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LINKS WE LOVE

QUICK READS: 

(photo credit: istockphoto, Modern Farmer)
  1. Leave it to BuzzFeed for shortcuts and cute memes: 34 Kitchen Hacks every Cook should know. 
  2. Good news ladies! Bacteria in yogurt has been scientifically proven to help women lose more weight and fat. Get those probiotics in, your waistline will thank you. Read more at The Salt on NPR
  3. Planning dinner for your boo on Valentine's Day? Check out our special Valentine's Day Menu that includes vegetarian friendly options! We even included something sweet so be sure to feast your eyes on our Meyer Lemon dessert 
  4. Taking land from the Mafia and giving it to the farmers -- A network of organic farmers called Libera Terra have transformed confiscated Mafia property into a successful business with an annual income of over 8.2 million dollars.  Read more at the Modern Farmer. 

 

VIDEOS THAT MAKE YOU GO Hmmm or Mmmm:  

 

  1. This is quite possibly the cutest snacks I’ve ever seen: Strawberry Men! How sweet would these be for Valentine's Day?

  2. Watch Astronaut Chris make a peanut butter honey tortilla in space -- Imagine the challenges of a zero gravity kitchen!

  3. How much food can $5 buy you around the World? Find out via Buzzfeed Video.

  4. Roy Choi makes us think about the importance of feeding the needy. Watch his lecture at the MAD symposium and the ways we can help the hungry : A Gateway to Feed Hunger: The Promise of Street Food 

 

OUR FOOD HERO: MICHAEL POLLAN

photo credit: Peter Yang

photo credit: Peter Yang

Michael Pollan has changed the way we eat. He has brought awareness about the places where nature and culture intersect: on our plates, in our farms and garden, and in the built environment. He was named to be TIME magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people and lectures around the World to bring consciousness and activism to ensure a healthier planet through the eating choices that we make. 

He is best known for his popular books: The Botany of Desire, The Omnivore's Dilemma, Food Rules, and most recently his forthcoming cookbook, Cooked. And he has also appeared documentaries such as The Botany of Desire rand Food Inc, which received an Academy Award nomination. 

Without Michael Pollan's fight for change, many of us would still be in the dark about how food is produced in America and ways industrialization is hurting not only our planet, but our health. During his interview with Ira Flatow on NPR, he discusses the science of eating and ways to prepare food that is not only friendly towards the environment but ultimately improves our well-being. I've attached a small snippet of the interview but you can catch the rest here on Talk of the Nation.

FLATOW: Why a book about cooking? Is it a natural extension of your food interests?

POLLAN: Yeah, it is. I mean, I wasn't expecting to write about cooking, but, you know, I had written one book about the earth end of the food chain, "Omnivore's Dilemma," and how the food is produced from the earth. And then I'd leapt ahead and looked at nutrition science and written a couple books about health, including "In Defense of Food" and "Food Rules."

And I realized I hadn't really paid attention to this middle, where the stuff coming off the farms is transformed into meals. And the more I learned about the whole food chain, the more influential I realized that middle step was, because what happens on the farm is directly influenced by the way we're eating.

If we're eating industrially, if we're letting large corporations, fast food chains, cook our food, we're going to have a huge, industrialized, monoculture agriculture because big likes to buy from big. So I realized wow, how we cook or whether we cook has a huge bearing on what kind of agriculture we're going to have.

 

EAT MORE BREAKFAST AND VEGETABLES!

(photo credit: Martha Stewart, Mark O'Meara, Susan Byrnes, Shao Z)
  1. Apple Butter makes mornings worth waking up for -- 5-minute Hot Cereal with Apple Butter and Walnuts via Martha Stewart. 
  2. Caprese toasts for breakfast? Yes please! You could also pop these in the toaster oven and make pizza toast. 
  3. Cooking Light says this recipe will even make carnivroes drool -- Vegetarian Chipotle Nachos, a great option for a vegetarian friendly dinner! 
  4. Roasted Kabocha Squash with Soy Sauce, Butter and Shichimi Togarashi via Serious Eats, need I say more? 

 

 COOL GADGETS AND PRETTY THINGS:

(photo credit: Williams Sonoma, Pigeon Toe Ceramics, MOMA, Yanko Design)
  1. Zucchini noodles have changed my life and none of it would've been possible without this Paderno Spiralizer.  Think of the possibilities -- it can produce spiral cuts, shoestrings and vegetable noodles.
  2. Simplistic, modern and earthy designs from Pigeon Toe Ceramics in Portland Oregon. Check out these Hanging Test Tubes Vase and other goodies on their Etsy shop. 
  3. If you treat your special beau this vase, you only have to buy them ONE flower. Using a powerful Frensel lens, this vase magnifies a single bloom in exquisite detail. Head over to the MOMA gift store and grab one before it's too late! 
  4. "The Spice-Leaf Book solves the problem of space by storing a variety of spices in a handy little book. Just tear off a page of dissolving paper packed with seasoning and toss it in your stew. Of course it’s just a concept, but we’d love to see this clever little “cookbook” make its way to our kitchen." via Incredible Things