- The sign in a grocery store that started the viral campaign
Back in December, I reported about The Cornucopia Institute’s report on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and pesticide residue in Kashi and other brands claiming to be “all natural,” etc. See ‘Natural’ doesn’t mean natural or organic or good.’
This is just not something that is considered news, unfortunately. But, it is when the news goes viral and Kashi (owned by Kellogg) gets their butts handed to them on a plate (no pun intended). Earlier this week it hit the mainstream media in a big way.
A viral Facebook and Twitter campaign hit them hard, shut down their phone system, and resulted in some really lame responses/excuses from Kashi management.
The truth came out to all that Kashi’s healthiness, “seven grains on a mission” BS, and all those healthy looking extreme sports women in their ads are nothing but a tasteless marketing ploy. Pathetic.
I will never buy Kashi again no matter what they do in the future. Here is a quote from a USA Today story, one of many stories on the topic, Kashi cereal’s ‘natural’ claims stir anger,
Kashi has done nothing wrong, says David DeSouza, Kashi general manager. “The FDA has chosen not to regulate the term ‘natural,’ ” he says.
Many posters on the Kashi site seemed especially angry about the presence of genetically engineered soy in some of its cereals. One wrote that by marketing its products as whole foods and healthy, but choosing genetically engineered soybeans as an ingredient, the company had destroyed people’s trust in its product.
Just remember that, in the United States, if it has soy or corn AND IS NOT certified organic, it is almost surely GMO. Caveat emptor!
Tags: Cornucopia Institute, false advertising, genetically engineered crop, genetically engineered food, genetically modified organisms, GMO, Go Lean, Kashi, Kellogg, natural, organic, pesticide, sustainable, sustainable agriculture
It is no secret that I don’t like my food being any genetically modified organism (GMO), also called genetically engineered crops and many less flattering names. They are often touted as being environmentally more friendly for farming than conventional seed. I would beg to differ and here is a glaring example of why.
The latest outrage is brought to you from Dow AgroSciences who has been pushing the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for approval of a new herbicide resistant corn seed that has been genetically modified to be immune to 2,4-D. Now, 2,4-D is an ingredient that was used in Agent Orange, the infamous herbicide that was liberally sprayed over large portions of Vietnam to kill jungle trees and other plants. It was, of course, also sprayed on Vietnamese people and US soldiers. Soldiers were not given any protective gear when being exposed and were told by the US Army that it was safe. We know now how much of a lie that was.
OK, that is Agent Orange. But, why is Agent Orange corn a bad idea?
Agent Orange spraying in Vietnam
It is environmentally a disaster waiting to happen. The new corn has been genetically modified to be immune to a new herbicide made from 2,4-D and glyphosate. Glyphosate, by the way, is the active ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide RoundUp. There is already a GMO corn that is immune to RoundUp, or what they call “RoundUp ready.” These types of seed/plant modifications allow much more of the given herbicide to be sprayed than for conventional corn.
Largely due to the increased spraying of RoundUp, new “monster” weeds have evolved that themselves are resistant to RoundUp. Tons of RoundUp in the environment is bad enough, but now agribusiness has had to develop a new, more toxic, herbicide and the corn it can be sprayed on. Hence, Agent Orange corn. Now, if the new seed is approved, tons of the new herbicide will be sprayed. Isn’t that sweet.
This will lead to “super monster” weeds immune to the Agent Orange herbicide, new and more toxic herbicides will need to be developed along with new corn seed that can handle it. Anyone see a vicious circle here? I see environmental catastrophe.
And what about health? Thirty-five scientists, physicians, nurses, and other health professionals wrote, in a letter to the Secretary of Agriculture asking USDA to deny the petition from Dow AgroSciences to deregulate its genetically engineered (GE), 2,4-D-resistant corn, the following:
Dozens of studies in humans have reported associations between exposure to 2,4-D and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphocytes (white blood cells). This finding is consistent with other studies finding that 2,4-D increases lymphocyte replication in exposed farm workers, and that 2,4-D formulations are cytotoxic and mutagenic.
Dozens of animal studies show that 2,4-D exhibits hormone-disrupting activity. 2,4-D also affects the function of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. Interference with hormones and neurotransmitters can cause serious and lasting effects during fetal and infant development, including birth defects, neurological damage, and interference with reproductive function. Human studies support the results of the animal studies.
Just say no to GMO!
