Recently in Food Category

In answer to the question "why is high-fructose corn syrup bad for you?", there's this study.

ScienceDaily (Aug. 23, 2007) -- Researchers have found new evidence that soft drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may contribute to the development of diabetes, particularly in children. In a laboratory study of commonly consumed carbonated beverages, the scientists found that drinks containing the syrup had high levels of reactive compounds that have been shown by others to have the potential to trigger cell and tissue damage that could cause the disease, which is at epidemic levels.

The reason...

n the current study, Chi-Tang Ho, Ph.D., conducted chemical tests among 11 different carbonated soft drinks containing HFCS. He found 'astonishingly high' levels of reactive carbonyls in those beverages. These undesirable and highly-reactive compounds associated with "unbound" fructose and glucose molecules are believed to cause tissue damage, says Ho, a professor of food science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. By contrast, reactive carbonyls are not present in table sugar, whose fructose and glucose components are "bound" and chemically stable, the researcher notes.

I had some vague idea that the molecules involved were different or something like that, but I couldn't remember the details in any coherent way.

The HFCS industry can, and should, suck it.

Michael's cousin's pizza place gets a nice review in the Examiner.

Like...

WHY THE FUCK AREN'T THERE DECENT SUSHI DELIVERY SERVICES IN OAKLAND!?!?!?!!?!

Ahem.

Excuse me.

When I was a kid, my mom did all her grocery shopping at the Co-op in North Berkeley. Nice place, from what I remember. It has long since become a fancy-schmancy Andronico's. Sure, the Cheese Board is doing a brisk trade, but the idea of grocery store as cooperative enterprise is long past.

Except where it isn't.

Fledgling Grocery Pledges Quality Goods at Affordable Prices

Berkeley, CA (August 1, 2006) - A group of local Berkeley and Oakland residents is launching a food cooperative, the Berkeley Cooperative Grocery (the CoG), in early 2007. The CoG’s mission is to serve residents of the Bay Area by offering reasonably priced food and products that are sustainably sourced.

Quality and affordability are the two main tenets of the CoG. Its founding members state that “The CoG believes that every person has the right to affordable food and goods that are healthy and sustainably sourced.” Further, they proclaim that such food and products “should not be the choice of a few, but an affordable standard for every individual.”

The average for-profit grocery routinely marks up organic items as much as 100% above wholesale. As a nonprofit, the CoG plans to sell the same high-quality brands as other health- and environmentally minded stores at a much reduced markup (only enough to cover operating expenses).

How can it afford to do this? Traditional groceries spend about 70% of their revenue on labor. At the CoG, every member will be required to work approximately 2 1/2 hours a month in areas such as purchasing, stocking, child care, marketing, and Web maintenance. This keeps payroll expenses to a minimum and permits the co-op to offer products at a substantial savings. The goal is to have at least 75% of the co-op be run by members, with a staff comprising no more than 25%. The CoG also plans to accept food stamps and offer low-income membership investments once the store is up and running.

Requiring members to work not only keeps payroll expenses to a minimum, it also reflects a democratic system. In a true co-op each member gets one vote on every major decision, so it stands to reason that the workload be shared equally as well. In addition, says board member Shannon Kelly, “A sense of community and cooperation is gained from each member contributing to the co-op. Members take pride in the cleanliness of the co-op, get involved in suggesting new products, and feel as though their contributions are actually making a difference in their store and in their community.”

Members must also pay a one-time $25 fee and make a $100 investment to the co-op, which is refundable if the member chooses to leave the co-op (the investment may be paid in monthly installments). These charges cover overhead, administrative costs, supplies, and facilities.

The $100 investment may be too steep a barrier for a lot of people, unfortunately... neat idea though! I hope they succeed. (If the prices are good enough, I'm going to be tempted...)

Donut peaches are good! I've been having trouble finding really flavorful peaches so far, but I bought a few of these funny squished-looking fruits a few days ago. Great flavor, small and easily removed pit. Who knew?

I live near a wonderful grocery store. Independent, locally owned, great, friendly employees, good selection, and I don't have to drive to get there. One fly in the ointment: the prices on produce are, shall we say, a mite steep. Organic nectarines were $5.39 a pound the other day. They sell mache for $5-something a bag. Ouch.

So I did something different: I got in my car, headed southeast on 580, and got off on Fruitvale. My destination: the new Farmer Joe's Marketplace. I had heard about the original Farmer Joe's for years, but inertia kept me shopping closer to home (or at Trader Joe's.)

My verdict: easy to get to, pleasant store, good produce selection, and MUCH better prices. Small avocados: four for a dollar (and not all that small, either.) Organic plums: $1.69/pound. That bag of mache? $1.89 for a bag (and that's before the 35-cent coupon was applied to it!)

Non-produce items, however, were about the same price as at Piedmont Grocery. Annalisa beans (Italian, come in glass jars instead of cans) were $1.29 a jar at Farmer Joe's as opposed to $1.25 at Piedmont. Plus, they didn't have the strange veggie bacon from Morningstar Farms which I've become addicted to (don't ask.)

Anyway, I'm sure I'll still end up going to Piedmont Grocery (no driving!) but for stocking up on fruits and veggies, I'm hitting the highway.

About a year ago I was carping on this blog about how unusable the Chowhound website was. Its wonderful restaurant reviews by devoted foodies were buried in an ugly disorganized mess of a website. Well, no matter, I decided. I would search Chowhound via Google, and bypass most of the clutter. So for a long time, my searches consisted of ones like this:

"dim sum" "New York" site:Chowhound.com

and I passed this tip along to anybody who was looking for a good place to eat.

Then sometime last weekend, I tried it again, clicked on the link, and got a "page not found" error with a new Chowhound logo I'd never seen before. Curious, I went to the home page of Chowhound.

What a shock! Gone were the lengthy explanations, the ugly backgrounds, the proliferation of fonts and colors, and the general clutter. In their place was an attractive, simple grid of a page... and a search engine that appeared to work!

Apparently, CNet has bought the site, and they worked their design mojo on it (and frankly, I think it's much more attractive than CNet's own site.)

Bon appetit!