Give a hand to Hannaford

I read about Hannaford Supermarkets' Guiding Stars program in Adbusters.

The gist of it is that Hannaford is marking products with stars that signify healthiness. Between zero (least healthy) and three stars (healthiest) are awarded.

"Almost eighty percent of the products rated did not receive any stars."

This correlates with my opinion of the modern supermarket. I buy lots of food in the produce section, usually some beans, pasta, oil, canned tomatoes or nuts in the middle aisles, eggs or some cheese every few visits, and sometimes frozen fruit or vegetables. In other words, I skip the bulk of the middle aisles with their food-imposter substances.

Hannaford won't disclose the formula they used to award the stars, but it looks pretty sound to me. This page indicates that "pluses" are fiber and certain vitamins, while "negatives" are saturated fat, cholestrol, and sugar. Here are some other interesting ratings.

High scores: pasta, cereals, seafood, fruits and vegetables (100% of fruits and veggies received three stars!)
Low scores: canned soup, meat, soft drinks, bakery items, flavored yogurts, eggs, butter

I'm impressed that Hannaford pulled this off without a huge corporate outcry. Hooray to them for standing up to highly processed foods that masquerade as health foods. They also don't seem to be biased towards animal products.

"The team also took into account less-than-healthy foods and beverages that are fortified with added vitamins, minerals or fiber to help overcome their nutritional shortcomings.

'We didn't give points for over-fortifying,' said Jeffrey Blumberg, a professor of nutrition at Tufts and a member of the scientific team." (More here.)

My new favorite ingredient

is "vital wheat gluten," which was very instrumental in making the yummy dinner shown above. We tried the chickpea cutlet recipe which has been floating around. (If you google "chickpea cutlets," you'll see lots of other reviews.) I've always been dubious of fake meat; I really hate processed foods and there are some scary ingredients in some of those. But I can get behind the chickpea cutlets as a tasty and satisfying main course. The only change I would make in the future is to replace the thyme and sage with black pepper. I just don't care for the taste of those spices, and I think the recipe calls for too much thyme.

We served them chicken-parmesan style, topped with a spicy mushroom spagetti sauce and parmesan. Yes, that is real parmesan. As I've said before, I can greatly reduce my cheese consumption, but I can't give it up entirely.

Leave a comment if you've tried the cutlet recipe!

PS: The most interesting thing I ate this weekend was probably ginger-eggplant chutney at an Indian restaurant in DC. Strangely, it was red and did not taste strongly of eggplant or ginger. But it was slightly sweet and intriguing. I want to have a chutney-making day before the weather turns warm. Let me know if you have any good recipes!

A Sublime evening

Happy New Year! I'm back and ready to rock in 08.

Things have finally settled down a bit--I sold my condo and moved to a rental while we wait for the housing market to stabilize. However, I'm on a business trip all week and haven't fully unpacked in my new place. I look forward to returning and settling in.

I was waiting for this picture (thanks, Tracy!) to write about our fabulous meal at Sublime, an upscale vegan restaurant in Florida. Oh my Buddha*, was it good. I have been eating pretty lightly for the past month or two and I overdid it at Sublime. I had that "I'll never eat again" feeling for at least 12 hours afterwards. But it was worth it.

We started with the Yin and Yang and Florasian "sushi" (I'm going to stop putting things in quotes to denote vegan-ness). For mains, two of us had the Portabello Tenderloin (shown above with its tower of onion rings), one had the Piccata, and HS had the grilled seitan steak. My portabello was absolutely delicious. The sauce was rich and pepper-y. We shared a piece of coconut cake and a brownie for dessert. HS goes to Sublime every year when he's in Florida and I hope to continue the tradition!

*This is a great expression that Thai people use.

I'm a dip

for not posting in so long. I've been with my family and HS' family over the holidays and, in general, I have been eating someone else's cooking rather than my own. I'm looking forward to getting back into the kitchen when I move into my new place this week!

HS and I are planning a simple New Year's Eve dinner of ravioli, salad, and berries for dessert. We'll start things off with this kickin' dip recipe, which will be served on brown rice crackers.

Green olive and artichoke tapenade
14-oz can of artichoke hearts, drained
1 cup chopped toasted walnuts
1 cup pitted green or Spanish olives
1 garlic clove, pressed or minced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
black pepper to taste

Put the following in a food processor and mix for a few seconds: artichoke hearts, walnuts, olives, garlic, parsley, lemon peel. Scrape down the sides and add lemon juice and olive oil. Process for a few more seconds. You'll have a rough paste. Add black pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature with crackers.

Food for thought

I'll get back to blogging about food, rather than just about food-related issues, in a week or two. I moved last weekend and real estate transactions are on the horizon; I'm just a little superstitious about them until all's said and done. Those things, combined with not having a stove for nearly 3 weeks, and having a really bad bout of bronchitis, have made it hard to cook much.

This book is on my wish list. The author photographed 30 families from around the world surrounded by the food they ate during a week.

I found this contrast especially interesting.
1. Here is a family from North Carolina who spent $341.98 on food that week:


2. And a family from Chad who spent $1.23 on food that week:

David Blaine: Visionary or Wacko?

(I started writing this post many days ago, hence the back-date.)

In keeping with the topic from my last post, I was intrigued by this news item about David Blaine's next stunt.

He plans to stay awake for at least 11.5 days. Standing up, even. Now, I've read about keeping people awake and on their feet for 36 hours plus: as a torture technique. How is DB going to come through with his faculties intact? It all comes down to diet.

"I'm on a raw diet that includes brown rice. No red meat. No animal products besides cooked fish...we already know dietary restriction is a retardation of aging and disease. When you overeat your body must work and it gets tired. If I eat medicinally, my body will be entire."

David Blaine: proof that a mostly-vegan diet gives you superpowers. (But is he going to eat that brown rice raw?)

Tingle all over!

We caught a great documentary last night: Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox. It was part of a film festival; I don't know when/if it will come to theatres. I'd bought Dr. Bronner soap in the past and attempted to read the bottle, but I learned a lot from the documentary, namely:
--Dr. B was admitted to a mental hospital, underwent shock therapy, then escaped
--He basically abandoned his 3 children (they were raised in orphanages or foster homes) in order to work on "saving Spaceship Earth"
--He claims to be Einstein's nephew
--He called the FBI almost daily for months and his file was put in the "nut cabinet"
--He is Jewish and the original peppermint soap label is blue and white to match the Israeli flag
--Eldridge Cleaver is a fan
--His descendants run the company now and have capped the top salary at 5x the lowest salary
--The company was the first to use 100% post-consumer recycled plastic for their bottles
--The company is the U.S.' largest buyer of industrial hemp

Also, Dr. Bronner credited his longevity (he lived to be 89) in part to his diet. In one passage from the documentary, he talks about his magic food: raw avocado mixed with raw garlic, onion, and lemon juice. Sounds like a garlicky guacamole. I, on the other hand, am eagerly awaiting my new stove tomorrow and am sick of eating raw! Snow is expected for tomorrow and I'd just like to have a baked potato or bowl of pasta. Is that so wrong?