that I was more than happy to eat! I was a little embarrassed when I tried to cut a piece of chicken off a kabob and sent it flying across the table, but otherwise we had really great discussion about contraception. The sales rep was promoting Nuva ring and the arm implant with a target market of college-aged and early career women. My two years living in a sorority house meant that I had a fair amount of knowledge on these topics, so I was able to discuss with the rep and the physicians some of the concerns young women had about these devices.

Here is an awkward bathroom mirror selfie I took for my mom! Enjoy

 

After lunch, I scrubbed up to attend Dr. Arof’s procedures. The first was a very unusual labiaplasty where he was going to modify a woman’s labia minora that was causing her a significant amount of discomfort when biking. I had never heard or seen anything like her condition, so it was amazing to observe how Dr. Arof clamped and severed the tissue, cauterizing and stitching the wound. He said he had never seen anything like it in his 30 years, but that he was happy to give this woman some relief and help her do what she loves.

At one point in the afternoon I asked Dr. Arof how he had become interested in obstetrics and gynecology. Many people are curious how young men in medical school choose to go into this field, but Dr. Arof reported how in his third year obgyn rotation he was mesmerized when attending a birth. For him, this experience is so amazing that he considers it spiritual. It is a testament to his dedication that after 30 years he has only recently retired from delivering babies. I was amazed that he had delivered over 4,000 children in his career and how he said he greatly missed it now that he was retired from that part of his practice. Talking to him and then later shadowing one of his colleagues who was seeing a 34 week pregnant woman helped me be able to see myself performing this type of medicine. There is perhaps nothing greater or more rewarding than being a part of the process of the miracle of life.

Dr. Arof and I also had a discussion later on about the ethics and empathetic pieces of being a doctor. Obviously, the job is not only taxing but emotionally difficult. Losing patients is difficult not just for the family, but for the medical team. He even noted that obstetrics has some of the highest highs- bringing a new baby into a family’s life- and some of the lowest lows- losing a child to miscarriage or stillbirth. He talked me through his journey with some of these lows and it helped me understand better the challenges I will be facing in medical school and how to overcome them.

Later in the afternoon, Dr. Arof performed two hysteroscopies. The most time consuming part of this process was dilating the cervix, which usually requires multiple steps and can be uncomfortable for the woman even if she is under anesthesia. Once that was accomplished, Dr. Arof used a scope to show me the inside of a healthy uterus, which was pink smooth muscle. I even saw the holes in the uterus that lead to the opening of the fallopian tubes! On the first woman, Dr. Arof then performed an ablation, a procedure that is done to destroy endometrial tissue that leads to heavy and painful periods, and then showed me how the uterus looked completely different, like whispy cotton. He was content that the woman would now likely not have (heavy) periods and be able to live a much higher quality of life. The second hysteroscopy was to look for cells in the uterus that might be causing the woman excessive watery discharge, but the cervical dilation was unexpectedly difficult and he was not able to insert the scope or take tissue samples from the uterus. While her results are less predictable, there is still hope that the cervical tissue samples might reveal the nature of some of her complaints!

This was one of my most eye-opening shadowing experiences to date, and my first time observing a surgery. It confirmed my interest in pursuing obstetrics and gynecology as a career since it is such an interesting blend of personal clinical medicine and surgical procedures. I also feel more aware now of the difficulties of this career field, from frequent night calls to some of the ethical concerns. I am so grateful to Dr. Arof, a physician and friend whom I trust and look to for guidance, for allowing me to observe his work in the office!

Week One!

by | Jun 21, 2017 |

The Sunday after finals week, I moved into my friend’s apartment in Rogers Park to get the summer started! I am subletting from her until the start of July, when my own lease in Evanston begins. While it is a much quicker commute to work downtown from Rogers Park, I hadn’t anticipated all of the problems that would arise in her new place. Half of the light bulbs were out, mold covered the walls and tiles and in the bathroom, orange slime coated the shelves of the refrigerator, and there was no air conditioning or wifi! I spent all of my free time the first two days cleaning the place up to an acceptable level. Luckily, with the help of my friend and the landlord, most of the cleaning is done.

