We can either pay the farmer or we can pay the hospital

http://www.grist.org/article/food-2010-09-24-11-year-old-schools-us/

Where Is My Milk From?

In the midst of the truly disgusting and scary egg contamination recall, other vulnerable foods spring to mind.

Namely, dairy! Check out this neat little tool* to help you learn as much as you can about what is often all-too-mysterious: the actual origins and processors of our milk.

Especially as someone who frequently shops at Trader Joe's (though I only ever buy organic dairy, no matter what store I'm shopping at, because of...well, all of this), where, as part of their low-price dealio, they take products from name-brand outfits and put them under their own TJ's labels, this is a huge help to me. Using this handy little tool, I discovered that a lot of their dairy is local to me and from reputably organic producers, like our beloved Nancy's Creamery -- which is a huge relief and wonderful thing to know!


* Confused as to where to enter in your code? It's right on the milk carton -- I totally missed it the first time!

Avoiding the Dirty Dozen

The Environmental Working Group just released their new Shopper's Guide to Pesticides. Have you seen this? Do you use it? If not, I highly recommend.

I try to be as conscious of the environmental and health impacts of the food that I eat, cook, and serve as possible. But the truth is, it's simply impossible to eat all-organic, all-local, all-sustainable, all-ethical ALL of the time. Well, perhaps it might be possible if I had a million dollars in the bank and didn't work and had the land space to raise chickens and have a huge garden. Then I might have the time and the resources to be able to make that happen. But I would still have to limit at what restaurants I ate, and I am okay (for now, at least) with not imposing such strict limitations on myself and my family.

So what I'm saying is: knowing what I know about the brokenness, filth, toxicity, and inhumanity of our food systems, and as someone who wants to eat as healthily and as safely for our planet as possible, I still need to compromise and make choices.

And nowhere is that more important than in the grocery store.

When I make my weekly meal plan, I also make up a grocery list and head to the store to stock up for the week. Sometimes a recipe will call for, say, red bell peppers. And sometimes I will buy them, if they're not grown and flown in from Chile or New Zealand (because for me personally, I've drawn the line there -- I won't support that much fossil fuel being used to bring me a bell pepper. Plus they never taste the way they should -- and why would they? They've traveled a looooong way to make it to my store).

But if I do buy them, I will only buy them organic. If the organic ones are too pricey (because OMG red or orange bell peppers are freaking expensive!), I'll either choose to buy the smallest one I can find, or pass and find some kind of a substitute, like a (usually cheaper) organic green bell pepper.

Why? Because bell peppers are on the Dirty Dozen list!

Check it out -- EWG has put together two lists:

THE DIRTY DOZEN
The top 12 vegetables and fruits that are the most susceptible to and carry the most pesticides on and in them when they are grown conventionally. So these are the 12 that you will want to go out of your way to be sure to buy organic. These are listed in order of "dirtiness," with 1 being the worst (ie, most full of pesticides).

1.  Celery (Who knew?! This is news to me -- and glad I know! I love me some celery sticks with peanut butter.)
2. Peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Blueberries
6. Nectarines
7. Bell Peppers
8. Spinach
9. Cherries
10. Kale and Collard Greens
11. Potatoes
12. Grapes (Imported)

THE CLEAN 15
These are the 15 fruits and vegetables that retain or carry the lowest amount of pesticides. This is where you can make your compromises if you need to buy non-organic. These are listed in order of "cleanliness," with 1 being the best (ie, least full of pesticides).

1. Onions (Yay, because for some reason, organic red onions are wayyy expensive here at some times of the year. I'm switching to conventional next time I shop until their price goes down.)
2. Avocado (Also yay because a) I loooove avocado and b) sometimes organic avocados are not even available in the store.)
3. Sweet Corn
4. Pineapple
5. Mangos
6. Sweet Peas
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Cantaloupe
12. Watermelon
13. Grapefruit
14. Sweet Potato
15. Honeydew Melon

I was surprised to not see bananas on the Clean 15 -- I was under some mistaken assumption that they were on that list. I am now switching my banana-buying habit to organic-only.

