Kiko's Food News, 11.11.11

A neat example of how one culture’s unique cuisine can be enjoyed within the framework of what we know about healthful eating today: the Oldways African Heritage Diet Pyramid  has a prominent layer devoted entirely to collards, chard, kale and spinach! (full story)

What passes for honey in many grocery chains may not have the health benefits, as the majority of samples in a recent test had all of the natural pollen removed before bottling:(full story)

Occupy Big Food has created a petition to tell Butterball–the number one producer of turkeys in the US–that Americans are no longer going to purchase turkeys that are inhumanely treated; this Civil Eats article breaks down the truth about turkey production today: (full story)

A recent study at UC Davis found that people’s visits to fast-food joints increased along with their incomes, and that poor people were spending fewer dollars on fast food than lower-middle and middle-income Americans: (full story)

The idea that food may be addictive was barely on scientists’ radar a decade ago, but a growing body of medical research suggests that processed foods and sugary drinks aren’t simply unhealthy–they can hijack the brain in ways that resemble addictions to cocaine, nicotine and other drugs: (full story)

A former food marketing exec who spent over 15 years at companies like General Mills, Pillsbury, and Nabisco talks about how the processed food industry is trying to grow and defend their business by relying on self-serving research and other tactics: (full story)

Kiko's Food News, 11.4.11

The government has proposed the first changes in 15 years to its $11 billion school-lunch program, such as decreasing the starch and salt content in lunches; food companies including Coca-Cola, Del Monte Foods and the makers of frozen pizza and French fries have a huge stake in the new guidelines and many argue that it would raise the cost of meals and call for food that too many children just won’t eat: (full story)

Well, at least one school district is full speed ahead: the Chicago Public Schools announced that its main food-service company will begin buying and serving chicken drumsticks from birds raised in the local area without antibiotics. The deal will bring 1.2 million pounds of chicken to 473 schools per year, and makes Chicago the nation’s largest district to endorse feeding kids chicken that is antibiotic-free. (full story)

A study released this week revealed that U.S. children and teenagers are seeing far more soda ads than before, with blacks and Hispanics being major targets as marketers have expanded online. Black children and teens saw 80 to 90 percent more ads than white children, Hispanic children saw 49 percent more ads for sugary drinks and energy drinks on Spanish-language television, and Hispanic teens saw 99 percent more ads: (full story)

Mark Bittman aimed his discussion this week at those who think eating locally is an “elitist plot”. To counter those who believe they’re entitled to eat any food any time, Bittman argues that to grow what you can close to where you live and eat what you can grow is nothing new, certainly not elite, and necessary: (full story)

The New York Times highlighted a swarm of new butcher shops that are turning around the way meat is bought and sold in the US, including that of our friend Patrick Martins whose Heritage Meat Shop seeks out breeds of cattle or hogs other than those favored by industrial meat packers: (full story)

Kiko's Food News, 10.28.11

I was saddened to read that over half of Americans say they’ve recently gone a year without dining out, a luxury many of us take for granted. Only 49.3 percent of adults say they dined out between fall 2009 and fall 2010, according to recently released figures from the U.S. Census Bureau that expose the growing gap between our country’s rich and poor: (full story)

Speaking of luxuries, NYC convenience has come to SF: Seamless Web is a food ordering website with no need to pick up the phone, and free delivery; it’s been a staple of NYC offices since I worked there years ago, so I’m interested to watch how it shifts our own office meal culture: (full story)

And speaking of convenience in SF, the snazzy new Avedano’s Meat Wagon, parked in Proxy (the food lover’s cluster in Hayes Valley), carries meaty goods like NY steaks, chickens, ground lamb, bacon and hot dogs from 4505 Meats, sourced from the same producers who supply the beloved Bernal Heights butcher shop. (Fridays, in a nod to Catholic tradition, it will also carry fish sourced from sustainable seafood expert Kenny Belov): (full story)

