food museum blog

Commercial Raw Cookie Dough Addicts, We Are Soooo Sorry!

Who among us does not recall "licking the beaters" when Mom (in her quaint apron) had been baking?
Who has never run a finger inside a bowl used for making, say, muffins, and licked off the uncooked dough residue?
We know you're out there!
Now--- acknowledgment of this happy and innocent indulgence many years ago led to the creation of ice creams containing, supposedly, "cookie dough." As in Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream.
(In the course of my intense research for this post I came across this hilarious, off-the-wall rant from 2004 on "How Much (C.Dough) Is In Cookie Dough Ice Cream?")

Anyway!

Across this great nation,  people who stand in front of their fridges inhaling uncooked c. dough straight from the packaging of Nestle's Toll House Cookie Dough  are getting freakishly ill and tummy achy from E.coli bacteria contained therein. 25 have been hospitalized.

Please do not do this, even with another brand of c.dough. This is a revolting and no longer hidden habit of yours, and  we regret that you have become really, really ill from pursuing it. 

You might look into purchasing and consuming library paste,  if it still exists. Oddball kids at school used to eat it, back in the day.

Pig Factories and the Pig Flu

Much to do about hand-washing these days, while many wash their hands of any connection between factory farming of animals and possible unpleasant and unhealthy repercussions.

Flies figure heavily in this story. Flies, unsanitary conditions, polluted water.
Read this for some views not yet heard much on the nightly news.

Piracy, Food, Diplomacy, And All That

Our new favorite criminals, Somali pirates, were just foiled in their attempt to halt the progress of yet another American freighter, the Liberty Sun.

According to an AP story by Elizabeth A. Kennedy, "The ship, with 20 American mariners, had left Houston with a load of humanitarian food aid for the U.N. World Food Program. Some of that aid was destined for Somalia, where nearly half the country's 7 million people depend on food aid."

Further on in the article,  "U.N. spokesman Peter Smerdon said more food aid was to have been delivered by another cargo ship hijacked by pirates on Tuesday, the Lebanese-owned MV Sea Horse. It was headed to Mumbai, India, to pick up 7,327 tons of WFP food for Somalia.

"WFP is also extremely concerned that people in Somalia will go hungry unless the Sea Horse is quickly released or a replacement ship can be found," Smerdon said."

Do we really believe pirates think they  "... are fighting illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste in Somali waters?"  If this is true, then clearly these are concerns to be discussed by diplomats.

Perhaps illegal fishing was once the issue, but I suspect now that the pirates are young guys given guns, exploited by their organized crime handlers, and used to extort vast sums of money from shipping companies and others for purposes unknown. ( Food aid decidedly not among them.)

Food Bank Coming to MY Neighborhood

This weekend I noticed that one of my neighbors was selling burritos and lemonade at the end of her driveway.  She clearly was fund-raising for something, taking advantage of the crowds piling into both the baseball and soccer fields nearby. When I stopped to speak with her I learned that she was trying to raise $100, enough to secure a delivery from the local Roadrunner Food Bank.

Here? $100?  "People are hurting," she said, "Right in this area. I see kids going home from school with their backpacks loaded with food from school-- extra little milks, crackers...That never happened before."  The food bank will distribute from a truck in an appropriate public parking lot for $100 a month.

I bought a burrito for $2 and handed it to a hungry young guy visiting me. We all started to talk about people losing their jobs, their homes, the food issue, and of course I put in my pitch for everyone to start growing some veggies in containers. 

Ironically, this neighbor was the same woman who had stopped caring for the well-established pear, peach and apple trees in her garden soon after she moved in. I had noticed that the apple tree was thick with fruit, but no one was picking it. Mentioning that I knew the fruit was delicious from years past,   I offered to harvest the apples, just keeping a bag for myself.  She said "Well, we buy our fruit from the supermarket, so...."  

Change is coming.

Gas Bags--Bag 'Em

 Wind has come early to Albuquerque, and left in its aftermath plastic bags. All over the mesa bags are caught in tumbleweeds, or  snagged on sage.  In the past few days I have retrieved as many of them as I can-- offerings from the Giant Mini-Mart, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried, Walmart, Walgreen's, The Dollar Store and Smith's come up again and again. Over 3 dozen bags thus far.

The technology for biodegradable/compostable bags made from corn starch or potato starch, renewable commodities, has existed for years. As have reusable bags of all types--string, straw, leather, nylon, dried dung, you name it.

Plastic bags are so 20th century, so made from petroleum, so lethal to wildlife.  How hard is it to start carrying reusable bags?  San Fran was the first American city, as far as I know,  that banned plastic bags in use by chain stores and supermarkets. LA will enforce a ban starting 2010. Vermont is intending to impose a tax of 17 cents on each plastic bag used by the customer, also beginning 2010.  The Colorado legislature recently backed away from a ban, the silly boobs. But the planet still hosts buggy whip manufacturers who cannot let go, apparently.

The entire country of Ireland banned the bags long since.  Other countries are in various stages of anti-plastic bagism. Shoppers in Belgian supermarkets who do not bring their own carrying devices must withstand withering glances fr0m their fellows, and pay for the flimsy bags the store may still have tucked under the checker's stool.  Even China is getting steamed on the issue.

