The Green Fork is the official blog of the Eat Well Guide. Click here to Find Good Food.

We are proud to announce the debut of Eat Well’s first publication, Cultivating the Web: High Tech Tools for the Sustainable Food Movement, available for download here (pdf). We’ll be distributing print copies at Slow Food Nation, which is right around the corner (where did the summer go?), so if you’ll be there too, keep an eye out for us at the Fort Mason and Civic Center welcome booths.

Cultivating the Web shares success stories from folks who’ve harnessed the power of the web to further the sustainable food movement and includes quotes from Joan Gussow, Marion Nestle, Bill McKibben, Tom Philpott, Bonnie Powell, Kerry Trueman, Anya Fernald and Fritz Haeg. The book also includes a comprehensive list of web resources for all sorts of good food fighters, from farmers to foodies to activists.

If you’re not going to SFN but would like to get your hands on a print copy, drop us a line at info[at]eatwellguide.org, but we recommend the digital version, which includes a few things we couldn’t fit in the print version. We’ll also be updating and building out the resources section, so if you know of a group or site that should be included, please contact us at partner[at]eatwellguide.org and let us know.

For more information, check out our press release.

This entry was originally posted on Sustainable Table’s Daily Table blog.

Today’s Tip: Eat Tomatoes

Here in the height of summer, tomatoes are ripe, abundant, tasty and full of nutrients. There are many different versions to choose from, everything from those sweet little cherry tomatoes to the beefy beefsteak varieties. In fact, there are around 7500 varieties in all. A record 7 pound, 12 ounce tomato was grown in Oklahoma in 1986 and hasn’t been topped since (at least I can’t find a bigger one from my internet research so far).

Tomatoes are versatile - sauce, soup, drinks (yummy bloody marys!), salads, and so much more… most people like them in at least one form. I know people who don’t like to eat raw tomatoes, but they love tomato sauce and ketchup. And there is a good reason for your body to crave some version of tomato - they are full of vitamins and minerals! [Read more →]

In case you missed it Earlier this week, Whole Foods ate some crow and issued a recall on ground beef.  Yesterday, the USDA expanded the recall by another 160,000 pounds (up from 1.2 million).

Business as usual? In spite of an overwhelming 4 recalls in 46 days (totaling 7 million pounds of beef) Nebraska Beef, the processor involved in the recall, is still in operation.

It’s all good, though In spite of the string of recalls in recent months, Ed Schafer, head of the USDA, doesn’t see any need for changes in testing or inspections.  Seriously?

Childhood obesity linked to ear infections According to studies from University of Minnesota and Johns Hopkins, ear infections can impact taste and by extension, diets and waistlines.  (Washington Post)

Forget Wheaties Over in China, gold medalist Ryan Lochte is running on McDonald’s.  Sigh.

Maria de Jesus Alvarez, 63, mother of 9, who died August 2, was picking grapes for Anthony Vineyard on July 15, a day that saw temperatures as high as 111 degrees, when she fell ill and went home.  Four days later, on July 19, she was taken to the hospital, where tests revealed she’d suffered heat stroke and severe dehydration.

Maria is the sixth farmworker to fall victim to this summer’s heat, and the fifteenth since Governor Schwarzenegger took office.  United Farm Workers (UFW) is running an action campaign to urge California legislators to let those who grow and harvest our food to protect themselves through secret ballot elections that would make it easier for farmworkers to organize and enforce safety laws.

Our thoughts are with Maria’s family.

Here’s another post from Devra Gartenstein of Seattle, who takes time out from a busy schedule writing cookbooks like her upcoming Local Bounty (she also wrote The Accidental Vegan), blogging at the Quirky Gourmet and running her Patty Pan Grill (phew!) to volunteer for Eat Well.  Here, she touches on some of the challenges she faces sourcing and serving the most sustainably produced food while still maintaining a healthy bottom line.  If, like Devra, you grow, produce, cook or even just eat good food and have a trial or tribulation to share, drop us a line at blog[at]eatwellguide.org.

If you think it’s hard making decisions every day about the right way to eat, imagine trying to make thoughtful, conscientious choices about feeding hundreds, even thousands of people each week. Like consumers, we producers care about the quality of the ingredients we buy, struggling to find affordable food that has been sustainably produced. But our very livelihood can depend on finding a careful balance between cost and integrity.

As individuals, each of us navigates the complex world of food each day by establishing a set of criteria and priorities, whether or not we’re aware of it. We may choose our foods on the basis of flavor, cost or convenience, or we may choose vegetarian or vegan options, or items that have been locally or organically grown. Few of us are entirely consistent: we make exceptions when we go out to eat, when we travel, when we share meals with people we love who eat differently than we do, or when we’re simply tired of all the effort. I know organic farmers who eat corn dogs and Egg McMuffins, and one long time vegan who insists on using butter in her sweet potato pie. [Read more →]

Today’s Healthy Monday tip: Get cooking!

There’s no better way to be sustainable in your food life than making use of your own kitchen! Getting your meats, veggies and herbs at a farmers market, your local co-op, or neighborhood health food store and cooking it at home is much healthier than going out to eat, and often cheaper to boot. Unfortunately, eating out at a restaurant leaves you with portions are much larger than necessary. In fact, a typical restaurant meal has at least sixty percent more calories than the average meal made at home, according to a USA Today article about the topic. It’s a good tidbit to keep in mind when you do go out to eat- take note of the size of your plate and eat accordingly.

