The recipe is extremely simple and we have written this recipe keeping in mind that you will probably want to make these a bit ahead of time and either freeze them or store them away in an air tight container. There is nothing worse than having to make your workout bar straight after a long and tiring gym session.

Here comes Peter’s input:

Your post workout meal is one of the most important times to eat during the day. The aim is to provide the body with the nutrients needed to start the recovery process. I asked BakingBar to write me a simple recipe for a convenient bar and they have created a fantastic, delicious and nutritious product.

What I love about these bars is not only the simplicity of making them but in these tough times they are much more cost effective than any manufactured bars. Nutritionally, most of the bars you can buy are loaded with sugar and trans fats. The beauty of making your own is that you can choose your own ingredients and know exactly what you are putting in them and in what quantity!

Each bar contains a combination of high and low Gi carbs, protein and a little healthy fat. With the amount of false information these days, many people would run for the hills at the thought of eating high Gi carbs and fat, especially in the one meal. However there is method in the madness.

Our primary source of protein is from the whey powder. The market is saturated with brands, however, I’ve found one of best quality and tasting of these is Pharma Whey from PHD. Other sources of protein are the peanut butter and the sesame seeds. The chunky peanut butter is a brilliant addition to the bars as they provide flavour and an extra satisfying crunch.

Protein is the primary nutrient to repair the body; however we also have to replace the energy used during training. For this, we need carbohydrates. Initially the honey and dried fruits will provide natural, high Gi carbs as sugars. (As these are needed after a workout, they will be used rather than being stored as fat). These will actually work with the protein, pushing it into the muscles quicker than by eating protein alone. As this bar is meant to provide nutrition until your next meal, we also needed some slower release carbohydrate. This is where porridge oats are perfect. Not only do oats supply carbohydrates, but they are loaded with antioxidants, fibre and phytochemicals which help fight off cancer. This is why they are classed as a Superfood!

For those of you with a sweet tooth, or anyone wanting to make the bars into a treat I would recommend using cocoa nibs from Naturya. (Available from Holland and Barrett). Cocoa nibs are coarsely-ground cocoa beans, harvested on Peruvian plantations. They are unspoiled by sugar or sweeteners making them a healthy addition to the bar without feeling guilty.

Fruit and Nut Bar

Ingredients
6 TB natural honey
130 grams natural chunky peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
120 grams oats (porridge oats of rolled oats)
120 grams raisins or other dried fruit
1 TB sesame seeds
2 TB sliced almonds
2 TB unsweetened desiccated coconut
1 scoop protein powder
2 TB chocolate chips from health/natural food shops such as: http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?PID=3741&CPID=4333&searchterm=nibs&rdcnt=1

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 170c
2. In a heatproof bowl above a saucepan of simmering water melt the peanut butter, honey and vanilla together until combined.
3. In a separate large bowl mix together all the other dry ingredients.
4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the peanut butter mixture.
5. Stir well until all the ingredients are well combined.
6. Line a 6 x 10 inch baking tray or similar size. Smooth out the mixture so it is flat and about 1 inch high.
7. Bake in the centre of the oven for 10 mins. When it comes out it will be quite soft but don’t worry it does harden up a bit. Wait until completely cool before slicing.
8. You can then wrap them up separately or store them away in an air tight container.

**TOP TIP – You can also crumble up some of the bars and use as a granola type cereal, its delicious. Try adding a dash of cinnamon if doing this. Yum! **

This vegetable soup?

Did you grow up in a home where the scent of yeast or melting butter hung in the air? Maybe some fresh tomatoes mixed with herbs and garlic gurgled happily on the stove? Opening the refrigerator meant a feast of tempting and multi-colored stews, soups or casseroles to greet the eye?

No? Well, me either. As I’ve mentioned in some of my M@M articles, my mom was a box mom. Having had no one to teach her anything about domestic goddessry and holding a job, she was the perfect demographic to capture with “time-saving” foods. “Cooking is drudgery,” said the advertisers of the day (and quite honestly, ads of to-day, as well), “why put yourself through that? Just add water/milk/egg/a microwave and dinner is served!” Voila!

Or this soup?

As the developed world has slipped and slid down this slope of “faster is better”, we’ve begun to learn quick doesn’t always (in fact, almost never does) equal healthy and having a plethora of fat and sugar laden foods within arm’s reach doesn’t exactly help our waistlines. It seems we must be nearing rock-bottom when a special energy drink is being advertised as “so much faster and easier than coffee!”. Really?! We are too busy to make our own COFFEE  these days? Things have become bleak.

The fact is many individuals and families know by now that they should be cooking for themselves more if they really want optimal health (and in some cases, optimal taste). Still, society has changed and finding the time to crank out a farm-fresh meal isn’t always an option. Sometimes, shortcuts provide more time for homework help, a family bike ride, or even, yes, half an hour of hysterical laughter over Modern Family on television.

This baked good?

Because of this, here at Zomppa, we’re introducing a new series called Scratch vs. Shortcut. Three times a month, I’ll be comparing two versions of the same food in the categories of taste, nutrition, dollars, time, ingredients and viability (i.e., will your picky kids and husband eat it?). Where does it make sense to cut corners? Which things should always be made from scratch due to nutritional concerns? And exactly how “convenient” is convenience? Along the way, we’ll also be exploring some ideas from Michael Pollan, Mark Bittman and others about how returning to the kitchen can be easy AND practical.

Or these baked goods?

From pasta sauce to pizza, brownies to bread, soup to salad dressing, I’ll be rolling out side-by-side versions for my captive audience (i.e., gullible neighbors and friends), analyzing cost and nutrition content (as much as possible…this isn’t America’s Test Kitchen) and bringing you the results. Have an item you’d like to see on the schedule? Shout it out in the comments. Feel free to share your own informal results with us as well.

