Column When it comes to talking and writing about what we eat, how much power do we really have to change the food world?

I am bored with food writing.

There, I said it. Bored.

Why? Because I continually ask myself: how much more is there to say? And with whatever we say, how much impact do we really have?

I look through food magazines and books, and it all seems to be a slight variations on things that have already been written. So little of what we do as food writers is revolutionary. And yet, we keep doing it.

Some people write about how to make the best pie or what the ultimate way to boil an egg is, but I am not one of them. I write about food because I believe that what we eat is important, not just for ourselves but also for our community and our planet. And so I ask myself, how much change can we hope to have with our words?

In the face of all the things that happen around the world every single day – war, conflicts, oppression, natural disasters, death and destruction – writing about food can sometimes seem, well, a bit trivial. That’s because food writing is after all an activity of luxury; if we write about food then we have already managed to put food on the table. This puts us leaps and bounds ahead of the general global population. There’s no wonder some people call food writing elitist. Maybe it’s not so much that I am bored, but this conscious focus on food actually makes me a little uneasy and uncomfortable with my own role in all of it. And beyond that, I feel like I get repetitive, and question what my own power is to make real, positive change.

Maybe in our modern world we put too much value on food. Everyone needs to eat, but for those of us that can put food on the table, often there is an interest in food that verges on obsession. If we are all consumed with our everyday eating choices, if we are enthralled with reading about new restaurant openings and the latest and greatest kitchen gadget that is going to revolutionize our lives, does it keep us from putting energy into other topics that matter just as much, if not more?

I don’t want glossy magazines. I want dirt beneath my nails. I want real food. I want stuff that doesn’t come in plastic. I want food made with actual ingredients, not synthetic compounds with long names that I can’t pronounce. I want the food world to not be about the latest trend, but to be about feeding people – all people – with good whole ingredients. I can only hope that in writing about all of these things that there is some little contribution to tipping to the scale, so that we get to a place where everyone around the world has access to clean water and enough food.

The world doesn’t need an avocado toast recipe. But it does need advocates for change.

Being an advocate for change can be as simple as having a conversation. There is so much in our world that is out of our control, and yet, there is a lot that is in our control. We can control what we eat. We can make a neighbor a meal. We can build a planter box and grow a garden. We can volunteer with an organization that teaches other people to garden.

In my opinion, if as food writers we are going to change the food world, then we have to focus on the dirty stuff instead of the shiny, glamorous stuff. The world does not need more Michelin-star restaurants. But it does need more gardens in at-risk communities. It does need more activists protesting big agribusiness. It does need people working at soup kitchens to ensure that families don’t go hungry.

Related on EcoSalon

Real Food Shouldn’t Be Fashionable: Foodie Underground

When Food Waste is Food Treasure: Foodie Underground

Do We Really Know How to Eat Healthy? Foodie Underground

This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: Jemma Billings

The post How Much Power Do We Have to Change the Food World? Foodie Underground appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnFour years of Foodie Underground means a lot of column writing. Here’s a look back.

Something last week made me go and search for the first Foodie Underground ever written. I remembered that it was around springtime, but couldn’t remembered the month. As it turned out, my first column devoted to my vision of good food was published on April 9, 2010 and it was titled “Amateur is the New Black” – this was back when I liked mysterious headlines. I read through, partly cringing, partly laughing. Reading your own writing from several years ago is a good way to induce these kinds of reactions.

Four years. That’s how long I have been writing this column. Four years, especially in the world of internet, is a long time. It’s like Foodie Underground is a toddler (and nowadays it even has its own website). Mostly well behaved, sometimes a little obnoxious, especially on those deadline days that I feel like I am grasping for a subject. Sometimes I simply feel like I am repeating the same thing I say every week, “Eat real food. Cook your own food. Don’t buy processed. Think about where your food comes from. Be creative in the kitchen.” But eventually it comes together, and the following Monday, it pops up once again.

It has been four years of writing about good food, exploring questions of food politics, all with a good dose of snark here and there. And while a weekly deadline sneaks up on you every single week, it’s a pretty fun thing to write. So in honor of Foodie Underground’s 4th birthday, I figured I would pull together a list of some of my personal favorite columns (in no particular order). A little Foodie Underground retrospective so to say.

