American Feast's Sustainable Food Blog
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January 09, 2012
Approval of GE Foods to Allow Wide Use of Agent Orange Herbicide
Over the holidays, the United States Department of Agriculture announced its approval of a novel strain of genetically engineered corn, developed by Monsanto, purportedly being “drought tolerant.”
Despite receiving nearly 45,000 public comments in opposition to this particular genetically engineered (GE) corn variety (and only 23 comments in favor), the Obama administration gave Monsanto the green light to release its newest GE corn variety freely into the environment and American food supply, without any governmental oversight or safety tracking.
“President Obama and Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack just sent a clear message to the American public that they do not care about our concerns with genetically engineered food and their questionable safety, adverse environmental impacts, and detrimental effects on farmers, especially organic farmers,” says Mark A. Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst with The Cornucopia Institute.
Change We Can Believe In?
“This is just the latest in a string of approvals of genetically engineered crops, and it is clear that despite campaign promises of change from Obama, he has not had the courage to stand strong against the powerful agribusiness and biotechnology lobbies,” Kastel added.
In addition to its announcement approving Monsanto’s newest GE corn variety, the USDA also opened a 60-day public comment period for two additional petitions – one for Monsanto’s GE soybean containing higher levels of an omega-3 fatty acid, that does not naturally occur in soybeans, and the other from Dow AgroSciences for corn that has been genetically engineered to better resist the poisonous herbicide 2,4-D.
While the USDA attempts to assure the public that 2,4-D is safe, scientists have raised serious concerns about the safety of this herbicide, which was used as a key ingredient in “Agent Orange,” used to defoliate forests and croplands in the Vietnam War.
2,4-D is a chlorophenoxy herbicide, and scientists around the world have reported increased cancer risks in association with its use, especially for soft tissue sarcoma and malignant lymphoma. Four separate studies in the United States reported an association with chlorophenoxy herbicide use and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
"The concern is that, just like Monsanto's genetically engineered corn that is resistant to RoundUp™ (glyphosate) herbicide, the approval of a cultivar resistant to 2,4-D will cause an exponential increase in the use of this toxic agrichemical," Kastel stated.
Research by the EPA found that babies born in counties with high rates of 2,4-D application to farm fields were significantly more likely to be born with birth defects of the respiratory and circulatory systems, as well as defects of the musculoskeletal system like clubfoot, fused digits and extra digits. These birth defects were 60% to 90% more likely in counties with higher 2,4-D application rates.
The results also showed a higher likelihood of birth defects in babies conceived in the spring, when herbicide application rates peak.
In its petition, Dow AgroSciences states that 2,4-D is increasingly important for chemical farmers because of the presence of weeds that have developed resistance to glyphosate, as a result of the widespread use of Monsanto’s genetically engineered glyphosate-resistant crops.
When Monsanto introduced glyphosate, it was touted as a safer and less toxic alternative to herbicides like 2,4-D. Now, an emerging body of scientific literature is raising serious concerns about the safety of glyphosate as well.
“The concern that the use of GE crops, which are resistant to particular herbicides, leads to the creation of 'superweeds' is now shown to be valid and serious, as even the chemical companies now recognize and admit this is a problem,” says Kastel.
“In 2012 the USDA is proposing approving a new GE corn variety that is resistant to a different toxic herbicide, escalating the toxic treadmill in chemical-dependent agriculture,” said Jay Feldman, Executive Director of Beyond Pesticides. “This is nothing more than a band-aid solution to a serious problem, and will only give rise to more superweeds, more herbicide pollution in our environment, more herbicide poisoning, while likely leading to the need for even more toxic herbicides a couple of years down the line. This foolish circle has to end,” Feldman said.
A Very Real Threat to Organic Farmers
Farm research groups like The Cornucopia Institute are also concerned with the impact of genetically engineered crops on organic farmers, whose organic crops are already at risk of contamination with Monsanto’s unnatural DNA, from pollen drift.
In its Environmental Assessment of the “drought tolerant” Monsanto corn, the USDA conceded that gene flow of corn pollen is likely to occur. It is well-established that corn pollen travels, and pollen from genetically engineered plants will contaminate natural corn plants.
“The irony, of course, is that organic fields and crops are much more drought tolerant, because common sense and field trials show healthy and biologically active organic soil retains moisture much better than tired and depleted soil on conventional monoculture farms, and organic crops are healthier and more robust than conventional crops,” said Charlotte Vallaeys, a researcher at Cornucopia.
“But Monsanto cannot profit from healthy soil and healthy organic crops, while they can profit from genetically engineering, patenting, and owning new life forms,” Vallaeys continued. “It’s unfortunate that the Obama administration is equally misguided by supporting Monsanto and Dow’s petitions and ignoring citizens' demand for an immediate end to approving these genetically engineered crops in our food supply.”
About The Cornucopia Institute
The Cornucopia Institute is dedicated to the fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community. Through research, advocacy and economic development our goal is to empower farmers both politically and through marketplace initiatives. Its Organic Integrity Project acts as a corporate watchdog assuring that no compromises to the credibility of organic farming methods and the food it produces are made in the pursuit of profit. We will actively resist regulatory rollbacks and the weakening of organic standards to protect and maintain consumer confidence in the organic food label.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site, email Jeff Deasy at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
When the Weed family of Cayuga County in upstate New York began Schoolyard Sugarbush to make pure maple syrup they had already been making pancake mix for three generations. A young Danielle was puzzled at receiving a gift of 25 metal spikes from her grandparents one winter when her mom told her, “You’ll learn to use them this spring.”
And learn she did. There in the schoolyard of an old one-room schoolhouse where several aunts and uncles had received their first years of formal education, Danielle and her father began yet another science lesson in her home education.
Having made pancake mix at the family’s New Hope Mills for many years it was only natural to combine pancakes and maple syrup. The family’s background gave them a good understanding of the quality, flavor and coloring of pure maple syrup. For the Weed family the quality of the product is paramount. Any product they make is produced in the most eco-friendly way, absolutely free from chemical additives and artificial ingredients. Under organic standards the maple forest must be protected by buffer zones from poisonous run off and environmentally harmful fertilizers, exactly as the family would have it.
If you’re in Moravia, Cayuga County in upstate New York, visitors are welcome anytime they’re boiling at the roadside sugarhouse. Guests entering the sugarhouse comment most on the amazing aroma of the syrup. Some even say a perfume should be developed. So stop in. You’ll learn the taste and aroma of Natures Sweetener. The address of the sugarhouse is 5967 Appletree Point Road in Moravia; within 300 feet of corner at 41A and Appletree Point Road.
If you can’t make it to the sugarhouse but would like to purchase some of the Weed family’s fine syrup go to: 100% Pure Organic Maple Syrup
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site, email Jeff Deasy at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
"We found inadequate, overgrazed pasture adjacent to their milking facility, and we were told by Shamrock employees that the confined cows had not been out in weeks," said Mark A. Kastel of the Cornucopia Institute.
An industrial-scale organic dairy, located south of Phoenix in the desert Southwest, is poised to lose its USDA organic certification. The enforcement action at Shamrock Farms is the result of a USDA investigation into organic livestock management practices that was triggered by a formal complaint from The Cornucopia Institute.
Shamrock operates a massive dairy that was milking approximately 16,000 cows at the time of an inspection by Cornucopia staff in 2008. Between 700 and 1,100 of the cows at the split operation were in the organic milk herd; the remainder were part of a conventional dairy that is part of the same sprawling complex. Shamrock is Arizona's first-ever certified organic dairy.
"We found inadequate, overgrazed pasture adjacent to their milking facility, and we were told by Shamrock employees that the confined cows had not been out in weeks," said Mark A. Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst for Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute, an organic industry watchdog.
Federal organic regulations require that cows be grazed, and the practice has been a contentious issue in the organic arena. A number of factory-scale dairies — some milking thousands of cows each — have been spotlighted by Cornucopia's investigations for skirting the law. Formal complaints to the USDA from the farm policy group have led to similar enforcement actions against other giant dairies that they say are "masquerading as organic."
"As an organic dairy farmer who believes in and follows the law, I am upset that outfits like Shamrock are allegedly cheating and deceiving organic consumers," said John Boere, a Modesto, California dairy producer who ships his milk to Organic Valley, a cooperative of primarily family farmers. "Over the past few years there has been a surplus of organic milk, which injured plenty of farms like mine. Ethical producers like me could have recovered some of our income if certifiers and the USDA had been doing their jobs," added Boere.
Shamrock's organic certifier, Quality Assurance International, has been asked by the USDA to handle the suspension.
"This dairy operation never should have been certified in the first place," Kastel noted, "and it's unacceptable that it took more than three years from the time of our complaint to the announcement of this enforcement action. There's simply no excuse for this level of foot-dragging and procrastination at a USDA administration that proclaimed this the 'age of enforcement.'"
The Wisconsin-based organization has been increasingly critical of the Obama/Vilsack administration at the USDA for failing to live up to its own rhetoric, and high expectations after appointing widely respected industry participants to run the National Organic Program.
"We filed the formal legal complaint against Shamrock towards the end of the Bush administration," said Kastel. “This kind of delay, as consumers apparently were continuing to unknowingly buy fraudulent organic milk, is a grave disservice and abdication of the USDA's congressional mandate to protect the industry from improprieties."
Shamrock Food Company's milk and sour cream products are distributed in the Rocky Mountain and Southwest regions and available at such retailers as Walmart.
The Cornucopia Institute
The Cornucopia Institute, with almost 6,000 members, has more organic farmer-members than any other policy group in the country. On the organization's website (www.cornucopia.org) pictures of Shamrock's industrial-scale dairy can be viewed in the photo gallery.
"At a time when conventional and organic dairy producers are all being squeezed by extraordinarily high feed prices, there is no doubt that large corporate-owned, vertically-integrated operations like Shamrock put downward pressure on farm gate prices," said Will Fantle, Cornucopia's Research Director. "If this dairy was indeed violating the law, they have taken profits out of the pockets of hard-working family farmers in the Southwest."
Cornucopia has also produced an online scorecard for consumers rating all organic dairy brands sold in grocery stores around the country for their adherence to the spirit and letter of the federal law and regulations governing organic food and agriculture.
"The good news for organic consumers in the Southwest, and elsewhere, is that based on our research 90% of all organic dairy brands are produced with high integrity," Kastel affirmed. "In every market buyers can find organic milk, cheese and yogurt, butter and ice cream that truly respect organic consumers' values and the federal law. Scofflaws like Shamrock are unfortunate aberrations."
Flagrant Violation of the Law
The Cornucopia Institute was formally notified by the USDA that it had completed its investigation of Shamrock's Arizona dairy by referring the 2008 complaint to the operation's certifier, Quality Assurance International (QAI).
"Since Shamrock, based on our allegations, was in flagrant violation of the law, which should have been evident to its certifier, upon initial inspection and on subsequent annual inspections, we question the propriety of the USDA depending on QAI rather than conducting their own investigation," said Fantle.
In the past, when Cornucopia filed formal legal complaints against other industrial dairy operations, such as Aurora Dairy in Colorado, which USDA investigators found was in "willful" violation of federal law, the certifier was also found complicit and was initially earmarked, by the USDA, for suspension.
In 2007, another giant dairy certified by QAI, owned by Case Vander Eyk Jr., in Pixley, California milking 10,000 cows, in a split operation, also lost its organic certification after a Cornucopia investigation and subsequent legal complaint.
"The USDA's job, operating an accreditation program, is to assure that the certifiers are performing their duties properly," said Fantle. "Subcontracting investigations to certifiers, when serious allegations crop up, when the certifier itself could also be responsible, is inappropriate."
The USDA's letter to Cornucopia states that, "QAI issued a Letter of Proposed Suspension to Shamrock" and that the corporation has appealed the action and their milk remains in the market.
"Besides the unacceptable delay, what is outrageous about this notice is its lack of transparency," added Fantle. The USDA has refused, thus far, to release the actual Letter of Proposed Suspension, breaking from tradition.
"Even the Bush administration was willing to inform the public when an enforcement action took place and fully delineate the violations that were confirmed," lamented Kastel.
Although, on at least one occasion, The Cornucopia Institute was forced to sue the Bush USDA in order to compel the release of documents that the public was legally entitled to, it now states it is more disappointed in the Obama administration's approach to openness at the USDA.
"This isn't exactly news, as the mindset of the Obama administration has been well documented in the media, including the New York Times, in terms of their increasing levels of secrecy, after professing, as President Obama took office, its commitment to transparency. This level of secrecy is highly disappointing to find at the National Organic Program (NOP),” said Kastel.
"There wasn't anything positive in terms of governmental openness at the NOP during the Bush years, but now we find that documents that had been previously released are being withheld. What’s more, when the Department now complies with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests most of the documents are so heavily redacted they are rendered useless to the public and media endeavoring to understand whether or not our regulators are properly enforcing the law," Kastel added.
About The Cornucopia Institute
The Cornucopia Institute is dedicated to the fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community. Through research, advocacy and economic development our goal is to empower farmers both politically and through marketplace initiatives. Its Organic Integrity Project acts as a corporate watchdog assuring that no compromises to the credibility of organic farming methods and the food it produces are made in the pursuit of profit. We will actively resist regulatory rollbacks and the weakening of organic standards to protect and maintain consumer confidence in the organic food label.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site, email Jeff Deasy at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
We have already allowed the spread of genetically modified crops into our agriculture at great cost to our economy and with unknown effects on our bodies
Only 26% of Americans believe their food contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs), according to the nonprofit Organic Consumers Association. But 80% of non-organic, processed foods (basically every product containing soy, corn, canola, cottonseed oil, sugar beet derivatives or ingredients from animals fed soy or corn) are contaminated with genetically modified organisms.
A statement from OCA says, “People don't think they're eating genetically modified foods because they have no way of knowing whether they are or not. Genetically modified foods aren't labeled.”
No one really knows with certainty what the effects of eating GMO foods will be on human beings, but GMOs have been linked to organ disruption in 19 animal studies. And, when Monsanto's engineered genes were found in the blood of pregnant women and their babies, scientists concluded it must have gotten there through eating GMO-fed animals, says OCA..
Feeding GMOs to Infants
Even some baby foods that are certified USDA Organic foods contain GMOs, as do some infant formulas, children's vitamins, and dairy products. They are produced for our children with the Martek corporation's "Life'sDHA" and "Life'sARA," which are artificial nutraceuticals that mimic essential fatty acids found in eggs and fish.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich has introduced legislation that would prohibit open-air cultivation of Genetically Engineered (GE) pharmaceutical and industrial crops, preventing biological contamination of our food supply. The bill would also establish a tracking system to regulate and ensure the safety of GE pharmaceutical and industrial crops.
“We must take steps to prevent genetically engineered organisms from being grown in a way that could do irreversible damage to our food supply. Under pressure from profit-minded industry, we have already allowed the spread of genetically modified crops into our agriculture at great cost to our economy and with unknown effects on our bodies,” said Kucinich.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Occupy Wall Street Meets & Greets America's Farmers in New York City
In a classic David and Goliath struggle, America’s organic farmers and “seed” farmers are suing Monsanto, et al, to protect their rights to do business
I’d never met Farmer Jim Gerritsen before Sunday, when I attended the Occupy Wall Street Food Justice event held in La Plaza Cultural in Manhattan, but I had been a beneficiary of his organic seed business, Wood Prairie Farm. Last year, I bought organic seed potatoes and potato growing bags from Maine. Guess where that product came from? The family farm of Jim and Megan Gerritsen.
What I didn’t know was that Jim Gerritsen has taken a leadership role in the lawsuit brought by an alliance of organic farmers against the monolithic Monsanto.
All I knew was that the potatoes I grew in that big black bag in the back yard seemed like a miracle every time I pulled up another spade full. But now, I can see that Jim Gerritsen is planting more than seeds in the ground. He’s planting hope for America's food crops, and for all of us.
The Farmers' March with Occupy at La Plaza Cultural Garden
In a classic David and Goliath struggle, America’s organic farmers and “seed” farmers are suing Monsanto, et al, to protect their rights to do business.
It seems impossible to believe, but this one monolithic company has made an aggressive attempt to squelch conventional farming worldwide. How? They have patented their own seed, and if any farmer in the vicinity of a Monsanto seeded farm is caught planting their own saved seed, they are sued for copyright infringement.
Monsanto is huge, aggressive and not afraid to go after small and larger farmers who assert their right to save and plant seed.
So when the Farmers met the Occupy Wall Street people in New York’s La Plaza Cultural, it was all systems go for the farmers as they told their story.
If you’ve ever been anywhere near farming, you know that farmers make an art and a science out of saving back their best seed to plant the next year. Or, they make alliances with seed farmers of their choice to buy the best seed to grow their crops. Young Farmers March with Occupy
And, before I go one step further, I want to plant this fertile idea in your head. The lawyer who worked for Monsanto at the time of this litigation, and who crafted their argument was none other than Clarence Thomas, who now sits on the Supreme Court, having prevailed in a very public battle with a female lawyer who accused him of sexual harassment. You don’t say? What a surprise.
A pig in a black robe is still a pig.
But I digress.
So the intended consequences of this law are thus. Say you are Farmer Brown and you are growing corn. The wind blows seed from a nearby farm into your “bar pit”. You harvest it along with your own crop.
Then Monsanto discovers that this seed which simply was carried on the wind to your place is their “patented” seed, so they sue you for patent infringement.
It can cost lots of money and lots of time to fight this. Many farmers cave, and begin purchasing seed from Monsanto to avoid litigation.
So what’s wrong with that besides the plain bullying tactics the company uses? Isn’t that the American Way? Big dog wins?
The Monsanto seed has been genetically engineered to resist “Roundup”, Monsanto’s signature herbicide. The process is this. The land is sprayed with Roundup before the crop is planted. Then, nothing will grow on the land but the Roundup resistant seed.
So what, you say? This also means no earth worms, no bees, no butterflies, no birds. It means the earth itself is essentially “dead”, and must be fertilized with chemicals from – guess who? Monsanto.
It means the farmer is married to Monsanto until death do them part.
Now this might be all fine and dandy but the crop yields go DOWN, the crop cost goes UP, and the poor farmer is left in the squeeze.
In India, literally thousands of depressed farmers who have been bankrupted by this system have reacted by drinking Roundup themselves. Yes it’s a nerve toxin and yes, it kills humans too.
So a coalition of 84 plaintiffs, organic farmers and seed farmers representing 300,000 people have sued Monsanto.
Jim Garritsen, an organic seed farmer representing the lawsuit, known as Osgata vs Monsanto and owner of Wood Prairie Farm, http://www.woodprairie.com from Bridgewater, Maine, came to New York City to and the Occupy Wall Street Food Event at La Plaza Cultural, December 4, 2011, and here’s what he had to say.
“Seed is the ultimate defense against Big Ag. You can farm in an ecologically sound way, in a responsible way, and feed people.
“We are faced with a broken system in this country. We must assert our control.
"This Occupy Movement has become the Conscience of America."
“We farmers stand with you. We need to protect our organic seeds.
“We don’t want the corporations to keep us under their thumb.
“I had never been to New York City before today. But I believe it is important for us to stand together. We brought this lawsuit against Monsanto because organic seed is the basis for agriculture. Healthy seed yields healthy crops and healthy food.
“According to the patent lawyer we have consulted, Monsanto made many mistakes in its pleading. And we believe we will prevail.”
So maybe Clarence Thomas wasn’t any better lawyer than he is Supreme Court Justice where he is widely known as the Do Nothing Judge.
“People need to eat,” continues Mr. Garritsen. “We need to reach out to kids, to get them involved. Lots of rural farmers welcome city kids to come and work on the farms.
“Start your own farm on public property in the city. Our country and our democracy depends on it.”
The crowd of 500 people in the park gave Mr. Garritsen a vigorous round of applause. A number of other impressive speakers continued. Then the participants joined in The Farmers' March to Zuccotti Park and ultimately to Trinity Church for a Communal Supper.
(This article was previously published on Everybody Eats News.)
Linda West Eckhardt
About the Author
Linda West Eckhardt, is an award winning journalist, food writer, and nutritionist. Her more than 20 cookbooks have garnered prizes including the James Beard prize for the best cookbook for a text she wrote with her daughter, Katherine West DeFoyd, entitled Entertaining 101, Doubleday. Their follow-up book, Stylish One Dish Dinners, Doubleday, was also nominated for a James Beard prize. Their next book, The High Protein Cookbook, Clarkson Potter, remains a best seller after 12 years.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
A team of long time gardeners, parents, teachers, activists, legal counsel and staff with elected officials in New York have crafted legislation to preserve community gardens in New York City and issued a call for public support to get their NYC Garden Law passed.
According to GreenThumb of the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, over 100 community gardens in NYC are now privately owned as part of a Land Trust. But since a survey jointly conducted by the nonprofit GrowNYC and Green Thumb in 2009-2010 said there are nearly 500 community gardens in New York City, many remain vulnerable to destruction and development for far less green purposes.
As Isabel, a gardener in the Bronx, put it, “Our gardens are getting bulldozed one by one. Our children and elders, everyone needs these green spaces. Our City Council can do it. Please help.”
The struggle to preserve New York City's community gardens has been ongoing for decades. Many have been saved from destruction at the 11th hour following grassroots efforts to save them. In 1999, Bette Midler, founder of the New York Restoration Project, saved 114 community gardens from commercial development and established the New York Garden Trust to ensure these precious resources survived in perpetuity.
To learn more about the proposed legislation, go to: NYC Garden Law
About the New York Restoration Project
New York Restoration Project (NYRP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming open space in underserved communities to create a greener, more sustainable New York City. In partnership with the City of New York, NYRP is also leading MillionTreesNYC – an initiative to plant and care for one million new trees throughout New York City’s five boroughs by 2017.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Friday afternoon and the weekend looms...the hour is nearing when it will be time to leave the stresses of the work week behind and unwind. You might visualize lying on a sun-soaked tropical beach and our friends from Ocean Vodka have a suggestion that should help. It's a new cocktail recipe which, it turns out, is very low in calories!
Inspired by the ocean paradise of Hawaii, Ocean Vodka is handcrafted using deep ocean mineral-rich water from 3,000 feet below the surface off the Big Island. These trace minerals, including potassium, magnesium and calcium, help create a distinct and pleasurable flavor profile that is unlike any other vodka.
