Weekend Reading

Reading

In CSPI's Nutrition Action newsletter I read an interview with Brian Wansink of Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab - the people behind the research about how external clues affect what and how much we eat. Think the wine is from North Dakota?  You'll hate it and your whole meal versus the same wine in a label from California. They've also shown people will eats lots of even stale popcorn if you give them a giant container of it.  We also prefer "Belgian Black Forest Cake" over "chocolate cake" - and there's no Black Forest in Belgium. Check out his website at www.mindlesseating.org or read his book Mindless Eating - Why We Eat More Than We Think.  Or, look at his cool diagram of a re-designed lunch room that increases the percent of kids making healthy lunch choices. And it's all evidence-based, as they say.

Are potatoes a 'gateway vegetable"? The WSJ covers the controversy over the USDA's move to limit starchy vegetables in the school lunch program.

In other news on the food manufacturer's lobby, I love the reporting over at Better DC School Food on  the ongoing battle to get rid of chocolate milk in schools and the powerful forces at work to keep the sugar and salt laden item in schools - and thus in kids. Our school won't get rid of it because they are concerned that your kid won't take plain milk, and then we won't get reimbursed $0.25 from the USDA for serving a "complete" meal and then we can't afford fresh food over processed food. (Yes, the national school lunch program is complicated and has lots of rules.) Please talk to your kids about milk. Or let Jamie Oliver do it.

Parents in San Antonio will get to see daily before and after pictures of THEIR OWN KIDS' LUNCH TRAYS. I kid you not.

Watching

See Jamie Oliver/chocolate milk reference above.

Listening

Bhavani Jaroff's radio show this week should interest many of you:. From her email:

I'd like to remind you to listen to my radio show tomorrow at 5pm, EST.  My guest will be Jared Koch, Founder of Clean Plates, a restaurant guide that features every dietary preference from delectable vegan dishes to juicy grass-fed burgers.

Just go to the PRN website, my direct link is: http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/eating-green/,  scroll down and choose which show you want to listen to. Then press “download”. The show will come on, or you can download it to your iPod and listen in the car or wherever! 

Local Fun

St. Boniface's annual carnival arrives this weekend -- at bigger digs down at Tappen Beach.  Pick up a $10 off on a coupon book flyer at the Sea Cliff Post Office or at their website.

Petitions to Sign

Help increase funding for school kitchen equipment by sending a letter to our representatives on Capitol Hill through the Healthy Schools Campaign. Takes two minutes- it's drafted for you.

From Slow Food USA:

Last week 22,000 people told legislators that taking photos of farms should not be a crime. Since then, one of these "ag-gag" bills failed in Florida. But Iowa votes today, and Minnesota isn't far behind.

Now is a critical time to voice our opposition to the legislators in those states.

Sign our petition and stand up for transparency and the right to take pictures of farms. »

You can read more about it below.

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Imagine if taking photos of farms were illegal — and the photographer was subject to fines and possibly jail time. If Big Ag got its way, that’s exactly what would happen. Right now they’re pushing legislators in Minnesota, Florida, and Iowa to criminalize taking photos or videos of their facilities.[1]

I guess industrial agriculture has something to hide. Maybe it’s the way factory farms mistreat workers, animals, and the environment.

The clock is ticking — Iowa's legislation could pass an important hurdle as soon as next week. If we can raise a big enough stink, we can stop this state-based legislation from spreading nationwide.

Sign our petition and stand up for transparency and the right to take pictures of farms. »

But that’s not all. We don't just want to stop Big Ag's attempt to restrict consumers' right to know — we also want to use this as an opportunity to lift up the good, clean and fair farmers who like consumers to come and see exactly how their food is produced.

So join the farmarazzi! In the next few days we'll be calling on you for help. Plan a visit to a nearby farm (or just step outside, farmers) because we'll be holding a contest for the best farm photos, and sending a flipbook of the winning photos to the legislators in question. Can't wait to get started? Share your favorite farm photos by uploading and posting them on our Facebook wall here: http://www.facebook.com/SlowFoodUSA.