Things at the EHL were also hectic this first week because some of the research assistants were on vacation and we had four new interns! It was fun getting to meet everyone and helping show them around the lab. I also ended up spending a lot of time working on the existing Fit2Thrive study making phone calls and preparing packets to send to breast cancer survivors who are getting ready to start their exercise interventions in a few weeks. This was tedious but important work!

My first day back in the lab, I met with Dr. Phillips and Dr. Whitney Welch, a post-doc in the lab who is also guiding me in designing and implementing my summer project of interviewing and surveying breast cancer survivors about what they would have wanted out of an exercise JITAI program during chemotherapy. Dr. Welch presented an overview of the broader exercise program of which my interview project is just a piece. Together with Monica Hsu, another summer URG recipient, we will be designing a sedentary behavior reduction intervention for breast cancer survivors who were recently involved with the EHL’s IMPACT study.

The sedentary behavior reduction intervention will have four components: reminders to move delivered to a Fitbit Alta, a prescription for steps per day, email coaching, and a short videos with workouts sent to participants. Using a multiphase optimization strategy (MOST) design, participants will have a 50% chance of being assigned to any of these components and they may receive any combination of them. We will have 16 different combinations of components to which participants may be assigned!

At this point, we are still waiting for the study to be approved by Northwestern’s Institutional Review Board (IRB), which ensures that studies like ours, which involve human participants, abide by certain ethical standards to protect the participants from physical and emotional harm and to ensure that their personal information is being protected. Until we receive IRB approval, we can’t start recruiting participants! In the meantime, I will be working on preparing the intervention materials so they are all ready to go once we do have participants. As of week one I am still waiting on some information from Dr. Phillips and Dr. Welch in order to do that, but should have updates in my Week Two Post!

This week I also spent the day shadowing an obgyn at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and will be writing a post about that experience as well 🙂

-Annie

Budapest!

by | Jun 20, 2017 |

People often ask me how I chose the seven cities I am visiting this summer. My formal answer for research purposes is that my study cities are large, metropolitan areas where local stakeholders have made significant investments into food security and/or local food systems. In less formal circumstances, I state the previous plus explain how I sent literally hundreds of emails to professors, researchers, politicians, business owners, and local food network organizers in cities worldwide last fall. I decided to visit the cities in which I had confirmed key research contacts.

 

Furthermore, one reason I chose my research topic/love it so much is because sustainable food systems, food security, people eating, etc. are truly universal topics. Which meant that my choice of cities in which I could study these topics and acquire critical insight was essentially limitless. I visited Budapest for three days last summer and thought it was an incredible gorgeous, lively, and interesting city. And, I seem to have found myself in Budapest again![1] I’ve been here for a few days now, and each time I walk out of my Airbnb I can’t help but be impressed by the gorgeous architecture that surrounds me. Or drawn in by the endless restaurants with lovely outdoor seating or abundant green spaces to stroll through.

 

So, somehow I’ve been managing alright here even though the first two days here were a bit slow in regards to my research—in fact, Monday was the first weekday of my trip thus far that I haven’t conducted any interviews. Yet by visiting markets, happening upon food-related conversations with locals, and of course, eating lots, I’ve still already become immersed in the developing trends of local and sustainable food culture.

 

Primarily urban intellectuals have initiated the development of neo-liberal local food systems—such as community supported agriculture (CSA) and buying groups—within Budapest in the past decade. While these, and other progressive, forms of local food systems are developing rapidly, they have yet to be significantly ingrained into Hungary’s major food supply chains. In contrast, traditional short food supply chains, like farmers’ markets and market halls, have been continuously prevalent in Hungary’s recent history.[2]

Benedek & Balázs (2016) eloquently sum up the fascinating background and current context of LFS development in Hungary. This paper–and Bálint Balázs’s incredible unprecedented help with my research–was principle in my decision to visit Budapest (along with my love of the city, of course).

