Weekend Reading - and Fun

Reading

Great story on NPR about Brazil's lunch program - and we could really learn something from it.

The NYT covered how to get those pesky pesticides off your fruits and vegetables in their Really? column this week.

Interesting piece on La Vida Locavore that I would title - Candy Companies Join Monsanto in Running USDA.  Read for yourself.

So much talk this week about Bloomberg's efforts to ban the use of food stamps for the purchase of soda. For one of many articles, click here.

Fun

This is kind of hilarious. The restaurant Chipotle is sponsoring a costume contest to raise money for Jamie Oliver's group. You are to dress up as a "Horrifying Processed Food Product." I read about it on The Lunch Tray blog. I'm not sure how to dress up as last year's MSG laden psuedo-chicken nuggets, BPA green beans with a side of salt and HFCS canned fruit lunch.  Fortunately this year, your inspiration will not come from our kids' school lunch.  But you might swing by at snack time....

It's Family Harvest Weekend at the New York Botanical Gardens.  Here's the description from their website:

October 9-11

See Complete Schedule

It’s all about pumpkins and cooking with kids at this harvest celebration for the whole family.
Stop by the Conservatory Kitchen to learn about nutritious, fun, and delicious recipes that you can try together in your own kitchen. The weekend lineup at the Conservatory Kitchen includes Chef Lidia Bastianich, television chef, acclaimed cookbook author, and restaurateur; Chef Bill Telepan, owner of his eponymous restaurant and an advocate for school lunch reform; and Chef Michel Nischan of the Dressing Room. All of the chefs will be cooking with pumpkins, squash, or gourds, with their children or grandchildren joining them on stage. Enjoy delicious samples of sustainably produced food on the Tasting Terrace, booksignings by chefs and gardeners at the Cookbook Collective, and guided tours of the four spectacular kitchen gardens. Musical performances round out the fun.

In the Everett Children's Adventure Garden, Halloween Hoorah treats visitors to a frightfully fun journey with creepy crawlies, pumpkin patches, spooky scarecrows, hands-on activities, parades, and more. Harvest crafts and other hands-on fun continue in Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden.

Finally, The Pumpkin Patch has arrived.

Sara