Pt. Reyes Light: A West Marin dairy received organic certification even though it was using grass irrigated with human wastewater. “It doesn’t matter if they’re putting it on chocolate ice cream or hay, human sewage is not allowed,” said the spokeswoman for the USDA’s National Organic Program — WHOAH! as Tony Soprano would say.
NY Times: […]

Seattle is a town of grey days, damp nights, coffee, and beer. While fair Portland to the south has more brewpubs per capita than anywhere in the world, Seattle has a thriving pub culture that is reminiscent of Great Britain. Seattle doesn’t have many brewpubs–that is, pubs that make their own beer on site–but we […]

We got props from Slashfood! (Welcome, readers of that head-spinningly omnivorous food blog.)
Writer Nick Vagnoni appreciated the corniness of our “SOLE food” acronym (Sustainable, Organic, Local, Ethical) — it was in the running for the blog name for a while — as well as of “chew the right thing.” He looks forward to seeing how […]

Here are a few tasty bits to start your weekend.
Topeka Capital-Journal (free registration required): Local Burger in Lawrence, Kansas serves fast food made with locally sourced organic ingredients.
Soil Association: The Soil Association has a roundup of recent studies on the effects of GMO foods on health, including links to studies by Monsanto. Among the […]

I’ve fallen in love! I have fallen in love again … with smoothies. Organic, homemade ones, to boot.
It wasn’t love at first sight. No, it actually took a lot of time. Days. Months. OK, maybe years … to get me to see that making a commitment wasn’t really all that hard, in the end.
Let […]

(Just added) The Independent: The U.K. food police — oops sorry, food detectives — visit the reporter’s kitchen and evaluate her supplies from a sustainable/organic point of view. During June in England, a group called Anti-Apathy is conducting a London-based social experiment called Reality Bites, which will follow 12 participants “as they explore the issues […]

I’ve been stealing from my neighbors. And I don’t feel at all guilty.
For one thing, I doubt they’d care, if they even noticed. Ever since I started focusing on eating more locally, I’ve been staking out the fruit trees and noting where all the wild fennel, lavender, and rosemary grow on my jogs around our […]

Starting yesterday, the Ethicurean team has committed to a rotation system that we hope means our readers will never go hungry. Miss Steak will post something juicy and rare on Mondays, Man of La Muncha will masticate macho-ly on Tuesdays, Omniwhore will get you over — or off — Hump Day, Dairy Queen will try […]

When I decided to start touring farms and farmer’s markets in Austin and post the results on the Ethicurean, I thought that I would simply visit whatever Farm of the Week I fancied, interview the farmer, and post all of the really cute pictures I took. However, this isn’t really how it works, as it […]

In late May, the Butter Bitch and I undertake a trip to visit my grandmother, my great-aunt and my mother (Mom of La Muncha) in Idaho, and as part of our trip we stop by the land that my grandparents farmed from the 1930s until 1951. My mother, aunt […]

OK, I know we’re very, very late to the bandwagon on this, but we’ve been up to our eyeballs in work.
The police moved in last week to forcibly evict the denizens of South Central Farm, a 14-acre community garden in the middle of South Central Los Angeles … so the owner can build a warehouse […]

Here’s what we’re reading this morning.
The Deccan Herald: A look at the threats posed by genetically modified crops. Insects are becoming more resistant to “self-protecting” GM foods. Plague of locusts, anyone?
Food and Wine: The July issue of this mainstream mag has a surprising feature on grass-fed hot dogs and hamburgers made by chefs. […]

Sometimes I read so much depressing news — about global warming, the war in Iraq, genocide in Darfur, the religious right’s reign of terror in this country — that I have to crawl into bed with a trashy book to recover. And then occasionally an article arrives via one of my dozens of Google alerts […]

About a month ago, I checked in with my friend’s blog and was delighted by these two mini-videos of her Silkie hen’s newly hatched — and hatching — chicks, or — as I like to call them — “chicklets.” Take a look first at the one from that morning and then the afternoon’s…
And discover […]

We the people have a right to know where our food comes from — and what’s in it. Now, let’s make sure it’s law. If you agree, please see the Center for Food Safety’s site to sign your name to an online petition.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) recently introduced two bills related to GE […]