Kiko's Food News, 7.4.14

On this day celebrating our nation's independence, I'd like to raise a glass to food freedoms for all:

Freedom from counterproductive legislation: California lawmakers voted to repeal a law requiring restaurant workers to wear gloves; this is a coup for workers who argue that hand washing is as effective, without the added cost or environmental harm from millions of discarded gloves: (Los Angeles Times)

Freedom from food waste: New York City's school composting program has spread to 230 school buildings, with an ultimate goal of encompassing all 1,300-plus schools; eventually, the city will use "digesters" to turn garbage into usable gas: (New York Times)

Freedom to eat cereal any time we want! Around 20% of cereal eating happens outside of breakfast, but cereal companies are just beginning to market directly to adults who eat it at night or children who snack on it throughout the day: (Wall Street Journal)

Can't say I feel like fireworks when I read these last two, though:

Danny Meyer, who set the gold standard for restaurant service at his Union Square Cafe, laments how his and other pioneering neighborhood restaurants are closing due to untenable rent escalations; only the condos and chain stores that likely replace them can absorb the high costs: (New York Times)

Toshiba (yes, the electronics conglomerate) says it will produce long-life vegetables in aseptic conditions at their Japanese factory, which was constructed to allow for much lower germs levels than typical for vegetables grown in soil; so much for benefitting from the nutrients and minerals of the land! (Bangkok Post)

Kiko's Food News, 6.20.14

Amidst skyrocketing college fees, Starbucks is leading the way with education just like they did with health insurance decades ago; the company will provide a free online college education to thousands of its workers: (New York Times)

Uruguay might have beaten England in yesterday’s World Cup match, but we know their mojo didn't come from their favorite snack: Brazilian officials confiscated 86 pounds of dulce de leche caramel spread from the team as it arrived to the Cup, since it was made with milk and therefore needed sanitary documentation: (BBC)

Looking for info on global meat consumption, GMO labeling policy, or obesity by state? There’s a map for that: (Vox)

Soul searches looking for a dramatic catalyst for inner growth are sipping ayahuasca tea, but experiences while under its influence “work” because, in addition to causing vomiting and diarrhea, it can be frightening and challenging to the psyche: (New York Times)

Diet fads come and go, but observers of nutrition and eating trends say the gluten free food regimen is likely to last longer and have more impact than others...or do “people just seem to like making eating difficult for themselves?”: (New York Times)

Kiko's Food News, 6.13.14

The FDA and the EPA for the first time advised that pregnant women, nursing mothers and children should eat two to three servings a week of low-mercury fish; regulators have for years warned that eating certain fish can interfere with neurological development: (Wall Street Journal)

In a partisan battle over what to feed America's school students, the School Nutrition Association (which organizes lunch ladies/men nationally) is allying with a number of conservatives that oppose school nutrition standards: (NPR)

Who knew that José Andrés, perhaps the best known celeb chef in our nation’s capital, has cooked up several food-based programs in Haiti after the 2009 earthquake? He’s sent pastry chefs to train orphanage staffers to bake bread, is supporting a culinary school, opened a community kitchen, and is helping convert urban schools from charcoal cooking to gas: (Washington Post)

Increasingly wealthy consumers in emerging economies are eating and feeding their children more meat and milk; combine that with health-conscious Americans who are replacing carbs with protein, and we can understand the rise of food industry giants like the maker of Jimmy Dean sausages and Chobani Greek yogurt: (Wall Street Journal)

But those Chobani marketers better pay attention to food science supporters, as they had to apologize for a slogan on some of their yogurt lids which read "Nature got us to 100 calories, not scientists": (ABC News)

Kiko's Food News, 6.6.14

Wondering why some of us like the taste of artichokes, coffee, blue cheese, ice cream or mushrooms more than others? Studies are showing how it's in our genes, and this may unlock the key to diet as health prescription: (Medical Daily)

Cuba opened its first wholesale market for farmers in decades; even though the farming sector has been the most liberalized, Cuba continues to import more than 60% of its food: (Reuters)

The word “clean” has become a trendy umbrella phrase to describe food that’s fresh, whole, good for you, local, hormone-free, grass-fed or really anything that makes us feel virtuous: (Forbes)

Speaking of “clean", Revolution Foods received a $30 million investment in its school-lunch business, a vote of confidence for school meals made with real food and without unhealthy additives: (Time)

The cutting edge of urban cuisine today is the diet of 19th-century Jews in Eastern Europe, as a new generation of entrepreneurs is learning to ferment pickles and bake pumpernickel bread in the ways their ancestors did: (New York Times)

