The Food Issue

Michael Pollan, author of the very well-written The Omnivore's Dilemna, has penned a timely and flat-out brilliant op-ed for the NYT. Though a tad long-ish, the whole thing is well worth reading.

This, in brief, is the bad news: the food and agriculture …

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The Meat-Guzzler

Mark Bittman, author of the NYTimes’ 10-year old Minimalist cooking column and a recently published vegetarian cookbook, though not himself a vegetarian, has written an excellent article detailing the costs to the environment of the modern, high-meat …

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NYT on Organic Wal-Mart

The NYT has an excellent article on new organic trends at Wal-Mart and the economic impact. The entire article is worth reading, but here's my favorite nugget:

Wal-Mart will buy its organic food from whichever producers can produce it most cheaply …

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The price of flour...

DeLong's analysis starts with the fact that in 1500 the average family lived not far above subsistence. They could do little more than feed themselves with their labor--DeLong estimates that three-fourths of what the medieval economy produced was …

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The Secret Life of Ketchup & Mustard

This essay by Malcolum Gladwell traces the rise of specialty mustards and the complications of marketing fancy ketchups. Here's an excerpt, but the whole thing is interesting:

The rise of Grey Poupon proved that the American supermarket shopper was …

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I finally know why so many Indian dishes have curry in them

There's a scientific explanation for spicy food.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/03/980305053307.htm

Basically, places with hot climates develop spicy food. (Which, at least passes the common sense test: South- and Central-American foods …

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