August 2011

GREETINGS

We’re still working on reinvigorating our group. As mentioned last time, one of our big concerns is that the PreThanksgiving Feast, which is our only annual fundraiser, has gotten increasingly difficult to pull off due to inadequate numbers of volunteers to help make it happen; the crunch is worst regarding people to help in the kitchen – which is of course especially crucial.

One of our options might be to make the PreThanksgiving Feast a catered event; this would mean charging nearly $30 per person and would mean less variety of food. The other option is for more of you to step up to help out.

I have recently taken the step of writing to repeat PTF attendees other than those who still take this newsletter, and so far we’ve received five positive and helpful replies. But more helpful responses are needed if we are to even consider holding the PTF this year. So to all of you reading this: if you have not helped with the PTF in the past (or in the last 2 or 3 years) but still want it to happen, come to the August potluck and/or contact us by calling me at 414-962-2703 or Jody and David at 414-764-7262 or email me at chuckgyver@aceweb.com, and let us know (1) whether you would prefer a catered event or the previous partial-potluck format, and (b) whether you can help, and what would spur you to be willing to take a shift in the kitchen.

The PreThanksgiving Feast has been a lot of fun, and volunteering adds to that sense of participation. And we can’t – and will not – do it without you. Be in touch.

M.A.R.V. ACTIVITIES

Sun., Aug. 7, regular potluck at the Friends’ Meeting House, 3224 N. Gordon Pl. in Riverwest (from Humboldt Blvd., go east on Auer a few short blocks to the parking lot). Food theme is raw foods.

Subsequent regular potlucks will be on Sept. 4, Oct. 2, and Nov. 6

Sat. Aug. 27, tabling at a Wellness Fair and farmers’ market in Pewaukee, 9 AM to 3 PM.

Other veg-friendly potlucks

The August macrobiotic potluck will be on Sun. Aug. 21 at Pat O’Neill’s house at 2431 N. Bartlett at 5:30 PM; call 414-964-9759.

The Urban Ecology Center’s vegetarian potluck will be on Thurs., Aug. 18 at 6:30 PM at 1500 E. Park Pl., 414-964-8505. Bring plate and fork as well as your meatless dish.

Vegan Meetup: to find out about possible events, check the Vegan Meetup website.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“Public testimony clearly illustrated widespread concern that the factory farm will destroy the community by hurting local businesses, diminishing property values and by violating fundamental rights to a healthy, safe, and clean environment.”

-- from a Wisconsin State Farmer article on a public hearing about a proposed Illinois 18,000-plus hog factory farm

NEWS

In follow-up to last month’s big news about the e. coli outbreak in Europe, it was finally decided that a shipment of 16 tons of tainted fenugreek seeds from Egypt had been its cause. This prompted the European Union to ban imports of Egyptian beans and fenugreek seeds – and still no one has mentioned that the root of the problem is not the seeds but the industrial farming practices that allow animal feces to get onto them.

And this is only one way in which animal foods and animal farming can be bad.

Breaking news as I write is an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant salmonella in the U.S., which has so far killed one Californian and sickened people in 26 states. Cargill has now recalled 36 million pounds of ground turkey from an Arkansas plant – a bit late, since this has been going on since February. Meanwhile, people are advised to thoroughly cook their ground turkey. Or just don’t eat any.

Prevention magazine noted that coal-fired power plants emit the neurotoxin mercury, which then falls with rain and gets into water and hence contaminates fish. The EPA is proposing a nationwide cap on mercury emissions; meanwhile the Sierra Club offers to test a hair sample so you can find out how much mercury is in your body. Or don’t eat fish.

Here in Wisconsin, public input was sought on what to do about a property that had been a deer farm where 80% of the herd was found to have chronic wasting disease (the deer equivalent of mad cow disease).

In Iowa there were two different incidents of spills from livestock farm manure pits into rivers, one causing a 10-mile-long fish kill; in North Carolina, meanwhile, a corporate hog farm and its president pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act by discharging hog manure into a stream. No wonder the people of Macomb, Ill. don’t want a hog factory farm in their backyard (as cited in the Quote above). The only good news about factory farming is the failure of a proposed Iowa law that would have banned taping or photographing – or publicizing – factory farm conditions.

There were a number of reports last month about water issues. A spill of human sewage into the Hudson River shut the waters of New York harbor to recreational use temporarily. Drought has expanded beyond Texas to cover the whole area from Florida to Arizona, devastating agriculture throughout the area; Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, are still fighting in court over who gets the limited amount of water that can be withdrawn from Lake Lanier; and in California wealthy farming interests are being sued over their practice of pumping and banking so much water that their neighbors can’t wash their clothes or flush their toilets. And drought is behind the famine in Somalia.

Another ongoingly controversial issue is raw milk. Three Michigan women became ill after consuming some, and the USDA issued a warning about contaminated raw milk in South Carolina. On a different note, an ad campaign that tried to tout milk as helping minimize PMS was pulled after complaints about it.

Better news is that a livestock operation actually had its organic certification suspended for five years because of its practices. And a different bit of good news is that the USDA has dropped its fight against the right of farmers to challenge its controversial raw almond pasteurization rule: this paves the way for a possible victory by small farmers and people who want to eat raw almonds that are actually raw.

On a different note, in a world that sees increasing reports of food scarcity, the NY Times Dining section ran an article pointing out the tastiness and nutritional value of eating peels, stalks, and stems of produce that until now were usually thrown out.

