Friday's Food Finds

All week I am all over the Internet blogging about food, commenting about food, reading about food and finding tons and tons of stuff! I simply can NOT dedicate a single post to each individual find, so here's what I am going to do: I am going to give you a CliffNotes version of some foodie finds that I think you might all be interested in, so you have stuff to read and tinker with over the weekend! Here it goes:

Food Web Sites and Tools

• Google Recipes Well, it was only a matter of time, I guess before the search giant would dip its toe into the recipe search engine field! It is very simple to use. You can either go directly to the landing page for the recipe search engine (using the link above), or type in a recipe you are looking for right into the search bar at www.google.com and then click the "Recipes" option that comes up on the left-hand side once you conduct your search. When you have clicked that option, you have enabled their recipe search feature which opens up a number of options below it including ingredient selections as well as tie constraints. Definitely worth checking out.

Food Reads

• Food: Six Things To Feel Good About It's a good news read! Mark Bittman takes a moment to rundown six places where we've been moving in the right direction in our food fights. If you missed this when it ran in the NY Times, then you must check it out today! 
•  What genetically engineered alfalfa means to you This is a truly important article for everyone who is currently not a farmer to read. We get the gist that GE alfalfa is bad, that it threatens organic, real food, but how. A quick intro to the dangers of GE alfalfa and what we can do to safeguard our food against it.

Good Food (Recipes)

• Black Bean Soup (Panera Bread) This was my first Google recipe find. It took me back to my favorite recipe search engine (Food.com), but it took me less than a minute to find a black bean soup recipe that I had the time and ingredients to make. This was DELICIOUS. I can't wait until my next big shop so I can make a huge batch of this soup to freeze!
• Italian Sausage With Fennel, Peppers and Onions I found this one with Supercook.com since I knew I wanted to do something with the sausage and the fennel I had, but had not come up with this simple brilliance on my own. This recipe was AMAZING! The sausage came out perfectly, the fennel (I love fennel) added such a fabulous flavor to the whole dish, OH! and I only had bell peppers, so I can only imagine what extra fabulousness awaits you if you have the fancy frying peppers that are in the recipe! (My mouth is watering just remembering this recipe...)

Food FIGHTS 

• Sowing the Seeds for a Fair Farm Bill  The Food & Water Watch group and its volunteers have arranged gatherings all over the country (and even some international!) to raise awareness about the upcoming Farm Bill and actions we can all take to ensure that it is fair.
• Just Eat Organic! Watch the video, share it, let's get it viral and, above all, CONSIDER IT. If we purchase Organic products, then, economically, it would be foolish for the "powers that be" to threaten organic foods with the deregulation of genetically engineered seeds and animals.

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!

Fair Farm Bill

As the news of the impending US government shutdown looms, it seems that all future bills involving government spending will be in danger of some terrible political lashing no matter what's at stake. One such bill that comes to mind for me is the Farm Bill that is to be passed in 2012.

I am terrified that political pundits will use the Farm Bill as a place to compromise for the sake of a more fluid budget agreement rather than truly fight for what we, as a country, need to ensure a healthier and safer way of life. The Farm Bill is a wide-sweeping bill that deals with agriculture spending and all that is under the watch of the USDA.

This is the bill that decides who and what companies get government subsides for their crops. This is the bill that keeps huge agri-business alive and could do more to support smaller farms and farmers. There is so much going on in this bill that it is quite dense and easy to get lost within all that it covers. I am no expert on this bill, I just know that this is where the funding comes from and I would like to see the right people get the appropriate amount(s) of funding in order for them to survive the industry and prosper.

 In short, I would like this Farm Bill to be FAIR.

To that end, I received an e-mail today from Food and Water Watch. They have announced "Sowing the Seeds of a Fair Farm Bill" Events and National Day of Action. Here's what they have to say:

This spring, dozens of Food & Water Watch activists will be hosting events in their community to educate people about our food system, celebrate good food, and empower citizens to take action to support better food policies. Join us in your community!

Our current food system is not working for most Americans. Supermarket aisles offer few good food options for our families, while corporate agribusiness giants push unhealthy processed foods that generate huge profits. At the same time, small and medium-sized farmers across the U.S. are being told to either get big or get out. American food policy — dictated by the U.S. farm bill — favors just a handful of huge companies and their unsustainable methods at the expense of family farmers, consumers and communities.

There are events planned all over the country starting as early as today. There is also a link to create a new event! If you are knowledgeable about the Farm Bill, or at least taking some steps to be cognizant about food in America, perhaps you would like to create an event of your own for friends and families. The idea here is to RAISE AWARENESS about this bill, about our food industry and about what we, as citizens can do to ensure our voices are heard!

