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| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
BBC on 'feeding the world'
The perils of cooking with greenhouse gas. |
Tom Philpott |
29 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| The BBC has issued a pretty clear-eyed report on food production and climate change, the podcast of which you can download here. The report makes no brief for sustainable ag, but it does cogently question industrial ag's ability to 'feed the world' as climate change saps water tables and population continues to grow. |
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| Topics: agriculture, climate, food, industrial ag, sustainable ag (all these topics) |
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More beef = fewer babies?
Growth promoters in beef may damage sperm |
Julia Olmstead |
29 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| As reported by the BBC, a University of Rochester study found recently that men whose mothers ate lots of beef during their pregnancies had lower sperm counts than the sons of women who ate little or no beef while pregnant: Among sons of mothers who ate a lot of beef, 17.7 percent had a sperm concentration below the World Health Organization sub-fertility threshold of 20 million sperm per millilitre of seminal fluid. The figure for the sons of lower beef consumers ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, green living, health (all these topics) |
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Punishment for gluttons?
Rising costs affect consumers |
Clark Williams-Derry |
28 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| One of the side effects of the rapid increase in ethanol consumption in the U.S. is that corn -- the main feedstock for ethanol -- has gotten much more expensive. Just take a look at the futures markets: the July 2007 corn contract started climbing last fall, which was about the time people started to realize just how quickly demand for corn-based ethanol was growing. Obviously, rising costs trickle down to consumers in all sorts of ways. If corn prices st ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, energy, ethanol, food, green living, health (all these topics) |
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Food or fuel?
Biofuels force the choice on us |
Adam Browning |
28 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Lester Brown says the diversion is already happening: If you think you are spending more each week at the supermarket, you may be right. The escalating share of the U.S. grain harvest going to ethanol distilleries is driving up food prices worldwide. Corn prices have doubled over the last year, wheat futures are trading at their highest level in 10 years, and rice prices are rising too. In addition, soybean futures have risen by half. A Bloomberg analysis not ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, energy, food, Lester Brown (all these topics) |
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Appropriate technology?
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Roz Cummins |
28 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Here's an interesting article about a rabbi who converted a bus into a wood-fired matzo bakery ... |
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| Topics: food, religion and spirituality (all these topics) |
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Burger King jumps on the humane bandwagon
Cage-free Croissan'wich, anyone? |
Jason D Scorse |
28 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| This has been a big week for animal-welfare advocates, as BK now commits to buying eggs and pork from animals that have not been raised in cages. There are big environmental impacts here as well, although I'm still trying to sift through them. |
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| Topics: agriculture, animal welfare, food, green living (all these topics) |
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In India, bullets fly as farms succumb to chemical factories
A 'Maoist insurgency' in a global information-technology hub? |
Tom Philpott |
27 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Did you know that India, hub of the global information economy and destination of untold numbers of outsourced U.S. jobs, is in the grips of a Maoist insurgency? A recent Reuters article referred (a bit casually) to: the Maoist insurgency that has spread to about half of India's 29 states and has been described by Prime Minister Singh as the country's biggest internal security challenge since independence in 1947. Whoa! And what's the root cause? It turns out t ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, India (all these topics) |
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Is humane meat better for the environment?
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Jason D Scorse |
26 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| According to this NYT article, one of the country's biggest restaurant moguls has decided that he will only sell humanely treated animals in all of his restaurants. This is, in one sense, a great victory. But I fear that there may be unintended consequences. Humane meat is likely to be nearly as environmentally intensive and inefficient as factory-farm raised meat (requiring much more water, energy, and producing much more CO2 than plant food) so by convincing the ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, animal welfare, food, green living, sustainable ag (all these topics) |
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'Tis the Season (for earth and wallet-friendly beans)
Beans, beans, good for your recipe |
Roz Cummins |
24 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| In keeping with the recent topics of eating low on the food chain for environmental reasons (e.g., beans instead of meat) and cooking for a crowd, I dug out an old recipe for a curried red lentil soup with an apple cider or pear juice base, so I could double it to serve 10-12 people instead of 5-6. I've always been told that to double a recipe, you should double the basic ingredients but not the spices. What I do is adjust the spices by slowly adding small increments ... |
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| Topics: food, green living, recipes (all these topics) |
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Playing with food
Er, food data that is |
Clark Williams-Derry |
23 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| I'm not much of a gourmand, but I do love to play with food. Well, food data, anyway. So when I happened upon the Food System Factoids blog, I totally pigged out. The menu may not be for everyone, but if you have a craving for analyses of food pricing trends, or evaluations of carbon emissions from U.S. agriculture, you'll find plenty to satisfy. Take, for instance, this post on the relative change in prices of soft drinks and processed fats vs. fruits an ... |
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| Topics: food, green living, health (all these topics) |
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Rethinking the bottom line
Bill McKibben questions thinking as usual when it comes to climate. |
Anna Fahey |
21 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| The old thinking, as author and thinker Bill McKibben explains in today's LA Times, goes like this: bigger is always better, growth is good no matter what, and a booming stock market is the ultimate measure of our success. McKibben illustrates the kind of lopsided priorities that naturally flow when we're ruled by the bottom line, pointing to a scarcely-reported White House report that said the U.S. would be pumping out almost 20 percent more greenhous ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Bill McKibben, farmers markets, food, green living, health, local food (all these topics) |
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'Drop-dead gorgeous guts'
Metamucil's bold new marketing, uh, move |
Tom Philpott |
20 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Most people know intuitively that when they eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, they feel better and probably even look better. It's a virtuous circle, and you can try it at home. Eat fresh produce. Feel better. Look better. Crave fresh produce. But the food-pharmaceutical industry (yes, they're related) doesn't make much money when you eat a lot of fresh produce. It makes much more sense to them if you eat a lot of 'value-added' (i.e., highly processed) ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, green living, health (all these topics) |
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Sex: Coming to a local coffee shop
Young Dems sexify your mug |
Kate Sheppard |
08 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| It's about cups. Sexy, sexy cups. Well, actually it's about getting college students thinking about the planet and about changing their personal habits. But the "sexy" sure doesn't hurt. The University of Washington's Young Democrats club launched a Sustainability is Sexy campaign this month to encourage students to bring their own cups to the campus's coffee shops. And their sexy slogan is popping up all over campus on shirts, buttons, stickers, and post ... |
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| Topics: food, green living, Seattle, sex, waste (all these topics) |
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Diet Coke + vitamins = healthy beverage!
Uh, no it doesn't |
Tom Philpott |
07 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| News flash: Coca-Cola has responded to consumer demand and is now producing 'healthy' beverages. 'Diet and light brands are actually health and wellness brands,' Coke's CEO E. Neville Isdell told The New York Times. He was referring to a new product called Diet Coke Plus, which is Diet Coke plus a few vitamins. Where do I start?Diet Coke consists of artificially blackened water tinged with synthetic chemicals. Here are its ingredients, from most prevalent to l ... |
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| Topics: food, health (all these topics) |
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What's the deal with soy sauce? [Seinfeld voice]
Seriously, isn't it just gross? |
David Roberts |
05 Mar 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Having adopted a quasi-vegetarian lifestyle, I can finally join in: man, you meat eaters suck! Ahem. Speaking of my quasi-vegetarianism ... what's the deal with soy sauce? I've found that eating vegetarian in practice means eating lots and lots of Mexican (rice and beans) and Chinese (rice and veggies) food. When it comes to the latter, the standard practice seems to be frying some veggies in a wok, dumping them over rice, and dousing the whole mess with soy sauce ... |
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| Topics: food, vegetarianism and veganism (all these topics) |
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Fair trade for a fortnight
Could you do it? |
Sarah van Schagen |
28 Feb 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Could you limit your food and bev choices to all organic or all fair trade? Or both? What would be left on your plate and (eek!) in your wallet? Two men (one a Seattle-based reporter and one a U.K.-based nonprofit organizer) recently took on food-related challenges to answer those very questions and bring attention to the (un)availability of organic and fair-trade options.Michael Stusser's month-long organic binge started as a Supersize Me-style experiment; in t ... |
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| Topics: food, organic food (all these topics) |
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Edible media: Bee here, now
Please? |
Tom Philpott |
28 Feb 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Edible Media takes an occasional look at interesting or deplorable food journalism on the web. Of mites and men (and bees) [Insert perfunctory 'buzz' reference into lead:] Buzz about the collapse of domesticated honeybee populations hit the front page of the New York Times yesterday. The steep drop in bee numbers is alarming: A bee laid its little tentacles on the flower that produced every fruit, vegetable, and nut you've ever eaten. And that means you, too, ... |
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| Topics: food, wildlife (all these topics) |
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Eat local foods, import biofuels
A message from Kenya and Biopact |
Ron Steenblik |
23 Feb 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Over on the Biopact website -- probably the best website for up-to-date international news on bio-energy science and markets -- they have posted an interesting commentary, based on a BBC interview, on how small Kenyan farmers, Mr. Peter Ndivo and Mr. Samuel Mauthike, are affected by the confusion engendered by concepts such as 'carbon footprints,' 'fair trade,' and 'food miles.' Biopact's message? Buy your vegetables and fruits locally, if you must, but please allow ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, energy, food, Kenya, local food (all these topics) |
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Bad Wrap
How Archer Daniels Midland cashes in on Mexico's tortilla woes |
Tom Philpott |
22 Feb 2007 |
Victual Reality |
| Much has been made in the U.S. press about Mexico's "tortilla crisis" -- the recent spike in the price of its definitive corn-based flatbread. Media reports tend to focus blame on U.S. ethanol production, which has surged over the past year, causing the global price of corn to double. The situation stoked the food vs. fuel debate, showing that even marginally offsetting gasoline with ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, Mexico, Victual Reality (all these topics) |
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Recipe for a Revolution
How a cookbook renaissance heated up the sustainable-food movement |
Tom Philpott |
15 Feb 2007 |
Victual Reality |
| In the postmodern United States, a cultural critic laments, "The pleasures of the table are rarely appreciated at face value." Speak truth to flour. A near-hysterical concern with health has replaced common sense, he continues, leading to all manner of dubious decisions: "Americans blithely drink sodas filled with artificial flavors and sweeteners, yet paste ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, industrial ag, recipes, slow food, Victual Reality (all these topics) |
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'Tis the season (for a romantic dinner ... for eight!)
Roz Cummins whips up Valentine vittles |
Roz Cummins |
14 Feb 2007 |
Gristmill |
| I don't know about you, but sometimes it just seems like more fun to have dinner with a group of friends -- those who are single and those who aren't -- on Valentine's Day than with just one person. Why? Well, let me put it this way: having dinner with just one person, no matter how beloved that person is, does not guarantee that your evening will be a romantic one. Case in point: A few years ago I called a former beau to ask if he wanted to go out to dinner, as we we ... |
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| Topics: food, holiday, recipes (all these topics) |
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Yo ho ho 'n' a bottle o' scum
New Belgium beermakers to brew algae-based biodiesel |
Sarah van Schagen |
13 Feb 2007 |
Gristmill |
| New Belgium Brewing Co. is known for its Fat Tire Amber Ale and a number of other bubbly bevvies. But you'll want to think twice before chugging the company's latest concoction: the ecofriendly microbrewery is teaming up with energy startup Solix Biofuels to brew biodiesel from algae. (Yeah, I pirated the headline -- arrr ... how could I resist!)Before you choke on your brewski, let me explain why you're in no danger of finding bits of pond scum in your pint glass: ... |
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| Topics: food, business, biofuels (all these topics) |
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Valentine's day alert!
It's coming, and it can't be stopped |
Sarah K. Burkhalter |
09 Feb 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Ah, Valentine's Day -- are we still pretending anybody likes this holiday? Single people feel insecure and excluded; people in relationships feel guilt-ridden and obligated to consume items blingy or fluffy. I say, if you love someone, tell 'em today, and on Feb. 14, obstinately refuse to wear red. Yet, knowing that obsessive marketing and the power of tradition are likely once again to outweigh my exhortations that we all just fuhgedaboutit, I would be remiss ... |
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| Topics: consumerism, food, green living, holiday, sex (all these topics) |
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My veg moment
That's it for me and industrial meat |
David Roberts |
07 Feb 2007 |
Gristmill |
| The other day I went to Costco with my older boy -- during the Super Bowl, for stealth. It took a bit of persuading to get him there, so I told him about the ladies who stand around and hand out food samples. Everything was going fine. A mozzarella ball, yum. A little square of pizza, delish. Even the chicken taquito was tolerable. Then I made the mistake.A hunched lady with a bright red cart was handing out small pieces of chicken breast in teriyaki sauce. Or rather, ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, industrial ag, vegetarianism and veganism (all these topics) |
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Reform School
Bush's farm bill 'reform' proposal falls woefully short |
Tom Philpott |
06 Feb 2007 |
Victual Reality |
| Bush's farm bill "reform" proposal falls woefully short By Tom Philpott 06 Feb 2007 Note: This is the third of a three-column series on the 2007 farm bill. The first two columns are here and here. The author promises not to return to the topic for at least a few weeks -- but will likely backslide from this pledge in his Gristmill blog posts. Can Bush point the way for America's farmers? Photo: whitehouse.gov/Eric Draper In this series, I promised to lay out new models for ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, food, local food, politics, sustainable ag, Victual Reality (all these topics) |
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