Just Peachy

Today in the Anthropology of Food we welcomed a guest speaker, Molly Wizenberg of the Orangette food blog who introduced the class to blogspot. Although I am a little hesitant to impart my opinions so openly upon the vast internet, I look forward to the time when I can literally review the progression in my own thought and ideas as they come to fruition based on personal investigation.

I am currently a strict vegetarian because, like many others, I am morally opposed to animal cruelty. For me, this opposition has led to searching tirelessly for alternatives to meat in the frozen food section of supermarkets, silently protesting family dinners of spaghetti and meatballs, or even daring to brave the rubbery synthetic consistency of Tofurkey on Thanksgiving. This has been a six year journey for me, which I hope to prolong as much as I can.

Vegetarianism aside, I also identify with reformed Judaism of which 'kosher' is seldom associated. However, I am extremely perplexed by food and theology; the intimate guidelines by which people follow to "properly" fuel their bodies. Why is it against kashrut (ie: kosher or "proper") to cook or mix milk and meat? What makes a pickle kosher? Apparently, dill koshers are rabbi-certified, ensuring the pickle has not been transported or packaged in anything that once held meat.

That hardly seems of significance in this world with fast food nightmares and convenient year-round supply of typically seasonal fruits and vegetables. It's always strange to find peaches in the dead of winter at the supermarket. While the Pacific Northwest is non-conducive to peaches due to insufficient summer heat, it's not very surprising to find the fruit brandished with a yellow 'California' sticker; a partially disturbing reminder of the environmentally taxing impact this unassuming fruit has made on the world. However, if we limited all food exports to save the environment from carbon dioxide emissions, the peach would not have traveled farther than China. However, I cannot attest to the carbon foot print left by the Persians who introduced peaches to Romans or the 16th century Spanish explorers who transported it to America where it found itself en route to England and France a century later where it transformed into a delicacy.




"In Queen Victoria's day, no meal was complete without a fresh peach presented in a fancy cotton napkin. "-Peach History, Peggy Trowbridge Filippone

A short two centuries later, commercial production began in coastal eastern United States. Although the Southern states lead in commercial production of peaches, they are also grown in California, Michigan, and Colorado, placing the US as the second-largest commercial production of the fruit.