“The patterns and processes of LFS development in transition countries are particularly remarkable as they are not necessarily comparable to what is experienced in the US or Western Europe (Jehlička, Kostelecký, & Smith, 2013; Jehlička & Smith, 2011). Retail revolution in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries is considered to have happened extremely fast (Dries, Reardon, & Swinnen, 2004; Swinnen & Maertens, 2007), which resulted in additional difficulties when small-scale farmers attempted to join modern food distribution channels (Bakucs, Fertő, & Szabó, 2012). Moreover, the rate of food self-provisioning is higher (Jehlička & Smith, 2011); it has a double role as a survival strategy and a recreational activity (Alber & Kohler, 2008; Jehlička et al., 2013; Mincyte, 2011). Still, semi-subsistence farming often gets little emphasis in the sustainable development reforms in the European Union (EU) new member states (Mincyte, 2011). This paper focuses on Hungary, where the dominant traditional forms of short food supply (sensu Kneafsey et al., 2013), such as farmers’ markets, market halls and farm shops, are overdependent on public investments for their sustainable operation, while neo-traditional forms (box schemes, webshops, community supported agriculture (CSA) schemes and buying groups) reached a rudimentary success in urban and peri-urban areas (Balázs, 2012; Réthy & Dezsény, 2013).”

Today, Budapest residents buy about five percent of their food from markets, rather than supermarkets. Furthermore, Budapest residents generally prefer to buy their fresh foods, like produce, dairy products, and meat, from markets rather than supermarkets.[3] The popularity of short food supply chains (markets) in Budapest has two major implications for my own research in Budapest:

1. Prominent, normalized local food systems in Budapest (markets) set the background for the current development of more alternative LFS, such as conscious purchasing groups and urban food production.

2. On days when I don’t have any interviews scheduled, I spend my time exploring the city’s many markets, gawking at perfect, primary-colored piles of tomatoes and paprika.

There are three main types of markets in Budapest: market halls, farmers’ markets, and organic markets. The construction of Budapest’s first five historic market halls began at the end of the 19th century prompted by city officials’ goals to have more sanitary, better controlled markets than the unsecured open-air markets that previously dominated the city’s market scene. Over 100 years later, these markets have assumed a key role in supplying local food to Budapest restaurants and households and supplying food and fun to tourists. The halls are filled with retailers’ stands (and a few select stands for producers), who sell everything from fruits and vegetables, to meat and dairy products, to wine and chocolate. The Central Market hall is by far Budapest’s most popular market. While it is touristy by nature (giant and gorgeous), during my own visits there, I’ve been excited to find the swarms of people with sneakers and fanny packs intermixed among Hungarian-speakers making their weekly produce rounds.

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Hold Street Market Hall

Farmers markets are another traditional local food network in Hungary. By law, producers in Hungarian cannot travel more than forty kilometers to sell their products at a farmers’ market.[4] That government-defined, specific definition of local food in Hungary has made my universal interview question, “How would you define a local food system in [your city]?” quite monotonous during my interviews here. Nonetheless, over a dozen markets held weekly throughout Budapest make high quality, affordable, local food accessible to many Budapest residents.

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Outdoors Section of Hunyadi Market

Organic markets are the last main type of market found in Hungary. While there are no restrictions on the locality of producers, every vendor at organic markets must be certified organic. Due to the high cost of organic certification for small producers, many small producers opt to sell at regular farmers’ markets in Budapest, and rely on their relationships with consumers to promote their environmentally-friendly production methods, instead of receive the organic certification. Meanwhile, however, a growing number of specified organic markets in Budapest demonstrate consumers’ increasing preferences towards sustainable food and an increasingly accommodating environment for producers to dedicate greater resources towards environmentally and socially sustainable production methods.

 

I’m very excited to meet many key stakeholders involved in Budapest’s local food research and community garden scene over the next two weeks! However, I’m also currently quite satisfied with my capacity to explore local food systems and culture not only through formal interviews, but also in markets, through informal conversations, and um… from the food on my plate. So most importantly of course, I look forward to sharing some more food pictures, soon!

 

 

[1] A more research-focused explanation on why I chose to study LFS in Budapest can be found in my next blog post.

[2] Benedek, Z., & Balázs, B. (2016). Current status and future prospect of local food production in Hungary: A spatial analysis. European Planning Studies, 23(4). Retrieved from Taylor & Francis Online database.

[3] Balázs, B. (2017, June , C. (2016, October 19). [Personal interview by the author].

[4] There is an exception to this rule for farmers’ markets In Budapest: producers are permitted to travel more than forty kilometers to sell to Budapest markets, given the city’s great size and purchasing power.

 

A little background about my work this summer…

by | Jun 20, 2017 |

Hi everyone!

