More damning evidence that high-fat foods (I’m assuming animal fats) affect both memory and exercise performance. In a bad way. Here’s the Aug. 13, 2009 New York Times story and blog discussion on a report in the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
Posts Tagged ‘food
07
Jul
09
Food and Foreign Policy
As I pulled several wilted tomato plants from my sorry, soaked vegetable garden this weekend, I listened to a news report about how global warming and attendant change in weather patterns are expected to lead to famine and massive population movements.
I read two items today that remind me once again how food and foreign policy are so profoundly linked.
One is a Washington Post story on how Michelle Obama’s celebrity in Russia is to a large degree focused on her creating and tending an organic garden at the White House.
The other is a sentence in the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs:
“Families in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia spend up to 80 percent of their incomes on food; for the average U.S. household, that would mean an annual grocery bill of $40,000.”
How would life be different if 80 percent of earnings had to go to food? I really can’t imagine it.
In 2008, Americans on average spent 9.6 percent of income after taxes for food. But I don’t believe that really cheap food is the answer to food shortages. Food that is American-cheap and processed has given us soaring obesity and diabetes, and diminishing fertility of farmland. I’m sure it will cost more to support food grown locally in a sustainable way. We should no more be the food provider to the world than we should be the policemen to the world. Both concepts are unsustainable.
12
May
09
Meet Mr. and Mrs. Dirty Boots
OK, I have to mention one of my favorite blogs, now that it appeared in www.bestgreenblogs.com
“A Self-Sufficient Life” is a blog by a UK couple who moved to a mountain in Spain where they harvest olives and almonds for very little money. They find adventure in self-sufficiency. Yes, by all accounts they live the hippie dream. I don’t begrudge them any extra money they might make from the ads on their blog.
They call themselves “Mr. and Mrs. Dirty Boots.”
This week, Mrs. Dirty Boots is sharing recipes for cheap nutritious breakfasts and lunches. Here’s her simple recipe for one of my favorite Indian foods: vegetable chapattis.
MotherJones.com will have an expert-led reader forum April 13-17 around the provocative question that headlines this article: “Is organic and local so 2008?”
Even if you don’t participate, the article is worth reading.
14
Jan
09
NYT re-runs ‘Best 11 Foods’
A New York Times June 30 article on “The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating ” has reappeared on the NYT Web site as one of their most-viewed stories of 2008. If you missed it the first time around or have forgotten its advice, here it is again.
Food systems critic Michael Pollan speaks to Bates students about the craft of writing before giving an open lecture in Bates Chapel for campus and community.
Michael Pollan attracted about 200 more people Tuesday night than the 600-seat Bates College Chapel could hold. Students were promised a repeat lecture at 9 a.m. While we were not allowed to record Pollan’s presentation, you can read both a report from Doug Hubley of the Bates communications office and an account of Pollan’s speech in the Oct. 28 Lewiston Sun Journal.
06
Oct
08
This Month in 1947 Was Tougher
Most people seem anxious about where the world financial crisis is heading, wondering how bad things might get. From that perspective, it was interesting to read this weekend how much more attuned the world was in 1947 to the relationship between meat production and world hunger.
Yesterday’s New York Times noted that on October 5, 1947, President Harry Truman used the first White House televised address to ask Americans to refrain from eating meat on Tuesdays and poultry on Thursdays to help stockpile grain for starving people in Europe. Government officials explained that in the winter of 1947-48, food was the most important tool in resurrecting European productivity and, implicitly, in containing Soviet expansionism.
The latest angle on a story about a Chinese company at the center of a tainted milk powder scandal is its request for help from its city government to manage the media response, according to the People’s Daily.
This alleged crime of adding dangerous ingredients to food isn’t unique. Years ago, I recall a large Italian cooperative that got caught adding antifreeze to wine to cheaply increase sweetness and alcohol content.
I can’t help but think it is easier to poison when one has no direct contact with the victims. Morality aside, it just seems so incredibly risky.
So is this another strong point for local food? Or are there significant numbers of people harmed by local food — say bad batches of raw milk — and I’m just not aware of it?
30
May
08
Asking the Right Questions
What is local food, natural food, organic food, and should we be interested in promoting the use of these products? How can we wisely shop for and eat food? Why is it desirable to find the time for slow food over fast food? How do we reduce food waste and promote recycling and composting? The year will be focused on activities aimed at raising our awareness. Continue reading ‘Asking the Right Questions’
06
May
08
Getting Started
We are excited to announce a new initiative, Nourishing Body and Mind: Bates Contemplates Food, to help expand the ways that we think about, appreciate and choose our food. With food as the thread that connects us, to each other and to our larger community, we will spend the next year celebrating and contemplating more deeply the ways that gathering together around food enhances and supports the College’s mission.
