Nutrition, Health, and Diet Related Disease

America’s obesity epidemic was the topic of discussion at the September 27 Edible Education: The Rise and Future of the Food Movement session at UC Berkeley. Dr. Robert Lustig, a neuroendocrinologist who studies childhood obesity at the University of California at San Francisco, spoke along with Patricia Crawford, a UC Berkeley professor who has traced the rise of the obesity epidemic and studies healthy food in schools.

Obesity Growth in U.S.
The most startling information came from Patricia Crawford who showed the rise in obesity in the U.S. over the past twenty years through a series of maps. In 1991 there was less than ten percent obesity in most state populations. But we gradually watched the map of the entire country get washed over in bright red, the color indicating the highest rates of obesity. Crawford says, "We need to create healthier food and activity environments to reduce obesity." She’s been working in the school system to figure out how to achieve these goals. Crawford has found that even Berkeley kids, who live in a healthy food mecca, share similar eating patterns to kids in the rest of the state. Crawford listed four activities that can help to control the obesity epidemic:

• Reduce sweet beverage intake
• Reduce fast food intake
• Control portion size
• Reduce time on the computer or tv

Crawford is working in policy development to reduce obesity by trying to get high calorie snacks out of schools and advocating for zoning policies on fast food restaurants near schools. Following Crawford's obesity maps were the equally startling comments on the toxicity of sugar by Dr. Robert Lustig.

Big Sugar's Nemesis

Robert Lustig’s bracing argument in a recent New York Times magazine article on the dangers of sugar convinced me to quit my own habit. Something about his explanation of the biochemistry of sugar resonates. He explains how sugar can be toxic because of the way it breaks down and overwhelms your liver. Lustig blames sugar for the skyrocketing obesity rates in the U.S. "A type of sugar called fructose is the cause of the current epidemic," says Lustig. “Our entire food supply has been adulterated with the addition of fructose for palatability and removal of fiber for shelf life." Lustig explains how so-called healthy snacks, like low fat yogurt, can be full of sugar. According to Lustig, sugar is even added to hamburger buns and hamburger meat. He ran through several decades of food policy to explain why sugar has become an additive but the main point Lustig makes is that there has been a lot of attention on fat but fat consumption has gone down in the U.S. while our sugar and refined carbohydrate intake has gone up.

Eat Your Fruit Don’t Drink It

Even if you skip the Milky Way and go for something healthier like an orange, you still have to watch out. That orange is much healthier if you don’t juice it. Says Lustig, “A good part of the fruit is fiber but when you juice a fruit you destroy the insoluble fiber. You need it to limit the rate of carbohydrate and fat absorption into the blood stream which gives your liver a chance to catch up. Fruit is good. Juice is bad and smoothies suck.”

Sugar has been linked to not only obesity but other chronic health problems like heart disease, cancer and memory loss. Lustig says the obesity epidemic is responsible for a 65-billion dollar decrease in work productivity and a 50-percent increase in health insurance premiums. Lustig left the audience with a question to ponder: “Can our toxic environment be changed without government or societal intervention especially when there are addictive substances involved? For Lustig the answer may be regulating sugar just like we do with alcohol and cigarettes.

View the video of the entire class:

The 13 week course, which is funded by the Chez Panisse Foundation in collaboration with West Oakland’s People’s Grocery, makes tickets available each Wednesday to the public.

Nikki Henderson. Photo: People's Grocery

A new class at UC Berkeley is getting a lot of buzz. Edible Education: The Rise and Future of the Food Movement is all about food politics. In an unusual step, Cal is opening up the 13-week course to the general public. Well, the class was open to all. Three hundred free tickets for the first night were snatched up in less than fifteen minutes. Student enrollment filled up just as fast. Edible Education is being organized, and funded, by Alice Water’s Chez Pannise Foundation. Nikki Henderson, the executive director of People’s Grocery in Oakland, along with author and U.C. Berkeley journalism professor Michael Pollan, will co-teach the semester course.

