Meatless Monday: Food in the News

Last week, Meatless Monday dropped off my radar. In the Northeast we were thinking about food and food foraging and food safety, but not in the usual ways. We were preparing for Hurricane Sandy — stockpiling non-perishable items, turning up our freezers, filling them with containers of water, and reading tips from the USDA about how long we could safely keep food should we lose power. 

There was one pre-storm warning which brought a smile. My husband watched a segment on the Weather Channel in which the commentator urged everyone to have plenty of non-perishable food on hand, but to avoid buying canned food in case of a power outage. Apparently she was not familiar with the old-school can openers which operate with human power.

Sandy has come and gone. We were lucky here. One week later, life in most of New Haven has pretty much returned to normal. And here I am with a Meatless Monday post and lots of topics to cover.

First…

Food Day. At Food Day - Food Action!, held on October 24 at Yale’s Peabody Museum, the New Haven Food Policy Council unveiled the New Haven Food Action Plan, a collaborative effort designed to make New Haven a city where:

• everyone eats healthy, affordable food, and no one goes hungry;
• food businesses are thriving, multiplying, and hiring local residents;
• people have the skills and knowledge they need to choose and cook healthy food; and
• collaboration is strengthened among residents, government, community organizations, and neighborhood groups to improve our food environment.

Hon. Rosa DeLauro, U.S. Representative for Connecticut’s 3rd district (and member of the House Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies), spoke on a variety of topics including the importance of SNAP (formerly known as Food Stamps) in lifting families above the poverty line, the need for a Farm Bill which supports farmers growing fruits and vegetables, what it is like to be a committee member representing a New England state, and the impact of the obesity epidemic on health care spending.

Second…

Storm Sandy took a bit of wind out of the sails of the weeklong birthday celebrations for New Haven’s Elm City Market. The market opened its doors on November 2, one year ago with 750 member/owners. Now 1674 members strong, Elm City Market was voted Best Local Grocery Store in the New Haven Advocate’s 2012 readers’ poll.

Finally… 

Tomorrow is Election Day. Besides electing candidates to public office, voters in California will be considering a number of propositions, including Proposition 37 which would require the labeling of all genetically engineered (GE) food sold in grocery stores in their state. If Proposition 37 passes, California will become the first state in the nation to require labels on GE food. You can read what Michael Pollan has to say on the issue here. Barack Obama and Rosa DeLauro have both expressed support for the consumer’s “right to know” what is in the food  he or she purchases. The rest of the country will be watching to see what happens in the West.

Happy Monday! Thanks for reading.

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.”

Scene on the Green 11.01.12

The Upper Green is demarcated with crime scene tape. A small tent has been set up yards away from where Occupy set their tents up last year. Where a pair of investigators began their work yesterday, a crew toils now. They are all carefully working to unravel the mystery. Whose bones were revealed when New Haven’s Lincoln Oak was uprooted by Sandy early Monday evening?

The current scene on the Green.

No one noticed the skeletal remains until Tuesday afternoon. People had gathered to marvel at the great tree which had fallen. An inquisitive woman thought she saw something unusual amongst the roots, and after poking around with a stick revealed what looked to be a human skull. She called the police. The New Haven Independent was the first to break the story. 

The proper authorities were contacted. The state Death Investigator arrived, and the investigation began.

Now, for a history break: This part of the Green was once New Haven’s burying ground. After thousands were buried during yellow fever epidemics in 1794 and 1795, the Green became too crowded to continue as the main cemetery. In 1796, a prominent group of citizens led by U.S. Senator James Hillhouse began to craft plans for a new cemetery away from the town center. The State of Connecticut incorporated the cemetery as The New Burying Ground in New Haven in October, 1797, and the first burial there took place the next month. The last burial on the New Haven Green took place in 1812. While the bodies were not exhumed from the Green, the stone grave markers were moved to Grove Street where many line the rear walls in alphabetical order. This brief history is summarized from information on the website of the burying ground, known today as the Grove Street Cemetery. By setting up an account, the curious can even peruse the burial registry.

Now, back to today's news: Latest reports from the Independent speak of the discoveries of bones belonging to two persons, and a hand-wrought coffin nail.

The team has grown to include a variety of experts from Yale, UConn and the various State offices. I stopped by this afternoon and watched the crew gently brushing dirt from the tree roots into a bucket, which was then carried to a table where it was sifted. Every once in a while I could hear excited murmurs about a new find.

The crew at work.

According to the Independent, the work will continue for at least a week and the bones will be analyzed to determine the sex and age of the people, as well as the cause of death.

Keep in mind that when the Lincoln Oak was planted, it was a much smaller tree, requiring a not very deep hole for its root ball. It was only as it grew that its roots would have gone deep enough into the ground to intertwine with the bones which lay beneath. In 1909, the tree’s planters were most likely not aware of what was under their feet as they traversed the Green, just like most of us today until the Lincoln Oak fell.

What next? Come back soon for the next installment. And for some background on the Lincoln centennial...