The desalinated ocean water used to make this 80 proof vodka is drawn from 3,000 feet below the surface, off the coast of the island of Hawaii. At that depth the water is very cold and safe from all surface pollutants. The crisp clean taste is the result of unique all natural ingredients.
Ocean Vodka is certified 100% USDA organic and is the only vodka in the world distilled from organic sugar cane. That makes it naturally gluten free, with absolutely no GMOs (genetically modified organisms), herbicides, or pesticides!
Ocean Water Cocktail
Ingredients for 1 Drink
• 1½ Ounces Organic Ocean Vodka
• 3 Ounces Coconut Water
• 1 Teaspoon Agave syrup
• Mint leaves
Preparation
Muddle mint leaves with Ocean Vodka, coconut water, and agave syrup. Add ice and shake. Strain and serve neat in a lowball glass with a slice of lime and sprig of mint.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Artificial preservatives and genetically modified ingredients have no place in a healthy food system, but some powerful corporations are urging members of the USDA's National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) to allow them in food labeled organic.
Allowing their use in food labeled organic may sound Orwellian to longtime organic farmers and consumers but, the USDA panel is deeply divided between corporate agribusiness representatives and organic advocates. An upcoming meeting of the panel in Savannah, Georgia could be critical to the survival of sustainable agriculture.
"We think this meeting may well decide the fate of organic food and agriculture in this country," said Mark A. Kastel, Codirector of The Cornucopia Institute, a nonprofit watchdog group which represents family-scale organic farmers and their consumer allies across the U.S.
Corporate Profits vs People’s Health
Under the Bush and Obama administrations, the USDA Secretaries have been criticized for appointing a significant number of corporate representatives, whose primary interest appears to be loosening the federal organic standards, allegedly in pursuit of enhanced profits.
The 15-member NOSB is a citizen panel, set up by Congress, to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on organic policy and rulemaking. Upcoming votes concern the use of genetically modified and synthetic additives that have been petitioned for use in organic foods and drinks, including baby foods and formula.
Infant Formula Made with “Hazardous Pollutant”
Additives being recommended for use in organics include nutritional oils manufactured by Martek Biosciences Corporation, part of the $30 billion multinational conglomerate Royal DSM. These oils, genetically modified to provide isolated omega-3 and omega-6 nutrients DHA and ARA, are derived from algae and soil fungus, and stabilized with a wide variety of synthetic ingredients.
When incorporated in infant formula, these oils are processed with a neurotoxic solvent, n-hexane. A byproduct of gasoline refinement, n-hexane is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency as a hazardous pollutant. The recommendation to approve Martek’s oils, processed with hexane, has industry observers scratching their head since solvents, commonly used in conventional food production, are expressly forbidden in organic food production.
“What is most egregious about the NOSB push to approve the Martek Biosciences Corporation petition is that these DHA and ARA oils are in no way essential in organics, as claimed by Martek,” states Cornucopia's Kastel. “Other organic manufacturers have successfully used fish oil and egg yolks as legal and natural alternative sources of supplemental DHA.”
"They Are Caving to the Factory Farm Lobby”
Meanwhile, the Livestock Committee of the NOSB, which is refining the standards aimed at ensuring high levels of animal welfare on organic farms, appears to be backing away from adopting strong, enforceable standards for laying hens and other species.
"They are caving to the factory farm lobby, listening to giant vertically integrated egg producers, and ignoring the voice of rank-and-file family farmers," said Tim Koegel, a nationally prominent certified organic farmer producing pastured eggs and chickens. "The NOSB has an opportunity to make organics the true gold standard in terms of animal husbandry but instead might choose to make the organic label a joke."
The proposal for chickens would give animals as little as one square foot of living space. "Like allowing synthetics, this woefully inadequate standard would violate the organic law that requires animals be allowed to exhibit their natural instinctive behaviors," added Koegel. "Hell, those birds will not even be able to fully span their wings, let alone forage outside for insects, seeds and worms."
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Vermont Students Teach Guerrilla Gardening at Occupy Wall Street
Students from Sterling College in Vermont visited with the protestors of Occupy Wall Street to show how easy it is to plant seeds and grow healthy food.almost anywhere.
The young gardeners are passionate on the topic of knowing where our food comes from and rightly concerned about the heavy use of poisonous chemicals in American agriculture.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Farmers Market Pumpkins (photo by Mary K. Baird, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
The Fall Harvest is in full swing across the northern states with seasonal produce on display at markets and farm stands. This recipe is the creation of Vermont Organic Valley dairy farmer Amy Forgues and makes a classic seasonal soup. With cooler winds beginning to blow a bowl of her hearty pumpkin soup is just the thing to keep you warm and healthy.
Organic Valley is a farmer-owned coop that says, “We think it's a simple truth. The earth's most delicious, most healthful foods are made when farmers work in harmony with nature.” The organization started with seven farmers forming an organic cooperative in 1988. Today, more than 1,600 family farms are members and their high standards shine through in their delicious, award-winning, certified organic foods.
As always, try and get the freshest veggies you can find at your local farm stand or farmers market!
Seasonal Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
• 2 Tablespoons Organic Valley Salted Butter
• 1/4 Cup green bell pepper (diced)
• 1 Small onion (peeled and chopped)
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 1 Teaspoon sea salt
• 2 Cups canned pumpkin* (see below)
• 2 Cups Organic Valley Whole Milk
• 2 Cups chicken stock (or substitute vegetable stock)
• Dash thyme (crumbled)
• Dash nutmeg
• 1 Tablespoon parsley (chopped)
Preparation
1. In a large kettle, over medium low heat, melt butter, then add: green pepper and onion, saute until soft. Sprinkle flour and sea salt over the top to thicken.
2. Then add pumpkin, milk, chicken stock, herbs and spices to taste. Cook until slightly thickened, stirring constantly.
3. Enjoy! For thanksgiving this soup is nice served in baked jack-be-little pumpkins
*There's some question as to whether fresh pumpkin or canned pumpkin is better. Many say that either choice will produce a very different tasting soup. If you substitute fresh pumpkins for canned make sure the fresh is well drained & pureed Smaller pumpkins tend to be sweeter than the big ones. To do a little online research on this, copy & paste "canned pumpkin vs fresh pumpkin" into a search box and you'll find lots of advice.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
The beloved American tradition of milk and cookies is a crime for some mothers, according to the Farm Food Freedom Coalition, organizers of a planned civil disobedience on November 1.
A US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation makes the transport of raw milk intended for human consumption across state lines illegal, even for individuals purchasing it legally in one state and carrying it into the states where they live.
On Tuesday, November 1, 2011, a group of moms will challenge the FDA’s ban on interstate transport of raw milk by picking up fresh milk in Pennsylvania, transporting it to Maryland, then distributing it, along with cookies, in front of FDA headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland at a rally from 12:00-3:00pm.
After numerous armed federal assaults and undercover investigations on farmers, coops and buying groups that supply their raw milk, mothers across the country are disgusted with the FDA’s aggression and ready to take action to protect their families’ food.
“By criminalizing me for the food choices I make for my family, the FDA is effectively saying that I have no right to feed my family what I, as the parent, know is best for them,” says Suzy Provine, one of the “raw milk freedom riders” who chooses fresh milk for her family. “It is one thing to inform me about my choices, but the FDA goes too far by forcing what they think is best on my family.”
The FDA is disrupting thousands of families’ food supplies by pressuring states to restrict access to raw dairy. States like Wisconsin and California are shutting down family farms by threatening penalties and jail for farmers.
(This article was previously published on Everybody Eats News.)
Linda West Eckhardt
About the Author
Linda West Eckhardt, is an award winning journalist, food writer, and nutritionist. Her more than 20 cookbooks have garnered prizes including the James Beard prize for the best cookbook for a text she wrote with her daughter, Katherine West DeFoyd, entitled Entertaining 101, Doubleday. Their follow-up book, Stylish One Dish Dinners, Doubleday, was also nominated for a James Beard prize. Their next book, The High Protein Cookbook, Clarkson Potter, remains a best seller after 12 years.
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We’ve just received some exciting news from our friends at the Organic Consumers Fund. They have undertaken a campaign to make it the law to label genetically modified organis (GMOs).
For years American families have been unwittingly consuming GMO foods because unlike many countries around the globe, no labeling is required, even though there is scientific evidence that GMOs pose a threat to the health of people and the environment. Contamination of farm fields by by gmo seeds blowing in the wind may be the greatest threat to organic farming in the U.S. today.
Here’s what we’ve learned from our friends at Organic Consuners Fund:
• California is poised to be the first state with mandatory GMO labeling laws through the 2012 California Ballot Initiative process.
• Polls show support to get this initiative on the ballot & voted in. Over 80% of those polled supported mandatory labeling.
• A win for the California Initiative would be a huge blow to biotech and a huge victory for food activists.
• Monsanto and their minions have billions invested in GMOs and they are willing to spend millions to defeat this initiative.
• California is the 8th largest economy in the world. Labeling laws in CA will effect packaging and ingredient decisions nation-wide.
• The bill has been carefully written to ensure that it will not increase costs to consumers or producers.
Have you heard the saying, "As California goes, so goes the nation?" California has the biggest economy in the country and a win in CA would be a huge blow to biotech and a huge victory for food activists everywhere.
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In fewer than 48 hours, more than 300 people joined a campaign calling on Los Angeles City Council members to support gardening in the city.
Ron Finley, a South Los Angeles resident who launched the online petition campaign at Change.org, is asking that councilmembers amend an ordinance which requires residents to obtain costly permits before growing gardens on parkways, the city-owned strips of land between curbs and sidewalks.
High Cost is a Barrier to Healthy Eating
"The high cost of the permit to plant is very prohibitive for communities will very little excess income," said Finley. "A lot of these places have very few options for healthy fruits and vegetables, so they are being called 'food deserts.' Parkway gardens would add food options, enhance lives, open up communication, and build stronger ties in communities."
Los Angeles residents are required to maintain their parkways by mowing and watering them. But under a local ordinance, citizens wishing to grow plants on parkways must first obtain permits which cost at least $400 and up to thousands of dollars. Even with the permits, plants can be no taller than 36 inches.
First, One Person Takes a Stand
Finley uses his parkway garden to produce food for himself and to give away to neighbors. He is also a founder of L.A. Green Grounds, an organization formed to help establish gardens in the South Los Angeles community.
Finley began growing fruits, vegetables, and flowers on the parkway in front of his Crenshaw-area home in December of 2010. The city threatened to make Finley get rid of the garden, but backed off in August after community members, local press, and Change.org members rallied support.
"The response to Finley's petition in just 48 hours has been impressive," said Sarah Parsons, Senior Organizer at Change.org. "It's encouraging to see gardeners like Ron get so much support for their campaigns for change in local communities."
In August, Councilman Herb Wesson expressed support for Finley's garden and for a resolution that would eliminate costly, time-consuming permits for growing produce on parkways.
About L.A. Green Grounds
L.A. Green Grounds is an organization formed to help South Los Angeles residents establish edible gardens. They are committed to empowering residents and working to eliminate food deserts.
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We once published a photo of a duck who keeps strawberries free of pests on an organic farm in the Catskills region of New York State. At Heidi's farm in Corrales, New Mexico a flock of native Rio Grande turkeys do the same amongst the hedge rows of raspberies. No need for poisonous pesticides!
It’s the combination of hard work and best practices on the part of Heidi and her brother Doug that make the incomparable organic jams of Heidi’s Raspberry Farm possible. It all starts with hand-picked, fresh fruit, and making their mouth-watering and nutrtious jams begins with a meticulous approach to sustainable methods on their farm in Corrales, New Mexico.
Corrales is a unique agricultural village farmed by families who have been living there for generations. Located on the Western bank of the Rio Grande, the land has been tilled since 500 A.D. Back then the ancestors of the present day Pueblo Indians reaped harvests in the fertile valley. Subsequent populations of Spanish, French and Italian families settled there to raise grapes, apples, livestock, and now, gloriously healthy raspberries!
Stewards of the Land
Having grown up in this special place Heidi and Doug are dedicated stewards of the land and keepers of a healthy environment. They are truly “walking the walk” when it comes to best practices for preserving the sustainability of their farmland and the health of their community. Doug has converted the farm to a drip irrigation system that makes the most efficient use of precious water. He provides hives in the field for the honeybees that pollinate the delicate raspberry blossoms.
Heidi, Maker of the Best Raspberry Jam We've Ever Tasted!
They’ve been selling organic raspberry jam, fresh raspberries and cut flowers at the local farmers markets in Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Corrales and Albuquerque for several years now. By personally selling their delicious fare Heidi and Doug have made a lot of wonderful friends. They’ve also built a loyal following of appreciative customers who keep coming back for more of their amazing jams!
If you'd like to order some of Heidi's incredible raspberry jams click on any of the following:
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Once again, our friends at Organic Valley are proud to be a sponsor of Harvest Fest. It is a great opportunity to show kids farming as it ought to be, during a full day of family fun.
Starting at 10:00 am on Saturday, October 1st , the day will be non-stop celebration of food and farming heritage, hosted by the Stone Barns Center in Pocantico Hills, New York, features live music, hayrides, farm Olympics, raffles and giveaways, food and farming workshops, and a farmers market highlighting delicious local products.
Highlights of Harvest Fest 2011:
* Live music featuring Dan Zanes & Friends, Spuyten Duyvil, and the all-kid band Outer Child
* Theatrical performances by Story Pirates
* Children's workshops on cooking, gardening, bees and honey and more!
* Adult workshops on cooking and gardening led by Stone Barns Center farmers, Blue Hill chefs and special guests!
* Farmers Market featuring local purveyors with delicious seasonal fare.
* Hayrides around the property for visitors of all ages.
* Demonstrations and interpretation by farmers in Stone Barns Center's fields & pastures.
* An opportunity to show off your farmer skills at Stone Barns Center's farm Olympics.
A wide selection of seasonal food and beverages, including Stone Barns Center's famous Berkshire pig roast, will be available for cash purchase all day at the Farmers Market.
Meet Organic Valley Farm Friends
Local Organic Valley farmer-owners will encourage you to sample many of the lip-smacking, healthy Organic Valley products they’ve so carefully created, like NY Fresh Milk. They’ll be making butter, too, so go take a turn at the churn! You’ll definitely want to sign up for the raffle that could win you, among other things, A YEAR OF FREE ORGANIC VALLEY PRODUCT!
Before the festivities begin, there’s a special treat for Organic Valley Farm Friends. Two lucky Farm Friends could win a very special package consisting of:
• Two tickets to Harvest Fest and 10 raffle tickets (a $170.00 value!)
• Stone Barns Center “Seedling” membership ($75 value) will give the winners early access to popular events like Harvest Fest and Sheep Shearing Day, a 10% discount on Stone Barns programs, onsite benefits such as free parking, and more.
• Winner can pick up tickets at will on October 1st.
Harvest a Great Day!
8th Annual Harvest Fest, October 1, 2011, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at Stone Barns Center, Pocantico Hills, New York. (Tickets $15 - $35)
Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture is a non-profit farm and education center located 25 miles north of Manhattan. The Center operates an 80-acre, four-season farm and is working on broader initiatives to create a healthy and sustainable food system. Proceeds from Harvest Fest support education programs for students and beginning farmers.
Proceeds from Harvest Fest support Stone Barn’s year-round education programs for students and beginning farmers.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Most taxpayers in the United States are probably unaware that they’ve been paying for a big helping hand to immensely wealthy biotech corporations such as Monsanto. But according to U.S. embassy cables published by Wikileaks, the taxpayer-funded U.S. diplomatic corps has been working hard to get foreign countries to approve genetically engineered (GE) crops, especially in Europe.
France and six other countries in Europe (Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Greece) currently have a ban on the growing of GM crops, a ban based on safety concerns.
U.S. diplomats have made efforts to influence the biotech policies of developed countries such as Egypt and Turkey, but France continues to stand out as a high-profile target. There is widespread popular resistance to genetically engineered food in France, and a French farmers movement militantly opposed to GE crops.
According to a U.S. diplomatic cable from 2007:
Monsanto, Dupont/Pioneer, Dow Agro-Sciences…raised concerns about security conditions, i.e., increasing acts of vandalism, particularly in light of an expected regulation which could require French farmers to make public the location of their biotech plots. The three companies emphasized their concerns about the security of their information, property and staff, due to the annual destruction of two thirds of biotech test plots in France, demonstrations and attacks on their buildings and on a silo containing GM corn harvested in 2006 (Reftel). Consequently, the companies loose (sic) money and data, while staff morale suffers.
A report by Mike Ludwig of Truthout says, "Several cables describe 'biotechnology outreach programs' in countries across the globe, including African, Asian and South American countries where Western biotech agriculture had yet to gain a foothold. In some cables American diplomats ask the State Department for funds to send U.S. biotech experts and trade industry representatives to target countries for discussions with high-profile politicians and agricultural officials."
The nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists states on its web site:
So far, scientists have identified a number of ways in which genetically engineered organisms could potentially adversely impact both human health and the environment…In addition to posing risks of harm that we can envision and attempt to assess, genetic engineering may also pose risks that we simply do not know enough to identify.
GE Foods Are Not the Answer to World Hunger
As for the claim that GM foods are needed to feed a hungry world, Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist in the Union of Concerned Scientists Food and Environment Program has concluded "...that GE (genetic engineering) has done little to increase overall crop yields." And a major study conducted at the University of Kansas has found that the controversial technology actually reduces crop yields.
In May of 2009, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine called on “Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks."
Require the Labeling of GM Foods
Many people are unaware that they are regularly consuming GM foods because they are not labeled as such. Giant agribusinesses do not want the labeling of GM foods because consumers don’t want to buy them. They are even opposed to the labeling of foods as GM-free. (GM foods are prohibited from being used in food that carries the USDA’s organic label.)
As Elise Pearlstein, producer of the Oscar nominated film Food Inc. has said, "It's outrageous that genetically modified foods don't need to be labeled...Whatever your position, you should have the right to make informed choices, and we don't."
More than 30 countries have mandatory labeling of GMO's, including all the European Union countries, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Why not the U.S.? Because the Big Biotech industry doesn't want such labeling. As one biotech executive put it, “If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it.”
To view tips from the Organic Consumers Association on avoiding GM foods, go to: Non-GMO Shopping Guide
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
With the news that 1,000 farmers markets have just been added to the USDA’s list we have to assume that there are many thousands of folks who will now have easy access to a local farmers matket for the first time.
Farmers markets are fun places to explore and it seems that every time we speak to a farmer we learn something new about our food. Some of the offerings at our local market have become must buys on each visitt, with those funny looking, but oh-so-delicious heirloom tomatoes taking center stage for us this time of year.
We want everyone to have as much fun as we do at our local farmers market, especially people new to the scene. We were very pleased when our friend Amelia Winslow sent us her tips for beginners. Here’s some of her advice for newcomers:
1. Stick with what you know. If you’re new to the market or to cooking, skip the exotic fruits & veggies and go for produce you’re familiar with. You’ll be much less overwhelmed if you focus on carrots and tomatoes rather than kholrabi & ramps (yes, those are real vegetables).
2. Limit the number of items you buy. It’s easy to go nuts when you see all this beautiful produce, but overbuying will lead to wasted food, wasted time thinking about what to do with the food, and of course wasted money. Instead, stick to 2-3 veggies and 2-3 fruits per week, plus one kind of fresh herb and one kind of citrus fruit to use for dressings and sauces.
3. Do some meal planning before you go. This isn’t always possible, but when you remember or have time, plan a couple of meals before you shop, so you can buy the specific produce you need to make those meals. I usually buy a few veggies I can use for salads and hot meals, plus a few veggies and fruits for snacking.
4. Prep produce when you get home. If you can’t do it right when you get home, plan a time within a day or so when you can wash and chop lettuce (here’s how I do it), wash and cut veggies for snacking, and wash some fruit (most fruits are better prepped right before eating, but you can always wash cherries & grapes, wash and slice strawberries, melons, & oranges). Having a fridge full of ready-to-go veggies and fruits makes it much more likely that you’ll reach for these healthy items when you’re hungry for a snack or ready to make a meal.
5. Keep it simple. No need to reach into the depths of your recipe collection or biggest cookbook to figure out what to make for dinner. During summer especially, produce is so good that it’s best eaten in it’s simplest form. Salads can simply be a platter of tomato chunks drizzled with olive oil or a bowl of sliced cucumbers with salt, lime juice, and hot sauce. Snacks can be melon wedges, snap peas with hummus, or berries topped with yogurt. For a main dish, toss pasta with fresh basil and cherry tomatoes (like in this recipe), or lightly saute greens to serve with fried eggs (like this). The great thing about summer is that good food is plentiful, and the time and effort needed to make something tasty is minimal.
Simple preparation of fresh, seasonal foods, who can argue with that?
Amelia Winslow
Amelia has a website that’s full of great info and recipes for thoughtful home cooks. To have a look, go to: Eating Made Easy
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Founder Marina Marchese and the rest of the folks at Red Bee are passionate about the culinary delights of honey. Their philosophy is that every bottle of their artisanal honey is a gourmet food and can be tasted and evaluated much like wine, each one having a unique flavor profile determined by the kind of flowers visited by the bees.
The essence of a honey is dictated by the terroir, the unique combination of geographic location, climate, soil and temperature that gives each honey its complex composition and individual personality. As in winemaking, terroir dramatically affects the flavor profiles of the honeys produced.
There is just no comparison between the homogenous, processed honey common to supermarket shelves and honey crafted by a true artisan. Here is an excerpt from Marina's terrific book, Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper, on her journey to becoming one of the country's finest food artisans:
It can be said that honey is only as good as the beekeepers that harvest it. Artisanal honeys are those produced by individuals using traditional methods and thus preserving the integrity of their products. With artisanal honey, quality and character are highlighted, rather than quantity and consistency. Beekeepers have to make many decisions regarding the management of their honeybees during a single season. Timing is everything, so colonies have to be at their peak strength and available to forage the fields at the exact time of the nectar flow. Beekeepers must select appropriate field locations for their honeybees and know when the nectar flow begins, when to add and remove honey shallows, and the best procedure to use to extract the honey.
(Excerpted with permission from Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper by C. Marina Marchese, published by Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2009.)
