Kiko's Food News, 7.27.12

Highlighting the near-impossible economics of small farms, Soul Food Farm announced that they’ve decided to close the farm and stop raising their pastured chicken and eggs; they can’t make a living given soaring prices for chicken feed and don’t want to continue raising their prices: (full story, SF Chronicle)

Good Eggs, an SF food/tech start-up, just launched an e-commerce platform for consumers to find and buy food directly from nearby farmers and food makers; some are calling it an Etsy for local foodies: (full story, Wired)

EcoScraps, a Utah company, takes leftover food from 96 retail stores, turns it into compost, and sells it; they receive 100 tons of food waste every day and sell their compost at over 400 retailers: (full story, Venture Beat)

The current no-growth environment for many grocery chains makes managing costs and competing for market share crucial; this explains why labor relations in this business can be so testy and why so many small grocery chains aren’t around anymore: (full story, Wall Street Journal)

Credibles, a new web project of Slow Money, looks like Kickstarter and other crowd sourcing sites but is about an equal exchange: the amount of money that you put forth for a restaurant or food business is the amount you’re credited to make a purchase: (full story, Tasting Table)

Kiko's Food News, 7.20.12

The cottage cheese available these days is blowing the stuff of decades past out of the water; using milk from grass-fed cows, stirring and cutting the curds by hand and adding cream for zing, cheese makers are upping the ante (you’ve gotta try the Cowgirls’!): (full story, MSNBC)

Looks like we’re not the only ones with a Gleaning Project: Amber Balakian has taken over her family farm and launched programs that will add new revenue sources (their Spring Lady Yellow Peaches are so juicy right now!): (full story, CUESA)

Maine lobsters are selling 70% below their normal price–a nearly 30-year-low–due to an unseasonably warm winter which created a supply glut throughout the Atlantic lobster fishery: (full story, Wall Street Journal)

Proof that city policy can change behavior: a study found that New York City diners consume 2.4 fewer grams of trans fat per lunch on average two years after the regulation prohibiting restaurants from serving food prepared with partially hydrogenated vegetable oil went into effect: (full story, Los Angeles Times)

Farmhopping, a website launching next month, aims to create a new framework for financing small-scale farming by connecting farms with backers who pay a small sum to invest in a farm for rewards and a say in how it’s managed: (full story, GOOD)

The Bronx has joined the growing list of municipalities working with corner store owners to put fresh fruits and veggies front and center: (full story, New York Times)

Kiko's Food News, 7.13.12

Diplomacy through food: under Hillary Clinton’s reign as Secretary of State, state visits to Washington now include dumpling and shortbread making, and a program that links chefs in embassies around the world is in the works: (full story, New York Times)

I’ve got to hand it to the British Airways marketing team: in an effort to beat stigmas against heinous airplane food, they’ve launched a new “Height Cuisine” campaign which uses videos about how altitude affects taste, plus at-home experiments on how taste changes at 35,000 ft.: (full story, Tasting Table)

The Arctic Apple, a genetically engineered apple that does not turn brown when sliced or bruised, could become one of the first genetically engineered versions of a fruit that people directly bite into; is this really the way to increase apple consumption? (full story, New York Times)

The man is watching your eyes in the grocery aisles: to find out what really nabs shoppers’ attention, companies like Procter & Gamble are combining 3D simulations of product designs with retina tracking cameras that can determine which designs got noticed in the first 10 seconds a shopper looks at a shelf: (full story, Wall Street Journal)

Large corporations increasingly own the organic food industry, as agri-food giants like Coca-Cola, Cargill, General Mills and Kraft have gobbled up most of the smaller brands. How much do you know about it? Take this (challenging!) quiz to find out: (full story, New York Times)

On that note, is the organic movement a victim of its own success? As corporate membership on the board that controls organic certification has increased, so, too has the number of non-organic materials (i.e. carrageenan) approved as organic: (full story, New York Times)

