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Chew On This: Cushioned running shoes - or Manolos? - 3 Feb 2010
Are you a runner with a pair of those pricey shoes that look like you're wearing an IHOP stack of pancakes? So wrong. You should be wearing your highest Manolos. read more...
Chew On This: Are we really being served? - 27 Jan 2010
Wesley Morton, this week's chef profile, was impressed by the service in London restaurants. It's an issue that Washington's European chefs jump on: the difficulty of training wait staff to the level that's the norm on continental Europe. Waiters are instructed in the US to act as the friends-for-the-evening of strangers who are paying for their services. In Europe, waiters are trained to melt into the background. Here are my personal beefs. read more...
Chew on This: Food resolutions for 2010 and beyond - 30 Dec 2009
We make far too much fuss about food. If only we could approach eating like our grandparents did - as an opportunity to sit together around a table and catch up on events over home-made, fresh-cooked seasonal food, life would be a lot healthier and more pleasurable. And less expensive. read more...
Chew On This: The French solution to obesity is - eat! - 21 Dec 2009
Trust les Froggies to come up with a sensible and appealing way to tackle obesity. Teach people to cook, the head of nutrition at the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris, Dr Arnaud Basdevant, says. "Enjoying food, variety in food, the culture of food are the best defences against obesity." His is a wonderful visually suggestive name for the project: it means, more or less, Below In Front. read more...
Chew On This: Foie gras for PETA people - 9 Dec 2009
Are you one of those people who protest the cruelty of foie gras production? Here's your chance to indulge without hurting birds and win some money. PETA is holding a competition to produce a wholely vegetarian foie gras. The winners gets $10,000. Glad to know they value foie gras that highly. read more...
Chew On This: US food waste boosting global warming - 3 Dec 2009
Do you realize that by chucking that half finished burger into the trash you're contributing to global warming? Americans waste around 1,400 calories worth of food per person each day. That's 40 percent of the total food supply.
What's that got to do with the environment? Well, food waste accounts for 25 percent of fresh water use in the US and 300 million barrels of oil. That's around 4 percent of the country's total oil consumption. read more...
Chew On This - A pain-killing tea - 25 Nov 2009
If you're one of those who sniffs at the efficiency of natural painkillers, listen up. Scientists have now found that everything the Brazilians have believed for centuries about the analgesic properties of a mint tea they brew to relieve pain is entirely justified. read more...
Viagra for women! Chew on That! - 18 Nov 2009
A poor sex life can make you fat, right? Those consoling Krispy Kremes? That vat of Jamoca Almond Fudge? So some of you might be thrilled to learn that an antidepressant that failed tests is being touted as "Viagra for women" after unexpected side effects. read more...
Chew on This: It's that ol' High Fructose Corn Syrup again - 11 Nov 2009
What rats do for our health! In a new study, their 'moderate' consumption over 10 weeks of fructose-containing sweeteners may have produced 'modest but significant changes' which could contribute to the development of Metabolic Syndrome.
It's that High Fructose Corn Syrup again - you know, the stuff the HFCS people have been campaigning to promote as your friendly sweetener unfairly accused of being responsible for causing obesity and ill health. read more...
Chew On This: Processed foods cause depression - 4 Nov 2009
If you needed any more reasons to keep off processed foods (fat content, high fructose corn syrup content, salt content, the fact they're not fresh, price...), a new study shows they may contribute to depression. read more...
Chew On This: Breast cancer from Western diet - 21 Oct 2009
You may have thought you've heard this before. But apparently it hadn't been proved: the Western diet may cause breast cancer.
It's the French who think they've come up with new evidence that what they call "Western-type" foods may be to blame. What we should stick to is a Mediterranean diet. read more...
Chew on This: Taxes on sodas tax our personal freedom? - 14 Oct 2009
I'm always astonished at the misinformation - if not downright 'pork pies' (this is Cockney rhyming slang. Clue: focus on rhyming the second word) I hear either from the Senate, from Congress or on NPR about the cost and poor quality of Britain's free National
Health Service. Opponents of the President's health care reforms might consider this: the US spends 16.2 percent of GDP annually on healthcare, around twice as much as what the NHS costs. Yet the life expectancy of the average American is lower than the average Brit. According to a UN list of length of life expectancy, the UK is ranked 21st and the US at number 38.
