Archive for Lisa Heldke
This IS a parody, right?
Just what are we willing to eat, if it comes on a circle of dough in a cardboard box?
Ode (walla) to sugar: is 52 grams really so much?
(Second in a series) Our story so far: We were looking at a bottle of juice, remember? The bottle of real, honest-to-goodness, 100% juice, no added sugar. The one with “only” 52 grams of naturally occurring sugar in it. What’s the big deal about 52 grams (a.k.a. 12 teaspoons) of sugar? That’s a good question. And [...]
Who’d Walla drink all that sugar?
(First in a sugary series) When’s the last time you sat down to a bowl of 12 or 13 teaspoons of sugar? (Translation: just over a quarter cup of sugar. Translation: 52 grams of sugar. Translation: one-eighth of a pound of sugar. Translation: thirteen sugar cubes. Translation: a whole lotta grittiness in your mouth.) The answer, I [...]
In Memory’s Dining Hall: “Ma” Young and Lushburgers
(First in a series) The history of Gustavus is populated by characters. Individuals whose names always float to the surface when folks who have been here A Certain Length of Time start to reminisce; persons who, if they’d been around in the Facebook era, would have the sort of page you’d visit, just to see what [...]
Meat, Death and Compassion: More on “The Compassionate Carnivore”
(Part Two of two) Last week, I wrote some thoughts about The Compassionate Carnivore, Catherine Friend’s book about how to satisfy her meat love in the most humane, just and sustainable ways possible. My first entry explored this whole matter of love; I confronted the similarities between Friend’s love of meat and my own love of [...]
Eating What You Love: Ruminations on “The Compassionate Carnivore”
(Part One of two) I’ve been reading a book called The Compassionate Carnivore, by Catherine Friend, the southeastern Minnesota farmer who wrote Hit by a Farm. It’s an extremely thoughtful, readable book about how to make the choice to eat meat a responsible, sustainable, ethical, and (most of all) compassionate choice. Friend undertakes this project because, as [...]
Who grew your rice?
In this BBC story, British student Stacey tells her story of spending five weeks in southeast Asia, working in the industries that supply Britain with its seafood and rice. Stacey came away from the experience confident in the quality and safety of the food being produced, but stunned and shocked by the toll it takes [...]
Low carbon choices at the table
Here’s some handy information from the folks at the University of California Davis: Science for Stewardship and Human Wellbeing Food and Global Warming: The “Hotspots” What the research tell us… Highest energy and greenhouse gas emissions are associated with: Livestock-related methane and nitrous oxide emissions Synthetic nitrogen fertilizers Heated greenhouse production Air freight Post-retail, consumer transport to shopping Food waste and multiple [...]
It’s not just miles that count.
Wouldn’t it be nice if all our food were locally grown? Wouldn’t the world be a better place? Well, not necessarily. As a study at the University of Wales showed, the energy used in transporting food to market represents just a tiny fraction of the energy used to grow food. Conventionally raised foods (i.e. raised using [...]
Sweden: on the forefront of “climate-friendly food”
Swedish authorities develop guidelines on climate-friendly food choices June 18, 2009 From Swedish News on Climate Change: Swedish authorities are the first in Europe to develop guidelines on climate-friendly food choices. The Swedish National Food administration has been working with the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency to produce food recommendations that include information on the impact of [...]