In N Out is a burger chain on the West Coast with locations in California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona.  They’ve been around since 1948 and have long prided themselves on good, fresh food.  Their menu is delectably simple - hamburger, cheeseburger, fries, and shakes.  That’s it.

If you’re a conscientious food consumer, eating fast food probably isn’t even on your radar, but at In N Out fast food isn’t synonymous with bad food or huge portions.  The USDA recommends consuming no more than 6 ounces of meat a day (see website), and in an age when fast food joints are routinely putting half a pound or more of meat in their burgers, In N Out hamburger patties are a refreshingly small 2 ounces.

At In N Out, a meal of a cheeseburger and french fries is only 880 calories (800 total if you omit the Thousand Island-esque spread from the burger), significantly less than the 1000+ calorie combo meals pitched by other fast food franchises.  You can look at the Nutritional Information for In N Outs’ various products.  And not only is the above meal short on calories, but also on price.  A cheeseburger, fries, and beverage will run you just $5.

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Bisphenol A (BPA) has gotten a lot of press recently, from infant formula to Sigg bottles, it’s everywhere.  But did you know that it’s also in your canned foods, especially canned tomato products, pasta sauces, and vegetables?

BPA is a compound used to manufacture plastics and has been in mainstream use for over 50 years.  But for all of its benefits, BPA has some significant drawbacks.  It can leach from plastics and plastic linings into the product that it holds, especially with acidic foods like tomatoes.  From the food products it then is absorbed into the human body, where it causes damage to the cardiovascular and reproductive systems, and can contribute to incidences of cancer, diabetes, asthma and obesity.

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Finding sustainable sources of seafood is becoming increasingly difficult.  Should you buy farmed or wild caught?  And what are the most sustainable choices?  I’ve talked about sustainable seafood before, and since shrimp is the most commonly consumed seafood in the United States, you might want to have a bit more information about that shrimp cocktail you’re about to eat.

Did you know Americans ate 1.2 Billion pounds of shrimp in 2007, an average of 4.1 pounds of shrimp per person (figures here)?  This figure is actually a decline from the previous year, in 2006, when the average American ate 4.4 pounds of shrimp.  Now if you consider that 85% of shrimp consumed in the US is imported, and since wild caught shrimp are rarer than ever as fisheries are depleted, there’s a good chance that the shrimp you just ate were farmed and imported to the US.

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Gluten free baking is not for the faint of heart or the timid of soul.  The tried and true baking results that come from the familiar use of wheat flour are substantially difficult to reproduce without our old friends, wheat, rye, and barley.  With some experimentation and a little tenacity, you can find a good gluten free flour mix, and still have some of the same baked treats you once enjoyed before you relinquished all gluten related items.

In my three years of learning to cook and bake gluten free, I’ve tried numerous combinations of flours and prepackaged mixes.  Some were pretty good, but most spanned the spectrum between OK and outright terrible. I looked for gluten free flours in recipe books, in online searches, and throughout the blogosphere, and finally found the best all purpose flour mix in a cookbook - Gluten Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts.

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The US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, announced last month plans to use an additional $30 million dollars to purchase pork in 2009 for federal food and nutrition assistance programs.

This announcement comes as the USDA has already spent some $151 million of Recovery Act (widely known as the “stimulus”) money to purchase pork products.  To me there’s always a bit of irony when pork barrel money is spent to purchase actual pork, as is the case here.  You can read the USDA Press Release here.

There’s theoretically nothing wrong with using taxpayer money to support pork producers who are struggling with a glut of supply and lagging demand, as well as slower sales due to the economic conditions in the US.  But since a majority of pork producers in the US are huge CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations), essentially your tax money is being used to bail out pork producers who are having a slow year.

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Would you like to know the direct benefit of buying organic versus conventional?  Do you ever wonder what the cumulative impact of purchasing organic versus conventional products is over the course of a year?  There’s a website out there that allows you to calculate the number of pounds of synthetic nitrogen, pesticides, and herbicides that are eliminated by choosing organic products.

The website is for Organic Valley Family Farmers.  Organic Valley is a co-operative of farmers that produce dairy products, juice, eggs, meat, soy, fruit, and vegetables.  It claims to be the largest organic farmer owned co-operative in North America, and you can review on their website their array of various products.

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General Mills and Kellogg’s want to sell sugary processed foods like Froot Loops and Lucky Charms to your kids.  This isn’t anything new.  But under the guise of the new “Smart Choices” Program, large food corporations want to proudly label sugary, highly processed foods as good nutritional food options.

