A great animated version of Food Rules by Michael Pollan

Check out this great animation created by Marija Jacimovic in the context of the RSA/Nominet Trust film competition. If you liked it, please vote for us at thersa.org/film-competition!

"Food Rules" by Michael Pollan - RSA/Nominet Trust competition from Marija Jacimovic on Vimeo.

Here are more details about the animation:
Based on Michael Pollan's talk "Food Rules" given at the RSA, this animation was created in the context of the RSA/Nominet Trust film competition. Using a mixture of stop-motion and compositing, our aim and challenge was to convey the topic in a visually interesting way using a variety of different food products. We made a little table top set up at home and worked on this a little over three weeks.

Here are some photos of Food Rules in the making
flickr.com/photos/horror_vacui/sets/72157629336379435/

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant trees for your books!

Monday's green books series: Food, Inc.

Today on our green book review we open our shopping bag and refrigerators and try to figure out how come food became such a problem in the last decades and what we can do about it!

Our book today is:

Food Inc.: A Participant Guide: How Industrial Food is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer-And What You Can Do About It

Author: Karl Weber (editor)

Karl Weber is a writer and editor based in New York. He collaborated with Muhammad Yunus on his bestseller Creating a World Without Poverty, edited The Best of I. F. Stone, and, with Andrew W. Savitz, co-authored The Triple Bottom Line: How Today's Best-Run Companies Are Achieving Economic, Social, and Environmental Success— And How You Can Too.

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published on: May 2009

What this book is about? (from the the publisher's website)

Food, Inc. is guaranteed to shake up our perceptions of what we eat. This powerful documentary deconstructing the corporate food industry in America was hailed by Entertainment Weekly as "more than a terrific movie—it's an important movie." Aided by expert commentators such as Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, the film poses questions such as: Where has my food come from, and who has processed it? What are the giant agribusinesses and what stake do they have in maintaining the status quo of food production and consumption? How can I feed my family healthy foods affordably?

Expanding on the film's themes, the book Food, Inc. will answer those questions through a series of challenging essays by leading experts and thinkers. This book will encourage those inspired by the film to learn more about the issues, and act to change the world.

What we think about it?
I am happy I saw the film Food, Inc. first as it gave me a good context and some background that I found helpful when reading the book. I think that no matter how much we're talking and debating about clean energy, food still remains the most interesting and fascinating issue in the green economy. This book is another proof of it.

The book, which is presenting 13 essays, includes some familiar names such as Erich Schlosser, Michael Pollan, Gary Hirshberg, Muhammad Yunus and others. But at the same time you'll find there essays of Arturo Rodrigez, President of United Farm Workers (UFW) and author Peter Pringle which are less known to the public (at least to me) when it comes to the debate on food issues.

This variety of authors as well as the variety of issues creates a comprehensive guide that covers all the main issues that influence and are influenced by the food industry. And we defenitely need such a comprehensive analysis to get a better understanding how a society (the Western society in general and the American society in particular) allows itself to get to this point where most of us eat food that is making us like the title says "sicker, fatter and poorer". It looks like only the tobacco industry managed to generate a more difficult riddle.

Food, Inc. does not have all the answers, but it's defenitely not just about pointing fingers at the problems, but also provides directions and alternatives to the status quo, such as the ones offered by Joel Salatin in his essay "Declare Your Independence."

The picture you get from the book is a very disturbing one, but it doesn't mean you can't read it and feel more optimistic. You definitely can. Actually if there is a reason to be optimistic about the future of the food industry it is the voices you hear on this book of some of the best minds around, who are all devoted to make sure our plates will be again a source of joy, but a real one this time.

Bottom Line: Go see the movie, then read the book and then go to buy your groceries. Actually, just like Michael Pollan suggested in his famous quote not to eat too much ("Eat food, not too much, mostly plants"), I would suggest to read this book in small portions. And not because it's not worthy to read it all at once - it certainly is. It's because I believe it's important to remember the book and its lessons every time we go to shop for food. I can assure you it won't spoil your appetite or your shopping experience - that's not the book's intention. What it will do is helping you to make knowledgeable and better choices once you're in the store, reminding you of the real world behind the packaging illusions you see on the shelves.

You can read more on Hungry For Change, Food Inc.'s blog - http://www.takepart.com/blog/tag/hungry-for-change/

If you're looking for other interesting green-themed books, you are invited to check out our green books page on our website's green resources section.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green reading

The censor's dilemma?

Yes, censorship is still here and it even can be used against one of the most interesting and successful green books - The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

Thanks to Tom Laskawy of Grist I learned that it seems like The Omnivore's Dilemma is being censored at Washington State University (WSU). The story is that WSU officials decided to cancel Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma as the common reading assignment for freshman orientation next year, with hints that pressure from Washington agribusiness interests may have been behind the cancellation.

As reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education, "an explanation on the university's Web site is vague and implies the withdrawal of the book was due to budget constraints. But some people on the campus say that the university, which has a prominent agriculture college, bowed to pressure from agribusiness interests. They also question the budget argument, noting that the university has already purchased more than 4,000 copies of the book."

But is it really about money? The Chronicle also reports that "In an e-mail message to The Chronicle, Patricia Freitag Ericsson, an assistant professor of rhetoric and professional writing who also sits on the implementation committee, said that in a meeting on May 4, an administrator told panel members that the common-reading program would be canceled, in large part because of political pressure arising from this year's book choice."

