Tag Archives: nutrition

Why We Choose Fast Food

Posted on August 13, 2012 | 2 comments

I was just reading about Taco bell responding to Chipotle’s success by introducing items that are similar to those on Chipotle’s menu and marking a shift in its own offerings. This attempt by fast food companies to project a healthier image is interesting because it goes beyond changes in an industry and says something about us as a society. The notion that fast food is lacking in nutrition, serving up empty calories  is pervasive. Why, then, do people continue to consume fast food? First, because of the way our lives are structured, we are always short of time and pick fast food as an easy option to fit in between errands, work and practice matches (plus the kids will eat it without whining). So while it is cheaper to cook at home, we are not at home long enough to be able to do so. Second, a whole generation has grown up without basic cooking skills so the reality is that there are few things that are well cooked at home and it is more efficient to buy dinner than cook something which is not fulfilling. After all, our relationship with food is emotional, we do not see food as fuel, we need to feel satiated after a meal and badly cooked food does not do it for us. So, until we can change the way we live our lives and have the time to prepare a nutritious and delicious meal, we will be making that run to the fast food drive through. That being so, the news that these places will be making their menu healthier is encouraging.

The fact is that preparing a meal at home takes time, skill and effort. If we choose to put our energies here, we need to pull back somewhere else. If I make the choice to tend my garden, grow my produce, keep chickens and cook from scratch, that does not leave much time for other pursuits. I am reminded of something I read on the wall of a Kindergarten class: all of us are not good at everything but everyone is good at something. If we each concentrate on what we are good at, society as a whole can prosper and live at a higher level of well being than if all of us tried to replicate the essential routine of survival. Food, after all, is primarily fuel, even though we often love it too much to see it that way.

2 Comments

Posted in Food Choices, Green, Hunger, Living, Nutrition

Tagged , , , ,

Rediscovering The Grocery Store

Posted on August 11, 2012 | 5 comments

When my neighborhood  grocery store recently changed its layout to make everything “easier and better” for its customers, I was not happy. I complained how the bread was in the “wrong” aisle and that it took me forever to find cupcake liners. That is because, like most people, who frequent the same store, I  knew the layout so well, I could sleepwalk  through it. The produce was around the walls, dairy and eggs  tucked away the back and aisles full of packaged foods occupying the middle. Whenever changes happen, they are cosmetic and the basic plan never changes. But now we hear some really surprising (and encouraging!) news:  grocery stores are reporting that the center aisles are contributing less to total sales while the share of the periphery with fresh foods is rising.  While this is partially explained by people shopping more for basic items at stores like Wal Mart and Target, there does seem to be cause for optimism. There is a growing awareness about healthy eating and people are motivated to eat food that is less processed. So, will the makers of packaged foods meet this challenge by throwing in some new ingredients and packaging ? Will this bring back the shoppers who had wandered off  the path? Perhaps not….once someone gets used to biting into a peach and having to wipe off the juice, it is highly unlikely that they will go back to fishing out pieces from gloopy syrup.

5 Comments

Posted in Green, Hunger, Living, Nutrition, Uncategorized

Tagged , , , ,

How to Start Your Day

Posted on August 9, 2012 | 3 comments

We have all heard it umpteen times: breakfast is the most important meal of the day, it should never be missed. So, first step, make sure to eat breakfast but note that what we eat is equally important.  Choices that are high in fiber and healthy proteins are good, sugary carb laden ones are not. Ideally, we could cook ourselves breakfast which might include egg, salmon or cheese as protein options, oatmeal which is fiber rich (and comes in a number of quick coking options nowadays and can be both sweet or savory with vegetables), wheat bread and some fruit. Of course, coffee is essential but without loads of milk and sugar, tea is often a good option too. Now to reality: we are late, or caught in traffic, or the kids have decided to be impossible or  we are rushing to catch that flight. Of course ,there is no time to make breakfast and a growling stomach is pushing us to the array of fast food options readily available. Do not despair, a number of    healthy options are available , some of them might even give you ideas for cooking breakfast at home!

3 Comments

Posted in Hunger, Living, Nutrition

Tagged , , , ,

GM/ Organic/ Conventional : What is a Seedless Watermelon?

Posted on July 19, 2012 | 3 comments

It is the peak of watermelon season and  some consumers will only buy the seedless variety. So, have you wondered why some watermelons have seeds and some do not (the appearance of the mini/ “personal” watermelons is also fascinating for me but that is a topic for another post!) ?  The  explanation is here, basically this variety has been developed by a two step process: first, one  type of watermelon is treated with a chemical that doubles the number of chromosomes and then it is cross bred with another variety to  achieve the final product which contains no seeds.  There is no genetic engineering involved but there are changes involved at the chromosomal level. Would this change the way we categorize this fruit?  And if not, then why is labeling GM so crucial? An informed discussion is essential.

