Balance of Food

House of Representatives passes food safety bill

The House of Representatives passed HR 2749 by a 283‑142 vote. The bill deals with food safety to try and handle the recalls of recent years, including beef, tomatoes, spinach, and peanut butter.

But not everyone is thrilled with the bill. Smaller farmers may have problems because tracers make free-range animals more difficult to maintain. And the bill contains a number of exemptions.

It's good that Congress is even considering a food safety bill. But a good food safety bill that goes after corporate farms and doesn't harm smaller farms would be a better bill.

In the political process, the Senate version would have to be rectified. But the Senate version may be worse for these same parties afflicted by the House version.

And it seems sad that we need a food safety bill to protect ourselves from corporate farms. Things that are happening to our food supply should be obviously illegal and immoral, but there isn't much common sense in our food policy.

Michael Pollan says we should make wiser food choices

As I mentioned earlier, this is the more in-depth look at Michael Pollan's Chicago visit along with notes from another nutrition-related lecture from last week, tying in a few themes together.

This essay was originally written for my day job, and was published on Friday. But as you will see, the audience for this Web site will also appreciate its content.

Here is the essay in its entirety:

For those in the colder regions of the world who struggle to eat local because, well, it's been cold out there, this is your season to rejoice. After all, if you can't enjoy the literal fruits of the harvest now, this just won't work out for you.

If you haven't been paying attention, eating local is one of the newest food trends, reducing your carbon footprint. It's about finding a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) arrangement to get locally grown fruits and vegetables or hitting the farmers market so often they start to know you by name.

You could do worse than follow Michael Pollan's advice to "avoid any foods that you've seen advertised." Pollan was in Chicago earlier this week on a book signing tour for "In Defense of Food," his follow-up to the highly acclaimed "The Omnivore's Dilemma."

Pollan spoke out about the need to re-regionalize food, to have fresher, less processed food that is also more climate friendly.

"You can't make money with simple foods," Pollan said. Marketers aren't giving up so fast, being on the offensive so quickly you might not remember they were on the defensive.

After Pollan had suggested to not buy food with more than 5 ingredients, you started to see products limiting themselves to 5 ingredients. Pollan cited Haagen-Dazs' five as an example of how marketers try to squeeze in to new expectations, even though it's not a health food since it's still ice cream.

Eating better in the summertime is easier no matter where you live, but there is burgeoning hope for the colder climates to have more options come wintertime. Pollan said there is progress in growing food in unheated greenhouses, citing one in Milwaukee, WI that uses hot compost and another in Maine where plastic is used to protect the crops.

He also suggests canning and freezing to supplement foods in places where winter makes an impact. But greenhouses will only go so far. "We feel entitled to have foods year-round," said Pollan. "Certain foods should be seasonal."

Pollan did observe that meat is the exception, given that the cost and carbon footprint savings just aren't there, noting that grass-fed beef could be gathered from different parts of the country, depending on where grass is best for that time of year.

What government can do

Government plays a role in the quality of our food supply. We subsidize corn to the max while keeping sugar prices artificially high. Moderator Bill Kurtis, owner of a grass-fed beef company in his native Kansas, pointed out that the system is set up against the small farmer, and how while corn farmers get lots of subsidies, grass farmers don't get subsidies.

There is some truth in knocks against nutritionists

This week's column refers back to this past week's "The Simpsons," which airs on the FOX television network. Since it's so rare that TV focuses on nutritionists and dietitians, I thought it would be fun to look at one show's look into that world.

I love nutritionists and dietitians, but quite a few of them have this "cheerleader" mentality or the "Miss-Know-it-all" ideal. Yes, they should be excited and knowledgable, but the stereotypes do exist for a reason. And I was curious to see how "The Simpsons" writers would look at this world.

Homer gets put on yet another diet – perhaps he is true to some in that nothing seems to work, but it is a cartoon, after all. Marge gets a nutritionist, Betsy Bidwell, who used to weight 400 pounds.

Bidwell tells Homer in an upbeat, cheery voice that you can go from "fat to all that" with little substitutions. One of Bidwell's substitutions is instead of eating French toast, eat a bell pepper.

That was funny, since a bell pepper reminds you so much of French toast. The bell pepper joke gets carried on through a montage where Homer is eating bell peppers at the ballpark, from a vending machine, and blended into a drink at Moe's.

Yet at the next weigh-in, Homer has gained 7 pounds. We find out throughout the episode that Homer is, of course, cheating on his diet – at a buffet, eating chips and salsa out of a briefcase, consuming lamb in a motel shower. He even goes to "Pudding on the Ritz" with 300 new daily flavors.

Though "The Simpsons" is meant to be parody and over the top, there are truths in there. Nutritionists and dietitians do sometimes live in this ideal world. And people do know what they should do, but don't always do it.