I am so excited to share more of my experience at the Exercise and Health Lab (EHL) with you. I joined Dr. Phillip’s lab at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine last fall to help with the Fit2Thrive study, an app-based exercise intervention designed to help breast cancer survivors become more physically active. Everyone knows that exercise is good for your overall health, but it is particularly beneficial for women in recovery from cancer treatment because it can help fight fatigue and prevent cancer recurrence. It is also a good way for women receiving chemotherapy to keep up their strength.

Looking to do an independent project with Dr. Phillips, I applied this spring for a Summer Undergraduate Research Grant from Northwestern and was fortunate to receive the grant! One of the advantages of being a student at Northwestern is the many resources the university makes available to us. You can keep reading to hear more about the special project for which I received the grant.

Most exercise interventions are considered to be “pull” programs because they require participants to actively seek out the intervention materials for support. Obviously this requires some motivation! Instead of a pull intervention, we are interested in what a “push” intervention would look like in breast cancer patients and survivors. Push interventions send materials and motivating messages directly to individuals through texts or emails, taking out the need for them to be motivated to go look for it.

One model for push programs is the “Just in Time Adaptive Intervention,” or JITAI, which involves using sensors and inputs from a smartphone to send targeted messages to an individual. This type of intervention would use a wide array of inputs on current context (i.e. location, weather, days since treatment dose), intrapersonal states (i.e. motivation, symptoms) and responses to prior intervention output (i.e. snoozed message, increased steps)  to “push” the right intervention strategies (i.e. text messages, telephone support calls, etc.) to individuals at the right time (i.e. text message encouraging activity promotion when fatigue is low). Currently, no JITAI studies have been done in any cancer population, so we are looking to figure out the best types of information we can gather from a smartphone to use to push messages to breast cancer patients and survivors to motivate them to get active.

My special project this summer is to follow up with breast cancer survivors from the EHL’s recent IMPACT study to learn from them through surveys and interviews what they would most want in an exercise JITAI program during chemotherapy. The survey will go out to survey participants online, but the interviews are more complicated. I will call about 32 breast cancer survivors and talk to them for an hour on the phone, recording our conversation so it can be sent out for transcription. Then I will write a code book so that I can perform qualitative analysis on the transcripts and determine what it is that breast cancer survivors would have wanted in a chemotherapy exercise JITAI! Getting here will take many steps and lots of work, but I am excited to figure out what a lab like the EHL can do to be most helpful to these women who have been through so much.

My interview and survey project is only one small part of a larger study that I am helping to design for this summer. In my week one update post I will share a little bit more about the broader study and other happenings during my first week of summer!

-Annie

Differenzi Culturali Pt. 2 – Italian Definitions

by | Jun 18, 2017 |

In contrast to my naivety regarding Italian food policy (as mentioned in my last blog post), before I arrived here, I did do my proper share of reading on Italians’ common definitions of “food security”—which stray from people’s perceptions of food security found in my other study cities. Of course, all of my Italian interviewees could certainly google ‘food security’ and encounter the FAO’s/international organizations’ and governments’ typical “enough, healthy food to live an active lifestyle” criteria. Yet, I am less interested in my research contacts googling abilities and more interested in what food security specifically means to them.

 

 

For reference, here is the FAO’s 2001 definition of ‘food security’ (which I employed in defining the term for my own research):

 

“Food security is situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” – FAO

 

And, here are a few GAS members’ responses to my questions on how they would define ‘food security’:

 

“Food security is about the method to produce food—what producers use to grow, where they grow, what they feed their animals…” It’s related to food quality and safety and to the methods [of production] and distribution practices. – Giuseppe

 

“Food security… yes. I would use a different word, maybe not food security but food quality. Because industrial products… are causing in the long-term, many, many diseases. And nowadays, we are realizing that food maybe it’s not secure food for the people who are only relying on [those] kind of products… Security means that the quality of the food must be at a level where the ingredients—what is inside the food—are not unhealthy. As food—as that total food that you are eating because a component maybe is not unhealthy, but the way industrial food is produced, like some uh… I don’t know, an example… have you read about Nestles? Yeah [laughs]. That is in my opinions, producing unhealthy food—unsecure food. In general terms, not that particular product, but the way the food is produced, and the way [producers] are trying to sell their food. Because the food is full of sugar…and people are appreciating the taste, but it’s not good for their health, in the long term.”

