Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Report in the Wall Street Journal
Restaurants should advertise nutrition on menus Restaurants need to promote healthier menu items, provide nutritional information on menus and help educate the public on food choices, according to a new report funded by the FDA. Some industry associations object, saying the government should not dictate what restaurants can advertise.
This would be such a GREAT idea!! Let's hope this will go through -- though, I doubt it!
Restaurants should advertise nutrition on menus Restaurants need to promote healthier menu items, provide nutritional information on menus and help educate the public on food choices, according to a new report funded by the FDA. Some industry associations object, saying the government should not dictate what restaurants can advertise.
This would be such a GREAT idea!! Let's hope this will go through -- though, I doubt it!
Labels: dining out, healthy dining
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Partners in Fitness
I MUST HAVE THIS!!!
Steve Jobs, Lance Armstrong and marathoner Paula Radcliffe provided the star wattage Tuesday when Nike and Apple trumpeted a new partnership and unveiled the first product they have developed — the Nike + iPod Sport Kit.
During a highly scripted press conference announcing the news to hundreds at Chelsea Piers, Nike chief executive officer Mark Parker explained how the kit has a wireless system that allows a sensor placed in Nike's Air Zoom Moire to talk to Apple's iPod nano to keep runners up to speed about their workouts. By merely touching a button on the iPod, wearers will hear an update of the distance covered, the pace and miles to go, and when energy levels droop, they can touch a button to automatically play their power song, whichever one they have selected as their most motivational.
The $29 kit will be available within the next 60 days in the U.S. through Apple's and Nike's freestanding and online stores, as well as at select stores. But all those workout updates won't come cheaply. The kit is useless without what the brand is calling Nike+ footwear, a new subcategory of footwear that includes the Air Zoom Moire, which currently retails for $100, and an iPod nano, which starts at $149. Nike apparel with pockets for iPod nanos also will be sold.
http://www.nike.com/nikeplus/#overview
Steve Jobs, Lance Armstrong and marathoner Paula Radcliffe provided the star wattage Tuesday when Nike and Apple trumpeted a new partnership and unveiled the first product they have developed — the Nike + iPod Sport Kit.
During a highly scripted press conference announcing the news to hundreds at Chelsea Piers, Nike chief executive officer Mark Parker explained how the kit has a wireless system that allows a sensor placed in Nike's Air Zoom Moire to talk to Apple's iPod nano to keep runners up to speed about their workouts. By merely touching a button on the iPod, wearers will hear an update of the distance covered, the pace and miles to go, and when energy levels droop, they can touch a button to automatically play their power song, whichever one they have selected as their most motivational.
The $29 kit will be available within the next 60 days in the U.S. through Apple's and Nike's freestanding and online stores, as well as at select stores. But all those workout updates won't come cheaply. The kit is useless without what the brand is calling Nike+ footwear, a new subcategory of footwear that includes the Air Zoom Moire, which currently retails for $100, and an iPod nano, which starts at $149. Nike apparel with pockets for iPod nanos also will be sold.
http://www.nike.com/nikeplus/#overview
Labels: Apple, fitness, new product, Nike
Forever 21
Checked out Forever 21 in Union Square this weekend - and whoa! Men's stuff!
Great store for fast fashion - no need to spend crazy prices for something you'll wear for 2 weeks, I mean seriously.
http://www.forever21.com/
Great store for fast fashion - no need to spend crazy prices for something you'll wear for 2 weeks, I mean seriously.
http://www.forever21.com/
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
"The Omnivore's Dilemma" author Michael Pollan on how Wall Street has driven America's obesity epidemic...
Was access much of problem in writing this?
MP: Yes, it's amazing that it should have become so hard. I wasn't able to get into the factories where corn is turned into high-fructose corn syrup, which you wouldn't think would be so controversial, and I wasn't able to get onto the kill floor of a large meat plant. They allowed me to see everything but the knocker who actually administers the fatal blow. It's become more difficult since Sept. 11. The food industry has a new argument, which is partly sincere. They've recognized that with such a centralized food supply, somebody dropping a vial of bacterium into a vat of hamburger could reach tens of thousands of people. But it has also become an excuse to keep the prying eyes of journalists away from how our food is made, which is unfortunate because we would be better off if we had more transparency in our food system. If there was a right of access to meat slaughterhouses, they wouldn't be slaughtering 400 beefs an hour, allowing manure to be smeared on carcasses, and going so fast that live animals get cut open. The best we could do for the safety of our food supply, for the beauty of our landscape and for the quality of our water would be to decentralize meat and agriculture.
http://www.salon.com/books/int/2006/04/08/pollan/index.html
Which leads us to the genre you call "supermarket pastoral." What is it exactly?
