What the Pilgrims Really Ate

MyRecipes.com

If you think squash casserole and pecan tassies came over on the Mayflower, think again. Take a peek at the foods from the first Thanksgiving feast...

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The Copenhagen Conference on Food Security

by Lester R. Brown
November 10, 2009
Earth Policy Institute

For the 193 national delegations gathering in Copenhagen for the U.N. Climate Change Conference in December, the reasons for concern about climate change vary widely. For delegations from low-lying island countries, the principal concern is rising sea level. For countries in southern Europe, climate change means less rainfall and more drought. For countries of East Asia and the Caribbean, more powerful storms and storm surges are a growing worry. This climate change conference is about all these things, and many more, but in a very fundamental sense, it is a conference about food security.

We need not go beyond ice melting to see that the world is in trouble on the food front. The melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets is raising sea level. If the Greenland ice sheet were to melt entirely, sea level would rise by 23 feet. Recent projections show that it could rise by up to 6 feet during this century...

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Healthy Fall Farmers' Market Vegetables -- And How to Cook with Them

By Laura Sampedro
The Daily Green
November 2, 2009

How to use 10 tricky fall fruits and vegetables in delicious seasonal recipes. See more seasonal Fall recipes.

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Simplifying Supplements

Carmel Wroth | September/October 2009 issue
Ode Magazine

A user’s guide to vitamins and minerals, from calcium to omega-3s.

..."The basic principle is that supplements are not substitutes," says Tuft University's Blumberg. "You can't eat a terrible diet and take supplements and think you are okay."

"While it is possible to obtain sufficient amounts of important nutrients through a healthy diet, it is nonetheless difficult," concludes Weil. "This is especially true for micronutrients, including vitamins, minerals, fiber and the range of unique phytochemicals. Improving your diet will certainly contribute to your health, but getting a consistent level of nutrient intake through diet alone is a challenge, one best met through appropriate supplementation."...

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Hearty and Delicious Kale, Beet, Feta and Hazelnut Salad

By Erin Hollingsworth
Planet Green
October 2, 2009

From the 100-Mile Diet Website...

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Under the Clinton Global Initiative, Growing Power takes its grassroots-agriculture model to Africa

by Tom Philpott
Grist
September 28, 2009

"Growing Power commits to strengthen food security for school children and their care givers in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Growing Power will build a new model of local food systems to ensure adequate nutrition in the short-term and build a long-term foundation for competitive African human capital in the global market place."

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Dear Big Ag: World Hunger Is Not for Sale

TreeHugger
September 25, 2009

The objectives of this week's Global Harvest Initiative symposium, which focused on coordinated efforts to address world hunger, were compelling. World hunger already affects 1 billion people and the numbers are projected to climb. Unfortunately, thanks to big agribusiness sponsors ADM, DuPont, John Deere and Monsanto, the event ultimately amounted to nothing more than glitzy green packaging for the same old unnecessary gift of chemical dependence for the world's farmers...

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JBS: industrial meat’s new heavyweight champ

Grist Magazine
September 23, 2009

Remember two weeks ago, when Tom Philpott warned that if JBS snapped up Pilgrim's Pride, four transnational giants would dominate the U.S. meat market? Well, it happened. Philpott explains what it all means.

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Argentine Cattle No Longer Home Just On The Range

by Juan Forero
Morning Edition
National Public Radio
September 14, 2009

Argentina's vast plains are bigger than Texas, and for more than a century, great herds of cattle roamed and ate to their hearts' content. That helped build up Argentina's image as the producer of lean and natural grass-fed beef.

But ever so quietly, Argentina is increasingly fattening its herd in American-style feedlots. Promoters say it's efficient, but some Argentines wonder if quality isn't being lost for the sake of quantity...

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Big Food vs. Big Insurance

By MICHAEL POLLAN
The New York Times Op-Ed
September 9, 2009

...No one disputes that the $2.3 trillion we devote to the health care industry is often spent unwisely, but the fact that the United States spends twice as much per person as most European countries on health care can be substantially explained, as a study released last month says, by our being fatter. Even the most efficient health care system that the administration could hope to devise would still confront a rising tide of chronic disease linked to diet.