If the cancellation is really due to such a pressure of local powerful agribusiness this is really a shame, given the importance of the book and the fact that many members of Congress were carrying copies of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma" as recently reported on the New York Times. Maybe the agribusiness weren't acting fast enough in the Capitol..

In any event, it looks to me that like in many other cases, these efforts will eventually fail and only push more students at WSU to read this great book to learn what is this book that the university doesn't want them to read.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Green Options - Eat Food. Not Too Much. Translated.

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, today's post was originally published by Beth Bader on Eat.Drink.Better. Though today's post is not directly related to books, you will see that it is corresponding with Michael Pollan's great books.

So, when Michael Pollan set forth his short mantra on food, what did it all actually mean when you go to fill your dinner plate? For starters, we eat too much in general, and too much of the wrong things. Following are some very specific guidelines on actual portion sizes, and tips on eating right without dieting. I hate dieting.

First, some general "gut checks" you should keep in mind daily:

• How many servings of each type of food we should eat each day


• All the different colors and kinds of veggies, and if you are eating a variety


• Small meals and healthy snacks work best for moderating blood glucose levels


• When is best to eat, and what combinations of foods are best for you (eating proteins with carbs to balance sugars for diabetics, for example)


• The true size of a portion, and sticking to it


• The tremendous amount of healthy food you can eat for the same amount of calories as a small bit of unhealthy food

These are good considerations. The trouble is, it is hard to do all that portion size measuring and planning when you are a busy mom. I mean, if I had that much time, I'd just work out more and keep eating ice cream. That's what always worked for me when I had time to work out and before I found out I have high cholesterol.

So, based on this here's my easy plan, my visual food mantra. See the plate photo at the top of the post? It's a normal size plate. I will not overload it or mound the servings to the rim. I will have three of these a day with half the plate holding fruit and veggies, one-fourth the plate holding a lean meat or vegetable protein, and the other fourth holding a whole grain.

Note that the meat/protein is NOT the main course, and not the largest section of the plate. We eat too much meat for health reasons and environmental reasons, and it's time to change that focus of the American plate.

I have to make adjustments for things like pasta dishes and other combination dishes. If I get hungry, I'll try to have a healthy snack. I will aim for 5-9 servings of vegetables and fruits per day, more veggies than fruit. I will try to make sure most, if not all, of my fats are healthy fats.

It won't work every day. I know this because I am a realist. But, I will aim to make it happen most of the time. And I will try to remember my portion sizes.

Some examples:

• One serving of meat/protein = 3 oz.


• One serving of vegetable = 1/2 cup cooked or 1 cup raw


• One serving of fruit = examples are 1 small apple, or 1 cup berries, or 1/4 cup dried fruit


• Grains/Legumes/Starches = 1/3 cup cooked pasta, or 1/2 cup mashed potato, 1 slice whole grain bread (note that potatoes are not in the vegetable category).


• Milk/Dairy = 1 cup skim, or 3-4 oz. yogurt, 1 oz. cheese

Surprised? Portions really aren't as big as what we think. Certainly not what's packaged or served to us in a restaurant.

Oh yeah, ketchup? Does not count as a vegetable. Sorry, but no way, unless you eat half a cup of ketchup. Fries count as a starchy vegetable, not a vegetable. Ready for this? You only get 10-15 fries per serving. That's like the corner of the supersize box, you know? Or maybe just licking the grease off the bottom of the carton even. Which is just plain disgusting. Fast food in general is pretty disgusting. I make my own baked sweet potato fries instead.

That serving of protein? It's less than the size of a "quarter-pounder." Child-size servings are even smaller. Around our house, as a family of three, we eat about 3 lbs. or less of meats per week. This means we eat at least two meals per week with a non-meat protein. I've also made it a habit to source those meats (and eggs and milk) we do eat direct from farmers that I know personally. It's reassuring to know the meat is safe and healthier for us and for the environment.

I pack our lunches every day to save money and to make sure we are all eating healthy foods. It takes effort to do all your own cooking, but after all the meat recalls and issues, I would not have it any other way.

As far as number of servings of each food type to eat daily, the food guide pyramid is a good resource — if you can decipher the new food pyramid diagram, that is. Luckily, they have a handy calculator on the site. It also has tracking tools and a worksheet if you are more interested.

It's not a bad idea to check these guidelines out since this is the kind of plan that school lunches will be based on if they ever update the guidelines from the 70s. These are basic, healthy eating guidelines. It is not a diet. I hate diets. Almost as much as I hate sit ups.

Because I also hate to count servings (and don't have time), I will just stick to my plate, eat a lot of different colors of fruits and veggies, and take the stairs. And, yeah, once in a while, I'm still going to eat ice cream and chocolate. Because I am a realist, and I really love ice cream almost as much as I hate sit ups.

Michael Pollan at OrganicallySpeaking

Hi,

I just wanted to pass on this very interesting podcast interview at OrganicallySpeaking.org that I just listened to. Michael Pollan is the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, published April 2006 by the Penguin Press. If you are in any way into organic food, nutrition and our food chain, and haven't yet read it, do consider adding it to your BookMooch wish list :)

Have a great weekend!
Eylon @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a Tree for Every Book you Read!