July 2007

 


GREETINGS

I sent in the application to rent the Wiloway building in Wauwatosa’s Underwood Park for our PreThanksgiving Feast, and have received their confirmation of our rental from 3PM to 9 PM on Sunday, November 18. So our venue and date for this year’s PTF is set. At this facility we will have to do set-up of the tables and chairs that they provide, so we will definitely need a good set-up crew as well as having to fill the usual other volunteer jobs that make this event a success. Start thinking about which job you’d most enjoy. And mark the date on your calendar now!

I have been trying to find and contact possible suppliers of compostable or otherwise earth-friendly disposable plates, with only limited success thus far. One of the possibilities I’ve heard of is that Wal-Mart may sell something of the sort, but (a) I’m not sure if I trust them, and (b) I don’t know if we want to give them our money even if they do have a suitable product. This is an issue on which we need feedback from our membership/ friends/ supporters. Please contact us with you opinions at a potluck, or by phoning Louise and Chuck at (414) 962-2703 or Jody and David at (414) 764-7262, or by emailing us at chuckgyver@ispwest.com. The only way we can be responsive to your wishes is if you tell us what they are!

Meanwhile, it is now, as I write, officially Summer, a time when even Wisconsinites can get plant foods that are fresh and local. A partial list of local farmers’ markets is included in this issue to help you access this aspect of the season. Enjoy!

M.A.R.V. ACTIVITIES

Sunday, July 1, 5 PM, regular potluck at the Friends’ Meeting House, 3224 N. Gordon Pl. in Riverwest (from Humboldt Blvd., go east on Auer a few short blocks to the parking lot). Topic will be no-added-fat dishes.

Subsequent regular potlucks will be on August 5, September 2, October 7, November 4, and December 2.

The PreThanksgiving Feast will be on Sunday, Nov. 18 this year.

Other veg-friendly potlucks

This month’s macrobiotic potluck will be on July 15 at Ron and Judy Strampe’s place in Muskego at 2 PM (note the time). The address is 15025 W. College Ave. Phone (414) 422-1370.

The Urban Ecology Center usually has a vegetarian potluck on the 3d Thursday of the month at 6:30 PM. Phone (414) 964-8505 in July to check on this. They ask you to bring plate and fork as well as your meatless dish.

Call the Cloughertys at (414) to find out about a raw foods potluck.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“Switching to a healthier plant-based diet enables us to eat the way we were designed to, restoring balance to our pH.”

-- Dr. Elson M. Haas, an integretive-medicine practitioner quoted in a June 2007 Delicious Living article on balancing the pH of one’s body through diet as a strategy for correcting all kinds of bodily ills.

NEWS

There are still problems with animal foods. Stores in 11 Western states were involved in a recall of almost 6 million pounds of ground beef due to possible e. coli contamination, following at least 14 illnesses that resulted from eating samples of the batch. But a recall of over 35,000 pounds of raw chicken sausage was only due to the failure of the label to list wheat, a potential allergen, as an ingredient.

Then there is the continuingly bizarre case of the dispute between a Kansas-based beef business and the Bush administration: Creekstone Farms wants to test all of its cows for mad cow disease, which is a higher standard than the USDA requires, so the Agriculture Department said they couldn’t. Creekstone sued and won in court the right to do the testing – and now the Bush administration says it will appeal the federal judge’s decision. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, bird flu continues to spread; it has now shown up in two more provinces of Vietnam.

There are also various continuing controversies and issues about foods other than meat. There have been serious questions regarding industrial-scale dairy operations, and after recent challenges by the Cornucopia Institute one such place in California has had its organic certification lifted, with further legal complaints in process. In a different area, the Kellogg company has announced plans to phase out advertising products to children unless they meet specific guidelines for calories, sugar, fat, and sodium (as items such as Froot Loops and Pop-Tarts fail to do). Threats of a lawsuit may have had something to do with this. An item in the New York Times Science section announced that there is not a significant nutritional difference between white and brown sugar. And an item in Delicious Living pointed out again that some plastics used for water bottles and baby bottles are now known to leach toxins after repeated use or exposure to high temperatures, and that metal is a better choice for containers that will be re-used.

Two different issues saw conflicting reports recently. On one hand, a new study failed to find the expected prostate cancer protection from lycopene, the carotenoid that makes tomatoes red; on the other hand, a Prevention article still advised eating orange rather than red tomatoes for the best cancer-beating lycopene boost. And a different study found that giving people folic acid supplements did not help prevent precancerous colon polyps, even though evidence does suggest that people with higher folic acid levels in their blood do have some such protection. (Hint: it may be that eating food which boosts folic acid levels may have a different effect than taking supplements: it’s happened before.) Meanwhile, plant foods are still good for you, in a potpourri of ways.

A new study of premenopausal women found that eating high amounts of vitamin D and calcium may help protect against some breast cancers. I get mine from D- and calcium-fortified soy milk and calcium-fortified orange juice and getting out in the sun. Other good beverages for women may be low amounts of alcohol, which could reduce heart attack risk as long as you don’t imbibe enough to get drunk. And soy nuts as a substitute for other protein seem to help lower older women’s blood pressure.

In news that pertains to everyone, not just women, chia seeds have turned out to be potently nutritious, providing omega-3 fatty acids as well as antioxidents, protein, and soluble fiber. Olive oil, especially virgin olive oil, has been in the news lately as offering high levels of cholesterol-controlling polyphenols, some of which may also have anti-inflammatory properties. The Canadian government (though not the US one) has officially stated that black tea does have medicinal effects. And eating leafy green vegetables and plenty of fruits (as well as not smoking and protecting eyes from sunlight) are still recommended for avoiding age-related macular degeneration.

