Post Script

Fend off the Monday blahs ...

... with a lunchbreak dip into a delicious foodie blog. This one is full of sumptuous recipes, exquisitely photographed, and written by a woman who is no stranger to gluten-free baking and the joys of farm-fresh ingredients.

In her own words: "I am Aran, a Basque ex-pat living in the US since 1998, and this is Cannelle Et Vanille, my baby, my blank canvas for creating anything and everything sweet that comes out of my heart.

Why the name Cannelle Et Vanille? Because those are the smells and tastes of my childhood and this blog is very much filled with nostalgia."

Cannelle Et Vanille has received press from the UK Times Online, BBC's Olive Magazine, Saveur.com, RealSimple.com and many other blogs.

First Lady to appear on Iron Chef

Michelle Obama on Iron Chef? That will please a lot of foodies. Not surprisingly, the scoop came from Obama Foodorama, the blog that watches the White House chefs' every culinary move. 

Armed with presidential recipes, Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford will go up against Emeril Lagasse in the season premiere of the popular show in January. We'll be watching, for sure.

Training green workers in Riverwest

A partnership between Growing Power, Bradley Tech Construction Academy and the Lynde & Harry Bradley Technology & Trade School recently received $171,000 in funding to build an urban, agricultural training space and green garage in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood.

Reported in the Milwaukee Business Journal.

Can we change views on climate change?

The subject of global warming is in constant debate, always in headlines and a nagging thought in the back of our collective minds. But some of us are skeptics and don't let the environmentalists spoil our fun.

An interesting column at the Guardian addresses skepticism and climate change. The author contends that the more hardened denials come from people in their 60s and 70s, and asks if this is a result of the fear of death? And if so, how on earth can we convince the skeptics? Where scientific evidence fails to persuade, we have to look at the human psychology behind the denial, Monbiot argues.

Bad beef: East coast stores recall ground beef

New York-based meat supplier Fairbank Farms has announced a voluntary recall of more than a half million pounds of ground beef over fears of E.coli contamination. The meat was all sold in stores along the eastern seaboard and carried expiration dates of several weeks ago, so it is unlikely any remains on stores.
Meat producer recalls half a million pounds of ground beef - Nov. 2, 2009.
The recall follows a federal investigation of a series of reported E.coli illnesses in several eastern states. Stores involved in the recall include Giant Food Stores, Price Chopper and Trader Joe's.

Young children found working on farm

Wal-Mart officials say they have suspended business with their blueberry supplier, Adkin Blue Ribbon Packing Co., after federal spot checks found children as young as five years of age working alongside their parents, picking and hauling blueberries. Under U.S. federal law, children under the age of 12 are not permitted to work on farms; in other industries, the minimum age for employment is 14.

The full story is reported in The Independent newspaper.

McDonalds has a case of fallen arches

Here's a headline we never have expected to see: McDonald's closes restaurants.

Seriously. McDonald's is pulling out of Iceland. The economic crisis has been felt deeply in the country, and the giant burger chain says it is closing operations there due to high costs.

Sky News has the story.

Photo by  iboy_daniel on Flickr.

Bill Gates, Africa and GMO seeds

Much has been said since Bill Gates spoke last week about GMOs and the need for conventional ag technologies in Africa.

"Some people insist on an ideal vision of the environment," Gates said. "They have tried to restrict the spread of biotechnology into sub-Saharan Africa without regard to how much hunger and poverty might be reduced by it, or what the farmers themselves might want."

That's according to a post on the Organic Consumers Association's web site. Gates was speaking at the World Food Summit in Des Moines, Iowa. Read the full story here.

The Botany of Desire ... on TV

The apple, the tulip, marijuana and the potato. Four plants compose the starring lineup of the film adapation of Michael Pollan's book, The Botany of Desire. and they represent sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control, respectively. Who knew?

An exploration of plants and our relationship with them, the film (like the book before it) takes us from Pollan's backyard to the apple orchards of Kazakhstan, the tulip markets of Amsterdam, a medicinal marijuana hothouse and the potato fields of South America. 

A reviewer on Newsday.com had this to say: "Shot in beautiful high-definition videography. 'The Botany of Desire' is a perfect story for television,' says producer and director Michael Schwartz. 'It takes a world we thought we knew and allows us to see it in an entirely new way.' The special is two hours of pure joy that contains all the requisites of must-see TV - it's intriguing and fascinating, engaging, entertaining and educational. It's brilliant. I just wish I'd thought of it first."

The film was broken up into segments are aired in Madison's Central Library over the past four weeks, but the entire thing (joy!) will be aired at 7 p.m. tomorrow night (Wednesday Oct 28) on Wisconsin Public Television.

For a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, along with local listings, lesson plans and bonus features, go to pbs.org/thebotanyofdesire.

Co-op members' angst grows in Brooklyn

Love your co-op? So do we; which is why we work for Outpost. But we don't have to work for Outpost just to be owners of Outpost ... unlike the souls who trade elbow grease for spinach at a well-known New York co-op.

The Park Slope Food Co-op in Brooklyn was established in 1973, and has grown to 15,000 members. Those members enjoy an impressive discount (up to 40%) on fresh, organic food, but they also have to adhere to a stringent member-volunteer policy; 2.75 hours of work in the co-op every four weeks for every adult member of a household. Missed shifts carry the penalty of makeup shifts, and apparently, these can mount up, leaving members overwhelmed by their planners and abiding sense of inadequacy.

In the New York Times, writer Alana Joblin Ain recounts her experiences at the co-op with humor and self-deprecation in equal measure. It's a fascinating glimpse into a world half-familiar to us, but thankfully not quite.

She writes: "Like any place that wears its ideals on its sleeve, the co-op evokes rage, adoration and all the emotions in between. In 2006, the food Web site chow.com published 'Won't Work for Food,' an essay by a onetime co-op member who described the place as 'something between an earthy-crunchy health food haven and a Soviet-style re-education camp.' Three years later, passionate comments about the piece are still being posted.

Joblin Ain's piece is an amusing tale of good intentions, swiftly followed by disgrace in exile. It's also a deft commentary on the lengths to which we will go for some community spirit and pesticide-free pea shoots. We recommend it.