Fish Tales for Good Friday 3.29.13

Fish tales have been in headlines over the past few months. This day when so many faithful are eating “meat without feet” seems an appropriate time to summarize a few.

Follow that Fish

On March 6, Representative Ed Markey (D-Mass) introduced a new, bipartisan version of the legislation he had proposed in Congress last July to combat the mislabeling of seafood in restaurants and markets. The legislation is in response to studies showing that a high percentage of fish sold in the US is incorrectly labeled. The SAFE Seafood Act requires information that is already collected by U.S. fishermen — such as species name, catch location, and harvest method to ‘follow the fish,’ and be made available to consumers. It also requires foreign exporters of seafood to the United States to provide equivalent documentation. Rep. Markey was joined in the legislation by original co-sponsors Walter Jones (R-N.C.), John Tierney (D-Mass.), Bill Keating (D-Mass.), Lois Capps (D-Calif.) and Jo Bonner (R-Ala.). Senator Mark Begich (D-Alaska) will introduce companion legislation in the Senate. If you think mislabeled fish is not a problem, Oceana’s infographic: “Seafood Fraud Made Simple” should remove any doubt, especially if you think you have been eating red snapper.

Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood WATCH® Updates

The Monterey Bay Aquarium believes that “through better practices, we can create healthy, abundant oceans for everyone.” Through its Seafood WATCH® program the Aquarium has  been working since 1999 to make this vision a reality. Consumers play an important role in the conservation of ocean resources when they choose to purchase ocean-friendly seafood. The Seafood WATCH® program provides consumers with tools to make the right choices — national and regional guides in which seafood is rated as “Best Choices,” “Good Alternatives,” and “Avoid.” The 2013 guides are available for download here and are also available for mobile devices. The guides are updated periodically. Ryan Bigelow, Seafood® Watch Outreach Manager reports, “This is our biggest set of report updates in a fews years…Most exciting is that several species under U.S. fisheries management – monkfish, and Atlantic flatfish such as plaice and some flounders – have moved from the “Avoid” to the “Good Alternative” category. Improved data quality and farming practices moved tilapia from China and Taiwan from "Avoid" to "Good Alternative", and tilapia from Ecuador from "Good Alternative" to “Best Choice.” You can learn about the process Seafood WATCH® uses to make recommendations here.

AquaBounty Technologies’ Salmon

The US Food and Drug Administration may soon approve the sale of salmon, genetically engineered to reach market size more rapidly than other farmed salmon. If approved, AquaBounty salmon would become the first genetically engineered animal to enter the food supply. More than 33,000 people have submitted comments to the FDA. PCC Natural Markets, Trader Joe’s, Aldi’s and Whole Foods have already stated that they will not carry the salmon if it is approved for sale.

Giant Squid Caught on Film

Late in January, the Discovery Channel released a video of a giant squid filmed in its deep ocean habitat. The giant squid can grow up to 55 feet long. The one in the film is 30 feet long. That’s still a lot of squid. 

That’s all the tales for this time.

Have a great weekend.

Meatless Monday: Finding Common Ground

Many (perhaps most) American families are currently disagreeing about one hot button topic or another. In my immediate family, the subject is food, specifically diets. I’m a flexitarian bordering on vegetarian, while my son and daughter-in-law adhere to the Paleo Diet. 

I respect their right to choose.  When I first heard the phrase “Paleo Diet,” and learned that adherents eat animal protein (flesh or eggs) at almost every meal and avoid grains, legumes, and dairy, I was a little freaked. But, trusting the intelligence of my two kids, and seeing their leaner, trimmer figures after a mere couple of months, I opted to learn more.