Seasonal produce this month includes: cherries and strawberries (full of vitamin C and antioxidents); peas; and summer squashes (which should be eaten with the skin on, as this is where most of the nutrients lie).

I had a good laugh reading the June Delicious Living: an article discussed a controversial theory that being run-down and generally unhealthy-feeling can be cured by balancing the body’s pH – but it turned out to simply be recommending a plant-based diet, on the grounds that plant foods have an alkalizing effect on the body while meat, dairy, sugar, and white flour tend to acidify you. I don’t know whether pH has anything to do with it, but I surely would bet that eating a whole-foods, plant-based diet will improve anyone’s health.

A Prevention article advocated the nutritional benefits of eating salads even if it means buying bagged greens (as opposed to yours truly, who advocates buying fresh local greens and washing them yourself: Prevention’s concern about the germs in your kitchen is much less of an issue if you’re not preparing meat as well!). Another of Prevention’s articles, however, gave some great tips on grilling vegetables: use indirect heat for tender veggies like greens and endive, but roast beets and potatoes directly in the coals and then peel them; carrots and parsnips can be sliced, tossed with a little oil, and roasted on or in foil, while vegetables like zucchini, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes and so on can be caramelized over direct heat. There was also a nice simple recipe for corn on the cob: boil briefly, brush with olive oil and grill 10 minutes, rub each ear with a wedge of lime and dust with a little salt and hot pepper flakes – and who needs butter?

DIALOG

A new book by green entrepreneur Paul Hawken, Blessed Unrest, discusses the many ways in which millions of people are working to heal the world. At one point he discusses some principles of how life, and many of these movements, work; one of these is “solving for pattern,” meaning finding solutions that address many problems simultaneously instead of just treating one symptom.

I was delighted to be given a term that describes what I find so nifty about vegetarianism. I had long noticed that different people become vegetarians for different reasons –and while each of these reasons is valid by itself, all of them together push change in a whole variety of ways at the same time, and you get all the effects even if you become vegetarian for only one reason. Thus someone who stops eating meat to recover their own health still helps to reduce animal suffering; if you become vegan for reasons of animal compassion that still helps save the environment from the ill effects of industrial livestock-raising, adopting vegetarianism for reasons of social equity still helps the environment and saves animals and maybe one’s own health. Vegetarianism is a prime example, in other words, of solving for pattern.

This means that we can talk to people about vegetarianism by starting from whichever facet of it interests them; it also explains why a vegetarian group should welcome whoever is interested regardless of why. Because vegetarianism solves for pattern, it addresses many issues at once – so we can be diverse and still accomplish the aims of each and all of us.

CONNECTIONS

This year’s Outpost Exchange listing of farmers’ markets has 40 entries, and I don’t have space for them all. All except Grafton (July 5) started in May or June and run but one run through October or early November. Phone or check the website to find out which days and hours each one is open.

Brookfield, 2000 N. Calhoun Rd., 262-784-7804, www.brookfieldfarmersmarket.com

Bradley Road, N. 43d St. and Bradley Rd., 414-354-6923

Cedarburg, Cedarburg Cultural Ctr, W62N546 Washington Ave., 262-377-9620

Cudahy, Packard and Layton, 414-483-8907, www.ci.cudahy.wi.us

East Side Open Market, Beans and Barley parking lot, 1901 E. North Ave., 414-534-8492, www.theeastside.org

East Town Farm Market, Cathedral Sq. Park, Kilbourn Ave. and Jefferson St., 414-271-1416, www.easttown.com

Fondy Farmers Market, 2200 W. Fond du Lac Ave., 414-444-6067, www.fondymarket.org

Fox Point, 7300 N. Lombardy Rd., 414-352-0555

Germantown, Village Hall at N112 W17001 Mequon Rd., 262-250-4750

Greendale, municipal parking lot off of Parking St., 414-423-2790

Growing Power Outdoor Market, 5500 W. Silver Spring Dr., 414-527-1930

Hales Corners, 9724 W. Forest Home Ave., 414-708-0584

Howell Avenue, 4015 S. Howell Ave., 414-881-1185,

Menomonee Falls, Menomonee Falls North Junior High parking lot on Main St., 1 block west of Appleton Ave., 262-251-8797

Milwaukee Public Market, 400 N. Water St., 414-336-1111, www.milwaukeepublicmarket.org

New Berlin, New Berlin Plaza, Moorland Rd. and National Ave., 262-786-5280, www.nb-chamber.org

Riverwest Gardeners Market, Garden Park at Bremen and Locust Sts., 414-265-7278

Sherman Park, Sherman Perk Coffee, 49th St. and Roosevelt Dr., 414-875-7375 (ends Labor Day)

South Milwaukee Green Market, one block south of Rawson Ave. on 13th Ave., 262-835-4386

South Shore Farmers Market, South Shore Park, 2900 S. Shore Dr., Bay View, 414-744-0408

Waukesha, south of the Fox River on Riverfront Plaza, 262-549-6154

West Allis, W. National Ave. and S. 65th St., 414-302-8652, www.ci.west-allis.wi.us/health/health_farmers_market.htm

Westown Market on the Park, Zeidler Union Square, 301 W. Michigan St., 414-276-6696, www.westown.org

Shopping at farmers’ markets is a great way to get fresh local produce (much of it organic -ask the people), often paying less than at stores, support the local economy and family farmers, reduce the food miles your dinner travels (which helps the environment) – and it’s fun and sociable. Talk about solving for pattern!