It’s a particularly vexing question when one neglected to go grocery shopping over the weekend, so her fresh ingredient stock is limited to onions, baby carrots and a small handful of brussels sprouts.  A thorough inspection of the pantry yielded plenty of dry staples, though, and the back corners of the fridge were hiding the jetsam of our Thanksgiving cooking frenzy– a half jar of chestnuts, some leftover sage leaves– quickly on their way out.  Time to get creative.

I decided to compose a soup of Dried Wild Mushrooms, Lentils and Chestnuts, using roasted brussels sprouts and fried sage leaves as a garnish.  My hope was that this eclectic combination of earthy and sweet flavors would be harmonious rather than cacophonous, with crispy green garnishes offering a pop of welcome color and texture to the smooth, autumnal puree.  Since these flavors work so beautifully together in Thanksgiving stuffing, after all, why not a soup?  For seasoning, I chose thyme (a classic in stuffing, and one of my favorites), and a small hit of smoked paprika to add depth and richness of flavor in lieu of, say, bacon, which I don’t eat.  (You could use chipotle powder to similar effect if you prefer a spicier soup).  I didn’t bother using celery in my mirepoix, since I never have it around the house and doubt many of you do, either.

The results were fantastically tasty beyond my expectations.  This recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian (and easily made vegan if you use Vegetable stock).  It is elegant enough to serve to company for a fall or winter dinner party, but easy enough to make for no particular reason on a weeknight.  It’s filling enough to be a one-dish meal, thanks to the hearty body that the lentils provide… just load it up with that brussels sprout garnish to get in some greens!

Recipe: Wild Mushroom Chestnut Soup with Autumn Garnishes

Serves 4-6

1 onion, chopped
2 TBSP olive oil
1 carrot, chopped (or equivalent chopped baby carrots to yield ~ 1/2 cup chopped)
1 oz dried wild mushrooms, soaked in enough boiling water to cover them for at least 30 minutes; reserve the water for the soup
1.5 cups dry lentils
1 cup of jarred whole chestnuts
1 quart (32 ounces) vegetable stock, chicken stock or plain water
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Kosher salt & pepper to taste

Smoked paprika is the secret ingredient that brings this soup to life

Garnishes (prepare while soup is simmering):

Roasted brussels sprouts (see directions below)
Fried sage leaves (recipe follows; make LOTS of them.  You will want one in every bite of soup… they are so damn tasty.)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in soup pot or large 4 quart saucepan
2. Add chopped onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until sweating
3. Add the chopped carrots, mushrooms in their soaking water, lentils, chestnuts, stock or water, thyme, paprika, 2 generous pinches of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper (optional) to taste
4. Cover and bring soup to a boil.  When boil is reached, reduce heat and simmer, partly covered, for about 30 minutes or until lentils are soft/cooked well
5. While soup is simmering, prepare garnishes below
6. When soup is finished cooking, taste for seasoning and add additional salt/paprika as desired.  Turn off heat.
7. Using an immersion (stick) blender, puree soup in the cooking pot to desired texture.  (Alternatively, you can transfer soup to a blender and puree it in batches).
8. Serve with roasted brussels sprouts and fried sage leaves as garnishes

• To roast brussels: trim base off of desired quantity of brussels sprouts, and cut them down the middle.  Toss them in a bowl with just enough olive oil to kiss them all but not drown or drench… a good rule of thumb is 1-2 TBSP per pound.  Sprinkle with kosher salt.  Roast in 400-degree oven for 15-20 minutes, or until outside starting to caramelize but the sprouts are not dried out or mushy.
• To fry sage leaves: set aside desired quantity of fresh sage leaves.  Trim larger leaves into 2-3 segments if necessary to ensure all leaves are roughly the same size.  Heat just enough olive oil in a pan to cover the bottom.  When oil is nice and hot, toss in a handful of sage leaves (you may need to do this in batches to prevent overcrowding the pan, which will result in soggy leaves).  Fry the sage leaves, stirring constantly, for 5-10 seconds only!  (The leaves will get crispy as they cool even though they still appear green).  Remove leaves from pan with a slotted spoon or spatula and place on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.  Sprinkle with a touch of kosher salt.