If you're wondering how much pesticides really get into your system and how bad they really are for you (in other words, how much should you pay attention to the Dirty Dozen or the Clean 15), you can read the many, many reasons why or here's a brief summary of what EWG has to say about it:

Some of the most toxic food pesticides have come off the market in the past 15 years. But some pesticides considered safe now will invariably be restricted in future years. Chemical agribusiness interests might assert that pesticides in food are perfectly safe, but the reality is that many pesticide uses that are on the books as safe today will be found unsafe by EPA in the future, based on new science, new understandings about the mechanisms by which pesticides can harm the human body, or strengthened policies for health protection within the agency itself. 

EWG research has found that people who eat five fruits and vegetables a day from the Dirty Dozen list consume an average of 10 pesticides a day. Those who eat from the 15 least contaminated conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables ingest fewer than 2 pesticides daily. Concentrations of organophosphate pesticides, including chlorpyrifos and malathion, in elementary school-age children’s bodies peaked during seasons that they ate the most produce. Conversely, exposures fell to non-detectable levels in just 5 days, when they switched from a conventional diet to eating exclusively organic foods.

So how about you? If you find these useful, you can download a PDF to print out and then cut out your own little card with the two lists. I've got mine in my purse for when I go to shop. And if you're an iPhone user, you can download their app to take it with you!

Amen

Michael Ruhlman is spot on. Amen!

We can’t expect big business to have our best interests in mind, nor expect the media to stop ringing the all-in-one Salt-Is-Bad! Fat-Is-Bad! alarm bells. Big companies want to sell us their goods any way they can. If they can take advantage of our confusion about how to eat, they will, rubbing their hands and chuckling with delight.... I blame us for being stupid.  It’s our own damned fault. We need to stop paying for lies and start paying more attention to what we’re eating.

Ultimately, our eating habits -- good, bad, or ugly -- are our own responsibility. Yes, manufacturers need to change their ways. But the only way they will is when it becomes profitable to do so. In other words, when we as the consumers change our habits, both in regards to eating and purchasing.

Here's to reading the fine print....

Meatless Mondays

Have you heard about the Meatless Mondays campaign?

I love the idea: their goal is to "help reduce meat consumption [by] 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet."

Why meatless? "Going meatless once a week may reduce your risk of chronic preventable conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. It can also help reduce your carbon footprint and save precious resources like fresh water and fossil fuel." Hell yes!

Why Monday? "For most Americans the week begins on Monday. On Monday we move from the freedom of the weekend back to the structure of work or school. We set our intentions for the next six days. We plan ahead and evaluate progress. From an early age we internalize this rhythm. And studies suggest we are more likely to maintain behaviors begun on Monday throughout the week. That makes Monday the perfect day to make a change for your health and the health of our planet." Awesome! I love that. Hadn't ever thought about it, but makes lots of sense. And I really love that they are of the it's-all-a-spectrum ilk; ie, if you don't go meatless this Monday, there's always next Monday to give it a whirl.

As any longtime readers of this here blog know, around here at Casa Dena we usually do the inverse: Meatful One-Day-a-Week! But I know that it's hard for lots of folks to give up meat for dinner, especially if you grew up with the framework that dinner simply isn't dinner without meat on the plate. So I totally applaud the attempt to get people to forgo meat one day a week; it's very do-able. And I love that they're getting restaurants in on it. What a way to normalize it, make it seem do-able, and make it easy for folks to take part.

And the newest signer-on? Mario Batali! Yes, he of orange-croc-wearing fame, of Food Network fame, of mouth-wateringly delicious food at restaurants like Babbo fame.

How cool!

And another bonus to a meatless anyday: it's much cheaper! Going without meat is a real recession special, if you ask me. My recent recession special new trick: using dried, bulk beans. It is difficult to remember to soak those bad boys the night before, but when you do, it feels like you've turned $0.37 into a meal for four people!

And if you're interested in good recipes for your next Meatless Monday, I've got lots of vegetarian recipes in my archives. Or you can check out my favorite simple and yummy vegetarian food blog, 101 Cookbooks.

So what about you? How often do you eat or cook meat? If you don't eat it every day of the week, do you do that consciously? How hard would it be for you to not eat meat every Monday?


