New Entry featured on NPR

The New Entry Sustainable Farming Project (NESFP) was featured on NPR's Here and Now last week highlighting two farmers, one from Zimbabwe and the other from Cameroon, that have transitioned to their own farms. The segment is titled Pumpkin Greens Grow in Massachusetts.



NESFP's mission is to

"assist people with limited resources who have an interest in small-scale commercial agriculture, to begin farming in Massachusetts. The broader goals of New Entry are to support the vitality and sustainability of the region's agriculture, to build long term economic self-reliance and food security among participants and their communities, and to expand access to high-quality, culturally appropriate foods in underserved areas through production of locally-grown foods."

You can access their blog here.

US Food Policy makes Culinate's top ten list

Our friends at Culinate, a progressive food awareness blog, posted: "Learn more about your food: ten websites that will help you eat with greater awareness." We are honored to be included in the list at number 10. Here is what they have to say:

Although it can at times be a little wonky, Parke Wilde’s blog U.S. Food Policy is a good stop for those interested in policy. (To a certain extent, we all should be.) A food economist at Tufts University, Wilde has help maintaining his blog from a couple of others; together, their posts — such as a recent one that maps 10 U.S. food-policy destinations using Google Maps — enlighten and clarify.

We are also amused to be tagged as "a little wonky."

Dietitians working in food policy, the new frontier

In conjunction with Registered Dietitian (RD) Day, U.S. Food Policy is participating in an RD Blog Fest on behalf of National Nutrition Month. Check back periodically as other dietitian’s blogs will be linked throughout the day.

As a RD mastering in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition, I see now more then ever as the time for RD’s to fully embrace the world of policy as an agent for change. A short trip down memory lane shows us the causal story of how our food system and societal health got where it is today, all through policy. As the ‘food and nutrition professionals,’ it is imperative that dietitians understand how food is grown, why certain foods are grown, and how these policies are contributing to the very disease we are attempting to rebuke.

In 1973, Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz, encouraged farmers to "get big or get out," as he urged farmers to plant commodity crops like corn "from fencerow to fencerow." These policy shifts coincided with the rise of major agribusiness corporations, and the declining financial stability of the small family farm. Evidence shows that while the present capital and technology-intensive farming systems are productive and able to produce cheap food, they also bring a variety of economic, environmental, and social problems.

Industrial farms are subsidized by commodity payments (your tax money) and are contributing to environmental degradation through: bi-cropping (corn and soy), heavy use of pesticides, inefficient use of increasingly scarce water, depletion and erosion of soil, difficulty recycling nutrients and destruction of biodiversity. Recent research has also shown a decrease in nutrient values in fruits and vegetables over the last 30 years. This alone is great reason for RD’s to be the leading soil advocates.

What is infuriating is that the food that is being subsidized and grown throughout the Midwest is not really food at all, in that it is not fit for human consumption. It is an input and it must be processed, which leads us another problem: processed food. Almost every product you find in the center aisles of the grocery store is made from corn and soy. From steaks to chicken nuggets, condiments, juices, frozen entrees, pastries, etc., are ultimately derived from corn, either as high fructose corn syrup or from the corn-based animal feed that is being fed to animals. The animals confined to the industrial food system are also not supposed to eat this corn. Cows are ruminant animals and are suppose to eat grass. This is like trying to make a patient with Celiac’s Disease eat a diet of wheat gluten. The cows, like the patient would, get sick with a condition called acidosis which causes one of their four stomachs to inflate, ultimately causing suffocation. To combat this problem, the industrialized food system provides animals living in CAFO’s (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) with a low dose of antibiotics. Presently, 80% of the antibiotics in the US are used non-therapeutically in animals being grown for consumption.

Those working in the community and clinical dietetics and with at-risk populations see the ramifications of these policies every day. The American people, especially low-income populations, are sick. Both corn-fed beef and high-fructose corn syrup contribute to the obesity epidemic in the United States. Those working on obesity know that behavior change alone is not working. Patients are stricken by a federal policy that makes cheap food possible. While American’s spend a smaller fraction of their budget (about 11%) on food compared to any other industrialized nation, the cheap food is catching up to us on the other end: our health care costs, or what I call, “sick care.” Another issue for those working in the area of hunger and food security is our dependency on petroleum inputs to grow food.

