- Author: Ann King Filmer
- Contributor: Pat Bailey
Olive oil is repeatedly in the news these days, but the stories often raise as many questions as they anwer:
- It’s touted as the “healthy oil." Does that hold true for cooking and eating raw?
- It adds a range of flavors to food. Just what is EVOO and should you pay more for it?
- You can choose “grassy” or “peppery” olive oil. But what does that mean?
- How can you tell if olive oils are adulterated with lesser-grade oils, or oils from entirely different plants?
A new survey, spearheaded by Dr. Selina Wang at the Olive Center at UC Davis, shows that consumers need more information about olive oil in...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The San Joaquin Valley produces fruits and vegetables for the nation. Why are the school children living here being deprived of this healthful and delicious bounty?
That’s the question Terri Spezzano asked when she was hired to be the nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor for UC Cooperative Extension in Stanislaus County six years ago. She made it her mission to get fresh local food in the hands of the county’s youth.
“Kids are eating canned peaches that have come from orchards next to their schools, been shipped sometimes overseas and then back again,” Spezzano said. “That’s amazing to me, when they could walk out the...
- Author: Alec Rosenberg
What do you think would be healthier: a meal at Subway or a meal at McDonald’s?
My tween boys, who cringe at the sight of the Golden Arches, answered Subway. It seemed to make sense. Shouldn’t a sandwich chain be a healthier option than a fast-food purveyor of burgers?
Not necessarily so. While Subway may promote itself as the "healthy" fast-food restaurant, it might not be a much healthier alternative than McDonald's for adolescents, according to new UCLA research.
In a study published May 6 in the Journal of Adolescent Health, researchers found that adolescents who purchased Subway meals...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Sweet potatoes are perhaps most familiar in the U.S. smothered with melted marshmallows in a Thanksgiving casserole. But baked, boiled or raw, they can be a healthful part of California cuisine any time of year.
California is a significant producer of sweet potatoes. About 90 percent of the California crop – 18,000 acres – is grown in Merced County, on farms ranging from 5 acres up to several thousand acres. In 2011, the crop’s value statewide was $125 million.
However, you probably won’t find sweet potato farmers at your local farmers market.
“Even smaller growers tend to work with a packing shed and have their crops combined with others and marketed,” said
- Author: Ann Brody Guy
The biennial Childhood Obesity Conference is taking place in Long Beach June 18-20. Book-ended by two world-class keynote speakers — Michael Moss, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter and author of Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, and Marion Nestle, a New York University professor of food studies and public health, and author of Food Politics and What to Eat — the event promises a no-holds-barred, systemic look at the problems of obesity in all their complexity.
Public outreach on the part of dynamic writers...
