World Hunger and the Veg Solution

enough grain for all to be fed

Now that we have made it to the beginning of a new year, everyone is ready to start fresh. Call it a resolution, or just a response to the excess of the holidays, but it might be a good time to look at eating more plants. Whether omnivore or vegetarian, we all seem to end up eating too many empty calories, too much rich food, and too few veggies. If you want to keep it simple, just make your resolution to veer toward the plant based dishes this year.

If you want some motivation, it may help to know that, as Moms across America used to say: “there are people starving in (fill in the blank) who would love this food.” Now, your Mom was trying to get you to finish the food on your plate, and chances are, it was not vegetarian. Still, her heart was in the right place. There are people starving, 1.02 billion of them, to be exact.

And while I am not so naive as to believe that hunger is about lack of food, there is a glaring solution that could be employed. We have known since the ’70’s that if we simply stopped feeding all the plants we raise to livestock, we would have enough plant food to feed everyone. At its most simple, the equation of making meat from plants is wasteful, and makes plants into meat for the affluent countries of the world. It takes up land and resources that would make it possible for that billion-plus people to have plenty to eat. Of course, most hunger is political, with wars and profit driving the shortages.

But still.

Currently, worldwide 40% of the grain grown is fed to animals, and in the US, 70%.This will only get worse as the global appetite for meat is growing, and meat production increased from 71 million tons in 1961 to 284 million tons in 2007. Add to that the fact that some of the most hard hit countries in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are also bearing the brunt of climate change, which will cause crops to fail.

When people are hungry, it is children and women who suffer.

In a  joint report by Concern Worldwide, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and German NGO Welthungerhilfe found that the lower the level of literacy and educational access among women in developing nations, the more likely they are to experience persistent hunger. They believe that by equalizing the status of men and women, 13.4 million fewer malnourished children would exist in South Asia and 1.7 million fewer in Sub-Saharan Africa.

And where there is hunger, children die. 45% of the child deaths in the world occur in India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, a figure that continues to escalate each year.

And don’t think it’s just in developing nations. The USDA released its annual report on Food Insecurity, and found that in 2008, 17 million American households were food insecure. That is way up from the 11.9 million in 2007. While Americans waste more food than anybody, throwing away about 1400 calories per day, others go hungry.

It’s frustrating and depressing to think about, to be sure. We can only do our part by wasting less, eating lower on the food chain, and giving as much as we can to combat hunger. As much as we should not be fooled by empty gestures, like putting in a new lightbulb and then feeling that you’ve done your part, veg is powerful.

The less meat we consume, the less meat will be made. I know right now the veg community is small, in the big picture. But Americans need to stop driving the machine.

If you needed a little motivation for your New Years Resolution, maybe thinking about all those hungry people will help. Don’t be an ugly American, cut back and leave a little for the rest.

You might just feel better, look better, and live longer, so why not?

Surviving the Holidays, Vegetarian-Style

For families with a sense of humor

Ahh, the holidays, a time of family and togetherness. All cuddled together, snowed in. Be careful, vegetarians. That cozy home can turn into an incubator of resentment, hurt feelings and anger in a heartbeat.

Now’s the time to take a deep breath and practice your Vegetarian Etiquette. It’s not about how to hold a salad fork or address a remarried cousin twice removed. Veg etiquette is all about making your way in the non-veg world without burning bridges. You don’t want to be the vegetarian they tell stories about when they get back to work.

Rule one at the holidays is that the holidays are not the best time to make your point. It’s kind of like weddings and funerals-if someone acts like a jerk at one of those, its never forgotten. The holidays are a time when everybody is supposed to set aside their stuff and just enjoy each other as people. I know, I’ve never met your Uncle Bart, but hey, I have my own stories, believe me.

In fact, an important point that extends beyond the holidays: Sometimes it’s less important to be right than it is to get along. I figured that out after a few years of marriage, maybe that is why I am still married.

Look, I’m with you. Between you, me and cyberspace, factory farms are a horrifying nightmare that should end yesterday. You are completely right that your vegetarian lifestyle is better for the planet, whose cries for help have reached the level of a roar. Yes, your red-faced, overweight Grandpa might get ten more years if he stopped plugging his arteries with daily bacon fixes and fast food burgers. And yes, if you showed a PETA video after dinner they would not be able to stop throwing up.

Still, there is a time and place for everything, and this is the time for tolerance-on all sides. If you do have hostile questioners, now is the time to be Gandhi. Patient, loving, persistent, and strong, our patron saint of vegetarianism and peace knew when to act. I don’t know how he would handle a turkey centerpiece, but you can do your best to imagine it. Have some deflecting, peacemaking phrases ready, like “oh Bob, if you’d really like to discuss it, why don’t we get together some time after the holidays?” Or  “I’d be happy to get you some reading material, can I email or send you a book?”

If you’ve got people who anguish about your protein deficiency, just promise that you are completely nourished and offer them some veg stuffing.

It’s not that you can’t speak your truth, but its a strategic move to have peaceful holidays. Keep your powder dry. Be happy and healthy and lead by example. Educate when people are curious, in an objective way, but out of the powderkeg of the family unit. I don’t know why, but just being a vegetarian gets some people riled up. Our very existence seems to be a personal affront. I don’t look at hunters that way, but some of them definitely look at our practices as a violent assault on their way of life.

Like I said, you are totally right, and I hope it makes you feel better to know it. Just keep the peace, be respectful, and you might have more impact than by having an argument. Maybe, just maybe, the next time the Doctor tells your Grandpa to cut back on the bacon, your Grandpa will remember how healthy and happy you are.

Happy Holidays!

Finally, Soy is Found Not Guilty!

Smart Japanese Women Love Soy Milk

The story on soy and breast cancer seems to have come full circle. It began, hopefully enough, when researchers started to wonder, why do women in China and Japan have such low rates of breast cancer, as well as mild menopause symptoms and general good reproductive health? The 80’s and especially the 90’s saw intensive research and great promise for soy. We were all learning to say “phyto-estrogen” and eating soy just as we ate olive oil and drank wine for the benefits of the Mediterranean diet.

Phyto-estrogens are chemicals in the plant that mimic estrogen, but which are much weaker in their effect than the estrogens in the body. The body manufactures several kinds, some much stronger than others. Overall, the more, and stronger, estrogen a woman is exposed to in her lifetime, the higher her risk of cancer. Estrogens fuel breast cell turnover, and the stronger estrogens make it happen even faster. The theory was that the weak plant estrogens filled the estrogen receptors and kept the pace reasonable. They also might be blocking all the other estrogens, like the scary, super strong ones in plastic. We knew about those back then, before all the stink about BPA in water bottles, by the way.

Then some doctors started theorizing that the phyto estrogens in soy might actually fuel estrogen dependent breast cancer, and everybody freaked out. Nobody had any proof, but it sounded plausible. It didn’t matter that we still had decades of good information about those women in China and Japan. The anti-soy forces began a backlash against the miracle bean that included warning men that it would make them sterile, and their sons girlish if they didn’t eradicate soy from their diets.

Soy entered a dark era, filled with confusion. Consumers wondered if they should order the Ma-Po Doufu at their fave Szechuan place, and ordered something made with industrially raised chicken instead, boosting their intake of antibiotics and actual hormones.

So now we have a good, solid study that shows that a reasonable amount of soy actually decreases mortality in breast cancer survivors.

The study looked at more than 5,000 women in China who had undergone a mastectomy; they were followed for four years. The women who consumed the most soy protein (about 15 grams or more a day) had a 29 percent lower risk of dying and a 32 percent decreased risk of breast cancer recurrence compared to the women who consumed less than about 5 grams of soy protein a day, according to the study, which appears in the December 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The National Cancer Institute and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Breast Cancer Research Program funded the study.

The researchers settled on a sweet spot, finding the most benefit at 11 grams of soy protein a day. Don’t get overly focused on the protein part- they got the protein by eating soy FOODS, like tofu and edamame. Real food, like edamame, tofu, tempeh, soymilk and miso contain all the other stuff that gets left behind when soy enters the industrial food factory. So don’t think that a protein fractionate that has been chemically processed and then spun into a weird bologna substitute is going to do it. Stay away from the factory foods, and just eat a serving or so of soy a day.

Soy is back baby.

SOY PROTEIN CONTENT OF COMMON SOY FOODS

Cooked yellow soybeans 1/2 cup 14.3 g protein

Edamame, 1/2 cup 11.1 g protein

Tempeh, 1/2 cup 15.8 g protein

Tofu, 1/2 cup 19.9 g protein

Soy milk 1 cup 7 g protein

Miso 2 tbs 4.1 g protein

Soy flour 1/4 cup 11.8 g protein

Winter Blues? Feed Your Brain with the Mediterranean Diet

Eat your greens and be happy

We know the Mediterranean Diet is good for your heart, but a recent study has found that it is also good for your mood. In a Spanish study conducted at the University of Navarra, researchers found that the more closely people followed a true Med diet, the lower their risk of depression.

“We are speaking of a relative reduction in risk of 42 percent to 51 percent,” said study co-author Dr. Miguel A. Martinez-Gonzalez, chair of preventive medicine at the University of Navarra. “This is a strong association.”

Foods most strongly associated with the lowest rates of depression were fruits, vegetables, and olive oil. The researchers attribute this to a few known factors. One is that the diet is good for the endothelium, which lines all your blood vessels. The endothelium helps make BDNF (brain derived neurotropic factor) which is crucial for the growth and function of all your nerve cells, especially the brain. Not enough BDNF is thought to cause depression. Of course, keeping your circulatory system healthy is good for all of you, brain included.

Olive oil is a star in the anti-depressant food category. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter in the brain that is associated with happiness, and all antidepressant medications work by increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain. Good old olive oil was doing this all along, helping to bind the happiness molecule to its receptors and increasing its availability.

The other thing that researchers point to is Omega 3’s, the fats that Med eaters get from fish. It is very important that vegetarians get their Omega 3’s, from either grass-fed dairy and eggs, or walnuts, lots of dark leafy greens, and flax oil. There are vegan Omega 3 supplements available now that are made from algae, so vegans can make sure to get enough.

The Spanish researchers followed more than 10,000 healthy adults who filled out questionnaires between 1999 and 2005. All were free of depression when the trial started. Their adherence to the Mediterranean diet was measured by looking at nine components, such as low intake of meat, moderate intake of alcohol and dairy products, and high intake of fruits, nuts, cereals, vegetables and fish.

Basic Greens in Olive Oil and Garlic

This isn’t so much a recipe as a walk thru. you should just get it down and keep making it. Make it your own, adding whatever suits you, say a few olives, sun-dried tomatoes. or some of those EFA rich walnuts. It’s all good!

A big bunch of kale, chard or beet greens

a generous pour of good extra virgin olive oil

a couple of cloves of garlic, sliced, not crushed

a pinch or two of red pepper flakes

kosher salt

1. Put on a big pot of water to boil for the greens. Wash the greens, then strip the leaves off the stems. Thinly slice the stems and put in one pile. Coarsely chop the greens and put in another. Drop the stems in the boiling water for a minute, then add the leaves and stir. Cook just a minute or so to soften. Drain and squeeze the whole mess out.

2. In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil briefly, and add the garlic and pepper flakes. When it starts to sizzle, don’t let it brown at all. Add the greens and stems and toss to coat with oil. Turn and toss until well coated and heated through. Salt to taste. Eat lots.

Why Buy Organic Milk?

Perhaps it dates me, but I remember when organic milk first appeared on the store shelves. I know it was in the early 90’s here, because the arrival was quite a spectacle. I was cooking at the Coop, and the BGH/BST issue had gotten alot of press. There was a fight going on, as the powers of industrial food tried to slip yet another unnatural chemical into the food supply. Hormones, antibiotics, and scary ingredients in the feed given to conventional dairy cows were not secrets, and people were justly concerned.

I don’t think the dairy industry really realized who they were up against. The were messing with Moms.

When the organic milk began trickling in, it sold out immediately. The storekeepers had to create a system, allowing the customers to form a line for the milk, and rationing out one half gallon per customer. The job of handling the customers, mostly Moms, was a tough one. Angry women argued over their place in line, haggled to try for more milk, and went to pieces if they didn’t get there soon enough. Harried Moms, toting crying babies and diaper bags glared at anyone associated with the store as if we were hoarding in a time of famine. But that was not all. Everyone who had jobs and couldn’t come at the morning milk delivery time was mad, too. There just wasn’t enough organic milk to go around.

The same instincts that drive a she-wolf with pups to rip your throat out were coming out in the dairy aisle. But you know what, those Moms were on to something.

