Holiday feasts are brought to us by bugs
Last week, I was hailing new food standards, and I heard some great advice from a friend. She gave me wise grocery-store advice about highly processed, popular foods. She said, “Always, the processed junk foods are displayed in high-traffic areas of the store, while the good food is not so apparent.” Her advice… “stay away from those special displays in the aisles at the markets.” Good healthy advice!
One of the journalistic pleasures of my career has been participating in the National Newspaper Association.
Gerri and I went on a number of “Study Missions” to foreign countries, including Taiwan, China, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
I participated in solo exchange missions to the Middle East, Nicaragua, and Cuba with a smaller group, who are now lifetime colleagues and friends. The trips taught me more about the world, how vast it is, and how less important America is on the world stage. From Taiwan’s 200 mph bullet trains to the opulent wealth of the United Arab Emirates, with its towering skyscrapers and massive malls (one of which houses a ski slope), one thing connected them all: the food was different in each country.
Food was measured on each plate in China, and we could have only a limited number of Pepsi drinks.
We dined on Peking duck one evening with some Chinese hosts who asked for permission to eat a delicacy; fish head. We were served greasy pigeon in Egypt that was not very good. Vietnam featured many French cultural foods and wines.
In all the countries we visited, we loved the fresh fruit and tuna, which were always good.
The trips will always be among my fondest memories, along with the deep friendships I made with my newspaper colleagues from across the U.S. We exchange newspapers with friends in Iowa, Arizona, and Kansas.
I especially like The Oberlin Herald in Western Kansas, where they print the price of corn and wheat on the front page. They still cover news from outlying areas, and the town seems to struggle with funding for the hospital and bond issues for the school district.
During the holidays, I was scanning the newspaper when my eyes fell on a headline: “Holiday feast brought to you by bugs,” by Jessica Butters, an Ag and Natural Resource Agent in the area. She made some vital points about food and wrote, “Like it or not, bugs feed us. Beneficial bugs eat crop pests, while pollinating bugs move pollen between flowers, allowing plants to fertilize and produce fruits and seeds.”
She continues… “Pollinators in particular serve up a lot of food: one out of every three bites we eat!” And more, “These bugs pollinate our crops for free, saving producers around the world about $57.7 billion each year.” Pollinated crops include coffee beans and cacao, as well as alfalfa hay for dairy cows. Add cranberries and grapes, coffee and vanilla beans, and the list goes on and on. I found the story interesting — one of many in weekly newspapers you won’t read anywhere else.
Maybe writing about bugs helping to feed us doesn’t have the glamor of another shooting or an ICE arrest, but it sure affects our kitchen tables. Thank you, Jessica. Her phone number in Kansas is 785-877-5755. Surprise her with a friendly phone call from Colorado. She will be surprised by the power of the press reaching all the way from Colorado, where we have bugs helping with the vast wheat and corn fields in Eastern Colorado.