Kiko's Food News, 5.30.14

Michelle Obama wrote about what she sees as “attempts in Congress to undo so much of what we’ve accomplished on behalf of our children”: (New York Times)

For example, the House of Representatives passed a budget bill that would allow schools to opt out of the White House’s Healthy, Hunger Free Kids nutritional guidelines from 2012; apparently this many healthy meals for children is “too much, too quick” for some: (New York Times)

Half of 900 men recently surveyed said they do most of their family’s grocery shopping, and over half of those said they do all of it; am I the only one that finds this encouraging, yet hard to believe? (Boston Globe)

McDonald’s introduced a new animated character to serve as its Happy Meal brand ambassador; “Happy,” is supposed to represent wholesome eating, going hand in hand with kids’ recent menu option of apples and yogurt in lieu of fries. (The Motley Fool)

A UC Davis report showed that food quality will suffer as CO2 levels continue to rise; nitrate assimilation is slower under these conditions, and elevated CO2 lowers protein concentrations in grains and potatoes: (Food, Nutrition & Science)

A countercultural movement in the European Union is aiming to break the dictatorship of government over fruit and veggie aesthetics, and thereby combat food waste: (New York Times)

Kiko's Food News, 5.23.14

I’m happy to see that it’s becoming the norm for cities, colleges and food service companies to pioneer programs tackling the more than 36 million tons of food wasted by Americans every year; from trayless initiatives in dining halls to food waste weigh stations, public awareness is leading to institutional action! (New York Times)

The produce prescription model is spreading around the country: participating doctors issue prescriptions to children ages 5 to 12 who could use healthier diets, then area supermarkets accept them and track the varieties of produce purchased: (Minnesota Star Tribune)

We’ve heard that a Mediterranean diet delivers health benefits, but now scientists are offering reasons why: the combination of olive oil with leafy salad or vegetables gives the diet its healthy edge, as these two food groups come together to form nitro fatty acids which lower blood pressure: (BBC)

Dan Barber suggests that by focusing on all-star crops like asparagus and tomatoes, foodies and chefs have sold the sustainable food movement short; we must eat more unsung staples and cover crops such as cowpeas, mustard, millet and rye: (New York Times)

Even though female journalists, writers and advocates form the backbone of food and agriculture reporting, gender bias runs rampant in the news media; to remedy this, here’s a list of 24 bad-ass women educating the American public about our food system: (Civil Eats)

Kiko's Food News, 5.16.14

Since protests waged by fast food workers over the past 18 months have not yet swayed McDonald’s or other major restaurant chains to significantly raise their employees’ pay, the movement went global this week: (New York Times)

Does your grocery cart contain yogurt-infused guac and cookie butter on the reg? If so, you might be the typical Trader Joe’s customer: (Huffington Post)

100% of California is now in one of the three worst stages of drought; combine this with the current heat wave and you have wildfires and a farmer’s worst nightmare: (Climate Central)

This year, 3,300 lbs of venison from 106 white-tailed deer found in Washington DC’s Rock Creek Park have been donated to charities; the National Park Service has the meat inspected and processed and then turns it into meals for the hungry--bold and I like it! (New York Times)

Now that we’re all planting herbs in our pots or yards, it’s time for a briefing on how to dry them so they stay with us beyond the summer (leave it to Heidi Swanson to make dead plants look this beautiful): (101 Cookbooks)

Kiko's Food News, 5.9.14

A new federal report called the National Climate Assessment presented the challenges to agriculture introduced by climate change; from topsoil runoff to decreased snow water availability, this article shows the threats in pictures: (Mother Jones)

Eating bitter foods is one of the best things we can do to boost our nutrition, as they moderate both hunger and blood sugar, yet America may be the most sugar-philic and bitter-phobic culture in human history: (Huffington Post)

By adding cocoa powder to simulated stomachs and intestines, scientists have deduced that chocolate’s indigestibility is the reason for its health benefits; undigested cocoa matter absorbed into the bloodstream can reduce cardiac inflammation, and fermented cocoa remains improve cholesterol levels: (New York Times)

The calorie counting that defined dieting for so long is giving way to other considerations, like the promise of more fiber or natural ingredients; this is chipping away at the popularity of products like Diet Coke or Lean Cuisine, which became weight-watching staples by removing calories from people’s favorite foods: (Chicago Sun Times)

Make sure you’re keeping the right foods in the fridge by checking out this list of foods that should be kept out! (Huffington Post)