I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing.

1. Formulating the Foolproof Foodie Menu

Hint: it involves mason jars and beets.

2. The 10 Types of Foodies and What to Do With Them

Because everyone loves defining themselves.

3. Things You Wish You Had Overheard a Foodie Say

“I name all of my fresh eggs before I eat them. I find that when my food has a personal identity I enjoy it more.”

4. Fast Food, Fast Fashion… It’s All About Choice

“If we expect change in the food system, we have to demand it, and that means making a choice every time we eat.”

5. The Summer Bucket List

There’s the 2012 version and the 2013 version.

6. Why Do We Love Markets?

I think I like this one purely for the photos.

7. Everything in Moderation

Including moderation of course.

8. The Beauty of Eating Outdoors

Because eating outside is always better. Always.

9. 50 Pick Up Lines for Scoring a Foodie

“You’re as intoxicating as a home distilled liquor.”

10. The Secret Diary of a Foodie

Dear diary…

This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

The post 4 Years of a Column About Good Food: Foodie Underground appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnOur ongoing look inside the intriguing world of a foodie.

While madly searching for food trucks, a good greens blog and love – we get another look into the secret life of a foodie. (Part 1, 2 and 3 in case you missed them.)

Tuesday March 5, 2013, 9:14 pm

Dear Diary,

I have decided that this spring is the time to grow my own sprouts. Although now it just looks like I have a mold problem in the kitchen corner. Oh well. Speaking of mold, it looks like the kombucha has gone bad while I was away at my food writing immersion class. I am hoping to bring it back to life.

Friday March 8, 2013, 7:32 pm

Dear Diary,

Well, the kombucha has yet to respond to my revival attempts. Maybe I just need to toss it out and get a new baby?

Saturday March 9, 9:16am

Dear Diary,

Chia seed oatmeal for breakfast with local artisan honey and slivered almonds. Yum. I almost added dried figs. Too much? I also squeezed orange juice and made scones. It’s only 9am. Baking problem? No, real problem: I broke my French press.

Wednesday March 13, 2013 3:25 pm

Dear Diary,

Threw out old kombucha. Grosser than one might think. I Instagrammed it. On search for new baby. Must find.

Wednesday March 20, 2013 6:18 am

Dear Diary,

Friend of a friend of a friend of a friend that had liked my Minimalist Kitchen Spaces board on Pinterest has a kombucha baby. Success!

Thursday March 21, 2013 4:42 pm

Dear Diary,

I was given 12 fresh eggs from my neighbor down the hall who built a chicken coop in the backyard. At first I found the sound of the rooster at 5am annoying, but I am getting used to it and I do love fresh eggs. And the neighbor did look good building the chicken coop. Maybe I will invite him over for a new egg cake recipe I found last week.

Friday March 22, 2013 8:33 pm

Dear Diary,

Two eggs left. Apparently I have an egg problem. Not even enough to make the egg cake I was planning on baking for the neighbor, so now I am going to have to come up with something else. The only thing I have on hand is a chocolate kale cake (it was a favorite on my old greens blog. Why did I ever stop writing that?). Will he want to eat a chocolate kale cake?

Sunday March 24, 2013 5:52 pm

Dear Diary,

Coffee was a disaster. The kale was just a little off in the cake. I could tell the neighbor didn’t like it. Wait, maybe he doesn’t like food in general. But he built a chicken coop and has hop plants growing on the side of the apartment building. Is he just faking his artisanry? Or maybe he would have preferred a kombucha cocktail?

Tuesday March 26, 2013 6:36 pm

Dear Diary,

Well, I don’t think there will be any more coffee dates with Mr. I Think I Am an Artisan. He left a container of chocolate chip cookies by my door today. They were obviously made out of prepackaged cookie dough. What a disaster. Why couldn’t he just leave eggs?

Tuesday March 26, 2013 10:16 pm

Dear Diary,

Ok, so I ate the entire container of cookies. They would have been better with sea salt. I should write a cookbook.