Until next week, happy cooking/microwaving/box opening!

It’s January, and my own health isn’t feeling so tip-top. During my journey on the Camino de Santiago, I walked 20 miles a day, ate whatever I wanted, and felt fantastic. The problem is I’ve kept eating that amount, and added a boatload of cookies, cakes, and sweets during the holidays. So much in fact that I am oozing sugar cookies out of my pores (I should not be getting breakouts at this age), and the muffins I love so much have become a giant muffin tire around my hips and back. No joke. I can feel it.

So like many others who jumpstart a nutritional change on January 1, I am too (also, my annual physical is in two weeks, and I’m embarrassed to go there and have the doctor tell me I’ve gained 20 pounds). No joke. Those loose-fitting pants from the Camino? Not so loose anymore. Rather, what’s the word? Snug. (Even though I’ve been pretty committed to spinning the last couple months, I’m pretty sure the newly thickened thighs are not all muscle.)

It’s not weight I’m concerned about. It’s health. I’m celebrating another birthday this month (and it’s not 18), and I need to really pay attention to how I age. I had been all set to de-tox for three weeks (no refined flours, sugars, etc. for three weeks. First week: fruits & veggies. Second week: tofu, legumes, beans. Third week: fish). Then Patty tells me to watch Forks Over Knives (learn about the 5% Diet and the movie here) and go vegan. We had a heated argument. I told her she was going too extreme. I had tried vegan for a month a year ago after reading The China Study, and then, well, bacon rocks. She sighed in exasperation, not understanding how I could be so stubborn and stupid.

My answer: whatever.

I come from a family who loves to eat. So much so that my mom has Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol (probably a few more things that I forgot). She isn’t overweight, quite tiny actually, so she thinks she’s actually fine. When she went from pills to insulin shots, she thought that was a sign of improvement (not kidding). She proudly skips her other medications because she thinks she will overdose (not kidding). She said her doctor was a bad doctor for threatening to “fire” her because she won’t listen to him. He tells her to change her diet and exercise.

Her answer: whatever.

My dad, on the other hand, ten years her senior is fit as a fiddle, with a cholesterol 20 points below mine, and can do yoga positions I only dream about. He is also the cook in the family, and so has been the one plying us with dinners full of meat and rice (for whatever reason, this diet has not negatively affected him). And he has never been able to say no to my mom. So he continues to succumb to her demands for duck, lobster, and sweets.

You would think these two were two little old, uneducated people who don’t understand how their diet is linked to their health. But oh no, no. My mom isn’t even in her 60s yet and she continues to instruct me on how to eat better (“turnips help to cut down blood sugar”…perhaps, then why is yours so high?). My dad loads us up with healing broths when we visit.

So why do they insist on wanting an early death?

I really have no idea. Whatever the resistance is to change is probably what is also killing so many people prematurely, or at least, making their elder years really crappy.

I figured, if not one of her kids (or a really adorable grandson) can convince my mom to change her eating habits, perhaps a movie might. Forks Over Knives has been on my Netflix forever, so I decided to go ahead and rent it (Netflix, you are starting to be economically un-smart for me.) since I was visiting my folks over the holidays. I made my parents sit and watch it.

My mom’s reaction: this is stupid, This woman is still fat, (before wandering off like a 2-year old).

My dad’s reaction: we should try this.

My mom’s reaction to my dad’s reaction: Of course eating less meat helps (huh?) I crammed before my last bloodwork and my doctor was pleased with the results (we have progress!)…but I can’t be bothered to eat like that all the time. This is stupid. Everyone needs meat and enjoy sweets. I’ll get sick if I don’t (and..end progress. Regress).

As if she isn’t sick right now. She’s stabbing herself daily with  insulin and complaining about leg and foot pain (signs of diabetes-related nerve damage). We’ve all tried to scare her, cajole her, teach her how to pick out how the whole grains, everything, but she seems to insist on dying early and painfully. It doesn’t help that she’s stubborn and opinionated (runs in the family).

Do I sound pissed? Well, let me put it this way: it is not going to end well. My dad is going to end up taking care of my mom, carrying her up the stairs when she has no legs or feeding her when she can’t do it herself because she’s had a stroke. The Beanie Baby, aka Mister Strong, will not have his grandmother around for long, or at least, not in great condition (interestingly, my grandmother – my mom’s mom – lived healthy well into her 90s.  She understood the concept of hari hachi bu. Her one weakness was vanilla ice cream).

So although my mom seems insistent on trapping her young-at-heart, young-in-mind spirit into an old woman’s body and we’re not sure what to do about it, here are a few things I am doing because at least these steps are within my control:

• Practice what I preach – commit to the whole foods/planet-based/little-no-meat/no overly processed-packaged food way of eating. For those of you know me, this is a HUGE deal. But I have ZERO desire to age in a way that I could avoid by taking preventive measures. Perhaps by changing my diet and forcing my family to adjust to it when I visit will convince my mom that she needs to change, too.
• Stop beating around the bush – try and help others be aware of what they eat directly affects their health (and their life span and their families). It’s selfish for people to eat in a way that leads them to avoidable premature death or preventive chronic conditions. Not only are taxpayers paying for what-could-have-been unnecessary medications, but kids are then also left without their parents or aunts, etc. (Yes, Mister Strong’s dad, I’m looking at you).

So to jumpstart the steps I can take, here is a delicious (DEE-LICIOUS), healthy, whole-foods recipe that might even convince my mom that “whatever” isn’t going to cut it anymore. For other awesome, vegetarian recipes, check out the Telegraph.

Don’t tell Patty. She loves to tell me, “I told you so,” especially when it’s for my own good.

Whatever.