UPDATE: While catching up with my blog reading, I just found that the one and only Dr. Marion Nestle wrote a blog post about the Farm Bill as well today. It's a must-read: How to get involved: the Farm Bill

Where Are All My Hummingbirds? A Call to Action

I am going to be honest with you today. I have a problem. I want to change the world. I don't know exactly when this idea first occurred to me (college? high school? earlier?), but I know that I very much felt that was exactly why I belonged in the classroom. I am not delusional, I am completely aware of my smallness in this world, however, I believe every single one of us is capable of changing the world no matter how small we are. As I watched Dirt: The Movie last week, I saw a great story about a hummingbird who had the same problem as me. 

I am doing the best I can... Can't really ask for more than that. 

The best that I can do now is shift audiences (put out of the classroom on medical leave) and use this time to still create ripples in my small pond. Will you help me make some waves?

This Friday, March 4th, has been declared "Do Something Day," but I've been thinking - why not make this a "Do Something Month"? It's a great time of year to start something new for your health, your wealth, your family, your home or your home planet. 

Here are some ideas I am working on for my own personal challenge:

GARDENING IDEAS

• learn about and begin composting
• get soil tested in yard to see if growing food is a safe option, if not - plant other things to start to heal my soil

COOKING IDEAS

• work on meal planning and getting hubby to bring more lunches to work (save $$!!)
• do some more baking

ENVIRONMENT IDEAS

• continue to spread the word about the Farm Bill and actions that need to be taken to ensure our food is appropriately labeled and regulated
• take my dogs on longer walks and get back out to my parks

... this list is getting long and can get even longer if I allow it to. These are all small things, doable things, but right now they represent me doing the best I can. Not one of these individual little droplets of water can put out the huge forest fire around us, but, like the hummingbird, I must do something, I simply can't stand by in shock.

As I come up with new ideas, I will implement them and I will share them each Monday (since I will most likely need weekends to put some bigger things into action) in March Moves Monday Run Down! I challenge you to join me and share whatever "moves" your making this month each Monday. Also, spread the word about this challenge far and wide - who knows? Maybe we can inspire an elephant to fill his big trunk up with water to really start to extinguish this fire!

Ready to "move"? 

What things can you do this month - big or small - to help enact change in the world around you?

What things are you already doing that may be a good idea for someone else to try?

Here's a post to help you get started: March Forth on March Fourth - It's DO SOMETHING DAY

Friday's Food Finds

All week I am all over the Internet blogging about food, commenting about food, reading about food and finding tons and tons of stuff! I simply can NOT dedicate a single post to each individual find, so here's what I am going to do: I am going to give you a CliffNotes version of some foodie finds that I think you might all be interested in, so you have stuff to read and tinker with over the weekend! Here it goes:

Food Web Sites and Tools

• the epicentre The first thing that caught my eye on this site ia their encyclopedia of spices, however, it does not end there. They also have some interesting cooking videos, tips with recipes, an ingredients section that discusses each chosen ingredient at length and then includes recipes as well and other categories for the cooking curious. While the recipe index may not be as extensive as some other sites on the Internet, those topics this site does choose to address are done so completely.
• Open Source Food I am beginning to think I have a thing for food photography. This site is exactly what it claims to be open source food. Free to join, open to everyone with the goal of "Amazing Recipes. Delicious Food. Beautiful Photography. Created and rated by you and fellow food-lovers from all over the world. Open Source Food is your gastronomic hub where every visit will bring inspiration and a rumbling belly..."

Food Reads

• Frankenfood:It's Alive! This is a great article from a local Long Island publication. What I love about it is how Marisa Musto teaches us to find out if our food is GMO by READING SOME LABELS!! Yay!! Thanks Marisa!! You should also check out Marisa's blog Cook's Book for a more personal take on her experience of going to The New Generation of Food lecture as well as some sweet-looking recipes!
• The Organic Egg Scorecard We learned that eggs are a bit healthier for us than we first imagined, now the question is - who do we buy them from? This is a fabulous rating system put together by the Cornicopia Institute this past Fall that really looked into how the chickens are raised, fed and treated while they are laying our yummy breakfast treats.
• Farm Bill Issues; Budget Issues; and Rural Data I have been saying it for months - the Farm Bill discussion is important and it is coming - well here is a bit of how it went down this Thursday. Washington officials will be on break next week for President's week, so that gives you time to read this through, mull it over and think about what you might want to tell you rlocal representatives.

