Moopheus

American food producers really don't want country-of-origin labeling requirements, for various reasons, none of which are to the benefit of the consumer. As far as I am aware, I don't think Japan has anything equivalent to the protected designation of origins system that is common in Europe either.

That would be nice if it actually worked that way. Sure, markets and policy makers do follow demand to a certain extent. But they will resist changes as well. Consider food labeling requirements. Producers want to control the message about their products through their advertising. They don't really want buyers to think about what's in the food, where it came from, the conditions it was produced in, and so on. They want you to believe it's just as wholesome and good for you as they say it is. They say the requirements will destroy their business, even though they are always able to adapt to it. In the 1950s, food producers fought against rules restricting carcinogenic ingredients. They fought ingredient labeling in the 1970s. Has this really impeded their ability to sell ever-increasing quantities of ever-more highly processed food? Hardly. No, but it will make mom less willing to buy. Heck, I'm a vegetarian and I rarely beg for roasted cauliflower. And I do eat potato chips once in a while. Do we need to spend tax money so that potato chip makers can get cheaper vegetable oil? I don't think so. Why would you need to make a case for eating salt? You need salt.

This sheet dated April 7 from the USDA shows the importing of raw beef from Japan has been suspended due to "APHIS restrictions." Poking around the APHIS site suggests that this is due to recent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in Japan. This is unrelated to the BSE-related ban of a few years ago.

Geez, I think if I were going to use that kind of quantity I'd make my own. Even at a buck a piece Clif bars get expensive. Could just mix up a batch of gorp, slather some chocolate over it, and be done with it. Heck, that's basically what we'd do back in my younger days when I went out hiking in the mountains.

I've always appreciated the honesty of this brand name.

Not so much, really. Clif bars rule among cyclists. They have a good protein/carb mix for long rides, and are less nasty tasting than other types. I usually have one or two in my bag. Some of the other super-high-protein bars are better if you're doing a weight-training regimen, but for my purposes I prefer the Clif bar.

It's not a precise term, but generally it refers to the institutional attitudes of government agencies regarding food. That's why I say there's always policy: the government can decide to subsidize grain, or decide not to, but either way, the choice is the policy. Policy in general is a fairly blunt instrument; rarely is there a one-size-fits-all solution to problems. But there are problems, and choices have to be made. And in a globalized food economy, we're affected by the choices other countries make as well. Personally I am more in favor of reducing the food subsidy system overall. The food system it was designed to support doesn't really exist any more. Let the cost of potato chips rise, and people will eat less of it. If by "protein" you mean meat, then I would say that it is less of a problem. Which is to say, on average, Americans are already eating more protein than is needed nutritionally, so if the cost of meat goes up and people eat less, that's not a negative. Now, there is hunger and food insecurity in the world, caused in part by the basic tendency of human population to grow to the limits of available resources. One of the problems we face is a system where 40 percent of the food we produce is wasted, overall consumption is increasing, and yet some people are still not getting enough to eat, even in the face of fairly substantial relief efforts. Some of it is just related to poverty, but some of it has to do with land management issues--subsistence farmers not being able to get good crops and fertilizers, and environmental changes--land becoming less productive for various reasons (exhausted and lost to soil erosion). The FDA is <i>supposed</i> to watch out for that. Exactly how well they do that is a matter of some controversy. Food manufacturers constantly press the limit of how much they can claim before the FDA calls them on it. It's unlikely that you can. If sugar, especially the cheap HFCS that food processors use, were more expensive, people would take less of it. But there's still going to be demand for it. The problems of too little salt are fairly well understood. If the salt/water balance in your body gets out of whack, and your cells retain too much water, you will get sick. It's possible to have a too-low salt diet, but you'd have to work at it.

No, I'm not suggesting banning foods or even types of food service. Choice is good. But it does presume a certain ability to make choice. Education is indeed an issue. One item that's been discussed here from time to time is the virtual disappearance from our schools, for various reasons, of what used to be call "home economics" courses. Teaching kids things like rudimentary cooking skills and thinking about how to evaluate products, skills that would help them fend for themselves out in the world. But on the policy level, the system tends to be skewed more to the benefit of the large food processors. The bulk of our farm subsidies go to corn, wheat and soybean growers, which means cheap inputs for feedlots and the producers of refined products like HFCS and vegetable oils used in factory foods. Vegetables and fruits are way, way, down on the list. Tobacco growers get more money from subsidy programs than fruits do.

Unfortunately, the stuff sold by fast food chains does count. It may not be very good food, but people still buy it and eat it. The fast food chains use a fairly significant portion of the output of the food production system, and their desire to be able to produce and profitably sell a $1 cheeseburger pressures the whole production system. You can't ignore it. Sure, people have a "choice" but it is in many cases a fairly limited choice. Food processors and fast food outlets spend enormous sums of money to promote their products, ensure their ubiquitous availability, and sell the message that the convenience and cheapness of it is better than any alternative. Against that there is what, the USDA food pyramid? It surprisingly difficult for that apple to compete against the $1 cheeseburger. It's not an even playing field. And I'm not saying that food alone causes health problems--it is certainly true that we are more sedentary, at least in the US, than in the past. But it also appears to be the case that average caloric consumption is rising too. I myself would be much fatter than I am now if it weren't for my bicycle.

