Crossing the Atlantic – to make a point

Last week I got a chance to meet Baptiste Dubanchet, a fellow food waste activist, whom I had known virtually for three years.

Back in 2014, Baptiste was making a name for himself having just pedaled from Paris to Warsaw eating only food from the dumpster. His goal was to highlight that we all throw away food, and that this problem stretches across all borders.

To be honest, the circumstances in which I met him this time were similarly unreal. He had just spent about three months in the Atlantic Ocean, having pedaled from Paris to Morocco, and then left Africa for the Caribbean. He is now continuing the journey by cycling from Miami to New York City, with a stopover in DC.

His arrival fell on the Halloween weekend, a time when the capital is a bit more crazy than usual. There were little monsters and princesses ringing doorbells, masked youth riding the streets, and countless homes with decorations, that kept the street sparkling.

New frontiers

During the layover, we made time for dumpster diving, conducting a small interview session, presenting to a group of students about the voyage, exploring the landmarks of the city, and of course, cooking and eating lots of food.

The most interesting moments were captured on camera to be shared with you. Specifically, we have the interview session, the presentation at the elementary school, and the footage of his search for edible goods.

The interview

After giving Baptiste a few days to recuperate his bearings, I sat down with him to pick his brain about what it takes to embark on such a journey. As well as, the mission that energized and kept him going, despite the difficulties and hardships he encountered.

1| How do you choose what to eat?

2| Why did you cross the Atlantic?

3| When did you notice the problem?

4| How can freeze-drying stop waste?

5| How does this work?

6| What were your fears for the road?

7| How will this impact the food waste movement?

8| How have you changed?

9| What’s next?

And a little bit extra, for laughs and entertainment:

School presentation

One bright morning, we had to wake up super early to make it to an 8am morning meeting, where Baptiste got to present his story to the students at the Friendship Tech Prep Academy. The students had a lot of interesting questions!

We covered topics such as:

– How he pedaled across the ocean.
– The parts of the world he traveled.
– The thoughts he had on the journey.
– What he consumed.
– The moment that sparked his idea.
– The economy of food waste.
– Stakeholders of the food supply chain.
– A highlight from his travels.
– And the next stops on his trip.

Many thanks to Coy McKinney who helped arrange this! Coy teaches urban farming at this school. He also runs a community garden, where kids can grow and try fresh food.

Looking through dumpsters

On the night we chose to go dumpster diving, it was raining. We didn’t stay long, max 15 min., but we found a good amount of food without searching too much.

Baptiste now has fruits and baked goods to fuel his journey to New York.

Best of luck!
Hokuma

Bite sized wisdom: utilizing time and tools for success

Spring is upon us and the magic of life is everywhere. Everything and everyone is craving a fresh new start.

Birds are chirping for company. Green buds are blooming into vibrant flowers.

With the sun above, and the rains moistening our soil, we roll our sleeves and head out to the garden.

We begin to rake the soil. Running blades through the ground and awakening what was once dormant. Preparing the garden beds for a new season of yielding fruits.

The process takes time, but with the right vision and motivation, patience becomes a worthwhile feat. Taking time helps us observe and review all facts. It helps us adjust and reevaluate our methods.
Step by step, little by little, our seeds grow. And though initially it is hard to look at a small seed and see it’s final state as a lemon or a strawberry,knowing that if both parties put in their effort, then in time fruits of labor will rest on the palm of your hand.

In our everyday life, where the whole world is rushing after dreams, taking a minute for reflection feels unnatural. It may even feel like time is being wasted. The reality is – we will always fail with unfamiliar challenges and situations if we don’t study them and search within us for the tools to overcome them.

Any goal that you want to accomplish, whether in the garden, in the gym or in your personal life will require your patience. It will require your commitment, time for observation, and tools to help realize your goals. With all three, nothing is out of reach.

Wishing you all a bit more patience as you wait for your gardens to bloom.

Happy spring!
Hokuma

Bite sized wisdom: accepting metamorphosis

The term metamorphosis is defined by dictionary.com as “a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism, as from the caterpillar to the pupa and from the pupa to the adult butterfly”.

If you are not familiar with the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly then let me give you a crash course. A butterfly lays one egg, and since it’s very picky as to what it eats, it selects a plant that it knows the offspring will like.

The caterpillar is born in a skin that is too small for it, so as it grows the new skin forms on the inside and the older skin sheds off. After eating and crawling for most of its life the caterpillar reaches a point of adulthood where somehow it senses the need to transform. At that point the definition of life it grew to accept begins to change.

To bring on this change the caterpillar stops moving and finds a safe shelter in its chrysalis. There the caterpillar slowly transforms its body, grows wings, develops antennas and a slew of other things. This process takes about 10 to 14 days, and varies by species.

When the process is done the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly and emerges into the same world as a changed being. While life around may seem the same, the butterfly is not, and its past reality is replaced by a new one. Yet, even in this time, the butterfly is not done transforming. It needs to dry off its wings and build up flight muscles before it can fly.

Interestingly, if you ask a caterpillar about the future it imagines for itself it won’t be able to tell you that one day it will fly. And the buttery doesn’t remember its past to tell you where it came from, yet its the same organism.

Our lives are just like the caterpillar’s. We can’t predict the future and so we don’t know what treasures await us. We know that change is natural, but yet we fight it. And if we keep fighting off change then how will we ever transform into what we were born to become?

As another year comes closer to its end, we as creatures have no clue of what 2016 has in store, and truth be told, there is no need for guessing either. Our only task is to accept that whatever we define as our ‘life’ for the time being is subject to change. And we simply need to give ourselves the space and time to realize and transform into a new version of ourselves.

Day by day I’m learning to not fight the future but accept it as it comes.

So I’m always growing, always changing.

Happy transformation friends!
Hokuma

Food Integrity Campaign

In recent months we witnessed just how important whistleblowers are for a more safe, democratic and just system.

Whether in the government, a business or any other organization, there is a need for individuals who are willing to speak the truth and shed light on injustice. But, to change the status quo and get the conversation started they need facts and evidence (which is difficult to gather, without breaking some rules). With today’s food system focused more on profit than on value, there is no doubt that many corners get cut at the price of safety.

When looking at statistics, every year 1 in 6 Americans (48 million) get sick, 128,000 get hospitalized and 3,000 die from foodborne illnesses. Most deaths are caused by meat and poultry (29%), then comes produce (23%), dairy and eggs (15%) and lastly, fish and shellfish (6.4%).

So how do we bring change to a multi-billion dollar food industry? A new group thinks that empowering whistleblowers will help bring about change. The Food Integrity Campaign, part of the Government Accountability Project, wants to support and protect individuals that want to reveal hidden dangers, schemes and other practices that endanger our food. Below is a video with further details.