Green Options

Well, guess that’s a lot to ask since I have not published a book yet. I’ll ask Santa for that one next year. I don’t think I stand a chance up against Cindy Mushet’s Art and Soul of Baking, a 2009 International Association of Culinary Professionals Award Winner and nominated for the 2009 James Beard Award.

I also have a long way to go with my baking skills. If Santa is expecting top notch pastry when he stops off at my house, he better stuff my stocking with this book. I lack, shall we say, precision. Which this book offers in abundance with over 250 well-tested recipes and the information that can help novice bakers like me learn the exacting chemistry that makes pastry flaky and delicious. Hint: this is NOT using trans fats like processed baked goods.

This thought-provoking essay was posted on December 3, by Christopher Bedford of The Center for Economic Security, to a sustainable food email group. I found it compelling as one of those defining moral questions: Can we move past the sins of Big Ag and work for a better future? Could I do this, let alone a victim of these incidents? Read for yourself and decide.

Today is the 25th Anniversary of the Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) leak at
the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India. The number of people
affected, injured, and killed has been the subject of debate. But it
seems clear that a half a million were exposed to some degree to MIC
and other chemicals released and approximately 40,000 people died
either immediately or from injuries directly related to the accident.
MIC was a key ingredient in India’s petrochemical Green Revolution –
an intermediate chemical in the production of a number of
insecticides, some still in use today.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA) reported on November 19, 2009 that 49 million Americans, including nearly 17 million children, are food insecure, according to their 2009 report on Household Food Insecurity.

We’re coming up on the holiday season, the time of year when most of us probably do all of our charitable giving. In November, food donations are especially frequent as we all prepare to sit around our own tables and give thanks for plenty.

Recently, I spent the day (along with all my co-workers) volunteering at Harvesters, one of our nation’s largest food banks. My main job was to sort those very food donations that each of you generously provides. I learned quite a bit from the experience, so I wanted to pass along some of those observations about the food donation process.

“Mom, I’m tired of the same thing every day.”

My kid is in pre-school. Clearly I have hit a rut with lunch box creativity when the single-least adventurous eating demographic is griping. Must be time for some inspiration. Or just more time. Packing lunches is tough, to get specifically “lunch” items, it means adding a third more cooking to your life. That said, with what passes for the average school lunch, it’s time well spent.

Jennifer McCann’s second book, Vegan Lunch Box Around the World, may offer some creative inspiration not just for vegans, but for all of us brown bagging, or reusable, BPA-free bento-ing, these days. Kids, too. The recipes are described as menus for a different country, state or region covering places as diverse as from Kansas to Morocco. Many of the recipes sound intriguing, including Stuffed Dates, Moroccan Tagine, Palak Paneer, and a Basil Salad with Lime and Curry Dressing. These are well worth exploring, especially given the large following of McCann’s award-winning blog “Vegan Lunch Box.”

The September issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition will publish a widely distributed study that contradicts previous research pointing to health benefits of organic over conventional. The release of the study findings made headlines across major news sources such as CNN and UK news outlets like The Independent and Daily Mail. So, is organic really not any better for you?

The debate continues, and there are more studies showing organic produce has more nutritional values.  There is also some interesting research that shows the variety, or cultivar, makes more difference than organic versus conventional, giving heirloom and pre-industrial agriculture varieties a nutritional advantage. Additionally, buying fully-ripened local produce can also be better for you. In the end, organic is less about nutrition than it is about the absence of pesticides and chemicals and sustainable methods.

The next season of Top Chef may just be a little greener when it premieres on August 19 as Chef Preeti Mistry brings a sustainable approach along with her knives
Chef Preeti Mistry runs Charlie’s Café at Google in her job as an Executive Chef for Bon Appétit Management Company. An average day on her job includes 2000 made-from-scratch, seasonal, farm-fresh meals. Both Google and Bon Appetit have made a strong commitment to local farm-sourced ingredients as well as sustainable practices in the kitchen. Will Chef Preeti be able to bring the green to Top Chef Season Six? We ask her in this Eat. Drink. Better. interview.

EDB: 1. As your bio on the Bon Apeiti site quotes you, “…  my commitment to how I source my ingredients and more importantly why has been reinforced in such a way that I don’t think I could cook any other way.” Were local sourcing and a sustainable approach available to you in the Top Chef competition, and if not, how did you adjust to the change and not being able to source ingredients?

Chef Preeti: Honestly, it was quite difficult because we are essentially given the ingredients we are given, and one does not have a choice if the ingredients are part of the challenge.  Furthermore, when allowed to purchase our own ingredients there was not an option of where to source them from.  I adjusted by focusing on what looked good and healthy. Not much grows in a dessert so at the end of the day you look at what products do not seem like they have traveled too far or been sitting around for too long.

Interview continues after the jump.

I come from a “barbecue town.” Correction, I come from, arguably, The Barbecue Capital of the Free World. This is, of course, Kansas City. Now, all of you in Memphis can protest along with the Brisket Brigade from Texas. But, there it is. I’ve thrown down the grill mitt.

Because of my location, I can stand on just about any corner of my hometown, inhale deeply, and smell wood smoke and meat. If you are of the meat-eating persuasion, and know your ‘cue, then you know the power of this smell is enough to make you forget all about green concerns and dive onto a platter of ribs like a starving dog on a meaty bone.
Problem is, few of these establishments are using sustainable, ethically-raised meats, and well, wood smoke is not the most environmentally-friendly cooking method. I’ve had to give up the very culinary tradition my hometown is world famous for. It’s tough being an ethical eater sometimes.

How does an eco-conscious omnivore with a weak spot for ribs get around this?

Are you are a blues fan, dig eclectic jazz, or have your iPod memory maxed out? Like food? Ever notice how many songs have food metaphors in them? Ready to play on a Wednesday? This quick little quiz will see if you can name the song and band for each of these lyrics that include “food.” Bonus questions can help those of you with more, uh, conventional music taste score well. Ready? Game on.

“Baby, the way you eat that oatmeal pie just makes me wanna die.”
I like mine with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes”
“One more cup of coffee ‘fore I go”
“If I had my little way I’d eat peaches everyday”
“Tangerine trees and marmalade skies”
“Coffee and a roll, hash browns over easy, Chile in a bowl with burgers and fries, what kind of pie?”
“The other day I had a cool water sandwich and a Sunday-go-to-meetin’ bun”
“Now I like sweet candied yams and I like home made ham hocks.
“You men eat your dinner, eat your pork and beans.”
“Well I’ve moved into the jungle of the agriculture rumble, to grow my own food”

Bonus Questions:
1. What is the 1962 classic Blues instrumental named after a member of the Allium family?

2: List five artists or bands that have a food item as part of their name. Give yourself one bonus point for every additional five you can name.

Answers after the jump.

Image ©Beth Bader

Nine shark attack survivors will lobby the Senate to put new restrictions on fishing for sharks. The current legislation, Shark Fisheries Management Plan, implemented in the late 1990s, and the Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000 has failed to prevent thirty-two percent of the sharks and rays that live in the open ocean from being classified as “threatened” this year by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Move over, Eat Local. Kate Heyhoe challenges us to reduce our other food-related carbon footprint — our “cookprint.” Heyhoe’s latest book, Cooking Green, is based on the idea that how we cook can make as much an environmental difference as what we cook.

The book covers many of the current issues like food choices, food miles, food labels and sustainable seafood choices. It also ventures into some new territory with information on reducing packaging waste, greenest kitchen tools, kitchen waste and how to store foods to get the longest life from them.