Food Bytes: October 2024 Edition

FOOD BYTES IS A (ALMOST) MONTHLY BLOG POST OF “NIBBLES” ON ALL THINGS CLIMATE, FOOD, NUTRITION SCIENCE, POLICY, AND CULTURE.

There is much to catch up on in this month’s Food Bytes. The fall season here in the U.S. always brings a lot of productivity. There seem to be more meetings, more papers, and more output. We just finished the UN General Assembly and Climate Week in New York. I love seeing so many friends and colleagues come to town, but it is exhausting. There are so many “side” events. We hosted a Bollinger Convening at Columbia’s Climate School that brought together some of the best people in the food systems field, including the President of Malawi, the PM of Haiti, and the First Lady of Brazil. Good times were had by all, but I deeply wonder if all the time, money, and greenhouse gases spent flying to NY actually amount to meaningful change. There were swanky events where people were nibbling on gourmet hors d'oeuvres, drinking champagne cocktails, and pontificating about solving poverty through quick tech fixes…It is a bit nauseating, to say the least. The same goes for COP, Davos, etc. As one of my colleagues said, “Just say you want to bring all your friends into town and have a big party. But don’t think you will solve the world doing so.” Point taken. Ollie Camp at GAIN did an excellent re-cap for those who couldn’t make it to Gotham. For an even briefer re-cap, all the food-focused events seem to be honing on two topics: (1) regenerative agriculture (what exactly is it?) and (2) the livestock conundrum. The UN produced a Pact for the Future with 56 actions for a global transformation protecting present and future generations. Is this the next set of Sustainable Development Goals?

Reports

The Tilt Collective, a new initiative focusing on plant-based foods, made a big splash at Climate Week. It will be interesting to see where they go. They have a report to explain their plan further, and the CEO, Sarah Lake, summarizes her modus operandi on a Tedtalk that can be found on the Tilt homepage. The Gates Foundation also released its Goalkeepers report and had a splashy event at Climate Week, focusing on nutrition. They argue that “No other global health problem requires a larger-scale solution than malnutrition.” I tend to agree…

Speaking of nutrition, the World Bank released their much anticipated Investment Framework for Nutrition. They argue that scaling up nutrition interventions to address undernutrition globally will require an additional $13 billion annually over the next ten years (2025-2034). This would mean $13 per pregnant woman and $17 per child per year under five years. This investment could avert 6.2 million deaths in children under age five and 980,000 stillbirths over the next decade.

Food systems are garnering attention from less traditional UN bodies. UNDP released a white paper on food system transformation. I'm not sure it says much more than what we already know. UNEP has a rich interactive site called the Journey of Food. The most depressing report of all is the WWF’s Living Planet Report. The average size of wildlife has decreased a staggering 73% since 1970. Most of that is driven by habitat loss (see the figure to the right showing the drivers of species loss in North America), mainly from agriculture. Read the report — it is depressing but critically important for our planet and us.

Science papers

It is getting hard to keep up with food-climate-nutrition scientific output these days because there is just so much of it. This is a good problem to have. Here are some highlights of what I have been reading over the past two weeks.

  • Nature Food’s September issue is rich in sustainable diet science. I appreciated Loken and colleagues' paper on the importance of culture to diet health and sustainability.

  • If you want to double down on your doomsday depression about the state of the planet, Ripple and colleagues deliver yet again! Bottomline? We are so screwed.

  • Emmerling and colleagues have a fantastic paper in Nature Climate Change that examines the relationship between climate change and inequality. The scientists model that by 2100, climate impacts will increase inequality by 1.4 points of the Gini index on average. If we stay within the Paris Climate Agreement to stay below 1.5 °C, long-term inequality increases by two-thirds but increases slightly in the short term. It's so great to see this topic getting some attention.

  • Last, the Lancet published the Earth Commission report. In it, they “quantify safe and just Earth-system boundaries and assess minimum access to natural resources required for human dignity and to enable escape from poverty. Collectively, these describe a safe and just corridor essential to ensuring sustainable and resilient human and planetary health and thriving in the Anthropocene.” It is a long read but worth it.

  • The Food Compass, out of Tufts University, has published its second paper, improving on its nutrient profiling system that assesses the healthfulness of diverse foods, beverages, and meals. Their score, named FSC grouped foods into three categories: foods and beverages scoring ≤30 are those to be minimized, foods and beverages scoring 31–69 are those to be consumed in moderation, and foods and beverages scoring ≥70 are encouraged. They found that among all products, 23% scored FCS ≥70; 46%, FCS 31–69; and 31%, FCS ≤30. Most beverages (54%) and animal fats (92%) scored ≤30; whereas most meat, poultry, eggs and dairy scored 31–69. Most products within seafood, legumes, nuts, vegetables and fruits scored ≥70 (82%, 80%, 89%, 63% and 53%, respectively. Nothing too shocking no?

Media

Of course, our favorite media outlets are always generating some food journalism.

  • This BBC piece is balanced about the ultra-processed nature of plant-based alt foods. Thanks for sending it my way Hermano Herrero!

  • The FT has highlighted this notion that the US has reached peak obesity. Is it behavior change or ozempic?

  • The scorching and dredging of the Amazon is happening, and the potential devastation to ecosystems and those who depend on its mighty waters is for realzzzz. Brings me back to the piece I wrote about rivers.

  • The hippie-dippie Erowon-esque food crazes won’t die, and the city of Los Angeles leads the way in blisfull ridiculousness. This New Yorker article captures the insanity well.

  • Love tuna? So do I but should we be eating so much of it. The NYT fishes around for the deets.

  • Speaking of tuna, I started watching the series, Omnivore, curated by the chef, Rene Redzepi. Each episode focuses on a singular food or ingredient. The first is on tuna. Great watch about the importance of food across many cultures.

And that’s about all she wrote for this month. Just some final closing words. This month was not the easiest for many people. Some parts of the world are in intractable conflict. My parents lost just about everything in Hurricane Helene, and my good friend Richard Deckelbaum passed. And the U.S. election has me filled with much dread. Yesterday, I turned 53 and have much to be grateful for. My parents are alive and okay. Richard led a long, amazing life. And people are out there fighting the good fight for democracy, climate action and the world's wellness. I am filled with hope. And not the kind of hope that is a belief that everything was, is, and will be fine. It is the kind of “hope” about the possibilities and the actions for our future.

The Archive Appetizer: Climate services servicing nutrition

The Archive Appetizer is a short musing on a topic, distinct from our longer regular blogs and monthly Food Bytes posts. Let’s get started.

Since coming back to Columbia, some of our research has taken on a new focus of climate services. What exactly are climate services? I like this definition published by the Climate Service Journal (it seems like a legitimate source, in my opinion). They define climate services as:

“The transformation of climate-related data (from the past, present or future) - together with other relevant information - into customized products such as projections, forecasts, information, trends, economic analysis, assessments (including technology assessment), counselling on best practices development and evaluation of solutions and any other services in relation to climate that may be use for the society at large.”

How climate services are generated, translated, transferred and used.

Climate change and climate-related extreme events have multiple negative effects on global public health including food insecurity, infectious disease burden, malnutrition, and diet-related non-communicable diseases. Today, there is a growing recognition that public health and nutrition practitioners (PHNPs) need access to climate services to be better equipped and tackle more effectively the complex health challenges of climate disruption for the populations they serve. However, evidence suggests that local PHNPs rarely use climate services efficiently or effectively to prevent malnutrition and provide better health care to the populations in which they serve. This is a critical gap, as these PHNPs are responsible for designing and implementing health-nutrition program interventions when and where they are most needed.

