Food and Farming
The State of Worker Purchasing Power
Monsanto’s Absurdity Reaches New Heights
It was my privilege to go to Des Moines recently for a World Food Prize extravaganza recognizing Monsanto's work against global hunger. But wait, Monsanto is not a hunger-fighter. It's a predatory proliferator of proprietary and genetically engineered seeds. That's...
Jack-o-Lanterns Illuminate the Luxury in Our Lives
Every time I see a jack-o-lantern, I remember a conversation with my friend Kate Chumo. I met her in her home country of Kenya. We were talking about a favorite Kenyan food called uji, a fermented millet porridge. "Do you know what we do with millet in the U.S.?" I...
Meat So Cheap You Could Die
Thanks to the shutdown, the government is doing less to protect Americans from foodborne pathogens and deal with the aftermath of outbreaks. The timing couldn't be worse. Ten days after the shutdown began, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that 317 people...
More Food Doesn’t Guarantee Less Hunger
Every October, world leaders and corporate executives gather in Iowa to present the World Food Prize. Intended to celebrate those who make the largest contributions to increasing the world's food supply, the recipients are announced each year by the U.S. Secretary of...
McDonald’s Takes Its Time Cooking Up a New Menu
The appeal of fast food chains isn't their food: mostly fat, salty, sugary, empty-calorie mush. It's their speed. Order, pay, and — bam — your warmed-over burgerpizzachickentaco delight is instantly handed to you. Yet, for a mega-chain based on speed, McDonald's has...
The Slow Road to Better Fast Food
Challenging Big Chicken
Darn. I missed the official celebration in September — bet you did too. But even if we're a little late, we still have time to mark National Chicken Month. Websites are giving us myriad ways to observe the bird. Eat more chicken! Do the chicken dance! Read Chicken...
Engineering More Information for Consumers
One hundred calories per serving, two servings per container, three grams of fiber, product of USA, may contain traces of soy, manufactured in a facility that processes wheat. We're accustomed to seeing labels on our food that give us this information. However,...
Why Are We Eating in the Dark?
Have you ever eaten a genetically engineered food? If you're like most Americans, you have no idea. Genetic engineering is a controversial technology in which genes from one species (say, bacteria) are inserted into the DNA of a different species (for example, corn)....
