Share Your Breakfast - A Sugary Start to the Day

Last week, Kellogg announced a new project called Share Your Breakfast, to help feed children from food-insecure households.  Acknowledging the seriousness of the USDA statistic that one in four children go without breakfast each morning, Kellogg has asked Americans to upload their breakfast photos to the website shareyourbreakfast.com, and in turn they will donate $200,000 or the equivalent of 1 million breakfasts to those in need. 

While this sounds like a noble endeavor, feeding hungry children highly processed, sugary cereals is not the answer.  The products Kellogg is promoting in this project include:

  o   Frosted Flakes, which contain 11 grams of sugar per three-fourths cup serving and the first three ingredients after corn are sugar, malt flavoring, and high-fructose corn syrup – even more sugar.

  o   Nutri-Grain bars, which are marketed as being a healthy, wholegrain snack, but actually contain over 30 ingredients, most of which is high-fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors and fruit puree from concentrate.  Each bar also contains 11 grams of sugar.

  o   Other products in this promotion include Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Mini-Wheats and Eggo Waffles, which contain high-fructose corn syrup, sugar, and partially hydrogenated oils.

Yet, Kellogg knows that giving away cereals with sugar and chemicals to hungry children will instigate backlash from concerned parents.  This is why they’ve used their website to correct false nutrition information about the “misunderstood” nutrients in sugar.  They also claim that sugar does not contribute to obesity, diabetes or heart disease. 

On one hand, it’s surprising to hear that Kellogg fails to acknowledge the role of sugar in the diet-related diseases of Americans.  Looking at the swath of research currently in existence on the effects of added sugars to the risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and obesity, there is an undeniable correlation.  Yet, on the other hand, it makes perfect sense as many industry-supported studies have perpetuated the myth that children will not eat low-sugar cereals and that if faced with a sugary cereal or no breakfast at all, they are better off with the sugary cereal.  This is how they justify their position. 

            Above all else, Kellogg has created an advertising campaign with Share Your Breakfast.  The campaign has cost Kellogg a lot of money with ads in broadcast, print, digital and social media and while they say they will donate a couple hundred thousand dollars to hungry children, this is a drop in the bucket compared to what they spend on advertising each year and make in profit. 

            Of course, I think that we should be paying more attention to those children without access to breakfast and doing something about it.  But companies like Kellogg shouldn’t be allowed to promote their cereals that are loaded with sugar and additives as a reputable solution.  Which company will step up and provide children instead with eggs, milk, fresh fruit, whole-grain bread, or yogurt to start off their day?  How about Kellogg invests some of their million dollar-advertising budget to create real food?  Then maybe we’ll believe that they’re actually sincere about reducing the negative effects of a lack of breakfast for children across America.  

Chinese Food that Leaves you Wanting More

My notions of greasy, salty, homogenous Chinese food completely changed when I stumbled upon the Gourmet Dumpling House.  In the heart of China Town, near the corner of Beech St. and Harrison Ave., this little restaurant does a lot of business.  Most afternoons and evenings you’ll be among many customers waiting in line for a table, but don’t be discouraged, the line moves quickly.  Once you get inside, you’ll be pointed in the direction of your table, amidst the hustle and bustle of servers shouting in Chinese and customers excitedly eating and talking.  The modest décor of the dining room, bright overhead lights, high noise level and tight quarters adds to the no-frills appeal of the place.  You may find yourself sharing a table with another two or three people, or be in the very back by the fish tank, where perhaps you’ll have the experience of watching a fish get pulled from the tank and brought to the kitchen to be cooked.  Mostly, enjoy your meal, but don’t expect to linger.  The line at the door is a reminder that you shouldn’t outstay your welcome.  But ambience isn’t the reason to seek the Gourmet Dumpling House, really it comes down to the food.

            High turnover means fresh ingredients.  That’s something you get a sense of the minute you walk in the door.  Servers weave their ways through the tables carrying everything from heaping plates of steaming dumplings to bubbling soups to a whole fish splayed out on a large plate smothered in a spicy sauce.  The menu spans nearly six pages, typical of a Chinese restaurant, but the unique items set this place apart and there is certainly something for everyone, even vegetarians.  Those wishing to try something really unusual may gravitate towards the pickled mustard greens with intestines and blood pudding, the sautéed pig’s feet or the frog and clam soup.  Others looking for something more traditional may enjoy the made-to-order pork and leek or vegetarian dumplings, the braised eggplant with basil or the julienned chicken wonton soup with sprigs of cilantro and diced hot peppers.  As a semi-vegetarian myself, the menu offers a number of vegetable dishes.  My favorites include the spicy sautéed Chinese lettuce with enough of a kick to make your nose run, along with the sautéed pea shoots with garlic, wonderfully mild laid over a bowl of rice, and the fried scallion pancakes with a delicious soy ginger dipping sauce.  All of this can be washed down by beer or wine, although a nice cold Chinese Tsingtao beer really does the trick.

