Menu for the Future - Week 4

This week's Menu for the Future lesson was entitled, "You are What you Eat." Uh, oh.

It began with a quote from Michael Pollan (how can you go wrong there?)...

The interesting thing I learned was that if you are really concerned about your health, the best decisions for your health turn out to be the best decisions for the farmer and the best decisions for the environment - and that there is no contradiction there.

Unfortunately, the majority of the food options out there are less than optimum for us, the farmer, or the environment. So how do we maneuver our way through the grocery store? Armed with information! Quoted were excepts from Marco Visscher Unhappy Meal as well as Marion Nestle's What to Eat (a must read - here's my book review...).

It was another great discussion amongst the group members. We actually had an assignment this week that I'll share with you, if you'd like to chime in on your own fridge and pantry no-no's...

How many of these ingredients can you find in your kitchen: High fructose corn syrup, aspartame/saccharine/acesulfame-K, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, artificial colorings, sodium nitrites/nitrates?

What other ingredients did you find that were new or unfamiliar to you?

I didn't find much (but it's taken me a long time to come this far). We did have organic ketchup in the fridge with natural flavoring (whatever THAT is), but the biggest no-no was the Chicken Noodle Soup that we keep around for when Dave gets sick. Check this out (not all the ingredients, just the ones I thought were notable): MSG, egg solids, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, onion isolate, and sodium phosphates.

Yick! So what's lurking on your shelves?