We have started a project that is designed to address this gap directly. In this project, we posit that targeted climate services that focus more intentionally on improving nutrition and health programming have the potential to lead to even more significant improvements in health outcomes. Bringing together a transdisciplinary team of climate and public health, nutrition, and policy experts, the project will be conducted in Ethiopia and Indonesia, where multiple forms of malnutrition and infectious disease are endemic and where risks of climate stress are recognized and well documented.

Stay tuned….

Climate-resilient communities are nutrition-resilient communities

This piece was originally published as a commentary in Nature Climate Change.

Climate change and nutrition are closely interconnected. Climate variability, which includes year-on-year variations in climate and longer-term climate trends, can disrupt both health and food systems, leading to increased food insecurity, reduced access to quality diets, and worsened burdens of malnutrition, particularly for vulnerable populations, including women and children.

While the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit made some advancements in integrating climate change actions into food system transformations, nutrition, more specifically, is still not mainstreamed into the larger climate change agenda or global commitments made at the annual global COP meetings. At the same time, the field of nutrition has yet to fully consider climate-responsive adaptation strategies in its core policy and programming.

One first step towards more engagement between climate and nutrition communities is for climate scientists to provide climate information (such as weather and climate variability forecasts and projections) to health practitioners delivering nutrition interventions through the public health sector. By providing them with information that is easy to understand and use, practitioners will be better equipped to tackle the complex health challenges that come with climate disruptions for the populations they serve.

It is unclear how local nutrition practitioners use climate information in their day-to-day decision-making. Understanding this uncertainty is critical, as these practitioners are responsible for targeting health–nutrition program interventions where and when they are most needed, including reaching the most vulnerable populations in resource-constrained settings. Such climate information includes

(1) risk assessments for better targeting of actions,

(2) early warnings of extreme events, and

(3) long-term planning and preparedness to improve the design of short- and long-term adaptation strategies that target timely nutrition interventions throughout the health system.

Some examples of cost-effective interventions that aid the public health sector in adapting to climate variability and change include stockpiling supplements and therapeutic foods to treat acute malnutrition and prioritizing the management of infectious disease treatments that ultimately impact nutrition outcomes (that is, deworming medicines, materials, and oral rehydration salts). In addition, ministries of health can leverage climate information for planning and preparedness, such as strengthening capacity, resources, and infrastructure to assist communities in adapting better to near- and long-term events. Last, timely digital technology of early warning systems (that is, climate forecasting information) should be scaled up and reach communities disproportionately impacted by climate change. These technologies should complement the outreach of community health workers to ensure that households have fundamental services such as access to an environment that enables breastfeeding, clean drinking water, and safe, sufficient, and diverse foods.

Equipping public health nutrition practitioners with knowledge, confidence, and motivation to incorporate climate information into their daily work has multiple benefits. First, the climate science community can better respond to health system needs by co-generating and co-translating climate information that is understandable and actionable and ultimately supports climate adaptation and resilience. Second, better use of this climate information will ensure that health practitioners have the skills and abilities to construct public health nutrition programs that are more climate resilient. Last, with more targeted programs, nutritional needs can be better prioritized and served among communities coping with and adapting to a changing climate.

'Coz I'm the tax man

I get asked a lot about whether taxing soda is effective. There has been a lot published on taxing food and beverages that are deemed bad for us. So what gives? Does taxing soda have any impact on our health? This is my take on the science, but first, let this jig run through your head….

Should five percent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

I'll tax the street
(If you try to sit, sit) I'll tax your seat
(If you get too cold, cold) I'll tax the heat
(If you take a walk, walk) I'll tax your feet

TAXMAAAAAAAN!!!

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are nonalcoholic beverages containing added caloric sweeteners. In addition to carbonated soft drinks or sodas, SSBs include energy and sports drinks, less-than-100-percent fruit or vegetable juices, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, sweetened waters, and milk-based drinks. SSBs are widely consumed worldwide, and the retail sales of these beverages have been increasing over the last decade. Their consumption has been associated with obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other detrimental non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Because of their unhealthy nature, the World Health Organization has included a range of policy priorities, including SSB taxes, to help countries combat NCDs and improve the overall health of the global population.

Taxes on SSBs have been introduced in 118 countries, with 105 at the national level and 13 at the subnational level, covering 51% of the world’s population. Most SSB taxes are implemented using excise taxes (88%), with a handful of other countries implementing them through mechanisms such as import taxes, differential Value-Added Tax (VAT), Goods and Services Tax (GST), or regional sales tax (see the figure below). These excise taxes occur mainly as tax pass-throughs, in which the price increase of the taxed product falls on the consumer. In the U.S., for example, 70% of SSB taxes are passed onto consumers through higher-priced SSBs.

Types of SSB taxes being implemented around the world

In a systematic review and meta-analysis of 62 empirical studies of SSB taxes across 45 countries, the majority of SSB taxes were implemented as a tax pass-through. While the impacts were heterogeneous across the countries, the demand for SSBs was sensitive to tax-induced price increases, with a mean reduction in sales of SSBs by 15%. The sales resulted in no substitution towards healthier, untaxed beverages (e.g., bottled water). Another review argued that SSB taxes provide no substantive changes to dietary or purchasing behavior due to the lack of substitution towards healthier alternatives. Another study found that while SSB taxes modestly reduced the purchases of some taxed beverages in the taxing jurisdiction, consumers respond to the taxes by increasing cross-border shopping, in which they go outside the taxing jurisdiction and buy those same taxed beverages at a lower cost. However, taxes may spur downstream effects on other industry responses and policies, including reformulating products to reduce sugar consumption in those beverages, as was seen with the graduated sugar tax implemented in the UK.

Of the tax policies around the world, 73% are implemented in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with the highest in South Asia. However, LMICs face many challenges in implementing SSB taxes, including a lack of political will and resources, weak national capacity to implement policies, large informal food sectors, and substantial influence of the food and drink industry on policy development.

The question remains whether SSB taxes can result in healthier dietary patterns and reduce the health implications accompanying excess consumption of these products – particularly NCDs. Most of the evidence — particularly from  Nakhimovsky et al., 2016; Niebylski et al., 2015; Teng et al., 2019; and Thow et al., 2014 — suggests that SSB taxes have impacted the purchases of taxed products to varying degrees, but not necessarily long-term and impactful behavior change towards healthier diets and improvements in health. One potential reason may be that the SSB taxes translate to only a 5 to 22-kilocalorie reduction per capita daily. This is insufficient to have a meaningful impact on disease outcomes. Some researchers suggest that one way to deal with this is to raise the current tax rates from the current approximate 5% to 20%. This would also be aligned with the WHO’s recommendation for at least a 20% tax on SSBs. Several countries, such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have substantive (50-100%) excise taxes on SSBs, which are more in line with the taxation rates of tobacco.

The question is whether other foods, particularly red meat, should be taxed due to their significant implications on the environment and contributions to climate change. While consuming red meat in high amounts can contribute to NCDs, red meat is also a source of important nutrients. If a tax on red meat makes them prohibitively expensive for those who already struggle to afford these foods, it could put these nutrient-dense foods even further out of reach for the world’s poor. Thus, a “carbon tax” on red meat might be appropriate in wealthy countries with strong social protective measures and in countries with disproportionately high levels of red meat consumption.

