Jamie Oliver TED Talk
While browsing Anne’s blog, I came across this great video of Jamie Oliver. I guess by now he’s someone pretty well known on both sides of the Atlantic. While I like Jamie a lot, there are clearly some points I disagree with him on, so I’m going to say something about these too.
To be honest, I have a problem with his strong imagery regarding sugar.
When it comes to processed foods containing sugar, and children especially consuming large quantities of this, there’s little to disagree with. Children don’t need sugar added to their milk to make it taste better, nor do they need artificial flavors and colors. In addition, there’s reason to be concerned about salt and fats in processed foods. While I say concerned, I want to be clear that moderation is key here, and those that have the most to worry about are people that eat only processed foods and little else.
There’s also little doubt that the healthiest food for anyone to eat is fresh, home cooked, locally produced and free of chemicals and pesticides. The healthiest diet is also one that emphasises fruits, vegetables and simple starches over animal products and other processed foods. This is particularly important for children.
On the other hand, sugar, salt and fats/oils are also perfectly normal cooking ingredients, that nearly all of us have in our kitchens. These are perfectly fine to use in cooking or to season your food. It’s absolutely crazy that some people think it’s unhealthy for the average person to add a spoonful of sugar to their tea or salt to their meal. If you’re diabetic, have high blood pressure or otherwise under doctors care, there may be some specific reason why you personally cannot eat certain things, but there’s no evidence to suggest it’s in any way unhealthy for the average person.
Many of us also eat modest amounts of processed foods containing these ingredients, like dairy, soft drinks, meats, and even things like soy sauce, catsup and so on. There’s little evidence to suggest there’s anything wrong with this. In fact there’s evidence to suggest that not only are these normal things to consume, they can also be healthy. There can however be many reasons for concern regarding how these foods are produced, and in general it’s becoming increasingly clear how important it is to think about this.
Food companies make huge profits by making people afraid of normal foods, and selling them supposedly healthy alternatives or by substituting something cheaper for these common ingredients.
Sugar is one of the most clear examples. In relative terms, sugar is expensive to add to processed foods. It’s price fluctuates on world markets, and supplies are not reliable. Soft drink companies have long sought alternatives to common sugars for their products. By using a sugar substitute, for example aspartame that’s commonly used in sugar free soft drinks, manufactures save an estimated 1.5 cents (US dollars) per can of beverage. This is a huge savings when considering how many cans of sugar free drinks are made each year. A similar savings can be had by using high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) instead of normal sugar, which is common in the US.
The problem is these sugar alternatives are linked to obesity, diabetes and other health problems. Statistically, people who drink soft drinks containing aspartame instead of sugar are heavier. In addition, the current obesity epidemic in the US corresponds almost exactly to the introduction of HFCS into processed foods and soft drinks.
There’s little evidence to show a connection between consuming modest amounts of ordinary sugar and weight gain. In fact, sugar is known to suppress appetite and many people who switch to sugar alternatives find themselves coping with a significant increase in hunger. Aspartame is a known appetite stimulant.
In simple terms, there’s little evidence to suggest an average adult without specific medical concerns is doing anything unhealthy by consuming modest amounts of fats, sugar or salt, as long as these come from natural sources. Specifically, there is no benefit in looking for alternatives to these foods. Certainly, no one should be afraid of these ingredients for use in home cooking.
Paquebot 2010 Tomato List
Tomatoes!
Paquebot recently asked me to update the list of tomatoes he’s offering from what I posted here for him last year.
Paquebot lives in Wisconsin, USA. He’s offering more than 200 tomatoes, organized into the year grown, giving an indication of the age of the seeds. Tomato seed are normally good for about 5-10+ years, so age isn’t an issue if you plant them within the next couple of years.
He’s offering them as part of the Seed Network, and in particular he said they are available to anyone, anywhere in the world. You have to discuss payment or trading terms with him yourself.
If you’re interested in anything here, send me an email and I’ll forward it to him.
