Kitchen Cabinet

Author: heldke

  • Who grew your rice?

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    heldke

    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

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    heldke

    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…

  • It’s not just miles that count.

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    heldke

    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…

  • Sweden: on the forefront of “climate-friendly food”

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    heldke

    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…

  • Food: The Movie

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    heldke

    A new movie, “Food, Inc.,” promises to address a whole grocery-list of issues raised by our contemporary industrial food system–nutrition, the environment, farm worker rights, and all points in between. You can see a trailer for the movie (cleverly advertised using a Holstein cow with a bar code on its flank) here. It looks interesting…

  • Help Wanted

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    heldke

    Did you know that the Kitchen Cabinet/Dining Service has a paid internship that can be undertaken for credit? Yep, that’s right. It’s called “Choices at the Table” and you can read all about it here. Note that for the next two semesters, we hope to continue a focus on nutrition choices that we’ve begun this…

  • Gustieware: it’s famous!

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    heldke

    An article in College Planning and Management discusses the Gustieware program as an example of “environmentally conscious changes on campus.” Now, if only we could implant those homing devices in the things….

  • Why aren’t we “going trayless???”

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    heldke

    Recently, a student queried Dining Service Director Steve, about the possibility of eliminating trays as a way of saving energy and reducing food waste. Here’s what I had to say about that matter, back in September, when colleges across the country rolled out their new trayless programs. (The piece was published in the Free Press…

  • How ’bout some mercury with your soft drink?

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    heldke

    High fructose corn syrup, the sweetener found in–well…maybe it’s easier to list the things it’s NOT found in these days–is being found to contain MERCURY, a known neurotoxin. Read more here. Hmmm. Mercury. Does this mean that if I drink enough Coke, I’ll be able to take my own temperature?

  • New food labels on the horizon

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    heldke

    Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack appears to be advocating for country-of-origin labeling on fresh foods such as unprocessed meats and vegetables. According to an article from the Associated Press, he’s hoping for voluntary compliance, but will “write new rules”  if the voluntary approach doesn’t work.