I’ve copied below an email from the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center which emphasizes some of the many issues that make this a bad bill for organic producers and consumers alike. The “standardization” of our food supply will not be a good thing for you as a consumer if you want to have a wide variety of choices in the food you buy and were you buy it.

There is a complete list of the Senators by State with telephone numbers and how they are voting is listed on the POP Campaign website, http://www.popcampaign.org/.

You can also join the POP campaign here as well.

Please do as much as you can and spread the word today to call your Senators and let them know you want a NO vote on S.510. Our food choices depend on you taking action TODAY!  Share this with your friends by clicking on the Facebook or Twitter links below. Thank you for taking action.

Urgent call to Action against Senate Bill 510!

URGENT CALL FROM THE POP CAMPAIGN – ACT NOW FOR A MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2010 PUSH-BACK

Call Your Senators: Urge A Vote NO on S. 510–The Food Safety Bill

S. 510, Food Safety Legislation is slated to come to a vote on the Senate floor on Monday, November 29. While the bill has been improved from a year ago, it still provides an expansion of government into the lives and decisions of Americans regarding foods, farming, and dietary supplements. This bill includes provisions that authorize the government to map the entire food production system and to track every food product we purchase and grow.

Senator Reid of Nevada, after barely holding on to the majority in the Senate and keeping his job as Senator and Majority Leader, has made S. 510 a priority for passage before the 111th Congressional session ends this year. This Bill is expensive, intrusive, and will not make the food supply safer. It will however compromise your liberty and privacy while driving the costs of foods higher.

The numerous policies and guidelines to be developed are to be ‘science-based’. The problem with this is that most of the research the government will rely on comes from the agricultural giants who have been pushing small farmers and even heritage seeds out of the marketplace.

Behind the scenes, orchestrating ‘food safety’ legislation in the United States is a strategic plan of the UN’s Codex Alimentarius Commission for every nation to develop “national food control systems’ including legislation on food safety and which promote and adopt Codex Guidelines. The fabric of America does not include ‘food control’ laws, but that is exactly what S. 510 launches.

We have a “once-in-a-lifetime” chance to stop this Bill before it becomes law. WE CAN DO THIS! Call your own two Senators (listed below). ASK YOUR SENATORS TO VOTE NO ON S. 510 – THE FOOD SAFETY BILL. If we can convince 51 Senators to vote NO on S. 510, Victory is ours.

Target your emails and calls for Sunday night and Monday – and until the vote is taken.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND UPDATES GO TO: http://www.popcampaign.org

Fresh Organic Food

If  you don’t want that to be the headline in your local paper tomorrow, we need your support today!

Dear friends and lovers of good, fresh, locally grown organic food, please read the open letter (below) from my dear friend Michael Sligh, a leading authority on locally grown food and long-time advocate for family farmers.

We’re asking you to contact your two State Senators today and ask them to support the proposed Amendments to Senate bill S.510, that would allow local family farmers to continue to sell their products directly to the public at farmers markets, CSA’s, and local food coops, restaurants, and local stores. You can find your Senator’s contact info here.

Please call today, this is critical to being able to get the freshest organic food for your family. Thanks for making it a better day!

Open letter from Michael Sligh, Rafi-USA

Dear Friends of Organic Food,

Debate and voting on The Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) is set to begin today, November 17th, on the Senate floor.

The bill takes important steps to improve corporate food safety rules, but S. 510 is not appropriate for small farms and processors that sell to restaurants, food coops, groceries, schools, wholesalers and at farm stands and farmers markets.

As we ramp up food safety protections, we must not harm small family farms and local food systems by imposing expensive, one-size-fits-all rules.

Two amendments will be offered when S. 510 comes to the floor. Both are essential to protecting local food systems.  Please call your Senators and ask them to:

Vote for the Manager’s Amendment, which would make a variety of changes to the bill, including providing flexibility for small processors, requiring the FDA to apply sound science to any requirements that might impact wildlife on farms, and minimizing record keeping for farmers who sell food directly to consumers or grocery stores.

Vote for the Tester-Hagan Amendment, which would improve food safety outcomes by creating size-appropriate requirements and less costly compliance alternatives.

Your call today is critical.

Dial the Capitol Switchboard, 202-224-3121, and ask to be directly connected to your Senator’s office. If you don’t know who your senators are, visit www.senate.gov to find out.

