News & Views

My Local Food All Star Team

As a kid, I spent countless hours, days, weeks, months - heck, even years - thinking of nothing but baseball. With 2 brothers and 3 step-brothers in my family hanging around each summer, it was easy to get a game going any time, and each night was spent in front of the TV, watching our beloved Yankees (I'm from New York) attempt to destroy the competition. My brothers and I developed special cheers for Don Mattingly, Ricky Henderson, Dave Righetti, and the rest of the team. When I moved to Minnesota, I helped my family adjust to the idea by telling them that Dave Winfield was born in St. Paul.

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Why Buy Local Food?

Alex Christensen is a regular contributor to Simple, Good, and Tasty.

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An Interview with ana Sophia joanes, Director of FRESH

I was lucky to have the chance to conduct a phone interview with ana Sophia joanes recently. Ana is the director of the terrific food documentary “Fresh,” which has taken the Twin Cities by storm this summer and doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon (additional screenings are scheduled for the Birchwood Cafe on their big screen later this month). “It’s been an unexpected and amazing response,” ana says, “just completely grassroots and word of mouth.

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The Lazy Person's Guide to Eating Local

The person working in this picture is not me!The person working in this picture is not me!

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In Defense of the Minneapolis Farmers Market

I received this letter from Susan Berkson, longtime environmental health advocate and co-host of "Fresh & Local" (on AM950, Saturdays, 8 am), in response to my question regarding her role at the Minneapolis Farmers Market, and whether the market is misunderstood within the local community. I liked the letter so much I decided to publish it, with Susan’s permission, of course.

My role is busybody. Not really. Bless the market, they asked me to host their new radio show and I said, Yes, and. Yes, I will host and I want to do social media and help with x, y, and z. So here I am.

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Nature’s Harmony Farm Keeps it Real

I read an excellent article in a recent New York Times Magazine about Tim and Liz Young of Nature's Harmony Farm in Elberton, GA. The whole thing is a good, quick read, describing the story of how Tim (a marketing service entrepreneur) and Liz (a special ed teacher) discovered beauty, balance, and justice on their 76 acre farm. Rather than raise animals to compete with those sold at Walmart, the Youngs are committed to the preservation of rare breeds, such as Ossabaw and Berkshire hogs and Murray Grey cattle. Here's an excerpt from the article:

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Making Sense of Organic Food

organicOkay, okay - it's organic food labeling that we need help with - not the food itself. The food itself? I'll let the excellent book Real Food by Nina Planck describe it:

Organic means food was produced without synthetic fertilizer, antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, genetically engineered ingredients, and irradiation.

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Ode to a Radish

organicradishesOf all the foods I've experienced in my quest to eat local Minnesota foods this summer, none has surprised me more than the radish. Oh, I've eaten loads of overwintered parsnips, and was surprised by how sweet they were. I've enjoyed the salty twig taste of fried burdock. I've fallen in love with ramps over and over again - for all 3 weeks we could get them - and when they stopped coming back I felt a pang in my heart, as though jilted by a former lover.

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Tim Ferriss on Ethical Meat vs. Meat Hype

ferriss1 Found this terrific post on Tim Ferriss' website (via the Farm to Table blog), discussing meat labeling.

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Fast Food Makes You Stupid

Great recent post by Jill Richardson in La Vida Locavore entitled Fast Food Makes You Stupid (Yet We Serve It In Our Schools). Here's an excerpt:

[A recent study found that] children scored between 58 and 181 points in the reading tests, gaining an average score of 141.5. But after taking other factors into account, pupils who ate fast food between four and six times a week scored almost seven points below average. Children snacking once a day fell 16 points, while pupils indulging three times a day dropped by 19 points. Similar trends were noted in maths. In total, children scored between 47 and 151 points in the test, with average results of 115. But those pupils eating fast food dropped by between 6.5 and 18.5 points.

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