Organic cake, of course! When selecting your wedding cake, ask your baker to use only organic ingredients. Here are a few cakes for inspiration (these are not necessarily organic, but nobody is stopping you from taking them to your local baker for inspiration).
{Round Ivory Ribbon cake by Cakegirls; Brown Polka Dot cake by The Ritz-Carlton, San Fransisco via The Knot; A Shore Thing by Gail Watson Custom Cakes via Brides.com; White Square Flower cake by Cakegirls}
This morning the New York Times highlighted the newest consumer trend: cage-free eggs. “[Cage-free] eggs, from chickens raised in large, open barns instead of stacks of small wire cages, have become the latest addition to menus at universities, hotel chains like Omni and cafeterias at companies like Google. The Whole Foods supermarket chain sells nothing else, and even Burger King is getting in on the trend.”
Despite the current demand, most chicken farmers are not planning to retrofit their barns. Are the chickens really better off? Chicken farmers don’t necessarily think so, saying that “keeping thousands of hens in tight quarters on the floor of a building can lead to hunger, disease and cannibalism. They also say that converting requires time, money and faith that the spike in demand is not just a fad.” Going cage-free doesn’t mean that these chickens are living ‘the good life’.
There are certainly pros and cons to both cage and cage-free systems, but “either way, these are not free-roaming chickens living out in a pasture.” For consumers concerned with farm animal welfare (or interested in local and sustainable agriculture), organic and free-range eggs are a better choice.
NY Times article: Suddenly, the Hunt is On for Cage-Free Eggs
Categories: food · in the news
I love Mexican food. If I could only eat one type of food for the rest of my life, without a doubt, it would be Mexican. Having come close to wearing out the Mexican restaurants in the area, I was psyched when I found out that Chipotle was joining the ranks of Mexican restaurants in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area.
I am a huge fan of their burrito, but I’m also a huge fan of the company’s manifesto – “Food With Integrity” – which means seeking out ingredients that are sustainably grown and naturally raised with respect for the animals, the land and the farmers who produce the food. It is “as simple as better-tasting burritos, and no less ambitious than revolutionizing the way America grows, gathers, serves and eats its food.”
Chipotle serves fresh food, uses free-range meat (naturally raised without added hormones or antibiotics), and looks for organic ingredients when possible. They also offer vegetarian and vegan dishes.
To learn more about Food with Integrity, go to the Chipotle website
Categories: food
My brother became a vegetarian a few years ago. I thought he was crazy at first, and didn’t think he would last long. Two years, later, I stand corrected. As someone who eats meat practically every day (trying to cut back!), I didn’t realize how many meal options there were for vegetarians.
Veggiemealplans.com offers great cooking ideas for vegetarian cuisine. The site offers daily meal plans (with some great recipes – and pictures!) and a weekly grocery list to prepare those meals. I forwarded the link to my brother, but there are a few recipes that I want to try too!
Categories: food