Red Bee Farm
Marina's Red Bee is a boutique honeybee farm located in the historical Bradley Tool section of Weston, Connecticut. The company’s charming red cottages were once the home of ballerina Gelsey Kirkland, who partnered Mikhail Baryshnikov. Working there they are inspired to create the purest artisanal honeys and sustainable products. Using old world techniques, their products are handmade in small batches using only plant-based ingredients to insure the finest quality. They never use pesticides, alcohol, paraffin waxes, petroleum or preservatives.
Red Bee's organic gardens produce culinary and medicinal herbs, vegetables and flowers for cutting. They make their organic, free range chicken eggs available locally. Red Bee Honeybee products have been a spectacular success at the New Canaan Farmers Market each summer for the last 8 years.
Red Bee Founder Marina Marchese (photo: jeffbeckerphoto.com)
Marina Marchese is a second generation Italian sharing her love of crafting artisanal products. After graduating from the School of Visual Arts, Marina traveled to Europe and Asia as an illustrator and product designer. Her unique sense of style and love of color was defined in designs that have graced the cover of WWD and greeting cards sold worldwide by UNICEF including children's products, books and magazines.
Her own Red Bee® cards were recognized by The National Honey Board after appearing in Victoria Magazine and on the cover of American Bee Journal. Marina’s love of honeybees and painting has led her to the ancient technique of painting with beeswax, made popular by the Etruscans. (The portrait at the top of this item is one of her paintings in beeswax.)
(Photo Reprinted with permission from Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers.)
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Thriving community gardens are one of the bright spots in America's food system, bringing neighbors together, providing folks with fresh, healthy produce, and bringing some beauty along with it. Community gardens were part of the Victory Gardens campaign during World War II, when they produced 40% of the produce Americans ate.
After a successful spring and summer campaign, DeLoach Vineyards has proudly announced the winners of its Community Garden Campaign in partnership with Organic Gardening Magazine. Over the past four months, 15 community gardens across the country from California to Florida participated in the online campaign to win a coveted total award of $20,000 ($4,000 per garden) to improve the communities they serve.
Wine and garden enthusiasts in communities across the country showed their support with more than 70,000 site visits to www.deloachcommunitygardens.com, where they watched videos produced by the gardens and voted for the garden of their choice.
The following 2011 DeLoach Community Garden Award Winners will each be awarded $4,000 each and will be featured in the October/November 2011 issue of Organic Gardening:
• Center for Growing People, Dallas
• Long Beach Organic Community Garden, Long Beach
• Magnuson Community Garden, Seattle
• Ocean View Farms, Los Angeles
• Three Brothers Garden, Chicago
Center for Growing People, Dallas
As an additional retail component to support the campaign, bottles of DeLoach wine were adorned with neckers that included a QR code that allowed consumers to instantly link to the contest microsite via smart phones.
DeLoach Vineyard’s estate vineyard in the beautiful Russian River Valley is a Demeter-certified Biodynamic® property. In harmony with organic and Bioydynamic principles the DeLoach estate includes an exquisite Biodynamic garden that not only nourishes the staff at the winery, but also provides the necessary natural remedies to optimize the health and fertility of its Biodynamic vineyards.
The Community Garden Campaign is a part of DeLoach Vineyard’s commitment to a healthy, sustainable lifestyle from garden to table that includes the appreciation of wine, food and community and to support the role of community gardens in promoting good living. Equally as important, the campaign is part of an effort to help educate a new generation to better the communities in which they live—something DeLoach has been passionate about cultivating since the inception of the winery.
About DeLoach Vineyards
DeLoach Vineyards has been a pioneering producer of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Zinfandel in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley since 1975. DeLoach seeks to produce exceptional wines that spotlight the singular personality of the Russian River Valley, with its rare and bountiful convergence of the sea, the soil and the stars. The Boisset family of Burgundy purchased DeLoach in 2003, bringing the techniques and approaches of Burgundy to its winemaking in the Russian River Valley, which they believed to be California’s most expressive terroir for cultivating Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Under Boisset, DeLoach has grown its small-lot vineyard designate wine program, converted to organic and Biodynamic farming practices, and implemented traditional Burgundian winemaking techniques such as open-top wood fermentors, native yeast fermentations, and hand punch-downs. Wine & Spirits magazine named DeLoach Vineyards a Top 100 Winery for the tenth time in the winery’s history in 2009.
Located at 1791 Olivet Road in Santa Rosa, the DeLoach Vineyards tasting room, picnic area and organic garden are open to the public daily from 10:00 am to 5:00 p.m.
For 70 years, Rodale’s Organic Gardening, the leading magazine resource for living a healthier, more environmentally conscious lifestyle, has been empowering its readers with the most trusted, eco-friendly news and information. With the mission to “live lightly from the ground up,” the brand’s editorial agenda sets an accessible and easy-to-embrace course toward the goal of living a healthier, more environmentally sustainable lifestyle, delivering the safest and most natural approach to health, home, food and garden.
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Though millions of Americans find themselves in belt-tightening times, a new poll has found that most still buy organic foods whenever possible.
In a new survey conducted by Thomson Reuters and National Public Radio, 58% percent of Americans say they choose organic over conventional when they have the opportunity. In a sign that the preference for organics is a trend that is here to stay, 63% of respondents under the age of 35 prefer organic foods, as do 64% of those with a bachelor's degree or more.
Avoiding Toxins & Supporting Local Farms
Among those who prefer organic foods, 36% said they do so to support local farmer's markets and 34% said they wanted to avoid exposure to toxins in non-organic foods. Complete survey results are available here: http://www.factsforhealthcare.com/pressroom/NPR_report_OrganicFoods.pdf
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), there were 6,132 farmers markets as of 2010, up from 1,755 in 1994.
"There appears to be a generational difference in preference for organic foods," said Raymond Fabius, M.D., chief medical officer at the healthcare business of Thomson Reuters. "The strong, positive sentiment among young people indicates they are more concerned with exposure to toxins and place a higher premium on supporting local markets. It stands to reason that, by expanding the network of farmer's markets, we could see a further groundswell around the support for organic foods."
Unique & Conscious Food Choice
"This month's poll gives us some insight into what is going through consumers' minds when they're making the choice of what they will feed themselves and their families," said Scott Hensley, NPR health correspondent and blogger. "We find it especially intriguing that a very small percentage of respondents are choosing organic foods based on taste. This makes organic vs. conventional a really unique case where food decisions are being made consciously by consumers."
The figures in the poll are based on 3,014 participants interviewed from May 2-13, 2011. The margin of error is 1.8%.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Green Tea Mojito (photo courtesy of Harvard Common Press)
Organic is everywhere these days, including the cocktail scene. Trendsetting bars and bartenders across the country are adding organic drinks to their menus.
This recipe is author Paul Abercrombie’s green twist on the Mojito, a classic Cuban cocktail well suited to warm weather sipping. It appears on page 117 of his new book, “Organic, Shaken and Stirred: Hip Highballs, Modern Martinis, and Other Totally Green Cocktails.” The book makes it possible to mix cutting edge creations at home with a collection of 100 eco-friendly, organic cocktails featuring cutting edge flavors and fresh ingredients. Along with all the recipes the author fully details everything you need to know to build a green bar.
The health benefits of green tea are well known. But what may not be as celebrated is how well it works with mint and rum to make a remarkably refreshing summer thirst quencher. If possible, use freshly picked mint leaves from your garden.
Ingredients for 1 Drink
• 1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed organic lime juice
• 4 Large organic mint leaves
• 2 Teaspoons organic sugar
• 3 Ounces brewed organic green tea, cooled to room temperature
• 1 Ounce organic white rum
Preparation
1. In a Collins glass, muddle the lime juice, mint, and sugar together until the mint is bruised.
2. Fill the glass three-quarters full with ice cubes, pour in the green tea and rum, and stir well.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Plans are underway for a unique project in Loudoun County, Virginia that will bring together and showcase some of the best locally grown and raised food and wine agricultural products that the county has to offer, and culminate in an 11 day event.
“Farm-to-Fork Loudoun “ will take place from Thursday, July 21 to Monday, July 31, 2011 with 21 restaurants and food related entities committed to using at least 70% local product and ingredients during that timeframe. It is a new concept to this area, conceived by Loudoun County marketing entrepreneur Miriam Nasuti who saw the need for a county-wide collaborative celebration between agricultural growers, vintners and chefs in Loudoun County.
Working Together
“I observed particular restaurants growing or buying local these past years, but nothing done on a county-wide, collaborative scale on site at the various restaurants. The process has been so rewarding, as I’ve spoken to many vintners, farmers and Chefs who’ve not done this in the past and expressed that they always wanted to but, either didn’t have the time or know-how to begin. Bringing everyone together has been a tremendous experience,” explained Nasuti. Her hope is that through this initial collaboration, growers, chefs and the vintners will establish new relationships that will last well beyond the project.
She established committees early on, which included representatives from the agricultural, wineries and restaurant communities, who met often at the onset to set the project dates, protocol and guidelines, issues such as supply and demand of agricultural products, participation fees and such. Once those guidelines were set the project moved forth quickly toward a successful February ‘Meet & Greet’ where all participants came together for the first time, to begin establishing the important relationships intended toward working together.
“This is a wonderful way to introduce the diversity of Loudoun agriculture to like businesses and the public,” stated Beverly Morton Billand, owner of The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm, a Farm-to-Fork Loudoun participant and leader in the farm to table movement.
Organic, Local & Seasonal!
Serving organic, seasonal cuisine and supporting local growers has been Billand’s commitment since opening the restaurant on their farm just outside Lovettsville. “This event will allow wineries, farms and restaurants to collaborate and bring the very best to the table that Loudoun County has to offer.”
Farm-to-Fork Loudoun dining participants include Clyde’s Willowcreek, Aiyara Thai Restaurant, Lightfoot Restaurant, ‘On the Potomac’ at Lansdowne Resort, Palio Ristorante, Shoes Cup & Cork Club, Tenderjacks, The Wine Kitchen, Tuscarora Mill, Vintage 50, Market Table Bistro, The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm, The French Hound, Goodstone Inn & Estate, Market Salamander, Red Fox Inn, Grandale Farm Restaurant, Magnolia’s at the Mill, Catch 52, Vintage 51, and Cookology.
“Farm-to-Fork” will allow the public to experience Loudoun’s diverse culinary community and enjoy its healthy, locally grown and raised foods they otherwise may not have,” Nasuti added. “And the program allows our restaurants to serve fresh, locally grown food through the new and existing menu items they’ll offer. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
For more information on the participants, program, or to become a Corporate Sponsor, visit Farm To Fork, or contact Miriam Nasuti at 703-771-8893.
Farm-to-Fork Loudoun is a collaboration between Loudoun’s dynamic and growing culinary, farming and winery communities. This new project was envisioned to bring those involved together to drive the local economy and begin, or further, meaningful relationships, while raising visibility of these three Loudoun entities so patrons will come back again and again. Event sponsors include Fortessa, a leading tableware company based in Loudoun and The Dulles Greenway.
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Genetically engineered alfalfa poses so severe a threat to the $2 billion organic dairy industry that a lawsuit has been filed to prevent its introduction to the nation’s farm fields. The suit was filed by attorneys for the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and Earthjustice against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The GE crop is engineered to be immune to the herbicide glyphosate, which Monsanto markets as Roundup. USDA data show that 93% of all the alfalfa planted by farmers in the U.S. is grown without the use of any herbicides. With the full deregulation of GE alfalfa, USDA estimates that up to 23 million more pounds of toxic herbicides will be released into the environment each year.
Watching Out for Consumers or Big Biotech?
“USDA has once again failed to provide adequate oversight of a biotech crop,” said Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety. “This reckless approval flies in the face of overwhelming evidence that GE alfalfa threatens the rights of farmers and consumers, as well as significant harm to the environment. The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has refused to apply and enforce the law and instead has chosen to bow to the wishes of the biotech industry.”
This is the second case challenging the legality of USDA’s handling of GE alfalfa. In 2007, in another case brought by CFS, a federal court ruled that the USDA’s approval of the engineered crop violated environmental laws by failing to analyze risks such as the contamination of conventional and organic alfalfa, the evolution of glyphosate-resistant weeds, and increased use of Roundup.
Toxic Monsanto
Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff commented: “We expect Monsanto to force-feed people genetically engineered crops—that’s its business model. We hoped for better from the USDA, which has much broader responsibilities. GE alfalfa will greatly increase use of toxic chemicals from coast to coast, threatens the organic dairy industry, and will have farmers going back to Monsanto every year to buy its patented seed and Roundup.”
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I wasn’t too fond of eggs as a boy, but the deviled eggs my aunt Peggy made for family gatherings was the great exception. They always went fast! A taste of deviled egg still brings back wonderful memories, so it was a treat to come across this contemporary version of the classic hors d'œuvre.
Jeanne Ambrose developed this recipe for her book, “Heartbreak Recovery Kitchen” in 2010. She’s a contributing food editor to several publications including Organic Gardening, and a former editor and recipe developer for Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Jeanne teams with her daughter Lindsey, a small-space gardener extraordinaire with a penchant for cooking fresh and local. She goes for full-flavored, somewhat-spicy cuisine with a flair for ethnic-fusion feasts.
Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs
Ingredients for 12 Servings
• 6 Large hard-boiled eggs, peeled
• 3 Tablespoons Greek yogurt
• 3 Tablespoons chopped smoked salmon, divided
• 1 Tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 Heaping teaspoon dijon mustard
• 3 Teaspoons drained capers, divided
• 2 1/2 Teaspoons finely chopped garlic scapes, green onions, or fresh chives, divided
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste (optional)
Preparation
1. Cut the eggs in half. Put the yolks in a small bowl and mash with a fork. Stir in the yogurt, 2 tablespoons of the smoked salmon, the mayonnaise, the mustard, 2 teaspoons of the capers, and 2 teaspoons of the garlic scapes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Spoon the yolk mixture into the egg white halves. Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
3. Garnish before serving with remaining smoked salmon, capers, and scapes.
For lots of great tips on growing your own healthy and flavorful ingredients, go to: Organic Gardening Magazine
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How do turmoil in the Middle East and a deep freeze in Mexico impact U.S. families?
These events will not only cause the rise in food prices to continue; they will change the way we eat, according to George Ball, chairman of national garden company W. Atlee Burpee & Co.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts the food inflation rate will increase by 3%. Given the volatile food market top economists contend this rate could be even higher. This would add more than $20 to the average monthly food bill for a family of four.
Although the average household now spends $2,658 on food served outside the home, families who looked to fast food restaurants for low-cost meals during the recession won’t be able to rely on the drive-thru in 2011. McDonald's, for example, recently said it might have to raise the cost of a Big Mac and other menu items by more than 2%.
Mr. Ball expects more Americans to turn to vegetable gardening now to offset food and soaring gas prices.
A pack of red pepper seeds will produce about 20 pepper plants each, producing 15 peppers per plant. Mr. Ball asks, “Would you rather pay $2.00 for one red pepper, or is it more sensible to grow $600 worth of red peppers in your own backyard for an investment of $4.95 in seeds?”
Home grown tomatoes, cucumbers and even lettuce result in similar savings. Mr. Ball added, “Saving money ‘growing your own’ will add value to not only your pocketbook, but also your taste buds and overall physical health. Gardening gets you—and your kids—outdoors.”
To have a look at the heirloom seeds & plants available from Mr. Ball’s company, go to: W. Atlee Burpee & Co.
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"It’s time to use our collective power to move the market directly. It’s time we let the food companies know that we have new healthier criteria if they want to keep us as customers."
We’re angry! MILLIONS of us are angry and outraged at the approval of GM alfalfa. And on top of that, the USDA also did an end-run around the courts to keep GM sugar beets growing, AND approved a GM corn used for ethanol.
So what do we do? Surrender? Never!
Before I propose a way forward, I want to share a victory you may have missed in the first paragraph. I said MILLIONS. That’s right, there are millions of us. And you can hear our frustration flying around in blogs, emails, press reports, petitions, etc. Do you remember the reaction just four years ago when GM sugar beets were approved for sale? There was nothing close to this response. It was hardly a blip. Where we have come in just a few years is a cause for celebration. And an unprecedented opportunity to throw our new weight around.
Within the first six months of last year, we witnessed more people in the US than ever before enthusiastically getting the word out about the dangers of GMOs. This was in part due to the huge internet distribution channels that have been getting articles and videos out to MILLIONS every month. (Thank you all!) And then there was the high profile media coverage of GE salmon and the sugar beet and alfalfa court cases.
In spite of their bitter outcomes at the hands of the USDA, the prolonged alfalfa and sugar beet fights actually helped elevate GMOs on our personal and national radar screens.
And now with MILLIONS of us grasping the significance and devastating loss of yet another crop, we have the components in place for a national revolution. We have the knowledge, the emotion, the network, and the profound injustice. Now we need an action plan. Enter Alfalfa: Plan B.
Commit to No GM Alfalfa
It’s time to use our collective power to move the market directly. It’s time we let the food companies know that we have new healthier criteria if they want to keep us as customers. And front and center in those new criteria is to commit to no GM alfalfa in their supply chain (which is used as animal feed, particularly to dairy cows).
This is our moment! Send a letter to dozens of dairies and food companies simultaneously. Let them know how strong we feel and how MILLIONS strong we are. When they get the message about the coming non-GMO tipping point, they’ll realize it’s time to remove all GM ingredients, not just alfalfa.
Share this “click and send revolution” with your friends, shop using the Non-GMO Shopping Guide, and tell the food companies the truth about GMOs. And for those who want to do even more, you are invited to join a local or national Non-GMO Action Group, to expand our numbers even further!
International bestselling author and filmmaker Jeffrey Smith is the leading spokesperson on the health dangers of genetically modified (GM) foods. His first book, Seeds of Deception, is the world’s bestselling and #1 rated book on the topic. His second, Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods, provides overwhelming evidence that GMOs are unsafe and should never have been introduced. Mr. Smith is the executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, whose Campaign for Healthier Eating in America is designed to create the tipping point of consumer rejection of GMOs, forcing them out of our food supply.
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U.S. Government Poster from World War II (courtesy of Library of Congress)
Could a quick history lesson lead to a better future?
During World War II Americans lived with rations of such necessities as tires, gasoline, sugar, and other foodstuffs. The US government encouraged ordinary people to create Victory Gardens; small plots of fruits and vegetables to stave off food shortages so more mass-produced food could be sent to feed the troops.
The people responded. Two million Americans created Victory Gardens in their backyards or communities. According to author Michael Pollan, "...during World War II, Victory Gardens supplied as much as 40% of the produce Americans ate."
A Social Phenomenon
Victory Gardens were more than a war time activity, they were a social phenomenon. Schools and families planted Victory Gardens together, often on communal land. Families caught up on news as they planted and harvested. Nutrition information was widely disseminated to help home cooks create balanced meals for their families. Our current obesity epidemic must have been unimaginable to those gardeners.
Today there are many gardens that are very much like the Victory Gardens of old. In backyards across America folks are growing their own produce, spices and herbs. They harvest fruits and vegetables that have been raised without pesticides and enjoy them when they are at the peak of their freshness and nutritional value. Adding home-grown fare to the fresh produce from a local farm stand or a farmers market gives gardeners the best of both worlds.
Community Gardens
If you’d like to try your hand at growing some food of your own but don’t have your own backyard, you can join a community garden. In 2004, the American Community Gardening Association (ACGA) estimated that there were already 18,000 community gardens across the USA and Canada. Urban community gardens can be found from South Central Los Angeles to the Bronx in New York City. If there’s no community garden near your home, think about organizing your neighbors to get one started.
Funded by federal grants, GreenThumb has been a program of the NYC Parks Department since 1995. The nonprofit organization has over 600 member gardens serving 20,000 city residents. New York University released a study of the effect of community gardens on nearby property values. The study of 636 community gardens in NYC showed a positive effect on sales prices of residential properties within a 1,000-foot radius of a community garden when compared to properties outside the 1,000-foot ring, but still in the same neighborhood. The effect was significant and increasing over time. The tax benefit to the city over a 20-year period was estimated at $647 million dollars or $1 million per garden. Who knows how much might be saved on medical costs by the healthier diet the gardens make possible.
Not all benefits are measured in dollars. Here’s what Karen Washington from the Garden of Hope in the Bronx had to say about her experience:
To grow your own food gives you a sort of power and it gives people dignity. You know exactly what you’re eating because you grew it. It’s good, it’s nourishing and you did this for yourself, your family and your community.
Victory Gardens could bring down the cost of food for American families and make organic poroduce more widely available. We could reduce America’s reliance on oil simply by keeping vegetable gardens and cutting down on the amount of food that has to be transported by truck. Victory Gardens would reduce the need for petroleum-based fertilizers on giant corporate farms. If you’re unhappy about where all the money Americans spend on oil and gasoline is going, then spread the word: Bring Back the Victory Gardens!
If you'd like to start a garden in your community or your backyard here's some info that should help:
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Healthy, Free-Range Chickens (photo by Digiology, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
Editor's Note: Mark Keating was hired on April 11, 2010 to draft livestock production standards and contribute to overall standard development for the USDA National Organic Program (NOP). He brought more than twenty years experience in the field including service as a farm worker, food processor and distributor, county extension agent, grassroots activist, civil servant, university lecturer and journalist. Keating previously worked for the NOP between 1999 and 2002 and was part of the team that won the USA’s prestigious Group Honor Award for finalizing the NOP standards in 2000. No public citizen or USDA colleague objected to his conduct during his return to the NOP. The USDA summarily fired him on November 23, 2010.
Written by Mark D. Keating
At its core, my firing was standard Washington, DC fare: if you can't beat them, destroy them. Power in Washington descends from the pyramid and those of senior rank are entitled to squash those beneath. So powerful is Washington's faith in the pyramid that the person at the pinnacle – the President – is authorized to blow up the planet. So when my presence at the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) became offensive to Departmental leadership, it was standard procedure to set me up and railroad me out the door.
While this plot line is archetypal, the cast of characters will be novel to most audiences. Was it corporate agribusiness targeting an organic stalwart? No - I was much too low lying fruit to merit targeting. Was it bureaucratic bullies ridding their sandbox of a free thinker? No - when the White House cares about an issue as the Obama Administration does about organic agriculture, it calls the shots, not the bureaucrats. My firing was the voice of politically correct organic certification vested in that Executive Branch ostracizing its problem child (problem parent, really), organic agriculture.