Kiko's Food News, 7.6.12

Old models for how food is sold and farms get financed are being reworked, and more predictable revenue streams are creating an economic argument for local farming that used to be more of a lifestyle choice: (full story, NY Times)

Isn’t the dialogue that’s been sparked around the health of mega soda exciting? The soft-drink industry has launched an aggressive campaign to fight New York City’s proposed restrictions, introducing a radio ad featuring “Noo Yawk”-accented actors proclaiming, “This is about protecting our freedom of choice”: (full story, NY Times)

I’m rooting for the success of Hayes Valley Bakeworks, a new nonprofit bakery and cafe that goes beyond baked goods to offer a culinary training program for disabled, homeless or at-risk employees: (full story, SF Weekly)

A predictive report on where Americans will be buying groceries in the future if current trends continue forecasts less time in the grocery-store aisles, more in the dollar store or online: (full story, Forbes)

After eight years of debate and diplomacy, a consortium of environmental organizations and commercial fishing executives has developed the first comprehensive global standards for salmon farming, which specifies 100 fish-farming standards to be implemented later this year by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council: (full story, NY Times)

Kiko's Food News, 6.29.12

Stop scrubbing those carrots: the greatest social contribution of the farmers’ market may be its role as a delivery vehicle for putting dirt back into the American diet and in the process, reacquainting our immune system with some “old friends”: (full story, New York Times)

In the good news column: a recent study showed that kids’ cereals are more nutritious on average than a few years ago. In the bad news column: those aren’t the ones being advertised, and ads for the least nutritious products are increasing: (full story, LA Times)

Bill Niman argues that if you’re not one to buy a tomato or strawberries in January, you shouldn’t be one to buy grass-fed beef when it’s not in season. (We’ve got his amazing seasonal beef in, pick up a cut for your 4th of July grill!) (full story, East Bay Express)

Food packaging may not be the sexiest part of what we put in our shopping baskets, but I’m a sucker for these fresh designs Ikea will use to introduce  weird Swedish delicacies to the international market: (full story, Fast Company)

For you history buffs, a dive into why Americans eat so much meat, why we’ve led the world in the innovations that made meat affordable, and why rich Americans no longer eat more meat than poor Americans: (full story, NPR)

Kiko's Food News, 6.22.12

 The farm bill that passed in the senate yesterday leaves sugar subsidies in place and is a hit to the SNAP (food stamp) program, but does limit crop subsidies to the wealthiest farmers and provides funding for the next generation of farmers: (full story, Grist)

Nashville is one of several midsize cities whose food sensibilities are growing as people leave the dog-eat-dog cities on the coasts in search of more affordable places to live and eat: (full story, New York Times)

A new national Meat Without Drugs campaign addresses the rampant misuse of antibiotics by factory farms: since the FDA hasn’t taken meaningful action, it asks consumers to petition retailers – starting with Trader Joe’s – to carry only meat raised without antibiotics: (full story, Meat Without Drugs)

Mainers want more local say in regulating small farms, evidenced by several towns adopting local ordinances that exempt farmers from state and federal regulations if they sell products directly to consumers: (full story, ABC News)

And allow me a break from the hard news for a celebration of the season: here are 12 ways to seize the stone fruit moment, including drying it for “summer in a jar”: (full story, New York Times)

Kiko's Food News, 6.15.12

We spend less of our money on groceries than we did 30 years ago, and a dramatically bigger share of that on processed foods: (full story, NPR)

NeverSeconds, a blog started by 9-year-old Martha Payne of Scotland to document the unappealing, non-nutritious lunches she was being served in her public school, was shut down by school authorities this week (she had over two million viewers!): (full story, Wired)

I can’t stop reading about the proposed ban on mega-size sodas, and was staggered by this interview with a Coke exec; one choice snippet: “There is a large portion of the population that relies on the carbohydrates and energy in our regular beverages. When my son gets home from school, he needs a pick-up with calories and great taste.” (full story, USA Today)

