Animal, Vegetable, Junk: An Account of Man's Relationship with Food

This book takes a long look at how we have transformed the way we get and consume our food.  Bittman -- a bestselling cookbook author, journalist, and food writer--  gives a comprehensive account of how man obtains his food, from hunter-gatherers to early agriculture and industrial farming.  He argues that the food we eat now is not the same as what our early ancestors ate.  He noted that deceptive marketing techniques made us unhealthy through the years.  How we presently produce our food is also not sustainable and harms us and the environment than good.

Bittman also touched on the politics of American agriculture.  He cited how its expansion excluded black Americans from some government programs and how current practices continue to disadvantage certain groups.  His most damning arguments include how the US Department of Agriculture continues to favor big companies and disregard the people’s and the environment’s welfare.  

Despite painting a bleak scenario for the agriculture industry, Bittman says that a systemic overhaul of the sector could still save it.  He offers an ecological solution he calls "agroecology.” However, he admits that there would be resistance, especially from those in power.  

Most parts of this book sound like a scathing criticism of modern agriculture and American politics by an outraged man. To be fair, Bittman did a lot of work and research to cover not only agriculture and food production but also the underlying socio-political issues. The effort shows in the number of references he cited and the pages dedicated to his endnotes. However, he started proselytizing his ideas in the final chapters and sounded like a propagandist for veganism and social organizations. 

ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, JUNK

A History of Food, From Sustainable to Suicidal

By Mark Bittman

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Kindle Edition (4087 KB)

Published on February 2, 2021

Fall of Giants and Winter of the World: A Review

I just finished reading Ken Follet's works one after the other: "Fall of Giants" and "Winter of the World", which are part of the Century Trilogy.  Both books are massive. Kindle gives a reading time for each book at 16 hours.  It took me weeks to finish them.

The books are about five families in different parts of the world, Russia, Germany, Britain and the USA, which were intertwined by events of the last century.  Follet introduces them to us in Fall of Giants, which took place in the 20s and 30s and pretty much covered events leading to and during World War I, the Russian Revolution and political events that changed the course of history, including women's suffrage.

The second book, Winter of the World introduces us to the next generation and mostly offsprings of the characters in the first volume.  We also see changes in the lives and social standing of many of the characters.  For me, this is darker than the first book because it dealt about the atrocities of the Nazi Regime, the terror of World War II and the savagery of the Red Army which was supposed to liberate Berlin after the war.  Oh, and it also set the stage for the cold war with the introduction of the atomic bomb.

Follet described everything in vivid imagery.  He is a master of description: from the darkness of the coal mine pit, to the battlefields in France, the blitzkrieg, and the harsh Russian winter.  Follet described everything so well that you could almost even smell his characters when he says that they haven't bathed for weeks.  

I think this is why I got hooked with these books and kept me turning page after page.  Follet made me feel like I was part of the events as they unfold.  It felt like, I was sitting beside the Dewars while they were negotiating for the establishment of the United Nations or when the British Parliament was debating whether to unseat Chamberlain or not.  It does help that the reader knows basic modern history but it is not necessary.

This brings us to the next point I want to make.  Follet made the reader learn history and the behind the scenes stories about the events without the reader noticing it.  I learned a lot about the conditions of the miners in Wales and how the British women won their right to suffrage by reading this book.

Spending weeks reading these books also made me feel that I knew these families well enough that I am interested to what would happen to them. "Winter of the World" ended in a hopeful note, on Christmas Day, with Carla von Ulrich surrounded by her family singing a Christmas Carol.   

I am looking forward to the third and final installment of the trilogy.  

Fall of Giants and Winter of the World are both available for Kindle on amazon.com.

Revisiting the National Museum

I had the chance to see the National Museum again a few weeks ago, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they are allowing photography inside.  We were told that like in other similar places, they do not allow flash photography.  Since it was sunny that day, I knew I wouldn't have any problem with the light.

The National Museum houses the award-winning mural of Juan Luna called, "Spoliarium".  It is the first piece that will greet you upon entering the gallery.  It shows the bodies of dead and defeated gladiators being dragged in the dark undergrounds of the colosseum.  It won the gold medal at the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1884. The art piece is a metaphor for the colonial rule of Spain in the Philippines and was used as propaganda material by the revolutionaries.

I love this painting and it never fails to impress me every time I see it.  You must see it for yourself to truly appreciate its beauty.  

Inside this hall are other works of Luna as well as those of Hidalgo and other great masters.  Most depict important events in our country's history.

On the other floors of the museum are pieces of sculpture and paintings from the 20th-century Filipino masters.  