2009 seeds
Aker’s West Virginia Black
Albany Georgia Heirloom
Amish Paste
Anna Hermann
Apelsin
Apricot Brandywine
Aunt Ruby’s German Green
Banjan Roomii
Belgian Heart
Big White Pink Stripes
Black Sea Man
Bosu
Buckeye Yellow
Carbon
Caro Rich
Chico III
Chocolate Cherry
Cour de Bou
Cow’s Tit
Eagle’s Beak
Endless Summer
Ernesto
Fantome de Laos
Giraffe
Guido
Guernsey Island
Hawaiian Orange Cherry
Hawaiian Pineapple
Hazelfield Farm Red
Heinz 1439
Japanese Black Triffle
Kardinal
Lagidny
Limmony
Marizol Purple
Mirabell, Red
Mirabell, Yellow
Monkey Ass
Moya
Northern Crown
Northern Lights
Pantano Romanesco
Paquebot Roma
Persimmon
Pink Ruffled
Portugal Monster
Principe Borghese
Riesentraube
Rozovii Giant
Sainte Lucie
Siberian
Silvery Fir Tree
Snowberry
Super Snow White
Ten Fingers of Naples
Tennessee Britches
The Orange
Tiny Tim
Togo Trefele
Turks Muts
Volgogradskij 5/95
Vorlon
West Virginia Pink Slicer
Willamette
Wisconsin 55
Wisconsin 55 Gold
Yellow 1884 Pinkheart2008 seeds
Amish Red
Belarusan Heart
Besser
Black From Tula
Black Plum
Black Prince
Bloody Butcher
Boondocks
Borgio Cellano
Brianna
Cherokee Purple (PL)
Chianti Rose
Chocolate Stripes
Dinner Plate
Dr. Lyle
Dorothy’s Mennonite Beefsteak
Dorothy’s Mennonite Bicolor
Dorothy’s Mennonite Big Heart
Douce de Picardie (PL)
German Head
Giant Belgium
Giant Oxheart
Giant Roma
Giant Tree
Gigante Liscio
Golden Dwarf Champion
Hungarian Italian Paste
Japanese Oxheart
King Pineapple
Lancaster Pink
Large Pink Bulgarian
Legend
Long Keeper
Marglobe
Market Miracle
Mexico
Noire Russie
Old German
Preacher
Red Heart Yellow
Red Penna
Red Zebra
Russian Annie
Sandul Moldovan
Spoon
Super Beefsteak
Super Choice
Tater Kin
Taxi
Teton de Venus
Thessaloniki Oxheart
Valencia Pink
Watermelon Beefsteak
White Tomesol
Woodle Orange
Wuhib
Yamal2007 seeds
Ace 55
Amana Orange
Ananas Noir
Aunt Madge’s
Aussie
Bear Claw
Beauty King
Berkeley Tie Dyed
Black Oxheart
Blue Beech
Boyarsky
Boy Boy
Brown Berry
Bull’s Heart
Burracker’s Favorite
Carmelo
Chateau Rose
Clover Trefle
Costoluto Fiorentino
Crimson Cushion
Crnkovic Jugoslavian
Danish Export
Des Andes Jaune
German Queen
Gogosha
Greater Baltimore
Gregori Altai
Grosse Cotelee
Hartman’s Yellow Gooseberry
Hog Heart
Howard German
Japanese Golden Pear
Julia Child
Kalman’s Hungarian
Korney’s Jelly Bean
Kosovo
Lemon Giant
Lumpy Red
Mandarine
Matt’s Wild Cherry
Mennonite Orange
Merveilles des Marches
Minibel
Nelson’s Golden Giant
Novikov Giant
Oaxacan Jewel
Olive Doree
Orange Giant
Paul Robeson
Peacevine Cherry
Pigmeo
Pipo
Pomodoro Palla di Fuoco
Pomodoro Red Pear
Raspberry Giant
Sausage
Scatalone
Selandia
Super Marmande
Tiger Tom
Tumbling Tom
UC82B
Ukrainian Pear
Wanda’s PT
Wes
Zebra
Zorica’s Croatian Bull Eye2006 Seeds
Abraham Lincoln
Amish Salad
Amish Yellow
Aunt Gertie’s Gold
Aztec
Balkon Star
Black Cherry
Bradley
Cherry Roma
Cherokee Green
Cosmonaut Volkov
Croatian Heart
Douce de Picardie (RL)
Emeraude
Gardeners Delight
Garden Peach, Red
Garden Peach, Yellow
German Pink
Giant Syrian
Goose Creek
Greenbush Italian
Green Cherry
Green Giant
Green Zebra
Harvard Square
John Baer
Kristina Vatcheva
Leatha’s
Lemon Drop
Lithuanian
Long Tom
Marianna’s Conflict
Marianna’s Peace
Medford
Moby Grape
Mr. Fumo
Novogogoshary
Nyagous, Red
Oregon Spring
Perito Italian
Roman Candle
Segler
Sheyenne
Striped Cavern
Surender’s Indian Curry
Tigerella
Tommy Toes, Red
Tommy Toes, Yellow
Ugly Ripe
Voyage
West Virginia 63
Yellow Pear
Yoder’s German Yellow
Seed Network Updates
I’ve been very busy lately, and I’m behind on updates people asked me to make on the Seed Network page. Some people asked for updates an embarrassingly long time ago, and I think they are all now taken care of.
