Other Peoples' Parties

Baby Do You Like It: raw?Milk. It does a body good. Unless you're lactose intolerant, vegan, or drinking raw milk full of poo. Raw, you ask? Full of poo, you ask? Yes, raw and poopy. You see, some people prefer their milk unpasteurized, which raises their chances of gulping down a nice, cold glass of Salmonella with a splash of E. coli.

In California, a new law that's scheduled to take effect next month threatens to set a limit of no more than 10 coliforms per milliliter. In other words, the law won't ban raw milk outright, but the new bacteria limits may be very difficult for producers to meet.

Coliforms are a group of bacteria commonly found in the environment, most of which do not cause disease. Pasteurization, in which milk is heated, kills many bacteria but in raw milk they're still alive.

"We found that coliform count is indicative of a healthy and clean and wholesome production process for raw milk," said Steve Lyle, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Raw milk producers and advocates argue that the product is tested for the bad stuff--like Salmonella and E. coli--and that the other coliforms are what makes raw milk so appealing. According to them, the presence of coliforms in their milk helps boost the immune system (arguably by giving it something to fight).

"There's quite a ruckus right now," said Mark McAfee, founder of Fresno-based Organic Pastures Dairy Co., the larger of two raw milk producers in California. "This is a huge issue and it goes directly to consumer choice. Consumers are fed up with the government being in their kitchens and they want to be able to make their independent choices about food they want to eat."

"There's a bacteria paranoia in our country which is just out of control," McAfee said.

Bacteria paranoia in our country? Absolutely. So, by all means, put down the hand sanitizer: An occasional soap-and-watering of the ol' digits will get the job done just fine! But drink raw milk? Only if your middle name is "Trouble" with a capital "T." After being directed to BarfBlog by the folks at Consumerist, I learned this handy fact:

Before widespread adoption of milk pasteurization, an estimated 25% of all food-borne and waterborne outbreaks of disease were associated with milk.

By 2001, the percentage of such outbreaks associated with milk was estimated at less than 1 per cent.

You do the math.  That said, this is America, and if a patriot wants to guzzle a Salmonella shake, there's not a whole lot that can be done to stop him.  

Hillary Says: please, kill it first.Who cares how the 2008 presidential candidates take their coffee? I certainly don't, and I'd assume you probably don't, either. However, someone over at the AP seems to think it's relevant. The Associated Press has "asked candidates a series of questions about their personal side." Inquiries range from foods they hate to prized possessions to how they take their coffee. Because we're all dying to know. I had to fight to stay awake while reading it all, thanks both to the incredibly inane questions and outrageously boring answers.

Come on, candidates! Step up your game! I don't care that you hate mushrooms or eggplant! Please, spare me your gripes about vegetables! Not liking vegetables is soooo last century. Bill Richardson: The bland answer you gave about your distaste for mushrooms is distasteful to me! Obama: You could at least have gotten witty and offered something along the lines of "anything beats beets." John McCain: Titillate me with spin, talk to me about how you learned to love broccoli because, despite not doing "too well with vegetables," you know that they are good for you and want to set a good example. And Huckabee: Who in his right mind doesn't like carrots? Wrong answer, boy oh boy.

Perhaps the best answer given to the "food you hate" question came from Hillary Clinton, who said, and I quote, "I don't like, you know, things that are still alive." What? The hell? Are you talking about? Something tells me it's not oysters. Are you often served living creatures at dinner parties? Where on earth are you dining, and who with? Vietnam, with Anthony Bourdain? Hillary, next time, try this: "The only foods I don't like are those grown or raised in ways that are harmful to people, animals, and the earth, for example, conventionally grown produce that is sprayed with toxic pesticides, GMOs that haven't been sufficiently shown to be safe for human consumption, and meat and dairy from animals that have been mistreated and pumped full of antibiotics and hormones." Wow, you'd win over all of the Vegetarian Times subscribers with that one!

As for their answers about how they take their coffee, the candidates missed a killer opportunity at spiel. Not a one mentioned fair trade, shade grown, organic coffee. Nope, they thought it was sufficiently interesting to offer straightforward, unimaginative, unpolitical answers. Take Obama, who likes it "black" (I'm not even going to go there), and Giuliani, who takes his with "Splenda, Sweet'n Low, or Equal, whichever is available."

agahdgiahdkahfiopuahdkahdklgha;kjhalkdsjhba;ksdjhaoisdh;a -- Oops, sorry--I momentarily fell asleep on my keyboard.

