Balance of Food

Romeo Eats can inspire young people to try new foods

I have a new eating hero and he is 4 years old. His name is Romeo.

Romeo Eats is the result of Romeo's eagerness to try all different types of fruits and vegetables. His family released an album Walk Off the Earth & Romeo Eats, Vol. 1 .

Romeo is the child of Sarah Blackwood and Gianni (Luminati) Nicassio, who are in the Canadian indie band Walk Off the Earth. The album got nominated for a Juno (think Canadian Grammy) making Romeo the youngest Juno nominee ever at 4. Romeo didn't win over last weekend.

Romeo has a passion for wanting to try new foods. "We gave him a massive bowl of olives when he was very young, like, right off the boob, for lack of a better term," Nicassio told CBC Toronto.

Avocados, mushrooms, exotic fruits: Romeo is into them and enjoys them.

They have 2 older children but Romeo stands out in a crowd.

The parents didn't push Romeo. He had his own curiosity. Children are curious about the world around them.

Curiosity is often stifled or misdirected when food is involved. "They tried it at 2 or 3 years old, well, that's it." That is the wrong approach. Patience. You are teaching them about food, one of the most valuable lessons to learn as a child.

Romeo Dines is a spinoff about Romeo in high-end restaurants. This also goes against the traditional grain where children and those restaurants don't mix.

The hope is that the videos and music can help encourage children to try new foods based on seeing Romeo in action.

Encouraging should be the key in helping your child try foods. Romeo has parents who help him try new foods.

Romeo may be a grand exception to the rule and a reminder that different children have different paths to food acceptance.

Maybe Romeo likes raw vegetables and fruit more than cooked. Follow patterns with your child. Is texture an issue? Smell? The five senses help children learn.

Have the touch the food, smell the food. Be ready if they don't like the food.

Love the child, even if the child isn't as good as Romeo is about food.

BalanceofFood.com advice coverage

Blackwood and Nicassio said as soon as Romeo started eating solid foods, "he ate everything." Appreciate the child who can do that. Appreciate the child who struggles to figure out how to make food work.

You can find their videos on YouTube.

video and photo credit: YouTube/RomeoEats

Canada help for U.S. baby formula shortage thwarted by poor trade deal

We heavily endorse breastfeeding here at BalanceofFood.com. We recognize the realities of baby formula.

The United States is suffering a baby formula shortage. While there are several factors involved, the United States can't import baby formula from Canada thanks to a truly stupid trade deal aka NAFTA 2.0.

Our sibling blog — CanadianCrossing.com — has an extensive story this morning on all the details.

Podcast: Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama, and the politics of breastfeeding

BalanceofFood.com Canada food policy coverage

One intriguing development is that the standards for baby formula in Canada and Europe are significantly higher than the standards in the United States. Once the shortages are fixed, the U.S. should look to increase the standards for baby formula. After all, why shouldn't babies get the best, unless there is some political reason.

As our colleagues note: "The party of the crybaby toddler is the party that is trying to take advantage of the political ramifications of the baby formula shortages."

photo credit: Dairy Farmers of Canada

Back in Time for Dinner is a great way to learn about food history

The Back in Time for Dinner phenomenon started in the United Kingdom. The CBC ran its own version in Canada in 2018. The Canadian version featured a Canadian family with how Canadians ate in each decade from the 1940s through the 1990s.

Host Carlo Rota guided the Campus family: mother Tristan, a registered nurse, father Aaron, a multimedia designer, 18-year-old daughter Valerie, 17-year-old daughter Jessica, and 15-year-old son Robert.

The Canadian version seemed an obvious choice to work its way to the United States, even if that took until late 2021 and early 2022 to arrive on the Cooking Channel.

There are some nuanced differences in Canadian food history versus U.S. food history. Canada has to deal with more significant war rations and for a longer period of time. Canada entered World War II in 1939 while the United States got into the war very late in 1941.

Later in the 1970s, Tristan and Val make yogurt and have to deal with the imperial system (U.S.) and metric since that was the decade Canada switched to metric.

