Wednesday 20 July 2011

Meatgrower's Guide to hogwash and BS

Consciously limiting your carbon footprint has become quite trendy among many young, urban Americans. It’s a practice I whole-heartedly support – it’s just that their ideas to achieve their goal are often way off the mark. This week produced another round of anti-meat chatter with the release of the “Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health” by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington-based non-profit “organization that advocates on Capitol Hill for health-protective and subsidy-shifting policies.”

The research by EWG examined every stage of food production, processing, consumption and waste disposal, and determined that if everyone in the U.S. eliminated meat and cheese from their diet just one day a week for a year, “the effect on greenhouse gas emissions would be the equivalent of taking 7.6 million cars off the road.”

Read more >>

Monday 4 July 2011

Japan wants its cuisine added to UN heritage list

From sushi to tempura, okonomiyaki, ramen and yakitori, Japanese dishes are in line to be added to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's list of cuisine designated as an intangible cultural heritage.

The agriculture ministry in Tokyo has announced that it will put forward the nation's food culture - which includes the utensils used in preparing and eating food and Japan's unique table manners - for inclusion on the list.

The ministry aims to file the application with UNESCO in March next year and a decision on whether it is worthy of inclusion may be reached as early as November 2013, ministry officials said in a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.

Read more in the Independent.