For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

Exceptional reading this week. Whatever you do, don’t miss Michael Ruhlman’s calling BS on the food industry deceiving us into believing we’re too busy to cook. There’s also new data suggesting your genes may determine what diet suits you best (healthstyle anyone?) and important news for diabetics taking vitamin B supplements.

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For complete reading lists join me on the social bookmarking sites StumbleUpon and Delicious. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you there. (Note: If you want a follow back on Twitter introduce yourself with an @ message).

Links of the week

• Message to Food Editors: What 30-Minute Meals Really Mean <<Please read this, it isn’t long and it is important. Michael Ruhlman does a fantastic job of explaining how absurd it is that Americans have stopped making food (i.e. health, family, culture) a priority as essential as showering, sleeping and spending time with family. You do have time to cook and eat well–it doesn’t take much. (Huffington Post)
• Fructose: poison or nutrient (or both)? <<People love to make a huge fuss over specific nutrients, but we would be much better off (and less stressed) keeping things in perspective. This is a great example of why. (Nutrition Data)
• 10 Tasty and Healthy Store-Bought Snacks <<BS of the week. Chips, pretzels and ice cream are “healthy”? Seriously SELF editor-in-chief? (Yahoo! Health)
• Individual Response to Weight-Loss Diet May Depend on Genes <<Though we still do not completely understand the interactions between diet and genetics, I can’t imagine how this wouldn’t be true. We have different eye, hair and skin colors. Why would we all metabolize foods exactly the same? Especially since we already know metabolism changes with muscle/fat mass. This is why it is so important to 1) not be dogmatic about diets and 2) find your own healthstyle. (Diabetic Mediterranean Diet Blog)
• Want college students to eat better? Try appealing to their sense of the greater good <<When food is a priority people make healthier choices. Turns out this is much more effective than teaching people about nutrition. Knowing facts is good, but caring is better. (Los Angeles Times)
• Kids Buy More Salad If You Put It Under Their Noses. This Is News? <<Not surprisingly, kids are a bit easier to manipulate than college students. Put healthy food in front of them and they’re 300% more likely to eat it. (Tree Hugger)
• Your chance to tell the FDA what you think of food-package labels <<My vote: tell them to ban them. Front of package food labels only serve to trick consumers into believing processed foods have nutritional value. They say these are “smarter food choices” but the smartest choices are in the produce aisle (or out of the store completely) and don’t have labels. (Los Angeles Times)
• Diabetics should not take high doses of vitamin B, researchers say <<”Rather than reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke, the vitamins appear to actually increase it, the researchers said.” Oops. (Los Angeles Times)
• Whole Grains Reduce Heart Attacks and Strokes <<Not particularly surprising, though I know some of you still don’t believe this. The study is a review of the science and is pretty reliable, though most of the experiments don’t even account for differences between intact grains and whole grains. (Diabetic Mediterranean Diet Blog)
• How to pick, store and cook peas <<Peas are such a springtime treat. Here’s some useful tips to make the most of them, with a recipe. (SFGate)
• Cabbage and lime salad with roasted peanuts <<This recipe looks so fresh, delicious and seasonal. Yum. (smitten kitchen)

What inspired you to eat well this week?

Strawberries

Today is the first truly nice warm day of the year, so I am not going to spend the rest of it writing this blog post. Instead I am going to quickly mention what’s hot at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and let the pictures speak for themselves. Then I’m going outside to enjoy the sunshine!

First Pick Organic Strawberries

Rhubarb

Strawberries ruled the market today. They are officially everywhere and consistently delicious. I bought these lovely stemmed berries from Lucero Organic Farms, which has recently moved into the former slot of Ella Bella farms (source of the now infamous “Please don’t squeeze our tomatoes” photo I love to use). It turns out Ella Bella has relocated to Hawaii; I am a little heart broken.

Morel mushrooms finally dropped below $40/lb, so I gave in and bought some (don’t worry, they don’t weigh very much).

English Shelling Peas

Tree Tomato and Lemon

Tamarillos, or tree tomatoes, made an appearance today as well. They didn’t seem particularly ripe so I didn’t buy them, but it is an exciting prospect that they are back already.

English shelling peas and fava beans are both at the height of season right now. This week I chose the peas, since they are a little easier to work with. Fava beans will have to wait until next week.

Chili Powder

Huge Leeks

Marin Roots Farm has kale rabe, which you could describe as a being similar to broccoli except ridiculously beautiful. The kind I bought is purple.

Eggs from Happy Quail Farms are back.

Jumbo leeks seem to be all the rage.

I bought tomatoes!!!! I got some yellow ones and a few heirlooms because they finally smelled good enough to eat. I couldn’t resist and had one for lunch today. They could be sweeter, but what Bruins Farms is offering is already vastly superior to anything you can get in a grocery store.

Hint of the day: The line at the Acme bread stand in the back is much shorter than the line inside the Ferry Building.

Purchases:

• English shelling peas (Iacopi Farms)
• Strawberries (Lucero Organic Farms)
• Morel mushrooms (Far West Fungi)
• Ramps (Far West Fungi)
• Red kale rabe (Marin Roots Farm)
• Eggs (Happy Quail Farms)
• Assorted tomatoes (Bruins Farms)
• New Mexico chili powder (Tierra Vegetables)
• Asparagus (Zuckerman’s Farm)
• Kiwi (Four Sisters Farm)
• Fennel (Star Route Farms)
• Arugula (Star Route Farms)
• Tatsoi (Star Route Farms)
• Thyme (Star Route Farms)
• Swiss chard (Eatwell Farms)
• Meyer lemons (Hamada Farms)
• Tangelos (Hamada Farms)
• Rio grapefruit (Hamada Farms)
• Organic mandarins (Twin Girl Farms)
• Epi loaf (Acme Bread)

Tell us what you found at the market today!