"Organics" news and stories

Coleslaw. Photo: jasonlam, Flickr

• Slaws are getting a whole new life, making cameos alongside ingredients like daikon and curried cantaloupe.
  
• The Santa Monica Farmers' Market welcomes fancy produce like pimientos de Padrón and Elegant Lady peaches.
• Writer Russ Parsons writes about the surprisingly positive response to his "I don't believe in organics" piece.
  
• 2007 Pali Pinot Noir "Bluffs" is a well-priced bottle of "beauty."
• While some programs suffer in this economic climate, school gardening is on the rise.
• Even more on Nora Ephron and "Julie & Julia."
• Restaurants: Brentwood's Tavern offers great starters but disappointing mains, Lazy Ox is heading to Little Tokyo and San Gabriel's Ning Jie serves comfort-style bachelor food.
• Recipe: Red and Green Caesar Salad
  

Right now, anything organic is hot in the food industry. That's one reason that soup making giant Campbell's Soup Company bought the Wolfgang Puck line of organic soups from Country Gourmet Foods. In addition to purchasing the soup line for an "undisclosed sum," Campbell's Soup had to negotiate a licensing agreement with Wolfgang Puck Worldwide to keep using Puck's image on the soup.

Campbell's Soup may have made forays into the organic or natural market with a few products, but according to Advertising Age the brand is really hoping that the Wolfgang Puck line will add some prestige, not to mention get their foot in the door at Whole Foods.

How do you feel about Campbell's Soup owning the Wolfgang Puck line? Do you think they are unfairly buying their way into the organic market, or is this an acceptable tactic?

Are wine-lovers pretentious, easily-manipulated fools who can't tell Two-Buck Chuck from a pricey Napa cabernet? Eric Asimov inquires.

Urban farmers: now selling at your local farmer's market.

The myths and realities of organics - Curious Cook Harold McGee looks for some real information and comes up kinda empty-handed. Seems everyone has their biases.

The Minimalist does crustless quiche, in cute little ramekins. OMG, the one with sauteed mushrooms sounds so good!

The Culinary Institute of America is having a bit of a mutiny against its president.

A recipe for butter-braised asparagus with peas and tarragon.

Some New York restaurants get cited over new late mandating calorie counts on menus.

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Meat and milk from cloned animals have been deemed safe by the FDA and won't make it to market for some time yet, which is a relief to many consumers because the USDA has also determined that there needs to be no label distinguishing between cloned meat and naturally-bred meat and some would like to see that policy change before the products are on store shelves. Another issue that needs definition is whether or not clones can be organic. Many feel that as long as the clones are "raised organically," living the same lifestyle and receiving the same food as conventionally organic animals, they should receive the designation.

Others, all supporters of the organic movement, range from strongly against the issue to rabidly against it. The terms "organic" and "cloned" just don't belong together, they say. The current guidelines state that genetically modified foods cannot be consider organic. By implication, an animal made in a lab - even if it isn't "genetically modified" - should also be excluded. "Surely, these opponents conclude, no animal is more engineered than a clone."

For the moment, it seems that the current organic rules would apply and that it would not be difficult for cloned foods to qualify as such, but ultimately, the decision lies in the hands of the USDA, which could be considered by an advisory panel as early as spring. After this decision, we may see a revision of the definition of "organic" itself.

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The UK's Soil Association has just put forward a proposal to exclude any foods imported by air from using the "organic" label on their products. In theory, the proposal is based around the "food miles" theory, which states that the nearer to the point of sale that food is grown, the better for the environment it is. The theory assumes that emissions from airplanes and long-haul trucks will be greater than any of the pollutants that result from shorter journeys. There are many situations in which the theory does hold up, but by and large, it has been debunked, so even though it is given as the primary reason for this suggested policy change, the real motivation is simply money.

The demand for organics is very high. Stores can charge more for organics, as can growers. By effectively prohibiting imports in a country where the farmland is so limited (compared to some other countries, such as New Zealand, Chile and the US), the Soil Association is simply driving high prices even higher. Such a move may support local farms, but unless their production is able to match demand, consumers are really going to feel the effects of a change like this one.

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