Updates

Hello readers.

Lots of important things have happened while yours truly has been trying to master some techniques for deciphering rye from barley from oats from... lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Here are a few updates:

• Congratulations to Sarah Backhouse and Planet 100 on their 200th episode milestone! To celebrate we've added the automatic Planet 100 feed to JustSaying. Find it over on the right. Yay!!
• A new book about food localisation came out. MEAT: A Benign Extravagance by Simon Fairlie. Read Permaculture's take here and some other discussions here. 
• Nicholas Kristof wrote a strong column on the egg recall.
• Mark Bittman posted about the new study linking obesity and school lunches.
• Chez Panisse celebrated 39 years.

Slowly slowly

Illustrator, author and designer Maira Kalman posted a wonderful photoblog today about our nation: spattered with cities filled with fast walkers, fast talkers and fast food. She had a chance to spend time with Alice Waters, Bob Cannard and Michael Pollan and bring those experiences together in this photo essay on the democracy of healthy eating.

Considering the focus of Back to the Land, you'd think this would be my favorite of hers to date but I am still rendered speechless and peaceful when I revisit Time Wastes Too Fast, which she posted earlier this year (June).

Hungry for Change

As many of you who have shared a meal with me know, my diet decisions are mostly environmental and political and my love cuddly farm animals plays only a small role. I prefer the term ecotarian to vegetarian (although the two tend to go hand in hand). It's really about connectivity. If everyone understood what they were endorsing with each food purchase I imagine they'd think twice before a lot of those choices. So I have some great news: The Nation publishes their special issue on food this month and JustSaying will undoubtedly be highlighting articles and insight from the likes of Alice Waters, Michael Pollan, Dan Barber, Dave Murphy... the list goes on.

For now, I'd like to bring you ten simple ways to vote with your fork, from Peter Rothberg's recent Nation post (drawn largely from the Hungry for Change campaign).

1. Stop drinking soda. (Great way to lose weight.)

2. Eat at home more than you eat out. (Save money; eat healthier.)

3. Support the passage of laws requiring chain restaurants to post calorie information on menus and menu boards. (Knowledge is power.)

4. Help get schools to stop selling junk food. (Our tastes start young.)

5. Go without meat at least one day each week -- Meatless Mondays? (Single best way to help the environment is to become a vegetarian.)

6. Buy organic and/or sustainable foods without pesticides. (Chemicals kill.)

7. Support family farms by shopping at farmer's markets and CSAs. (Take market share away from the corporate sector.)

8. Know where your food comes from. Read labels! (Knowledge is power #2.)

9. Tell Congress that food safety is critical. (Regulations need to be expanded.)

10. Demand job protections for workers along each point of the food processing chain. (Labor rights are a critical part of food safety.)

food news

I really wish I was at the Knight Fellowship Food Science Boot Camp going on at MIT this week because I couldn't imagine a more pertinent time to be discussing the industry of food and agribusiness with folks like Marian Nestle and everyone else up there. Feel free to call and conference me in, guys. (I wish!)

As regularly discussed here on justsaying, the new administration has been incredibly receptive to once-considered revolutionary movement towards sustainability, biodiversity, and stricter safety regulations, and seems to be leaning away from the industrial and often hazardous model that has created a culture too reliant on convenience to bother purchasing peanut butter and jelly separately (also see here).

The NY Times published a wonderful article offering an overview about what's been going on in the movement, from Alice Waters, whose name has been floating around in conjunction with the White House kitchen, to Michael Pollan, who is, well, in my opinion, one of the pioneers of this "food revolution," and of course the Obama family.

Here's what I think is so great about all this: Right now eating organic and going green is trendy and as you all know, organic doesn't necessarily mean sustainable or the most eco-friendly AND trends don't always stick around for decades. So what we need are influencers and the Obama family has that power. Let's face it, there is an air of celebrity around our first family and celebrities have a major influence on the "now" generation. If they can keep up this momentum I truly believe the next few years will be paramount in shaping the future of the food industry and capturing the attention and interest of young minds whose future involvement and inertia is critical.

White House "Kitchen" Cabinet

Definitely check out this excellent post by Tara Parker-Post on her Well blog today about newly appointed White House chef, Sam Kass' take on the sorry state of the National School Lunch Program. I agree with Alice Waters - a "kitchen cabinet"with folks like Sam could help change the national food culture!