The message is simple:

“I am a constituent of Senator___________ and I am calling to ask him/her to vote for the Manager’s Amendment and the Tester-Hagan Amendment to the Food Safety Modernization Act. We need a food safety bill that cracks down on corporate bad actors without erecting new barriers to more local and regional food sourcing. Size- and practice -appropriate food safety regulation for small and mid-sized farms and processors is vital to economic recovery, public health, and nutritional well being. ”

Your call today will give small farmers and processors a voice as Congress shapes this critical legislation.

Sincerely,

Michael, Sally, Claire, and the rest of your friends at RAFI

P.S. Advocates for family farms and sustainable agriculture across the country are mobilizing to support these amendments, from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition  and the National Organic Coalition in Washington, D.C., to our neighbors at the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association. Our calls will make the difference for family farms and local food.

Sunshine Burgers

Burgers…the All-American holiday and fast food favorite

For most of us, no holiday would be complete without the ubiquitous burger. It’s an essential part of any picnic, work lunch, and fast food take out. Heck it’s a major part of the American experience! Whether it’s on the grill, in the oven, or at the drive thru, there’s nothing like a good burger with all the trimmings.

But I’m not just talking about any burgers. Burgers have come a long way in the last 20 or 30 years. You no longer have to settle for that greasy, cholesterol filled, artery clogging mixture of unknown meats and Kraft American cheese. No ma’am (sir); today you can have a 100% certified organic burger that is pre-baked and browned for your convenience. You can get it from freezer to the plate in a matter of minutes, and it is a superb meal that is a healthy addition to any holiday spread. This one has zero trans fats, zero cholesterol, is gluten-free, soy-free and all vegan. But the best part is that it tastes great!

Introducing certified organic Sunshine Burgers!

Carol Debberman with partner

Sunshine Burgers are the creation of Carol Debberman (who I affectionately call Ms. Sunshine). They were born in her farmhouse kitchen more than 30 years ago. Sunshine Burgers were developed out of the necessity of feeding her five children a healthy vegetarian diet, so they definitely pass the “Kid Quality” standard we use for all the organic foods we recommend. In fact, Carol’s Sunshine Burgers have been in our family for more than 20 years. Yes, it’s true. I raised six children on a vegan diet and one of their all time favorites were Sunshine Burgers.

Now for those of you who have children you know how ‘finicky’ kids can be about their food, particularly when they start going to school. That’s where the Sunshine Burgers really shine! They look like a regular burger (that’s real important for kids), but they are made of 100% certified organic ingredients, but without the potential allergens of  soy, wheat, (gluten-free) and dairy.

Sunshine Burgers have simple organic ingredients and great taste

Sunshine Burgers and Patties excel with a distinctive and unique taste profile and texture. Each of the six products in the Sunshine Burger line are a sensory experience you won’t forget. There is something there for every palate.

All of the burgers and patties start with the same base of organic cooked brown rice and organic raw sunflower seeds. From there Carol applies the magic; she draws from the following ingredients: a proprietary blend of organic herbs, hemp seeds, adzuki beans, pinto beans, organic carrots, organic onions, organic bell pepper, organic paprika, organic black pepper and just the right amount of sea salt. She varies each according to the flavor she is trying to convey.

Garden Herb Sunshine Burger

Sunshine Burgers come in six flavors. The names of each of the products give a clue to the broad taste and cultural appeal represented by the line. There is the Original, Garden Herb, Barbecue, Southwest, and the latest additions to the line the Falafel and Breakfast patties.

All of the ingredients in each of the products are 100% organic, except the Original. I asked Carol why not the Original, and she said that it was the first product that she made and it was before there was an official “legal” organic seal and certification program. She said it was so well received that “I just didn’t want to mess with it”. I couldn’t argue with that!.

When Carol visited me on a recent trip to Gainesville where she toured the Butterfly Museum (she’s an animal lover, nature enthusiast, and dedicated environmentalist) we discussed all the important aspects of the Sunshine Burger creation.

Yes, of course Sunshine Burgers are an excellent meat substitute, but that’s not what Carol had in mind when she created them. She was simply trying to create an excellent tasting vegetarian burger. She said, “I wanted to create a really good tasting vegan burger, something different than anything that was available at the time.”. I can say from personal experience she has certainly done that.

