The life of a golden beet isn't really a very glamorous one. We don't get out very much, we tend to be a bit grubby and we've got this embarrassing dry skin problem.
So imagine how surprised I was to find out that I've somehow become a symbol of everything that's wrong with food these days; according to this funny lady Carla Spartos, I'm nothing less than a nightstick in the hands of the food police, the so-called "Gourmonsters" who are trying to bully us all into eating our vegetables and threatening to steal our Ho Hos.
Earthbound Farm, the company that started out on a small farm selling organic raspberries, has become one of the nation's largest producers of organic fruits and vegetables. They created the bagged salads that have become staples for so many of us (although sadly, their spinach was thought to have been the source of the E. coli outbreak in 2006) and made organic foods widely available.
In 2006, Myra Goldman, one of the founders of Earthbound Farm wrote (along with Linda Holland and Pamela McKinstry) a cookbook called Food to Live By, The Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook. It is a volume that embraces the organic ethos and offers up nearly 400 pages of recipes, many of which are from the Organic Kitchen at the Earthbound Farmstand or Goldman's own kitchen.
As is typically true for me when it comes to cookbooks, one of my favorite parts of this book was the introduction. Goldman takes ten pages to share the store of how she and her husband got started farming, where they came from (they were both originally New Yorkers) and how she fell in love with fresh, organic foods. Beyond the introduction, the section of the book that felt the most personal and had the most appealing recipes was the breakfast and brunch section, in which Goldman shares stories of cooking for her kids and includes recipes for savory treats like Spinach, Feta and Mushroom Quiche (the picture looks amazing) and sweet ones like Persimmon and Date Breakfast Bread.
Gourmet's Barry Estabrook makes sense of the battle over the benefits of organic food. The following is an excerpt of his findings published on Gourmet.com.
It's never a good start to your day when the first email you open is an authoritative-sounding press release forwarded by your boss that directly contradicts something you published on the company's website.
"You know anything about this?" she asked ominously.
The release came from the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH). Made public on Tuesday, it was headlined: "Scientist Debunks Myth of Organic Nutritional Superiority," and, not surprisingly, it received considerable media attention.
The myth that was supposedly debunked was featured in this space a few months ago. It was a study co-authored by Dr. Charles Benbrook of the Organic Center, an affiliate of the Organic Trade Association, an industry group, which reported on the results of a review of nearly 100 scientific papers examining levels of nutrients in organic versus conventional crops. Benbrook and his associates concluded that organic food was on average 25 percent more nutrient-dense. Their work was regarded as one of the first scientifically valid research projects that clearly showed such an advantage. Earlier studies had been inconclusive. I felt some vindication for my own preference for organic foods and applauded the findings.
The release from the ACSH sharply criticized Benbrook's paper. Its condemnation of his work was based on a critical review written by Joseph D. Rosen, emeritus professor of food science at Rutgers University. To be kind, it is scathing. Some choice arguments...
These days, everyone is familiar with the term organic. It is plastered over everything in the grocery store, from instant oatmeal to cartons of milk. However just 25 years ago, organic foods weren't really on the popular radar. One of the first companies to come along and start making people aware of benefits of eating foods grow without the use of chemicals was Earthbound Farm. Started in 1984 with a 2 1/2 acre raspberry crop, they've expanded into one of the largest producers of organic produce in the country. You know those pre-washed bagged salads that your family tears through each week? They were the ones who started that trend.
This year, they are celebrating their 24th birthday and they're doing it in style. Each day for during the month of July, the folks at Earthbound are giving away three copies of their cookbook, Food to Live By. Everyone who enters to win will also get a $1 off coupon for any Earthbound Farm product. Additionally, they've put up 24 tasty recipes and 24 reasons to choose organic foods. So head on over and say happy birthday to a company who helped lead the organic movement.
The question of whether to go green and shift your diet to a more organic is a challenging one these days. These days all we hear are reports of climate change, the need to buy carbon offsets when you go on long airplane ride and the importance of eating organic. I admit to being on the organic and local shopping and eating bandwagon, although I do it more because the food tastes so much better (and is often less expensive) than the stuff I can get at my local chain grocery store.
Over at Green Daily today, Bruce Watson ruminates on the issue of organic food and whether it's as green and planet-friendly as we'd like to think. Go on over and see what he has to say and let us know what you think.
Awhile back I acquired a cookbook from my mom. It's one leftover from her hippie days and was appropriately titled, "Country Commune Cooking." It was written by a woman named Lucy Horton, who spent five months in 1971 hitchhiking around the country, visiting communes and collecting recipes. It's interesting as much for the stories she tells about the places she visited and the people she met as it is for the recipes she prints.
One of the things I find interesting about this book is it's emphasis on organic foods. I tend to think of the organic movement as something fairly recent, but according to Lucy, there were quite a few people back in the early seventies who were committed to eating whole, organic foods.
The majority of the recipes in this book are a bit dated, but a few still jump out at me as worth trying. After the jump you'll find a recipe for Curried Squash and Chickpeas that seems, at least to me, to be the perfect dish for this time of year. I imagine that it would be particularly good over a scoop of warm brown rice.