(Also, can we talk about that little fact that the entire city of San Francisco signed on? That RULES! I'm not exactly clear what that means for dear old SF, but I can imagine it really working out there.)

(And a big hat tip to my dear friend -- and truly delicious home chef -- James for alerting me to Chef Batali's joining the campaign!)

Let the Free Market Decide

Remember that little graphic I posted a few days ago about why salads cost more than Big Macs?

"...My pie in the sky dream is to end subsidies for agribusiness and end subsidies for animal production and basically let the free market decide the cost of a pound of beef and a pound of chicken. If there were no subsidies for beef, a pound of beef would cost around $25, and if every aspect of animal production wasn't subsidized, a family of four going to McDonald's for a quick meal would spend $75. So really it's like the silver bullet that fixes the problem. And I would almost think it would make for interesting bedfellows, where you might even get some libertarian Tea Party people to talk about ending giving subsidies to animal production. But then again, not to be too inflammatory, but thus far every single person in the Tea Party is a raving lunatic, so I don't expect them to join our cause any time soon."

-- Moby, author of Gristle: From Factory Farms to Food Safety (emphasis mine)

Amen, Moby. It thrills me to just imagine it.

Why DOES a Salad Cost More Than a Big Mac?

Since I'm so inspired by the adorable and brilliant Jamie Oliver's latest quest, I came across this graphic and very short article and had to share.

Why Does a Salad Cost More Than a Big Mac?

"Why does a salad cost more than a Big Mac? Part of the reason is that a huge proportion of our food subsidies go to meat while only 0.37 percent go to fruits and vegetables. That makes meat and dairy artificially cheap, so we end up consuming more of it than we should, and getting fatter."

P.S. Did anyone else watch Jamie last night?

The (Food) Revolution Is Being Televised

Did you happen to catch the pilot of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution?

I had recorded it and wasn't sure what I'd think of it. I finally got around to watching it -- and was riveted. What a fantastic show. Jamie is telling it, bringing it, and cooking it.

It's going to take some serious doing for him to make even a dent in the god-awful eating habits (pizza for breakfast as a sanctioned school meal?!?) of Huntington, West Virginia -- recently named the "unhealthiest city in America."



I salute Jamie Oliver for taking on our country's eating: he's got it all right. What we eat is more than just what we put in our mouths for any given meal. It's about changing our future: we can be better than who we have complacently become at the hands of industries and corporations who make money off our unhealthy habits.

We don't have to surrender to this new reality of "easy, inexpensive eating means our only options are unhealthy." We don't have to accept that we are becoming heavier and sicker every day. We don't have to resign ourselves that our children may not have the lifespan that we are projected to have. And we certainly have a right to be outraged about this entire state of affairs! I feel like Jamie is helping us to take off some of our blinders and retrieve our outrage about the state of our food systems and eating in this country. How can it not all make you mad? My favorite part in the pilot is when Jamie talks about being PISSED about the food being fed the schoolchildren he's working with. I so feel you, brother.

It's about taking the simplest steps to cook simple meals for ourselves and our families -- in doing that, I really do believe we can change the future of this country. (Just think how that would change our healthcare needs and healthcare system!)

So go watch. I'll be right there with you: Fridays, 8pm, ABC.


(No, neither ABC nor Jamie Oliver have any idea or care about who I am. I just really did love this show. It's not all preachy, either. It's entertaining -- especially when he tangles with the school lunch ladies!)

12 "Food" Items

It looks like food! It smells like food! It tastes like food!

But...for the most part, the "food" items shown in this genius slideshow are not, exactly, food.

My favorite (most disgusting?) is the CHICKEN IN A CAN. Say it with me now: ewwwwwwwww.

I'm sure there's plenty more out there to be added to this list, but for now, this is plenty for me to...er, chew on. I might need to throw up in the wastebasket a little after seeing this, though.

Food & Eating on Vacation

Hubby and I just got back from a fantastic vacation to visit the Hotel Queen Mary, Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park, and...The Happiest Place on Earth. (And the truth is, I am such a child of Disney that it really did make me The Happiest Girl on Earth to be there.) We had a great time, and are glad to be home. That's the goal of a good vacation, I think: to have a great time but still be so glad that your home is your home and your life is your life.