Kiko's Food News, 5.2.14

Having just returned from grasshopper grazing in Mexico, I’m ready for Six Foods, a new sustainable insect-based foods startup that’s preparing to sell salty, protein-packed cricket chips: (Six Foods)

A study showed how hunger doesn’t come from our stomachs alone; it revealed that we need our active memories to know when to begin and end a meal, and how foods with rough textures feel healthier even when they have the exact same nutritional qualities as softer versions: (Atlantic)

How lazy can people get in the morning? General Mills thinks we’re getting too lazy to boil water, based on its plans to start selling oatmeal capsules that can be cooked with a countertop Keurig coffee machine; Cambell’s soup in a capsule is next: (Wall Street Journal)

Although the FDA has approved the use of radiation to wipe out pathogens in dozens of foods, the treatment has barely caught on in the United States; irradiation may zap bacteria out of food effectively, but is counter to our movement away from industrial food processing as the same energy that kills bacteria can also alter the chemical structure of food and create carcinogens: (Washington Post)

Gas is good! Apparently, fiber-rich foods that cause it are the same ones that supply microbes in our gut with needed nutrients; beans, lentils, cabbage and the like boost levels of beneficial gut bacteria after only a few days: (NPR)

Abusive practices towards migrant tomato workers have all but disappeared thanks to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which has forged partnerships with companies like McDonald’s and Walmart to improve conditions in the fields: (New York Times) 

Kiko's Food News, 4.18.14

A study found a connection between low blood sugar and aggression in married couples; the idea that self-control is linked to nutrition has implications for food insecure populations in settings that range from schools to city streets: (Los Angeles Times)

Speaking of food insecurity at school, it's an increasing problem for college students, and the number of on-campus food banks has shot up from four in 2008 to 121 today: (Washington Post)

Nearly one in three U.S. adults with a chronic disease has problems paying for food, medicine, or both; this article proposes WIC as a model for how other nutrition assistance programs should work with health professionals to counter the health effects of hunger: (The Atlantic)

Many Americans expect to pay rock bottom prices for “ethnic food”, turning a blind eye on the provenance of raw materials or exploitation of food service people; this article argues that this food shouldn’t be so inexpensive, and probes into why food with Asian and Latin origins isn’t considered as seriously as that of European influence: (Edible San Francisco)

General Mills has quietly added language to its website to alert consumers that they give up their right to sue the company if they download coupons or “like” it on Facebook; this is the first time a major food company is imposing what legal experts call “forced arbitration” on consumers: (New York Times)

A new report found that food manufacturers routinely exploit a “legal loophole” that allows them to use new chemicals in their products, based on their own safety studies, without ever notifying the FDA: (Washington Post)

Kiko's Food News, 4.11.14

Is it just me, or is there more interesting food systems reporting out there than ever before? Hard choosing only a few this week!

The president of the World Bank made a harrowing prediction that battles over water and food will erupt within the next 10 years as a result of climate change: (The Guardian)

American chefs are becoming known not only for their food, but for the stands they take on political issues; from refusing to bake a cake for a gay wedding, to requesting that a woman not breast-feed at the table, these can have serious business implications: (New York Times)

While urban food growing may not be the key to feeding our cities’ booming populations, it surely inspires “food empathy”, which leads people to make healthier food choices, buy more seasonally, recycle more and waste less: (Huffington Post)

We know that organic agriculture is better for the planet and that organic livestock have better lives, but this article assesses whether organics do more good (in the form of better nutrition), and less harm (in the form of fewer contaminants and pathogens) when we eat them: (Washington Post)

New York City’s Food Bank uses feeding people as an inroad to helping them become financially stable; they helped file 48,110 returns claiming $81.2 million in tax credits and refunds last year, for those who can least afford to lose them: (New York Times)

Kiko's Food News, 4.4.14

If you’re feeling jaded about star chefs or the ubiquity of supper clubs, watch this 15-year old chef mastermind an haute-cuisine restaurant out of his parents’ San Fernando Valley house: (New York Times)

Spoiler Alert, a mobile app coming out of MIT’s business school, uses a sharing economy model to redirect landfill-bound waste to people in need by connecting every major player in the food-supply chain: (Bloomberg)

High-tech silk stickers made of edible protein may soon be used to tell us when food is no longer safe to consume; whatever happened to good old sight, smell and touch? (Ag Funder News)

The complications of immigration policy are exemplified in California’s Central Valley, where nearly all farmworkers are immigrants, roughly half of them illegal; farmers there feel that immigration laws prevent them from fielding a reliable work force, crippling their business: (New York Times)

