Shari Manolas Danielson

Observations from a School Lunch with My Kids - and the Cook Manager

Today is the deadline for entries for the “Eat Lunch with Your Kids” contest. Thanks to all of you who have sent such terrific stories about your school lunch with your sons and daughters. If you haven't sent us your entry, please do so today -- or you’ll miss your chance to win a one-year supply of Organic Valley milk and much more!

Although I’m not allowed participate in the contest, I did commit to eating lunch at school with my twin eight-year-olds. And taking pictures and writing about it. So two weeks ago, I packed their lunches (as I usually do) and planned to meet them at 12:00 sharp in the school cafeteria -- only they would be eating Annie's organic, whole-wheat macaroni and cheese with peas; Gala apples; Minneola tangerines; local carrots; and organic lemonade, and I would be eating:

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Five Food Stories: Which One is an April Fool's Hoax?

About 40 years ago, on April Fool’s Day, I secretly dumped all the white sugar out of my mother’s sugar bowl and filled it with salt. When she poured her first cup of coffee that morning, and added her spoonful of “sugar,” she tasted, for the first time, her daughter’s love of practical jokes.

I wanted to play a joke on all of you today, too, to commemorate that one date every year when we are encouraged to lighten up and not take everything so seriously. But I don’t have legal access to your sugar bowls -- and even if I did, what are the chances that you, my fellow “eat-real-food” aficionados, would have them filled with white, processed sugar?

So my April Fool’s joke for you is a collection of five food-related stories that sound preposterous enough to be fake.

But only one is. The rest, believe it or not, are true -- to the best of my knowledge.

See if you can figure out which is which. And no cheating!

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Food in Film: The 10 Most Memorable Food Scenes

My husband. I love him dearly. He is my soul mate, my life partner, the father of my children, my BFFWB. But, sometimes, he really pisses me off.

When I told him I was writing about famous food scenes in the movies, the first example I mentioned was James Cagney smashing a grapefruit into the face of Mae Clarke. “Oh, don’t use that,” he said. “That is such a hackneyed example! Every film class, every women’s studies class, uses that clip. You know, most people haven’t seen the movie that it came from -- in fact, most people can’t even name what movie it came from. So, please! Don’t use that one.”

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Michael Pollan Teaches Jon Stewart Some Food Rules

Michael Pollan’s new book, Food Rules: An Eater's Manual, is a breeze to read. The author himself says it will take you about an hour to, ahem, digest his 64 practical, even folksy rules – gleaned from doctors, scientists, chefs and readers – to eat better. Here are a few samples:

#11 – Avoid foods you see advertised on television.

#19 – If it came from a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, don’t.

#36 – Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of your milk.

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What's Your Sign? And Would You Use It to Choose Your Food?

Six months after a major milestone birthday, I approach the new year, the new decade, and the second half of my life with one question: Where do I want to be ten years from now, and what do I need to do – day by day – to get there? This past week, I spent a full day pondering the height, depth, and weight of this question. I sketched timelines, drew charts, made lists and commited a 120-month plan to writing. And then, just to make sure I didn’t overlook anything, I checked my horoscope.

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Does Local Food "Enhance Community Cohesion?" Food Writer and Devil's Advocate James McWilliams Says No

 Food writer, fellow, professor, blogger, and locagrarian contrarianJames McWilliams:
Food writer, fellow, professor, blogger, and locagrarian contrarian
Community. It’s a name for the place where we live, but also for the social connections that we live among. In yesterday's post, it was a word used by two people on two occasions to describe the benefits of opening a new food co-op in the Orono/Long Lake area, and a new farmers market in Edina.

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