It's kind of hard to do that since policy is intrinsically political. Subsidies for farmers are political. Environmental regulation is political. Import tariffs are political. School lunches are political. Land use issues are political. The use of immigrant, especially illegal immigrant labor in the US food system is a political hot potato. The health implications of the food system--obesity, other illnesses, and hunger--are political issues. That said, I think it is reasonable to ask, what do you want food policy to do? Food policy, at some level, is always going to exist, as long as we have a political system. It quickly becomes complicated because no one agrees, and there are always tradeoffs. We have built a system that can produce, for many people, an abundance of food at low price. One of the affects that system we see around us every day--increases in obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and so on. The costs of those illnesses are a drain on the public health system. Cheap food isn't necessarily cost effective. You ask how far I have to go to buy from a farmer, and the answer is, it depends. Where I live, I can get to a farmers' market locally. There are farms I can go to that are maybe an hour away. These farms are probably pretty small by Iowan standards. The CSA farm I get a lot of my produce from is about an hour and a half away, but there's a local pickup (I have actually been out to the farm).

Based on this list [click] , I'd say they're candy, and therefore would concur with Mitch

A little stirring, especially, right at the beginning, will take care of it. I've always cooked my pasta with reduced amounts of water, never had a problem.

Well, "tomatoey" sounds like a word one might use to mean "contains no actual tomatoes".

I think it would take a lot of work to compile enough information to make a real comparison, since there's so much variability. Season, location, variety of food are all factors. That said, I'd say that on average, the nearest farmers' market to me has prices that are above what I pay for conventional produce at the store I usually go to, but not very much, except for some items. Relatively ordinary items, like carrots, corn, and so on, can actually be quite cheap, but some fruits are expensive, though when it is peak season for them, they're much better than anything else I can get. We are also on a CSA plan, and it is a bit expensive, but the amount of food we get in our allotment is usually substantial. In fact, some weeks it can be a challenge to use it all! I packed my freezer with all kinds of soup for the winter. Another thing about farmer's markets being only for the well-off--I'd have to say, from my experience, that this is not strictly true. There seems to be a growing trend among markets to be set up to take payments from government assistance programs--food stamps and the like.

Personally, I am not very interested in that sort of multi-function device--they usually seem to involve a lot of compromises in manufacture, have unwanted features (try to do too much), and are less reliable--more bits to break, and the whole unit may be junk if one part goes. Sure, manufacturers want you to buy lots of individual appliances, but that doesn't mean you need them all. A decent set of hand tools still suffices for most tasks. I'd be happy if I could just get new appliances with the build quality of, for example, vintage Sunbeam or the old Hobart-built Kitchenaid stuff. One thing I would like is a home-counter-size ice cream machine that allowed more control over the process, not just one temp/speed setting.

Though a pint of Haagan dazs isn't actually a pint any more--it's only 14 oz. So they reduced the amount of dairy that way instead. There used to be a Breyer's plant in Framingham, but it was closed by Unilever a few years ago. I don't think Unilever has done much good for the quality of B&J's either. Locally, there's a number of good ice cream shops and I have a machine, so I don't rely on the supermarket.

Hah, that reminds me of some bit of my family lore--supposedly, the first time my (Jewish) father went to my mother's (Italian) parents' house for dinner, he put ketchup on the pasta. How he made it out of the house alive is still a mystery. The only thing his mother could make (to keep it slightly on topic) was brisket (for Passover) and cold chicken. Or at least, that is all I can remember eating at her house.

Our kitchen has terra cotta tiles on the floor, a very hard surface that's hard to stand on for very long. As soon as we can afford to, we're going to replace it with something less harsh, like maybe cork. I thought about getting some sort of pad for the space between the island and the stove, but in the end decided on a pair of kitchen clogs. Specifically, I went with Klogs, and that's worked out to be a pretty good solution for me.

This may be part of it. Last year my cat died--the one in my avatar photo--from cancer. As he got sicker, he lost a lot of weight and had trouble eating. When it got to the point of him refusing even his most favorite treats--slices of smoked salmon--I knew there was nothing left to be done.

These are the people designers have to deal with. It's not always the designer's fault--though it is probably true that most restaurants wouldn't want to pay for someone good or professional.

At a guess--I've never needed to actually do this--I'd say, if it was warped by hot water, you can unwarp it with hot water. I would try filling a large basin with hot water, put the board in the bottom of the basin, put a sheet pan on top of it, and then load it down with some weights, like a pile of bricks.

http://neversaidaboutrestaurantwebsites.tumblr.com/ Does anyone ever TELL a restaurant that their web site sucks?

I haven't had Breyer's in a long time, but I always remember it as being one of the better nonpremium supermarket brands. Less overrun than the the cheap stuff, better ingredients. It wouldn't surprise me if Unilever has cheapened it. Sorry to hear they're adding junk to it.

The entire Kmart chain has been in decline for years; merging with Sears hasn't worked out very well for either side. I'd guess we're not very far from seeing a lot of "underperforming" store closures. I remember when the big Target in Brooklyn opened, though--it was hugely successful.

Yes, there has been a decline, I said that. The Clinton administration pursued an active strong dollar policy; the Bush and Obama administrations have been more hands-off, reversing the previous gains. Inflation and the exchange rate are related, but not the same. China does count very much--most of our trade deficit is on account of China, and oil. China has to buy dollars, and live with internal inflation. Walmart, obviously, has been a major player in the outsourcing of manufacturing. I believe that on the whole, Walmart has been a net negative on the economy--that workers have lost more in wages than gained in savings from the "efficiency" of Walmart.