Portion, schmortion

The FDA might get realistic about portion size

February 8, 2010

Ever gotten disgruntled over the fact that a “serving size” — of, say, tortilla chips or Oreos — listed on a package is much smaller than you’d like it to be?

So is the FDA, which wants manufacturers to get realistic about portion-size labeling. Because, after all, who really eats just six tortilla chips or two small cookies and then calls it quits?

As the New York Times points out,

Still, the solution is not as simple as merely bumping up the standard portions for some foods. Officials worry that could send the wrong message. If the serving size for cookies rose to two ounces from one ounce, for instance, some consumers might think the government was telling them it was fine to eat more.

Triple-washed?

Wash those bagged salad greens a fourth time

February 5, 2010

In Consumer Reports’ latest look at food safety, the magazine purchased national brands of bagged and boxed salad greens and tested them. Their findings? Despite those labels promising that the lettuce is “triple-washed,” you’d better wash it all again to try to remove the unpleasant-sounding “fecal contamination.” And oh, yeah, organic wasn’t any cleaner than conventional — at least with regard to these microbes.

Truth in advertising

Lists of confusing food claims

February 4, 2010

Tara Parker-Pope, who writes the New York Times Well blog, recently pointed out an article listing confusing food labels and what they really mean. Some of the labels, Parker-Pope noted in her post, are simply meaningless, including “made with real fruit” and “a good source of fiber.” In other words, it might sound good, but it might not be.

Under pressure

Pressure cookers make a comeback

February 3, 2010

Pinched by time and pennies? Get a pressure cooker. No, not the explosive kind of yesteryear; today’s models are safer and efficient, and can put comfort food on the table in less than half an hour. As Catherine Phipps blogged last month for the Guardian, “A pressure cooker removes the need for either soaking or long cooking times, so evening meals can be on the table relatively quickly.” And Civil Eats’ Paula Crossfield, blogging recently on Bitten, quoted cookbook author Lorna Sass (Cooking Under Pressure): “I’m an impatient cook. If I have an appliance that allows me to eat a delicious lentil soup about 15 minutes after the idea comes to mind, that’s my idea of a great appliance.”

Increasing the food vocabulary

Words matter

February 1, 2010

Would expanding our vocabularies help us to be healthier humans? »

Worst of the wurst

The death of the German butcher

January 29, 2010

The January issue of Smithsonian magazine has a unusual article about meat: its cultural history in Germany (big), the number of artisanal butchers remaining in Germany (not so big), and the chances of Germany retaining its meat-preparation traditions (pretty small). As the author, Andrew Blechman, points out, “In Germany, the shunning of local butchers amounts to the repudiation of a cultural heritage.” When even the butchers go vegetarian (as one butcher Blechman profiles did), what are the odds?

The dark side of dairy

AlterNet exposes the dairy industry

January 28, 2010

You may already know that the U.S. dairy industry, despite the images on milk cartons of happy cows grazing in bucolic fields, isn’t exactly a pretty picture. AlterNet’s Tara Lohan takes a closer look at our bovine mess, discussing the logical consequences of dairy on a large scale: hormone and antibiotic overuse, milk overproduction, and all those extra calves (because, really, the only way to get cows to keep making milk is for them to keep having babies) sold for meat or simply left to die. Makes Laura Grace Weldon’s cow look all the more lucky.

Farm wars

Why do there have to be two sides, anyway?

January 26, 2010

Russ Parsons suggests ways to bridge the divide. »

Snack time

Or not

January 25, 2010

Do our kids eat too many snacks? »