Opponents of the President's proposed health care reforms who cite the cost of overhauling the hugely expensive US system could easily reap a cent or two and help reduce the obesity problem that costs the system so much with one tiny move: Put that tax on sodas. read more...
Chew On This: Is High Fructose Corn Syrup really no longer a threat? - 7 Oct 2009
When I was writing a food column three times a week for United Press International, the one subject that would stir readers to block my email inbox was when I wrote about High Fructose Corn Syrup. USDA figures show the average daily consumption of calories from HFCS in the American diet has risen from 2 calories in 1970 to 205 calories in 2003. Yet the Center for Consumer Freedom has launched an ad campaign to try and turn around what it describes as "an urban myth" that HFCS is a more highly processed, less healthy ingredient than sugar. read more...
Chew On This: Weeds in your drink? - 23 Sep 2009
Have you noticed the high apple juice content of not inexpensive drinks like cranberry cocktails, punches and more? Well, a fruit I always thought was relatively cheap is obviously too expensive an additive for food and drink manufacturers. Sometime in the future, your fruit juice drink may no longer be flavored with apples. This wonderful fruit may be replaced for flavor by a - want to guess?
A weed. read more...
Chew on This: Wine and beer victims of global warming - 16 Sep 2009
Climate change may affect the quality of your booze. Grapes and hops are suffering from too much heat. read more...
Chew on This: Taxes on sodas don't deter kids - 9 Sep 2009
Guess what: taxes on sodas haven't had any impact on the high levels of obesity among young people. A study from the University of Chicago says so.
Probably any parent might have predicted that unless taxes on sodas went the way of taxes on cigarettes, nothing would happen to change drinking levels of adolescents. We're only talking a matter of 3 cents or so per 12-ounce can here. read more...
Chew On This: GM monoculture or biodiversity? - 2 Sep 2009
This year around 76.024 million acres of US farm land were planted with soy to produce a projected fall harvest of 3 billion bushels worth more than $27.4 billion. Corn estimates are for 12 billion bushels.
Small farmers who show up at farmers markets are simply trying to feed the neighborhood. Industrial agriculture is all about feeding the world with a range of genetically modified soy, corn and rice strains. This, we're told, is the only way to cope with the famine victims of Africa and malnourished children in parts of Asia.
Golden rice is genetically modified to contain beta-carotene in the kernel. Not enough causes half a million African children to go blind each year. Biotechnologists consider donating donate golden rice seeds to Third World farmers. What's not to like? read more...
Chew On This: Hah! A new - and worse - cholesterol! - 26 Aug 2009
Just when you thought it was safe to check your cholesterol levels, along comes a new - and worse - cholesterol threat! Meet - oxycholesterol! read more...
Chew On This: Which nutrition facts to believe? - 19 Aug 2009
Women can take comfort this week that fat from meat, eggs and dairy produce won't increase their risk of breast cancer. So, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, says a European study of 319,826 women. Small exceptions came from increased risk links in post -menopausal women with high intakes of processed meat and in pre-menopausal women with high butter intakes. Still, it doesn't cover other forms of cancer like lung, pancreatic and colorectal cancer.
Which leads me to Reynold Spector of the Skeptical Inquirer. Human nutrition research and practice, according to him, is plagued by pseudoscience and unsupported opinions. read more...
Twice a week, before coming into his restaurant, Neyla chef Abdel Hash Housh would squeeze in time for classes in English at the Washington Literary Council.
The most foodie activities you can pack into one day?
Chicken Shish Taouk
Teff - a gluten-free grain
Chew On This: Cushioned running shoes - or Manolos?
Injera - what is it and how to make it?
My favorite markets - Bread Corner
Abdel Hash Housh - Chef of Neyla
Chew On This: Are we really being served?
How to truss a chicken
Cork Market & Tasting Room
Shepherd's pie
Wesley Morton - chef of AGAINN
Potatoes - earthy delights
Caviar - heavenly pearls
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