Like Thanksgiving and just about every Jewish holiday (aside from Yom Kippur of course), the Super Bowl this Sunday offers a major opportunity to join together in thanks and celebration stuff your face. And with nachos and beer dominating the typical menu, it’s not the most stomach-friendly fare. Roz Cummins over at Grist came up with a plan for healthier and more sustainable TV-watching foods. Her suggestion: take a traditional Superbowl comfort food (sausage ravioli) and make it vegan.

While I’m certainly an advocate of vegetarian dining and a big fan of Grist, I thought Roz’s suggestion fell slightly short of “Super Bowl Snack Nirvana.” It’s still really heavy, pretty much void of vegetables, and relies on lots of processed foods. Wouldn’t a better solution be vegetarian sub sandwiches piled high with veggies, hummus, and artisanal cheese? Or - if you want something warm and savory - how about spicy two-bean chili with cilantro garlic yogurt? Or guacamole with home made pita chips (okay, it’s not the most seasonal food ever, but it’s better than a corn dog). However you chose to celebrate the “chag of football,” make sure you don’t leave healthy food on the sidelines.

This Super Bowl Sunday, try this recipe for spicy two bean chili from Bon Appetit, and this one for cilantro garlic yogurt sauce from Gourmet. B’tai Avon!

Last week, an alliance of consumer groups and environmental organizations in the UK called on Heinz to drop its bogus million-dollar advertising campaign that its soups contain: “ingredients that you would find at a Farmers’ Market.”  It reminded me of a similar commercial I recently saw that advertised Campbell’s soup as made from “farm-grown” vegetables - something that sounded so delicious and wholesome that even my finely-tuned (read: cynical) advertising ear almost missed the deceit. 

When it comes to attracting customers, some food companies will bend over backwards to connect their products to the current zeitgeist, even if the link is tenuous at best. Sustainweb reported:

“The mainstream food industry is keenly aware that descriptions such as ‘local’, ‘seasonal’ and ‘farmers’ market’ are attractive to consumers…disturbingly, our survey showed that such efforts are being hijacked. Big food companies and supermarkets have begun to abuse these valuable descriptions by applying them to products and practices that we believe do not deserve such ethical or environmental credentials.” 

This news is not surprising: in-the-know food consumers already understand that a happy cow on a bottle of milk does not necessarily mean the milk is ethically-sourced.  The remaining question is, when it comes to lying to customers - how far is too far?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on this issue… 

As it turns out, Hazon is not alone in slaughtering animals in a public way to help people get a sense of where their meat comes from - and where it might come from if meat production was signficantly more humane and responsible.

An New York Times article today by Julia Moskin, “Chef’s New Goal: Looking Dinner in the Eye, features British chef Jaime Oliver (as well as American chefs Dan Barber, Tamara Murphy and others), going to great lengths to educate themselves - and their customers - about the meat industry.  Moskin writes:

LAST Friday, in front of 4 million television viewers and a studio audience, the chef Jamie Oliver killed a chicken. Having recently obtained a United Kingdom slaughterman’s license, Mr. Oliver staged a “gala dinner,” in fact a kind of avian snuff film, to awaken British consumers to the high costs of cheap chicken.

“A chicken is a living thing, an animal with a life cycle, and we shouldn’t expect it will cost less than a pint of beer in a pub,” he said Monday in an interview.

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This week and next, PBS is airing a 3-part series called “The Jewish Americans,” covering everything from the country’s earliest Jewish settlers to the experience of being Jewish in contemporary America.

Chef and Rabbi Gil Marks (author of The James Beard award-winning Olive Trees and Honey) is featured on a segment that addresses the question “what makes food Jewish?”  Unfortunately, it was cut from the final series ( he’s in good company - portions of Tony Kushner, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Mandy Patinkin’s segments and are also listed among the outtakes.)  But all footage (including Rabbi Marks) is available online for your viewing pleasure here.

Check PBS’s broadcast schedule to find out when The Jewish Americans is playing in your area. 

When it comes to “sustainable eating,” I’m starting to worry that perhaps the Brits take the (organic carrot) cake.

Maybe my sources are skewed from having a Manchester-bred boss who sends all-staff emails everytime the British foodies do something interesting.  (e.g. when England’s Walmart-equivalent, Tesco, commits to making their products’ ”food miles” transparent, or long-time organic farming supporter, Prince Charles makes a cookie.)

As if the Prince of England wasn’t enough proof of England’s foodie superiority, now I find out that Jamie Oliver - the British hearthrob and “Naked Chef” -has a new book and TV show called Jamie at Home that features food grown in his backyard and cooked in his kitchen.  Jamie says:

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Recently, a friend asked me if I was a foodie, a question which caught me thinking quite a while for an accurate response. “Well, I used to be” was the only thing I could think of. Reflecting back on that answer, I found myself questioning what and how I eat and how that differs from what one many think of when they think of a foodie.

Typically your average culinary fan tends to place a high value on taste and other palate-based pleasures. Different tastes and cuisines are prized and much is made of importance of the finest ingredients. Star chefs, award-winning cookbooks, and the finest tools become things to live for. But, I like food. I like to eat good food. What makes me feel that I am different that this? I pondered this and came to the conclusion that perspective was key.
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If you haven’t found a screening of King Corn, another amazing recent film, Black Gold, about the efforts of Tadesse Meskela and Ethiopian coffee farmers to increase the market for Fair Trade Ethiopian coffee varieties, will be airing on PBS Wednesday evening (times vary by station). If you want to continue remembering and learning about struggles for freedom after Passover ends– there are a number of actions we can take as consumers and responsible citizens with info atBlack Gold and Oxfam’s websites.

The goal of these films should not be to stress you out further about which products to consume….or should it?

Alix gives a recap of Bravo’s Top Chef finale, part 1:

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Though hardly a traditional Hanukkah activity, Martha Stewart teaches us how to make our own candles. No, really. Simply turn on your blow dryer, roll the wax around the wicking, and, um, 44 candles later you have something you can get for 89 cents at Fairway…only more Martha-y.

Eat healthy? Worry about your children’s lunches? Participate in a CSA?

ABC Television wants you to trade spouses. For $20,000, no less.

To Whom It May Concern:
I’m a Casting Producer with ABC Television and we’re looking to feature fabulous families who follow the raw foods diet - or a similar philosophy - on our upcoming show. I’d love to talk with families who are passionate about truly living and eating healthy. Has this diet enhanced your quality of life - or influenced your lifestyle and parenting style in other positive ways? Could another family learn a thing or two by experiencing your lifestyle? We want to hear from you!We’re currently casting for ABC’s hit family show, Wife Swap!

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