And another battleground regarding government intervention in personal health: broccoli has arisen as a trigger topic in the Supreme Court during arguments over the constitutionality of Obama’s health care legislation. If Congress can require Americans to buy health insurance, could it force people to buy a green vegetable that many find distasteful? (full story, NY Times)

A group called Georgians for Pastured Poultry, whose membership springs from the hotbed of Big Chicken, is throwing the first annual Pastured Poultry Week this month to inspire change in how chickens are raised for eating: (full story, Wired)

Fun story on a local grocer who responded to community feedback: a Korean-owned market in Missouri has expanded their selection to include smoked catfish, frozen red snapper, dried ugu leaves and cassava that customers of West African background have asked for; about 10% of the store’s business now comes from these products: (full story, Missourian)

Sandor Katz, today’s fermentation poster child, says “the creative space between fresh and rotten is the root of most of humanity’s prized delicacies”; here are some of his other wisdom on this most flavorful genre of foods: (full story, NPR)

Bokashi, an obscure composting method based on an ancient Japanese practice, makes it possible to ferment food waste without producing foul odors as with other composting methods: (full story, SF Chronicle)

Kiko's Food News, 6.8.12

Bittman defended Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to ban mega-size sodas, arguing that “your right to harm yourself stops when I have to pay for it” and that soda isn’t, by technical definition, even food: (full story, NY Times)

Starbucks bought the SF-based La Boulange chain for $100 million this week; crazy to imagine that within a year there will be La Boulange-branded goods in every Starbucks’ pastry case in America: (full story, Inside Scoop SF)

We take bananas for granted–they’re cheap, they’re everywhere, and they’re usually ready to eat off the shelf. Ever wonder how a pale, fragile tropical fruit became so commonplace? (full story, NPR)

A new study illuminates how the roughly 20 million workers involved up and down the US food chain (a sixth of our workforce) aren’t treated well, with only 1 in 10 earning a livable wage and 83% denied health insurance: (full story, Chicago Tribune)

Scientists have told us that salt consumption raises blood pressure, causes hypertension and increases the risk of premature death, but the evidence is looking increasingly flimsy: (full story, NY Times)

The “gill to fin” movement (cooking with the whole fish) is gaining momentum; cooking an entire fish means great flavor from the bones and skin, plus the fact that salmon collars, belly meat and the eggs (if you can catch the fish yourself) are delicacies! (full story, Bay Area Bites)

Walt Disney  announced that all foods advertised on its child-focused TV channels, radio stations and websites must comply with strict new nutritional standards; products like Capri Sun, Kraft Lunchables, candy, sugared cereal and fast food will no longer be acceptable advertising material!! (full story, NY Times)

A federal judge issued a statement saying the FDA has done “shockingly little” to address the human health risks of antibiotic use in animal feed and ordering the agency to reconsider two petitions seeking restrictions on the practice: (full story, Chicago Tribune)

Kiko's Food News, 6.1.12

What happens when strangers live on a family farm in rural Arkansas, grow their own food and attempt zero waste? A new indie film “The Garden Summer” may actually be more familiar to some of us than life on MTV’s Real World or Jersey Shore! (full story, Eatocracy)

Great insights about the future of the pop-up craze and our human affinity for food secrets; there’s something attractive about finding a market, truck or festival that no one else has, and sharing it: (full story, New York Times)

Food scientist Barb Stuckey explains why bitter foods are inherently healthful, and how each overly sweet food that we consume dulls our palates to the flavors in nutritious fruits and veggies: (full story, Wall Street Journal)

FreshPaper, a new line of five-by-five-inch “dryer sheets for produce”, may double the life of berries and other fruits and veggies in the fridge: (full story, Tasting Table)

