Most people eat some combination of food that is good for them and food that tastes good. Finding the balance between the two is a lifelong journey. This is the story of that struggle.
Based on a true story. What an amazing, actually true story. Not just the saga of Percy Schmeiser, a Saskatchewan farmer on the wrong side of Monsanto, but the thousands of farmers forced to settle with the large conglomerate.
We have written a lot about glyphosate and its impact on corn and soybeans as well as the feed that goes into animals that we eat.
Percy, otherwise known as Percy vs. Goliath, tells that story in a straightforward presentation. Not building characters but acting out the actual story, within reason. A direction that will help explain significantly complex material through a feature film setup.
From the review: "The film doesn't waste time in the beginning with an elaborate open. We pretty much are there at the beginning with the start of the story. The film is a blow-by-blow essence of the actual story. We apparently aren't here for character development, except for when Percy buys a large tractor in the beginning of the film."
We wrote about a very troubled film called Food Evolution full of questionable editing and deception and lies. Here are the stories we wrote on the topic.
There are prominent Americans in the cast of this Canadian film. Christopher Walken plays Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser. Christina Ricci and Zach Braff plays supporters of Schmeiser's case.
From the review: "Glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Roundup, is a disaster to the American and Canadian farming industry. You may know the phrase GMO; you will learn a lot more about it in the film."
We are great believers in buying local from nearby farmers that are not plugged into a world that is glyphosate. If you are new to this idea, watching Percy can help you, even with this level of dialogue.
Percy is available on demand in the United States and on Crave in Canada.
photo credit: Percy video credit: YouTube/Mongrel Media
We've seen the memes about how expensive eggs have become of late. Supply chain issues, grocery store greed. You don't care why the price is going up; you just want the price increases to stop and maybe, perhaps go down in price.
You could say eggs are eggs-pensive. (ha ha)
I don't buy eggs that often. Then again, the price of the eggs I buy isn't being jacked up by supply chain issues and grocery store greed.
I buy my eggs at farmers markets: local, great quality eggs not affected by supply chain issues. Hens that are treated well and lay beautiful eggs. The price I generally pay may be shocking to some readers: $6-$7 per dozen. The price of a single egg — at $6/dozen — is 50¢ per egg.
If you buy grocery store eggs, you never thought about paying 50¢ per egg. Your argument before the huge price increases could be that people were idiotic to pay 50¢ per egg. They might pay $6 for a fancy coffee drink yet $6 is too much for a dozen eggs.
Years ago, I wrote for Marketing News about a politician complaining about the cost of breakfast cereal. This was so long ago that Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was a representative in Congress before becoming a senator and the current Senate majority leader.
I joked about the Roseanne TV show suggestion of buying generic cereal and putting it into the brand name box. I broke down the cost of a 1 oz. serving to show the relative insignificant cost of a bowl of cereal.
An individual egg supplies fat and protein that is versatile and boosts nutrition whether the egg is a supporting player or the star of the dish. Good quality eggs are worth 50¢ per egg to you and the farmer.
Egg prices are up 60%. That’s absurd. People are paying up upwards of $6 and $7 for a dozen eggs.
Why? Corporate greed.
Cal-Maine, the largest egg producer in the US, is raking record profits — $198 million in its latest quarter.
I have a vegan friend who posts a lot of vegan information on Facebook. She would gladly offer that you don't have to use chicken eggs as in the above examples. Avocadoes are a lot more expensive than bananas, if price is your primary objective.
Some of these methods require more time, such as the flaxseed and chia seed. If you live in a snowy, cold climate, a substitute can help if traveling to the store is uncertain. Flaxseed (4:1) and chia seed (3:1) are good Omega-3 sources.
You can still eat eggs and use these suggestions. My friend wants people to ideally go vegan while I suggest that omnivores come up with a nice balance. Baking is a great way to use a substitute while still having scrambled eggs. If you wonder why the blog is named BalanceofFood, this is part of our philosophy.