You try to buy organic food because everything you read and hear on the news says it's better for you. But do you actually know much about what you are buying? What do the labels and messages mean? If have to chose between buying an organic peach or an organic banana, which is a better use of your food dollars? National Geographic has put together a fun quiz as part of their Green Guide that tests your organic food knowledge.
Whole Foods' plan to merge with Wild Oats Markets has just hit a snag.
The Federal Trade Commission is trying to stop the proposed merger, saying that if the two organic foods giants get together it would lead to higher prices and be bad for consumers. But Whole Foods chairman John P. Mackey says in a statement:
"The F.T.C. has failed to recognize the robust competition in the supermarket industry, which has grown more intense as competitors increase their offerings of natural, organic and fresh products; renovate their stores; and open stores with new banners and formats resembling Whole Foods Market."
Whole Foods had announced in February that they were going to buy Wild Oats Markets for $565 million.
I just mentioned an article over at The Washington Post that had a few basic tips for saving money while trying to eat more healthily, and now I'm looking at similar information over at CBS News that takes it one step further by focusing on organics. As we all know, organic foods can be, and more often than not, are, more expensive than regular foods. Here are a few tips on how to find lower prices:
Shop around, i.e. don't think Whole Foods Market is your only option.
Go to the Farmers' Market, and shop strategically. Going later in the day often results in lower prices.
Target already offers orgaic option in their SuperTarget stores around the country. Their produce departments are certified organic, and they offer hundreds of national-brand organic products. However, Target plans to add their own products under a private-label, Archer Farms. The line of foods will include pizzas, pastas, frozen dinners and dairy products.
This week, the Wall Street Journal reviewed several companies that make and sell organic baby foods. Unlike Tot Pots, all four companies sell their products online, which means that they're available to anyone with a credit card and a mailbox. Hopefully, you'll have a baby, too, but that's not really a prerequisite to purchasing baby food.
Evie's Organic Edibles uses no preservatives, salt or sugar in their well-flavored foods. The NY-based company offers in-home cooking, delivery and classes, too. Plum Organics were described as "good enough for a grown up" - especially some of their dessert options. Homemade Baby is based in Southern California, has food prepared by a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef and offers an on-site baby food tasting room for picky eaters, in addition to mail-order. Little Potatoes Baby Food is colorful from fresh veggies straight from the farm and offers different textures for different age groups.
Some of the nation's largest grocery store chains are rushing to introduce their own, in-house line of organic food
products. Marketers are hoping that by introducing their own lines consumers who were unable to pay the higher
prices for name brands will be more apt to join in on the organic trend. The giant grocery chain Albertson's will
begin its venture with 50 products in the Nature's Best line of organic items. That number will jump to 100 by June and
to 300 by the middle of 2007.
Critics of this move are worried that the products will not measure up in
quality to such name brands as Horizon or Cascade Valley. Not true, say the chains, they adhere to all the USDA
guidelines that are in place to ensure that the true organic nature is achieved by each item.
Last year
Whole Foods was the benefactor of the nearly $13 billion Americans annually spend on organic foods and household items.
The mainstream grocery chains are hoping to capture some of that market by hosting products that are about 27 percent
below those of the name brands.
Grains, beans, and other legumes make up a large part of the Asian diet. In fact, at the Korean market, entire aisles can be dedicated to beans alone. Koreans add beans to white rice, creating a "mixed" steamed rice. My mother did this a few times when we were kids because there are a lot of health benefits, but when we saw bowls of steamed rice tainted with giant red, purple, and black beans, we wouldn't touch it. She made two pots of rice every night after that. One with plain white rice, and one with a mixture.
Some of us may be familiar with adzuki beans after they have been cooked down to almost a paste. They beans are sweet and nutty, but they are made sweeter with the addition of sugar and honey and used as a filling in pastries like Japanese mochi and Korean dduk. Koreans also use the beans to make "jook," a sweet porridge.
On January 1st, a new law
went into effect in California prohibiting seafood from being labeled "organic." The bill was supported by
consumer and organic food groups, as well as the Monterey Bay Aquarium. State Senator Jackie Speier, who authored the
bill, stated that it is designed to protect consumers in the absence of national standards regarding the production of
organic seafood, which would ideally be both healthier and better for the environment.
Some markets and seafood production companies are objecting to the legislation, claiming that they can only recoup
their costs for feeding their “organic everywhere but California” seafood by using the
“organic” label to command higher prices. But while truly organic producers may find themselves hurriedly
searching for new buzz-words to describe their fish and shellfish, the less scrupulous producers will be prevented from
falsely marketing their own products as organic.
Earthbound Farm, the company that started out on a small farm selling organic raspberries, has become one of the nation's largest producers of organic fruits and vegetables. They created the bagged salads that have become staples for so many of us (although sadly, their spinach was thought to have been the source of the E. coli outbreak in 2006) and made organic foods widely available. 
Whole Foods' plan to merge with Wild Oats Markets has just hit a snag.
I just mentioned an article over at The Washington Post that had a few basic tips for saving money while trying to eat more healthily, and now I'm looking at similar information over at 
Perhaps they are responding to 
Some of the nation's largest grocery store chains are rushing to introduce their own, in-house line of 
On January 1st, 
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