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Book review: Appreciating Elizabeth Andoh’s “Kansha”
Elizabeth Andoh is a prominent figure in my cooking consciousness. Her 2005 book, Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen, opened a new frontier to me: the deceptively simple and
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San Francisco sustainable restaurants have a blind spot for seafood
In an ideal world, when a restaurant tells you that it serves “sustainable seafood,” you could have some faith that the claim is true, that the chefs and buyers know exactly what they are getting and the issues around how it was caught. The seafood situation in the famously eco-friendly San Francisco
Farming groups resort to Machiavellian defense of indefensible practices
Spin-dustrial ag: Two dozen of the nation's largest and best-funded farm groups have formed a coalition to counter poor publicity, reports the AP (LAtimes.com). What are they mad
Tipping sacred cows: Reviewing “Meat: A Benign Extravagance”
Mainstream culture and news abound with broad statements about our food system and the choices we make about what we put on the dinner table. Surely you’ve heard that if you want to save
For when you Karo too much: In honor of MLK, Jr. Day, my great-grandmother’s pecan pie recipe
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a big fan of pie, supposedly. (Who isn't?) A few years ago, Austin, Tex. artist Luanne Stovall was baking a buttermilk one in honor of the civil-rights activist and decided to turn sharing it into a
Boycotting bluefin isn’t enough — time to turn on the siren
Critics of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas often say that the acronym ICCAT might better stand for the “International Conspiracy to Catch All Tuna.” At its most recent meeting, ICCAT lived up to that derisive nickname by
Two cookbooks give winter vegetables a starring role
The temperatures have plunged below the freezing point, the first major snow of the season has blanketed the ground, and winter is officially here. Baby, it’s cold outside,
Massive gingerbread house recall a reminder that food safety starts in the gut
Grist (where I am the food editor) just got a late entry to our Scariest Food of 2010 contest: Gingerbread houses.
Thanks, Jevons paradox! On why I won’t be replacing my spare fridge
A few weeks ago, my spare side-by-side fridge/freezer up and died. I was (and remain) pissed about this. It's a fancy-pants Samsung, about four years old, and the Sears repair guy said the compressor would cost $800 to fix -- 75% of what the fridge was new. "Samsung's great for TVs, crap for fridges,"
Olney Friends School in Ohio grows food to grow enrollment
The farm-to-school movement has been gaining ground lately as advocates encourage administrators to bring more local food into school cafeterias. But at Olney
Meet Roll International, the biggest dastardly agribiz mega-corps you’ve never heard of
Pom not-so-wonderful at all: John Gibler's epic, top-notch feature on Roll International – "or, as their website proclaims: 'the largest privately held company you’ve never heard of,' owner of Paramount Farming, the largest grower and processor of almonds and pistachios in the world; Paramount Citrus;
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Q&A with Michele Simon — activist, attorney, badass
It's always fun to talk with someone who has such a sense of purpose that she doesn't feel the need to make nice. Michele Simon is one of those people. Let me be clear: Simon, a public health attorney for the Marin Institute, and author of Appetite
Chicago drugstores begin selling fresh food
Rx for health: Chicago-area Walgreens have begun selling "an expanded selection of food, including fresh fruits and vegetables, at 10 locations selected because they were in food deserts." Turns out that drugstores are one of the few chain businesses operating in the low-income areas that lack access
Life as a give-a-shit-atarian: On loving peas, beets, and Tom Robbins
Self-identification is one of those never-ending challenges that occupy humans. Even highly self-aware people seem to spend a lot of time defending
An artisanal plea from a fed-up foodie
When you find me behind bars, locked up for a fit of lexical rage, please know that it was granola that pushed me over the edge. Not just any granola: "artisan granola." Presumably its makers meant artisanal granola, made in limited quantities
