Yesterday Mark Bittman published an article on the soda tax. In “Soda: A Sin We Sip Instead of Smoke?“, Bittman explores the controversy of taxing sugar-sweetened beverages. The impetus for such concern are the rising rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes, both modern epidemics for children and adults in America. This is clearly a serious issue. And yet, the cure for this problem could not seem more ridiculous!
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A Tax on Soda = Illogical Food Policy
Tags: Food Politics, Mark Bittman, subsidies, USDA
Posted on February 15th, 2010 by jared | 1 Comment »
A Fresh Perspective (weekly menu 20)
For those of us who cook at home, one’s library of recipes is both a treasure and a burden. Like an old babushka from communist Europe, the ripped pages, dog-eared cookbooks and scraps of scribbled meal ideas are piled away in the ever-growing corner or dusty cabinet. Each night we peruse the pages looking for a new idea, a fresh perspective. But every time we open the same books, a looming sense of doubt fills our hungry bellies. There’s only so many pot roasts, stir-fries and creamy soups to find in one’s hoarded collection. Thank goodness an outside world exists. If it weren’t for libraries, magazine aisles, Bravo TV, the food channel and other consumer-friendly sources of food ideas, we’d still be standing over the stove stirring at the same old pot of stew.
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Tags: fish, Mark Bittman, NW cuisine, weekly menu
Posted on February 12th, 2010 by jared | No Comments »
The Pains of Eliminating (weekly menu 19)
Today signals the 5th week of my epic elimination diet. For the past 36 days I have avoided 19 different food items, including: citrus fruits, beans, vinegar, tofu, tomatoes, eggs and mushrooms. Suffice to say, this is not easy. In fact, I don’t wish this upon anyone. It’s one thing to be gluten-free 0r dairy-free or nut-free, let alone all three at once. But it’s a whole other beast to ignore a dozen or so common random food items. In both cases there are plenty of options; but in the latter lifestyle there is much more difficulty when interacting with the outside culinary world. If anything, the elimination diet makes you feel like a weirdo, alientaed from the “normal world.” A world I once proudly inhabited.
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Tags: diet, Mark Bittman, tomato
Posted on February 5th, 2010 by jared | No Comments »
The New Year (weekly menu 15)
Welcome to 2010.
To begin this new year with a healthy start, I am excited to embrace a new cookbook in our collection. This year for my birthday I received a copy of Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats. Like many others, I hope to improve my health this year by eating more nutritious foods. Almost a cult classic, Fallon’s cookbook is the one to have if you are ready to challenge the mainstream interpretations of nutrition. You may have begun this journey if you read Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food: And Eater’s Manifesto. While this relatively short book examines the history of nutritionism in America, Pollan also argues that we must revert to a more simple and wholesome diet – one consisting of more whole foods and pastured animal meat. To meet this goal, I highly suggest Fallon’s cookbook. It is the cornerstone of revitalizing traditional foods in the modern home.
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Tags: Grass-Fed, Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, Nutrition, Soup, weekly menu
Posted on January 1st, 2010 by jared | No Comments »
Where have all the simple meals gone? (weekly menu 12)
For more than two years now I have planned weekly menus. The goals have changed over time, but the quality of life that results from my semi-obsessive planning habits remain choice and flavorful. Sometimes we find a theme for the menu- an ethnicity, a region, a cooking technique, a desire for cheeses or meats, etc. Throughout this process of reading recipes and planning feasts at home, I have noticed one big shift – my conception of a “simple meal.”
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Tags: lamb, Mark Bittman, Recipes, Soup, squash
Posted on November 20th, 2009 by jared | 1 Comment »
