day 40. july 10. 2010. July 10, 2010

Another fishy story:

The (US) Food and Drug Administration is seriously considering whether to approve the first genetically engineered animal that people would eat — salmon that can grow at twice the normal rate.  The salmon’s approval would help open a path for companies and academic scientists developing other genetically engineered animals, like cattle resistant to mad cow disease or pigs that could supply healthier bacon.  Next in line behind the salmon for possible approval would probably be the “enviropig,” developed at a Canadian university, which has less phosphorus pollution in its manure.

The salmon was developed by a company called AquaBounty Technologies and would be raised in fish farms. It is an Atlantic salmon that contains a growth hormone gene from a Chinook salmon as well as a genetic on-switch from the ocean pout, a distant relative of the salmon.  Normally, salmon do not make growth hormone in cold weather. But the pout’s on-switch keeps production of the hormone going year round. The result is salmon that can grow to market size in 16 to 18 months instead of three years, though the company says the modified salmon will not end up any bigger than a conventional fish.

Under a policy announced in 2008, the F.D.A. is regulating genetically engineered animals as if they were veterinary drugs and using the rules for those drugs. And applications for approval of new drugs must be kept confidential by the agency.

Critics say the drug evaluation process does not allow full assessment of the possible environmental impacts of genetically altered animals and also blocks public input. Some of these government officials and executives said that F.D.A. officials had discussed internally whether the salmon could be labeled to give consumers the choice of avoiding them.  The government has in the past opposed mandatory labeling of foods from genetically engineered crops and animals merely because genetic engineering was used. Foods must be labeled, it says, only if they are different in their nutritional properties or other characteristics. Virtually all Atlantic salmon now comes from fish farms, not the wild.

The F.D.A. must also decide on the environmental risks from the salmon. Some experts have speculated that fast-growing fish could out-compete wild fish for food or mates.   Mr. Stotish said the salmon would be grown only in inland tanks or other contained facilities, not in ocean pens where they might escape into the wild. And the fish would all be female and sterile, making it impossible for them to mate.

day 39. july 9. 2010. July 9, 2010

End times for Tuna?

The Atlantic bluefin tuna, a fish that when prepared as sushi is one of the most valuable forms of seafood in the world. It’s also a fish that regularly journeys between America and Europe and whose two populations, or “stocks,” have both been catastrophically overexploited. The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, one of only two known Atlantic bluefin spawning grounds, has only intensified the crisis. By some estimates, there may be only 9,000 of the most ecologically vital megabreeders left in the fish’s North American stock, enough for the entire population of New York to have a final bite (or two) of high-grade otoro sushi. The Mediterranean stock of bluefin, historically a larger population than the North American one, has declined drastically as well. Indeed, most Mediterranean bluefin fishing consists of netting or “seining” young wild fish for “outgrowing” on tuna “ranches.”

Global seafood consumption has increased consistently to the point where we now remove more wild fish and shellfish from the oceans every year than the weight of the human population of China. This latest surge has taken us past the Age of Cod and landed us squarely in the Age of Tuna. Fishing has expanded over the continental shelves into the international no-man’s territory known as the high seas — the ocean territory that begins outside of national “exclusive economic zones,” or E.E.Z.’s, usually 200 nautical miles out from a country’s coast, and continues until it hits the E.E.Z. of another country. The high seas are owned by no one and governed by largely feeble multinational agreements. According to the Sea Around Us project of the University of British Columbia’s Fisheries Center, catches from the high seas have risen by 700 percent in the last half-century, and much of that increase is tuna. Moreover, because tuna cross so many boundaries, even when tuna do leave the high seas and tarry in any one nation’s territorial waters (as Atlantic bluefin usually do), they remain under the foggy international jurisdiction of poorly enforced tuna treaties.

The essentially ownerless nature of tuna has led to the last great wild-fish gold rush the world may ever see. The most noticeable result of this has been the decline of the giant Atlantic bluefin tuna. But the Atlantic bluefin is just a symptom of a metastasizing tuna disease. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization reports that 7 of the 23 commercially fished tuna stocksare overfished or depleted. An additional nine stocks are also threatened. The Pew Environment Group’s tuna campaign asserts that “the boats seeking these tuna are responsible for more hooks and nets in the water than any other fishery.”

Tuna then are both a real thing and a metaphor. Literally they are one of the last big public supplies of wild fish left in the world. Metaphorically they are the terminus of an idea: that the ocean is an endless resource where new fish can always be found. In the years to come we can treat tuna as a mile marker to zoom past on our way toward annihilating the wild ocean or as a stop sign that compels us to turn back and radically reconsider.

You can read the full story in the NYTimes here.

day 34. july 4. 2010. July 4, 2010

Did you know that Adam and Eve were vegan? I was pretty shocked when I read this more carefully:

“Then God said, ” Behold, I’ve given you every sort of seed bearing plant on Earth, And every kind of fruit bearing tree, given them to you for food. To all animals and all birds, everything that moves and breathes, I give whatever grows out of the ground for food. God looked over everything He had made, and it was so good, so very good!” Genesis 1:29-31

day 26. june 26. 2010. June 26, 2010

Not only do I love food, but I have also been afflicted with a wicked sweet tooth. There aren’t a lot of really great vegan sweets, and since I’ve also been avoiding any type of white sugar or fructose-glucose, I have taken it upon myself to make my own!

If you have a food processor these are super easy:

• a bunch of dried pitted honey dates
• raw almonds
• raw pumpkin seeds
• unsweetened coconut
• dried unsweetened cranberries
• unsweetened cocoa to taste
• water

Blend in the food processor until all the ingredients are a wet lumpy mush. (YUM!) Fold in ground flax seed and hemp seeds until the mixture is firm enough to roll into balls. Then roll into balls. Roll balls in shredded unsweetened coconut and place in fridge until firm. Eat when having a sweet tooth craving. Perfect!

day 22. june 22. 2010. June 22, 2010

The Vegan Food Pyramid.

day 17. june 17. 2010. June 17, 2010

So my first vegan meal after ‘THE VIDEO’ was the most delicious lentil burgers EVER. Homemade. From scratch. YUM. This recipe came to me via my “Whole Foods Market Recipes” iPhone App.

Ingredients

1 pound (1 1/2 cups) red lentils
5 cups water, salted
1 cup minced onion (1 medium)
1/2 cup minced carrot (1 large)
2 teaspoons (2 cloves) minced garlic  (I love garlic so I used MUCH more!)
Olive oil for the skillet
2 cups chopped crimini mushrooms
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
10 ounces firm tofu, pureed in a blender

Method

In a large pot, simmer the lentils in salted water until tender. Drain and cool.

In a large skillet, sauté the onion, carrot and garlic in 1 teaspoon olive oil until tender, about 2 minutes

Add the mushrooms, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until mushrooms are tender and liquid has evaporated, approximately 5 minutes, and allow to cool.

Add the bread crumbs, lemon juice, pureed tofu, 2 tablespoons olive oil and cooked lentils and mix to combine. Transfer to a large bowl. Chill for 30 minutes and then shape into 8 patties.

Pan fry in olive oil in a large skillet until each side is crisp and golden. Finish in a 350°F oven if necessary to heat through.

day 15. june 15. 2010. June 15, 2010

Vegan.

Often, eyebrows raise. “What….”, s/he paused, “um… brought that on?”

I know, I know. It seems an extreme position to take. Well, you tell me what you would do after watching this video:

narrated by Alec Baldwin. VERY convincing voice he has.