Michael Pollan. Photo: Alia Malley

Think of the sustainable food movement as a dinner party. Edible Education will take a look at the guest list and topics of conversation. How do the slow food movement and food justice fit together? What does corporate food look like? The class will feature immigrant farm workers telling their own stories. Each week will include a guest lecturer.

Here’s the line-up:
• 8/30: The Global Food Movement, Founder Carlo Petrini with Corby Kummer
• 9/6: Building a Successful Movement, Peter Sellars
• 9/13: The Politics of Food, Marion Nestle, Ph.D., M.P.H.
• 9/20: Perspectives on Race, Place & Food, Alegria De La Cruz, Rebecca Flournoy, Yvonne Yen Liu
• 9/27: Nutrition, Health and Diet Related Disease, Patricia Crawford & Robert Lustig
• 10/4: Corporations & the Food Movement, Jack Sinclair, Jib Ellison, Michael Pollan
• 10/11: School Lunch and Edible Schoolyards, Ann Cooper
• 10/18: Global Economies of Food: GMOs, and Feeding the World, Raj Patel
• 10/25: Agriculture and Social Justice, Eric Schlosser, Greg Asbed & Lucas Benitez
• 11/1: What is an Edible Education? Alice Waters
• 11/8: Food and the Environment, Frances Moore Lappé & Gidon Eshel
• 11/22: Van Jones
• 11/29: Place Based Models of Change, Brahm Ahmadi, Hank Herrera

The class is every Tuesday from August 30th through November 29th, 6-7:30pm (doors open at 5:30pm) at the Wheeler Auditorium at UC Berkeley.

Tickets will be available, free of charge, six days before each class.

Bay Area Bites will provide coverage of the course.

Related Articles:
Nikki Henderson: On the frontlines of edible education by Sarah Henry (Berkeleyside)

Oprah did a pretty big thing for the vegan community last week. She had a Vegan Challenge where she and 378 Harpo staffers went vegan for a week, followed by a show on veganism, American eating habits, factory farming, and industrial agriculture. Guests Kathy Freston, Michael Pollan, and Lisa Ling joined. There have been mixed emotions about the show: Was it sugar-coated? Should Michael Pollan have even been there? Did the footage of a Cargill slaughterhouse correctly represent the true horror of animal agriculture (Hint: No. But a new and concise video called Farm to Fridge by Mercy for Animals does. So does Earthlings.)? There was a sense of tip-toeing around the issues, which I’m sure was at least in part due to the infamous Texas Cattlemen vs. Oprah Winfrey and Howard Lyman lawsuit of 1998. Lisa Ling mentioned that they were not allowed to shoot everything at the slaughterhouse, and Oprah even says in one segment “Let’s try not to get sued.”

Oprah Goes Vegan

That’s not to say that good things didn’t come out of the show. One thing most vegans can probably agree upon is that it was huge exposure for the vegan lifestyle. Ten—hell, five—years ago, this wouldn’t have happened. Ellen is awesome, Martha has been great—but really, you can’t get bigger than Oprah in terms of reaching an audience. She opened a dialogue which few media personalities have dared to open.

Not only did Oprah convince her staff to go vegan with her (who collectively lost 444 pounds and gained 84 pounds), but she also instituted Meatless Mondays at the Harpo café and created a Vegan Starter Kit that now lives on her website. It features a grocery list, a 3-week meal plan, a list of simple substitutions, a vegan FAQ, and some Vegan 101 from Kathy Freston (whose new book, The Veganist, was the number one best-selling book on Amazon after the show aired).

Kathy Freston on Being a Veganist

While the kit is pretty good for basic info, it does include a lot of processed foods, and TONS of Kashi (who seems to be a sponsor, owned by Kellogg Company). PETA has had a Vegetarian/Vegan Starter Kit on their site for years. Believe it or not, not all vegans agree with all of PETA’s tactics, but for all the controversial things they’ve done, they’ve also done a lot of good. One of those good things is their kit. It’s interactive and approachable, with traveler tips, recipes, and a shopping guide of what’s vegan at your regular, everyday supermarket (note: They are not all healthy—just vegan!). The shopping list is very handy for vegans just starting out or living in areas that are not vegan-friendly.