With food giants like Starbucks and Kraft switching out high-fructose corn syrup for cane or beet sugar, the Corn Refiners Association has tried to salvage their market by launching a campaign changing the name to “corn sugar”; looks like the FDA saw through the ploy though, as they just rejected the request: (full story, Wall Street Journal)

An Oregon farmer is raising Skinny Beef and selling ground beef from his ultra-fit “sport cattle” that’s reportedly at least 98% lean: (full story, Oregonlive)

Looks like I’m not the only one obsessed with Korean food: South Korea’s government has invested heavily into bringing bibimbap and its friends to epicureans worldwide. Interesting to notice how the growing popularity coincides with Korea’s increasing economic clout, in the same way that eating raw fish went mainstream as Japan grew economically powerful: (full story, Alaska Dispatch)

Kiko's Food News, 5.25.12

The scientific practice of measuring food based on price-per-calorie isn’t getting us anywhere, since looking at foods that way makes a bag of chips (loads of calories, low price) seem like a better deal than a carton of strawberries (fewer calories, higher price); now researchers are starting to break down price based on portion size and weight: (full story, Business Insider)

Check out how many of the brands that surround us are owned by the top 10 multinationals: (full story, Huffington Post)
Seems like these days if you’re eating pizza in a brick and mortar restaurant, you’re way behind the times: (full story, Tasting Table)

Polyface Farm’s Joel Salatin urges Americans to reconnect with and prioritize our “ecological moorings” when confronted with the ragged edges of the local food distribution network, which don’t fit neatly into zoning and other regulatory definitions: (full story, Handpicked Nation)

Giant food suppliers have a real opportunity to affect our food system through their giant buying power, so it worries me to see one like Sodexo using “competing” sustainability labels as an excuse for not making responsible sourcing decisions: (full story, NPR)

You know gluten free has crossed the line to gourmet when big time chefs are featuring it on their menus; many are serving Thomas Keller’s new gluten free pasta: (full story, Tasting Table)

I was interested by some of the items on this list of top vegetarian proteins to work into our diets; did you know Greek yogurt can contain up to twice the amount of protein as the regular stuff, and a cup of spinach contains more than 5 grams of protein? (full story, Huffington Post)

Kiko's Food News, 5.18.12

The US Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (aka food stamp program) provides about $4.44 per day per person to purchase food, and Mario Batali’s bringing attention to how unrealistic healthy eating can be on this allocation; a couple weeks into living off this amount, he says he’s “f***ing starving”:  (full story, Huffington Post)

Food waste becomes art through cool photography revealing its revolting beauty: (full story, NPR)

I was fascinated by this personal account of why black woman prefer to weigh more than what may be considered healthy; the author calls on black women (for whom it is appropriate) to commit to getting under 200 pounds or to losing the 10% of body weight that often results in a 50% reduction in diabetes risk: (full story, New York Times)

Here at Bi-Rite we talk about Creating Community Through Food; creating business deals through food is a new opportunity for businesses that host client meetings in their kitchen instead of a boardroom: (full story, Fast Company)

I loved reading about Bittman’s encounter with Wendell Berry; when asked what city folks can do to turn around our agricultural system, Berry answered “realize that country people can’t invent a better agriculture by ourselves. Industrial agriculture wasn’t invented by us, and we can’t uninvent it. We’ll need some help with that.” (full story, New York Times)

A new study links fast food ads with obesity, suggesting that young people who recognize many fast-food brands-like McDonald’s golden arches and KFC’s logo-out of context are twice as likely to be obese as those who recognized only a few: (full story, Huffington Post)

Shrimp workers at a Thai factory that supplies Walmart have over many weeks been protesting their dismal conditions; since shrimp is America’s top-selling seafood and Walmart our biggest grocery retailer, we can add labor abuse to shrimp’s laundry list of problems: (full story, Grist)

Finally, despite the tremendous interest in food these days, there’s still not enough interest in the people that pick it: (full story, Civil Eats)

