Reflections on the Future of Food & Nutrition Conference at Tufts
The problems I see in today’s agriculture and food policy aren’t just in my head, they are on everyone’s plates. The Future of Food and Nutrition Conference held by Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy was a small, but glorious affair of how intellectualism can be applied to our pressing food [...]
March 30, 2009
Tags: Add new tag, agriculture, education, food event, Health, heroes, nutrition, policy Posted in: Health, Politics, Science & Technology 
4 Comments
Family Income and Healthy Diets, More To It Than You Think
Food expenditure is what you can cut back on and still have shelter and a way to get to work. Money is often saved for rent or utility bills, but not for food. As a consequence, when shopping on a restricted budget, costlier fruits and vegetables may get passed over. Instead, the [...]
March 23, 2009
Tags: education, food, Health, moms, nutrition Posted in: Health, Science & Technology 3 Comments
“Cool Food” and “Smart Bodies” Programs Get Kids to Eat Better
Before, I reported on the efforts of Alice Waters to teach kids to eat healthier by having them grow and cook their own food. Â However, not every school is lucky enough to have a fine plot of ground to garden. Â As such, administrations and scientists across the country are attempting to find other, less labor [...]
March 6, 2009
Tags: education, Health, innovation, marketing, nutrition Posted in: Health, Science & Technology 2 Comments
The Bottomless Soup Bowl Experiment
Featured in the Annals of Improbable Research and winning an Ignoble Prize, Brian Wansink’s experiment “first makes people laugh, and then makes them think.” He wondered how we determine when we’ve eaten enough food.  Do we stop eating at the physical feeling of fullness or do we use external cues (that everyone else has already [...]
February 20, 2009
Tags: education, food, food safety, obesity, trvia Posted in: Fun Food Facts, Health 7 Comments
Baby Formula, Nutrition, and…Communism?
At a congressional hearing in 1978, Nestle representative Dr. Oswaldo Ballerin accused American activists of engineering an “indirect attack on the free world’s economic system.” Â By his account, the numerous church groups, women’s groups, unions, and student’s groups were communists because they were boycotting Nestle products in order to protest its marketing of breast-milk substitutes [...]
February 10, 2009
Tags: baby formula, education, Health, heroes, marketing, moms, nutrition, policy Posted in: Politics No Comments
USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline
Yes, there is a meat and poultry hotline.  Apparently, 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-647-6854)  receives  about 80,000 calls annually.  And, believe it or not, it’s been around since 1985.  Someone needs to do a better job of marketing.  Imagine how many more calls they would get if people actually knew about the number.  Or am I in the [...]
January 29, 2009
Tags: education, food safety, triva, USDA Posted in: Fun Food Facts No Comments
Going Trayless Saves Food Services More
The econimic recession has hit the food service industry pretty hard. The recent spike in food prices was actually the apex of a long, ten-year trend in rising food costs. Â So, even now that the real prices of foodstuffs is falling, food industry insiders are still scrambling to cut corners.
Shaving portion sizes has been [...]
January 19, 2009
Tags: education, food, green, innovation, policy, waste Posted in: Science & Technology One Comment
Meatless January in Chicago: Urban Outreach, Food, and Politics on the South Side
Chicago health commissioner Dr. Terry Mason has a message for Chicagoans who enjoy devouring meat in all its fat-dripping, artery-clogging glory: Don’t do it.
As part of his campaign to slim down waists and lower blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol citywide, Mason is encouraging everyone to join him in going vegetarian for January.
Chicago Tribune
Dr. Mason [...]
January 15, 2009
Tags: education, food event, Health, nutrition, obesity, policy, veganism, vegetarianism Posted in: Health, Politics One Comment
School Lunch Reform Takes Two Steps Forward, and Several Steps Back
Public schools in Portland, Oregon wanted to make an effort to source their lunch products from local, sustainable farmers. But they wanted to know if the more costly local beef was worth it. They asked if would it make a difference to the kids.  To find out, they had Oregon State University conduct a scientific [...]
January 10, 2009
Tags: education, green, Health, subsidies, USDA Posted in: Health, Politics 4 Comments
School Lunch Reform, From Vending Machines Toward a “Slow Food, Slow Schools” Revolution
Kids are fat. Are schools at fault? The waist size of the average ten-year-old boy has increased by 16% (link) since 1965.  Many blame a lack of healthy school lunch programs and unfettered access to vending machine junk food. However, parents and educators have been arguing for school lunch reform long before vending machines and soda cans. Since before [...]
January 6, 2009
Tags: education, food, Health, policy, school Posted in: Health, Politics, Science & Technology One Comment
