Sunday, May 31, 2009

High-Five, Low-Five


Now, I like the idea of food companies using fewer ingredients in their products. What I don't like is the transparent marketing. Much like the "low carb" label craze and the deluge of "low fat" products (Wow! Low-Fat Apples! Um...duh) of the previous trend, we're now starting to see foods that normally contain few ingredients being repackaged and marketed for how few components they have. 

Just yesterday at the market, I saw a man buying a pint of Haagen Dazs' new Five Milk Chocolate ice cream. As you can see on the container (and if you check the ingredients), it contains SKIM MILK, CREAM, SUGAR, EGG YOLKS, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI.

Sounds pretty good, right? Nice and simple. 

However, the ingredients listed for regular Haagen Dazs chocolate ice cream are CREAM, SKIM MILK, SUGAR, EGG YOLKS, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI. 

The only difference between the two products (if there is a difference), is the predominance of the skim milk vs. cream. 

So, I'm just saying, don't be taken in. I am a fan of simplifying things, but just make sure you're not just paying a premium for the name. 



Saturday, May 30, 2009

"It's on the menu, but I wouldn't order it if I were you."

Nobu is now telling its patrons not to eat the bluefin tuna on the menu because it is endangered. The menus in the London restaurants now offer some "advice" to diners, stating that the pricey fish is "environmentally challenged" and that they should ask their server to suggest an alternative. 

This move comes after a five-year campaign against the chain's refusal to stop stocking bluefin. 

Personally, I don't see why they don't just take it off the menu, but you know how these "celebrity restaurants" can be. Or something. Very, very strange. It's weird enough to me that a restaurant would knowingly stock an endangered species, but what of the forewarned consumer who orders it? 

You can read more about it here

Thursday, May 28, 2009

The Life and Times of a Yogurt Pioneer

Daniel Carasso, who helped turn Dannon yogurt from a small family operation to a global company, died last week at 103.  

What was once a traditional yet obscure "ethnic" food is now so much a staple, we rarely give pause to the fact that sixty, seventy years ago, it was still considered a strange specialty product.

As someone who loves yogurt, I found this to be an interesting read. Nobody does tasteful obituaries like the Times


Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Today's math lesson

Today, I learned one of the basic equations dieticians use to help determine how many calories a person needs. While there are other, possibly more accurate methods to come up with the appropriate number, this is great for giving you a general idea. 

You multiply body weight in kilograms (1 kg = 2.2 lb) by 25-30 calories, depending upon the level of activity. 

So...

a 140-lb person weighs about 64 kg ( because 140/2.2=64)

If this person is very sedentary, they can calculate their caloric needs by multiplying 64 by 25.

64 x 25 = 1,600 calories/day

If they are very active, they multiply 64 by 30.

64 x 30 = 1,920

If the person is moderately active, they can find out the average of these numbers to determine how many calories they require a day. 

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Parisians in America: Everything is bigger at Dallas BBQ




Some family friends from Paris have been in town this past week, and my mom has been showing them around New York. Chris and I met up with them for dinner a couple times, but this afternoon, he opted out of a lunch engagement at the Dallas BBQ in Times Square (vegetarian-friendly fare isn't exactly their speciality). The ladies wanted ribs, so ribs it was. 

This was definitely an experience...No wonder America has an "obesity epidemic." The portions were huge and the prices were low. I dig a good value and all, but most of the food wasn't the type it's great to double-or triple-up on. But hey, when in Rome—or Times Square. 

I ordered their spinach salad with rotisserie chicken and asked for the dressing on the side. It was really good, but I had to take almost half of it home! I totally lost steam. I also enjoyed a freaking goblet of diet coke and tasted the "onion loaf." What a strange place...


Mushroom-Hunting Adages

I've been reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma the past week-and-a-half. I was just reading a chapter about his mushroom-hunting experience in California and felt compelled to share this paragraph, found in the middle of page 383:

Ben and Anthony had a slew of these mushroom-hunting adages and I collected them over the course of the day. "Seeing is boleting" means you never see any mushrooms until someone else has demonstrated their presence by finding one. "Mushroom frustration" is what you feel when everyone around you is seeing them and you're still blind—until, that is, you find your first, thereby breaking you "mushroom virginity." Then there's the "cluster fuck," when your eyes are on and other hunters crowd you, hoping your good fortune will rub off. Cluster fucking, I was given to understand, was bad manners. And then there was the "screen-saver"—the fact that after several hours interrogating the ground for little brown dunce caps, their images will be burned on your retinas. "You'll see, when you get into bed tonight," Ben said, "you'll shut your eyes and there they'll be again—wall-to-wall morels."


