food museum blog

Scary Sweet Alarms Young Gardener Before Halloween

A student assisting First Lady Michelle Obama and others dig up root veggies at the White House Garden today recoiled from the alarming sight of a giant sweet potato, dirt still clinging to its nether parts.

The fate of the sub-terrestrial beastly batata is unknown.

Americans ( Soft Drink Industry) Against Food ( Syrupy Soft Drinks) Taxes

You, too, can fight back against food tax! YEAH!   I just stumbled onto this cheery, filled-with-young-healthy-looking models website called Americans Against Food Taxes, with its healthy lunch box message. The gigantic US beverage/convenience store industry cares deeply about your health, and that of your kids, and doesn't want bananas, um, and apples, huh?, taxed. No Cokes are pictured, oddly. No 7-Up pictured, either. No crappy soft drinks pictured anywhere on the website. Gosh and golly.

On the News tab is a photo of a young guy holding a paper bag overflowing with fresh veggies. No one is going to tax bell peppers, lettuce and asparagus..........

But here's the text, as it begins the --be afraid, America, be very afraid-- message that health care is bad and scary, and soft drinks are good and American.

"Get ready, because that’s exactly what many lawmakers and advocates of health care reform have in mind to help pay for the massive health care reform being considered in Congress. Senate leaders are considering new federal taxes on soda and other sugary drinks. Other watchdog groups are busy identifying other food items they believe are too high in sugar or fat content to tax as well."

A Coke being equated with "food".

INGREDIENTS:
CARBONATED WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CARAMEL COLOR, PHOSPHORIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVORS, CAFFEINE.

57MG CAFFEINE/20 OZ

65 grams of sugars, 240 calories. See sugar content of assorted drinks/juices here. And this, from a 2008 report published by newser.com:

"According to a study recently published in The Journal of School Nursing, soft drink consumption has increased by 300 percent in the past 20 years, the Allen Press reports, with 56 to 85 percent of children consuming at least one soft drink daily.

These beverages currently constitute the leading source of added sugars in the diet.."

So much to be pissed off about these days. I think I'll go cultivate my garden.

Fat 4 Year-Olds?

Yes, America--even your 4 year-olds are overweight, apparently, obese, in fact. Many more native Americans are among this group, alas, but that is no surprise given that many of their families are eating foods provided under a federal plan--all the carbs you can ingest, plus crappy "American" cheese.  But wait! I just checked into the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations and found this  list of not too hideous food items.

The  report I saw did not focus on a particular area of the country---here in the Southwest I imagine the figures are less dire, even though Bluebird brand bleached enriched white flour remains a firm fixture in the kitchen of many Pueblo people. Without it, how to make the fat-oozing Indian tacos/Navajo fry bread beloved of us all? 

Before the happy/unhappy arrival of Europeans in the Americas, before wheat, before relocation of many First Americans, before horses, guns, cars, before tv, before poverty....ok. You get the picture.

Other 4 year-olds---I know one or two, and while they are not obese, they sure do love to huddle by the hearth that is television.

Kitchen Classroom

Michelle Obama sees potential in the WH kitchen as a focus for learning. Here's hoping she also will be making possible the creation of a kitchen garden on the grounds.  From a snippet of the Vogue cover story:

"I am excited about the potential of the White House kitchen being a learning environment for the community. The current chef, Cristeta Comerford, is the only female chef in the history of the White House. She's a young Filipina woman, a mother with a young child, and I am excited to get to know her and for her to know us as a family. If you think about all the kids interested in finding out about all of the inner workings of the White House—I'm hoping that we can build a team to reach out."

Hungry People on This Planet

Today is World Food Day. As reported by Reuters Africa,  "The world's leading crusaders against hunger voiced frustration on World Food Day on Thursday that the global financial crisis had overshadowed a food crisis tipping millions towards starvation. 

The World Bank predicts that high food and fuel prices will increase the number of malnourished people in the world by 44 million this year to reach a total of 967 million."

Ellen Parry Tyler writes for Food First that, "The U.S. food system allows one in six children to go hungry for at least part of each month. Hungry children are not healthy and don’t learn as well as well-fed children. Poor families across our nation have been told to wait as global leaders analyze the causes and solutions to our current food crisis. Food banks face food shortages while the number of Americans showing up at their door is rapidly increasing. In the wake of the $700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout, one wonders what our country could accomplish if $700 billion were instead spent on Main Street."

Today is also our thankfully well-nourished son's birthday. We cherish him, as parents the world over cherish their children. No parent anywhere should have to suffer a child's hunger.

