NYT article: Sex and Vegans...

Well it was quite a surprise to see two of my interests, food (about which I am obviously obsessed), and sex (which I am thinking a lot about these days since I am teaching a Human Sexuality class right now) come together in a New York Times article the other day. In the article "The Carrot some Vegans Deplore" Jesella describes the trend of using female sexuality to persuade people (particularly hamburger munching men) to consider going vegan/vegetarian. It strikes me as a pretty strange tactic, and almost desperate and contradictory in so many ways for a diet that is based, at least in part, on an ethical platform to use the objectification of women to manipulate or sell the idea veganism. I would love to hear other peoples thoughts on this!
Check out the full article.

Attitudes toward local foods in the UK

I thought this might be a good space to share articles that I've been reading related to my food/environment interests. I will give brief summaries here and the full citation. Here goes the first one!

Chambers S, Lobb A, Butler L, Harvey K, Traill WB, (2007). Local, national and imported foods; a qualitative study. Appetite 49, 208 -213.

This study utilized four focus groups, structured into socio-economic groupings, to identify relevant themes related to local foods in the UK, and whether attitudes varied based on SES. The themes that emerged were: cost, lifestyle, food quality, consumer ethnocentrism, choice and farmers. The context for this study is the policy interventions of the British government and position of the EU, to encourage “sustainable consumption”, with a focus of promoting direct sales of local food products. The authors observe that previous research suggests that consumers generally feel positively about locally produces foods, but at the same time there is little information in the literature regarding perceived and actual barriers to buying local foods. The authors sought to conduct focus groups to explore these issues, how they relate to consumer preference, and also obstacles in accessing these preferences.

The authors point out the lack of an official definition of “local foods”, and thus operationalize it for the purposes of their study as “products produced and sold within a 30-50 mile radius of a consumer’s home. Interviewers asked group participants to think of geographical definitions at the beginning of each session, and the consensus was close to the authors’ original definition at 20-50 miles. Also of interest was the observation that for this sample (N=33) that the overall consumption of local foods was low. Specific observations related to the themes identified include:

· Cost - local foods were viewed as more expensive than national brands and imported foods

· Lifestyle -lack of time and convenience were seen as obstacles to access local foods with a preference towards super market shopping

· Food quality – local foods were judged to be of higher quality in terms of freshness, and improved taste

· Choice – participants wanted the option to eat foods out of season (i.e. strawberries in winter) and greater variety than what is grown locally

· Ethnocentrism – belief that shopping locally would help the local economy, support farmers in the region, and also resist against purchasing from sources that were politically distasteful (in this case it was not buying French products out of dislike for the French government)

· Farmers – there were some who wanted to buy local to support farmers in the area

A little bit of comfort goes a long way...

These end of winter days get me into a bit of a funk sometimes. Its not so bad, and I'm a northeasterner through and through, so I just come to expect it. As such, I do employ some coping strategies like dragging myself to yoga class even when I really don't want to leave the apartment, napping of course, and comfort food. This macaroni and cheese does a great job on this front with a creamy saucy base that is completed by a crunchy breadcrumb topping.
Here is the basic recipe, but its easy to change it up to add variety (the one above uses bacon and pepper jack cheese to this end).
Macaroni and Cheese:

6T butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
6T a-p flour
1 quart whole milk
1T dijon mustard
1 bay leaf
1t thyme
2c sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1c monterey jack cheese, shredded
s&p to taste
1lb elbow pasta
2c fresh coarse crumbs
1/2c parmesan cheese
2T olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease 9x13 pan.
Melt butter in a 5-6 quart pot, and add onions.
Cook onions until clear, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile set a pot to boil for the pasta, and drain when al dente.
When onions are cooked through, stir in flour and cook for a couple of minutes.
Whisk in milk slowly, and then add mustard and bay leaf.
Bring to a simmer stirring frequently, and let simmer for about 15 minutes for flavors to develop.
Stir in cheeses and season to taste.
Stir in cooked and drained pasta; pour into baking pan.
In a small bowl mix bread crumbs with parmesan and olive oil.
Sprinkle on top, bake for about 15 minutes, until crumb topping is golden brown.

NYT article: Youth and the Stigma of Free Lunch

This is an interesting article looking at the utilization of subsidized lunch in high schools. I didn't realize this, but some cafeterias provide different foods and have different lines for the kids who buy their lunch and the kids who may access the subsidized lunches. While I was working at a high school in Washington Heights (NYC), this wasn't the case and all of the kids basically had a debit card that they could use to buy any of the items available. Cafeterias that differentiate among kids by the way they access food is an obvious source of tension for youth who at this time more than anything want to fit in with their peers. It seems like their are some easy solutions to this challenge, and my main concern is that youth who qualify for subsidized food, do not get subsidized for the same foods that other youth pay for...why?
Anyway, take a look a the article.