Scientists have been working for years on creating a meat alternative in the lab – a few starter muscle cells which could then become actual meat without any animals at all (except the first). Other teams are working to create a product based entirely on plants. Either one would be a dream for the environment, human health, and most of all for animals.

A few days ago I read that “test tube” meat will be ready this fall from the Dutch researchers who have been working on this for a while. We’ll have to see if this is something that we like and can ethically promote. In the meantime, for good meatless food check out the San Francisco restaurants Greens, Gracias Madre, and Millennium, Berkeley’s Maoz Vegetarian, and Café Gratitude in Oakland and San Rafael.

And try luscious confections that don’t look like meat at all, such as this portabella mushroom terrine (pictured).

So did it work?

Today the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a food industry watchdog, publicized some encouraging research which was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published here.A WSJ blog also took note. Bottom line: bans, labeling, and “voluntary” industry ingredient switches have succeeded in lowering the levels of the four commonest trans fatty acids in several hundred research subjects, by a collective 58%.

But don’t stop being watchful. CSPI also warns that some corporations are still selling trans fat-laden food. A report last month called out Sara Lee, Pepperidge Farm, and General Mills as some of the product lines to be wary of. Second, the FDA has a loophole: if a food has less than half a gram of trans fat per serving, it can be labeled as having none. Let’s hope that Girl Scouts really do get trans fats out of all their cookies, not just off the label. (And while they’re at it, get out the palm oil, which is responsible for environmental damage overseas.)

Sustainable food is healthy food, which supports life rather than undermining it. The CDC puts their advice to choose “foods free of synthetic sources of trans fats” right on their same page as enabling sustainability practices.

Many causes for these die-offs have been proposed, such as pesticides, mites, monoculture, pollution, viruses, and the stress of being shipped from one place to another to pollinate farms and orchards whose own bees have died. Frankly, I have always suspected that the confluence of all these factors has simply made life too difficult for our bee allies. A report in last month’s issue of Ground Truth, a publication of the Pesticide Action network, states, “The current consensus, however, is that the die-offs are likely driven by a causal complex in which pesticides, pathogens and nutrition each play a role.”

The weirdest thing I just learned about this (via the same report) is that bees near corn fields get the pesticide clothianidin not only from dust, soil, and pollen, but also from a process called, amazingly, “planter exhaust.” This occurs as follows: “Corn seeds are sown using an automated planting system that relies on air/vacuum mechanisms to space the seeds; in order to keep seeds treated with pesticides from sticking to one another, talc is used. This talc becomes contaminated and is then exhausted during planting, either down with the seed or into the air.”

Now what?  Well, we can tackle the human-caused threats one by one, starting with pesticides. We consumers can play a key role by shifting our food dollars to foods produced with minimal chemical assistance (aka organic).

We know about organic, and we know about local, and we know that many farmers are working to make their enterprises safe for people and the land. I’m happy to report that there is also a movement to make it possible for farming to co-exist with wildlife. This is important if you love nature, because protecting biodiversity is good for everyone’s future.

Biodiversity exists when a place has a variety (diversity) of plants and animals, living together in a complex ecosystem. A healthy, diverse ecosystem might consist of a stream with reeds and grasses growing on the bank, fish that live in the stream, trees nearby that host birds, and so on. This collection of different living things is the opposite of a gigantic field of one variety of corn.

An organization called the Wild Farm Alliance has been formed “to promote agriculture that helps to protect and restore wild Nature.” (site) True to this vision, Wild Farm Alliance offers tools, brochures, books, guidelines – good things a farmer can use to make his or her land hospitable to a variety of creatures.

Did you know that if farmers dedicate a strip of land just three feet wide to growing plain old grass, instead of a revenue-producing crop, this strip can remove most E. coli organisms from water overflowing? Or that hedgerows (strips of trees or bushes between fields) can reduce drifting dust and pesticides from neighboring areas?

You can download one of the brochures here:

http://www.wildfarmalliance.org/resources/fdsfty_brochure.htm

PS. They’re hiring! As of today, January 31, the website announces a search for a program assistant in Watsonville.

There are other improvements. Of course, Big Food didn’t give up all its power to dictate policy–French fries are still allowed, and pizza will still be counted as a vegetable. Even Reagan’s administration didn’t get the last point passed. A hundred years from now, no-one will believe that was once actually a government policy.

By the way, have you ever wondered if signing online petitions makes a difference? The 280-page report specifically says, “USDA received a total of 133,268 public comments during the comment period January 13 – April 13, 2011” and adds, “USDA greatly appreciates the public comments as they have been essential in developing a final rule that is expected to improve school meals in a sound and practical manner” (page 6).