Sir Albert & His Sisters
We'll need to highlight a key distinction for the story to come into focus. Organic agriculture involves all the funky, cosmic properties that a biologically active soil imparts to food and the benefits that redound to nature when farming is integrated into the local ecology. These principles were first articulated by Sir Albert Howard and his first and second wives, Gabrielle and Louise (sisters, no less) during the first half of the twentieth century. Supported by three decades of renown field research, the Howards established that the only effective and enduring system of agriculture is one modeled on the principles of Mother Earth. They were adamant that organic systems must incorporate animals, if not as active participants, then through use of their manure as the basis for fertility. The Howards also demonstrated that healthy soils lead to healthy plants including grasses, which lead to healthy animals, which result in healthy humans or, as our own mothers told us, we are what we eat.
By contrast, organic certification is a federally operated, process verification program loosely based on a subset of organic agricultural practices. For example, organic crop standards tend to support biologically rich soils and organically raised livestock consume a far more natural diet than do conventionally raised animals. However, many foundational principles in organic certification are inherently incompatible with natural systems. Mother Nature's garden never looks like the organic agribusiness farms in the Salinas Valley, nor would She insist that the omnivorous chicken be raised as a vegetarian with a synthetic protein supplement. USDA organic certification standards sanction these conditions and many others that compromise the inherent vitality of organic agriculture. Still, organic certification of raw agricultural products has provided generally limited yet meaningful differentiation during both its previous private sector incarnation and under the current guidance (thumb) of USDA.
USDA Embraces Organic Certification
While the deck at USDA and on Capitol Hill remains heavily stacked in favor of industrial agriculture (concentration of production, increased dependence on energy and technology including genetic engineering and global markets), there is now a glimmer of recognition that alternative agriculture production and marketing have merit. Check out the 2008 Farm Bill: it did not take away industrial agriculture's subsidies, but it does contain many excellent if modestly funded programs to support organic certification, direct marketing and local food systems. In particular, USDA is now ready to accept, even embrace organic certification. This is safe because organic agribusiness is not dissimilar to industrial agribusiness: concentrated, large scale production systems feeding into heavily processed, shelf stable convenience foods including homogenized and pasteurized dairy products distributed through chain retailers to worldwide markets.
However, USDA is definitely not willing to embrace or even acknowledge organic agriculture. Doing so remains too threatening to the hundreds of billions of dollars in annual sales generated by industrial agribusiness. USDA denies the fundamental principle of organic agriculture which is that the manner in which a food is raised and handled is determinative of its nutritional and flavor properties. This isn't hard to prove – crack open an egg from a scavenging free range chicken and compare it with an egg from the horribly abused battery cage hen. Then fry them up (lard works wonderfully!) and you can't miss the difference – unless USDA pays your salary. Then you are not allowed to see the difference. So like the old commercial with the “parts is parts” punchline, USDA maintains that all foods are essentially equivalent.
Organic certification is an especially useful tool for supporting this fallacy because it generates a lot of analogue processed foods like organic crackers and soda and soy ice cream and tv dinners that aren't especially different. This is better than trying to make the case in comparison to the bounty of organic agriculture ~ you can't put it in your mouth without knowing it's better for you and the planet (Be sure to give thanks!)
Why Was I Fired?
How does this relate to my firing? I am a huge believer (worshiper) of organic agriculture who respects organic certification as one of many useful tools for making smart choices about food. USDA is currently smiling upon organic certification but staunchly rejects organic agriculture. At no time, nor in any manner did I attempt to supersede USDA dogma with my personal perspective. I was a mid-level regulatory writer who knew that the decisions would be made about five pay grades above my station. I was cool with that and writing intelligent organic standards is no sell out – we need good organic standards. But people who know me will tell you that I don't/can't/won't play the emperor's new clothes. Once my cards were on the table (where I always keep them), I had to be fired as an existential threat to the party line. This is the inevitable consequence when those at the top of the pyramid think they are too busy and too smart to have the time or inclination to learn from the grunts below!
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Under heavy pressure from the biotech industry, USDA chooses total deregulation.
Yesterday afternoon, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ton Vilsack announced that the USDA will fully deregulate Monsanto’s controversial genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa. The choice was favored by the biotech industry and one of three options identified in the USDA’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) released last month.
Over 250,000 public comments were received during the FEIS process, with the vast majority opposing deregulation. Organic farmers and consumers opposed the introduction of GE alfalfa, fearing the contamination of alfalfa fields vital to the organic dairy industry, which is estimated to be worth more than $2 billion annually.
Pressured by Biotech Industry
The USDA could have maintained regulatory status over the perennial crop that is so important as forage for the livestock industry. Or they could have chosen a limited regulation strategy with bans on the planting of GE alfalfa seeds in seed growing regions to attempt to limit the contamination of alfalfa seed stock by foreign DNA from Monsanto’s crop. (Alfalfa is pollinated by bees and other insects and has a pollination radius of five miles). Instead, the agency, under heavy pressure from the biotech sector, chose total deregulation.
Vilsack did announce that the USDA would establish a second germ plasm/seed center for alfalfa in the state of Idaho to try, and the operative word is "try," to maintain GE-free strains of alfalfa. They currently operate such a facility in Prosser, Washington. He said the FEIS process brought home two key points to USDA: choice and trust.
Opponents Likely to Pursue Litigation
The huge numbers of parents who want their children to get the health benefits of milk without exposing them to the dangers of recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) and the antibiotics fed to cows in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), have contributed mightily to organic dairy farming enjoying quite a boom in the United States.
According to the USDA, “Between 2000 and 2005, the number of certified organic milk cows on U.S. farms increased by an annual average of 25%, from 38,000 to more than 86,000.”
The Center for Food Safety, with The Cornucopia Institute and others, has been embroiled in a court case fighting the release of GE-alfalfa. The case has been on hold while the USDA completed its court-ordered EIS. Opponents of GE-alfalfa are evaluating their choices and likely will resume their legal battle.
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There’s a bowl of corn chips in front of you made from natural corn. Next to it are genetically modified (GM) corn chips. Which do you choose?
If you were a pig or cow, we know the answer—the natural corn. Farmers repeatedly let pigs or cows into pens with troughs of GM corn and non-GM corn. The animals would head straight to the closer trough, filled with the genetically modified organisms (GMOs). They’d sniff, maybe take a nibble, then go over to the trough with the natural corn. After finishing off the last kernel, they’d stop by the GM corn one more time just to check it out, but quickly walk away.
An Iowa farmer who read about the finicky livestock decided to see if squirrels had similar dispositions. He nailed an ear of GM corn and non-GM corn onto trees by his house. Sure enough, the squirrels ate only the natural stuff, over and over again. When the farmer stopped replacing the natural corn, the squirrels still refused to touch the GMO. After 10 cold winter days, they got up the courage to nibble a few kernels, but that was all they could handle.
Another curious farmer wanted to repeat this with the squirrels in his area. He bought a bag full of GM corn ears, and another of non-GM, and left it in his garage to wait for winter. He waited too long. Mice did the experiment for him. They broke into the natural corn bag and finished it. The GM cobs were untouched.
Farmers, gardeners, reporters, and scientists have noticed similar behavior on at least four continents. Chickens, elk, deer, and raccoons avoided GM corn, while geese, rats, and buffalo refused GM soy, tomatoes, and cottonseed, respectively. Why are animals put off by genetically engineered food? No one knows for sure, but let’s get back to the GM corn chips still sitting in front of you.
Dangerous Side-Effects
Genetic material from bacteria and viruses are forced into the corn’s DNA, which is then cloned into a plant. This process leads to substantial collateral damage, including changes in hundreds or thousands of natural corn genes, plus widespread mutations. Most of the side-effects are never tested for. We do know, for example, that an allergy producing gene, normally silent, gets switched on in a Monsanto corn variety. Proteins change shape, which might be a serious health hazard. And a compound called lignin is significantly overproduced. Lignin on its own may not be so bad, but in the process of producing it, the plant also produces rotenone, a natural pesticide linked to Parkinson’s disease. No one has tested your chips to see if contains more rotenone.
In addition to the unpredicted changes, the genes inserted into the corn intentionally put more stuff into your snack food that may be hazardous. Monsanto’s Roundup Ready corn, and Bayer’s Liberty Link corn have added genes that allow the corn to withstand high doses of Roundup or Liberty herbicide. These varieties, therefore, have more weedkiller residues. Other GM varieties have inserted gene from bacteria that produce an insect killing toxin in every cell (and in every bite).
Genes inserted into GM crops don’t necessarily stay put. In the only human GM feeding experiment—done with Roundup Ready soy—functioning genes transferred into the DNA of bacteria living inside our intestines. This means that millions of Americans probably have Roundup Ready gut bacteria—unkillable with Roundup herbicide. No one has yet looked to see if GM corn genes also transfer. If they do, their insecticide-producing genes could turn your gut flora into living pesticide factories, continuously producing toxins inside you—long after you finish your bowl of chips.
Have you made your decision yet? If you still need encouragement, check out last issue of Urban Garden to find out why the American Academy of Environmental Medicine wants doctors across the country to prescribe non-GMO diets to everyone.
But aren’t GMOs Supposed to Feed the World?
If you’re feeling some moral imperative to support GMOs, that’s understandable. The biotech industry spent more than $250 million convincing you that its gene-spliced foods are the answer to the sick and starving. So don’t be embarrassed if you fell for it. Many leading US politicians have likewise been mesmerized by this long running PR ploy. Clinton’s Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman spoke candidly to a St. Louis Post Dispatch reporter about the pro-GMO attitude embedded in the US government:
“It was almost immoral to say that it wasn’t good, because it was going to solve the problems of the human race and feed the hungry and clothe the naked. . . . And if you’re against it, you’re Luddites, you’re stupid. . . . You felt like you were almost an alien, disloyal, by trying to present an open-minded view.”
Glickman acknowledged that he too “spouted the rhetoric,” admitting, “it was written into my speeches.”
The current Ag Secretary, Tom Vilsack, is the latest GMO cheerleader. As Iowa’s governor, he gave Monsanto an award in 2000, and the next year was anointed Biotech Governor of the Year by the biotech industry trade organization.
In October 2009, Vilsack tried to play the “feed the world” card at a conference sponsored by the Community Food Security Coalition. Bad move Tom. The people in the room were actually experts at feeding the world. Attendees included numerous PhDs and eminent scholars, such as the co-chairman and several leading authors of the authoritative IAASTD report, the world’s most comprehensive evaluation of agriculture.
This crowd knew that GMOs had no answers for world hunger. The IAASTD report, for example, concluded that the current generation of GMOs does not reduce hunger and poverty, does not improve nutrition, or does not facilitate social and environmental sustainability. A comprehensive analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists concluded that GMOs do not increase yield; in fact, on average they reduce yield. A USDA study showed that farmers’ income doesn’t increase, and in some cases, it decreases. And it doesn’t help the overall economy either.
The federal government has been spending $3-5 billion per year to prop up the prices of the GM crops no one else wants.
Thus, when Secretary Vilsack invoked “the ever-increasing population of the globe and the capacity to be able to feed all of those people," as the excuse to promote GMOs, he was greeted by moans, groans, hisses, and even boos.
That didn’t stop Vilsack from playing the same card two days later, but this time he was at the World Food Prize conference. That’s sponsored by the biotech industry, so they were overjoyed that the Ag Secretary was still supporting their myth.
How Do You Choose Non-GMO?
Are you now ready to choose the bowl of natural chips? If so, you’re not alone. Most Americans, according to a CBS/New York Times poll, would also choose foods made without genetically modified organisms (GMOs) if they knew which was which—if they were labeled. But unlike most other industrialized nations, GMOs don’t have to be labeled in the US or Canada. Therefore, avoiding GM foods here takes some doing.
Tip #1: Buy Organic
The best way is to buy organic foods, which don’t allow the use of GMOs. And you also benefit from organics’ higher average levels of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, and lower pesticide residues.
Tip #2: Look for “Non-GMO” Labels
Some companies voluntarily label products as “non-GMO.” The best label is now the Non-GMO Project Verified seal. It’s the new uniform, third party verified standard for non-GMO claims that is spreading through the industry.
Tip #3: Consult the Non-GMO Shopping Guide
For a handy list of non-GMO brands by category, go to www.NonGMOShoppingGuide.com. View it online, download or order copies, and look for the Mobile Phone Application coming soon.
Tip #4: Avoid At-Risk Ingredients
If it’s not labeled organic or non-GMO, and the brand is not listed in the Guide, look at the ingredient panel to see if it contains any at-risk GMOs. The most pervasive GMOs are derivatives of corn and soy. Here are some common ones. (A more comprehensive list is available in the Non-GMO Shopping Guide.)
Corn
• Flour, meal, oil, starch, gluten, and syrups
• Sweeteners such as fructose, dextrose, and glucose
Soy
• Flour, oil, lecithin, protein, isolate, and isoflavones
Oil from canola and cottonseed are genetically modified. Sugar from GM sugar beets was introduced in late 2008, but a recent ruling in a federal lawsuit may eventually drive it out of our food supply. For now, if the sugar doesn’t say pure cane, it’s likely blended with beet sugar.
Other than corn, there are only three items in the produce section that may be genetically modified. That includes papaya from Hawaii (yes, only Hawaii) and a small amount of zucchini and yellow squash. Mercifully popcorn is not GMO.
Aspartame, the artificial sweetener also known as NutraSweet and Equal, is derived from GM microorganisms.
Meat, fish, eggs and dairy.
FDA scientists had warned that animals fed GMOs might bio-accumulate toxins, which end up in milk, meat, or eggs. Their concerns were ignored and no safety studies have looked into this. Most US livestock, and even farmed fish, are fed GM soy or corn. To avoid GM-fed animal products, buy organic, wild caught, or 100% grass-fed. Fortunately, there are no genetically modified fish, fowl, or livestock yet approved for human consumption.
Dairy products also carry the risk that the cows were injected with genetically engineered bovine growth hormone, (rbST or rbGH). The milk from drugged cows has more pus, antibiotics, bovine growth hormone, and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). IGF-1 is a powerful hormone and a high risk factor for cancer. That’s primarily why the American Public Health Association, American Nurses Association, and many other groups condemn the use of rbGH.
Consumer concerns about rbGH has forced Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Dannon, Yoplait, and most of the major dairies in the US to stop using the hormone. Look for labels, consult the Non-GMO Shopping Guide, or buy organic dairy products.
Moving GMOs Out of the Market
The declining fortunes of rbGH demonstrate the power of informed consumers. As more and more people linked the milk hormone to cancer, marketing executives realized that allowing their suppliers to use the controversial drug was bad for sales. Because the mainstream media has been pretty silent on the health effects, it took a few years of a concerted consumer education to start the dominoes falling. If the hazards of rbGH had made headline news, the tipping point would have been swift.
The experience of GMOs in Europe shows us just how swift markets can move. In late January of 1999, biotech representatives predicted that 95% of all commercial seeds would be genetically engineered by 2004. But just a few weeks later, their plans to replace nature crashed. On February 16th, the gag order imposed on a scientist who had conducted GMO safety studies was lifted by order of the UK Parliament. When Dr. Arpad Pusztai, the top scientist in his field, discovered the extensive damage that a GMO diet can cause, he was fired after 35 years and silenced with threats of legal action. When he finally was able to speak, all hell broke loose.
Within the week, the European press reeled off 159 column feet of articles. Within the month, 750 articles on GMOs were circulating. According to one editor, the coverage divided society into two warring blocks. Within just 10 weeks, the tipping point of consumer rejection was achieved. GM ingredients had become a marketing liability. At the end of April, Unilever publicly committed to remove GMOs from its European brands. Within the week, so did nearly every other major food company.
These same companies continue to use GM ingredients in the US, where the Pusztai controversy was not reported. Here, only one in four people are even aware that they’ve ever eaten a genetically engineered food in their lives.
Engineering a US Tipping Point
The Campaign for Healthier Eating in America is designed to achieve a tipping point of consumer rejection of GMOs in the US. Several indicators suggest that it’s not far off. A December 2009 issue of Supermarket News, for example, predicted “The coming year promises to bring about a greater, more pervasive awareness” of the genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our food supply.” This trade publication, which is used by food executives as a source of industry news and trends, attributed this coming uprising in part to the Campaign’s new Non-GMO Shopping Guide.
The article describes how food “culprits” such as fat, carbs, salt, and added sugar can “define the decade” for the food industry; companies scramble to create new low-culprit or culprit-free options. When the specter of GMO health dangers surfaces onto consumers’ radar screen, however, there will be a significant difference. Whereas traditional ingredient culprits offer some consumer appeal like better taste or texture, GM foods do not. Furthermore, companies can usually eliminate GMOs without even changing recipes. They can simply substitute the non-GMO soy or non-GM corn, without reformulating.
Therefore, when the industry gets hit with the anti-GMO tipping point, they won’t create separate brand options of low GMO or GMO-free. Instead, they will eliminate all GMOs from their brands and proudly proclaim that here as they do in Europe.
The number of shoppers rejecting GMOs need only be a tiny amount, perhaps 5% of Americans, in order to convince food companies to do a brand-wide GMO cleanout. But when you look at the numbers, no matter how you slice it, they add up to a coming non-GMO tidal wave.
More than 9% of Americans regularly buy organic. About 29% are strongly opposed to GM foods and believe they are unsafe. And 53% say they would avoid GMOs if labeled. While most people do not conscientiously avoid brands with GM ingredients, it’s usually because they don’t know how. Hence the importance of the Non-GMO Shopping Guide.
Time to take charge
There are so many people predisposed to reject GMOs, we can achieve a tipping point without ever having to convince those who are resistant. Just by educating the people who want to know why GMOs are unsafe and how to avoid them, we can kick GMOs out of the food supply.
The Campaign offers educational tools that are easy to use and to pass onto others. There are right-brain books, left-brain books, videos for the visual learner, brochures, articles, podcasts, CDs, PowerPoints, and of course, shopping guides.
The Campaign also provides strategies and support materials designed specifically for the most receptive targeted groups: Health- and environmentally-conscious shoppers, parents, healthcare professionals, chefs and food service professionals, and even religious groups.
If you would like to lend a hand and help protect the health of those you care about, visit healthiereating.org and look at the action items and tools available. Little did you know that a bowl of chips would turn you into an activist…
To learn more about the health dangers of GMOs, and what you can do to help end the genetic engineering of our food supply, visit www.ResponsibleTechnology.org.
International bestselling author and filmmaker Jeffrey Smith is the leading spokesperson on the health dangers of genetically modified (GM) foods. His first book, Seeds of Deception, is the world’s bestselling and #1 rated book on the topic. His second, Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods, provides overwhelming evidence that GMOs are unsafe and should never have been introduced. Mr. Smith is the executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, whose Campaign for Healthier Eating in America is designed to create the tipping point of consumer rejection of GMOs, forcing them out of our food supply.
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Our friends at Organic Prairie sent us this hearty chili recipe. They sent it as a terrific choice for Super Bowl Sunday, but there’s no need to wait. It will deliciously ward off the chill of winter on any day of the week.
Organic Prairie meats are produced by an independent cooperative of organic family farms. They are pioneers of the organic meat industry, who began producing delicious meats--without the use of antibiotics, synthetic hormones, or pesticides--back in 1996. The cooperative insisted on third-party organic meat certification long before federal organic standards were established. They were the first to ban animal by-products from their cattle's diet and instrumental in forging the strictest organic standards.
The recipe calls for grass-fed beef, the choice of a conscious eater, and a tasty one at that. Grass-fed beef tends to be leaner than conventionally raised beef, so when grilling or roasting care needs to be taken not to overcook it and leave it too dry. For the ground beef in this chili recipe, drying out isn't a worry because you're simmering it with so many moist ingredients - including olive oil and bacon!
Grass-Fed Beef & Black Bean Chili with Avocado & Chipotle Sour Cream
Ingredients for 4 to 6 Servings
Chili
• ¼ Cup olive oil
• ¼ Pound Organic Prairie bacon, finely chopped or ground (to grind, cut into chunks, freeze until firm, then pulse in a food processor)
• 2 Pounds Organic Prairie grass-fed ground beef
• 1½ Tablespoons kosher salt or 1 tablespoon table salt, more to taste
• 2 Cups chopped onion
• 6 Cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tablespoons mild chili powder
• 1 Tablespoon smoked paprika (optional)
• 1½ Tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 Teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 (28-ounce) Cans crushed organic tomatoes (not tomato puree)
• 2 4-ounce Cans mild roasted green chiles
• 2 (15-ounce) Cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• ½ Cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 Cup low-sodium beef or chicken broth
• 2 Tablespoons molasses (optional)
• Hot sauce, to taste
Toppings
• 1 Ripe avocado, diced and tossed with a little lime juice and salt
• ½ Cup sour cream mixed with 1 teaspoon adobo sauce from a can of chipotle chiles (freeze the leftovers)
Preparation
1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook until most of the fat is rendered and the bacon pieces are golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Pour off all but around 2 tablespoons of the fat.
2. Add the beef to the pan, sprinkle on about 2 teaspoons of the salt and cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is no longer pink, about 5 minutes, but don't let the meat get brown and crusty. Scrape the meat from the pan into a bowl; set aside.
3. Add the rest of the oil to the pan, add the onion and 1 more teaspoon salt. Turn down the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft and lightly golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic, chili powder, smoked paprika (if using), cumin, and coriander and cook another minute, stirring and scraping so the spices fry slightly in the oil.
4. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, green chiles, black beans, chopped cilantro, beef broth, molasses and remaining teaspoon salt, plus as many shakes of hot sauce as you like. Turn the heat to low, and cook, uncovered, until thickened and rich tasting, 45 minutes to an hour. Add back the bacon and beef and simmer another 15 minutes. Taste and add more salt or hot sauce as needed.
5. Serve the chili in bowls with some avocado piled on top and a generous drizzle of the chipotle cream.
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Favorable court rulings may have left the impression that organic farms were safe from contamination by genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa, but that is not the case.
In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) needed to conduct a review of the potential environmental impact of GE alfalfa, but according to our friend Katy Kiefer at Food & Water Watch, "USDA has rushed through this process because big agribusiness wants to be allowed to plant GE alfalfa this spring."
Katy says, "GE alfalfa is likely to contaminate other crops, including organic alfalfa. Organic dairies need organic alfalfa as feed for their cows, and organic standards don't allow the use of GE crops. Contamination of organic crops from GE crops can destroy markets for organic farmers."