This article in The Atlantic puts forth a compelling argument that industrialization is the primary cause of our depopulated farms and rural towns, and that federal subsidies should be geared toward farming that sustains natural resources instead of farming that depends on non-renewable, polluting substitutes: (full story)

And this one argues that expansion of supermarket chains into food deserts may not be the answer, since food dollars spent in retail giants will be sent off to their corporate headquarters, instead of in alternative food store models that could recirculate them within the community: (full story)

Breathing new life into old shells, the Shell Recycling Alliance of the Oyster Recovery Partnership works with restaurants throughout the mid-Atlantic to collect discarded shells from raw bars and dinner plates. The shells then become homes for tiny oyster spats, aka fledgling oysters, in hopes of replenishing the area’s bivalve population: (full story)

Kiko's Food News, 10.21.11

A class-action suit against General Mills targeting its line of fruit snacks including Fruit Roll Ups, Fruit by the Foot and Fruit Gushers alleges that they are “conveying an overall message of a healthful snack product to parents when, in fact, the products contain dangerous, non-nutritious, unhealthy partially hydrogenated oil, large amounts of sugar, and potentially harmful artificial dyes”: (full story)

But an end to food marketing to kids won’t be here too soon: allowing the brand icons from popular cereals to remain untouched is one of the concessions officials will probably make as they work to persuade food companies to curb junk food marketing to children (as Tony the Tiger would say, GRRRR!): (full story)

I was shocked by this exposé about the annual American Dieticians Association meeting. Who better than the conference’s corporate sponsors (Coca-Cola, Aramark, Hershey, PepsiCo, Mars, General Mills and others) to hold panels ranging from “A Fresh Look at Processed Foods” to “Are Sugars Toxic: What’s Wrong with Current Research?”: (full story)

Target has announced that it will sell only sustainable seafood by 2015. FishWise, who has been a resource for us here at Bi-Rite with our own seafood sourcing, is partnering with them to implement the project: (full story)

And evidencing the need for responsible seafood sourcing, a salmon-killing virus was seen for first time in the wild on the Pacific Coast (the contagion doesn’t affect people but is a scourge of fish farms). Offshore saltwater pens supply most of the Atlantic salmon sold in the US, and farms hit by the virus have lost 70 percent or more of their fish in recent decades, but until now it had never been confirmed on the West Coast of North America:(full story)

California’s olive oil production is skyrocketing and becoming competitive with Europe’s imports, as oil produced domestically can be fresher, purer and cheaper than the imports, while creating jobs and reducing fossil-fuel consumption: (full story)

Around one in seven people in the world is malnourished, but the solution isn’t just producing more food. For all of you visual learners, this story shows how we already produce too much, it’s just not going to the right places: (full story)

Kiko's Food News, 10.14.11

Campaigns for the labeling of food containing GMOs are gaining momentum, and polls show overwhelming consumer support for labels.  Still, neither Congress, the FDA, nor the USDA have been willing to respond, even though Obama was caught on camera promising to label GMO food (unprecedented for a sitting president)!(full story)

One of the campaigns, called “justlabelit”, debuted this parody of a family blindly eating a dinner they can’t tell what’s in: (full story)

Sesame Street is airing a special episode on hunger in America; in it Lily, a new 7-year-old girl muppet, talks about growing up in a home where there wasn’t enough food, helps Elmo and friends plan a food drive, and visits a community garden with new pals Elmo and Rosita to see how food can be grown locally: (full story)

A Huffington Post column debates the hypocrisy of anti-Wall Street protesters welcoming free Ben & Jerry’s pints, and eating McDonald’s and other “corporate” food; should we just be happy that this movement questioning economic justice means activists who may also push the envelope with food system issues? (full story)

Not your standard champions for the local food movement: Indie-singer Karen O was commissioned by Chipotle’s Cultivate Foundation to create a viral music video raising awareness about the economic hardship family farmers face in our industrialized  agriculture system: (full story)

Can the TOMS Shoes business model work with organic food? A New York food company is giving away a dozen eggs for every dozen sold: (full story)

