The Dairy Show

Special Edition 5-Marea's Perfect Panna Cotta

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NY Bill to Prohibit Use of Salt in Restaurants

In this Bill introduced to the NY State Assembly on March 5, the sponsors Assemblyman Ortiz and Assemblywoman Markey propose a law that would prohibit restaurant workers from using any salt while cooking.  Under the law, salt would still be available in restaurants, but only for customers to apply at their own discretion.  The justification for this law is that it would give customers more control over the amount of salt in their food and that reduced salt in food would translate into less heart attacks.

This Bill seems quite extreme.  Certainly fast food and packaged foods have too much salt in them, but salt is an important part of cooking from scratch as well.  The proper seasoning of food with salt make it taste better.  It is often helpful to add salt throughout the cooking process and not just at the end.  The fact that this bill targets all restaurants seems inappropriate.  I doubt this would pass into law--perhaps it is to be used as a tool to draw more attention to the issue and to get food producers to voluntarily reduce the salt content of their prepared foods.

Do Small Dietary Changes Effect Weight?

Tara Parker-Pope recently wrote an interesting article for her Well Column in the New York Times about the effect of making small changes in diet, like eating one less cookie per day, on weight.  Her article was based on a Commentary in JAMA by Martijn Katan and David Ludwig titled "Extra Calories Cause Weight Gain—But How Much?"

She points out that 1lb of fat is equal to about 3500 calories.  This means that in order to lose a pound of fat you need a calorie deficit of about 3500 calories.  That means you must burn 3500 calories more than you take in. 

Interestingly though, to gain a pound of fat, you need to have an excess of about 4000 calories.  This is because the process of converting foods is not 100% efficient and on average about 500 calories are needed to create 1lb of fat from the food you eat.

The average daily supply of calories available per person in American is about 1000 calories more than the average person's daily requirements.  Based on the previous paragraph, eating an extra 1000 calories per day would lead to a weight gain of 1.75 lbs per week or 91.5lbs per year!  However, this is not exactly what happens, because the bodies metabolism and energy requirements change with time and size.  So as you gain weight your energy requirements will increase in order to maintain that weight and so you need to eat increasingly more calories to gain more weight.

The same issues come into play when we talk about losing weight.  As you lose more weight your energy requirements will decrease, so that in order to maintain weight or lose more weight you must take in even less calories.

I think though that the messages in the NYT and JAMA articles is confusing.  But the gist of what they are saying is that figuring out how our caloric intake effect our weight is not a simple equation and therefore gaining and losing weight over time takes more calorie intake or deficit than we might think.  Small dietary changes such as cutting out a soda or a cookie from diet isn't going to make a major long term impact on weight, because most people are taking in so many extra calories that they are still going to have an excess of calories and gain weight in the long run.  However, it will make a difference, because while you would still gain weight, you will gain less in the end.  But if you want to lose weight or maintain weight in the long run its going to take more than just one small changes.  It requires multiple small changes that add up to creating no net gain of calories to maintain weight or a net loss of calories to lose weight.  The amount of calories taken in will have to change over time because of changes in the bodies metabolism.

What do you think about the effects of small dietary changes on weight?

FSNYC Screening of Big River

I was at a Food Systems Network NYC meeting a few months ago that was about the NYC watershed.  It was an issue I hadn't really thought about before.  Apparently the water for NYC comes from two places the Croton and the Catskills reservoirs.  Whiles there are far from the city, the city has to make sure that what goes on around these bodies of water does not contaminate them.  Specifically their are agencies that work with farmers to make sure that their farming activities don't lead to pollution of the water.

This is more than just a local issue, its applicable to water supplies all over the country and the world.  In there latest film, Big River, Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney, the creators of King Corn, take a look at what effect their acre of corn has on the water supply as far away as the Gulf of Mexico.

On March 15th, the Food Systems Network will continue the discussion of the importance of water at their annual fund-raising event. The evening kicks-off with a networking cocktail hour, featuring craft beers, New York State wines, and local snacks, followed by the Manhattan debut of Big River and  a panel discussion. Filmmakers Ian Cheney, Curt Ellis and Aaron Woolf will be joined on the panel by Hudson Valley farmer and MacArthur Genius award-winner Cheryl Rogowski and Senior Vice President of Scenic Hudson Steve Rosenberg, to discuss the film as it relates to NYC and the region.

Monday, March 15, 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM (Screening at 7:00 PM)

Brecht Forum
451 West Street
(btwn. Bank and Bethune Sts.)
Manhattan

Tickets
FSNYC Members - $25
Non-members - $35

Tickets may be purchased here.

Slow Food NYC Presents: The Art of Eating In

On Saturday Night, March 20th stay in with Slow Food NYC and Cathy Erway, author of The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove , as she discusses the eco-conscious reasons for eating in, and how to fit cooking into your everyday schedule.  Cathy will demonstrate easy-to-make recipes from her book while we talk about ways to reduce waste and the volume of disposables in take-out food; edible and nutritious plants that you can forage for in parks; and how to throw dinner parties that are low-stress and low-effort for the host. We'll also be discussing the aftermath of the Week of Eating In challenge hosted by Huffington Post Green, which more than 1,000 people have pledged to do for the week of Feb 22-28. Come join the party and eat in with us!

Proceeds from this event will benefit the programs of Slow Food NYC.

Location: Astor Center – 23 East 4th St. (at Lafayette St.); Manhattan [Site]

Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Tickets:
www.astorcenternyc.com/class-slow-u-the-art-of-eating-in-with-cathy-erway.ac

Slow Food Members - $25 (use promotion code SFNYCMEM)
Non-members - $35 (use promotion code SFNYCNON)

Great News for Pizza

There's was great news in the world of pizza yesterday when Grub Street, the blog of New York Magazine reported that Anthony Mangieri is finally resurfacing.  Anthony the former owner of Una Pizza Napoletana closed shop a couple of months ago, because he wanted to try out life on the west coast.  He made probably the best neopolitan style pizza in NY.  Not only were the technique and ingredients great, but his passion made it even better and worth the $20 or so dollars it cost. 

To relate this post more to Dairy, I'll tell you that Anthony was using Buffalo Mozzarella on his pizza, made by its only US producer, which is located in northern California, so I imagine he'll continue at the new place.

I wish Anthony good luck on his new place, scheduled to open in May and I can't wait to try it on my next visit to SF.  Maybe we'll even get Anthony to do an episode of The Dairy Show!

Slow Food NYC Presents: The Locavore Hunter

We've got a pretty interesting Slow U coming up on Saturday March 13th.  Check out the description belo and the article and video from the New York Times about the Locavore Hunter, Jackson Landers. Then buy tickets here.

Description:

Do you find yourself looking for sources of meat that are local, free range, hormone and antibiotic free?  Whitetail deer are roaming rural and suburban New York and New Jersey in record numbers and may be as 'free range' as meat can get.

On March 13 from 2 to 5pm, join Slow Food NYC for an afternoon with locavore hunter, writer and instructor, Jackson Landers.  Learn the basic information that an aspiring locavore hunter needs to know to start hunting deer for food.  Techniques will be discussed that allow even apartment-dwelling urbanites to hunt, dress, age and butcher their own meat for the cost of a few tools and a hunting license.  No pickup truck required.

Jackson will also demonstrate how to butcher a venison hindquarter and a back strap using only the utensils and appliances found in a typical kitchen, while the staff at Jimmy's 43 will assist in cooking the back strap and select hindquarter cuts for the class to try.

Proceeds from this event will help support the activities and programs of Slow Food NYC.

About Jackson Landers:

Jackson attended Hampshire College and Virginia Commonwealth University.  He took up hunting as an adult in order to obtain meat without supporting factory farms.  Jackson teaches complete two day courses for adults to learn everything necessary to hunt deer, including basic marksmanship on a rifle range, a live field dressing demonstration and butchering.  Students cook and eat the deer that they helped to dress.  His classes have been the subject of an article in the New York Times, a video documentary in the Times' web edition, coverage on NPR and he will also be featured in an upcoming HBO documentary, directed by Barbara Kopple.  He is the author of 'Deer Hunting for Locavores' and is currently working on a second book about hunting and eating invasive, non-native species.     

Jackson lives near Charlottesville, Virginia with his wife, and two small children.  Ages 3 and 6, they refuse to eat broccoli or green beans, but enjoy flipping through National Geographic and speculating as to what the hippos and giraffes might taste like.

Tickets available at Brown Paper Tickets.