New Year's Eve = Lame, New Year Focus = Le Sigh

Now that I have sufficiently complained about New Year's Eve, the truth is: I love this time of year. Everyone is talking about what to eat and the reality of eating. The gym is packed and people actually do the workouts in my spinning classes.

Just moments after I posted yesterday I got an email from The Daily Beast ranking diets in terms of effectiveness. Well, actually the title says they rank diets and you can click to look at their rankings but there is also an article where they quote a nutritionist who reminds you that diets are not effective unless you consider them lifestyle changes (and then they aren't diets at all). Once you click on the ranking pages, however, all bets are off. The first one is essentially a liquid diet. I can barely muster interest in soup as an appetizer. The idea of drinking my meals would definitely be a diet for me, since it wouldn't even last a single meal.

Ellen Tarlin at Slate got in on the act this year when she decided to try some experimental eating, starting with stick to the USDA Food Pyramid. Tarlin is only a few days in and is not shocked to be struggling with some of the requirements, something I've said before. On top of having to measure your food, it is pretty hard to follow the food pyramid. She also mentions that she has done Atkins and Weight Watchers and knows that every time she has tried a new plan she finds that she feels good at the start but quickly, "the hunger sets in". Which, sister I hear you, this is why I constantly change my own plan. Adapting is hard.

Politicians are also taking a dip in the food pool having recently passed a new 'food safety bill'. I put that in quotes because I'm still not totally clear on how safe it will make our food. I've heard that the FDA inspects anything from 1 to 5 percent of the food supply and this new law will increase that number. My issue is that I'm not entirely convinced that increasing that percentage will actually keep us safer. Supposedly one of the goals is to prevent tainted food rather than the current system where the FDA simply reacts to tainted food issues. Also, it sounds like the law wont be very well funded.

Would it not be easier to decrease our consumption of over processed foods? Sure, technology has brought us the opportunity to shop for items made in other countries, but must it include food processed over seas? Our food could include at least fewer items grown or processed on the other side of the world even if we aren't eliminating them. I've heard arguments about how recently recalled organic beef proves that imported food isn't more or less safe. I'm not clear on how organic and local got confused with each other but the reason I like my local butcher is not because his lamb or pork is organic but because I can look the man in the eye or visit his farm and know his practices aren't going to give me food poisoning. When it comes down to it, regardless of organic-ness (shut up, that is a word), the further your food travels the more likely it is to pick up microbes and make you sick. If you took a trip from home to the other side of the world you'd probably have to take multiple planes, trains or automobiles which makes you more likely to pick up germs.

I'm just going to continue to relish this time of year where my news sources are actually talking about one of my favorite topics. Come February every is likely to go back to talking about the weather.

Do You Bite Your Thumb At Me, Sir?

Yes, I do bite my thumb, sir, but I do not bite my thumb at you, sir.

Everyone needs a little Shakespeare in the afternoon.

So, I'm a food snob. I just need to accept this. I have gotten to the point where I wont even eat fruit if I suspect it was grown across the pond. I'd rather go hungry than eat something that will make me feel the bloat of processed sodium based foods. I've started leaving parties hungry. I never used to do that.

The greatest offenders:
5. Yogurt.

Dannon? Yoplait? I don't care what brand you slap on it all that stuff is gross. Even that Stoneyfield Farm stuff is creepy. Real yogurt is gloppy. That is the best adjective I can come up with. I will say it is just short of chunky. It needs honey or something in it to make it palatable. Really great yogurt is not creamy. Cream is creamy, yogurt is not.

4. Ketchup.

My hate for this is nearly shocking to my younger self. I used to eat it A LOT. I put it on eggs, burgers, really anything starchy. Now I prefer my eggs either fried or scrambled with local cheese and sausage inside and generous salt and pepper on top. Burgers are also better with local cheese and not much else. Sometimes not even a bun, I won't start on processed bread.