            The generous portions and the reasonable prices make this a great place to bring another person or a group.  You can get plenty of food and not break the bank.  Lunch specials are a set price of $7.25, appetizers $5-6 and dinner entrees mostly between $9-13.  If you don’t have time to sit down, they also offer a take-out menu. 

High on my list of best places in China Town, The Gourmet Dumpling House is a sure hit with everyone I recommend it to.  A sure feast for all the senses, especially your taste buds, stop in the next time you’re walking through China Town, you won’t regret it.  

The Pace of Our Meals Doesn't Curb Snacking

I’ve always heard (and sometimes practiced) the dieting rhetoric that eating more slowly, compared to gobbling down a meal, will help keep your appetite satisfied longer and prevent overeating.  Well, a recent study from the Netherlands, featured in The Journal of Nutrition, set out to see whether this was actually true.  The researchers looked at the speed of consumption and its effect on the diners’ feelings of satiety and hunger and on the chemical or hormonal signals involved in appetite regulation.  The researchers also wanted to determine how the pace of a meal affects postprandial snacking.  The results were quite interesting. 

For the study, the researchers asked 38 young men and women to eat the same meal in a controlled test kitchen on two separate days.  The meal was a typical Dutch dinner of salad, macaroni with meat sauce, vegetable lasagna and raspberry pudding for dessert.  The first day was a “nonstaggered” meal eaten in 30 minutes and the second day was a “staggered” meal, with 20 to 25 minute breaks between courses.  Before, after and throughout the course of the meal, blood samples were taken to measure the level of hormones involved in appetite signaling and participants were asked how full or hungry they felt. 

The study found that when participants ate the drawn-out meal, their satiety hormones increased more gradually compared to the nonstaggered meal, when they spiked more rapidly.  Also, participants who had eaten the drawn-out meal rated their satiety higher and their hunger lower.  Ok, so this makes sense – you eat more slowly and your body feels more satiated.  No wonder this is what we’ve been told to do to curb our appetites.  However, the study took an interesting turn when it introduced a snack two and a half hours after the beginning of the meal.

When the diners were offered a full spread of Dutch treats, such as apple cake, chocolate-covered marshmallows, peanuts, chips and waffles, the slow diners ate only 10 percent fewer snack calories than when they had consumed their meal quickly.  Even the differences in hormone levels did not significantly affect how much of the sweet and salty snacks were consumed.  This suggests that no matter the pace of our meals, the availability of tempting snacks can override the body’s internal messages about when to stop eating.    

I think this study is really interesting because it points to the fact that the food environment around us can completely override the body’s natural signals.  No wonder we have an obesity epidemic!  You can find cheap snack foods on every corner.  As it seems that our biological safeguards against weight gain are being disabled, I even more fully realize that the fight to prevent obesity is an up-hill battle.  So yes, eating slowly can in fact make you feel fuller longer, but the minute you step outside temptation awaits.  If we can’t rely on our bodies to tell us when to stop eating, it’s a scary idea to think we’ll have to rely on the food industry.  

Fed-Up with Standard School Food, College Kids Turn to Food Co-Ops

College students around the country are learning more about our food system and using this knowledge to get better food on campus.  The well-established pizza, French fries and burritos found in the dining hall aren’t always making the cut, as many student are shifting their preferences towards healthy, ethical and sustainably produced foods.  Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to change the food offered in the dining hall, as most colleges and universities have long-standing contracts with foodservice providers like Sodexo.  Yet, instead of waiting for those contracts to end, students at U.C. Berkeley took matters into their own hands with the creation of the Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive (Co-Fed).

Co-Fed began as students recognized their organizing power after the successful launch of the Berkeley Student Food Collective, a student-run co-op on the edge of campus.  Spurred by the success of the venture, the co-founder decided to take the idea national.  Now, only a couple years later, Co-Fed’s national volunteer staff is working with dozens of student organizations on the East and West coast to provide them with the skills needed for organizing an on-campus co-op.  This toolbox includes workshops, strategy sharing and week-long retreats to teach students how to write a business plan, do bookkeeping, organize other students and build a power map on their own campus. 

The on-campus co-op model is unique because it cuts out the middleman, using volunteer or member labor and uses college resources such as subsidized rent and student funds to reduce overhead costs.  This means that co-op prices can be comparable to other food on campus, illustrating good food doesn’t necessarily have to cost more.  Co-ops can also serve as working classrooms and event spaces to teach students about food preparation and food policy issues.  The idea behind the co-op is that most of the food will be sourced locally, furthering student knowledge about the production system and the need to support local agriculture. 

This growth of co-ops comes with a few challenges, however.  One of the biggest is that students are mostly a transient population, which can make maintaining a solid organizational structure year after year a difficult task.  Also, co-ops are designed not to make a profit, which can lower the incentive for new investment.  However, I think if students really begin to understand the choices they’re making every time they take bite of food, co-ops will become a fixture on college campuses.  Health and diet have become such strong influences on younger generations' lifestyle decisions, so the co-op model seems like a perfect way to get students involved with understanding the food system, but also learning the tools to be a successful entrepreneur.  Hopefully college administration begins to take notice and opts out of their food service contracts in favor of supporting local farmers and healthier options.