Not only do they taste good, but Sunshine Burgers have a very impressive nutritional profile. Each of the burgers and patties has a substantial 8-10 grams of protein with all the essential amino acids present, zero trans fat, and zero cholesterol as previously mentioned. So Sunshine Burgers have exceptional taste, variety, and are healthy to for both kids and adults.

Sunshine Burgers ultimate appeal…Convenience

The Sunshine Burgers and Patties are the ultimate convenience food. They are all pre-baked and browned and ready to serve. Just take them out of the freezer and warm them in the oven for about 5 – 10 minutes, then dress them with your favorite trimmings. You can also cook them on the grill. I like them with Eden’s Organic Mustard, sprouts (alfalfa or sunflower or both), and organic pickles on Alvarado Bakery’s Sprouted Barley bread or buns.

For me, those are the perfect picnic fixin’s for Sunday afternoon at my favorite fresh water swimming hole or river. In fact, I’m taking Sunshine Burgers on my next picnic at Ginnie Springs to celebrate Labor Day this weekend, in the heart of North Central Florida. Go get some for your friends and family and enjoy the convenience of high quality certified organic burgers whenever you want something nutritious and fast that you know is good for you and your family.

Our Highest Recommendation

For 30+ years of perseverance and excellence, The OrganicFoodsReviews.com highly endorses the Sunshine Burger and Specialty Food Company for their vision and leadership in producing 100% certified organic products that taste great and are good for you and your children. Keep up the good work Carol…and thank you for your dedication to organic foods and a vegan lifestyle.

Product locator and more info

Be sure and visit Carol at one of the many natural products industry or environmental shows she attends. You can find Sunshine Burgers in all the major natural food stores and chains since they’ve been around “forever”. Go to the Sunshine Burger website for specific locations, product information, and recipes at http://www.sunshineburger.com or visit their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/SunshineBurgers and become a fan to stay in touch with the latest news about Sunshine Carol and her amazing company.

Farmers Market

CSA: Buy Local and Support a Farmer

The primary mission of Organic Foods Reviews is to bring you closer to the producers of your organic food. The quickest and easiest way for you to do that is to join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group. What is a CSA you may be asking? A CSA is a structured relationship in which consumers make a commitment to a farmer or farm family, to purchase their produce/products at the beginning of the growing cycle before the seed is put into the ground. This is really a wonderful relationship, in which you get closer to the food you eat through your personal relationship with the producer of that food, the farmer. You can often visit the farm and see exactly how your food is produced and where. The kids will love the visit and remember the day for the rest of their lives. It is always an educational experience at the very least.

The CSA helps the farmer by guaranteeing buyers for their crop, thereby eliminating waste and hopefully (which is usually the case) reducing the price to the consumer. The arrangement is different with each farmer, but generally most, if not all, of the customers pay in advance before the farmer plants the first seed. In return, you are guaranteed the freshest possible produce at harvest time, often picked the same day, so you are getting the maximum nutritional value for your dollar. This is an important aspect of the CSA experience, that shouldn’t be overlooked. You see, most produce is grown in CA or outside of the country, and if it is not locally grown, it usually travels for 7 to 14 days, no matter where it comes from. During that transportation and handling period the nutritional value drops considerably, even if it is high quality organic produce. So the freshness aspect is a significant issue for the wise consumer. Then of course, there is the satisfaction of knowing who you are supporting and that your money is staying in your community rather than going across the world or even to another state.

How a CSA works

Here are a few more details about the CSA model. The season for a CSA generally lasts between 30 – 35 weeks here in my state of Florida. However, it will vary in other parts of the country, and be much shorter in the northern states due to the shorter growing season. The length of the season also determines how much the full “share” will cost. A share (full or half) is the unit of trade in the CSA system. It may be a large grocery bag, basket, or box, and can often be purchased in full or half share quantities. This will vary from farmer to farmer, and the prices will usually vary considerably.

CSA Shares Delivery

Here’s how the process works in a typical CSA. At the beginning of the season, which here in Florida is August or September, the consumer (you) signs an agreement with the farmer or farm family for 35 shares of there produce at $15 per share. The total cost would be $525 (35 x $15). You would pay the full $525 up front or work out a payment plan with the farmer; they usually have several options for you to do this. The farmer might give a discount of $25 for full payment up front, so that the full share price for the 35 weeks would only be $500, instead of $525. Or they might make it $16 per week for a payment option, which would make the total $560. The main points here are that you are making a contractual commitment to the farm family to purchase 35 weeks of produce and you know what this will cost. The farmer can then plan how much of each of his vegetables he needs to plant in order to supply the members of his CSA.

Helpful Tips and Things to Know BEFORE Joining a CSA

A well run CSA will have a set of rules and guidelines you agree to follow to join. Read these carefully and make sure that you understand them completely. They will cover where you pickup your share each week (a farmer will rarely deliver, they’ve got too much to do), what happens if you miss a pickup, what happens when you go on vacation, what happens if they have a freeze and the crop is late, which means your start date of receiving your first shares are delayed. All this is covered in their rules and guidelines which are part of the CSA agreement which you signed.

I highly recommend taking some time to get to know all the farmers in your community before you decide which CSA or farmer you are going to support. One of the best ways to do this is to meet them (at least the initial meeting) at your local farmers market. They are usually there, often selling the surplus produce that is leftover after their CSA members (you) are supplied. Most CSA’s will have a pickup at the local farmers market for efficiency, enabling the farmer to do two things at once; deliver the shares to their members and sell whatever excess produce they have. It’s a good opportunity for you to meet all the farmers, both conveniently and efficiently, as they are all in one place. Buy some produce from them, see how it tastes. Ask them if you can see what their shares look like that they are delivering to their members. If you are a single or two person household and don’t eat much, ask them about their half shares.

Purchasing fresh produce

Most good CSA’s that have been in operation for at least a few years will have a website. Check it out, read everything they have posted as well as the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s). Once you narrow down who you think you want to work with and support, it’s good to take the time to plan a visit to the farm. It’s a great family outing and educational experience for the kids or grand-kids. They get to actually see where their food is produced and learn that it not make at a grocery store! This can be a very memorable experience for young and old. If the CSA is new or only a few years old this is a critically important step. You need to go to the farm and see what the farmer is doing or not doing, so you can get a better feel for whether they can deliver the goods 3 – 6 months down the road.

The whole process is a dynamic relationship building exercise. It can also be viewed as an elaborate interview process. The best way to assess the farmers’ likelihood to succeed is to “interview” them. Ask a lot of questions and get to know how they run their business and what kind of service you should expect. Since most people that have never farmed before will not know what questions to ask the farmer I’m going to give you a list of basic questions based on my 35 years of experience both with organic farming and working with organic farmers all over the world. The following is what I would ask them to determine the quality of the produce they will produce and their likelihood of success in being able to deliver the produce for an extended period assuming they don’t have a multi-year track record, which of course, is ideal:

1.    Do you have a website? (So you can get more background info and details.)
2.    How long have you been farming? How much general farming experience the farmer has is what you are looking for.
3.    How many years have you been farming organically? Organic farming requires more specialized skill and sensitivity to the environment than conventional farming. It requires knowledge of how to build soil and fertility, specific knowledge of pests and diseases of plants, and knowledge of how to grow the variety of crops that they must grow in order to supply the variety of produce that their members expect.
4.    How long has your CSA been in operation? Being a good farmer, doesn’t necessarily mean being a good manager of their CSA. A family run CSA is usually the best arrangement.
5.    What are the costs of the share? You should have gotten that with the agreement you are planning to sign or on their website.
6.    How long is the season? This will determine to a large degree the total cost of your shares.
7.    What kind of fertilizer do you use? Is it OMRI certified? If they use a commercial brand, it should be approved or “certified” by (OMRI) Organic Materials Review Institute, for use on a certified organic farm.
8.    Do you make your own compost? If not, where do you buy it? Do they compost on the farm? Where do they get their animal manure? This is important as off farm inputs are the major source of contamination in organic agricultural systems. For example, industrial sludge is a prohibited substance in organic agriculture due to its high concentrations of heavy metals and other toxins.
9.    Have you had a major bug problem or pest pressure in previous years? Good, well balanced organic farms don’t typically have lots of pest problems, even in Florida, where I live. However, it usually takes 5 or more years of good organic practices like crop rotation and soil building to get a farm in a relative state of balance. Though to be fair and truthful, I have many organic farmer friends who say they’ve been working on getting their farm in “balance” through proper crop rotation and soil building for 20 or more years. It’s definitely a work in progress!
10.    Who certifies your farm? Can I see your organic certificate? I would follow up with the certifier and see if their certificate is current. I would avoid doing business with any CSA that was not a “Certified Organic Farm”. This is your third party assurance that the farmer has an approved farm plan which includes crop rotations and approved soil building systems in place and is growing without the use of synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. It also guarantees that the grower is not using any GMO seed, that they don’t use any industrial sludge for fertilizer, and that none of the produce is irradiated.

There are many more questions you could ask, but this will give you a good start in establishing what you hope will be a long term relationship with your farmer/partner, because that’s really what it is, a partnership; and that’s how you should view it.

Local CSA gathering at farmers house

While there are lots of things to consider before joining a CSA, it is important to always be aware that you are trying to get the most nutritional value for your dollar. This, along with the location of the CSA (the convenience factor), personal chemistry with the farmer, quality of produce and consistency of delivery, are some of the many considerations you should make before deciding to join a CSA. If done properly, with due diligence, the CSA/farmer relationship will be one of the most rewarding and satisfying business relationships you will have and will be the best way to get the freshest produce available for you and your family, while supporting your local economy and the environment. How’s that for a big WIN, WIN, WIN…?

Helpful Resources

The Local Harvest website has a listing of over 2500 CSA farms and thousands of listings for family farms and farmers markets. To find the ones near you click www.localharvest.org/csa/

You can also contact your local county extension office and ask them for a list of the local CSA’s and/or farmers markets.

Please let me know if this article was helpful to you and if so, please forward it on to a friend.

We want to thank you for your patience and all the great feedback from our initial testing period. Please keep the feedback coming, that’s how we know what you want, and we’ll always try and give you the most authoritatively sourced content found anywhere (not just on the Internet). We actually spend a lot of time on the ground, researching our original content with the producers of organic food themselves. That’s how we uncover original stories about the most innovative new products and the back stories about old favorites.

Please be sure and spread the word about our Facebook page and be sure and leave your comments and thoughts about organic foods there. Of course, you can always comment on any of the articles we post on our blog. At the bottom of each post is a comment box where you can tell us how you feel or think (they’re different you know).

Lastly, be sure and join our Community and get on our email list. Just put your name and email address in the box at the top right of each page. You will get a monthly update of our best posts so you don’t miss anything.

We look forward to an exciting year…and beyond in the wonderful world of organic foods. Thank you for joining us!

“We are the first chocolate manufacturer in human history to create a raw (low-temperature processed), organic, chocolate bar.” - Sacred Chocolate website

I’ve finally found the healthiest chocolate on the planet. The only chocolate company that does NOT commit the two deadly sins of chocolate manufacturing: high heat and cane sugar.

For the last ten or 15 years I’ve been investigating organic chocolate, primarily to satisfy the nagging requests of the women in my life (mostly my daughter and her mother). But I must confess I started to be genuinely interested in chocolate as the ever increasing evidence mounted revealing the enormous health benefits of the cacao bean and its derivative products. So I began seriously looking at how chocolate was made. I wanted to be sure that the organic chocolate bar I shared with friends and family, was in fact “good” for you. Here’s what I’ve discovered:

The cacao bean, the botanical source of the chocolate bar, is in fact a super food. It is high in antioxidants, and loaded with minerals and even has a pleasant mood enhancing (some say aphrodisiacal) effect on the eater. After reading the dozens of research papers about chocolate, I realized it certainly has a place in a well rounded healthy diet. This is all good…but what happens when you process it into chocolate bars and candy shapes, like bunnies and eggs? This is where the problem starts.

You see pure chocolate is bitter, I mean REAL bitter. That’s due to its high mineral and antioxidant levels. In order to make it palatable to the sweet tooth of the average person, most manufacturers add sugar. The sugar of choice is cane sugar, because it delivers a pure sweetness with no taste. Of course it may be certified organic sugar, but sugar, particularly cane sugar, is bad for your health in almost any quantity. In fact, I’m going to go as far as to say that sugar is one of the major causes of disease in the world today. Most honest and educated medical doctors will admit this and virtually all natural health practitioners will give you much evidence to support this claim. Certainly for the 21 million people in the US who have diabetes, and another 7 million developing diabetes each year, and the 57 million Americans with pre-diabetes, sugar is a death sentence. These are staggering numbers for sure.

But chocolate, REAL chocolate, could be a real health benefit for all of us.

The secret to making chocolate healthy for people is found in the ingredients and how they are processed. Let’s set sugar aside for a moment and talk about the next most destructive aspect of making chocolate: high heat. When you heat any natural botanical above 115 degrees Fahrenheit you begin to rapidly destroy all the vitamins and antioxidant properties of the food. The naturally health giving properties of the food are not only destroyed but often transformed into carcinogenic (read cancer-causing) substances that are very harmful to your health. It is well known to food scientists and nutritionists, when you introduce heat, light, or oxygen to volatile oils which are found in all botanical foods in some percentage, they transform into free radicals that become carcinogenic. I’ve looked at all the certified organic chocolate on the market and they all either add sugar or heat their products above the 115 degree threshold or both…except one.

All of these details were to bring home the significance of how unique this company and their products are. The company is Sacred Chocolate, the brain child of raw food and nutritional pioneer, David Wolfe and his partner, Steve Adler. Their company, Sacred Chocolate, LLC is one of kind. I discovered them a few weeks ago and after pouring over their website, http://www.sacredchocolate.com, I immediately made my first order, which was a sampling of eight or ten of their creations. I received the painstakingly packed box of divine delectables on Friday after a call to the company to make sure that the chocolate would be delivered before the weekend and Mothers Day. I was assured by the Sales Manager, Mike Z. that the package would arrive before the weekend and that it was going to be sent FedEx to insure that it did not get damaged in shipment due to the heat. It should be noted that I didn’t request FedEx delivery, but Mike Z. told me that they did that to make sure that we wouldn’t have any damage to the sacred contents. Upon receiving the package I was very impressed with the care and thoughtfulness of the package. It was boxed in a thick box, with a bright orange label on outside that read, DO NOT IRRADIATE! ORGANIC FOOD, followed by the Federal law that prohibits the irradiation of certified organic food.

That’s the first time I had ever seen any company do that. I thought that was pretty impressive from the start.

As I proceeded to open the package, again I was impressed by the way they packed it. The first thing I saw upon opening the box was a shiny silver padded radiant barrier bag which is designed to keep the coolness in and the heat out. Inside the radiant barrier bag was a layer of paper padding on the bottom and the top. Under that, was two cold packs, two on the top and two on the bottom, then the sacred morsels where uncovered in a tightly packed and padded inner cavity. WOW! Obviously, they had given this whole process a lot of thought.

Radiant Barrier Packaging

I couldn’t wait to taste the product of all this thought and loving care. Each variety was carefully hand wrapped, in a uniquely colored foil, with full ingredients and all certification seals indicated on the label. All ingredients are either certified organic by CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) or wild crafted and they are clearly marked on each label.

If you have never tried raw chocolate or eaten raw cacao nibs before you are in for a surprising treat. It is different, but wonderfully so. The Sacred Chocolate flavors are all wildly unique and smooth tasting. They currently have 22 flavors in four different categories: Plain, Exotic, Therapeutic, and Diabetic Friendly. Go to their website http://bit.ly/9910SL and learn all about organic, raw, health-giving, chocolate. Their website contains a wealth of authoritative research and articles about the nutritional benefits and properties of raw organic chocolate. It will be an adventure that you will never forget. As their in-package greeting card says, “Handmade with Love and Gratitude”. I think that about sums it up. Enjoy!

Please share this with a friend.

Food, Inc.

Food, Inc., the Academy Award nominated documentary film, premiers on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Point of View April 21.

If you care about the food that you eat, where it comes from and how it gets to your table, this is a must see movie. But there is a caveat, you will not be the same after you see it and you will look at food very differently than you do now.

“The way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000…” Michael Pollan, author of  “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto”

Get the broadcast schedule for the PBS station in you area at PBS-POV.

Excerpt from the PBS-POV website…

“In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli – the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Food, Inc. will be accompanied by Notes on Milk, a short variation of the 2007 feature documentary Milk in the Land: Ballad of an American Drink. Ariana Gerstein and Monteith McCollum, whose Hybrid aired on POV in 2002, take a quirky and poetic look at some lesser-known aspects of America’s favorite drink: the industry’s spiritual underpinnings, politics and the struggle of independent farmers. ”

If you don’t have television access, you can watch Food, Inc. online (Food, Inc. will be streaming in its entirety from April 22 to April 29, 2010).

Let us know what you think by putting your comments below. Thanks!

I met Caryl Levine and Ken Lee, co-founders of Lotus Foods at Expo West last year. I was immediately impressed with the broad vision that drives their company. They are not just bringing some of the most exotic, unique tasting rice to the US market; they are also transforming the quality of life for the farmers they work with and teaching them to have a soft and sustainable impact on the environment. If you are looking for a way to enjoy delicious tasting exotic rice and make a strong statement that you care about how your food is grown, packaged, and distributed, you need look no further than Lotus Foods.

Really there are so many reasons we chose Lotus Foods as the featured company for our launch of www.OrganicFoodsReviews.com. Their products have been recipients of dozens of awards, and have been the subject of articles in some of the most prestigious magazines in the food world; Chef Magazine, Fine Cooking, Food and Wine, Gourmet, Natural Health Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Organic and Natural, Wine & Dine, Wine Spectator, and Williams-Sonoma Taste just to name a few. These are just a small sample of the articles that have been written attesting to the exquisite tastes of these exotic rice varieties. But you really know when a food is something special when the chefs start raving. Go to their site, www.lotusfoods.com, and see for yourself what they are saying!

If you are wondering what to do with these unusual rice varieties that you’ve probably never heard of let alone seen or tasted; don’t worry. Their site has dozens of excellent recipes that can be searched by rice product, or by type. Type means, for example, breakfast, entrée’s, desserts, salads, soups, and appetizers. There is only one caveat…and this is serious: Once you taste any of these ancient heirloom rice varieties, you won’t want to buy old Uncle Ben anymore! I’ll tell you what our favs are in just a moment. There’s more to the vision and the story.

Fifteen years ago, Caryl and Ken heard about a revolutionary system of cultivating rice called System of Rice Intensification (SRI). It was pioneered by Cornell University and has been adopted by all the rice farmers that Lotus Foods works with because it delivers the following benefits:

Uses less water (25-50%), seed (80-90%), no agrochemicals, on less land and it costs less!

Produces more rice (50-100%), nutrition, quality, biodiversity, sustainability, soil health, which translates into the farmer making a better income.

So here is the bottom line: When you buy Lotus Foods’ SRI-grown rice you are not only getting some of the best tasting and healthiest rice in the world, you are changing the world, one rice bowl at a time.

When you consider the fact that more than half of the world’s population makes rice their main staple food each and every day, you soon realize what an enormous impact this small company is having on the world!

Lotus Foods rice selection offers variety, taste, economy and nutritional value to your diet. Each rice varietal is distinguished by its terroir* and treasured for its distinctive cooking quality, taste, texture, aroma, color, and nutritional value. Many of the selections cook in as little as 20 minutes! All of the varieties are unique in color, taste, texture and aroma, with slightly more antioxidants present in the darker (purple/black) varieties.

While not all of their line are certified organic, many are and all are in some level of transition to organic. This is a long process that we know very well and we support their efforts.

Lotus Foods Background and Global Context

Established in 1995, Lotus Foods is a specialty rice company that has pioneered the introduction of exotic rice handcrafted on small family farms in remote areas of the world such as Bhutan, Bangladesh, and China, into the US market. Lotus Foods was founded with the intent and vision to support sustainable global agriculture by promoting production of traditional heirloom rice varieties, many of which may otherwise have become extinct, while enabling the small family rice farmer to earn an honorable living. Lotus Foods is the only US-based company with the unique vision and commitment to seek out small family rice farmers in developing countries and provide them a means of economic support through access to a global and sustainable marketplace economy.

Lotus Foods, has emerged as a leader in the specialty rice category, and perhaps most important to the principals, has made a big difference in the quality of life of its family farm suppliers. By purchasing Lotus Foods rice, consumers also get to contribute to improving the quality of life for small family rice farmers. Lotus Foods offers a rare collection of rice that is the high value alternative to commodity and other standard rice currently available from domestic growers and other importers.

Lotus Foods’ mission is important and it is seriously needed one as well. To better give you an idea of the importance of Lotus Foods’ work, we want to first give you some background about global rice production and consumption, as well as the crucial nutritional significance of rice for our growing world population.

Rice – The Main Meal

Rice is truly an amazing grain. There are thousands of varieties of rice (maybe as many as 40,000 or more) grown on every continent on earth, except Antarctica.  And that is no small wonder when you consider that rice is a staple food for close to half of the earth’s population.

About three billion people on our planet depend on rice for their survival. About 90% of the world crop is entirely eaten in Asia, where 416,459,000 tons are consumed annually. The United States consumes 2,704,00 tons annually. Statistics from The International Rice Research Institute.

With this level of demand, rice is the second largest produced cereal in the world. More than 550 million tons of rice are produced annually around the globe. Asia is the biggest rice producer, accounting for 90% of the world’s production and consumption of rice. The majority of all rice produced comes from India, China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, and Bangladesh. China and India, which account for more than one-third of global population supply over half of the world’s rice. Brazil is the most important non-Asian producer, followed by the United States. Italy ranks first in Europe.

Because rice is a main staple food, it is crucial in providing key nutrition to nearly 3 billion people, many of whom are very poor. Rice is high in complex carbohydrates. It is cholesterol free, is low in sodium and it nearly fat-free. It is a good source of vitamins and minerals including thiamine, niacin, iron, riboflavin, vitamin D, calcium, and fiber. It is a supplementary source of protein because it contains all eight amino acids. It is low in the amino acid lysine, which is found in beans making the classic combination of rice and beans a particularly healthful dish. Rice is gluten free and easily digestible making it a good choice for infants and people with wheat allergies or digestive problems.

Brown rice is rice with the hull removed and with the bran layers left clinging to the grains. Its flavor is nutty and it has a slightly chewy texture. Compared to white rice, which has the bran layers removed from the hull, brown rice has twice as much fiber, five times the vitamin E, and three times the magnesium. Brown rice, a healthy 100 percent whole grain food, gained its rightful place in the whole grains universe in May 2008, when the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agreed to allow it to bear the whole grain health claim. Brown rice has been certified as heart healthy, is a WIC approved food and is approved for many diets, such as low glycemic and gluten free.

Lotus Foods – Helping to Meet a Global Challenge

As a planet, we face a steep challenge to keep up with rice demand, provide optimum nutrition, and to do this while protecting our natural resources. We must find ways to grow more rice on less land, using less water, less labor, and fewer chemical inputs. As a part of this effort, Lotus Foods is a committed to supporting sustainable global agriculture and providing a global market for traditional highly nutritious heirloom varieties of rice.

Lotus Foods is fully committed to working with farmers to grow rice using a special method called The System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which is at the forefront of a grassroots rice revolution, and is an ecologically sound method of rice production. This method helps resource-limited farmers in Asia, Africa and Latin America to improve their yields, health, livelihoods and environment while producing better quality and more nutritious rice.

The System of Rice Intensification (SRI)

SRI is a set of concepts and practices that change the management of plants, soil, water and nutrients used in growing rice. Normally, farmers transplant seedlings 3 to 6 weeks old, randomly and closely-spaced into flooded fields. With SRI, farmers take tiny seedlings, less than 2 weeks old, and plant them into unflooded fields at wide spacing and then use simple tools to remove weeds that aerate the soil. Plants are not kept submerged in water. Fields are periodically irrigated and then dried out. Organic fertilizers replace chemical fertilizers and make pesticides unnecessary. By using less water, seed, and land, SRI benefits small family farmers by producing higher yields of premium quality and more nutritious rice.

These alternative methods have dramatic impacts: Farmers can increase yields from their traditional varieties by 50-100%, using 25-50% less water and 80-90% less seed, with less drudgery, and with few or no purchased agrichemical inputs. Nearly half of the world’s population depends upon rice for their subsistence and livelihoods, and rice production has to increase by 30-40% percent over the next 25 years. With diminishing land and water, SRI represents a significant innovation to meet these needs.

Global Benefits of Lotus Foods products

Lotus foods rice products are not found anywhere else in the western market. They provide optimal variety to your diet, and each rice has its own unique taste. Read our reviews of Lotus Foods Organic Rice products in upcoming posts. Their rice products are a convenient staple food for your family with many of them cooking up in only 20 minutes.  When you buy SRI-grown rice you are not only getting some of the best tasting and healthiest rice in the world, you are also helping to:

“    Improve local and global food security
“    Promote healthier people and a healthier environment
“    Empower small farmers and raise incomes
“    Alleviate poverty
“    Reduce water demands, leaving more water for human use and natural ecosystems
“    Address climate change challenges
“    Reduce pressure on fragile ecosystems and wildlife habitats

We think this is a huge value for your money and why we have honored Lotus Foods as the first company featured here at OrganicFoodsReviews.com.