Millions of American families have made it crystal clear through their shopping choices that they want organic milk for their children. A message needs to be sent to President Obama that our children's health is more important than increasing the profits of Monsanto, a multi-billion dollar corporation.
Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit consumer organization that works to ensure clean water and safe food. They challenge the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and by transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink.
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He brought 20 years of experience in organic farming to his government service and had played a key role in the development of the USDA's organic standards.
The free exchange of ideas is so vital to a healthy democracy, it was particularly disturbing to learn that Mark D. Keating was terminated as an Agricultural Marketing Specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Organic Program (NOP) for expressing personal opinions in communications with the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB).
In an interview, Mr. Keating said the official reasons given for his termination were a "complete fabrication." He added, "I was the guy who knew too much."
Mr. Keating brought 20 years of experience in various aspects of organic farming to his government service. He was once an organic farmer himself and played a key role in the development of the USDA's organic standards and the establishment of the sustainable agriculture program at the University of Kentucky. "Abandoning traditional processes has brought new problems," he said.
Mr. Keating is convinced that it was the "political hierarchy" at the USDA rather than knowledgeable civil servants who were responsible for his termination. When asked whether powerful corporate interests had sought his dismissal, he said he had no evidence to support such a claim. He did say that giant agribusiness believes it has provided the "most abundant and cheapest food supply in the world" and the criticism leveled at it by sustainable farming advocates has led to "hurt feelings" in the industry.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a national alliance of local state and federal resource professionals, is urging the NOP to reverse its decision. PEER contends that Mr. Keating did not contradict official policy, but was aiding an advisory panel in formulating recommendations for official policy.
PEER argues that his termination:
• Violates Obama administration policies encouraging "free and open inquiry" by scientists and other technical specialists; and
• Is at odds with policies adopted by other agencies, such as the Department of Interior, promoting the "free exchange of ideas" while formulating policy.
Mr. Keating's job description called for "wide latitude to exercise independent judgment" to "influence, motivate, and persuade the very diverse constituent population of the NOP." Since he was hired just last April, Mr. Keating was still a probationary employee with limited rights to appeal his dismissal.
If, as Mr. Keating maintains, the official reasons given for his dismissal were fabricated, then why was he fired? He says the truth lies in the answer to, "Who in the political leadership would object to my work?"
Undue Corporate Influence at USDA?
Last September, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) published the results of a survey of USDA scientists and inspectors responsible for food safety. "Hundreds of scientists and inspectors responsible for food safety have personally experienced political interference in their work, and that's bad for public health," said Francesca Grifo, director of UCS's Scientific Integrity Program at the time. "Both the administration and Congress need to act."
More than 1,700 respondents took part in the survey, which was conducted for UCS by the Iowa State University Center for Survey Statistics. Most of the respondents had worked at their agency for more than ten years.
Disappointing Appointments at USDA
Back in 2008, Ronnie Cummins, executive director of Organic Consumers Association (OCA), told Democracy Now! about his opposition to the appointment of Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture:
"Vilsack has been an ardent promoter, not only of genetically engineered foods and crops, but also of the extremely controversial biopharmaceutical crops, which involves [inaudible] pharmaceutical drugs or industrial chemicals into food crops. Even, you know, quite a few people in the biotech industry are alarmed by these biopharmaceuticals, since you could get dangerous drugs throughout the food supply."
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote, "Unfortunately, Mr. Obama on Wednesday chose Tom Vilsack, the former governor of Iowa who has longstanding ties to agribusiness interests, as agriculture secretary - his weakest selection so far."
During the presidential campaign many sustainability advocates were encouraged by this statement from then candidate Obama, “"We'll tell ConAgra that it's not the Department of Agribusiness. It's the Department of Agriculture. We're going to put the people's interests ahead of the special interests."
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Wild Sockeye Salmon (photo by Kayak Lady, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
Wild seafood from the frigid waters of Alaska is distinctively delicious, coming from a naturally evolved ecosystem that can be found no where else on earth. While delivering a uniquely rich flavor to please the palates of seafood lovers, the wild salmon offers nutritional benefits to keep you young-of-mind and heart healthy over an active lifetime.
And there is another reason to love the bounty brought in by Alaska’s hearty fishing fleet. Under the Alaska State Constitution, all seafood from the state’s abundant waters must be harvested in a sustainable manner. So we can enjoy those delightful delicacies for years to come, without guilt, knowing that future generations will be enjoying the same for many years to come.
Be Very Wary of Farmed & GE Salmon
In contrast, there have been alarming reports regarding the safety of farm-raised salmon. One sample of farmed salmon studied by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found levels of PCB's so high that it advised eating it no more than once every two months. PCBs have long been known to cause cancer.
Unethical sellers have been detected passing off farm-raised salmon as wild-caught, and now there is the dreaded prospect that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration may soon approve a genetically engineered (GE) salmon. It would be the first GE animal ever approved for human consumption. When GE salmon inevitably escape into the wild, they will forever alter what Nature created.
Vital Choices Need to Be Made
Distressed by the knowledge that farmed salmon threatened to replace wild salmon in the marketplace and destroy their livelihood in the process, Alaskan fisherman Randy Hartnell and his wife Carla started Vital Choice® in 2001.
Carla explained during a recent visit to Norma Kamali’s Wellness Café in midtown Manhattan:
Our goal was to let people know that when you choose sustainably harvested wild salmon, you are choosing more than just a fine meal. You are promoting your health, the health of coastal fishing communities, the environment, and the precious wild salmon it sustains. You really are making a vital choice.
Safe & Healthy Is Fashionable
When asked how someone from an industry so often associated with hardly eating at all, iconic fashion designer Norma Kamali mused on the thought of a drink from “a plastic water bottle with a cigarette chaser” for a moment, then commented on the absurdity of using harmful, chemical products to enhance one’s beauty. She said she couldn’t help but be distressed by the “toxicity” that surrounds us in so many aspects of our daily lives.
A tour of the great olive growing regions of Europe led Norma to networking with people who shared her concerns. Being a businesswoman extraodinaire, she shows a special affinity for people who meet daunting challenges with an entrepreneurial spirit, folks like Randy and Carla Hartnell. Having established her Wellness Café as a forum for educating people about alternatives for a healthier life, on Wednesday she had the dynamic couple and their daughter come by to illustrate their important work with appetizing samples.
Over the years the Vital Source product line has grown to include wild-caught halibut, cod, albacore, sardines, mackerel, smoked King salmon, organic wild blueberries, trail mix, and much more. Among the “much more” is some really savory dark chocolate, always crafted from Fair Trade cocoa.
A Down Side to Wild Salmon?
Is there a down side to wild salmon? Well, there is the cost. A recent trip to a specialty food store found fresh wild salmon beautifully displayed on a bed of crushed ice. It was $40.00 a pound, quite an extravagance for an American family on a grocery budget.
Randy and Carla Hartnell’s answer is to offer wild-caught seafood, flash frozen and sealed in a preservation packet within hours of its harvest, ready for direct sale to consumers online. Real wild flavors made affordable, but still naturally brimming with the antioxidants, vitamin D, and omega-3s essential to heart, skin, brain, and eye health, not to mention a vibrant mood.
To learn more about Randy and Carla Hartnell’s company, go to: Vital Choice®
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Paint the Town Slow, a Slow Food NYC Benefit for Urban Harvests
Seasonal Squash (photo by Mary K. Baird, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
Paint the Town Slow will feature cocktails made by New York's "Slowest" mixologists, local food from some Snail of Approval restaurants and "Slow friendly" celebrities who will auction themselves off during the event. Only 100 tickets are available so buy your tickets today.
Paint the Town Slow will be held at 53 Wyckoff Street, Brooklyn, from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm on December 8th, running simultaneously with the last hours of the Slow Food NYC Experience Auction which begins online on November 28th. At the party, bidders can participate via smart-phones or an on–site computer to compete with off-site bidders for the one-of-a-kind experiences.
Slow Food NYC Online Experience Auction
Would you love to learn the secret of making a perfect biscuit from one of the top bakers in the city? Or, do you ever wish you had a tutor to help you navigate the nuances and subtleties of high end Scotch? How about just relaxing at home with friends while a renowned NYC chef whips up a three course meal in your own kitchen?
Just in time for "Cyber-Monday" and the holiday shopping season, The Slow Food NYC online Experience Auction will auction off eating, drinking and farming experiences that are not available anywhere else. With everything from celebrity mixologist cocktail parties to tours of the farms that supply some of New York's "slowest" restaurants, these experiences make excellent holiday gifts (or gifts to yourself).
100% of the auction proceeds will support the Urban Harvest Program.
Harvest Time in Urban Schools
This past spring, Slow Food NYC built their first Neighborhood Farm in Brownsville, Brooklyn. During the summer, 60 children living in neighborhoods with very limited access to fresh food, learned to plant, tend, harvest their home-grown produce and prepare healthy lunches, which they enjoyed communally.
Their Neighborhood Farm joins Harvest Time in Schools as part of Slow Food NYC’s new Urban Harvest Program.
Through Harvest Time in Schools, Slow Food NYC financially and logistically supports good food education in 10 schools. Harvest Time in Schools includes: edible gardens; good food and nutrition education, including hands-on cooking; and student-run farm stands, offering fresh, seasonal food grown by the kids or from local farms.
This year, they hope to raise $20,000 so they can continue their programming on the farm and in the schools.
You can get more info on the Slow Food NYC online auction & view the growing list of available experiences at: Slow Food NYC Events & Auction
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Will the FDA Approve Frankenfish While Battling Artisanal Cheeses?
Grazing with Mom (photo by Emily Roesly, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
It was more than a little disturbing to learn that while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may be on the verge of approving genetically engineered salmon, it went ahead and shut down an artisanal cheesemaker in Montesano, Washington due to concern over raw milk contamination.
Montesano’s Estrella Family Creamery is a family-owned business with a grass-based farm that scored big at the prestigious 2010 American Cheese Society Awards:
• Weebles: First in class (Smoked Italian Styles)
• Caldwell Crik Chevrett: First in class (Sheep's or Mixed Milks)
• Jalapeño Buttery: Second prize (Flavored, Peppers)
Estrella's cheeses were also served at a James Beard Dinner in New York, but according to a blog post from Beth Buczynski on care2.com, “FDA officials arrived unannounced at the most well-known artisanal creamery in Washington and posted a seizure order that named all cheeses on the property.”
Ms. Buczynski writes that the FDA acted after “…an inspection by the Washington State Department of Agriculture turned up Listeria monocytogenes (L-mono), a bacteria found in animal feces, in the creamery's production areas and in its finished cheese, according to court records.”
The FDA’s seizure order includes every cheese in production at Estrella, not just those that tested positive for L-mono, despite the fact that no illnesses had been linked to the company’s foods, according to the Washington State Department of Health.
Estrella’s co-owner Kelli Estrella told the Seattle Times, "We very aggressively went after the problem." The company voluntarily recalled several cheeses, destroyed some of them, and paused production while it improved the facility, but that was not enough to keep the FDA from moving forward.
On the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund web site, attorney Pete Kennedy criticizes the heavy handedness of the FDA’s actions, “For the last thirty-eight years, and possibly further back, there have been no reports of illness caused by the consumption of raw milk that was attributed to L-mono.”
“All Estrella Family Creamery cheeses are made with raw milk from animals grazed in our organically maintained pastures,” says the creamery’s web site.
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Summer's seasonal delights may have faded from farmers markets, but Fall favorites have arrived in abundance! Our friends at Organic Valley Family of Farms provided this recipe to satisfy cool weather cravings for warming soups and stews with a recipe that delivers the spiciness of curry and cayenne, along with the unique flavors and healthy aspects of squash, lentils, and easy-to-find produce.
Organic Valley is a farmer-owned co-op that says, “We think it's a simple truth. The earth's most delicious, most healthful foods are made when farmers work in harmony with nature.” The organization started with 7 farmers forming an organic cooperative in 1988. Today, more than 1,600 family farms are members and their high standards shine through in their delicious, award-winning, certified organic foods.
Judging by this recipe they seem to know quite a bit about making great soup. To serve this soup at its best, get as many ingredients as possible fresh from your local farmers market at harvest time.
Ingredients for 6 Servings
• 1 Tablespoon Organic Valley European-style Cultured Butter
• 2 Cups peeled, chopped butternut squash
• ½ Cup finely chopped shallots
• ½ Cup chopped onions
• 1 Ripe tomato, peeled & chopped
• 1 Large carrot, chopped
• 1 Stalk celery, chopped
• 6 Cups vegetable broth, or more as needed
• ½ Cup lentils, rinsed
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon curry powder
• 1/8 Teaspoon cayenne powder
• 1 Bay leaf
• Salt & pepper to taste
Preparation
Melt butter in a large, heavy saucepan over medium flame. Add prepared vegetables and saute for 5 minutes. Add broth and all remaining ingredients except salt and pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until vegetables and lentils are tender, about 45 minutes. Thin soup with additional broth if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls and serve with warm country rolls or baguettes and European-style butter.
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Thousands Gather for Slow Food Conference in Turin, Italy
Organic Cherry (photo by xololounge, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
The frontline of the international food movement—sustainable producers, farmers, cooks, educators and activists—stormed Turin this week for one of the largest sustainable food gatherings in the world, the Slow Food international conference Terra Madre.
"There is a crisis in our food system with four people dying this week in the USA because of contaminated food and last month the recall of over half a billion salmonella tainted eggs," said Josh Viertel, President of Slow Food USA.
"I see people all over the USA and the world working to transform the way we row our food. We aren't settling for an industrialized food system that destroys the environment and makes people sick. There is a better way." he continued.
Slow Food USA, the fastest growing national Slow Food organization internationally, boasts 225 chapters across the country and over 207,000 supporters, with new chapters, in both communities and campuses across the country launching nearly every week. The international Slow Food network is now represented in 166 countries worldwide.
"There is now a new protagonist in the food system – the food movement."
In the fourth bi-annual Terra Madre conference, over 8,000 participants – 700 from the USA – gather to share stories and knowledge about projects as diverse as building edible schoolyards, pioneering the use of mobile slaughterhouses, greening supermarkets and running field to plate restaurants.
"The Terra Madre participants who are at the frontline of this movement are constantly innovating and exploring new ways to build a world where food is good for the farmer, good for the planet and good for those eating it."
To learn more about the Slow Food Movement and find a local chapter, go to: Slow Food USA
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Orecchiette with Braised Kale, Fire Roasted Tomatoes & Grilled Italian Sausage Recipe
Orecchiette with Braised Kale, Fire Roasted Tomatoes & Grilled Sausage (photo courtesy of Muir Glen® Organic)
The change of seasons here in the Northeast couldn’t have been more evident than they were yesterday during a visit to the farmers market. A splendid variety of seasonal squash now far outnumbers fresh tomatoes, the fruit often taken for a vegetable. The squash are very welcome of course, but those luscious Summer tomatoes will be missed!
Our friends at Muir Glen offer a wonderful alternative for those like the James Beard Award-winning author Linda West Eckhardt, who says she loves using Muir Glen whole tomatoes for sauces. Linda’s tip: Cut up the tomatoes while they are still in the can, then pour all the contents together. Never discard that flavorful juice!
The recipe below is the creation of Chef Will Gilson of Boston’s Garden at the Cellar. The Chef is dedicated to presenting farm-to-table dining at his eatery, where much of the ingredients arrive fresh from his family’s farm in Groton, Massachusetts. He developed this recipe at the behest of the folks at Muir Glen, after visiting the Italian farm where their organic, limited-edition tomatoes are grown. He says that unlike most tomatoes grown for canning, the Meridian Ruby tomatoes at the farm are delicious when eaten right off the vine.
Chef Will Gilson's Orecchiette with Braised Kale, Fire Roasted Tomatoes & Grilled Italian Sausage
Ingredients for 4 Servings
• 3 Italian sausages (about 3/4 lb)
• 1 Pound uncooked orecchiette (tiny disk) pasta
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Egg yolks
• Grated peel of 1 medium lemon (2 to 3 teaspoons)
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon finely chopped garlic
• 1/4 Cup finely diced onion
• 2 Bunches kale, washed, rough chopped (about 6 cups)
• 2 Cans (14.5 oz. each) Muir Glen® Organic or Meridian Ruby™ Fire Roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 Cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Preparation
1. In 10-inch nonstick skillet, cover and cook sausages over medium heat about 15 minutes or until no longer pink in center. When cool enough to handle, cut into 1/2-inch slices.
2. Cook and drain pasta as directed on package, reserving 1/2 cup of the hot pasta water. In 1 1/2-quart saucepan, vigorously stir eggs, egg yolks, lemon peel, salt and pepper with wire whisk; slowly beat reserved hot pasta water into egg mixture. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly with wire whisk, for about 10 minutes until sauce is creamy and thickened.
3. Meanwhile, in 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook garlic in oil 1 to 2 minutes or until garlic starts to become toasted. Add onion, kale and tomatoes; cover. Cook 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until kale is wilted and soft. Remove from heat. In extra-large serving bowl, stir sausage slices, cooked pasta, kale mixture, Parmesan cheese and sauce.
To learn more about premium tomatoes and tomato sauces for year round culinary creations, go to: Muir Glen®
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After two years of wrangling in the courts, a federal court has ruled that Ohio’s ban on the labeling of dairy products as hormone-free is unconstitutional. The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is a major setback for corporations selling dairy products from cows treated with synthetic bovine hormones to an unwitting public.
It was the court’s decision that Ohio's absolute ban on voluntary, hormone-free labeling violated the First Amendment rights of dairy processors and was "more extensive than necessary to serve the state's interest in preventing consumer deception."
The landmark case was brought to court by the Organic Trade Association (OTA). OTA and its members, including Horizon Organic®, Organic Valley®, and Stonyfield Farm®, filed the appeal in conjunction with the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA).
“OTA believes consumers have a right to know how their food was produced, and organic farmers and manufacturers should be allowed to tell them,” said Christine Bushway, CEO of OTA, a leading trade group for the $26.6 billion organic industry in North America. “We are pleased the court agrees,” added Bushway.
Broader Implications
According to an NPR report, the ruling calls into question a 17-year-old U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finding that there's "no significant difference" between the milk of cows given growth hormone and those that aren't, something many in the scientific community have been challenging for years.
The court cited studies indicating that milk from cows treated with growth hormones was of lower nutritional quality and will turn sour more quickly. That raises the possibility that genetically-engineered salmon could face similar legal action if the FDA rules that it is not significantly different from other farm-raised Atlantic salmon.
Consumers Want Hormone-Free Labeling
The legal victory can be expected to be met with approval by the vast majority of American consumers. The Consumer Reports National Research Center polled more than 1,000 people nationwide on various food labeling issues; some 76% of those polled were concerned with “dairy cows given synthetic growth hormones” and 88% agreed that “milk from cows raised without synthetic bovine growth hormone should be allowed to be labeled as such.”
The U.S. is in the minority among industrialized nations by allowing the use of synthetic growth hormones to artificially stimulate milk production in dairy herds. The practice is already prohibited in Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and in the 27 countries of the European Union.
To learn more about OTA and its work on behalf of the organic movement, go to: Organic Trade Association
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Family Farmers Face Unfair Competition from 'Organic' Factory Farms
Brown Eggs (photo by Derek Lilly, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
Factory farms, some confining hundreds of thousands of chickens in industrial facilities, sell their eggs to consumers as "organic."
Last week’s hearings before a Congressional Committee investigating the recent nationwide outbreak of salmonella poisoning only exacerbated worries about the food safety practices of some of the nation’s largest egg producers. Assertions by Austin “Jack” DeCoster and his son of their commitment to food safety were particularly ludicrous in light of a government inspection done after the egg recall.
The report that resulted from the inspection detailed the filthy conditions at the DeCoster’s egg facilities and vivid photos were presented that made their disgraceful and dangerous irresponsibility all too clear. It was also made clear that the DeCoster’s operations have a history of flouting food safety guidelines and environmental laws that dates back more than 30 years, and once led to their eggs being banned in New York State and Maryland.
Disturbing Research Findings from The Cornucopia Institute
Now an independent report has been released that focuses on widespread abuses in organic egg production, primarily by large industrial agribusinesses. The study profiles the exemplary management practices employed by many family-scale organic farmers engaged in egg production, while spotlighting abuses at so-called factory farms, some confining hundreds of thousands of chickens in industrial facilities, and representing these eggs to consumers as "organic."
The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm policy research group, developed the report, Scrambled Eggs: Separating Factory Farm Egg Production from Authentic Organic Agriculture, following nearly two years of research into organic egg production. The report also contains a scorecard rating various egg brands on how their eggs are produced in accordance with federal organic standards and consumer expectations.
"After visiting over 15% of the certified egg farms in the United States, and surveying all name-brand and private-label industry marketers, it's obvious that a high percentage of the eggs on the market should be labeled ‘produced with organic feed’ rather than bearing the USDA-certified organic logo," said Mark A. Kastel, The Cornucopia Institute’s co-director and senior farm policy analyst.
According to the United Egg Producers (UEP), the industry lobby group, 80% of all organic eggs are produced by just a handful of its largest members. Most of these operations own hundreds of thousands, or even millions of birds, and have diversified into "specialty eggs," which include organic. At least one UEP member, Hillandale Farms, has been implicated in the recent nationwide salmonella outbreak affecting conventional eggs. At last week’s Congessional hearings the CEO of Hillandale Farms, Orland Bethel, cited his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and did not answer questions.
Cornucopia’s report focuses not on the size of some of these mammoth agribusinesses but rather on their organic livestock management practices. It says that most of these giant henhouses, some holding 85,000 birds or more, provide no legitimate access to the outdoors, as required in the federal organic regulations.
USDA Debates New Regulations for Poultry & Other Livestock
The new report comes at a critical juncture for the organic poultry industry. The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), the expert citizen advisory panel set up by Congress to advise the USDA on organic policy, has been debating a set of proposed new regulations for poultry and other livestock that would establish housing-density standards and a clearer understanding of what the requirement for outdoor access truly means. The industry’s largest operators, along with their lobbyists, have been loudly voicing their opposition to requirements for outdoor space.