Thursday March 28, 2013 7:45 pm

Dear Diary,

Mr. I Think I Am an Artisan asked if I wanted to split a raised bed in the backyard. I said yes. But then he said he hoped I wasn’t the kind of person that only wanted to grow kale. I lied and said no.

Saturday March 30, 2013 10:22 am

Dear Diary,

I went to the market and bought so much kale that it was protruding out of my bag when I came home. I had to sprint up the stairs to avoid the neighbor. But at least there were eggs by the door. Time for baked eggs in kale nests? With sea salt of course. Then off to buy a new French press. Maybe the cute guy at the kitchen supply store will be working.

This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: Anna Brones

The post Foodie Underground: The Secret Diary of a Foodie, Part 4 appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnOur ongoing look inside the intriguing world of a foodie.

While madly searching for food trucks, a good greens blog and love – we get another look into the secret life of a foodie. (Part 1 and 2 in case you missed them.)

Saturday September 1, 2012, 7:33 p.m.

Dear Diary,

This summer has been hectic! The Barista ended up being a total nightmare (you just can’t date people that bring PBR to dinner parties). Finished the coffee roasting class and then debated on building my own roasting machine in the backyard, but decided instead to focus my efforts on developing a new artisan salt business. Have been bottling up all kinds of infused salts, and everyone loves them so much, I figure I can totally sell them at farmers market. Or at least via my new salt blog. Who eats regular salt these days anyway? Boring.

Sunday September 2, 2012 4:42 p.m.

Dear Diary,

I love the final days of summer… so many good foraging adventures. I joined the local urban underground fruit collective and we’ve been going on undercover midnight pear and fig missions. There’s nothing like sneaking a juicy fig from someone’s yard as a midnight snack, it’s exhilarating. Plus that fruit is just going to go to waste anyway, I might as well make some fig anise jam out of it, right?

Wednesday September 5, 2012 7:38 p.m.

Dear Diary,

Biked home with a new set of small mason jars for all the new salts that I have been working on. As much as I try to save jars that my friends bring food over in, I just never have enough. So new ones it is… All because I am trying to bottle all these new salts. Fennel cardamon sea salt is my current favorite. Even delicious sprinkled over some homemade vegan caramel ice cream. Must launch the website soon. Should I start a salt blog in conjunction?

Friday September 7, 2012 2:14 p.m.

Dear Diary,

So overwhelmed by the severe tomato problem I am having this week.  Is six quarts of salsa too much?

Another midnight urban foraging expedition. I brought a jar of my fig anise jam and gave it to the really cute guy that has been on the last two midnight missions. He mentioned he recently got back from a trip to Mexico City and learned a super secret sauce to put on tacos. Perfect.

Saturday September 8, 2012 9:56 a.m.

Dear Diary,

I am so excited. I just got invited to take part in a food writing immersion class in Provence. It costs $8,000 (ack!) but I think it will totally be worth it to have a better understanding of southern French food culture, and really get to work on my food writing skills. Will be good for networking too, which can only help the salt business. Which by the way I just bought the domain for: www.infusedseasaltisbettersalt.com

Monday September 10, 2012 10:32 p.m.

Dear Diary,

Got yelled at when I picked a few rosemary stalks from a house on my ride home today. What is wrong with people? Ok, so by “a few” I mean I filled my bike basket. But I needed enough to dry out so I can make a full batch of Rosemary Chocolate Salt. Delicious right?

Wednesday September 12, 2012 9:48 p.m.

Dear Diary,

Cute Mr. Urban Forager asked me if I wanted to go and pick chanterelles this weekend. He said he knew of a secret spot. Yes, please.

Sunday September 16, 2012 8:18 p.m.

Dear Diary,

Foraging disaster. Never say that you know of a super secret spot for chanterelles if you don’t really know of one. Ending up with a basket of two chanterelles is not impressive. We can go ahead and cross Mr. Urban Forager off the list. As it turns out, I think he rarely showers anyway and he wore the same flannel he wore on the last two midnight missions. Which means I am going to have to find a new urban underground fruit collective. I need to focus on Infused Sea Salt is Better Salt anyway.