Food inflation is a real factor in the United States and all over the world. Some products can be bought purely on cost while other products are worth more by paying more. Eggs would certainly qualify in the latter category. If you have a choice between paying $7.25 for a dozen regular eggs at a grocery store vs. $6 for local, better-grown farmers eggs, the latter choice is the ideal one on multiple levels.
I arrived back from Canada earlier this week. I did bring back some Canadian treats. Ketchup chips. Butter tarts. I brought in all of this food legally. I have missed Canadian treats.
In preparing for the trip, I was thinking back to the time of Canadian fat cakes. Well, not actual Canadian fat cakes because they aren't real. Smuggling them back into the United States would not have been a crime, even if they existed.
The Canadian fat cakes episode of iCarly is now 10 years old. Jennette McCurdy, who played Sam, the one obsessed with Canadian fat cakes, is now retired from acting.
That may be more about what we learned in her memoir I'm Glad My Mom Died.
McCurdy talked about weight issues she had due in part to the stress her mother put on her. Having to pretend to be obsessed about a fictional treat, even as lovely as one as Canadian fat cakes, had to be difficult. I don't know much about her acting ability, but Sam had me jonesing for Canadian fat cakes.
I loved how the writers noted the contrast that American fat cakes had "corn fat" while Canadian fat cakes had "cane fat." This was 10 years ago. There was a time where I would have brought over Canadian Twinkies, back when there was a difference. The Jos. Louis cakes, which are real, have the dreaded glucose-fructose aka high-fructose corn syrup.
Your humble narrator hasn't been able to "smuggle" food in from Canada in about 3 years. If I were driving, my trunk would overflow from all the Canadian food I would love to bring back to the United States. All of it legally.
The rules haven't changed. Live food, such as fruits, vegetables, and meat, are definitely not allowed. Foods that were never alive, such as ketchup chips, butter tarts, and the proverbial Canadian fat cakes, aren't a problem.
These rules also apply to entering other countries from the United States. Each country has their own rules for what you can bring into that country.
Australia has very strict rules on bringing anything into that country.
Home-Ec was Episode 16 in Season 3 of Roseanne back in 1991. Roseanne ends up taking the home economics class Darlene is in to the Buy 'n Bag supermarket. Her tips are surprisingly sharp, including buying the generic cereal and putting the cereal into the name brand box.
The opposite end of that scale was watching Mehmet Oz shop for crudité in a video designed to show his "regular side" in his run to be the next U.S. senator from Pennsylvania to replace Pat Toomey (R-PA).
Oz picks out store brand salsa and guacamole among his purchases, lambastes the price of said purchases, and blames the high food prices on President Joe Biden. Oz, as you may have guessed, is from the Republican Party, so he blames the current president, who is from the Democratic Party.
As we've learned in the 1970s, the president is not responsible for inflation, regardless of party. The companies who are making record profits off of inflation are much more likely to donate to the elephants (GOP) than donkeys (Dems).
"Guys, that's $20 for crudité and that doesn’t even include the tequila."
In the video, the vegetables add up to $10. Not all of that would go into a crudité. The guacamole was $4 and the salsa was $6.
If Oz really wanted to save money, he could make homemade salsa and guacamole. The taste would improve and you save money. Buying from local farmers markets ensure that the money would stay in Pennsylvania instead of buying a salsa from New York City.
Food prices were a concern even before the pandemic. Wages have been stagnant in terms of buying power for 40 years. Will Oz do anything about that? No.
Cheap, processed foods are often inexpensive compared to fresh produce in the supermarket. Will Oz do anything about that? No.
Food ads are dominated with relatively, unhealthy foods, while we, especially kids, don't see ads for fresh produce. Will Oz do anything about that? No.
"If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn't have had a major stroke and wouldn't be in the position of having to lie about it constantly," Rachel Tripp, Oz's senior communications adviser, said in a statement.
You would think someone working for a person who is an actual doctor would not be so inaccurate about health. Fetterman, the current lieutenant governor, is running against Oz on the Democratic side of the ballot.
