FUD IZ SRS BSNS.

My dear fellow food adventurers,

I've already stated that I'm in the process of changing my diet to exclude GMOs and the food additives that are derived from them. I'd just like to take a moment to explain why, and what all this means.

I was super excited when I saw my number of page views roll over to 10,000 -- that's something I never imagined would happen when I first started this blog. Back then, my only readers were my two vegetarian sisters. I can't help now feeling a sense of responsibility to everyone who visits Vegetablog to be as honest and helpful as possible.

Most of us don't even realize it, but the average grocery store is becoming a scary and confusing place. I've heard differing statistics, but they say that somewhere around 70-80% of the processed foods on the store shelves contain genetically modified ingredients. That's huge. Pick up any packaging for a non-organic food and you are likely to find a long list of chemicals and stuff you don't recognize or understand the purpose of. A lot of it comes from genetically engineered corn and soy. Over 80% of the corn and soy grown in the US are GMOs. Many other countries have banned or restricted GMO production and imports, and have mandatory GMO labeling on foods. Our country does not.

You might be thinking, Why should I be concerned? If they sell it as food, it must be safe, right?

For most of my life, I believed that too. But no, not necessarily. A lot of chemicals and even "natural" ingredients have been introduced into foods in the past and later deemed to be unsafe.

Genetically modified crops have had part of their DNA replaced with DNA from another organism (bacteria, viruses, animals, or other plants) in order to produce a desired effect (drought tolerance, pesticide resistance, herbicide resistance, pesticide production, tolerance to crowding, etc.). It is not equivalent to the techniques farmers and gardeners have used for centuries to cross-breed plants. These plants are things that would never occur in nature. And often, there are unintended consequences.

The "studies" conducted on animals to determine the safety of genetically engineered foods are funded by the companies who engineered the food, and they use any means necessary to manipulate the data in their favor. There are no long term human studies. And if that weren't enough, there are employees of these huge, multinational companies in the FDA and USDA, making our food safety decisions for us!

If you do a little googling or follow some of the links I posted in my previous entry, you'll find some scary, real, independent studies done on these foods, and news articles about farmers and their livestock getting sick. These foods may be slowly poisoning us, contributing to higher rates of cancer, diabetes, obesity, food allergies, infertility, and general illness.

Now I'm getting a little worried. But what can I do if most foods contain GMOs? How do I even know if the products I just bought are safe?

There are things you can do. First, buy organic if you can. Any food that is labeled certified organic cannot be produced through genetic engineering. Second, some companies are also now voluntarily labeling their products as "Non-GMO Project Verified", "Contains no genetically engineered soy", or similar. Third, read the ingredients list. Some ingredients that are red flags: high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, corn starch, food starch, any soy that is not listed as organic or non-GMO, aspartame, canola/rapeseed, cottonseed, and many more. Buy whole foods: vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, and herbs, or grown your own. You can tell your grocery store manager and the companies who make your favorite products that you don't want to eat franken-foods. You can get involved in anti-GMO activism and work toward getting all foods labeled.

This is a lot to take in. I don't know if I can let go of some of the processed foods I know and love. I don't have time to cook and bake. Organic food is expensive.

I hear you. It is a lot to take in, and it's a really big change. Organic food can be a lot more expensive -- sometimes two or three times as much as conventional food -- but organic farming is not subsidized nearly as much as non-organic farming. And without all the added flavorings, sweeteners, and preservatives, it can taste quite different than what we're used to, so it takes some adjustment. If it makes it easier for you, introduce organics and non-GMO foods into your diet gradually. Even substituting some of your regular food purchases with organic will be better for you, your family, organic farmers, and the planet.

I would never have known about any of this had I not been forced to watch the documentary "Food Inc" in my nutrition class and consequently been inspired to start researching the matter myself. I knew there was some shady business going on in the food industry, but I was blissfully unaware of the nature and extent of it. I knew just enough to be convinced a little over four years ago to stop eating meat products, but I completely took for granted that everything else was fine to eat.

What does this mean for Vegetablog? Are you just gonna preach at us from now on? If so, I'm not interested.

Nah. From now on, I'll try to keep the preaching to a minimum. I just wanted to get this all off my chest, and provide a new foundation for the blog and where it's going. I want to start reviewing organic foods and vegetarian products, report on my from-scratch cooking and baking experiments that are soon to come, as well as tackle the immense and complicated topic of eating at restaurants. I hope that you'll still find Vegetablog worth reading as it moves on to even bigger food adventures.

Your friend in food,
jazzhands

Changes

Over the past couple weeks, I've been doing a lot of research about what's in our food and where it comes from. Because of the very disturbing information I'm learning, I've been making a lot of changes in my diet. Specifically, I'm working toward eliminating genetically modified foods and their derivatives from my diet, and I would strongly urge others to do their own research on the subject.

And because I've been making a lot of dietary changes, the nature and content of this blog will be changing somewhat. I promise I'll try not to get too preachy, but I do feel very strongly about all of this, and am deeply concerned.

