Article: "20 Foods to Always Buy Organic (Even if you're on a Budget)"

I read this today and thought it was useful information to share with blog readers, especially with all the monsanto news lately. So, taken from Luz Plaza's article, here are the 20 foods that you should always strive to purchase organic and the reasoning behind them.

Grains

Conventional grains are known to contain 15 pesticide residues according to the USDA Pesticide Program. They have even been known to carry carcinogens and neurotoxins that are linked to many health problems. Why buy them organic? Organic whole grains can reduce the risk of chronic diseases, stroke and heart disease.

Soy, Tofu and Edamame

Be aware that 90% of soybeans sold in the United States are genetically modified. Always buy organic to avoid toxins such as chlorpyrifos and malathion. 

Milk

If you drink cow's milk, you are probably already aware that 20% of all cows are given rBGH, the genetically engineered hormone. Organic milk, especially for kids should be a no-brainer.

Cheese

While the FDA regulates the ingredients of processed cheese, there are still problems. For example, processed cheese is made by using heat and an emulsifying agent such as monosodium phosphate, calcium citrate and potassium citrate. Additionally, highly processed cheese likely comes from from a cow that has been treated with synthetic hormones to boost milk production. These particular cheeses can contain dyes and food coloring that has been linked to cancer. 

Meats:

Conventional meats contain hormones, antibiotics and pesticides (from the fertilizer used to grow the feed). Most experts say you should buy organic meat because of the dangers of hormones, antibiotics and additives that have been linked to cancer and other harmful health effects. 

Apples:

On the top of the list of fruits that are full of pesticides. According to Pesticide Action Network's website: www.whatsonmy food.org, 88% of conventionally grown apples contain residues of Thiabendazole, a possible carcinogen. Even after a good wash, traces may still remain. 

Celery:

Conventionally grown celery often tests positive for the carcinogenic insecticide, Chlorantraniliprole and developmental or reproductive toxins. If you can't get organic celery, switch it out for asparagus instead. Conventional asparagus is at the top of the clean produce list, meaning it contains far less of these harmful chemicals. 

Cherries:

This summer favorite is notorious for pesticide and toxin leftovers on their skin. In fact, the USDA Pesticide Data Program found 42 pesticide residues on cherries including carcinogens and neurotoxins that can cause nervous tissue damage. Since cherries are high in fiber, vit c and potassium, just make sure you buy them organic. 

Tomatoes:

This fruit/vegetable is chock full of vit c and lycopene, a powerful antioxidant. However this is one that should always be purchased organic since conventional tomatoes tested positive for many toxic chemicals including Chlorothalonil, a chemical that is considered to be a known carcinogen.

Cucumbers:

Rich in vit A, K and potassium, there are many health benefits to this veggie. However many conventionally grown ones contain 35 pesticide residues like Endosulfan, an insecticide that is so toxic it's gradually being phased out globally. 

Grapes:

Conventionally grown contain Captan and Iprodione, two known carcinogens. Health benefits to grapes include being a good source of calcium, iron and manganese which is essential for healthy tissue production.

Hot Peppers:

This veggie contains a chemical called capsaicin, which can help relieve nasal congestion or even fight against cancer. Unfortunately, conventional ones also can contain 49 pesticide residues including some carcinogens and neurotoxins. If you can't find these organic, switch out with onions, a clean tested vegetable. 

Nectarines:

This fruit contains Lutein, a nutrient used by the body to support healthy eyes and skin. Avoid imported nectarines whenever possible because they can contain Iprodione, a possible carcinogen. 

Peaches:

Conventionally grown contain 62 chemicals that are carcinogens, suspected hormone disruptors, neurotoxins and developmental or reproductive toxins! That's more than most fruits and veggies! Stay away from conventional on this one. Swap out for a cantaloupe if you can't find organic peaches.

Potatoes:

Conventional grown often contain neurotoxin chemicals that can cause mental and emotional changes, vision loss and weakness or numbness in arms and legs. If you can't find organic potatoes, then buy conventional sweet potatoes instead. They are full of antioxidants and are a clean vegetable, free of toxic residue. 

Spinach:

This superfood should always be organic, as the conventionally grown variety has tested for 48 pesticide residues including carcinogens, neurotoxins and developmental or reproductive toxins. 

Strawberries:

Conventional strawberries have been found to contain many types of pesticides including Captain, a probable human carcinogen that causes rats to develop tumors. Fun. 