Can Fixing Dinner Fix the Planet?

Two years ago, I embarked on the writing of my very first book. Coming from a field of expertise that values peer-reviewed scientific publications more than books, I did not think it was in the cards to consider authoring a book about my discipline and my experience working in that discipline. But here we are, and tomorrow, my JHU Press Wavelength series trade book, Can Fixing Dinner Fix the Planet? will be released. The pandemic helped, unfortunately. It nudged me to sit still and put pen to paper.

The book investigates the interactions among food systems, diets, human health, and the climate crisis. It draws on my experiences (along with my team and many colleagues) working and living in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. It describes how food systems must change to slow and reverse the stark trends we see with increased hunger and obesity, catastrophic climate change, and inequities. The book draws attention to the idea that the very nature of food and food systems can play a significant role in fixing these vexing challenges and bring communities together.

Food books abound—cookbooks by celebrity chefs (thanks Anthony Bourdain!), history of food and cuisines, and self-help diet books. My book does not delve into these areas much. Instead, it delves deep into politics and shows that if we take a “business as usual” path of how food systems have, are, and will operate, there will be significant negative consequences on human and planetary health. It provides examples of what can be done by the various actors like government and food and agriculture industries to promote healthy, sustainable, and equitable diets, sustain the earth’s biodiversity, and protect the environment and all species living on the planet. And last, it raises readers’ food and environmental literacy and empowers readers to take immediate and long-term changes by helping them make informed decisions when they walk into restaurants, grocery stores, farmers' markets, and their kitchens.

The book changed the way I communicate my work. It is not easy to write about a complex topic like food systems and ensure that it inspires eaters, global experts in governments, and those working in and shaping food systems to make better decisions. I tried my best to bring to life some of my experiences working in different countries—from very poor to prosperous—and the experiences of those I have worked with and shared time with in deeply rural and urban pockets of the planet. It provides a nuanced story that takes you away from computer and desk research to farmer’s fields, families’ kitchens, and United Nations’ working forums.

I hope the book shows readers how our everyday diets are the products of massive, interconnected, and highly complex food systems that extend from the seedlings in a farmer’s field to the global distribution and marketing networks that deliver food to our plates. These systems have direct and substantial impacts on poverty, the planet’s natural resources, the nutrition of individuals and populations, the composition of the atmosphere, and social equity. They also are incredibly vulnerable to the climatic changes that we have already seen and that will accelerate in the future.

The lost art of reading a book

I recently did an interview for the Reading List with Phil Treagus. I am a big book fan (my better half is a book publisher and archiver) but especially books on food (go figure). I also have two books coming out this year that I am pretty excited about. The first is through Johns Hopkins University Press titled “Can Fixing Dinner Fix the Planet?” The book is my own take on improving food systems and brings in a lot of my own experiences working on food issues in different places in the world. It comes out May 2021. The second book is a textbook published by Palgrave titled “Global Food Systems, Diets and Nutrition: Linking Science, Economics and Policy.” My colleague Claire Davis and I are excited to see this book out in June 2021.

This is what I had to say about books and you can also go to the original interview here.

How do you describe your occupation?

Educator and researcher of food systems.

Talk us through a typical day for you…

My day starts with a series of very early morning (begins around 5 am) zoom meetings with other researchers and organizations (UN, NGOs, etc.) working in Europe, Africa, and Asia on projects, publications, or initiatives. If I am not teaching a course that semester, I usually have one guest lecture to do and am usually on one or two public panels/webinars/keynote talks throughout the day. I try to block some time to read, write and do data analysis and, of course, to exercise (one hour a day)—usually mid-morning or late afternoon. Sometimes, I have 10-15 meetings throughout the day, so having concentrated focus time is challenging. Dinner is always the highlight of the day. We eat early, like 5:30, and my husband whips up gourmet meals. We usually watch something on Netflix or Criterion for about an hour or so. Then back at it to do a bit of writing in the early evening. I am in bed (and asleep) by 10 pm.

What are you reading at the moment, and what made you want to read it?

Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth by Stuart Ritchie. With so much dis- and misinformation on facts, data, and evidence, and the significant conflicts of interest in the food world, I was very keen to look inward into the science community that generates information. Where have we failed? Where are our faults? What could we do better? This book highlights the pitfalls of how we develop, communicate and vet science (with nutrition examples throughout the book) and turns the mirror on the science world. It is fantastic!

Can you remember the first book you read by yourself?

It is a toss-up. The two that stand out to me and are forever imprinted on my brain is Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert O’Brien and James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. Strangely, and I haven’t thought about this until just now, both involve the food world. Mrs Frisby (a mouse) needs to move her home, which is endangered from the fields’ annual spring plowing. She asks a sophisticated bunch of rats for help. The story of James centers on a boy who enters a peach, and his world changes. Both stories highlight the magic and mysticism of ecosystems and experiences with that magic.

Are you a page folder or a bookmarker?

Page folder. But I go one step further. I fold the top of the current page I am reading so I know where I am the next time I pick up the book. I fold the page’s bottom if there is something on that page I want to go back to or research later.

Can you tell us a little more about the Global Food Security Journal?

The Journal strives to publish evidence-informed strategic views of experts from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives on prospects for ensuring food security, nutrition, and health across food system issues. We wish to publish reviews, perspectives articles, and debates that synthesize, critique and extend findings from the rapidly growing body of original publications on global food security, nutrition, food systems, and related areas; and special issues on critical topics across food security, food systems, and nutrition including how these are impacted by climate and environmental dynamics.

If you could gift yourself books at age 16 and age 25 – what would they be and why?

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan and The End of Food by Paul Roberts. Pollan has mastered the craft of telling compelling food stories that have political, social and environmental repercussions in such an approachable way. While the book focuses mainly on the United States, it does raise questions as to the sustainability and ethics of how we grow our food and the individual dietary choices we make every day. Pollan has his fair share of critics, but I have yet to see an academic write such a compelling narrative on the fractured global food system. Paul Roberts’s book had an even deeper impact on me. It was hard to eat after reading his book because essentially, you feel the world is doomed! As Jim Morrison of The Doors sang, “the future is certain and the end is always near.” The End of Food, as the title suggests, brings those lyrics to life…

If you could invite 5 authors (dead or alive) to a dinner party – who would they be and why?

Amartya Sen (for his incredible influence on how we view poverty, famine, and human development and his many authored books including Poverty and Famine). Mark Kurlansky (for his incredible journalistic deep dives into things like Salt, Cod and Paper). Leah Penniman (author of Farming While Back and co-owner of Soul Fire Farm. A walking the talk author and entrepreneur!). Rachel Carson (for her landmark book Silent Spring that influenced the entire environmental movement). Joseph Campbell (his vast knowledge on the human experience and author of A Hero with a Thousand Faces). I highly recommend the interviews he had done towards the end of his life with Bill Moyer. After watching that, I wanted to be better at my craft.

What was the last book you purchased, and why did you buy it?

