I grew up at least an hour and a half's drive from a fast food restaurant. I think Dairy Queen would have been the closest. I remember feeling like country was turning to city when we drove past it on our way to Grandma Wilma's place up in St. Louis. I do have one fast food memory that almost counters my recollections of the strawberry sundaes at Dairy Queen -- the McDonald's McRib -- which took about two hours to drive to get.

My Saturday morning reading revealed some disturbing public service-type videos on good ol' YouTube (via Grist). I guess there are lots of folks out there who are framing feeding kids junk food as child abuse. Excuse me?

Even in job interview settings, when folks ask me what my biggest professional challenge is, I can easily name that I am not so good with authority. I also consider this one of my greatest assets. It's why I choose leadership positions professionally, and why I love to host the dinner parties. So, naturally, resisting the food authorities resonates with me.

I should qualify this post by saying that I firmly believe in food safety regulations. However, my inner Libertarian (we've talked about her before) asserts that individuals have the right to, for example, consume raw milk products if they darn well please!

Like many of us, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, co-producers of the film "King Corn," wanted to understand corn. They started off their journey by getting a professional hair analysis. Turns out, the carbon in their bodies originates from corn. It seems most of us these days are made of commodity corn that must be processed before we can eat it. (Fact: An Iowa farmer can no longer feed herself by the corn on her farm.) 

Where, oh where, does commodity corn go? 

I'm always a little wary when someone gives me tips on how to do this or that on what they are calling "modest means." Depending on who you are and where you come from, the term can mean very different things.

I just found a little piece on WikiHow that lays out some simple tips for eating organically on modest means. I will note that they are specifying modest means as at least $1,000/month after taxes. In downtown Toronto, that does comprise modest means.

Thanks to the fabulous Mark Kuznicki, I just finished reading a piece on Food+Tech Connect about Open Data in agriculture. If you're not yet familiar with the Open Everything movement, don't feel bad. You probably understand it and agree with it inherently, as the ideas just make sense.

When I read about folks engaged in peaceful, direct action, I am filled with so much admiration. My girl Shana sent me the link to the Canadian Save Our Prison Farms website earlier this week. Neither of us had any idea that 1. there are prison farms in Canada or 2. they are in danger of being closed.

The world is pretty darn messed up. I think it probably always was -- it's just a question of scale these days. What gets me by (other than massive amounts of exercise and a bit of vino to take the edge off)? I love learning about really cool projects that are trying to educate and break down some of these global barriers we erect. My latest find comes via AlterNet -- the Conflict Kitchen.

Ever feel like some things are just inherently f#$%ed? That's how I feel about Nestlé. I used to find it appalling and tragic that Nestlé convinced women around the world that baby formula was better than breast feeding. Later, as I traveled through South and Central America, I was disgusted that the only coffee available in coffee-producing regions was Nescafé. I can't even talk about their bottled water. And now? Folks, Nestlé has raised the bar on predatory practices.