Sweet Bell Peppers:

While one cup of pepper contains almost 100% of the daily requirements for vit A, and 300% for vit c, the USDA Pesticide Data Program found that the conventionally grown tested positive for nearly 50 pesticides including Methamindophos, a poisonous chemical that in very high does can actually be fatal. 

Collards and Kale:

Conventional Kale contains 49 pesticide residues including 2 dozen possible hormone disruptors, 10 neurotoxins and 7 known or probable carcinogens. Luckily these greens are not much more expensive when purchased organic. 

Summer Squash and Zucchini:

These vegetables, when grown conventionally, still contain traces of the banned pesticide ogranochlorine that is highly toxic to humans and wildlife. Stay organic on this one. 

Original article can be read here: http://www.livestrong.com/slideshow/1004202-20-foods-always-buy-organic-even-youre-budget/?utm_source=articlebottom&utm_medium=1#slide-1

Exploring Hartford's many markets, part I

Some of my favorite memories from growing up in Hartford have been going to the city's markets with my mother. Different sections of town evoke strong recollections of smells, tastes and colorful packaging in different languages. This all came flooding back to me recently during a discussion with a friend who was beginning to venture into her own cooking adventures and was curious about where to start for produce and new products besides the typical supermarkets. We decided to plan a marketing day around the city. One of our stops included A Dong Supermarket, an Asian grocery store off of New Britain Avenue. I love visiting here because it's such an adventure.

Enter the market past the small shrine in the entrance, and walk past the glass case lined with smoked duck, pork, and other meats that many not be so easily identifiable and you are have three possible points to begin. The far right is home goods such as woks, ornate plates, cups, sake sets, and other cooking and home goods. Middle aisles are brimming with varieties of noodles, sauces, candies, teas, dried vegetables, and canned items such as lychees and jackfruit. Or you can veer to the left, my favorite side. This is where you can explore the table of prepared desserts, such as sesame buns, and items like Banh U Dau, made of rice and wrapped in banana leaves (luckily they all list the ingredients on the label)

Or you can venture over to the bakery case to order items such as pork buns or coconut cakes. I am partial to the produce section. On this particular visit, I found some incredible looking watercress for tea sandwiches for the pleasing price of .85! A bin packed with bright pink fruit caught my attention as well and I spent some time trying to figure out what it might be before reading the sign.

I had to giggle when I realized that it was a "Dragonfruit", which I had only ever heard of as one of the Vitamin Water flavors. A very appropriate name given it's looks. The seafood case is also interesting to walk past, for there, entire fish are layed out on display, (not filets). 
Ever thinking, I was struck with the thought that the sparsely filled cases were brilliant for two reasons. First was that the amount of waste was far less. When you shop at a typical US supermarket, the cases are piled high, from front to back with seafood, meats, and poultry, with barely any space between items, and a tremendous amount of those items are not sold and get thrown away. Secondly, by showing the fish in it's entirely, there is more respect for the food item as a fish that lost its live to sustain us, instead of divorcing ourselves from that and seeing it just as a filet. 

On the way to checkout, it's fun to go down the beverage aisle and pick out something new to sample. Example being, I have no idea what Pennywort is, but I plan on trying it next time that I am there! 

Location: A Dong Supermarket, 160 Shield St, West Hartford, CT 06110

Event: Sustainability Never Tasted So Good

When: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Where: Miya's Sushi New Haven
Cost: $35 each
Contact: Amanda Roy 860-685-7599
Register: cthumanities.org/register/sdregnh
Description: Pull up a seat at the table to discuss how we can create a more sustainable food system in our communities. Featured guests will guide meaningful conversation around how we can introduce sustainable practices into our own homes and activities.Enjoy a sampling of a variety of sustainable sushi prepared by our hosts, Miya's Sushi." Speakers: Bun Lai, Owner and Chef of Miya Sushi and Nicole Berube, Executive Director of City Seed.
Ticketed Event: $35 each

Served: Weird News About Food (Printed Food???)

How 3D Printers Could Reinvent NASA Space Food

A NASA-funded project that aims to transform a 3D printer into a space kitchen could one day reinvent how astronauts eat in the final frontier.

NASA officials confirmed this week that the space agency awarded $125,000 to the Austin, Texas-based company Systems and Materials Research Consultancy (SMRC) to study how to make nutritious and efficient space food with a 3D-printer during long space missions. The project made headlines this week largely because of the first item on the menu: a 3D-printed space pizza.

