Meatless Monday: We Have the Power

For years author and food advocate Michael Pollan has been urging consumers to “Vote with your fork.” 

People have been listening, and all this spring the results have been rolling in. A growing number of companies have been addressing consumers’ concerns about food sourcing and food quality.

On April 20, Kraft announced that it will remove artificial color from its Macaroni and Cheese and use paprika, annatto, and turmeric in its place.

On April 27, Chipotle stated that they had become the first national restaurant to cook with only non-GMO ingredients. [As the NPR blog the salt points out, however, the chain is still serving soda containing high fructose corn syrup.]

The next day Tyson publicized that they were striving to “eliminate human antibiotics from our broiler chicken production by September 2017.” [Note that only human antibiotics were mentioned.]

Last year Subway finished removal of the artificial ingredient azodicarbonamide from its bread, in response to a campaign launched by blogger “Food Babe,” who had dubbed the chemical the “yoga mat material.” This spring Subway announced that it was introducing a new roast beef devoid of artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. 

On May 15, Panera published “The No No List” of artificial preservatives, sweeteners, colors, and flavors it pledges to remove from their bakery-cafes by the end of 2016. 

Later that month CNN Money published an article appropriately titled “You won't believe the $%#! you've been eating” that referenced a few more stories that had not appeared on my radar. Check out the paragraph on Taco Bell, who announced that it would stop using “artificial pepper” and start using real pepper. Really? What $%#! indeed? 

That’s a whole lot of changes without the government stepping in. But we have a long way to go.

Money talks. Collectively we have the power. Keep on voting! 

Happy Meatless Monday!  Have a great week.

On Mondays I often blog on food, food issues, or gardening 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.”

Freebie Friday 1.16.15: Fast Casual in the News

Carnitas lovers went into a state of shock this week when Chipotle pulled pork from the menu at hundreds of its restaurants. According to AP, it was the first time the chain stopped serving one of its toppings. 

Chipotle prides itself on serving “Food with Integrity,” a commitment to “finding the very best ingredients raised with respect for the animals, the environment, and the farmers.” One supplier violated the standards and Chipotle decided to remove pork from the menu rather than offer a conventionally raised substitute. A spokesperson for Chipotle did not disclose the details of the violations, but he did state that “most of the issues related to the violations concerned housing for the pigs.”

This news should not keep devotees away from the chain. There is still plenty of beef and chicken for meat eaters. According to PETA, there are six ways to be vegan. 

And, what better reason could there be, for everyone from vegans to carnivores, to accept Chipotle’s special incentive to try Sofritas, the most recent addition to their topping menu, on January 26? Sofritas is a topping made with organic tofu sourced from Hodo Soy that is shredded and braised with peppers, chilis, and spices. The details of the special offer can be found here. [Note: The Sofritas are rather high in sodium, so when you build your menu item you might want to hold the salsa.]

Panera also introduced a new offering to its menu this week — Broth Bowls. They come in a number of variations, with a base of either soba noodles or quinoa, and toppings that include lentils, kale, and cage-free eggs.

If you are a Panera card holder, be sure to watch at least three of the short videos about the new bowls – “How to Eat Adventurously” – to receive $5 off any broth bowl purchase. If you watch all six, a bonus of a free beverage will also be added to your card. [Note: The videos are silly, but mercifully short.] These bowls look delicious and are lower in calories than many other Panera items, but they are still somewhat high on the sodium.

There you have it — one BOGO, one $5 off with an freebie for your patience, and two excellent reasons to venture out in the cold. Get moving!

TGIF. Have a great weekend. 

FYI Why a piñata? Just like a blog link, until you open it, you won’t know what’s inside.

On My Radar 3.1.14

Recent News. Happenings. Discoveries…Here are some of the items on my radar.

METEOROLOGICAL NEWS:

The West has finally gotten some rain, but too much, too fast, with some devastating results. All that rain did little to mitigate the multi-year drought. One official opined that it would have to rain every other day until May just to reach average precipitation levels.

Storm Titan is now making its way across the country.  The Northeast, once again in the grip of the Polar Vortex, is waiting to see how much snow Titan will deposit during its visit here. 

The smog that blanketed much of northern China, including the city of Beijing, last week has dissipated somewhat, but a report in Mashable predicts such problems will continue until dramatic steps are taken to reduce pollutants. In early December, Shanghai, on the coast of central China, was shrouded in smog. You can see the dramatic images here. Time claims that China’s smog is being called a “Nuclear Winter.”  

NEWS from NEW HAVEN:

In advance of Thursday’s public hearing on United Illuminating’s Vegetation Management Plan, Urban Resources Initiative (URI) has issued its position. You can read it in its entirety here. In summary, URI calls for:  

• A balanced approach to securing electrical power reliability by removing hazardous trees and branches while retaining healthy trees
• A comprehensive review of all trees
• Development of a detailed plan for removal or pruning
• Replacement planting
• Undergrounding of distribution wires as a long-term solution

The public is invited to sign up to make brief comments at this meeting. URI urges all lovers of trees to turn out; a large audience will send a strong message. Details on the time and place are below.