New Climate War by Michael Mann. Michael is a climatologist at Penn State. He is a clear communicator and fantastic science whose work has helped build the evidence on global warming. His new book is all about the politics of inaction on climate. In the food world, and very much tied to climate, we face similar issues of political inertia, interference and power imbalance of powerful industry players and complex scientific messages. Hopefully, I can learn something from Mann’s experience in battling the “merchants of doubt” and how he and others have fought to keep the evidence of climate change on the top of the global agenda.

What is your favourite thing about reading?

The quiet time and the ability to reflect on other’s views, worlds, and perspectives. I also find that I like the feel, experience, and act of reading an actual book as opposed to an e-book or an audiobook.

What’s the best book you’ve read in the last 6 months?

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. Written in 1962 but felt like it was written in 2020.

In your Twitter bio you describe yourself as a ‘goat lover’, I have to ask you to elaborate on this…

Goats are just so cool. Resilient, smart, and independent. And did you know they can surf? My husband and I even keep a blog, named “Goat Rodeo.” Speaking of books, there is a great book about goats entitled Goat Song by Brad Kessler who leaves New York City with this partner to go raise Nubian goats in Vermont.

If you could insert yourself into any book, which would you pick and why?

This is a tough one! Maybe Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan. Robert would roam the city streets of New York in the silence and darkness of night observing what rats would feast on, and how they lived their lives. I am disgusted by but fascinated with these resilient little creatures and it would have been fun to spend a year doing this sort of rodential research. Turns out their diets are a lot like humans…they like junk food.

What is the book that you feel has had the single biggest impact on your life? What impact did it have?

This is really a tough one. I want to say Ulysses by James Joyce but that is a total lie. Perhaps Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. As a trained molecular nutritionist, it upended the way I think about food, human health and environmental sustainability. I pulled my head out of the petri dish and have focused much more on their connections and the macro- long view of food systems and how and where they fit into sustainable development.

If you could only own three cookbooks, which would you pick and why?

Anything by Alice Waters but especially The Art of Simple Cooking. She lays out the necessities of cookware, ingredients and basic recipes you need to at least feel like you are cooking organic, wholesome food straight out of the 1970s Berkeley. She also just propels food and cooking to an art form. Bibi’s Kitchen because it highlights the diversity of Africa’s cuisine told through and shared by grandmothers. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat. She makes cooking so approachable.

Are there any books you haven’t mentioned that you feel would make your reading list?

I’d also include:

Chronicles by Bob Dylan,
Just Kids by Patti Smith (I am a big fan of music books),
Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss,
Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton,
Food Politics and Soda Politics by Marion Nestle (see our interview with Marion Nestle),
Mass Starvation by Alex De Waal,
One Day I will Write About this Place by Binyavanga Wainaina,
Four Fish by Paul Greenberg,
Sweetness and Power by Sidney Mintz,
The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles Mann,
and The Way we Eat Now by Bee Wilson.

Which book sat on your shelf are you most excited about reading next and why?

The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr. I love the premise of this book. The author takes the reader through the inner workings of the nebulous supermarket that has become the powerhouse influencer on our diets. I am sort of scared though. I have a feeling I am going to never want to set foot in a supermarket again after reading this. Much like how I felt after reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. I have yet to eat at McDonald’s (not that I really want to) since reading that book…

19 days of COVID cuisine: Cooking to combat cabin fever

My better-half, who does all the cooking in this casa and serves as the main hunter-gatherer-forager for all things food, wrote a post on his 5cense blog, but gave me the permits to post it here too. He goes into our food life in the times of COVID and how he gets by with a recent diagnosis of Ménières disease. He tries hard to practice what I preach in my professional life, ensuring we eat as sustainably as possible, and have zero food waste. Right now, these principles are harder for everyone, with the strained global food supply trying to keep up as the economy slows. For those already suffering from food insecurity and uncertain employment, the struggles are immense and we can’t even begin to comprehend the sacrifices and hardship. We feel so incredibly lucky to be able to put food on the table every night and are trying to support our local food system and community as best we can.

Please go and support your local farmers and CSAs (see who we support below), restaurants and food banks. They need us more than ever.

Virtual Sourcing
Don't know how y'all get your food, but this is problema #1 these days, 'specially for car-less folks like us that are used to the Italian way of doing things—buying fresh stuff every day for what you're gonna eat that night. By the time we went to the market a few weeks ago, most everything had been hoarded (btw, the TP shortage phenomena has an EZ answer—a Tushy bidet attachment... toilet paper is a filthy habit anyway). We have a Trader Joe's a block away, but seems to be a cesspool for Corona right now (+ no, not the beer). And when u go on Fresh Direct the time slots are always taken... so what u gotta do is wake up (or stay up til) 12:01am when they release time slots for the next day + then be patient thru 15 minutes of tumbling hourglasses or spinning wheels as everyone in the country is also refreshing their browsers over + over like you are. On the 2nd or 3rd night we got lucky + scored a rez for a week later.

Fresh Direct lets u modify your cart up until the night before your delivery so just put whatever in there to book a slot and then keep adding as u wait a week for your time to come up... of course lately they are out of most everything + even if u do manage to get some stuff in your cart, by the time they deliver ⅓ of your items are missing + the recommended replacements are ridiculous like in loo of raisins they suggest maraschino cherries, or low-sodium Goya black beans instead of the regular (which we've probably eaten more of then any other food item in el mundo (we brought cases of 'em to Rome, along w/ 5 or so kilos of Maseca)... spose u can just add your own salt + here's a tip: squeeze a lime into the can so u don't waste all them juices + gook stuck to the side of the can. And sure, u can boil your own, but we're lazy + DiY beans give us gas (tho pressure cookers help) + they were out of the dried ones too.

Whole Foods on the other hand has the opposite approach—u can reserve only 2 days in advance for delivery, but they release slots throughout the day, so if u keep ⌘-R'ing the screen u might score a delivery w/in a few hours. They don't let u update your cart tho + their bait + switch tactics are more extreme... yesterday we went to buy butter, Jasmine rice + paper towels but ended up w/ a few bottles of cava, organic blueberries + Engine-2 Rip's (only cereal we can find w/o added sugar or oils), but none of what we originally ordered (they don't tell u until after checkout that they are out of these things), tho guess we did score a few bags of Peet's Major Dickason's (no other coffee will do for us).

Daily Bread for a Fortnight
If ever we was gonna write a cookbook, it wouldn't be about singular recipes but the flow from 1 day to the next... about efficiency, variety, conservation of resources, adaptability + yes, 1-pot meals cuz we're fundamentally lazy. Rule #1 would be don't follow recipes. Just get creative w/ what u got, analyze the contents of your fridge in the order of when it will go bad + then figure out what u can concoct so nothing gets wasted... can't remember when the last time something in our fridge went bad. Most every meal ends up being a unique dish, tho there are a few general patterns that repeat. Rarely does a week go by that we don't have tacos, so we start w/ a batch of salsa. Choice of peppers might vary (+ sometimes we opt for green tomatillos) but usually, it's habaneros, cilantro, white onion, lime + roasted Roma tomatoes (5 makes enough to exactly fill our container)... the only problem is that there was no cilantro (a problem we are well used to, living in Italy where they regard cilantro as worse than old man b.o.) so we did the unspeakable + used basil + parsley. When we ordered habaneros from Fresh Direct last week we thought we were getting 6, but ends up we got 6 bags... so really like 40-50 habaneros. No problema, we roasted all of 'em w/ our stovetop roaster (w/ fan on high!) + then added a bit of olive oil + lime (to make it pasty) + put it in the freezer so whenever we need roasted habanero (which is always) we can just nuke it for 10 seconds then take a spoonful. While we were mucking up our food processor (Breville... highly recommended) figured we may as well whip up the jerk + pesto sauces (read on). Ideally, this prep day should coincide w/ the day u get your goods, which this time around conveniently fell on April 1.

