Archive for March, 2010
Just in time for the census: 2 more farmers
Four years ago, I was a single vegetarian pursuing a communications career. Now, I am a married omnivore beginning farmer. Eggs were my gateway food. I began buying them from the farmers market when I moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan to be closer to my husband-to-be. My favorite dozens came from a two-woman operation called
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A focus on fish meal and subsidies can help the oceans
This is part 3 of a series on improving market-based seafood sustainability initiatives, inspired by a recent article published by an international team of researchers in "Oryx: The International Journal of Conservation." (See Oryx volume 44, pp. 45-56 doi:10.1017/S0030605309990470.
Aquaponics in the S.F. Bay Area
Getting hooked on aquaponics: Aquaponics — the combination of hydroponics and aquaculture — can be a great way to grow food in a small space, with little water and at low cost. In the S.F. Bay Area, a few organizations are building and selling systems. The Oakland-based company Kijiji Grows (kijiji
Bottled water’s energy budget
In a short research paper, two staff members from the Pacific Institute examine how energy is used in the production and distribution of bottled water. Bottle production and transportation are by far the largest energy users, with pre-bottling water processing (filtration and disinfection), filling and
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‘Revolution’ off to contentious and hopeful start
The ABC preview of "Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” Sunday night has me modestly hopeful that ordinary Americans — those largely untouched by the movement to improve diet and agriculture — might watch and learn. “Revolution”
Yes, we can… and we relish it!
Last Sunday, I started the day by catching up on email and blogs and stumbled through a link to a recent Slate article panning the art of canning. Deriding it as a "cultish hobby" loaded with "self-congratulation," author Sara Dickerman dismissed home food
A bad week for bluefin tuna and sharks
It was a bad week for some of the ocean's top predators in Doha, Qatar as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) rejected international trade restrictions on northern
Strengthening the “weakest link” in the local meat infrastructure
Friend of the Ethicurean Sam Fromartz looks at a new wave of small slaughterhouses that are appearing in Virginia. He focuses on True & Essential Meats of Harrisonburg, a new partnership of former landscape architect Joe Cloud, his mother, and Joel Salatin (of Polyface Inc., who was profiled in Omnivore's
The water wars: California’s salmon vs. agribiz interests
By Paul Johnson Chinook salmon fishing has been scaled way back in California. Photo: Zureks/Wikimedia I've been selling fish for 30 years, and I'm pleased that my store, the Monterey Fish Market, has a reputation for
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‘Top Chef’ should take up the ultimate challenge: school lunch
Season 7 of Bravo’s Top Chef will be based in Washington, D.C., reported the Metrocurean (no relation) a few days ago, with filming to begin in early April.
The ‘femivore’: New breed of feminist, or frontier throwback?
Cross-posted from Grist, where I am serving as deputy food editor (part time). Have locavores and feminists -- factions that a few years ago, some
Research shows possible connection between pesticide use and skin cancer
Health researchers have been unable to explain why several studies have found an excess risk of melanoma and other skin cancer for farmers. Farmers spend time in the sun — which is a major risk factor — but could it be something else? New research suggests that exposure to certain pesticides could
The pie’s the limit! Get baking for Pi Day, March 14
Back in my (much) younger days, I used to enjoy math class. I especially got a kick out of geometry and the formulas used to calculate area, perimeter or circumference, and volume. My mother and I used to have fun with one formula in particular: "What's the formula for the area of a circle?" she would
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Great food with “a side of sustainability” in L.A.
City of angelic eateries: Some prominent restaurants in metro Los Angeles are striving to become more "sustainable" — a term without a legal definition at this moment and all too often used as a meaningless marketing term — through all sorts of new programs. The relocated Grace, for example, will
Tracking the co-evolution of grass and humanity
High on grass: "We live in the age of grass," writes Olivia Judson, a research fellow in biology at Imperial College London, on the New York Times' Opinionator blog. Indeed, some of the crops that helped make humans an agricultural creature and create our complex civilization are grasses: wheat, rice,
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