Roasted Acorn Squash with Wild Rice & Quinoa Stuffing
I used wild rice harvested by canoe, thanks to ZomppaLiz’s dear husband. You can make the rice ahead of time, and the flavors of the rice will continue to harmonize over a few days, making leftovers awesome.

Ingredients
6 small acorn squashes (nice to have individual portions), halved lengthwise and seeds removed
3 TB honey
3 TB dark brown sugar
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
3 medium shallots, finely chopped
6 celery stalks, finely chopped
3 TB thyme
3 TB rosemary
1 TB cayenne pepper (or more, for a bigger kick)
1 1/2 cups wild rice (or red, brown, or black)
1 1/2 cups quinoa
3 cups vegetable broth
Balsamic vinegar
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup raisins
Oil
Salt
Pepper

Directions
1. C wild rice and quinoa in veggie broth (2:1 water:grain ratio). Bring broth to boil, cover for 20 minutes until fluffy. Remove from heat.
2. Preheat oven to 450F. Rub each half of acorn squash with honey and brown sugar. Season with bit of salt and pepper.
3. Bake acorn squash for 30 minutes until tender (fork should go right in).
4. While baking, add a bit of oil in deep skillet and add onions, shallots, and celery (can use veggie broth instead of oil). Season with salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary (and really, any other herbs you prefer) until soft (about 6-7 minutes).
5. Take mixture and stir into rice. Add walnuts, cranberries, and raisins. Season with salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar (makes flavors pop).
6. Stuff each half of acorn squash with rice and return to oven for another 20-25 minutes until squash is totally tender and edges browned.

One of the more fascinating results is rooted in a 20+ year study conducted by Dr. Campbell on lab rats.  Briefly, the study took two groups of rats and fed the first group with 20% animal protein and the second group, only 5% animal protein.  Both sets of rats were given enough Aflatoxin (a fungus, mold that is highly carcinogenic) to get cancers.  Long story short, every single rat fed the 20% protein had liver cancer or precursor lesions and not a single rat in the 5% group had cancer or lesions.

In a separate study, the results are even more astonishing.  When the team decreased the animal protein of the 20% rats to less than 10%, Dr. Campbell found that the cancer lesions on the liver decreased in size and number.  In a nutshell, the results of this study suggest that cancer can be jump started, restarted, slowed and even halted by adjusting the level of protein intake.

Somehow, I found myself discussing both studies a couple of times in the past few weeks – mind you, I never once rudely interjected my stories of these studies or interrupted someone just to spew some analytical details about lab rat study results.  Instead, I diplomatically and gently relayed these stories to welcomed audiences and within a relevant context – but it didn’t take long before the welcome wore off.

What has amazed me the most about people’s response is not so much the unwillingness to seriously consider the implications of Dr. Campbell’s results, but rather two other elements of the response:  1) the outright defensiveness and/or need to explain the necessity for all things animal protein in their lives and 2) how quickly many audience members hastily write Dr. Campbell off as a quack, a farce or some kind of a ‘pretend doctor of real science’.

Sometimes, I end up feeling attacked – “Well, do you eat meat?  Are you vegetarian?  Do your kids drink milk?  Are you growing cancer cells in your body?”

Yes, my family and I eat meat and drink milk.  But I want to change our diet – a diet that is already relatively low in animal protein, but that still has major repercussions on our environment, our wallets and potentially, our health.  The implications offered by Dr. Campbell’s studies are controversial given the state of our beef and dairy lobbying prowess on capital hill, but they are anything less than astonishing, intriguing and incredibly convincing. Whether or not we become vegans is an entirely separate question (I highly doubt it); however, I do think it is possible to decrease our animal protein intake to something less than 5% over the course of the next few years – I’m calling this the 5% Diet.

For many, this might seem like an extreme interpretation of Dr. Campbell’s data, but for my family and our needs, its definitely plausible.  Will all of this change in lifestyle and diet be worth it all in the end?  Only time will tell, but I can’t wait for time.  I have to make a decision about how we are going to eat our way through life based on the information offered up now.  Personally, if there is a small chance that changing our diet can prevent rapid and unnecessary deterioration and emotional heartache, I’d argue that the change is worth it.

Besides, I doubt my family will miss the level of meat and dairy we currently consume or that we will go hungry anytime soon – there are so many scrumptious non-animal based foods and variations on those foods that we haven’t tried yet.

The 5% diet.  Ch-ch-check it out.  As a bonus for considering this diet, I’ve included a recipe for my version of Dal, a delicious, creamy lentil and kidney bean dish served up with some brown rice and bread.

Patty’s Pretend Dal

1 cup of brown or black lentils, soaked and fully cooked

1/3 cup of kidney beans, soaked and fully cooked

½ cup of tomato puree

1 tomato, diced

1 onion, diced

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 garlic, minced

½ inch of ginger, grated

1 green chili, finely diced

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili

½ teaspoon fenugreek

½ teaspoon garam masala

2-3 cups of water (more if necessary)

salt

¼ – ½ cup of half and half (optional, if you dare)

Directions:

In a large pot over medium to low heat, add the oil and then, the onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, green chili, cumin, chili, fenugreek, 1 teaspoon of salt and garam masala.  Stir frequently until the tomatoes and onions begin to cook down, about 10-15 minutes.

Once the onion and tomatoes have cooked down, add the beans, tomato puree and about 2 cups of water (the water should cover the beans by about 2 inches).  Bring to a boil and then let simmer for about 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After 20-30 minutes, check the dal for seasoning and add more salt if necessary.  Serve with rice or naan and a little bit of yogurt to manage the heat, if you want.