Tags: 2 4-D, agent orange, Dow AgroSciences, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, GE, genetically engineered, genetically engineered crop, genetically modified organism, glyphosate.Monsanto, GMO, herbicide, monster weed, Roundup, United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, weed
For a large part of the flight, we followed the Tigris River as it made its way south to meet the Euphrates north of Basrah and form the Shatt-al-Arab that flows into the Persian Gulf. The first thing that struck me was the meandering nature of the river as it flowed out of Baghdad. Oxbow lakes and developing oxbow lakes were plentiful. It looked like a wide, lazy river, as makes sense so far from its source in Turkey. Many canals running off the river irrigate farmland via vast networks, some in better repair than others. Canal maintenance is a time and labor consuming process.
Tigris River flowing south from Baghdad
Farmland and canals near Baghdad, most of what look like roads are actually canals
The views became more interesting as we got further south into the marsh areas. I will write about the Marsh Arabs more in another post, but the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers formed vast marshes as they began to form their delta with the Persian Gulf. North of Basrah and spreading east, as well as west into Iran, as recently as the 1990s, these marshes were huge and home to as many as 500,000 Marsh Arabs. These people farmed rice and raised water buffalo, among other things, and lived on man-made and natural islands in the marshes and moved about by boat. They even used water buffalo to keep channels open and use for work animals.
In the 1990s, after the First Gulf War, the Marsh Arabs and other Shite tribes revolted against the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. As with the Kurds in the north, the Marsh Arabs were brutalized and the marshes drained, to remove the hiding places and punish them. Most fled to Iran and elsewhere in Iraq. The marshes were largely gone, not only a human catastrophe, but an environmental one, as well, as an entire ecosystem was destroyed.
Marsh Map
Since Saddam Hussein’s downfall, the marshes have been allowed to gradually return. Nowhere as big as they once were, marshes have come back in some places, where in others one still sees only the completely barren sand of what were once areas covered by water. The above map of 2000 was possibly the lowest marsh level of all time, things look better than that now, but not near the 1973 levels.
Part of the region as it looks in 2012, some marshes have returned
I did see the marshes, as well as vast barren areas that you could tell were once water, with dry streams and river beds still visible. I even saw what had to be rice patties and lots of small “islands” in some areas of water. Who would have ever thought that rice would be grown in Iraq, a place I know mainly for its deserts and incredible heat, as high as +130 degrees F in summer. Yet, Arabs eat a lot of rice, so it stands to reason that they once were big cultavators of this crop in this region.
Dry marsh wasteland remains in 2012
Tags: Baghdad, Basrah, canal, ecology, ecosystem, environment, Euphrates, Euphrates River, First Gulf War, geography, Iran, Iraq, island, landscape, Marsh Arab, Operation Iraqi Freedom, oxbow lake, Persian Gulf, rice, Saddam Hussein, Shatt-al-Arab, subsistence, Tigris, Tigris River, war, water buffalo, wetlands
Ancient grindstone
French baguettes
One of the fascinating things about foods is, who the heck first started eating certain plants and animals and who and how were the first cooking recipes created. It is one thing to modify an existing recipe, but starting from absolute scratch, no pun intended? Great chefs invent new recipes all the time, that is part of what makes them great. But, as far as I know, all or most of the ingredients are already known to be edible.
Who decided to try the first oyster? How many people died discovering which mushrooms were edible or did early humans observe what animals were eating? I could go on.
Who came up with the idea of making bread, a staple food for thousands of years and made from a variety of grains and other plant matter, such as roots? Making bread, at the very least, involves grinding something into flour, adding some water, and cooking it in some way.
Regarding the use of cattails, most westerners aren’t even aware of its uses, which are many. In addition to the aforementioned flour from the rhizomes and/or pollen, bases of leaves are edible when young, and the green flower spike can be eaten. There are also many non-food uses.
Cattail, I find it interesting that Virginia Tech lists cattail in a weed identification guide!
Tags: afghan flat bread, archaeology, bread, bread making, caveman, cooking, early human, flat bread, flatbread, flour, food anthropology, food archaeology, grinding stone, Paleilithic, Upper Paleolithic
When I go to Germany, the first two things I look for are currywurst and beer. No one makes either like the Germans.
Das helle boch bier = The light dark beer
My favorite beer while stationed in Pirmasens in the late 1970s and early 1980s was Parkbrau’s Pirminator. A local fest beer, this stuff was and I believe still is, strong. I mean strong. For soldiers new to the country, the goal was to be able to drink five of the .5 liter bottles, the “grosse flasche.”
The first time I drank it, I barely made it through one bottle. By the time I left, my record was seven or eight. I think, I may have blacked out. But, I have never had a German beer (in Germany, the imported German beer in the US just ain’t the same) I didn’t like.