The program was recently created by a conglomerate of conglomerates, including ConAgra Foods, Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods, Pepsico, Tyson Foods, and Unilever.  The participating companies list all their products that “meet a comprehensive set of nutrition criteria based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and other sources of nutrition science and authoritative dietary guidance”.  You can review the Smart Choices website for yourself.

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With all the news surrounding food safety, global pollution, misguided government food policies, and the myriad of other problems faced by consumers, it’s always comforting to occasionally read some good news.  Here’s a bit of uplifting news.  An organization, Edible Schoolyard, bringing gardening knowledge to junior high school kids in urban areas.

The program strives to teach inner city youth about gardening and consuming fresh, seasonal produce.  From its own website, Edible Schoolyard specifically defines its goal of involving students “in all aspects of farming the garden and preparing, serving, and eating food as a means of awakening their senses and encouraging awareness and appreciation of the transformative values of nourishment, community, and stewardship of the land.”

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Just because you have Celiac Disease, or are eating gluten free doesn’t mean you have to give up all your favorite foods.  You may have to relinquish a few, but with a little help, and some trial and error, you’ll find that there are wonderful gluten free substitutes for many of your favorite foods out there, you just gotta find ‘em.

In one of my earlier posts (Time saving Gluten Free Products You’ll love) I threw out a couple of products that make my life of gluten free cooking and baking much easier,  namely Pamela’s Baking Mix and Kinnikinnick Products.  Here are some other things that you may have enjoyed in your previous gluten filled life, that you thought you had to give up:

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The Sigg Company recently admitted that its aluminum bottles, long touted as an alternative to chemical leaching plastics, actually contain bisphenol-A (BPA) in their liner. The announcement has left customers around the world outraged.  Especially damning is evidence that the company knew as far back as 2006 that the bottle liners contained BPA, yet failed to disclose this fact to consumers.

Though the scientific jury is still out on the effects of BPA, states such as Minnesota and Connecticut have already banned their use in kiddie drinking cups and other bottles.  Conscientious consumers have also been leery of BPA, and many have tried to do their best to avoid it.  Unfortunately for many people, the alternative to other BPA leeching plastic bottles were the aluminum Sigg bottles they thought were safe.

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The popularity of organic foods in the last few years has been as well documented as it was explosive. As the growth and popularity of organic and natural foods increased, large agri-business and giant food producers became extremely interested in increasing their market share by acquiring smaller organic food companies.

With all the acquisitions that have taken place over the last few years, do you know who owns your favorite organic foods company? I sure don’t.  Between large companies engulfing smaller organic food producers, and large agri-business developing “strategic alliances” with once independent companies, it’s hard to know if the little local tofu producer is still just that, or part of a behemoth entity that you thought you were avoiding.

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How great would it be if there were want ads in your local newspaper or on Craigslist for organic fruits and vegetables, grown in your town, by your neighbors?  A new website - Veggie Trader has sprung up that offers exactly such a service, a purchasing and bartering clearinghouse for locally grown fruits and vegetables.

Veggie Trader describes itself as the “place to trade, buy or sell local homegrown produce”.  The idea is simple, you register on the website and then offer to purchase, to sell, or trade any manner of surplus fruits or vegetables.  If you have too many tomatoes and want to see if anyone nearby has a surplus of peaches or peppers, you can log on, run a search, and find out who in the neighborhood may be willing to exchange with you.

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Portland, Oregon is a beautiful city, known for its roses, organic food, environmentally conscious citizens, and its beer.  It has truly become a destination for Oregonians and travelers alike searching for locally made micro brews and craft beers.

It’s hard to walk two blocks in Portland without encountering a brew pub, ale house, or beer bar, but there’s one that stands out as being truly exceptional.  Located in downtown Portland, Bailey’s Taproom is a cozy, modern facility that specializes in Pacific Northwest microbrews and craft brews.  They serve up everything in every imaginable style from a “brutally hoppy IPA, a clean lager, a sour Belgian, a thick stout, or a boozy barleywine”.

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If you’re living a gluten free life, there are a couple of companies that I’ve come to love over the years for the wonderful products they make.  They’re both great time savers for those days when you’re rushed, short of time, or just don’t have the means to prepare a meal from scratch.