I referenced kits like these when I first became vegan, but as the years have gone by, I’ve grown a lot in my knowledge of what makes my life easier, healthier, and tastier and I’ve naturally moved beyond the basics. With the help of blogs, cookbooks, videos, and yes, even celebrities, I’ve compiled, not only a great pantry and fridge, but also a strong library of resources. What better way to append the efforts of Oprah’s starter kit and online “resource center,” than to add what I know? New and exciting vegan information, products and places pop up everyday, so please feel free to comment and add resources that should be included. For those either committed to or just flirting with the idea of going vegan, I hope that this list proves useful.

In My Vegan Pantry/Fridge:
These are not your standard tofu/veggie dog/beans suggestions that most beginner vegan guides list. But they are essential for me and for most vegans I know. There is a whole world beyond what most people consider "typical vegan ingredients."

1. Cashews: For nut cheeses, milks, sour cream, cream cheese, pumpkin pies, cream soups, the list goes on...
2. Nutritional Yeast: To create cheesy sauces, add savory flavors, and as an alternative to parmesan. It's also a source of B-12.
3. So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer: For coffee and to add something creamier to dessert recipes than your standard soy/coconut/hemp/almond/rice milk.
4. Seitenbacher Vegetable Broth and Seasoning: It doesn't have crap for ingredients and adds tons of savory flavor to sauces and broths. You can get it at Whole Foods.
5. Wine: Get a vegan variety and use to deglaze pans, pump up sauces, or add more flavor to veggies.
6. EatPastry cookies: I always have tubs of this dough in the fridge to eat raw (you can do that when it's vegan!) or baked. The gluten-free variety is amazing.
7. Coconut Oil: For frosting. Extra virgin if you don't mind the scent or prefer something unrefined. Otherwise you can get unscented.
8. Ener-G Egg Replacer, flax seeds, and/or applesauce: All can be used as egg replacements in baked goods.
9. Vegenaise: As good as non-vegan mayo. Stay away from Nayonaise.
10. Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread: A great butter replacement for cooking, baking, and just on toast. I prefer the soy-free variety.

Best Local Places to Shop for Unique and Standard Vegan Groceries:
Rainbow Grocery (San Francisco)
Berkeley Bowl Marketplace (Berkeley)
Whole Foods (Everywhere)
Farmer Joe's Marketplace (Oakland)
The Food Mill (Oakland)
New Leaf Community Markets (Santa Cruz area)
Veg Food Finder for Stores in the Bay Area

Vegan videos and cooking shows (because Food Network STILL refuses to produce a vegetarian cooking show):
Miyoko’s Kitchen (with Bay Area native and vegan cheese aficionado, Miyoko Schinner)
The Post Punk Kitchen with Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

Vegan Blogs/Websites:
The Kind Life: Alicia Silverstone’s blog is just as approachable, smart, and, well, kind, as her book, The Kind Diet.
The Spunky Coconut: A cooking blog that often features gluten-free, casein-free, and sugar-free vegan recipes.
Vegan Good Things
Crazy Sexy Life
My Face is on Fire
What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyways?
I Eat Trees
Vegan.org
Vegan.com: Check out their Ultimate Vegan Guide.
VegWeb : They have over 13,000 recipes and anyone can submit one!