I sometimes still do eat some ketchup but largely I think the plastic bottled stuff tastes like metal. When you were a kid did you ever lick a bloody wound? That is what ketchup tastes like to me now.

3. Red Delicious Apples.

Not delicious. Local apples are the best thing that every happened to me. Fiance is tired of them. We've been eating them almost exclusively (save for a short pear season this year) since October. I could eat them four times a day forever and ever. Red delicious apples are mealy even when they're fresh. Even the smell of them makes me gag a little. It is sort of this cardboard aroma combined with what I'm sure worm guts smell like.

I could totally eat a local berry right now, don't get me wrong, but I am just fine with the fujis from Toigo.

2. Turkey bacon.

After college I lived on this stuff. I was so sure it was good for me. Then I read about how it is made. I won't even go into it, just google it if you dare.

Real bacon please, thanks.

1. Pizza.

I realize this is not a whole food but a group of other foods. It actually combines some of my snob-feelings of 1-4. Processed cheese, flavorless. processed tomato product, metal. Processed meat, pressed and not actual meat. The concept of chain pizza frightens me and frozen pizza is the biggest waste of money ever. Homemade pizza could not be easier.

There are few things I enjoy being snobby about more than saving money and eating well. Pizza wins.

All In A Day's Work

If you think you have a hard job, try being a butcher. If you're hungry and don't want to be, read about a guy who tried it for a while. The local food movement and the new conversation going on in the foodie community in general is all about how you should get closer to you food - how its grown and processed and how to prepare it. It has been suggested that one of the reasons people are getting more obese is because we don't take the time to prepare our food anymore. Basically, we've disconnected ourselves so much that we no longer value the food. Instead, we just shove it in the hole and run along.

Well I read the story about the guy who tried being a butcher. Then, I decided to put a wedding gift to use and grind my own buffalo. It is true that I used a home tool - one that connected to my standing mixer. So it isn't as if I used an industrial grinder that is probably more efficient. However, the smell is really unfortunate. It reminded me of the smell of my A.P. Anatomy class in high school when we dissected cats. Decaying flesh is really gross, in case you didn't know.

I would have taken pictures for you but my hands were really gross from the meat and also, I love you enough to spare you. I plan to eat the buffalo and I'm not giving up meat (although I'm eating significantly less of it lately) but I feel a lot closer to my food today - my sinuses, in fact, can't get the stench out.

Quality Over Quantity

I'm not going to use the F word or anything but I totally agree with the illegal-pizza-guy on the whole "family farm–killing, exploited illegal immigrant–built, fake cheese–laden, nutritionally void, race-to-the-bottom" food thing. And while he is discussing the value of his product I'd like to highlight the nutritionally void part. Michael Pollan says that you should eat as much junk food as you want as long as you make it yourself.

Again, the problem is the way we talk about the issue. Americans are obsessed with moving as quickly as we can for as cheaply as we can to the detriment of our health. Rather than spend time in the kitchen with our entire family we spend time rushing our family around from place to place and spend a minute with the microwave so our families can eat quickly before we shuttle them somewhere else.

I realize that as a childless adult I can't know all the details. Mothers work their tails off to keep their kids lives moving forward at all let alone making sure their kids eat perfectly all the time. Not that school lunch isn't also to blame for poor child nutrition. I wont discount the work of fathers either. But again, the problem is the way we talk about what we eat, how we eat and when we eat and the fact that we just accept the corporate line about this conversation. The illegal pizza guy highlights a problem that just furthers what I've said in the past. We have to stop supporting food that supports exploiting our farms and our people, even if they are illegal immigrants.

I've never understood Americans who don't live their life in a way that allows their values to shine right through their actions. And, no it isn't possible only because I live in a dual income household and it isn't always easy but damned if I'm going to be one of those people who will shove whatever comes past my nose into my mouth just because. And I agree, if you're willing to let your values stop at the oven door, you deserve your nutritionally void food.

Sam Walton: Ecstacy or Agony?

