By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
The Mediterranean diet or style of eating is not just for cultivating healthy arteries anymore. Now researchers say it may reduce the risk of depression.
A dietary pattern of eating plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, fish and olive oil appears to help people fend off clinical depression, according [...]

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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Here’s a little cautionary tale about how bigger is not always better, and knowing who to blame doesn’t necessarily solve the problem. It’s also about the inter-connectedness of our energy and food systems, and specifically how coal-fired power plants affect your diet.

Say you were camping with friends and caught a really BIG fish. This squirming monster would give you bragging rights for a year. Now say you caught a smaller fish, suitable for pan frying but not Kodak-worthy.

What do you do? If you’re Daniel Boone, you toss the little guy back. But if you’re a post-industrial age sportsman or woman, you will want to consider this: Keep the big hunker and you’ve got more to eat, and disproportionately more mercury contamination.

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By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

Some of our nation’s most prominent locations are greening up their dining practices. Restaurant Associates, the operators of eateries inside some of America’s museums and landmarks, has committed to a five year partnership with the Green Restaurant Association.

All current and future cafes within the US House of Representatives, American Museum of Natural History, and the Lincoln Center will become more environmentally friendly.

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From Green Right Now Reports

The more you learn about your carbon-footprint, the more you’ll realize that it’s weighed down as much by food choices as what car you drive and your home energy program. Food production comes with a whole cornucopia of green issues, from pesticide use to deforestation to world transportation.

No food issue, though, is more important than choosing the right fish. Seafood merits special attention, because the fish varieties that we’re consuming could be on the brink of survival. Ocean ecosystems are being wrenched apart by the overfishing of certain species and the destructive fishing techniques used to harvest others.

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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Food, Inc. could easily have turned our stomachs upside down. There’s lots of raw material – cows mired in manure, pig carcasses whacked about on conveyor belts, immobilized chickens locked in dark crowded coops – to make the point about how mass food production can be an unhealthy affair.

The film does dish up selected gross-out shots of slabs of beef, downer cows, dead hens and grimy CAFOs. There are a few gasp-aloud moments, such as when chickens are beheaded (inexplicably, this hard-to-watch scene is on a small sustainable farm operation). But the beauty of this wonderful documentary lies in its restraint. Rather than beating up corporate culprits Smithfield, Cargill and others with the big stick of blood and guts, Food Inc. strolls confidently and methodically into our packaged food wonderland, armed with words, telling anecdotes and revelations of corruption and greed that make its case more compelling.

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By Christopher Peake
Green Right Now

For most of us, walking into a seafood store is an exercise in both ignorance and hope: we’re ignorant of what’s available but we hope we’ll leave with what we want. We all know fish come in two colors: the red one is salmon and the rest are white. Here is what you should know about fish:

Mark Musatto, a partner at Airline Seafood in Houston, says “There are three basic feelings I want every customer to have when they enter my store: they should feel, smell and see the freshness; notice that fresh fish has a sheen and a translucency and I want customers to tell me how they plan to cook their fish and we can talk about the best fish for that method.

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Photo: Ralph Smith
Chef Randy Evans chats with dinner guests.

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Foodies love to talk about “pairings” – usually they’re discussing the best wine to compliment an entree and there are those wine/chocolate pairings everyone seems to be buzzed about.

Houston gourmands have begun exploring a more fundamental pairing: They’re bringing top chefs together with local farms, within 150 miles of the city, as part of a celebration of local food.

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“Food from the root is better for you than food from the hoof.” — Dr. Jay Adlersberg, Health and Medical reporter at WABC-TV

By Christopher Peake

Even a cattle rancher probably wouldn’t deny that if people cut out even some meat from their diet they’d not only be healthier but they’d also be saving money as well as helping save the planet.

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By Christopher Peake
Green Right Now

It’s already mid-March and that means the snows will melt and if the ground’s not too saturated farmers will soon be planting seeds for the food that will feed us this year.

Since time immemorial farmer’s markets have been with us: farmers harvest, bakers bake, dairy farmers milk their cows and they all meet at a central location where there’s lots of foot traffic … and they sell. The common theme: the food is fresh.

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By Laura Whitley
KTRK

HOUSTON — A popular Houston restaurant is making a comeback and going green at the same time. Ruggles is back with a new green idea that’s setting an example for other businesses.

Becoming a green certified restaurant goes way beyond selling a few organic entrees, and it’s not just for health nuts. From buying local produce to using biodegradable containers, some owners have found that in the high pressure, trendy world of restaurants, green could sustain them.

> Watch Now

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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Oh for the days when all we had to worry about was a little pesticide residue on our apples. This past week brought two reminders that what we don’t know is in our food can hurt us.

The peanut butter snack recalls continued flying off the conveyor belt, noteworthy for the sheer number of products potentially tainted with salmonella – more than 400 at last count. All that contamination from one little ole peanut processing plant in Georgia. Best to heed the advice of the Food and Drug Administration’s Dr. Stephen Sundlof, “If you don’t know the source of the food that contains peanuts, don’t eat it.” At the same time, the FDA has declared that “national name brand peanut butter” sold in jars at retail has not been contaminated.

We also learned last week that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), that controversial, cheap and ubiquitous sweetener might contain more than just the empty calories blamed for our flourishing flab. A study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) reported finding traces of mercury in 17 of 55 tested foods made with HFCS.

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By John DeFore

New Year’s Eve is upon us, an occasion when even teetotalers may be tempted to toss back a couple of stiff drinks. Celebrants concerned with the origins of their booze are in better shape than ever this year, with enough organically produced spirits available to intoxicate the whole of Times Square.

The most popular variety of liquor for organic producers appears to be vodka: You could stock a nice little bar choosing only from green-friendly vodkas with numbers in their names: Vodka 360 and Vodka 14, for instance, alongside Square One, whose promotional materials (after scrupulously detailing a tightly-controlled production process) offer plenty of unusual imbibing ideas, from “culinary style” to tea-infused cocktails.

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