Bay Area Vegan Resources:
vegansaurus
The San Francisco Vegetarian Society
SF Vegan Drinks
VegNews
Bay Area Vegetarians: Veg Food Finder
The Vegan Restaurant Guide to San Francisco & The Bay Area (pdf) by Friends of Animals

Cookbooks (Oh my goodness, there are SO many, but here’s a good variety):
Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero
The Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine by Dynise Balcavage
The Gluten-Free Vegan: 150 Delicious Gluten-Free, Animal-Free Recipes by Susan O'Brien
Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine by Bryant Terry
The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat by Tal Ronnen

For Parents:
Vegan Lunchbox
Vegan Dad
That's Why We Don't Eat Animals: A Book About Vegans, Vegetarians, and All Living Things (children’s book)

Meet the Animals:
Farm Sanctuary in Orland, CA
Animal Place Sanctuary in Grass Valley, CA near Vacaville

iPhone apps:
VegOut (powered by the HappyCow Compassionate Eating Guide)
VegWeb Recipe Finder
Vegan is Easy (based on Barnivore’s database)
Animal Free

Worth the Splurge:
Vitamix
It’s not just for smoothies. It’s a must for nut-based cheeses, sour cream and milks, as well as homemade vegan ice cream, pureed soups, and sauces. This is seriously the best purchase I have made in years and it has opened up doors for me in my culinary adventures at home.

Who guards the culinary heritage of a culture? Where does authenticity reside, and who decides what it is? Can traditional foods change with the times, and if they do, are they still traditional? Can handmade salami made from grass-fed beef still call up memories of Grandma's Saturday-morning scrambled eggs and salami? In this age of massive multinational conglomerates, does brand loyalty mean anything anymore?

What's better-- the Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray tonic in the bottle you remember Grandpa drinking, now with high-fructose corn syrup included, or homemade celery soda infused with real celery seed, with less sugar and no packaging? How much do we pay-- in food miles, in feedlots, in calories-- for nostalgia?

All these questions, and more, were in the air at the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay in early February, as an overflow crowd squeezed into the main auditorium for a panel discussion on "Referendum on The Deli Menu" (Can the Jewish Deli be sustainable?) sponsored by Saul's. Saul's, for those of you born without cravings for matzoh ball soup, is Berkeley's big, busy, much-loved Jewish deli. But ever since Karen Adelman and her husband Peter Levitt bought the deli in 1995, they've had what they call "a stealthy, secret mission" operating alongside their dedication to borscht and blintzes, corned beef and chicken in a pot. Their secret? A desire to pull the deli in line with contemporary attitudes about food and consumption, rather than letting it ossify like gefilte fish left too long in the fridge.

To this end, towering sandwiches were slimmed down, no longer stacked with jaw-defying stacks of meat. Meats became sustainably ranched, grass-fed when possible. Vegetables started to come from local farms. Corn-syruped drinks were out; housemade sodas were in. Most recently, salami was dropped from the menu; Hebrew National, the only widely available brand of all-beef salami, is now owned by giant Con Agra.

This being Berkeley, you'd think pasture-raised chicken soup would earn nothing but mazel tovs. But not everyone, it seemed, wanted consciousness-raising alongside their blintzes and brisket. There was pushback from some customers, and an overall question: How much could a deli change and still be a deli?

Hence the referendum, featuring Karen and Paul in conversation with Saul's regular and local superstar Michael Pollan; green-business maven Gil Friend, City Slickers Farms founder (and self-described "pastrami addict" Willow Rosenthal, the whole moderated by Evan Kleinman, host of KRCW's Good Food.

Having heard the phrase "2 Jews, 3 opinions" tossed around by my opinionated, argue-for-the-sake-of-it relatives all my life, I was ready for some Talmudic-level conflict, some heated words exchanged in the interest of radical change vs. How Bubbe Did It.

Alas, though, everyone on the panel agreed on nearly everything. Nostalgia is no excuse for a lack of conscience; if you care about eating locally, organically, sustainably and/or humanely at home, why should a Jewish deli give you a free pass to wallow in feedlot beef or syrupy soda?

Said Peter, "We started with not wanting to sell meat we wouldn't eat. We want to drag the deli out of the museum, let it breathe with the seasons for a change." Right now, his challenge is corned beef: the grass-fed beef from local Marin Sun Farms, delicious as it is, isn't holding up to the 2- to 3-week brining process. It's been coming out dry and crumbly, probably due to being more muscled and less fatty that typical feedlot beef.

