The Economist has an interesting article on the science behind cognitive nutrition.
Some foods […] are like pharmaceutical compounds; their effects are so profound that the mental health of entire countries may be linked to them.
Last year, for example, the Lancet published research showing that folic-acid supplements—sometimes taken by pregnant women—can help those between 50 and 70 years old ward off the cognitive decline that accompanies ageing. In a study lasting three years, Jane Durga, of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and her colleagues found that people taking such supplements did better on measures of memory, information-processing speed and verbal fluency. That, plus evidence that folate deficiency is associated with clinical depression, suggests eating spinach, orange juice and Marmite, which are all rich in folic acid.
via Mind Hacks
Lately the New York Times has excelled in creating compelling graphic charts. This one, which numerous blogs posted last week, shows how American food consumption has changed since the 1970s.
There’s an overall increase of 1.8lbs of food a week: 0.5lbs of which is fat. Dairy is the only food category to see a decline, even with a 0.3lb increase in cheese consumption.
After looking at this, is it any surprised that since 1980 America has seen a doubling of obesity in adults aged 20-74?
via Kottke
I love reading about food-related psychological studies and this one on how our eating preferences are influenced (by our personal values, the food’s cultural meaning, and its physical appearance) is no exception:
How we feel about a sausage […] says more about our personal values than about what the sausage actually tastes like.
A large group of people were given a “human values” test which seeks to measure fifty six different values (loyalty, ambition, social order, etc.) Then, the subjects were asked to rate a variety of sausages. People who scored high on “social authority” - they believed it was important to support people in power - tended to label the “vegetarian” sausage as inferior, even when the vegetarian sausage was actually from a cow. Likewise, people who scored low on “social power values” tended to score the vegan sausage much higher than the beef sausage, even when they were actually eating meat. Instead of judging the food product on its merits, they ended up preferring the product that more closely conformed to their value system.
I wonder what this means for me. I like vegetarian sausages and always give serious consideration to the Sunday nut roast; but I always go for the meat because, well, it’s more traditional, isn’t it?
via Link Banana
As The Independent points out, Chinese food has a bad reputation in the UK. But understood and prepared properly, it is healthy, fulfilling, and one of my favourite types of cuisine. These Chinese dietary ’secrets’ have rejuvenated my fervour for Eastern cooking.
Stop counting calories
Think of vegetables as dishes
Fill up on staple foods
Eat until you are full
Take liquid food
Bring yin and yang into your kitchen
Raw power? not necessarily
Use food to keep fit
Drink green tea
Take restorative exercise
Recipes and Tips for Healthy, Thrifty Meals is a website created by the US Department of Agriculture’s Centre for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. It contains a wealth of information including: best buys for cost and nutrition; some nice, simple recipes; and food lists for two weeks worth of meals.
If you don’t have all the necessary ingredients, head over to The Cook’s Thesaurus to see if something else you have would make a suitable replacement.
If not, Cooking by Numbers allows you to input what you do have, and will tell you what you can make from it, and how.
Once you know what you’re making, this simple list of Cooking Conversions will come in handy translating those pesky American measurements into British units, or vice-versa.
Also useful is the Encyclopaedia of Spices, Ingredients Guide, and these Cooking Tips.
The Hillbilly Housewife is supposed to be a good resource too, but I haven’t had the time to have a browse.
