Zomppa - Food Good, Social Good » Newsbits http://www.zomppa.com International food magazine offering a unique international culinary experience for the taste-, Earth-, and community-conscious. Tue, 22 May 2012 11:00:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Body of Evidence: TidBit of the Day http://www.zomppa.com/2012/04/23/body-of-evidence-tidbit-of-the-day/ http://www.zomppa.com/2012/04/23/body-of-evidence-tidbit-of-the-day/#comments Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:00:34 +0000 Belinda http://www.zomppa.com/?p=24061 Interesting New York Times article last week by Tara Parker-Pope that while the media has made unrealistic super-skinny the “norm,” as a country, we are in denial of how overweight we are. According to one study, those in the normal weight range accurately estimated their body size 80% of the time, compared with 58% of overweight students. 10% of obese people accurately described their body size.

This interesting graphic shows the silhouettes – what do you think?

Source: New York Times

 

]]> http://www.zomppa.com/2012/04/23/body-of-evidence-tidbit-of-the-day/feed/ 1 The 26-Ingredient Hamburger: TidBit of the Day http://www.zomppa.com/2012/04/05/the-26-ingredient-hamburger-tidbit-of-the-day/ http://www.zomppa.com/2012/04/05/the-26-ingredient-hamburger-tidbit-of-the-day/#comments Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:00:34 +0000 Belinda http://www.zomppa.com/?p=23692 As you know, we try to take a look at the # of ingredients and major ingredients of popular foods with Frank Food. Well, the awesome Tiny Desk Kitchen at NPR takes a look at what in the world is in the school cafeteria’s 26-ingredient hamburger, including: thiamine mononitrate, disodium inosinate, pyridoxine hydrochloride…pink slime anyone?

Fascinating – take a look!

]]> http://www.zomppa.com/2012/04/05/the-26-ingredient-hamburger-tidbit-of-the-day/feed/ 2 The Turd Burger: Tidbit of the Day http://www.zomppa.com/2012/04/02/the-turd-burger-tidbit-of-the-day/ http://www.zomppa.com/2012/04/02/the-turd-burger-tidbit-of-the-day/#comments Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:00:04 +0000 Kat http://www.zomppa.com/?p=23519 For those of you who missed this scientific breakthrough last year, a Japanese environmental scientist has invented a procedure to turn human feces into a hamburger.   Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww, but true!

Here is Gizmodo article about it Would You Eat a Burger Made from Poop?

Check out the video.  It kind of looks doner kebab meat…

]]> http://www.zomppa.com/2012/04/02/the-turd-burger-tidbit-of-the-day/feed/ 1 Earth Hour 2012: Saturday 31 March at 8:30pm http://www.zomppa.com/2012/03/30/earth-hour-2012-saturday-31-march-at-830pm/ http://www.zomppa.com/2012/03/30/earth-hour-2012-saturday-31-march-at-830pm/#comments Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:00:23 +0000 Kat http://www.zomppa.com/?p=23592 Don’t forget now, tomorrow evening, you too get to be a part of Earth Hour!

By taking part in Earth Hour 2012, individuals, communities and businesses are making a commitment to turn their lights off for an hour at 8.30PM on Saturday 31 March in acknowledgement of an act they will undertake for the benefit of the planet.

Last year more than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour.  Each one of us has a responsibility to this big home we call earth, so let’s all do our little bit. Check out the video below and visit the www.earthhour.org website to learn more about this worldwide initiative and how you can take part.

I know I will be getting the candles out, maybe sit around a fire and enjoy the company of my friends and some nice conversation.  What about you?

 

]]> http://www.zomppa.com/2012/03/30/earth-hour-2012-saturday-31-march-at-830pm/feed/ 1 Champion of Change: Justice for Farmworkers http://www.zomppa.com/2012/03/29/champion-of-change-justice-for-farmworkers/ http://www.zomppa.com/2012/03/29/champion-of-change-justice-for-farmworkers/#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:56:54 +0000 Belinda http://www.zomppa.com/?p=23571 This week is National Farmworker Awareness Week, and we are extremely honored that one of Durham’s own – and an invaluable member of Zomppa’s board of directors, Melinda Wiggins, is being honored today as one of ten Champions of Change at the White House. Please see the press release and check her out live at the White House today at 1:30pm EST. Congratulations, Melinda, and thank you for all that you do.