Good Food (Recipes)

•  Kale, Spinach and Pear Smoothie This recipe was shared in my comments section by Kim of Incandescent Blue Flame in answer to my plea for produce help. Now I am pretty certain I will end up directly in the dog house if I use our spinach (my husband's favorite) to make a smoothie, however, this is definitely on my list of must-trys. First of all, it is like Yoda-green and the geek in me is screaming that drinking this will ensure that the force is strong with this one (wow... sorry. Did I über-geek you without warning? It has been a rough day. My defenses are down). Secondly, it has PEAR in it and PEAR is deliciously awesome and makes everything so much better.
• Favorite Family Recipe: Eggs Why not go crazy? Eggs are awesome, we can eat them again and with the scorecard above we know which brand to buy to soothe our conscience, so let us eat eggs. This is a listing of all of the egg recipes on the Family Favorite Recipe website. They all look egg-cellent (Oh boy... perhaps I shouldn't be allowed near a keyboard on days like these!).

Food FiGHTS

• Millions Against Monsanto I added this link to the Changing the Way We Eat post, but I could understand, if, with everything else that was in that post you were simply too overwhelmed to take any action at the time. If that was the case, do so now. Join the group to make a difference.
• Food Democracy NOW Is another group from Monday's post, that I simply want to reiterate today. If you have not already joined, do so today. If you have joined, then just hop back on the site to see what the most current action to take may be.

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!

TEDxManhattan LIVE STREAM Changing the Way We Eat

I don't know how long this will be on, but it is live right now (Saturday 11:25am EST) and you need to check it out:

Watch live streaming video from tedx at livestream.com

link to the live stream: http://livestre.am/Ggb

I must go watch!! Join ME!

UPDATE: As a result of this livestream a group of like-minded people, inspired by the acts of the people of Egypt, decided to come together to try to use social media to enact some change. Come join us on FaceBook at the following link:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_191834737502915&ap=1

Food Safety Bill Passes

UPDATE

The Food Safety Bill (S 510) I wrote about in yesterday's post, passed the Senate today. It needed 50% of the "aye" votes and received 73%. It still has several steps to go before it becomes law, so if there is something you don't like about it, there is still time to let your Representative in the House know about it.


My Take

As for me, I will continue to attempt to read it through (lord help me!), but I do believe I am in support of this bill. When asked today, in the comment section of a CNN article about the passing bill, why I was in support, this is the response I gave:

...As for why I am in support of this, well, that's a really good question. I've gone back and forth for awhile, but when I sat down to actually blog about this yesterday (searching for sustenance) I finally decided I was a "yay".

The funny thing is I am in support with the same opinions as many of the commenters here who are not! Our laws and regulations are out of date and not working - too many infected foods are making it to our plates. We DO need to become more educated consumers, but in the meantime shouldn't there be some sort of protection? I fear, although reading through this small unrepresentative sample of Americans commenting here you would think otherwise, that there is still an INCREDIBLE amount of trust placed in the food industry by the public as a whole. The food industry's job is not our safety, their job is to make money for their company - those are the facts. We need an UNBIASED group to come in and regulate.
I emphasize "unbiased" because I, too, have fears that the FDA may not live up to this lofty ideal, however, does that mean we should leave NO ONE to watch our backs for this lack of trust?? I say NO. I say we demand better of the FDA. I say we make sure that they are TRANSPARENT and understand that they work for us, not for big business.

So, in short, I support it because I think it leans in the right direction. I know, however, that there is still more to be done!

Let's Get To Work!

To continue briefly on that point, I believe one of the places that work needs to be done is on Farm Bill 2012. I got to the game on this Food Safety Bill a little late and have been playing catch up, but this Farm Bill will be getting its update soon. I think it is really important to stay informed and make sure that our representatives and President know exactly how we believe this money (OUR money) should be divvied up to support farms, nutrition programs, forestry, etc. I worry that so many people are going to get caught up in the food safety argument that they might unknowingly turn a blind eye to where the money goes!

I like to pay taxes.  With them I buy civilization.  

~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

I like this quote. Let's just remember that we can control the type of civilization we live in by participating in government when it is something that we hold near and dear to our hearts. To that end, if you did not have the opportunity to check out the website OpenCongress yesterday, I think it is worth a look. It is a non-profit, non-partisan public resource run by the Participatory Politics Foundation. It is truly difficult to get unbiased information these days, even if you are reading my blog you are getting my view of things, so why not check out the primary sources? They aren't always the easiest reads out there, but isn't it better to question primary sources than second and third party interpretations?

Well, I guess without intending it, this post turned into another Take Action Tuesday post! Think about it, share it and get in on the action of the world around you!

Why is Organic so Expensive?