Tuesday September 18, 2012 9:26 p.m.

Dear Diary,

Overwhelmed by all that goes into launching an artisan food business. Realized that over drinking a few too many glasses of pinot and doing expenses last night. And what if I get sick of sea salt? Then what? I think my time could be better spent on focusing on my writing, so I went ahead and signed up for the immersion food writing class. Maybe I’ll meet a Frenchman. Countdown to Provence: 65 days! Can’t wait.

Friday September 21, 2012 6:34 a.m.

Dear Diary,

Woke up to the best email ever: a publisher dug up the book proposal I sent in earlier this year and wants to talk. It was the proposal for The Story of Greens and the People that Grow Them, all about people that have obsessions with kale, arugula and beyond. I can’t believe it. Looks like I’ll have to lay off the sea salt business right now, and maybe the immersion class will have to wait. As will this journal, and the potential Frenchman. All writing from now on goes into my book. I wonder if I can put kale chips on top of a chocolate cake?

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

The post Foodie Underground: The Secret Diary of a Foodie, Part Three appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnCelebrating two years of being food obsessed.

I know for a fact that at least four people read this column: my mother (she has to), her friends Lisa and Sally (I shamelessly email it to them every week), and the guy who runs Portland Food and Drink (probably because we live in the same city and he thought that my take on bone luging was funny).

There are, of course, a few more fans than that. (L.A. Weekly, The Washingtonian, and The New York Times seem to agree, which makes this writer proud. At least, I’m happy to see the foodies are not so underground these days.)

Today Foodie Underground turns two. Or as I like to look at it, today Foodie Underground and I are celebrating our two-year anniversary, because writing a weekly column is kind of like being in a relationship.

Before you start making your “food equals love” jokes – I just so happened to pen a whole set of pick up lines just for that – let me explain.

Just like in a new relationship, in the beginning, you start off happy and giddy.

“You want me to have my own column?” you say to your editor, excitedly planning all the things you and your column will do together. The first few months are great. You’re spinning with creativity and thinking about your column 24 hours a day. Everything you do reminds you of your newfound love. Life is beautiful.

Slowly however, the reality of routine hits. You. Must. Write. The. Column. Every. Single. Week. A few Monday mornings you drag yourself out of bed, put on a French press and stare at your computer screen, glancing at your watch, realizing said editor is going to be very upset if you don’t get this thing done soon. Things feel a little boring. You’re not as inspired as you once were. Where is the spark? Should you break things off and move on to something else? You find yourself asking your editor for ideas to “spice things up.”

But as you get farther into your relationship, things stabilize and the positive feelings return. You hit a comfortable stride, evolving and developing your relationship, that creativity takes on a new face. Then you hit the “we” stage, the point where you realize you and your column have become one. Much like a partnership, you start to do fewer and fewer things apart. You’re never alone on a Saturday night when you have a column to get in the can for Monday.

You come to realize how very much influenced you are by your “other.” Such is the case with Foodie Underground. In the last week alone I have been contacted to see if I know anything about hay smoking (yes, it’s a thing…or at least was in early 2011), told that I should write a food advice column, and received an email from my mother to see if I had ever tried combining chocolate and sea salt with ground coffee (I have not, but it’s on the to-do list now). These are all things that didn’t use to happen. Invitations, Twitter, products, events…these relationships, er, columns, are work.

To add to the realization that my food column and I are inextricably linked, last week an office mate asked me what he should get for lunch, and I told him to go to the taco truck down the street. “How big are they?” he asked.

“Here, let me show you a picture,” I responded, pulling out my phone, which happens to store a lot of food related photos.

“Of course you have a photo of that,” he smiled.

“Want to see what I made last night?” I quipped back, not waiting before whipping my laptop over to his desk to share more food photos.

Call it an obsession verging on insanity if you must, but writing this column has forced me to think – really think – about food in new and vital ways. What we eat, how we eat, where we eat, who we eat with, people who don’t eat, people who eat too much, where we get our food, who prepares our food: Food is everything.