The Rock to Rock Earth Day Ride, a fundraiser for environmental causes in New Haven, is less than two months away. The snow should be gone by then, and organizers are urging all past and future riders to commit — now! Join a team and start collecting pledges!

Justin Elicker, former Ward 10 Alder and Mayoral Candidate, was recently named Executive Director of the New Haven Land Trust. The Land Trust cares for and manages 80 acres of property and oversees 50 community vegetable gardens across the City. “I am thrilled to take on this challenge as executive director,” Elicker said. “As the state’s first urban land trust and one of New Haven’s pioneers of urban agriculture, the Land Trust has a history of being visionary while delivering a direct and positive impact on the daily lives of our city’s residents. I look forward to building upon the Land Trust’s strong relationships with communities throughout the city to increase access to healthy food, foster environmental stewardship and facilitate strengthening connections within and across all of New Haven’s neighborhoods.”

Rachel Ziesk, Community Garden Manager at the Land Trust, is thinking ahead to Spring. In her blog Organic Gardening she has been posting tips for garden planning. Her latest post discusses what to consider as you flip through those beautiful seed catalogs.

FOOD NEWS:

The nutrition label on food packages may get its first makeover in 20 years. If the recommendations are approved, a consumer will no longer need to do mental math to calculate calories and nutrition information. The two most dramatic changes proposed are updates to serving sizes and a larger, bolder type face for the calories in the product.

Chipotle is rolling out Braised Tofu Sofritos, the first item to become a permanent addition to the menu since salads were added in 2005. The organic tofu experiment began in 2013 with seven locations in the Bay Area. This item is not available in Connecticut yet, but Chipotle advises “stay tuned.” According to Bloomberg Business Week, Tofu Sofritos should be an option in all 1,572 U.S. stores by the end of 2014.

RELATIVE NEWS:

My niece Sophie, college sophomore and blogger at Philo-Sophie is planning a summer service trip to Haiti. You can read more about it here. 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Thursday, March 6th

6:30 pm

Hamden Middle School, 2623 Dixwell Avenue

Technical Meeting and Public Info Session

hosted by PURA with a presentation by United Illuminating (UI)

In response to public objections to the UI plan adopting Enhanced Tree Trimming or Tree Removal (ETT/ETR) 

March 19th

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Chipotle, 910 Chapel Street, New Haven

New Haven Green Drinks 

Chris Schweitzer (New Haven/León Sister City Project) and 

Joel Tolman (Common Ground High School) will speak on 

the Rock to Rock Earth Day Ride

Chipotle will donate half of all sales, including Margaritas and beer purchases, between 5 pm and 9 pm to support Rock to Rock.

Saturday Short Subjects: Back to the Start

For some of you this may be old news. If you watched the Grammy Awards last Sunday and stayed tuned during the breaks, you saw this revolutionary “commercial” for the Chipotle chain. “Back to the Start” tells the story of one farmer’s return to the way things used to be. In the course of the two minute film, an aging farmer has an epiphany, leading him to tear down the factory compound his farm has become and return it to the way it was when he started out. This film is remarkable not just for the message it promotes — the return to sustainable farms — but when it was aired — on primetime TV during a popular awards show. I should also mention that the Chipotle logo only shows up once, in tiny form, on a truck, at the end of the clip.

Like the tune? That’s Willie Nelson performing Coldplay’s “The Scientist.” The song is available for purchase on iTunes. Proceeds benefit The Chipotle Cultivate Foundation, which is “dedicated to creating a sustainable, healthful, and equitable food future.”

Many news outlets wrote that the film upstaged some of the performers [although not Adele]. Here is what Advertising Age had to say. The ad has been on YouTube since August, and also aired in some movie theaters. Here is a video about the making of “Back to the Start.” 

Chipotle is proof that a chain can succeed using sustainable sourcing of ingredients and serving healthy food. To read more about Chipotle in one of my past posts, click here. 

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: Diners Beware Part 2

Those of you who joined me for Meatless Monday last week learned that I am taking a break from my usual posts to provide you with nutrition information for restaurant chains. Last week the categories were: Breakfast, Coffee, Donuts, and Ice Cream. This week I’m moving on to a bigger list — Fast Food/Take-Out — broken down into smaller sub-categories. These links will also help those seeking to avoid meat. Your options are more varied in some places than in others.

First, let me preface this new list with some good news. I’ve discovered an exception to the usual fast food chain — Chipotle. Chipotle’s founder, Steve Ells, is one of the celebrity  investors/judges on an NBC reality series on which I’ve become hooked — “America’s Next Great Restaurant”, and I've been learning a lot about Steve Ells and Chipotle while watching the show. Ells opened his first Chipotle in  Denver in 1993 with a loan from his dad. Chipotle’s slogan is: “Food with integrity” and Chipotle is committed to serving fresh food, prepared daily, on-site, with sustainably raised ingredients. You can read more in this “Letter from Steve.” The Chipotle menu has just a few items, with a long list of options from which you can “build the perfect meal.” Note that at Chipotle you can still overdo it, but whether or not you go overboard on the salt, fat, or calories is under your control.