E magazine looked at the recent interest in gluten-free eating, concluding that such diets are useless for weight loss and often use ingredients that have been stripped of nutrition, so that while gluten-free is necessary and useful for people who really have allergies or sensitivities to gluten, such diets are probably neither needed by nor very good for most people – and people who do need to avoid gluten were advised to substitute other safe grains such as quinoa, buckwheat, and millet, and to remember that vegetables, fruits, beans and nuts are always gluten-free.

For plant foods are really still good for you, generally speaking.

Diabetes Care reported that vegetarians have 36% less prevalence of metabolic syndrome, which is the precursor to type two diabetes.

And speaking of lesser-known grains, the September Vegetarian Times featured teff, a traditional grain from North Africa that can be ground to make the Ethiopian bread called injera, or eaten as a grain in stews. Each grain is so tiny that the name comes from a word meaning “lost,” since if you drop a grain you’ll never find it, yet teff is high in calcium, protein, fiber, and minerals, especially iron.

Prevention magazine had an interesting item about how to read food labels, using ruby red grapefruit juice drink as an example. The drink that they used listed water as the first ingredient and grape juice concentrate as the second, then grapefruit juice concentrate, then apple juice concentrate, and included added vitamin C and “natural flavor.” The deconstruction of this label pointed out that this is pretty much a sugary concoction with only a moderate fraction of actual grapefruit juice – and that you’d be much better off squeezing an actual grapefruit yourself, or simply eating one.

Both Prevention and Vegetarian Times looked at nuts this month. Prevention pointed out that nuts really should be eaten by dieters, even though they do have a high fat content, because their fats are good for you: in one

recent sturdy, dieters who ate pistachios decreased both their weight and their triglycerides more than people who ate the same amount of calories but snacked on pretzels. And a quiz in Vegetarian Times asked which of four nuts had the most antioxidents; the answer was walnuts (over almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans).

A Vegetarian Times article on preventing Alzheimer’s disease suggested limiting saturated fat (which mostly comes from animal foods), avoiding hydrogenated oils (from margarine and processed foods), and getting B vitamins, especially B6, B12, and folate. And a recent Swedish study found that vitamin B12 may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease by lowering homocysteine levels in the blood. So vegans should make sure to take their B12 supplements (no, you cannot safely rely on fermented foods for this vital nutrient).

Another Natural Awakenings item was a finding by California researchers that pomegranate juice may inhibit the spread of cancer cells out of an original tumor.

Prunes were mentioned by Vegetarian Times as unfairly maligned and neglected. Besides the high amounts of fiber that give them a deserved reputation for helping bowel function, it turns out that prunes are as high as the plums they started out as in phenolic antioxidents that protect brain and heart, as well as vitamin K and potassium. And artichokes are another less-popular healthy food, providing fiber, vitamins C and K, folate, magnesium, and potassium, and helping reduce cholesterol and irritable bowel syndrome symptoms.

CONNECTIONS

The beginning of September is when the farms of our area are at the height of production, so September 1-15 is the appropriate time for the Eat Local Challenge at Outpost Natural Foods Coop and other local groups. And the preparation for that naturally takes place in August.

The Urban Ecology Center will have an Eat Local Resource Fair on Saturday, Aug. 27, from 10 AM to 1 PM, with cooking demos, menu and recipe ideas, local vendors and producers, and lots of information on where to find local foods. The event is free, although donations are appreciated. Call 414-964-8505 to register.

And Outpost offers tips, recipes, and more on its website: www.outpost.coop

I received a postcard in the mail informing me that on Aug. 13 and 14 there will be a Veggie Fest in Naperville, Illinois (a Chicago suburb). It will feature an international food court, informative talks and lectures, health experts, vegetarian food demos, over 100 vendor booths, yoga, meditation classes, talks on spirituality, live music, and activities for kids and families. It will be held at the Science of Spirituality Meditation Center, 4S 175 Naperville-Wheaton Rd., Naperville, IL 60563, from 11 AM to 8 PM on Saturday Aug. 13 and 11 AM to 7 PM on Sunday. For more details and to check out their program and get some directions for reaching the place, go to their website at www.veggiefestchicago.org

THE VEGGIE TABLE

David and Jody suggested that Chuck and I meet them for lunch at a restaurant we had not previously tried, Café Tarragon – and we liked it so much that we’ve been back a number of times since.

This mostly-lunchtime eatery is inside the fair trade shop Future Green in the Bay View area. You can either dine inside at the back of the store, or (weather permitting) in the private tree-shaded courtyard behind. The menu is entirely vegetarian, with vegan options built in for everything. It includes 6 entrees, various special salads, a pair of raw options, a no-fish fry on Fridays, and an ever-changing Saturday evening special. Although neither David nor Chuck were impressed by the black bean burger, everything else that any of us have tried there has been fabulous; Chuck has especially enjoyed the Veggie European Muffaletta, my own favorites are the Taj Mahal sandwich, the Tango Border Tostadas, and the “No Cluck” Chicken sandwich, and Jody was highly satisfied with her Sunday brunch tofu scramble. Kids can get PB & J sandwiches or grilled cheese (either regular or vegan). Hot tea and cold beer and other beverages are available as well as smoothies.

Café Tarragon is open for lunch on Tuesday through Saturday from 11 AM to 3 PM, for brunch on Sunday from 11 AM to 3 PM, and for dinner on Friday and Saturday from 5 PM to 9 PM. It is located at 2352 S. Kinnikinnic Ave in Bay View. Phone number is 414-294-4300, and the website is www.futuregreen.net.