Cooking with kidneys (1940s), salad in a Jell-o mold (1950s), and a cheese ball (1970s) is fun to watch from the standpoint of a modern family temporarily going back in time.

Cooking Channel picks up Back in Time for Dinner

We wrote about the show in great detail for our sibling blog, CanadianCrossing.com.

The food innovations had purpose behind them in terms of politics, the economy, and social trends. You might be surprised to learn about these trends whether you lived them or your parents and grandparents went through these decades.

Balanceoffood.com Canada food policy coverage

BalanceofFood.com television coverage

You can catch up on previous episodes from the Cooking Channel. The 1990s episode airs on Thursday at 10 pm Eastern on the Cooking Channel. Our Canadian friends can watch the episodes via CBC Gem.

photos credit: Back in Time for Dinner/CBC

How seaweed can reduce the methane output from cows

We hear that eating meat is bad for climate crisis because of the methane that comes from cows. This likely is worse in huge feedlots with a large accumulation of cows.

What if cows could consume something that is healthy for them AND would reduce the methane that cows release?

Joe Dorgan, a Prince Edward Island farmer, starting taking local seaweed and adding that to the feed for his cows.

This led to researcher Rob Kinley, an agricultural scientist then at Dalhousie University in nearby Halifax, Nova Scotia, testing Dorgan's seaweed mix, and discovered a 20% methane reduction from the cows. Kinley said the red seaweed Asparagopsis taxiformis reduces methane in cows to almost nothing.

Not all seaweeds reduce methane; seaweeds high in bromoform would be more likely to reduce methane.

There are a number of issues that still need to be studied. The idea of natural seaweed or a farmed version reducing the climate impact of cows is amazing.

How feeding cows seaweed could help PEI meet emission targets and boost this business (CBC News)

How red seaweed might help curb methane emissions from burping cows (The Current from CBC Radio One)

PEI farmer assists in near-eradication of methane from cow farts (CBC News)

In eating animals, we need to be critical thinkers about what those animals eat. The push for truly wild animals is knowing their diet is a lot more pure than what we see, especially at the U.S. feedlots, where the quality of feed hasn't been important.

Seaweed would be good for cows, even if that didn't help methane levels for purpose of the climate crisis, provided cows can digest well. Cows eat grass for a reason. The idea of cows eating grains was a false dichotomy to fatten them up, reducing taste and nutrition in the grain-fed version.

Balanceoffood.com Canada food policy coverage

BalanceofFood.com science coverage

The climate crisis needs to be addressed, even by those who eat meat. The seaweed solution shows there are possibilities to improve our diets and deal with the climate crisis. Some of us could be eating the seaweed directly.

Hopefully, this news story will get more recognition for solutions such as this one to improving our diet and the climate crisis.

photo credit: CBC News

The Caesar: a drink that is more like a meal

We don't usually mention alcoholic drinks in this blog because they generally aren't food, which is our primary focus. The Caesar from Canada can definitely be a grand exception.

Americans have a similar drink called a Bloody Mary, mostly tomato juice with spices and maybe a stalk of celery. The Caesar has a lot more flavor (flavour?) and more garnishes. Between the tomato juice, clam juice, and garnishes, you have a decent appetizer.

Baroness von Sketch Show (from Canada) had a sketch about living it up at the cottage with Caesars. IFC, which carried the show in the United States, freaked out the idea of a Caesar and made them change the drink from Caesar to a Bloody Mary.

Letterkenny decided to do an episode of the brilliance of the Caesar, offering multiple options for the base, booze, rimmers, boosters, and garnishes. CanadianCrossing.com, our sibling blog, devoted its space today to the Caesar. 

Letterkenny shows the U.S. audience the different ways to make a Caesar

We have written about the Caesar a few times. We acknowledge though that the Letterkenny episode Season 10, Episode 2 Dealership does a better job of explaining the Caesar by going through the multiple categories in different variations.

In our version, we used clam juice with tomato juice instead of Clamato juice to avoid high-fructose corn syrup. 

Knowing the basics of a Caesar makes experimenting more fun since you know the starting point.

What's Tempting: Distinctively Canadian foods

Searching for Canadian food in the U.S.

