Sad, but inevitable

In a well researched article in today's Washington Post, Purity of Federal "Organic" Label Is Questioned, Kimberly Kindy and Lyndsey Layton confirm long circulating rumors that the USDA's 2002 organic certification program's "shortcomings mean that consumers, who at times must pay twice as much for organic products, are not always getting what they expect."

In support of their argument, Kindy and Layton offer a barn-full of evidence, including:

• USDA provides exceptions for "organic" foods to contain "245 non-organic substances"
• USDA never implemented its mandate for annual pesticide testing
• Dairy farms sell "organic" milk from cows that spend little or no time grazing outside
• Farmers feed "organic" livestock "non-organic fish meal, which can contain mercury and PCBs"

This simply must change. Now! And I don't want to hear fellow liberals blaming the Bush administration—even though it did eviscerate the USDA, the FDA, and the EPA. Shrub and his cronies are discredited and gone. Our Democrat Executive and Congress should act immediately to protect our food supply, our health, and the environment from the excesses of agro-conglomerates.

But this isn't only about the government. We must take responsibility for ourselves and our children. You can play a major role by:

• Visiting local farmer's markets
• Getting to know the people who grow our food
• Asking them about their practices
• Supporting their work

Learn more from Farmer's Market Online, read its blog, and heed its byline: "Shop Smart. Buy Responsibly. Buy Direct from the Producer."

Read the full article in the Washington Post. Or read it at msnbc.com.

Shabbat shalom. Good shabbos.

The evidence mounts: yet more reasons to eat a varied vegetarian diet

Today, the American Dietetic Association (ADA) updated and significantly expanded its position on vegetarian diets. The ADA argues that well-planned veggie diets are salubrious for people of all ages; that they can help prevent and treat heart disease, cancer, obesity, and diabetes.

Read the ADA press release.

Also today, Cancer Research UK announced a British Journal of Cancer (BJC) study declaring vegetarians 12 percent less likely than meat eaters (on average) to contract some form of cancer. According to the study, the most striking gaps concerned "cancers of the blood including leukaemia, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The risk of these diseases was 45 per cent lower in vegetarians than in meat eaters."

Read the Cancer Research UK press release.

Read the BJC study.

Eat local. Eat organic. Eat vegan.

Falafel Bistro

We’re just back from five days in Florida, some spent delightfully on Marco Island's expansive white beaches, others frittered away in Coral Springs, an inland boomtown gone bust sandwiched between Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale.

We did, however, make a major find in Coral Springs: Falafel Bistro, a tiny-but-superb Israeli restaurant hidden in a dowdy strip mall on the southeast corner of Coral Ridge and Wiles. Falafel Bistro's menu is broad, deep, and intentionally vegetarian friendly; the hummus there is the best I've tasted in years; the falafel b'pita the best I've eaten outside Israel; and owner/chef Ilan Cohen is warm and engaging (and opinionated) in a prototypically Israeli way.

If you're ever on Florida's Jewish coast, Falafel Bistro is a must visit. Now if only they'd deliver to Austin, Texas.