It sounds easy, right? But, it’s increasingly harder as our grocery stores continue to fill up with edible-food-like-substances. We are continually drawn in by the “no trans fat margarine” and the “low fat, omega fortified cheese,” but it’s a pretty good rule of thumb that products with health claims on the packaging indicate that it’s …
May
29
May
27
Downed Cows
In February 2008, the USDA ordered the largest beef recall in US history – 143 million pounds of beef. The recall came 3 weeks after the Humane Society exposed the cattle abuse at a plant that supplies meat to 36 states and over 100,000 schools. Unfortunately, the recall included beef dated back to February 2006, …
May
21
NutraSweet Not So Sweet
The FDA has approved the use of 5 artificial sweeteners, but none is as controversial as the approval of aspartame, more commonly known as NutraSweet or Equal. NutraSweet is in all diet sodas, diet drinks (including diet juices and Crystal Light), and most diet foods. Equal is the sweetener in the blue packet. There are …
May
18
Tweet Me!
It was suggested by multiple people that I post my blog updates to twitter for easier following. I’ve never tweeted before, but I’m going to try it out. All you twitterers can subscribe to me here: http://twitter.com/angiechappell. Also, I keep getting asked, “If you don’t eat meat, then what do you eat?” Well, I eat …
May
16
Buzz Words
It is difficult to reject industrialized farming practices when we don’t understand what we’re buying. The educated consumer can put their money where their values lie. Organic – Certainly this is the biggest buzz word in the supermarket today, yet most people don’t even know what it means. Most basically, ‘organic’ means that fruits & …
May
15
Feeding Our Food (Part 2)
Let me just remind you where we left off: discussing the meal that is served up in CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations), where most of our farm animals are raised. That meal, in case you’ve forgotten, consists of corn, soy, antibiotics, hormones, meat from other animals (including diseased animals), bits of feathers, hair, skin, hooves, …
May
13
Feeding Our Food (Part 1)
When we think of farm animals, we picture cows eating grass on the pasture, pigs rolling in mud troughs, and chickens pecking at the ground for grubs. Unfortunately, this is nowhere near reality. In fact, most of our farm animals are not raised on farms at all. Instead, they are raised in Confined Animal Feeding …
May
12
Food of the Pharaohs
I just got back from Egypt where the local cuisine was delicious! My favorite was Koshare which is a bowl of rice, noodles, lentils, caramelized onions, crushed tomatoes, and hot sauce. I also enjoyed Fuul, which is a crushed up bean (similar to refried beans) served in a pita-like bread. And Fateer, which is a …
May
01
Chew On This
I’m going out of the country for 10 days and will not be posting while I’m gone, but stay tuned for the next edition! In the meantime, chew on this: The FDA allows 30 insect fragments and one rodent hair per 100 grams of peanut butter* (one jar is 400-500 grams). Worcestershire sauce, the popular …