Temptation of the Week: Homemade Clamato in your Caesar

Balanceoffood.com Canada food policy coverage

Hard to see a Caesar and not want a Caesar.

— Letterkenny Problems (@LetterkennyProb) May 18, 2019

This is Dry January for some people: Nothing wrong with doing a virgin Caesar if alcohol does not fit into your life. The non-alcoholic version tastes really good, unlike some mocktails.

If you aren't in Canada, getting there is more difficult. Making a homemade Caesar can make you feel a bit like you are in Canada.

Letterkenny is available on Crave in Canada and Hulu in the United States.

Twitter captures: @LetterkennyProb
photo credit: Letterkenny/Bell Media

Dine in restaurants when you feel safe, not because of a political stunt

#POLICY: Introducing a new Dine and Discover Program to encourage Canadians to support our local restaurants, while putting money back in your pocket. pic.twitter.com/nrdj0busCM

— Erin O'Toole (@erinotoole) September 8, 2021

Conservative politicians are championing the dining in restaurants. We love dining in restaurants. The dining in restaurants during a pandemic is the concern.

Erin O'Toole is the Conservative Party leader in Canada. The country is in the middle of an election cycle with a September 20 election date. [Sidenote: If you want to know more about this Canadian election, you can read about that in our sibling blog, CanadianCrossing.com.]

The restaurant proposal isn't original: this boilerplate was taken from the UK Conservative playbook. A University of Warwick study linked the plan to a significant increase in COVID-19 cases last August in the UK.

The Canadian proposal does note that this will not happen until conditions improve: “once it is safe to do so.” After all, their party has been complaining extensively about why the election is happening now. Let's try and look at this policy from a non-partisan point of view.

The deal would be for customers to purchase food and non-alcoholic drinks for 50% off but only Mondays through Wednesdays. If you got your food to go, you would pay 100%; this policy is to encourage actually dining in the restaurants.

Your humble narrator wasn't able to support as many restaurants during the pandemic because of not being able to dine inside. No car and no bathrooms limit your options. Dining inside right now has very little personal appeal.

Balanceoffood.com Canada food policy coverage

Toronto is Canada's largest city with amazing restaurants. Being a tourist in Toronto, even before the pandemic, means limited restaurant choices on Sundays and Mondays. This is true in Toronto than any other city I have visited as a tourist.

A lot of restaurants have added Tuesdays or Wednesdays to the list of closed days during the pandemic. Not enough workers or not enough customers: either way not much business.

This policy was popular in the UK in increasing traffic to restaurants though maybe a little too popular.

The sad reality is Canada (and the United States) is that dining in is considered part of the entertainment dollar given how low wages are predominant in the vast majority of the populations. People miss eating out and being served.

The idea that the simple joy of eating out has become a political issue is rather sad. Liberals and centrists also like to eat out though they generally has less money to eat out than conservatives do, though a lot of poor people also vote conservative.

Non conservatives want people to eat out when the situations are safer. They are not against eating out; they want a safe environment.

Your humble narrator is only one person who can't afford to eat out much but has done so outside. Canada does get quite cold in the late fall and winter. Eating in will be more tempting. Will customers feel safe doing so, even with a 50% decrease in cost?

BalanceofFood.com politics coverage

Such an offer wouldn't be so bad if this was part of a larger proposal to help restaurant owners and their employees guide them through a terrible pandemic. Alas, this hasn't been true for conservatives. The proposed policy is gimmicky; short-term help when people need longer-term help. The proposal only covers a month: 12 days of discounts. Not a lot, especially for restaurants that have struggled to adjust to carry out, takeaway, and delivery.

Restaurants would have to find more people to stock those days in the hopes that those days would be busy enough to open. Would customers tip on the full value of the meal instead of the actual cost. 50% off is great for the customer, not so much for the worker.

Restaurant wages without tips in North America are literally sub-human, well below the pathetically low minimum wages.

The irony of the offer is you might be tempted to participate at a restaurant that wouldn't be too popular (for social distancing) yet if the proposal works, the restaurant might be too packed for your comfort.