Food Entrepreneur Newman Slips Off Planet

Paul Newman, the actor who died this weekend, was also the founder of the Newman's Own brand of food products, begun as a lark, that has donated $200 million to charity. It started with salad dressing, brewed up with  writer pal A.E. Hotchner for Christmas gift-giving to family and friends, and now, in its organic configuration, Newman's Own Organics, even produces decent quality pet foods. 

Dare we call Newman a "foodie?" Perhaps, more accurately, a guy who liked decent eats.
According to a piece in the Hartford Courant by Linda Giuca, "He really loved good food, so he was really involved in the business," said Kirsten McKamy, who worked for Newman's Own for eight years. "He wasn't just a figurehead; he came up with ideas."

In 2006 Newman cconceived of another foodish notion--he partnered with chef Michel Nischan to create The Dressing Room restaurant next to the Westport Playhouse in, Westport, Connecticut. The restaurant celebrates regional American food and serves up local produce and meats.

Even Newman's last cinematic endeavor had a food theme-- he provided the narration for a documentary film called The Price of Sugar-- the movie explores the story of Haitian workers brought across the border into the Dominican Republic to labor in the sugar cane fields. Not surprisingly, they are housed in poor conditions, they toil 7 days a week, 14 hours a day, and are expected to be grateful. The Spanish priest who attempts to improve their lives has some success, then is reassigned to a post in Ethiopia.  ( Alas,  apparently there is no oil on the island of Hispaniola.)

At the end of the NYTimes obituary by Aljean Harmetz,  Newman is quoted: “We are such spendthrifts with our lives,” Mr. Newman once told a reporter. “The trick of living is to slip on and off the planet with the least fuss you can muster. I’m not running for sainthood. I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer, who puts back into the soil what he takes out.”

( Newman eats multiple hard-boiled eggs in the 1967 flick, Cool Hand Luke.)

Food No-No's, Parents!

The NYTimes describes her as a "childhood nutrition instructor," in its recent piece titled 6 Food Mistakes Parents Make.  Harriet Worobey, the person behind the 6 Mistakes, is director of the Rutgers University Nutritional Sciences Preschool in New Brunswick, N.J., but before we explore what that's all about, let's look at the mistakes you parents are making.

1--Sending the kids out of the kitchen      Ok, so, back in the days when people had tiny, hot kitchens fired up by woodburning stoves, and nine kids, maybe Mom sent a few packing, as in "you're underfoot--go out and play." Today's families have ample kitchens, many a part of the "family" room ( formerly the "living room,") and I doubt they are even able to banish their offspring from them.
And sending kids "out to play" has gone the way of the dodo, if my own extended family is any indication. Kids not inclined to hang around the kitchen retreat to darkened rooms to  stare at large, colorful screens, and play things.
2--Pressuring them to take a bite    OY!  This is obvious. Who among us wants to try  Dog Paw Sechuan-Style if urged on by another pushy adult ? Left to our own devices, the aroma, color and foreignness of the offering will entice us completely unaided.
3--Keeping good stuff out of reach--my sainted mother tried this, once, with Hydrox Cookies, the former competitor to Oreos. ( Our household was always "different"--Hydrox instead of Oreos, Studebakers instead of Fords, Tru-Ade ( rarely!) instead of Coke,  etc., etc.) My brother found them instantly, over the fridge, and ate the whole bag, washed down with a quart of milk.
4--Dieting in front of your children--No one dieted in the 50's and 60's , did they? Anyway, this is apparently a potentially sensitive mother-daughter thing. Moms should never make their daughters feel  weird about themselves, and grownups should be leading active lives and eating tasty, fresh food in moderation.
5--Serving boring vegetables--Or boring hunks of pale pork, for that matter. My solution to "boring" is a shaker filled with red chile, spices, low salt--works for everything, except maybe pancakes. The word "boring" in front of veg is annoying to me, however, as is the eternal use by journalists of the word "lowly" in front of potato, along with writing of  the "wrath" of assorted hurricanes. Leave "wrath" to describe your cranky old uncle, people.
6--Giving up too soon--Good point. By the time your kid is 18 and ready to feed her/himself at some university or trade school,  she/he will still be alive on whatever she/he eats---kids go through odd eating phases--No white foods! Only white foods! Hotdogs and white rolls only! Plain pasta! Pink ice cream!

Mind you, my dear Auntie once tried the "never give up" route and left me at the dinner table for what seemed like hours as I refused to eat my clammy, cold overcooked peas. ( In fairness, they were probably fresh peas, as my Uncle was a farmer, but I have hated peas from birth, so...) I was a stubborn mite, and was released from the table at some point, peas still on the plate, as I am here today in my office writing about this utter  failure in semi-parenting.

