The Protein Genie - Drinking stories that can be told in public.

Years ago, I used to take supplements. I seemed to notice that two supplements seemed to work well for me: Soy lecithin, and spirulina. Keep that thought for a moment.

Are you a soy milk drinker? I like to drink soy milk. I have a very interesting and amusing story about how I first came to eat soy. But, this is a blog about drinking stories and not eating stories, so I'll hold on to that when I need to pull something out of the hat to get a blog post up. Anyway, I've tried almond milk, hemp milk, rice milk, and soy milk. With 6g of protein per serving, soy milk has the highest protein content of them all, and tastes the best, too.  I'd call it a protein genie in the bottle, but I almost always buy my soy milk in the TetraPak aseptic beverage boxes. This way, I can buy a case at a time, get a discount, and not have to worry about contributing to global warming by keeping a stockpile of my favorite beverage cold. I simply pull a box out of the pantry and put it in the refrigerator as I empty one out. I've never had that ugly surprise of soured milk happen with soy milk. I travel alot, so having a product that does not spoil in my fridge is sweet. These boxes travel, well, too. Great in the car, and a fine source of protein for a long road trip. Have you tried soy milk yet . . . on a road trip . . . maybe on a family camping trip? Soy milk, breakfast of champions, nightcap for the weary.

A couple of weeks ago, a new friend bought a beverage that was new to me: Kombucha. I had looked at this in the store one day about a year ago and thought it looked a bit strange. Kombucha, newly arrived on U.S. store shelves from Asia, is made from a fungus that is allowed to ferment for about 30 days before heading to market. The fermentation creates a little alcohol (less than 0.5%), and some carbonation. I'm an eater of fine mushrooms and a drinker of fine beers, some of which are unfiltered. Yet, seeing strands of fungi in the bottle sort of put me off, which is rather inconsistent with my interest in new things. So, my friend made her purchase, and proceeded to ask if I would like to taste it. Awesome. This particular "flavor" was green and had algae in it. So, the green Kombucha boasts having 1g protein . . . the genie in the bottle!

I bought a couple of bottles for myself the other day. Not cheap. After drinking the whole thing, I set it down and had a private laugh: That was some mighty fine pond scum, pardner! Nobody ever called soy milk pond scum. My dairy farmer friends are too polite to do that. I don't drink as much dairy milk as I did when I was a kid, but now I eat more cheese and lots of yogurt, so I think my annual per capita consumption of milk is probably equal to when I was a kid, just in a different form.

I like the idea of getting protein in a beverage. I remember years ago when the soda makers all rushed to pull the sugar and caffeine out of their sodas. I thought it silly to continue to patronize their product lines and to pay a buck or more for a can of colored water that had no nutrition. Some of my family thought I was a bit strange for that little mini-rebellion, but I'll take algae Kombucha and soy milk over a full can of empty calories any day.

So, don't hesitate . . . go pick up some of that green Kombucha and make new friends by offering them a taste of your favorite high-dollar pond scum. Then, when you get serious about drinking, head to the nearest store and go home with soy milk. If you have kids, by a case, then put the kid's name on their own individual box. Now, the whole family can drink from the carton!

Cheers!
dj

Synergies among "My favorite things"

I enjoy research and learning about new things. I am an interdisciplinary systems scientist, and I take great joy in discovering how people and the things we find in nature and the inventions we develop work together. For the last decade, I've invested thousands of hours in research on topics related to the list of  "my favorite things" identified in my first blog post. These first few posts will be at the 60,000 foot level. In time, I intend to get down to earth with practical advice that people can use for decision-making. Hold me to that. 

The primary driver for some of my intellectual curiosity is the world's increasing demand for high quality protein for food and feed. A secondary driver is the realization that in nature and ecological systems, there is no such thing as waste. It's only in human and economic systems that we see the phenomena of accumulation of wastes.

I surmise that some of our inventions have gone awry because we did not strive to create closed loop or integrated systems that emulate nature. A careful review of the four system conditions articulated in The Natural Step provide the necessary grounding for a more sustainable design of human engineered systems in natural ecosystems. I'll post the four system conditions in a future blog and discuss TNS in more detail then. 

For now, to be brief, I only wish to focus on the synergies between soy, algae, aquaculture and anaerobic digestion and what I would characterize as a new conservation ethic. 

Soybeans have the wonderful ability to fix their own nitrogen from the atmosphere, thereby reducing reliance on commercial nitrogen from fossil fuel sources and reducing water quality issues associated with use of commercial N. Increased use of No-till is continuing to yield gains in soil conservation. Simplified, soy is nature's way of recycling nitrogen. There are some studies that report that soy is responsive to increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide, too. Further study is needed.

Algae has the capacity to fix carbon dioxide and to harvest nutrients from water. Algae occurs naturally in response to nutrients in the environment, and can be produced commercially on nutrient rich waters from agricultural runoff, or from more controlled settings such as the nutrient rich waters post-anaerobic digestion. Algae is nature's way of cleaning water. 

Aside from shellfish that are sometimes characterized as performing a water filtration function, most aquatic species like clean water. And, various aquaculture species would be quite happy to eat soy-based aqua feeds or algae-based aqua-feeds, either of which is preferable to use of the byproducts of commercial fishing, so-called "trash species" or "bycatch." Soy and algae are complementary and vital components of our nation's effort to be energy and food independent and carbon negative.

Both soy and algae yield wonderful proteins and oils for human or animal/aqua species consumption, as well as myriad substrates for industrial products like biodiesel, too. Some might see a landscape of competitors here and an inclination to argue which is best in terms of productivity, performance or profit. I see substances with a place in a diverse landscape and use that is appropriate to people and place.  Sustainability is not a monolithic panacea, but is instead, an optimization of variables over the long haul, sometimes, very specific to place.  

In future posts, I'll dwell a bit on topics like The Natural Step, and drill in on discussions of sustainable soy in weekly posts over the summer months. As time permits, I'll sprinkle in some further discussion on algae - fact based, no hyperbole - and try and find the bandwidth to share some insights on aquaculture, too. I'll try and appreciate short attention spans, and use Twitter to post incredibly brief 140 character notes on key developments, too. 

Enjoy summer. Until next time.

Doug

These are a few of my favorite things

Hello World,

This blog initiates postings to Sustainable Food, Fiber, Feed and Fuel. The mission of the blog is to document, publish and foster dialogue on myriad aspects of sustainable systems for the production and utilization of food, fiber, feed and fuel. 

Key topics in this blog will deal with:

1. the sustainability of soy, and many aspects of the sustainable production of soybeans and soy products. Look for posts from time to time on soy and its role in food, fiber, feed and fuel. No discussion of sustainability is complete without attention to the environmental, social and economic dimensions of soy in the landscape, and the versatility of this amazing crop.
   
2. the sustainability of algae, and the rapid development of emerging technologies for cultivation, harvest and processing of algae into food, fiber, feed and fuel. 
3. the sustainability of anaerobic digestion for management of organic substrates, methane, CO2 and other greenhouse and fuel gases.
4. the sustainability of gasification and pyrolysis for completion of the fuel cycle.
5. the sustainability of recirculating aquaculture systems and their integration with soy, algae, and other components of highly integrated purpose-built ecosystems.

Other topics will emerge over time. The intent is to post weekly, or more frequently as time permits. 

See you soon,

DBJ