Pamela’s Baking Mix is an all purpose gluten free baking mix that I use to make pancakes (just add eggs and water), scones, biscuits, and corn bread.  Many of the recipes just involve adding eggs, butter, and an ingredient or two, making them fast and easy to make.  It also has dozens of other uses as well, including brownies, breads, muffins, and bagels.

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How do you save dying species of agriculturally valuable plants and animals?  The answer may be as simple as what’s on your dinner plate.

A recent article outlined the “eat ‘em to save ‘em” method of biodiversity protection.  Simply put, rare varieties of plants and animals can be saved if consumers demand them.  Asking your grocer, chef, or farmers market vendor about heirloom and endangered varieties is a great way to demonstrate that the demand exists for these diverse crops.

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Celiac Disease is one of the most common, undiagnosed genetic disorders with an estimated 1 in 133 people, or 2 million people, afflicted with the disease in the United States alone (figures cited from here and here).  Persons of Irish, English, and other Anglo backgrounds tend to be more prone to the disease than those of other ethnic backgrounds.

This disease is not a food allergy, but an auto-immune disorder that people do not grow out of over time.  The results of this disorder vary widely by individual, and can range from mild to severe, even requiring hospitalization.

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A cool summer salad is the perfect side dish complement for a summer barbecue or dinner on a warm evening.  Many summer salads are mayonnaise based though and typically not too healthy.  Here’s a simple, healthy, and quite delicious antipasto salad.

Here are the ingredients that you’ll need.  As always, I strive for the most local and organic products that I can get my hands on.

• 3 cups (2inch) sliced asparagus (about 1/4 lb)
• 3 cups quartered mushrooms (about 3/4 lb)
• 1 cup red bell pepper strips
• 1/2 cup pitted ripe olives
• 3 oz mozzarella cheese cubed (omit or replace with firm tofu, seitan, or soy cheese if you want to make the recipe vegan)
• 1 lb (or a 14 oz can if you’re feeling lazy like I am sometimes) quartered artichoke hearts drained
• 1 (11.5 oz) jar pickled pepporoncini peppers drained

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Eco-conscious and green consumers around the globe are increasingly aware of the carbon footprint of their food choices, but what about the water footprint?

As water becomes an increasingly scarce global resource, the focus turns toward analyzing how much water it takes to grow particular foods.  Increasing awareness of the amount of water various foods require can help consumers make educated choices for the most environmentally conscious products.

Not surprisingly many of the same attributes that make for smart environmentally friendly choices also make sense from a water consumption perspective.  Not eating meat, choosing locally grown organic foods, and growing as much produce as possible in your own backyard are also the best choices for using the least amount of water.

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Growing food in your own backyard is hardly a new concept, nor is utilizing any open space available if you live in the city, but turning your rooftop into a garden?  Well that idea has caught on in cities throughout the world, and now is starting to gain a foothold in the United States as well.

Rooftop gardens are by no means new.  Forward thinking, environmentally conscious, or penurious city dwellers have been doing it for as long as there have been city dwellers.  But recently the rooftop garden movement has started to gain some traction, inspired by the environmental benefit of more green space in a city (it reduces the “heat island” effect), and the appeal of home grown organic veggies just steps away have given the movement some serious traction.

Large metropolises across North America - including New York City, Washington DC, and Chicago have also sweetened the deal by offering tax incentives and subsidies to encourage green rooftops, and Toronto, Canada also has a new law requiring buildings of a certain size to have a green roof.  Though the Green Roof Bylaw in Toronto has garnered some criticism (mostly from developers) it has been well received by residents in the city as a means to increase the amount of green space, offset their carbon emissions, and generally to be a greener city.

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One of my favorite places to eat in town is Jyoti-Bihanga, a tasty vegetarian/vegan restaurant run by the Sri Chinmoy folks.  If you aren’t familiar with them, I’ll tell you this - they make a fantastic fake meatloaf, they call it Neatloaf.

You can imagine how excited I was when a friend of mine e-mailed me the recipe, so now I can have delicious Neatloaf in the comfort of my own home.  The recipe as it stands is vegetarian, you’ll need to replace the eggs with an equivalent amount of egg substitute to make it vegan, switch the ricotta cheese with soy cheese or silken tofu, and double check the Lipton Onion Soup Mix as well.

Also, since I cook for a Celiac sufferer, I make it gluten free by simply replacing the Special K with gluten free corn flakes, which changes the consistency a little bit, but keeps the recipe well within the realm of “delicious”.

Here are the ingredients for the Neatloaf:

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