Food, Inc. is Coming to PBS!

Gather your family and friends. Set your DVR. Mark your calendars: August 9, 2011. That's the day Food, Inc. will be airing on PBS for everyone to see das part of their POV listings.

What is POV on PBS?

POV, or "Point of View" is PBS' way of supporting independent films and programming for the public audience.  Their tagline is "Documentaries with a point of view." They air new independent documentaries on Tuesdays throughout the summer and the fall (the Food, Inc. presentation is actually a repeat for POV, who first aired it in April 2010). The schedule may differ depending on your local PBS station, but for me the new films air at 10pm and usually re-sir on the following Thursday at 2:30am (this is where the DVR comes in very handy!). I high recommend checking out the POV website for your local listing, or, if you do not have access to PBS, merely for a chance to see some of th fantastic documentaries that are out there to be seen.

What is Food, Inc.?

In case you have missed the litany of posts that I have already written with some reference to this film, or you missed its Oscar nomination, then at least know this - the issues raised in Food, Inc., the people who made the film, are in the film and those who continue to fight the good fight for the issues in that film are the ones who largely inspire all that I write about here on the Searching for Sustenance blog.

The POV site give a nice synopsis of the film along with a trailer, and Food, Inc.'s official website is a fantastic place to go for information on the film and resources about joining the food movement.

Why You Should Watch Food, Inc. (again)

If you have never seen this film, then it is time to do so. While things are changing every single day, sadly not that much has changed in our food industry since the creation of this film. It is time to lift the veil and see what's going on. It is one thing to read about the food industry (which is how I began this search), and something completely new and different to SEE it.

If you've already seen this film and you are wondering why you should bother to tune in to POV in a couple of weeks, well I've got two reasons for you:

1. Notes on Milk ~ Apparently POV will be airing Food, Inc. along with a short film about milk. I'm curious! I've never seen it before, so why not tune in?
2. SHARE THIS FILM ~ Take this opportunity to share Food, Inc. with someone you wish to enlighten. Perhaps do dinner and a movie: plan and prepare a simple dinner created with great finds at the week's farmers' market, from the organic selection at your local store, or better yet, grown from your own land! Then watch the movie and discuss (the Food, Inc. Discussion Guide for teachers has some great questions you may want to adapt for a small group viewing!).

There are lots of documentaries out there about food in the United States and in the world. They each have their own point of view and relevance to our discussion. Perhaps Food, Inc. holds such a prominent place in my opinion of these films because it was among the first that I saw. However, I believe it is something a bit more than that: Food, Inc. is one of the most comprehensive food films I have seen. It gives a great view of the "big picture" - from a consumer's standpoint, a farmer's standpoint, from the perspective of animal welfare and human health, the politics and business involved and the activism that we can embrace to help to make change. I consider Food, Inc. to be Food Movement 101 - a prerequisite to all "courses" (films, books, articles, etc...) that come later, so go set your foundation to make a greater change and watch the film!

Related Posts

• Baby Steps Toward a Solution (post after my first-ever viewing of Food, Inc.)
  
• The Food Inc. Discussion Guide for Teachers
• 5 Movies to Nurture Your Eating Conscience

Fridays Food Finds

Food Web Sites and Tools

• Fork & Bottle: Best Food Forums Do you like to talk about food, wine, or even coffee? Then you need to check this site out. There is a list of various forum links with ongoing discussions in each one of these topics! Although it says this site hasn't been updated since September 2008, the list of forums offered is pretty extensive and each of them is still going. I have found a forum to my liking - the Sustainability one, of course (although it is in the process of moving right now), and I may even start to explore some of the others! *Note: this link is part of a larger site Fork & Bottle, that you may want to check out in full!
  

Food Reads

• What if the U.S.D.A. Subsidized Gardens? I absolutely love this post, probably because I LOVE stories through pictures - make sure you click on the graphic in Bittman's post and truly read it. Then ask yourself - What do you think about where our country spends its food money?
• Sedentary Work and Obesity: Another View This is a MUST READ. It is short, but I want you to think about this. I will have a post to share my own viewpoints about this and I am disappointed that the Times did not publish this letter.
• 5 Ways to Sabotage Weight Loss If you are on the path to a healthier weight and you are wondering what things you could be doing to make sure it sticks, this post by Skinny Mom's Kitchen will at least give you 5 things to AVOID!

Good Food (Recipes)

• Homemade Peanut Butter and Banana Oatmeal Recipe I have to give this a shot. Since I was trying it, I thought I'd share it too!
• Oven-Baked Salmon I had salmon, I decided to look for something to do with it. This came up. It was so common sense, so simple, so ridiculous, I said, "Sure, why not?" It was awesome. We had some lemon on the side while we ate. I feel like I want to make salmon every night now :)
• Baked Eggs with Herbs I have written of my obsession with eggs on this blog before - Why haven't I ever BAKED them? This seems brilliant to me. It's on my list!!

Food FIGHTS 

• Tell the Girl Scouts How Big the Gluten-Free Market Is! If you missed my ONE post this week, please check it out. I can't believe the Girl Scouts' argument. If they said anything else I probably wouldn't be this adamant, but our grocery stores are being overrun by gluten-free products - there MUST BE a demand for them!
• Get to the Fracking Action Center at Food & Water Watch to find out what you can do to ensure that fracking is not happening in your community, and to learn how you can support efforts to protect the nation's water.

 

Do you have a food website, tool, food read, recipe or food fight you think I should check out and share with the readers of Searching for Sustenance? If so e-mail me at BlogWithNV@gmail.com!