 

Food security means “to know personally how food is produced.” The concept of food security is related to “how food is produced, treated, and to the whole food production lifestyle. It, for example, includes principles to not use harmful chemicals, consuming food in the right season, and the ‘zero-kilometer principle’.” – Alessandro

 

Food security in Italy is “more of a cultural thing. Eight out of ten of my friends have a decent, varied diet, so the focus is more to improve the quality rather than the variety [or sufficiency] of the diet.” – Sergio

 

 

Generally, my interviewees highlighted the “nutritious” and “safe” components of my food security definition through a perspective novel to my good ‘ole American one.

 

I never explicitly defined what “nutritious consumption practices” means for my own research. Nonetheless, the most-used nutrition metric I found in my literature review on food security studies food security metrics is dietary diversity, which means meaning people have access to the nutrients they need to be healthy resulting from their access to a wide variety of foods, e.g. not just carbohydrates (check out my post on matooke in Uganda). Furthermore, my conception of “food safety” is based upon articles I’ve read about crops produced near city roads containing high levels of heavy metals and how radiation from the Fukushima accident infiltrated Japan’s food supply; I generally conceive of “safe” food as food that won’t make its consumer noticeably sick due to one or a few instances of consumption.  In contrast, every GAS member whom I asked about GAS, nutrition, and food safety responded in a more abstract, ethically/politically/socially motivated manner and through a longer-term perspective than I initially expected. GAS members specified two keys themes in their answers: industrial vs. non-industrial food and food quality.

 

One shared value of my GAS members is that “industrial food” is bad.* Beyond industrial producers’ lack of regard for ethical and environmentally-friendly production methods, GAS members expressed their considerable concern regarding how industrial food affects its consumers, for example, because of how…

 

  • – Sugar/fat/salt is addictive and unhealthy
  • – Pesticides/herbicides/GMOs are unsafe/harmful to humans’ health/unhealthy
  • – And more conceptually, industrial food doesn’t taste good/is not fresh/is transported long distances/is produced through irresponsible production methods/is low quality and therefore is unhealthy

 

 

Beyond “food security” and “local food systems,” in Italy, “quality” became my new research buzzword. My interviewees explained some new definitions of ‘high quality’ food for me. To be of high Italian quality standards, per my interviewees, a food must not only taste or look good, but it must check off several of the following standards regarding its production, distribution, and manifestation as a thing that will be consumed and digested by a human being:

  • Agricultural production:
    • – Organic (or produced by organic methods, even if lacking the certification)
    • – Non-GMO
  • Social components of production:
    • – Labor practices – fair wage, fair working hours, no violations of human rights laws, etc.
    • – Doesn’t support the mafia economy
  • Distribution:
    • – Only transported a short distance; adhering to the ‘zero-kilometer principle’
    • – Relationship to producer –if due to environmental/economics restrictions, a product is not produced nearby, then the socially just distribution system accommodates for the geographic distance (e.g. coffee purchased through XX from South American and almonds and baked goods in Sicily purchased from anti-mafia organizations in Sicily)
  • The final realization of food to be consumed:
    • – Freshness
    • – Preparation – it was prepared on a stove/in an oven/by someone’s hands and not a microwave or behind closed doors
    • – Taste

 

 

Brunori, Malandrin, and Rossi (2013) sum up well how to Italians, food security means much more than availability and affordability. Rather, food is one of the principal ways for Italians to reassert their identity, which both explains the prominence of GAS in Italy and how in Italy, security cannot be separated from the broader discourse on quality. Brunori, Malandrin, and Rossi found that “food security policies cannot avoid taking into consideration consumers’ expectations and concerns about how food is produced and processed, where it comes from, and its impact on the environment and on society. Along with the recent history of the Italian food system, both ‘quality’ and ‘food security’ meanings have evolved, and a progressive integration of food security into a comprehensive concept of food quality has been built, through discursive coalitions that have reconciled positions initially very different from each other” (p. 20).

