This week has been one of those where the cacophony of confusion about
what is or is not healthy to eat, what will or will not make you a supermodel, what
will or will not make you the sexiest lover on earth – okay I made that one up –
has driven me past drink. So, at the risk of offending someone somewhere, my
choice for pic of the week goes to this clever food hack - well, I think it’s a
food hack, or maybe it’s a bleeding heart hack, or maybe it;s a hack of a hack,
it certainly is to me a heck of a hack.
It came via Facebook with this request with which I was happy to comply: Post
this ribbon to support Fearmongering Awareness. And then, eat your damn bacon.
It's not going to kill you that much faster than anything else.
Best Before?
‘The bottom line is that although aspects of today’s food production,
processing and storage might make what we eat a bit less nutritious, they are
also making foods more available and that is far more important’. (Chloe
Lambert, New Scientist, 17 October 2015)
What level of nutritional decline is being spoken of here? The article
cites a US survey of 43 crops which found a decline in six key nutrients since
1950: Vitamin C down 15%, Iron down 15%, Vitamin B@ down 38%, Calcium down 16%,
protein down 6% and phosphorus down 9%. So a challenging conclusion to me that
I am still grappling with and will need to consider along with research on
whether in fact availability is leading to any increase in quantity to offset
loss in nutritional content.
The article makes some other challenging statements, for example citing a
2012 study that found that in terms of minerals in vegies the difference
between organis and inorganic is pretty small, and that frozen fruit and
vegetables can be more nutritious than what’s on the shelf in the supermarket
as they have ‘been in suspended animation from the point of harvest...Peas can
lose half of their Vitamin C in the first 48 hours after harvesting, but if
frozen within the 2 hours of picking they retain it’.
I have scanned a copy of the article for anyone interested.
And I would love to be linked to articles that make counter arguments.
Native rice may hold
key to food future
‘Australian native rice may contain valuable genes that could help buffer
the world's rice crop against the damage wrought by rising global
temperatures.’
Harvesting the seeds for analysis and experimentation is
apparently not without its risks – in this case crocs lurking in the flood
plains where the wild rice grows, just waiting for a bit of Yummius botanicus
humanus to drop by. Only in Australia, eh.
And there are other dangers than the crocs...
We need to stop
Australia’s genetic heritage from being taken overseas
‘Most of Australia’s mineral
heritage has been sold cheaply as unprocessed ore. Our international customers
increase its value many-fold through innovative manufacturing. Then we buy it
back. Should we follow the same path with our genetic heritage so that one day
Australian farmers will be forced to buy from overseas agricultural companies
new drought-tolerant crop varieties sporting Australian genes? Or should we
build genetic IP in Australia for the sustainable benefit of Australians?
Hainan Chicken Rice
in Singapore: A short history
‘The first chicken rice vendor was Mr Wong Yi Guan 王义元 who in the 1940s peddled
his Hainanese chicken in the Hainanese enclave with two baskets slung on a
bamboo pole across his shoulders. He later moved into a coffee shop along
Purvis Street thus starting Singapore's first Hainanese chicken rice stall. Mr
Wong's stall was known as "Commie Chicken 共產雞" and he had the nickname "Uncle
Commie 共產叔".
Ta to John Newtown for pointing me to Johorkaki Singapore Food Travel Blog
http://johorkaki.blogspot.com/ which boasts 260million+ views on
Google. It’s mostly a review style blog from my quick look around, including of
his foodied travels in other countries, like a food and wine tour group through
the Swan Valley in WA.
Jean Duruz, I wonder if you know this blogger?
Porridge in the
Panopticon
‘The lip-smacking ‘Devonshire Pie’ trailblazers the neglected
combo of gooseberries and tripe – or ‘bleached stomach’, as the editors gloss
it. ‘
Ta
to Helen for the link to this review of Jeremy
Bentham’s Prison Cooking. A collection of Utilitarian recipes. No, it’s not
a joke, it really is by Bentham; recipes for use in his Panopticon, an
experimental prison which failed, not however because of the food. The book is
available from the Transcribe Bentham project.
Food Festivals Are
Fundamentally Bad
“The last time charitable giving has been used so cynically
and blatantly to excuse morally suspect behavior was the selling of indulgences
by the Catholic Church — and that caused that Protestant Reformation.”
Another contribution from Helen. I haven’t been to any event
in the Sydney festival in a very long time – can’t afford it, so I don’t know
to what extent the critique here applies and would be interested in responses.
Does any income generated go to charities? How heavy is it reliant on brand
promotion, placement and sponsorship? I’m pretty sure it hasn’t ever boasted
anything like: ‘"In seven years, we've served 33 tons of meat and enough
beer to fill three average-sized swimming pools.", nor "more than 40 of
America's best chefs, who travelled a combined 40,370 miles to participate in
the event" which seems a stoopid figure to be spruiking even if it isn’t
food but the chefs clocking up the miles here.
Grafting fruit tree
branches on city trees to grow free apples
‘The sterile, ornamental fruit trees of San
Francisco will be returned to their “roots”, thanks to a group of urban
agriculture activists known as the “Guerrilla Grafters”. The city’s barren
population of apple, plum, and pear trees lining parks and street corners will
begin to bear new life—and the fruit they produce will be free for all–if
grafters get their way.”
Now this kind of food hacking I can
absolutley understand J I love how they only graft where people living or working near the trees
agree to be stewards.
The Psychology of
Overeating. Food and the culture of consumerism
‘This
book investigates how developments in food science, branding and marketing have
transformed Western diets and how the food industry employs psychology to trick
us into eating more and more – and why we let them. The first book to introduce
a clinical and existential psychology perspective into the field of food
studies, this is key reading for students and researchers in food studies,
psychology, health and nutrition and anyone wishing to learn more about the
relationship between food and consumption. ‘
Thanks Colin for drawing my attention to this book and
giving me a headache.
The Archive of
Eating
Thanks to Colinalso for this much less brain taxing link to a lovely
article on the compendium of Barbara Ketcham Wheaton, which, frankly, puts all
my half-hearted attempts at various indexings of recipes to shame. I do hope
someday some library does put this wonderful resource on line.
Food Paradoxes:
Equity, Access and Excess
The 3rd Australian Food, Society and Culture
Network Workshop has called for papers.
This one day symposium examines contemporary politics and
paradoxes of food in the context of equity, access and excess. In a world
where increasing poverty and disadvantage contribute to hunger and health
disparities, we are seeing the systematic collection of surplus food that is
re-circulated and distributed through local networks, food charity services and
food banks. At the same time social issues like obesity are interpreted
as symptomatic of excess and a mismatch between biological and social
environments, and over-consumption of readily accessible processed foods.
Equity, access and excess are thus nodes of complex cultural systems that
contribute to current practices of how we eat and the everyday performances and
representations of food politics. This symposium invites papers that
focus on the dynamics of food equity, access and excess from a variety of
disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. The overall aim of the symposium is
to open broad discussion that explores and potentially draws together the
relationships between these paradoxes and politics. Postgraduate and early
career researchers are especially welcome.
To submit a paper please send your abstract (250 words) and
contact information to the Network Convenors – Associate Professor Teresa Davis
(teresa.davis@sydney.edu.au) and Associate Professor Megan
Warin (megan.warin@adelaide.edu.au) by November 30th 2015.
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