Good food, good behavior

Image via CrunchBase

I stopped at Whole Foods Market in Paramus for a cup of black coffee this afternoon, and had two brief -- but interesting -- conversations about food.

I sat at a table, and the tall, thin man on my left was beautifully dressed in a long overcoat, suit and tie, and polished black shoes. His hair was silver, and I complimented him on his outfit, noting, "You look prosperous."

A few feet away, a young Korean woman was dressing her two small children in their winter coats as they prepared to leave after having a bite to eat. The man on my left complimented her on how well-behaved her children were.

When they left, he said you don't see children misbehave in Whole Foods because of the high quality of the food. He added the children appreciate the good food their mothers buy for them.

"Are you saying that in a fast-food restaurant, children are out of control?" He said, yes, they are, then got up to leave.

I turned to the Asian woman on my right, and repeated what he had said. 

We talked about naturally raised food, and she mentioned her daughter is a vegetarian who eats only dairy and eggs. But she doesn't eat seafood, and will reject chocolate if the milk comes from a cow fed animal by-products (bits of dead animals) or another non-meat item if it has gelatin from an animal.

The woman said her relatives don't know what to serve her daughter. So she told them, "I don't eat anything with a face."

 

Whose supermarket guru?

Image via Wikipedia

All of us want to save money when we shop for food, but we also want to avoid poultry and meat from factory farms, some farmed seafood and produce treated with a lot of pesticides.

However, none of this is discussed in "Save at the Supermarket," an article in the January & February 2010 issue of AARP The Magazine. The author is Phil Lempert, identified as the Supermarket Guru, who appears regularly on the Today Show and The View.

Lempert doesn't mention the antibiotics, hormones or animal by-products used to rush the growth of chickens, cattle, pigs and other animals; he doesn't discuss the merits of wild v. farmed seafood, which could be artificially colored or carry contaminants; and he doesn't recommend Australian beef and lamb, free-range, grass-fed products that are usually cheaper than their conventionally raised U.S. cousins

So whose Supermarket Guru is he?

I wrote a letter pointing out some of these omissions, and AARP The Magazine informed me it did not have room to publish it.

This is the same issue with an article on fish that omits the benefits of sardines.

Whole Foods Market discusses the use of antibiotics in animals on its blog: No antibiotics -- ever

Twenty rules about eating?

I'm passing along an article in The New York Times on rules about eating from readers. It cites author Michael Pollan's 20 favorite rules and asks readers to submit more.

The rules are folksy and lighthearted. None of the rules say you should try to avoid eating animals that are raised on factory farms, on a mixture of  antibiotics, growth hormones and animal by-products, additives that have an impact on human health. Here's the link to the Times piece:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/10/11/magazine/20091011-foodrules.html

What you should know about farmed catfish

I try to avoid farmed fish altogether. For example, farmed salmon is artificially colored, but many people buy it because of the low price. Now, I've read something about farmed catfish that has really opened my eyes.

In the April issue of the whole deal, a monthly publication from Whole Foods Market, the supermarket chain said: "Despite its popularity, typical catfish farming practices across the U.S. don't measure up to our standards. Fortunately, we found a farm that does! Our supplier partner in North Carolina raises catfish the natural way without antibiotics, hormones, algicides or land animal by-products in the feed."

What are animal by-products? They are bits of dead animals such as chickens, cows and pigs, and waste from catering businesses, restaurants and so forth that find their way into fish and animal feed. That's why it's so important to buy poultry and meat raised on a vegetarian diet.

I just Googled farmed tilapia and came across a number of entries reporting unhealthy fats in that popular fish. So stick with wild salmon (fresh or frozen), trout, sardines, anchovies and other fish.They are easy to find because markets are now required to label fresh seafood by country of origin and whether it is wild or farmed.