Strollerderby : whole foods

How Much Would You Pay for an Organic Thanksgiving?

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:30:00 GMT

Nothing puts the price differential between organic and non-organic eating into perspective like a Thanksgiving Day meal. Paying $2 more for organic blueberries or $1 more for organic milk may seem like an easy decision, but what about spending almost $80 more for one meal's worth of Turkey?

As the New York Times reports, smartmoney.com has done some investigative reporting on the real costs of an organic Thanksgiving Day meal. Shopping organic as thriftily as possible at Whole Foods, Associated Supermarket, and the Food Emporium, the financial advice Web site found that an organic traditional Thanksgiving Day meal cost $126.35 more than a non-organic meal. According to Smartmoney, this constitutes a rip-off.

126 bucks is certainly a prohibitively hefty price tag for many families, but let's keep in mind that there are thriftier ways to buy organic than shopping at Whole Foods in Manhattan. For instance, I shop at a co-op and I would bet that buying an organic meal there might even be cheaper than a non-organic one bought in traditional supermarkets. And if you can afford to pay a little more for farming methods that are easier on the environment, by all means do. Isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about?

Photo: New York Times

Kitchenista: How to Save $3K

Adrienne Martini — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Nancy Weiser teaches parents -- mostly moms -- how they can change their family's relationship with food. Her course includes trips to Whole Foods, pep talks, cooking lessons and email follow-ups, which appears to be exactly what lifestyle-driven women in her courses require. For this, Weiser charges a mere $3,000.

I'm going to give you the essence of her lessons for free. Because I'm a giver like that.

First lesson: to quote Michael Pollan: don't eat anything that doesn't rot. If you can leave it on a counter for a few weeks without any noticeable change, then it doesn't qualify as food.

Second lesson: most of the information you need can be found online with minimal fuss, like this recipe from Mark Bittman for Beet Rosti, which is essentially a big beet pancake of yumminess. If you can't sell the kids on the idea of beets, sell them on the fact that it might dye their tongues bright pink if they eat more than one bite.

More lessons to follow, if requested. For free, even.

Photo credit: eatfud.com

Things Fall Apart: Think Tahini is Healthy? Not the Salmonella Flavor!

Karen Murphy — Thu, 24 May 2007 21:58:00 GMT

Tahini. Yum, healthy, right? A wonderful addition to hummous, an adored dippage item when consumed by preschoolers on their organic baby carrots, and it makes great salad dressing.

Not when it's contaminated by Salmonella. The recalled brands are MaraNatha Raw Sesame Tahini, Organic Raosted Sesame Tahini, Natural Raw Sesame Tahini and Natural Roasted Sesame Tahini. Ugh. I have a jar of this in my refrigerator. We ate some already. I'm not feeling so well, can I go home now? [cough] All the affected jars have a use-by date of 10/02/07 or earlier. Call 1-800-883-8312 for more information.

Seriously. Oh. Also you need to be worried about Whole Foods 365 Every Day Value brand Sesame Tahini. It's full of Salmonella too. No toll-free number here, but you can always call 512-477-5566 for more information.

On both sites is this lovely reminder: "Consumption of a food contaminated with Salmonella may cause symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Long-term complications may include severe arthritis. These symptoms could be serious or life-threatening in young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems."

I think this now provides an explanation for the previously-unexplained GI symptoms we all experienced recently. Excuse me, I have to go deal with the jar of poison that's in my fridge.