Two huge new studies further undermine the "obesity paradox"

The "obesity paradox" is the observation that people with higher fat mass sometimes have better health outcomes than lean people, including a lower overall risk of death. Evidence has been steadily mounting that this finding may be a misleading artifact of the methods used to observe it. Two massive new studies add to this evidence.

Read more �

Things to do in July

Dear Food First-ers:



Here a few great upcoming events we thought you might be interested in! Also, stay tuned for some later summer workshops from Food First. 



Grandview Woodlands Food Connection - Garden Party Fundraiser

Thursday, July 7
5:00 - 9:00pm

Britannia Secondary sports field 

Courtesy of: https://gwfoodconnection.wordpress.com 

Gardening and Arthritis: A Workshop from Burnaby Public Library

Monday, July 11
6:00pm
Tommy Douglas Library (7311 Kingsway)

Gardening is a great form of exercise and at this interactive workshop you�ll learn about creative ways that you can make gardening with arthritis easier. This workshop will be presented by the Arthritis Society. Free, but seating is limited. Please register by phone at: 604-522-3971, in-person, or online. 

Courtesy of: www.examiner.com/article/gardening-tips-for-arthritis-sufferers

Seeding the Future: An evening with Vandana Shiva



Dr. Vandana Shiva is a physicist and social activist, widely regarded as the torchbearer of the international sustainable food movement.



Thursday July 14, 2016

8:00pm

St. Andrews Wesley United Church

1022 Nelson St. Vancouver

Tickets: $25

Courtesy of : http://indiansummerfest.ca

Richmond Eats: A Local-Eating Challenge



From August 21 - 27, 2016 Richmond Food Security Society staff and supporters will eat only produce, mean and seafood grown, raised or caught in Richmond (or just off the coast). Details on how you can get involved coming soon! Participation open to those living outside of Richmond. 

Vanilla Pineapple IPA Popsicles | #POPSICLEWEEK

It�s that magical first-week-of-summer time. When everything seems possible, when we shed our winter skins and people ride bikes naked through the streets, the sun sets later and later each night, barbeques and beers on patios are plentiful and stretch past our pre-solstice bed-times, camping plans and picnic plans and beach-day plans are dreamt up and mapped out, and here in the PNW, we wear tank tops and flip flops one day, rainboots and jackets the next, constantly unprepared for the heat or the rain. It�s also the time of year when Billy of Wit & Vinegar hosts Popsicle Week!


Popsicles are one of those things that give me all the nostalgic summertime feels. Childhood memories of being sent outside into the summer heat with frozen orange juice or frozen grape juice on a stick, melting faster than you can eat it. It seems impossible, no matter what sad and awful and hateful and terrible things are happening in the world and the nation and our lives, to not smile when you�re eating a popsicle. Popsicle week came at just the right time this year�I feel like we could all benefit from a few extra, sticky-frozen-sweet smiles this month.    

This popsicle is sort of my ode to the Pacific North Best�a gift to my comrades in the upper left USA who�ve waded through a long, wet, grey, sunless winter. To my fellow Seattleites who know the few months of sunshine we get every summer make the rest of year worth it. It has a bitter hoppy finish that I associate with the northwest. IPAs of course are all over the map, but they feel so PNWonderland to me�piney and woodsy, best accompanied by a flannel shirt, mountains, and evergreen trees. And the pineapple�that�s for those of us who never want to call another place home, but still long for tropical beaches.

I�ve been toying with the idea of a vanilla pineapple IPA beertail for some time now, and with popsicle week here, I decided rather than a cocktail, this would be the perfect popsicle! All the satisfying cool relief and childlike giddiness of eating an icy pop, with the contrast of the sweet tangy pineapple, the warm roundness of vanilla, and the bitter hops that our adult palates have come to know and respect. Note that these aren�t the kind of treats that have a little something for everyone�If you�re not an IPA fan (shame on you) or you�re an actual child, these aren�t the pops for you. There's a real punch in the face IPA-ness about them. Luckily, if you head over to Wit & Vinegar, there are a lot of other options to meet your summer frozen treat needs and wishes.



Why is it impossible to get the sticks in straight!?