Community Action Marin FoodWorks, a small batch co-packing company, is helping Marin farmers turn their produce into jellies, jams, sauces and salsas, giving them a shelf life far beyond the growing season and a value-added product to take to the farmers market in the winter time: (full story)

A new study that looked at indicators of impatience for the same population determined that impatient individuals are more likely to be obese than people who are good at waiting: (full story)

P.S. Want to see what Kiko’s up to when not writing food news? Etsy thought my “leave no leftover behind” mantra was worth blogging about: (full story)

Kiko's Food News, 9.30.11

Cooking is fun! Mark Bittman made a big statement in his NY Times Op Ed challenging the notion of junk food being cheaper than real food; by this argument, the primary obstacle to healthier eating is people’s resistance to cooking at home: (full story)

For your own cooking inspiration, you might try black pepper and these other hot “new” ingredients next time you’re whipping up a dessert: (full story)

CUESA sent a photographer to get an inside view of Catalán Family Farm, and turned it into this great photo story (our produce section wouldn’t be the same without the veggies and fruits that Maria and Juan send us!) : (full story)

They also announced the launch of the California Agricultural Almanac, a “central hub for information about vegetable, fruit and nut specialty crops in California. ” (full story)

Outlets that specialize in quick and cheap daytime meals have been experimenting with adding high-margin alcohol to their menus to combat the rough economy, but the logistics have been prohibitive and customers just aren’t reaching for a Cabernet with their Whopper: (full story)

Those Dutch are always pushing the innovation envelope: the new Park Supermarket will stock everything you’d find in a typical grocery store on 4,000 acres of agrarian land in Holland’s largest metropolitan region; instead of plucking your assorted vegetables and rice off a shelf, you’ll get them fresh out of the ground! (full story)

In a case of widespread food distribution spun out of control, the deadliest food illness outbreak in more than a decade has led to 16 deaths and many more sick from possible listeria traced to Colorado cantaloupes that were shipped to a laundry list of 25 states:(full story)

And the U.S.D.A. recalled 40,000 lbs. of frozen ground beef products shipped to Georgia because of possible contamination with E. coli O157:H7 bacteria. The frozen meat was produced by Palo Duro Meat in Amarillo, Texas, and shipped to two warehouses in Georgia for further distribution to institutions, including six public school districts: (full story)

Marion Nestle And Vandana Shiva: Different Paths To Similar Conclusions

Last week I had the honor of hearing two heroines of the food movement speak to live audiences about the issues they’re most focused on. Marion Nestle and Dr. Vandana Shiva spoke from very different [albeit both scientific] backgrounds, but told complimentary stories.

Marion Nestle, the picture of American domesticity and health!

I’ve known Marion Nestle  as a scholar of food politics for years; her original background is in nutrition, and she has written many books, most recently finishing one about calories. Accordingly, she opened her speech at University of California, Berkeley (part of Michael Pollan’s Edible Education course series there) with the simple statement that excess calories are the challenge of our food system. The big irony about calories on a macro level is that, according to Nestle, about as many people are food insecure (i.e. going hungry) as are obese.

I was interested by what Nestle isolated as the three “deregulations”, which all happened right around the time I was born, and have since caused Americans to eat more calories:

1. Deregulation of agriculture: starting in the 70’s, restrictions on growing food were replaced by subsidies for commodity crop production
2. Deregulation of Wall St.: shareholders now held the power, and pressured business to grow; to do this, food companies had to sell more product to the same amount of eaters
3. Deregulation of food marketing, beginning in the early 80’s

Vandana Shiva, warm yet serious

One often repeated sound byte around here is how it’s less expensive to buy a box of fruit loops than it is to buy a piece of fruit–and think about all of the labor, manufacturing, packaging and transportation costs that went into that box! Nestle cited the advertising budget for the Fruit Loops  brand in 2009: $20 million! Then, taking the case further, she showed a box of Fruit Loops with the claim “2 grams of fiber!” brandished across the front. Sure, she argues, 2 grams of fiber is better than zero grams, but does just being betterfor you mean it’s good for you? She would argue not.