Semur-en-Auxois, France

My personal start has been fairly smooth despite the obligatory bureaucracy involved with moving to another country. My new employer, however, has made several international headlines over the past few weeks. Starting this year, the French government has banned ketchup from both school and college campuses. I haven’t heard any talk of the new rule in Semur, but the Anglophone media (specifically the UK and the US) seems quick to report the gesture as the most recent in a long line of xenophobic practices. “First France built a wall around its language to protect it from pernicious Anglo-Saxon invaders,” writes Kim Willsher for the Los Angeles Times, “…now it is throwing up a shield against another perceived threat to its culture and civilization: ketchup.”

Left: Inside a French friend’s refrigerator with common staples: Dijon mustard and a generic French brand of ketchup. Right: Aperitifs in Tornus, France

I feel the need to respond to these somewhat facetious statements for a few very obvious reasons, but mainly because of my purported role as a sort of cultural ambassador from the land that gave the world this sticky sweet condiment. I’m a firm believer that people should have the right to eat what they want.* Along with that idea, I also believe that the decisions that we make about what and how we eat should be thoroughly and equally informed. This is where schools and school lunches throughout the world have amazing potential as dynamic educational tools. America’s own First Lady, Michelle Obama, has adopted this idea as part of her mission to combat childhood obesity, while chef/TV personality Jamie Oliver has managed to use it to “revolutionize” lunchtime throughout the UK.

Beyond the obvious nutritional lessons though, school lunch can be a gateway to learn about the environment, apply newly acquired math and science lessons, and – at the crux of the ketchup argument– teach about both foreign and domestic cultural values. As is the case here, there is no denying that this rule is at least partly aimed at protection and transmission of French culture. Looking at the decision in further detail though, its critics should also acknowledge its articulated goals: “the rules call for school officials to cut down on fatty foods and introduce more vegetables, fruit and dairy products. Four or five dishes must be offered each day with a serving of cooked or raw vegetables, preferably seasonal.” School lunches in many countries are still works in progress, but before labeling the French as chauvinistic, I think their decision merits some more consideration on both nutritional and cultural fronts.

“]

French students learning to maneuver their utensils at a public school cantine during lunch time. [Photo credit: Philippe Trais

The general French eating attitude, as made manifest by the classic gastronomic meal, was inscribed in 2010 to the UNESCO representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity for its unique emphasis on “togetherness, the pleasure of taste, and the balance between human beings and the products of nature.” This is not to say that France is in any way better when compared to the rest of the world, but that it has developed a unique, rare, and socially important ritual around the simple act of mealtime. In many ways, French ideas and practices actually parallel goals of Mrs. Obama’s and Oliver’s initiatives: good quality food, a variety of ingredients, and training in moderation. Why wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, the French have an interest in passing these ideas along to their younger generations?

Using ketchup as bait for other foods, claiming that it’s healthy (the Ronald Reagan administration tried this trick when attempting to pass the condiment as sufficient for the required vegetable serving in a school lunch), or applying the sauce as a way to mask other flavors as The Telegraph article on the ketchup ban suggests, are not healthy habits that will train a child’s pallet to accept a variety of foods and different preparations. How are they supposed to learn to like their vegetables if they never actually taste them? I’m not saying that ketchup is not a valuable ingredient in any cook’s pantry. It, like runny cheese for some, has the ability to enhance dishes and bring pleasure to any eating experience. Allowing children free reign over the sugary liquid is hardly teaching this sort of nutritional responsibility that we increasingly hope to expect of them, though. After all, eating ketchup is always a decision that the parent can make outside of school (and a lot of them are for it).

Regional cheese section at a local Carrefour supermarket near Dijon. Carrefour is France’s largest supermarket chain, and the third largest in profit in the world.

So before we start pointing fingers at a somewhat easy target, maybe we should take a closer look at this proactive government decision. The UK has been fairly successful at implementing healthier school lunch measures as part of the School Food Trust, but the US risks to take a step back if the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 loses funding as part of next year’s Farm Bill. We must wait to see how effective these initiatives will be at accomplishing their goals, but as for now, the French still have significantly lower levels of childhood obesity (although numbers are growing) than either the US or the UK. Accusing the French cultural chauvinism requires a little more investigation to be a serious conclusion. All the same, it’s possible to understand their stated reasoning for the benefit of child nutrition. Besides, if they were really worried about Anglophone threats to their culture and civilization, I hardly suspect that they would have hired me to teach English…

I digress and leave you with potential evidence that, like McDonald’s, French pop culture seems hardly opposed to American food imports:

*Side note: If the foie gras sales ban in California is really about protecting animal welfare, then why not do something about the millions of mistreated animals that churn out of CAFOs? Banning a food that is primarily consumed by a very small and elite population seems a bit misguided, if not excessive. But then again, I moved to France…

Christmas trees on my family’s farm

I realized an opportunity to learn more about the local Christmas tree industry after a close friend and fellow UNC-Chapel Hill classmate, Robyn Levine, received a six-month “Sowing Seeds for Change Fellowship” with the Durham, North Carolina-based nonprofit Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF).  As part of her assignment, Robyn was placed with the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System’s Farmworker Health Program in Boone, North Carolina.  Boone is also headquarters of the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association, or a group that represents the state’s roughly 1,600 Christmas tree growers who produce an estimated 50 million Fraser fir trees on over 25, 000 acres.  Impressive numbers like these help make NC Christmas trees second in the nation for total Christmas tree receipts.

