Green Options

You’ve likely heard of Skin Deep, the cosmetic safety database which lists the toxicity of ingredients in personal care products.  But did you know there is now a similar database for food?

This twist on classic pizza ushers in summer with a tender gluten-free crust, garlicky oven-roasted tomato sauce and the zing of fresh herbs.  You could top this with homemade mozzarella cheese or soy cheese, but what if you’re avoiding both dairy and the highly-processed soy isolates found in many cheese alternatives? Is it even possible to imagine – much less create and enjoy — a pizza without wheat and cheese?

The dawn of summertime — just over a week away — calls for barefoot lunches, iced coffee, blossoming flowers, and colorful produce. And what better food to showcase summer’s brightness than a refreshing, cooling coleslaw? Purple cabbage, white-stemmed chard, orange carrots, and green zucchini combine for the perfect combination of crunch and tang.  This naturally wheatless dish is bursting with color and packs a powerful serving of Vitamins A, C and K.

Drinking water poses a threat due to possible perchlorate contamination and BPA leaching from plastic, but it seems reasonable to assume that in the United States, bottled water is free from fecal matter.  Yet until now, there were no requirements to test source water — 70% of which comes from the the same place as tap water.

Beginning December 1st, “bottled water containing E. coli will be considered adulterated,” says the US Food and Drug Administration.  You don’t say?  It doesn’t seem as though we’d need a press release to tell us that, but this is the FDA we’re talking about.

Last month, Canada, the United States, and Australia announced unprecedented plans to join forces and commercialize genetically-engineered wheat, saying that biotechnology was crucial to the future of the wheat industry. The National Farmers Union of Canada, however, immediately refuted the tri-country claim, pointing out “the overwhelming majority of farmers in Canada are still opposed to the introduction of genetically-modified wheat.”

On June 1, fifteen organizations across Canada, the United States and Australia publicly confirmed that opposition with the release of “A Definitive Global Rejection of Genetically Engineered Wheat“, a powerful document speaking out against biotech wheat.

But the battle against GM wheat is not a simple one, nor is it restrained to select countries.

The chemical giant Bayer — the same Bayer which brought you aspirin, heroin and mustard gas, and currently manufactures a wide variety of pesticides, herbicides, polyurethanes and other questionable chemicals — has wrapped their toxic fingers around our rice.

This is nothing new. The company’s glufosinate-resistant LL62 genetically modified rice isn’t commercially grown, but that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t already entered the global food supply.

If you’re like most women, the aisle lined with attractive cartons of hair colorant has caught your eye at least once.  It’s human nature, after all — we want what we don’t have.  The allure of all those appealing shades and tints can be mesmerizing. The ingredient list tends to have a mesmerizing effect as well, but not exactly in a good way.  Chlorhexidine dihydrochloride and 2-methyl-5-hydroxyethylaminophenol, anyone?

Even the huge corporations don’t completely hide the hazards of the product.  Right there on oustide of the package, in plain view, the manufacturers warn us of the risks – severe allergic reaction and blindness. Of course, they leave out the dirtier details, like the association between hair dye and cancer. How bad is the situation? Well, even the FDA has admitted that “consumers will need to consider the lack of demonstrated safety when they choose to use hair dyes.”

Given the evidence, what’s a girl to do? Go green, of course — but preferably without literally green results. Fortunately, there is a solution.  I’m delighted to introduce a safe hair dye that actually works!  Advanced Cosmetic Technology’s permanent hair color is 100% vegan and plant-based, and is free from paraphenylene diamine (PPD), ammonia, parabens, resorcinol, bleach, and peroxide.

Of the adjectives used to describe gluten-free baked goods, the word “fluffy” rarely makes the cut.   Heavy,  solid, crumbly, dry — yes, any and all of those. Those of us living sans gluten have gotten used to the slice-and-toast routine when it comes to wheatless breads.  Fresh-out-of-the-oven-fluffy has all but vanished from our vocabulary. These fruit-sweetened beauties, though, change all of that.

For starters, the batter actually rose above and beyond the baking tin’s edge.  When’s the last time you remember anything gluten-free doing that? These muffins even manage to disguise shredded fruits and vegetables without coming anywhere near the dreaded dense description.

Goodbye flat, vaguely muffin-shaped globules.  It’s time to move on.

For days, the rain hasn’t stopped tumbling out of thick woolen clouds.  Slowly crawling across the monochromatic canopy, these persistent clouds wrap their heavy grey fingers tightly around the leafy crowns of the brilliant rain-soaked trees.  Even when I push back the patterned curtains as far as the window frame will allow, no light comes through the glass.  The sound of raindrops crashing against the rooftop is periodically punctuated by sharp jarring claps of thunder.

Outside, brave little seedlings are gasping for breath while new blossoms hold their eyes tightly closed against the rain.  Shoots of bright green grass struggle to keep their slim heads above water.  I see an orange cat dart across the street.  He struggles to maintain aloofness, but it is clear that the weather has taken a severe toll on his dignity.  The mail retrieved from the streetside box is soggy and lifeless, the adhesive on the envelopes succumbing to the humidity.  Even inside, newly washed clothes hang limply, moisture stubbornly clinging to the threads and fibers.

On a day like this, what better thing to do than to curl up with a book?  I just received a brand-new copy of Vegan Rustic Cooking Through the Seasons, authored by Diana White of the UK’s Vegan-Organic Network, an organization whose fascinating farming methods go a step beyond traditional organic farming.

Over the course of a lifetime, the average American consumes over 87,000 slices of bread.  Yes, you read that correctly — eighty seven thousand. That’s more than a loaf per week per person, not counting the additional 5,000 hot dog buns and 12,000 hamburger buns each American devours in his or her life.

All that wheat calculates out to a lifetime grand total of 21,947 loaves and buns.  The National Geographic Society’s Human Footprint project has illustrated this shocking bread obsession in a stunning visual (see the video clip below).   In the words of my little brother, who is no stranger to wheatless ways,  “That is a totally nasty amount of bread.”

There’s no argument that bread is an American staple.  Amber waves of grain are, after all, an American icon.  But we can’t live by bread alone.  So what are some wheatless alternatives?