After reading a number of blogs and online discussions tonight on buying organic food for the family, buying organic feed for animals on the farm and many questioning the merits of doing such a thing when there would be such a financial burden attached to it, I began to really wonder to myself, "WHY is organic SO EXPENSIVE??" As I read post on top of post of people saying, I'd really like to, but we can't really afford it, I was coming undone. I wanted to write back: IT IS WORTH IT, but I steadied my hand realizing that these are easy words coming from someone who has only to buy food for her husband and herself... Will the same sacrifices be possible when we have a family? Will the sacrifices be enough to cover the cost of organic living?

As I thought about it more and more it seemed increasingly unfair that organic was not a viable choice for all. It also didn't make a lot of sense to me - didn't organic food have less stuff in it? Shouldn't less cost less? Alas, so it should seem, but we know business doesn't have to make sense, it only has to make cents!

I needed to get to the bottom of this, for my own complete understanding. I wanted to know what I was paying for really. I know that my intention is to pay for quality food, but I had a feeling that the real expense was coming from something unforeseen.

Manpower

One of the first things that our organic dollars go to is the manpower. Rather than rely on chemicals and pesticides to kill all of the weeds on a farm, when a farm is organic, they refrain from using these techniques. This does not mean, however, that they allow weeds to grow willy-nilly throughout their crops! In fact, people actually have to go pull out the weeds. This takes time and time = money.

...that seems reasonable to me.


It's Economics

Supply and demand rear their ugly heads into this discussion, driving our prices skyward. It seems that in organic farms have a smaller harvest than non-organic farms. They simply do not produce as much produce! Especially since the demand for certified organic foods is increasing, the prices are following suit.

...this is the unavoidable law of the capitalist world I live in, I guess.

They're On Their Own

Large, non-organic farms receive government subsidies to cover expenses such as pesticides, herbicides and corn. They also do not have to pay for the mess they make of the world around them. In both cases they are covered. If you are wondering where the government is getting that money to pay them, that would be from us, through our tax dollars. Organic farmers are paying for everything beginning to the end, out of pocket - so they put the cost in the product.

...this was the part I worried about.


I am sure there are a whole bunch of other reasons why organic is more expensive than non-organic, but it is this last issue that truly gives me pause. THIS is what we have to stop. We have to stop paying for harmful food. We have to stop paying for it with our money (through our taxes) and we have to stop paying for it with our health! One website that I used as a reference when getting to the bottom of this enigma brought up another very good point - if we truly calculate the dollars and cents spent on the two types of food, we may find that organic is not that expensive. Here is an excerpt from the site's answer to the question "Why is organic food so expensive?":

Some scientists have estimated that the use of just one agrochemical (methyl-bromide) contributes to more than 20% of the global ozone depletion. This in turn is estimated to double the incidence of skin cancer globally.

Our taxes are then used to pay for operations and the care of terminally ill patients. This money is currently not added to the cost of producing crops (such as strawberries) using methyl-bromide. If the environmental cost were accounted for, organic strawberries would be cheaper than conventional ones. (Read more: Why is organic food so expensive?: iVillage http://www.ivillage.co.uk/food/qas/0,,161170_179846,00.html#ixzz14HRcd027 )

I think this point is a salient one and one we should all consider. Food should be healthy, it should be life-supporting and it should not put families in a quandary of physical health versus financial stability every time they think about putting food on the table.

At this moment I can think of two things that we can do:

• Use your "capitalist vote" I have used this term before. In my eyes this is the most powerful thing we can do in a capitalist society - speak with your dollar. If you can't buy a whole meal in certified organic or local foods due to the expense, find one thing that you can buy this way and do it consistently. Ask your family members, neighbors and friends to make the same commitment and you will be surprised how simple it could be to make a noticeable change.
• Support the Farm Bill 2012 I haven't looked at this in a couple of months myself because I was getting pretty overwhelmed by the prospect of the entire thing, but I just found a blog post by Lee Zukor that gives me a bit of encouragement to revisit it with a guide he helped to create! Read Lee's post at Civil Eats and you may get an idea of how important this is for us to support.

We can't just hope for things to get better. 

Reference Links:

• http://www.fao.org/organicag/oa-faq/oa-faq5/en/
• http://www.ivillage.co.uk/food/qas/0,,161170_179846,00.html
• http://thestir.cafemom.com/food_party/106217/why_is_organic_food_so
• http://www.organicfoodee.com/sense/tooexpensive/    **not US**
• http://www.agobservatory.org/index.cfm
• http://civileats.com/2010/11/03/the-2012-farm-bill-it%E2%80%99s-not-too-late-to-think-big/

****JUST FOUND (on 11/4/2010) A LIST OF PLACES THAT GIVE YOU ORGANIC COUPONS!!
http://www.thethriftymama.com/2009/05/online-organic-coupon-resources.html
THANK YOU THRIFTY MAMA!!!****