Biodiversity exists when a place has a variety of plants and animals – the total opposite of a gigantic field of one variety of corn grown with pesticides and heavy fume-belching machinery. A small organic farm, for instance, has numerous crops growing on a few acres, and may have trees and an undisturbed creek. Above and beyond the diversity of crops, this farm welcomes birds and provides a cleaner creek for fish and frogs. The farmers may also have geese or chickens. So a healthy small farm is an oasis for a range of creatures big and small.

An organization called the Wild Farm Alliance is working to support this way of life. With an advisory board that includes Frances Moore Lappe, Dave Foreman, Gary Nabhan, Wendell Berry, and Alice Waters, this organization is linked to the top minds in the field. I love WFA’s vision statement: “We envision a world in which community-based, ecologically managed farms and ranches seamlessly integrate into landscapes that accommodate the full range of native species and ecological processes.”

You can join the Wild Farm Alliance mailing list here  and download the brochure here.

One vignette on the website captures it all – “Farmer Catches Hedgerow Bug” which you can read here. Sonoma vineyard owners Lou and Susan Preston have integrated many sustainable practices on their land. And now they’re planting hedgerows, which are non-crop plantings between fields that serve as “living borders” and provide havens for biodiversity.

America’s Test Kitchen does as its name implies – tests many variations on a theme before putting its stamp of approval on a given recipe. (Rather like Consumer Reports, in that sense). In addition to its dictionary-sized main cookbook, ATK offers a companion volume of “light” versions.

I also love The 30-Day Vegan Challenge, by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. Everything in this cookbook that I’ve tried is a winner, such as this one:

Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Spread
Put through a blender or food processor all the following:
2-3 whole roasted red peppers (fresh or from a jar)
2/3 cup bread crumbs
1 cup walnuts
4 large whole garlic clovers
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp red pepper flakes

This is luscious on bread, crackers, or raw veggies.

Where to buy. If you’ve never been to Berkeley Bowl or Monterey Market (also in Berkeley), do yourself a favor and spend an hour there. The glorious smorgasbord of nature’s bounty is displayed in full color. Diablo Foods in Lafayette is another goldmine of delicious produce.

This matters because, as you probably know, an immense amount of paper and plastic packaging is tossed into landfills every year. Did you know that 8,000 plastic bottles go into landfills around the world EVERY SECOND?  You can read more about crazy-making packaging in an article by Elizabeth Gettelman, who dug into a range of sources and found these tidbits:

•    Americans create a million tons of extra garbage every week between Thanksgiving and New Year.

•    In 2007, the average American threw away 520 pounds of packaging.

•    Globally, the packaging business is a $429 billion industry.

In one East Bay town, the environmental group Sustainable Lafayette is working with the city, the Chamber of Commerce, the waste authority, and the school district to reduce solid waste. The goal is to achieve 75% waste diversion. And food packaging is a large part of this. San Francisco has already banned plastic bags, and Seattle did the same this month. So there’s hope!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to help reduce this tragic waste. Remember your cloth bags when shopping.  Buy in bulk (even though the small juice cartons may be tempting if you have young children).  Favor products and manufacturers that have reduced their packaging.

Huge progress is being made, and you can be part of it.

Now let’s look at how to avoid GMO. The easiest way is to choose organic foods as often as you can find and afford them. A new guide to avoiding GMO (the Center for Food Safety’s True Food Shopper’s Guide, available as a pdf or for mobile devices) has three more easy-to-remember tips: 1. Look at labels and buy foods that come right out and say “Non-GMO.”  2. Avoid ingredients that come from the most heavily modified crops (corn, soybeans, and canola). 3. Use the True Food Shopper’s Guide to identify the companies that do not use GMO.

Finally, there’s something you can do about this. In California, an initiative to require GMO food to be labeled has been submitted, and early next year you’ll be hearing more about it. The Organic Consumers’ Association has more on this. When the time comes, you can sign the petition to get the initiative on November’s ballot, and tell your friends.

Ingredients:
• 2 cartons organic vegetable stock
• Organic can of kidney beans
• 2 stocks organic celery
• 2 Organic can of diced tomatoes with basil
• ¼ cup organic chopped carrots
• Organic can of chickpeas
• ¼ cup chopped organic onions
• 1 cup of chopped organic green beans
• 1 1/2 cups organic elbow pasta
• 3 tsp organic tomato paste
• 2 tsp organic basil
• 2 tsp organic thyme

Add all of these ingredients to crock-pot and set on low for 2 hours and set on med for 3 hours. If you are going to work for 8 hours of more keep on low. Serves 4 people.

Recipe courtesy of Nikki Shimozaki