In reading about their Paleo lifestyle choice, I found some common ground. According to Paleo Diet founder Dr. Loren Cordain, “The Paleo Diet is the unique diet to which our species is genetically adapted… The Paleo Diet is based upon eating wholesome, contemporary foods from the food groups that our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have thrived on during the Paleolithic era, or Stone age…” 

“…These foods include fresh meats (preferably grass-produced or free-ranging beef, pork, lamb, poultry, and game meat, if you can get it), fish, seafood, fresh fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and healthful oils (olive, coconut, avocado, macadamia, walnut and flaxseed).” Missing from the Paleo Diet are: dairy products, cereal grains, legumes, refined sugars, and all processed foods, none of which were part of the diet of our paleolithic ancestors. Dr. Cordain cites the Agricultural Revolution as the starting point for a wide range of chronic diseases including obesity, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, cancer, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, and acne. 

Here is the first bit of common ground – the premise that processed food is inherently bad.

I read more about the Paleo Diet on the website’s FAQ page. There I learned that along with meat and seafood, “the foundation of the Paleo diet is UNLIMITED consumption of fruits and vegetables” — a second bit of common ground.

There is a plethora of recipe sites for the modern-day Paleo dieter on which I found recipes for meals, but also for baked treats.

In a nod to the good I’d discovered in my brief exploration into Paleo principles, I decided to tweak one of my favorite recipes from New Haven vegetarian restaurateur Claire Cricusolo’s Claire’s Corner Copia Cookbook to make it more Paleo friendly. I took a couple of steps beforehand.

• Paleo recipes do not use grain-based flours. In preparation for this exercise, at Trader Joe’s I purchased a bag of Almond Meal, which is simply ground almonds. 1/4 cup of almond meal has 180 calories and 7 grams of protein. [1/4 cup of unbleached white flour has 124 calories, and 4 grams of protein.] Information on the bag advised substituting almond meal for no more than 1/2 the amount of flour in the recipe to ensure that the baked good would hold together and not be too crumbly.
• Also, Paleo recipes never use sugar, but honey can be used in moderation. I made sure I had plenty on hand.
• I made a small batch of applesauce; that way I could be sure there was no extra sugar.

Here goes. Wherever I made any edits to the original recipe, I have placed the original ingredients in brackets.

Applesauce-Spice Cake 

Makes an 8-inch square cake

Ingredients

1 cup unbleached white flour

3/4 cup almond meal [substituting for an additional 3/4 cup flour]

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

4 tablespoons butter or margarine at room temp.

7/8 cup local honey [substituting for 1 cup sugar]

1 egg

1 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 chopped walnuts

Method

Preheat oven to 350°

Combine flour, almond meal, soda, salt and spices in a bowl.

In a large bowl, cream butter with honey until light and fluffy. 

[Easiest with an electric mixer]

Add egg and applesauce and continue beating for an additional minute.

Add flour mixture and stir until combined. 

Stir in raisins and nuts.

Grease and flour the pan. Turn the batter into the pan. Smooth the top. 

Bake in the center of the oven for approximately 45 minutes [test at 40] until cake tester comes out clean and cake starts to pull away from the side of the pan. Be careful that the cake does not get too dry.

After the cake cools, cut into squares. Enjoy!

Note that on the East Coast it is Tuesday now. This day really got away.

For those of you reading on Monday, happy Monday. For the rest of you, have a great week!         

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Saturday Short Subjects: The Message of yerdle

yerdle has a mission — to displace 20% of the items that people buy. 

On Black Friday of last year, yerdle co-founders asked the public to make the following promise: “I pledge to join the largest ever Black Friday giving spree, November 23rd. I will give things away via yerdle to my friends and family. I will ask my friends and family to join me.”  

Andy Ruben (a former Walmart executive), Carl Tashian (formerly of Zipcar), and Adam Werbach (founder of communications firm Saatchi & Saatchi S and former Sierra Club president) launched the yerdle site in the San Francisco area on Black Friday, November 23, 2012. 

yerdle’s tagline is “Why shop when you can share?”. Promoted as “the new online platform that makes it as easy to share with friends as it is to buy new online,” yerdle allows users to share or give away items they have, or find items they need, through their friends. 

Here are the FAQs. 

