United States | The Rambling Epicure

America is the only country to provide food aid in the form of food, says The New York Times

Published by Jonell Galloway + Sunday, April 28, 2013 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

Common sense might well tell you that it is more likely that the food really gets to the country in need of aid if you send it in the form of food and not dollars. According to more than 30 studies, the custom of “shipping food overseas in American-flagged vessels is inefficient, costly” and even harmful to the very communities the U.S. is trying to help. This information is supported by experts, who say this manner of distribution drives down the price of local produce by as much as fifty percent. The U.S. is the only country to give food aid in this manner, and Obama is proposing change that could matter.

Click here to read The New York Times editorial.

Official photographic portrait of U.S. President Barack

When Food Isn’t the Answer to Hunger
Barack Obama budget calls for sweeping overhaul of US food aid
Aid groups: US should send cash, not food, abroad
Documentary: Building a Slow Food Nation

Food Vocabulary: Are You Foodwired?

Published by Jonell Galloway + Thursday, March 28, 2013 Permalink 0

The Urban Dictionary now lists the word “foodwired” as part of the American vocabulary.

People who are foodwired are extremely conscious about the food they eat and the food they buy, as well as where it came from and whether it is healthy and sustainable.

According to the Urban Dictionary, if you are foodwired, you:

know the importance of eating local, healthy, sustainable food
want to know more about what you eat
try to make better decisions about what you eat

Examples:

She asked the waiter whether the chicken was organic. She is totally foodwired.

The neighbors are growing food in every inch of their small urban yard. They are really foodwired.

Today, I’m really foodwired. I cooked with totally organic, local ingredients.

Simon Says: Daily Food Quote, February 13, 2012

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, February 13, 2012 Permalink 0

by Simón de Swaan

We never repent of having eaten too little.–Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson — author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, third president of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia — voiced the aspirations of a new America as no other individual of his era.

Will the “lost decade” change our wasteful ways when it comes to food?

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, January 30, 2012 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

The Hard Facts, the Numbers

Now that food prices are on the rise and people in developed countries are tightening their purse strings, we are beginning what IMF Managing Director Christine LaGarde refers to as the “lost decade.” We are starting to think about food waste and food budgets — not something we talked much about over the last few decades. Unless we were in finance, we watched the price of cacao, but not much else.

“The average British shopper estimates that they bin almost 10% of the food bought in their weekly shop, while 8% admit to throwing away as much as a quarter of their food on a regular basis, according to new research on Monday,” says The Guardian.

Simon Says: Daily Food Quote, November 28, 2011

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, November 28, 2011 Permalink 0

American table manners are, if anything, a more advanced form of civilized behavior than the Europeans, because they are more complicated and further removed from the practical result, always a sign of refinement.–Miss Manners, 1982

Judith Martin, better known by the pen name Miss Manners, is an American journalist, author, and etiquette authority. Martin’s uncle was the economist and labor historian Selig Perlman. Click here to read her Washington Post column.

Simon Says: Daily Food Quote, October 14, 2011

Published by Jonell Galloway + Friday, October 14, 2011 Permalink 0

by Simón de Swaan

A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do.–P.J. O’Rourke, 1997

Patrick Jake “P. J.” O’Rourke (born November 14, 1947) is an American political satirist, journalist, writer, and author.

His latest book, Don’t Vote—It Just Encourages the Bastard, was published in September 2010. Both Time and The Wall Street Journal have called him “the funniest writer in America.”

The state of the school lunch tray and efforts to improve kids’ health

Published by Jonell Galloway + Thursday, September 29, 2011 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

School food revolution? The state of the school lunch tray and efforts to improve kids’ health. Click here to read more about the Healthy Food, Healthy Farms Webinar Series and sign up for this fascinating Webinair on Thursday, October 6, sponsored by the Healthy Food Action site.

Lunch Wars: Food For Thought
School Lunches I Have Known
School Lunch: The Most Important Meal of the Day?

Simon Says: Daily Food Quote, September 19, 2011

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, September 19, 2011 Permalink 0

by Simón de Swaan

Why is not a rat as good as a rabbit? Why should men eat shrimps and neglect cockroaches?–Henry Ward Beecher, 1862

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) was a prominent Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist, and speaker in the mid- to late 19th century. An 1875 adultery trial in which he was accused of having an affair with a married woman was one of the most notorious American trials of the 19th century.

That’s So Corny, Irene!

Published by Alice + Friday, August 26, 2011 Permalink 0

by Alice DeLuca

A Brief History of Creamed Corn and What to Pack in Your Hurricane Survival Kit

This season, our thoughts turn to hurricanes and the darker part of the year. My own thoughts wander quite a bit, as a matter of course, and I find myself thinking about creamed corn, and specifically canned creamed corn, a staple of the American baby boomer childhood larder.

Creamed corn and a particular type of silver-labeled canned peas are tied to deep memories of preparations for stormy weather. We always had cans of corn, peas and baked beans, and kerosene and candles, in case of emergencies, storms, and power failures.

Simon Says: Daily Food Quote, August 24, 2011

Published by Jonell Galloway + Wednesday, August 24, 2011 Permalink 0

by Simon de Swaan

A hungry man is not a free man.–Adlai Stevenson II, 1952

Adlai Stevenson ran for the office of the Presidency in 1952 and 1956 against Dwight D. Eisenhower but lost the election both times. After his election to the White House, President Kennedy appointed Stevenson U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, where his most famous moment occurred on October 25, 1962, during an emergency session of the U.N. Ambassador Stevenson was grandson of Adlai Stevenson I. who was Vice President under President Grover Cleveland from 1893 to 1897.

Click here to listen to Adlai Stevenson talking to the Soviet Ambassador to the U.N. at the time of the Cuban missile crisis.