News & Views

The Results of Our Reader Survey Are In!

Over the past month, Simple, Good, and Tasty conducted our first ever reader survey. Of the nearly 100 people who completed the survey, almost 90% of you interact with SGT in more than one way - reading articles, coming to events, following us on Twitter or Facebook, subscribing to our RSS feed, and more. First of all, thank you! I was thrilled to hear from so many of you directly, and I appreciate you taking the time to help us make the site better and better. After nearly two years of posts, events, book clubs, and more -- and hundreds of thousands of interactions -- I'd say that this exercise was long overdue.

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Understanding the Farm Bill: Who Benefits From the Current Commodity Programs?

In my last Farm Bill post, I wrote about the argument for directly subsidizing agricultural production: farm income is erratic, and in order to keep farmers in the business of supplying the food and fiber we all need, they must be guaranteed an adequate income. Under the current system, farmers are given direct payments simply for growing an eligible crop, such as corn or soybeans. In years when prices fall below the target price for a particular crop, they also receive countercyclical payments. 

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No More Plastic Bottles or Delivery Services: Easy Ways to Enjoy and Preserve Water

If you’re like me, you don’t think much about finding the perfect water source when you’re really thirsty; you just want to drink. Water is one of the essential elements of life, a sustaining force that not only quenches our thirst but is also integral in everything from agriculture to transportation to sanitation and personal hygiene. Water is essential for survival, not only for individuals and communities but also for the preservation of our environment.

How can we satisfy our own need for this precious resource while preserving it for future generations?

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Looking Back and Looking forward: Our 2011 New Year's Resolutions

In preparation for this New Year's blog post, I went back and read what I wrote last year at this time. (If you haven't read it yet, Shari's terrific, extensive 2010 good food recap from last week is well worth your time.) I'm the kind of guy who holds himself accountable, and I'm not about to make a bunch of new resolutions without seeing how I did on the old ones. Here are last year's New Year's resolutions, along my my own view on how we did: 

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An SGT Retrospective on 2010

The Roman god Janus, for whom January is named, has two faces: one looking forward, the other back. He represents gates and doorways. Beginnings and endings. Transitions. He’s also credited with introducing agriculture to the early Romans.

See why I chose him to symbolize SGT’s year-end retrospective on food?

As far as food is concerned, 2010 was a particular two-faced year. There was noteworthy progress in the fight for a more sustainable and humane food system, but also some crushing setbacks. This past year, food was used as a political football. A weapon. Even a scapegoat. But just as often, food was a means of self-expression, a way to communicate values and priorities, an invitation to see things with a different perspective. A chance to make a real difference.

What are your most significant food memories of 2010? We hope SGT helped shape at least some of them for you. Here’s a partial list of our own to get you started on your trip down memory lane:

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Understanding the Farm Bill: Tracing Out the Corn Subsidies

Every once in a while, someone sends us something great. This is one of those times. Driven by her desire to simplify the massive Farm Bill, Sasha Breger Bush, a PhD based in Denver, CO (her bio and photo are below) set out to create a tool to help people understand the corn subsidies and their far-reaching impact in our food system and economy.

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Understanding the Farm Bill: Digging Into the Commodity Programs

Now that we’ve discussed nutrition and conservation programs in the Farm Bill, the time has come to direct our attention to the elephant in the room: agricultural subsidies. The commodity programs represent 15% of Farm Bill spending, which is $42 billion, the second largest Farm Bill allocation (you’ll recall that nutrition spending is the largest). And it’s a controversial topic that requires some careful consideration.

Since the commodity support programs are such an important topic, we’ll spend a few weeks on them. This time, we’ll try to understand how the commodity programs came to be and how they work, and next time we’ll talk more about their implications. 

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Stuffed Full of Gratitude

This time of year really does give me the fuzziest of warm fuzzies, even when the temps are in the teens. We’re huddling ‘round the fireplace, planning family gatherings, digging out the star-shaped cookie cutters, hanging lights, and trying our best to ignore retailers’ best efforts to convince us that the season is all about buying stuff.

The holidays are about togetherness, which helps keep the focus on expressing gratitude for what we already have. Too often, it’s easy to become dissatisfied with things as they are. With an estimated 1,500 advertisements bombarding us each day, we can fall prey to feeling as though we aren’t enough or that we don’t have enough or that what we have isn’t good enough.

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Minnesotan Psychiatrist Touts Mood-Altering Foods

Last year for Valentine’s Day, I wrote a blog post that asked the question: “Can Food Get You in the Mood?” The subject was aphrodisiacs, e.g. foods that can boost your mood for sex.

Minnesotan psychiatrist and author Dr. Henry Emmons takes it a step further. He claims that the right foods can take mood-boosting into every aspect of your life. Not just your love life.

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A Special Thanksgiving Shout Out to My Two New Friends

See the photo, above? That’s me in the middle grinning and blushing like a 12-year-old girl going backstage to meet the Jonas Brothers.

But, needless to say, those guys aren’t the Jonases. And though you may not immediately recognize their faces, I’m guessing you’ll need only their first names to know immediately who they are.

The one on the left is Ben. The other is Jerry.

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