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But for the past decade or so, a team of researchers has been publishing papers about the effects of an experimental diet called the “Portfolio Diet” on blood lipid levels of people with high cholesterol.  Unlike prevailing dietary approaches that emphasize what foods to avoid, the Portfolio Diet focuses on ADDING a handful of beneficial foods to the daily diet. The portfolio of foods and nutrients  included: nuts, soy protein, plant sterol-enriched margarine, and “viscous” (soluble) fiber specifically found in foods like oats, barley, eggplant, okra and psyllium husk supplements.

Each of these foods was selected based on previous research which suggested a different and complementary cholesterol-lowering mechanism; the hypothesis was that if a portfolio of all these foods was eaten daily as part of a low saturated fat diet, it could help lower cholesterol by launching a multi-pronged attack on all the ways that cholesterol is manufactured, transported and/or recycled in the body.  The researchers wanted to compare the benefits of this Portfolio Diet compared to (1) a typical low-saturated fat diet, and (2) a typical low-saturated fat diet plus a statin drug.

Their initial findings, published in 2003, were interesting but largely impractical.  While their experimental Portfolio diet did lower cholesterol as much as people on a standard low-saturated fat diet who took a statin (as compared to the control group that just followed a typical low-saturated fat diet), there were several limitations.  First of all, the study groups were each less than 20 people, making it difficult to draw any widespread conclusions.  Secondly, the researchers provided the participants with virtually all the food for their meals to ensure compliance– a circumstance that would not be replicated in real-life settings.  Thirdly, the amount of fiber in the Portfolio Diet was so colon-blowingly-large (78g per 1,000 calories… or 140g/day on an 1,800 calorie/day diet) that most Americans (whose average fiber intake is reportedly only ~14g/day) attempting to follow it would probably spend half their day on the toilet or warming the planet irreparably through the  toxic cloud of methane gas they produced as a result.

Last month, however, the researchers published a study in JAMA with much more promising–and practicable–results.  They took a scaled-back version of their Portfolio Diet to test against the original, intensive version, to determine whether it would still provide the same cholesterol-lowering results as compared to the standard, low-saturated fat “control” diet.  Furthermore, they tested these 3 diets in a larger test group than the original study (between 80-90 people in each group), and allowed the participants to prepare their own food rather than having it provided to them–thus simulating real-life conditions much more closely.  The participants included both men and women, and the average participant was overweight (average BMI=27).  The experiment lasted 6 months.

The results?  Not only did the scaled-back version of the Portfolio Diet result in the same degree of cholesterol lowering as the intensified version… but the participants’ food records indicated that the average intake of Portfolio foods among the scaled-back group was LESS THAN HALF (41%) of the target amount!  In other words, the dieters reaped a significant benefit (LDL reductions of ~13%) from adding a relatively modest amount of Portfolio foods to their low-saturated fat diets.  In real terms, this translated into an average decrease of LDL levels from 171 mg/dL to 147 mg/dL.  Though the more closely participants adhered to the diet, the greater their reduction in LDL was.

The Nuts and Bolts of the Experimental Portfolio Diet

So what, exactly, did the participants eat, and how much?

• For starters, all groups followed a low-saturated fat diet.  In this study, it was a vegetarian diet that included eggwhites and low-fat dairy products, but no meat.  Because only animal products have cholesterol, the vegetarian diet resulted in a significant reduction of dietary cholesterol intake to below 200mg/day among ALL study groups, even the controls.

• Secondly, all groups were counseled to restrict their calories to an amount designed to maintain their current weight, such that weight gain or weight loss would not muddy the results.  In reality, this translated into intakes of about 1,800-1,900 calories per day, including the portfolio foods.  (This is an important point, since adding a minimum of ~600-700 calories worth of Portfolio foods per day to achieve target nutrient levels could result in weight gain unless something else was taken away to compensate for it!)  After 6 months, no group had lost a significant amount of weight.

• Third, the scaled-back Portfolio Dieters had nutritional counseling twice during the 6-month study period to help them adhere to the diet.  (Consider this a thinly-veiled plug to make an appointment with a registered dietitian!)