April 1: Vongole—this is another dish in high rotation, if not weekly then every fortnight, being that clams are our bedder-½'s favorite food (she's got a tattoo as proof) + low on the food chain, low carbon footprint (unless u get them from New Zealand... which we must admit, them cockles are tasty). Our custom is to make this for whenever she comes back from a trip, which used to be often, but seeing as no one is traveling these days we make 'em just because. Ain't much to do w/ vongole (or linguine 'Congolese' as our iPhone calls it)... soak the clams 1st thing in cold salted water (our seafood monger in Rome used to tell us how much salt per liter but we forget) in the sink + apologize to them 1 x 1 for the trauma they endured being scooped from the sand + shipped thru whatever supply chain to your home (hopefully your seafood monger knows better not to seal the bag so they can breathe). Rub each 1 down + if they are slightly ajar they should clench close when u massage them otherwise they ain't no good. If u squeeze 'em a bit u can sorta tell.

If we had a baguette we would of made garlic bread to "fare la scarpetta con le vongole" (mop up the clam juices w/ the bottom of your shoe) but apparently everyone's hoarding baguettes (which at least makes more sense then guns + TP) so instead we just took regular sliced (whole grain sourdough) bread + smeared crushed garlic + olive oil (butter is also out of stock, so we're rationing the little that we have) + put it in the oven. Then put the water on to boil.

In another pot (a janky non-teflon 1 cuz it might get scratched up by the clams) put some chopped garlic, olive oil + white wine... we like to put sum sorta cherry tomatoes (ideally those nippled piennoli from the slopes of Mt Vesuvius) but alas, out of stock, so instead we chopped up some red peppers (sweet minis). At the same time u put the pasta in (linguini or spaghetti for vongole... nothing else will do) put the poor little clams in the pot w/ the lid on. Make sure to under-cook pasta, we just drain against the side of the sink to not have to wash a strainer then add lots of fresh chopped parsley, red pepper flakes, ground pepper, salt + a squeeze of lemon, then dump the clams (cook long enough for them to all open) + juices on top + hold onto the pot u used to steam the clams cuz u can use that for the discarded shells. We didn't take a photo of the vongole cuz we didn't know then we'd write this post + we're more into eating our food then taking pictures of it. We also had a salad (use them greens while their fresh) w/ avocado + red onion. We've been trying not to drink during the week, but hard to have vongole senza vino bianco.

April 2: Gnocchi Pesto—fresh basil should also be made into pesto as soon as possible... it doesn't mean u have to eat it that day, but at least make it. As we mentioned, we also made the salsa + jerk sauce at the same time to save on cleaning. Often humus gets worked into this routine, but not this time. Pesto is e-z p-z.. throw basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil + pecorino romano in the food processor + voilà. Most recipes probly call for parmigiano but our time in Rome has biased our buds. Sometimes we squeeze a squirt of lemon into the mix. ½ of the pesto we'll put in a jar (top off w/ a layer of olive oil so it stays green + unoxidized).

We chose gnocchi cuz we had pasta the night before + also cuz the last time we went to Trader Giotto's they were out of all the pastas except gnocchi. While the gnocchi were boiling (if u have gnocchi w/ tomato sauce u can cook them right in the sauce + save a pot) we sautéed a bit of shrimp + mustard greens (often we'll throw chick peas in for protein, but the shrimp suffice this time) then add the gnocchi + mix in the pesto last, after the heat is off. Again, w/ a salad + unfortunately sliced bread instead of a baguette to mop up the oily remnants. Pesto is hard to eat w/o vino rosso, but we can't drink red wine this time of year w/ our allergies + we ain't sposed to be drinking anyway during the week. We usually also have sparkling water but SodaStream is taking forever refilling our cannisters... so it's tap water straight up, w/ a squeeze of lemon (April is the month they chlorinate the water in DC (gotta keep them pipes clean living in the swamp) which smells gross but u can't really taste it). Again, we didn't take photos of the final product, tho here's the pesto sauce we haven't used yet, along w/ the salsa we haven't tapped into either.

April 3: Jerk Chicken—we haven't been talking much about what we eat the rest of the day.... if we have leftovers from the night before we skip breakfast + eat those for lunch. Or we eat a late breakfast + skip lunch, or just snack on whatever throughout the day. Lately we've been into smoothies + while we haven't resorted yet to frozen berries, we got some for the day when we can't get 'em fresh.

'Jerk' is 1 of those vague words that to us means whatever u find laying around, but usually entails roasted habaneros (which we already mentioned we have a frozen stash of) + green onions... those are the only 2 real requirements, + oh, spose allspice is must-have to be jerk. If we have pickles on hand (which we do) we'll pour some of the briney water into the mix, or capers w/ some of the juices they're soaking in,... soy sauce, ponzu, whatever salad dressing u might have, lime, vinegar, salt, pepper, spices, etc. Baste the chicken in this concoction overnight (we did all this the day before). Then all u got to do is fire up the grill + throw 'em on.

Actually, shuck the corn + put those on 1st cuz they take longer. Then put the meatier breasts + legs before the wings + smaller pieces... tho we couldn't get a whole chicken, all we could get was 2 legs + a package of wings (if we wanted organic, free range). We don't do chicken that often btw, maybe once a month. It's the only animal we eat that doesn't live in the ocean. We justify it cuz it's low on the food chain + comparatively resource-efficient, but fact is it's delicious. Roasted corn doesn't need anything, perhaps just a squeeze of lime. And again, a salad, while the greens last. Washed down w/ Pilsner Urquel. We got tired of waiting for SodaStream so canceled our order + put on a bandanna + braved the hardware store to exchange our cannisters. After dinner mixed sum gin into our limey soda water (it was Friday night after all)... nursing our Japanese gin to stretch it for as long as we can.

April 4: Tacos—we've eaten tacos probably more than any other dish in our lifetime, at least once if not twice a week. We had a bit of leftover chicken so grilled it up w/ sum mushrooms, green onions + a few types of peppers (dare we use the word fajitas?). We actually scored some tortillas (albeit small "street" style ones) otherwise we would of made our own. And whipped up a batch of guacamole... + the salsa, sour cream, jack cheese (sadly they were out jalapeño jack) + a bottle of pilsner.

April 5: Risotto—take the bones you've been collecting from the chicken, along w/ whatever else (we keep a pot in our fridge for scraps), the tips of onions, celery, etc. + add water to boil. The longer they simmer the better. This week we made risotto w/ the broth, but the last time we made vegetable bean soup + the time before that pozole.

While the broth simmers start chopping up stuff for the risotto... this time we put garlic, eggplant, shitake mushrooms, a few frozen shrimps, mustard greens (add last) + green chilies. Fortunately we have 10 kg of frozen roasted Hatch chilies we got last September... we still have about 5 kg left. Roast the garlic + briefly toast the risotto then start adding stuff. We just put the strainer right on top + pour the broth straight in. Set the risotto simmering, stirring often. Once the stuff in the strainer has cooled (spraying a bit of cold water thru helps) we like to get in there + wring all those juices out, squeezing the remnants to a pulp. Broth-making should correspond w/ the day before garbage day so these remnants don't stink up your kitchen or attract vermin. When it's near to done grate some pecorino in. We served it on a bed of arugula since we had some to use up.