On our way out, we passed by the floor where the Philippine Senate used to hold office.  It's there where we realized that the building of the National Museum is itself a work of art. Built during the American Colonial Regime, the hall gives us a glimpse of that time. The ceiling, flooring and even the friezes adorning the walls were real national treasures.

This section of the building is still being repaired and renovated.  I am not sure if it will be open to the public once the repairs are done.

In another gallery, mostly showing more contemporary works of art, I was reprimanded by a security officer for taking pictures.  When I told him that we were informed by the people at the front desk that we could take pictures he said that we are allowed only if we include ourselves in the photograph.  I was dumbfounded actually but I just followed and let it be.

I will still go back to the National Museum in spite that,  It is indeed a repository of our nation's soul.

Taal Heritage Town: Agoncillo and Apacible Ancestral Homes

We also visited the other ancestral homes in Taal, Batangas.  These were the homes of Gregorio Agoncillo, Leon Apacible and Marcella Agoncillo.

The heritage house of Gregorio Agoncillo is in the middle of a busy intersection.  It is easy to see because among the houses in the area, it's the only one that's painted white.  A bronze statue of his uncle, Felipe Agoncillo stand in the front.  This uncle was instrumental in the signing of the Treaty of Paris which ended the Spanish-American War.

Unfortunately, there was no one there to show us around the house on our visit, so we were pretty much left on our own to explore the house.

At the entrance of the house are life size busts of members of the family.  One of the ladies was named Maria A.  Aguinaldo and it turned out that she was the wife of the first President of the Republic, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo.

The house contains a lot of furniture and assortment of knick knacks that the owner has collected through the years.  I was drawn to a particular big wardrobe in one of the rooms of the house.  It was made of solid wood and looked more like a free standing trunk.  It has a huge mirror door which is quite ideal when choosing which clothes to wear for the day.

Like many homes of that era, there was a special nook for an altar where the family would pray together at night.  The Agoncillo Heritage house has several prayer areas with antique santos to boot.

The next house we visited belonged to another illustrious Batangueno, Leon Apacible.  Apacible was a lawyer, revolutionary and a delegate to the Malolos Congress.

The Apacible House/Museum was donated by his descendants to the Filipino government.  It contains relics of the country's rich historic past.  Upon entering the house, you will see a montage of pictures taken during the Spanish and American colonial times.

Tiles made from Italian marble covered the floor of the ground floor.  The stairs leading to the main living area was made of solid wood and was very impressed with the balustre.

Like most of the houses we've been to in Taal, the Apacible house was filled with antique furniture, paintings and other stuff.  The house, according to our guide, was a favorite vacation area for many of our illustrious historical figures.  Among the items that are truly worth visiting are handwritten letters from Juan Luna.

There are two curious artifacta in the house.  These are the giant shell and a picture above it of two babies sleeping inside a giant shell.  According to our guide, the babies in the picture were the twin daughters of Leon Apacible and yes, the shell they were sleeping in was the same one below it.  One of the girls died as a baby but the remaining one lived up to 93 years old and was the one who donated the house to the government.

The last stop of our trip in Taal was the house of another important Filipino, Marcela Agoncillo.  She and her daughter along with the niece of our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, made the first Philippine flag while in exile in Hong Kong in 1897.  For this, she was called the "Mother of the Philippine Flag".

The ground floor of the house is like a history book.  There are panels depicting the evolution of the Philippine flag.  There are also panels tracing the lineage of Marcela Agoncillo.  That's where I found out that she's married to Felipe Agoncillo, the uncle of the owner of the Agoncillo heritage house.

At the foot of the stairs, one can see a depiction of the making of the Philippine flag.  The scene shows the three women working on the flag but they all looked sad.

Unlike the other houses, the Agoncillo house has an entresuelo.  During those times, guests are usually ushered in the entresuelo first where they are "filtered".  Only those that the owners deemed important and worthy of their time were allowed to go up the main living quarters.

On top of the stairs, the guests are first asked to stay at the antesala and opposite this place is a window from the dining room where the owner could see the visitor.

The main sala of the house contains the old furniture of the family.  Portraits of the family members also adorn the walls,  Like the Apacible house, the descendants of Agoncillo decided to donate their ancestral home to the government.

There's also a prayer area with antique icons.

There's a garden outside of the house where one can find a monument or statue of Marcela Agoncillo holding the Philippine flag.

Our visit was a really rewarding experience.  It was like getting a peek of how these illustrious people lived.  I'm glad that these house are made available to the public.

Taal Heritage Town: Villavicencio Ancestral Home

There are other things to see in Taal, Batangas.  These are the old colonial houses that are still standing in the municipality.  Most of these houses, in fact, were witnesses to the many events of our country's history. We were lucky to get inside some of this former enclaves of the elite.