 

I’m sitting in the Rome airport now waiting for my flight to Budapest. And before I leave Italy, I feel obliged to give thanks for all of the GAS members who welcomed me to their homes, their organizations, and their social lives this week. Thank you to those members of SeiGAS, GAS Martezana, GAS Dem, GAS Vittoria, Terra e’ Liberta GAS, GAS Feltre, Gas LoLa and GAS Crescenzago, along with all of the other GAS members who responded to my emails but whom I couldn’t end up meeting with! I was astounded each day by these GAS members’ commitment to ethical, environmental, and community values, and I so highly appreciate my ability to be welcomed into that culture–even if just for an interview, meeting, or a meal!

Dinner (and notes) before GAS LoLa’s monthly meeting

*I had further difficulty when I asked my interviews to define “industrial food.” Generally, I found that they meant food produced or distributed by any national or multinational corporation. They also counted regional corporations greater than a certain size or lacking stringent environmental or social standards as “industrial.”

 

 

Differenzi Culturali Pt. 1 – Milan Food Policy

by | Jun 17, 2017 |

This summer, I am visiting seven different countries. In each country, I am studying a different type of local food system, such as household urban agriculture, community gardens, and community supported agriculture. There are major, obvious differences between these LFS—e.g. one family has a way different potential production capacity in a few square-meter vegetable garden in their backyard than one hundred people farming together at a large, shared agricultural space. Furthermore, key stakeholders of LFS in each city, vary greatly, from individuals, to social organizations, to city governments. Beyond the practical organizational differences between each of my case study LFS, each LFS emerged from communities where people have vastly different values, customs, and cultures.

 

As an Environmental Sciences major, the number of variables and the lack of controls in each of my study cities makes my brain slightly implode. I chose my study cities due to their investments either in local food systems or food security. I hope much value of my research will emerge from the studying best case practices and challenges in each city and determining how the successes in one LFS might be applied to the challenges in another. Nonetheless, drawing comparisons between and theorizing the application of practices between such different contexts is extremely difficult. Yet, to ensure I am approaching each of my case studies in an appropriate, respectable manner, I cannot do much more than simply approach each of my research activities as mindfully as possible. The past few days in Italy have reaffirmed to me how important this is.

 

For example, over the past few days, I’ve been asking my interviewees about the impacts of Milan’s food policy on the city and on their personal experiences with local food systems, like GAS. And my interviewees have mostly agreed that it’s impossible to identify the exact impact that the Milanese government has had on food systems and their own lives. Certainly, the food policy has provoked a broader dialogue about sustainable food systems and therefore affected people’s perceptions towards GAS. Yet the popularity of GAS in Milan, along with many Milanese residents’ shared values regarding high quality food, which comes from socially and environmentally ethical and sustainable sources, influenced the initial development and objectives of Milan’s food policy.

 

The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP) emerged from a European Union (European Commission-funded) Program that aimed to promote local food councils in a group of European, Latin American, and African cities, and promote sustainable food systems-related dialogue amongst those cities. As the 2015 Expo in Milan approached, however, Milanese politicians and researchers recognized the potential to expand the project beyond its initial food council-related goals to instead create a framework for creating sustainable food policies in a larger group of cities around the world. The creation of the MUFPP entailed extensive collaboration between mayors from over 30 cities around the world. Despite prevailing criticism on the vagueness of the MUFPP and the skewed objectives of the Expo–i.e. profits for international corporations rather than concrete actions towards achieving the theme’s goals, ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life!’–the MUFPP is an extraordinary demonstration of international diplomacy and the power of cities. Today, 142 cities around the world have signed, and those cities along with other social, political, and cultural institutions, have used it as a framework to establish their own food policies and programs. Yet, most Milanese residents whom I interviewed could not pinpoint exactly how the MUFPP or any facet of Milan food policy specifically influenced their own lives.

 

The inherent difficulty in distinguishing correlation and causation between food policy, food systems, and food culture in Milan does not surprise me: throughout history, Milanese individuals and social organizations invested incredible amounts of personal and community resources towards developing their ideal food system. However, prior to my research here, I did not consider how the different, fundamental characteristics of Italian policy makes policy analysis and comparison between Milan and my other study cities quite difficult. One researcher involved in the development of Milan’s food policy and the MUFPP described, “Italians don’t usually have a culture of defining in public discussion a specific checklist and creating a specific strategy with a program and then an evaluation or monitoring system, as one finds in a typical policy design approach. We don’t have this tradition because we simply have different cultural and institutional traditions. If you look to the ‘urban food policies’ in the U.S., for example, it’s quite easy to find a very clear definition of the objectives, or the strategies, [of the metrics to evaluate those strategies’ success]. I don’t mean to say Italians don’t have the same tenets of policy–the objectives–but we don’t have any kind of monitoring or evaluation system. Maybe this is something we have to learn…”

