Growers and Grocers

The recent news about California grown spinach, with (at last count) at least 150 people being sickened by E. Coli, and a Wisconsin woman DEAD, is unsurprising if you’ve been following trends in food distribution. Heartbreaking, yes, but unsurprising. The FDA simply does not have enough food inspectors on the ground to prevent things like […]

I had a bit of trouble obtaining a copy of Eat Here: Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket, by Brian Halweil. First, I checked my local library. Then I checked the local Barnes & Noble, who drove off all of the independent booksellers in my hometown a while ago. Then the not-so-local Borders. Finally, I […]

It’s often very difficult to walk away from something that means a great deal to you, particularly when you feel as if you’re not quite done with it. That’s very much been my attitude towards Growers and Grocers of late, and my decision to leave WellFed for other writing opportunities.
See, I sort of feel […]

Chance conversation with a friend brought me to an odd place the other day. A farm, without a single barn. The conversation was about trying to set up our own cooperative, to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, and was mostly that, just conversation. But she told me about an annual visitation day […]

Starbucks is blending the line between coffee shop and, well everything else, as they plan to add book sales to their repertoire this fall when Mitch Albom’s forthcoming new novel, One More Day, appears in the Frappachino making shops in early October.
Free Press columnist Mitch Albom says he is “very humbled and flattered” […]

Scientists at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) based in the Philippines announced recently that they have isolated the gene, labelled Sub1A-1, that allows rice to survive flooding for up to 2 weeks. To countless poor rice farmers that have been repeatedly been hit with crop losses year after year due to typhoons and moonsoon […]

Many thanks to Kate at Accidental Hedonist for the original inspiration for this story.
A funny thing has happened on the way to eating healthier over much of 2006. Organics have positively exploded on grocery store shelves, making well-informed consumer decisions more difficult than ever. A while back, I wrote about the USDA’s […]

Fair trade coffee is something that has been in the news quite a bit lately, and I’ve seen the labels, but never known exactly what they mean. According to Transfair USA:
Fair Trade is an innovative, market-based approach to sustainable development. Fair Trade helps family farmers in developing countries to gain direct access to international […]

We’ve known for years that the term “natural” when it comes to food is a dubious one. Technically, everything is “natural”, even chemical additives – hey, they started as something found in nature. Any savvy food shopper knows that “natural” as a marketing term is meaningless.
But what about when it comes to the ingredient list? […]

First, some upfront honesty – I don’t drive, and I don’t eat much fast food, so my opinion on this topic has no basis in experience. I don’t truly know whether such a thing as a french-fry attachment for a car’s cupholder is a huge step forward for mankind or just really, really stupid.
But there […]