Vanilla Pineapple IPA Popsicles
This makes about 1.5 cups more liquid than my 10 popsicle mold could hold. I started to do the maths to cut back, and instead gave up and poured the extra liquid in a glass over ice and was grateful for that decision, instant gratification for those of us that can hardly stand to wait overnight for these pops to freeze. Note that because they contain alcohol, they don't get a really deep freeze, and that makes them melt super fast...but the slushy pop gobbled up really quick before it melted away was my fave part. 

18 oz. pineapple juice *
16 oz (1 pint / 2 cups) IPA **
1 tablespoon agave
1 teaspoon vanilla ***

Whisk ingredients together and pour into popsicle molds. Freeze until solid. Enjoy on a rainy or sunny PNW summer day.

* I used three 6 oz cans of Dole pineapple juice
**I used one from one of my neighborhood breweries� I tried to pick something a little summery and citrusy. If you can get your hands on a citra, that would be the winner
***I used vanilla bean paste, which I think has a deeper vanilla flavor plus I love the specs of vanilla bean (all those little black speckles at the tips of the pops), but regular vanilla extract and/or scraped vanilla bean will work

We're still excited!

Dear Food First-ers:



We're still excited from our Food Forum on June 8th! A big thank you again to everyone that attended, volunteered, donated or participated. We are grateful! There was also lots of 'food for thought' from the many fascinating speakers that took part. 



 A popular topic of the day was Food Waste. To help us understand the problem and what we can do about it as individuals, in our jobs, and in our society Jennifer Rustemeyer was one of our great speakers. She spoke on her recent documentary: Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story. We throw away approximately 40 per cent of food in the garbage! This is a staggering number. 

Credit: Eoghan 

Image from: www.foodwastemovie.com 

Jennifer is also the producer of the 2010 documentary The Clean Bin Project. 



As follow-up to the Forum, Food First will be working on a collaborative 'outcomes and next steps' report that will include a wide range of actions we can all take to improve food security in our community. Food waste will be one of the many topics included. So stay tuned for your opportunity to participate!

One Pot Mexican Pasta

Everyone always assumes that because I write a food blog and cook a lot, my kids must be fabulous eaters.  EHHHHHH.  (That's the sound of an annoying buzzer.)  WRONG!  I have picky, picky eaters.  Right around 18 months, each of them have rejected all foods that are healthy (I'm exaggerating, but you get the picture).  It's hard!  I've felt everything from frustration, anger, shame and embarrassment over it.  But on my good days, I realize... they are still growing, they won't be like this forever, and so I go about trying and sneaking, sneaking and trying.  Trying new foods, and when that doesn't work, sneaking them into their meals.  (*Ordinarily, that photo above would be much more beautiful with cilantro, green onions or jalape�os sprinkled on top... but, green things, yeah.)   

Cue this cheesy, one-pot Mexican pasta with a whole lot of, wait for it, SQUASH!  I sneak frozen squash into the ground turkey and it sort of melts into the dish, creating a slightly sweet counterbalance to the spicier Mexican flavors.  Obviously, the best part about this dish is you can make it in under 30 minutes in ONE pot.  And another great thing about this recipe?  I used Chickpea Pasta for some added protein and fiber, which also makes it gluten-free!  (Of course, you can use any pasta that you would like).  My son and toddler loved it. The stubborn middle child?  Well, we had a 1950's style showdown.  She sat there, crying, begging for a treat, resisting even ONE bite, and I held firm and drank a bottle of rose by myself.  

One Pot Mexican Pasta

Serves 6-8

Printable Recipe

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 lb. ground turkey

1/2 pkg. taco seasoning

12 oz. frozen squash, thawed

8 oz. pasta

2 cups chicken stock

1 8 oz. jar taco sauce

1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the ground turkey, and cook until no longer pink.  Add the taco seasoning and squash, and cook for a few more minutes, until everything is combined.  Add the pasta, chicken stock and taco sauce and bring to a boil.  Stir everything up, cover the pot, lower to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes.  Uncover, add cheese, and simmer until cheese has melted and sauce has thickened.  I added a little more cheese on the top before serving.  Top with anything you like!  

*This sort of tasted like a delicious, homemade Hamburger Helper!  

Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake

When is your birthday?  Is it lumped next to another holiday, like Christmas or Halloween?  My mom's birthday is Cinco de Mayo, which always lands relatively close to Mother's Day.  When we were kids, our neighborhood held a block-wide garage sale, and so just as my mom was attempting to rid her house of junk, we went to other people's homes and bought her junk... for her birthday and Mother's Day... one big lump of junk.  Happy Mothers-Birth-Day!  She really deserves an Oscar for her thank you speeches.  Similarly, Carson's birthday is June 22nd, which usually falls extremely close to - if not on - Father's Day.  I think I have guilt over buying my mom someone else's hand soaps, or worn tennis t-shirts for 75 cents, so I make an EFFORT to separate the two for my husband.  I capitalize "effort" because it's not always easy.  This year for certain reasons we had to celebrate both in one weekend, so I knew I needed to bake an epic cake.    

This cake, THIS CAKE!!!  (Imagine I'm violently shaking your shoulders and shouting in your face.)  It is just absurdly good.  It's my friend Audra's recipe (Audra, it's cool that I call you my friend even though we've never met, right?) and she basically NAILS IT as my son would say.  If you like the chocolate and peanut butter combo, then you will die over this cake.  The chocolate cake layers are perfectly moist, and in between each is a layer of thick chocolate ganache and peanut butter frosting.  Nothing is overly sweet, but it is rich and indulgent and a chocolate lover's dream.  Please bake this for the next lumped celebration in your life, or... for no reason at all.      

Recipe HERE.

Ribeyes and Birch Syrup BBQ sauce for Father's Day on CBC's Weekend Morning Show

 This morning on CBC's Weekend Morning Show with host Terry MacLeod, I presented the following ideas for a Father's Day BBQ with Manitoba Ribeye from Wildfire Farms, and incredible Birch Syrup BBQ Sauce from the Canadian Birch Company, both available readily at the St. Norbert's Farmer's Market.

 

Central ingredient from @CanadianBirchCo in Chef Karen Peters rib eye steak. All their products are amazing. #cbcmb pic.twitter.com/BcUPNrsj8X

� Terry MacLeod (@terrymacleod) June 18, 2016

Father�s Day BBQ!  Easy to impress!

Wildfire Farms Ribeye Steaks (Ribeye is tender and has better flavour as, even though it is low fat, it has more fat than tenderloin so has more flavour.  It is situated next to the tenderloin and, along with Striploin or New York Strip, has the most flavour)Available at the St. Norbert�s Farmer�s Market
Canadian Birch Company BBQ Sauce (http://canadianbirchcompany.com/)Available at the St. Norbert�s Farmer�s Market

Roasted or baked sweet potato (for the meat and potatoes Dad to give better health benefit)
Butter and balsamic drizzled over sweet potato, with a sprinkling of sea salt

Saut�ed mushrooms for steak
crumbled blue cheese for steak. 
Optional:  soft fried egg for on top of steak

Saut� whole or sliced mushrooms in a bit of olive oil or butter.  Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.  Deglaze with White Wine, Mirin or Vermouth.

Enjoy!

Happy Father�s Day!

Spinach and Shrimp Risotto + TODAY

Ohhhh, here we are again.  Morning time.  For those of you with kids, when you hear that pre-6am "mama, mama, mama, mama," do you ever think, hmm, maybe today the breakfast fairy will whisk them out of bed and change their diapers and prepare a meal and I will be able to sleep for another 20 minutes.  Do you ever think that?  Yeah, me neither, that's weird and silly.  Anyways...

We're up!  And it's all good.  I actually needed to get up early to prepare for Father's Day weekend, which is also Carson's birthday weekend, so tonight I'm baking him a cake and I can't wait to share it with you next week.  In the meantime, if you missed my Father's Day segment with Carson on the Today Show yesterday, you can find all the recipes here.  Easy surf and turf... our kind of meal!

p.s.  That is a risotto my mom made while she was visiting last week.  IT WAS DELICIOUS!  She followed this recipe but added peas and pancetta (the latter she cooked in the beginning and added at the end).  I hope you all have lovely weekends celebrating the dads in your lives!  Go dads!  

Thank You!

Burnaby Food First would like to extend a very big thank you to everyone who attend our 'Food Matters: Food for Today & Food for the Future' Forum last week! Attendance was great and we had a lot of fun. Stay tuned for our outcomes report, and follow-up workshops. 



Thank you again as well to our sponsors:

• United Way of the Lower Mainland

• Vancity

• Fraser Health

And thank you to the Burnaby South ACE-IT culinary training program for preparing such amazing food!

Photo Sourced from: http://foodshare.org.au/

Caramelized Mushroom and Onion Mini Tarts

Hello friends.  As I sit here quietly watching the news so that my kids don't hear in the next room, it's hard to find something to say about mushroom and onion tarts.  After a weekend so consumed with death and hate, everything else feels foggy and pointless.  It's so natural to feel enraged, and confused, and sad as hell.  I also feel thankful, for the good, heroic people in this world who rush towards danger to lend a hand, who gather for vigils and memorials, who stand up for love and against hate.  The world keeps turning, even though it may feel completely stuck in place.        

So at your next gathering, look around the room and take in that you're lucky to be present with friends and family.  Surround yourselves with one another, and laughter, and love, and food.  And make these incredibly simple and delicious Caramelized Mushroom and Onion Mini Tarts - I mean, I had to squeeze it in here somewhere.  But honestly, food brings people together.  Food feeds our souls.  Food is love.  Spreading that love today and everyday to all of you!      

Recipe here.

A Serious Challenge to the 2012 Low-carbohydrate "Metabolic Advantage" Study

Warning: this post will be a bit more wonkish than usual, because I need to get detailed to make my points. To read a summary, skip to the end.

In 2012, David Ludwig's group published an interesting RCT that suggested a substantial "metabolic advantage" resulting from a high-protein, very-low-carbohydrate diet (VLC) (1). In other words, this diet led to a higher energy expenditure relative to a normal-protein, low-fat diet (LF) over a one month period (a low-glycemic-load, normal-protein diet was in the middle and not significantly different from the other two). Resting energy expenditure (REE) was slightly but significantly higher on the VLC diet, and total energy expenditure (TEE) was elevated by a whopping 300+ kcal/day! I covered the study at the time, describing it as "fascinating" and "groundbreaking", and calling for the study to be replicated so we can be more confident in its unexpected result (2).

This finding has been used by Ludwig, Gary Taubes, and others to support the carbohydrate-insulin hypothesis of obesity, although there is no evidence that the effect was mediated by insulin, and also no evidence that it was mediated by reduced carbohydrate rather than increased protein (3).

Since I published that post, my confidence in the finding-- and particularly the common interpretation of it that reducing carbohydrate intake to a very low level increases REE and TEE-- has gradually been eroding. This is partially because other studies have generally reported that the carbohydrate:fat ratio of the diet has little or no effect on REE, TEE, or fat storage (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10).

Read more �

Cream Cheese-Filled Banana Bread

Buzzfeed cursed when they wrote about this recipe.  That sold me.  If you're passionate about something to the point of potty words (I'm a mother) than, well, there must be a reason.  And by the way, if I wasn't a mother, and if I wasn't a LADY, I would curse here too telling you about this HEAVENLY BANANA BREAD.  A cream cheese stuffing, that's almost frosting-like (without being overly sweet), and perfectly moist banana bread.  Gosh darnit it's good!!! 

Recipe here.

Just two more sleeps! Food for Today & Food for the Future

Our big event is just two sleeps away! If you haven't registered yet, here is a sneak peak at some of our evening workshops to wet your appetite:

• Container Food Gardening


• Healthy Eating - What's the Problem?


• Bee keping and Pollinators


• Children and Food Security - Making it Fun and Making it Work

For each topic we'll have some hands-on fun, and also discuss the implications of the topic on the wider picture of food security. 

Can't wait! 

We hope to see you there! Click here for more information and to register. 

Herbed Pizzas for CBC's Weekend Morning Show!

This morning I presented some lovely local products for CBC's Weekend Morning Show with host Terry MacLeod.   

This artisan pizza dough from Old Church Bakery, is remarkably light.  It feels as though it would float away.  You don't need to roll it, just press it out with your fingers.

The fresh herbs are wonderful! Fertile Farm has wonderful products at the market.  Grilling the Spring Onions makes them mellow and sweet.  The Sorrel is so lemony, just divine!

