Food Choices for Healthy People and a Healthy Planet

All posts in Food to Try


How sustainable can a restaurant get?

In Food to Try, Good News, Recommended Company,
  • Posted on September 24, 2012
  • Author: ,
  • Comments: Comments Off on How sustainable can a restaurant get?


 

 

 

 

 

 

A friend treated me to dinner at a restaurant she loves in Santa Rosa, enticing me with praise of all the things the owner was doing to meet the highest standards of health for person and planet. So after my author appearance at the Sonoma County Book Festival, we went to a place called Goji Kitchen. On the menu you can find a wide range of offerings, including meat dishes, but best of all, lots of vegetarian and vegan options. So there was gold star number one – going meatless is the best thing you can do for the planet.

The owner is named Kim Chi (not to be confused with the spicy Korean sauerkraut), who described one unusual and surprising cooking choice. She never uses a microwave, believing that microwaves damage the nutritional qualities of foods heated in them. This decision to forego one of modernity’s handiest inventions is impressive, given the complexities of serving numerous dishes hot over a meal time that might last hours. Instead, she uses a steaming chamber.

Another innovation was something called Nordaq Fresh, a device that purifies water on site to a high standard. Thomas Keller of the French Laundry restaurant uses it, too. I personally couldn’t tell a taste difference, but these days we need all the purity we can get!  Kim Chi also spoke knowledgeably about gluten sensitivities, the aflatoxin in peanuts (which is why she uses almonds for a garnish), and more.

So if you’re looking for a restaurant where you can trust that the owner/chef is committed to health of people and planet, here is one in Santa Rosa I recommend that you visit.  Goji Kitchen, 1965 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa, 95401  (707) 523 3888.


Books and food, a perfect combination

In Food to Try,
Tags:
  • Posted on September 18, 2012
  • Author: ,
  • Comments: Comments Off on Books and food, a perfect combination


First, the books. This week, the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library holds its semi-annual book sale at Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion. More than 500,000 used books, CDs, books on tape, etc., will be available at amazing prices from Wednesday September 19 to Sunday September 23, 10 am to 6 pm. I went to the spring version of this event and was ecstatic to corral and take home a trove of goodies. You’ll doubtless find many books on food, recipes, growing vegetables, and more. So foodies and sustainable food and agriculture lovers will (going out on a limb here) have plenty to satisfy their curiosity.

Second, the food. Greens is a restaurant at Fort Mason that has been offering delicious vegetarian meals and takeaway baked goods since 1979. Greens is affiliated with the Zen centers at Green Gulch and Tassajara and has always focused on organic, local, and sustainable. And of course, vegetarian means low on the food chain, which is good for person and planet. Here are a few items from Green’s menu this week:

  •  Star Route Wilted Spinach Salad with DeVoto Jonathan apples, golden and chioggia beets, Point Reyes Original Blue, shallots, cider vinegar and hot olive oil
  •  Ricotta Corn Cakes with asiago, scallions and basil. Served with romesco, crème fraiche and herb salad
  •  Fire Roasted Poblano Chili with quinoa, white corn, grilled onions, cilantro, goat cheese, pumpkin seed cilantro salsa and crème fraiche. Served with salsa roja, Rancho Gordo beans, grilled zephyr squash with chipotle lime butter
  • Eggplant and Summer Squash Lasagne with leeks, pesto, Cowgirl Creamery Wagon Wheel, ricotta herb custard and San Marzano tomato sauce. Served with summer beans with shallots and pepper flakes

The menus at Greens are good reading themselves!  So before or after your visit to the Fort Mason book sale, you can recharge your batteries nearby with wonderful works of food artistry at Greens.


Organic is not more expensive than conventional food!

In Food Politics, Food to Avoid, Food to Try,
  • Posted on August 23, 2012
  • Author: ,
  • Comments: Comments Off on Organic is not more expensive than conventional food!


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Organic is not more expensive than other food — if you factor in the cost of environmental damage caused by conventional industrial agriculture. Pesticides, herbicides, and the waste from billions of farmed animals foul our air, soil, and waterways. Here are some interesting figures about the true cost of food.

A box of breakfast cereal may sell for $3.50, but its environmental impacts (from air and water pollution, greenhouse gases, waste, etc.) make the true cost $4.05, according to the watchdog trucost.com. You may pay $3.00 a liter for fruit juice, but it really costs $3.19. The most shocking statistic I saw on this site was for cheese. A 12-ounce hunk of cheese that sets you back $6.50 at the cashier should really cost $7.68.

What about beef? We’ve known for a while that livestock (animals grown for food) produce as much greenhouse gases as all forms of transportation put together. The Center for Investigative Reporting has just released a report on hamburgers, which contains some startling statistics. Did you know that we eat over 40 billion burgers a year? That we use about 8 times as much land to grow food and pasture for animals, as we do to grow food directly for humans? That a quarter-pound of beef took 450 gallons of water to produce? That cows in the U.S. produce half a billion tons of manure a year? Check out the report for the rest of the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So who pays the difference between market cost and true cost? We all do. As taxpayers, we subsidize the meat, dairy, and egg industries, which are among the worst polluters. As citizens, we breathe the foul air and pay to clean up the mess.  And this doesn’t even include the medical bills caused by industrial agribusiness.

What we can do: Keep growing the organic marketplace by buying organic whenever you can. Do it for yourself and the planet. Besides, as the organic sector grows, prices are expected to come down due to the classic factor “economy of scale.” Vote for those who support environmental laws and regulations. Especially support Proposition 37 this November!


