BOOK REVIEW: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

The more I read about the watering down of organic standards, the more I’ve been rethinking my food choices. It seems that most organic food is being produced by huge corporate farms and megacorporations. Those are not the industries I want to support with my food dollars. In the last year, I’ve been buying as much as possible from local farmers who may not be certified organic but who grow their crops using organic and sustainable methods. I feel I’m getting a better quality food and supporting my own community – and hopefully contributing less to global warming since my food doesn’t have to travel miles to get to me.

So when I heard Barbara Kingsolver (one of my favorite authors) had a new book out and it was about eating locally, I knew I had to read it. And it did not disappoint.

Kingsolver and her family left their Arizona home to move to a farm in southern Appalachia. They no longer wanted to live in a state where virtually all the food and water was trucked in from somewhere else. They chose Virginia because (among other reasons) they wanted to live in a place that could feed them. A place “where rain falls, crops grow, and drinking water bubbles right up out of the ground.”

After nearly a year of settling in, fixing up the house, and planting their gardens, they embarked on their one-year mission to eat only food they grew themselves or what was raised in their own neighborhood. Kingsolver takes us through the work of raising a garden that would feed them throughout the year. We see the work involved in weeding and caring for the plants, harvesting, and preserving them. This book is a great lesson on when various foods are in season (hard to know if you shop at supermarkets).

The family also raises laying hens, as well as chickens and turkeys for meat. Kingsolver and her family have for many years eaten only non-factory farmed meat and felt good about raising their own animals. They would give their animals “freedom on an open pasture that’s unknown to conventionally raised poultry.” Kingsolver also responded to a Slow Food USA campaign to bring back heritage turkeys. Unlike the conventional Broad-Breasted White Turkey commonly raised in industrial settings, the heritage turkeys can actually support their own weight and reproduce naturally. In addition, these birds retain more of their wild ancestors’ sense about foraging, predator avoidance, and are more disease resistant.

Kingsolver’s husband Steven L. Hopp’s short essays provide information throughout the book on subjects such as the fossil fuel used to produce and ship our food, world hunger, genetically modified foods, family farms vs. industrial farms, industrial animal food production, paying the price for cheap, industrial-grown foods, the effectiveness of using pesticides and herbicides, mad cow disease, and much more. He provides resources to get more information as well as ways to take action. Kingsolver’s college-aged daughter, Camille provides recipes and anecdotes about the experience from a teenager’s point of view.

This book was inspiring. I was encouraging to hear about people who care about what they eat and how it’s produced. To find people who care about the environment and how our choices affect it and others. I don’t know if I’m ready to spend my summers hoeing, weeding and canning on a full time basis, but I will certainly take the time to seek out local farmers and support stores who carry local products.

Farm to School Programs

My article entitled "Fresh Food Nation" about farm to school programs is in the current (July/August) issue of Mothering Magazine. In the article, I profile a few schools that have sucessful farm to school programs and also give information about how to get a program started at your school.

Mothering is available at most large natural foods stores and books stores. For info on how to subscribe, go to http://www.mothering.com/.

Summer Salads

For ideas for summer salads to bring to your picnic or barbeque, check out this article in VegFamily Magazine: http://www.vegfamily.com/whole-family/summer-salads.htm

