Category: Editors Picks

On Friday, Robert H. Lustig, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at University of California, San Francisco, and Director of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health (WATCH) Program at UCSF, was featured during NPR’s Science Friday with Ira Flatow about his new book Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease. Dr. Lustig had lots of interesting things to say about sugar, fat, exercise, insulin, calories, skipping meals, etc. It was a reminder for me to eat less sugar and more fiber, i.e., eat “real-food”. But listen for your self and let us know what you think.

Here the link to the podcast.

With the main event behind us, we now have time to enjoy our families and friends and turn our mind to what is ahead: 2013, with all its promise and still so full of potential. We all have our passions and ours is to continue to write about food, cooking and health. Sounds pretty boring on paper, doesn’t it?  But Jessica and I will do our best to be inspirational, to make it fun and to be prolific in sharing our ideas.

Writing about why a little dirt is good, why lemon is actually less acidic than sugar and what cooking apps are best are just a few of the topics we have on our agenda. And to keep it useful, we will continue to provide you with lots of easy and delicious recipes next year.

But right now, it is best to lay back, enjoy the break and dream of what the future might bring. We will be back in 2013 to continue to nudge you in what we believe is the right direction. Happy holidays and best wishes for a great 2013 together.

My quest for adding different ethnic flavors to my traditional European fare is never ending, and one of my new favorite hobbies is cooking Middle Eastern food. I remember my first trip to a Lebanese restaurant in London over a decade ago; as I bit into my first meze, I realized that Italian food, while delicious in its own right, really couldn’t hold a candle to the spices of the Middle East. I literally could not put my pitas down. In the town where I live now Italian seems to be the local favorite so to keep my taste buds in the Middle East I’ve stocked up on some cook books, visited a spice store, and gotten busy in the kitchen. Today I would like to share a favorite recipe of mine from the Eastern Mediterranean cookbook, “Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume” by Silvena Rowe. The delicacy is called red lentil kofte, or meatballs of the Lebanese vegetarian variety.  Come and cook with us! Continue reading “Fragrant Dreams of the Bosphorus”

On this day of food, family and friendship let us give thanks to the people in our lives who remind us daily that life is worth showing up for.  Kathrin, here’s to you my co-author and friend.  May the world continue to hear – loud and clear – all that you have to share (and may we clearly label our GMO food in the process).

Dear readers, join me today in giving thanks to the friends who inspire us to greatness every day.  Come and cook with us!

It’s been a few days since voters in California rejected a proposition that would have required food companies to label foods containing genetically modified organisms (“GMOs”). The ballot measure ignited a very strong marketing campaign funded by those who had the most to lose: pesticide and seed companies as well as the gigantic food conglomerates whose products include ingredients that would have required labeling or may already be banned in many Western countries outside the U.S. Just take a peek at this list and you’ll see that Monsanto’s level of financial support was, by itself, greater than all of the funds raised in support of Proposition 37. Doesn’t that make you wonder? Come and think with us! Continue reading “Autopsy of Prop 37”