Monday, May 21, 2012

Who wants to talk food?

Whatever you do don't bring up the topic of food in my presence unless you really want to talk about food. Once I get started it's hard for me to stop. I'm always looking for new information about nutrition, health, cooking, and anything else food related. The current state of our food is a topic that is very near to my heart, and it is often that I ruminate over things that most people may not even consider.

My journey into food began around the year 2001 with the book Eat Drink and Be Healthy. Besides re-learning what I'd heard as a child when my dad started Sugar Busters: eat a balanced diet, mostly vegetables, lean forms of protein, eat whole wheat pasta and bread, brown rice, and sweet potatoes. I also learned about sugar and fat, and it was the first time I'd ever heard of a trans fat.

From that point on my life was changed. Trans fats mesmerized me. It was a secret that no one cared to know about, and the topic was rarely discussed, and very quickly dismissed. But the words "partially hydrogenated soybean oil" would leap out at me on every list of ingredient. It was unavoidable. How can you know that something is that horrible for your body and just ignore it? The stream of products containing the ingredients seemed overwhelmingly ubiquitous.

One thing I still remember to this day, is an article about trans fat in Europe. When the EU learned the dangers of the fats it passed a law banning the substance. When the news reached the US our industry leaders did not press to ban the substance, but hired PR teams and attorneys to get the industry message out. Since then I've felt that I've been deceived. The companies that are trying to save pennies on the dollar, I get it. But what about the government's duty to protect and inform our citizens? These questions, and more, opened up a Pandora's box of information. Since then we've had the food pyramid changed a few times and the threat of obesity has grown ever more dangerous.

So, you wanna talk food?


Saturday, May 12, 2012



"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shades they know they shall never sit in"

According to the Internet it's a Greek Proverb.