In the UK, the government isn't having an election anytime soon. Canadian voters are going to the polls so you would have to vote in that party to get the deal.

Find a creative way to support restaurants. Wear a comfortable jacket when the weather gets cooler. Beg a friend with a car to pick up your food so the restaurant makes more money on that meal. Dine in a restaurant … when conditions are a lot safer.

Twitter capture: @erinotoole
photo credit: me

CBC Marketplace in Canada breaks down the nutrition in conventional vs. organic eggs

Eggs provide amazing nutrition, versatility, and taste for a relatively low amount. Somehow, the cost ends up being a factor, especially when measured as "mainstream" versus organic or similarly grown eggs.

A $1.80 difference in cost for a dozen eggs comes out to 15¢ per egg.

We are on the side of Team Organic or similarly grown eggs. Taste, quality, and fresh are advantages. "Mainstream" eggs aren't that fresh by the time they get to the grocery store. We would also argue nutritional advantages, including Omega 3s. The chicken's health and sanity, which we believe leads to better eggs, is highly important.

CBC Marketplace took a look at the nutrition stats for "mainstream" vs. big organic sources. They also looked at farm eggs vs. larger organic outlets.

"In Marketplace's test, organic eggs produced on small farms had more nutrients than the big-brand organic eggs sold at Canada's largest grocers under private labels and by two of the largest egg brands in the country."

The general consensus was that the nutrition of "mainstream" eggs and big organic companies were comparable. The organic eggs had a nutritional edge but within 10%.

You can read more analysis from the program on specific brands and comparisons.

We are not generally surprised by the Marketplace results. They were comparable to what we would have concluded without doing any comparisons. If you are making your conclusions based solely on nutrition, and cost is a concern, you have the numbers to justify your decisions.

This winter, I had to find a new source of eggs since my winter source went out of business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. I found a different local source that has worked out well.

I haven't bought any eggs from a conventional grocery store in years nor have I purchased organic eggs from a large company in a long time. That may sound like snobbery. Perhaps. My reality is that I don't eat that many eggs. The last eggs I used were for a lime curd.

I will gladly pick cheaper options for some products where I don't see a significant issue in quality. That saved money allows me to make smarter choices in certain categories. Eggs is one of those categories.

Wouldn't pay twice as much as I pay not for my eggs. Glad I don't pay what Canadians pay for eggs (according to the numbers posted by Marketplace). Would rather give the money to local farmers.

Farmers benefit more than consumers with Canada supply management

Peterborough Farmers Market loses perspective on the value of farmers markets

Subway Canada chicken comes up short on chicken, according to CBC Marketplace

Egg recall proves food producers are 'too big to fail'

Balanceoffood.com Canada food policy coverage

BalanceofFood.com farmers market coverage

As we noted earlier, "taste, quality, and fresh are advantages." There are dishes you can do with fresh eggs that you would be less likely to try without fresh eggs. In making fresh pasta and aioli, color, fresh, and taste would be crucial. If you are coloring eggs for Easter, the "mainstream" eggs would be useful.

Select what foods are important to you, for whatever your reasons might be, and invest well in them. Maybe you can sacrifice the cost of a high-price, extravagant coffee drink. Buying direct from a farmers market eliminates a costly layer by getting the eggs faster and fresher from the source.

Make your own best choices.

video and photos credit: Marketplace/CBC

Cheap pizza comes to Canada but at what cost

Editor's note: Our colleagues at our sibling blog — CanadianCrossing.com — had a really nice story on the impact of the lame CUSMA trade deal where cheaper American-based pizza cheese has flooded the Canadian market. Cheaper food is tempting but not when the quality suffers. We have reposted the story here, complete with permission from CanadianCrossing.com.

Pizza is considered a cheap food … in the United States. Pizza in Canada may be relatively cheap but expensive compared to the United States.

Over the many years we have tracked Canadian ads through MLB Extra Innings or NHL Center Ice, we have noticed the shockingly high prices of pizza in Canada. The pizzas in the ads didn't look that great and the prices were through the roof.