With a new administration and a new secretary of agriculture, now is a great time for RD’s to join in the political process that is entrenched in our food. In order for your representatives to begin to change these archaic policies, they must first know that there is political will. Dietitian’s can be the story-tellers and the educators for their policy makers, communities and clients. As the nation's food and nutrition experts, registered dietitians are committed to improving the health of their patients and community. Registered Dietitian Day commemorates the dedication of RDs as advocates for advancing the nutritional status of Americans and people around the world. There is no better place to an RD to start, then in policy.

What could an RD do to learn more?

• Join one of American Dietetic Association(ADA)’s fastest growing Dietetic Practice Groups: Hunger and Environmental Nutrition (HEN)
• Read my personal blog Epicurean Ideal
  
• Learn about the Farm Bill and how RD’s can help make it a “Food Bill"
• Join a food policy council in your community
• Participate in the 2009 Child Nutrition Reauthorization legislation
• Watch the Food Lobby Goes to School (about school lunch and industry lobbyists)
• Learn about the American Dietetic Association’s priority areas and encourage them to make an ecological, preventative sustainable approach to food systems and nutrition
• Check out Angie Tagtow's “Good Food Guide for RD's”
  
• Watch the movie King Corn

Here are some other posts by fellow RD's--

Beyond Prenatals - Food vs. Supplements and Real Advice vs. Fake Advice
Annette Colby - No More Diets! A Registered Dietitian Shares 9 Secrets to Real and Lasting Weight Loss
Diana Dyer - There and Back Again: Celebration of National Dietitian Day 2009
Marjorie Geiser - RD Showcase for National Registered Dietitian Day - What we do
Cheryl Harris - Me, a Gluten Free RD!
Marilyn Jess - National Registered Dietitian Day--RD Blogfest
Julie Lanford - Antioxidants for Cancer Prevention
Renata Mangrum - What I'm doing as I grow up...
Liz Marr - Fruits and Veggies for Registered Dietian Day: Two Poems
Meal Makeover Moms' Kitchen - Family Nutrition ... It's our "Beat"
Jill Nussinow - The Registered Dietitian Lens I Look Through
Wendy Jo Petersen - March 11 is our day to shine!
Diane Preves - Registered Dietitians and the White House Forum on Health Reform
Andy Sarjahani - Dr. Seuss Tribute continued: Green Eggs and Ham and a Sustainable Food System
Rebecca Scritchfield - Big Tips from a "Big Loser"
Anthony Sepe - RD Showcase: Registered Dietitian Day, March 11, 2009
Kathy Shattler - RD Showcase for Nutri-Care Consultation
UNL-Extension, Douglas/Sarpy County - Nutrition Know How - Making Your Life Easier
Monika Woolsey - Dietitians--Can't Do PCOS Without Them!
Monika Woolsey - In Honor of National Registered Dietitian Day
Jen Zingaro - My life as a Registered Dietitian

U.S. Food Policy blog makes "Best Health Policy 100"

Radio Technician Schools has released The Health Policy 100: The 100 Best Health Care Policy Blogs. The categories range from general health care blogs, regulation, ethics, finance and the economy, public health, technology, health conditions, global health, law, access and insurance.

U.S. Food Policy was categorized as Environment and Food along with Environmental Health News, Clean Water, EnviroWonk, Farm Policy, Impact Analysis, Safe Foods Blog, eFoodAlert, Not In My Food and BarfBlog.

If you would like to put a U.S. Food Policy widget on your webpage or blog you can get one here.

Meet the Bloggers

Brave New Foundation's Meet the Bloggers recently had on guests: Marion Nestle blogger on Food Politics; Catherine Gund of Whats on Your Plate; and Kerry Trueman of Eating Liberally. The Bloggers all discussed a hot issue in the food world: Food Safety. Trueman also plugs the good people at the Eat Well Guide and how to find a "natural turkey" and local foods in your area.

Interesting blogs

I occasionally get emails about interesting blogs.

Here is chomposaurus, which features astonishing quantities of meat.

Here is Stirring and Whirring, a journey of cookbook writing.