That’s why our success in bringing health care costs under control ultimately depends on whether Washington can summon the political will to take on and reform a second, even more powerful industry: the food industry...

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There's Power in a Potluck

by Jerusha Klemperer
Huffington Post
September 8, 2009

Nationwide "Eat-Ins" Take A Stand For Real Food In Schools

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Codex Alimentarius Threatens Human Health

by Stephen Lendman
August 24, 2009
OpEdNews

...Whatever its founding purpose, CA is much different today because corporate interests control it - global pharmaceutical, food, and banking giants in league with complicit UN and government agencies to promote GMOs over healthy foods, and drugs over natural remedies by restricting or banning vitamin and dietary supplements, except ones they control. Organic food as well by irradiation and hidden synthetic additives or ingredients...

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Rotini with Cheesy Zucchini and 20+ more summer recipes

By Gloria Dawson
The Daily Green
August 13, 2009

The weather is warm and the markets are filled with an abundance of goodies. We'll help you figure out what do with your bounty.

Cancer-Fighting Foods: Which Dietitian Do You Trust?

by Keith Goetzman
Utne Reader
August 12, 2009

What are the best cancer-fighting foods? Traditional and alternative dietitians have different ideas on cancer diets, from the food pyramid to the Budwig diet.

AFRICA: Organic Farming Could be Answer to Food Insecurity

By Stephanie Nieuwoudt
CAPE TOWN, Jul 17 (IPS) - Commercial farmers sometimes fail at organic farming because they switch over too quickly, ditching all chemicals, which is as traumatic for the soil as "a drug addict going cold turkey"...

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New Bill (HR2749) Gives FDA Unheard-of Power over Small Farmers, Food and Supplement Producers

American Association of Health Freedom

A new, long-awaited food safety bill is now before the US House of Representatives. It is the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, or FSEA. Introduced by Reps. Henry Waxman (D–CA) and John Dingell (D–MI), the FSEA is meant to address food safety concerns. But as you will see, much of it is not about food safety at all. Food safety issues have arisen from large agricultural operations. But this bill places its harshest burdens on small food producers and supplement producers.

Take Action and let your Representative know you DO NOT support this bill
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Reject HR 2479 And Clean Up Factory Farms Instead

The Pen
June 30, 2009

Here we have yet another phony food safety bill, which does NOTHING but grant the FDA massive new police powers without actual policy oversight. And it would do NOTHING to solve the actual problem, the stinking cesspools which call themselves "modern" factory farms, the SOLE source of whatever filth there is in our food supply. We don't need burdensome new tracing regimes to drive small farmers out of business, we already know exactly where the problem is.

H.R. 2749 [text of bill] would give some FDA administrator (read self-serving corporate lobbyist) the power to dictate what farming practices must and must not be used nationwide (read enforced GMOs, growth hormones, and weird chemicals in our food). How can Congress make sane policy without identifying the specific problem and its source before empowering 10 year criminal sentences and $100,000 fines? It can't. But only if we stop them from doing it, by speaking out now...

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16 Summer Recipes

By Gloria Dawson
Daily Green
June 26, 2009

The weather is warm and the markets are filled with an abundance of goodies. We'll help you figure out what do with your bounty...

Celebrate National Outdoors Month – Build a Solar Oven!

Bonneville Environmental Foundation
Melinda
June 24, 2009

Celebrate National Outdoors Month this June by creating your very own solar oven! This activity is fun for the whole family. BEF Staffers used the oven we built to cook some delicious cinammon rolls in front of our Portland office. Try melting mozzarella cheese over toast with basil and tomatoes, warming leftovers for lunch, or experimenting with other types of food. Take advantage of the clean, solar energy today!

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Food Inc: Michael Pollan and Friends Reveal the Food Industry's Darkest Secrets

By Tara Lohan
AlterNet
June 25, 2009

It turns out that figuring out the most simple thing -- like what's on your dinner plate, and where it came from -- is actually a pretty subversive act...

