Photo: illustration and logo for Kona Coffee farmers 

“Shade Grown, Bird Friendly, and Fairly Traded,” that’s Kona Coffee.  That’s how Big Island farmers describe Kona Coffee.

1. “Shade Grown” means “shade trees have been planted to protect the coffee from the Equatorial sun and to increase yields with an added benefit of protecting the soil.  In Kona, it happens naturally. The coffee is grown under natural afternoon cloud cover, often interplanted with a mix of fruit, nut, and avocado trees.”

2. “Bird Friendly” means that “Kona coffee orchards support large numbers of endemic birds which control insects and provide natural fertilizer. And no pesticides to poison them!

3. Fair Trade of course means “that farmers have been guaranteed a fair price for their crop. In Kona, most of the coffee is grown on family farms….Workers are paid and treated in full accordance with U.S. labor laws. The farmers can sell their coffee to processors, or sell their green and roasted coffee directly to customers all over the world.”

Kona Coffee is deliciously organic, but make sure the label reads ”100% Kona Coffee.”  [For more information, check out these YouTube videos: "100% Kona" and "Kona Joe's".]

Photo: lab rat from Health Freedom Alliance newsletter

Can you believe it?! Even rats prefer ORGANIC food! This newsflash comes from the latest Health Freedom Alliance newsletter:

“The next time you find yourself in a debate about which tastes better (organic or non organic foods – if it’s still debatable), you can mention that even rats prefer organic food. In a study involving organic wheat production, researchers gave lab rats the choice between organic and non organic wheat. The rats preferred the former. Because of similar chemical compositions between the wheat, the researchers found it remarkable that the rats could tell the difference. Furthermore the rodents were much more apt at telling the difference than humans were. Assuming the rats did not over-hear which meal they were getting, how did they know the difference? The answer appears to be phytochemicals.

These are chemicals made naturally by plants to defend themselves against attack from insects. Most of the aromas and many flavors from vegetables, spices and herbs come from these chemicals which smell and taste pleasant to us but not to insects. And the theory goes: less pesticides for organic plants means more phytochemicals, which equals tastier food. Or so say the rats.”

[To read more, see "Even Rats Prefer Organic Food."]

Photo: organic wine illustration

If only organic labelling were so easy! In Canada organic wine is a “wine that has been produced from organically grown grapes, but no legal international definition exists. Organic wines are not nessarily sulfate-free, but they have no added sulfates.“  [For more information, see Wines of Canada.]

In the US organic wine is defined as “a wine made from organically grown grapes without any added sulfites”. By this unfortunate restriction, the vast majority of what you and I have been calling organic wines can now only be referred to as “wines made from organic grapes.” [For more from the "Organic Wine Company" (in the South of France), check out "What is an Organic Wine."]

So, “depends on where you are” is the short answer to “What’s Organic Wine?” But, one thing is sure. Organic wines are more and more in demand.  The sommelier at Vancouver’s Yew Restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel says,

“Customers aren’t just asking for any glass of wine. They want something that doesn’t just taste good, but actually does some good, too. Increasingly, they are looking for a buttery Chardonnay or spicy Syrah that’s also organic, biodynamic or, at the very least, sustainably produced.”

[To read FULL ARTICLE, see "Winemakers get back to their roots" in the National Post.]

Photo: an organic banana artistically displayed

Ever wonder where the expression “goin’ bananas” originated? A professor at CCNY (Community College of New York) has an answer for you.  Here’s what he told  his “Physiological Psych” class about “bananas.”  The expression “goin’ bananas” is from the effects bananas have on the brain.

According to the professor: “Bananas contain three natural sugars – sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world’s leading athletes.”

Energy isn’t the only way a banana can help us keep fit. Bananas can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions:

1–Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

2–Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school ( England ) were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

3–Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

4–Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.

5–Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Organic or not, bananas have some surprising uses!  But, “never put your banana in the refrigerator!!!” 

Photo: illustration from Health Freedom Alliance newsletter alert

Organic is so popular these days that even when a food company giant like Dean (which produces Silk Soy Milk) “switches” from organic to “conventional” sources, no one is notified–neither grocers or consumers. Here’s a “head’s up” from Health Freedom Alliance action network about this “not really organic” soy milk:

“Food company giant Dean Foods got caught trying to fool customers into thinking the Silk brand soy milk they produced was organic. At one point up until early 2009 the milk was made with organic soybeans. But then Dean Foods switched to conventional soybeans which most of the time are grown with pesticides. But somehow they forgot to mention this to anyone. They kept the same bar codes on the milk cartons and kept the label the same, only quietly switching the word “organic” with “natural.” And of course they kept the price the same.

Many retailers and consumers never noticed the bait-and-switch tactic, so they kept buying Silk, thinking it was still organic. The shift on the product label from “organic” to “natural” wasn’t well understood by consumers, either. Many consumers continue to think that the term “natural” is basically the same as “organic,” when in fact they are almost opposites. The term “natural” is entirely unregulated, and almost anything can be claimed to be “natural” even when it’s sprayed with pesticides or treated with other chemicals.”

[To read FULL ARTICLE, see "Food Company Pulls Bait and Switch On Organic Milk."]  The Chicago Tribune also ran an article this week about Dean Foods’ “Bait and Switch” tactics.  [To read that article, see "Silk Soy Milk Switcheroo."]

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."]