Author Archives: Tory L. Davis

Weekly Round Up, 11.30.12

Sugarbombs

Here are some of the best food stories we came across this week:

  • Most Americans Trying to Eat Less Sugar and HFCS – A survey from the International Food Information Council (IFIC) published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that 70% of adults are attempting to eat less sugar, and 63% are trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The study also found 70% of consumers couldn’t correctly identify that calorie consumption leads to weight gain.
  • Locally Grown Quinoa on the Horizon – Nearly every quinoa seed (from the goosefoot plant) eaten in the United States is imported from South America, where almost 80,000 tons of quinoa were harvested in 2010. However, a number of American farmers have been experimenting with different varieties with growing methods. Plant breeders and scientists anticipate locally grown quinoa to enter the marketplace in a few years. Continue reading →

The Clean Plates Special: Escarole with Top Chef’s Antonia Lofaso

That's the way the escaroles

This installment of the Clean Plates series features raw escarole, a member of the chicory family and technically a kind of endive that’s traditionally been cooked in soups and sautés. This intense, lacy lettuce can have large, bitter, dark green outer leaves and more delicate, smaller inner yellow shoots. The vegetable is a rich source of iron, potassium, vitamins A and K, magnesium and calcium.

We spoke with charming Top Chef star, cookbook author, and restaurateur Antonia Lofaso, whose popular Black Market Liquor Bar draws raves from Los Angeles diners. Her latest release, The Busy Mom’s Cookbook, has 100 quick, delicious and healthful recipes. She dished about her passion for raw escarole and the simple Italian cooking of her youth, her upcoming television show and how her parents still don’t trust her in the kitchen. Continue reading →

Weekly Round Up, 11.9.12

Hurricane Relief

Here are some of the best food stories we came across this week:

  • Where to Eat to Support Hurricane Relief Nationwide – Across America, people want to pitch in to support those on the East Coast struggling to recover after the storm’s estimated billions of dollars worth of damage. This constantly updated list provides news on restaurants around the country that are donating a portion of their proceeds and hosting events to make a difference. Continue reading →

Where to Eat Local? A City-by-City Guide

Tastemakers

Regardless of their politics, most folks across the country today want to support their neighborhood food producers. Locally sourced and prepared foods boast superior nutrition because regional ingredients are picked when they’re ripe, take a shorter trip from farm to table and — for the small businesses in this guide — are prepared without a barrage of preservatives, artificial flavorings or chemicals. In other words, it’s real food.

But where does one find these butchers, bakers and popsicle makers preparing delicious products and creating local jobs? Check out the 100 Tastemakers across the country. Continue reading →

Weekly Round Up, 11.2.12

Northern Spy Food Co Feeds Neighbors

Here are some of the best food stories we came across this week:

  • Acts of Kindness by NYC Restaurants Post-Sandy – Many restaurants and food purveyors across New York’s five boroughs have reached out to residents and offered free food, storage and delivery of emergency supplies in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. On Tuesday, Clean Plates-approved Northern Spy Food Co. cooked their remaining usable food and served it to their neighbors for free.
  • Urban Farms Destroyed by Hurricane – Many New York City rooftop plants, bees and birds were able to withstand the gale-force winds, but very few urban gardens that experienced flooding on the ground survived. In the aftermath of the hurricane, grocery stores are struggling to restock shelves; communities with surviving gardens are faring better due to their local access to fresh food. Continue reading →

Weekly Round Up, 10.26.12

Good Bacteria

Here are some of the best food stories we came across this week:

  • Could Prebiotics Be Healthier Than Probiotics? – Consumers and doctors tend to think all probiotics and prebiotics are beneficial, but it’s becoming clear that they have different effects. Could prebiotics, the food for the good bacteria known as probiotics, have more benefits than a dose of the microbes, particularly for people with serious health problems like preemies? Baby formula manufacturers have started adding prebiotics. Continue reading →

Weekly Round Up, 10.19.12

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Here are some of the best food stories we came across this week:

  • Whole Foods Tests Color-Coded Labels Indicating Healthfulness – Whole Foods is testing a color-coding system designed to inform consumers whether the product they’re buying is healthful, with green stickers that progress to yellow and orange. Unhealthy foods will not receive a label. The criteria includes: sugars and sweeteners, sodium, whole grains/level of grain processing, animal product content, percentage of calories from saturated fat, and calorie density.
  • Will Farming’s Future Be Found in Cities? – A host of vertical farms — urban greenhouses that unfurl upward instead of horizontally on land — are up and running in the U.S. and overseas, providing fresh produce and reducing emissions. There’s a 12-story building going up in Sweden, where plants will travel on tracks from the top floor to the bottom. In Chicago there’s The Plant, a former slaughterhouse where vegetables grow on floating rafts, nourished by waste from nearby fish tanks. Continue reading →

Weekly Round Up, 10.12.12

Cacao Beans

Here are some of the best food stories we came across this week:

  • Readers of Food Labels Weigh Less – A U.S. National Health Interview Survey of 25,000 people found that those who reported scrutinizing labels while grocery shopping had lower body mass indexes and weights than those who paid less attention to what was in their food; the difference was especially pronounced for women. Living in urban areas, being college educated and married increased the likelihood of reading nutrition labels.
  • National Chocolate Consumption Tied to Nobel Prize Odds – Don’t eat it just for the antioxidants: It turns out the higher a country’s chocolate consumption, the more Nobel laureates it spawns per capita, according to findings released today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The Swiss have won the most, followed by the Swedes. The Swiss average 120, 3-ounce bars for every man, woman and child, per year, or one bar about every three days. No word on if hot cocoa counts. Continue reading →

Weekly Round Up, 10.5.12

Natural Foods

Here are some of the best food stories we came across this week:

  • Take the October Unprocessed (Food) Challenge – Popular food blogger Andrew Wilder of Eating Rules! hosts a challenge for his readers each October: Can they eschew processed foods for one whole month? The parameters are flexible and forgiving instead of rigid; past participants have reported feeling better physically and becoming more conscious of their food choices.
  • Trader Joe’s is Focus of Antibiotic-Free Meat Campaign – The Meat Without Drugs campaign set its sights on Trader Joe’s, the innovative grocer known for its affordable gourmet foods and fair business practices. The national retailer already sells some antibiotic-free meats, prompting the campaign to encourage TJ’s to sell only drug-free. Over 500,000 people have signed a petition urging the chain to make the switch. Continue reading →

The Clean Plates Special: Kale with Chef John Marsh

Kale

This latest installment in the Clean Plates series features kale, that darling of the health conscious crowd and today’s most fashionable cruciferous vegetable. This hearty nutritional powerhouse is a member of the cabbage family and rich in vitamins A and C, plus an excellent source of iron, calcium and folic acid. The word comes from the Scottish “kail”; in the Middle Ages it was such a staple crop that the Scots referred to ringing “kail bells” at dinnertime and used the term “kail” interchangeably with “supper.”

We spoke with chef John Marsh, who’s also a holistic lifestyle coach, and whose popular GreenSquare Tavern restaurant offered a farm-to-table menu long before it was de rigueur. His fresh, beautiful and seasonal plates celebrate the best of local produce; he dishes about cultivating 17-year relationships with farmers, how the West Coast is ahead of the culinary curve and using kale in desserts. Continue reading →