And then there's the menu problem: Saul's, like most delis, has a huge menu. There's the everyday menu, an equally long, but more international, seasonally-inspired specials menu, and then the "secret" menu of the more hard-core, Old World items--flanken, kishkes, things made with schmaltz and braised in gravy. Peter would like to see the menu shortened and made more manageable (and cost-effective); if that means no cold beet borscht in winter, so be it.

Says Karen, "I think we should be leading, not just reacting. We're hungry for meaning and community, along with comfort food. We need to connect with our future as well as our past. I promise, no one will leave hungry!"

Of course, even in Berkeley, there's room to toe more than one party line. If this were New York City, or Los Angeles, where deli culture, while battered, is still alive, one deli's decision to nix the salami would hardly generate SRO crowds at the 92nd St Y. But delis are few in the Bay Area, and so Saul's clientele takes any changes personally . But if there are Hebrew National fans and lox diehards out there, they're keeping quiet; the crowd claps and nods along with just about everything Pollan, Rosenthal, and Friend present, even recoiling a little in genteel horror at brightly colored slides of jaw-defying pastrami sandwiches teetering higher than Lady Gaga's heels. Those massive sandwiches, long the symbol of post-war abundance, a meaty slap in the face to immigrant privation, are no longer sustainable; as Peter points out, there's no way to provide that much meat, particularly if it's good, humanely raised meat, at a price regular customers can bear. "Those huge sandwiches are killing the deli. You can't make money selling 12 oz of meat for $10 or $15. At a steakhouse, you'd pay $30 or $40 for that much meat, and you'd buy a bottle of wine." Instead, Karen and Peter want to offer their customers alternatives that taste good, with a little patient explanation to help it along. Already, the menu emphasizes smoked trout (farmed) over overfished salmon, and more and more Mediterranean inspired salads and vegetable dishes to go along with the potato pancakes and cheesecake.

Pollan, for one, sees the democratization of the food movement as a very good thing. "Getting sustainable food into delis, taquerias, cheaper places, that's great because it makes it more accessible to everyone." Agrees Friend, "We vote with our dollars every day."

If the deli is our secular synagogue, as Pollan muses, clearly this one is reform, maybe even reconstructionist. So fizz up an egg cream or raise a glass of borscht, and toast the new deli.

VIDEO CLIP OF EVENT:

Photos provided by Saul's

Related Posts:
Saul's got SOLE: The Jewish deli in Berkeley evolves
by Marc R. aka Mental Masala at The Ethicurean

Referendum on the Deli Menu at Saul's Restaurant and Delicatessen: What is Tradition?
by Vanessa Barrington at Civil Eats

Note: Don't read this if you work for CPS or find my other posts disgusting or offensive. Move along now. I mean it.

Self-basting Henry preps for grilling

Tough times call for tough decisions. The California unemployment rate now stands at over 12 percent, and I've been underemployed since April. My cup of beans and rice runneth under, so I'm taking a cue from all those folks who have told me Henry is so cute they could just eat him. In short, I have a modest proposal.

Among carnivores and vegetarians alike, the mere sight of juicy baby leg -- peeking out from the gap between the hem of Gymboree overalls and the top of the Robeez soft sole -- is enough to trigger salivation of Pavlovian proportions. Breastfed Henry weighs about 23 pounds now, and I figure that whether stewed, roasted, baked or even boiled, in a fricassee or a ragout, he'd make a most delicious and nourishing wholesome food. In fact, I'm fairly certain I could get several meals out of him, not counting soup stock.

Babies are high in fat and must therefore be quite tasty. Think about it: the ratio of fat to muscle in babies, especially before they start walking, likely exceeds that of ducks, and we all know ducks are scrumptious. Ergo, babies must be even more scrumptious.

