Please take some time and read the full article here, it is really long and actually has two parts! I have extracted my favorite sections and it is still very long. I have left out some of the very interesting examples of traditional societies foods, as well as the history and description of how vegetable oils are hydrogenated and the history of the McGovern Committee. I do recommend you read the full article:

Secrets of the Edible Oil Industry by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig

While turn-of-the-century mortality statistics are unreliable, they consistently indicate that heart disease caused no more than 10 per cent of all deaths – considerably less than infectious diseases such as pneumonia and tuberculosis. By 1950, coronary heart disease (CHD) was the leading source of mortality in the United States, causing more than 30 per cent of all deaths.

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Although my partner grumbles and complains to high heaven about the smell while I am making kimchi, he usually eats it up and wants more. I have taken out the chilis for this recipe of kimchi and added in burdock root, so it isn’t by any means an authentic Korean kimchi, but we like it. It also makes a quick salad when added to steamed broccoli and sunflower seeds, then tossed in olive oil.

Makes about 2 quart jars (depending on size of cabbage)

Brine:

• 1 litre filtered water
• 4 T himalayan or sea salt

Vegetables:

• 1 medium napa cabbage, shredded
• 6 medium organic carrots, grated
• 1 large daikon radish, julienned
• 3 medium burdock roots, julienned

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We began the GAPS diet (or enhanced Specific Carbohydrate Diet) in February, so we have now been on it for more than six months. The difference is remarkable. I have sent in for another hair analysis so I can compare the result with the test I did last November. All of our conditions have not completely disappeared. We have had to do a fair amount of travelling earlier this year and it has been difficult to maintain full control over everything that goes into our mouth on those occasions, but on the whole we have done very well.

The hardest thing about this diet is that it makes it very difficult to socialize. We can’t really go out to eat, go over to peoples houses to eat or even out for a couple drinks. We have started to drink Bloody Mary’s on occasion, as they seem to be relatively harmless. Beer or wine or anything sweetened just does us in. Going out to restaurants is a real pain too as you can never really be sure what is in a dressing or soup or whatnot unless you really know the place you are eating at is dedicated to real food. It was surprisingly easy in LA to go out to eat, and I think the gluten-free fad has really taken off all of a sudden, so I think it will get easier as well, perhaps grain-free will catch on by default!

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I recently came across the organization NextCourse in my travels on the web. As they say, San Francisco is indeed at the forefront of improvement and ever since Alice Waters started the Edible Schoolyards project in 1995, I have been very excited with what is going on down there. Next Course includes a project for teaching women in prisons and half-way houses basic skills in identifying good food, helping them shop at local farmers markets, as well as training them in the variety of ways to prepare foods.

I was born in Berkeley so I confess to getting a bit of patriotic-type pride going when I think about Alice Waters. She is my original chef hero and if it hadn’t been for her ideals and the things she has created to help and improve the situation of the people around her, first locally and then onto the National and International scale, I would have had a lot less faith in humanity and our ability to get past this stupid economy and world we have greedily created to the happy existence for everybody that many of us are currently creating, (or at least thinking about creating).

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I have pulled out some excerpts from Sema: Human Being in the Universal Movement (Text by Dr. Celaleddin Celebi, illustrations by Ingrid Schaar) which will help to explain the Sema Ceremony of whirling. At the end it explains briefly how to twirl like a dervish and tap into the energy of nature, please read the full article with an in depth explanation here.

Sema is part of the inspiration of Mevlana Jalaluddin-i Rumi (1207- 1273) as well as of Turkish custom, history, beliefs and culture.

The fundamental condition of our existence is to revolve. There is no object, no being which does not revolve and the shared similarity among beings is the revolution of the electrons, protons and neutrons in the atoms, which constitute the structure of each of them. As a consequence of this similarity, everything revolves and man carries on his live, his very existence by means of the revolution in the atoms, structural stones of his body, by the revolution of his blood, by his coming from the earth and return to it, by his revolving with earth itself.

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The Internet Celebrities bring you the amazing Bronx bodega and how to get a full three-four course meal for $1.25! One of them even keeps within the ‘yellow food group’ and they release a whole new food pyramid for bodega shoppers (by the way you can buy a t-shirt with this food pyramid on it here–I want one!). Take a second and check out this amazing video…

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This last weekend I discovered some disgusting brown turd looking stuff on my towels in the shelf by the bathroom. Looking at the shelf above I found an old can of corned beef someone had ‘donated’ to us when we first moved to Vancouver and could barely pay rent. I guess the seal had broken a bit and the juices were ooozing out everywhere. Yuck! These days we don’t often get to see bad food as the food industry has gotten everything wrapped up so tight in plastic and irradiation to death to try to convince us it is somehow better. But I have been documenting some bad food for a few years now and it is time for me to share my photos.

If you ever get a can that is swollen like this can of tomato paste I discovered in the pantry of the British Ambassador to Myanmar — throw it away instantly. This is most likely caused by botulism which is very deadly and likes to grow in anaerobic conditions.

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I have been reading The One-Straw Revolutionby Masanobu Fukuoka over the last year. It is a small book, but each essay/teaching/experience/chapter packs a powerful punch and I have taken my time, savoring each section. Usually I am quite greedy when I read a book and devour it too quickly, but this book is one that makes you see things from another direction entirely and it takes a while to allow the ideas to settle in, in fact you just want to take as much time as possible when reading this book.

I highly recommend this book. Masanobu Fukuoka was a remarkable man and I have only come to know about him and is work in the last couple years. Please enjoy the following excerpt from the chapter entitled A Village Without War and Peace by Masanobu Fukuoka:

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As you can tell from the poll on our homepage (please take a second to vote if you haven’t already , I am a bit of a fan of street vendors, illegal or otherwise since legal and illegal can vary quite a bit depending on what country you are in. I would love to sell some food in the park, so I listen and my eyes glimmer with bright green envy when I hear people tell their tales. I have made a deal with a vibrant lass from New Zealand here in Vancouver to start up a underground restaurant, so we will keep you all posted on that, but in the meantime I would like to share this experience a friend had in Portland with her curbside cuisine

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I discovered this, written by a Shaker while I was studying at the Culinary Institute of America. One of the most fantastic aspects of that school is the huge library they have of culinary works from across the centuries. I was writing a paper on the Shakers. When I first read this I got goose bumps and my spine shivered.

Unfortunately the people who are in positions of power currently in our world are generally on pretty bad diets. Couple that with high stress lifestyles and we have a perfect recipe for paranoid, grumpy and negative thinking personalities. Is it really such a good idea to let people like this run our world? The following, written by a Western Plowman and published in The Shaker Manifesto of September of 1883, lays this out in clear language.

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