I love old family cookbooks. Somehow as each great aunt or grandmother passed away, another cookbook would end up on our shelves. Each old cookbook is stuffed with all sorts of extra recipes clipped from newspapers, magazines, and even canned food labels, plus there are many, many carefully copied recipes from friends and relatives. I’m drawn to the cookbooks, not so much … [Read more...]
Are You Ready to Eat Bugs for the Good of the Planet?
Amidst growing concerns about future global food security, many people are thinking about sustainable ways to provide adequate protein for the world’s growing population. In their book, Sustainable Protein Sources, a team from the U.S. and Canada warns that the world’s population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, bringing with it a projected 80% increase in … [Read more...]
Researchers Are Working Hard To Save Us From Avocado Disappointment
Who hasn’t cringed after coming home from a grocery shop to find that those expensive avocados we thought were going to be ripe and tasty turn out to be duds? Despite learning to feel for that perfect amount of squish when squeezing for ripeness at the store, I still find myself having to toss too many avocados that aren’t fit for even mashing into guacamole. That’s why I am … [Read more...]
You Really Should Know Where Your Coconut Oil Comes From And Who Harvested It
This isn’t an article about what kind of cooking oil is healthiest for you. This is an article urging you to make sure that if you buy coconut oil, it comes from a humane and sustainable source. Environmentalists and animal rights activists have done a good job of shedding light on the heartbreaking deforestation wrought by Indonesia’s palm oil industry that has … [Read more...]
Are People Constantly Annoyed With You Because You Don’t Eat Meat?
There are all kinds of beliefs wrapped up in a decision to pursue a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. The attitudes vegetarians and vegans encounter from people around them can be complex. I grew up in an Army household and one of the benefits was we bought our groceries at a post commissary which, by law, sells food at just 5% above cost. My father wanted his kids to have a … [Read more...]
Is Using Food As “Software” for Bioengineered Meat Really Our Future?
A remarkable report by the independent think tank, RethinkX, predicts total collapse of the dairy and cattle industries within ten years as traditional dairy and beef products are replaced by cheaper, laboratory-derived micro-organisms programmed to serve as modern equivalents. The report titled, “Rethinking Food and Agriculture 2020-2030 -- The Second Domestication of … [Read more...]
Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) Needs You Now
If you’ve always done your best to dodge invitations to go in on a share (aka, subscription) to a CSA farm (community-supported agriculture), this might be the year you change your mind. For many people, the lure of fresh fruits and veggies delivered weekly by a local farmer to a central neighborhood pick-up point just doesn’t suit their lifestyle. Now that grocery shopping … [Read more...]
Healthier Food Choices Could Dramatically Decrease Agriculture’s Environmental Impact
Dr. David Tilman at the University of Minnesota has been at this for a while. He traced urbanization and income growth around the world between 1961 and 2009 and linked it with increased consumption of refined sugars and refined fats brought about people adopting more meat intensive western-style diets. In 2014 he published research in Nature showing how a shift away from that … [Read more...]
Simple Foods Have Great Meaning In Scarce Times
Taking stock of what’s in my pantry reminds me of how truly fortunate so many of us have been. Nationwide trucking, international produce imports, and refinements in freezing have made it possible to enjoy just about any fruits and vegetables any time of the year. Suddenly, now that running to the grocery store is no longer routine or even affordable, every … [Read more...]
That Glass of Almond Milk…Honeybees are Dying for You to Drink It
The Guardian published an eye-opening article about the impact of America’s growing love for everything almond and the devastating impact it is having on the country’s honeybee population. Our consumption of almond milk alone has increased 250% over the last five years and the California almond industry, already home to 80% of the world’s almond supply, is growing in response … [Read more...]