Anyway, this vacation was a little more...shall we say, interesting... in terms of food, in that I have, for various reasons too numerous and medical to go into here, cut out all sugar (except fruit), grains, and starches of any kind from my diet. What is there left to eat in life, you ask? I know, I had the same questions. A life without bread? Without rice? Without my favorite, potatoes? Would I survive?

But the truth is there is still good stuff to be had: fats -- of all kinds! Bring 'em on! And protein and fruit and vegetables and beans.

This diet doesn't pose so much of a problem for me when I'm home: I cook a lot, as you know, so I can tailor recipes to my specific needs. And Eugene is such a healthy foodie paradise (with a lot of vegans and gluten-free eaters, so folks are used to "strange" eating habits) that eating out is actually easier than you'd think. 

But eating like this on vacation? Yikes. It can get really difficult unless you're okay with eating salad for three meals a day, every day. However, I managed it really pretty well, by using a few strategies that proved invaluable:

(a) I had to briefly suspend my observance of eating only eco-kosher meat. In other words, I ate whatever meat I came across. There was simply no other way to get the kind of protein and calories I needed without doing so. It was actually mentally tough for me to do, but I made it, and now I am so happy to be back to eco-kosher-only!

(b) I stocked up on several bags of different kinds of mixed nuts at Trader Joe's before leaving, and would every day put a little mix of them into a ziploc bag to carry with me in my purse. At Disneyland waiting in line when hunger strikes? Eat some nuts! In a national park on a hike when your stomach starts to grumble? Reach for the nuts! A perfect tide-over.

(c) Wherever and whenever possible, I ate fruit. Most fruit needs to be kept refrigerated, but a lot of fruit will last for a while without it. Bananas, apples, oranges, pears were my salvation. Not only are they good tide-overs, they make a nice dessert and end to your meal.

(d) In addition, wherever and whenever possible, so as to keep from feeling like you live in a refrigerator and feed yourself some warm food, I ordered soup. Soup is often a great option that doesn't have sugar or grains/starches. I ordered French Onion soup without the croutons in Disneyland, in fact. 

And lastly, (e) In Palm Springs we had a kitchenette, which was really great: we were able to buy eggs and hard-boil them, as well as fruit and yogurt. Breakfast -- truly the most important meal of the day, especially if you're eating like I am -- was well taken care of.

So I survived. I even survived hiking in the desert and traipsing around the Magic Kingdom. The droolingly always-delicious In-n-Out was a life-saver, what with its protein-style (and animal-style, too, of course!) burgers and all.

The truth is, special diet or no, I was mostly appalled by Southern California's food and what passed as "good food." Doesn't hold a candle to the Bay Area, or even Eugene and Oregon for that matter. Not to offend anyone, but I am so glad I don't live there. It was a fantastic place to visit. But I gotta say, if only for the food alone, I am so happy to be home.

What about you? What are your eating-while-traveling coping strategies?



P.S. Check out my dear friend Winston's recent great blog post about the "CRAZY" celebrity diet description he recently read about in a magazine that got him -- and me -- in a bit of a tizzy. And there are some great recipes in there! I'm so making that Braised Lentils recipe. Minus the barley for me and substituting quinoa for hubby.

Your Daily Vomit

I'm so sorry. But this is so gross -- and so prevalent -- that I had to share. Sorry to make you vomit.

Bacteria Linked To Feces Found In Nearly Half Of Fast Food Soda Fountains

Eww. Eww. Eww.

Just another sign from the universe to stay far, far away from nearly all fast food "restaurants" and industrially produced "food."

A Sampling of Food Rules

Following up on yesterday's post about Michael Pollan's new book, Food Rules, I thought I'd share the sampling of rules he made available. I think my favorite of the below is #19. I can't wait to read—and take to heart—the rest!

