Typically made with few ingredients, Irish soda bread doesn’t require a lot of effort. For one, it’s a quick bread (using baking soda, rather than yeast, to make it rise) and the main ingredients are typically flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. I found that its simplicity was exactly what I was looking for in that moment. As I reached into the cabinet to get the ingredients I couldn’t help but be mentally transported back to Ireland.

Taking part in the traditions of my ancestors made me beam with pride. Using simple ingredients to produce a comfort food baked with love and intention was a joyful experience. As soon as I put my hands in the dough, it felt instantly therapeutic. I kneaded and kneaded, bringing together the wet and dry ingredients in a marriage of flavors. The sweet smell of the bread baking in my oven brought me back to my childhood, when I couldn’t wait to find that foiled-wrapped piece of soda bread that my mom would put in my lunchbox on St. Patrick’s Day. This simple pleasure, taking notice of my family’s traditions, really put me in tune with my own existence. It felt genuine in a city with such fleeting pleasures.

Unfortunately, St. Patrick’s Day is too often thought of solely as a day to imbibe to the point of inebriation. I found comfort in engaging in a deep-rooted tradition that truly celebrates my Irish heritage, which is too often not given the respect it deserves on this day. If you are keen to make my Irish Soda Bread, you can see the recipe on our sister site, Meatless Monday.

Elizabeth Puccini is co-founder of the NYC Green Schools initiative and parent of a student at The Children’s Workshop School in Manhattan. With the help of like minded parents, Elizabeth brought Meatless Monday to three New York City schools. She tells us how easy it is to bring Meatless Monday to our nation’s schools:

How did Meatless Monday at The Children’s Workshop School, The East Village Community School and P.S.94 come about?

The three schools share the same cafeteria. Inspired by the Baltimore school system, our Nutrition Committee asked if we could have Meatless Mondays. The School Foods Manager said yes. It was that simple.

Have there been changes to school food policy since the committee stepped in?

Absolutely. We have a salad bar that serves chickpeas and tofu, and we’ve eliminated fried products. We’ll soon be including education about the health and environmental benefits of eating plant-based foods.

Can these victories be easily adopted by other city schools?

Yes. School Foods is obligated to meet the requests of parents and schools. Suggesting Meatless Mondays is something parents and principals can take on right away!

What has the students’ response been?

Students are starting to appreciate the consequences of what they eat. When you limit meat, their first question is “Why?” This begins a dialogue about why it’s so important to eat less meat and get your protein from plant sources.

What advice would you give other parents?

Get involved, and know you have the power to demand change. Form a nutrition committee, get the support of the principal and meet with your School Foods Manager (every school is assigned one) to speak about changes in your menu!

Christina Roberto, M.S. and PhD candidate at Yale University, recently authored a study about the effects of calorie labeling on food choices. The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity study found that calorie labeling on menus improved choices, but posting the 2000 calorie a day recommendation as well maximized the effect.

Your study points out the increasing trend of eating out (i.e. food with generally lower nutritional value). How would calorie postings improve dietary patterns?

When eating out at restaurants, choices are no longer intuitive: it isn’t necessarily the case that a salad has fewer calories than a burger. Providing people with calorie information allows them to make informed decisions when dining. Requiring calorie information on menus also encourages restaurants to add lower calorie items.

Why is it that most of us have difficulty approximating the calories of restaurant meals?

Part of the reason is restaurants are businesses that need their food to taste as good as possible, so you keep going back. There is little incentive to balance taste and health. Most of us would never dream that a lot of restaurant foods have as many calories as they do!

This was the first study to assess consumption patterns when posting the daily calorie recommendations. What led to the decision of testing this variable in your study?

We thought that providing people with calorie information alone, without offering context, might dilute the effects of such labeling. Seeing that an appetizer is over 1000 calories doesn’t really hit home until you realize you should only be eating about 2000 calories per day and that appetizer will get you half way there!

Do daily calorie intake recommendations posted at a single meal impact food choices throughout the day?

In our study, we learned that people who had the daily caloric intake statement and calorie labels on their menus ate 250 fewer calories throughout the day than either of the other groups. This suggests that putting a statement informing people about daily caloric requirements can maximize the effectiveness of menu labeling.

Do you think there is value in a weekly reminder to stay within a healthy calorie limit?

People are very busy and we live in a food environment that constantly promotes poor food choices, so I think reminders about making healthy food choices can be very beneficial!

Maintain a healthy body weight by heading the recommended daily limit of 2000 calories. For a weekly reminder to reset your caloric calendar, do the Monday 2000!

Manhattan Borough President, Scott Stringer, has embraced Meatless Monday – and is recommending that the New York City Department of Education institute Meatless Monday in all city public schools! As part of his recent report, “FoodNYC: A Blueprint for a Sustainable Food System,” Stringer points to the success of the Baltimore City Public School MM program, and maintains it sends a positive message to kids about the health benefits of eating less meat and more vegetables.

As reported in the New York Times, Stringer stresses, “You’ve got to reach the next generation of New Yorkers early.” Baltimore schools’ food and nutrition services director, Tony Geraci, adds, “There’s not a culture on the planet that doesn’t have vegetarian offerings. You just have to remember to make it taste good.”

Meatless Monday is about giving people a choice – the option to start the week with a meat-free meal. We’re delighted that the Manhattan Borough President is casting a vote for public health with his support of Meatless Monday. We now encourage the city’s education department to enact the recommendation, and to bring nutritious, tasty lunches that will, ultimately, help to fight obesity and chronic disease!

Wellness guru Dr. Andrew Weil calls garlic “one of the best general tonics for the healing system”.  Those pungent, spicy little cloves reportedly have the ability to lower cholesterol levels and blood sugar, fight cardiovascular disease, enhance your immune system, and protect your liver and brain cells from degeneration.

To call garlic a mere “Super Food” may be an understatement. “Super Hero” might be more accurate, since this potent plant has historically been credited with the power to ward off nearly every ailment and evil under the sun. Or moon, if you count its alleged ability to disarm werewolves and vampires.

The ancient Egyptians fed garlic to the workers who built the pyramids to give them strength. In the Middle Ages, it was relied on to protect against the Plague. Thanks to Louis Pasteur’s discovery of garlic’s antibacterial activity in 1858, soldiers wounded in World War I and World War II were treated with garlic to prevent gangrene.

While most of us are unlikely to be plagued by anything so drastic as Dracula or an artillery assault, garlic is equally useful for fighting more mundane ailments such as the common cold or flu. It contains a natural antibiotic called allicin, which fights viral and bacterial infections and acts as a decongestant. The allicin is released when you crush garlic.  As the Vegetarian Times notes, “Grandma’s chicken noodle soup could have worked just as well without the chicken!”

So if you’re suffering from a cold or the flu this winter, it’s a no-brainer; skip the chicken soup and go for the true culinary cure: a vegetarian roasted garlic soup. Roasting garlic has the added bonus of sweetening and mellowing its flavor. Laid low with the sniffles this season? Activate some allicin and let garlic come to your rescue!

Just Food, a nonprofit working to build a just and sustainable food system in New York City, has done considerable community organizing around this issue. Carly Hutchinson, who spoke on behalf of the organization, was excited to report that thousands of people had signed their petition. “Urban farming is a key to environmental sustainability, and honeybees and beekeepers are an essential part,” she observed.

Members of the public who wished to comment on the proposed amendment were asked to pre-register, with statements limited to five minutes. Comments were offered by New York City residents, fourth generation beekeepers and local food activists.  Those who spoke overwhelmingly argued in favor of the proposed amendment, noting that legalized beekeeping could create jobs, enhance quality of life in New York City and support local food production.

Of course, beekeeping would also provide New Yorkers with a direct connection to their local food system and a stronger link to the natural world.

Naomi Zurcher, an arborist and trained beekeeper expressed an urgency to legalize beekeeping, saying “there is a larger issue at play here, regarding the health and well-being of New Yorkers. We have a complex ecosystem and bees play a vital role. Bees contribute to a healthy urban environment and are essential for pollination, [which], in turn, further[s] the Million Trees NYC initiative.”

Everett Scott, a Manhattan resident, echoed the sentiment that everyone needs to help and stressed that beekeeping is vital for the production of locally grown food. “Proper pollination from bees affects our food security, and so it affects all New Yorkers.”

Some spoke to the sweet rewards of urban beekeeping. James Rorimer of Rainforest Alliance, cited the “Great Pollinator Project which discovered 226 bee species in New York City, of which 54 bee species have been identified in the Bronx, 58 from Central Park, and 59 from Prospect Park.” He went on to mention that honey harvested in neighborhoods across the city have distinct flavors. Some neighborhood restaurants, especially in Brooklyn, are already sourcing local honey. Brad Lander, Brooklyn city council member in the 39^th district, expressed that “local honey is a key to growing local food,” and said he “is glad to see that Brooklyn restaurants are supplying it to their customers.”