We must eat to live, and ultimately, so much of our everyday lives – health, emotional well-being, energy levels – is affected by what we put into our bodies. In the western world, most of us have access to foods that our grandparents and even parents could only dream of. And yet we’re stuck in the middle of a health epidemic. Obesity rates are rising despite a bounty in supply; food deserts. And unfortunately, when talking about good food is equated to a certain level of pretentiousness, we get distracted from the real issues, and solutions, at hand.

Yes, that truffle-infused fennel-crusted bacon-studded brioche you’re staring at looks good, and you could certainly pair it with a glass of sparkling water, but what have you done lately to deal with the questions of food justice?

As I wrote two weeks ago, you might be surprised to find out what’s normally on my dinner plate. Although I like bourbon drinks out of mason jars as much as the next single-speed riding urbanite, I’m as weary as you of the predictability of the trendy culinary world and the people who are obsessed with it. Kind of like this:

I may have a not-so-secret love affair with foodie capitals like Brooklyn and San Francisco – the first Foodie Underground ever mentioned both. Last week, I ate an entire roasted fish at a restaurant that had a very fitting name, only one word, of course. And on occasion I do things like learn how to make cheese. But the truth is that I just want to explore new places, discover good food along the way, and make sure that we’re putting the spotlight on programs that are ensuring that everyone, no matter where they live or what socio-economic bracket they find themselves in, can do the same.

Fortunately, I have supportive friends, who could just be putting up with me because they know that eventually I will cook them dinner and it will probably involve arugula, or even a polenta olive oil cake, and although Foodie Underground and I are tied at the hip, they don’t seem to care too much. That leaves me to keep thinking and talking about food, which as I have come to learn, makes me one happy girl.

Two years of this is cause for celebration, and in good Foodie Underground spirit, I had to come up with a fitting celebratory dessert. The result was this little gem, which I am hoping at least a few of you try to make yourself. It’s a combination of some of my favorite flavors, has the obligatory sea salt, is gluten-free and vegan (because porquoi pas?) and is relatively painless to make.

Enjoy, and then go out and change the world with good food.

Date and Orange Chocolate Ganache Torte with Lemon Almond Crust

(The Official Foodie Underground Birthday Cake)

Note: I use two 6 oz./4.5″ tartlet ramekins for this recipe.

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 cup almond meal
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• zest of one Meyer lemon
• 1 teaspoon cardamom

Filling

• 1 cup dates, chopped or cut into small pieces
• zest and juice of 1 orange

• 4 oz. baking chocolate, 100% cocoa
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F.

• Prepare the crusts by melting the coconut oil and mixing with the rest of crust ingredients, until a dough forms. Chill dough for 15 minutes.
• Split dough into even parts and press into greased tart pans. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
• While the crusts are cooling, combine dates and orange zest and juice in a saucepan and place on medium heat. Stir regularly, until orange juice has been soaked up by dates. Pour date mixture evenly into baked crusts.
• To prepare the ganache, chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl. Heat coconut milk together with sugar in a saucepan until bubbles appear around the edges, then pour over chocolate. Let sit for five minutes, then gently stir until mixture has a smooth consistency.
• Pour the ganache over the date mixture and let cool. Note that these are best served when the chocolate has set, so store them in the refrigerator, and remove about 10-15 minutes before serving.
• Garnish with sliced almonds, orange zest and a lemon slice.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to independent markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones

The post Foodie Underground Celebrates 2 Years appeared first on EcoSalon.

An entire book series devoted to centuries of food writing.

400 years of food writing in nine different books is enough to make any food lover go crazy. Penguin Book’s new Great Food series is a special collection exploring food writing through the ages. With works from Alexander Dumas and A.W. Chase, and cover designs that are just as much of a feast as the writing inside, it’s hard to go wrong.

This isn’t your average foodie writing packed full of cutting edge expressions and thoughts on emulsions. In these pages, printed on FSC certified paper, you will find great recipes like “Pigeon eye with spinage” (Recipes From the White Hart Inn, William Verrall, originally published 1759), and lines as good as, “Seeds must be gathered in fair weather, at the wane of the moon…” (The Well Kept Kitchen, Gervase Markham, originally published 1615).

Bon appetit!

