Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Vitamin article - key is balance
I found this article interesting because it is mainstream--anyone can understand it--and it sums up my view about vitamin supplements. I know so many people that spend mucho dinero buying health food/vitamin supplements. When did it become more attractive to take a pill in place of eating a piece of fruit?!
Balance is key. I see no harm in taking a multi-vitamin, but the best way to ensure that your vitamin levels are right, is to consume a colorful and diverse group of fruits and vegetables. The article touches on the fact that in the U.S., there has been a shift from concerning ourselves with vitamin deficiencies to searching for benefits of larger doses of certain vitamins. And, as the article points out, some studies are showing no benefit from high dose vitamin consumption...
My senior project in college dealt with antioxidants and immune response. I remember having the same overall conclusion that is discussed in this article: anti-oxidants can help against free-radicals, but some free-radicals are important to the immune response. In other words, balance is a factor.
Eat your veggies! I think it would be hard to find a nutrition or medical professional who disagreed with that idea.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
More people, more money, same iconic brand names...
But, it seems too difficult to find balance on the high wire between artisan and commodity. Do consumer goods, especially food stuffs, lose character when they are brought to the mainstream? Do the owners preserve the family traditions? the same old flavor? or do they make some compromises for the sake of mass production? Reading about Murray's Cheese Shop partnering with the supermarket group Kroger made these thoughts come to mind. Murray's is great cheese shop and they have done well in NYC--a wide selection and excellent ideas! The commercialization of the Patsy's name, a famous New York City eatery, also comes to mind; I remember the first time I saw a jar of their sauce on the shelf at the grocer. Best wishes to these companies in their endeavors, but it really says something when a creative entrepreneur can resist the power of the dollar to maintain their artisanal status.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
re: farmer markets
"Between 2002 and 2006, there was a 40% increase in the number of markets nationwide, according to the market research group Packaged Facts. When last counted in 2006, there were 4,385 markets in the country, each of which exposes consumers to regional growers and purveyors."
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
trendy preserves
One trend I have definitely noticed on the net is the return to home canning—putting food up for the winter. It might be that people are budgeting, trying to reduce their carbon footprints, or simply that they have fallen in love with their local farmer(s). Or perhaps the abundance of information and communication on the internet is driving more individuals to become do-it-yourself-canners. There are numerous interesting reads out there with some home preservation info:
NY Times Topic on Local Food, Preserving Your Bounty, and Preserve.
I heard that canned food consumption does increase during economic downturns, so I am wondering if home economics have paired with slow foodie trends to usher in a new generation of home preservers. Hopefully if this does happen, people will preserve with care to ensure their safety. I hope that people heat their projects correctly to reduce the chances of a clostridium botulinum problem. It would be interesting to see if an increase in home canning correlates with an increase in C. bot. occurrences (hopefully not!). Could the return to home canning be a large enough movement to have an effect on the public health level?
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Everyone needs food!
"United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, in an address at the World Food Summit, being held in
Ki-moon told the attendees that nations must minimize export restrictions and import tariffs during the food price crisis and quickly resolve world trade talks.
"The world needs to produce more food," Mr. Ban said. "Food production needs to rise by 50% by the year 2030 to meet rising demand."
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization is hosting the three-day summit to try to solve the short-term emergency of increased hunger caused by soaring prices and to help poor countries grow enough food to feed their own."
http://www.fao.org/foodclimate/conference/statements/en/