April 2007

GREETINGS

We ended up doing a mellow Meat-Out tabling at Alverno College; but while there were not a huge number of people coming by, I thought that the interactions and conversations that we had with the people we did talk to were extremely positive all around. Next year we should do this again – we’ll just make sure we don’t plan it for midterm week.

We did not end up connecting with the Urban Ecology Center in time to do a Meat-Out event there this year, but we will be able to be part of their Earth Day activities. Given the new inforation that I reported on last month about the ecological impact of livestock-raising, it makes all kinds of sense to make a push in that direction. Even those of us who are only vegetarian out of compassion for animals can agree that the animals don’t care why they’re not being cruelly raised and eaten, so long as they’re not.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“Dietary components [in so-called ‘functional foods’] are not ‘magic bullets,’ but may promote better health when included as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle [emphasis added]. Manufactured functional foods are not a substitute for a well-balanced diet, which is the cornerstone of good nutrition.”

M.A.R.V. ACTIVITIES

Sunday, April 1, 5 PM, regular potluck at the Friends’ Meeting House, 3224 N. Gordon Pl. in Riverwest (from Humboldt Blvd., to east on Auer a few short blocks to the parking lot). Theme is wrapped food (sushi, rollups, crepes, etc.) Bring something wrapped or something else.

The next regular potluck will be on May 6.

Apr. 15, 5 PM, talk by Dr. Gregor, UWM Student Union.

Other veg-friendly potlucks

There will not be a macrobiotic potluck in April.

The Urban Ecology Center’s vegetarian potluck will be on Thursday, Apr. 19, 6:30-8 PM, at 1500 E. Park Pl.; bring plate and fork as well as your meatless dish. Phone (414) 964-8505.

NEWS

There were only a few items of Bad Animal Food news this month. One involved the death in Japan of a rare eagle from bird flu. Another involved the finding that antibiotic resistance in poultry, which is due to continual feeding of antibiotics to birds in “factory farms,” is now showing up even in poultry raised free-range with no antibiotics. The thought is that they might have acquired it from factory-farmed hens that laid the eggs which grew into these birds. And then there was an odd note from a report that the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease has risen 10% in the past five years. The question is, is this because Alzheimer’s is re-related to the growing chemical loads of our industrial age, or does it reflect an increase of misdiagnosed nvCJD/mad cow disease?

In another area of food concerns, the federal government has offered nonbinding guidelines to the fresh-food industry (which brought us e. coli in packaged spinach and lettuce), in an effort to make our food supply safer. Unfortunately (but predictably), the guidelines were all about following careful sanitary procedures, rather than about trying to keep animal waste off the growing greens in the first place.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has once again determined that Chinese restaurant food is likely to have way too much fat and sodium; avoiding the deep-fried items and going easy on the sauces will help control the situation. A different news item reported on rice, and the finding that rice from the U.S. deep south is likely to have too much arsenic in it, probably from being grown on former cotton fields where arsenic was applied as a pesticide. Eating California –grown rice is safe.

The Outpost Exchange ran an article on “functional foods” – that is, the practice of adding vitamins, minerals, or herbs to a food that does not usually have much of that nutrient, in order to sell it as having health benefits. In some cases, functional foods just involve making new claims for what certain foods always had, such as yogurt’s probiotics that can help digestion, or whole grains’ fiber, or the antioxidents in red wine and green tea. In other cases, calcium is added to orange juice, or vitamins to water. Problems involve the fact that there is no legal definition for “functional food,” so manufacturers can claim whatever they like; another related problem is that the amount of an added nutrient can vary wildly. And then there’s the question of whether these additions would actually work to improve health or not. The conclusion was that they probably don’t hurt – but that these items are not a good substitute for an actual good diet.

On another note, there is controversy over California’s granting permission for two mega-dairies to be built; environmentalists and community activists have already filed protests. And regarding a simpler (and vegan) liquid, the Organic Consumers Association reports on continuing concerns about bottled water: it is now clear that it is not necessarily cleaner than tap water; plastic water bottles can leach plastic into the water they hold, while consuming over 47 million gallons of oil (plus gasoline for shipping); and plastic water bottles are not biodegradable, yet are often not recycled. The solution is to buy a water filter and a non-plastic water container to carry about with you.

In Good Food news, the Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel ran an article on how pleasant and easy it is to go meatless, citing beans, nuts, and exciting things to do with tofu as well as (inevitably in Wisconsin) dairy and eggs. E magazine had an article about protecting the prostate, and all its dietary advice was vegan: tomato sauce, watermelon, tofu, cruciferous vegetables, green tea and pomegranate juice were named as the kinds of foods that help protect against prostate cancer, while processed meats and high-fat dairy were named as foods to avoid. And a Delicious Living article discussed what to eat for heart health: fruits, vegetables, nuts, olive oil, garlic, green tea and chocolate, (and fish for the omega-3 fatty acids, so eat your dark green leafy vegetables and ground flax seeds or flax seed oil instead).

