Fresh Mouth

Valentine's Day Sweets - Take Action

2009-02-13T11:13:00.004-05:00

Image from The Center for Food SafetyThe Center for Food Safety sent the following petition request in honor of Valentine's Day:"As a Valentine to Consumers, 73 Companies Pledge Not to Use Sugar from Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Sugar Beets - Tell Hershey's and Mars to Sign!Today the Center for Food Safety, along with environmental and corporate watchdog groups, launched the Non-Genetically Modified

Setbacks with Carnivores and Cupcakes

2009-02-12T20:02:00.007-05:00

Image from FTD website.We began Fresh Mouth one year ago this week.Our experimental lifestyle change began the week after Patrick's birthday party. We waited to purge our cabinets of processed products so that we could indulge one last wish for a birthday cake with blue fondant and sprinkles.Since then we've made tremendous progress. The kids are conscious of ingredients. Aidan simply opts out,

A Mother's Madness

2009-02-03T12:15:00.005-05:00

High fructose corn syrup. Image from the Modern Forager.About ten years ago, I read a book called NEWTON'S MADNESS: FURTHER TALES OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY. It traces disorders and diseases in history. There's a bit about Dostoyevski's epilepsy and Newton's mercury-caused madness.Mercury and madness.I was looking at this book for a book club idea when I read a new study this week about mercury in

Our Daily Bread

2009-01-13T11:14:00.006-05:00

We are re-invigorated by the calendar change and committed to the New Year and Fresh Mouth.If we teased that pork roll was the food of the gods at the end of 2008, we learned not to be facetious with Fresh Mouth. There was divine intervention for us. Not one of us indulged in this anti-Fresh Mouth fare. Fate dealt its hand, and we were ravaged by a stomach flu that left us unable to even look at

Warning: This One Is the Anti-Fresh Mouth

2008-12-19T19:14:00.002-05:00

Have no fears! We're still on our program ... but we're indulging - if you can call it that - on an old regional classic. Read below. And realize this is a once in every 25 years kinda thing!

Pork Roll Fit for a God

2008-12-18T11:07:00.008-05:00

The Christmas cactus mise-en-scene heightens the holiday anticipation, no?If Greek Gods took roadtrips home for the holidays, they'd get a single whif of their Hellenic mothers' ambrosia from the turnpike and be right again. Food of the gods.If native New Jerseyians took connecting flights in Memphis to Little Rock for the holidays, they'd lug pork roll in their packs and make right again. Food

Meats & Sweets: Eat Like a Wizard

2008-12-07T08:44:00.007-05:00

Images courtesy of http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Main_PageMy kids covet the food at Hogwarts. We watched a double header of Harry Potter movies last night and another one the night before.Whenever the camera does a long shot of the Great Hall and the endless tables of confections and meats, my kids say in trance-like unison, "Oohh that looks so good." "What looks the best?" I ask them. "The

A Requiem for an Oreo

2008-11-10T12:19:00.007-05:00

It's a Fresh Mouth check up. Since we birthed this challenge nine months ago, we thought it would be a fitting time to check this baby and the fridge out.Here's a pic for an impromptu visual of daily eating. I didn't clean so ignore the dried milk streaks on the shelves and the errant crumbs.This is a snapshot of our survival. We eat a lot of dairy - yogurt, cheese, milk - as well as organic meat

My Grandma's Not Sickeningly Sweet

2008-11-07T19:19:00.009-05:00

"Hey," says one mom to another. "Hey." "Wow, you don't care what the kids eat, huh?" says the mom skeptical of the dye-laden "fruit drink" in the other mom's hands. "Excuse me?" says the other mom. "That has high fructose corn syrup in it." "And?""You know what they say about it?" says the foppish skeptic. "Like what?" says the sober server of all things fake. "I mean ... " says the inquisitive

Take from Home

2008-10-25T19:23:00.005-04:00

The school cafeteria sent me a bill. A big bill.A bill for $45.23.Impossible I think.The boys take from home daily, and we only indulge them with a rare opportunity to "buy" their lunch. I also pack abundant choices - plenty of carbs like bagels, breads, pitas and proteins like chicken, hummus, almond butter, fruit, homemade goodies, multiple organic milks ... they eat plenty and well.I called

What's Wrong With What We Eat

2008-10-19T14:17:00.003-04:00

Watch food writer Mark Bittman give an insightful talk on what we're eating and what's wrong with it.

How Do You Feel?

2008-10-17T11:08:00.002-04:00

We want to hear from you.If you're reading labels and making conscious choices about what you put in your Fresh Mouths, tell us how you feel.Does it make a difference? Are you happier? Do you have more energy? Are you sick less?Have you achieved a Zen-like mind-body relationship with the universe?What's the biggest change in your life?If you're not even a little Fresh Mouth, why? Too much money?