Saturday, May 23, 2009

Learning to Love Soy Milk


I've never been a huge fan of soy milk, but this morning, I tried using some of the Whole Foods 365 Organic Vanilla Soy Milk in my oatmeal instead of water. It actually came out all right. The consistency was a bit gluey for my taste, but overall, it added a nice mellow flavor and a natural sweetness. 

I don't know if I'd use it in oatmeal again, but the soy milk definitely has a lot of important vitamins and minerals. For example, one cup provides half the daily value of Vitamin B12, something that's hard to get if you don't eat much meat. The soy milk has also been fortified with Vitamins A, D, and E, among other things. It also has a lot of calcium. I'd much rather get that stuff from real food instead of supplements (albeit fortified real food).

I'll have to play around with it, see what it tastes good in to me. I'm planning to buy a blender soon so I can start making smoothies. I know I've been saying that for weeks now, but because of the warm weather lately, I've been craving this frozen blueberry/strawberry/banana/yogurt smoothie I used to make when I had a blender—or access to my mom's!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Doctor's Orders


I'll tell you a secret: I hate getting on the scale—absolutely dread it—because the number is often lower than I'd like. Though I make an effort to eat enough to keep up with my busy lifestyle, I go through phases where I have a hard time keeping weight on. 

That's a big part of why I tend to think negatively on the rampant weight loss industry and the media's obsession with weight loss. However, I suppose my perspective does help balance my viewpoint and requires me to take several sides of an issue into account when I read nutrition and health articles, especially those concerning weight. 

Today I had a check up with my doctor, and was frustrated to find I'm not quite where I should be. While most people would be thrilled with the prescription she gave me: "peanut butter, shakes, and ice cream," it's tough to consciously go against pretty much everything I hear and read. 

Guess it's back to sneaking nuts and cheese and dried fruit into things and trying to be mindful to take in more calorie-dense foods. One good thing about having some knowledge of nutrition and how to meet my needs is that it does make it easier to know what to do to keep myself healthy. The issue, of course, is always habit, turning off the autopilot once in a while. 

Oh well, at least summer's coming, which makes ice cream a pretty easy choice. I wish New York would adopt Dairy Queen, that's one of the few things from the suburbs I miss!

Happy Memorial Day. Hope you have a great long weekend planned!






Thursday, May 21, 2009

Hopefully not a taste of things to come

I woke up in the middle of the night last night/this morning and could not freaking fall back asleep. My mind kept drifting and fixating on recall-memory sorts of things, like the classification of vegetables. It reminded me of when I was taking a high school anatomy & physiology course, and I used to lie awake counting the bones in my body or thinking about the different components of blood. Good for when it was time to take tests, but bad for sleep. 

Normally when I can't sleep, I stomp around and get all pissed off and stuff, but last night I figured I might be better off going back to one of the guided imagery tapes I used to use when I had insomnia in college. It worked, go figure. I'd highly recommend Belleruth Nepartsek's stuff. She's great. 

Hopefully, I won't have to deal with this too often this semester, but it's nice to know I have something I can turn to. 

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Massachusetts gets in on the act

I know I'm a few days (or a week) late posting this, but I definitely wanted to jot down a bit about the fact that Massachusetts recently adopted strict fast-food menu rules similar to the ones we have here in New York. 

As of November 1, 2010, restaurant chains with 20 or more in-state locations will be required to post calorie counts next to each item on their menus or menu boards, including those at drive-throughs (something other states, such as California, do not require).

This applies to 50 restaurant chains with a combined 5,800 locations.

You can read more about it here

Personally, I think that it's a good idea to provide consumers with nutritional information. It provides them with another tool to help them make good choices. If you want a high-calorie treat, you don't have to sacrifice it; you can balance your day accordingly to make room for it if it's something you really want. Knowing how much a muffin will set you back can help you decide if it's worth eating. 

However, it is important to consider that this does belie a deeper imbalance—and that is that Americans have a really tense relationship with food that continues to grow more and more tense. There are other issues we should be addressing, but for now, I think that this can help people gain some control and learn to take responsibility for their own health.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

quote of the day

"...I mean, you get people taking a taxi to the gym! Only in America. You know, it's not like you need to even join a gym to get exercise. Just find the nicest, most expensive gym you wish you could afford and walk to it–and then walk back..."
–instructor during a class discussion about "engage in physical activity" as part of the dietary guidelines put out by the USDA/HHS.