MP: Walking through Whole Foods, I joke in the book, is a literary experience. You need to be a pretty good literary critic, in other words, to figure out what's really being said on these labels. They're written in what I call supermarket pastoral, which is a very persuasive form. I read a lot of labels and I'm still a sucker for it. Free-range chicken, for instance, can mean nothing more than a 20,000-bird shed with a tiny little lawn and a little door that's opened two weeks before the hens are slaughtered. These little yards are purely symbolic. Chickens don't use them because they're too careful. They've never been outside before; there's not enough room for all of them and they're a flock animal. So it's a conceit to appeal to the consumer. When you see "free-range," it's not happening, but if you see "pastured" chicken, which you sometimes will at a farmers market, that's real. And pastured eggs, by the way, are a superior product in every way. I know a farmer in California who grows them. They're $6 a dozen and I consider them worth it.
MP: Yes, it's amazing that it should have become so hard. I wasn't able to get into the factories where corn is turned into high-fructose corn syrup, which you wouldn't think would be so controversial, and I wasn't able to get onto the kill floor of a large meat plant. They allowed me to see everything but the knocker who actually administers the fatal blow. It's become more difficult since Sept. 11. The food industry has a new argument, which is partly sincere. They've recognized that with such a centralized food supply, somebody dropping a vial of bacterium into a vat of hamburger could reach tens of thousands of people. But it has also become an excuse to keep the prying eyes of journalists away from how our food is made, which is unfortunate because we would be better off if we had more transparency in our food system. If there was a right of access to meat slaughterhouses, they wouldn't be slaughtering 400 beefs an hour, allowing manure to be smeared on carcasses, and going so fast that live animals get cut open. The best we could do for the safety of our food supply, for the beauty of our landscape and for the quality of our water would be to decentralize meat and agriculture.
http://www.salon.com/books/int/2006/04/08/pollan/index.html
Which leads us to the genre you call "supermarket pastoral." What is it exactly?
MP: Walking through Whole Foods, I joke in the book, is a literary experience. You need to be a pretty good literary critic, in other words, to figure out what's really being said on these labels. They're written in what I call supermarket pastoral, which is a very persuasive form. I read a lot of labels and I'm still a sucker for it. Free-range chicken, for instance, can mean nothing more than a 20,000-bird shed with a tiny little lawn and a little door that's opened two weeks before the hens are slaughtered. These little yards are purely symbolic. Chickens don't use them because they're too careful. They've never been outside before; there's not enough room for all of them and they're a flock animal. So it's a conceit to appeal to the consumer. When you see "free-range," it's not happening, but if you see "pastured" chicken, which you sometimes will at a farmers market, that's real. And pastured eggs, by the way, are a superior product in every way. I know a farmer in California who grows them. They're $6 a dozen and I consider them worth it.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Organic Food Goes Mass Market
It's getting cheaper to go organic.
In a bid to capture a slice of the fast-growing organic-foods market, mainstream supermarket chains are rushing out their own store-brand lines that can cost significantly less than comparable specialty brands often found at health-food and gourmet stores. The pricing could remove a big barrier for many Americans who have wanted to try organic rice, cookies or cans of soup but have been put off by the prices. Though the store brands are less expensive, the chains say they adhere to the same federal standards for what constitutes organic as other brands.