A recent Dutch study confirms what so many of us suspected. There is a real difference between organic and conventional dairy products, and it makes a huge difference in your health. The study followed 2500 pregnant women and their children for the first two years after they were born. Some of the women consumed only organic dairy during pregnancy and breast feeding, and gave their babies organic when they were weaned. The rest consumed conventional.

Researchers found infants raised on organic dairy products are 36% less likely to suffer from allergies in the first two years of life.

Study author Dr Machteld Huber of the Louis Bolk Institute, said: “There was a clear relationship between organic dairy use and less eczema. According to the  British Journal of Nutrition the researchers think the reason for this is the higher levels of beneficial essential fatty acids in organic dairy.

It’s important to understand that we are talking about grass fed dairy, not just the American legal terminology for organic, which may or may not include pasture. Eating grass and clover is the way that cows get the Omega 3’s, Conjugated Linoleic Acid, and extra Vitamin A and E. For more information on this, click the link below, to read an article put together by researchers in Iowa.

http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/organic/milk/3.html

Of course, for many years, frustrated mothers have been taking their children off dairy completely, and that is another option. Dairy allergies are common and quite debilitating if left untreated. Living the dairy free life gets easier every day, with new “milks” and “creamers” appearing on the shelves. My favorite these days is So Delicious brand coconut and soy based milks. The coconut milk is not the rich canned product, it has been skimmed down and made into a milk that has no beany taste, but plenty of body and creaminess. The creamer is divine.

If you go dairy free, make the effort to get the EFA’s that the organic milk delivers. There is an algae based Vegan Omega 3 supplement available now. You can also look to walnuts, flax and flaxseed oil, and eat lots of dark leafy greens to get the fats that pasture delivers to the cow.

And you don’t have to fight the line to get organic or non-dairy milks these days. They deliver plenty, and nobody gets hurt.

Lying to Children, 101

It might be an obvious thing to say, but when your book comes out, you hope that people will like it. I’m sure that even the most established authors have their dark moments of the soul. Will the critics pan me, will everyone decide that I don’t know what I am talking about?

So, when New Vegetarian started getting feedback, I admit that I took a deep breath before opening the e-mails.

You never know what people will respond to. Would the Sformato connect, or will people all flock to the Tagine? Will the desserts be the big hit?

So, I thought I would share this one.  It seems that when the recipe for Mac and Cheese with Hidden Veggies, one of the recipes from New Vegetarian, was published in the Duluth paper, a hard working day care provider decided to try it out on one of the toughest crowds. Kids. Kids who hate veggies.

I give you the letter:

Ms. Doeden,

I am the owner of an in-home daycare in North Fargo and I wanted to write
you about your recent recipe for mac and cheese that included sneaky
vegetables. I made this for my daycare children today for our lunch and
they absolutely LOVED it! I hadn’t really planned on telling them the
secret in the noodles but they were eating it up so fast I felt I had to
share. Sometimes when I tell the secrets of the hidden good-for-us foods
they immediately stopped eating. Today, however, we had just finished
watching the latest Super Why! episode where Hansel and Gretel learn that
candy is a sometimes food and eating healthy foods keeps us feeling strong
so they just kept on eating. Today’s attendance included 7 children (plus
one infant). Included in that 7 are an 18 month old, a 3 year old, 2 four
year olds, one five year old and one little boy who will soon be 3 and hates
his veggies. He’s only been here for a couple weeks and came to us
absolutely refusing to eat any veggies. He has slowly started tasting but
today he ate three helpings of the sneaky mac and cheese.

I guess I mostly just wanted to say thank you for sharing this recipe with
the readers of the Forum.

Michelle Roeszler
Little Explorers Family Daycare
Fargo, ND

You can imagine how warmed the cockles of my heart are at this moment. I helped fake out a vegetable hating kid, and gave him a dose of cauliflower and carrots against his will.

Bwah-ha-ha. Ex-cellent. My plan is working per-fectly.

That, folks, is what makes this a great job.

http://www.agweek.com/articles/?article_id=100012882&property_id=3

Edamame, Easy, Fast and Great for Vegetarians

Easy, Fast, Fun

It’s always nice to see a great food get popular. The sushi craze was mostly good, and recent love for local food is a beautiful thing. Congrats also go to the lovable Edamame pod, which is riding a nice wave of public interest. Credit that sushi trend with bringing the bean along for the ride, introducing aficionados to the mysterious appetizer and making eating a soybean out of the pod look cool.

