Clackamas Print
»
Artyvulture
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
/liter relays food experiments
lily Walters
; & Culture Editor
partial solution to the threat
>bal warming may be found
getarianism.
I
riter Trista Cornelius,, who
L as an instructor for the
sh department at Clackamas,
K inside room 220 of Roger
I Hall on Thursday, April
attendees several questions for
them to ponder during the dis
cussion.
• How conscious are you of
what you eat?
• What have you eaten so far
today? /■
• In what manner did you
eat it?
• How does it make you feel?
Following these questions,
Cornelius relayed how a trip to
the grocery store several years
ago opened her eyes to foods
- mainly fruits and vegetables
- she did not know about or had
not yet tried.
This realization was brought
on when she saw some sort of
spiky melon.
It made her think, “How could
I be so limited in my ideas of
food?” She found herself want
ing to explore the concept fur
ther, and fulfill the inkling that
she had always had about want
ing to be a vegetarian.
2. Meatless March
Apples and Oranges Life
Cornelius started small, by
deciding to - along with her
husband - go one month without
consuming meat of any kind.
“My biggest initial discovery
was butternut squash,” she said.
That was just one of the many
new foods she sampled that
month, but has stuck with her to
this day as a favorite.
“I rediscovered foods that I
thought I didn’t like,” she said,
mentioning brussel sprouts,
which are commonly hated by
children.
A goal resulted from her first
“Meatless March”: she began
trying to buy organic produce
and grains.
»melius began by asking
3. There’s a Worm in My Plum
IELIUS
he talk was aptly titled
ing the Planet One Bite at a
,” and is just one ofthe many
ts planned for this spring
he college’s Sustainability
ct,
a series of nine segments,
elius gave the audience an
iew of her explorations
■food and explained how our
■choices affect the planet.
¡
Another point of realization
for Cornelius was a couple of
years later, when she was cut
ting up a plum and discovered a
worm inside.
She said that, prior to that
time, finding a bug in her fruit
would have disgusted her, but
at this moment, it actually made
her feel good that the worm had
been naturally attracted to her
organic food - rather than the
normal produce that is sold in
stores, which she described as
then seeming “waxy” to her.
Cornelius’ whole sense of
food had changed.
for the 10 days that she would
be alone. She ended up liking
aspects of it so much that she has
continued doing it, to a certain
degree.
6. Eating Sunshine
Cornelius found that her diet
of eating mostly plants gave
her life new revitalization - it
was like consuming warmth and
energy.
This side effect to the lifestyle
change is something that made
her stay on the course she chose.
7. Jack and the Beanstalk
4. One Less Food Group
Cornelius described a day,
just before coming to work at
Clackamas, when she felt slug
gish and had recurring headaches.
As an experiment, she decided to
try cutting dairy out of her diet
for two weeks, as she had heard
that it was sometimes linked to
those types of problems.
Only two days later, Cornelius
saw that the outcome was excel
lent, and has not reintroduced
dairy since - even though it used
to be her favorite food group
- because of how much healthier
she feels without it.
5. Hurricane Katrina and a
Veganish Lifestyle
A few years ago, Cornelius
said, she noticed when her hus
band was gone on a trip that
her eating habits had completely
reverted back to her bachelorette
days: to a lot of unhealthy and
fast food.
With another imminent trip
approaching, Cornelius resolved
to make a plan she would stick
to, and decided to eat vegan
Volunteering at a food bank
also gave Cornelius an opportu
nity to learn and think up ideas as
to a further approach to meals.
She noted that the foods indi
viduals were getting at the food
bank were beautiful and edible,
and the quality of everything
made everybody light up.
It helped bring to her atten
tion what she dubbed “edible
landscaping.” It was the ideal
situation of having the surround
ing trees, bushes and so on not
simply exist for decorative pur
poses,. but produce substances
that people could consume.
Also, she started container
gardening inside her house, with
sufficient success, which she
recommended to the audience
as a way of supporting oneself
cheaply and healthily, even in the
overly-rainy Oregon weather.
8. Worms Under the Sink
One beneficial part of the
notion of a plant-centered envi
ronment is that it reduces a sig
nificant quantity of waste from
the wrapping and packaging
done to most items located at a
regular grocery store.
Since she made the switch
to vegetarianism, Cornelius has
found enjoyment in creating a
smaller amount of garbage, and
what little food waste her fam
ily does generate is usually eas
ily thrown out to compost, to be
processed by worms back into
the soil.