Members can follow yerdle on Twitter or Pinterest, or post on their Facebook wall to friends who are yerdle members. All the opportunities come from friends in your network. You decide which offers to accept. Facebook lists what friends have already joined and makes it easy for you to invite others. As your community grows, so do the opportunities. The more, the merrier.

Be happy. Make someone happy. For free. What could be better?

Why Saturday Short Subjects? Some readers may recall  being dropped at the movie theater for the Saturday matinee — two action-packed feature films with a series of short subjects (cartoons or short movies, sometimes a serial cliffhanger) sandwiched in between. Often the short subjects were the most memorable, and enjoyable, part of the morning. That explains the name. The reason behind these particular posts is that we are all short on time. My Short Subject posts should not take me as long to write or you as long to read (or try).

Meatless Monday: 3.18.13 Food News Roundup

Today I am taking a break from my recent run of recipe posts to give you a brief rundown on some of the recent food stories I have been following. Recipes will be back soon, I promise.

GMO Labeling is a very hot topic.

• Whole Foods recently announced that by 2018 all products in their U.S. and Canadian stores must be labeled to indicate whether they contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs). 
• Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield paid a visit to Hartford, CT’s state capital, on Friday, March 15. According to GMO Free CT, Jerry was one of 200 supporters to offer testimony in support of CT HB 6519, a bill to require the labeling of genetically modified food sold in the state. 
• Ben & Jerry’s recently committed to sourcing non-GMO ingredients for all their products by the end of 2013. Ben & Jerry’s is a strong advocate for the consumers' right to know what is in their food and was one of the early supporters of labeling of rBGH in dairy products. It is interesting to note that Ben & Jerry’s is owned by Unilever, one of the corporate giants who funneled money into the campaign to defeat California Proposition 37. 
• California Proposition 37 was narrowly defeated in November, but other states are continuing the fight for the consumer’s right to know what is in their food. States with proposed GMO labeling legislation in their current sessions include: Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.

Dead Pigs, Contaminated Water in China

• On March 13 the BBC reported that according to a statement issued by the Chinese government, the number of pig carcasses found floating in the Huangpu River totals nearly 6,000. The government also claims that the water quality of the river “meets government-set standards.”  The source of the dead pigs remains a mystery. According to information from the NGO Pacific Environment, “Nearly 1/4 of Chinese [people] lack access to clean drinking water, over 70 percent of lakes and rivers are polluted, and pollution accidents happen on a near daily basis.” In today’s South China Morning Post there is a story reporting that residents of the village of Changshou in Hunan province have long refused to drink tap water they have been told is “safe.” You might want to think twice before purchasing frozen produce from China.

Girl Scout Cookies

• After news service UPI reported in February that more than 13,000 boxes of unsold Girl Scout cookies were thrown away in Riverside, CA, the story went viral. A reporter for a CBS affiliate in Los Angeles shared a video of a tractor smashing the cookies before they headed to the landfill. You can watch it here. Apparently this practice has been going on for years. While one can debate whether or not Girl Scout Cookies are actually food, one cannot dispute that farmers grew the wheat and chickens laid the eggs, etc. This story helped make food waste in the US front page news.

Protected Waters in New England

• The Pew Charitable Trust just released a call for action to oppose the reopening of nearly 5,000 square miles of protected New England waters to commercial fishing. The short video “Cod: The Fish that Made New England” features a number of “old salts” reminiscing about how different fishing was just decades ago. Their compelling tales emphasize the importance of this issue. You can take action here. 

In closing, here is a quick request for your vote from my chapter of Slow Food: 

• Slow Food Shoreline in CT is a finalist in the Health Justice Challenge - a $10K grant to support Slow Cooking Education. Their entry is a proposal to teach busy families how to cook healthy food using a slow cooker. Watch the video here and show your support. Hurry! You are allowed to vote once a day which means you can vote once today, and once tomorrow. Voting ends on March 19 at 11:59 pm EST.

Have a great week.       

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Saturday Short Subjects: What to Do with Old CDs?