Fetterman responded in a tweet. "I had a stroke. I survived it. I'm truly so grateful to still be here today. I know politics can be nasty, but even then, I could *never* imagine ridiculing someone for their health challenges."
Erin O'Toole, then leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, has his own cheap, food-related political stunt last year. Half off food but only Mondays and Wednesdays for a month. Paying the full amount to find a safer place to eat vs. a risk with a small savings.
O'Toole lost that election and was soon booted out as the party leader, not because of this political stunt. This notion of needing to pull cheap, political stunts generally comes from conservative parties. O'Toole stole this idea from the UK Conservatives.
If John Fetterman was pulling a similar stunt, we would crack down just as tough. Democratic and liberal politicians generally want to help people through government action. The other side is the dominant force behind cheap political stunts.
Politicians of all stripes would benefit from a grocery store experience like what Roseanne gave in that episode. They should know how poor people actually shop. They aren't building crudité or even a veggie tray. They know their kids need nutritious food but aren't sure how to make that work, given the discrepancies at the grocery store. No political stunt will help them feed themselves and their kids.
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.
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."
The USDA waived any requirements during the pandemic, allowing all school children to get a free school lunch. As Full Frontal with Samantha Bee points out, that policy expires at the end of this school year.
We found during the height of the pandemic that many children rely on their schools to give them food and nutrition they weren't necessarily getting at home.
Lunch debt has been a real thing. The program explains nuances such as subsidies not reflecting the cost of food and financially strapped school districts really need the money.
We see samples of children raising money to help their fellow kids get out of "lunch debt." While those stories are heartwarming, their efforts should be unnecessary.
One way for schools to reduce the money to spend on school lunches is scratch cooking. Unfortunately, a lot of schools can't make that happen due to a lack of facilities.
California and Maine have passed universal free lunch on a state level. The federal waiver expires June 30. Bee makes a strong case for universal free lunch.
One more school lunch related note mentioned in the segment: give these kids a proper amount of time to eat lunch. The segment mention that some school lunches are served at 9 am.
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee airs on TBS on Thursdays at 10 pm Eastern.
photo and video credit: Full Frontal with Samantha Bee/TBS
The Coca-Cola cans and bottles have had the tagline "Original Taste" for some time. There were layers of meetings to make sure the tagline fit what the company wants to convey. Focus groups saw several possibilities that weren't as impressive as "original taste." Multi-million dollar companies do not come up with "Original Taste" on a whim.
As an adjective, original can be defined as "present or existing from the beginning; first or earliest" or "created directly and personally by a particular artist; not a copy or imitation."
We know the first definition of original does not apply because the North American version of Coca-Cola contains high-fructose corn syrup instead of sugar. Also, the cocaine is missing. So "original taste" doesn't mean the initial recipe or even the recipe that lasted until the 1980s.
As a noun, original can mean "something serving as a model or basis for imitations or copies." Coca-Cola might find some solace here. Coca-Cola wasn't the first soft drink but did grow dominant in the early days of soda pop. Pepsi and RC came later though neither were trying to be imitations or copies. If you couldn't tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi or RC, then your palette isn't terribly picky or selective. You might literally not care which one you would be drinking.
Unfortunately for Coca-Cola, this is likely the definition meant by "original taste": "created directly and personally by a particular artist; not a copy or imitation."
Pepsi had a slogan many years ago that nothing quenches your thirst like a Pepsi. Sounds impressive. Like "original taste," this is a meaningless statement. You have patents on a distinct product so it's original in that there is nothing quite like your product.
Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and RC are all soda pop products but they are distinctively different. Not better, just different. Having original taste means nothing. Lemonade has "original taste" whether it is manufactured with high-fructose corn syrup or a child makes lemonade with real sugar with help from the parents, though the tastes are different.
Those meetings and focus groups broke down phrases to sound impressive and mean absolutely nothing.
Passover 2022 begins on the evening of April 15. Kosher for Passover versions of soft drinks may be available in your area. This is a rite of spring for your humble narrator. The chase has involved Israeli Coca-Cola in the last few years since this is what we get in our area.
