Photo: food sculpture by artist and chef, Jimmy Zhang (San Francisco)

“Where’s the butter?” is obviously not the first thought that comes to mind for artist Jimmy Zhang, when he looks at a loaf of bread.  [To see more of these sculptures, see "Jimmy Zhang's Food Sculpture."]

Photo: Le Whif Cocoa Puffer

Love organic chocolate but hate the calories? Well, Harvard professor David Edwards is your new best friend! Edwards has invented a pipe which lets you LITERALLY inhale chocolate. Here’s more from Gadget Lab:

[This] “cigarette-like chocolate inhaler allows users to take a puff of their favorite treat whenever they want. The product, called Le Whif, is a way to get chocolate without the calories…and it is an experiment and adventure in gastronomy…..Each whiff here fills your your mouth but has less than a calorie and is yet almost all pure chocolate. It tastes good.

Until recently, food particles could not be made small enough to get airborne and not offer the risk of choking says Edwards. But his [Harvard] team claims to have found a way to offer super-tiny particles of chocolate through an inhaler….But the technology means that Le Whif doesn’t come cheap. A pack of 24 Whifs is currently available for about $52 and is available through online orders only. Le Whif will have a launch party in Paris for the product on April 29.”

Stock up now, organic chocolate lovers! [For more information, visit LeWhif.]

Photo: illustration from Farm Forward

“Can we talk?” This line, made famous by comedian Joan Rivers, could well apply to Eating Animals, a new book by Jonathan Safran Foer. The book–part memoir, part expose—is billed as “the most important book on animal agriculture in decades.”  Why? “Because no other honest account of animal agriculture has ever addressed the issue on so many levels–[which is so] essential to creating lasting change….How we raise farm animals is not simply an issue of animal welfare, ecological sustainability, or sound economics, but all of these and more. How we choose to feed our families and ourselves says a lot about who we are as individuals and as citizens. Our food choices are also statements of values.”

Here’s an excerpt from an interview with Foer in yesterday’s Globe and Mail :

“You talk about how organic, free range, fresh is almost mythical [i.e. the labels have become almost meaningless]. Are people who buy this stuff being fooled?

It’s a good instinct, but yeah, they’re being fooled. And what’s particularly crappy about it is an industry is taking advantage of our better instincts. They’re having us go out of our way to spend more money to buy something that will better align with the values we have.

What about factory farms horrified you the most?

Most people’s interaction with these farms comes through videos of slaughter and so people think that’s what’s horrifying, some bloody animal running around a slaughterhouse. But even in bad slaughterhouses, that’s still the exception. And in a way, it conceals something that is much worse, which is just the systematic cruelty of these places. The tens of billions of animals that never see the sun, never touch the earth, can’t exercise any other species-specific behaviour, are fed unnatural diets and are bred to suffer. They are all like that. All the meat in supermarkets and restaurants.”

Food for thought, and for discussion. [For more about Eating Animals, see Farm Forward and "Is Any Meat OK to Eat." ]

Photo: assorted pumpkins from Tree Hugging Family 

It’s that time of year again! Pumpkins galore! Those grown organically might be a bit more expensive than conventional, but here’s the upside (from “Should you buy an organic pumpkin for Halloween?”):

• “Support [for] organic agriculture and the ongoing good health of farmers and farm workers.
• Support for healthy rivers, soil, streams, rivers, air, [people and animals.]
• Support of other plants: “Two of the major herbicides used in pumpkins, clomazone and ethalfluralin, have either the potential to injure the crop being grown or cause severe injury to non-target plants.”

Who would WANT to eat the toxic herbicides used on conventional pumpkins? Give me organic any day, even on Halloween! AND no Halloween is complete without some singing PUMPKINS. Check out Crumpkin’s Pumpkins’ Pumpkin Song.

Photo: The HOME GROW-IN Grocer store front in Mt. Pleasant

Never mind the “100 Mile Diet”! How about a “100 Meter Diet”? That’s possible with the Home Grow-In Grocer in Mt. Pleasant (in the heart of Vancouver)! This store sells ONLY BC products with an emphasis on VERY LOCAL, and ORGANIC.

