A 90-year-old man in Fort Lauderdale, Florida has vowed to continue feeding the homeless “as long as there is breath in my body,” despite a new city ordinance that bans giving food to the needy in public places. (The aged agitator has already been arrested twice.) Twenty other cities have passed similar measures since January 2013 in order to encourage those in need to seek food from established shelters. Critics say the legislation criminalizes an act of charity and does nothing to solve the fundamental problem of homelessness itself.
After last week’s elections handed Congressional control to the Republicans, President Obama hosted a bipartisan luncheon to discuss the term ahead. On the menu: herb-crusted sea bass, a salad of Bibb lettuce and some pumpkin tart.
The election might have shown that voters still aren’t convinced of the need to mandate GMO labeling on food. Or was it the $36.7 million in anti-labeling efforts by GMO manufacturers?
“Anywhere else in the U.S., a house full of young male college students would probably play fantasy football; we played fantasy farmer.” A humorous look at an urban farm experiment gone wrong.
A study on restaurant transparency found diners rated the quality of their meals higher when cooks could see the customers.
Sales of gluten-free food and drink grew from $5.4 billion to $8.8 billion over the past two years and are projected to grow 20 percent in 2015. You can buy gluten-free dog food and cheese sticks, gluten-free croutons and artisanal fusilli; even communion wafers come sans-gluten. Yet celiac disease only affects about 1 percent of Americans and some doctors don’t even believe “non-celiac gluten sensitivity” is real. So what’s going on? (Don’t expect firm answers.)
A landmark 20-year study of 84,000 farmers and their spouses found a significant correlation between pesticide use and depression. One pesticide increases a farmer’s risk of depression by 90 percent.
Apples are getting so popular that some varieties are now patented and trademarked.
A Danish pediatrician is combating childhood obesity with surprising long-term success by targeting and adjusting some 20 elements of kids’ lifestyles.
A study of elementary school kids in rural Virginia found that students whose parents packed their lunches every day ate less healthily than those who ate school fare.
Unilever-owned Best Foods has filed a false advertising lawsuit against Hampton Creek, the makers of the eggless “Just Mayo” brand, arguing that mayonnaise without eggs isn’t actually mayonnaise.
Finally, Walmart sent a “highly sensitive” memo to store managers asking them to step up performance in the grocery aisle, where customers have complained of less-than-fresh produce and products past their expiration date.