You would see side deals involving soft drink bottles and movie tickets to make the pizza seem not as expensive.

The usual explanation for why pizza in Canada is more expensive is the cost of high-quality Canadian cheese. This explains stories every few years about pizza cheese shenanigans in Canada.

There are conditions to get a pizza in Canada for $7.99 or a similar low price. You have to buy multiple pizzas or provide a code or know the sale is for a very limited time.

Little Caesar's is offering a classic with Crazy Bread for $7.99. Pizza Hut is offering a buy one, get one free pizza. Domino's is offering unlimited, 2-topping pizzas for $7.99. Greco is offering the $7.99 12" mediums when you buy 2 or more pizzas with regular toppings.

Farmers benefit more than consumers with Canada supply management

CUSMA | USMCA aka NAFTA 2.0 allowed cheaper, lesser quality American-based cheese to come into Canada. We don't know for certain, but that is the most logical reasoning behind the sudden arrival of cheaper pizza in Canada.

Domino's mentions Canadian cheese. Are the pizza companies using a mix of Canadian and American- based cheese? Are they using Canadian cheese only but desperate to lure customers over to pizza?

There is (sadly) the possibility that some Canadians don't care that their pizza cheese is American. They may think a cheaper price on a pizza in Canada is worth eating inferior cheese. They may like Canadian cheese but not at the prices they were paying.

Normally, your humble narrator would weigh in on the experience of eating pizza in Canada and compare this to the American standards. Unfortunately, due to an intolerance to mozzarella cheese, I am sadly not the expert. I can vouch for the Crazy Bread since there is no mozzarella.

Pandemic pizza is not a thing but can imagine that pizzas are more popular in a pandemic since you don't have to cook and pizzas come pretty quickly to your home. Having cheaper pizza is an advantage if you lost your job and/or CERB (and similar programs) not stretching far enough.

Canada milk producers threatened with invasion of cheaper American milk

BalanceofFood.com Canada coverage

As our sibling blog — BalanceofFood.com — would note, quality food does cost more. The question for Canadian dairy is whether the quality is worth the higher prices.

If our American readers crossed over to Canada to eat better quality cheese on Canadian pizzas, we wish you much luck in finding that once the border has reopened. Perhaps a local pizza chain might do better than a national chain.

CanadianCrossing.com trade coverage

The quality of food in North America is not as easy to find as opposed to Europe. You search more and you definitely pay more. Wages haven't kept up in North America so the pressure of cheap food is a reality for most people on the continent. Would be a shame to lose something that is of quality and distinctly Canadian thanks to a lame trade deal that dumped cheap cheese in Canada.

photo credit: Greco pizza
video credits: individual pizza companies

Trickster gives us a peek into the world of food banks

We barely see the impact of food banks on the local news or cable news channels. They may show a long line of cars or packing boxes into a car. The personal transaction ends up happening all the time without a camera in sight.

The example that the TV show Trickster shows us about food banks is not a typical personal transaction. Turns out the young woman Sarah (Anna Lambe) volunteering at the food bank is the girlfriend of the customer Jared (Joel Oulette). Jared didn't know Sarah was working there before going into the food bank.

The scene happened in Episode 4 of what turns out to be the only season for Trickster, airing on the CW in the United States and CBC in its native Canada. Trickster takes place in a remote area of Kitimat, British Columbia, far away from the bright lights of Vancouver. Even the fast food place where Jared worked doesn't provide cheap meals.

Jared's mother is missing. The power had been turned off and all the food was ruined. A lot of drama for him as well. Jared definitely needed help.

Sarah starts out with peanut butter: "Smooth or crunchy?" Jared replies, "Smooth." Sarah teases him about his choice but says she isn't there to judge.

"Kraft Dinner or canned spaghetti?" Jared isn't sure so Sarah gives him both. (In Canada, Kraft Dinner is Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in the United States.)

He asks for beer. She said, "All yours if I did." You aren't going to find beer in a food bank.

Sarah loads a few more items into a box.

In the next scene, Jared offers her a chocolate pudding from the box.