Tell The Girl Scouts How Big the Gluten-Free Market Is!

I have to say that I was late to the party. I didn't understand how delicious Girl Scout cookies were until just adulthood. I don't know how I missed it...

However, I made up for lost time. There are three separate girl scout families that would vie for my business because if yesterday's post about my Costco shopping has taught you anything about me, I like to stock up. So the Riveras would buy multiple boxes of multiple flavors: Thin Mints would go right in the freezer for a cool treat in the summer, or mixed into ice cream (YUM!). I'd buy multiple boxes of peanut butter cookies of all types for my husband and for surprise treats when my brother would visit. I always love a basic shortbread cookie, so I'd get some Trefoils and All Abouts, and, lord help me, I'd get the Samoas and I'd hide them all over the place (some at work, some at home). I was a master at making them last the entire year, so that I'd be finishing up my last Thin Mints when the next year's order was coming in.

Then last year, in June, I was told I could no longer have gluten. I had to give away my Thin Mints. I had to give away all the cookies I bought - I could eat none of them. That wasn't surprising to me. I had to give away a lot of things. What did surprise me, however, was when I investigated the Girl Scout's gluten-free offerings this year and found NONE. I was heart-broken and confused. So many of the sites where I find gluten-free information are designed for parents of Celiac children or children on a gluten-free diet. I asked my husband, "What if your kid is a Girl Scout and they can't have gluten?"

Sometimes, when I ask questions answers come from unexpected sources. Here's the girl I was, unknowingly, thinking of on the day I did my own GF Girl Scout cookie search:

Petition for Gluten-Free Girl Scout Cookies: MyFoxNY.com

Her name is Elle. She lives right here in New York and she has Celiac disease. Her mom is helping her to tell the Girl Scouts that she, and others like her (ME!!) have been left out. So far all the Girl Scouts have to say about it is THERE ISN'T ENOUGH DEMAND TO INVEST IN SUCH A PRODUCT.

You know what that means - we're making today another TAKE ACTION TUESDAY! Ladies and gentlemen of the gluten-free community and our supporters, please take a moment now to sign this petition created by Elle's mother to let the Girl Scouts know THE DEMAND EXISTS and some of it is within their own troops!

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

(Petition Link in case the widget isn't showing up: http://www.change.org/petitions/encourage-the-girl-scouts-to-sell-an-allergen-free-cookie)

Please share this with others and spread the word!!

The Foods I Buy at CostCo

When I first got married I had a really serious cooking problem: there were only two people in the house and I kept cooking as if there were at least five! I immediately began to blame my CostCo shopping - How could I continue to buy in bulk and be expected to make sensible meals? I thought it was impossible, but I was wrong.

I can happily say that I have gotten my cooking portions under control and I am still able to shop at my local CostCo to get some deals and stock up on things we need without going back and forth to the grocery store every couple of days.

These are some of the staple items my husband and I buy at CostCo:

1. Pacific Natural Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth - This is my favorite chicken broth. It is organic and, for me, thankfully, it is GLUTEN-FREE. I use this daily and we go through it very quickly. At Costco we get a 6 pack of 32 ounces cartons for $10.99. Before they are opened they can be stored in the pantry, then the opened cartons must be refrigerated.



2. Nature's Earthly Choice Quinoa - We love quinoa in this house! I have written about quinoa a couple of times (a yummy salad recipe, learning about all about "the mother grain"), and probably should a couple more with the amount of plate-space it takes up in this house! When I look for it in regular grocery stores I keep finding very small boxes and/or bags that were perfect when I didn't know what I was getting into, but now that we moved to big time quinoa consumers, we gladly snag up the 4lb. bags for $9.39 each.

3. Premio Italian Sweet Sausages - I nearly fell over when I first realized that Premio Italian Sausages were GLUTEN-FREE. We are super fans of Italian sausage here - we have it with homemade marinara sauce and pasta, we have sausage and peppers and we've even had some sausage and quinoa meals that have been pretty yummy. When I had to go gluten-free, I thought I lost sausage forever and then I found Premio! Then I discovered that they are sold at Costco - so we get 4 six packs for $13.99. We keep them in the freezer until we are ready to use them!

4. FOOD SHOULD TASTE GOOD MULTIGRAIN CHIPS - I know I've written about these before! I love these chips!! I like to have them with salsa. My husband likes them with hummus. We eat them all the time and whoever dares to eat the last chip in the bag knows that he/she will receive the hairy eyeball until apologies are made. At Costco we get a nice giant 24 oz. bag for $6.29 that is more than enough for us to share for quite a while.

5. Nut Thins - We were super happy today to find out that Costco just started carrying another of our favorite snack foods: NUT THINS!! And they were in OUR FAVORITE FLAVOR (almond with a hint of salt)! They had a box with two 10 ounce bags for $7.89. I can not remember off-hand what the size or price of the regular box is in my regular grocery store, but we found it simply impossible to pass up such a large box of these yummy crunchies!

6. Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon Frozen Filets - This makes things very easy for me. The package has eight 5 ounce individually wrapped filets. Whenever we are going to have salmon, I take two filets out of the freezer in the morning, put them in the fridge and then prepare them at dinner time. It is not necessarily cheap, but it is the one fish we eat regularly and it is nice to have them handy for a quick meal. The package costs $28.00, so we space out our salmon eating to make sure it lasts for a long time. Since there are just two of us, the package is good for four meals, so I guess $7 per meal isn't too bad, but it is one of our pricier purchases so we consider it a luxury!

There are more foods that we buy at Costco, but, aside from the snacks, those four items we buy exclusively at Costco to make sure we are stocked up!