Kiko's Food News, 4.20.12

I’ll be trolling the food-scape of Korea and Japan for the next few Fridays, so I hope this longer-than-usual digest will sustain you on food news until my return…

Is it a sign that the challenges of our food system have hit a breaking point when academics deem their study worthy of a degree? (full story, NY Times)

An economist applies his strategic approach to eking out the best of what restaurants have to offer; his tips include “beware the beautiful, laughing women “, “order what sounds least appetizing on the menu” and “prefer Pakistani to Indian and prefer Thai to Vietnamese”: (full story, The Atlantic)

Two new studies challenge our beliefs about food deserts, finding that such neighborhoods actually have more grocery stores and restaurants than others (did they look at the quality of fresh food available in these stores?); they also found no relationship between the type of food sold in a neighborhood and obesity among its children: (full story, NY Times)

At least New York City’s authorities believe certain areas are in desperate need of fresh produce; since 2008 they’ve authorized 1,000 new permits for street vendors who sell only raw fruits and veggies as part of their Green Cart initiative: (full story, NY Times)

A growing “domestic fair trade” movement formally recognizes and rewards farms working to address social justice, and is pushing forward a new “Food Justice Certified” label for farms (such as Swanton Berry Farm in Santa Cruz, whose Chandler Strawberries are so tasty right now!): (full story, Civil Eats)

On the heels of the decision last month by the FDA to allow continued use of the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) in food packaging, here’s a look at how exposure to BPA and other chemicals through food-contact plastics impacts our health: (full story, Washington Post)

Demand for chicken legs and thigh cuts is climbing as diners tire of white meat, TV cooking shows tout dark meat’s richer flavor, growing exports to foreign markets favor chicken on the bone, and rising US immigrant populations have a preference for dark meat: (full story, Wall Steet Journal)

I’m keeping my eyes on four new SF food businesses by the Flour + Water team–Central Kitchen (which will have a weatherproof back patio with hydroponic heating), Salumeria, Parlour bakery/café and Trick Dog bar–and found this diagram of how the block will be laid out helpful: (full story, Mission Local)

As a sucker for a dinner party, I have yet to try one of the online dinner party planning sites; the newest one acts as an organizer for a gathering–a place to list the menu, invite guests, and offset costs by adding a “chip-in” price: (full story, Tasting Table)

Kiko's Food News, 4.13.12

The Tokyo-based company that makes methyl iodide used by strawberry farmers has withdrawn the controversial fumigant from the U.S. market, a victory for public health and the environment: (full story)

Although physicians are on the front lines of the nation’s diabetes and obesity crises, many graduate from medical school with little knowledge of nutrition, let alone cooking; cue a much-needed new group of physicians, public health researchers and distinguished chefs that seeks to tear down the wall between “healthy” and “crave-able” cuisine: (full story)

Fascinating to see the way Google uses its analytical toolbox to strategically encourage employees to eat healthier at work: (full story)

The Humane Society released the results of an undercover investigation into Kreider Farms, a major factory farm that produces 4.5 million eggs each day for supermarkets like ShopRite; findings included the fact that it’s hard for workers to breathe because of the ammonia from manure pits, 11 hens were jammed into a cage about 2 ft by 2 ft, and hens with their heads stuck in the wire are left to die (full story)

Saturday Night Live takes a jab at the packaged food industry in this skit where Kristen Wiig tries to pass fake pizza off as “food”: (full story)

Kiko's Food News, 4.6.12

Turns out today’s my birthday (full moon/Passover/Easter weekend special!), and last night my wise younger brother was talking about how with age comes the ability to improve, every day. So I ask you, my readers, to help me improve Kiko’s Food News. What do you want to read more about? What would make this information more digestible, more relevant to your lives, more TASTY? Reply with a comment to this post and let me know!

