Greetings. The rain may be gently falling as I write this, but we had a glorious hint of early spring last weekend and early this week, with sun and temps hitting 60. This sunny, slightly warming trend is normal for Seattle this time of the year, but it was glaringly and depressingly absent last spring, which makes it all the more welcome this year!
The weather lent itself well to a pleasant downtown walk Monday evening…to Foodportunity! I had yet to attend this twice-yearly foodie networking event, despite my best intentions. So many delicious food samples from great restaurants! One of the highlights of the evening was definitely the bacon-wrapped rabbit saddle from Local 360. “Rabbit what?” you ask. Well, I asked, too. Specifically, I asked “So…what cut of the rabbit is the saddle, exactly?” Turns out it’s the tenderloin, such as it is. See, you learn something new every day. I also won a pound of coffee and a $25 gift card from Fonte Cafe and Wine Bar. Nothing a grad student loves more than free coffee and food!
On a totally different, but equally great note, we had a great guest lecturer in my graduate seminar today. Leslie Mikkelsen from The Prevention Institute talked about the Institute’s work in promoting healthful food and activity and fighting deceptive food marketing practices aimed at children. Since I don’t have kids, I don’t spend much (read: any) time contemplating kid-oriented foods. But since I’ve become more interested in the issue of childhood obesity, I’ve naturally been thinking about the obstacles parents can face in trying to feed their kids a healthful diet.
The fact is this: Adds for high-sugar, high-fat beverages and foods make children and adolescents request those foods more often and eat them more often. (That’s based on research from the Institute of Medicine.) And a lot of these foods have front-of-the-package “health claims” that harried parents generally don’t have time to ponder the validity of when they are grocery shopping with kids in tow. It’s a real problem that’s pitting the interests of big business against the health of children. And that’s all I’m going to say about that, especially since this Prevention Institute video, “We’re Not Buying It,” says it better. Enjoy!
