"earthday" news and stories

Everyone needs to grocery shop at some point, fueling the continuing desire to live, even if you're not a big fan of doing your own cooking. Grocery stores have their own standards for packing bags based upon how to enable your foods to travel well: cold items with cold items, produce in one bag, don't cram too much in. The last rule is the one that gets tricky because sometimes it seems like you end up with 10 bags for 10 items when you're leaving the store. It could be more, if some of the plastic ones are doubled-bagged. Recycling the paper and plastic bags is an excellent idea, but switching to canvas grocery bags is an even better one. They are reusable, so they help cut down on waste, and many stores will even give you a per-bag discount for bringing them in! The bags can be purchased at many supermarkets, as well as being available online, and will pay for themselves in a few uses. They usually cost from $7-12.

Organic Valley, a Wisconsin-based cooperative of farmers has teamed up with Chef's Collaborative to provide an epicurean way to celebrate Earth Day.

The idea behind the Earth Dinner is to create a themed dinner party where you and your guests connect with the food by discussing its geographic origin as well as how it was grown or produced. There's even a set of cards available to help spur conversation with such themes as "First bite: Describe the very first time you tasted something you picked off a tree,vine, stem or pulled out of the ground."

The coolest thing about the Earth Dinner though is that they've gathered five chefs from around the U.S. to create menus featuring everything from sorrel salad with creamy dressing to shrimp and grits with asparagus. This year's lineup is:

• California: Chef John Ash, John Ash & Company, Santa Rosa
• Pacific Northwest: Chef Greg Atkinson, Organic to Go, Seattle
• Midwest: Chef Bruce Sherman, North Pond Restaurant, Chicago
• Northeast: Chef Gordon Hamersley, Hamersley's Bistro, Boston
• Southeast: Chef Robert Stehling, Hominy Grill, Charleston

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