9. Cows Versus Cars
Perhaps the most interesting
part of Cornelius’ entire talk was
the conclusion, during which she
shared some surprising statistics
from a story she came across
in The Oregonian about a year
ago.
Almost one-fifth of all emis
sions released into the atmo
sphere, the article stated, come
from raising livestock for food,
which is more than the portion
created by the entire world’s use
of automobiles.
The methane gas from the
animals’ manure was pinpointed
as one of the major parts of the
issue.
In addition, the public may be
interested to hear that, accord
ing to thé article, they can make
more of a positive impact on the
environment when they “move
to prevent global warming by
turning vegetarian rather than
switching to a Toyota Prius.”
The Prius is thought to be one
of the best hybrid cars out there
- and jt is expensive.
It seems it is pretty safe to say
that investing in extra helpings
of good ol’ fruits and veggies is
a smarter choice.
For more information, or to be
given resources for eating health
ily and locally, e-mail Cornelius
at tristac@clackamas.edu.
ickamas student plays guitar for local alternative band
> Sheppard
ckam
members of the Portland-based
naretta describe their music as
ye, which guitarist and Clackamas
’ 2hris Yqung explains as “a blend-
1 ¿les and eras.”
;tta is a'fairly new ensemble, hav-
ed in October of 2007.
beginning, it was merely Young
ith his i friend, and the group’s
*, Jon Cotton.
s itching to play with some peo-
ung said, “so I got Jon to come
with me.”
1 one day Cotton just happened to
tg about an acquaintance of his,
Scott, a bass guitarist.
why the hell haven’t you men
tis before?” was Young’s reac-
1 was soon added to Amaretta’s
1 d it and loved it,” Scott recalled. “I
r and brought it, and he (Young)
"’s good.’”
' tng after, Young ran into then-
as student Kara Dishman in their
»f Rock ¡class.
1 mown Kara since seventh grade,”
' “It seemed like she was always
’’bishman as lead singer, the band
Ilete.
ante |\maretta was originally
elp by Young.
ik I just threw it up there when we
■1(r MySpace page,” he said. “We
of went with it.”
Young admits that he had
been drinking amaretto cap
puccinos at the time.
Amaretta has already
played in several locations
around the Portland area,
including the Hawthorne
Theatre, the Artistry and the
Ash Street Saloon.
The saloon proved to be an
interesting experience when
the woman who booked their
performance realized that
Cotton, Dishman, Scott and
Young were all underage.
“None of us are actually
legal to be inside,” Young
said. “They kept us quaran
tined in the back.”
Fortunately, they still per
formed well and were invited
to play at the saloon again.
“We were relieved not to
bum a bridge there,” Young
said.
Besides playing gigs,
Amaretta has finished its first
CD, “Esque.”
It “started out possibly
going to be titled ‘_____ -
esque,’ as in fill in the blank
with any word we deemed
appropriate,” Young said in
an e-mail. “But when we
failed to find anything that
really worked with that, we
started just calling it Esque,
and it stuck. I think the word
also represents how we musi
cally and lyrically don’t seem
to stick to one thing. We do
all sorts of things.”
Contributed Photo
From left to right: drummer Jon Cotton, bass guitarist Andrew
Scott, guitarist Chris Young and lead singer Kara Dishman.
Self-written and produced,
the album features seven orig
inal songs, recorded by the
members themselves.
“It’s pretty amazing what
you can do with a few decent
mics and a laptop,” Young
said.
Songwriting, for Amaretta,
is a group process.
“We start with a jam,” Scott
said. “Then, Kara and Chris go
over with the harmonies.”
At live shows, the band
mainly performs its own
songs.
“We do a few cover songs...
but for the most part, it’s stuff
we’ve written,” Scott said.
With the CD finished, the
plan is to send it to some small
labels.
Scott doesn’t deny that the
dream to “make it big some
day” is always tempting.
“That would be fantastic,”
Young agreed.
However, both men also
concurred that they will be
equally happy if* that doesn’t
happen.
“I just enjoy going out and
playing music,” Scott said. “I
wouldn’t do this if I didn’t
like it.”
Scott added, “It’s been one
of the greatest experiences I’ve
ever done.”
To hear Amaretta’s music,
visit their MySpace page at
www.myspace.com/amaretta-
music.