I was amused. She's got a point. Living in New York, especially, it's pretty easy to get exercise just walking around. Sometimes you get places faster that way. And besides, with all this swine flu hype still in the media, walking to where you've got to go is all the more appealing.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Sober in the Animal House


A recent post on Tara Parker-Pope's New York Times blog, Well, featured an essay by Dartmouth sophomore Owen Jennings. Because of a liver disease, Jennings does not drink alcohol, which is somewhat ironic, given that he lives in the frat house that the movie Animal House was based upon. 

I found his piece very insightful, especially in that he refers to alcohol as "the only drug that everyone is expected to use," a drug which can have very damaging effects in large doses. Yet it is assumed that all college students drink, basically because they can (in most cases). 

From Jennings' sober position, the drinking habits of his friends seem "mindless."  He suggests, "The question shouldn’t be, 'Why aren’t you drunk?' Rather, we need to start asking, 'Why are you drunk?'"

While I appreciate articles about how to drink responsibly and fit alcohol into a healthy diet (here's a cute post from a Self intern), it is also important to keep the notion of balance in mind. There's a line that gets crossed from one's drinking being, like, too many extra calories to a serious problem. 

And it's not just college kids—when I was in college, most of my friends were a bit older (mid-twenties to early-thirties). What my college friends would call a night was like milk to these guys. Whatever happened to slowly savoring a drink?

While I like a good glass of wine or the occasional cocktail, the few times I've attempted to keep up with the group did not end well...Being four-foot-eleven definitely limits your options in that respect. What the "experts" tell you about sipping water in between drinks and not drinking on an empty stomach is true. 

Just last night, I watched the HBO Addiction project, which provided another perspective on drug and alcohol use. In addition to introducing the viewer to individuals with engrossing, often heartbreaking stories, it explores some of the new ways in which addiction is being treated. Definitely worth watching.




Saturday, May 16, 2009

Not the Vegetarian Pride Parade




I had no idea that today was the Ninth Avenue Food Festival! It was a nice surprise when Chris and I walked out the door to go meet my friend Allie T. at Port Authority and saw all these different local vendors and restaurants with booths set up. 

We walked up and then back down. It was pretty awesome (especially because there were lots of tasty, cheap options), but hard to decide what to eat! I ended up getting a Greek salad from one of my favorite places, Uncle Nick's, and a free SoyJoy bar. 

It was pretty much the opposite of what I expect the Vegetarian Pride Parade will be, as evidenced in the pictures....

Friday, May 15, 2009

Heat & Eat At Your Own Risk


On the front page of today's New York Times was an article about ConAgra's attempts to figure out which of the 25 ingredients in their frozen chicken pot pie had caused salmonella poisoning in an estimated 15,000 people in 2007. 

To deal with the problem, they told consumers to heat the pie to 165 degrees, using a thermometer to ensure safety. The Times tested this found it ain't so easy. 

And ConAgra isn't the only company to be in this position. Other food companies are revamping their food safety notices and instructions in hopes that consumers will be sure to cook food thoroughly and avoid infection. You hear that? It's in your hands, kids.  

What especially creeps me out is that there are so many ingredients in the pie in the first place. Worse, a lot of companies reportedly don't even know who supplies all those ingredients!

Perhaps I'm hyper-sensitive to that issue right now because I recently read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, which explores how all the added nutrients and additives in food have us consuming more and more "edible foodlike substances," products of food science rather than nature.  

Sure, that thing in front of you may look like a loaf of bread, but what's with the "azodicarbonamide" and "triticale?" I thought bread was basically just flour, water, yeast, and salt. 

I know that in our fridge, we have a hearty loaf of Arnold's Grains & More DOUBLE PROTEIN. Yikes! Wouldn't it be better to get protein from sources in which nature intended there to be protein? Yet we still bought it because, eh, this is what was on sale this week. Besides, people who follow a vegetarian diet need to get as much protein from alternative sources as possible, right? I hate feeling like I'm being swayed by marketing, but I guess it's hard to avoid.  





Thursday, May 14, 2009

"Happy Everything to Everyone!" Adventures in Corporate America


To pay my bills right now, I work several jobs, one of which involves the occasional on-site meeting in a very corporate environment. Today included such a meeting, complete with a 12:30 break for cake (hah, that rhymes) in the Career Services department. At 12:34 exactly, a straggler knocked on the conference room door. 