Our first stop was the Villavicencio House.  The house is an imposing bahay na bato built on a slope overlooking Balayan Bay.  It has a lush garden beside it surrounded by an iron-wrought fence.

We were lucky to meet the descendants of the original owner of the house, Gliceria Villavicencio, who personally toured us around the house.  We were informed that the house is still functional and is still being used by the family when they come to Taal.

As most houses built during the Spanish colonial period, the ground floor is a space reserved for the carriage of the owner.  It has now been converted to an office space. 

One thing's for sure, they don't make like this anymore.  The stairs, and the floors and walls of the second floor of the house are all made of wood.  Not just any wood but really hard, solid wood.

Our gracious hosts also explained that the walls of the house were covered by canvass, hand painted in Paris, France.  The tin ceiling, which is unique to the Villavicencio house among the heritage houses in Taal, was also imported from Europe.

Another feature of the house are the hallways or alleys surrounding the rooms. Our hosts explained that these halls have two purposes: one is that when there are many occupants in the house, some male members of the family would sleep there since there were only two rooms which were occupied by the female members; second purpose of these alleys was for members of the family to avoid being seen by guests they don't want to meet.

The main sala of the house is adorned by portraits of the original Villavicencio couple painted by Juan Luna no less.  Of course the ones hanging there are just copies with the original portraits stashed somewhere for security reasons.  From here, one has a great view of Balayan Bay.  Our host explained that Gliceria, who was a merchant, would look out of these windows to check whether any of her goods have arrived.

The Villavicencio home also played an important role in the Philippine revolution against Spain.  It was the meeting place of many clandestine meetings between Andres Bonifacio and members of Katipunan.  In fact, we were shown a trap door located under the wedding portrait of the couple at the far end of the dining hall.  This trap door was used by Bonifacio and his men to escape detection whenever the Spanish guards came to check on the family.  It led the Katipuneros to a tunnel that ends in a river nearby.

I am glad that Gliceria's descendants opted to preserve their ancestral home and open it to the public to give us a glimpse of our country's rich heritage.

Was Humpty Dumpty Really an Egg?

Last night while sitting in the darkness during Earth Hour 2011, I suddenly remembered a segment on Sesame Street that I saw as a child (see bottom).  It featured Kermit the Frog as a newsman and he was reporting Humpty Dumpty's fall and the efforts of the king's men and horses to put him back together.

Then it struck me.  Why is it that illustrations accompanying the nursery rhyme show Humpty Dumpty as  an egg?  My first step was to check the rhyme and see what it says about Humpty Dumpty.  It goes

from picturebook.com

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

 No where in the rhyme can we find that Humpty Dumpty was an egg.  One can only deduce that he was one because all the king's men and horses could not put him back together after he fell from the wall.  Therefore he was fragile and easily broken.  What could be more fragile than an egg?

Since I couldn't stop wondering what Humpty Dumpty really was, I tried to do some research online. (As an aside, I find it really strange to do this after telling you not to believe everything that is on the Internet.)

I found several theories being put forward as to what Humpty Dumpty really was.  One of these is that "Humpty Dumpty" was an old English slang for an obese person or a clumsy person who is prone to falling down.  Another theory said that the rhyme started out as a riddle in the the early 1800s.  Over time, everyone got the answer correctly (an egg) and the riddle was not asked anymore but became a popular children's rhyme.  

I also came upon a site which says that Humpty Dumpty was actually a powerful cannon used to defend a walled city called Colchester.  The cannon was placed on a wall adjacent to St. Mary's Church.  When the city was laid to siege, the wall was destroyed by a mortar and sent Humpty Dumpty falling to the ground.  The cannon broke into pieces and all the king's men (infantry) and horses (cavalry) tried to fix it in vain.  

The most famous depiction of Humpty Dumpty was an illustration in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass.  The picture, drawn by John Tenniel in 1871, shows Alice meeting Humpty Dumpty for the first time.  In the story, Alice found Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall with his legs crossed.  The girl wondered how the egg could keep his balance. Humpty Dumpty engaged Alice in a conversation about words and their meanings which left the girl more confused than enlightened.

In the Sesame Street segment, Humpty Dumpty was put together again.  An overjoyed Kermit the Frog gave him a rather strong pat on the back that sent him falling off the wall again.  The king's men and horses went back to work on fixing him, blaming the frog for the unfortunate incident.

So was Humpty Dumpty an egg, a cannon or a clumsy obese man?  Let's see what he has to say about it. In Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass", when Alice asked him what his name means, the cranky egg replied :

`My name means the shape I am -- and a good handsome shape it is, too. With a name like your, you might be any shape, almost.' 

Equally baffling is why an egg would want to sit on a wall.  That is, however, another good topic for discussion later.

Here's the video of the Sesame Street segment: