Reprinted with permission from the October issue of the Ester Republic.

Eating local is a value that is reasonably easy to pursue when you only a household to feed, but I knew that my local food values would be tested when planning to feed 120 guests at my upcoming wedding. My fiancée Alysa and I are marrying on October 13^th of this year. Skeptics say that Slow Food only works for the small, and a congregation of 120 people is by few measures small. So our wedding, it would seem, was an opportunity to prove them wrong. (more…)

Reprinted with permission from the July issue of the Ester Republic.

Remember when researchers told us that Big Mac sandwiches caused cancer? I was reminded of this recently when passing through the big-box retail district – I spied for the first time a sign in front of one of the many new construction sites bearing the familiar golden arches and the slogan “Here We Grow Again.” Now I don’t know about the rest of you, but let me tell you it is a relief to know that when I’m hungry and stuck on that side of town, so far away from the McDonalds’ on College (0.9 miles away), Airport (2.2 miles), or Geist (3.5 miles), that my choice will never again be limited to Carl’s Jr. (more…)

Reprinted with permission from the August issue of the Ester Republic.

I find it mildly ironic, as a researcher of and advocate for sustainable agriculture and community food systems, that I’ve never, myself, slaughtered a chicken. For all I preach in my research, writing and teaching about how important it is to be connected to the production of one’s food, the closest I’ve ever come is removing the bag of giblets from my cage-free, free-range, grass-fed, hormone-free butterball. So a few days ago when the opportunity rather abruptly presented itself, I approached the task with a mix of apprehension and academic curiosity. (more…)

More good news for blueberries and antioxidants in regards to brain health and Alzheimer’s , as the USDA news service reviews some recently published literature here.

The story brings to mind a regular frustration I run into as an anthropologist with interests in food and nutrition. Health and nutrition researchers seem to have an exceptionally well-developed reluctance to draw connections between specific, down scale research data and long-term health outcomes. In other words, they don’t like to ever tell people what to (and hence what not to) eat.

As illustrated by the hundreds, perhaps thousands of often contradictory books on dieting and healthy eating, each of which is often authored by a legitimate MD, there is little to no agreement within the research community about how food and diet relates to health, through nutrition.

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