A North Carolina Christmas tree arriving at the White House

So what do trees have to do with food, right?  Focusing on North Carolina, the NC Department of Agriculture reports that “agriculture, including food, fiber, and forestry, contributes over $59 billion annually to NC’s economy and represents 22 percent of NC’s income.”[1]  The labor (i.e. planting, cultivating, harvesting, and preparing crops for market) required and largely completed by NC’s roughly 150,000 farmworkers “contributes over $12,000 in profits to NC’s economy annually” per each farmworker.[2]  The major crops that require the hand labor of farmworkers include tobacco, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, apples, bell peppers, and Christmas trees (among others).[3]  Considering these stats, some might say that Christmas trees have everything to do with agricultural production in this part of the world.

caption: Taken from SAF website

According to the SAF website, “close to 90 percent of farmworkers are Spanish-speakers…[and] the vast majority are born in Mexico.”^[4]  The reasons why these and other farmworkers immigrate to the United States are the very complicated and difficult results of both push and pull factors.  So-called “pull” factors might include, but are not limited to, recruitment by the agriculture industry to fill some of the most dangerous and low-paying occupations in the United States.^[5]  From the other side, “push” factors might consist of, but are also not limited to, “extreme poverty, lack of jobs, natural disasters, armed conflict, and civil unrest.”^[6]

Once farmworkers arrive in the US, many farmworkers’ circumstances remain strenuous for different reasons.  They can usually expect low wages with an average annual income of $11,000, few social benefits since most are ineligible for these services, increased risk of harm from various work related health concerns, limited insurance, and obstacles to healthcare, according to the NC Farmworker Institute.[7]   Moreover, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reports that farmworkers suffer from the highest rate of toxic chemical injuries and skin disorders of any workers in the country.[8]

Charles and Robyn lead a lesson on nutrition as part of outreach with Appalachian Regional Healthcare System’s Farmworker Health Program

In response, advocacy groups like SAF (previously mentioned by ZomppaB) have emerged in recent decades with a mission to help alleviate these difficulties and lend a voice.  As it says on their website, SAF began in the 1970s as a student project at Duke University that eventually led a successful lobbying campaign for the creation of NC Farmworker Legal Services.  After decades of documentation, outreach, and achievement, SAF now considers itself to be a nonprofit organization “whose mission is to bring students and farmworkers together to learn about each other’s lives, share resources and skills, improve conditions for farmworkers, and a build diverse coalition working for social change.”  Thanks to their efforts, “80,000 farmworkers and their family members have gained access to health, legal, education, and organizing support provided by SAF interns in the Carolinas.”

The organization offers a range of different opportunities for students, but my friend Robyn’s position in particular focuses on increasing farmworkers’ access to healthcare in and around Boone, NC.  She and other fellows are expected to complete projects for SAF that record and share stories of farmworkers at the same time as working with their partner office to help provide health education, case management, and interpretation for farmworkers.  It’s challenging work for a full time job straight out of college, but for Robyn’s interests, the position has turned out to be “a good fit” that combines her passions of medicine and social justice.

Charles answers questions about reading nutrition labels as part of healthcare outreach with Appalachian Regional Healthcare System’s Farmworker Health Program

I had the fortunate opportunity to go on outreach with Robyn and her co-worker, Charles Webster, earlier this month.  Their outreach at the Farmworker Health Program either means taking a health-related curriculum on the road to visit farmworker camps, performing free health assessments, or translating at a local clinic.  There was a nutrition lesson on the books for that particular Tuesday, so we spent the evening on the highway and up hidden crooked roads that I have unknowingly driven by many times while growing up in the area.

I watched as they knocked on doors and asked for permission to lead a demonstration on reading nutrition labels, the nutritional value of several popular foods, and the amount of sugar in several drinks.  Most of the men who we visited at two different camps were either resting after a day of work or preparing to eat supper.  With kind accommodation though, both groups allowed us into their homes to begin the 30 minutes interactive session that concluded with the distribution of handouts that suggest healthy recipes and information about local healthcare resources.  Overall, the groups we visited that evening seemed pretty “into it,” according to Robyn and Charles, which generally made doing outreach in someone’s home much easier.

Nutrition outreach participants

Later, Robyn and I talked about her experience as a SAF fellow thus far.  One of the topics we discussed the most was how she felt about how her, the Farmworker Health Program’s, and SAF’s work fit into the larger goals of the rising food movement in the United States.  We eventually decided that the wants of the two groups are congruent since both parties fundamentally work to achieve a more sustainable, transparent, equitable, and just food system for all: from the producers to the consumers.

This may seem obvious, but I know that I for one am guilty of forgetting where and from whom most of our food comes (even when the reality is, quite literally, in my backyard) since I strive to source as much as possible from my food from my local farmer’s market.  Looking at the bigger picture though, the rights of farmworkers are equally important as those of anyone who works to feed (or provide Christmas trees/whatever for) others.  Let us then, Americans and others, lend our voices for the rights of farmworkers as the first Food Day approaches, the first round of Food Corps members commence, the 2012 US Farm Bill comes to a vote, and Christmas tree season arrives once again…
 

Biodynamic
What does it mean when a wine is certified as biodynamic? In short, the winery and vineyard has achieved the rigorous scrutiny of the Demeter Association, an internationally recognized organization that upholds the near-religious philosophies of Rudolph Steiner, originally suggested in 1924. On a practical level, biodynamic practices are strictly based on self-sufficient ecology. They embrace the idea that all the elements of our world are connected in a delicately balanced system, and the farm (grape or otherwise) should operate in tune with the universe.

A requirement biodynamic viticulture is the series of unique “preparations” that take the place of conventional fertilizer, pesticide, and herbicide. Most of these concoctions involve manure, a cow horn (which provides silica), and herbs. The preparation is mixed together, placed into the cow horn, buried for a prescribed period of time, then mixed with water so they can be sprayed onto the vineyards. There are specific days of the astrological year during which the vines are more receptive to the necessary processes of pruning, harvesting, fertilizing; biodynamic farmers will time their vineyard maintenance calendar accordingly.

Organic
Organic wines are usually wines made from organically farmed grapes. That is, the vineyard was cared for with naturally-derived products instead of the chemical regime used in most conventional vineyards. Once the grapes are harvested, non-natural additives, most notably sulfur (a preservative), could be part of the winemaking process. Definitions and certification standards vary throughout the world, so “organic” might at times denote attitude more than any specific method. In the US, an “organic wine” has been certified as involving no chemicals in the grapegrowing or winemaking process.