If you look carefully you will find some reasonable choices in some of the sandwich chains as well. In general, though, if the fat or calories don’t get you, the sodium will.

As a point of reference, keep in mind this info from last week. A moderately active young woman requires approximately 2,000 calories per day. The American Heart Association recommends that everyone limit daily sodium consumption to 1500 milligrams (less than 3/4 teaspoon of salt), and that the aforementioned woman limit her saturated fat to 20 grams or less, and her total fat to between 50 and 70 grams per day. Most of these menus are using the older 2300 milligrams a day guideline for sodium intake.

Beef/Burgers:

Arbys (contains info for Arby’s and Wendy’s):

http://www.arbys.com/nutrition/Dual_Brand_Nutrition_Website_2009_12_9.pdf

Burger King:

http://www.bk.com/en/us/menu-nutrition/full-menu.html (for individual items) or read the entire list (without sodium) here:

http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/search/?q=burger+king&mode=tdp

Hardee’s:

http://www.hardees.com/system/pdf_menus/9/original/Hardees_Nutritionals_5.20.10.pdf?1285096241

In-N-Out Burger:

http://www.in-n-out.com/nutritional_info.asp

Jack in the Box: 

http://www.jackinthebox.com/pdf/NutritionalGuide_2010.pdf [Contains a few “healthy choice” items but the sodium is still high]

McDonald’s:

http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutritionfacts.pdf

Red Robin:

http://www.redrobin.com/customizer/ (to calculate individual items)

Read the entire list (without sodium) here: http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/red-robin/

Sonic:

http://www.sonicdrivein.com/pdfs/menu/SonicNutritionGuide.pdf

Wendy’s (contains info for Arby’s and Wendy’s):

http://www.wendys.com/food/pdf/us/atlanta_ga.pdf

White Castle:

http://www.whitecastle.com/system/blocks/data/7/original/NY_Nutritional_Summary_PDF_Ready_Sept_2010-Revised.pdf

Chicken/Fish:

Boston Market:

http://bostonmarket.com/ourFood?page=nutritionSub&id=0&name=ALL

KFC:

http://www.kfc.com/nutrition/pdf/kfc_nutrition.pdf

Long John Silver’s:

http://www.ljsilvers.com/images/LJS_Nutritional_Information_2_11.pdf

Popeye’s (available for download by clicking on “nutrition” under the “food” tab):

http://www.popeyes.com/

Ethnic/Regional:

Chipotle:

http://www.chipotle.com/en-us/menu/nutritional_information/nutritional_information.aspx

Moe’s Southwest Grill: 

Calculate for individual menu items here.:

http://www.moes.com/Food.php?ii=1 [Check out the Homewrecker Burrito.]

PF Chang’s:

http://www.pfchangs.com/menu/NutritionalInfo.aspx [Really watch the sodium.]

Taco Bell:

http://www.tacobell.com/pdf/Nutrition_Guide_for_National_W1.pdf

Pizza:

Chuck E. Cheese’s (Shown by the slice):

http://www.chuckecheese.com/menu/nutritional-information.pdf

Domino’s:

http://www.dominos.com/shared/base/pdf/dominos_nutrition_v2.30.00.pdf [The math is up to you and it doesn’t look good.]

Papa John’s (Shown by the slice):

http://www.papajohns.com/menu/pdf/PJ_nutri_info.pdf

Pizza Hut (Shown by the slice):

http://www.pizzahut.com/Files/PDF/PH_WSNationalBrochure4.13.10.pdf

Sbarro: [No luck with this one, only this message: This page is under construction! I’m betting the news is not good.]

http://www.sbarro.com/ourFood/nutrition.ph

Sandwiches:

Au Bon Pain: 

http://www.aubonpain.com/pdf/cafe_nutrition.pdf [Offers a number of healthy choices — particularly in “Portions,” snacks, yogurt, and oatmeal. Watch out for the fat and calories in the blended drinks and for the salt in general.]

D’Angelo’s

http://www.dangelos.com/docs/da_menu_nutritionals_11.10..pdf [Sodium is off the chart!]

Panera:

http://www.panerabread.com/pdf/nutr-guide.pdf [Watch the sodium.]

Subway:

http://www.subway.com/subwayroot/MenuNutrition/Nutrition/pdf/NutritionValues.pdf [There are low fat choices, but the sodium is high. Read carefully to determine whether the facts pertain to a 6” or 12” selection.] 

Quizno’s

http://www.quiznos.com/subsandwiches/Menu/PDFs/NutritionalInfo.pdf [Sodium is off the chart!]

Have a good week. Join me next Monday for the listing for Restaurants with Table Service. I hope I haven’t ruined it for you. But you can’t save the planet if you’re not around…

I try to blog on food or food issues each 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.”