April 6: black bean tostadas/tacos—we had a few leftover broken tortillas that we put in the oven to make tostadas + since we don't have any more tortillas we made our own from Maseca... again, plenty used to doing this since they don't have tortillas in Rome or Nairobi (not corn ones anyway). We still have salsa from a few days ago + grated some cheese + diced up some peppers, green onions, arugula, cilantro, sour cream, etc...

April 7: Penne Pesto w/ shrimp, mushrooms, peppers on a bed of arugula (using rest of pesto sauce made a few days ago).

April 8: Veggie-burgers /w fries + babaga-humus—scraping the bottom of the fridge so dipped into the freezer to dig out some Engine-2 Pinto-Habanero Burgers that we've been meaning to try since we like their cereals so much (all simple plant-based ingredients w/ no added oils or sugars). Grilled up some onions, mushrooms + peppers to put on the patties + also a slice of NY sharp cheddar cheese. Roasted some potatoes in the oven (w/paprika, rosemary, garlic, salt + o'bay). While we had the oven on, roasted an eggplant + mixed it w/ some humus (why not... humus + babaganoush have basically the same ingredients): chick peas, tahini, olive oil, lemon, fresh parsley, habanero paste, sesame seeds + the roasted eggplant). Celery + pickles. Washed down w/ a bottle of Cava since our bedder-½ got promoted to full professor (she was already tenured + endowed, but technically "assistant" prof before) so we were celebrating. The verdict on Engine-2 Pinto-Habanero "burgers"? Consistency was weird, soft + mushy + falling apart, but w/ all the fixings + mayo + mustard it's all tasty.

Oh yah, the cookies... those are the professor's doing. We don't bake... at least not baking that necessitates following a recipe.

Eating + drinking w/ Ménières
Didn't sleep so well + woke up w/ our head pounding/spinning, maybe on account of the cava + cookies. Last year we were diagnosed w/ Ménières disease + our doctor said no salt, alcohol, caffeine + basically every food item listed here that we love. But life's too short! Would rather be dizzy + lose hearing in 1 ear than eat unsalted beans. Especially since there's been no conclusive studies demonstrating that this even helps, it's all just anecdotal speculation. A few months ago we started to keep a food journal to see if we could identify any triggers, but barometric pressure, allergies + lack of sleep seem to have more of an influence than diet... tho salt, sugar + alcohol certainly doesn't help + eating a lot in 1 meal after fasting all day doesn't bode well for us either. In particular we've noticed we don't do so well w/ wine (especially red, but even whites now). We're okay w/ beer (as long as it's low alcohol %... not these crazy high-octane IPAs they make nowadays), in fact we sleep + feel even better if we have 1 or 2 beers. Really it's about moderation in everything, keeping fluid levels at an even keel, don't eat a bunch of salt 1 day + then no salt the next + don't binge on anything all at once, but eat consistently throughout the day. Our Ménières is probably acting up cuz it's allergy season (this time last year we were really hating life). Yesterday we went for a run (only cuz it rained all night) + when we got back our legs felt + looked like we got bit by 100s of mosquitoes all at once, in addition to sneezing attacks + itchy bloodshot eyes. So avoiding the outside world is something we should be doing anyway for the next month, regardless of COVID.

April 9: Shrimp Tacos w/ Guacamole—Re-up day... got our Fresh Direct delivery this morning... this as we learn that the Trader José's near our house closed cuz an employee got COVID, so now we'll be even harder pressed to get food in our hood. We made shrimp tacos cuz 2 of the avocados we're really soft so figured we may as well make guacamole + the shrimp weren't frozen so best to 'em sooner rather than later. Made another batch of fresh salsa for the week.

April 10: Mushroom Gorgonzola Stroganoff—we have no clue how a proper stroganoff is made, this is based more on the Hungarian Mushroom soup recipe we remember from Moosewood (back when we was a hippie child in the '80s we admit to using that cookbook). Sauté some mushrooms (a mix of cremini + the regular ones) + onions + garlic in white wine, olive oil + butter. We couldn't get sour cream so used Greek yogurt. Spice w/ salt + pepper + most importantly paprika + fresh parsley. Oh yah, and this time we sprinkled some crumbled gorgonzola in which gave it a nice zest.

April 11: Linguini Vongole—1 of the professor's students was going to Whole Foods w/ a car today + asked us if we wanted anything (spose this is the 2020 version of giving the teacher an apple) so we gave her a list of things including vongole, so repeated day 1's clam-fest only this time w/ linguini + we had little kumatos to throw in. Not only was this student kind enough to do our shopping but she souprized us w/ other goodies we didn't ask for such as burrata, so included that in our meal.

We were going to do a whole fortnight of food getting us thru lock-down, but seems the cycle is starting to repeat + we have friends in Naples asking to swap recipes, so we'll go ahead + post now... u get the idea, it's not about knocking your socks off w/ 1 meal, but sustaining yourself thru the week, month + also eating to sustain the planet. W/ the nearby Trader Joe's closed cuz of COVID it's getting harder to shop (supposedly the queue at the nearby Whole Food's is 2 blocks long). We're losing sleep staying or waking up at midnight to get a delivery rez on Fresh Direct only to find out they are all booked in advance + seems all food delivery services are overwhelmed. On the other hand, there is tons of food going to waste cuz the chain is severed from farmers that normally supply restaurants + business besides supermarkets, or the mom + pop specialty farms that supply farm-to-fork restaurants. We signed up for a local CSA (Earth N Eats) so we are getting a bunch of fresh stuff on Friday. There's also lots of otherwise thumb-twiddling restaurants getting involved in distributing (uncooked) food (at least in DC). So we're set for at least a few weeks, here's what our fridge looks like at the moment:

Next Week's Menu
As mentioned, we don't follow recipes or plan meals in advance (+ or even grocery lists) but we have a vague notion in the back of our head that gets inspired day off based on the status of food in our fridge in the order it will go bad (not a drop or leaf of any food item above will go to waste). But here's some other e-z to make meals that usually find their way into the mix:

  • Pozole—while the authentic version is complicated (+ involves pig feet) we have our own version that can be made in minutes. Ideally u do this w/ broth u made, but in a pinch u can use 1 of them boxes (+ veggie broth if you don't do chicken). Grill up onions + garlic, add roasted Hatch green chilies (we have them frozen, but u can get them canned, tho they're not nearly as good/spicy), oregano, a can of hominy, black beans + voilà. Mexicans garnish w/ cabbage, onions (white), pork, radish, lime + chili sauce... we modify this sometimes w/ whatever leafy green, green onions, grated cheese + chicken, if we have it.

  • Quiche—quiche is another great way to use things up, just grill up whatever u have on hand, add 4 eggs (2 per pie) + grated cheese... basically an omelet in a pie crust. We only make pie crusts if we have to (like in Italy where u can't buy them frozen) but what a pain in the ass when u can just buy 'em frozen. If u don't have a pie crust, u can always make breakfast for dinner... we often do a Mexican version of this w/ huevos rancheros + black beans + home fries.