The appeal of “organic” is that the final product, the wine you’re enjoying over a nice Bolognese, is free of any residue of pesticide or herbicide. If vineyard workers have to wear hazmat suits while spraying those chemicals, why would you want to drink them? “Fair dinkum,” the Australians would say (translation: Ain’t that the Truth, mate!). On a philosophical level, some argue that conventional farming practices wipe out the myriad minor variations in soil and site from vineyard to vineyard. Equalizing fertilizers and chemical sprays wipe out whole concept of “terroir”—the uniqueness of place that makes for exciting uniqueness in wine.

Natural
“Natural wine” takes the organic concept a step further into the winery, and often means the wine does not include any added sulfur dioxide. There is no certification or regulation overseeing the criteria for calling a wine “natural.” Here I take issue. First, really there is no such thing as a sulfur-free wine, since all fruit—including grapes—contain a natural level of sulfur. Even a wine with no added sulfur dioxide contains about 10 milligrams of sulfur per liter of liquid. Secondly, wine does not tend to hold up well without sulfur. From an objective standpoint, this means the wine, however nice at the outset, often takes a significant hit to its quality once it starts to age in bottle. Red wines fare better than white because the antioxidants in the grape skins (hence the color red) act as a preservative. White wine, which does not spend time in contact with its skins, does not benefit from the same natural protection, so without sulfur almost immediately starts to pick up a vinegary, stale smell.

I should note too that some people are very affected by sulfur, and can get awful headaches if they drink overly-preservative-laden wine. This genuine health consideration is partially behind the move towards a “natural” designation on wine labels. However, most well-made wine from quality fruit needs very little added sulfur to stay vibrant in bottle. The wines that give headaches tend to be cheaper stuff, held together for longer than their natural lifespan by the addition of sulfur.

What’s it all about?
The first major question is whether “biodynamic,” “organic,” and “natural” wines have any benefits for the consumer in terms of health or quality. Experienced professional tasters have had numerous publicized blind comparisons that put biodynamic wines ahead of conventionally farmed wines. Some highly regarded vineyards—notably in Europe, the US, and Australia—have overseen successful conversion to biodynamic principals. Organic wines are easier to come by, and run the gamut from truly spectacular to quite ordinary. I personally have yet to taste a sulfur free or “natural wine” that has justified the hype. They may be out there… I hope so… the idea is nice.

The science here is dicey. Many biodynamic winemakers will confess they don’t necessarily know why, but their switch to biodynamic practices led to improved quality overall. Practitioners say you cannot go biodynamic by degrees. That is, turning a vineyard mostly biodynamic apparently does not result in incremental improvement… you have to go whole hog. Yet there is almost no empirical evidence proving biodynamic preparations are better for vineyard health than conventional sprays, or that the calendar for fruiting and flowering is accurate. There is a great deal of skepticism in the wine world about biodynamic practices, and a strong argument that the real quality improvement comes not from the practices themselves, but rather from the extra attention paid to maintain healthy vineyards. Does it really need to be biodynamic or organic? Hard to say.

It’s really all about philosophy and options, here with wine as with all other products. Many people look towards natural products because they are opposed to putting extra chemicals or whathaveyou into their bodies. Some do not want to support vineyard practices that put chemicals or whathaveyou into the environment. Some people just enjoy the idea. It’s a little like vegetarianism in the sense that many are followers, few for the exact same reasons.
All that said, as ever, I urge you out into your favorite wine store armed with some questions. What locally available wines are biodynamic, organic, or natural? Are they tasty? Are they a good value? Is the philosophy worth supporting? More to come on this theme, so stay tuned!

The flavorless, yet excessively oily paste was served to my sister and me practically every day for lunch.  Normally, the PB was smothered in between two flimsy white pieces of bread and stuffed into a crinkly (previously used) brown paper bag sack alongside an over ripe banana, a miniature box of California raisins and a Caprisun.

It wasn’t until I entered my 30’s that I began to enjoy real peanut butter (peanut butter that contains only peanuts and maybe, a little bit of salt) and its nutritious convenience.  Sure, peanut butter is high in fat, but it is chock full of ‘good fat’ (heart-healthy monosaturated fat), is an excellent source of protein (makes you fill fuller, longer) and contains substantial doses of vitamin E, magnesium and potassium.   What is there not to love about peanut butter?

Well, a lot if you are someone who has a life-threatening peanut allergy.

If my children had a peanut allergy, I think I would have noticed by now.  As I wasn’t the most well read parent (I didn’t read the baby/toddler books), I served both of my children peanut butter sometime soon after their first birthdays.  Thankfully, neither one developed a peanut allergy and  miraculously, both of them fell madly in love with peanut butter.

I served my girls peanut butter and honey sandwiches for practically every lunch meal between the age of 1 and 3 and I never once heard a tiny, child-like complaint.  It isn’t clear to me why they love the stuff so much   – could it be genetics (my husband has a passion for peanut butter that borders on obsession as well)?  Or maybe it has something to do with the exorbitant amounts of peanut butter I ate during both pregnancies?   Who knows.  In any case, they love their creamy (sometimes crunchy) peanut-y goo.

Suffice it to say, they, as well as I, were at an utter and complete loss when we started preschool and was told that all classrooms were a ‘peanut free zone.’  What?  No peanut butter?  What were we going to do?  What would the girls eat for lunch?  For so long, we took advantage of the monotonous, less-than-creative ease, of our friend, the peanut butter..  What now?!  What healthy, ‘edible’ (by a preschooler’s standards) substantive, non-perishable, non-microwaveable food item(s) can I send to school with my child? With a lot of  help from parents of children with/without a life-threatening peanut allergy, I’ve managed to come up with a few, rather creative, lunchtime meals that both of my children will eat.  These Mini Country House Omelets are an example of an extremely delicious, quick and easy meal to eat in peanut-free zone.  They are small enough to easily pack in a lunch box, but sufficiently substantive.

