Food Issues

Why do we eat what we eat? As children, we learn what we like to eat and what we fear to eat. But growing up, we think of more and more reasons to choose one type of food over another. Every time I buy a can of tuna I worry about what I might be doing to the environment and whether my decision has an impact. Every time I choose between cage-free or ordinary eggs I wonder whether this is important. Do I go to the Farmers Market? Like most Americans, I seek out milk without hormones, and try to avoid beef or chicken treated with hormones. I find it sad that big, dishonest producers took over the term "organic" and then encouraged a diluted legal definition of it, leaving small honest farmers in the dust.<br /><br />As I thought about all these issues, I tried to work out a list of categories for making food choices. Here is my list:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Taste</span> is the first driver for what we want to eat. A few foods may taste good to everyone, or nearly everyone, but the old expressions "no accounting for taste" and "do not dispute taste" apply to food, so I'm not going to try to discuss this choice.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Health</span> is a reason that everyone agrees on: food should promote good health and maybe even long life. Above all we want our food to be clean and wholesome so as not to cause disease. From there, not much agreement, except maybe that we should all eat our vegetables. Scientific studies to date are are not definitive in telling us what constitutes a good or balanced diet. Can you be healthy if you are fat, or should you limit your caloric intake? Do "natural" foods promote health more than "industrial" foods? How much sugar is too much? Which additives, industrially created foods (like HFCS), genetically modified plants or animals, and chemicals are safe, which are bad, which are truly toxic? Are organic foods better for us? Allergies are real, but fear of them may lead to irrational behavior. Also real: contamination of eggs with salmonella, spinach with e-coli, and Chinese milk with industrial poisons.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cost of food</span> is an issue for many people. In the extreme, people may even have to put cost concerns above issues of taste and health. All the choices on my list from here on are considered luxuries for people in our society who can't afford expensive preferences, such as fair-trade coffee, organic vegetables and fruits, or net-caught tuna fish. Unscrupulous industrial food producers have made the situation even worse by violating even the most basic laws to make foods cheaper (such as the recent Iowa egg debacle). In other countries, food scarcity is much worse than here.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Social justice</span> is a food issue because farm workers in the US and abroad, employees of chicken-processing plants and similar industries, and many others who work on our food are poorly paid and badly treated. We may have a bad conscience about food insufficiency in the third world, while not being able to affect it through food choices. Similarly, political motivations and machinations have lead to over-fattening school lunches and have made unhealthy food the cheapest and easiest food to obtain.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The global environment,</span> including climate change, is a major issue in food decisions. What is the impact of mass agriculture, transport of foods over long distances, attempts to grow foods in inappropriate environments, and potential exhaustion of resources? Major environmental issues:<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Big farms vs. small farms</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">eating local farm products</span> instead of long-haul products are key issues for many people. The idea of a <span style="font-style: italic;">carbon footprint</span>, or how much fuel does it take to raise food and bring an item to your table, is an effort to measure the impact on the environment and use of resources. The freshness, healthfulness, and tastiness of local and also of organic produce also plays a role in the choice of big-small or distant-local.<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pollution</span> from many types of agriculture is another part of the same problem. Pesticides, feed-lot runoff, cattle near the spinach fields, etc. are all recognized dangers both to the environment and to food production. Pollution of food from other eco-disasters is also an issue, such as the impact of the Gulf oil spill on shellfish.<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Genetically modified foods</span> are beginning to be recognized as a danger to the environment -- for example, pesticide-resistant genes recently discovered to be escaping from GMO crops into nearby weeds.<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Overfishing and overuse of the oceans</span> is a source of many possible risks to the world food supply and the environment. Choosing which fish to eat is becoming more and more fraught as we read of the impact of mass fisheries, irresponsible and greedy behavior (such as using huge nets that kill unwanted or disallowed species), and the near-extinction of more and more species.</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Animal welfare</span> worries vegetarians and also many meat eaters. What constitutes ill-treatment of animals? Should humans cage them, slaughter them, hunt them, or take their milk, honey, or eggs?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Religious taboos</span> are among the oldest dietary issues. Jews may have the oldest and most complicated set of laws for what to eat, but Seventh-Day Adventists, Mormons, Methodists, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and others also dictate dietary limitations. Some religious thinkers are combining religious food taboos with concerns for social justice, so this might be a more important issue in the future for religious people.<br /><br />I only wish there were something so simple that I could do to make my own food choices easier and address at least some of these problems.

