Eat. Drink. Better.

The Sigg Company recently admitted that its aluminum bottles, long touted as an alternative to chemical leaching plastics, actually contain bisphenol-A (BPA) in their liner. The announcement has left customers around the world outraged.  Especially damning is evidence that the company knew as far back as 2006 that the bottle liners contained BPA, yet failed to disclose this fact to consumers.

Though the scientific jury is still out on the effects of BPA, states such as Minnesota and Connecticut have already banned their use in kiddie drinking cups and other bottles.  Conscientious consumers have also been leery of BPA, and many have tried to do their best to avoid it.  Unfortunately for many people, the alternative to other BPA leeching plastic bottles were the aluminum Sigg bottles they thought were safe.

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There is new evidence that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may be a culprit in what is known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), or the disappearance of honeybees.

Colony Collapse Disorder has killed off more than one-third of the bees in the United States.

Beekeepers know that when there isn’t nectar readily available to their hives, as in the winter months, some turn to supplements. Traditionally it was (guess what) honey. But that’s what you want to harvest, so many turn to cheaper substitutions. Cane or beet sugar, mixed with water, was seen as acceptable as long as you removed the part of the comb containing the sugar once bees started producing again. It was important to keep the bees fed so they’d keep brooding and ready to produce honey.

Except it hasn’t only been the occasional sugar-water substitution. We’ve substituted the substitute. People have also turned to high fructose corn syrup.

And once again, it seems our need for convenience and affordability has cost us: a new study shows that a contaminant from heat-exposed HFCS may be killing off the bees.

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Blackbird Bakery is all about the art of gluten-free baking by Karen Morgan. When Karen was diagnosed with Celiac disease years ago she struggled to find desserts that could satisfy her desires, and soon her destiny as a gluten-free baker was realized as she found her perfect personal cooking niche. Reaching out to the gluten-free world she started her food blog, The Art of Gluten-Free Cooking.

Shown above is a lemon trifle with Mexican vanilla custard and sliced almond cream and a fig paired, white truffle infused panna cotta dish. Read the rest of this entry »

Whole Foods Market made a big step in food retail this month. The corporate giant that dominates the healthfood market is leading their customers away from GMOs. The company joined the Non-GMO Project’s Product Verification Program this month. The Non-GMO Project is a consortium of people, businesses, and organizations who are committed to cutting GMO’s out of our food stream. This non-profit organization has now established the first scientifically-based, third-party system in North America for identifying if a product is GMO-free — the Product Verification Program.

The fairly new Product Verification Program is what Whole Foods has been searching since GMOs came to the US, the company says.
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Finally, it’s in my hands.  I’ve been waiting for what feels like EONS for my copy of Food, Inc. (Edited by Karl Weber) to arrive.  I first laid eyes on this delightful book on a shopping trip to Whole Foods Market and was prompted by husband to not buy it that day because surely we could get our hands on it for less.  Once again, he was right.

The book is a companion to help one further explore the issues raised in the documentary, Food, Inc. Starring Eric Schlosser and directed by Robert Kenner.  I haven’t yet had the opportunity to watch the documentary, but I’m near to frothing and not sure I can wait for it to hit DVD and my Netflix queue.

The companion book contains 13 essays to explore the facts behind the problems we see in the news every day, issues like hunger, human rights, tainted food and pollution. Read the rest of this entry »

Chipotle Mexican Grill is once again breaking from the fast-food model.

The Denver-based chain known for its clean flavors and burly burritos is pledging to use a set amount of local produce at each of its more than 730 restaurants around the country — when produce is in season.

This summer, Chipotle is purchasing twenty-five percent of at least one produce item for each of its stores from small and midsize farms situated within 200 miles of the store. Read the rest of this entry »

The folks behind Carrotmob continue to demonstrate the power of using your dollars to vote for environmental change, and they’re starting to get some press as well.

The first Carrotmob “reverse boycott” started with a convenience store in San Francisco.  The store owner out-competed a few dozen other businesses by pledging to use 22% of the profits from one day to make his store greener (in this case by installing energy efficient lighting and other green improvements).  Carrotmobbers flooded his store on the appointed day and left the store owner with $9,200, enough to make multiple energy efficient improvements as well as having the best sales day all year.

Carrotmob and their “reverse boycott” system works like this:

• Businesses are contacted and asked how much they would like to bid in order to win over consumers during one massive shopping day.
• Using social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter, and other fancy technology, members are asked to vote which store they would like to select.
• One day is selected and the store is “mobbed” with consumers who show up and buy goods they would have purchased anyways - food, beverages, hardware, etc.
• The store is mobbed with consumers who in the process of flexing their food (or goods & services) dollars, bring the store lots of money.
• The store uses the percentage of those sales they pledged to make their business greener and more environmentally friendly, while helping their bottom line AND gaining significant goodwill in the community.

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A recent study by Whole Foods Market estimates that reusable bag usage has increased by 300% in the year since it eliminated plastic bags at all of its stores.  The company estimated that 150 million bags have been kept out of landfills over the twelve month period.

Whole Foods Market made the announcement last year that they would stop using plastic bags company-wide starting on Earth Day 2008.  Since this announcement, public sentiment has been moving in the direction of eventual elimination of plastic bags at all grocery and retail stores, and municipalities (including the city of San Francisco) have begun outlawing or taxing plastic bag usage within city limits.

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The economy may be in the toilet but ones things for sure this time of year the Girl Scouts will be out in whatever city or rural town selling their cookies. Yes, they have expanded their selection from the basic chocolate chip to such flavors as Dulce de Leche but for $4 a box the economy would have to get real bad for people not to support the Girl Scouts and buy a box or two.

Here’s the thing that gets us. What then heck are these baked goods made from? These little morsels hardly come from just flour and sugar like cookies should be. Instead these little baked treats contain ingredients that would make Michael Pollen cringe. When little girls (or boys for that matter) hardly learn to bake they hardly reach for Palm Oil and TBHQ or Anhydrous Dextrose. Read the rest of this entry »

With the ever increasing number of craft brews hitting shelves in recent years, choosing an ale can be a difficult decision. Each crafty label seems coded somehow to project the underlying character traits of the person indulging. Unibroue, for swarthy Francophiles. Brooklyn, for the hip crowd harkening their home borrough. New Belgium for outdoorsy sorts who prefer to pedal and paddle. And Full Sail, for those beer enthusiasts who are simply paying attention.

This week, Oregon’s Full Sail Brewing Company received the Governor’s Sustainability Award for small business in recognition of the company’s ever increasing commitment to the community and the environment.

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