 

My discussions with researchers involved in Milan food policy were crucial in defining how I approached the rest of my interviews, during which I asked about the impact of Milan’s food policy and international food policy initiatives. And while I learned to accept a lack of metrics or tangible reference points in my interviewees’ responses, they generally expressed satisfaction with how the city’s food policy engagements have “created positive noise” and prompted international dialogue about sustainable food systems. Over the course of the week, I’ve become satisfied with this answer.

 

I will continue to study food and food security policy in other cities I visit this summer, where I’m also interested in the impacts of the policy on the people’s local food movements and vice versa. And where I will continue to look out for specific institutional and policy tendencies, standards, and expectations. Furthermore, in each city I visit, I will make sure to understand people’s perceptions of other key terms in my research topic.

 

I initially intended on discussion different cultural perceptions of other key terms in my research, yet I think I’ll take a break and make that another post. Feel free to follow along and have some wine and assorted appetizers if you’re so inclined (it’s aperitivo time here). Then if you’re still so inclined, scroll to the next post to learn about some more Italian definitions.

Reassuring myself every day that I am capable of traveling the world by myself! 

Snapshot of Italian blogging (although people seem to catch on quickly that I’m not Italian)

Italian Food and Economic Solidarity

by | Jun 15, 2017 |

  • I had a wonderful first full day in Milan. Granted, I spent two months here doing an internship last fall. So, arriving at the airport yesterday, knowing which public bus to get on, arriving at my traditional Italian-style Airbnb without trouble, and then meeting my friend to see a late-night philharmonic concert in the plaza next to the Duomo certainly all added to my immediate contentment.…
  • Yet my research today also reaffirmed my pleasure to be here. This afternoon, after an hour and a half interview that was initially scheduled for thirty minutes, it re-set in for me how ridiculous(ly incredible) my research is: I am traveling around the world seeking out people who are passionate about the same subjects I am and then talking to them about those subjects. Sure, my research also entails that I stay fairly neutral about certain opinions on the benefits and drawbacks of local food systems, and so I can’t share in on all of the zeal expressed by my interviewees. Yet at the end of the day, my research this week means talking to Italians about food. Today, I spoke to Italians about food for six hours. It was great.
  • Admittedly, I talk about food a lot when I’m home, as well—in my classes, to my friends, to my friends with headphones in who are trying to do their own homework…. So, I’ll state again how it’s great to be in Italy, “where people never stop talking about food,” said one interviewee. And that’s even despite my disfavor of how protective Italians are of their food culture. When I tell people I’m not a huge fan of Italians’ rigid, unwavering commitment to their historical, rich food traditions, said people (mostly Americans, some Europeans) normally think I’m being ridiculous. However, to explain my point, I often tell my friends about my attempt to cook pasta with cream sauce in my Italian friend’s flat last fall. Soon after the water was boiled, I found myself with with Lorenzo’s phone held up to my ear being forced to listen to his Italian mother emphatically explain how I was cooking the pasta incorrectly. So, my pasta-cooking habits differ from Lorenzo’s mom’s. I think that’s okay. I also think it’s okay to eat while walking, and I like to mix a lot of different ingredients in a bowl for lunch. Yet more generally, I highly respect (and share) Italians’ passion for food (just not pasta. I don’t like pasta that much. Sh…).
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  • I’m returning to this blog post a few days later, after interviews with members of seven GAS organizations, Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale, or Solidarity Purchasing Groups. And, after a few days of research here, I have gained an even greater appreciation for Italians’ dedication to their food culture—specifically their utilization of food consumption as an entry point to making positive social and environmental change. By studying GAS organizations, I’ve directly observed the lengths to which Italians are willing to go to uphold ethical principles, which they do through their commitment to eating quality** food.
