NATURE IN A BOX

Courtesy of The Food Department

     Japan has a yen for bento, a boxed meal that traditionally includes rice, fish or meat plus pickled or cooked vegetables, each portion carefully nestled within separate compartments inside a box made of either polystyrene, metal, lacquerware or handcrafted out of precious wood.
     In Puerto Rico, another type of box is capturing the public's imagination but this one is a conventional cardboard box that contains the fruits of the earth: organic produce and fruits grown by farmers young and old on small farms scattered around the island and packaged for prompt delivery to clients. The boxes, marketed by a San Juan-based company quaintly called El Departamento de la Comida or The Food Department, are delivered directly to clients within a day of harvesting, or the clients themselves can pick them up at delivery points in the metropolitan area, Caguas, Bayamón and Dorado.
     The Food Department is the brainchild of Tara Rodriguez Besosa and Olga Casellas, two young women whose lives intersected at a confab on the state of Puerto Rico's sustainable farming that drew farmers and members of the general public. Together,
Rodriguez and Casellas set out to launch a company that would connect organic farmers and the public in a mutually advantageous partnership.
      Farmers gain access to a larger, steady market of clients and the public gets first dibs at the freshest and healthiest available food. Much of the food consumed in Puerto Rico is imported, which means local consumers purchase perishables that were picked well ahead of their maturity date so that by the time they reach the shelves of island supermarkets they often have no taste or have lost some, if not all, of their nutritional value. "Our goal is to help farmers develop a steady source of demand, so they can produce without having to worry about marketing and distributing their product and in this way, live and farm better," reads the company's mission statement.

     Organic farming is a method of cultivation that treats the earth kindly by eschewing chemical fertilizers, synthetic pesticides and genetic engineering. The network of farmers supplying The Food Department ranges from young people in their mid twenties to older folks in their 50s and 60s, said Rodríguez, whose sister now runs their late mother's farm in Aibonito, poetically named Three Lives Farm. These organic farmers grow a variety of edibles and none is exclusively dedicated to any one crop as diversity and crop rotation is an important aspect of organic farming. The advantage of this arrangement is that a farmer always has other crops to fall back on in the event that any single one fails. Rodriguez feels that educating people about the challenges that farmers face is part of her company's job, which is why every box also includes a newsletter relating the latest news about individual farmers, thus creating greater awareness about just what is entailed in the food growing process.
     Given the unpredictable nature of farming, no client is ever sure what the interior of the box will hold once they open it. The one sure thing, though, is the size of the box. There are different sizes to choose from, each containing varied quantities of products: varieties of lettuce and greens, vegetables, fruits, edible roots plus artisanal products to compensate for a failed or inadequate harvest such as bread, sauces, marmalades, pastries, tea or coffee.  Prices range from $21 for a basic box to $46 for a large box with a mix of products.
     Since making the service available in July 2010, the company has seen its roster of clients grow from 60 to 200, about half of whom choose to have their boxes delivered directly to their home or office.  Deliveries are once a week, once a month, or twice monthly.
     The Food Department recently moved its warehouse from Bayamón to Las Palmas Street in Miramar. The new building includes a retail section that is open to the public on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from noon until 5 p.m. You might want to bring your own box for purchases.

Departamento de la Comida (THE FOOD DEPARTMENT) http://eldepartamentodelacomida.com
 #1063 Las Palmas, Miramar 787.325.8306

                              

      One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that, would tell one anything.  
                        -- Oscar Wilde



☛New York Theater: "TAKE WHAT IS YOURS"
     American women may feel smug about the rights they enjoy, especially in light of their Arab counterparts: in Saudi Arabia, for example, women are not allowed to drive a car although they just gained the right to vote and run as candidates in elections for municipal councils four years from now (2015). It wasn't that long ago that American women won suffrage: more precisely, Aug. 26, 1920 when the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, stating that the right to vote will not be denied on account of sex, became the law of the land. 
     The long and colorful battle for women's suffrage is now the subject of a play by talented writer/actress Erica Fae and her collaborator Jill A. Samuels to be shown in October at the New OHIO Theater, in New York city's Greenwich Village. Fae, whose compelling one-woman play about Joan of Arc allowed her to shine on stage, describes "Take What Is Yours" as "the (too) little-known (true) story of how American women fought for and won the right to vote. Inspired by and composed in the words of Alice Paul, the National Woman's Party, and documents of their time."
"Take What Is Yours," at the New OHIOTheatre 
154 Christopher St., New York
Tickets: $18/$15 students and groups
Oct. 7, 8, 12-15 & 19-22 at 8 p.m., Oct. 9, 16 & 23 at 3 p.m.
www.ericafae.com

Photograph by Denise Blasor

  The one thing we can never get enough of is love.
  And the one thing we never give enough of is love.
                  -- Henry Miller


Copyright 2011 © Lorraine Blasor All Rights Reserved