Fizzy Math: Tax Soda to Pay for Health Care and Prevention

by Michael F. Jacobson
May 29, 2009
Huffington Post


...We all need food, but no one needs soda. Soda is basically liquid candy, providing empty excess calories without needed nutrients. (The same is true for "fruit drinks" with little juice, so-called "energy drinks" like Red Bull, "sports drinks" like Gatorade, or gimmicky products like VitaminWater.) Besides promoting obesity and disease, soft drinks displace real foods with redeeming health-promoting properties...

“Omnivore’s Dilemma” Author Michael Pollan’s New Advice on Buying Food: “Don’t Buy Any Food You’ve Ever Seen Advertised”

DemocracyNow!
May 14, 2009

Michael Pollan is one of the nation’s leading writers and thinkers in this country on the issue of food. He is author of several books about food, including The Botany of Desire, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and his latest, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. In light of what he calls the processed food industry’s co-option of “sustainability” and its vast spending on marketing, Pollan advises to be wary of any food that’s advertised.

Expel GE Hormones from School Milk!

Center for Food Safety

The food kids eat today will have a lasting impact on their health. Unfortunately much of the food kids eat today is produced with harmful chemicals, genetically engineered ingredients, and artificial hormones. We've got a great opportunity to affect what kind of milk is in the National School Lunch Program. Can you take action now to get better milk into school lunches?

Roughly 15 percent of all dairies (mostly large dairies) in the United States inject their cows with an artificial, genetically engineered growth hormone called recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) that increases cows’ milk production. Besides the documented increase of infections in dairy cows injected with rBGH, which necessitates increased use of antibiotics, there are ongoing questions about links to cancer in humans.

Most of the industrialized countries in the world have banned rBGH. But here in the United States , we’re giving it to our most vulnerable citizens—our children! It is possible that at least 84 million gallons of milk from artificial hormone-treated cows were distributed through the school nutrition programs in fiscal year 2005-2006 – or about one out of five pints of milk offered in school cafeterias nationwide.

The good news is this spring we have a great chance to bring milk free from artificial, genetically engineered hormones into our schools as Congress takes up legislation on the National School Lunch Program.

We are asking Congress to clarify that schools do have the option to purchase milk from cows that are not treated with artificial growth hormones. With nearly 430 million gallons of milk distributed through national school milk programs, we have to take action now to get artificial hormones out of our school milk!

Take the first step in expelling the hormones from school milk by signing our petition. Click on the title above, please!

Try No Dig Gardening for Your Backyard Vegetables

by Warren McLaren
TreeHugger

There are many ways to implement a no-dig garden. What follows is just one method...

Mother's Day Brunch

by Annie Bell Muzaurieta
The Daily Green

You've bought a bouquet of organic flowers and told Mom you love her. But how can you really show the woman you owe her? With a homemade Mother's Day brunch, of course. Let Mom know you care by preparing a Mother's Day menu with some of these delicious recipes. And don't forget to clean up!

Asparagus, Jack and Feta Cheese Frittata Recipe
Baked Maple-Cinnamon French Toast with Fresh Strawberries Recipe
Challah French Toast Recipe
Sprouted French Toast with Peaches and Cashews Recipe
Grilled Fruit Kebabs with Crunchy Yogurt Dip Recipe
Asparagus Omelet Recipe
Wheat Berry Pancakes and Quick Berry Syrup Recipe
Pineapple Coffee Cake Recipe
Fresh Herbal Tea Recipe

The “NAFTA Flu”: Critics Say Swine Flu Has Roots in Forcing Poor Countries to Accept Western Agribusiness

DemocracyNow!
April 29, 2009

As the US reports its first known death from the global swine flu, the World Health Organization has raised its pandemic threat level. Several countries around the world have banned the import of US and Mexican pork products. We speak to professor and author Robert Wallace, who says the swine flu is partly the outcome of neoliberal policies that forced poorer countries to open their markets to poorly regulated Western agribusiness giants.