BOOK REVIEW: Vegan Vittles Second Helpings

In this new expanded edition of the popular "Vegan Vittles," Stepaniak has broadened each section of the book to include many new recipes for alternatives to animal-based foods. With recipes for homemade veggie "meats" and "cheeses" to scrumptious egg and dairy substitutes, eating vegan is easier and yummier than ever. "Vegan Vittles Second Helpings" includes hearty breakfast fare like Phenomenal French Toast, Eggless Omelets, and Muffins That Taste Like Donuts (they really do!). For lunch, try the Boneless Chickenless Chicken Salad (made with tofu), Chickpea Tuna Salad, Radical Rueben, or a Sloppy Lenny (a lentil based version of a Sloppy Joe). There is even a recipe for Gooey Grilled Cheez which looks surprisingly like the real thing. It tastes rather unusual however—imagine tahini, lemon juice, ketchup, and nutritional yeast flakes mixed together. My husband and I found it tasty enough but the kids didn't care for it. Maybe more ketchup and less nutritional yeast flakes next time...My favorite section, Soups, Chowders, and Stews, offers easy, nourishing options like Sadie's Vitality Broth made with chickpeas and orzo pasta, Butternutty Chowder, and Elegant Broccoli Bisque. We especially loved the Cheez Please Soup made with potatoes, carrots, silken tofu, and soymilk, puréed into a thick cheesy tasting soup and garnished with steamed broccoli and cauliflower. (I learned my lesson and used less nutritional yeast flakes than called for and my children had 3 bowlfuls each!) We also loved the Creamy Potato Kale Soup.Main dishes include Sweet and Sour Tempeh, Southern-Fried Tofu, Classic Quiche, Macaroni and Cheez, Baked Stuffed Shells, Pot Roast and much more. We tried the Gardener's Pie (a tofu-based version of Shepherd's Pie) and it was wonderful. I served it with Savory Chickpea Gravy from the Sauces and Gravies section. A small selection of side-dishes includes Twice-Baked Potatoes, Garlicky Greens, and Coconut Rice. There are also recipes for salads and dressings like Warm Salad Nicoise, Fiesta Coleslaw, and Ceasar Salad.I tried a few of the tempting desserts offered in the Happy Endings section of the book. The Poppy Seed Cake was moist, tasty, and just sweet enough. The Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies were crunchy and delicious. I still have many I want to make like the Ultra-Fudgey Fudge Brownies, Grandmother's Spice Cake, and the Peach Kuchen.The recipes in the book are clear and easy to follow. An ingredients guide explains foods that may be unfamiliar. Besides recipes, the book defines veganism, debunks common farm animal industry myths, and relates heartwarming rescue stories of animals now living happily at Farm Sanctuary. This cookbook would be inspiring and helpful to all vegan cooks.

Review as seen on http://www.vegfamily.com/

BOOK REVIEW: SUPER NATURAL COOKING

“Super Natural Cooking” by Heidi Swanson is an exciting and tasty introduction the world of whole foods. The book has an unusual arrangement. Rather than lumping appetizers, entrees, soups, salads, and desserts into sections – the book is rather arranged like a course on natural foods cooking. The book begins with instructions for building a natural foods pantry – what foods to include and what to avoid, including flours, oils, sweeteners, spices and seasonings.

Then she moves on to whole grains, beginning first with information about the different types of grains (helpful because many may be unfamiliar), she then moves on to recipes. There are baked goods like Seed-Crusted Amaranth Biscuits and Espresso Banana Muffins; soups like Toasted Wheat Germ Soup and Creamy Wild Rice Soup. The Spring Minestrone with Brown Rice made with fresh asparagus and snap peas has been a regular for us on Fridays when I get my box of produce from the local CSA. We also loved the Risotto-Style Barley made with crème fraiche and lemon zest.

Next, Swanson encourages us to “Cook by Color.” This section is all about fruits and vegetables – brimming with essential phytonutrients (don’t worry if you’re not sure what they are, it’s explained in the book.) Recipes include Baked Purple Hedgehog Potatoes (your kids will love these), Red Indian Carrot Soup, Curried Tofu Scramble, and Crema de Guacamole with Crunch Topopos.

If those foods weren’t healthy enough, the next section teaches you to “Know Your Superfoods:” alliums, cruciferous vegetables, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds, sea vegetables, sprouts, tea, and yogurt. Dishes include Beluga Lentil Crostini, Sprouted Garbanzo Burgers, and Golden Crusted Brussels Sprouts. My family absolutely loved the Creamy Cauliflower Soup.
Of course even natural foods eaters love their desserts and there a plenty of good ones here as Swanson presents a section on natural sweeteners. There are recipes for Thin Mint Cookies, Spiced Caramel Corn and Ginger-Amaranth Shortbread. The Dairyless Chocolate Mousse is so rich and decadent, no one will believe it was made with tofu. The biggest hit of the desserts for us – I’ve already made it several times – was the Raspberry Curd Swirl Cake. My gosh, it was good. I couldn’t find Raspberry Curd at Trader Joe’s so I used Lemon Curd and it was wonderful. Really, really great.

