Organically speaking
June 24, 2008
Summer time in Newfoundland and Labrador comes as difficultly as an inhospitable place on the planet. So far in 2008 we have been bombarded with poor weather, heavy blankets of fog culminating in near zero degree weather and perhaps what we have come to expect over the years, possibly the longest winter in recent memory. To put it in perspective, my snow tires came of only yesterday - we’re talking serious cold.
In a different part of the city, on the outskirts one of the most productive organic farms is taking shape and slowly producing this season’s crops.
My darling wife and I have joined an organic farm cooperative.
It is not a cheap endeavour - nigh $400 for the season but what we get in return is the offering of the province, harvested at the peak of perfection and delivered to our waiting cars once a week.
This past week saw the first harvest - herbs like thyme and lemon balm. Rhubarb and some baby arugula and some mixed greens. Green onions nearly there feet long and that was it.
The bounty was brought home and in keeping with the organic theme I made a simple lemon and olive oil dressing to coat the leaves as wifey and I supped on tender grilled steak, béarnaise and comforting salad.
Summer has come far to late for us this year. Sure we’re interested in waking up from the doldrums of winter. We missed spring this year but the real treat is going to the fridge every day for the next week and enjoying some of the bounties of summer from the farmer’s field to my plate.
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12 food additives to avoid
June 5, 2008
I can’t take credit for this one. I read a lot. And one of the places I visit is Fark. It takes a good news topic and the ensuing discussion blows it all to hell. In this segment it is a link from MSNBC – which is in the world of the Fark user like hearing lies right from Satan’s mouth. This is the offending link.
This was a comment posted by anopheles and you know what – it makes some sense.
1) Sodium Nitrite/Nitrate – found in bacon and processed meats = cancer
2) BHA/BHT – found in chips, cereal, gum, and vegetable oil = cancer
3) Propyl Gallate – found in chicken soup, meat, and gum = maybe possibly cancer if you’re a lab rat.
4) Monosodium Glutmate – chinese food, soups, salads, dressing = headaches and nausea in some people.
5) hydrogenated vegetable oil/trans fat – baked goods, but not much anymore = will make you fat and ugly.
6) aspartame/nutrasweet – found in diet foods = really bad if you’re phenylketonuric, but might cause cancer in everybody else.
7) Acesulfame-K – some diet foods = gives cancer to lab rats.
Food Colorings: Blue 1, 2; Red 3; Green 3; Yellow 6 – gummi worms, fruits, etc = gives cancer to rats.
9) Olestra: used to be in chips until anal leakage made it too funny to eat = it prevents you from absorbing vitamins.
10) potassium bromate: in white breads/rolls = cancer in lab rats
11) white sugar: in nearly everything that is yummy = will make you fat.
12) salt: in everything else that is yummy = will turn you into a mummy.
Ed note: I forgot to mention that there is no mention of HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) one of the disgusting components of most if not all of the processed foods people tend to eat. Sad, but there it is.
More Cheap Food- not Organic
June 2, 2008
I heard this on the radio this morning and it made a lot of sense: Organic farming takes more effort and more resources to produce and it in turn produces a lower yield of crops. While I am a proponent of the Organic food movement as a whole the whole notion of Organic agriculture is skewed in favor of the spendthrift economies of the Western countries and not the whole planet.
This article, as written on the CBC website makes a little sense.
However my wife clearly stated that we need more social involvement to get food to the hands of people who need it - in real terms: to break through the bureaucratic red tape and past the greedy hands of militarized leaders who keep foods for their armies and keep it away from the hands of the citizens it was intended to help.
Do we need more cheap food? No.
Read the Omnivore’s Dilemma and see how food has changed in the Americas and you will see that we need a balance of more proper foods like grains produced to help the rest of the world and the reduction of corns, and movement to the sustainable agriculture our ancestors developed - subsistence farming, small parcels and local product. That I believe is the difference.
We live in a world where we are confronted with “healthy” choices - but are they really? In our search for answers we seem to look for the writing on the wall - or in this case, the writing on the package.
Healthy has become a catch-all for foods that are somewhat, or moderately good for us but even then, you have to dig deeper to find the truth.
This article, posted today, seems to shed the light on some of the worst” good for you” drinks in America. Read this and examine how easily it is to be fooled