Mini  Country House Omelets

Serves 10

Ingredients:

4 eggs

2 egg whites

1 potato, diced

½ small onion, diced

¼ cup heavy cream

½ cup skim milk

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

salt & pepper

2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley

Canola Oil

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.  Place a 12-count muffin tin in the oven to heat up.

In the meantime,  brown your diced potatoes in a frying/sauté pan and 2 tablespoons of oil.  Once the potatoes become crispy on the outside, add 1 teaspoon of salt.  Then add the onions and cook until the onions become translucent.  Remove from heat.

In a medium size bowl, add the eggs, milk, cream, parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of pepper and parsley.  Whisk until the eggs are broken up, but do not over beat.

Take the muffin tin from the oven and grease 10 of the 12 muffin tins.   Slowly pour in the egg mixture about ½ way up.  Then, add a little bit of the potato and onion to each of the 10 tins.

Place the muffin tin back into the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes or until puffed and golden brown on top.  Remove from oven and let cool on cooling rack.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

This girl (we’ll call her Charlotte) and I had been meeting to practice her English a couple of times a week since I began studying at the Université de Bourgogne during the fall of last year. I wasn’t staying with a host family at the time, so Charlotte and I used our time as an exchange. Before learning more about quotidian France through this and several other relationships, I had shamelessly glorified the esteemed French approach to food: the terroir, the restaurants, the feast, and the overall lifestyle. It’s perhaps the world’s dominant gastronomic icon, and a food culture that’s been all but praised by casual tourists, francophiles, and natives alike – so no way that this “love” of McDo can be serious, right?

The entrance to the McDo on the Rue de la Liberté in Dijon, France

After a little research, it became obvious that it – surprisingly – is. In his book The French Challenge: Adopting to Globalization (Brookings Institution, 2001), Philip Gordon states that the total number of fast food and take out businesses in France doubled from 6,500 in 1993 to 13,950 in 1998. Simultaneously, the number of traditional brasseries and cafés dropped from 200,000 in 1960 to 50,000 in 2001. McDo France, specifically, now averages one million customers a day and according to Michael Steinberger in his book Au Revoir to All That: Food, Wine, and the End of France (Bloomsbury USA, 2009), annual turnover is growing at twice the rate than it is in the United States. As a result, France became the second-most profitable market in the world after the United States for McDonald’s in 2007. It’s hard to believe that such statistics are possible for a country where the traditional gastronomic culture and cuisine belongs to the UNESCO cultural heritage list.

McDo menu in Dijon displaying option for Charolais beef. Charolais on the dominant breed of cattle in Burgundy and outnumber people in this region!

Curious and always wanting to have the “French” experience, I went. I invited my boyfriend (who’s French and whose eyes grew wide at the invitation) on a date to the central McDo on the Rue de la Liberté in Dijon. Ironically enough, it’s located under majestic Burgundian flags on the corner directly opposite of the original MailleMustard House – aka, the place that helped to give this town it’s worldwide gastronomic and condiment reputation nearly 300 years ago. We arrived for a relatively late dinner and the line pushed out the doors, as it normally does.

Most of the customers were at or below 30 and the menu largely resembled the last McDonald’s menu that I had visited in the US: various hamburgers, fish sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, salads, fries, and ice cream desserts. Some of what I assumed to be fine-tuned marketing for the local preferences, included Charolais beef patties (the dominant breed of cattle in Burgundy), various grilled meat(s) wraps, melon and pineapple sides in plastic packets, whole what hamburger buns, side salads instead of fries, “pancakes” with Nutella, and the local favorite: la moutarde dijonnaise (Dijon mustard). Michael decided to go classic by taking the “Menu Big Mac,” or the equivalent to the US “combo” meal option: hamburger with whole-wheat bun, fries, and a Coke. I went veg (unless I’m misinformed about the oil that they use) and just took fries.

Our meal: Big Mac and Fries

One of the dominant stereotypes I have after growing up with American McDonald’s is that you go there for a easy, tasty, filling, and cheap meal (e.g. the concept of the one dollar hamburger). But unless I wasn’t paying attention the last time I was at a McDonald’s in the US, this may only be true of American outlets. Our price for a combo and extra fry was 9.35 euros, or close to twelve American dollars. Along with Michael’s evidently expensive Charolais beef, whole grain Dijon mustard, and wheat bun Big Mac went my assumption that eating at McDo was always “economique.”

We found a seat on the second floor beneath a portrait of an awkward Ronald McDonald waving from a vineyard. We could watch the street like we can at any local café, bar, or brasserie through arched windows framing historical Burgundian icons. According to the stares I received while taking pictures of this typical French McDo establishment, evidently I was the gawking tourist who found this setting both very bizarre and (thanks to the depiction of the Hamburglar on horseback in a field adjacent to Ronald’s vineyard) very funny. Their judgmental stares quickly informed me that I was the only one, though. Sitting down next to Michael (also unphased by McDonaldland à la Bourguignon mural), I grabbed my fry and waiting for him to reveal this roughly $8 Big Mac.

Source: http://mcdonalds.wikia.com/wiki/McDonaldland

I expected the hamburger to be as big, if not bigger, than the US equivalent. However, indistinguishable from the pictures, the general portion sizes were much smaller than what I remember from American meals. I’m talking normal dollar menu size, but a little more vertical given two patties of meat and a bun in the middle. Regular meals here apparently don’t come as the Triple Super Max Large (or whatever) Big Mac size that I had expected. And the taste? Personally, I thought it was like any other McDo hamburger I’d had in the US: salty, meaty (hard to specify what kind), and somehow sweet. Feeling a little confused about France’s seemingly contraditory food preferences, I quietly finished of my fries with a packet of the restaurant’s Dijon mustard.

