Today, one in six Americans don’t have enough to eat. But before you picture a gangly child with little to wear, think again. Many of the faces of hunger in the US are “white, married, clothed, and housed, even a bit overweight.” These are low-income people who live in the suburbs, maintaining a mid…
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"Middle Class" and Hungry in the US?
Eat Fish Today, Retain Brain Health Later?
According to Reuters, a study of 260 people revealed that eating fish made for a healthier brain.
"Brain scans showed that people over age 65 who regularly ate fish had 14 percent more gray matter in brain regions associated with memory and 4 percent more in areas devoted to cognition than people w…
According to a story by AP, corn and soybean growers are in need of a "better herbicide," as weeds grow peskier. Dow Chemical thinks it has the answer.Sometimes, It's Good to Remember the Basics
Water, and food. The basics. Being dropped to the Yazidis in Iraq, caught with nothing, under attack by vicious militants.
Sweet Company Town in PA
Imagine living in a town where everyone is your coworker: that’s what the folks at some of America’s top companies experienced between 1880 and 1930s when the “company town” was all the rage.
Take Hershey’s Chocolates as an example. According to a recent piece in Preservation Magazine, M…
No Polish Veg, Fruit, спасибо!
Surprise! Russia has made another enemy. After banning Ukrainian soy products and cornmeal, the government’s latest move is against fruits and vegetables from Poland. “‘The cost to Poland of the import ban is likely to be 0.6% of GDP (national output) by the end of the year,’” said Polish Deputy Pri…
You Mean Neanderthals Ate Plants and Little Critters, Too?!
Forgive the sarcasm, but really, did we all think that early uprights ate only the flesh of humungous beasts, slaughtered with the teamwork of a group?
Females undoubtedly wandered forth, gathering berries, roots, mollusks and greens, and netting small animals, in order to keep the group and its …
Tit for Tat, Say the Russkies, So There!
In response to sanctions from the West, Russia's prime minister, and former president, Dmitri Medvedev, announced the country had "banned fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, milk and dairy imports from the US,the EuropeanUnion, Australia, Canada and Norway..." for an entire year. Apparently increased…
Wanna Buy a Water Tower?
You may not want to shell out $500,000 for a 65-year old bottle of ketchup, but what if it stands 170 feet high? This classic piece of roadside Americana is for sale. It promoted Brooks Old Original Rich and Tangy Catsup, produced nearby in Collinsville, Illinois, until the 1960’s, a product now …
Food Heritage from The Food Museum Now at Mother Earth News
We are three entries into a new commitment, at the invitation of the editors, to spotlight food heritage sites/initiatives in the Real Food section of motherearthnews.com. This one focuses on an old bakery in Jaffa, Israel. You can find the others by searching the tag "food heritage."
Astonishingly, We Have Been Slackers!
Sorry, food fans, but we have been led astray by travel, other projects, and such, and this little blog has been quiescent.
Now, we are back, and will be aided in coming weeks by our new food history-interested volunteer, freelance writer Eustacia Huen, who will be putting some of her energy into t…
The Media Has Discovered That We all Eat--- National Geographic is On Board
Packed with years of food-related research and photography from all over the planet, National Geographic Magazine has just launched The Future of Food, a web portal, as well as a series in the magazine. And it has announced today a relationship with the UN's FAO ( Food and Agriculture Organization) …
The (Ukraine) Eggs Have It
The finest of traditional Easter eggs are from the Ukraine, we think, a place all too much in the news these days.
"As an example of the mystery of life itself, the egg was considered enormously powerful. Ancient people decorated the egg with symbols and colors that held a special meaning and used…
Pope Francis O'erwhelmed With Foodish Gifts
Again with the food-related gifts for the Pope! Via The Guardian, "The Queen has met Pope Francis for the first time at the Vatican, presenting the famously plain-living pontiff with a hamper of British food including honey, cox's apple juice and 12 eggs from the crown estate."
Seeds to the Vatican from the White House
Via WaPost: “These I think are carrots,” Obama told the pope as he pulled out a blue velvet pouch from the seed chest.
The White House said the gift was inspired by Francis’ decision to open to the public the gardens of Castel Gandolfo, the pope’s summer residence in the hills south of Rome. Th…
Al-Shabab Builds Canals for Somali Farmers
Rejecting foreign aid, the people of the "breadbasket" area of Somalia apparently are benefitting from canals built by an Al Qaeda-linked group.
Via Al Jazeera English: "In a seven-hectare maize farm on the outskirts of this riverside town, Hussein Mohamed Ali, 66, is still in an ecstatic mood afte…
Renee's Garden: Seeds for the Small Garden
The WaPo's Adrian Higgins meets the power behind a fine damn seed catalog: "The seed business is a $3 billion-a-year global industry. Only a fraction of that is designed for the needs and desires of the home gardener. Each year in this country, almost 100 million acres are planted in field corn an…
So US-made cheeses apparently will need better names, more geographically correct names, names that reflect origins, if the EU trade agreement goes through ? Provenance, yeah!