Here at home I gently encourage the clerks at Walgreen's not to automatically toss a toothbrush into a plastic bag. Wait. See if the customer really needs one. Etc.

Recently I was one of the first 50 customers to snare a reusable bag at Ace Hardware. I think stores should either give these away willy-nilly--free advertising--or sell them at cost.

The no-frills grocery store I pop into in Florida solves the problem by having no bags at all. You either bring in a bag, grab a used t.paper carton from the store, or juggle your goods to the car.

Before the petro bags are all gone, however, if you're handy with a crochet hook, visit this.
( Tks to www.plasticbagbag.com for pic of a plasticbagbag.)

Buy Palestinian!

 Olive oil from Palestinian growers will become a Fairtrade brand sold to UK consumers, according to this report from The Guardian.  Today marks the start of an event called Fairtrade Fortnight, an initiative of the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK.

"(PM Gordon) Brown said: "Olive oil production provides an essential part of the West Bank economy. In buying this oil, British shoppers will be helping the farmers of Palestine to make a living.""

The international "fairtrade" movement came about to provide greater equity in global trade, promoting sustainability and supporting better conditions for disadvantaged producers and workers.

You can show FT solidarity with the Brits next month by eating a FT banana next month...see what's up with that here.

(  Tks to http://greenprophet.com/2008/11/16/4310/dr-bronners-organic-olive-oil/for photo of Palestinian olive grower.)

From Soup to Song: La Chorale sous les Etoiles

A Frenchman named Pierre Anthian had a notion:

According to a report in the Guardian Weekly, "I already had the idea of starting a choir when I was volunteering in a soup kitchen back home in France. I didn't want to just serve homeless people soup, as if I were a farmer handing out hay to a herd of cattle. I wanted to help them make something of themselves, to live with human dignity. 

Just as the idea was developing, I received my papers to migrate to Canada. I began volunteering in a soup kitchen again as soon as I settled in Montreal, but this time I didn't just ladle soup into the bowls of the homeless who queued up in front of me: I got to know them."

The result? The 12th year of the "homeless choir," in Montreal. Though they started out singing in the Metro, since that beginning they have performed widely, and recorded an album. And Anthian has moved ahead with varied plans for linking up homeless men with employment and educational opportunities.

See his website here.

( Photo by  Nachammai Raman.)

USDA Kicks Lethal Legumists Off The List

Verbatim, from the USDA press release:

USDA PROPOSES TO DEBAR PEANUT CORPORATION OF AMERICA

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2009 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced that it is suspending, and proposing to debar, Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) and its subsidiary Tidewater Blanching LLC from doing business with the federal government. Effective immediately, PCA is excluded from participating in government contracts or subcontracts, as well as federal non procurement programs. PCA will also be excluded from doing business as agents or representatives of other contractors, including serving as a subcontractor to other individuals or companies doing business with the government.

The suspension will remain in effect for one year and the debarment is proposed for three years, beginning today.

"The actions of PCA indicate that the company lacks business integrity and business honesty, which seriously and directly hinders its ability to do business with the federal government," said David Shipman, Acting Administrator of USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service.

"All Natural;" "No Preservatives!" Caveat Emptor, Shoppers.

Yeah, right.  In quotes, that's what it says on a 12 oz carton of grape tomatoes I bought recently. Yep, from Mexico, and distributed by Legend Distributing, Glendale, AZ. ( Not local!)

Anyway under those statements it reads, " Coated with food grade petroleum-based wax to maintain freshness."  Does not "maintain freshness" imply "preservatives?"

OK.   So I Googled the wax and was oh so reassured to learn that the Bush-era FDA says it is healthy for humans to eat. ( And it's applied in tiny amounts, people, so...)  The very same FDA that ignored repeated nasty inspection reports re the Peanut Corp of America plant in Blakely, GA.

I am returning the 'maters. I should have read the fine print in any case. And I should have snagged some cans of organic toms instead.

Guilt.

NB  Not all FDA employees are snakes and charlatans. Their budgets have been cut, they don't have enough inspectors, and so on.   Grrr..........

( Photo above from website re food poisoning--http://www.foodpoisonblog.com/articles/foodborne-illness-outbreaks/)

Impoverished Americans Headed for Obesity?

We were doing just fine in our headlong rush to obesity before the financial meltdown, thank you.
But apparently, according to this Reuters piece,  "Things are going to get worse," ( Adam Drenowski) told Reuters in a telephone interview. "Obesity is a toxic result of a failing economic environment."
Dare I say maybe ignorance is involved as well?

Drenowski is director of the Nutrition Services Program at the University of Washington.
He went on to say that "... it was possible to eat in an affordable and healthy way, partly by relying on the basic foods which saw America through the Depression of the 1930s. The answer lies in affordable but nutrient-rich foods such as ground beef, beans, milk, nuts, cheese, carrots, potatoes, canned tomatoes, soups, and rice," he said, calling it "a diet for a new Depression."

Eggs? Tofu? Quinoa? Sweet potatoes?  Cooking at home? Homemade soup? And bread?
Sheesh.