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Sustainable Dish
October 8th, 2009 4 CommentsFood issues are “in” right now, which is clearly illustrated by the many food related news stories front and center in the New York Times. On the cover of last Sunday’s Times, an important article about ground beef and E.coli and how it ruined one young dance instructor’s life. In a follow up article, author Michael Moss reports about some positive news on E.coli testing.
The upcoming issue of The New York Times Magazine is food-themed and contains a short new piece by Michael Pollan on helpful eating rules, including my personal favorite, “Eat foods in inverse proportion to how much its lobby spends to push it.” The magazine also profiles Jamie Oliver’s valiant effort to reform one overweight town in the U.S.
Rachel Maddow, a popular MSNBS pundit (fighting for the liberal side), recently interviewed Rick Berman, head of the PR firm Berman and Company, which represents various lobbies in Washington including Big Meat and Big Ag. Berman’s company sets up non-profits including Fishscam.com and Sweetscam.com to bolster the causes of some fairly evil industries. Watch her interview here and read Civil Eats commentary on the matter. You can also see my article on Berman’s “Center for Consumer Freedom”. Be prepared to cringe.
It’s no news to us that GMOs are suspicious, have only been ostensibly investigated and have already done a fair share of damage. But to some, such as Bill Gates and Monsanto Corp, the message hasn’t quite hit home. Maybe coming from the mouth of renowned humanitarian Stephen Lewis, who warns that GMOs may do more harm than good, the message will finally be taken to heard (although I doubt it). Read the article on The Star Phoenix.
Over the course of history, humans have used and invented many chemicals that while initially thought to be safe turned out not to be so healthy. Examples include lead in makeup and DDT in pesticides and it seems that we have yet to learn our lesson. The chemical atrazine which is used frequently on corn fields, golf courses and lawns is now being investigated by F.D.A. in connection with low birth weights, birth defects and reproductive problems in general. Read a report at the New York Times.
When I was a kid, there was no choice in what I was going to eat. My mom made one meal, and whether I liked it or not, that was dinner. It could be anything from kid-friendly pasta to Brussels sprouts and liver. Today’s kids have too many choices and are learning unhealthy habits from birth; dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets, neon-orange mac’ n’ cheese, those disgusting Lunchables. Jennifer Evans Gardner calls for a No Kid-Food Revolution on Huffington Post and I couldn’t agree more!
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4 Responses to “Sustainable Dish”
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Barbara October 9th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
When my daughter (who also happpens to be the blogger) was 9 months old, her pediatrician told me not to bother with “kiddy” meals. As long as her father and I were eating a balanced diet, she could eat whatever we were having. It sure saved a lot of time and effort and the result was an omnivore with a healthy appreciation for all good things edible.
Three years ago, a friend of mine’s daughter who was expecting her first child, solicited parenting advice from all who attended her baby shower. I passed on the same bit of wisdom: Feed the kid whatever you’re eating. That then-expectant mother now has two children and assured me just recently that it was the best parenting advice she ever had.
I’ve been known to say (more than once) that food is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Who — at any age — would want to miss out?
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Thanks for the comment Mom, and thanks for only letting me eat what you made! I am very happy today that I was exposed to all types of food when I was little. There is nothing I detest more than a picky eater, nor is it healthy to be one. Eating all the textures, colors, flavors and smells is the best way to go.
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Did Fishscam really say whale blubber is not good for you? (Scroll down on the page.) Seriously? Wow. Tell that to the indigenous people who’ve subsisted on it for centuries, if not millenia.
That alone tells me I can’t trust them as a source.
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By the way, it’s not very nice to detest people unless there’s a darn good reason for it. People don’t choose to be picky eaters, you know. I wish I liked all foods. I don’t. It is what it is. I *have* expanded my palate as I’ve gotten older, but it’s been a slow process and I have NEVER decided to like a food just because some adult (when I was a kid) bullied me into it.
Sometimes it’s a matter of being able to taste food chemicals in a way that a lot of people can’t. Sometimes it’s a texture aversion (this happens to autistics, but it happens to other people too). Sometimes you didn’t grow up thinking of that food as “food”, which colors your view of it.
But we aren’t picky just to annoy you, and our being picky doesn’t hurt you, either.
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