Weekend Reading

Reading


Processed Foods lower toddlers' IQs. Read for yourself over at the BBC.

A new study reported on Well at the NYT shows that eating school lunch increases your risk of being obese - significantly. More so than a couple of hours of TV a day. Read more here.  Fortunately, we don't serve tater tots - but you should still skip the days with fried foods like chicken nuggets. The Well blog also had some great recipes for winter vegetables.


Um, did you know it is supposedly National Snack Food Month? Maybe that's why they moved the Super Bowl to February. So, now that it's over - click here to join the snack food boycott and say No to the Processed Food Industry's never ending efforts to get you to eat a lot of junk and apparently lower your kids' IQ.


Shopping


From Slow Food Huntington's email -

Long Island Winter Farmer’s Market
The locations alternate between Huntington and Northport
From one of our members:
-- I've been to the first market at West Hills -- the Organic Vegetables were amazing! Grows year round in high tunnels. There is also great cheese and bread, and live music!
Among the vendors are: All You Knead Artisan Bakery (Beacon, NY), Horman’s Best Pickles (Glen Cove, NY), Madura Fams (Orange County, NY), Migliorelli Farms (Dutchess County, NY), Ronnybrook Dairy (Hudson Valley, NY), Sannino’s Bella Vita Vineyard (North Fork), The Big Cheese (selling Long Island-made artisan cheese)

Northport Farmer’s Market
Jan-April, Saturdays 9am-1pm
St. Paul’s Methodist Church
270 Main St
Northport, NY 11768
Dates: Feb. 12 and 26, March 12 and 26, April 2 and 16

Fun

LET’S EAT! Films on Food by Slow Food Huntington
Sunday, February 13 at 7:30 pm
Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington
The Dark Side of Chocolate
Guest Speakers: Chocolate Sommelier, Roxanne Browning
Filmmaker, U. Roberto Romano

The Dark Side of Chocolate is a shocking documentary that investigates how thousands of children are being purchased from their parents in poverty stricken West Africa for a pittance, or in some cases outright stolen and then enslaved on cocoa farms. Is the chocolate we eat produced with the use of child labor and trafficked children? Award-winning Danish journalist Miki Mistrati decided to investigate. His hunt for answers brought him and U Roberto Romano to Mali in West Africa, where hidden footage reveals illegal trafficking of small children to the cocoa fields in the neighboring Ivory Coast. Kids as young as seven years old work illegally in the plantations where they face a dangerous job cutting down the cocoa and carrying heavy loads. Some are victims of trafficking and most of the kids are never paid.
Denmark, 2010, 45 min. The official website http://www.thedarksideofchocolate.org/

Following the film, there will be a discussion with Filmmaker U Roberto Romano and Roxanne Browning, NY’s chocolate sommelier. Roxanne will lead a mini-chocolate tasting of an Ecuadorian chocolate from a Direct Trade chocolate producer, The Kallari Association.

Advance ticket are available at the box office or on line at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/154610
$9 Cinema Members / $13 Public (Includes Reception & Chocolate Tasting)

Watching

Slow Food USA is promoting a TEDx viewing n Saturday to change how we eat:

Do you think we need to change the way we eat in this country? On February 12, that will be the topic of discussion for an amazing array of speakers - including Slow Food USA's President Josh Viertel. It's part of the TEDx events: short, carefully prepared talks to share 'ideas worth spreading'. And the good news is you can be a part of it! Joining Josh at the one day event will be over 20 high-profile speakers including the makers of "King Corn", the first farmer to receive a MacArthur 'Genius' Fellowship, and the USDA's coordinator of 'Know Your Farmer, Know your Food', all sharing ideas about how we can shift our industrial food system to one that provides good, clean, fair food for all. This is a fantastic opportunity to stimulate these conversations in your local area. And a great excuse to get together with like-minded people in your community! Click here to find out how to host or attend a live 'Viewing Party' on Saturday February 12: http://tedxmanhattan.org/viewing-parties/ Can't make a Viewing Party? No problem! We'll be live-streaming the TEDx talks on our website, so you can take part in the conversation from the comfort of your own home. TEDx talks feature thought leaders at the cutting edge of their industry. This day is focused entirely on food - a testament to the importance of finding new ways to redefine the way we grow and eat food. The thought-provoking speakers can be broadcast right into your home, cafe, town hall - or wherever you want to gather to share these ideas in your community. Click here to find out more: http://tedxmanhattan.org/viewing-parties/
Thanks for being a part of the solution,
The Slow Food USA team
PS - There's an amazing event happening in Manhattan on February 12 - but it will be just like you're there, when we be beam it live from coast to coast! If you'd like to host a live 'Viewing Party' in your area, or find one to attend, click here.

Petitions

From the Environmental Working Group:

One report started it all. In December, EWG published the first national investigation of the suspected carcinogen chromium-6 -- also known as hexavalent chromium -- in drinking water in 35 cities around the country. Recently, Senators Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced Senate Bill 79, the Protecting Pregnant Women and Children From Hexavalent Chromium Act of 2011. The Boxer/Feinstein bill would require the Environmental Protection Agency to act within a year to set a safe limit for chromium-6 in drinking water. Your senators need to hear from you today that clean, safe drinking water is crucial.
Click here TODAY to tell your senators to co-sponsor the Protecting Pregnant Women and Children from Hexavalent Chromium Act of 2011, introduced by Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.
EWG supporters like you submitted tap water samples from their communities. This groundbreaking, people-powered report detected chromium-6 in 31 of the 35 city water supplies tested. Even though this report stirred controversy, our findings were confirmed by a number of water utilities' own testing. Within hours of its release, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced a new plan to help local utilities assess chromium-6 in drinking water nationwide. That's a good first step. But EPA must go further. Last week, I testified on our chromium-6 report before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, chaired by Senator Boxer. And I am going to tell you what I told them: we were heartened by and support EPA's announcement following the release of our report and by its decision to regulate perchlorate, but it is not enough. The Protecting Pregnant Women and Children from Hexavalent Chromium Act of 2011 will make sure there is a safe legal limit on chromium-6 in drinking water.
I have had the opportunity to testify in front of Congress many times, but this was the most gratifying. I was able to stand with the EPA and others concerned with ensuring that all Americans have access to safe, clean drinking water. This hearing -- and this bill -- are a direct result of EWG's research. "Keep on doing what you're doing," Senator Boxer said to me in her concluding comments at the hearing. We need to keep the momentum going. I'm counting on you to help us -- and everyone else who drinks water.
Click here TODAY to tell your senators to co-sponsor the Protecting Pregnant Women and Children from Hexavalent Chromium Act of 2011.  Safe, clean drinking water is vital to EWG supporters like you. Don't let this opportunity pass you by. Take action today.