“Prescription produce”– healthy food for healthy people

In Excerpt from Book, Food to Try,
  • Posted on August 3, 2012
  • Author: ,
  • Comments: Comments Off on “Prescription produce”– healthy food for healthy people


You already know that what you eat has a huge impact on your health. Fresh fruits and vegetables are so important that in some places, doctors are helping their less affluent patients pay for them.  As I wrote in The Green Foodprint, some Massachusetts doctors are taking active steps to help low-income children adopt a healthier diet. They’re advising their patients to buy “prescription produce” at local farmers’ markets–and even giving them coupons to help them pay for it.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, as Kristina Chew reported last week, the nonprofit Wholesome Wave is bringing such programs to other states, benefiting eaters and small farmers in Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and California. And recently Wholesome Wave got a half-million dollar grant to help create jobs in rural communities and regional “food hubs.”  This is very exciting to all those working to re-create our food system into one that is healthy for people and supportive to farmers. And if you need further inspiration, let me suggest a few books that make the case for food as a body’s best friend.

Anticancer, A New Way of Life, by David Servan-Schreiber. This well-deserved best-seller is a gripping personal account of a doctor’s cancer that awakened him to the body’s natural needs. While acknowledging the value of Western medicine to intervene in a crisis, he sets forth the scientific discoveries about breathing, meditation, supportive relationships, and diet that serve to strengthen our own healing powers.

Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease by Dean Ornish. Against immense skepticism from the medical establishment, Ornish doggedly proved that heart disease can be reversed with a program of meat-free diet, exercise, meditation, and imagery. This book explains the medical reasons why the program works, and how the reader can share the many benefits of adopting a heart-healthy lifestyle.

Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Plant-Based Diet by Brenda Davis,  and Vesanto Melina. The authors, registered dietitians, explore the benefits of a vegan diet (without meat, eggs or dairy products) — the impact of their nutritional choices on health, the environment, animal rights, and human hunger. Beyond making the case for veganism, this book shows you how to adopt it and how a vegan diet can protect against cancer, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses.


“Prescription produce”– healthy food for healthy people

In Excerpt from Book, Food to Try,
  • Posted on August 3, 2012
  • Author: ,
  • Comments: Comments Off on “Prescription produce”– healthy food for healthy people


You already know that what you eat has a huge impact on your health. Fresh fruits and vegetables are so important that in some places, doctors are helping their less affluent patients pay for them.  As I wrote in The Green Foodprint, some Massachusetts doctors are taking active steps to help low-income children adopt a healthier diet. They’re advising their patients to buy “prescription produce” at local farmers’ markets–and even giving them coupons to help them pay for it.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, as Kristina Chew reported last week, the nonprofit Wholesome Wave is bringing such programs to other states, benefiting eaters and small farmers in Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and California. And recently Wholesome Wave got a half-million dollar grant to help create jobs in rural communities and regional “food hubs.”  This is very exciting to all those working to re-create our food system into one that is healthy for people and supportive to farmers. And if you need further inspiration, let me suggest a few books that make the case for food as a body’s best friend.

Anticancer, A New Way of Life, by David Servan-Schreiber. This well-deserved best-seller is a gripping personal account of a doctor’s cancer that awakened him to the body’s natural needs. While acknowledging the value of Western medicine to intervene in a crisis, he sets forth the scientific discoveries about breathing, meditation, supportive relationships, and diet that serve to strengthen our own healing powers.

Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease by Dean Ornish. Against immense skepticism from the medical establishment, Ornish doggedly proved that heart disease can be reversed with a program of meat-free diet, exercise, meditation, and imagery. This book explains the medical reasons why the program works, and how the reader can share the many benefits of adopting a heart-healthy lifestyle.

Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Plant-Based Diet by Brenda Davis,  and Vesanto Melina. The authors, registered dietitians, explore the benefits of a vegan diet (without meat, eggs or dairy products) — the impact of their nutritional choices on health, the environment, animal rights, and human hunger. Beyond making the case for veganism, this book shows you how to adopt it and how a vegan diet can protect against cancer, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses.


Play with your food – creative sustainability

In Food to Try, Good News,
  • Posted on July 28, 2012
  • Author: ,
  • Comments: Comments Off on Play with your food – creative sustainability


 

 

 

 

Not long ago (March 13), I praised the possibility of eating one’s packaging – namely, the natural kind, such as the skin of apples and other fruits, or the created kind, like ice cream cones. Created edible packaging (in the form of plastic-like films made from tomatoes and what not) has been in the pipeline for years, but this week on a Grist post I found that someone had taken this to a delightful extreme and invented an espresso coffee cup made out of a cookie. Go here for the photo.

There’s also a wonderful book called Play With Your Food by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers that shows you how to turn fresh fruits and vegetables into marvelous little sculptures.    I loved this book so much that I got a friend to use this inspiration to make centerpieces at my wedding. You can see one in this post. This isn’t exactly sustainable eating, but let’s stretch a point and call it good food anyway. Nine years later, my friends and family still mention those centerpieces!

Happily, the book has a sequel, Food Play, with even more vegetable magic. Food is often a serious topic (I plead guilty) but there’s nothing wrong with letting out the innocence and playfulness of childhood sometimes. In a future post, I’ll share some of the other neat foodplay ideas and websites I’ve come across.


← Older Entries
Newer Entries →