Food Issues

Why do we eat what we eat? As children, we learn what we like to eat and what we fear to eat. But growing up, we think of more and more reas...

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For $15 at the Farmers Market

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5036638996/" title="market4205 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market4205" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4132/5036638996_9e1199f86d.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />Here you see this morning's purchases at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market.<br /><br />I enjoyed my walk around the market and around Kerrytown as well.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5036021835/" title="market4168 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market4168" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/5036021835_26313a9ab5.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5036638770/" title="market4179 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market4179" height="374" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4124/5036638770_40400d9ddc.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5036640338/" title="market4166 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market4166" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4132/5036640338_7daff63b66.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5036639620/" title="market4187 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market4187" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4151/5036639620_0b165a998b.jpg" width="500" /></a>

For $15 at the Farmers Market

Here you see this morning's purchases at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market. I enjoyed my walk around the market and around Kerrytown as well.

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Food from the Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne's <span style="font-style: italic;">Scarlet Letter</span> is a tightly-constructed study of guilt and revenge, as anyone who went to high school more than around 30 years ago well knows. Before the main plot begins -- that of Hester Prynne, her ornate scarlet letter of shame, and the two men she was involved with -- Hawthorne provides a long and rather rambling introduction. He goes on about life in the old custom house at the time he was writing -- the 1840s. His sketches of custom-house workers are rather detailed, and I found myself rushing to get to the main story.<br /><br />Nevertheless, I was struck with his long paragraph about an elderly man with a great "ability to recollect the good dinners which it had made no small portion of the happiness of his life to eat." American food before the Civil War is an interesting subject, and this discourse offers quite a few specific examples of how Hawthorne and his contemporaries viewed the subject.<br /><br />He writes of this old gentleman:<br /><blockquote> <span style="font-size:85%;">"His gourmandism was a highly agreeable trait; and to hear him talk of roast meat was as appetizing as a pickle or an oyster. ... it always pleased and satisfied me to hear him expatiate on fish, poultry, and butcher's meat, and the most eligible methods of preparing them for the table. His reminiscences of good cheer, however ancient the date of the actual banquet, seemed to bring the savour of pig or turkey under one's very nostrils. There were flavours on his palate that had lingered there not less than sixty or seventy years, and were still apparently as fresh as that of the mutton chop which he had just devoured for his breakfast. I have heard him smack his lips over dinners, every guest at which, except himself, had long been food for worms. ... ghosts of bygone meals were continually rising up before him ... : a tenderloin of beef, a hind-quarter of veal, a spare-rib of pork, a particular chicken, or a remarkably praiseworthy turkey, which had perhaps adorned his board in the days of the elder Adams, would be remembered ... . The chief tragic event of the old man's life, so far as I could judge, was his mishap with a certain goose, which lived and died some twenty or forty years ago: a goose of most promising figure, but which, at table, proved so inveterately tough, that the carving-knife would make no impression on its carcase, and it could only be divided with an axe and handsaw."</span></blockquote>Of particular interest here is the emphasis on meat. The old man seems never to have seen a vegetable he found memorable -- or at least Hawthorne sets his focus on meat alone. The <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2010/09/nutrition-news.html">CDC study I was reading</a> yesterday about Americans skipping the produce aisle may reflect a deep American propensity!<br /><br />Mark Twain's imagined favorite meals receive a lot of attention as primary descriptions of the best food from the end of the 19th century, for example: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-beahrs/mark-twain-favorite-foods-comeback_b_737209.html">Twain's Feast: Forgotten Foods Worth Bringing Back</a>. Hawthorn's passage takes us back another half-century, and in recollection as much as another 100 years.<br /><br />Note: I read the <span style="font-style: italic;">Scarlet Letter</span> on my new Kindle, and took the passage from Project Gutenberg, so I cannot provide a page number. What would my high school English teacher say? Maybe that I waited an awfully long time to reread this quite enjoyable classic.