Herbed Pizzas

1 bag Artisan Pizza dough (from Old Church Bakery, at St. Norbert�s Market)
olive oil
Spring Onions or Sorrel (from Fertile Farm, at St. Norbert�s Market)
Pesto of choice for sauce.  I�m using basil arugula today, also optional to use only olive oil, salt and pepper
Shaved or grated parmesan cheese

You can bake this on a BBQ grill, with or without a grill sheet.  The Pizza dough is so light, it doesn�t need rolling, just spread it out with your fingers.  Spread on olive oil or pesto to the base of the pizza and top with your favourite toppings.  I love using grilled Spring Onions as it brings out the sweetness of the greens.  I simply drizzled olive oil over the Spring Onions and grilled on the grill sheet until a bit charred.  You can do the same with the Sorrel or put it on the pizza dough fresh. 

Bake on the covered grill until done or bake in the oven at 450-500�F until to desired doneness.

Enjoy with some crisp white wine or local beer.

Enjoy!

Teriyaki Salmon Bowl with Crispy Kale

When we eat salmon - and we eat it a lot - almost always Carson throws it on the grill (with this seasoning, yum).  While we obviously love it, doing the same thing can feel redundant so I've been searching for ways to shake up our salmon routine.  Ugh, I feel really old when I say things like "shake up our salmon routine."  Anyway.  Via the world wide web, I've been seeing a lot of salmon bowls lately, so I decide to create my own.  It came out great and was very easy to throw together!  Can I just tell you what I did instead of writing a recipe?  Pleeeeeeease?  Thanks, I'm tired.

I preheated my oven to 400 degrees.  About 30 minutes prior to baking my salmon, I threw it in a plastic bag with about a cup of my favorite teriyaki sauce to marinate.  While those flavors blended together in the fridge, I tossed my washed and chopped kale in about a teaspoon of sesame oil and sprinkled it with salt.  I placed that on a baking sheet lined with foil, and baked for 10-15 minutes, then I set it aside in a bowl.  When I was ready to bake the salmon, I placed it on that same baking sheet and baked it for about 10 minutes.  While that was baking, I saut�ed some shiitake mushrooms in 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp sesame oil until golden brown.  I served the fish, mushrooms and kale with some cooked brown rice and avocado.  

By the way, this would have been even more yummy with Sriracha drizzled over the top but I couldn't find my Sriracha WHO STOLE MY SRIRACHA?!  I'm blaming you. 

Food for Today & Food for the Future

Dear Food First-ers:



We're getting excited about our upcoming Food Forum! Food for Today, Food for the Future is going to be a great event. We've got some exciting speakers lined up, interesting evening workshops and - of course - good food. 



We're also excited to have the forum featured in the Burnaby Now! 



The article quotes one of our afternoon speakers, Jennifer Rustemeyer. Jennifer is the producer of the 2010 documentary The Clean Bin Project, and most recently, Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story. Her latest film talks about how society throws 40 per cent of food in the garbage.



We hope to see you there! Click here for more information and to register. 

Corn, Tomato, Avocado & Mozzarella Salad

How were your long weekends?  Ours felt so long, I needed a full day yesterday to regroup.  We crammed a lot into the three days, for example a Billy Joel concert (I died), a road trip (my 21 month-old wanted to die: carseat no bueno), and a BBQ at our house.  That last part was impromptu actually, because all of the Monday festivities in our town were cancelled due to rain (and the rain never came).  So instead, we had some neighbors over and I scrambled to prepare a Memorial Day-worthy meal.  This simple, summer salad was by far my favorite, and the leftovers actually held up the next day.  Sweet cherry tomatoes, creamy avocado, fresh boiled corn and mozzarella in a lemon and olive oil dressing, seasoned with chopped cilantro, salt and pepper... YUM.  It's bright, fresh and a fun change from a traditional salad.  

Corn, Tomato, Avocado & Mozzarella Salad

Serves 6-8

Printable Recipe

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

2 avocados, diced

1 cup Bocconcini (mozzarella balls), cut into fourths

6 ears of corn, boiled and sliced off the cob

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

1 small lemon, juiced

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Combine tomatoes, avocados, mozzarella and corn in a large bowl.  Add the chopped cilantro and stir everything together.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together lemon juice and olive oil until desired consistency is reached (I usually use roughly 1/4 cup or a tad more of olive oil).  Season dressing with salt and pepper to taste.  Pour over salad and add more salt and pepper if needed.