• The ACTUAL average intake of portfolio foods/nutrients per day, assuming an 1,800 calorie/day diet, was as follows:
• 11g of “viscous” fiber per day (mainly from psyllium husk fiber supplements, oats, oat bran and/or barley)
• 21g of soy protein per day
• 1.1g of plant sterols per day from an enriched margarine product
• 47g of nuts (including peanuts) per day

How do these nutrients translate into actual foods and portions?  And how many calories are associated with these portions?  Read on:

“Viscous fiber”:

• 1 cup cooked plain oatmeal has 4g fiber and 160 calories
• 1/2 cup of cooked pearled barley has 3g of fiber and 95 calories
• 1 slice oat bran bread has ~1.4g fiber and ~80 calories (varies by brand; read labels for precise info)
• Psyllium husk powder (dietary supplement): 2 TBSPs have 9-10g fiber and ~35-45 calories, depending on the brand
• Note: other good sources of “viscous” fiber include okra, eggplant, strawberries, beans.
• For gluten-free readers: pearled barley is off limits, but certified Gluten-free oats are marketed by Bob’s Red Mill and Arrowhead Mills.  Psyllium husk is naturally gluten-free, but check your product’s label to ensure it was not processed in a facility/on equipment that also processes gluten-containing ingredients.

Soy protein:

• 1/2 cup of raw, firm tofu (~4.5 oz) has 20g of protein and 180 calories
• 1 cup plain soymilk has 6g protein and 80-120 calories
• 1/2 cup shelled edamame (boiled soybeans) has ~10g protein and ~100 calories
• 1 oz of dry roasted “soy nuts” (1/4 to 1/3 cup depending on brand) has 10-11g protein and 120-140 calories
• Note: study participants also ate more processed soy products, such as meatless soy “deli slices”

Plant Sterols (from enriched margarine products):

• 1 TBSP of Smart Balance HeartRight has 1.7g of plant sterols (45 calories)
• 1 TBSP of Promise Activ has 1.0g of  plant sterols (45 calories)

Nuts:

• 47g of nuts is about 1.7 ounces, or 1/3 cup of most nut varieties (270-340 calories for dry-roasted, depending on the variety.  Read the label of your favorite nut for more precise info or check out this chart for a comparison by nut type.)

The bottom line?  While much more research is needed to validate these results and refine exact quantities of foods and nutrients needed to achieve optimal benefits from a cholesterol-lowering persepctive, the fact remains that swapping in nutritious, high-fiber, plant-based foods such as those in the Portfolio Diet for animal protein foods and refined grains in your current diet is very likely to benefit your health in many ways.   If you can’t go all the way, the study’s results nonetheless suggest that swapping in a smaller amount of these foods is still likely to produce some benefit, so give it a try!

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If you also have an aversion to super-sour citrus, you may have summarily dismissed a suspiciously grapefruit-looking fruit called the Pomelo if you’ve crossed paths with it.  If indeed you have, I regret to inform you that you’ve made a huge mistake.  (But fear not: the Pomelo is too thick-skinned to be offended.  Ha ha.)

Pomelos are reportedly ancestors to grapefruits, with a much thicker rind and a grapefruitish flavor with enough extra sweetness to just take the edge off of a grapefruit’s characteristic sourness.  (If you like sweet/tart grapefruit-flavored sodas like Fresca or Boylan’s MASH, you’ll probably love Pomelos.)  Also, between the thick rind that’s easy to peel off and a flesh that’s less wet-juicy than a grapefruit, I find them *much* neater and easier to eat; you can peel and eat them with your hands like an orange rather than cutting them to eat with a spoon like a grapefruit.

The peeling-like-an-orange-method I favor is demonstrated in this very helpful instructional video (unlike an orange, you’ll want to also remove the membrane from each segment before eating), so if you have 4 minutes and 41 seconds to spare, check it out:

Nutritionally, a pomelo (or, as the USDA nutrition database prefers to call it, a “pummelo,”) is very similar to a grapefruit, but apparently with even more Vitamin C.  One cup of pomelo segments (the average pomelo will have about 3 such servings) contains 70 calories, 2g fiber and about twice the recommended daily intake of Vitamin C.

Pomelo is also similar to grapefruit in that it can interfere with the metabolism of certain drugs (refresh your memory here with my previous post on citrus); a list of such drugs can be found here, but it’s always best to double-check with your pharmacist or doctor to verify that you can enjoy grapefruits and related citrus like Pomelos and Seville/Sour Oranges without any interaction with prescription drugs you may be taking.

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But having gorged myself all week on an insanely delicious crop of enormous, sweet, buttery-ripe and preternaturally juicy Comice pears, I decided to take up the case for this underappreciated tree fruit.  Besides, the U.S. Pear Bureau has declared December to be National Pear Month, so what better excuse to divert our collective attention away from the lure of chocolate, eggnog and other holiday excesses and toward a more righteous seasonal treat?