There's also the convenience factor: babies make great, quick and easy weeknight suppers. Though this recipe suggests roasting, I'm a crock pot fan myself. Throw the baby in the crock pot in the morning with some carrots, celery, bay leaf, and water, and presto, by the time you get home from work, dinner's ready.

But let's put aside advantages of taste and convenience for a moment and focus on the most important thing: the planet. Eating my baby is the only environmentally responsible way in which I can address my pantry problem. If you too are a mom, a foodie, and a tree hugger, you can't afford NOT to eat your baby.

First of all, when it comes to eating local, you can't get much more local than your child's nursery (or, for those of you without children, the family-based child care center around the corner). I can feel good knowing that a meal I prepare from my baby has virtually no carbon footprint: I have hauled him myself with a Baby Bjorn for nearly 11 months now, so the only energy expended has been courtesy of my own caloric intake.

Secondly, babies are free-range and cage-free (especially babies that co-sleep). I don't have to worry that my meal never saw the light of day or felt green grass under its feet. I've taken my baby to the park at least three times a week since he was born. One could also argue that he's grass fed, as he just ate grass while crawling toward the swings in Willard Park on Sunday. When you eat your own baby, you can rest assured knowing exactly what he ate and when, down to his last spoonful of organic squash from the farmer's market that you steamed and pureed yourself. If you're really careful about your baby's diet, you can even rest assured that he, and therefore you, isn't tainted by that heinous hydra of the industrial food complex: corn.

Babies are also available all year round, so say bye bye to what I call "out-of-season guilt," the kind that garnishes lamb in November and tomatoes in January.

It's actually hard to imagine a more sustainable food than baby, particularly breast-fed baby. If you eat only organic, local food, and your baby eats only breast milk and organic, local food, wears organic clothes (Think of it! No plastic grocery bags!) and G-diapers, as soon as you've thrown that kid in the crockpot, you've become a model sustainable eater. What other food can you create with your own body and feed with your own body? In food terms, it's a perfect circle.

Save the planet: eat your baby.

End this barbecue season with a bang.

** Disclaimer: No babies were actually barbecued during the photoshoot for this post thanks to an Eye Candy Photoshop filter. Don't try this at home...or anywhere else.

Photos and Photoshop by Wendy Goodfriend

Last month, Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez, an outspoken leader on food safety and animal rights, hosted a special screening of the documentary, FOOD, INC. for a roomful of legislators in Sacramento. Thanks to a friend who works at the capitol, I was able to sneak in. It'd been a very long time since I've been surrounded by that many people wearing suits, and discussing public policy is not one of my favorite ways to make small talk (SBX2 3 or SB 135, anyone?). But seeing this important film with a roomful of legislators who were excited about sustainable food and who could actually institute change was one of the most powerful experiences I've had in a movie theatre.

You will soon be hearing a lot about FOOD, INC., a documentary directed by Robert Kenner, winner of both a Peabody and an Emmy for his previous film, Two Days in October. Opening in San Francisco on June 12, this latest release by Magnolia Pictures tackles the unenviable job of educating consumers about the agricultural industry. It's being called the Inconvenient Truth of the food world, and the quality of its production certainly compares well. Super-saturated colors, animation, engaging graphics, a sprinkling of humor to lighten its distillation of immense amounts of information, and a line-up of articulate, passionate speakers all meld into a highly viewable documentary.

Eric Schlosser, co-producer, and Michael Pollan, both ground the film with their journalistic approach. The soundtrack, with its ominous rumbling beneath mass production and the folksy guitar accompanying underdogs, manages to reveal the film's underlying stance, but FOOD, INC. strives admirably to present multiple views. Of course, that's a challenge when corporations refuse to take part in the conversation. (Monsanto, Tyson and many others declined to appear in the film.) The film offers a surprisingly evenhanded treatment of Walmart executives accompanied by Gary Hirshberg, CEO of Stonyfield Farm. Even more, rock stars of the sustainable food world, such as self-proclaimed grass farmer, Joel Salatin, inadvertently reveal the gray areas of their own much praised business models. After all, how sustainable are loyal customers who drive 400 miles to buy happy, healthy meat?