All of you entrepreneurial, big ideas types will probably want to make sure you’ve checked out this roundup of the “Ten Most Innovative Companies in Food”: (Fast Company)

As McDonalds and other chains commit to selling only sustainable beef, the multi-industry Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef is trying to give shape to what the term actually means: (Bloomberg)

Kiko's Food News, 3.28.14

Whole Foods announced plans for a monthly fresh food market in one of the most impoverished areas of Southeast Washington, D.C.; I’m so interested to watch, as they will sell products at their regular prices in neighborhoods where unemployment rates are among the highest in the city: (Washington Post)

Butter is back on the healthy list, thanks to new findings that no evidence supports the notion of saturated fat increasing the risk of heart disease; there’s actually evidence that a lack of saturated fat may be damaging: (New York Times)

Since Wal-Mart gets more than half of its sales from its grocery departments, and low-income shoppers are a big part of its clientele, we can grimly connect the company’s dip in earnings to the fact that their customers are getting squeezed by Congress’s cuts to SNAP and other financial assistance: (Los Angeles Times)

Home buyers who crave open spaces and fresh food are flocking to “agrihoods,” where being a good neighbor means putting in time on the farm: (New York Times)

The FDA said that 25 of the 26 drug companies they’ve asked to phase out antibiotics that promote growth in farm animals have agreed to comply; this clears a major hurdle in the FDA’s push to combat growing human resistance to antibiotics because of their overuse: (Los Angeles Times)

I’m halfway through The Meat Racket, a new book I highly recommend you peruse; it weaves the story of a handful of companies, led by Tyson, that control our meat industry in ways that concern animals, humans, and the social fabric of rural America: (New York Times)

Kiko's Food News, 3.21.14

 I was disheartened to read about deceptive tactics employed by the National Restaurant Association to keep food service workers’ wages low; they recently hid their role in helping draft and circulate a statement signed by more than 500 economists urging the government to reject Obama’s proposed minimum wage increase: (New York Times)

But I was fired up to read about states that are capitalizing on a “heat and eat” loophole to avoid cutting food stamp benefits to families: (NPR) 

Chipotle’s bringing awareness to global warming by threatening to take guacamole off of their menu due to changes associated with climate change; freezes and droughts could lead to temporary price increases on key ingredients: (Triple Pundit)

The UN’s hunger fighting agency warned that population growth, coupled with higher caloric intake of increasingly wealthy people, will cause us to run out of food unless the world boosts its food production by 60% by 2050: (RT)

And I leave you with four misleading packaged food claims to watch for in the grocery aisle--don’t be wooed by these marketing buzz lines! (Huffington Post)

Kiko's Food News, 3.14.14

The new Farm Bill heralds a shift in the types of farmers who benefit from taxpayer dollars, reflecting lawmakers’ efforts to please constituents more focused on healthful foods; organic farmers, fruit growers and hemp producers all fare well in the new bill: (New York Times) 

In one application of the Bill’s safeguards for farmers, Obama has announced additional assistance to Californians impacted by the drought, including up to $100 million in livestock disaster assistance and $10 million for water conservation: (USDA)

On the darker side of food politics, we’ve seen the nation’s four biggest meat companies steadily hike prices and widen their profit margins since Obama took office; this article shows why the president’s antitrust plan has broken down under pressure from meat industry lobbyists: (Slate)

Researchers are studying whether antibiotics might promote growth in humans; evidence shows that America’s obesity epidemic may be connected to our high consumption of these drugs: (New York Times)

Safeway announced that it will be purchased by a private equity group that will merge it with Albertsons to create a grocery conglomerate of 2,400 stores and 27 distribution facilities--a real shakeup in California’s grocery chain landscape: (San Jose Mercury News)

Kiko's Food News, 3.7.14

The recall of 8.7 million pounds of beef that came through a Petaluma slaughterhouse has led Nicolette Hahn Niman, one of our most vocal promoters of sustainable meat, to share her company’s story as evidence that slaughtering is the most serious bottleneck in the food chain: (New York Times)

A dating site revealed that men prefer to date vegetarians but women don't, as it found that guys are 13% more likely to click on vegetarian women's profiles, but that women are 11% less likely to click on vegetarian men's profiles; date-seeking or not, let's all just keep eating what makes us feel good! (Mother Nature Network)

California’s Prop Two, which requires that all eggs sold there be from chickens raised in cages twice as large as the national norm, is one example of how state-specific legislation that protects animals will burden farmers that must either spend millions to comply, or face being shut out of that market: (NPR)

