Weight of the Nation: Battle of the Bulge Comes to Cable

by Sarah Henry on May 15, 2012 · 4 comments

in civil eats,food films,food politics,food research,food security,grist,school food

By any measure, American are packing on the pounds at an unprecedented rate. Photos: Courtesy HBO

HBO has a history of tackling serious American health-care crises. In recent years, the cable network has taken on addiction and Alzheimer’s to much critical acclaim. And now the network has turned its attention to another huge health problem: obesity and its enormous economic, emotional, social, and health cost on individuals, families, communities, and the country at large.

As Americans have gained weight in recent years, rates of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and other obesity-related health problems have also skyrocketed. Rates of Type 2 diabetes (once known as “adult-onset diabetes”) are soaring among kids. And this is a generation of people that may well die at a younger age than their parents, largely because of medical concerns associated with excess weight.

These facts have become commonplace to those of us who have been paying attention. Still, The Weight of the Nation: Confronting America’s Obesity Epidemic serves as a clarion call to the country to take action — and fast — to combat this pernicious, complex problem that has myriad root causes.

Despite the familiar territory, this viewer gives the filmmakers points for framing the issue in a fresh, visually compelling way through astute story selection. The first episode recounts The Bogalusa Heart Study in Louisiana — a landmark investigation which found that cardiovascular disease can begin in childhood. And in the final installment we meet a Nashville mayor trying to help his city get healthy and a Latino community in Santa Ana, Calif., whose members spend years advocating for a play space for their children.

Bigger than individuals

Some critics (including those who have yet to watch the series) worry that The Weight of the Nation only fans fear, stereotypes fat folk, and doesn’t go after the real villain in the war against weight: the food and beverage industry. But from this critic’s perspective, the program doesn’t lay shame and blame at the feet of the overweight and obese people it features. On the contrary, it presents their struggles in a sympathetic and non-judgmental light, revealing how hard the body fights weight loss despite good intentions, and how current social, economic, and government systems sabotage Americans’ attempts to stay healthy. [[Click to continue reading this post]]

Tagged as: food films, food security, obesity, school food, The Weight of the Nation

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Mother’s Day Special: A Family Tied by Apron Strings

by Sarah Henry on May 11, 2012 · 16 comments

in gilt taste

Mother and daughter at home together in the kitchen. Photo: Courtesy Apron Strings

It’s been my experience as a journalist that there is a story worth recounting around every corner, if we just take the time to stop and listen.

Last May I set out on a road trip to Southern California to attend Camp Blogaway, largely as a show of support for my food writing friends Cheryl Sternman Rule of 5 Second Rule and Susan Russo of Food Blogga, who were conducting a panel at the writer retreat.

While there I ran into blogging buddies like Andrew Wilder of Eating Rules and Adair Seldon of Lentil Breakdown, and met new ones like Shefaly Ravula of Shef’s Kitchen, her sister Amee Meghani of Rabitt Food Rocks, and Stacy Spensley, then writing as Little Blue Hen.

I was struck by the generosity of this sub-genre of scribes, who willingly passed on what they’d learned in the blogosphere, whether technical tricks or SEO secrets or ways to make money — or just have more fun — with this modern mode of storytelling and recipe sharing.

In one breakout session, as we sat in a circle in the pine-scented San Bernardino Mountains, Donna Kelly sketched out in broad strokes how she and the baby she gave up for adoption when she was 16 found their way back to each other through food many years later.

It was unexpected. It was also a showstopper of a story. Enough with plugins and giveaways and blog stats: Here was a human telling a human tale.

In honor of Mother’s Day, I share the story of how Donna and her daughter Anne Tegtmeier, the voices behind the blog Apron Strings, became a family.

Take a moment and find their tale, in their own words, over at Gilt Taste.

You might also like:

So You Want to be a Successful Food Blogger? Here’s How.
Listening and Leftovers: Redux
Toast: A Slice of Nigel Slater’s Life Comes to the Silver Screen

Tagged as: Anne Tegtmeier, Apron Strings, Camp Blogaway, Donna Kelly, Gilt Taste

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Could Occupy the Farm and UC Compromise on Gill Tract?

by Sarah Henry on May 7, 2012 · 6 comments

in berkeley bites,community gardens,food politics,food research,food security,growing greens

Occupy the Farm advocates clear Gill Tract in Albany. Photo: Subconscious Collective

Stranger things have happened: Maybe six months down the track a crop of winter greens will occupy a stretch of land on San Pablo Avenue along the Berkeley-Albany border known as Gill Tract, site of a nearly two week standoff between the University of California, Berkeley and Occupy the Farm.

And everyone in this growing controversy might be happy. The saga over an often overlooked but special patch of earth began, aptly, on Earth Day. Now, both sides in this brouhaha in the normally quiet enclave of Albany appear to be making noises about having “meaningful dialogue” to facilitate a resolution that could include “shared custody” — though the situation resembles more of a spurned suitor (urban ag activists argue the university has repeatedly ignored requests to use this land for farming) than a marriage gone bad.

At stake: UC-owned land on the last parcel of Class 1 soil (considered the best for growing food) left in the East Bay that, except for a few months every summer when it’s used for corn research, lies largely vacant — aside from a proliferation of wild mustard, wind-carried trash, (often fast food wrappers), and, reportedly, the odd hypodermic needle.

Indeed, a private meeting between Cal representatives, Occupy the Farm advocates, and attorneys for both sides was slated for last Thursday night at an undisclosed location to dig into their differences and come to a compromise over the 15-acre plot, the remaining remnant of a 104-acre area that UC Berkeley bought for $400,000 in 1928. It is named for the family that once owned he land.(No settlement was reached, UC spokesman Dan Mogulof said at 9:20 am last Friday.)

Last week, Berkeleyside talked with representatives from Occupy the Farm, UC, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about the contested property. All seemed to see the merit in using some of this land for urban farming purposes — including teaching students about soil and plant crops and feeding hungry residents in nearby Richmond or South and West Berkeley.

So far so good. How to get there, however, seems up for debate. Yesterday, as reported here, the Dean of UC Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources, J. Keith Gilless, who in principle is willing to engage with the Occupy the Farm folk who took over the lot April 22, stated that such a constructive dialogue could only happen if Occupy the Farm inhabitants peacefully departed their recently planted plots. [[Click to continue reading this post]]

Tagged as: food security, Gill Tract, Occupy the Farm, UC Berkeley, urban farming

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Ripe for Action: Colorful Cookbook Encourages Cooking

April 25, 2012 baking

Ripe: A Fresh Colorful Approach to Fruits and Vegetables showcases Cheryl Sternman Rule’s pithy wit and Paulette Phlipot’s vibrant images. But produce — in all its weird and wonderful glory — gets top billing in this cookbook.

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Culture Clash: D.I.Y. Yogurt vs. Mass Market

April 20, 2012 food businesses

Yogurt is becoming an increasingly popular item at the grocery store, though some eaters are opting to make their own or find artisan varities without additives.

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Berkeley Votes to Fund At-risk Edible School Programs

April 17, 2012 berkeley bites

The Berkeley Unified School District School Board recently voted to authorize funding up to $350,000 for three elementary schools that were in danger of losing their gardening and cooking programs for the next school year. The move came as welcome news for all those involved in the programs and anyone who champions teaching children to eat, grow, and cook their greens.

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A Tale of Two Totally Different PBS Programs: America Revealed’s Food Machine and Food Forward

April 11, 2012 bay area bites

The good, the bad, and the ugly regarding two new food programs from PBS: America Revealed‘s first episode “Food Machine” and Food Forward‘s pilot.

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