What is Fair About Fair Trade?

 

As long as I can remember, and that is a long time, the United States of America has been the unofficial “911” of the world.  Global disasters, whether brought about by human hands, or the displeasure of Mother Nature, the American government and its people were ready, willing and able to help.  It wasn’t until the 1980s that I personally took notice that when it came to America itself, we seemed to be failing the 911 calls from our own farmers.

The first Farm Aid Concert was held on September 22, 1985; organized by Willie Nelson, John “Cougar” Mellencamp and Neil Young.  The focus of the concert was to raise money for American farmers who were being threatened by foreclosure due to mortgage debts.  Now while Congress did pass, in 1987, the Agricultural Credit Act, to keep foreclosures at bay, the question remains, why, why was the farming industry in such dire straits?

Simply put, the cause is “dumping”, but an article, Global Trade can Make or Break Farmers, by Jennifer Fahy (Communications Director for Farm Aid) explains it in more detail.  Quote, “Agricultural dumping — the practice of exporting commodities at prices below the cost of production….encourages overproduction, trapping family farmers in a never-ending need for higher yields… forcing…farmers off the land, while damaging rural economies, public health and our environment.”

Jump forward to the 2000s – 2010s and the newest term to hit the food industry, “Fair Trade”; sounds similar to the term “barter”, no?  No, fair trade is, as defined by Fair Trade Certified aka Fair Trade USA, “a choice to support responsible companies, empower farmers, workers, and fishermen, and protect the environment. In other words, it’s a world-changing way of doing business.”  Formerly this applied to poorer countries, or what are referred to as “third world countries”; but recently the practice is being applied to American food industries, namely farmers.

Should you, as a consumer, make a conscious effort to purchase fair trade products?  Sadly, the answer is dependent on your, or your family’s, financial good or bad health.  Fair trade products are pricey; while a 12 ounce package of Dunkin’ Donuts (coffee beans from Latin America) costs an average of $6.99; Equal Exchange’s 12 ounce package will cost an average of $8.99.  Equal Exchange gets their coffee beans from a small town in Brazil, called Bahia, and, now hold on a minute, isn’t Brazil in Latin America!?!  The difference is large company growing and harvesting the beans as opposed to family farmers in a small village.  The product you decide to purchase is now dependent on what you can comfortably afford to pay.

In my humble opinion, the concept of fair trade is not unreasonable; we can apply it to the “small cottage” industry San Juan County is attempting to develop.   A huge corporation can make jams and jellies, selling cheaper in bulk.  At home businesses will have similar products, made fresh, by folks you personally know, just a bit more costly.  Which should you buy?  Again, it’s dependent on what you can comfortably afford; but I know I’d rather see a San Juan County, Utah, USA label on a jar of jam, then “Made in China”.  Again, that’s just my own opinion.

Mary Cokenour

Note: All photographs are of products available at Nature’s Oasis, Durango, CO

References:

Fair Trade America: http://www.fairtradeamerica.org/

Fair Trade USA: https://www.fairtradecertified.org/

Fair Trade Certification extended to USA farmers: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/04/19/524377647/not-just-for-foreign-foods-fair-trade-label-comes-to-u-s-farms

Fairness to USA Farmers: http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/379554-global-trade-can-make-or-break-american-farmers

Farm Aid: https://www.farmaid.org/

Farm Aid’s mission is to keep family farmers on their land to guarantee an agricultural system that values family farmers, good food, soil and water, and strong communities.

 

  

I Can't Believe it's not Lobster.

Recently I went on a hunt for the elusive "fermented black bean" which is actually not a black bean as you would find in Mexican cuisine, but a soy bean. I say elusive because out here in the Southwest, you'll find Mexican black beans more readily than anything dealing with Asian cuisine. Luckily, I was able to purchase a jar at  Nature's Oasis located in Durango, Colorado, but then found out that they were also available at Moonflower Market in Moab, Utah. These are both what would be classified as "health food stores" with Nature's Oasis being much larger and with more variety. Whichever place I choose to be though, it's good knowing they either have what I need, or can get it ordered in for me.

So what does this have to do with lobster, you might be wondering. One of my favorite Chinese dishes is "Shrimp with Lobster Sauce" which comes with the age old question of, "Why is it called lobster sauce when there's no lobster in it?". The name “Lobster Sauce” is taken from the sauce used in a Cantonese dish containing real lobster, “Lobster Cantonese”. The sauce was used in stir fry dishes for its delicious flavor made savory by the use of ground pork and fermented black beans (soy beans). Hence why I was hunting the fermented black beans and my trek to the health food stores.

Enough about my traveling adventure and lets get to the food adventure. By the way, while white or brown rice is good with this dish, Fried Rice adds so much more in taste.

Shrimp with Lobster Sauce

Ingredients:

½ cup peas
½ cup diced carrots
¼ cup baby corn
¼ cup straw mushrooms
¼ cup sliced water chestnuts
1/8 cup sliced green onions
Water for steaming
1 lb large shrimp, peeled, deveined and butterflied
4 Tbsp stir fry oil, divided in half
1 tsp fermented black bean paste
1 tsp minced garlic
1 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 Tbsp soy sauce
¼ lb ground pork
1 and ½ Tbsp cornstarch
4 Tbsp water
1 tsp sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preparation:

Fill a large saucepan halfway with water and bring to boiling; place colander on top of saucepan, fill with peas, carrots, baby corn, mushrooms, water chestnuts and green onions; steam until carrots begin to soften and remove colander from saucepan.

Stir fry shrimp in Wok or large skillet with 2 tablespoons of oil, on medium-high heat, until they turn pink; about 2 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. While shrimp are cooking, prepare the lobster sauce by whisking together the black bean paste, garlic, chicken broth, rice wine or sherry and soy sauce; set aside.

Add remaining oil to Wok or skillet and brown the pork; remove. Add the prepared lobster sauce and bring to a boil; whisk in the cornstarch and water to thicken and then mix in sugar. Begin to slowly stream in the beaten egg which will begin to make “egg flowers”; add in the shrimp, pork and steamed vegetables; mix together and let cook an additional 2 minutes before serving.

Makes 4 servings.

Mary Cokenour
January 18, 2013