If you are interested -- and I really feel that food safety and quality is something everyone should be interested in because it affects us all -- here are a few links to get you started in your research:

Institute for Responsible Technology
The Non-GMO Project
Organic Consumers: Monsanto
Organic Consumers
Say No to GMOs
The Very Real Danger of Genetically Modified Foods (The Atlantic)
Top 10 Dangers of Genetically Modified Food
Dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup (Huffington Post)

Good luck out there.

Your friend in food,
jazzhands

TJ's Vanilla-flavored Coconut Milk Non-Dairy Beverage

I'm still trying to find a milk alternative I really like. My criteria for the perfect milk alternative are: it has to taste good alone, mixed with hot coffee, and on cereal. Ideally, it will also be a good source of protein and calcium, and low in fat and sugar. As you may know if you've been following along my quest, I've tried and reviewed soy, almond, rice, and hemp milks. I've also tried oat and hazelnut milks. While none of these were *terrible* and many had notably good qualities, none quite met all of my criteria, either. So... I'd been wanting to try a coconut milk for a while, preferably vanilla flavored, but it's still not super widely available in stores. This is another product I really wanted to like.

Appearance: It's really bright white - whiter than dairy milk. As you pour, it seems like a similar consistency to dairy milk.

Taste: Wow. This stuff is weird. The flavors are really strong and really separate. I was hoping for a harmoniously blended, creamy vanilla-coconut flavor. Instead, I got: Vanilla. Sugar. Coconut. Chalk. I tried it on my corn-based cereal this morning, which has a pretty distinct flavor, but the coconut milk's flavor was so overpowering that I couldn't taste the cereal. I had to dilute it with some dairy milk just to be able to finish it. If the weird flavors hadn't been so strong, it might have been tolerable.

Mouth-feel: This was just as weird and disconcerting as the flavor. It was simultaneously watery and creamy.

Nutrition: 90 calories, 5 g saturated fat, 1 g protein, 7 g sugar, and 100 mg (about 10% RDA) calcium per 8 ounce serving. I'm not super impressed by those numbers. They've also added vitamins A, D, & B-12; folic acid; magnesium; selenium; iron; and zinc -- all of which are nice.

Overall: Really disappointing. I've tried a few frozen coconut milk desserts and vanilla coconut yogurt and really liked them, so I am very surprised by this. I really don't like giving bad reviews to any vegetarian product, but I don't recommend this one. I thought it was pretty awful. Maybe there's a better brand out there? I hope...?

Allergens: Coconut, "natural flavors"
Ingredients of concern: Carrageenan, "natural flavors"
Vegan

Trader Joe's adventure

I enjoy shopping at Trader Joe's -- there's such an interesting selection of natural, organic, and vegetarian/vegan foods that you can't find elsewhere, and always so many new things I want to try. Unfortunately though, the nearest store is about a half hour from where I live, so I don't get to go there too often. I really wish they'd build a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods in my town instead of a third Wal*Mart (and I really wish I was joking about that third Wal*Mart).

I happened to be in the next city yesterday and needed to pick up a few groceries, so I decided to drive a few extra miles out and hit the TJ's. My approach to grocery shopping depends on my mood and need. Sometimes I'll walk into a store with a list in hand and try to be out ASAP; other times, like yesterday, I'll wander aimlessly, slowly surveying the shelves, waiting for interesting new things to jump out at me. I had a few vague ideas about what I wanted to find: some fake meat staples, some healthy snacks, actual fresh fruit or veg, a new milk alternative to try, and whatever else struck my fancy. I walked out of the store with a lot more than I'd planned, yet had to leave a lot of things on the shelves that were really calling to me.

Some of the things I picked up:
* TJ's Vanilla flavored coconut milk beverage
* TJ's Meatless Meatballs
* TJ's Chickenless Crispy Tenders (which appear to be Gardein in disguise)
* TJ's Contemplates Inner Peas (a "Snapea Crisps"-like crunchy pea snack)
* TJ's organic vegetarian chili
* TJ's Short Stack Syrup (a butter-pecan flavored pancake syrup without high fructose corn syrup)
* TJ's organic sprouted tofu twin pack
* Some red pears and yellow potatoes

I've already had a chance to try a couple of these, and will write up the reviews in separate posts. The rest I'll try to comment on as I get around to them.

Hello again, fellow food adventurers!

Sorry I've been away so long, but life keeps getting in the way...

I've started paying a lot more attention to my diet over the past year or so. With so many people around me developing various food intolerances and digestive disorders, wanting to get healthier and in better shape, and starting a nutrition class last week, I find myself looking at food in a very different way than I used to. I scrutinize food labels and ingredient lists even more than before. I think about whether the food I'm about to eat is going to be beneficial to me in any way or if I just want it for comfort or pleasure, and whether I could make a better choice.

I still continue to try new vegetarian products as I find them (and there have been a lot of new ones in the past couple years, yay!). I like to think that by doing so, it helps encourage the companies to keep putting out these new products. I'm especially pleased to find so many new products from Gardein, my current favorite meat replacement. All of their products are vegan, use non-GMO soy, and are addictively delicious! While I've tried a number of their frozen offerings, my favorite continues to be their Seven Grain Crispy Tenders.

I would like to get back to reviewing products, making restaurant suggestions, and just trying to blog more often over the next few months. If there's a topic or product you'd like me to cover, feel free to leave a comment here!