Available from Penguin Books, $12 per title.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

The post Lustables: Great Food Book Series appeared first on EcoSalon.

A roundup of some of our favorite food related articles.

It’s no secret: here at EcoSalon we’re big on food. Eating it, dreaming about it, cooking it, reading about it, thinking about it, talking about it, and writing about it. We even have two weekly columns devoted to all things culinary. Why? Because no matter who we are or where we live, we all must eat.

Food touches so many aspects of our lives, far beyond just the dinner table. It’s intertwined in culture and politics, economy and tradition. What lettuce we buy at the grocery store can affect a farmer, a town and a watershed on the other side of the country. What country is marked on our bag of coffee can indicate how workers are treated. How much we eat and how much we throw away, says a lot about our consumer culture as a whole, and the lack thereof in other regions.

Given all of that, what we eat, where it comes from and how we eat it is in fact one of the greater defining factors of who we are as a society and how we think about the world and our fellow human beings. But food is also fun, and it’s an ongoing adventure to identify new things to eat and how to cook things, or to simply be reminded of a product that we may have overlooked.

In honor of food, and given that it’s the season for dinner parties and farmers market strolls, here are the top 10 food stories that you may have missed the first time around but are certainly worth a read, be they thought provoking political pieces, or just reminders of why we love food:

1. What Does $20 Billion in Wasted Food Look Like?

Did you know that in Britain alone $20 billion worth of food is wasted per year? That equals out to about a third of Britain’s groceries. But what exactly does $20 billion in food waste look like? The real visual just might get you seriously thinking about what food you keep and what food you throw away.

2. The Sexual Politics of Dinner

I grew up with a mother that made fantastic meals, in fact she is truly a lover of good food. Sometimes cooking is simply a task that needs to be completed, and when it comes down to it, men and women approach that task differently.

3. Living in Sin With Breads from Berlin

Bread. Good old bread. Gluten-free may be the current mantra of many, but this article is a good reminder that, serious food allergies aside, we shouldn’t be afraid of real food. Check out the complete list of fresh-baked, dark-brown breads and why they have a culinary, and nutritional, advantage.

4. What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Us

Most of us are well aware that vegetables are better than fries and whole grains far outweigh their processed counterparts, but how much do we really know about what we eat? Nutrition fads draw attention, but it turns out, that in seducing us with things like “fat free” and “low sodium,” we’re distracted from what’s really good for us, and the choices that we make because of it, could be detrimental.

5. 10 Street Eats

What’s a better way to explore a new place than by its food? The Green Plate columnist Vanessa Barrington takes us on a tour of 10 street foods, from Banh Mi to Burek, complete with recipes for those of us with minimal travel plans on the summer to do list.

6. Boost Your Brain With the 20 Smartest Foods on Earth

If these 20 foods aren’t on your “Keep on hand at all times” list, they should be. From avocados to oysters to eggs, these are the foods that make for powerful brain boosters and you should be putting on your daily, or weekly, menu.

7. No Excuses, Just Vegetables

A guest post from urban gardening extraordinaire Mike Lieberman, this article is a great reminder as to why we should all be making an effort to be growing more vegetables at home. Lieberman outlines the first important steps to home gardening, and highlights the most important: no excuses. Just do it!

8. The Facts About Food Dyes

Hold the sprinkles, please. Food dyes may have more side effects than you think. Linked to allergies, cancers and even hyperactivity, you may want to rethink what colorful items you’re putting in the pantry.

9. The Conscious Case Against Veganism

A vegan turned omnivore posits why the sustainable path may not lead to veganism, eliciting plenty of thoughts and comments from the EcoSalon community. The moral? “Conscientious consumption means eating and living ethically, not religiously.”

10. Just Cook: How to Integrate Cooking Into Your Daily Life

With all this talk of food, what’s the most basic way we can have an impact: cook consciously. Cooking keeps us from processed foods, saves us money and gets us to eat healthier. So what’s stopping you? Read this hassle free guide to ensuring that cooking – and cooking well – becomes a part of your everyday routine.

Image: Anna Brones

The post Top 10 Stories in Food You May Have Missed appeared first on EcoSalon.