Intimidated by cooking? Simple and delicious recipes can help to overcome this common fear. Men’s Health magazine recently passed along a few healthy recipes from their July/August issue, which provided readers with helpful tips on greening their forks. Among these were a few organic recipes from New York Chef Tom Colicchio that call for fresh, local ingredients. [Read more →]

For Sale: rBGH Food activists are celebrating this week after the announcement that Monsanto will divest Posilac, surely a sign of a stumble before a fall. Food & Water Watch wants your help encouraging more corporations to rid their dairy supplies of rBGH.

Europe says no to clones The European Food Safety Authority refused to endorse the safety of milk and meat from cloned animals in a report issued last Thursday, calling for better research.  The report, along with a more positive recommendation from a European ethics committee, will both advance to the European Commission, which will ultimately decide whether to allow the meat industry to market clone meat to consumers.

Do you recall… As Bonnie P. points out at the Ethicurean, another ground beef recall was issued in the middle of the night earlier this week. Unfortunately, concerned hamburger eaters won’t be able to check the USDA site to see if they ate/how to avoid eating contaminated food, as the search feature only applies to retail outlets, not the food service and institutional establishments this beef went out to.

Obama speaks vegan-ese Nikki Benoit of Florida Voices for Animals took Obama to task on food and farming issues last week at a Town Hall Meeting, then posted about the experience for vegan.com.

Plea-bargaining for pizza Tremayne Durham of New York pleaded guilty to murdering Oregon man Adam Calbreath in exchange for a fast-food reprieve from jail food.  The story gets even more bizarrely food-related — Durham had traveled to Oregon to confront his victim’s former boss over the botched sale of an ice cream truck.

A few months ago, the Eat Well Team and I journeyed up to the gorgeous Hudson River Valley. There are so many amazing farms and restaurants in that area (some of which we’ve written about, like Stone Barns and Sisters Hill Farm) that as we planned our trip, it was hard to nail down an itinerary. Then Joan Gussow said we could come over, and our visit (coordinated by our good friend, Kerry Trueman) quickly became the centerpiece of our trip.

Those of you who’ve read Gussow’s memoir, This Organic Life, can imagine how we excited we were to step out her back door and feast our eyes on her garden, set against the blue waters of the Hudson River, whose humble beginnings and subsequent flourishing were chronicled in the book. This little garden keeps Joan in fresh fruits and veggies throughout the harvest season, and dry storage and other preservation tides her over through the rest of the year — she supplements her diet with store-bought non-veggie staples and generally eats out once or twice a week, but otherwise, this is it.

Even though our guest list had expanded rather late to include ten or so of us, including Annie Meyers of Thoughts on the Table and Robert LaValva of New Amsterdam Market, Joan took good care of us, whipping up some red-wine spritzers to pair with the bacon sandwiches and duck confit Kerry had brought to share. After we ate, Joan treated us to a tour of the garden, the walkway of which is covered in the softest clover a bare foot ever stepped on.
[Read more →]

Mark Andrew Gravel recently joined the Eat Well team as a consultant to help reach out to the greater community and cultivate partnerships with the many like minded organizations out there doing great work for good food. Mark is the founder of Bouwerie, a freelance creative group that collaborates with clients active in the good food movement, and develops self-propelled projects like the upcoming Table Tea, and the recently launched Good Farm Movement, which features some of the best of the agricultural avant-garde. We’ll be checking in with Good Farm Movement every two weeks or so to feature the art of the agrarian. To kick things off, we did a little interview.

Leslie: Mark, how did you get into promoting good food and sustainable agriculture?

Mark: I grew up eating very fresh food. My mother and grandmother are excellent cooks, and my best memories are waking up to all the local produce they would shop for during the summer months. To that end, I come in at the culinary point of the agricultural process. Good ingredients inspire my cooking, and by good I definitely mean local, sustainably grown—they make you feel like a spring chicken. [Read more →]

This entry was originally posted on Sustainable Table’s Daily Table blog.

Today’s tip: Eat in harmony with the summer season.

Eating in line with the season is beneficial for your health and fits perfectly into sustainable living. The bounty of the summer provides exactly what you need to participate.

Summer generously grows a colorful variety of food that will supply a wide array of nutrients to your body. If you cook according to summer’s hotness - preparing raw foods, sauteing quickly (on a high heat) or steaming/simmering for a short amount of time, it will help your body adapt to the heat. Certain foods are considered “cooling” in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), perfect to get through a hot summer day - salads, sprouts, fruit (especially watermelon, lemons and limes), cucumbers and tofu to name a few. Eating heavy food, such as meat, eggs and an excess of nuts in the summer season can contribute to sluggishness (but don’t worry, these “heavy” foods can help in other seasons!).

Another suggestion from TCM is to stay away from items that are too cold (difficult to do on a hot day when tempted with ice cream!) as they are contracting and will hold in sweat. Your body needs to sweat to keep balanced -stick to warm liquids and warm showers if you can. TMC even suggests adding some spice to your meals, fresh peppers and ginger, to help your body cope with the outside temperature.

Read more about TCM and the seasons in this wonderful book by Paul Pitchford, Healing with Whole Foods.