Rough translation: Currywurst makes you sharp...and makes other wursts jealous
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German curry ketchup
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Indian sweet curry powder
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good quality bratwurst
Grill the brat on a grill or you can heat them in a cast iron pan, get them nice and hot.
To be fancy, place the brat on a plate and cut slices about a half inch wide, but don’t cut all the way through. In other words, the sliced brat should stay in one piece.
Generously coat the brat with German curry ketchup. You can find this in the states, especially if you know someone in the military who can get it for you at the Commissary. DO NOT USE REGULAR AMERICAN KETCHUP!
Sprinkle a generous amount of curry all over the brat. Pop open the best beer you can find. Enjoy.
Currywurst
Tags: beer, curry ketchup, curry powder, currywurst, french fries, parkbrau, pirminator, pomme frites
Do you ever think about where your food originated? I find it, as an agricultural anthropologist, fascinating. Scientists using DNA genetic technology have now determined that all domestic cattle of every breed are descended from one herd of as few as 80 wild ox, also called aurochs, around 10,500 years ago. This is around the same time and in one of the same places where crop agriculture emerged.
Aurochs cave painting, Lascaux, France, around 17,000 years ago
It has long been known that the ancestors of domesticated cattle are aurochs. What makes this study so exciting and interesting is that these ancestors were so small in number and originated in only one location when aurochs were widespread in Europe and parts of Asia. This herd came from what is modern day Iran.
DNA was extracted from the bones of domesticated cattle found in various Iranian archaeological sites, so the age of the bones was known. The scientists “examined how small differences in the DNA sequences of those ancient cattle, as well as cattle living today, could have arisen given different population histories. Using computer simulations they found that the DNA differences could only have arisen if a small number of animals, approximately 80, were domesticated from wild ox (aurochs).”
Also from the article, DNA Traces Cattle Back to a Small Herd Domesticated Around 10,500 Years Ago,
“Prof Mark Thomas, geneticist and an author of the study based at the UCL Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment [in the UK"]: “This is a surprisingly small number of cattle. We know from archaeological remains that the wild ancestors of modern-day cattle, known as aurochs, were common throughout Asia and Europe, so there would have been plenty of opportunities to capture and domesticate them.
“Prof Joachim Burger, an author of the study based at the University of Mainz, Germany, said: “Wild aurochs are very different beasts from modern domestic cattle. “They were much bigger than modern cattle, and wouldn’t have had the domestic traits we see today, such as docility. So capturing these animals in the first place would not have been easy, and even if some people did manage snare them alive, their continued management and breeding would still have presented considerable challenges until they had been bred for smaller size and more docile behavior.”
Modern "auroch," the real ones are extinct
Tags: archaeology, auroch, beef, cattle, cattle domestication, DNA, domestication, ox, wild ox
In my last entry, I gave you the recipe for Royal Lamb Curry, still after almost 30 years one of my favorites to cook. I didn’t remember the name and author of the cookbook at the time. My wife Lynn was kind enough to send that info to me.
The book is called Indian Cooking, by Khalid Aziz. I believe it was published in 1983 and is long out of print. There are used copies available (I checked on amazon.com). Here is a scan of the Royal Lamb Curry recipe page from my copy. You can tell it has been well used and dripped on and I even caught it on fire once. My other favorite recipe in the book is Curried Banana Balls. But, every recipe I have ever made from this book, and there have been many, came out nicely.
Recipe page
Tags: cookbook, curried banana balls, curry, Indian, Indian Cooking, indian food, Khalid Aziz, lamb curry, royal lamb curry
Royal lamb curry
This has always been one of my favorite recipes and it is a recipe that showed me I could actually cook something truly outstanding. It is from a long out of print cookbook and I don’t have the name or author handy, unfortunately. Possibly used copies are available. I’ll let you know when I can actually see the cookbook.
Royal lamb curry / Shahi korma
2-lb lamb
1/2 pint meat stock (beef or lamb)
2-inch stick of cinnamon
2 Bay leaves
1 small lemon
2 cloves garlic
15 cardamoms (whole)
15 cloves (whole)
1 tablespoon coriander seeds (whole)
4 ounces cooking oil or ghee
1 large onion
1 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1/4 pint plain yogurt (I like Greek yogurt)
pinch of saffron
1/4 pint single cream (use regular or heavy if you can’t find ‘single’)
2 ounces sliced almonds
2 ounces raisins (I like golden raisins vs black raisins, both work fine)
The photo is sans saffron, which I was out of. Saffron does make a difference in color and subtle taste, but this still rocks without it.