One of the greatest challenges about making positive choices for me is making sure I have time to cook and actually enjoy what is in the fridge or pantry. If I am bored of those items I am likely to go to the grocery store and buy a piece of cake for dinner. It has happened on a few occasions and it does not help that said grocery store is next door to my building, damn you urban planners.

A great example of this is something fiance made this weekend that we have taken to calling crack pumpkin. I'll post a whole lot more about crack pumpkin tomorrow but suffice it to say this is the tastiest vegetable I have ever consumed. The pumpkin itself was purchased at the farmer's market meaning its flavor was intense and, as is intimated by the name, addictive. The apple cider it was braised with was also from the farmer's market increasing the addictive sugary awesomeness.

The issue of course is that going to the farmer's market is not always convenient. The first two weeks in February were packed full and we couldn't make it to the local market. Instead we went to Whole Foods and tried to be strategic about what we purchased: local apples (they were eh), sustainable salmon, and even local milk. Apparently grocers and outlets across the country are starting to realize that real people actually go in search of this stuff. Event WalMart is getting in on the action and while I am really skilled at hating on them, their model is fascinating.

Of Convincing and Assuring

Still not sure you care about farmer's market fare?





What? Onions not convincing?





Those are apples, speckel pears, purple kale and in the back, shallots. Raw foods not doing it?






How about grilled Morrocan marinated lamb over wild rice with broccoli slaw? Nom nom nom.


P.S. Speckel pears are like candy from the ground. They also make good juice to go with bourbon. Just sayin'.



Okay, this picture I just like.

Not That I Don't Love Mother Earth But . . .

Clearly NPR is following my blog. Or maybe CAFOs are a hot topic, you know, whatever. Regardless, NPR is running what seems like a series on CAFOs dairy farms. Yesterday's story was on New Mexico's dairy farm issues and today's was on an Ohio farmer's efforts to improve the situation.

The part that stuck most with me from the first story was the people who 'knew dairy farms' and said the situation had to change. A lot of the issues surrounding the lack of change in the dairy world is that the farmer's either don't want to change because it costs too much or they actually can't afford it or big Ag cares more about the bottom line (ahem, supported by the federal government, ahem). But in this story, people who grew up in dairy farms, in dairy farm towns and actually understand the way the system works are actively interested in change.

The Ohio farmer's story was interesting to me because he talks about the flavor but not as much about the effects on the cows and what they produce. I've said it before and I'll say it over and over: eating whole foods that are sustainably grown are worth it for the cost and flavor. I'm not saying you should eat organics because they're better for you. I'm not saying you should eat whole foods because your liver likes it or whatever crazy story you read about in the free magazines at Whole Foods' check out line.

Not convinced? A case study from my own life:

I'm half of a two person household. We've used various methods to bring food into our kitchen from straight grocery shopping to produce delivery to almost exclusive farmer's market foods. We used to go to the grocery store two or three times per week (we live in a city and our building is right next to a grocery store) and spent between $150 to $250 per week depending on the time of year. Last weekend we went to the farmer's market and purchased an entire week's worth of fruit, vegetables and meats for $100. Now, we do still go to the grocery store to purchase (whole, organic) milk and things like toilet paper or garlic if we run out but the price of these is pretty nominal. In fact, adding it up we spent about $30 this week at the grocery store on additional items and, um, a portion of that was beer. (When are they going to start selling beer at the farmer's market?!) We also eat out a lot less often. It's hard to be interested in a bar's selection of nacho toppings when you have homemade pizza in your fridge.

This week by shopping at the market we have been able to make beef and barley stew, broccoli crunch, cabbage salad and homemade pizza along with less-recipe required items like roasted lamb sausage, eggs, a chicken to roast and some greens to saute. All of these things, for two people, in one week, for a lot less.

Screw the environment buy whole and sustainable for your wallet.

