This blog is about the intersection between evolutionary biology and food. But also about practical applications, sustainable agriculture, and general tasty things. I originally started eating this way to heal from chronic health problems and...it worked!
Melissa McEwen
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gastrolibertarian
04/12/2012 - 17:00
Just last week a guy named Joe contacted me on Facebook to tell me about his Kickstarter project- a paleo food cart! I didn't get around to blogging about it until today and in the meantime it was fully funded!
I totally understand why. A food cart fills an important niche in the food landscape. When I worked in a Midtown Office building, they were not only a quick meal option, but there were always new interesting trucks and carts randomly showing up. It was like being a kid and waiting for the ice cream truck. Unfortunately, most didn't exactly serve healthy food, but I hope the paleo project can show it is possible. In NYC you can actually get a pretty good rice and meat bowl with TONS of pickled vegetables at Korilla.
Unfortunately, I now live in a city where the Illinois Restaurant Association has managed to quash the food truck scene. Ever heard of rent-seeking? What a perfect example. The Illinois Restaurant Association is using the government's laws and police force to protect their own businesses from competition. That's not only an abuse of government power, but it's stupid.
They say that food trucks are "unfair" to restaurant owners. Yes, the restaurant owners in NYC are really suffering. That's why NYC has some of the greatest restaurants in the United States and a vibrant eating-out culture? Even the real competition to food trucks, mediocre Midtown delis and fast food lunch places, seem to be doing more than fine in NYC.
I was excited to see that The Institute for Justice has taken up the food truck cause in Chicago. On Saturday they are having a free symposium and meetup that I'm going to. I might have to use my Official Guide to Eating Badly, especially since the law here prohibits cooking on the truck, which means food can't be made to order. They are also trying to make it so that food trucks can't sell food near restaurants, which means they would pretty much be banned everywhere:
Also, a random tagged on rant: I am really tired of meeting ex-New Yorkers in Chicago who say how "behind" we are in food, but who have never even bothered to eat at the city's most innovative restaurants (like El Ideas or Schwa) because they stay in their mediocre Lincoln Park/Gold Coast neighborhood. Don't get me wrong, there are restaurants and food things I miss in NYC, but Chicago has it's own very cool (and very different) food scene.
02/02/2010 - 12:27
Two exciting tips!
- John Durant founder of the NYC Eating Paleo Meetup Group will be on the Colbert Report Wednesday!
- A new event for those interested in raw dairy and traditional nutrition!: Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, will speak about the safety, health, economic and legal issues surrounding milk. Learn why full-fat raw milk from grass-fed cows on pasture is natures safest and healthiest food, and the key to revitalizing small family farms and reclaiming our constitutional rights.
01/27/2010 - 11:06
Another nutritious food that is banned in the US is haggis, the traditional Scottish sheep offal delicacy. There were some reports this week that the ban had been lifted, but alas, these were squashed.
The sheep offal delight had been banned in the United States since the ‘80s due to BSE fears, but now Scotland’s most famous dish is back on the American dinner table. (Via Andrew Sullivan) Update 3:01 p.m. PT: Sorry, haggis fans. A representative from the Department of Agriculture writes, “At this time, haggis is still banned in the U.S. The APHIS rule covers all ruminant imports, which includes haggis. It is currently being reviewed to incorporate the current risk and latest science related to these regulations. There is no specific time frame for the completion of this review.”
Sheep lungs are not legal for consumption in the US and unlike wild game, which is legal to import providing you follow a ridiculous number of rules, you also can't import it. That doesn't mean that lungs are completely off the menu. If you live in a major city you can usually find them in ethnic enclaves.
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01/23/2010 - 22:03
You may wonder why I, as someone who does not consume milk, would care about The Raw Milk Revolution. But this book has important implications for anyone who eats outside the mainstream. While I do consider raw milk a relatively risky food, I think it should be up to individuals to make the choice whether to consume it or not. As far as the argument that children can't make that choice, are we going to prosecute every parent that feeds their child potentially deadly food? I don't think the government has enough money to go after all the parents who feed their children massive amounts of sugar. Besides that, this book makes the point that illness from raw milk is very very uncommon. Why is the government spending massive amounts of money going after small farmers and not the large companies that poison millions every year?
Brazil, Sci-Fi Dystopia with unfortunately similarities to food law in the US
The stories in the book of small farmers persecuted by government agents could be out of some sci-fi dystopia. The stories in the book of farmers driven to mental, physical, and financial ruination because of a suspected case of food poisoning are tear jerking. They remind me of another book I read, Mad Sheep: The True Story Behind The USDA's War on Family Farm, which tells of the shattered dreams of one family whose beloved sheep were seized and killed on the basis of faulty science.
With the government turning its eyes towards produce safety, even those of us who don't consume or want to consume raw milk have to worry. If this is the way government handles food rights, we have much to be afraid of.
Those of us less skeptical of government intervention may even be swayed by the fact that most safety regulations have no basis in actual science. The government has never proved that most of its regulations make food safer. They do a great job of hurting small businesses though. I highly recommend Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal by Joel Salatin, the farmer featured in The Omnivore's Dilemma, which chronicles how idiotic regulations hobble his ability to sell healthy food.
With that, I give you a list of some foods we are missing out on.
Paleo foods you can't eat because the government says so.
- Charcuterie: producing good sausages is hard unless you have lots of money because it has to be made in licensed commercial facility with an approved recipe. Some lucky people are able to get it illegally.
- Lungs and thyroid tissue. I ate these foods in Central Europe and they were nutritious and delicious. They are illegal despite the fact that there are methods of slaughter that completely mitigate the risks associated with them.
- Wild game, well unless you know a hunter. The venison at the store is farmed and often fattened on grains. You can buy true wild game from Scotland, where it is legal to sell, from D'artagnan. Sweden also allows the sale of wild game and it's not like wildlife has disappeared there.
If you think of any more, please email me at mgmcewen @ gmail . com
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