In addition to local restaurants, urban farms in Brooklyn count on pollination from urban beekeepers to grow their produce. David Vigil, manager of East NY Farms (which sells over 20,000 lbs of food per year!) said that “legalizing beekeeping would be an educational tool to showcase our local food system.”

The most vibrant and knowledgeable speaker of the morning had to be Andrew Cote, president of the New York City Beekeepers Association. Cote echoed the sentiment of Vigil, saying that the “communities near East NY Farms count on their local farm and hive to ensure a healthy food supply.” Cole manages 30 hives in Brooklyn and Manhattan and produces Andrew’s Local Honey, which is sold at Greenmarkets around the city. He is a strong supporter of legalizing urban beekeeping, a necessity to cultivation of local food, while also ensuring that it is safe and responsible. Cote brought up the bee hives and honey harvested at the White House and said, “If [the] Obama girls can play near an active beehive, so can New Yorkers.”

The Department of Health will hold a final review next month. Upon approval of this revision, the revised code could take effect as early as April and New York City might very well join the list of cities around the country with legalized urban beekeeping!

Two weeks ago the New England Journal of Medicine released a study that found cutting back on the salt in our diets has the potential to prevent 32,000 strokes, 54,000 heart attacks and 60,000 cases of heart disease a year. This Valentine’s day the best thing you can do for your heart is cut the salt. But does that mean your candlelit dinner is destined to be bland?

Not at all! Cooking your own food from scratch is the most effective way to eat less salt without sacrificing flavor. The USDA recommends Americans consume no more than 2300 milligrams of salt per day, which translates to approximately one teaspoon of table salt. But that doesn’t mean you get to shake a teaspoon of salt on your food everyday. 80% of the average American’s sodium intake comes already cooked into processed foods. Two tablespoons of store bought Italian salad dressing already has 18% of your daily recommended salt, so why not try making your own?

Food cooked from scratch doesn’t need the extra salt that’s added to processed food so it can sit in the grocery store for weeks on end without going bad. In the comfort of your own kitchen you can control everything that goes into what you consume. When shopping for ingredients, try to buy whole foods that are fresh, dried or frozen. Canned foods, especially pre-made soups, are notoriously high in sodium, so should be used sparingly.

Although our tongues have grown accustomed to today’s salt heavy fare, after you cut back for a few weeks you’ll adjust to feel the full flavor. As you begin to cut back, there are several ways to trick your taste buds to enact sensations similar to salty foods. While cooking, try emphasizing a contrast of flavors by using pepper, citrus and fresh herbs liberally. If a recipe calls for breadcrumbs, try dry oats instead to add that crunch without the sodium. Experiment with new cooking methods, like sweating vegetables or cooking with a clay pot. These techniques allow the foods to roast in their own juices, adding flavor without any additional salt.

Cutting back on sodium is really just a matter of breaking out of our salty standard and trying new things. What better time to experiment then when you’re surrounded by those you love? This Valentine’s day expand your culinary repertoire, expand your taste buds and expand your life. Your heart, and your honey’s heart, will thank you.

Stuffed and Starved author Raj Patel is back with his new book The Value of Nothing. It’s slim but it’s brimming with ideas challenging our market system and the consumer passivity that brought us to economic collapse. The Value of Nothing shows how the environment and the economy come together on your plate.

You talk about cheap food, or “cheat food” as you call it. What is the $200 hamburger?

A regular hamburger is full of hidden costs – the long-term cost to our health, the cost of environmental destruction, the cost of unfair labor practices. It’s all been hidden from us.

What would happen if hamburgers really cost $200?

We would eat differently. One of the things modern capitalism has brought about is to boot out the consequences of our actions. The problem is that markets don’t work if the full cost of things doesn’t cover the full cost – and consequences – of the way we behave.

What role does Meatless Monday have to play?

It’s important. Absolutely. The first step. If the whole world were to go more vegetarian, it would have a tremendous positive effect!

The Value of Nothing is largely about the hidden cost of consumerism, but it’s also about the value – and risk – of doing nothing.

We have a very narrow idea of what personal responsibility means. We’re not geared to be good citizens – we’re geared to be consumers. But people need to feel they can be involved in an engaging, fulfilling way. It’s not, Yes I can, I voted for this dude, everything will be fine…it must be: there are community groups in my neighborhood that I’m interested in. I’m going to be an engaged citizen.

You’re advocating activism on a very basic level.

Right. It needn’t be an impoverishment. It’s thinking about ways of living that are sustainable, and joyful. How do we build up community? How do we transform? Food is exactly the way to do this, by sharing meals, by bringing people together for an exchange. The real promise of things like Slow Food is a radical commitment to democratizing pleasure. Everyone deserves the right to joy!