Like I said, it was mostly good. (except for the tuna population, but I digress.)

Edamame is now available frozen, in or out of the pod, making it as simple to use as frozen peas or corn. Before the sushi boom, it was marketed in Natural Foods type groceries under the nom de plume “sweet beans.” I thought it was funny at the time, that the packaging made it seem like some kind of high protein pea, and you had to look at the fine print to find the word “soy.” Then the sushi bar made the bean synonymous with stylish, light food eaten by celebrities, and the Japanese name stuck.

So, why do the slim and fab love the green bean? Half a cup of shelled edamame has the same amount of iron as a 4 oz chicken breast, 10% of the RDA. It also has 10% of the RDA of Vitamins C and A, both age-fighting antioxidants. For 120 measly calories, you get 11 grams protein, 13 grams carb, 9 grams fiber and only 2.5 grams of fat. So it is a wonderful whole food way to eat lean.

What is also working in its favor is the ease with which it slips into the pantry, and those frozen bags make throwing a few into just about anything effortless. No need to soak, cook, shell or poach, just measure a few into a strainer and run hot water over them, or throw into the pot with the cooking pasta or rice.

I created this recipe to use edamame in a dip, and it has been getting rave reviews all over. Some of you may have had it at a book event or a class, so here is the promised recipe.

Ligurian Hummus in Radicchio or Endive Cups

In Liguria, fresh fava beans are made into a purée for slathering on bread, called Marro. Edamame are a wonderful stand in for favas, and have a sweet richness all their own. Look for the smallest endive and radicchio you can find, for bite sized leaf cups.
Serves about 6
1/2 pound shelled edamamae, boiled and cooled
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 belgian endive, leaves separated
1 radicchio. leaves separated
2 medium roma tomato, seeded and diced

1. Boil the beans for 5 minutes just to soften a bit, then drain and cool. In a food processor or blender, mince the garlic. Add the beans and parmesan and purée, pouring the olive oil through the feed tube gradually. Scrape down and purée, season with salt and pepper. Makes 1 1/2 cups.
2. Serve 2 Tablespoon portions scooped into the wide end of individual endive leaves, or tucked into small radicchio leaves. Arrange the leaves on a platter and sprinkle over tomato. Can be made four hours ahead, covered tightly and chilled.

What’s New About The New Vegetarian?

The New Vegetarian makes its big entrance!

The New Vegetarian is finally out! After the long process of writing, testing, editing, and then just anxiously waiting, my book is finally getting shipped from Amazon and making it onto bookshelves. Whew!

The latest part of the process is, of course, doing interviews and teaching about the book. Just like when my first book came out, I am finding that I learn from the questions and the perspective that others bring to the book. It’s really great fun.

So, when asked, what IS new in the New Vegetarian, I had to think. Firstly, the title originally came to be because it is a series that Chronicle Books (my wonderful publisher) has done for some time. The New This, the New That. When it was suggested, I took it to heart. I’ve been doing the Veg thing for many years, and I thought, yes, let’s really make it new.

The book speaks to a new wave of vegetarian, something different from the sincere-but-clunky way we were doing it 20 years ago. Something more sophisticated, and definitely more global. When Americans go out to eat, they say, hmm, do I want Italian, Chinese, or French? And depending where they live, it might even be, are we up for Ligurian, Szechuan, or Provencal, because travel and immigration have made us much more educated about the foods of the world. Vegetarians have always embraced the foods of other cultures, especially when we could mine them for meatless dishes that were already all worked out and loaded with flavor. So, I filled the book with the kind of exciting, international fare that both foodies and healthy eaters would find appealing.

Another thing that is new in the veg world is the interest of omnivores in eating meatless. The bad economy has suddenly spawned an interest in saving money, and skipping meat is one way to cut back. The environmental crisis is motivating people to look at the carbon footprint of their food choices, and the veg way is a great way to cut the tonnage of carbon that you bestow upon the world. Add the health benefits of skipping all that sat fat and you have committed meat lovers making the effort to eat the meatless meal now and then.