Like many McDonald’s in the US, many French McDo’s feature McCafés. Instead of only being an option on the menu though, the Dijon McDo has an actual café.

My reaction to McDo en France, however, was perhaps only evidence of my own initial impression as an American outsider who admires an old stereotype of French food culture. Like many others, I romanticize the tradition, but this tradition is an archetype according to the French. As it would since France is a modern country, popular eating has naturally evolved from daily preparations of poulet rôti and boeuf bourguignon. A multiple course and communal dinner remains the norm though; although now those multiple courses might imply fruit sealed in a plastic sack, followed by a Big Mac and fries, then a McFlurry, and washed down a Coke while seated under a mural featuring Ronald’s purple friend, the Grimace, milking a cow (Like French cheese and local breeds of cattle, I assume that his depiction is subject to change according to region).

As strange as the image of the McDonald’s characters in rural Burgundy might seem, it’s actually a somewhat outdated but lasting symbol of how McDonald’s has been able to succeed in France. Like Ronald and friends in said oddly bucolic image, the company became French. For example, McDo sourced 75 percent of its ingredients domestically as of 2001 according to Steinberger. This fact, in addition to an extremely well executed marketing campaign appealing to social values including smaller portion sizes, use of comparatively expensive regional food ingredients (e.g. Charolais beef and Dijon mustard), respect for environmental concerns (they advertise Rainforest Alliance certified teas and Fair Trade certified coffees), and just enough Americana to keep the chain’s image out of direct competition with the traditional French restaurant establishment. Whereas the symbol of McDonald’s is often cited as evidence of globalization, a closer look at the French model reveals that instead of trying to dominate a society’s food values, the successful McDo model has instead attempted to mirror them.

It became clear to me while Michael and I were leaving the restaurant and past the Maille mustard boutique that these, among other reasons, are why that there hasn’t been any large resistance against their juxtaposition. They seemingly, if not paradoxically, coexist. McDo has built its own high quality identity in an effort to distance itself from negative stereotypes. In doing so, it’s even won the respect of the French culinary élite refer to it as “an expression of the modern condition” since “eating well takes lots of time” and modern France – like the rest of the Western world – moves fast (Steinberger, 117). The comparatively “slower” ideals of traditional French food culture still have a very strong presence and play a lead role in cultural identity, but as long as McDo continues to sell what this changing society demands, then it seems that the McDonald’s on the Champs-Élysées will most likely remain the most frequented eating establishment in all of France (Gordon, 55).

McDo Dijon’s breakfast offerings: croissant and espresso

In the two years I’ve frequented the community center, my children and I have made a couple of friends.  But there is one ‘friend’ that resides in a very poignant, localized place in my heart…

…Stephanie.*

Stephanie’s daughter, Gabriella*, has danced with my daughter for almost a year and the two girls have a brilliant relationship – a relationship that involves shriek-laden conversations about arabesques, curtsies and whose tutu is more reminiscent of a fairy princess’s.  Oddly, I cannot describe, nor conjure similar sentiments with regards to my relationship with Stephanie, the mother.

In one word, Stephanie is frightening.  She is one of the most egotistical, pessimistic, confrontational and consistently judgmental human beings I have ever met.  If you share a story about how you broke your toe while tripping over a crack in the sidewalk, she will interrupt your story, mid-sentence, to share her similar, yet significantly more dramatic story detailing her own toe injury experience.

As a non-confrontational person, I’ve managed to steer away from most debates or discussions with Stephanie (which is probably why she thinks I’m her friend).  However, my more disturbed, ugly side made an appearance after Stephanie berated me for feeding my daughter these ‘sugar-filled, highly toxic, fat inducing, hyper-stimulating’ Chocolate Chunk Scones after ballet class last Tuesday (Are we still friends?  I hope not).   I mean, why can’t I just feed my children raw tomatoes, like the ones her daughter happily snacks on from a Ziploc baggie brimming with cherry tomatoes supplied by her mother?

Look.  I’m a supporter of the low-sugar movement that has taken root among families, educators, policymakers and nutritionist looking to fight childhood obesity.  But I am, and probably will never be, a fan of:  1) eliminating sugar from my children’s diet and robbing them of the more whimsical, sucrose-filled moments I had in my younger days and 2) other parents offering unsolicited and non-constructive criticisms about my parenting skills and lifestyle choices.

In a fit of rage, I was unable to fully articulate that these scones, while firmly situated in the dessert category, are a delicious, relatively low-sugar goodie devoured by my children as a “sometime food”  – a “sometime food” eaten on occasion and not as a substitute for our more nutritious meals and snacks.

(sigh)  Perhaps I’ll send Stephanie a link to this post.

*Names have been changed to hide true identity.

Chocolate Chunk Scones

Slightly Adapted from Baking Illustrated Recipe for Cream Scones w/Currants

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/ teaspoon salt

5 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cubed

1/2 cup of chocolate chunks

1 tablespoon orange zest (optional)

1 cup 2% milk

Directions:

Pre-heat an oven to 425 degrees.

Put all dry ingredients in an the bowl of an electric mixer.  Mix to combine.  Add the butter and mix the flour mixture until it looks like cornmeal.  Then, add the chocolate chucks.  Finally, add the milk and only mix until just combined.

Lightly flour your work station and dump the dough out.  Gently, with your finger tips, shape the dough into a ball and flatten with the back of your hand to about 1/2 – 3/4 an inch thick.  Using a knife or bread cutter, cut the circle into 8 wedges (like slicing a pizza).  Brush a little bit of milk on the top of each scone.

Place in the oven for 13-15 minutes.  Let cool on rack and serve!