A study found that obesity in children ages 2 to 5 has fallen from 13.9% to 8.4% in less than 10 years; here are some theories as to why this could be: (Washington Post)

From turnip greens to watermelon rinds and even orange peels, this roundup of fruit and veggie parts we don’t often think of eating makes me hungry to throw out less food! (Huffington Post)

Kiko's Food News, 2.28.14

For the first time in over 20 years, the FDA has announced proposed changes to nutrition labels! The new label will emphasize calories and added sugars, remove “calories from fat”, and increase most required serving sizes to reflect how much of a food we actually eat: (CNN)

A Humane Society video pulled back the curtain on the brutality of a huge Kentucky hog operation, where workers were shown gutting dead piglets and puréeing their intestines; the mix is fed back to mother pigs to immunize them against a diarrhea epidemic that has killed millions of piglets: (New York Times)

Small scale, organic growers are discovering that the FDA regulations which have been proposed to curtail food poisoning outbreaks would curtail many of their common techniques, including spreading house-made fertilizers, tilling cropland with grazing animals, and irrigating from open creeks: (Los Angeles Times)

A secret society of super-rich diners has been leaving shockingly huge tips for bar staff and food servers across the country; I see this as not only human generosity, but as compassion for victims of our country’s systematically low wages for restaurant workers: (BBC)

Restaurants are using cheap deals on oysters to get customers in the door so they will buy something else at full price; this is made possible by the rapid growth of oyster farms on the East and West Coasts: (New York Times)

Kiko's Food News, 2.21.14

Obama announced the formation of seven “climate hubs” to help farmers and rural communities adapt to the fires, pests, floods and droughts that accompany climate change: (Huffington Post)

Bitcoin, the popular cryptocurrency, is inching its way into the food industry; small businesses consider it a welcome alternative to credit cards, which charge a 3% merchant fee for each transaction: (NPR)

Aronia, Gac, Monk and Buffaloberry are the funky names of the latest and greatest superfruits–check them out: (Los Angeles Times)

Some famous French chefs are cracking down on customers who take photographs of their food; I think the most compelling reason is the sad reality that people are capturing their dishes for posterity instead of the people they’re dining with! (BBC)

Another victory for the pressure of consumer demand, Chick-fil-A announced that within five years it will no longer sell products containing meat from chickens raised with antibiotics: (New York Times)

Kiko's Food News, 2.14.14

Times are beyond tough for Cali farmers affected by the drought–especially organic farmers whose barren pastures and skyrocketing organic feed costs are forcing them to truck in supplemental feed from faraway states, or consider bowing out of farming altogether: (Food & Environment Reporting Network)

And with California’s reservoirs containing only 39% of their combined capacity, wine grapes are one of the most impacted crops; too much heat and not enough water leads them to develop off flavors, higher alcohol levels at earlier stages, and high susceptibility to sunburn and disease: (Huffington Post)

Co-ops popping up in gentrifying neighborhoods are highlighting social tensions through their signature policies; the requirement that members work a minimum number of hours might place community members on a level playing field, but the requirement to join can be prohibitive to people not used to paying for entrance to the grocery store: (New York Times)

If you’re going to NYC you might want to hit one of the awesome-sounding classes offered by the League of Kitchens, a new social enterprise that offers cooking workshops in immigrant chefs’ kitchens–tough choice between Lebanese, Bangladeshi, Greek and more! (League of Kitchens)

An insect-resistant type of corn is on the verge of being approved by the European Union; it would be only the third genetically modified crop to be authorized for cultivation in the 28-nation bloc: (New York Times)

Kiko's Food News, 2.7.14

Tumult over the gentrification that could result from a Trader Joe's opening in a traditionally black Portland, Oregon neighborhood shows how grocery stores signify much more than a place to stock our kitchens: (Huffington Post)

Camel milk, which apparently has a "pleasantly surprising nutty, smoky, slightly Bratwursty flavour", is being sold for the first time with coffee in the UK, although it's been served for a while in the United Arab Emirates: (BBC)

Responding to legal challenges over their use of the word "natural," Pepsi has quietly replaced that word with "simply" in products like Frito-Lay chips and Quaker Granola; the ingredients remain the same: (Huffington Post)

Corn and bean farmers in the midwest are beginning to replace those crops with produce veggies to get in on the rising local food market; it's exciting to hear that more money can be made that way due to rising demand: (New York Times)

Now that Food Studies is an increasingly popular offering at universities, the academic audience for food blogs and food writing is expanding; will academia have an impact on the way that food blogs are written? (Huffington Post)