The Case for Pears

Pears are among the highest-fiber fresh fruits available, which makes them an excellent choice for a filling mid-day snack when that sweet craving hits.  One medium-sized pear (skin included) contains almost 6g of fiber–which is about 25% of the daily recommended intake for women!  That’s more fiber than a medium-sized apple or a cup of strawberries, and about twice the amount of fiber as a banana or an orange.  In fact, its about the equivalent amount of fiber (a touch more, actually) as a cup of steamed broccoli.  Moreover, each pear contains about 3g of “soluble” fiber, which is the kind that helps lower cholesterol levels; this renders pears among the best fruit sources of cholesterol-lowering fiber available.  In fact, a medium sized pear has more soluble fiber than a cup of cooked oatmeal!  (Of course, diced fresh pears make a fabulous topping for oatmeal in lieu of high-sugar dried fruits.)

In addition to their high fiber content, pears also naturally contain a modest amount of sorbitol, a natural “sugar alcohol’ whose poor digestibility can serve as a gentle natural laxative in a similar manner as prunes.  These two factors make pears a great natural remedy for constipation. (Of course, the opposite is also true: if you suffer from diarrhea, avoiding pears or pear nectar is probably wise.)

Then of course there is the matter of taste.  Pears come in all varieties, from crisper and more subdued Boscs, Concordes and Seckels to luscious, sweet, dribble-down-your-chin-with-juice Comices and Bartletts, to middle-of-the-road Anjous.  Different varieties can suit different occasions, from snacking, to pairing with cheeses or tossing in salads, to poaching for dessert.

Picking a Pear

Since pears are among the few fruits that need not ripen on  the tree, you may need to check whether your pear is ripe and ready to eat.  (With the exception of Bartletts, pears tend not to change color when ripe.)  The trick to doing so is to “check the neck”: a pear’s neck that yields to a gentle squeeze between your fingers indicates that your pear is at its peak.  If it’s still hard, leave it out to ripen at room temperature, and if you’re in a hurry, try sticking it in a sealed brown paper bag to accelerate the ripening process.  If your pear is already ripe but you’re not quite ready to eat it, store it in the fridge to prevent it from over-ripening.  For more pear assessment and storage techniques, check out these tips from the folks at the Pear Bureau.

My Favorite Pear Recipes

• Roasted Pear and Arugula Salad with Pomegranate-Chipotle Vinaigrette: an elegant and unusual salad course for holiday entertaining
• Watercress, Frisee & Walnut Salad: a super-easy salad to make at home, featuring two fabulous superfoods (watercress and walnuts) that I always intend to eat more of, but have a hard time incorporating into my diet.  The sweetness of the pears tames the characteristic bite of the watercress beautifully.
• Pear-and Cheese Pairings: Try adding pears to your upcoming holiday cheese platter for a little something different; the saltiness of cheese is a perfect complement to the sweetness of pears (see the embedded link for suggestions as to which cheeses go well with which pear varieties).  Alternatively, many pear salad recipes combine pears and blue-veined cheeses like Blue Cheese, Stilton or Gorgonzola.  While these more pungent cheese varieties are not my personal cup of tea, if they’re yours, then consider tossing them in to your next mixed salad for some seasonal variety.
• Chocolate-dipped pears: I’ve had poached pears dipped in melted dark chocolate, and it’s a divine, relatively healthy winter dessert.  But since poaching pears is a little bit annoying, I gravitated towards this uber-simple recipe for chocolate-dipped fresh pears from Martha Stewart.  (You’ve heard of chocolate-dipped strawberries, after all; why not pears, too?)  Use an apple corer in lieu of a teaspoon to core the pear if you can; it’s much neater and easier.  And look for the smallest pears you can find if you want to serve them as individual desserts, otherwise, slice them and serve them on a fruit or dessert platter alongside other treats.

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I decided on a black quinoa-stuffed acorn squash, both because the colors were right and because they are incredibly nutritious and delicious foods in their own right.  (Subliminally, the fact that acorn squashes kind of look like mini pumpkins may have played a role, too.)  Since I’m also on the hook to come up with a vegetarian entree option for our family’s Thanksgiving meal this year, I figured that developing this dish would give me a good practice run for the big day next month.  It was the Thanksgiving angle that inspired the flavor profile of the quinoa stuffing, in fact.  Why not stud it with Thanksgiving-stuffing-ish ingredients like savory sauteed onions, chestnuts, mushrooms, and sage to offset the sweetness of the squash?  And why not top it with a garnish of roasted squash seeds while I was at it?