"Many of these operators are gaming the system by providing minute enclosed porches, with roofs and concrete or wood flooring, and calling these structures ‘the outdoors,’" stated Charlotte Vallaeys, a farm policy analyst with Cornucopia and lead author of the report. "Many of the porches represent just 3% to 5% of the square footage of the main building housing the birds. That means 95% or more of the birds have absolutely no access whatsoever."
“If one animal has the legal right to be outdoors, then all animals have the same right, whether they choose to take turns or if they all choose to be outside at the same time," said Jim Riddle, organic outreach coordinator with the University of Minnesota and former chairman of the NOSB.
Industry Lobby Group Opposes Stronger Regulations
At previous meetings of the NOSB, United Egg Producers represented industrial-scale producers and publicly opposed proposals to strengthen regulations requiring outdoor access.
“We are strongly opposed to any requirement for hens to have access to the soil,” said Kurt Kreher of Kreher’s Sunrise Farms in Clarence, N.Y. And Bart Slaugh, director of quality assurance at Eggland’s Best, a marketer of both conventional and organic eggs based in Jeffersonville, Pa., noted that, “The push for continually expanding outdoor access … needs to stop.”
Family-scale organic egg farmers, and their allies, intend to challenge corporate agribusiness lobbyists and make their voices heard at the October 25th meeting of the National Organic Standards Board.
The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit farm policy research group, is dedicated to the fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community. Their Organic Integrity Project acts as a corporate and governmental watchdog assuring that no compromises to the credibility of organic farming methods and the food it produces are made in the pursuit of profit.
To learn more about the research from the Institute cited above, go to: The Cornucopia Institute
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Consumer Choices Have Made Fair Trade Sales Soar to $5 Billion Annually
Cocoa Fruit (photo by Sanjay Pindiyath, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
Once again consumers are having a tremendous impact through their purchasing decisions. It seems a very large number of shoppers want to purchase goods produced by people being paid fairly for their work because the sale of Fair Trade goods has gone from $0 to $5 billion in just ten years.
Since cocoa is not grown in the U.S., the country’s artisanal chocolate makers must buy it from overseas to craft their creations. The history of exploitation of agricultural workers around the globe is not a pretty one. After a long legacy of legal slavery, many farm workers still labor in conditions that are little better. But as the sales figures for Fair Trade products show, consumers demanding just treatment and fair compensation are having a salutary impact.
Ben & Jerry’s was the first ice cream company in the world to use Fair Trade Certified™ ingredients starting in 2005, and today it’s racing ahead as the first ice cream company to make such a significant commitment to Fair Trade across its global portfolio. The company has made a commitment to go fully Fair Trade across its entire global flavor portfolio by 2013. Two smaller American companies that craft their artisanal chocolate delights with Fair Trade cocoa have seen their companies flourish from this welcome consumer trend.
The Theo Chocolate Factory
Theo Chocolate in Seattle was the first to roast organic cocoa beans and the first roaster of Fair Trade certified cocoa beans in the United States. Founder and CEO Joe Whinney, witnessed the effects of unfair, unsustainable cocoa trading as a conservation volunteer in Central America. That experience led him to pioneer the manufacture and supply of organic chocolate products as the first individual to import organic cocoa beans into North America in 1994.
Food and Wine Magazine honored Theo with an Eco-Epicurean Award for making the world "a better — and more delicious — place." Theo also won "Outstanding Chocolate" at the NASFT Fancy Food Show in New York City.
Robin Jenkins
Awareness of global environmental issues is at the heart of Robin’s Chocolate Sauce in Portland, Maine. Founder Robin Jenkins became conscious of the not-so-sweet realities of the chocolate trade by researching where and how her ingredients are grown and produced, and by whom. She is committed to using organic, shade grown and local or Fair Trade Certified™ ingredients whenever possible. With every purchase of Robin’s Chocolate Sauce, you’re supporting the mission of the National Wildlife Federation to inspire Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future.
If you’d like to purchase some of Theo’s award-winning gourmet chocolate click on any of the following:
For information related to the purchase of advertising space on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
USDA Moves to Strengthen Enforcement of Organic Standards
Organic Farm (photo by Tana Butler, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued new procedures that it says will increase the e enforcement of national organic standards. The new operating procedures are meant to ensure that all complaints of alleged violations and civil penalties are consistently handled.
“The changes we are making will ensure that all parties are given due process while increasing the effectiveness of enforcing organic standards,” said Miles McEvoy, National Organic Program’s deputy administrator. “At the same time we want to take steps so that those who are abiding by the regulations and rightfully marketing their foods as organic are not put at a disadvantage by those falsely labeling their products. It allows us to perform our job of assuring consumers they can trust the USDA organic label.”
Nonprofit advocacy organizations including the Organic Consumers Association and the Cornucopia Institute have been critical of lax enforcement of organic standards for many years. In 2005, Cornucopia filed a legal complaint alleging that the nation's largest organic factory-farm dairy operator "willfully" violated the federal organic standards. The USDA later found that the giant industrial-scale dairies, milking thousands of cows each, were not providing their cattle with pasture, as required by law, had illegally brought conventional cattle into their operations, and committed a number of other serious improprieties.
In the past, complaints of alleged standards violations were referred to accredited certifying agents for investigation and enforcement. With the implementation of new procedures, the NOP will collaborate with accredited certifying agents in investigating cases while handling all enforcement actions.
The new complaint handling procedures were put into effect as part of a continued effort by the NOP to increase enforcement actions and ensure greater compliance of the organic regulations. Since January of 2010, the NOP has closed 87 complaints and issued three civil penalties. The NOP accredits about 100 certifying agents around the world to evaluate agricultural production and handling operations and determine their compliance with the national organic standards.
It is USDA’s policy to investigate all complaints that allege violations of rules and regulations, whether submitted by independent claimants, filed by an accredited certifying agent, or initiated by the NOP itself. Any person may file a complaint if he or she believes a violation has occurred.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Americans are Buying More Natural Foods Despite Weak Economy
Organic Oranges (photo by Darnok, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
Four Out of Five Baby Boomers More Concerned About Foods They Eat
Organic foods are making a larger impact on consumers' shopping choices in 2010, according to a new survey. About three out of four adults continue to purchase natural and organic foods, but 27% of adults say that natural and organic foods comprise more than a quarter of their total food purchases this year, up from just 20% a year ago.
More than four-fifths of adults say they are now more concerned with what foods they eat (84%), they read nutrition labels more closely today (84%) and have a better understanding of how their food is produced (83%) than they did in 1980.
The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive® within the United States on behalf of Whole Foods Market® for the grocery company’s annual Food Shopping Trends Tracker report. Whole Foods Market also surveyed Baby Boomers in June via Harris Interactive about food attitudes and purchasing habits today compared to three decades ago.
A ‘Sea Change’ in Shopper Attitudes
"There has been a sea change these past 30 years in shopper attitudes toward food with a growing appetite for information on how and where food is produced to what's in the food and how it impacts health," says Michael Besancon, Senior Global Vice President of Purchasing, Distribution & Marketing for Whole Foods Market.
For a snapshot of how food buying habits have changed, Whole Foods Market asked Boomers to rank the top items nearly always in the pantry/refrigerator in 1980 compared to today.
In 1980, the top five items were:
• Milk (89%)
• Canned or frozen vegetables (83%)
• White bread (74%)
• Soda/pop (74%)
• Iceberg lettuce (66%)
In 2010, the top five items are:
• Fresh fruit (83%)
• Milk (82%)
• Fresh vegetables (79%)
• Wheat or whole-grain bread (77%)
• Canned or frozen vegetables (69%)
Comparing the two time periods, spring or mixed lettuces show the highest increase in popularity today among Boomers (59% currently vs. 14% 30 years ago), followed by wheat or whole-grain bread (77% currently vs. 34% thirty years ago), and whole grain cereal with little or no sugar (66% today vs. 26% thirty years ago).
Rounding out the top 10 list of food items that grew in popularity among Boomers over the past 30 years are food supplements, fresh fruit, specialty beverages like gourmet coffees and flavored teas, fresh vegetables, fresh-prepared entrees, salads and/or sides, ethnic foods and/or ingredients, and store brands.
Conversely, sugary cereal shows the largest decline in popularity among Boomers (63% 30 years ago vs. just 19% today), closely followed by white bread (74% 30 years ago vs. 31% today).
Most Boomers report they are now more concerned about fat (74%), cholesterol (74%) and added growth hormones and antibiotics in meat and dairy products (70%) than in 1980.
Impact of Weak Economy on Food Shopping
More than half (54%) of Boomers say they buy more organic and/or natural foods today. This finding is in line with findings from the Whole Foods Market Food Shopping Trends Tracker survey that show an increase in adults who say if prices are comparable they prefer to buy natural and/or organic foods over conventional foods (73%), and they would like to find ways to be able to buy natural and/or organic foods within their budget (72%), both experiencing a significant 7-point increase from last year's findings.
Most adults say current food prices continue to impact how they shop for groceries (84%), and the economy has impacted their cooking and eating habits (77%). Specifically, they are eating dinner at home more often and eating out less (59%) and are budgeting food shopping trips more strictly (42%). Of those adults who indicated that current food prices have affected their grocery shopping 46% say they go out of their way to look for lower-cost items, 56% say they prepare more meals at home, and 26% plan meals for the week and buy only what they need for that week.
"While the economic downturn has brought renewed attention to getting more value for less money, it is encouraging to see that shoppers don't want to cut corners on healthy, high quality food," says Besancon. The survey found, regardless of current food prices, the majority (72%) of adults say they don't want to compromise on the quality of the food they buy.
AFT Will Soon Unveil America's Top 20 Favorite Farmers Markets
Fresh Corn (photo by Kevin Connors, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
Did you know that there are now 6,132 farmers markets in America? That represents a 16% increase over the number recorded in the National Farmers Market Directory in 2009.
The Contest Ends on August 31st
American Farmland Trust is celebrating National Farmers Market Week by unveiling the Top 20 Favorite Farmers Markets in all four categories. Anything can happen in the next four weeks before the contest ends at midnight on August 31st! Your local farmers market needs your continued support so that it can get the recognition it deserves.
Let's Keep the Movement Growing!
American Farmland Trust needs your help to promote the value of farmers markets in communities, and to make the connection between fresh local foods and the local farms and farmland that supply them. Farmers markets play a critical role in keeping farmers on the land and helping farms thrive. By providing farmers with a venue where they can provide their much sought after products, farmers markets are helping to save the land that sustains us.
Thank you for all that you do to support local farms and local farmers markets!
To learn more about the contest to select America’s Best Farmers Markets, go to: American Farmland Trust
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Can a meal be truly great without a dessert? "Maybe" was a reply that came up a few times during a small, informal poll. And then there was a welcome completion of the thought: "But why chance it?"
Our friend Robin sees no need to to take that chance and she has created a selection of gourmet chocolate sauces capable of satisfying dessert lovers everywhere. Place a jar of her creation in a microwave oven for just 30 seconds and a warm sauce du jour is ready for service over a favorite treat. Ice cream, cheesecake, fresh fruit, or homemade pound cake will all do nicely.
Robin’s Chocolate Sauce is handcrafted in northern Maine from a family recipe using only the finest, freshest ingredients. She combines pure organic cocoa, organic cane sugar and organic vanilla with local farm-fresh dairy ingredients to create a dessert topping that is simple and sophisticated, exotic and homemade. No artificial ingredients, just pure decadent goodness.
What began as a holiday gift for friends and family has gained quite a reputation among sweet tooths, cocoa connoisseurs and grandkids throughout Maine. Robin made her first batch of “Original Recipe” organic chocolate sauce in a 12-gallon steam kettle in 2004. Since then, she, her husband, and their two sons have built up the family business to produce six distinct varieties. Robin processes the sauce patiently in small batches to produce a luscious, creamy texture and flavor.
Great Dessert for a Great Cause
Awareness of global environmental issues is at the heart of the business. Robin became conscious of the not-so-sweet realities of the chocolate trade by researching where and how her ingredients are grown and produced, and by whom. She is committed to using organic, shade grown and local or Fair Trade Certified™ ingredients whenever possible. These standards are crucial to maintaining a sustainable environment, protecting migratory birds and creating healthy communities—and your children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren will notice the sweet difference.
Robin Herself
Robin’s Chocolate Sauce is more than a delicious dessert topping. It’s a resource for the education, awareness and advocacy of the issues concerning communities and the environment both locally and globally. Every delicious spoonful of sauce is helping make a difference.
With every purchase of Robin’s Chocolate Sauce, you’re supporting the mission of the National Wildlife Federation to inspire Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future. What could be better than getting some delicious treats and supporting a great cause!
If you'd like to order some of Robin's sublime chocolate sauces go to any of the following:
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Farm-to-table dining has been a growing trend for some time and there is no sign it will slow anytime soon. The movement to serve fresh, local, sustainably harvested food is offering truly distinctive dining experiences and helping raise awareness of the delicious alternative to heavily processed foods shipped from factories.
One meal at a good farm-to-table restaurant should convince anyone that foods are at their most flavorful and nutritious when served at their freshest. Eating seasonal foods produced without chemicals, whether grown at home or in a community garden, or purchased from a trusted local farmer, makes for better health and a cleaner environment.
The Bounty of California’s Napa Valley
The Napa Valley in California is one of America’s most rare and precious agricultural preserves. Home to the founders of America's fine wine industry, its towns and villages also present a bounty of crops for an authentic farm-to-table dining experience regularly enjoyed by visitors and locals alike. The very word Napa stands for ‘Land of Plenty’, the original meaning given to the region by its first inhabitants, the Wappo Indians.
Many Napa Valley restaurant chefs cultivate their own orchards, vineyards and gardens teeming with rows of basil, eggplant, squash, pomegranates, figs, tomatoes and of course grapes. The freshness makes a huge taste difference, as is regularly noted by restaurant patrons and those culinary institutions dishing up annual accolades. Even those who do not have gardens of their own largely rely on the bounty of area farms and local farmers markets.
The Napa Valley Destination Council has prepared a short list of those Napa Valley restaurants with gardens of particular note:
• Ad Hoc, Chef Thomas Keller’s casual restaurant located in Yountville, features American comfort classics in a relaxed setting reminiscent of home. The restaurant’s 4-course prix-fixe menu is crafted daily, featuring the finest, in-season ingredients sourced from its own culinary garden.
• Bouchon bistro, also in Yountville, and another of Thomas Keller’s restaurants, features traditional bistro inspired cuisine in a vibrant atmosphere reminiscent of classic Lyonese café dining. Fruits and vegetables, as expected, come from the restaurant group’s culinary garden, located across from The French Laundry.
• Again hailing from Yountville, the farm-fresh restaurant menu at the Bardessono Inn is based on locally sourced organic ingredients, with much of the produce coming from the hotel's organic gardens and an orchard on the old Bardessono estate. Inspired by the abundance of the Napa Valley, executive chef O’Toole’s menu draws from local growers, farmers’ markets and the restaurant’s own on- and off-site culinary gardens. Bardessono has earned LEED Platinum certification.
• Brix Restaurant and Gardens draws on the bounty of their vineyard, orchard, vegetable and flower gardens. Comprised of raised boxed beds and in-ground beds, Brix grows crops year-round including tiny salad greens, fava beans and strawberries in the spring; French beans, eggplant, tomatoes, berries and melons in the summer; apples and pears, hard squash, potatoes and fresh onions in the fall; and Meyer lemons and sweet limes, sweet peas, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower Romenesco and butter lettuce in the winter. It¹s not unusual to see the restaurant¹s chefs out in the garden gathering fruits, vegetables and herbs for the day¹s specials.
• Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen and Go Fish of St. Helena, along with Mustard’s Grill in Napa are owned and operated by Cindy Pawlcyn, one of the first female chefs to champion fresh, local, seasonal food. Along with cultivating a 1½-acre organic garden at her home, her Mustards Grill and Go Fish eateries feature organic gardens that supplement the other locally sourced produce used in her dishes. This culinary pioneer of Napa regional cuisine has made a solid commitment to seasonal inspiration and the use of the region’s bountiful harvests as the fresh ingredients for brilliantly delectable creations.
• The French Laundry in Yountville is known for being a perennial finisher in Restaurant Magazine’s list of Top 50 Restaurants of the World and since 2006 the sole Michelin 3-star recipient in the region. Lesser-known, but directly across the street from this esteemed restaurant is its three-acre garden that one can meander through in the morning before enjoying its bounty served in impeccable comfort and style that evening. Additionally, the nearby Jacobsen’s Farm offers a variety of organic produce and products which the restaurant has incorporated on their menus since opening. Not too surprising, vegetable dishes and salads are often unexpected stars of dinner, and so they also offer a vegetarian menu for the same price as their normal 9-course tasting menu featuring French cuisine with contemporary American influences.
• Chef Ken Frank is credited with pioneering a style of cooking that today is known as “California Cuisine.” For the past 30 years his focus has been on using only the finest, often local artisanal ingredients. His latest of many culinary ventures, La Toque Napa moved to its current location at the Westin Verasa in Napa in 2008 and subsequently earned a Michelin star in 2009. Frank, along with a small cadre of local restaurant chefs, work the one time Copia complex garden as a co-op that includes chefs from Hog Island Oyster Company, Zuzu, Angele, Restaurant Pearl and C Casa Taqueria, which is opening soon in Napa’s Oxbow Public Market.
• Long Meadow Ranch, Winery & Farmstead in St. Helena has opened the Long Meadow Ranch Winery & Farmstead restaurant, a sustainable food, wine and agricultural center. Farmstead restaurant offers fresh farm-to-table dining and is open for lunch and dinner daily. The new Long Meadow Ranch Winery Tasting Room, that opened in December, features wine and olive oil tastings, while docent-led vegetable garden and wine flavor tours provide engaging educational experiences for lovers of local food and wine. At their Rutherford Gardens, visitors can purchase fresh vegetables, fruits, eggs, grass-fed beef, and flowers and enjoy a walk through the beautiful demonstration gardens.
• At the Meadowood Napa Valley in St. Helena, you should really experience Chef Christopher Kostow’s talents in The Restaurant at Meadowood. A Michelin 2-star recipient, this understated restaurant is pleased to serve wines from a neighboring vineyard while the honey on the table is from Meadowood’s own hives and the olives from their orchard. The heirloom tomatoes and other fresh produce, as well as edible flowers, are picked at the perfect ripeness each day from the restaurant’s gardens and taken straight into the kitchen.
• Ubuntu (which combines a highly praised "vegetable" restaurant with a yoga studio) is one of the nation’s most highly recognized vegetarian restaurants. They have recently earned a 2010 Michelin star rating for their surprisingly seductive dishes, have been listed as one of the ten best new American restaurants in The New York Times, and feature a chef who was nominated for a 2009 James Beard Foundation Award. As one would expect, their produce comes from its own gardens. Located in the city of Napa.
• The Carneros Inn is adding a new ½-acre culinary garden this summer, which will supply the Inn, restaurants, and spa with fresh vegetables, herbs and flowers year round.
For more information about America’s legendary wine, food, and wellness destination, go to: The Legendary Napa Valley
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Ever since children died from eating tainted hamburgers at a fast food joint, the virulent pathogen known as E. coli 0157:H7 has been tested for and regulated by the USDA. However, there are six other strains of E. coli which are equally deadly and are not regulated or tested by most food companies.
Although the U.S. government is pondering whether or not to require testing for and banning of food products containing these strains, there are things you can do to protect yourself and your family now.
Steps to Take for Safe Eating
Start buying bagged produce from Earth Bound Farms, the only organic producer we know of who tests for all strains of E. coli. If you get a bag of Earth Bound Baby Spinach, it is free from E. coli. Secondly, grow your own vegetables in the back yard, and thirdly is get to know the weaknesses of E. coli as a pathogen.
Linda West Eckhardt
If you’re eating out, ask for olive oil and vinegar on the side and generously dress your salad with this. Olive oil kills E. coli.
All E. coli strains are killed by a temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit. This means, you should never order or eat a rare hamburger unless you know the meat came from one animal and was organic. Resist the urge to order steak tartare or rare burgers even in fine restaurants.
Hygienic Food Handling Key to Fighting E. Coli
The most difficult feature of E. coli is that it appears in raw vegetables and fruits that we eat. People have been killed and disabled by eating lettuces, spinach, strawberries and other salad ingredients.
What can you do about that? You could write your congressman, for openers. Ask other congress people to get behind New York’s Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, in her effort to require meat packers to test for all E. coli strains. She says, “How many people do we have to see die or become seriously ill?”
But meats are more easily treated than raw vegetables. The vegetable producing industry needs to be reigned in.
People who operate farms where produce is handpicked (and that’s almost every single salad item you know) should be required by law to provide a hand washing station beside the portapotties in the field. Then, these operators should train and require all workers to wash their hands after using the bath room, just the same as restaurant operators.
Why? Because the most common vector for transmission of E. coli and other pathogens is what’s known as the oral-fecal route. Animals from hogs, to beef, to chickens, to human beings carry E. coli in their gut. And the quickest way for that to be transmitted to the food is by food handlers.
Simple hygiene is still the best protection. Yes, produce from fields that are downstream from huge animal operations may be infected with E. coli by the water they use to irrigate the crops, but that’s another story.
What you can do is remember if you make a salad using commercially raised salad ingredients, dress it with olive oil, which also kills E. coli. Practice safe habits in your kitchen. Do not cut salad and raw meat or chicken with the same knife or on the same board. Become a compulsive hand washer.
Call for Government Action
Simple practices can help keep your family safe. Meanwhile, do write to your congressional representative and ask your congress person to get behind legislation that requires companies to test for all E. coli strains and to ban products from the market that test positive for any E. coli. Ask your congress person push for stricter regulations on farm operators. Require hand washing stations for field workers and no row crops planted downstream from CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations).
Many cases of food poisoning go unreported. People think they have “the flu”, or “a hangover”, or some such, when in fact, they have been poisoned by the food they eat.
Here at The Silver Cloud, we’re all about eating clean, and being clean to maintain good health.
To learn more about Linda West Eckhardt’s most recent work on healthy weight control, go to: The Silver Cloud Diet
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Drink Milk from Pasture Grazing Cows for a Healthier Heart
Grazing with Mom (photo by Emily Roesly, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
Dairy cows grazing in pastures produce milk more likely to keep your heart healthy than cows raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), according to a report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The report was based on research conducted by scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health, the Michigan School of Public Health, and the University of Costa Rica. The study was conducted in Costa Rica, where dairy cows are pasture-grazed.