Owner Deb Reynolds says strawberries and blueberries from Cawton’s Last Chance Ranch will be available well into November, and she’s “actively looking” for a BC-made butter. [Anyone know a butter maker? You can leave a comment on this BLOG or contact Reynold directly on Home Grow-In.]

This is from  Home Grow-In :

“In a world where our society and global economy is returning to the BUY LOCAL, we are the only store in Vancouver that embraces that philosphy. It is our number one mandate to be able to bring fresh and quality BC produce and products to customers and to encourage the re-establishment of the “community” grocer store.”

[For more from Deb Reynolds, have a look at this YouTube VIDEO: "Home Grow-In Grocer Ltd."]

Photo: Nelson Brewing’ Wild Honey “Certified Organic” Ale

“Wondrously fruity, light and smile-making.” That’s how Wild Honey Ale is described in “edible NOTES” (in this month’s Edible Vancouver Magazine). AND the ale is available at “many local liquor stores.” 

You’ll find more on the Nelson Brewing website”:

“This light, malty, organic ale is the beer that’s causing such a buzz in British Columbia. We brewed this very special ale to celebrate the Whitewater Ski Resort’s 25th Anniversary and The Nelson Brewing Company’s 10th Anniversary. By combining organic honey with specially chosen organic malted barley and organic hops we have created a golden ale that reflects the mountain experience. Brewed Beyond Beelicious!”

Photo: West Coast Chocolate Festival photo in Vancouver SUN
Source: Handout for West Coast Chocolate Festival

If you love chocolate, then today’s a big day! Today’s the start of the West Coast Chocolate Festival.  The Festival used to be ONLY in the TriCity area of Coquitlam, Port Moody, and Port Coquitlam, but this year Burnaby and Vancouver have been added. From today through November 10th you can ”celebrate the magic of chocolate and appeal to the senses and the soul.”

Here’s a teaser from Karen Gram in today’s Vancouver SUN:

“To hear Marcus Von Albrecht tell it, the pairing of rich dark chocolate with a single-malt scotch is almost a religious experience. A slow meditation focusing on the nose, the taste and, finally, the finish. Ah, the finish. “You’ll see how the dark chocolate is picked up by the scotch, he says.

At least you will if you attend the sixth annual West Coast Chocolate Festival, which starts with two trade shows this afternoon and evening at Red Robinson Theatre in Coquitlam, and runs until Nov. 10. All of the festival participating sponsors will be there, sampling their notions of how chocolate can enrich life.”

[To read FULL ARTICLE, see "Rejoice! A festival devoted to chocolate!"]
[LINK to official Festival website: West Coast Chocolate Festival 2009.]

Photo: free range turkey farm

Oogle a gaggle! These organic turkeys, close up and personal, in this YouTube video will have you smiling.  It’s a short and humorous glimpse of “conditions” on an organic turkey farm.

Have an oogle, and be oogled right back by one really curious turkey! Even turkeys love a camera!

If you’d like to know the difference between organic and free range turkeys, then have a look at another short video: “How Stuff Works–Free Range vs. Organic Turkey.  Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Photo: question mark illustration from What’s Organic About Organic?  (documentary film) website

What’s Organic about Organic? That’s the title of a new documentary about organic food and social responsibility. Here’s a link to the trailer for the film: What’s Organic?

Here’s more about the film:

“WHAT’S ORGANIC ABOUT “ORGANIC?” rings the alarm for the need to develop an ecological consciousness.  The film illustrates that the organic food debate extends well beyond personal choice and into the realm of social responsibility….

As the film moves from farm fields to government meetings to industry trade shows, we see the hidden costs of conventional agriculture.  We also see how our health, the health of our planet, and the agricultural needs of our society are all intimately connected.”

[For more, visit the What's Organic About Organic? website.]

Charts: illustrations for Toronto Globe and Mail’s  “Food giants hop ‘buy local’ bandwagon”

“Buy Local” has definitely “arrived”! Even food giants like Loblaw are hopping on the wagon. Why? Consumers, more and more, want “local” (and “organic”). That means “money to be made.” Check out today’s Globe and Mail for more survey results (of what consumers want to see in grocery stores).  Here’s the link: “Food giants hop ‘buy local’ bandwagon.”