  • Pizza—same thing we said about pie crusts applies to pizza dough... much easier to get frozen + thaw + roll it out out day of. U also need to an oven that can crank up to 450° if not 500°+ ... ours never seems to get hot enough to get a crispy crust (+ we never forked over the dough for a proper pizza stone but use a metal 1), but maybe also cuz we load it up w/ veggies (usually lots of mushrooms) + cheese, to try to make a meal of it. We also often pile arugula on to turn it in to a sort of pizza salad. Otherwise, if we want a proper pizza we leave that to the professionals (same could be said about sushi).

  • Cevicherashi—while we don't usually make sushi ourselves, we often do a Mexican/Peruvian hybrid that we already documented here. Or a Polynesian take on this is poisson cru (basically the same thing but w/ coconut milk).

  • TJ's Thai Lime + Chili Amondless Larb—it's easy to fall prey to the Asian stir-fry, face it, we all have + it's never the same as when u go to a good Thai or Chinese restaurant. Maybe 1 reason is that it usually requires liberal doses of fish sauce which stinks your house up to high hell. But the classic stir-fry is always a good way to use up those fresh veggies + Jasmine rice is a nice change from pasta. One secret we have (being that we consume mass quantities of those Trader Joe's Thai + Lime Almonds) is we re-use all those leftover spices (lemongrass, kaffir, etc.) once we've eaten the almonds + yes, u sorta have to plug your nose + use fish sauce, that's the dirty secret to Thai cooking. When we 1st got turned on to Thai food in the '80s in San Jose, we got the cook from our favorite restaurant drunk so she'd reveal her secrets + evidently cooking w/ vodka is also key. If we don't use shrimp, our stir-fry dishes often end up a bit larby, w/ lime, scallions, cilantro + ground chicken or turkey or crumbled tofu, tempeh or we've even tried this w/ beyond burger.

  • Casarecce Carciofi—we got some artichokes coming friday in our CSA so we'll likely make a variation of this, hopefully they'll have the stems on them cuz them's good eating. Basically we follow the recipe for carciofi ala Romana (steam w/ garlic, mint + lemon) + rather than waste those juices the artichokes were simmering in, we take the artichokes out, mash up the stems (hopefully they're soft enough) + garlic + then maybe add mushrooms or whatever else + put the pasta in there + add pecorino Romano to stretch your artichokes into a meal.

  • Anything Goes Mulligatawny—googling now this doesn't resemble the mulligatawny recipes we see on Inurnet, but it's usually what we call our goulashy vegetable soups. The inspiration goes back to 2 decades ago when we used to stand in line at the Soup Nazi in Hell's kitchen (before he sold out + franchised + had to drop the "Nazi") + it was pretty much just like in Seinfeld (except u stood in line outside, rain or shine), u had to know the drill or get scolded. And it was well-worth it. My favorite was his mulligatawny, which seemed more Persian than Indian. And we'll use a dollop of sour cream or yogurt instead of coconut milk (as we think did the Soup Nazi). Regular players in our mulligatawny include: lentils or chick peas and/or whatever beans, celery, carrots, squash or pumpkin, onions, potatoes or faro, etc. but really this all hinges on your broth. We might spice it w/ a bit of curry powder or rosemary + tarragon + usually there's habaneros involved or some other chilies.

Bon appétit! And wash those hands.

 

Food bytes: March 21st edition

Food Bytes is a weekly blog post of “nibbles” of information on all things food and nutrition science, policy and culture.

As much as we want to pretend all is normal, it is clearly not. We are in the middle of a global pandemic, with a massive amount of uncertainty, fear, and in some places, complacency. We will be posting another blog entry on the COVID crisis but for now, we will highlight, just a few emerging articles on the growing concern of food insecurity and the food supply, along with our regular updates on all things happening in the food space.

On COVID, we have never been in a situation like this before with talk of it reshaping the global order or social collapse or cohesion. So to predict how markets will continue to react to the future and the health of the global food supply is uncertain. Anyone who postulates how it will go is misleading us. Yes, of course, we can look in real-time on how households and communities are handling the crisis, and we can look to the past, on how other pandemics like the Spanish Flu, impacted food security and supplies. However, times are different. Food supplies are globalized. The population in 1918 was 1.6 billion. We are now at 7.5 billion.

Locusts in east africa (copyright: BBC News)

Rob Vos at IFPRI argues there is no major concern for food insecurity, yet. They came to this conclusion by looking at food prices of staple crops. Huh. As the Brookings Institution rightly pointed out, low-income seniors are already feeling the impacts. In the U.S., with roughly 15% of households being food insecure, some are concerned about their ability to feed themselves in the coming months. A WaPo article quoted: “If coronavirus doesn’t get us, starvation will.” Then there is Africa. Food insecurity and stark hunger could worsen in an already fragile context. East Africa is also reeling from an invasion of locusts which don’t help the already burgeoning food insecurity in the region. This video is pretty insane if you want to see the locust infestation.

The EAT-Lancet Commission report follow ons just keep coming. Did you know that the report has already been cited 790 times since its publication in January 2019? Insane! A few interesting articles are emerging that again test the validity of the Commission’s findings.

The water footprint (blue and green water) of different nut types (shelled) as well as some other food products for comparison, in litre/kg and litre per g of protein. (Vanham et al 2020)

  • One article published by the LIvestock Innovation Lab at the University of Florida shows the importance of animal source foods and explains that raising livestock and eating animal source foods can be compatible with sustainable development.

  • Another article questioned the recommendation in the report to increase nut consumption. The article dissects the water intensity issues in producing trees and ground nuts especially in India, China, Pakistan, the Middle East, Mediterranean, and the U.S. Check out cashews in the figure!!

  • A publication in the Journal of Nutrition argued that the mortality reduction effect of the EAT-Lancet proposed diet in the USA is no greater than the impact of energy consumption changes that would prevent under-weight, over-weight, and obesity alone, calling into question its findings. Authors are funded by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association…

  • Pedro Sanchez, one of the world’s experts on tropical soils and a World Food Prize winner wrote a piece about the land needed to grow the Lancet-EAT diet was oversimplified. He provided some alternative calculations. He argues that current total world food production is estimated at 9.30 billion metric tons of crops and animal-sourced foods, with crops grown in 1.27 billion hectares of land. Implementation of the EAT-Lancet diet for 10 billion people by 2050 would require a lot less, 5.39 billion metric tons of food in 1.10 billion hectares of cropland, assuming no increase in crop yields.

Pedro’s paper was part of a special issue in Food Policy in the Food Policy journal initiated by Editor in Chief Chris Barrett. The issue is about the evolution of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and the international agricultural research centers (IARCs) that comprise the CGIAR System. Over the past two decades, the CGIAR has undergone a series of reforms with the latest reform being termed “One CGIAR”.  Maybe they should take a lesson from the UN and find out how the One UN worked out…The special issue is out and is meant to “help inform a research strategy for the new One CGIAR.”

Robotics, AI, nano. Will these technologies transform the food system, and eliminate the “human” element from agriculture work? Yet to be seen. This article in the Economist discusses agricultural robots. And they have names: Tom, Dick, and Harry.

In the world of nutrition, meat will remain a controversial topic that is heating up. Nutrition is always accused of having serious conflicts of interest - who pays for the research? Who is biased? Who is paid off? JAMA and Scientific American highlights the controversy with meat-funded research and plant-funded research - and the “bullying” by both sides. Katz responds here. The livestock industry responds here. This debate has left consumers confused, and lacking any trust in science. A few other tidbits on meat. This NYT opinion piece by Alicia Wittmeyer argues that to stop eating meat, can alienate us from our traditions. Meanwhile, the EU is considering a tax on meat.