Spice it up, guys and gals. You are politicians, after all.

Is It Me: or is that falafel looking at me funny? Here's the deal. A reporter named Jeff Stein wrote an article about how "the FBI sifted through customer data collected by San Francisco-area grocery stores in 2005 and 2006, hoping that sales records of Middle Eastern food would lead to Iranian terrorists." He claimed that he got his information from "well-informed sources." Well, those sources must have been looking to make a fool or Mr. Stein and/or the FBI, because after a month of shock and awe that such a project would be green-lit, it's been revealed that the entire article was completely false.

Let's see if the pesky fact that all of this reporting was wrong will make as much news. Here's the FBI press release from yesterday:

We at the FBI were surprised to read about a supposed FBI program to monitor the sales of Middle Eastern food products in the San Francisco Bay area in support of counterterrorism intelligence gathering (“FBI Hoped to Follow Falafel Trail to Iranian Terrorists Here,” November 2, 2007).

Having never heard of this, I spoke to the counterterrorism managers, who in the story were identified as having hatched the plan, as well as everyone else who would have had any knowledge of it. Nobody did. At one point in the story, writer Jeff Stein opines “as ridiculous as it sounds,” in reference to the alleged food monitoring plan, which reportedly was described to Mr. Stein by “well-informed sources.”

In this case, too ridiculous to be true.

While the story may have been the source of some amusement, I appreciate the opportunity to set the record straight on something that touches on something so important as national security and civil liberties.

John Miller
Assistant Director, Office of Public Affairs
Federal Bureau of Investigation

What a relief. We can all now resume Falafel eating sans paranoia.  Extra tahini, please.

Which One Has Chosen: not to eat fleishig?

Happy World Vegetarian Awareness Month. Kicked off by World Vegetarian Day on October 1, the month-long celebration was created by the North American Vegetarian Society in 1977. That makes this year its 30th anniversary. So, which of the above celebs are vegetarian Jewcers?

From left to right, we have Natalie Portman, Alicia Silverstone, and Sara Gilbert.

If you guessed Natalie Portman.....you're right! The Jerusalem-born actress is a vegan who stopped eating meat at age 8. But wait, there's more!

If you guessed Alicia Silverstone.....you're right as well! She became a vegan in 1998.

And what about Sara Gilbert? Yup, it was a trick question. Sara's in the Jewcy Veg club as well. She became a vegetarian in her teens, and like Alicia, she supports animal rights organizations like PETA.

Speaking of PETA, have you seen their latest ad, featuring Ms. Silverstone? Ahh, the wonders of veg*anism:

I went to my first Orthodox bar mitzvah last weekend. It was my first Orthodox anything, come to think of it. While I didn’t pay much attention in temple (since the women and men sit separately and I didn’t have Fiance--a more religious Jew than I--beside me to explain what was going on), I paid great attention to the food.

I seldom keep Kosher, so I didn't have high hopes for the Kosher meal ahead. But as it turns out, Kosher food isn’t so bad! Everything served was actually pretty good. Especially the desserts, which I’ll get to in a later post.

Friday night was Shabbat (or Shabbos) dinner, and we started with pea soup. When it arrived, I gingerly dipped into the slimy green substance and braced myself for the worst. I was confused and pleasantly surprised when it tasted delicious. Quite possibly the best pea soup I’ve ever had, smooth and spiked with chives and mint. Fiance and I looked at each other to confirm: “There’s definitely cream in this.” Since Kosher laws restrict serving meat and milk in the same meal, we anticipated a main course of fish.

You can imagine my surprise when, after a yummy, thoughtfully arranged iceberg lettuce salad garnished with pecans and cranberries, this stuffed chicken breast came out as the main course:

Kosher stuffed Chicken

Fiance and I raised our eyebrows at each other and I immediately sought out the chef to ask what was in the pea soup. Non-dairy creamer, he told me. Genius! This trick will certainly come in handy when my Kosher conscience nags around the holidays or a more pious mood strikes Fiance around dinnertime. Non-dairy creamer just may change my life.

Even better? This recipe couldn't be easier.