One of the signatures of modern Israeli cuisine is fresh, flavorful food made with fruits and vegetables that grow almost year round in the country’s temperate Mediterranean climate. So, it might be a bit surprising to learn that Israeli kids are eating school lunches that are as lacking in freshness and good nutrition as some of the worst American school lunches.
Armed with examples of fixes for the problem, like First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative and British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution campaign, Jerusalem City Councilmember Rachel Azaria is leading the fight for healthier school lunches in her city and throughout Israel.
Did you hear that Michelle Obama won the presidential candidate’s spouse cookie-baking competition (sponsored by Family Circle)? Whether this news was or wasn’t on your radar, the cookie-baking competition was held yet again this election cycle. Indeed, despite some predictions that not using oats in her cookie would lose her the coveted prize, Obama emerged victorious with black-and-white chocolate cookies, defeating Ann Romney’s M+M cookies, avenging her loss to Cindy McCain’s oatmeal butterscotch variety in the last round.
It’s rare to diss cookie-baking on a food blog. Even for non foodies, cookies are fairly uncontroversial and baking them is generally agreed to be a fun activity, if sometimes messy. I’ve hardly ever met a cookie I’ve turned down, for instance, be it oatmeal or chocolate, molasses or sugar. Beyond that, baking cookies marks my calendar in lovely ways: my dad and I bake chocolate chip cookies together every year for Thanksgiving while mom and I bake meringue cookies annually for Passover.
All that being said, why in this day and age do we still demand this somewhat farcical activity from the spouses of our candidates? It’s symbolic of the entire troubling phenomenon that American still have very rigid gender expectations for our would-be First Ladies, more than we may even have for the women in our own homes and communities. It’s why Michelle Obama never mentions her hard-charging career, for instance.
As you know, we at JCarrot love pickles (try our quick summer pickle recipes here). Serious Eats shares some creative ways to use leftover pickle juice. They also conduct a jarred pickle taste test. See which pickle is the winner.
In this week’s New York Times dining section, Julia Moskin writes about how to use commonly discarded parts of vegetables. The Perennial Plate conveniently shares a recipe and video of how to make carrot top pesto.
Jon-Jon Goulian, author of “The Man in the Gray Flannel Skirt,” makes rugelach pinwheels on Cooking the Books.
Since the earliest days of colonial America, our government has been involved in guiding consumer food choices. Through graphics, public service announcements, and food labeling, the government has been in the business of helping us decide what and how much to eat. Last Thursday, the USDA and First Lady Michelle Obama continued this tradition by unveiling MyPlate.
MyPlate attempts to take the mystery out of choosing healthy portions for your meal. Previous images, including the most recent food pyramid guided consumers towards how many servings of each food group they needed to consume each day. The earlier graphic representations, though, were confusing and unclear. As the First Lady explained during the launch event, “That’s why I like the MyPlate approach so much, because when it comes to eating, what’s more useful than a plate? What’s more simple than a plate? This is a quick, simple reminder for all of us to be more mindful of the foods that we’re eating.”
What happens after Farm-to-Table? Bloomberg Businessweek reports on municipal-wide composting, writing “Farm to table is good. Farm to table back to farm is even better.”
The Progressive Jewish Alliance in LA has created an innovative infographic, bringing the Seder plate in to the modern context of food deserts — areas with little or no access to the food needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
The Atlantic attempts to answer why Americans love Manischewitz wine, especially on Passover.
Disappointed you missed the White House Seder? Obamafoodorama has the details and the White House’s Seder recipe collection.
Eating Jewish shares haroset recipes from Surinam, Italy, Iran and Israel. The Seders are already over, but haroset is great on plain or Greek yogurt year round.
TIME magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people includes two foodies this year — chef Grant Achatz and Michelle Obama, for her healthy food initiatives.
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