Both the K4P and Israeli versions cost more than the conventional high-fructose corn syrup. We have noted in the past that the cost of sugar is kept artificially high and that high-fructose corn syrup is subsidized with your federal tax dollars.
They are worth the cost because they have "original taste" in the sense of something unique. Most of the world drinks regular Coca-Cola made with sugar and doesn't have to go to the store at a certain time of year and pay more. They grab regular bottles.
North America is not the norm but the exception. For our Canadian readers, glucose-fructose is high-fructose corn syrup.
Coca-Cola has an incredible story, a wonderful history as a product. Food is about storytelling but one of the greatest stories is silent. The Mexican Coca-Cola, Italian Coca-Cola, Danish Coca-Cola: they have the "original taste."
Your humble narrator wrote about 1642 Cola a number of years back. I don't get sucked in just because of a story but this story is rather cool.
Specialty soft drinks have "original taste" sometimes a little too original. High-fructose corn syrup versions of popular soft drinks aren't very original to the North American palette. You can't quite quench your thirst so you drink more of it. That is the hook, unfortunately.
You deserve better when soft drinks are involved. You might drink fewer of them given the costs. Soft drinks can be a treat when made well. Be more original and rethink soft drinks.
How to Beat the High Cost of Living is a charming film that came out at the apex of hysteria over inflation in 1980. Inflation is part of why Gerald Ford lost in 1976 and Jimmy Carter in 1980. Gas prices and food costs were soaring by comparison to a few years ago.
When you watch the film, you will see how cheap those costs were and how exaggerated those concerns were.
After all in 1980, prices were going up but the economy was strong and the job market was hopeful. Then again, the 3 women (Susan Saint James, Jane Curtin, Jessica Lange) were fighting a losing battle over money because that economy was geared toward men, not women. They see their solution in stealing money from a money ball in the middle of a mall, back when malls were new and exciting.
In 2021, we would trade the current circumstance for 1980 in a heartbeat. Food insecurity heightened as a result of a poor economy even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Climbing food prices with supply chain issues making things even worse. Since we don't have too many malls left and a money ball would likely be filled with bitcoin receipts, how do we handle rising food prices in a crushed economy?
"I don't know why they call this stuff Hamburger Helper. It does just fine by itself," Cousin Eddie in National Lampoon's Vacation.
Meat: The focus is usually on meat costs especially with supply chain issues. The idea of taking chickens grown in the United States, shipping them off to China to be processed, and then come back to the United States is a terrible idea even before a pandemic. Local farmers have better grown meat and no supply chain issues. Their meat might be more expensive than you are used to paying but the cost difference is reduced these days. You reward local businesses, a very good idea, and you get better quality meat so you can eat less per meal.
Hamburger Helper was a big thing in the late 1970s into 1980. You could use mushrooms to extend hamburger for burgers and meatloaf. White button and crimini mushrooms bring flavor and nutrition and add needed moisture to the mix. If you had been doing this all along, you would have saved money before inflation creeped back into the economy.
Hamburger Helper (now known as Helper) was dried pasta and powdered seasonings. You could do way better than that. Use your own spice blend. Pasta is still cheap.
Rice and beans: The United States does not consider itself a "beans and rice" society. Rice and beans make a complete protein with added fiber and a mild punch to your wallet. You would have to soak dried beans though they cost less. Somehow, rice and beans have a stigma of a lack of success where meat equals success. Long ago, lobster was in the bologna category. Perspectives change.
Vegetables, bread, and fruit: Eating local food gets past supply chain issues, rewards local farmers, and supplies much needed nutrition. If you did gain weight during the pandemic, eating better could help you lose some of those pounds.
Food waste: If you bought food and that food is in the house, you can save lots of money by not buying more food. Take 2-3 days, a week and eat up what is in the house. Not going to the grocery store would be less stressful and you open up pantry space. You also save money in that you bought that food before inflation kicked into gear. Hoarders can get a reward for long-term thinking.
