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Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Hot Links: Bittman’s new app, Austinites on Food Network and the war on salt
‘Everything’ on the Go: Mark Bittman’s celebrated cookbook, “How to Cook Everything,” now has an iPhone app. I haven’t had a chance to try the new app, but if I like it even a tenth as much as I love the book, the app might give Epicurious a run for its money as my favorite food application. (As for the new Nigella Lawson app — $7.99 for 70 recipes — I think I’ll pass. Bittman’s app costs $1.99, for now, and has all 2,000 recipes from the book.)
Austin’s ‘Next Food Star’: Two of the 12 contestants on “Next Food Network Star” are from Austin. Dzintra Dzenis owns Plate by Dzintra, and Brad Sorenson works at Asti. Show premieres on June 6.
4/20, National Ranch Dressing Day: The anonymous Austin pizza delivery blogger A Pizza Girl reports that yesterday (4/20, something of a national holiday among marijuana smokers) should be called National Ranch Dressing Day because “you may not know this, but stoners love ranch dressing; If more than two are ordered per pizza, you can be sure they are smoking up.” This girl is hilarious, despite the fact that she usually pulls in less than $3 in tips per delivery.
‘Food, Inc.’ on PBS: If you haven’t seen “Food, Inc.,” the Robert Kenner documentary that was up for an Oscar earlier this year, tonight’s your chance. PBS’s POV is broadcasting the movie tonight at 8 p.m. People across the country are so excited for this national television premiere that they are hosting potlucks and other gatherings to get friends and family to watch.
Ramp Crazy: Elsewhere in the country, ramp fever has struck chefs, home cooks and food bloggers, who just can’t get enough of these wild leeks. Joel Ozersky wrote about the Church of the Ramp in last week’s Time. They are a sign that spring has arrived at local farmers markets, which is always a good thing, but I just don’t get it was the fuss is about. Now Brussels sprouts. That’s a church I could join.
Double Take: KFC just can’t seem to get it right. Just weeks after releasing the Double Down, they launch Buckets for the Cure, pink buckets of fried chicken to help raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. (Ad Age reports that none of these promotional efforts seem to be working.) Good for them for raising money for a good cause, but they’d cause a lot more change if they reconsidered their products and what goes into them. (Mike Sutter tried the Double Down this week and didn’t think much of it either.)
Gum Banksy: If you’re familiar with the renegade artist Banksy, you’ll love Ben Wilson’s gum art. The Londoner has had plenty of run-ins with the police and, unlike Banksy, he’s not anonymous, but his work is pretty cool.
War on Salt: Sodium in Americans’ diets has long been a public health concern, but just this week, the Washington Post reported that the FDA is taking serious steps toward regulating how much salt companies are allowed to put in food. The initiative hasn’t been formally announced, but anonymous sources said the government would set limits on the amount of salt in food, gradually paring down sodium consumption. “The changes would be calibrated so that consumers barely notice the modification.” Of note: Three-quarters of our sodium intake comes from processed foods. Only 11 percent comes from either cooking or what we sprinkle on at the table.
‘Food Revolution,’ Episode 5: Speaking of processed food, Jamie Oliver is nearing the end of his stint working in West Virginia on the ABC show “Food Revolution,” which airs on Friday nights. In last week’s episode, he set out to get high school students and the big wigs with the local hospital on his side. Things were going well at the elementary school until Oliver found the chocolate and strawberry milk back in the bin. With enough pushing and prodding, he got the school to request that the milkman come back and pick up the sugar-filled milk and replace it with white. As for the lunch staff? Oliver has convinced even the stodgiest of them to be open minded about his approach. (Fed Up With School Lunch blogger has a fascinating Q&A with a real-life lunch lady: “What’s the hardest part of your job? Seeing the tired and dirty and hungry children. Trying to make a change when you know you can’t.”)
You Are What You Eat: If you like What’s in Your Fridge Friday here, then you’ll get Mark Menjivar’s You Are What You Eat photography series from a few years back. GOOD recently featured a handful of the photos, including a good number from Texas. He toured the country for three years exploring food issues, and he found that he could tell a profound story just by photographing the inside of stranger’s fridges.
Fast-Food Investment: Harvard Medical School researchers found that 11 major insurance companies owned nearly $2 billion in stock in the five biggest fast-food companies. companies that offer life, disability, or health insurance owned about $1.9 billion in stock in the five largest fast-food companies as of June 2009.
I’ll Take the Dry Red: Ever feel like an idiot ordering wine at a restaurant? Serious Eats has a good list of tips to avoid making a food of yourself.
Colorful Cake: Eat Me Daily points us to a cake fit for one of my favorite sites, ColourLovers.
Ramp photo from The Kitchn, cake photo from Eat Me Daily.
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Bloggers team up with food bank for hunger awareness project
Food insecurity is a lot of things.
For one, it’s prevalent. Not just in far-off places seen only in news clips. Here. In Austin. In your neighborhood. One in six people in Texas don’t know where their next meal will come from.
Second, people who face this problem come from all backgrounds and find themselves in this situation for a million different reasons. More than forty percent of people served by the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas are children. Almost half of their clients have at least one working adult at home. Only 18 percent of the people who get food from the partner agencies are homeless, and more than a third of their older clients go extended periods of time without food.
Third, food insecurity is growing. In eight years (2000 to 2008), the number of people who said they did’t have enough to eat grew by a third, and Texas has the second highest rate of food insecurity in the nation.
Statistics only tell part of the story. In an effort to understand more about the situation thousands of fellow Central Texans face, 30 local food bloggers have taken a week-long challenge to cook and eat from a typical bag of food that someone might get from a food pantry or other agency.
Let’s face it, a week doing a project like this isn’t even close to actually looking at your bank balance and realizing there’s not enough for both rent and food. Not one of the participating bloggers would pretend otherwise, but the goal is to get us all thinking and talking about a very real problem that is easy to forget, even in this food-obsessed society we cultivate.
So here’s how it will work: The Capital Area Food Bank of Texas gave us a list of what one bag from an area pantry might contain, and the bloggers will go out and buy the food from a grocery store.
I spent $36 at H-E-B last weekend buying rice, beans, pasta, canned corn and green beans, spaghetti sauce, oatmeal, store-brand cereal, potatoes, Tuna Helper, a chicken, ground beef, juice and canned fruit, an amount of food that a family could pick up once a month. (Every partner agency offers a slightly different choice of products, which often include bread, fresh fruits and vegetables, so keep in mind that this is just a sample list.)
Bloggers can also supplement with the amount of money that would be allotted to them if they were enrolled in food stamps or the Women, Infants and Children program.
I’ll be highlighting some of the bloggers’ posts, as well as my own experiences, on Relish Austin in the coming week, but the food bank’s blog will be the best place to stay tuned to all the posts.
Thanks ahead of time to the bloggers who have signed up to participate, the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas for being open to it and readers who follow along.
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