Eat. Drink. Better.

I’m a coffee addict.  When it gets too hot in the summer, I’ll stop drinking hot and make myself some iced.  There’s several schools of thought on making iced coffee at home: some make regular hot coffee, then chill it, some pour hot over ice, some cold-brew.  In my younger, naive days, I would make hot coffee, let it cool, then chill it further with the addition of cold milk.   But wisdom–and experience–tells me that cold-brew is the path of least resistance and provides the best buzz for your buck.  Seriously.  You won’t go back.  And you can save a few bucks by making your own at home.  The all-too-simple directions, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

At home, we rank king and queen of our own kitchen – declaring local and seasonal priorities, treating area farmers like valued citizens, banning high fructose corn syrup and declaring kale royalty. Once we cross the moat of our island home base, navigating reality can get a bit more treacherous and sticky, especially when organizing an event outside your kitchen confines. Our quest for sustainability deflates through the reality of standardized event menus, venue restrictions and catering managers rolling their eyes and commenting, “But we’ve never done it that way before.”

Enter Greg Christian, owner of Greg Christian Catering and Events, Chicago’s “Conscious Caterer” on a mission to bring the healthy, sustainable food message to the event scene. Wearing his white chef coat like a cloak of armor, Christensen proves that commitment, passion for healthy food and a dedication to constantly questioning and evolving can prompt true change.

Christian’s journey toward sustainability sparked when his young daughter’s asthma improved significantly through eating organic foods. “But I was living two lives, eating organic at home and using conventional foods in my businesses,” Christian confesses. “I realized I couldn’t live these two separate lives anymore and I started literally diagnosing where my food inputs came from on a world map.” This mapping system prompted not only change, but a deep sense of humility for Christian. “I’m humble and honored to be part of the global food system,” adds Christian, an emotion fueling his catering company’s constant quest to buy from area farmers, run a zero waste kitchen and continually work towards further greening his operations.

Planning an event you would like to keep green? Here are five tips to get started: Read the rest of this entry »

While they don’t normally farm naked, eleven of Kona’s farmers dared and bared it all to raise awareness about false advertising on coffee labels. The tasteful and fun photos of these mature women grace the pages of a 2009 calendar, reminiscent of the Alternate WI Calendar, the inspiration for the movie Calendar Girls. While the calendar was a bit of light-hearted humor, these farmers are serious about protecting the trademark of Kona coffee. And they should be.

Currently, coffee labels are allowed to use terms like “Kona blend,” “Kona style,” or even “Kona coffee,” even if the package contains only ten percent Kona beans. The remaining 90 percent of the beans come from other regions like Brazil or Columbia.

Kona farmers are concerned that the mislabeling dilutes the integrity of this unique variety. That integrity does have value when you examine how the coffee is produced and the Kona Coffee Farmers mission to protect Kona farmers’ economic interests in 100% Kona coffee, to protect the Kona coffee heritage, and to seek greater legal protection of the Kona coffee name.

I contacted Christine Sheppard of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association to find out more about this unique variety. Interview follows the jump. Read the rest of this entry »