Food from the Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter is a tightly-constructed study of guilt and revenge, as anyone who went to high school more than around 30 y...

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Nutrition News

"Despite two decades of public health initiatives, stricter government dietary guidelines, record growth of farmers’ markets and the ease of products like salad in a bag, Americans still aren’t eating enough vegetables." So says the <span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span> -- <a id="hpwell_health1" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/25/health/policy/25vegetables.html?hpw">Told to Eat Its Vegetables, America Orders Fries.</a><br /><br />How did they know? I wanted to see the original article and learn how they concluded that Americans were eating too few servings of vegetables and fruit, and that consumption had scarcely changed despite many efforts. I had a terrible time finding the article from the minimal reference information in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Times</span>. Finally I located "<a href="http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5935a1.htm?s_cid=mm5935a1_w">State-Specific Trends in Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Among Adults -- United States, 2000--2009</a>" dated September 10, 2010, in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)</span> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<br /><br />The CDC study is a report of an annual survey attempting to learn if the CDC's published nutritional guidelines are being met throughout the country. Random phone dialers call people in every state and then ask them "How often do you..."<br /><ol><li>"...drink fruit juices such as orange, grapefruit, or tomato?"</li><li>"Not counting juice, how often do you eat fruit?"</li><li>"...eat green salad?"</li><li>"...eat potatoes, not including French fries, fried potatoes, or potato chips?"</li><li>"...eat carrots?" </li><li> "Not counting carrots, potatoes, or salad, how many servings of vegetables do you usually eat?"</li></ol>The article is a summary of these results for 2009 with a comparison to prior years. Only slight changes have been detected: "From 2000 to 2009, the overall prevalence of consuming fruit two or more times per day decreased slightly, but significantly, from 34.4% to 32.5%. Slight but significant increasing linear trends for fruit consumption were observed in four states, decreasing trends in 22 states and DC, and no significant change in 24 states."<br /><br />Campaigns to encourage vegetable consumption, repackaging vegetables, and efforts to change children's views and habits have not moved the results of this survey. Note: the CDC goal is "increasing to 75% the proportion of persons aged ≥2 years who consume two or more servings of fruit daily and to 50% those who consume three or more servings of vegetables daily."<br /><br />The article summarizes the various limitations to the conclusions, including the possibility that people without land lines have different consumption patterns and that people exaggerate their compliance with healthy norms. But there it is. I wish the <span style="font-style: italic;">Times</span> would give references/links when they cite articles. But I can't fault their reporting.

Nutrition News

"Despite two decades of public health initiatives, stricter government dietary guidelines, record growth of farmers’ markets and the e...

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Chocolate Mona Lisa

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8f3hA2MH0cwBzzeuYa5mmjxF0kNRxCYk8yO7NpMSkHp7h9PIb3dlBHpDNv3_z2cEE0j40ls-jJezbq8lM2LmkCwyH2XlyaKz_f5KV1vX9S4g-Fqvzs5hGHIwURWMNloYov2jGKu98_tBk/s1600/chocolate.mona.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520607769338370306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8f3hA2MH0cwBzzeuYa5mmjxF0kNRxCYk8yO7NpMSkHp7h9PIb3dlBHpDNv3_z2cEE0j40ls-jJezbq8lM2LmkCwyH2XlyaKz_f5KV1vX9S4g-Fqvzs5hGHIwURWMNloYov2jGKu98_tBk/s400/chocolate.mona.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 331px; height: 400px;" /></a><br /><br />$24 is the price of a 6 oz. chocolate bar with Mona Lisa computer-printed onto it (or any art work, for that matter). A curiosity. If you have an extra $24 lying around you can get it <a href="http://everythingart.com/">here</a>. I thank Aparna for the link!<br /><br />There's a lot of Mona Lisa stuff on this blog from Birmingham, MI -- in fact, I shopped this gallery several years ago, and have purchased many of the items they are selling. The owner saw a Smithsonian article about the Mona Lisa fan club in Paris which mentioned one member in Ann Arbor MI (that would have been me). So the owner advertised in an Ann Arbor publication, and some friend (I wish I remembered who) saw the ad and sent me there. And here again is someone directing me to see it. Fate? Nooo.<br /><br />For a couple of dollars at Wegman's you can get a cartoon version on a wrapper:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz-xonkubU1inKWdt-NFnnj6YHkVvDd5stmxxl_wwXlLcizhL8gn8eFv76Sh91bUFwpuLJ4nHzpROgYUM1FjaU-PfL0-Aaq1T1XS0-RB3P3U_DeqMY9eILmq27rQcEewliXe-8i_oxy9E/s1600-h/choco.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184693787999676050" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz-xonkubU1inKWdt-NFnnj6YHkVvDd5stmxxl_wwXlLcizhL8gn8eFv76Sh91bUFwpuLJ4nHzpROgYUM1FjaU-PfL0-Aaq1T1XS0-RB3P3U_DeqMY9eILmq27rQcEewliXe-8i_oxy9E/s400/choco.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br />For more on this subject see: <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-mona-lisa-didnt-eat.html">What Mona Lisa Didn't Eat</a>.

