{weekend reading} NATIONAL EDITION

NEWS
I’m gonna start with the only really “big” food story of the week; the UN report that I mentioned yesterday that states that the myth that only Big AG can feed the world is bullocks. The UN Right to Food Report in PDF format. Grist has a commentary. Bittman concentrated on the subject this week for his Opinionator post. Slashfood has the story too!

Bittman has been busy on his NYTimes blog with this (food crisis of the past) and that (soda tax). and chicken (yum).

NYTimes ran a great story on a trend of people, mostly couples, in their 20’s & 3o’s who are turning to farming as a career in Oregon.

Florida has a bill coming up for a vote which will make it a FELONY to take pictures of farms without WRITTEN consent. True story.

A MUST READ article via The Nation on SNAP (food stamps). If you don’t know how LITTLE benificeraries receive, this article will be an eye-opener. Its about $1.40 a meal.

The 2nd must read article of the week: “When Eating Organically Was Totally Uncool” by Pha Lo, Salon.com,

Barry Estabrook with a riveeting story about the clash between the oil people and the science & fishery people of the Gulf. Sooo good.

What a deserving honor: Author Wendall Berry has won the Humanities Medal by President Obama. If you haven’t read his writing on nature, farming, food, big ag, ect. start now. The man speaks the truth.

Restaurant cooking oil can be made into fuel to run automobiles. People are stealing it... Is it the end times?

NOAA responds to demand for policies set in place for sustainable, local, safe fish and shellfish by setting out the first aquaculture policy guidelines ever.

Obama Foodorama has a detailed story on how the Obamas have made history by not only having honey bees that produced over 160 pounds of honey but then using some to produce homebrew (a first in US history); White House Honey Ale.

Holy PLEEP! I still have 2 feet of snow covering my yard but I guess its springtime in DC. The First Lady begins planting the White House Kitchen Garden next week- WOW!  How about a quick facts about this 1,500 square foot garden-of-awesome: the start up cost for the garden in 2009, $200, how many pounds its produced so far, 2,000. Bravo!

Tom Myland, butcher at the famous Meat Hook inside Wiliamsburg’s Brooklyn Kitchen, writes an essay for The Atlantic, asking for meat production to be ethical & small-farm oriented not gigantic feed-lots. Good read.

Europe’s first VEGAN supermarket opens Dortmund, Germany.

I couldn’t read this article…someone please read it for me and report back: Chefs are being hired at Frat Houses via Wall Street Journal. I think I just threw up.

Very good Guardian article on the growing popularity of foraging and the possible over-taxing.

April 12th is the season premiere of Jamie Oliver’s Train Wreck Food Revolution…in LA.

Remember, there is a peanut butter recall happening right now.. in the meantime, Tom Philpott at Grist has the real scandal of the recalled reduced fat peanut butter- the crazy amount of chemicals in the jar!

A Foodista story about Wise Food Insurance, were you can buy 72 hours to 1 year of emergency food preparedness.

Really interesting story via NY TIMES on the Transportation Director of NYC and how she has changed the streets forever, with a massive amount of bike lanes on most streets. I know I would have LOVED bike lanes during the many years I lived there; I was hit three times on my bike.

Two interesting homesteading articles this week: First, desert homestead via NYTimes. Second, Altadena homestead in the LATimes.

This is an update of a not {really} food-related food related story. Well, sort of. If you have a food allergic child, you will have noticed that since the MASSIVE Tylenol recall over 6 months ago of mostly children’s Benedryl, Morin and Tylenol, that those items have yet to be returned to the shelf. Well, McNeil’s issues have gotten worse. The FDA has just announced that they have taken over 3 processing plants, it is important to note that one of the three plants in the government take-over makes 100% of the pediatric medications. Whoa.

Here’s the deal. I can barely report on this story because a) the hate & intolerance makes me instantly start to cry and b) I’m scared for my son’s venture into schooling in the future… I won’t go into details other than to give you links and the basics: A school in Florida has made classroom accommodations due to a girl’s SEVERE food allergy to peanuts {children with food allergies fall into the category of a disability and are require to have a 504Plan to deal with their special need} and a group of parents are actually picketing and boycotting saying that their children’s rights have been infringed upon. SERIOUS boycotting with signs, letters to all the school’s parents, full-window stickers on their cars. The works. It got so bad (death threats against the family & the child) that the parents are moving the child out of the school. Oh, and her 504 Plan was leaked to the press. It is a hailstorm to say the least. I’m starting to wonder about people as I report on these stories about once a month. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Dr. Marion Nestle has a wonderful overview of current food allergy/ food manufacturing issues in Europe.

Dianna’s post on Maple Syrup tapping continues to be a very popular post. Continuing on the topic, Boston Globe has a super-short article on a 2nd grade class that taps their own for a class project. Schools in our area should read the article, and implement the same (funds & resources pending of course)!

Dr. Marion Nestle on The Atlantic about the successes of NYC’s public school food.

Ready to feel smarter about food? Well, thanks, besides reading all the links I provide every Sunday, Kaela at Local Kitchen is back with her food science class Fat 102! Test on Monday people- study up!

BBC is reporting on a new study about the possible reasons behind the declining health of sperm…

Finally, the trademarking of “Urban Homesteading”; I’ve been reporting on it for weeks now. I am going to stop unless something {crazy} happens. I will leave you with three links:  1) there is a website to try to cancel the trademark and 2) there is a VERY successful Facebook page, Take Back Urban Homestead, doing the same thing.

GENERAL FOOD KNOWLEDGE
Oh Boy. Flying buggies in grains and flours…Its happened to me. the kitchn has a total “how to” with the specific grain weevil.

Gluten-Free Girl & The Chef shares their insights behind weighing their flours and such and NOT using cups.

FOOD PROJECTS
LATimes has an article on milling your own grain at home.

A video on Etsy’s How-To Tuesdays; how to make your own hot sauce.

Tigress in a Jam (or Pickle) has listed ALL the amazing canning she’s completed during fall & winter. LOTS of recipes links- yum.

Marisa at Food In Jars has an instructional post about using Weck Jars for canning, and a giveaway!

RECIPES
The Meal Makeover Moms have a new scuffin, a doughy scone, recipe that cuts the sat. fat and sugar down a bit from a traditional recipe.

Celia, over at On Cardamom and Cast Iron, has her husband write an informative McGuver-eque post about making pasta like risotto.

Food52 has varying Steak with Bourbon Sauce recipes.

Cathy at Not Eating Out in New York has made a orange rosemary bundt cake. pretty.

Cuizoo with Cod in Parchment.

Joy the Baker with Spicy Chickpea Salad.