"Oh, is it...time?" my supervisor said. 

My stomach was growling for real food, and I just wanted to get through the meeting as quickly as possible so as to obtain said real food, but I mean, I'm just the lowly hired ghost-writer. And who am I to turn down free cake anyway? 12:30 is just a really awkward time for baked goods.

When we walked down the hall, there was a substantial crowd gathered about a substantial cake on which was written: HAPPY 27th ANNIVERSARY MARY BETH, LESLIE, JOHN and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TERRY. 

5 candles, which Terry himself blew out as everyone clapped. Wax flew

"Happy everything to everyone!" Leslie sang, a hint of sarcasm in her voice (love her). 

 Terry's vibrant handling of the knife kind of reminded me of me at my twenty-first birthday party (see above), but that's another entry for another day. 

What really got me was how excited (!) everybody was to have cake in the middle of the workday. Like, wow. On the one hand, I wish that did it for me, but on the other...

My supervisor joked that instead of food, maybe the company should commemorate stuff by handing around cigarettes and letting employees get the hell outside for a few minutes. Those weren't her exact words, but cigarettes were mentioned in that context. 

I know that when I've worked regularly in offices, I've made sure to take "imaginary cigarette" breaks. Sometimes you just need to get the hell outside. Why do you need a carcinogenic excuse? 

I'm not putting down birthday cake—I had a few bites of the frosting, and it was pretty good. It just bummed me out to see so many adults so excited about it. 

There's a whole slew of studies and info out there about how you eat more in groups and at celebrations, and I can only imagine how it could add up if you work in a company with a lot of employees where you're expected to "participate" in office activities. That can be a lot of pressure, regularly having multi-layered cakes languishing in front of you, taunting, participate...eat me...

I guess the same goes for co-workers with candy jars or people who leave sweets in break rooms, etc. Some people have a hard time saying no even when they should be making more of an effort to say yes to healthy foods that will actually give them energy to get through their day.

Still, it kind of took me back to snack time in kindergarten, which is a much more functional practice that totally shouldn't have gotten taken out of the agenda after the age of 6. As adults, our perception of what a snack is can be pretty warped. When did juice and crackers give way to monmouth pastries and sugary drinks?

I also wish we could bring nap time back. And recess. I think that would do us all some good. Getting enough rest and outdoor time makes for a happier, more efficient worker, in my humble opinion. 

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Veggie Pride Parade This Weekend!




For those of you in the New York area, this Sunday, May 17th, the Veggie Pride Parade will be going on in Greenwich Village!

The rally/expo will start with a parade from Little West 12th Street to Union Square Park, where the expo will be set up. 

There will be speakers, contests, and even...baby veggies—toddlers in costume. 

Exhibitors include the American Vegan Society, EarthSave, Healthy Planet, Lantern Books, Moo Shoes, Natural Kitchen Cooking School, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Whole Foods Market, Youth Buddhism and others. 

If you can't make it to the event or the idea of a parade makes you claustrophobic, consider checking out one of the many vegetarian and vegan-friendly restaurants in the area. 

Red Bamboo is my favorite, but you can't go wrong at Angelica Kitchen, Pure Food and Wine, or VP-2

For more information, check out the Veggie Pride Parade's website






Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Monster Strawberries


These are the biggest freaking strawberries I have ever encountered. They come from a California company called Red Blossom Farms. While I'm all for more of a good thing (within reason), it just doesn't seem right for strawberries to be so big...It looks like it's about to eat that quarter. 

Monday, May 11, 2009

Emotional Ties

Our media focuses so much on emotional eating (comfort foods, anyone?) yet rarely examines emotional "not-eating." Some people lose their appetite when stressed out or may (consciously or not) limit their intake when other areas of their life are weighing on them. 

Another thing not often discussed, given the subjectivity of the topic, is the way some of us avoid certain foods with which we have negative associations. While many people have foods they turn to to make themselves feel good, many of us avoid and/or refuse to eat certain foods with which we have negative associations. 

I think there are varying degrees to which this avoidance affects someone's life, but regardless, I wish there was more info out there about it. So many times, I pick up a magazine or read a website, only to see yet another article about how to create a strategy or deal with the temptation to eat to make yourself feel better. Um, what about for people who have the opposite problem? 