I’ve also gone through and just done a general clean up of old links and removed links to people who don’t seem to be publishing a current list of seeds.
If I’m missing anything, or if you would like to be added or removed from the list, please let me know. If I’ve deleted you in error, please accept my apologies and let me know so I can put you back.
If you’re looking for seeds to grow in 2010, please have a look at the current list!
A Favorite Non-Gardening Blog
Does anyone else out there read the White House blog?
Maybe it’s not something everyone would admit to, but I read this blog from time to time and find it very interesting. With as many as 5-10 posts per day, many of them very long, I certainly don’t keep up with them all. I do however come across some real gems from time to time, like this recent one entitled Newt Gingrich Gets It Wrong.
Okay, I’m biased. In general I like Obama and the direction he’s trying to go in. I’m also no fan of Newt Gingrich. More than anything however, I think this is just a very well written piece and the White House really understands the concept of a blog and what to use it for.
A blog is really a personal expression of who you are and what you want to say. When you read someone else’s blog, you really gain a very personal insight into who they are and what they’re thinking. Of course Obama doesn’t write any of the posts himself, but instead has people close to him who are experts write for him, and it really offers an insight into the White House that’s never existed before. You can see exatly what’s got their attention and what they are working on at the moment, in near real time.
One of the most valuable things about a blog is the lack of rules. For example, I’ve been criticized in the past for identifying foods you should not eat or eat less of, in particular meat and other processed foods. This of course violates the idea you should only promote healthy foods, like the 5 servings of fruit and vegetables we are all supposed to care about. I’ve been criticized for not being a good journalist or scientist. Of course I’ve said many things that have upset people in general.
The truth of course is that I don’t represent the interests of the food industry, and I’m not writing as a journalist or scientist. Therefore, I’m simply not bound by the corresponding rules, and you end up seeing a more personal side of me than you might otherwise. Having said this, I do put some effort into not intentionally saying things that aren’t true, and don’t intentionally upset people just for the sake of doing it.
When President Obama makes a speech, or the White House gives a press conference, there are rules and protocols that go with this. Beyond that, it’s up to the various TV networks and news publications to further filter and condense what was said. Something like the post I linked to above about Newt Gingrich would never survive this sort of condensing and processing, and the average person is unlikely to ever get that message.
The White House blog is not bound by the rules of traditional media. I really like that I can go there directly, see the information they want me to see, presented in the way they want me to see it. I think it reflects well on the Obama administration that they can do this so effectively. I think this kind of communication is changing Democracy the way we know it.
Holy Beans
Years ago now, I posted the advice that if you save beans from your garden, you should freeze them before storing them. This year, I’m paying the price of not following my own advice.
In addition, these probably have something to do with it:
These are sacks I buy my coffee in. I’ve posted about this before too. I buy green coffee beans, that come from many exotic tropical places in the world, then roast them myself.
The holes in my beans are from Bean Weevils, more specifically I suspect Coffee Bean Weevils.
Of course I thought I was being clever by reusing my coffee sacks to store my garden beans!
In my case, I think I caught it pretty fast. I first noticed them in November, and quickly froze my bean seeds. Weevils are hardy enough to survive a day or two in the freezer, but are usually killed after several days. Occasionally you have to thaw and refreeze the seeds, in order to mimic the weather cycles that cause them to hatch, in order to kill remaining eggs. In my case, freezing them once seems to have taken care of it.
I’ve had a couple of reinfestations over the last few weeks, and by now all of my bean seeds are a little suspect. I don’t think I lost any important varieties, but did throw some unimportant ones away. The most irritating thing of course is now my beans aren’t appetizing to eat, because there are dead larvae hidden away in many of them. I’m not sure how this will impact the germination rates of my seeds, but I’m sure it will be reduced for many of them.
For those of you hoping to trade bean seeds with me, I’m sure you’ll understand why I’m not sending them out this year.
Seed storage is an all too often neglected topic, and one that’s very important. I’ve heard it said loosing seeds in storage is more common than crop failures.
You often have to balance risks like this. It’s very possible for example to lose seeds in the process of freezing them, or storing them in an airtight container. It’s also possible to lose them to pests like this. Sometimes there aren’t any right or wrong answers…