The aforementioned pre-school is apparently a "lab" school where 4 year-olds are used as "lab rats" to test food-centered curricula. This cannot be bad, right?

But I jest....in this fine country of ours we have "childhood nutrition instructors," but evidently ( in Alaska) we have few experts instructing parents on how to guide their kids towards responsible sexual behavior, as in avoiding pregnancy before reaching the lofty peaks of adulthood.

On Fat Kids and Stingy Buffets

The Washington Post is running Part 2 of a major piece on childhood obesity in America, an exploration of the excesses of one country's love affair with bad food and drink choices, among other things.  But always part of this not-new story, is that in the poorest of our country's neighborhoods are the fewest decent supermarkets. The well-off have access to good food, gyms,  personal trainers, and multitudes of how-to books and magazines on health and well-being.
( My unsolicited advice to all new parents--never take your kid to McD's or the equivalent, period. One visit and they are hooked. )

Meanwhile, to buffets---I returned to a favorite Indian joint recently and found two of the three primary veggie offerings were 1--potatoes and a few green pepper hunks; 2--carrots and peas. Neither dish had much appeal, even though I enjoy both spuds and carrots. But I felt I was witnessing the "cheapening down" of what was once a worthwhile buffet, a phenomenon written up on the Internets recently.  And, puzzled by the not so fine taste of the chapati bread, I decided that they were made with inferior flour, to save costs, given the huge rise in wheat prices.  I will ask about that the next time I stop by, if I stop by again, but before parking myself for lunch, I will more closely scan the buffet offerings.   

Recipe Theft, Deceiving Your Kids, And All That

You may have heard about Jerry Seinfeld's defense of his wife against charges of what he dubbed "vegetable plagiarism." Apparently Jessica Seinfeld's book, Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, (Harper Collins,) came out about 6 months after Missy Chase Lapine's book on the same topic, The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals  ( Running Press.)  Ms Lapine evidently thinks it's possible that Ms Seinfeld took her ideas and reworked them for her book. Ms Seinfeld says she has never seen the book.

The ideas? Stuffing mushed up veggies in other foods--inside a burger?--in truth, I have read neither book--to get kids to eat them.   According to an AP story, on The David Letterman Show recently Jerry Seinfeld put it this way:

"I love the term 'plagiarism' for this little event," he said. "Because it used to be you had to really take a theme from a major novel, some sort of literary narrative. Now, you're in your kitchen making brownies, you sneak a little spinach in there, your name's dragged through the mud."

Funny! ( Humor defuses many things,  even  possible lawsuits (?), so Jessica is lucky to Jerry on her side.)

A few things here irk /interest me---

1---This "sneaky" and "deceptive" route regarding kids and good food raises many red flags with me, not least the sneaky bit.  What, are you afraid of your kids?  Invite your kids to eat a bit of everything, or at least to try a taste, from the moment the kiddo can do solid foods. Make the food delicious and colorful and unseasoned at first. ( And if she/he won't eat more than a whisper of a veg, do not panic--I recall several little kids who ate only white foods for months, or ate almost nothing, or ate only hotdogs, and they all survived and today are adults who cook  and eat extremely well.)

2--The titles....the  first  is awkward and badly written. The second is waaay too long.

3--The cookbook recipe thing--I have often wondered about this, even as I contributed a couple of "my" recipes to a series of books I wrote about food plants.  I mean, who knows where one gets these things?  A while back I was sauteeing shrimp in some red chile, scallions,  olive oil and garlic and I wanted to make a nifty sauce--so I removed the cooked shrimp, randomly grabbed some tequila, swirled it around in the pan and added a bit of half and half, and had a terrific "new" dish, served with quinoa and baby brocc. Did I really invent something new?  Had no other chef before me put together that combo? I have no clue, but remember, YOU READ IT HERE FIRST, dammit. 

Weigh in, people.

Astonishingly, TV Food Ads Aimed at Kids are Less Than Ideal

No big surprise here as we read in the Washington Post  that half the tv ads aimed at children in the US are for food, most of it in the lousy column. After analyzing 1600 hours of tv programming either specifically designed for kids, or likely to have a large child or teen viewing audience, the Kaiser Family Foundation discovered that " 34 percent marketed candy and snacks, 28 percent were for cereal, and 10 percent promoted fast foods. No commercials promoted fruit or vegetables. " ( Duh.)

In an ideal world young people would be fed well at home, never introduced to junky fast food, and tv would be an occasional diversion.

Tra la.

You can read more at the Kaiser site here.

( Cartoon from calorielab.com)