Today’s post is from our friends at Meatless Monday…

Next time you look at a bunch of broccoli, think of those stalks and florets as a bouquet bursting with beneficial compounds.  Açai and goji berries may be the darlings of the superfood set, but there’s a reason why the Romans revered broccoli.  Ounce for ounce, this offspring of a wild European cabbage packs an incredible array of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

Better still, it’s loaded with antioxidants that have been shown to fight cancer and heart disease, boost your immune system, and protect your vision. If that’s not enough to make you see broccoli in a whole new light, consider this: broccoli’s phytonutrients even have a detoxing effect, stimulating your body’s production of cleansing enzymes.

Happily, this medicinal marvel actually tastes good, too. In fact, broccoli’s one of the best selling vegetables in the United States. It even has some feline fans; witness YouTube phenomenon “Broccoli Kitten,” whose Internet success has spawned at least one cruciferous-crunching copycat.

Broccoli is at its best when it’s picked young. Avoid older broccoli that runs the risk of being woody and may give off an unpleasant sulphurous smell. The stems and leaves, which so many of us unthinkingly discard, are perfectly fine to eat and in fact quite nutritious. But florets are thought to have the highest concentrations of nutrients, and the darker the floret, the more beta-carotene and Vitamin C. So select a bunch whose tops are tinged purple or bluish- green.

When broccoli’s fresh and young you can enjoy it raw in salads or crudités, or blanch it briefly if you prefer. My new favorite way to savor this powerhouse veggie is to make pressure cooker goddess Lorna Sass’s Chinese-Style Sesame Broccoli, a recipe I discovered in the just-published 20th anniversary edition of her classic Cooking Under Pressure.

Lorna’s recipe delivers a crisp variation of an Asian-style stir-fry in a grand total of three minutes cooking time and just one tablespoon of oil. Even allowing for the prep time, that’s faster than you could get take-out, and so much healthier!

Broccoli retains more nutrients when you cook it briefly, but it also contains carotenoids that become more readily absorbed after cooking. Broccoli’s been a staple in Italian cuisine for centuries, so, in honor of its Roman origins and the Italian immigrants who popularized it in this country, Meatless Monday’s featured recipe this week is Lasagna Floret. Why settle for the breakfast of champions when you could have the dinner of empire-builders?

The 2007 Dutch documentary Meat the Truth was the first of its kind. Meat the Truth took an in-depth look at the environmental impact of wide scale meat production at a time when most people still attributed greenhouse gasses to cars. Last week, it was featured at Klimaforum 09, held during the Copenhagen Climate Summit. In honor of the Summit, we spoke with the documentary’s producer, Monique van Dijk Armor.

What inspired you to undertake this project?

We hear about greenhouse gas emissions caused by cars, trucks, planes and industry, but never about one of the biggest causes: livestock farming! The information was out there, but the general public hadn’t heard about it.

How has Meat the Truth helped spread visibility and awareness about factory farming?

We wanted to stimulate people to become aware of the critical situation, and then to act on it – by eating vegetarian 1 or 2 days a week. We tried to make the information accessible for the general public. Now even children see how simple the message is!

Meat the Truth is still being screened all over the planet. We receive daily requests to screen our film at universities, film festivals, conferences and theaters. It’s working!

The film encourages viewers to go meatless one day a week. Does one day really make a difference?

Oh yes, definitely! If everyone would contribute it would make a HUGE difference! Some examples:

If everyone is the US went meatless one day a week:

The carbon savings would be the same as taking 19.2 million cars off U.S. roads for a year.

They would also save 99.6 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions, the same as 46 million round trip flights from New York to Los Angeles!

If everyone in the UK went meatless one day a week:

They would save 13 million tons of CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. This would result in a bigger carbon savings than taking 5 million cars off the road in the UK!

If everyone in The Netherlands went meatless one day a week:

It would lead to the same carbon savings as taking 1 million cars off the road for a year

Carbon savings tables are available on the Meat the Truth website.

The environmental impact of meat consumption is finally being discussed seriously. Two weeks ago, Paul McCartney and Al Gore urged European Parliament to go meatless one day a week. Were you excited to be taking part in Klimaforum 09, given this new trend?

So excited! We think it’s great how Paul McCartney is doing this Meat-Free Monday campaign and how he addressed the European Parliament. It’s so important that people know the truth. We hope those in the European Parliament (and parliaments all over the world) set a good example with at least 1 meatless day a week!