Newspapers Are Still Awesome

While most people in DC, and around the country actually, are talking about how newspapers are dead, I regularly enjoy mine. In fact, since I have a new hate for television, I almost always finish the entire Washington Post everyday. The best sections are always the food and the health section. I know you're shocked to hear that I like to read about food and fitness. You can read them online, too.

This week was full of great articles too. These go straight to the heart of why I take so much care in what I eat. Honestly, its not because I'm a superior yuppy who thinks organics are super duper. The reason I make the effort to eat things that are of high quality is because it makes me feel better and saves me money in the long run.

Lets start with the feeling part. Everybody likes to eat a giant piece of cake/bowl of ice cream/tasty treat/Big Mac but no one enjoys the after math - the food coma. Now, personally, my body has never tolerated preservatives very well. I was able to ignore it for years but after a while it became a waste of time to eat what was easy when I could make just a little more effort and feel way more awesome-r (What? I'm not a doctor, yo.)

You're thinking, huzzah, I have no trouble with preservatives so whatever, you crazy farmer's market lady! Well, actually, you probably don't have trouble with them but they are still doing awful things to your body and are a waste of calories. The food coma feeling may not be noticeable when you eat a Lean Cuisine but the reason you get the food coma from the Big Mac also applies to said Lean Cuisine albeit in smaller doses. So, while I'm no Doctor, reasons why junk food, and even normal food bought at the grocery store and cooked at home can be bad:

"When you give antibiotics to animals meant to become food . . . you're ensuring that antibiotics end up in the food in low but constant doses. That means bacteria are getting more accustomed to the antibiotics. There's good reason to think that this background exposure to antibiotics is contributing to the startling rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria." (from here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/15/AR2009091500736.html)

So basically, you buy an otherwise normal steak at the grocery store and while its not dusted with penicillin its technically full of it. In fact:

"Food animal production accounts for 70 percent . . . of the antibiotics used in the United States. That doesn't even include the antibiotics used for animals that actually get sick. That figure is for "non-therapeutic use" such as growth promotion and disease prevention." (from here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/15/AR2009091500736.html)

So you can spend dollars getting a quality steak at the farmer's market, where you can talk to the farmer to find out what is really tasty this week OR you can spend dollars at the regular grocery store buying cheap steak from who-knows-where plus the remaining money on your health care costs because the antibiotic resistant bacteria is now taking hold in your lower intestine:

"A 2003 World Health Organization study put it pretty starkly: "There is clear evidence of the human health consequences [from agricultural use of antibiotics, including] infections that would not have otherwise occurred, increased frequency of treatment failures (in some cases death) and increased severity of infections." " (from here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/15/AR2009091500736.html)

So buy quality meat and veggies at the farmer's market versus buy antibiotic filled crap at the grocery store on top of paying the doctor and pharmacy. So the research speaks for itself but just to add anecdotal evidence: I used to get sick exactly four times per year when the seasons changed. In the last year or so since I've made the effort to eat quality calories I have been sick exactly, um, NEVER. And I live with a teacher who gets slobbered on for a living, y'all.

As for the money thing: I'm youngish and don't have a giant income (contrary to what a lady at a wedding last weekend told me about how everyone who lives in DC must be hugely wealthy as evidenced by her visit to our nation's capitol last year - I could tell she made a point to visit Shaw). So basically, my fiance and I have a serious budget. Also, we workout a lot. He plays rugby and I even workout for a living. So calories are precious. Honestly, calories = dollars when push comes to shove. So, like this mom, I get tired of spending money on food that is wastefully priced. Yes, she bought her items at the regular store. Yes, she was trying to make replicas of fast food. But the point applies - homemade food is generally cheaper and better for you. Locally grown food (not even organic, the stuff I buy at the farmer's market isn't always organic and I rarely worry if it is or not) tastes better and has more nutrients than food that has been shipped a long distance. Its certainly better than food that has been modified to SURVIVE travels better.

So here is my message for the day: cooking quality food with quality ingredients is affordable and better for you.

(And its not just for superior yuppies.)