13 Breathtaking Effects of Cutting Back on Meat

By Kathy Freston
Alternet
April 22, 2009

The meat industry contributes to land degradation, climate change, air pollution, water shortage and pollution, and loss of biodiversity.

Food Rebellions: 7 Steps to Solving the Food Crisis

by Eric Holt-Gimenez
Yes! Magazine
Spring 2009

Resistance to the trade and “aid” policies that displace farmers and increase hunger.

Restoring the Range: Can Beef Be Earth Friendly?

by Madeline Ostrander
Yes! Magazine
Spring 2009

The Mortenson family is part of a growing number of ranchers who see healthy food production as part of an ecosystem, shared with plants, animals, and insects.

Shrimp Spring Rolls and Lettuce Wraps and 20 More Spring Recipes

by Gloria Dawson
Daily Green

Spring is here (at least on our calendars). Now, what to do with all that asparagus from the farmers' market? We've got your spring recipes covered.

Tell the Pesticide Peddlers: We support Michelle Obama's organic garden.

The Mid America CropLife Association (MACA) has a bone to pick with Michelle Obama.

MACA represents chemical companies that produce pesticides, and they are angry that - wait for it - Michelle Obama isn't using chemicals in her organic garden at the White House.

We are not making this up.

In an email they forwarded to their supporters, a MACA spokesman wrote, "While a garden is a great idea, the thought of it being organic made [us] shudder." MACA went on to publish a letter it had sent to the First Lady asking her to consider using chemicals -- or what they call "crop protection products" -- in her garden.

Michelle Obama and has done America a great service by publicizing the importance of nutritious food for kids (she's growing the garden in partnership with a local elementary school class) as well as locally grown produce as an important, environmentally sustainable food source.

MACA's letter is part of a larger propaganda effort to convince people that chemicals are a necessary part of produce growth - when we know that's not true.

Sign this petition today to tell the board members of MACA (virtually all of them big chemical executives) that we don't appreciate their telling Michelle Obama (or any of us) to use pesticides in our gardens. We support Michelle Obama's organic garden, and we'll thank them to keep their propaganda out of it...

To Take Action, click on Title above!

A Green Easter Menu

Daily Green
April 10, 2009

Flavorful recipes using organic, local and heritage ingredients.

15 Homemade Dessert Recipes You Won’t Want to Miss

Cherry-Vanilla Ice Cream, Mocha Pumpkin Cheesecake, Strawberry Pie, Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp, Honey Cake, and more!

Recipes for the Planet

April 22 is Earth Day - a great time to celebrate with a special meal and good conversation about food and the environment. Slow down, connect with family and friends, honor each other and the food being served. Host an Earth Dinner and try these Earth-friendly menu ideas.

Frugal farmers offer make-do meals with flair

Meat in Moderation for an economical, ecological meal

Go gourmet with regional eco-chefs, or
Potluck!

The End of Small Farms? HR 875, HR 759, NAIS & Monsanto

America's small farmers are under attack through a series of bills presented under the guise of "food safety." I don't want to lose my freedom to grow, buy and eat real foods. Let's fight for our small farmers who not only need our protection and support, but actual freeing from government intrusion, control and harm.


PLEASE CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSPEOPLE & SPREAD THE WORD:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Shelly-Roche-ByteStyle-TV-by-The-End-of-Small-F-090403-92.html

8 Ways to Join the Local Food Movement

by Sarah van Gelder
Yes! Magazine

How to turn a lawn into lunch, swap preserves, glean, boost your food security, live the good life.

GMO Proliferation Bills

by Stephen Lendeman
OpEdNews
April 3, 2009

...Reliable studies show that rats fed GM potatoes had smaller livers, hearts, testicles, brains, damaged immune systems, and showed structural changes in their white blood cells making them more susceptible to infection and disease than other rats fed non-GM potatoes. They also had thymus and spleen damage, enlarged tissues, including the pancreas and intestines, liver atrophy, and other serious problems.