I scored once again on my most recent trip to the gym. I had the luck to nab a copy of the January/February 2013 [!] Sierra from the magazine pile. CDs were the subject of that issue's “Repurpose: Trash into Treasure” column in which author Wendy Beckhold describes how to turn an unwanted CD into a stunning napkin holder. The full instructions are available online in a slideshow format. 

Unless you have or plan to have an Etsy store, my guess is that even if this craft strikes your fancy, you will still possess a great many unused CDs.

What can you do with the rest of your collection? The article suggests you turn to the CD Recycling Center of America to which you can mail unwanted CDs (from several to a full box) to a regional location based on your state. [The one for Connecticut is in Salem, New Hampshire.] Eventually they all end up at the group’s partner facility on the West Coast where “specialty proprietary equipment” processes the discs back to a clear resin, which is then sold to be used in new products for the automobile and building industries. 

The site’s FAQ page poses this question: “How do I know the CDs are not getting dumped somewhere?” The answer: “We're a growing watchdog in this industry and will report any suspicious activity to the EPA.”

Interested? Go to the Recycle Now section. Select your state, and you will be given the address of your regional facility. If you have a large number of CDs, I suggest using the US Postal Service’s “If It Fits, It Ships” Flat Rate program. This is a great way to mail heavy material, and the free boxes are very sturdy. [I know. I am a frequent customer.]

In Wendy's column she quotes CD Recycling Center of America co-founder Bruce Bennett who stated, “If every American mailed in just one disc, there would be enough to fill a freight train 234 cars long.” Wow!

Let the spring cleaning begin!

Have a great weekend.

Why Saturday Short Subjects? Some readers may recall  being dropped at the movie theater for the Saturday matinee — two action-packed feature films with a series of short subjects (cartoons or short movies, sometimes a serial cliffhanger) sandwiched in between. Often the short subjects were the most memorable, and enjoyable, part of the morning. That explains the name. The reason behind these particular posts is that we are all short on time. My Short Subject posts should not take me as long to write or you as long to read (or try).

Meatless Monday: Going Irish without Corned Beef

With St. Patrick’s Day coming up on Sunday, produce bins are overflowing with potatoes, leeks, and cabbages, all on sale for the best price of the season. Staples of Irish cuisine, many will find their way into steaming pots of Corned Beef and Cabbage.

There are however, plenty of other options for celebrating this most Irish of holidays, even if you wish to forgo the meat.

Colcannon, for instance. A lesser known mainstay of Irish cooking, Colcannon is a hearty dish, in which boiled potatoes are mashed with cabbage or kale along with milk and copious amounts of butter. There are several variations, some of which include Irish bacon. 

I chose to try a Colcannon recipe posted in this week’s Elm City Market flyer. As suggested, I substituted 2 large parsnips (also on sale and grown in Massachusetts) for 2 of the potatoes. The cabbages were nice and firm this week (and on sale) so they won out over kale. 

The Elm City recipe would seem to be inspired by this one I found online at Simply Recipes.

NOTES: 

• Elm City substituted 2 leeks for the green onions.
• 3 cups of chopped cabbage is the yield from 1/2 of a medium cabbage after the outer leaves are removed.
• I chopped both the cabbage and the leeks in the food processor, and added the leeks after the cabbage had cooked for just 2 minutes; I cooked the vegetables in butter for a total of 5 minutes. 

The result? A festively light green dish with an absolutely delicious taste. IMHO, the parsnips imparted the perfect little kick. 

I opted not to add any additional butter to the mounds of Colcannon we ate last night. But the more I read about this dish, the more a lake of butter seems to be the authentically Irish way. When I heat up the leftovers, I do believe we will indulge.

Have a great week. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!         

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Saturday Short Subjects: A Tale of Kitchen Scraps, a Wedding Ring, and a Carrot

Many times have I sung the praises of compost, “black gold” to the gardener. I have urged you to set up a backyard compost bin — as a way of making your own nutrient-rich soil amendment while diverting huge amounts of material from the municipal waste stream.

For today’s Saturday Short I offer up a surprising additional reason to compost your kitchen scraps. Click here if you missed the earlier link. [Shared by Jude Hsiang in the CT Master Gardener email list.] 