Chocolate Mona Lisa

$24 is the price of a 6 oz. chocolate bar with Mona Lisa computer-printed onto it (or any art work, for that matter). A curiosity. If you ha...

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What did Colombo eat?

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip-P3twMN_nsIPq5daESAU_3_o8XMIOMsCN5NmC4PVcehkKeI2okQGPr4UUEoVcydYhYH_i37vUc9DpVy2iIOgaNpngYhzlVjlA6LpE5sscJ26k_-CPruMZwdaPAdgv3N9UzwF2C9F7sMA/s1600/colombo1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519396705661203122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip-P3twMN_nsIPq5daESAU_3_o8XMIOMsCN5NmC4PVcehkKeI2okQGPr4UUEoVcydYhYH_i37vUc9DpVy2iIOgaNpngYhzlVjlA6LpE5sscJ26k_-CPruMZwdaPAdgv3N9UzwF2C9F7sMA/s400/colombo1.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 312px;" /></a>Colombo, the 1970s TV detective played by Peter Falk, always seemed to be a bumbling and ineffective investigator -- but then, "Oh, just one more thing." With those words he'd ask the question that proved the guilt of his suspect or put key information in perspective. Now the series is a classic of TV detective fiction.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0JfUN-2_jHR3rQhF_9owJfBSAVKCbT9RPpzBndEcgkUZoSj1I8Gi3k9c62ciMt2v2fmuisB0pyuN2lNzwyX9Za3FgtAAEnergGurnTmOWrNYk5ERvk94rAKbeBWETDqz9UI114hNkZCS9/s1600/colombo2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519396697173944946" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0JfUN-2_jHR3rQhF_9owJfBSAVKCbT9RPpzBndEcgkUZoSj1I8Gi3k9c62ciMt2v2fmuisB0pyuN2lNzwyX9Za3FgtAAEnergGurnTmOWrNYk5ERvk94rAKbeBWETDqz9UI114hNkZCS9/s400/colombo2.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 384px;" /></a>The episode "Murder Under Glass" begins with a look at a preposterously arrogant film critic and TV food star named Paul Girard. Besides posturing about his extensive food knowledge, Girard is obviously engaged in some type of dubious finances, and within minutes of the beginning of the episode, he prepares a vial of toxin from the notorious blowfish -- the Japanese fugu.<br /><br />When a restaurant owner dies of poison, we -- and Colombo -- know that Girard did it. But HOW? The poison was in a bottle of wine that had not yet been opened when Girard left the victim. Why was the restaurant owner furiously angry with Girard just before his death? What was the motive? Colombo's job is to discover all.<br /><br />Colombo's investigation involves interviews with a number of other restaurant owners, learning how they too were being victimized by the critic's extortion racket. At each step of the investigation, Colombo is offered delicious and showy delicacies. Galantine of duck with pistachios. A Chinese tea lunch (then unusual, now completely recognizable as Dim Sum.) A Japanese Kaiseki dinner complete with accompanying Geishas -- and then unusual sushi, including fugu. Mushrooms stuffed with crab and bechamel sauce. Eggs in aspic. A beautiful coffee cake. You get the picture: the most over-the-top restaurant dishes of the 1970s were recreated for this purpose. And Colombo appreciates every bite.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjXr6Zz6mhfv5wyzwZ0Fiba0FNfxcPoTkeK-DcWsU8KK3lr5W9j53MjH-73E0KwI8slAGXeU4-dr75UzyLOFSfkwYLuHrTygvFJSWG9_lYzV6wEKGoPKG7DEIXXIvz4AsPh87vm8FsSwov/s1600/colombo3.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519396693576586722" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjXr6Zz6mhfv5wyzwZ0Fiba0FNfxcPoTkeK-DcWsU8KK3lr5W9j53MjH-73E0KwI8slAGXeU4-dr75UzyLOFSfkwYLuHrTygvFJSWG9_lYzV6wEKGoPKG7DEIXXIvz4AsPh87vm8FsSwov/s400/colombo3.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 384px;" /></a>After all these interviews, the restaurateurs, Colombo (in a tux instead of his usual ratty raincoat), and Girard all attend a formal banquet for restaurant owners and food writers. A whole series of such dishes are paraded out of the kitchen: a suckling pig, a large platter of lobsters, whole small birds, fish in jellied sauce and many more. Pictures from this scene appear at left.<br /><br />The final confrontation between Colombo and Girard takes place as Colombo himself prepares an elaborate veal scallopini, explaining each step as he tightens his case and Girard squirms suavely. Girard opens another bottle of wine and tries to repeat his murder scheme. Of course that scheme fails. Colombo switches the glasses and explains to him (and to us, the audience) exactly how the original murder was done.<br /><br />It's a wonderful visual journey through high level restaurant culture of the 1970s. Before the Food Network. Before New Cuisine of all sorts. Before sushi was available in every small town in America. And before Anton Ego the critic as arrogant as Girard encountered Remy the Rat in <span style="font-style: italic;">Ratatouille</span>. What fun!