3 Comments

Posted in Farm Technology, Food Safety, Green, Living, Nutrition

Tagged , , , ,

A Tomato in Any Other color

Posted on June 29, 2012 | 2 comments

 

When ever there are reports on food in the media, the comments following the article are often as interesting as the article itself and reveal what people are really thinking.  The news that the unnaturally red and firm tomatoes in the grocery store were developed for looks and lost their taste as a result was not startling news to most of us. Consumers associate redness and firmness with ripeness and that is what producers must provide. Consumers also want tomatoes in their grocery stores at all times of  the year and in every corner of the country. For this, tomatoes need to travel and that is possible only with refrigeration.  But somehow the assumption is that producer greed drove these developments. Yes, producers will pursue profit but they do listen to market signals. So if we are carrying home bags of big red tomatoes and trying to keep our balance as we wade through snow, then, tasteless tomatoes is what we will get. There is a disconnect from actual food production which creates unreasonable demands. We need to be reminded that in food, as in life, we cannot have it all.

2 Comments

Posted in Farm Technology, Food Policy, Green, Hunger, Living, Nutrition

Tagged , , , , ,

The Story Behind Frozen Peas

Posted on June 7, 2012 | 1 comment

Before I went off to the hospital to have my baby, I showed off to my mother the  stock of frozen vegetables in the freezer: peas, beans, greens, this would last us a while. She, more used to picking out what she wanted from the fresh arrivals in her neighborhood market everyday, looked doubtful. By the end of her stay though, she was a convert! With deft handling, those frozen vegetables can make a meal in minutes. So who thought this one up?  Clarence Birdseye was the man who made it all possible and this new book by Mark Kurlansky , relates his fascinating story.He traveled the world, sampling different types of food and then found a way to bring  them all to the table. And no, frozen is not inferior to fresh from the nutritional perspective because the produce is frozen at its peak. I am looking forward to reading the full story!

And if fresh is more your thing, and you are looking to grow your own garden, here is the story of the White House vegetable garden, among other interesting details.

1 Comment

Posted in Farm Technology, Hunger, Living, Nutrition, Uncategorized, Urban Farming, Urban Garden

Tagged , , , , ,

Atlantic Food Summit Today

Posted on May 24, 2012 | 1 comment

I will be attending the Atlantic Food Summit today, eager to hear the discussion on childhood nutrition, obesity and most important, how to feed 9 billion people sustainably. I will be sharing  and posting on all of that in detail and for the first time, will also attempt to tweet as it happens! Please follow @thegreenfork for updates. Martha Stewart and Mario Batali will be participating, among others, so it should be a good thing….

1 Comment

Posted in Climate Change, Farm Technology, Food Justice, Food Policy, Food Safety, Food Security, Green, Hunger, Living, Nutrition, Price Rise, Urban Farming, Urban Garden

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Dinner in 2035

Posted on April 23, 2012 | Leave a comment

What would dinner look like in the year 2035? That is the subject of “The Taste of Tomorrow: Dispatches from the Future of Food” By Josh Schonwald, reviewed in The Washington Post. The author identifies 3 main components of a meal in the future: salad (which he studies right in Salinas County, home of John Steinbeck and known as the “World’s Lettuce Bowl”), laboratory raised meat and farmed fish, all of which might come together with an ethnic flavor profile that is unfamiliar to us today. What was interesting to me from this review is that while he would prefer, like most of us, to be eating organic vegetables and humanely raised animals, he came to recognize that biotechnology will have a place at the table of the future and that is not a bad thing. Often we forget the need to balance what we would like to see on our plate with what the planet can bear, a consideration that needs to be made more often given the rising population and the impact of changing climate.

Leave a comment

Posted in Climate Change, Farm Technology, Food Policy, Food Security, Green, Hunger

Tagged , , , , ,

How Climate Change Caused the Quinoa War

Posted on March 9, 2012 | Leave a comment

The last time I wrote about quinoa, I had yet to try it. All around me though, there was a buzz around this wonder food. Even then, it was unsettling to know that while there was a huge demand for quinoa abroad, back in Bolivia, the high prices for this crop was forcing consumers to move over to other options including novelties (to them) like soda and white bread. Now, there is a new twist to this story: climate change has lead to warmer temperatures in quinoa growing areas so now more land can be used for this purpose. This has sparked conflicts among farming communities eager to grow more quinoa and take advantage of the high prices they can get.

I did eventually bring home and cook quinoa and we all enjoyed it. But it also brought into focus the troubled future of food where there is increasing pressure on the food system to feed the growing population while climate change forces us to change the way we grow food.

Leave a comment

Posted in Climate Change, Food Policy, Food Security, Green, Hunger, Living, Nutrition, Price Rise

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Read the Whole Label for the Whole Truth about Whole Grains

Posted on February 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

If you thought reading the box cover and checking that your cereal contains whole grains or is ” multi-grain” is enough, think again: the truth actually lies in the ingredient list at the back of the box. This is what we need to read to make sure that whole grains are actually included and if they figure somewhere in the middle of the list, perhaps there isn’t a whole lot of them in the box after all.

“On Wednesday, the Center for Science in the Public Interest will petition the Food and Drug Administration to stop letting manufacturers label their foods “Whole Grain” when they really aren’t and to start putting the percentage of whole grain on the packaging. The government has encouraged Americans to eat…

via Companies Not Telling the Whole Truth About Whole Grains.

Leave a comment

Posted in Green, Hunger, Living, Nutrition, Uncategorized

Tagged , , ,