The researchers concluded that dairy cows grazing in pastures have more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in their milk than cows fed grain. CLA and the omega 3 fatty acids considered beneficial to keeping a healthy heart are not typically found in the vast majority of cattle in the U.S., which are raised on corn in CAFOs.
One of the study’s authors, Hannia Campos of the Harvard School of Public Health, told Reuters, “Because pasture grazing leads to higher CLA in milk, and it is the natural feed for cattle, it seems like more emphasis should be given to this type of feeding.”
Graze Cows n Pastures for Less Foodborne Illness
Much of the foodborne illness plaguing the nation’s food supply could be eliminated by grazing cows in pastures. Deadly E. coli contamination comes largely from beef and dairy cows fed in CAFOs. Family farms caring for pasture grazing cows face tough competition from CAFOs, where most of the cattle in the U.S. is kept. The densely penned cows are fed genetically modified (GM) corn grown with massive government subsidies.
Pasture Feeding is a Better Environmental Choice
The corn fed to cattle in CAFOs requires a great deal of fossil fuel to produce and poisonous pesticides are used in growing that corn. The vast amount of manure produced by the thousands upon thousands of tightly confined animals poses a very real threat to human health and the environment. In contrast, the manure from the cows grazing in pastures serves as rich fertilizer for the grasses on which those cows feed.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture requires organic animals to be out on pasture for not less than 120 days per year and to receive at least 30% of their feed from pasturing during the grazing season.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Our friends at Organic Valley Family of Farms have sent a timely reminder that genetically engineered or modified (GM) alfalfa has the capacity to destroy organic milk dairies. Cows producing organic milk are largely fed on alfalfa, and by law they cannot be fed GM crops.
If GM alfalfa makes its way into organic fields, those fields will be lost as a source of feed to organic dairy farmers. Just a wind blowing in the right direction would be enough to bring about the destructive contamination. So Organic Valley is asking folks to sign on to a letter asking the USDA to "Maintain the Ban" on genetically engineered alfalfa (see below).
Keep Children's Milk Free of Hormoes & Antibiotics
The huge numbers of parents who want their children to get the health benefits of milk without exposing them to the dangers of recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) and the antibiotics fed to cows in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), have contributed mightily to organic dairy farming enjoying quite a boom in the United States. Families should not have to see the health of their children suffer so that a few large corporations can enjoy ever greater profits.
We are all indebted to the small farmers who took the risk of undertaking organic farming in order to produce healthier food, leave clear skies, clean water, and rich soil. According to a report from the USDA organic dairies are smaller than conventional dairies and 63% of their dairy feed is from pasture during grazing months.
A final word from Organic Valley Family of Farms, “Thanks for all your support for family farmers and a sustainable organic future for all!”
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Eat Local, Fresh & Organic to Discover Real Flavors
Catskills Duck Keeping Strawberries Free of Pests (photo courtesy of AIWF)
Every foodie knows what asparagus, spinach, carrots and chicken taste like, right? Actually, a recent tasting demonstrated that only those who have savored organically grown varieties served at the peak of their freshness truly know nature’s magic.
Displays of produce available year round at the supermarket may look impressive, but most of the flavor gets lost when it ages while being transported great distances. Produce grown with chemical fertilizers will never match the flavors that develop when plants are grown in soil kept healthy with organic methods.
AIWF and Stone & Thistle Farms Join Forces
At a recent tasting of superbly prepared dishes Chef David Toutain certainly dazzled with his creativity, but the indisputable stars of the evening were the incredibly fresh and organic ingredients that went into his menu. The setting was “A Chicken in Every Pot: Organic, Meadow Raised Chicken and Produce from Stone & Thistle Farms.” The event was produced by the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Wine & Food (AIWF) on a recent night in Manhattan.
Stone & Thistle Farms do their good work in upstate New York’s Catskills region. AIWF is a non-profit organization founded by Julia Child, Robert Mondavi and others in 1981 “to enhance the understanding, appreciation and quality of what we eat and drink.”
David Toutain’s evident flair for applying classic French techniques to thoroughly modern dishes delighted foodies attending the event, but even his simple preparation of the spinach was striking for the difference freshness and organic growing can make.
Here’s a look at the menu enjoyed at the AIWF tasting:
• Asparagus with mousseline of blood orange & thyme foam
• Spinach with black sesame & carrot puree
• Chicken liver mousse & shallot confit
• Cornish Cross Chicken with orzo & ramp pesto
• Rhubarb with barley syrup infusion & ginger “sable”
The wine selection was by Robin Kelley O’Connor of Sherry Lehmann. Those lucky enough to make it to the tasting were also given gift bags of ramps freshly dug by the Catskills’ Allison Bennett to take home.
More Local Organics Please
Growing food without chemicals predates history and was once the only way to farm. We need more of it today. It not only produces healthier food, it leaves clear skies, clean water and makes eating a lot more fun.
To learn more about AIWF, the sponsor of the event, and the events they will be presenting in the future, go to: The American Institute of Wine & Food
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
The Obama family is celebrating the first anniversary of their new kitchen garden, but in my house we're putting two candles on the organic carrot cake and making a wish for our national food gardening future.
Two years ago this week, my family and I planted a little garden of our own in the middle of our front yard. As luck would have it, we live in a little white cape with southern exposure which allowed us to claim that we had planted something much more noteworthy: a new food garden on the south lawn of the "white house."
Although the major networks were not present for our groundbreaking event, that didn't stop us from growing some media coverage of our own. We produced a short Internet video of our white house garden planting and used it to urge presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama to follow suit upon taking office.
The clip went as viral as a gardening video can hope to go, appearing on many busy websites and, ultimately, on national TV. Fast-forwarding to the present, I am happy to report that both "white house" gardens are flourishing and that a new food garden revival has taken root.
Like the Victory Garden movement of the previous century, war once again provides the context for this revival, but this time it's not nation against nation, but people waging a struggle for health, their own and that of the planet.
Whether the current home-grown revival sends its roots deeply and broadly enough in society to make a significant impact on social and environmental issues remains uncertain. According to a recent survey by the National Gardening Association, 1 million new food gardens are planned for 2010.
That may sound like a large number, but when it's compared with the estimated 20 million Victory Gardens planted in 1943 when the U.S. population was half what it is now, it would seem that we're only scratching the surface.
This brings me to my birthday wish. First lady Michelle Obama has been the best gift the food-gardening movement could ask for this past year, but I'm hoping that millions of new people will follow her example this year. To bring these new gardeners into the movement, we need to educate them about the diverse contributions food gardens can make to families, communities, and our country's national security.
Many people, including policy-makers, think that a number of new little gardens won't add up to anything more than a hill of beans, but our history proves otherwise.
At the peak of the Victory Garden movement, gardens behind homes, schools, prisons, workplaces and in vacant lots were growing 40 percent of the nation's produce and helping to conserve financial and natural resources at a time of crisis.
Last year, my wife and I did some garden math of our own to offer a more contemporary example. We weighed, recorded and priced every item coming out of our yard, front and back, over the course of the growing season. By the time we were done, we calculated that we had saved over $2,200 and had met roughly half of our family's produce needs for the year.
And the food was not only delicious and low in carbs, but also low in carbon, having traveled less than 50 feet from plot to plate. Saving money is one financial incentive for growing kitchen gardens, but it shouldn't be the only one.
Each year, we manage to find billions of tax dollars to subsidize corn and soybeans, which are used to sweeten soft drinks and fatten livestock.
Surely some of those funds would be better spent sweetening the deal for gardeners through innovative fiscal incentives and grants for new school and community gardens.
We already provide tax breaks to encourage families to put solar panels on their houses, so why not encourage them also to grow solar-powered food behind those houses?
Whether we organize it now or it organizes us later, a food garden revolution is coming and that's a very good thing.
In fact, the only downside I see is a nationwide glut of summer squash, but hopefully many new gardeners will follow Michelle Obama's lead in sharing some of their bounty with neighbors in need.
Doing so would not only make for a better-fed nation but a more socially just one too. When it comes to the next healthy, home-grown revival, everyone should have a place at the table.
Roger Doiron of Scarborough is the founding director of Kitchen Gardeners International, a nonprofit group promoting home gardens.
To learn more about Roger's organization and get some great gardeninbg advice, go to: Kitchen Gardeners
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Genetic Modification of Crops Leads to Superweeds Threat
Amish Farm (photo by Marianne Venegoni, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
May arrived with reports of “superweeds” that have developed a resistance to the herbicide Roundup, which is used extensively in monocultural agriculture where single crops predominate on large farming operations.
An alarming article in The New York Times says there are now "10 resistant [weed] species in at least 22 states infesting millions of acres, predominantly soybeans, cotton and corn."
Subsidized Failure
Soybeans, cotton and corn are heavily subsidized by the United States government. Those subsidies have helped them become some of the most widely grown crops in American agriculture. Those crops are now common ingredients in a tremendous number of products.
The plants were genetically modified (GM) to be resistant to Roundup, so the herbicide could be used to destroy weeds without harming crops. With the emergence of the “superweeds” farmers are likely to go back to conventional herbicides to kill the Roundup-resistant weeds threatening huge fields of GM crops.
A Predictable Disaster
Author and nutritionist Marion Nestle points out in a recent article for The Atlantic that the Union of Concerned Scientists predicted that the widespread planting of GM crops would produce selection pressures for Roundup-resistant weeds. The Union’s Jane Rissler and Margaret Mellon wrote that these would be difficult and expensive to control. They made that prediction in 1996.
Only the Most Recent Setback for GM Crops
This is just the latest in a string of failures for GM crops. In May of 2009, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine called on "Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks."
As for the claim that GM foods are needed to feed a hungry world, Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist in the Union of Concerned Scientists Food and Environment Program has concluded "...that GE (genetic engineering) has done little to increase overall crop yields." And a major study conducted at the University of Kansas has found that the controversial technology actually reduces crop yields.
Require the Labeling of GM Foods
Many people are unaware that they are regularly consuming GM foods because they are not labeled as such. Giant agribusinesses do not want the labeling of GM foods because consumers don’t want to buy them. They are even opposed to the labeling of foods as GM-free. (GM foods are prohibited from being used in food that carries the USDA’s organic label.)
As Elise Pearlstein, producer of the Oscar nominated film Food Inc. has said, "It's outrageous that genetically modified foods don't need to be labeled...Whatever your position, you should have the right to make informed choices, and we don't."
To view an interactive graphic by The New York Times on the spread of “superweeds” across the U.S., go to: Where Weedkiller Won’t Work
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Powerful Forces Seek to Prohibit Labeling Foods as GM-Free
Organic Oranges (photo by Darnok, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
Several months ago American Feast’s president called for the labeling of GE/GM (genetically engineered or genetically modified) foods. As Elise Pearlstein, producer of the Oscar nominated film Food Inc. has said, "It's outrageous that genetically modified foods don't need to be labeled...Whatever your position, you should have the right to make informed choices, and we don't."
Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, and more than 80 farmers, public health, environmental, and organic food organizations have sent a letter to Michael R. Taylor, Deputy Commissioner for Food at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and to Kathleen Merrigan, Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), expressing serious concerns that a proposed U.S. position on food labeling would create major problems for American producers who want to label their products as free of genetically modified (GM)/genetically engineered (GE) ingredients.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission is a United Nations agency that develops food safety and labeling standards. Its standards carry weight because they are used to settle disputes at the World Trade Organization. The Codex Committee on Food Labeling (CCFL) meets in Quebec City, Canada May 3-7, 2010 to discuss the labeling issue.
“We are concerned that the current U.S. position could potentially create significant problems for food producers in the U.S. who wish to indicate that their products contain no GE ingredients. Organic food in particular, which prohibits GE ingredients, are frequently labeled ‘GE-free’ or ‘No GMOs’. A recent CU poll found that two-thirds of consumers would be concerned if they thought that GE/GM ingredients were in organic food,” said Dr. Michael Hansen, senior scientist at Consumers Union.
Current USDA organic rules specifically state that GE seed cannot be used in organic production and the FDA has taken the position that within the U.S., voluntary labeling as to whether or not a product contains GE ingredients is permissible.
As for the claim that GM foods are needed to feed a hungry world, Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist in the Union of Concerned Scientists Food and Environment Program has concluded "...that GE (genetic engineering) has done little to increase overall crop yields." And a major study conducted at the University of Kansas has found that the controversial technology actually reduces crop yields.
"When polled, consumers have made it clear that they want GM (genetically-modified) foods labeled as such. It's time for the government they elected to listen to them," says Jeff Deasy, founder and president of American Feast.
To view the letter sent to the FDA and the USDA cited above, go to: Consumers Union
To express your support for the labeling of GM foods, go to: Food Democracy Now
To learn more about the award-winning film cited above, go to Food Inc. DVD
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Creating inspiring salads in winter need not be difficult: Myra Goodman, co-founder of Earthbound Farm suggests adding companions like brightly colored fruits and vegetables, crunchy nuts, tangy cheeses and zesty dressings.
Bold beets, tangy blood oranges, roasty-toasty almonds and decadent figs also add an exciting new dimension to winter salads. Experimenting with a variety of leaves – from baby arugula and romaine, to a variety of lettuces and spinach – also helps to make salads visually interesting while accentuating subtle textures and flavors.
The winter salad recipe below is from her excellent book for cooks who love healthy and seasonal dishes, "Food to Live By: The Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook." Myra writes:
The vibrant colors and sweet flavors of the beets and oranges in this salad contrast deliciously with the smooth white feta and crunchy nuts. Blood oranges are spectacular in this salad, but if they're not available, don't hesitate to make it with any oranges you like. You can easily substitute mixed baby greens, mâche or frisée for the arugula.
Ingredients for 4 Side Salads
Salad Ingredients:
• 1 Pound cooked beets (roasted, steamed, or boiled)
• About 1/3 cup Orange Walnut Vinaigrette (see recipe below)
• 5 Ounces (about 6 cups) Earthbound Farm Organic Baby Arugula
• 1/2 Cup (2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 Cup candied or toasted walnuts
• 2 Blood oranges (if available) or navel oranges, segmented
Orange-Walnut Vinaigrette:
Makes about 1-1/4 cups
• 1/2 Cup good-quality roasted walnut oil
• 1/4 Cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon orange juice or blood orange juice
• 1 Teaspoon finely grated orange zest
• 5 Tablespoons sherry vinegar
• 2 Teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 Tablespoon finely minced shallots
• 1/4 Teaspoon salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Preparation
1. To make the vinaigrette, place all the dressing ingredients in a glass jar and close the lid tightly. Shake vigorously to combine. Adjust the seasonings to taste. Allow the dressing to sit at room temperature for 1 hour to allow the flavors to develop before serving. (Store any leftover vinaigrette in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for up to 1 month.)
2. Cut the beets in half or quarters (if you're using larger beets, cut into 1/2-inch dice) so they're bite-size. Place the beets in a small bowl, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette, and toss until the beets are coated. (This step can be done a day in advance, if desired.)
3. Just before serving, place the arugula in a large salad bowl. Add about 3 tablespoons of the vinaigrette. Toss to coat the leaves lightly, then taste and add more vinaigrette if needed.
4. Transfer the arugula to a platter or individual salad plates. Arrange the beets and orange segments (if using) on the greens and sprinkle them with the feta and nuts. Serve immediately.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Vermont Cheese Artisans Succeed with Old World Skill
Thistle Hill's John & Janine Putnam (Images courtesy of Thistle Hill Farm)
Thistle Hill Farm in Pomfret, Vermont has been a certified organic farm for over 15 years, having started out as a part-time endeavor of the family of John and Janine Putnam. They steadily made improvements and early on they decided to concentrate on dairy farming. Despite their dedication, the dairy farm was not enough to sustain them and John continued working as a lawyer to support the family.
In 1999, the Putnams went to Switzerland, where they visited almost every major cheesemaking region in the Swiss, French and Italian Alps. They’re quest was to find a cheese they loved that was produced in conditions matching as closely as possible the climate of Pomfret in the hills of Vermont. The journey led the family of six to Beaufort, France. There they were told of a Frenchman in the mountains above Moutiers who would tell them all they needed to know.
John & Janine Find Their Man
They found him at home on a Sunday afternoon. Having milked his cows, made some cheese, tended chores, and cleaned the kitchen, he had an hour for himself before evening chores and milking. So he seemed less than overjoyed to see two lost souls on his doorstep at a time when a nap seemed like a good idea. He let John and Janine struggle in French for a while before inviting them in for coffee in perfect English.
The Frenchman makes Beaufort "alpage" from the milk of 100 Tarine cows, twice a day, everyday, all summer long. He is famous for his cheese, and for falling asleep at dinner. He said "to make Beaufort is too meticulous for you.” That challenge was enough to hook the Putnams and seeing that they intended to persevere, he found them an apprentice and both have helped the family ever since.
Thistle Hill’s Tarentaise is the happy result of the Putnam’s quest. It now ranks among the world’s most superb artisanal cheeses, garnering prestigious First Place awards from the American Cheese Society in both 2004 and 2006!
The wise but prudent Frenchman has even gone so far as to say, "maybe our job is OK."
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Tired of denying yourself such sweet treats as a nice slice of cheesecake because you’re worried about gaining weight? Chef Stephen Richards felt the same way, like most, he struggles with his weight. His family history includes diabetes on both his mother and his father’s side. Yet, he loves to eat, cook and live. After all, life is a celebration and there is no better way to celebrate than with great tasting food that is both healthy and delicious.
A couple of years ago, Stephen was introduced to agave nectar and began to research it. He flew to the region in Mexico where it is grown and spent time with the growers and processors, learning about the product and its benefits. He engaged medical doctors to study the claims being made and explored hundreds of recipes on his own. After several years, he developed Xagave, a natural and organic blend from several agave plants that incorporates the best of taste, texture and health benefits that this wonderful plant has to offer.
Obesity is the primary cause of the three major chronic diseases of diabetes, heart disease and cancer that are plaguing the U.S. Three simple ingredients are the primary cause of obesity: sugar, high fructose corn syrup and white flour. All of these ingredients are highly caloric foods, with a high Glycemic Index and no nutritional value. Xagave is sweeter than sugar, so you use less and save calories, and it is a low GI food with inulin, a fiber, that moderates blood sugar levels and leaves you feeling more satisfied. You eat less and feel more satisfied. By using Xagave, Stephen has created the cheesecake recipe below for a little splurge that won’t hurt your waistline.
Ingredients
Crust:
• 1 Cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 Teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon salt
• 1/3 Cup butter
• 2 Tablespoon milk
• 2 Tablespoon Xagave
Filling:
• 8 Ounces cream cheese
• 1 Cup Xagave
• 3 Tablespoon flour
• 1 Teaspoon grated lemon peel (lemon zest)
• 1/4 Teaspoon salt
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla
• 6 Eggs
• 1/4 Cup light cream or milk
Preparation
1. Heat oven to 450°F.
2. Crust: In large bowl, combine first 4 ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt and butter); blend until crumbly. Combine milk and Xagave and sprinkle over mixture until dough is just moist enough to hold together. Form into a ball. Press mixture over bottom and 2½ inches up side of 9-inch spring form pan. Chill.
3. Filling: In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until creamy. Add Xagave, flour, lemon zest, salt and vanilla; beat well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Blend in cream. Pour filling into prepared pan. Bake at 450°F for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 200°F and bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until filling is almost set or golden brown. Cool. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight before serving. Serve plain or with Strawberry or Berry Topping and Xagave Sweetened Whipped Cream.
Stephen & Corrie Richards
To learn more about Xagave and the book Chef Stephen Richards has authored, Delicious Meets Nutritious, the company’s web site: BetterBody Foods & Nutrition
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
The other day my daughter said, “Mama, we have too many lemons, no more” as we were harvesting from the neighbors 3 prolific Meyer lemon trees. I was surprised that she, of all people, was setting limits on her dear old Mama. When we returned home she helped me make a couple more jars of preserved lemons to add to the collection. We now have bottles of Limoncello and jars of preserved lemons, lemon chutney, and Meyer lemon with jasmine tea marmalade.
What more? Well, a couple of nights ago I made a syrup and set aside the peels. I was not certain what I would make with the peels but I had so many, I didn’t want to toss them in the compost. The syrup is a fantastic way to process a lot of lemons as it is fast, easy, and keeps well. I have been enjoying quiet time on my deck with a book and a glass of sparkly limonata. As for the peels, well, I was always curious about the Roman method of preserving in honey…
Lemon Syrup
1. Lemons
2. Sugar
3. Lemon zest
• Wash lemons, cut in half, and juice. If you plan on using the peels, be careful not to press too hard and break apart the peel
• This is the ratio: 1 cup lemon juice, zest of one lemon, 2 cups sugar.
• Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil or until sugar dissolves.
• Remove from heat, and pour into sterile container.
• When cool, pour into clean glass bottles or jars.
Lemon Peel, Roman Style
1. Lemon peels
2. Honey
• After juicing lemons, reserve peels
• Place all peels in a bowl and fill with water
• Leave overnight, but remember to change the water at least once
• In the morning, pour water out
• With a grapefruit spoon (with a serrated edge), carefully remove the membrane and as much of the white pith and discard. Soaking overnight softens the lemon and makes it really easy to remove all unwanted bits,
• Continue with the rest of the lemon halves.
• Cut lemon peel as you fancy, in strips, triangles, coursely… as you wish
• Place in a sauce pan, cover with water and bring to a boil, reduce heat and gently cook for about 20 minutes or until soft.
• Strain and let peels cool.
• Gather your clean jars and start with a layer of honey.
• Start filling jars by layering lemon peels and honey until the jar is full, ending with a layer of honey.
• Make sure not to overpack with lemon peels! You should have a ratio of 1:1.
• Make sure to remove all air bubbles.
The lemon syrup is delicious over sparkly water or in ice tea. A sprig of mint takes it to an entirely different level and I’m wondering how it would taste with alcohol… The lemon peels are really good as is, my daughter ate several as we were packing the jars. They can also be chopped and eaten with ice cream, scones, and on toast.
Enjoy!
Note: The Meyer was introduced from China and is believed to be a hybrid between a true lemon and the mandarin orange. They are not as tart as conventional lemons and prized by cooking enthusiasts for delivering the tang of lemons without the pucker. If you can’t get a Meyer, the full flavor of an organic lemon will do nicely.