Need a spring project? Now might be a good time to get a compost bin started. The Cornell University Waste Management Institute has compiled an extensive collection of resources for the home composter, including this 15 minute video:

Yes, I realize the video is a bit old. The hairstyles, music and clothing are dated, but the content is great. In just a few minutes you will learn the chemistry of composting, how to set up a bin, how to achieve balance in your pile, and remedies to common problems. To date there have only been 252 views. Help this video go viral!

If you live in the city and are concerned about pests, check out this resource sheet outlining ways to “nuisance proof your compost” bin. 

You've got no excuses now! Ready, set, compost!

The sun is out and yesterday’s snow is melting. Yay!

Have a great weekend.

Why Saturday Short Subjects? Some readers may recall  being dropped at the movie theater for the Saturday matinee — two action-packed feature films with a series of short subjects (cartoons or short movies, sometimes a serial cliffhanger) sandwiched in between. Often the short subjects were the most memorable, and enjoyable, part of the morning. That explains the name. The reason behind these particular posts is that we are all short on time. My Short Subject posts should not take me as long to write or you as long to read (or try).

A Bit of Wisdom for a Winter Thursday

I do some of my best reading (and thinking) when at the gym. In the spirit of adventure, I rely on the recycled magazine table for my reading matter.  Since my exercise venue is a university gym, the material is weighted toward academic specialty journals (in pristine condition) and guilty pleasures — tattered copies of People, US, and O. But if I am really lucky, I will score a Smithsonian.

Recently I had the good fortune to peruse a June 2011 copy which contained an article by Lance Morrow on the topic of the writings of the Buddhist monk and poet Kenko. Kenko's Essays in Idleness is a compendium of seemingly random thoughts assembled around 1330.

I confess I have only read Morrow’s article, not Kenko’s volume. According to legend, Kenko wrote the 243 essays a cottage, brushing his thoughts onto scraps of paper and pasting them onto the cottage walls. The essays were only arranged in order and assembled into a volume by a poet friend after Kenko’s death.  

Morrow highlighted several essays. One bemoaned the fact that no one remembered the correct shape of a torture rack or the correct manner in which to affix a victim. Others dealt with the subject of uncertainty; Kenko wrote, “Leaving something incomplete makes it interesting and gives one the feeling that there is room for growth.”

Bizarre is the best word to describe the succinct Essay 49, one which Morrow declared to be among his favorites: “You should never put the new antlers of a deer to your nose and smell them. They have little insects that crawl into the nose and devour the brain.” If you ever find yourself with this opportunity, you will know what NOT to do.

Craving more Kenko? You can read Morrow’s article here. 

The complete volume, Essays in Idleness is also available for sale in paperback online. 

My point? Be adventurous. Check out that pile of recycled reading matter. Treasures await. Don’t forget to add your own contributions when you get around to doing your spring cleaning…

Saturday Shorts: Calling All Pinterest Fans…

Pinterest has teamed up with Partnership for a Healthier America, First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move!, and USDA's MyPlate to make it easier to find healthier recipes. Check out the Pinterest MyPlate Recipes account for an impressive collection of recipes gathered from a number of top chefs and well-known print and online sources, sorted for you by category. This is a Pinterest page, so what you will see is not just words, but rather words accompanied by a dazzling array of mouthwatering images.

Try not to drool on your keyboard or tablet.

Is this the first you’ve heard of Pinterest? Pinterest is “a tool for collecting and organizing things you love.”  Visit the Pinning 101 page to get started. 

Have fun.

Why Saturday Short Subjects? Some readers may recall  being dropped at the movie theater for the Saturday matinee — two action-packed feature films with a series of short subjects (cartoons or short movies, sometimes a serial cliffhanger) sandwiched in between. Often the short subjects were the most memorable, and enjoyable, part of the morning. That explains the name. The reason behind these particular posts is that we are all short on time. My Short Subject posts should not take me as long to write or you as long to read (or try).