From the category archives:

Brainy

Food literacy, culture and history

Farm camp, 19th century style

August 30, 2011

Tess just spent a week playing a 19th century farm girl. She’s done camps at this living-history museum every summer since she was 4. (You haven’t seen cute until you’ve seen 4-year-olds dressed like Laura Ingalls.) But the previous camps were a little of this, a little of that, a sampler of life in the 1800s. Now that she’s [...]

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(No) Judgment Day. Pass it on.

August 17, 2011

On the road this summer, I was struck, as I always am while traveling, by what other kids eat. For all the junk food in everyday life, there’s something astonishing about vacation. Maybe it’s the sheer volume of really bad food. Or the vacation-treat mentality. Or all those wiped-out parents desperate for something, anything, edible. All I know is that it gets to [...]

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“Food Inc.”: Family viewing?

August 9, 2011

PBS is showing the movie “Food Inc.” tonight. So I’m pulling out a review I wrote when the movie debuted. Have you seen the film? Planning to watch tonight? Maybe recording it to watch later with your kids? (See more about kid viewing below.) You’ll never look at food the same way again. I promise. So watch [...]

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Teachable moments

June 10, 2011

Last day of school. Time for a final salute to my daughter’s terrific first-grade teacher. And to all the other teachers who realize that what kids eat — and what they know about food — matters. Poet Tea, local eats I’ve written about Ms. S before (most notably in this post) and how she just… gets [...]

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Orthorexia vs. chocolate milk:
Will the real eating disorder please stand up?

June 1, 2011

Have you heard of an eating disorder called orthorexia? Translated literally, it means “correct appetite” or “correct eating,” and it’s when people obsess over the “right” foods to the point that it controls their lives and wrecks their health. Orthorexia isn’t new, nor is it recognized as an official disorder. But it’s gotten a lot [...]

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A dye-free future? We decide.

April 22, 2011

In the weeks since the FDA passed the buck on artificial food dyes, there’s been a lot of talk about the studies. Studies that elicit dismissive words like “inconclusive” and “inconsistent.” Or my favorite: “urban legends.” The FDA’s advisory panel, while weighing warning labels for foods containing fake dyes, did acknowledge ill effects in some kids with behavioral problems, and called for more research. [...]

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Eggs and chocolates and dyes, oh my

April 19, 2011

Pretty in pastels. Prettier in pinot? When I wrote about natural egg dyes last spring, I’d just started blogging and I felt compelled to go on a bit about the dangers of artificial food colors. A year later, my position on petrochemical dyes is, um, well-documented. So now I’ll just focus on the fun stuff. [...]

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Spoonfed is on Facebook (woo hoo!)

April 15, 2011

Whether you’re a kid or a blog, turning 1 year old is a big deal, all hoopla and exclaiming about where the time went. So 1 year plus 1 month? That calls for something extra special. Like, say, finally creating a Spoonfed Facebook page. I let Spoonfed’s March 15 anniversary pass quietly, for no other [...]

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Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is back

April 12, 2011

The other night I watched Jamie Oliver on the “Late Show.” At one point, amid cooking, pitching his newest “Food Revolution” and tweaking David Letterman, Oliver got serious and said (to paraphrase): With what we know about food and health, we ought to be doing better by our kids. Anything less is a crime. Lots of [...]

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Progress, not perfection

March 25, 2011

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, even paralyzed, by the state of our food system, the adulteration and deception, the sheer insanity of what the food industry wants us to feed our kids. It’s why a lot of people shut down, look away, give up. Know anybody like that? Been tempted yourself? Watch this. It’s a just-released TEDx talk [...]

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