Humans may be harmed the same way because GMOs saturate our diet. Over 80% of all processed foods contain them as well as rice, corn, soybeans, soy products, vegetable oils, soft drinks, salad dressings, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, meat, and other animal products plus an array of hidden additives and ingredients in products like tomato sauce, ice cream and peanut butter.

...HR 875 and its companion bills are under consideration in committees, not yet voted into law. Activists feel now is the time to stop them before it's too late. Agribusiness wants total control over every step in the production, processing, distribution, storage, and marketing of foods to consumers.

Using the ruse of food safety and security, they aim to eliminate competition to have it all and replace wholesome foods with unsafe GMOs. Congress is willing to go along. And why not. Representatives like DeLauro get large Ag business contributions. In return, they assure bills like HR 875 are passed. It's for concerned people to stop them.

Apple and Sage Roasted Chicken with Pan Juices

New Green Cuisine ~ The Daily Green

Juicy pan--roasted chicken will make even the most basic meal mouthwatering and delicious...

Get More Produce Out of Your Garden

March 21, 2009 E Magazine via The Daily Green

Some easy gardening tips to make spring planting more effective...

Uncle Don’s Double Mustard Greens & Roasted Yam Soup

This recipe is from Bryant Terry’s new cookbook, Vegan Soul Kitchen. The recipes in VSK use fresh, whole, best-quality, healthy ingredients and cooking techniques with an eye on local, seasonal, sustainably grown food. Reinterpreting popular dishes from African and Caribbean countries as well as his favorite childhood dishes, Terry reinvents African American and Southern cuisine-capitalizing on the complex flavors of the tradition, without the animal products...

Stubb Stubblefield: Archangel Of Barbecue

by The Kitchen Sisters NPR Morning Edition, March 20, 2009

From 1968 to 1975 in Lubbock, Texas, C.B. "Stubb" Stubblefield ran a barbecue joint and roadhouse that was the late-night gathering place for a group of local musicians who were below-the-radar and rising: Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Muddy Waters, Johnny Cash, Tom T. Hall...

March 20 - Meatout - The World's Largest Grassroots Diet Education Campaign

On (or around) March 20 — the first day of spring — thousands of caring people in all 50 U.S. states and two dozen other countries get active to host educational Meatout events. Activities include colorful festivals, lectures, public dinners, feed-ins, cooking demos, food samplings, leafleting, information tables and more.

The occasion is Meatout, the world's largest and oldest annual grassroots diet education campaign. This year is the 25th annual observance! Every spring, thousands of caring Meatout supporters educate their communities and ask their friends, families, and neighbors to pledge to "kick the meat habit (at least for a day) and explore a wholesome, compassionate diet of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains."

This year's theme is "Change Your Diet - Change the World!"

Why Kick the Meat Habit?

If you're new to the scene, find out why you should "kick the meat habit" and transition toward a healthy, compassionate plant-based diet.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Baby Carrots and Pearl Onions and 30 More Winter Recipes

By Gloria Dawson

Eat in season with these delicious recipes — perfect for a cold winter day.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/recipes/winter-recipes-50123008?src=nl&mag=tdg&list=dgr&kw=ist

Also see How To Use Veggies From The Winter Farmers' Market

Take the mystery out of seasonal eating with these delicious, nutritious winter veggies ... and the recipes you need to cook them. By Erin Schulte

http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/winter-farmers-market-recipes

Organic Beer and Wine

If you consume alcoholic beverages, try organic beer or wine. They’re better for your health and the planet, and they taste good, too...

Mixed Grain Risotto with Radicchio and Mushroom and 29 More Winter Recipes

Eat in season with these delicious recipes — perfect for a cold winter day.
Also see How To Use Veggies From The Winter Farmers' Market

Obama's Favorite Vegetable, How to Cook Bok Choy and 20 Other Winter Farmers' Market Secrets
Take the mystery out of seasonal eating with these delicious, nutritious winter veggies ... and the recipes you need to cook them.