#11 Avoid foods you see advertised on television.
Food marketers are ingenious at turning criticisms of their products—and rules like these—into new ways to sell slightly different versions of the same processed foods: They simply reformulate (to be low-fat, have no HFCS or transfats, or to contain fewer ingredients) and then boast about their implied healthfulness, whether the boast is meaningful or not. The best way to escape these marketing ploys is to tune out the marketing itself, by refusing to buy heavily promoted foods. Only the biggest food manufacturers can afford to advertise their products on television: More than two thirds of food advertising is spent promoting processed foods (and alcohol), so if you avoid products with big ad budgets, you’ll automatically be avoiding edible foodlike substances. As for the 5 percent of food ads that promote whole foods (the prune or walnut growers or the beef ranchers), common sense will, one hopes, keep you from tarring them with the same brush—these are the exceptions that prove the rule.

#19 If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.

#36 Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.
This should go without saying. Such cereals are highly processed and full of refined carbohydrates as well as chemical additives.

#39 Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.
There is nothing wrong with eating sweets, fried foods, pastries, even drinking soda every now and then, but food manufacturers have made eating these formerly expensive and hard-to-make treats so cheap and easy that we’re eating them every day. The french fry did not become America’s most popular vegetable until industry took over the jobs of washing, peeling, cutting, and frying the potatoes—and cleaning up the mess. If you made all the french fries you ate, you would eat them much less often, if only because they’re so much work. The same holds true for fried chicken, chips, cakes, pies, and ice cream. Enjoy these treats as often as you’re willing to prepare them—chances are good it won’t be every day.

#47 Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored.
For many of us, eating has surprisingly little to do with hunger. We eat out of boredom, for entertainment, to comfort or reward ourselves. Try to be aware of why you’re eating, and ask yourself if you’re really hungry—before you eat and then again along the way. (One old wive’s test: If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you’re not hungry.) Food is a costly antidepressant.

#58 Do all your eating at a table.
No, a desk is not a table. If we eat while we’re working, or while watching TV or driving, we eat mindlessly—and as a result eat a lot more than we would if we were eating at a table, paying attention to what we’re doing. This phenomenon can be tested (and put to good use): Place a child in front of a television set and place a bowl of fresh vegetables in front of him or her. The child will eat everything in the bowl, often even vegetables that he or she doesn’t ordinarily touch, without noticing what’s going on. Which suggests an exception to the rule: When eating somewhere other than at a table, stick to fruits and vegetables.

Food Rules

I will be back to blogging regularly (and promise a post on the amazing Boeuf Bourguignon a la Julia Child), but for today, I thought you'd like to see an excerpt from Michael Pollan's latest missive on his new book, Food Rules. (Bolded parts are emphasis mine.)

I, for one, can't wait to read it -- and most likely, own it and keep it as a little reminder and reference for the real rules when it comes to eating and food.

Friends:

My new book, Food Rules, was published yesterday. You can get some info about it from the website, at http://michaelpollan.com/foodrules.php.

The idea for this book came from a doctor—a couple of them, as a matter of fact. They had read In Defense of Food, which ended with a handful of tips for eating well: simple ways to navigate the treacherous landscape of modern food and the often-confusing science of nutrition.  “What I would love is a pamphlet I could hand to my patients with some rules for eating wisely,” they would say. “I don’t have time for the big nutrition lecture and, anyway, they really don’t need to know what an antioxidant is in order to eat wisely.” Another doctor, a transplant cardiologist, wrote to say “you can’t imagine what I see on the insides of people these days wrecked by eating food products instead of food.” So rather than leaving his heart patients with yet another prescription or lecture on cholesterol, he gives them a simple recipe for roasting a chicken, and getting three wholesome meals out of it – a very different way of thinking about health.

Make no mistake: our health care crisis is in large part a crisis of the American diet -- roughly three quarters of the two-trillion plus we spend on health care in this country goes to treat chronic diseases, most of which can be prevented by a change in lifestyle, especially diet. And a healthy diet is a whole lot simpler than the food industry and many nutritional scientists –what I call the Nutritional Industrial Complex—would have us believe. After spending several years trying to answer the supposedly incredibly complicated question of how we should eat in order to be maximally healthy, I discovered the answer was shockingly simple: eat real food, not too much of it, and more plants than meat. Or, put another way, get off the modern western diet, with its abundance of processed food, refine grains and sugars, and its sore lack of vegetables, whole grains and fruit.