Below is the White House press release.

==================================================

March 28, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
:
White House selects Student Action with Farmworkers’ Melinda Wiggins as Cesar Chavez “Champion of Change”

Contact:
Melinda Wiggins, SAF Executive Director
919-660-3616
mwiggins@duke.edu

Ronald Garcia-Fogarty, SAF Board Member
919-861-2064
nicamerican@gmail.com

DURHAM (March 28, 2012) – On Thursday, March 29th, the White House will honor Melinda Wiggins, Director of Durham-based Student Action with Farmworkers, as one of ten leaders being recognized as Champions of Change.

Wiggins will be honored in Washington alongside nine other leaders who, like Cesar Chavez, have dedicated themselves to improving the lives of others throughout their community and across the Nation. One of our Nation’s great civil rights leaders, Cesar Estrada Chavez came of age as a migrant farm worker, witnessing the injustice that pervaded fields and vineyards across California. Yet amidst hardship and abuse, Cesar Chavez saw the promise of change—the unlimited potential of a community organized around a common purpose.

The event will be live-streamed Thursday, March 29 at 1:30 p.m. on the White House’s website.

Melinda Wiggins article about her work with SAF will be featured on the Champions of Change site.

The Chavez Champions of Change recognition is part of an Administration-wide effort to celebrate the life and legacy of Cesar Chavez as we approach what would have been the civil rights leader’s 85th birthday on March 31st. President Obama also signed a Presidential Proclamation affirming that, “On the 85th anniversary of Cesar Chavez’s birth, we are reminded of what we can accomplish when we recognize our common humanity…Today, we celebrate his courage, reflect on his lifetime of advocacy, and recognize the power in each of us to lift up lives and pursue social justice.”

The Champions of Change program was created as a part of President Obama’s Winning the Future initiative. Each week, a different sector is highlighted and groups of Champions, ranging from educators to entrepreneurs to community leaders, are recognized for the work they are doing to serve and strengthen their communities.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Actress America Ferrera, who will be playing Helen F. Chavez in the upcoming biopic called CHAVEZ to be filmed this Spring, will participate in Thursday’s Champions of Change event.

For over 15 years, Melinda Wiggins has served as the Executive Director of Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF), a nonprofit 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 build diverse coalitions working for social change.

Melinda has taken the lead in creating and developing two key statewide immigrant and farmworker coalitions: The Adelante Education Coalition and the Farmworker Advocacy Network (FAN). She has brought her core values of transparency, accountability and profound systemic change to these coalitions, and as a result SAF has a very strong network of individual and organizational allies from around the state. Melinda is also active with several other social justice groups such as Zomppa and the Windcall Residency Program.

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]]> http://www.zomppa.com/2012/03/29/champion-of-change-justice-for-farmworkers/feed/ 2 FrankenBlueberries NOT a Frank Food: TidBit of the Day http://www.zomppa.com/2012/03/29/frankenblueberries-not-a-frank-food-tidbit-of-the-da/ http://www.zomppa.com/2012/03/29/frankenblueberries-not-a-frank-food-tidbit-of-the-da/#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:00:35 +0000 Belinda http://www.zomppa.com/?p=23266 When you pick up bagels, do you go for the blueberry ones, thinking that you might add a bit of fruit in your diet?

Think again.

Sometimes, what seems like blueberries is none other than some food coloring and sugar Frankenstein concoction. Mike Adams posted this rather disturbing video on TV Natural News you might want to check out.

None of these blueberries for Sal.

]]> http://www.zomppa.com/2012/03/29/frankenblueberries-not-a-frank-food-tidbit-of-the-da/feed/ 2 STOP! Before You Eat Another Pork Chop: TidBit of the Day http://www.zomppa.com/2012/02/23/stop-before-you-eat-another-pork-chop-tidbit-of-the-day/ http://www.zomppa.com/2012/02/23/stop-before-you-eat-another-pork-chop-tidbit-of-the-day/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:00:37 +0000 Belinda http://www.zomppa.com/?p=22443 Here at Zomppa, we have meat eaters, vegetarians, flexitarians, vegans. Whether people choose to eat meat or not (please no name calling), we must all be ever more cognizant of where our food comes from.

If you ever plan to eat bacon, a hot dog, or any kind of pig meat again, please watch this video that Andrew Sullivan posted yesterday. But WARNING, it is REALLY graphic. I’m not usually squeamish, but this made me squeamish. You won’t want to watch while you’re eating or in front of young children.