What did Colombo eat?

Colombo, the 1970s TV detective played by Peter Falk, always seemed to be a bumbling and ineffective investigator -- but then, "Oh, jus...

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Apple Crumble

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvULYHAuPwQpSmZAz-smfyeIjqf6DmwlTwoCfdKDQp1uML-hQITThAfupUDWmlB0HdJBVe2O1YeTXAzaegnWMuYlWqoyIW9FzwBRmdGmjDP5H5gKfzf6PdgMQAuSBRlkzU4tc0wpRmcWhx/s1600/crumble4149.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519151189539865538" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvULYHAuPwQpSmZAz-smfyeIjqf6DmwlTwoCfdKDQp1uML-hQITThAfupUDWmlB0HdJBVe2O1YeTXAzaegnWMuYlWqoyIW9FzwBRmdGmjDP5H5gKfzf6PdgMQAuSBRlkzU4tc0wpRmcWhx/s400/crumble4149.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a>Among the hundreds of recipes for apple crumble, I tried a slightly different one tonight.<br /><br />Notable: I used my new vanilla powder in the topping -- vanilla extract is not suitable for dispersing into the dry ingredients, so this allows a slight flavor variation, meant to go with French Vanilla ice cream.<br /><br />Using a fork and a sharp knife, I mixed/cut the topping ingredients together until the butter was in olive-sized pieces.<br /><br />Then I filled up my baking dish with sliced apples and a few orphaned strawberries, sprinkled the fruit with lemon juice, and topped with the topping. I baked it for around 50 minutes at 375 -- after a bit of cooling, it thickened up nicely. My baking dish is an odd size, but this would work in a 9 by 9 inch pan.<br /><br />For the topping, I used:<br /><blockquote>1 cup classic Quaker oats<br />1 cup brown sugar (compact)<br />1/3 cup flour<br />1 stick butter<br />1/2 tsp. vanilla powder<br />1/2 tsp. cinnamon<br />a handful of walnuts (around 1/2 cup)</blockquote>

Apple Crumble

Among the hundreds of recipes for apple crumble, I tried a slightly different one tonight. Notable: I used my new vanilla powder in the topp...

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