A NY Times Science and Health section item reassured readers that the fat in nuts is generally healthy and beneficial, and does not, as rumored, turn into trans-fats when roasted. On a different note, a Prevention article mentioned that red wines from southwest France and central Sardinia have more protective polyphenols than from other places (if that’s an issue for you…). Rhubarb was mentioned as a good source of vitamin A, while onions were named in another item as lowering the risk of several cancers, and Swiss chard was discussed as a dark leafy green worth eating for its vitamin K, calcium, lutein, and so on. Another article pointed out that whole grain pasta is not the same junk food as white flour pasta, but is in fact a whole grain food like any other, and similarly packed with fiber, folate, vitamin E, magnesium, potassium, selenium, lignans, and phenols. One may need to try several brands in order to find one you like, but there are some good ones out there now, so it’s definitely worth the hunt. Another article in this month’s Prevention reviewed the newest discoveries of exceptionally nutritious foods. Pomegranates were named for their very high antioxident levels and possibilities of fighting Alzheimer’s disease and protecting arteries. Kiwifruit, with high levels of vitamin E and eye-protecting lutein, may help protect against free radical damage. Barley’s fiber seems to help control bad cholesterol and decrease blood sugar and insulin levels. Cranberries may not only fight cancer and urinary tract infections, but may also protect against e. coli infections and help prevent strokes. Broccoli sprouts are even more powerful than regular broccoli, and can fight cancer and lower cholesterol. And kefir, with its higher probiotic level than yogurt, may help reduce food allergies and battle breast cancer.

THE VEGGIE TABLE

Chuck and I don’t go down to Chicago very often, but we did so last month, and stopped on the way home for lunch at Blind Faith Café in Evanston. I am therefore in a position to report that this eatery is just as good as I remember it from several years ago, and deserves another mention.

Blind Faith Café is completely vegetarian, with many macrobiotic and vegan dishes. They serve breakfast (many dishes offer a choice of scrambled eggs or scrambled tofu), as well as a full array of lunch and dinner items, including starters, soups, salads, entrees, small dishes and sides, plus juice, water, tea, coffee, sodas, and smoothies, and wine and beer.

Chuck chose the Mongolian Stir-Fry entrée (seitan, broccoli, red pepper, and scallions in a very spicy-hot mongolian sauce over brown rice), while I had the Macrobiotic plate (brown rice with shiitake gravy, butternut squash, steamed kale, sea vegetable salad, bean of the day, and miso soup). Serving sizes were fairly huge, but unfortunately every item was so delicious that we both ate it all, and paid with stomach-aches; if we’d had any sense we would have taken home part of our meals for the next day’s lunches. But it was so good… I rarely overeat that way, which does suggest that this Café’s food is extraordinary.

CONNECTIONS

Q: How can you arrange to get a surprise box every week from June through Autumn, full of whatever fresh, local, organic produce is ripe in Wisconsin farmers’ fields right then?

A: Subscribe to a Consumer Supported Agriculture farm.

Yes, it’s CSA time again. While returning subscribers have mostly already signed up with the farm of their choice, there is still room at the dozen farms listed below for new (or late) subscriptions. For those who don’t know about them, CSAs are farms which offer nonfarmers the chance to buy a share of the harvest at the beginning of the season. Once production begins, you get a box at a pick-up site reasonably convenient to your home, usually once a week, containing your share of whatever got harvested that week. If it’s a bad agricultural year, or a bad year for one crop or another, you get less, or less of that crop, while if it’s a bumper year you get more. Subscribers thus share farming’s risks and rewards with the farmer, helping keep a local farmer in business while getting the freshest, most local food you could possibly find. You need to be willing to try whatever is in the box, but as a long-term CSA subscriber, I’ve really enjoyed the seasonality and variety of this way of eating – and despite the vagaries, we ended up buying a freezer to keep what we couldn’t eat right away.

Some CSAs offer eggs and/or poultry at extra cost tothose who want them; others do not.

CSAs listed in the March Outpost Exchange are:

Afterglow Farm, Martha Davis Kipcak, (414) 628-3456, mkipcak@wi.rr.com

Backyard Bounty, Laura Comerford, W4873 County Rd. U, Plymouth, WI 53073, (920) 892-4319, ljcomerford@hotmail.com

Full Harvest Farm, Chuck Frase and Terry Vlossak, 7112 County Rd. S, Hartford, WI 53027, (262) 673-6760, fullharvestfarm@yahoo.com

Future Fruit Farm (apples, pears, and fruit butters, Aug.-Jan.), Bob, Ellen, and Selena Lane, 5363 Knobs Rd., Ridgeway, WI 53582, (608) 924-1012, futurefruitfarm@hotmail.com

JenEhr Family Farm, Kay Jensen and Paul Ehrhardt, 6837 Elder Lane, Sun Prairie, WI 53590, (608) 825-9531, jenehr@aol.com

Nature Creek Farm, Dan Conine, 2684 County Rd D, Belgium, WI 53004, (920) 994-2365, dconine@dotnet.com

Pinehold Gardens, David Kozlowski and Sandra Raduenz, 1807 E. Elm Rd., Oak Creek, WI 53154, (414) 762-1301, info@pineholdgardens.com

Rare Earth Farm, Steve Young, 6806 Hwy KW, Belgium, WI, 53004, (262) 285-7070, rareearthfarm@verizon.net

Springdale Farm, Peter and Bernadette Seely, W7065 Silver Spring Lane, Plymouth, WI 53073, (920) 892-4856, springdalefarm@excel.net

Tipi Produce, Beth Kazmar and Steve Pincus, 14706 W. Ahara Rd. Evansville, WI 53536, (608) 882-6196, tipi@ticon.net