Experts have promoted the fishing and eating of smaller fish that are lower on the food chain as the way to avoid depleting our oceans of larger, over-fished species, but a new study calls for a cap on forage fish fishing, saying the catch should be cut in half for some fisheries to protect populations of both the fish and the natural predators that depend on them: (full story)

You know a trend has really caught on when Williams-Sonoma launches a product line around it: “Agrarian” includes an array of garden tools, cheese making supplies, bee hives, and resources for how to raise chickens: (full story)

Roberto Romano’s film The Harvest/La Cosecha , which was screened across the country for Farmworker Awareness Week, informs us that nearly 500,000 children as young as six harvest up to 25% of all crops in the US: (full story)

Packaged baby food may not be as healthy as it seems as many brands that have veggies prominently displayed on the front actually list fruit as the main ingredient, masking surprisingly high sugar content: (full story)

As U.S. pork producers build new barns and retrofit old ones to give hogs more space, they say consumers opposed to keeping pregnant sows in tight cages can expect to pay for their clearer consciences with higher food prices (we know that more sustainable practices are more expensive, looks like it’s time to put our money where our mouth is!):(full story)

Ya know when men save a little food in their beard for later? This is kinda like that: (full story)

Kiko's Food News, 3.30.12

As a follow-up to the pink slime headline I shared last week, and testament to how consumer pressure can lead to changing practices in the food industry, Beef Products Inc. announced the temporary shutdown of three of its four plants that produce “lean finely textured beef”; not only had McDonald’s, the National School Lunch Program, Kroger & Safeway decided to reduce or eliminate it, but viral campaigns by regular joes also changed the game: (full story)

The Just Label It Campaign announced this week that a record-breaking one million Americans signed the petition calling on the FDA to label genetically engineered foods:(full story)

We were excited to see six of the food producers we work with (Dandelion Chocolate, Farmhouse Culture, Baia Pasta, Barinaga Ranch, Emmy’s Pickles…and Chez Pim coming soon!) celebrated in San Francisco Magazine’s list of top ten artisan food makers to watch:(full story)

The new wave of food co-ops are slick community markets that have thrown off the members-only rules, volunteer requirements and vegetarian philosophies commonly associated with them, going with an every-man’s product assortment: (full story)

With volumes of traditional sodas declining for the seventh consecutive year, soft drink companies have been acting similar to tobacco companies, putting promotion dollars behind the drinks with the highest margins, and introducing non-carbonated alternatives the same way cig companies promote smokeless tobacco and other spinoffs: (full story)

Similarly, Coca-Cola Great Britain pledged to cut portions and reformulate its products as part of a U.K. government drive to curb obesity; they will invest $24 million by 2014 to reformulate soft drinks and cut the average number of calories per liter by at least 30%:(full story)

Maybe it’s time to reconsider donkey meat–here’s a quirky roundup of foods that might change your perspective on our ability to feed the planet: (full story)

Kiko's Food News, 3.23.12

Can a neighborhood corner store improve public health? As part of the nationwide Healthy Corner Stores Initiative, more than 600 corner stores in Philadelphia have signed pledges to stock healthy food: (full story)

A dismal option for the school lunch menu: the U.S.D.A. announced that starting this fall, schools will be able to choose whether or not they buy hamburger that contains lean finely textured beef known as “pink slime”; it was previously sold only to dog food or cooking oil suppliers: (full story)

That make you want to go meatless? Since I was away last week, I want to make sure you caught Bittman’s characteristically persuasive argument about why fake chicken is worth eating. Did you know “a third of Americans now eat meatless meals ‘a significant amount of the time’”? (full story)

Packaged-food companies facing stagnant growth are turning to snacks as a way to report sales increases to their stakeholders; snack prices can be raised more easily than those of grocery staples (and who hasn’t been itching for the invention of a chocolate-flavored tortilla chip??): (full story)

In what I consider a missed opportunity for new precedents in meat sourcing, McDonald’s was granted an exemption to London’s local food sourcing goals for the upcoming Olympics and will therefore source only 10% of the chicken it processes from British farmers: (full story)

Sales of products with Fair Trade USA’s seal of approval for ethics and sustainability rose 75% in the fourth quarter of 2011 over the first quarter, according to a recent SPINS report; this even though fair trade-certified products almost always cost more than the alternative: (full story)

The number of health-oriented and vegan food trucks across the country is growing; here’s a helpful list by city, should you have a hankering: (full story)

Inspiration for your Friday happy hour: a growing band of brewers is turning to the complex, earthy spice of rye for a new take on the strong flavors craft-beer drinkers have grown to love: (full story)

Earth Day 2012: Announcing Bi-Rite’s Food Waste Challenge

“One half of the food prepared in the US and Europe never gets eaten.”–Dive!, the movie

We as a society might waste this much food, but we’re also coming up with good ideas about how not to. Here are just a few ways we’ve already talked about combating the problem:

• Finding inspiration at our screening ofDive! the movie at 18 Reasons, tomorrow from 7-9 pm.

• Picking up a book on the topic to dig a little deeper into the issues; in our own book section you’ll find Economy Gastronomy and American Wasteland.

• Keeping your eggs, veggies and other food fresh without refrigeration (and possibly better tasting!) with these funky designs for your kitchen.

• Getting involved with one of the organizations that have cropped up in the past couple of years to solve our country’s waste issues. Halfsies offers restaurant-goers a choice that provides a healthier portion size, reduces food waste, and supports the fight against hunger; Food Shift works with consumers, businesses and communities  to build awareness and close the gaps in food delivery and consumption; and Marin Organic hosts a gleaning program which gathers excess produce from farms and delivers it to public schools, to name a few.

• Reconsidering what you think of as food waste, and thinking about your options before you throw food in the trash.

It’s this last point that brings me to the matter at hand today….I’m pleased to announceBi-Rite’s first Earth Day Food Waste Challenge! Yes, the name could be sexier. But the idea couldn’t, because the point of this challenge is for us all to practice how we asindividuals can put a dent in the amount of food that goes to waste. For an issue as complicated and overwhelming as our waste-disposal system and the challenge of feeding everyone who’s hungry, I’m empowered by the ability each of us have to waste less in our own day-to-day.  So how will the challenge work, you ask.

1. We want to hear from you, our community, about what foods you find yourself throwing out most often. First that comes to mind for me is herbs; I’m always challenged to finish the whole bunch (although the “Any Greens Pesto” recipe from Eat Good Food makes it easy!). Tell us in a comment here which foods you can never seem to use up before they go bad.

2. We’ll take the answers we hear most from you, and make those our target foods for our Food Waste Challenge, which will take place at Bi-Rite Market the week leading up to Earth Day (Sunday, April 22nd).

3. During that week, we’ll give you recipe cards for each of the target foods. Each card will have a few different recipes that make use of its featured ingredient. We’ll invite you to email us a photo of any dish you cook from it–I’ll post each photo sent in on our blog.

4. We’ll donate 10% of proceeds from sales of the target foods that week (up to $1,000) to Three Squares,  an organization that works throughout the Bay Area to provide nutrition education and improved access to healthy food in low-income communities. They’re teaching people how to shop for ingredients and cook smartly, and this will help them towards the 600 classes they teach every year!

So without further ado, let’s kick this thing off! Please reply to this post with a comment on what foods you find yourself throwing out most often, so we can help you find creative ways to use them up next month! 

Can't resist a good retro food poster!

Kiko's Food News, 3.9.12

Food can’t escape politics, as some members of the Park Slope Food Co-Op are calling for a boycott of Israeli-made foods, butting heads with the anti-boycott “More Hummus Please” group of pro-Israel members: (full story)

“I’d turn vegan for you”, “I think we’d grow a great organic garden together”, and other fool-proof lines for hitting on a foodie: (full story)

Wal-Mart has announced plans to open 13 smaller-format “Neighborhood Market” stores in California this year and next; averaging 42,000 square feet, these will compete with existing stores already fighting for market share. Wal-Mart has the resources to drive local shops out of business by temporarily undercutting prices, which can result in a net job loss for communities and has caused widespread opposition to their stores across California: (full story)

A new study shows that higher levels of vitamin D–not calcium–are tied to fewer stress fractures in young women; the participants who got lots of vitamin D through their diet and supplements were half as likely to suffer a stress fracture as those who didn’t get much: (full story)

Actor Wendell Pierce of HBO’s “Treme” & “The Wire” has opened Sterling Express, the first in a convenience store chain that will sell fresh produce and salads in addition to the usual chips and sodas; he’ll soon open a grocery store called Sterling Farms, the first of several in New Orleans’s low-income neighborhoods, where supermarkets are scarce: (full story)

A Food Safety News investigation revealed that one-third of America’s honey supply is probably smuggled in from China and could be tainted with the antibioticChloramphenicol used by Chinese beekeepers to stave off a bacterial infection that threatened to cripple the country’s honey industry in the late 90s; the drug is outlawed in the U.S.: (full story)

Kiko's Food News, 3.2.12

A New York federal court dismissed the lawsuit against agribusiness giant Monsanto brought by thousands of certified organic farmers, ruining their hopes that the suit would protect them against infringing on the company’s crop patents in the future: (full story)

I’ve added a new book to my “to-read” list: Tracie McMillan’s The American Way of Eatingexposes US food distribution the way Pollan exposed our agricultural system by chronicling her work as a laborer in California’s farm fields, a produce clerk at Walmart, and in the kitchen at Applebee’s: (full story)

A study on fruit and veggie consumption in six low-income, primarily minority neighborhoods in Chicago found that convenience was key among those who eat more produce, and the price of the produce didn’t matter; this furthers the argument that Americans aren’t skipping healthy food because of its cost, but rather because cooking with fresh produce takes a little effort: (full story)

Fresh Direct, NYC’s grocery delivery success story, has grown from a small start-up to almost 2,000 employees and is relocating headquarters to the Bronx to stay within the five boroughs; Mayor Bloomberg makes an argument for how keeping the business local achieves the city’s “number one priority” of job creation, and will benefit NY residents for decades to come: (full story)

Starting this week, raw meat sold at grocery stores must carry a nutrition label with info including calories, protein level, cholesterol, saturated fat, sodium and more: (full story)

A Food Safety News investigation revealed that one-third of America’s honey supply is probably smuggled in from China and could be tainted with the antibioticChloramphenicol used by Chinese beekeepers to stave off a bacterial infection that threatened to cripple the country’s honey industry in the late 90s; the drug is outlawed in the U.S.:(full story)

Kiko's Food News, 2.24.12

This NY Times article argues that the revival of craft manufacturing isn’t just a fad for hipsters–it’s a refinement of the excesses of our industrial era plus a return to specialization, which is inherent to capitalism: (full story)

I enjoyed reading 7×7′s profile on the CEO of Bon Appétit Management; they operate cafeterias that through 136.5 million meals a year bring the local-sustainable movement to more than 400 venues nationwide: (full story)

Organic food companies are cheering because their potential markets just doubled: the U.S. and the European Union are announcing that they will soon treat each other’s organic standards as equivalent: (full story)

California has introduced a cottage food bill, the California Homemade Food Act, AB 1616; similar to the “cottage food laws” in 31 other US states, it would allow for the sale of non-potentially hazardous foods prepared in a home kitchen: (full story)

Price increases across the North American food industry have turned off shoppers and led to weak sales for some packaged food makers; Kraft, among others, has introduced smaller package sizes with lower price tags to appeal to consumers with limited budgets:(full story)

Check out this Korean artist’s use of funky design to create containers that keep eggs, veggies and other food fresher (and possibly better tasting!) without refrigeration: (full story)