FOOD!

This week, we're talking about food in our environmental science class. We are supposed to choose a food that we really like and do some research on where it truly comes from. I love a lot of different foods, so it was hard to choose just one to write about for the blog. Ultimately, I decided to go with arroz con leche, which is basically just rice pudding but with cinnamon (and sometimes raisins) added to the mix. Arroz con leche is a delicious dessert that can be served warm or cold, and it is one of my all time favorite foods. But, what does it take for me to indulge in this dessert? What is the exact process? And how much impact does this exact process have on the earth? Well, this blog will be about bringing those answers to light. 

There are only four simple ingredients that are required to make arroz con leche: rice, milk, sugar, and cinnamon. My boyfriend's mom makes my favorite rice pudding, and those are the ingredients she uses. Although as a whole, this food comes from my boyfriend's mom's kitchen, each ingredient comes from different places. 

• Milk: The milk used in this recipe is usually whole milk and it's usually just the store brand from Ralph's or another popular grocery store. I found out that the milk itself does come from California. On the label it says, "Real California Milk" so I researched this and found Real California Milk's website: http://www.realcaliforniamilk.com/dairy-farms/ . On their website, they have several videos and pictures that display their farmers, their cows, and their farms, and all of these seem to be good. They do not have too much information about transportation, or farming practices, but they make a huge deal out of being local and being family owned dairies. The environmental impact may not be as bad in the milk area, because however the milk is being transported (presumably by automobile/truck) it is not coming to me from out of state. They also have a section about being "greener," because they recycle water, and they use solar panels and other sustainable methods for energy.
• Rice: Next is the rice-- the key ingredient. The rice that is usually used in this recipe is Blue Ribbon Rice. This rice was a bit harder to find information on, and their website was much more vague. They did state that their rice is grown in the U.S. which would already greatly reduce emissions from transportation than if it was from overseas. As far as how the rice was farmed, there is really no information that I could find, but I am assuming, since Blue Ribbon is bigger business, that it is processed in more factory-like conditions, and not as much care is put into it. I know that the way rice is grown, it does use a lot of water, because it is flooded. So that is something to take into consideration as environmental aspect as well.
• Sugar: The sugar that is typically used for this recipe is C&H pure cane sugar. After doing some research I found that sugar cane was shipped from Hawaii to San Francisco to be processed by C&H in California. The C&H in the brand name stands for California and Hawaii, because of the long history of the sugar business between the states. However, the factories in Hawaii have shut down due to sugar prices dropping, meaning the sugar cane has to come from elsewhere, like Brazil or Vietnam. The environmental impact of this change will be much greater than if the sugar continued to come from Hawaii.
• Cinnamon: The final ingredient, and the one that makes arroz con leche so delicious, is cinnamon. The cinnamon used is whole cinnamon sticks that are typically bought from the grocery store, Cardenas. After researching it, I learned that most cinnamon comes from Sri Lanka, and some comes from Indonesia. I am not sure exactly where the cinnamon we use comes from, because the packaging does not include and info about it, but I researched the general farming practices for cinnamon. In Indonesia, families will often work together to scrape the bark off of the trees that cinnamon comes from, so it does not seem to be harvested by means of any large corporation. However, it does have to travel far to wind up in California which will cause a great amount of emissions from planes, boats and trucks.

Although this dessert probably is not the healthiest, it is not extremely unhealthy. Most of the ingredients are processed very little, and there is not an overwhelming amount of sugar in the recipe. It does contain 60% carbs and 25% fat, so it is probably best to have in moderation. Arroz con leche is one of my favorite homemade foods and it was really interesting to learn about where all the individual ingredients come from and the impact that they have on the earth.

sources: 

http://www.realcaliforniamilk.com/our-community/

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/01/19/crockett-last-hawaiian-sugar-ship-bids-historic-farewell/

http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/25/capturing-the-cinnamon-harvest-in-sumatra/

https://scienceleadership.org/blog/arroz_con_leche

picture: https://www.onehappyhousewife.com/instant-pot-arroz-con-leche/

gif: https://www.google.com/search?biw=1436&bih=705&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=g2P5WaPhMJi2jwTG-5D4Aw&q=twinkling+heart+gif&oq=twinkling+heart+gif&gs_l=psy-ab.3...67446.75594.0.75748.29.25.4.0.0.0.138.2759.0j23.24.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..1.24.2442.0..0j0i67k1j0i10k1j0i30k1j0i10i30k1j0i10i24k1j0i8i30k1j0i24k1.104.FQ7vRFixBL0#imgrc=cSQLsoZW2GEloM: