FOODWORTHY

Bored at work?  Convinced that you have conquered the World Wide Web and there is no site left unvisited?  Answer trivia questions at FreeRice and feed someone in need.  Run by the United Nations World Food Program, FreeRice is a non-profit website that seeks to end hunger through advertising.  Here’s how it works:  For every trivia question answered correctly corporate sponsors will donate 10 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program.  While an amount so small may not sound impressive, depending on how many you choose to answer, the program will donate up to 5,000 grains a day per person.  Coupled with the number of people worldwide accessing FreeRice and the impact becomes astounding (44 million grains in 2008).  Topics range from art, chemistry, vocabulary, math, geography, and language.

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Here are some examples of where FreeRice rice has been distributed:

• In Bangladesh, to feed 27,000 refugees from Myanmar for two weeks.
• In Cambodia, to provide take-home rations of four kilograms of rice for two months to 13,500 pregnant and nursing women.
• In Uganda, to feed 66,000 school children for a week.
• In Nepal, to feed over 108,000 Bhutanese refugees for three days.
• In Bhutan, to feed 41,000 children for 8 days.
• In Myanmar, to feed 750,000 cyclone affected people for 3 days.

I have found two great sources for anyone interested in entering a cooking contest.  

Foodreference.com & Contest Cook

TRASH DONKEY BY KRISTINA JUG

While people love to talk about the importance of where our food comes from, where our food goes seems to have been somewhat ignored.  The New York Times has an article on America’s self-indulgent relationship with food.  It will probably blow your mind, befuddle, and enrage you all at once to know the amount of food that Americans throw out in a single year.  Oh, I’ll just tell you – 27% of all food available for consumption ends up as waste.  And before you scream that there are starving people in Africa who would gladly take that food, hold up, the news gets worse.  Due to lack of technology and infrastructure, some parts of Africa see 25% or more of their usable crops go to waste before they even have a chance to be eaten.  It’s a great article.  Depressing, but great.  Read it.

However, there’s always a silver lining and that silver lining is Jonathan Bloom.  He has decided to devote his attention to the topic at wastedfood.  Described as part blog and part call to action, his website came about in 2005 after volunteering at D.C Central Kitchen.  There’s a wonderful section with tips on how to reduce one’s waste and, in turn, consumption.

Actually, forget trash being the depressing topic.   Check out the hooves on that donkey.

moo

If we can have our pizza delivered in less than 30 minutes, why can’t the food we eat come from farms just as near?  Epicurious has a neat list of about ten chefs and their restaurants who have made a commitment to sourcing local fruits and vegetables. Click on the photo above for the full article.

The New York Times has a very interesting article on butter and how it can make or break a cookie.  Consider it required reading for any novice baker.

The food of the future has been genetically modified.....

In what is being called ‘a happy accident’, a tomato with three and a half times the average amount of lycopene has been produced by a team of Purdue University scientists.  Read the full article at the UK’s Daily Mail.