Personally, I just don't think it's fair. Still, the $40 billion weight loss industry is pretty damn healthy, and the magazines know where their ad money comes from. It keeps things running to go on feeding that machine rather than take a step to the side and address some other related issues. 

While I do find a lot of information about weight loss interesting (especially the different ways in which publications regurgitate the same few studies every month/week/etc), it's, like, "Hello! Not everyone is trying to lose weight!" 

Whether you're trying to lose weight or not, exploring your emotional connections to food can be incredibly valuable and helpful, though I guess it probably goes without saying that it's best to delve into that with a therapist or trusted confidant rather than read about it in Glamour or Shape

Friday, May 8, 2009

When to say "No"

Working for an acupuncturist, I've been learning quite a bit about how practices are grown and maintained. One of the things I never knew about before was online marketing through services such as Google Adwords, which enables you to place bids on keywords so your company's ad shows up when someone searches for that word or phrase.

Last night, while I was looking over recent activity, Chris commented on one of the keywords. 

"PMS weight gain?" Do people really come in for that

We ended up having an interesting conversation/debate about where the lines are drawn in terms of when a minor annoyance or discomfort becomes an issue worth seeking treatment for. What "counts" as a medical condition?

He is more of the "rock and roll, deal with it" camp, whereas I am hesitant to tell someone else to man up—especially a woman at the mercy of her hormones. I feel like everybody has different thresholds for pain and responds to triggers in various ways. How do I know that what feels like one of the less pleasant parts of life to me doesn't equal a debilitating ailment to another person?

(This is why I could never work for an insurance company)

Still, that's not to say Chris doesn't have a point. It's just hard to know when to say when. I always wonder how practitioners make that decision not to treat someone or whether to refer them to someone else. I feel like you really can't teach that, that it's a sense you have to develop through experience, being able to gauge whether a person who comes in for the first time would actually benefit from your services.

It makes me think of something a friend told me in college about palm readers. He said that several different palm readers have refused to read his palm, explaining that it's "too old." This has become how he decides for himself whether someone is for real. 

That sounds like a pretty good measurement to me. We don't always like to hear "No," especially in our "fix me now" culture, but sometimes that is exactly what we need to hear. I don't know about you, but I'd rather hear someone tell me I am equipped to deal with my own issues or at least be pointed in the right direction to someone who can give me the help I need rather than just being given (for a fee), what I think I need or want. 

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Experimentation




Chris works a lot of nights, so it's not unusual for me to end up on my own for dinner a couple times a week. Though cooking for one can be a wee bit lonely sometimes, it does give me a chance to experiment and try out new recipe ideas. 

The other night, I added pumpkin ravioli with pumpkin curry sauce to my list of weird-but-good. 

I'd bought a can of pumpkin earlier in the day because I'd had a craving for pumpkin oatmeal (you just mix a half-cup of pumpkin in with the water and oats then cook and add cinnamon—amazing) and figured I should use some of the extra pumpkin. I also happened to be in the mood for curry but didn't feel like having rice or potatoes or tofu or any of the usual curry accoutrements. 

And then I remembered the pumpkin ravioli in the freezer...

It was just crazy enough to work—masaman curry paste with a little light coconut milk, sauteed onion, and pureed pumpkin all cooked together with some steamed broccoli. I poured the sauce over the cooked ravioli and added a little grated parmesan. 

I'd been worried the curry would overpower the vaguely sweet mellowness of the ravioli, but they actually blended pretty nicely. The one thing I'd change would be the broccoli—squash would probably work a little better. Still, I'd make this again if I happened to have all those ingredients just lying around.

Note to self: Must get better at taking food photos. I definitely don't do that dish justice there...

What kinds of things do you like to make when you're just playing around or testing new stuff? 

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Beer Butt Chicken



Wednesday's randomness: Check. 

While reading one of my favorite blogs this afternoon, I clicked on a link to an article the author recently posted on DadCentric.com about making Beer Butt Chicken at the home of his wife's Midwife. The pictures he posted say it all. Here are a couple gems. 

If Chris ate meat and if either one of us drank beer (or owned a grill besides our George Forman, for that matter), I'd try this. Maybe. I don't know, though I can be kind of squeamish about handling raw meat. Either way, I don't think I'd slaughter my own chicken. 

I'm trying to think of any vegetarian equivalent to this, but I can't think of any, barring ToFurkey...


Tuesday, May 5, 2009

French No. 1 in Sleeping and Eating.