Speaking of diets, with 2.1 billion overweight and obese adults, and half of the U.S. facing obesity, we need some new strategies. Intermittent fasting seems to be all the rage these days as the best way to lose weight and keep it off. A review in JAMA highlights the evidence, and NYT provided some guidance. We tried it. It is not so hard. Just eat between the hours of noon and 8 pm. Thereafter, no calories should be consumed in solid or liquid forms.

Changes in purchases of high-in beverages, by education level of household head (Tallie Smith et al 2020)

Diet quality matters too. Bee Wilson, an amazing writer of food and its history, wrote a long piece in the Guardian on the contributions of ultra-processed foods on the global obesity crisis. These foods are cheap, attractive and convenient, and we eat them every day. But they are also riddled with sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats. This article is worth the read. Some countries are worried. Take Chile. They instituted a Food Labelling and Advertising which put warning labels on the front of food packages if the food was high in sugar, high in salt or high in fat. Sugary drinks, unhealthy snacks, and packaged foods must carry the front-of-pack labels. These foods are also regulated. These foods cannot be marketed or sold in schools or on TV. Has it worked? Yup. Sales of these foods are down 23%. In college-educated consumers, as you can see in the figure, purchases were done 29%!

Food Bytes: February 10th Edition

Food Bytes is a weekly blog post of “nibbles” of information on all things food and nutrition science, policy and culture.

2020 is off and running and the world finds ways to fill in the gaps it makes.

There is lots of interesting stuff being published or planned for publishing in the food systems space.

There are new journals out there. Nature Food released its inaugural issue called “silos and systems” (with a corn silo on the cover) and it is really great so far. Highly recommend reading it - all open access articles to boot! While it has been around about two years, Nature Sustainability is high-quality and publishes a lot on food systems. Colleagues at Cornell are working with the Journal to come up with evidence-based innovations across food supply chains ready for scale-up. More on this project can be found here. The prestigious Cell Journal now has a sister journal called “One Earth.” While it focuses on climate and earth sciences, there are lots of food gems in each issue thus far.

I am also serving as the Editor in Chief of the Global Food Security Journal. We publish:

  1. Strategic views of experts from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives on prospects for ensuring food security, food systems, and nutrition, based on the best available science, in a clear and readable form for a wide audience, bridging the gap between biological, social and environmental sciences.

  2. Reviews, opinions, and debates that synthesize, extend and critique research approaches and findings from the rapidly growing body of original publications on global food security and food systems.

I am also serving as an Associate Editor of Food Systems and the Environment for the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. We published our 10-year vision. In that, we highlight that the Journal will be soliciting cutting-edge papers that disentangle research that spans food system activities and actors, environmental change, and health and nutrition outcomes, taking into account the rapid socioeconomic, political, and societal transitions in the 21st century. The research space is complex and requires a convergence of new disciplines to understand the benefits and trade-offs of evidence so vital to improving diets and nutrition. We are looking for agriculture, food value chains, climate, environment, and diet themes to come together to answer the many evidence gaps that impact nutrition and human health.

DBM Lancet.png

The Lancet series on the double burden came out in late 2019 basically showing that there is a significant increase in low- and middle-income countries struggling with both undernutrition and overweight and obesity. The second and third papers on the etiology and actions to address the double burden stand out.

There is some controversy brewing in the nutrition world. But what else is new? JAMA published a pretty scathing article about conflicts of interest stemming from the series of articles that meat is actually not detrimental, or at least, neutral for health. JAMA argues that another group of scientists basically bullied the journal into retracting the articles, which did not happen. The JAMA called it “information terrorism.” What a mess.

A few of us from GAIN and Johns Hopkins University presented the Global Food Systems Dashboard at IFPRI last week. Check out the video and highlights here. The Dashboard brings together extant data from public and private sources to help decision-makers diagnose their food systems and identify all their levers of change and the ones that need to be pulled first.  Follow updates and announcements of the official launch on Twitter.

2019: The year of food and nutrition reports!

2019 was an interesting year in the food and nutrition space.

The Lancet had food on its mind this year with THREE Commissions/Series:

The EAT-Lancet Commission made the biggest “footprint” and spurred much debate and controversy, and pissed some people off. Good. That is exactly what it was meant to do. This along with the Syndemic made the Altmetrics top 100 papers of 2019. Cool.

The Global Burden of Disease finally published a solo paper on diets as a risk factor. That too made the Altmetrics top 100 list.

A slew of other reports on food, planet, and people came out this year. See the image below which doesn’t capture everything. They all pretty much say the same thing: We need to transform our food system if we want to save ourselves and the planet that we live on. We cannot disentangle the two. We depend on each other. It won’t be easy. The stakes are high and so are the challenges (like urban and population pressure). It will take significant, synergistic political will and investment. We are running out of time. That is the gist.

Screen Shot 2019-12-22 at 8.03.16 AM.png

The Global Nutrition Report and Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement churned on to keep the momentum, largely in the undernutrition space, moving.

We saw some neglected areas get more attention this year. Fish, plant-based burgers, older children and adolescents. The Nobel Prize went to two stellar development economists whose research has informed our thinking on poverty, and how we can reduce it. But of course, with a dose of caution.

The Committee on Food Security is in the process of crafting the Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition. Regional consultations took place all year, and a draft is now out for review. If you are interested in providing written feedback on Draft One, you can do so by sending comments to cfs@fao.org by February 5, 2020. You can find all the info here.

This was the year of reports. Let’s make 2020 the year of action. We have a lot of evidence of what to do and how to do it. Many of us have written about it in ways in an attempt to get the attention of politicians. Now, we need to take what is written on paper and translate that into changes that matter for people. We need to vote for policymakers that care about these issues at the local level. Let’s push to make food, climate, and health a part of their campaigns, and give them the opportunity to take ownership of the issues.

We also need to think about politics outside our hometowns. We have seen some major shifts in the global political machinery of how we relate to each other and our willingness to participate as global citizens. Some of the heavy hitters, such as the U.S., will continue on its downward spiral into irrelevance, with the UK following close behind. But until they completely make themselves obsolete, their decisions, unfortunately, matter for the world, as we witnessed with the shoulder-shrugging at the COP 25 negotiations in Spain. Another year, lost.

But I am a cautious optimist. Well…let’s not push our luck here. Maybe more of a realist. We have the Tokyo 2020 moment to increase investments for nutrition (which are currently dismal). We will be half-way through the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition and 1/3 through the Sustainable Development Goals (not sure what this means, but hey). Derek Byerlee and I wrote about how far we have come and what achieving SDG2 means for the world. We have the Committee on Food Security hopefully approving the Voluntary Guidelines mentioned above. And we always have COP 26, to stir up a miracle to save the planet. These global moments are important, but not enough.

This is what I plan to do in 2020:

  1. I am going to take a look in my own backyard to make changes (and maybe stop flying around the world, thinking I am saving it).

  2. I will vote with my fork and the dire importance of the 2020 election in the U.S. cannot be understated.

  3. I will work more with people and less with paper – i.e. stop being involved in all these goddamn reports (that few read…).