So I decided to take the doctors up on the challenge.  I set out to collect and formulate some straightforward, memorable, everyday rules for eating, a set of personal policies that would, taken together or even separately, nudge people onto a healthier and happier path. I solicited rules from doctors, scientist, chefs, and readers, and then wrote a bunch myself, trying to boil down into everyday language what we really know about healthy eating. And while most of the rules are backed by science, they are not framed in the vocabulary of science but rather culture—a source of wisdom about eating that turns out to have as much, if not more, to teach us than nutritional science does.

Standing Up For Food

One of my favorite bloggers (food and otherwise), City Mama, has just posted a really wonderful post to her blog. You have to read it. I find it inspiring. And here's what it made me think about and post as a comment:

I am also very much caught in that delicate balancing act between wanting to stand by my values and beliefs (and keep myself and my family healthy) by eating only sustainable, local, organic, ethical -- and not wanting to see every penny we manage to save go towards food: balancing the CSAs, the farmer's markets, and a backyard garden with the Whole Foods or Whole Foods-like grocery store.

It's a daily, weekly, monthly struggle. But after maintaining this balance -- or at least working to try to maintain it -- for a few years now, I think it's actually in the struggle where we find that golden, happy medium. Sure, it's not easy. It's not cheap. It's not mindless, and it's certainly not effortless.

But I am starting to think that it is the putting-in of that effort, that thought, and those resources that makes a difference.

So basically what I'm saying is I totally salute you. And I am standing right here with you, against Tyson, Cargilll, Swift, Monsanto, Smithfield, and the whole system that has turned what and how we eat into a bastardized farcical version of its original, natural self.

The truth is I haven't yet seen Food, Inc. I have kind of wanted to but also felt like I might just want to jump out the window after seeing it. Which, I really do realize, is not a good reason -- I know about the stuff that's in there, and the fact is that not seeing the movie won't make it go away and won't make it any less true. Just because I am sick over the state of our food systems because I know a lot about what's wrong with them doesn't mean a) I don't have a lot more to learn and b) that I get some kind of pass on seeing the hard stuff.

I'm putting it on our Netflix queue now.

Quickie Pollan Post

We just moved into our amazing new house, and we are totally in love with it and our new neighborhood. And we're still kind of in shock that we get to live here, as homeowners.

So on that note -- picture me surrounded by boxes trying to figure out where the dutch oven is -- I am going to post another quickie post, and I can't wait to get back to regular blogging. For those of you still reading, thanks for sticking with me.

_____________________________

Two new items of Michael Pollan (or, as they like to call him on my favorite Jewish Ethical Eating website, Rebbe Pollan) interest this week!

The first is a little New York Times interactive article I came across on Facebook, which I adore:

Michael Pollan's Reader's Food Rules

My favorite? "If you are not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you are not hungry." Genius. Some friends also commented that when apples are not in season, they substitute "lentils" or "a peach," and it still works like a charm.

The second is the recent publication of The Omnivore's Dilemma for kids! As Pollan himself put it, this edition is "aimed at middle and high schoolers. It's shorter and more streamlined, but also has some new material and a wealth of visuals -- photographs, charts, graphs, etc."

I am so ordering it from my library now. And this will definitely go on my list for good ideas for books for kids 13-18.

(Sidenote: if you decide to buy it, I hope you'll support your local bookstore or one of the big independent booksellers like Powell's.)

Secret Grocery Codes

I just found out about this great little trick to use when grocery shopping to discern whether the produce you're buying is organic or genetically modified!

All you need to do is check out the little stickers on your fruit and vegetables. The number code will tell you what it is you're about to buy:

• A four-digit number means it's conventionally grown.
• A five-digit number beginning with 9 means it's organic.
• A five-digit number beginning with 8 means it's genetically modified.

And that's it! How easy is that?

I will definitely remember to stay faaaar away from anything with five digits beginning with an 8, for this reason and many, many others. Yeesh!

Learning to Eat

How many parents do you know who make separate food for their children? Who bargain with their kids at mealtime ("If you eat one piece of broccoli, you can have dessert")? Who are constantly struggling with trying to get their kids to eat anything?

