food
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I’ve seen the future and I can’t afford it: Marketplace’s botched ‘feed the world’ story
Let’s have a real debate about organic vs. conventional agriculture.Photo: Bio BrothersIn a recent report entitled “The Non-Organic Future,” public radio’s Marketplace program considered the challenge to agriculture of feeding a world population estimated to reach 9 billion by 2050. It was, to be frank, a terrible piece of journalism. Short, virtually fact-free, and weakly […]
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Low-fat ice cream, celery more or less the same food
Yes, that Mexican-flavored shredded cheese mix, found right next to the Kraft singles, makes awesome quesadillas. But little strands of cheese curds are not meant to remain so sedately separate from each other, even as they are tossed into plastic bags and shipped across the country. So how do big food companies keep shredded cheese […]
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Grist food guru Tom Philpott is in the running for a James Beard award
Tom Philpott We at Grist have known for years that Tom Philpott, our senior food and agriculture writer, is a rock star. We’re delighted that the rest of the world is figuring it out too. Tom has been nominated for a James Beard Foundation Journalism Award in the “Food-Related Columns and Commentary” category. The James […]
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Coca-Cola adds BPA to list of ways it doesn’t care about your health
Did you hear? The science around BPA — a substance that the government of Canada has declared "toxic" and has banned in baby bottles — "just isn't there," according to the CEO of Coca-Cola. If this kind of through-the-looking glass denial of science sounds familiar, it's because it's happened before, with tobacco and climate change […]
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Little piggies, crawling in the dirt: Minnesota reps behind ag-gag bill have factory-farm ties
Now that The New York Times editorial page has come out against what are now known as “Ag-gag” laws (thanks, Mark Bittman!), I think we can say this story has truly gone national. These laws, on the books in a few states already and quickly moving through legislatures in Florida, Iowa, and Minnesota, would attempt […]
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A star Silicon Valley investor puts his money where his mouth is for sustainable ag
Ali Partovi: Investing green in green ag.As antidote to those who argue that the future of food is all about technologies like genetic engineering and new pesticides, I refer you to entrepreneur Ali Partovi (full disclosure: Ali and I are acquaintances) who has an Earth Day post over at Silicon Valley’s Techcrunch, one of the […]
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Like the desert mouse, PepsiCo’s factory to survive on the water in the food it consumes
Some animals don't drink water — and now some factories might not, either. The potatoes that PepsiCo turns into Walker's Crisps — those sinisterly addictive potato chips that people in the UK can't seem to get enough of — arrive at the factory containing as much as 80% water by weight. So why not harvest it […]
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Nearly half of supermarket meat is tainted, says disgusting new study
Now would be a good time to go vegetarian, or demitarian, or just find a reputable butcher. A new study from the Translational Genomics Research Institute has found that 47 percent of tested samples of supermarket meat and poultry were infected with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, which causes a range of health problems including skin infections […]
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Feed your plants this photosynthetic gourmet meal
Artist Jonathon Keats has cooked up a light meal for plants. The full five-star affair will be showing at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, but here’s the fast-food version, suitable for your houseplants or your urban garden: [vodpod id=ExternalVideo.1011847&w=425&h=350&fv=videoId%3D867300856001%26playerID%3D1813626064%26playerKey%3DAQ%7E%7E%2CAAAAAF1BIQQ%7E%2Cg5cZB_aGkYZXG-DCZXT7a-c4jcGaSdDQ%26domain%3Dembed%26dynamicStreaming%3Dtrue] “My recipes are all based on the scientific study of plant physiology, applied to the […]