  • Tonight*** I attended SeGAS’s monthly meeting. SeiGAS is a small-to-mid sized organization, which a few current members founded in response to a lack of GAS in their neighborhood. Most of the original members met each other because their children attended the same school. While over the past five years, members have come and gone, SeiGAS social community is crucial to the organizations’ benefits and proper functioning. In personal interview, numerous GAS members, in SeiGAS and six other GAS, identified the social components as one of their greatest benefits of being part of the GAS. Furthermore, SeiGAS is one of the small proportion of GAS in Milan that do not have a single, designated distribution place where its products are dropped off and distributed. Rather, members pickup their ordered products–which include meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, pasta, rice, wine, oil, clothes, and more–from individuals household on designated weekdays. (It is common for other GAS to have a common distribution spot, such as a public space or rented garage , to distribute all products to all members at once each week.) SeiGAS setup further advances the close knit, community feel of the organization.
  • During monthly meetings, SeiGAS members get together to discuss logistics, such as where to supply certain products from, how pickup schedules will work, and the best dates to organize group visits to the local agricultural producers that supply to the GAS. SeiGAS, founded about five years ago, used to hold its meetings in members’ homes until it got too large. Tonight, 17 out of the 23 GAS members gathered in a community association building. They sat around a table in a room lined with bookshelves containing political books written by members of the Italian Resistance Movement during WWII. The first meeting agenda items (of the GAS meeting, not of the Italian Resistance Movement) included discussion on closing a bit early for summer and inviting a new family into the GAS. However, this monthly meeting was also exceptional in that the majority of the time was dedicated to discussing and re-outlining the Gas fundamental values. Since SeiGAS’s founding, many members have come and gone, yet it’s been three or four years since they adjusted their “values chart.” So this evening, the members dedicated the majority of the meeting to democratically reviewing a poster covered with sticky notes. On each sticky note, a certain GAS member had written what they thought the organization did well and what could be improved.
  • I ultimately did not hear the final determinations regarding SeiGAS’s updated values chart because partway through the meeting, I began interviewing organization members outside the meeting room. Regardless, observing this meeting was instrumental to me in understanding the true democratic nature of GAS (in a room with radical political books lining the walls).
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  • Monday night, I was astonished to learn how committed SeiGAS members were to their GAS and to the social, ethical, and environmental principles that define their membership in a solidarity purchasing group. Over the course of this week, I’ve observed other GAS meetings and social events and engaged with many members of many GAS. And, I’ve been consistently impressed at each member’s personal commitment to and actions towards creating an economy that aligns with their personal (and shared) belief systems.
  • Before I arrived in Milan, I had some hesitations regarding my research here. (While it’s also true of other cities I will be visiting), Milan is fairly food secure, and those people who participation in GAS are certainly food secure. Therefore, my research on GAS will not provide a direct answer to how local food systems can contribute to the food security of consumers (or “members,” as I’ve been repeatedly corrected when discussion GAS) in those local food systems. Nonetheless, my past few days in Italy have demonstrated to me how my research on GAS in Milan should provide key insight into how individual dedication and social organization can make a significant impact on broader social, economic, political, and environmental issues.
  • One interviewee, a researcher at Associazione Economia e Sostenibilità in Milan, a key player and creator of Milan’s Food Policy and Milan’s Urban Food Policy Pact, and a member of a GAS himself summed up the relationship between GAS and food security well. While his following statement is a bit confusing, I don’t think I could convey the message any better by adjusting his Italian-English translation. If it doesn’t make sense to you, I’m happy to explain in the comments :). And in the meantime, I have to deliver some pasta I made at a social cooperative this morning to my friend!
  • “There is a kind of cultural, political vision at the basis of the GAS movement. I cannot say that the activities of the groups—of a single group of GAS—are mainly oriented to create a different food security framework for the people. It’s not the main issue. Yet, I think that most people at the origin of the GAS movement were really committed to a different kind of development, in which justice and ethical issues are important. So for sure, in the cultural grounds of the GAS movement, there are similar issues. The idea of improving a different development model through your lifestyles and through your food consumption to say okay, food justice is connected to the quality of job, the quality of the environment, which is not necessarily an issue connected to your personal food security, but the idea of a different development model of which food security is an important part. Not only for you and for your group, but for the whole world.”
  • **See my next blog post for what I mean by “quality.”
  • ***We’re jumping back in time now, since I wrote this part on Monday night… We’ll jump back to the future soon!