Reading List for October 11-15

1. “Group Seeks Food Label That Highlights Harmful Nutrients” from the NYTimes

“A team of health specialists … said Wednesday in a report [from the Institute of Medicine] that easy-to-grasp nutrition information on the front of food packages should focus on the nutrients most responsible for obesity and chronic diseases: calories, saturated fat, trans fat and sodium.”

Related commentary by Marion Nestle in The Atlantic: “Where front-of-package food labels are headed”

2. Is China trying to take over the Western food supply?
"Worrying over China and Food" from the NYTimes

"Do we really want the Chinese to control the company that has the largest capacity to produce fertilizer? … 45 percent of Potash’s production is sold to farmers in North America. The big worry, in part, is that the Chinese could seek to redirect that supply to China, starving other countries of a much-needed commodity."

"A growing appetite: Why a Chinese food company wants to gobble up Western outfits" from The Economist

"Why does Bright Food want to buy a debt-laden business that has been on the block for a while without attracting a serious bid for the whole business? One reason is the need to sweeten the company’s image: Bright Food was implicated in a scandal two years ago when six babies died from drinking baby formula contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical."

3. Speaking of China, Wal-Mart ... goes locavore?
"Wal-Mart Plans Drive to Buy More Locally Grown Produce" from the NYTimes
"Walmart Goes Public with Sustainable Produce" from The Atlantic

4. Going apple-picking this weekend? "22 Awesome Ways to Use Your Apples"

Three Courses & Another Bergman Film

Last Friday night, our friends Randy & Kim invited us over to continue Bergman's film trilogy on faith and man's relationship with God. We started with "Through a Glass Darkly" a couple of weeks ago at our house, and last Friday we watched "Winter Light" (1963), the second in the trilogy.

As usual chefs Raines & Raines made a fabulous three-course meal: Randy's poached sea bass and Kim's ricotta gnocchi were both outstanding.

What We Ate:

• aperitif: Prosecco
• appetizer: Chilean sea bass, poached in olive oil with lemon rinds, served over polenta and topped with crispy pancetti, shredded parsley and a fried quail egg - paired with a Sauvignon blanc - so delicious! the fish was very flavorful but not overcooked, and the quail egg (so tiny!) was rich but not overpowering
• entrée: lamb shank, sautéed shitake mushrooms, and ricotta gnocchi - paired with a Montepulciano - after dinner, we kept eating the leftover gnocchi like popcorn - it was addictively good
• dessert: apple almond tart topped with vanilla ice cream - paired with an ice wine

(I also learned something about poaching that evening: as long as you keep the liquid/meat at a constant temperature, you can cook it as long as you want without fear of overcooking - you'll just keep infusing flavor. The French have a similar technique called sous-vide, where food sealed in an airtight plastic bag is cooked in a water bath at a constant temperature for a long period of time.)

After dinner we settled down - with coffee & more ice wine - to watch the movie. Like most Bergman films, it centers more around relationships & conversations than actions & events. The main character Tomas Ericsson is a small-town clergyman in rural Sweden; Marta Lundberg is the local schoolteacher and Ericsson's sometimes mistress. Approached by two church members Jonas & Karin Persson for spiritual counseling, Ericsson suffers a personal crisis of faith. The movie's story takes place all within 3-4 hours on one Sunday afternoon, between a morning communion service and an afternoon vespers service.

We had a good discussion afterwards: Kim & I firmly believe that the film's ending - including a conversation with the church's hunchback sexton Algot - is cynical & depressing, while Randy & Topher just as firmly believe that it's hopeful. We even went back and watched the last 10-15 minutes again. Too bad the guys still didn't get it. ;)

Further reading on "Winter Light":
Review in the NYTimes - May 14, 1963
Essay from The Criterion Collection - August 18, 2003
Essay by Tobias Wolff in The New Yorker - June 9, 2008

Reading List for October 4-8

1. "The Dangers of a Food Chemical: New Evidence Against BPA" from The Atlantic

"BPA is everywhere, with the CDC concluding that more than 90 percent of Americans are chronically exposed. Such pervasiveness is, in the words of one of the study's seven authors, Dr. Frederick vom Saal, "nothing short of insanity." The University of Missouri endocrinologist also does not hesitate to use the word "scary," comparing today's use of BPA to the use of lead in paint a century ago."