Sometimes we (myself included) have a tendency to say, oh, it’s just one slice of bacon…what difference would it make? Well, it can. So if you choose to eat meat, please make an effort to know how the animal was raised.

Pigs are NOT BOUNCY.

]]> http://www.zomppa.com/2012/02/23/stop-before-you-eat-another-pork-chop-tidbit-of-the-day/feed/ 5 Geopolitics of Food for 2012: Tidbit of the Day http://www.zomppa.com/2012/01/02/geopolitics-of-food-for-2012-tidbit-of-the-day/ http://www.zomppa.com/2012/01/02/geopolitics-of-food-for-2012-tidbit-of-the-day/#comments Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:00:06 +0000 Kat http://www.zomppa.com/?p=21400 As we enter 2012, we continue to face a troublesome food crisis with increased demand for food and falling harvest figures.

Copyright: WFP/John Javellana

The world’s population has nearly doubled since 1970 and it is expected to reach 9 billion by midcentury. This rise along with the consequences of global warming with a drop in water supply and eroding soils means that the world’s food supply is unlikely to keep up with the world’s growing appetites. Foreign Policy investigates in its article: The New Geopolitics of Food.

 

]]> http://www.zomppa.com/2012/01/02/geopolitics-of-food-for-2012-tidbit-of-the-day/feed/ 0 Industrial Organic: TidBit of the Day http://www.zomppa.com/2011/12/08/industrial-organic-tidbit-of-the-day/ http://www.zomppa.com/2011/12/08/industrial-organic-tidbit-of-the-day/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:00:19 +0000 Belinda http://www.zomppa.com/?p=20568 I know someone who stopped using Tom’s of Maine when they were bought out by Colgate-Palmolive. For those of you who buy – and often pay premium prices – for certain brands because of social/ethical reasons as well as health, what do you do when you find out a beloved small brand has been bought out by a large multinational?

There are of course many reasons for these brands to sell to larger corporations – broader reach, wider distribution, greater access for more. But what about the costs? For example, when L’Oreal bought the Body Shop, its “ethical score” according to Ethical Consumer magazine dropped (for more, see this great article from the Guardian).

Source: Professor Phil Howard, MSU

Professor Phil Howard of Michigan State University has done extensive studies and analysis on the changing organic processing industry. Visit his site as you can see these charts change year by year. You may be surprised to find some of your ‘local’ brands not be so local after all.

Click on the image below to see this in animation.

Source: Professor Phil Howard, MSU

And as timing would have it, yesterday, Professor Howard just created another infographic about Fair-Trade Coffee – check out his most recent research here.

Source: Professor Phil Howard, MSU

So what do you do?

]]> http://www.zomppa.com/2011/12/08/industrial-organic-tidbit-of-the-day/feed/ 1 Marion Nestle on French and U.S. Perspectives on Food & Health: TidBit of the Day http://www.zomppa.com/2011/12/02/marion-nestle-on-french-and-u-s-perspectives-on-food-health-tidbit-of-the-day/ http://www.zomppa.com/2011/12/02/marion-nestle-on-french-and-u-s-perspectives-on-food-health-tidbit-of-the-day/#comments Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:00:14 +0000 Ariel http://www.zomppa.com/?p=20599

Enjoy reading Marion Nestle’s books and blog?  Here’s a chance to see her in person at a one-day workshop at the French Embassy in NYC!

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‘Its the time of year again when food is never far from our thoughts’!

On Monday, December 5, 2011, the French Embassy will host a one-day workshop on “French and American Perspectives on Food and Health”, featuring keynote speaker Marion Nestle.

This summit will bring together French and American experts and researchers from different academic disciplines as well as professional chefs, and government officials for a transatlantic perspective on this most elemental, though hardly simple, activity every human being must perform: feeding ourselves. It was inspired by an innovative three-year research collaboration, begun in 2009, between the University of California, Los Angeles and École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). The program, 21st Century Cuisine, Nutrition and Genetics in France and the U.S., is supported by the French Embassy and the FACE Foundation (French American Cultural Exchange) through the Partner University Fund (PUF) .

For information about attendance and schedule, send e-mail to florence.barnier@diplomatie.gouv.fr or telephone 212-439-1463

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