Big surprise there. According to a report published Monday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the French spend more time sleeping and eating than the inhabitants of any other "highly developed country."

The average French person gets nine hours of sleep per night, a half-hour more than the average American (I don't know too many Americans who sleep eight-and-a-half hours a night, but whatever).

When it comes to eating habits, the French devote over two hours per day to meals. That's twice the amount of time spent by Americans.

It seems to be paying off for them, as the report shows life expectancy of the country's men and women lagging behind only Japan.

I think France has the right idea, personally. I know I feel better when I'm well rested and make the time to enjoy my meals.

I get a kick out of books and articles like, "How to Eat like a French Woman" or "Live the French Life for a Month: First things first—only wash your hair once a week." I swear to god, look it up.

One thing I do wish would change though is that instead of putting out books with titles like, French Women Don't Get Fat, how about we think more in terms of "French women maintain a healthy weight?"

I guess that wouldn't sell as many copies, though. Americans are just as obsessed with FAT vs THIN as we are with the French.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Nothing says "Good Morning!" like a Diet Coke?


So I have this tendency towards drinking Diet Coke in the morning the way some people drink coffee or tea. I get it from my dad, who likes to start this day with something carbonated...

For years I did this until one morning this fall I just kind of woke up and decided I was ready to stop. It's been tough adjusting, but I usually do all right just having a cup of green tea instead. 

Some mornings, though, like on rainy Mondays, it's just not the same. This morning as I walked towards the subway to work I wondered, as I often do, if I should stop by that deli next door to the office...No. Yes. No. Maybe? 

Eventually, I just decided that not spending the $1.50 was a good enough excuse for me today. I'd also slipped some green tea in my purse to make during the day if I got sleepy. Having a back-up helps. 

The back-and-forth in my head, though, did get me thinking about the great debate that goes on about diet soda and artificial sweeteners in general.

There's so much conflicting information. Some studies claim it leads to obesity, cancer, and a host of other ailments like diabetes.  However, some claim it doesn't have that much of an effect if you don't consume too much of it. A study performed at the University of California San Francisco suggests that diet soda may actually help reduce the risk of forming kidney stones. 

It's hard to say which sources are worth listening to and which ones aren't. It's dizzying trying to keep up with it. I feel like if there's this much uncertainty, though, maybe that's a sign. 

The reason I cut back and stopped keeping diet soda in the house is that I can't just have a little bit. I could drink an entire two-liter bottle all by myself and then go looking for more. After a while I started thinking about how many chemicals I was taking in, and it creeped me out enough to convince me to try going without it. After the first week, it was pretty easy. 

Still, sometimes it's a nice treat, and if I'm paying (way too much) for an individual can, I actually can just stop at one. 

Sheesh, you'd think I was talking about alcohol or something...



Saturday, May 2, 2009

White bean and escarole soup





I can't believe it's already May. The weather hasn't quite decided how it feels about warming up yet, apparently. It was cool and drizzly this morning, so I went to the market and bought a ton of escarole and other soup greens to use for a white bean and escarole soup. 

I threw in some veggie sausage near the end, to add a little extra protein. Vegetarian sausage is one of my favorite fake meat items—it's really great sliced up in soups and things, but it's also good if you mash it up with a fork and use it in sauces too. Very easy to work with. 

I also threw in some dried goji berries because I have some lying around and, well, why not? They added some nice color and hopefully some of those ultra-marketable antioxidants without screwing up the flavor of the soup.

 I just had some for lunch, and I am very pleased with myself. For some reason, making soup is one of the most relaxing things—maybe because it's so hard to mess up.

I've got to get better at taking food pictures though. At least you can kind of tell it's the beginnings of soup in this shot...






Friday, May 1, 2009

Brooklyn Food Conference

For those of you in the New York area, the Brooklyn Food Conference is going on in Park Slope this weekend at PS 321 and John Jay High School. 

All day, there will be workshops, presentations, film screenings and other activities taking place that are free and open to the public. 

Topics range from "Why co-ops matter" to "Eating for a healthy pregnancy" to "Food and the elderly: Food insecurity as a way of life" to "School food activism: Making it better."

Some featured speakers include:

*Dan Barber—Executive chef and co-owner of Blue Hill Restaurant
*Anna LappĂ©—Author of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen
*Raj Patel—Author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System
*LaDonna Redmond—President and CEO of the Institute of Community Resource Development in Chicago.

For more information, visit: http://brooklynfoodconference.org