Water: Besides drinking more water, use water to extend meals. Pasta water means more sauce for the dish. Making soup? Water is free and can extend a soup.
Local gardens: A little too late to plant a garden in most sections of the United States but you might know someone who has pickled their way through the pandemic. A barter system allows you to trade something you are good at doing for a jar of pickles. Local food through a different prism.
Gravy: Gravy may seem like gravy, as in extra and fancy. The reality of gravy is when you take the drippings from cooked meat and mixing with low-cost flour and butter. Meat with gravy is more filling and tasty than meat by itself.
Old(er) people: Millennials experience their first trip into the world of inflation can ask their parents, grandparents, and maybe great-grandparents for culinary advice. You can trade computer advice or teach them about Tik Tok in exchange for how to deal with food and inflation. If you go back far enough in knowledge to the Great Depression, you will find a time closer to your current reality than what we had in 1980.
The irony of the return of inflation is that the Ronald Reagan policies gutted the economy and led to the downfall of 40 years of stagnant wages, unless you are super rich. Doesn't take much to be super rich these days. The American dream is long gone.
Holiday time: If you are one of the fortunate ones, please reach out to help those with real food insecurity. Inflation sucks and the idea of spending money for food that isn't for you likely sucks. These people will still have food insecurity in January and February so keep this in mind.
photo credits: How to Beat the High Cost of Living film; Hamburger Helper video credit: National Lampoon's Vacation
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" was meant to be a metaphor by Pete Townshend from The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again in 1971. Townshend likely couldn't imagine Tom Vilsack being invited to run the Department of Agriculture once again in the United States.
Vilsack was not an inspired choice even in 2009 under Barack Obama. He did fit the recent definition of having been a governor (Iowa) in an agricultural state.
Vilsack's most significant act while as the Secretary of Agriculture is to endorse the use of "pink slime." Vilsack said pink slime was "safe, it contains less fat and historically it's been less expensive."
Vilsack will have an easier time since Stephen Colbert went out to do a regular talk show at CBS.
Vilsack is leaps and bounds ahead of Sonny Perdue, Mike Johanns, and Ed Schafer in the post.
As we noted during the campaign, the outgoing regime has done disturbing and disgusting work to reduce the safety standards for meat, poultry, and seafood.
If the United States has a benign or progressive food policy that factored in nutrition and American consumers, Vilsack might be able to sail the ship and not crash into an iceberg. Stephen Colbert did more to advance the concerns over the U.S. food supply in the 9 years on the Colbert Report than any Secretary of Agriculture has done in decades.
Michael Pollan turned down a proverbial request for the position after the 2008 election. Pollan did offer these words of wisdom.
"What Obama needs to do, if he indeed wants to make change in this area — and that isn't clear yet that he does, at least in his first term — I think we need a food policy czar in the White House because the challenge is not just what we do with agriculture, it's connecting the dots between agriculture and public health, between agriculture and energy and climate change, agriculture and education."
Substitute "Biden" for "Obama" and that advice is still helpful.
The American people did vote for a better food policy on Election Day with the election of former Vice President Joe Biden and outgoing Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA). They will be sworn in tomorrow midday as the new U.S. president and vice president, respectively.
Biden and Harris will be arms in deep in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic amplified the growing food insecurity in the United States. The pathetic financial supplement further exasperated a widening gap in a struggling to feed a family or even an individual.
Children who weren't in school struggled to get fed where school breakfasts and lunches had been the difference for many kids.
Biden could pick a nutrition czar, something that Barack Obama did during his time in office. Sam Kass and Debra Eschmeyer filled that role under President Obama. Michelle Obama might be available once again. Unlike Vilsack, that is a retread Americans can get behind.
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.
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.
There is no right way to finding the balance of food, just your way. My typical breakfast is whole wheat spaghetti with homemade sauce, sautéed mushrooms, and a naturally low-fat Italian cheese sprinkled on top. Works for me.