Driving these moves is a desire to capture some of the growing consumer interest in organic foods -- which are often perceived as more healthful and environmentally friendly because their ingredients must be grown without pesticides. Chains are also looking to push back against specialty-food retailers like Whole Foods Market Inc., which have siphoned away customers in recent years. The U.S. organic-food market generated about $13.8 billion in sales last year, up from $11.9 billion in 2004 and $3.6 billion in 1997, according to market-research firm Nutrition Business Journal. The firm estimates organics will reach $15.5 billion this year.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114670795156643418.html
In a bid to capture a slice of the fast-growing organic-foods market, mainstream supermarket chains are rushing out their own store-brand lines that can cost significantly less than comparable specialty brands often found at health-food and gourmet stores. The pricing could remove a big barrier for many Americans who have wanted to try organic rice, cookies or cans of soup but have been put off by the prices. Though the store brands are less expensive, the chains say they adhere to the same federal standards for what constitutes organic as other brands.
Driving these moves is a desire to capture some of the growing consumer interest in organic foods -- which are often perceived as more healthful and environmentally friendly because their ingredients must be grown without pesticides. Chains are also looking to push back against specialty-food retailers like Whole Foods Market Inc., which have siphoned away customers in recent years. The U.S. organic-food market generated about $13.8 billion in sales last year, up from $11.9 billion in 2004 and $3.6 billion in 1997, according to market-research firm Nutrition Business Journal. The firm estimates organics will reach $15.5 billion this year.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114670795156643418.html
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Where Was Your Chicken Before It Hatched?
April 27, 2006 — - Grocery shopping is not what it used to be. Besides making sure the eggs aren't cracked, there's the new sport of label checking.
Are the eggs brown or white? Are they organic? Hormone-free? Free-range? Cruelty-free? And how are these things even justified? Certified? Legitimate?
As people become more concerned about where their food comes from and what it goes through before it rests on their plate, a new revolution brews and it's in an unlikely place -- the farm.
The "Certified Humane" label, a certification created in May 2003 through Herndon, Va.-based Humane Farm Animal Care, is becoming a more-popular and sought-after sticker for producers and stores, alike.
....
Grocery stores are also seeing the commercial potential of carrying the label in their stores.
A 23-store chain based in Larchmont, N.Y., D'Agostino Supermarkets, is asking all its suppliers to become certified humane. The supermarket not only is trying to figure out how to compete in the tough New York grocery market with big competitors like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's winning over shoppers in the region, but owner Nick D'Agostino III says his customers are looking for this.
"People are more concerned about where their food comes from," he said. "People are very, very concerned. There is no reason why animals shouldn't be treated in a reasonable manner."
....
The certified humane label, which reads "Certified Humane Raised & Handled," may ease some consumers' minds. To become certified, a food item must meet certain standards, including no use of growth hormones and raising animals on a regular diet of "quality feed free of antibiotics."
Producers also must comply with local, state and federal environmental standards. Processors must comply with the American Meat Institute Standards, a higher standard for slaughtering farm animals than the Federal Humane Slaughter Act.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/Health/story?id=1896463&page=1
Are the eggs brown or white? Are they organic? Hormone-free? Free-range? Cruelty-free? And how are these things even justified? Certified? Legitimate?
As people become more concerned about where their food comes from and what it goes through before it rests on their plate, a new revolution brews and it's in an unlikely place -- the farm.
The "Certified Humane" label, a certification created in May 2003 through Herndon, Va.-based Humane Farm Animal Care, is becoming a more-popular and sought-after sticker for producers and stores, alike.
....
Grocery stores are also seeing the commercial potential of carrying the label in their stores.
A 23-store chain based in Larchmont, N.Y., D'Agostino Supermarkets, is asking all its suppliers to become certified humane. The supermarket not only is trying to figure out how to compete in the tough New York grocery market with big competitors like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's winning over shoppers in the region, but owner Nick D'Agostino III says his customers are looking for this.
"People are more concerned about where their food comes from," he said. "People are very, very concerned. There is no reason why animals shouldn't be treated in a reasonable manner."
....
The certified humane label, which reads "Certified Humane Raised & Handled," may ease some consumers' minds. To become certified, a food item must meet certain standards, including no use of growth hormones and raising animals on a regular diet of "quality feed free of antibiotics."
Producers also must comply with local, state and federal environmental standards. Processors must comply with the American Meat Institute Standards, a higher standard for slaughtering farm animals than the Federal Humane Slaughter Act.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/Health/story?id=1896463&page=1
Labels: health food, organic