Surviving Sandy

Apparently the reports were not exaggerated. It’s clear that Hurricane Sandy is going to have a direct impact on my life for the next few days. This storm is huge, with tropical storm-force winds extending notheastwards 520 miles from the center, and twelve-foot high seas covering a diameter of ocean 1,030 miles across. Conditions will be deteriorating as the day goes on, and we will start to get a taste of Sandy’s worst some 24 hours before she makes landfall predicted to be along the coast of New Jersey around 2 a.m. Tuesday. New York City (75 miles away) will be shutting down its transit system later today at 7 pm. 

Everyone in the Northeast who still finds themselves in the calm before the storm should be using these remaining hours to get ready for anything – wind to the east, high tide on the shore, storm surge in the Sound, and heavy precipitation to the west, including snow in the mountains.

Yesterday we did our outdoor prep – bringing in all the items that might become airborne, securing the solar-powered attic fan so it would not achieve lift-off. Now we’re doing the last-minute checks to be sure all the storm windows are down all the way and taking action to cope with all possible scenarios.

As a newly-certified Connecticut Master Gardener, I find myself on an email list for all kinds of info. Among the most recent was a series of links and tips about household safety in case the power goes out. [During Hurricane Irene last year there were a large number of CL&P customers who were out of power for a week or more.]

Here are some highlights from the list plus a few of my own:

• Make sure you have enough bottled water on hand to last each family member several days. [Either purchased or in scrupulously clean containers.]
• Be certain you have plenty of non-perishable food that does not requiring cooking and a non-electric can opener to open any cans.
• Get items in small sizes; you may not have a way to store leftovers.
• Set your the freezer and refrigerator to the coldest settings; remember to set them back to normal once the storm is over. If you lose power, open the doors as little as possible.
• Freeze containers of water for ice to help keep food cold in the freezer, refrigerator, or coolers in case the power goes out. If your normal water supply is contaminated or unavailable, the melting ice will also supply drinking water. Zip lock bags work fine. A packed freezer will stay cold longer.
• Freeze refrigerated items such as leftovers, milk, and fresh meat and poultry that you may not need immediately-this helps keep them at a safe temperature longer.
• Have coolers on hand to keep refrigerated food cold.
• Print out this chart from FoodSafety.Gov detailing how long various types of perishable food will last. 
• Fill your bathtub with water for flushing your toilet if you rely on a pump.
• Pay a visit to an ATM now. They don’t function when the power is out.
• Get out your old school portable radio and make sure it has batteries.
• Keep your cell phone fully charged. If you lose power, turn it off except for emergency use. And remember that texting uses less power than calling.

Check out these links for more tips, and be sure to print them out now so you have them on hand if you lose power.

• From the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• From the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) 
• From the American Red Cross:  a page of preparedness fact sheets for all kinds of disasters. You can also get their Hurricane app for your smartphone, which of course is only good as long as your phone is charged.

Don’t forget a flashlight with good batteries (or a hand crank). 

And get to the store soon if you need bread. It’s always the first item to go…

Take care and stay safe.

Saturday Short Subjects: Scientists on Trial

A year-long trial in central Italy came to a close on October 22 with a verdict that has alarmed the scientific community. Six seismologists and a government official were found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to six years in prison for not providing adequate warning to the citizens of the city of L’Aquila of the 2009 earthquake that left over 300 people dead.

L’Aquila is a medieval city in one of Europe’s most earthquake prone regions; the city suffered devastating earthquakes in the 15th and 18th centuries, and was rebuilt then as it is being rebuilt now. The deadly 2009 earthquake was magnitude-6.3; many of the city’s ancient buildings collapsed during the quake.

The emotional trial allowed testimony from those who had lost loved-ones. The prosecutor’s case faulted the scientists for not attaching enough significance to the small tremors ahead of the major April 6 quake, even though a 1988 study found that “about half of large quakes were preceded by weaker foreshocks. But only 2 percent of small quake swarms heralded a larger rupture.” 

The severity of the sentence was a surprise. The prosecutor had sought four years. The scientists were also ordered to pay more than nine million euros (almost $12 million in damages). 

The men are appealing. Under the Italian justice system, they remain free until they have exhausted two avenues of appeal. Several top Italian scientists resigned in protest of the verdict, including Lucaino Maiami, head of the Major Risks Committee, who stated, “This is the end of scientists giving consultations to the state.”

Is it fear from the sentence imposed on the Italian seismologists that makes Hurricane Sandy, dubbed “Frankenstorm” the main story online, on the airwaves, and on the newsstands? Is it a way to boost ratings and sell ads and papers? Hard to say, but this morning a visit from Sandy is looking more likely than it was yesterday, and I’ll be spending a chunk of my day “battening down the hatches.” Come back tomorrow for last minute tips on how to be ready in case Sandy is tracking your way.

When your storm prep is done, find out how scientifically literate you are with this quiz prepared by the staff of the Christian Science Monitor. 

Have a great weekend. Enjoy the weather while you can.

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).