I feel like I see this everywhere: parents making one delicious, gourmet meal for themselves and chicken nuggets and mac 'n cheese for their kids.

It doesn't have to be this way! I often wonder how much this is a uniquely American phenomenon -- kids in other countries or from other cultures eat what their parents eat, and it's not a big deal. It's not an absurd notion in Latin America to think that kids will eat the same foods their parents eat, no matter how "sophisticated" or "non-kid-friendly" the meal may seem. In fact, one of the bloggers I read and love, CityMama, has written about how her kids eat everything she eats, and how often people are in shock and awe when they see it happen.

My dear friend Robin is a school garden educator. In other words, she teaches low-income kids about food and where it really comes from -- from growing their own food to cooking it and then composting it and completing the garden-to-plate cycle. She recently shared with me the work of Ellyn Satter, who helps parents learn how to feed their kids appropriately so kids learn how to eat appropriately.

Ellyn's rules are so simple, yet so genius. I share them with you here -- happy eating for everyone!

The Five Responsibilities In Feeding & Eating

Parents are responsible for:

• What food is served
• When food is served
• Where food is served

Children are responsible for:

• How much to eat
• Whether to eat or not
  

How genius is that? She also emphasizes: Don't get your responsibilities mixed up with your child's responsibilities.

• If you don't do your jobs, your child will eat poorly and not behave at the table.
• If you get bossy and try to do her jobs, she will fight back and not eat.

I love this. Even though it can seem hard to do, if we do our part -- serve an array of foods that are healthy and tasty on a reliable mealtime schedule where we eat together -- kids will do their part: eat as much as they need. We can stop worrying and start trusting.

There's a wealth of information on this topic on Ellyn's website, but these five key responsibilities seem like keystones to establishing healthy eating habits (and peace of mind for parents!).

What about you -- if you have kids, do you follow these five rules? If not, where are you faltering?



(Another great thing about Ellyn's website: estas responsabilidades estan en su sitio del red en español tambien!)

Farmer's Markets

I don't know where you live, but here in Eugene, Oregon, spring has really sprung and everyone's feeling it all over.

An interesting thing about living here in Oregon is that unlike in California (from where we moved 8 months ago), farmer's markets don't usually run year-round. At least the Eugene one doesn't, anyway. It runs until November 14th, with a mini-extension at the Holiday Market through the end of December. After that, we're all waiting and watching and hoping until April!

Well my friends, the Eugene Farmer's Market is back and it is beautiful and wondrous. It's actually been another really cool signifier of the change in seasons and of spring's gracing our part of the globe.... Cherry blossoms, daffodils, magnolias, singing birds, longer days, sun higher in the sky, and the farmer's market!

Part of my meal planning for the week now includes stopping at the farmer's market every Saturday to see what bounty catches my eye. Whatever looks good, we buy. From those ingredients, I craft my menu plan. It's kind of fun and interesting, a backwards way of planning. Keeps things fresh around here. Plus it celebrates the season perfectly.

Wherever you are, I hope you're near a farmer's market. And I hope you take a chance and stop by -- the produce will be unparalleled, and the experience of shaking your food's grower's hand and handing over cash directly to them is immensely gratifying.

As Earth Day approaches, I am saluting my local farmers. And hoping to keep them in business. We need them now more than ever.

Michael Pollan on NPR's Talk of the Nation

He was on a little while ago talking about his latest book, In Defense of Food. You can listen to it online!

According to NPR's website, here is what he talked about:

In his book, In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan argues that in last 20 decades, real food has vanished from supermarket shelves only to be replaced by food imitations. Pollan offers pointers on getting back to basic nutrition.

I can't believe I still haven't read this one. I can't wait!

And the New Secretary of Agriculture Is....

???

Who will it be?

I know who I hope our new Secretary of Agriculture will be: someone committed to changing the way food systems (don't) work in this country. Someone who recognizes that we need to move away from industrial, factory farming to local, seasonal, sustainable, and preferably organic farming.

I signed the petition asking President-Elect Obama to consider appointing someone who fits the criteria above. I hope you will, too.

http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/