As someone who has visited feeding lots and blood-slicked slaughterhouses, once worked a very long day in a chicken processing facility, and still wrestles with her decision to continue eating meat, I attended the screening expecting another sermon for the converted. When one of the press contacts reminded me to use all caps whenever I referred to the title of film, I concentrated very hard not to roll my eyes. Yet I there I sat later, stunned by what I was learning.

There's Barbara Kowalcyk, a lifelong Republican who dedicated her life to changing food safety standards after her son died from eating a hamburger contaminated with E. coli and who now refuses to reveal what she eats for fear of being sued by the meat industry. (She doesn't have as much money for a legal team as Oprah does.) There's the fleet of Monsanto "private investigators" who knock on uncooperative farmers' doors to threaten, ever so politely and quietly, to put them out of business forever. There's the seed cleaner ruined for providing non-GMO seeds to his neighbors...and the deals struck by employers of undocumented workers with the border police…and the $18,000 that an average chicken farmer makes for a year of hard work...

But there's also the woman willing to lose her contract with Tyson in order to shed light on an oppressive industry, the farmers banding together, and the scores of other individuals in the film who are working to make a difference in ways both huge and small. It'd be an overstatement to say FOOD, INC. is optimistic, but it does end with some modest suggestions for what each viewer can do to help move us toward a safe, sustainable system. More importantly, its wider release will, like the Obamas' garden, help push the topic to center stage for the public and policymakers alike.

Anyone who needs a good, clear primer on the food industry and the state of agriculture in the U.S should see this documentary. If you're already well versed or long converted, it's an important film to see and discuss with others -- your mom who is addicted to the big box stores, your friends who aren’t convinced that local or organic is worth the extra effort, or your children who have a full life of choices ahead.

For as the film reminds us repeatedly, we cast our vote every time we eat.

Listen Live to Michael Pollan on KQED 88.5FM Wed, Apr 29, 2009 -- 10:00 AM.

Listen to the audio archive of Michael Pollan on KQED's Forum. (archive posts 4/29 late eve)

Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan joins KQED Forum to talk food politics. Find out how he views President Obama's first 100 days in office, and how the food industry is reacting to calls for simpler ingredients. Plus, Pollan wants to know, what food rules do you live by? Michael Pollan's most recent book is "In Defense of Food: an Eater's Manifesto."

Host: Michael Krasny

Guest: Michael Pollan, journalism professor at UC Berkeley and author of books including "In Defense of Food" and "The Omnivore's Dilemma"

Explore and buy Michael Pollan's books on amazon.com
Follow Michael Pollan on Twitter @michaelpollan
Michael Pollan's website: www.michaelpollan.com
Michael Pollan's Salon article Obama's 100-day report card

Walking through the Ferry Building recently, I couldn't pass up locally foraged chanterelle mushrooms from Far West Fungi. Chanterelles first become available to us in the fall, being foraged from the Pacific Northwest. They arrive with the first rains, and they begin to grow closer to San Francisco as we get into wintertime and cooler, rainier weather. Because chanterelles grow as the result of a symbiotic relationship between fungus and host plant (usually a tree), they are always found in the wild and don't grow outside of a forest environment.

In his book The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan details foraging for chanterelle mushrooms with a mushroom hunter -- one of several area people who forage for these delicious mushrooms in nearby forests and then bring them to San Francisco to sell to restaurants and stores.

I jump at the chance to buy chanterelle mushrooms because I love their meaty texture and delicious flavor. It's been said that they have an apricot scent, and I think that the flavor is deliciously strong without being overwhelming. They don't tend to cook down as much as say, button mushrooms, so the yield per person is better.

Keep an eye out for chanterelles on local area menus. I usually find them at the local gourmet pizzerias as a pizza topping, and SPQR regularly has them on their menu sauteed with spinach.