Future astronauts on deep-space mission will face a host of health and sustenance challenges. A roundtrip from Earth to Mars, for instance, could last several years and require thousands of meals for an astronaut crew.
"The current food system wouldn't meet the nutritional needs and five-year shelf life required for a mission to Mars or other long duration missions," NASA officials said in a statement. "Because refrigeration and freezing require significant spacecraft resources, current NASA provisions consist solely of individually prepackaged shelf stable foods, processed with technologies that degrade the micronutrients in the foods."

NASA officials said SMRC will explore whether a 3D-printed food system will be able to provide nutrient stability and a wide variety of foods from shelf stable ingredients, while minimizing waste and saving time for space crews.

Engineers at SMRC are apparently envisioning a system that can "print" dishes using layers of food powders that will have a shelf life of three decades. "The way we are working on it is, all the carbs, proteins and macro and micro nutrients are in powder form," Anjan Contractor, a senior mechanical engineer at SMRC, told Quartz, which first reported the project. "We take moisture out, and in that form it will last maybe 30 years."

Contractor already printed chocolate and now is working on a prototype to print a pizza, according to Quartz. NASA later issued a statement about the Small Business Innovation Research phase I contract that was given to SMRC. This initial six-month project could lead to a phase II study, but NASA officials said the technology is still years away from being tested on an actual flight.

Besides printing celestial pizza, 3D printing could have other uses in space. Also called additive manufacturing, the technology could allow astronauts to make replacement parts for spacecraft or even extraterrestrial habitats, like a lunar base.

"NASA recognizes in-space and additive manufacturing offers the potential for new mission opportunities, whether 'printing' food, tools or entire spacecraft," space agency officials said. "Additive manufacturing offers opportunities to get the best fit, form and delivery systems of materials for deep space travel."

In a separate project, NASA is planning to launch a 3D printer to the International Space Station to test space manufacturing technology for long-duration missions. That project stems from a partnership between the company Made in Space and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Called the 3D Printing Zero G Experiment, the test flight will send a Made in Space 3D printer to the space station in 2014 to demonstrate the feasibility of using the technology to construct spare parts and tools from raw materials on a deep-space mission.

Story courtesy of yahoo news

Served: Weird News About Food (Cicadas)

"Cicada invasion: If you can't beat them, eat them"

"Brood II is good for you. It just takes 17 years to prepare. Bun Lai, owner of Miya’s Sushi in New Haven, Conn., and one of the city’s best known chefs, has a few gastronomic plans for the bumper crop of periodical cicadas expected to emerge along the Eastern seaboard in a couple of weeks. He’ll be cooking up batches of the critters for himself and possibly for certain, select customers.
“I plan to get a big freezer for them,” said Lai, who has become famous for introducing local palates to insects and invasive plant species. “I’m going to catch a whole bunch of them and preserve them for future eating. I plan on eating a whole bunch of them myself.”

Perhaps billions of 17-year cicadas — the Brood II group, to be specific — soon will emerge from their underground homes, climb nearby trees and transform from nymphs into big, hard-shelled, winged creatures with red eyes.

They’ll engage in a rather ostentatious courtship ritual for a few weeks after that, with the male cicadas creating an incredibly loud mating call thanks to handy personal amplifiers called tymbals.

They’ll be above ground for about five weeks before the adults die off and the 17-year life cycle begins again. “I’m definitely considering the possibility of including them in some thematic dinners I do,” Lai said. “Insects are far healthier for our bodies than eating meat.”

There are seven species of periodical cicadas. Three of them live on a 17-year cycle and four species have a 13-year cycle. Their year of emergence is staggered into broods, with Connecticut on the northern edge of Brood II.

Along with the intense public fascination over the creatures comes a healthy curiosity about people who are willing to eat cicadas. There are a fair number of these folks, actually. They even create recipes with cicadas, everything from tacos and cookies to dumplings and pizza.

Aficionados report that the meatier, young female cicadas taste best. They also note that cultures such as the Native American Iroquois tribe in upstate New York considered cicadas a delicacy. That makes perfect sense to Lai, whose repertoire includes Mexican grasshoppers, spiced Asian shore crabs and fried rice with meal worms and crickets.

But he’ll be doing something slightly different with the cicadas. “I don’t want to take something that’s inherently nutritious and deep fry it,” he explained. “If I’m going to interrupt this amazing, 17-year life cycle, I’m going to honor it and respect it.”

For example, Lai is going to steam some cicadas with ground spices and herbs — in a fashion similar to the way Maryland crabs are prepared. He’s also going to do a cicada boil with spices and herbs. “The challenge is to take an ingredient that’s abundant and nourishing and make it appealing to people,” he said. “I’m not trying to gross people out. I’m not running a frat house. I respect the cicada.”

This story is courtesy of the New Haven Register