Whether you are already into natural foods like I am (but there were ingredients here I’ve never tried like wild rice flour, teff and farro) or completely lost in a natural foods store but want to know more, this book will work for you. The recipes are very “normal” and nonthreatening – like chocolate chip cookies with a bit of mesquite flour millet-fried “rice.” In other words, comfortable favorites with a little twist. Swanson does an excellent job of explaining the ingredients (and offering substitutions if you are unable to find some of the more uncommon ones). This books is vegetarian – many recipes use dairy products but there are some great vegan recipes as well.

If you’re into cookbooks, check out Swanson’s blog at http://www.101cookbooks.com/ .

The high cost of cheap ingredients

I've already written about the contaminated gluten from China (which caused all the pet deaths) making it's way into food for humans - well some food suppliers are getting nervous about other food additives from China - and YOU SHOULD BE TOO.

According to an article in the May 18th LA Times, China has become the world's leading supplier of food flavorings, vitamins, and preservatives - in fact many food additivies are available in vast quantities only from China. China is now the most predominant maker of Vanillin (a vanilla flavoring), Citric Acid, Sorbic Acid, B vitamins (commonly added to processed flour goods), and Xylitol.

The problem is that China's overall food safety record is very poor. Use of chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticies is heavy; and fraud and corruption often thwart the lax controls that do exist. Also, many small companies don't register their products as nonfood items, thus avoiding supervision. Since many food additivies also have industrial applications (e.g. citric acid is also used as a cleaner), they can get away with this. In recent years, US officials have issued alerts about Chinese honey tainted with a harmful antibiotic, Chinese candy containing sulfites that can cause fatal allergic reactions, and infant forumula missing vital nutrients which left a dozen babies dead in 2004.

A further problem is that many US food manufacturers don't even know where all their ingredients originate. Most packaged foods contain dozens of items from around the word acquired though a complex network of traders and brokers. For example, a Hostess Twinkie contains 39 ingredients - including vitamin B compounds, sorbic acid, red and yellow colorings - most likely made in China according to Steve Ettlinger, author of the book "Twinkie, Deconstructed." He asserts that not only do food manufacturers not know the origin of all the ingredients in their products, they don't want to know. "The more you know, the pickier you get and the more it costs," he said.

So what can you do - stay away from processed foods would be the ideal. And (hope I'm not sounding like a broken record) - shop ORGANIC.

Otherwise, call or write the food manufacturers and tell them not to get ingredients from China. Mission Food Corp. and Tyson Foods, Inc. are bowing to consumer fears and have put out a directive to get no more ingredients from China - whether they'll be able to accomplish this is questionable but it's a start.

Another sneaky attempt to weaken organic standards

The USDA has announced a proposal to allow 38 new non-organic ingredients in products bearing the "USDA Organic" seal. Most of the ingredients are food colorings derived from plants that they say are not "commercially available" in organic form. But at least three of the proposed ingredients, backed by beer giant Anheuser-Busch, pork and food processors, represent a serious threat to organic standards, and have raised the concerns of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), as well as a number of smaller organic companies and organic certifiers. For example, they want to allow:
- Conventionally grown hops, produced with pesticides and chemical fertilizers, to be used in beers labeled as "USDA Organic"
- Conventionally raised factory-farmed animals' intestines (I'll spare you the gory details of what thes animals have been fed) as casing for sausages labeled as "organic."

Then the sneaky part - rather than the standard 30-60 days for public comment, the USDA has indicated they will only be accepting public comments for seven days.

If this concerns you, go to http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/oca/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=11401 for more information or to write to the USDA.