Veg food is just another choice, a healthy alternative. It’s mainstream. I think that’s GREAT. I’d love to be a part of bridging the divisions between the “diet-style camps.” In my professional life, I cross between the high end gourmet world and the crunchy-granola world, and the two are getting more blended all the time. There is no reason that we can’t all enjoy great food. If my recipes can bring everybody together at the table, and delight the omnivores and vegetarians, alike, then I am thrilled. I know they can, because I have been doing it for years.

So, come on in and try the New Veg way, everybody is welcome.

Here is a recipe from the book for you to try. It’s hard to pick, so I went with something seasonal, with my favorite kind of winter squash. It’s a crowd-pleaser, with luscious cheese, crunchy nuts and flaky pastry.

Braised Garlic-Squash Tart with Aged Gouda

(with permission from Chronicle Books, from The New Vegetarian)

The lusty flavors of braised squash, aged gouda and toasted hazelnuts make this tart irresistible. Kabocha is sometimes called Japanese Pumpkin, and is a dark orange, low moisture squash that holds up well for this, but Red Kuri or Hubbard squash would do just as well.

Serves 6

CRUST:
1 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 stick butter, chilled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup ice water, approximately
FILLING:
1 1/2 pounds kabocha squash, peeled and cubed
2 medium shallot, chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces aged gouda, shredded
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, skins rubbed off, coarsely chopped

1. Make tart shell: In a large bowl, mix flour and salt. Using the coarse holes of a grater, shred cold butter into the flour and toss with your fingers to coat. Cut until mixture is full of coarse lumps. Quickly stir in ice water just until it sticks together and form into a ball. Chill for 1 hour. Roll out and fit into a 12 inch tart pan.
2. Preheat oven to 400. Prick shell all over and bake for 10 minutes, until edges are browned, cool on rack. While baking, sauté squash in olive oil over medium high heat, stirring. After 5 minutes, add garlic and stir. Add wine and cover for 5 minutes, checking at the end to see if pan is dry. When squash is tender when pierced with a paring knife, uncover and cook until liquids are evaporated. Take off heat and cool squash.
3. To assemble, Sprinkle some cheese in the shell, top with squash, cheese and nuts. Bake for 20 minutes, until cheese is melted and golden on top.

You’re Never Too Young To Start Vegging

There’s always been a conventional wisdom, or lets call it a myth, that kids can eat junk and get away with it. The concurrent myth is that kids should not go vegetarian, because their bodies are developing, or some such nonsense. So, they can run amuck eating sugar and chips, but skipping meat is bad.Their developing brains need high fructose corn syrup and beef, and any parent who doesn’t provide is damaging their youngster.

Unfortunately, this odd dual thinking is setting up some kids for a lifetime of bad health. And according to a recent poll by the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association (PCNA) only 38% of the parents surveyed realized that cholesterol plaques start forming in childhood, not just later in life. 70% of the respondents also said that they were not good examples for their kids, because they had bad eating habits.

“There is overwhelming evidence now that atherosclerosis, a build up of plaque in the arteries, starts in childhood, not when you’re 50 or 60,” says David J. Driscoll, MD, professor of pediatrics and director of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. We know this from autopsies performed on children who die of accidental deaths, he notes. Other studies on young soldiers who died in Korea and Vietnam showed that by their early 20s, many already had the beginnings of atherosclerosis, “Some of them with pretty significantly advanced disease.”

Add to this info the recent endorsement by the American Dietitians Association, in which they gave the thumbs up to a veg diet for all stages of life, including children and pregnant women, and you have some really good reasons to keep on driving when you see those golden arches.

So what do kids need to go veg? Well, many kids like simple foods like pizza, mac and cheese, and PB and J’s. All of those can easily be made whole grain, lighter in fat, and perfectly healthy for developing bodies.(check out the mac and cheese and pudding recipes in my previous posts, in the links below)

Kids, just like adult vegetarians, need to eat lots and lots of vegetables and fruits, especially green leafy vegetables. Kids like fruit, so keep a steady stream of fruity things on they menu. They need plenty of plant proteins, like peanut butter, nuts, seeds, beans, and cheese and dairy can work for some of it. Whole grains as much as possible, good fats from olive oil and nuts, and some grass fed dairy. The easiest way to make sure they are getting their vegetarian specific vitamins is to serve fortified non-dairy milks. Soymilk, rice milk and others have put together fortification that makes sure vegans who drink a cup a day are getting pretty close to the RDA of B12, calcium, zinc and other vitamins that vegans might be lacking.