***

Whereas Nestle channels her fighting words towards food companies that market products to children, Dr. Vandana Shiva directs her fight against industrial agriculture. She opened her talk at Dominican University in San Rafael with the image of trees being bulldozed in the Amazon, and sighed “that’s not how farming was supposed to be. That’s how war was supposed to be.” Going further she asserted, “fertilizer should never have been allowed in agriculture; I think it’s time to ban it. It’s a weapon of mass destruction. Its use is like war, because it came from war.”

She discussed the history of hunger, which has existed for centuries but, she would argue, differently than it does today: Whereas traditionally hunger was a natural, localized result of war or drought, today it’s a global problem resulting from global agricultural economies. “All that industrial agriculture is doing,” she said, “is producing more commodities and monoculture–not more food.”Yes, Dr. Shiva brought an element of drama to this discussion; she was enchanting! Pointing to an amaranth plant next to her podium, drooped with the weight of its deep purple flowers, she said, “It’s not just one part of the plant you use–it’s the leaves and all. That’s the beauty of biodiversity.” (This notion certainly resonates with me, given my personal mission of eating every part of vegetables and plants, from squash skin to melon rinds to radish tops.)

Putting the heat on huge global packaged goods companies, she quoted a press release from Nestle [the multinational food company, not Marion!] that said “there is no way to feed the planet by going straight from farm to table.” Her face revealed her incredulity towards that statement, which suggests the opposite of the productivity she’s witnessed researching centuries-old farming cultures in India and the rest of the world.

Like Nestle, Dr. Shiva is “pro” food labeling. She’s throwing her weight behind the work being done to require that foods made with GMO products be labeled as such. When asked what regular people can do to push her cause forward, she said, “we need to turn our gardening work into seed saving work. We need an outrage against the ownership of life.” Most immediately, Dr. Shiva peaked our ears with a heads up on a False Promises Report that she’s going public with on October 6th; it will be a culmination of many years of her work. Stay tuned!

Kiko's Food News, 9.23.11

Have you heard the phrase “hypermarket”? It’s a new term for a supermarket plus department store; check out this shocking chart about just how “hyper” these can be: (full story)

Speaking of Wal-Mart, this is more consumer culture than food news per se, but too funny. Wal-Mart is being called a “magnet for American mayhem”; did you know that Sarah Palin once officiated a wedding at her hometown branch?(full story)

And as for the fate of a few chain (but not hyper) markets, the United Food and Commercial Workers union confirmed Monday that they had reached a three-year labor contract with Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons, averting a grocery strike that would have idled more than 54,000 workers across Southern California. If the strike had gone forward, many shoppers may have fled to the competition (and stayed there) as they did in 2003-04 strike: (full story)

Can the food industry and government work together to solve epidemics of obesity and chronic disease? The International Food and Beverage Alliance participated in U.N. meetings this week, but Marion Nestle illuminates how their intentions might have been more to prevent the U.N. from issuing a statement that says anything about how food marketing promotes obesity and related chronic diseases: (full story)

The federal government has mandated a healthier menu, and state and school officials are trying to figure out how to absorb the added costs. The U.S.D.A. plans on giving a reimbursement of six additional cents per lunch to those schools that offer more fruits and vegetables; will federal aid cover only the beginning of the program? (full story)

The Alameda Point Collaborative Urban Farm, a one-acre farm growing a variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs, eggs, honey, is an example of public benefit communities can reap from former military lands. In urban areas with less potential for growing food, base closings free up large swaths of land which can be used for farming: (full story)

Finally, a report card for food activists: Michael Pollan discusses how the food movement can claim more success in changing popular consciousness than in shifting political and economic forces. But since our government is subsidizing precisely the sort of meal for which they’ll have to pick up the long-term tab (in health costs), advocates of food system reform may appear in unlikely places: (full story)