Fair Fare & Halloween Intake

2008-10-14T10:36:00.005-04:00

The aroma of peppers and onions from the cheesesteak stand mixed with the notes of a Mayan sundance, a Texan/Czech polka and some Kentucky thumb-picking. The Richmond Folk Festival was a postmodern mix of ethnic cuisine and music, and we indulged in the food and the tunes.The heat of the fried fish paired with cool, fresh lemonade balanced a moment. Then we added funnel cake. Ah. More sugar. But

A Father's Feast

2008-10-10T10:56:00.006-04:00

This morning at breakfast I reminded the kids it was Dirk's birthday."We have to make him a feast," Patrick screamed with urgency and arms in the air."Yeah, his cake and a special dinner. And balloons. Daddy loves balloons." Aidan added.Birthdays are big doings for the boys. If food is love and love is Daddy, then food is Daddy. That's how our Socratic logic plays out here. The boys love to cook

Give Me Some Sugar

2008-10-07T13:02:00.007-04:00

When we lived in Little Rock, I heard a grandmother called "Meemaw" say to a child, "Give me some sugar." The little one ran over and hugged and kissed her.I'm addicted to this expression. I think it's the sweetest thing since ... sugar.But I think of it every time I drop a teaspoon in my coffee or add a cup to baked goods."Give me some sugar ..."Ever since the beginning of Fresh Mouth, we took

The New Frugality

2008-10-02T10:02:00.005-04:00

Jack and I sniff the mums at the supermarket, and we both make exaggerated inhales.We say, "Mmmmm."A woman passes us and comments, "They don't smell.""I know," I say smiling. "We even smell fake ones."Then she wanted to talk. She had a cart filled with about 20 reduced-price pies and cakes from the day-old shelf."It's so cool today. Last night I get cold with windows open.""Me too," I say and

Feeding Babies

2008-09-18T10:25:00.017-04:00

Jack is being picky with his food. He insists on feeding himself which is positive, but he's stubborn about textures and temperatures. If his acini di pepe with cheddar and broccoli isn't warm enough, he pushes his plate away. If the blueberry yogurt turns up a whole blueberry, he spits it out.His intake is sufficient because his output is abundant. I know he's fine, but I understand how feeding

The Costco Crud

2008-09-17T19:52:00.002-04:00

This is my new magnet on my fridge. It's a gift from my friend.And it's how I feel when I get back from Costco. When I worked in Arkansas, there was a woman who came to work dragging during flu season. She moaned and insisted, "Oh, it's just the crud." Well, that's how I feel after I go to Costco. I moan and get grumpy. I feel achy and want to say, "Oh, it's just the Costco crud."Today, Jack and

The Corn Incident - The Food Mistakes We Make

2008-09-16T11:41:00.006-04:00

Here's the apple crisp results from last night.We reduced the sugar amounts and added extra cinnamon.We all remember the corn incident."Mom, remember when you made me eat corn, and I puked ... everywhere," Aidan says squinting and wrinkling his nose as punctuation to the horror of the scene and my major maternal misstep."Oh, yes, Aidan. I remember," I say crinkling my nose right back to him.He

The Tempting Apple

2008-09-14T19:54:00.006-04:00

We picked apples in Thomas Jefferson's backyard. Up a winding wooded mountainside just minutes from Monticello sits Carter Mountain Orchard and vineyards. Jefferson's favorite variety was the Taliaferro apple, which is now presumed to be extinct, so we indulged in the harvest of dozens of Galas, Golden Delicious and Jonagolds.Aidan used the tools for picking the high ones, and Patrick went low.

The Right to Choose

2008-09-12T12:28:00.007-04:00

There's power in choice. This week Aidan and Patrick begged me to buy lunch from the "big boy" cafeteria. I packed them milk and some fruit, and they could choose their "entrees." I suggested pizza or even a hamburger. Maybe add a yogurt?"What did you get for lunch today?" I asked in the car on the way home. "A chicken patty, Mom!" Patrick said as if I should be impressed. "Really, what else?" "A

Australian as Mom and Apple Pie

2008-09-09T15:48:00.008-04:00

There's pie in Perth. My parents relocated from the land-locked state of Arkansas to the coastline of Western Australia in May. They're really far from us now, but there's comfort knowing that the first thing they did to wink to America was inaugurate their oven with an apple pie. Both of my parents bake their own version of the same pie. Dad's are gigantic envelopes of steamy, sugary apples

Madness Among Veggies and Cows

2008-09-07T20:05:00.000-04:00

Cuke is still kickin'. By the grace of some decomposition deity, the veggie is still with us even though it's been three weeks since he was plucked from his prickly vine. His skin is patched by a few brown age spots, and his permanent features penned by a Sharpie are less crisp, but still clear. He looks good for a rotting vegetable his age.Patrick rescued him twice from compost - once during a

Whole Paycheck Eating

2008-09-04T11:52:00.000-04:00

The seduction began with shiny metal carts. When I put Jack in the buggy at the newly opened Whole Foods in Richmond, he cooed, "Oooo. Wow." Then he nodded in approval until I nodded back.The tiered rows of fresh sunflowers in the entryway also earned an, "Ahhh. Fi fi - fowers." When we passed the stacks of hundreds of ripe plums, he insisted, "Balls! Balls!" I rubbed one clean and offered him

Getting Your Kids to Love Vegetables

2008-08-12T12:00:00.000-04:00

I want my kids to love and eat vegetables. But what happens when they love their vegetables so much they refuse to eat them? On moral grounds. Patrick has taken a stance in the spirit of an animal rights activist. He cared for and nurtured the garden's largest cucumber this summer. He dubbed it "Cuke." It's bigger than his head. He picked it last night. I was going to slice it up. "No, Mom!" "We