In case you were wondering (I did), chomposaurus is not sponsored by the beef and pork checkoff programs, and Stirring and Whirring's campaign to replace high-fructose corn syrup in soda was not sponsored by cane sugar industry interests.

Meat and climate change

ABC News last month offered a sharp, concise summary of the environmental case for eating 20 percent less meat. It draws on a collection of research outlined in the UN report, Livestock's Long Shadow.



Jeff Poor of the Business & Media institute has an almost helpless non-rebuttal to the ABC News piece. Poor has nothing to say on the substance of the case, but argues that there would be dire economic consequences. For support, he links to a brief (.doc) by Dan Otto and John Lawrence on the National Cattlemen's Beef Association website. With world markets at their current positions, Poor has a tough time raising the reader's fears of insufficient food demand.

Anna Lappé and the Small Planet Institute have a new related project, Take a Bite Out of Climate Change. I found most of the links in this post at their new blog, which is now added to the sidebar.

As an aside, I have been enjoying Lappé's 2006 book with Bryant Terry, Grub, which reminds me of Barbara Kingsolver's book in its combination of food system criticism and constructive menus and advice. Far from being pedantic in their environmentalism, Lappé and Terry make eating organically and locally seem totally fun. The menus are organized by season, accompanied by cool "soundtrack" recommendations for music to enjoy while cooking and eating.

How sausages were made

According to the old saying, there are two things in life whose manufacture you never want to see: laws and sausages. U.S. Food Policy always keeps its eye on the manufacture of laws, but I never witnessed sausages being made until yesterday.

At Anne and Josh's sausage making party, in between all the bustle and conversation, we added spices and flavorings to about 50 pounds of local organic pork and lamb, ground it, packed it into pork intestines, cooked some of it in a smoker, vacuum sealed it, and distributed it to all the party-goers. My son stuffed meat into the grinder, while my wife and daughter took photographs. Perhaps mistaking me for one of the many good cooks in the room, Anne put me in charge as recipe manager for a batch of 10 pounds of brandy and sage sausage, with real brandy and fresh sage from her backyard garden. The potluck lunch at the party included home-made bread with either home-made pate or home-made raspberry jam, deviled eggs from one friend's backyard chickens and her own pickled okra.

Now, I've finally seen how sausages were made once upon a time. And I no longer understand the old saying.

Well Fed Network blog awards

In the running for the Well Fed Network's poll for best food blog covering the food industry:

Eggbeater. A talented pastry chef in San Francisco. Recently served Al Gore, who cleaned every morsel from his plate.

Michael Ruhlman. Chef and writer. Author of the well-received new book: The Elements of Cooking: Translating the Chef's Craft for Every Kitchen.

The Food Whore. Very funny. Most entertaining of all the nominees.

Word of Mouth. From Guardian Unlimited.

U.S. Food Policy. "But is it really a food blog?" you might ask. What, haven't you tasted my bread machine bread or plum torte? Well, okay, it may not quite steal your vote away from that pastry chef in San Francisco!

Voting is open until December 14.

Short links

The September issue of Scientific American has a special on nutrition and food policy issues, including writing by Marion Nestle, Barry Popkin, Paul Raeburn, Fuzhi Cheng, and Per Pinstrup-Andersen.

Because we covered the restaurant industry in U.S. Food Policy class last week, a student forwarded an article in Slate earlier this year about Sysco, a company that sells more of the restaurant food you eat than you may realize.

I like linking to blogs whose authors comment at U.S. Food Policy. It gives me a chance to share with readers part of a conversation that is endlessly interesting, in part because of the differences in perspective and emphasis. Granny Miller is an agrarian philosopher, home canner, and Ron Paul fanatic. The Sugar Shock! Blog -- an accompaniment to Connie Bennett's book -- takes on bad carbs and their providers. "What do vegans eat?" is a group blog full of vegan recipes. [Update: I forgot to mention foodperson.com, with a nice mix of food blogging and commentary.]

NPR's Bonny Wolf, host of the Kitchen Window podcast, reports on the high standard set by a small number of colleges whose dining halls emphasize great food from local sources. Is healthy food too severe a regimen for today's college students? Consider Bowdoin, where the local food is Maine lobster!