Musings on sustainable food systems, agriculture vs. agroecology, and more!
If you find 37 minutes time in the next couple of days, I can only recommend that you listen to one of the latest episodes of the Freakonomics podcast, called “100 Ways to Fight Obesity“. It is an episode built out of the recording of a brainstorming session that features some of the most well-known … Continue reading Unorthodox Solutions to Combat Childhood Obesity – the Freakonomics Brainstorm
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rgaqwFPU7cc] This entertaining video (originally highlighted by Buzzfeed) shows what 2,000 calories looks like in a variety of foods. Why 2,000 calories? Because that is the average recommended daily caloric need of a person to maintain their weight, and what the calculations on food labels (referring to the percentage of daily value) are based on. … Continue reading How Much Are 2,000 Calories?
Continuing with our mini-series, after our first installment, let’s turn to a buzzword that has gotten a lot of attention in the last years: grass-fed and/or pasture-raised animal products. What is the label’s motto/what does it stand for? The idea of grass-fed ruminants and pasture-raised other animals is that this production method is much more … Continue reading Labels Unveiled: Grass-Fed and Pasture-Raised
Happy Easter! Ok, this might only be food policy in the most removed sense, but I discovered shocking news the other day, and it is extremely topical today: Did you know that chocolate surprise eggs (such as the ones produced by Kinder) are outlawed in the United States? Apparently, the sale and import of the … Continue reading The Legality of Kinder Surprise Eggs…
In my Sustainability Economics class, we also talked about sustainable food choices (one of my favorite topics!) and the nuts and bolts of doing a Life Cycle Analysis of a particular product or diet “from cradle to grave”. Life Cycle Analyses try to assess the environmental impacts of certain behavior, for example the consumption of … Continue reading Can the Mediterranean Diet Save the Planet?
Yesterday, a New York State Supreme Court Judge struck down the first attempt in the U.S. to fight against obesity by legally regulating portion sizes. A day before a law was due to take effect that would limit the allowed size of sugary drinks sold in restaurants, food courts and movie theatres to 16 ounces, … Continue reading New York's Soda Ban Overruled – Defeat of the "Nanny State" or Public Health Setback?
You know that day before you go on an extended vacation and stand in front of a half-full fridge due to poor planning, heave a heavy sigh and take out the garbage bag? Well, if you were living in Cologne, Koblenz or Berlin, instead you would log onto foodsharing.de, would create a food basket with … Continue reading Foodsharing – Reducing Food Waste the German Way
Last time I was talking about Labeling Fables I floated the idea of unveiling some of the most prominent labels so you know what you are buying in the grocery store. Well, here is installment #1: Starting with one of the most famous labels around: Fairtrade. Chances are, you know it stands for fair trade … Continue reading Labels Unveiled: Fairtrade
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjtIl5B1zXI] This is an interesting take on the interplay between food production and climate change. The video defines a ‘safe space’ defined by the boundaries on how much food we need, how much food we can produce at given levels of climate change, and how that increased food production will further affect climate change.
“The Pleasures of Eating” is a powerful, poetic essay by Wendell Berry. Published in 1990, – 23 years ago! – it is more relevant than ever in today’s society, and so well written that I would just encourage everybody to head on over and read it. Since it’s a little long, I’ll sketch out some … Continue reading The Pleasures of Eating