When cooking at home, I usually make very basic dishes that show off the chanterelle flavor. Tonight, I'm thinking of using mine in a very basic risotto. In the past, I've sauteed them simply with butter and topped with a poached egg. I also like them tossed with a whole grain such as farro or brown rice.

Chanterelles have a hefty price tag -- I purchased a meager amount at Far West Fungi for $20 per pound. But they are meaty enough and substantial enough to be a main ingredient in place of meat, which is how I justify the cost.

Currently, the chanterelles available at Far West Fungi and local farmers markets are being foraged from all around the Bay Area: Sonoma, Marin, and Alameda counties. We can expect to see chanterelle mushrooms for at least a few more weeks, and if it rains then possibly another month or two.

Chanterelles on Bay Area Bites:
Hunter gatherer: Chanterelles in Big Sur

Chanterelle mushroom recipes on the blogs:
Truffled Chanterelle, Celery Root and Potato Gratin
Warm Chanterelle and Pancetta Salad
Farro with Chanterelles, Apples, Apples and Apples

Listen to Slow Food Nation on KQED's Forum.

Slow Food Nation
This Labor Day weekend San Francisco will host Slow Food Nation -- a four day gathering to promote sustainable and healthy food. We talk with organizers and experts in the slow food movement, exploring the connection between our plates and the planet.

Host: Michael Krasny

Guests:
• Anya Fernald, executive director of Slow Food Nation
• Dr. Vandana Shiva, author of "Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature" and founder and director of Navdanya, an organization supporting conservation, renewal and rejuvenation of biodiversity
• Eric Schlosser, award-winning journalist, author of "Fast Food Nation" and a correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly
• Michael Pollan, professor of journalism at UC Berkeley and author of "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto"

Read Amy Sherman's Event post about Slow Food Nation.

Two weeks ago, I mentioned the rising cost of food around the world. It's been a hot topic lately, and reports are becoming more grim. Costs are starting to hit home in our supermarkets, and warehouse retail chains are even beginning to restrict volume (20 pound) rice sales due to supply issues.

Most sustainable food activists believe that the price of food does not reflect its true price, and that subsidies for crops like corn and soy create artificial prices that keep the price of junk foods and processed foods artificially low. This means unsubsidized, whole foods like farmers market products are more expensive but that they are actually the real price of food.

In an article in the New York Times recently called "Some Good News on Food Prices," Michael Pollan and Alice Waters made the argument that rising food prices will equalize the playing field that is our food system -- organic, local, pasture-raised foods will become feasible options when all food prices are high. "Higher food prices level the playing field for sustainble food that doesn't rely on fossil fuels," said Pollan in the article.

As most know, I am an active voice for voting with your fork and making conscious decisions about where your food dollars go.

However, I have trouble with this argument. And I especially have trouble with Waters' claim that food budgeting in this current climate is simply a matter of reprioritizing:

"It is simply a matter of quality versus quantity and encouraging healthier, more satisfying choices. 'Make a sacrifice on the cellphone or the third pair of Nike shoes,' she said."

While many of us are privileged to be able to make that budget decision or reprioritize, we, in the sustainable food movement, are only alienating those who cannot make those choices with statements such as Waters'. Many are having to make very difficult decisions about their food budgets at the moment, and now may not be the time to make them feel guilty about the decisions that they are facing.

I'm not the only one who was rankled by this article. Tom Philpott, in an article at Grist, called the Pollan and Waters argument an oversimplification.

"I have a hard time imagining people who are struggling to put food on the table rambling off to the farmers' market on Saturday to fill cloth bags with the sort of fresh, local, organic produce so beloved by Pollan and Waters (and me). Indeed, higher food prices are likely to send many time- and cash-strapped people in quite the opposite direction."

I agree with Philpott. Now is the time for sustainable food activists to make sure that there is great access to farmers market, great promotion of CSA's, and to continue to talk about sustainably sourcing our food. But it's not the time to bask in the fact that our nation's food prices are reaching crisis levels.