From the NYTimes: "In Feast of Data on BPA Plastic, No Final Answer"

2. New York City seeks to ban use of food stamps for soda
"No Food Stamps for Sodas" - an editorial in the NYTimes by the New York City and New York state health commissioners

"Every year, tens of millions of federal dollars are spent on sweetened beverages in New York City through the food stamp program — far more than is spent on obesity prevention. This amounts to an enormous subsidy to the sweetened beverage industry. ... This policy change would be entirely in keeping with existing standards for defining what is and isn’t nutritious. The Agriculture Department itself has already rightly declared sugar-sweetened beverages to be “foods of minimal nutritional value.” The city’s proposed program would not reduce participants’ food stamp benefits or their ability to feed their families a nutritionally adequate diet. They would still receive every penny of support they now get, meaning they would have as much, if not more, to spend on nutritious food. And they could still purchase soda if they chose — just not with taxpayer dollars."

Also: the accompanying NYTimes article and an NPR piece.

3. "After Growth, Fortunes Turn for Monsanto" from the NYTimes

Monsanto, the giant of agricultural biotechnology, has been buffeted by setbacks this year that have prompted analysts to question whether its winning streak of creating ever more expensive genetically engineered crops is coming to an end. ... Until now, Monsanto’s main challenge has come from opponents of genetically modified crops, who have slowed their adoption in Europe and some other regions. Now, however, the skeptics also include farmers and investors who were once in Monsanto’s camp.

4. "Can I rekindle my love affair with bread?" from the Washington Post

How to incorporate bread into a weigh-loss diet - it can be done!

"Ellen Kunes and Frances Largeman-Roth, authors of the best-selling The Carb Lovers Diet, encourage me to give bread a second chance. Their book aims to reestablish carbohydrates' role in a healthful diet at a time when the pendulum continues to swing between low-carb, high-protein diets a la Atkins and the low-fat, carb-rich approach."

5. "For dietary advice, the writing was on the wall" from the Washington Post

A new exhibit at the USDA features agriculture, food and diet posters from the WWI & WWII eras.

"Independent curator Cory Bernat's goal was to study how, through printed posters and publicity, the government has tried to change dietary behavior. ... Bernat, who assembled the exhibit as part of her master's history thesis, explores methods of communication such as messaging and graphic design, and how they changed over time. In World War I, before there was a radio in every home, the posters were text-heavy and packed with information. More than two decades later, they have a 'Mad Men'-esque quality with colorful illustrations and emotional pitches geared to a nation of emerging consumers."

6. For a more leisurely read (think short story), check out "The 36-Hour Dinner Party" by Michael Pollan, in the NYTimes Magazine.

"Shared meals have always been about community, about what happens among family and friends — even enemies — when they gather around a table to eat; but once upon a time, before every family had its own kitchen in which Mom labored more or less alone, cooking was itself a social activity, one that fostered community and conversation around the chopping board or cook fire long before the meal was served. ...

[W]hen Mike offered to organize and host what amounted to a 36-hour dinner party, I was immediately intrigued: could an around-the-clock cook fire still exert the same social force? I barely knew most of the people with whom I’d be spending the weekend, and I wondered how well two days of working side by side and eating at the same table would wear on everyone. I also wondered about the food — whether four meals teased from a single fire, three of them from one goat, would get a little monotonous. But then, my previous experience of cooking with fire was pretty much limited to grilling slabs of meat on a Weber. I had no idea just how many different things one fire could do."

Hope you have a great weekend!

Alton Brown's Four Lists

I'm not a huge Alton Brown fan; but my husband likes his scientific approach to food & cooking and loves to watch his show "Good Eats," so occasionally I'll watch it with him. This past January, Brown hosted a much-talked-about "Good Eats" episode entitled "Live and Let Diet" in which he talked about a four-list eating plan that helped him lose 50 lbs. over nine months in 2009.

Now I could stand to drop a *little* weight, but nothing like 50 lbs. So why am I talking about this non-diet diet? Because I think his approach was good: it's nutritionally focused, not energy/calorie focused. And instead of only telling me what NOT to eat (although he does that as well), his lists emphasize what I SHOULD eat.

So here they are (the comments in parentheses are mine):

Eat Daily

• fruits
• whole grains
• leafy greens
• nuts (healthy fats)
• carrots (an orange food = beta-carotene)
• green teas

Eat 3x per Week

• oily fish (more healthy fats)
• yogurt
• broccoli
• sweet potato (another orange food)
• avocado (still more healthy fats)

Eat/Drink 1x per Week

• red meat (animal protein)
• pasta
• desserts
• alcohol

Skip Altogether

• fast food
• soda (high in sugars)
• processed meals/frozen dinners
• canned soup (high in sodium)
• "diet" foods

I definitely don't eat quite like this all the time, but it's nice to have some guidelines and something healthy to strive for.

