05 Jan 2006
In Oregon, Thinking Local

It's a shame how the "organic" label has been co-opted, but it's also amazing that folks have caught on so quickly, and have developed new monikers that indicate the things "organic" used to mean.

Six years ago "organic" was the next big thing in grocery shopping, but the term has begun to lose its luster. It has been co-opted by agribusiness, which has succeeded in watering down the restrictions of the definition. Today "local" and "sustainable" are the new culinary buzzwords.

(link) [The New York Times]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

U.S. Not Protected Against Mad Cow

And there's no excuse for this, either: it's a simple matter of feeding cattle (and other bovines) correctly, and not stuffing them full of plate waste, poultry litter and blood...

Last time I checked, bovines were ruminants, which eat grass. Why not feed them what they're naturally designed to eat? What a concept!

Researchers and the nation's No. 1 burger seller say the government is not fully protecting animals or people from mad cow disease.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

Can a Recipe Be Stolen?

Will this ever end? How may kitchen formulas are mere variations on a theme, and what are the implications of our out of control copyright regime on the culinary arts?

On the plus side, if there's one thing that'll get the problem noticed by Middle America it's depriving the homemaker's clubs and ladies church groups of their annual recipe books.

Like most teenagers, Dana Simms and 11 other members of the Tilden Woods Swim Team know more about iPods and Google than about pea pods and kugel. So when they began soliciting recipes for a cookbook to benefit cancer research last summer, they were startled that technology and cooking converged.

(link) [Washington Post]

via MyAppleMenu Reader

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Pat Robertson suggests God smote Sharon

This has to go under 'Humor' - the way he's been going on about assassinations, tsunami's, hurricanes now the incidence of stroke in septagenerians, Pat could chuck his preaching job and get a gig at Comedy Central.

Television evangelist Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which Robertson opposed.

(link) [CNN.com]

00:00 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link