Kiko's Food News, 9.16.11

18 Reasons has officially moved into its new space next door to the Creamery! The Bay Citizen interviewed Rosie about the kind of programming it will allow for: (full story)

In the coming months, 7-11 stores will become drop spots for Amazon orders, which will be delivered to public lockers instead of left on doorsteps; what if the same system could be set up for CSA boxes? (full story)

A recent study on global forces that have created our “obesogenic environment” highlights how since 1900, the energy requirements for daily life have decreased substantially, while the food industry has made it easier for people to consume more calories throughout the day: (full story)

Sure school cafeterias can make their menus healthier, but if students react by choosing to buy “lunch” from snack trucks instead, where does it get us? (full story)

The US and the European Union announced a bilateral agreement to combat illegal fishing; this will be a hard one to track, since (due to its very nature) no one knows how much illegal fishing there even is! (full story)

Would you try meat grown in a science lab? In vitro meat might someday be an option for people with carnivorous inclinations who aren’t wild about the idea of killing and eating real animals: (full story)

Countdown to October 24th: Food Day will be a new, nationwide holiday (modeled after Earth Day). In response to what can often feel like a fragmented national food movement, organizers hope that “if we all host fairly simultaneous events and campaigns about food-system issues it will be clear that these issues are connected.”: (full story)

Kiko's Food News, 9.9.11

Quite a list today, but some very juicy stuff if you’ll bear with me!

Interesting ingredient alert: tomato water is the newest spinoff of the summer staple, showing up in kitchens across SF: (full story)

Google’s been a lot of things to a lot of people, but a food authority? Yesterday they acquired Zagat: (full story)

If you’re like me, you love the sound of a friend biting into a crisp apple; if you have misophonia, that sound probably makes you panic: (full story)

Researchers at the New England Complex Systems Institute have found a causal relationship between critically high food prices and social unrest; when a certain price point for food is crossed, citizens begin to look at their rulers differently: (full story)

Two Stanford d.school students have launched Culture Kitchen, a culinary school where women (or more specifically, grandmothers!) share their family recipes and insight into their cultural backgrounds: (full story)

Speaking of diverse cultural influences, this Forbes article suggests that Trader Joe’s has gained a competitive advantage in a crowded space by embracing the “immigrant perspective”: (full story)

And as for that crowded space, traditional supermarket chains are faltering, squeezed by expensive purveyors of organic, local and artisanal products on the high end and discounters like Costco and Wal-Mart on the low end. Fresh N’ Easy from British chain Tesco is not yet profitable stateside but has ambitious expansion plans in this space in SF and beyond [Sam is quoted in this one!]: (full story)

Beyond the romantic notions the phrase “locally grown” has come to elicit, in Eastern Kentucky vegetable growing is a means of feeding people who have trouble affording standard groceries from the store: (full story)

Vineyards across Sonoma County are emerging as a threat to the coho salmon, as a dwindling number of coho must contend with water-hungry vines and a frost-prevention method that can suck smaller tributaries dry: (full story)

And Sonoma’s Gravenstein Apple is another victim of the region’s emerging monoculture; the crop is threatened since land is more profitable when used to grow wine grapes: (full story)

Kiko's Food News, 8.26.11

Slow Food USA has officially launched their $5 Challenge campaign, encouraging people across the country to cook food at home that costs no more than five dollars per person:(full story)

Federal agents organized a sting operation against a tiny raw milk buying club in Venice, CA (the Rawesome Raw Food Club-how good is that name?), arresting a club volunteer and seizing computers, files, cash, and $70,000 worth of perishable produce; how’s that for efficient use of crime fighting resources?!: (full story)

Scientists have discovered a natural preservative which could mean the end of rotting food; the substance destroys the bacteria that make meat, fish, eggs and dairy products decompose: (full story)

Federal officials rejected Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to bar New York City’s food stamp users from buying soda and other sugary drinks with them; the decision derailed one of the mayor’s big ideas to fight obesity and poor nutrition in the city: (full story)