Sonia & the Sprout
To visit Sonia’s worldly, entertaining, and just plain fun blog, go to: Saffron Paisley
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Why I Recommend Organic Foods to My Weight Loss Patients
Free-Roaming Livestock (photo by Andrea Church, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
Written by Dr. John Salerno
I recommend organic foods for my weight loss patients because I want them to eat nutrient dense foods, thus you have to begin with the dirt. The overuse of pesticides, herbicides, and other chemical additives for the growth of monoculture genetically modified crops, including corn, soy, rice, canola, and others have wreaked havoc with the soil.
These grain and bean crops grown in this sterile soil are used not only to create overly processed foods, but are the basis for animal feed that is fed to factory farmed meats and farm raised fish. The results are food products with empty calories, unknown long term health effects, and almost certain capacity for making people fat.
Why is this? The ancient wisdom of mankind says you should eat until you are satisfied, and these foods simply don't satisfy us. Add to that the chemicals added to the so-called value-added foods which are put there to replace the natural goodness that has been lost and you have a real problem.
These food additives, with unpronounceable names and unknown derivatives are known categorically as excitotoxins. Did you ever wonder why Dad could sit down in front of the television to watch the ball game and eat an entire package of corn chips? It's the Dr. Strangelove additions designed in the lab to make that food so tasty, Dad's natural satiety switch is turned off.
Those added chemicals, which by the way, even show up on fresh produce that isn't organic by way of sprays and dips, and chemical baths, can derail any weight loss program. Chemicals can increase food cravings, cause water retention, and can actually cause weight gain. These same additives are often allergenic, and can cause insulin to spike, playing havoc with those people who are pre-diabetic, or diabetic.
When I go back to Italy, where my family is from, I am amazed at how much better the food tastes. Europe does not permit genetically modified crops, and, as a rule, does not support factory farming. Therefore, you can see with your own eyes and taste for yourself the fact that fewer people are overweight, and the food just plain tastes better.
But I am encouraged because a food revolution has begun in this country and people are demanding a more humane treatment of animals, are rejecting high fructose corn syrup, soy products made from genetically modified seed, and are calling for locally grown food products, the so-called locavore movement.
In an article I contributed to in January to Men's Health, I have discussed the cholesterol problem and shown how saturated fat and carb avoidance increase ldl particle size and decrease risk for heart disease and stroke.
Some of my patients have asked why I don't support a vegetarian diet, given the risks of eating factory farmed meat. The answer to that can be seen in the test tube. I've had numerous vegetarian patients who had elevated blood sugars, type 2 diabetes, and other health problems.
The answer which I propose in Dr. Salerno's Silver Cloud Diet is to eat a nutrient rich diet made up of plenty of saturated fat, protein and fruits and vegetables which are organic, grass fed, and wild caught.
I get a lot of surprised looks from my patients when I tell them to eat more saturated fats to lose weight. They will start in telling me they've been eating a low fat diet for years. But they don't make the connection between this diet and their health problems, including overweight, type two diabetes, memory problems, and arthritis.
I explain to them that the body must have saturated fats for proper brain function, cell development, and satiety. Plus it just makes people look better. Fat carries flavor and makes people feel full and satisfied quicker.
I can spot the low fat dieter in a moment. Dry skin, wrinkles, and broken fingernails. Those are the telltale signs that show. Lab work reveals many more.
So I propose that people eat plenty of saturated fat, protein and organically grown fruits and vegetables for optimum health and weight maintenance. It works for my patients.
Dr. John Salerno is an internationally acclaimed physician specializing in weight control and anti-aging. His e-book, Dr. Salerno's Silver Cloud Diet, tackles the subject of organic foods and weight loss.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Apply for Mini Grants from the Victory Garden Foundation
U.S. Government Poster from World War II (courtesy of Library of Congress)
There are plenty of benefits to planting a garden, and our friends at the Victory Garden Foundation explain some of the most tangible:
Those nasty pesticides can be avoided by growing your own food at home or buying organic. While buying organic can be expensive; you can grow your own food at home for pennies. And, did you know that food stamps can now be used for purchasing seeds and plants that produce food for the household to eat?
There you have it, planting a garden can improve your health, the environment, and your financial affairs. Inspired by the successful program of World War II fame, when as much as 40% of all the produce eaten by Americans came from Victory Gardens, the nonprofit Foundation wants to help today’s gardeners succeed. There’s a wealth of practical information at the organization’s web site, and it costs nothing to join. By joining you become eligible to apply for a grant as an individual or as an organization “in synergy with our mission.”
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
The EPA Needs to Ban Pesticides to Protect Children
Child in Pool (photo by Phaedra Wilkinson, courtesy of morgueFile.com)
The intensive use of pesticides is one of the most dangerous aspects of monoculture farming, the practice of growing a single crop over a wide area, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced plans to more thoroughly assess the risks pesticides pose to children and farmworkers.
But how much more assessment of the risks is needed before these toxic substances are recognized by the EPA as a severe threat human health?
Multiple studies have linked pesticides and Parkinson disease. In one, Scientists from Duke University, Miami University and the Udall Parkinson's Disease Research Center “found those exposed to pesticides had a 1.6 times higher risk” of suffering from the debilitating disease. A study conducted at India’s Patiala University found evidence that pesticides have damaged the DNA of farmers in that country, making them more likely to develop cancer. Other researchers believe the reason organic produce has a higher nutritional content than conventionally-grown food is due to pesticides inhibiting the production of nutrients in plants.
Concerned parents have been shopping to protect their kids for some time now, and their desire to avoid pesticides has been a key driver of the explosive demand for organic food over the past decade. Even in challenging economic times, research from Mintel says households with small children that ate organic before the recession will probably continue doing so.
The EPA’s new policy proposal provides insight as to just how ubiquitous the presence of poisonous pesticides has become. Risk assessments would consider aggregate pesticide exposures from sources including residues in food, drinking water, on lawns, in swimming pools, and in the workplace, and the cumulative effects from multiple pesticides that have similar toxicity.
EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said: “It’s essential we have the tools to keep everyone, especially vulnerable populations like children, safe from the serious health consequences of pesticide exposure.”
Is there a better way to protect children “from the serious health consequences of pesticide exposure” than to shop organic whenever possible and apply pressure for an agricultural system that employs healthier alternatives to pest control?
The Environmental Working Group has come up with an iPhone app to guide produce shoppers looking for the fruits and vegetables that contain the lowest levels of pesticides and help decide which ones need to be bought organic.
Sign up to download the iPhone app or a PDF version of the guide: here.
The EPA is asking the public to comment on their new approach and how best to implement the improvements. For more information on the proposed policy, go to: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Almond Blossoms (photo by Derek Benjamin Lilly, courtesy of morguefile.com)
Introducing kids to the fun of cooking will lead to healthier lives later in life. This recipe comes from our friends at the Organic Valley Family of Farms and they described it as, "Simple and elegant, fun to make and bake with the kids." Well, the kids had a lot of fun, and we loved eating these yummy cookies still slightly warm from the oven.
Organic Valley is a farmer-owned coop that says, “We think it's a simple truth. The earth's most delicious, most healthful foods are made when farmers work in harmony with nature.” The organization started with 7 farmers forming an organic cooperative in 1988. Today, more than 1,200 family farms are members and their high standards shine through in their delicious, award-winning, certified organic foods.
Oh, the folks from Organic Valley said these cookies, "Must be served with a glass of Organic Valley Milk!" We did and they were right.
Ingredients for 36 Cookies
• 1 ¼ Almonds (can substitute American Black Walnuts)
• 1 ¼ Cups quick cooking oats
• 1 Cup all-purpose flour (can substitute spelt flour)
• ¼ Teaspoon sea salt
• 1 Stick Organic Valley Unsalted Cultured Butter
• ½ Cup brown sugar
• 1 Organic Valley Grade A Extra Large Brown Egg
• ½ Teaspoon almond extract
• 1 ½ Teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ Cup Heidi's Organic Raspberry Jam
Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two baking sheets with Organic Valley Cultured Butter. Place the almonds (or walnuts) in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground, about 15 seconds. Transfer the nuts to a shallow bowl and set aside. In yet another bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar together until light and creamy. With an electric mixer, beat in the egg yolk until well blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in the almond and vanilla extracts. At low speed, add the oat mixture, mixing just until blended.
2. Roll small pieces of dough into 1-inch balls. Roll one of the balls in the ground almonds, coating it completely. Place the ball on a greased baking sheet and flatten it slightly with your palm, then press your thumb into the center of the cookie to form an indentation. Spoon about ½ teaspoon of the raspberry jam into the thumbprint, filling it. (Be careful to keep young helpers from adding too much jam.) Repeat with the remaining dough balls, arranging them 1 ½ inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for about 14 to 16 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Waddell Farmhouse Seeds Joins Feeding America to Fight Hunger
Veggie Garden (photo by Seemann, courtesy of morguefile.com)
In a wonderful example of an entrepreneur lending folks in need a helping hand, William Waddell, owner of Waddell Farmhouse Seeds, has announced that his family is joining forces with food banks across the country to stamp out hunger in America. They are offering incentives to all their customers who donate a portion of the vegetables from their gardens to their local food banks.
Mr. Waddell stated, "Everyone that plants a garden always has some left in the garden, so it is time to help our communities and donate the left over portions to those in need."
Feeding America is one of the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief organizations. Their mission is to feed America's hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage folks across the country in the fight to end hunger.
The nonprofit organization’s network of more than 200 food banks provides food directly to individuals and families in need. Each year, more than 25 million low-income people facing hunger in the United States, including more than 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors, receive more than 2.5 billion pounds of food and grocery products.
"We are so delighted to be a part of this wonderful organization, and to be able to give back to our communities." Mr. Waddell added, "We are so proud of our company and love the work our local food banks are doing. We know our economy is getting better, but it is always a good day when you know you have helped someone else."
It’s so nice to see families that could use a little assistance in difficult times getting fresh produce from backyard gardens that are largely organic, sustainable and shun the use of pesticides!
About Waddell Farmhouse Seeds
The Waddell Farmhouse Seeds web site proclaims, "Gardening is a way of showing that you believe in tomorrow." The small family business provides over 1,400 types of garden seed from asparagus to zucchini, over 120 garden products, and will be offering untreated and organic seeds in 2010. The original Waddell Farmhouse was built by William Waddell’s Great Grandfather in 1906, and has been donated to Landmark Park in Dothan, Alabama to be used as an agricultural museum. The current Waddell Farmhouse is 45 miles away in Chipley, Florida and services all of the U.S. Owner William Waddell beams when the old farmhouse is mentioned!
Original Waddell Farmhouse (photo courtesy of Waddell Farmhouse Seeds)
To visit the web site of the Waddell’s family business, get more info, and shop their online catalogue go to: Waddell Farmhouse Seeds
Ample Harvest is a nonprofit organization that provides a list of area food pantries and offers driving instructions from donating gardeners to their local pantries. Ample Harvest
For information related to the purchase of advertising space on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Organic Milk is Booming as the Safe Choice for Consumers & Kids
Dairy Cows in Cabot, Vermont (photo by Tara, courtesy of morguefile.com)
There’s more good news for those who want healthier and more sustainable food. The huge numbers of parents who want their children to get the health benefits of milk without exposing them to the dangers of recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) and the antibiotics fed to cows in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), have contributed mightily to organic dairy farming enjoying quite a boom in the United States.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently published a report stating, “Between 2000 and 2005, the number of certified organic milk cows on U.S. farms increased by an annual average of 25%, from 38,000 to more than 86,000.”
According to the report, that makes organic milk one of “the fastest growing segments of organic agriculture in the United States in recent years.” And organic agriculture in itself is one of the fastest growing segments of all farming in the U.S., having enjoyed an annual growth rate of 20% for many years. It seems reasonable that consumer demand and the example of so many farmers having already successfully converted their dairy operations to organic, the trend will continue for the foreseeable future.
The report published by the USDA entitled, Characteristics, Costs, and Issues for Organic Dairy Farming, was authored by William D. McBride and Catherine Greene. They found the following when comparing organic and conventional dairies:
• Organic dairies are smaller than conventional dairies (82 cows compared with 156 cows).
• Organic dairies produce about 30 percent less milk per cow than conventional dairies (13,601 pounds per organic cow compared with 18,983 pounds per conventional cow).
• Organic dairies are more often located in the Northeast and Upper Midwest than are conventional dairies (86 percent compared with 65 percent).
• Organic dairies use more pasture-based feeding, where more than 50 percent of dairy forage fed is from pasture during grazing months, than conventional dairies (63 percent compared with 18 percent).
• Pasture-based organic dairies’ total economic costs were about $4 per cwt higher than conventional pasture-based dairies, much lower than the average price premium for organic milk in 2005.
Consumers appear to be comfortable paying a premium for organic milk in order to avoid the health risks of conventionally produced milk from factory farms. As our friend Sarah Alexander at Food & Water Watch wrote this past summer, “…the documented increase of infections in dairy cows injected with rBGH…necessitates increased use of antibiotics…and there are ongoing questions about links to cancer…most of the industrialized countries in the world have banned this hormone.”
Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit consumer organization based in Washington, D.C. This past August the organization launched a campaign to get milk produced with artificial hormones out of schools once and for all, and delivered more than 25,000 petitions to members of Congress asking them to clarify that schools have the option to purchase rBGH-free milk or organic milk.
If you’d like to take action to get rBGH-free milk into your local school go to: Food & Water Watch
For information related to the purchase of advertising space on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Founder of Pastor Chuck Orchards Honored as Maine's 'Food Producer of the Year'
The Maine Grocers Association (MGA) has named our good friend and partner Waite Maclin, founder of the specialty food company Pastor Chuck Orchards, as “Food Producer of the Year.” American Feast has been proudly offering Waite’s peerless organic apple butter, applesauce and combination gift basket since it launched.
MGA has been assisting the state’s food entrepreneurs since 1935, and its annual award honors those who have generated relationships with retailers to strengthen opportunities for Maine food products to be sold through Maine grocery stores.
Waite’s passionate involvement with the Maine Food Producers Alliance was also a contributing factor in his being chosen. This award marks yet another achievement in what’s been a milestone year for Pastor Chuck Orchards. Already this year, the company:
• Introduced an all-natural apple salsa and a sugar-free applesauce, both of which became instant hits among health conscious consumers and people who simply appreciate and enjoy quality food
• Earned certification for being gluten free across the board
• Began selling its apple products in Whole Food Markets throughout the North Atlantic, Hannaford Grocery stores, and dozens of other retailers
• Enjoyed widespread regional and national media coverage
This holiday season send a gourmet gift from Waite’s Pastor Chuck Orchards that is healthy, sustainable and delicious: Maine Apple Gift Basket
For information related to the purchase of advertising space on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Gary Herzberg of Portland, Oregon created this recipe after he and his then pregnant wife joined a community supported agriculture farm (CSA). They had joined the CSA to promote the nutritious gestation of their son and found that kale was almost always included in their regular box of fresh goodies. Kale is an amazingly healthy green, so thank you Gary for coming up with a delicious way to reap those health benefits at breakfast.
Gary’s creation went on to become one of five winning submissions from a healthy recipe contest held by our friends at Organic Valley Family of Farms, a farmer-owned coop that says, “We think it's a simple truth. The earth's most delicious, most healthful foods are made when farmers work in harmony with nature.” They started with seven farmers forming an organic cooperative in 1988. Today, about 1,400 family farms are members and their high standards shine through in their award-winning, certified organic foods.
Besides being a winner in the national contest, the recipe Gary scrabbled from necessity went on “…to the wild success it now holds in our family. Not only is kale no longer the stepchild of our box, it has moved to the forefront of weekly planning, where a kale-less box is met with much chagrin.”
Ingredients for 8 to 10 Servings
• 2 Bunches of Kale, or other greens such as collards, beet, etc.
• 1 Medium Onion
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• 2 Slices Bread
• 3 Organic Valley Eggs
• 3/4 Cup of Organic Valley cheese such as Colby, Cheddar, Mozzarella, etc.
• 1/3 Cup of Flour
• 1 Teaspoon Salt or to taste
• 1 Teaspoon Pepper or to taste
• Organic Valley Sour Cream for Garnish (Optional)
Preparation
1. First off you need to blanch all the veggies. Boil a large pot of water, and get an ice bath started to cool the veggies once they are done cooking. Once the water is boiling, dunk the greens in for 2-3 min, then plunge the into ice bath. Do in batches if they don't all fit.
2. Once the greens are safely in the ice-water bath, blanch the garlic and the onions for about 30 seconds. You can leave the skins on, and you don't need to put them in the ice-bath. Just don't touch them until they are cool enough to handle.
3. Once everything is cool, start with the greens. Take them out of the ice bath, and squeeze all the water you can out of them -- I use a paper towel or dish cloth. Roughly chop the greens, onions, and mince the garlic; add them to a mixing bowl.
4. Toast 2 slices of bread -- I prefer the end pieces that nobody eats anyway. Once toasted brown, chop or crumble bread into mixing bowl. Chop up the cheese into a decent dice, or shred, add to mixing bowl. Add flour, salt and pepper to the mix. Crack eggs into bowl, and break yolks.
5. Use spatula (or your hands!) to thoroughly mix together all the ingredients. They should begin to feel a little like a "meatball."
6. Once mix is sticky, heat up a skillet, then add some oil or butter once the pan is hot. Once combined, make a small ball (about a cup) of the mix in your hands and squeeze together firmly. Place ball in skillet, and mash it flat with the back of a spatula, trying to keep "cake" together. Fry until golden brown on each side.
7. Garnish Liberally with Sour Cream, or Not.
For information related to the purchase of advertising space on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
Food Safety Tops Concerns of Affluent Consumers in Survey
Healthy Besse of New Jersey (photo by Emily Roesly, courtesy of morguefile.com)
With frightening reports of contamination and foodborne illnesses arriving with alarming regularity it’s no surprise that a recent national survey of affluent consumers found safety to be their number one concern when purchasing food.
The majority of consumers surveyed are looking at labels and menus for assurances that undesirable things, such as antibiotics and artificial hormones, are not present. Food safety was especially important to women. Ethical claims are frequently linked to safety issues and of special importance to a “large subset of consumers,” according to the researchers.
The survey by Context Marketing, a San Francisco Bay Area consulting firm, did not include nutrition, focusing instead on “quality claims having to do with safety and health, as well as ethical considerations and their role in purchase decisions.” The firm’s research results were issued in a report, Beyond Organic – How Evolving Consumer Concerns Influence Food Purchases.
The researchers confirmed that price played a major role in decisions on purchasing specialty foods and making menu choices at restaurants, and it is the main reason for making a purchase at a supermarket. Still, educated and prosperous consumers are familiar with the issues behind the claims being made by producers, manufacturers and restaurants, and ethical behavior is vital to gaining consumer trust and loyalty.
Seventy-two percent (72%) of those surveyed say they are willing to pay “more for food that promises to be healthier, safer or produced to higher ethical standards.”
For information related to the purchase of advertising space on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
The Big Chief's Hummingbird Cake as Served at The Mast Farm Inn
(Images courtesy of The Mast Farm Inn)
This luscious dessert recipe comes courtesy of our friends at The Mast Farm Inn, a world renowned mountain inn and restaurant in the Valle Crucis Historical District of Watauga County, North Carolina, where guests have been welcomed since the 1800s. Located in a serene rural valley surrounded by mountains, rivers and streams, the green Inn’s doings are truly a family affair. It is owned and managed by sisters Sandra Deschamps Siano and Danielle Deschamps, who are ably assisted by a host of family members.
The family runs the Inn by adhering to principles of sustainability and environmentally sound practices. The gourmet meals served at the Inn’s Simplicity restaurant are created with food as local, fresh, natural and organic as they can make it. In the growing season, the ingredients include produce from the Inn’s own organic garden. Pasture raised meats, free-range dairy and eggs are purchased as much as possible from local organic farmers and growers. Out of season the dining is still as natural and organic as they can make it, using ingredients that may come from further away, but still don’t include dangerous chemicals.
The History of Hummingbird Cake
Hummingbird Cake is such a lovely name that it makes you wonder about its origin. It does seem plausible that it may have something to do with how sugary rich this cake is - just like the nectar that Hummingbirds love to feed on. Anyway, what we do know is that the recipe gained widespread popularity after it appeared in the February 1978 issue of Southern Living Magazine. We also know that the recipe was submitted by a Mrs. L. H. Wiggins of Greensboro North Carolina and consists of two layers of cake full of chopped pecans, crushed pineapple, and mashed bananas that are filled and frosted with a delicious cream cheese icing.
Ingredients & Shopping List
Cake
• 3 Cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Cups granulated sugar
• 1 Teaspoon baking soda
• 1 Teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoons salt
• 2 Cups mashed ripe bananas
• 1 Cup drained crushed pineapple
• 1 1/4 Cups vegetable oil
• 3 Large eggs at room temperature
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 Cup (4 ounces) finely chopped pecans
Cake
1. Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt set aside
2. Cream together the sugar and vegetable oil
3. Add one egg at a time
4. Add the vanilla
5. Then add the bananas, and the pineapple
6. Add in three parts the flour mixture
7. Grease three 9-inch pans and pour the cake mixture in each
8. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes
Icing on the Cake
1. Cream the cream cheese and butter
2. Add the confectioners' sugar
3. Add the vanilla extract
What To Be Careful Of!
As soon as batter is ready put in oven right away
The Mast Farm Inn was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, as "one of the most complete and best preserved groups of nineteenth century farm buildings in western North Carolina."
To visit the Inn’s web site for more information go to: The Mast Farm Inn
For information related to the purchase of advertising space on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com
NRDC's "Growing Green Awards" are Back with a $10,000 Prize!
Our friend Serena Ingre at the National Resources Defense Council has just let us know that the Natural Resources Defense Council is now accepting nominations for its second annual Growing Green Awards. New this year, in addition to the previous award categories, is a “Water Steward” category just for 2010. Applications are due December 4, 2009 and a $10,000 prize will go to the winning green “Food Producer.”
Through these national awards NRDC will recognize extraordinary contributions that advance ecologically integrated farming practices, climate stewardship, water stewardship, farmland preservation, and social responsibility from farm to fork. Author and sustainable food activist Michael Pollan
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