News & Views

Almost one-third of America’s children are obese. One-third. This shocking statistic is cited in President Obama’s proclamation naming September as National Childhood Obesity Month.

So, one out of every three children in the U.S. are at risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, asthma and other obesity-associated illnesses. Bottom line: they will live shorter and sicklier lives than those of their parents.

Who is to blame? Director of FRESH the Movie, ana Sofia joanes, along with a team of FRESH activists are pointing their fingers at one man. And his name is…

Ronald McDonald.

In an e-mail message to FRESH fans, here’s what they said about the McDonald’s mascot who’s been hawking hamburgers to children since 1963:

Sushi is good and good for you. I mean, Glamour and Men’s Health and LiveStrong all say so. Lots of grocery stores seem to think so; you can pick up a bento in the deli sections at Lunds, Byerly’s, and even most Twin Cities co-ops. Sushi: Lite! Easy! Fun!

A few weeks ago, I got a text from my brother-in-law Jeff. He'd just discovered a restaurant he thought I'd love, and the message said, "it was awesome. Put it on your highly recommended list." Jeff has great taste -- I can't think of a time he's steered me wrong -- and I take his recommendations seriously. But Jeff doesn't get all hung up on how his food is sourced the way I do, and I didn't assume that his "it was awesome" meant that I'd feel good about it. I needed to ask.

Boy, do I love Target Field, the new baseball stadium for the Minnesota Twins. It's a gorgeous place, offering great views from every seat (so I've heard -- I've only sampled a few) and easy access to the rest of downtown Minneapolis. Seeing the Twins play outside makes me feel like a kid again, and I wonder if my children will look forward to trips to Target Field with the same excitement I had when my parents made the drive from Long Island, where I grew up, to Yankee Stadium.

Target Field somehow feels both entirely new and utterly, wonderfully Minnesotan. Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" blares from the speakers in between innings. The downtown skyline twinkles behind the home run fence. And the food is, in a way, Minnesotan too.

A few weeks ago, I declared June 26 "Signal Free Saturday," an opportunity to put down our cell phones, laptops, PDAs, and iPads and look our loved ones directly in the eye for the first time in weeks, months, or years. I was excited for the excuse to give my wife my full attention, rather than the usual 50 percent. I was excited to play with my kids without wondering if something more interesting was in my email. Work be damned, I was going to be free!

Only it turns out that giving up the phone is more complicated than that - or at least that's how it felt to me. Here's how it went:

Raw milk. In the past month, no two words have caused more controversy on Simple, Good and Tasty than these. In the wake of an E.coli outbreak that's been linked to raw milk from a small, Minnesota dairy farm, we have seen our readers line up in two distinct camps: those who can’t understand why anyone would risk drinking raw milk, and those who can’t understand why anyone would drink anything else.

Behold, we know not anything;
I can but trust that good shall fall
At last – far off – at last, to all,
And every winter change to spring.

So runs my dream: but what am I?
An infant crying in the night:
An infant crying for the light:
And with no language but a cry.

(From “In Memorium” by Alfred Lord Tennyson)

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Last week, I got a terse e-mail from Lee. He wanted to know why we hadn’t written about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on Simple, Good and Tasty yet.

It was a valid question and he was right to ask it. The health of one of the world’s most vibrant marine ecosystems is at stake; hundreds, if not thousands, of species of marine animals are at risk of extinction; a way of life and a means of livelihood for people living along the Gulf coast is threatened; and the food supply for millions of people could be altered forever. It is an issue that deserves space on a website that exists to promote sustainable food and the people who produce it.

So why hadn’t I assigned it to one of our writers? Or written about it myself?

I spend a lot of time connected - my job as partner at Simple, Good, and Tasty requires it. When I'm home, my laptop sits on the buffet beside the dining room table so I can easily check traffic numbers, research important facts (like what's on the menu at Lucia's this week), and search for my own name on Twitter. I check my iPhone every five minutes or so, whether I'm in the car (only at stop lights, natch), at the park with my kids, or making dinner.

The content of today's blog post is the entire text of a news release I received yesterday. It is the official response from Michael and Diane Hartmann, owners of the Hartmann Dairy Farm, to charges that they sold raw milk that infected four people with E.coli 0157:H7. It is the only public statement that the Hartmanns have issued so far. Although I have talked to Michael Hartmann off-the-record twice since the story broke a few days ago, he has been advised to refrain from giving any public interviews.