Sadly, these lists are a lot more clear (to me, at least) than the government-approved food pyramid, and I think NPR and the Washington Post agree:

"[A]s in the past, translating scientific data into clear and useful recommendations poses political pitfalls. The [government's dietary] advisory committee's emphasis on a 'plant-based' diet, for example, has caused much consternation among the powerful egg and meat lobbies who say the term might be misunderstood as advocating a vegetarian diet. ... By law, the guidelines must reflect the recommendations from the scientific advisory committee. But policymakers have broad discretion about how and whether to update the food pyramid. The current version, called MyPyramid, was unveiled in 2005 and has been widely judged a failure. ..." - from the WashPost

Obviously something's not working, since recent studies have found that 40% of kids' diets come from "empty calories" (TIME) and affluent Americans are increasing, not decreasing, their consumption of junk food (WSJ). Bummer. If only the government could give it to us straight, instead of obfuscating the facts for the sake of the big food lobbies ...

Note: The photo above was found here.

Soups & Stews

After last week's monsoon, the weather in Hampton Roads has turned decidedly cooler, and to celebrate the advent of autumn Topher & I have had a soup or stew every evening for the past five days.

Friday: beef stew with potatoes & carrots (made with a rack of ribs)
Saturday: our friend Meredith's pork stew, served over mashed potatoes and topped with diced Granny Smith apples - yum!
Sunday: Topher's three-bean turkey chili (with leftovers for lunch on Monday)
Monday: our friend Anne Randolph's pumpkin soup (fantastic - savory, not sweet)
Tuesday: French onion soup

I'm not sure yet if we'll be continuing the series tonight, but I've already found a few more recipes I'd like to try:

• Andean Bean Stew with Winter Squash and Quinoa from the NYTimes
• Curried Lentil Stew with Kale, Red Onion and Coconut Milk from "To Kiss the Cook" blog

And here's an old favorite that I'll definitely be making again soon:

• Salmon, Sweet Potato and Broccoli Chowder from Real Simple - it's like a superfood soup

If you've got a favorite soup or stew recipe, please share!

Note: The photo above was found here.

Book Reviews

As some of you already know, my favorite hobbies (besides enjoying good food) are music, traveling, hanging out with my family, and READING. When I get into a good book, I can devour it in just a few days. So I thought I'd do a quick review of some foodie books.


Already Read

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
I love Barbara Kingsolver's novels, but this nonfiction book just didn't do it for me. It received rave reviews and, I must admit, it contains a lot of valuable information. I especially liked the chapters on cheese-making and the "vegitannual." But the tone was so preachy and condescending that I had a hard time finishing it - and apparently I'm not the only one.







Currently Reading

The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais
This novel was a recommendation from NPR Books, and their description of it was so delicious - "wonderful literary food porn with mouthwatering descriptions of pork roasts basted in lemon juice and cognac and cucumber-and-sour-cream salad dashed with lingonberries" - that I just had to read it.

It's the fictional story of a boy who grows up the son of middle-class restauranteurs in Indian, moves to London then rural France with his family, and eventually starts his own restaurant. NPR was right - the food writing is amazing! - and parts of the book read like a travelogue, which I like. The protagonist (and narrator) is a little underdeveloped as a character, but I'm still enjoying the story.




Want to Read

97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman
I can't remember where I first heard about this book, but not too long afterwards, an NPR review brought it to my attention again. Then the NYTimes reviewed it (favorably, I might add). So I want to give it a shot.

From Amazon.com: "From census data, newspaper accounts, sociological studies, and cookbooks of the time, Ziegelman vividly renders a proud, diverse community learning to be American. ... Beyond the foodstuffs and recipes of the time, however, are the mores, histories, and identities that food evokes. Through food, the author records the immigrants struggle to reinterpret themselves in an American context and their reciprocal impact on American culture at large."

Reading List for September 27 - October 1

Welcome to FY11! For those of you that don't work for the government and might not know, today marks the beginning of a new federal fiscal year (FY). Thanks to the wonderful game of politics, Congress has not passed our budget yet, so we'll be operating under a Continuing Resolution Authority (CRA) at least until Christmas. Yay! :)

On to today's recommended reads. (My comments will be brief this week due to the crazy end of FY10 - beginning of FY11 turnover.)

1. "The Vegetable Express: A Way to Sell Produce to Those in Need" from The Atlantic

2. To and Fro on HFCS

James McWilliams in The Atlantic: "The Evils of Corn Syrup: How Food Writers Got It Wrong"

Tom Laskawy's response on Grist: "High-fructose corn syrup and scientific research: an exchange"

Harvard School of Public Health's The Nutrition Source on HFCS

3. POM ain't so 'Wonderful' after all

"Pomegranate Juice May Not Be So 'Wonderful,' Says FTC" from NPR

" 'POM Wonderful' Juice Health Claims Aren't So Wonderful" from The Atlantic

4. A picture says a thousand words

"New Graphic Shows All the Crap We Eat in a Year" from SFWeekly blog

"This is why we're fat - by the numbers" from Grist