Gettin' political up in here

I'm not a big fan of politics. Just don't have a head for it. I voted for John Kerry once...wait, was that his name...? Was that the whole hanging chad scandal? Sigh.

But that's not to say I don't believe in voting. The most important votes I make happen every day. The other night I had to wait for some friends in an area of town that has two coffee shops. One, Starbucks. The other, a locally owned place that supports local artists and has great vegan meals and drinks on the menu. Even though I could get a tea at either place, I voted for the local shop. Unlike my single political vote that gets filtered through an electoral college, my dollars vote directly for the establishment that I think kicks the most butt. Sweet!

Want to vote for protecting the environment? For protecting public health? Buy organic! Buy local! Buy less meat and fewer packaged foods. It's good for you, and it uses your spending power to tell big business where they need to focus in order to get your hard earned dollars.

Swaddled in Green

Ok I don't even know how I ended up on the website for gDiapers, but that's what blog-surfing will get you. It looks like a great product – a reusable outer diaper with inner plastic-free absorbtion pad that you can trash, flush or compost. Really? That's cool. Having zero babies myself, I'll just file this away for another day. But maybe some of you would like to swaddle your little ones in ecofriendliness?

Couldn't help but wonder what the grown-up version of these are... My friend recently challenged herself to a 30 Day No Trash Challenge and one obstacle was the monthly visitor. Maybe gDiaper will create some kind of gCapris in the future?

Rising Costs aka Your Best Friend

Every time I turn anything from NPR to Fox News, it's the same story: The rising cost of food. Before I pound this one into a pulp, I'll preface by saying that I feel terrible and frustrated by the thought of people around the world struggling to survive, spending more than 75% of their income on food and forgoing their own meals for the sake of their children.

But here's what frustrates me even more: Americans driving SUVs to grocery stores to buy milk, eggs and Tyson chicken fingers, stopping for a Coolatta at the drive-thru, and coming home to watch one of their 500 cable channels on their 60" plasma TV which they bought on credit and are making only minimal monthly payments on. And then complaining about the rising costs of food.

I think the food cost issue is the best thing to happen to the American diet in a long time. It's like your best friend who carefully points out that maybe those pants DO make you look fat. Your best friend is just helping you by showing you the obvious facts...and you love her for it. Rising food costs can do the same by pointing out how our food production methods are simply not sustainable and we're going to have to change.

How about trading in chicken and hamburgers for locally grown swiss chard with tomatoes, olives, lentils and a homemade vinaigrette? Delicious, healthy, and cheaper than even the cheapest 70/30 ground beef. How about investigating plant-based options for calcium, like almonds or kale, and drinking less milk?

Even if food costs don't sway Americans towards eating more veggies and less processed food, I have to point out some mixed-up priorities. We'll spend way beyond our means on things like flat-screen TVs, ipods and iphones, the latest sneakers, and god forbid you don't get HBO. But spend money on quality food and suddenly it's a...crisis?

Crossing a Fish With a Strawberry and Other Tales of Genetic Engineering

The clementine, the mule, the liger...all fascinating feats of genetic recombinations! They've even tried combining a strawberry with an artic flounder to produce a berry more capable of surviving frost. (Didn't work. Shucks.)

But by and large, the most widespread use of genetic twister games are happening in crops to be able to withstand pesticides. Makes sense, right? Farmers who buy genetically modified seeds from the biotech giants can buy corresponding high-powered pesticides (from the same biotech company, which is good business sense) that will kill everything AROUND their crops, but leave the crops themselves unharmed. In addition to questionable food quality, this technique encourages irresponsible use of pesticides. Why not give the field any extra-heavy spray if it won't hurt the crops you're selling? Who cares about the runoff into the water supply? Or the chemicals that make their way to Americans' dinner plates? And genetically modified foods are surely safe...right?

There are more acres of genetically engineered soybeans than any other crop. Corn comes next. That's your tofu, soy milk, soy oil, lecithin emulsifiers, corn oil, corn syrup, corn starch, corn flour, etc. found in foods you likely eat every day.

The government certainly doesn't require food to be labeled if it contains GMO/GEO (Genetically Modified/Engineered Organisms) so look instead for "Non-GMO" labels. Buying organic corn or soy means it was grown without pesticides so you are probably safe there too.

Jeez! Who knew? I didn't until I read The Food Revolution by John Robbins, which is where the info all comes from. He's got it all footnoted and cross referenced so check it out.

The Industrial Organic Oxymoron

This is an excerpt from Chef Ann Cooper's "The Renegade Lunch Lady" blog:

November 21st, 2007, Industrial Organics

November 20, 2007
They’re mass-produced by agribiz but better than eating poisons
by Ann Cooper, Kate Adamick

“Industrial organics.” The mere mention of the recently coined, aptly turned phrase describing mass-produced organic foods grown on giant industrial farms and sold in superstores such as Wal-Mart, Whole Foods and Safeway, can cause our palms to sweat.

As food systems consultants and school food reform advocates, we regularly take a firm stand on a wide range of controversial food issues. So what is it about industrial organics that kicks our nervous systems into high gear? Is it that we so strongly believe that industrial organics constitute an incongruity so dangerous as to destroy any remaining prospect of developing a truly sustainable agriculture system? Or, is it because we fervently believe industrial organics are the long-awaited savior — almighty capitalism’s answer to eradicating pesticides, hormones and antibiotics from our food supply?

Read the whole post at http://www.chefann.com/blog/?p=928.

Be a cheapskate

When I was in college I lived on no more than $20/week in groceries. I'd look for old Sunday papers in my building's recycling bin and steal the coupon inserts. My big trick was getting food practically free by finding it on sale AND using a double coupon. Take that!

If you're a cheapskate like me, you'll look at organic produce or grass-fed beef and choke on the pricetag. But here's a different way of thinking about the cost of sustainably grown, organic food:

"The ninety-nine cent price of a fast-food hamburger simply doesn't take account of that meal's true cost--to soil, oil, public health, the public purse, etc., costs which are never charged directly to the consumer but, indirectly and invisibly, to the taxpayer (in the form of subsidies), the health care system (in the form of food-borne illness and obesity), and the environment (in the form of pollution), not to mention the welfare of the animals themselves."

From The Omnivore's Dilemma