Chicago’s O’Hare Airport has partnered with a community group to start a 2,400 square foot apiary on-site; now 23 beehives are up and running and are scheduled to yield 575 pounds of honey this year: (full story)

UC Davis, long California’s hub for agricultural learning, has just launched a sustainable agriculture major, taught by faculty from 8 different departments: (full story)

If you’re reading this from New York, please visit this store since I can’t: the Hawthorne Valley Farm Store, a health-conscious and earth-conscious grocery nestled in the hills of Harlemville, has a special labeling system for foods produced by nearby farms that maintain “ecosystem-friendly ratios of plants to animals”, and runs sleepover camps where children learn how to milk cows and make yogurt: (full story)

Kiko's Food News, 8.19.11

A bright start to the school lunch year in Greely, Colorado, where public school food service officials attended a culinary boot camp as part of their district-wide initiative to restore the lost art of cooking in cafeterias: (full story)

Food prices could level off at the end of the year because farmers are seeing less demand for corn and are expecting a big crop; this will slow general food price inflation (since so much of food is made from corn!): (full story)

Speaking of the farmers, Mark Bittman profiled a handful of new ones that feel “the pie is getting bigger and that the more people that get into this the better it will be for everyone”: (full story)

Whole Foods has opened its first Wellness Club at its Dedham, Mass. store; members can use the reference library, take a lifestyle evaluation, or “learn how to prepare a dish — such as mango quinoa porridge — from a chef in a sleek kitchen, and then head out into the store to find, and buy, the ingredients.”! (full story)

The outbreak of illness from turkey contaminated with antibiotic-resistant salmonella is reviving a debate over whether federal regulators need to curtail the use of antibiotics in livestock. The focus now is on whether the FDA will turn its guidance for limiting antibiotic use into mandatory rules for the industry: (full story)

And meanwhile, a recent study by the University of Maryland found that poultry farms that have made the transition from conventional to organic farming have significantly lower levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria than conventional poultry farms: (full story)

You know about Slow Food International but don’t ACTUALLY know about the projects they’re involved in? Take this home for weekend reading: their beautiful new electronic “almanac”, in Carlo Petrini’s words, “speaks about us and the land we live on: in other words, our true wealth”: (full story)

Kiko's Food News, 8.12.11

Gearing up for some good eating this weekend? Want to know where Sam and Anne go for dinner out? Their favorite food spots in SF and Sonoma: (full story)

Tablehopper leaked news about the next restaurant to go into the empty spot at the end of our block (R.I.P. Craig’s Place, Ebb & Flow…); yes, it’s yet another izakaya place in SF, but this one sounds like it might have a more home-style angle: (full story)

For the first time, Monsanto has developed a crop that will be marketed directly to consumers (as opposed to made into processed foods). Monsanto, which holds 60% of the nation’s corn market, is ready to begin selling genetically modified sweet corn to consumers at supermarkets and farmers markets: (full story)

Given their proliferation all over the country, farmers markets could generate tens of thousands of new jobs with modest federal support; unfortunately federal policies favoring industrial ag hold them back: (full story)

And while we’re on the topic of federal policies supporting industrial ag, here’s a good discussion of a key obstacle to making good food available to all: if it truly costs a farmer $8 to produce a dozen pasture-raised eggs, and Walmart charges about $1 for a dozen, how can food that’s raised right not be considered elitist? (full story)

Feel like you’ve noticed a lot of “free-from” foods in the grocery aisle lately? The global food allergy market for products with less or no gluten, wheat, lactose, nuts, egg, soy, and additives is projected to exceed $26 billion by 2017:  (full story)

Trace and Trust, a boat-to-table seafood distribution program, was started this year to make fishing more lucrative and shopping more reliable. By cutting out the wholesaler, the fishermen get a bigger cut of what chefs and stores pay, and lets restaurants and retailers know they are buying the freshest fish possible: (full story)