Cut the lamb into 4-cm/1 1/2 in cubes and gently poach for 30 minutes in the stock, together with the cinnamon, bay leaves, and lemon juice from the lemon. Remove the lamb pieces with a slotted spoon and put to one side. Boil the remaining liquid to reduce its volume by about half.
Peel the garlic. In an spice grinder put the cardamoms, cloves, coriander seeds, and cloves of garlic. Grind to a paste. Add a little water if necessary.
Heat the ghee or oil in a large saucepan. Peel and thinly slice the onion and fry for 3-4 minutes until it begins to soften. Add the cubes of lamb and fry quickly for a minute. Reduce the heat and add the concentrated stock and spice paste. Bring back to the boil.
Add the salt and pepper, stir in the yogurt and simmer for 30 minutes until the lamb is tender. After 20 minutes, add the pinch of saffron, stir in the cream, and add the almonds and raisins.
Stir a couple of minutes and serve over rice or with nan.
Tags: curry, Indian, Indian royal curry, lamb
I finally went on R & R after nine months in Afghanistan and Iraq, it was long overdue. Little Buddy (aka Maudie) and I had been together every day since she was seven weeks old up until I left to go to training prior to being deployed. To say that we bonded and that she was spoiled shamelessly is an understatement. In April, 2011, I left for Afghanistan.
Little Buddy on the beach at Edisto
I was gone longer than I expected before I took my first R & R, two weeks at home. I was actually worried that Little Buddy would forget me or that, if she didn’t, things would have changed. I should not have worried.She knew me the minute I walked in the door and went nuts for 20-minutes or more. My wife was actually a tad jealous, as Maudie “abandoned” her and was all over me. Things immediately went back to as it was before, as if I’d never left.
Fun on the beach in January
Little Buddy got two lamb shank bones during the two weeks as I make them twice. I’ll post some pics of one of those meals and the recipe when I get the chance. She also got lots of other tidbits from my cooking. And, keep in mind that my wife spoils her, too.
After I left to return, Maude was depressed for quite a while. She has no idea what is going on.
Yummy lamb shank bone
Tags: dog, Edisto Beach, lamb shank, R & R
I normally try to keep my politics out of this blog, except for my opposition to genetically modified organisms as foods, environmentally disastrous substances, and destroyers of biodiversity. But, sometimes I have to say something about the absolutely inane things the government does. I don’t like big government and I don’t like the reduction in our Constitutional freedoms that have accelerated in the past 30 years or so or the almost facist state we now live in in the United States. I don’t like Democrats or Republicans, they are each different sides of the same nasty coin that wants to control everything we do and force what they believe down our throats.
Evil turkey and cheese on whole wheat sandwich
So, what is the latest outrage? A preschooler in Raeford, NC, brings a home packed lunch to school. What is in it, you may ask? Twinkies and Coke? Crack cocaine? Evil aspirin? Nope. How about a turkey and cheese on white whole wheat bread sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice. Sounds a lot better than any school lunch I ever saw. No “sweet potato substance” hockey puck disks. No processed turkey slice substances. No, this little girl had a perfectly nutritious and tasty, homemade lunch. No institutional food fit only for schools, prisons, and military mess halls. I mean, have you ever had a school lunch? Even the jazzed up lunches they always had on parent’s day (so we presumably wouldn’t know about the actual swill our kids were being served) was not fit to eat and would make my dog ill.
But, apparantly, our money starved government school systems now seem to have enough cash to hire food nazis, people that inspect home packed lunches to ensure they meet with the all-knowing government’s notion of what a nutritious lunch is for your child. How nice. In Raeford, according to the Carolina Journal News,
A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because a state employee told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious.
The girl’s turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the interpretation of the agent who was inspecting all lunch boxes in her More at Four classroom that day.
First of all, they have agents inspecting lunch boxes? You have got to be kidding. It is none of the school’s or government’s business what parents feed their children. And, in
Yummy, nutritious chicken nuggets
this case, that home packed lunch had to have been a million times better than what the school was serving. Oh yeah, they also charged the parents for the school lunch the child was forced to eat. The little girl ate three chicken nuggets, that is it, the other school food went to waste. She didn’t get to eat her sandwich, banana, chips, or drink her apple juice.
As for nutrition and food quality, have you ever eaten a chicken nugget? Mostly breading, with a filler of some kind of processed goo that might have some chicken parts in it. We are not talking chicken strips, there is a big difference. But, a turkey and cheese sandwich is still better than chicken strips for you.
This really is an outrage in more ways than one. Is it any wonder that our government schools are so bad no matter how much money we throw at them?
Tags: food agent, food nazi, government school, home packed lunch, North Carolina, public school, raeford, school lunch