I’ve got to come clean, I don’t have kids. But, I do cook for other people’s kids-for pay, no less. I’ve cooked for kids who only ate buttered noodles and fruit, and kids who loved mushrooms and organ meats, so I get it that they are all different. But they can be swayed, inched toward healthier choices. The big difference with kids today and kids of old is that they have way too many bad options. My Mom made one thing for dinner and we ate it gratefully. There was no screaming until a special pot of fluorescent mac was produced, or for that matter, swinging by the fast food joint. We thought we were losing out, sometimes, but getting a home cooked meal every night was a great start in life.

The Whole Grain Conundrum, with a Recipe

People are so slow to change. You might think, that with all that you hear about whole grains, that people were adopting them. All those ads for cereals and crackers, touting their grainy goodness and the new RDA of three a day must be getting through to people, right?

A recent poll commissioned by the Grain Foods Foundation found that 98% of people consume one serving of grain (not necessarily whole) per day. The average number of servings is around three, and only 11% of that is whole.  So while math is not my strong suit, I think that means that most people are not eating whole grains at all. 11%of three servings adds up to a serving of whole grains about twice a week.

So, despite all the efforts of the great folks at the Whole Grains Council, writers like me, and all new products and the advertising, we are barely making a dent.

What’s up people?

Healthy eating has always had an image problem. Brown, coarse, tasteless, or too strong tasting, all bad adjectives to apply to food. And seriously, not all that applicable to whole grains today. Sure, I cook farro and brown rice, with their insane time commitments of an hour or 45 minutes on the stove-ooh how hard core. But even the complete non-cook can now buy such camouflaged products as Wonder White Wheat Bread (suspicious, but legally a whole grain) and the like. What is so hard about eating whole grain cereals for breakfast ? Seriously, raisin bran and oatmeal are not freaky health foods.

I am as usual, baffled by the vox populi when it comes to making healthy choices.

So, in the spirit of making it easy, let’s talk about the fastest possible ways to get whole grains on the table.

First, when buying prepared products, like cereals, breads and pastas, be a savvy label reader. As someone who really loves whole grain bread, I am always let down when a bread claims to be whole wheat or multi grain but is mostly white flour. All food labels are in descending order by weight. Whole wheat should be the  first ingredient. If it says “enriched flour” or “wheat flour” first, it is not whole grain bread. If it has high fructose corn syrup high on the list, it is probably not all that great. The Whole Grains Council has a seal, so that is a very simple tool-look for the Whole Grains Council seal and see how many servings of whole grains they say it has.

Boxed Cereals. All those ads on tv are for boxed cereals, and that seems to be the easiest way for people to  get some grains. My husband’s grandfather ate raisin bran every morning and lived to be 94. He was not a health food enthusiast. Cheerios, Wheat Chex and all sorts of familiar, non-threatening cereals are out there, easy to find. Just read labels and look for whole grains. the big scam on cereal labels is the multiple listings for sugar. Because of that rule that things must be in order by weight, using six kinds of sweetener means that they can list them lower down. that is why molasses, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, and other -oses are all in one little box of cereal. Add them up and they make the cereal into a sugar bomb, not a whole grain health food.

Of course, you could always cook a little bit.

Saffron Gives The Rice a Golden Hue

Saffron-Coconut Brown Rice with Pistachios

Short grain brown rice cooks up soft and comforting, especially with a touch of coconut milk to give it richness. Sweet fruit and crunchy nuts make this a fab side for curries, or a fine lunch on its own. Makes a great leftover.

You could also make this with millet, which takes less time to cook, and has a mild flavor that would take a back seat to all the other tastes in this dish.

Serves 4

1/2 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup short grain brown rice
1 medium orange
1/4 teaspoon salt optional
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
1 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup toasted pistachios optional

1. In a heavy bottomed 1 quart pot with a lid, put coconut milk, water and rinsed rice. Use a paring knife to remove the orange zest, leaving the white pith behind, in large strips, and add to the pan, reserving the fruit. Add salt and saffron. Bring to a boil, then cover tightly and reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Cook for 35-40 minutes, until all the water is absorbed.
2. When all the water is absorbed, toss in the apricots and let the pot stand, covered, for at least 10 minutes. Pare the white pith off the orange and slice across the sections into rounds. Serve the rice garnished with orange and pistachios.