real food mn

If you’re anything like me, you’ll be squeezing in some last-minute shopping this holiday season. To help, I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite food-related books and DVDs. Whenever possible I like to do my gift shopping at two places I frequent: food coops and the internet. Here are items you can pick up while you get your groceries or surf the web in your PJ’s:

For the traditionalist... 

In most cases, I don’t like food that replaces its key ingredients with impostors: tofu “chicken” and gluten-free vegan cupcakes come to mind. But last year when Thanksgiving rolled around, I was in the midst of trying a grain-free diet, and was left to figure out ways to maintain tradition and please my family while avoiding wheat. Stuffing had always been one of my holiday favorites, but if you look at the ingredients list on the box, it can be hard to recognize many of its components as food (partially-hydrogenated soybean oil and high fructose corn syrup, anyone?)

A locally-produced film has been stirring up plenty of controversy in Minnesota’s agricultural and education communities. “Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story” is a documentary produced by the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum about pollution and water contamination in the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico.