Time for Lunch

Comments (25)

1. Dang...you mean ketchup isn't a "vegetable" any more???

   Posted by Mask at 06/26/2009 @ 1:37pm

2. PETER: "Children who grow up exposed to food that is fresh, local and good for them tend to adopt healthy eating habits that last throughout their lives. Conversely, if they're brought up on junk-food, it'll take a real effort for them to wean themselves of the habit as they grow older."

   Uh, Peter, once your kids (presently or future) are grown.....you'll know differently!

   Both my boys grew up eating "fresh" and "good" food lovingly prepared, overwhelmingly, by my wife; sSome might even have been "local".

   My 24-yrs promptly turned into a junk food eater in college after leaving the dorms--I know, from the credit card charges. Now that he is older and working, he is eating more healthy than we are.

   On the other hand, my 18-yr old has always been a junk-food lover and it's questionable he'll change anytime soon....the exposure to home-cooked healthy meals not withstanding.

   Posted by Happy at 06/26/2009 @ 1:41pm

3. Healthy food was all there was, at least to say, we knew where it came from when it was easier to follow the transport chain. My concern with food has to do with looking at ways to localize the food production and distribution methodology. Most US States had a network of farms & ranches, linked to markets and processing plants by trucks and railway branchlines.

   THE NATION Magazine is not tuned into the impending energy crisis. This oversight tends to bring readers stories and essays that are somewhat skewed to reflect a status quo of cheap energy at the pump, in agriculture, and most things made and transported. James Howard Kunstler and Richard Heinberg seem to be more prepared to write about the era of hows and whys of what we will be feeding ourchildren and ourselves.

   As a retired transportation employee, a fifty+ year panorama of transport habit changed before my eyes. Once a railway based transport network, US began after WWII to refocus to highway distribution. The 1956 Freeways Authorization Act accelerated switch to trucking. As the new roads suited to long haul trucks were finished, in the 1960's we saw systematic dismemberment of the branchline rail network. The sure and reliable connection from field to market became dependent on imported oil and chemicals/fertilizers.

   This is a request for interested parties to see Christopher C. Swan's book, "ELECTRIC WATER" (New Society Press, 2007) and see rationale for localized energy production and transport infrastructure. Along with Swan, See Kunstler's "The Long Emergency", another look at necessity to get back to kitchen gardens and local self-sufficiency in food supply. Local food production equals healthy food.

   Please see (peakoil.net) articles 374 and 1037 for more on the railways

   Posted by tahoevalleylines at 06/26/2009 @ 2:44pm

4. Getting healthy food and eating habits into schools in general is a terribly important thing. I like getting slow food into schools, that's a great idea.

   Posted by syfriendly at 06/26/2009 @ 2:47pm

5. better food means smarter students.

   (i noticed mask eats at wendy's...heheh)

   Posted by frosty zoom at 06/26/2009 @ 4:57pm

6. Posted by frosty zoom at 06/26/2009 @ 4:57pm

   "If you're starving to death, a porkchop will save your life!" Chris Rock

   Posted by Benchrest at 06/26/2009 @ 5:30pm

7. Posted by Happy at 06/26/2009 @ 1:41pm

   I don't think that's neccesairly true. What you feed your kids definitely determines what they grow to eat. You think all these fat parent's having fat kids who grow up to be adults with fat kids is just a coincidence? It's because parents start their kids eating crap and therefore their kids always eat crap.

   If we follow your logic to the extreme then you are basically arguing that parents don't have an effect on a child's growth. That the will just grow up and no matter what the parents does they can't effect the type of person the kid is going to be. Which is patently untrue.

   Giving your kids an appreciation of real food, not just home cooked fish sticks, but REAL food like locally grown meat, fresh locally grown fruits and vegetables gives them a big leap forward in avoiding the factory grown crap and fast food.

   Think about it this way. McDonalds puts a lot of money into hooking children on their products. It is shown that if you can create a child who is a loyal customer they will grow up to most likely be a loyal customer. That is why it is important to teach your kids to be loyal to locally grown real food instead of dishing up fake food from a box.

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 06/26/2009 @ 10:11pm

8. The fact that children think that chicken nuggets are really made of chicken shows a lot about the state of American children's knowledge of REAL food is.

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 06/26/2009 @ 10:14pm

9. Posted by Cccomfo1 at 06/26/2009 @ 10:14pm

   Beaks and claws don't count as real chicken?

   Posted by Benchrest at 06/26/2009 @ 10:28pm

10. Beaks and claws don't count as real chicken?

    Posted by Benchrest at 06/26/2009 @ 10:28pm

    You ever looked at the beaks and claws of a chicken and thought "Damn I could make a delicious meal out of that." Besides it's mostly corn and soy. Chicken nuggets have seen more corn and soy than they have ever seen chicken.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 06/27/2009 @ 05:13am

11. chicken feet are a delicacy in many cuisines.

    community supported agriculture is a very real solution. it works for the consumer and the farmer.

    Posted by emile duBois at 06/27/2009 @ 09:03am

12. chicken feet are a delicacy in many cuisines.

    Posted by emile duBois at 06/27/2009 @ 09:03am

    True, I forgot about that however I think most people in America don't find them appealing.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 06/27/2009 @ 1:04pm

13. i bet the chickens do.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 06/27/2009 @ 1:43pm

14. i bet the chickens do.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 06/27/2009 @ 1:43pm

    Pff, feet who needs em?

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 06/27/2009 @ 2:24pm

15. i bet the chickens do.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 06/27/2009 @ 1:43pm

    as well as some hoot owls in isolated places........

    Posted by Benchrest at 06/27/2009 @ 4:01pm

16. Posted by Happy at 06/26/2009 @ 1:41pm

    Wow! I'd never expect you to post purely anecdotal evidence to back yourself up with!

    So since YOUR kids act that way, that means what in terms of averages?

    What's that? Jack shit? Yes, thank you.

    I swear, the older I get, the more sick to my stomach I get seeing the fatasses of America chowing down on pre-packaged junk food.

    It needs to end now. Any step in the right direction is appreciated.

    Posted by TexasFlood at 06/27/2009 @ 9:11pm

17. happy, just because your children changed their eating habits later in life doesn't change peter's underlying point.

    your children probably changed their eating habits because your wife's cooking was bad.

    that's my guess.

    Posted by darladoon at 06/28/2009 @ 09:58am

18. Pff, feet who needs em? Posted by Cccomfo1 at 06/27/2009 @ 2:24pm |

    Is CCC a snake?

    Posted by snowball777 at 06/28/2009 @ 10:14am

19. your children probably changed their eating habits because your wife's cooking was bad.

    that's my guess.

    Posted by darladoon at 06/28/2009 @ 09:58am

    You rarely raise my ire....but slandering my wife DOES! I can see where my making a joke about MASK's wife (something like Vick's dog, I think) can stir him.

    Her cooking was so "bad", I am not even overweight. so, I guess it must be "bad"!

    Posted by Happy at 06/28/2009 @ 11:21am

20. happy,

    a lot of people do not know how to cook.

    my mother was a horrible cook. as was my grandmother.

    and i fail to see how believing your wife's cooking is bad is "slander."

    that aside, why don't you ask your children how they feel about your wife's cooking?

    Posted by darladoon at 06/28/2009 @ 12:14pm

21. Limiting food to local is not parctical. The current system works just fine. The market determins what is cost effective as far as growing and transporting is concerned. The problem occurs when the government gets involved with artificial constraints and brain dead control by idiots in Washington who think they know what's best. A pox on their house.

    Posted by pyeatte at 06/28/2009 @ 7:39pm

22. This seems a little out of touch - not a big surprise from Slow Food. How exactly does having people organize a bunch of picnics create concrete change? This project seems like it's more about promoting the organization's visibility than doing anything concrete to create real change.

    Posted by Michelle44 at 06/29/2009 @ 12:32am

23. I guess that means I won't be having a deep fried snickers bar tonight. I had the defibrillator ready and everything.

    I think a lot could be accomplished by getting people to drink less soda. High fructose corn syrup is where many people gain lots of unnecessary weight. We can hold off on banning hydrogenated palm kernel whey for a while.

    Posted by ficheye at 06/29/2009 @ 11:22am

24. Is CCC a snake?

    Posted by snowball777 at 06/28/2009 @ 10:14am

    Fish.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 06/29/2009 @ 4:43pm

25. "I guess that means I won't be having a deep fried snickers bar tonight. I had the defibrillator ready and everything. " Posted by ficheye at 06/29/2009 @ 11:22am

    awesame quote.

    Posted by nathantankus at 07/02/2009 @ 02:13am