Trickster is a show about an Indigenous community. The creators and producers thought showing such a scene was important to show the world where these people live. Jared feels a bit of shame when he realizes his girlfriend is on the other side of the table at the food bank. Sarah quickly reassures me that it's cool.

The sign for the Kitimat Community Harvest says: Distributing food; Community recycling; Resources for Families; Neighbourhood events. Yes, food banks are a way to supplement food and be a part of the community. The people behind the table and in front of the table are all human beings trying to create a better world.

Hard to Stomach brings home the ongoing concern of food insecurity

Food banks now more important than ever in COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

Vote for a better food policy on Election Day

BalanceofFood.com Canada food policy coverage

People who go to food banks shouldn't feel shame, even if they do know people behind the counter. The need for food banks for people, employed or not, was gigantic before the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people who received the unemployment supplement last summer went over 6 months without any federal assistance. Many who ran successful small businesses haven't been able to get the PPP loans where the rich were able to get so much.

A 6-episode series in Canada had the foresight to have a scene involving a food bank in a TV drama. A small step but more needs to be shown to show there is no shame in needing a food bank. The Republicans in Congress have blocked financial help to the poor and middle-class in the United States. Turning to a food bank is becoming the new norm in the United States. Time to make that experience to be the opposite of shame. You are standing up for you and your family to provide food. There is no shame in helping your family eat.

Trickster is available in the United States on the CW Network. Our Canadian friends can watch the episodes on CBC Gem.

photos credit: Trickster/CBC/CW

Hard to Stomach brings home the ongoing concern of food insecurity

Years ago, we ventured into podcasts on various food topics. We may return to that format in the future.

Hard to Stomach is a podcast devoted to food insecurity issues and the use of food banks. The podcast is from CBC Radio in Canada and focuses on Ontario.

The podcast started out in 2019 with Season 1 host Nana Aba Duncan. The podcast features people on the giving and receiving ends of the food bank transactions.

Season 1 came out well before the pandemic. The contrast between northern and southern Ontario is vast given the difficulty of getting food into Canada's north. As an example, a 2018 paper from the Northern Policy Institute noted that for northern districts such as Kenora, a family of 4 would have to pay out $160 more per month than a similar family from Toronto.

The Hard to Shake podcast episode covered the ignorance and misunderstanding of why people use food banks. The That One Thing podcast episode asked the common question: "what would have helped you when you needed it" in terms of help and food security.

BalanceofFood.com Canada food policy coverage

Season 1 has 4 episodes that gives the basics of food insecurity. Season 2, hosted by Jason D'Souza, has 3 episodes that delve more into economic uncertainty and affordable housing.

Season 2 comes out well into the pandemic. The podcast noted that while 4.5 million Canadians were food insecure before the pandemic, those numbers grew by by 39%, adding 1.7 million into the food insecure column in the first 2 months.

A Complex Puzzle podcast episode from Season 2 pointed out the great help that Canadians go through CERB and other government help. This will be a contrast to the great lack of help offered up by the U.S. government, thanks mostly to the GOP Senate members.

CERB offered $500/week until late September. The benefits were transferred over to enhanced EI (Employment Insurance) even though some lost benefits in the transfer.

The podcast noted that the Ontario government gave $8 million to Feed Ontario at the beginning of COVID-19. The federal government $200 million to organizations across the country. This was in significant contrast to what has happened in the United States.

Season 2 also talks about food sovereignty within communities so they aren't always at the whims of what food banks provide. This also helps communities get better nutrition.

Season 1 is a lot more helpful to explain the impact of food insecurity. Season 2 doesn't really add to the conversation too much. This was a lost opportunity, given how much worse food insecurity has grown in the COVID-19 pandemic. Both seasons will draw a basic map if you know absolutely nothing on the topic.

BalanceofFood.com Canada podcasts coverage

The podcast episodes are not very long. Season 1 has 92 minutes in 4 episodes with Season 2 with 3 episodes that take up 42 minutes combined.

The focus is limited to Ontario within Canada yet the issues discussed could be anywhere in North America.

You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. You can read more about the podcast.

photo credit: Hard to Stomach podcast/CBC Radio