It was all sounding so delicious that for a moment I almost believed squash and quinoa could be the next classic Halloween combo–right up there with chocolate and peanut butter.  (Alas, my husband assured me that it could not be, but conceded that it was damn delicious nonethless.)

Recipe: Black Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

Serves 6

3 acorn squash, cut in half lengthwise, seeds and stringy membranes scooped out and set aside.

Olive oil

1 cup black quinoa, rinsed well

1 cup diced onion

1 tsp minced garlic

2 cups diced mushrooms

1 cup diced peeled chestnuts (from a jar; equivalent of about 1/2 cup of whole chestnuts)

6 fresh sage leaves, minced

1 tsp dried thyme

Salt

To garnish: Roasted acorn squash seeds (see instructions below)

Directions:

1. Roast the acorn squash as follows: using your hands, rub the exposed squash flesh (flat part as well as the scooped-out cavity) with a thin layer of olive oil and sparse sprinkle of salt.  Place squash halves flesh side up on a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees until the flesh is soft and cooked through.  (Depending on your oven and the size of the squash, this may take anywhere from 30-45 minutes, so keep an eye on them.  ).  When squash halves are roasted, remove from heat and set aside.
2. While squash is roasting, cook the quinoa as per package directions and set aside when done.
3. While squash is roasting and quinoa is cooking prepare the vegetables as follows:
   • Heat 1 TBSP olive oil in a large saute pan; when hot, add minced onion and cook until it starts to soften and become translucent, about 4 minutes.
   • Add minced garlic and stir for about 30 seconds
   • Add the minced mushrooms and chestnuts to pan, stir constantly until vegetables are well-blended and mushrooms cook down
   • Add the minced sage leaves and thyme leaves; stir until blended.
4. Add the cooked quinoa to the vegetable mixture in the saucepan and stir until well-blended.
5. Add salt to taste
6. Fill the hollowed-out squash with quinoa/vegetable mixture
7. Garnish with roasted acorn squash seeds (see directions below) and serve!

Recipe: Roasted Acorn Squash Seeds

• Rinse seeds in a colander under running water to remove excess flesh/stringy membranes.
• Spread clean seeds on a paper towel and allow to dry thoroughly
• When dry, toss seeds with just enough olive oil to coat and sprinkle with salt
• Spread seeds out on a baking tray so that they’re not overlapping
• Bake for 15 minutes at 275 degrees (preferably in a counter-top toaster oven, or until golden brown)

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Not so today.

Our industrial food system has complicated food beyond reason, and our government’s poor regulatory infrastructure leaves far too much leeway for profit-minded food marketers to decide how much to tell us eaters about what goes into the food they sell us.

Salmon is the perfect example of a once-straightforwardly healthy food that’s become fraught with complications.

Salmon, Theoretically

When salmon is just salmon, that is, living in the wild in its natural habitat and fished sustainably, it ranks pretty high up there among some of the best foods one could eat for good health.  It’s a complete protein (21g total per 3oz serving cooked), containing all of the essential amino acids our bodies can’t produce on their own, but unlike most other animal proteins, it’s very low in saturated fat (1g per 3 oz serving) and an excellent source of heart-healthy omega-3 fats (that same 3oz serving contains about 1.5g of  EPA and DHA, which is about a 3-day dose of what experts are starting to believe is necessary for improved cardiovascular function in otherwise healthy adults).  Finally, salmon is among the lowest mercury fish, meaning that even pregnant women can enjoy up to 12oz of it weekly without worry.  All that for about 150 calories!

Wild salmon is also an excellent food for babies (and nursing moms), assuming baby has no known fish allergies.  Contrary to conventional lore, there’s no evidence to support avoiding fish in baby’s first 12-36 months of life as an effective allergy prevention strategy, and some limited emerging evidence that suggests withholding possibly-allergenic foods for too long may even increase the risk of childhood food allergy.  As we learn more about the role DHA and EPA have in childhood brain and eye development, in fact, protein-rich and soft-textured salmon becomes an even more attractive food to introduce to your little Einstein–particularly since their burgeoning palettes are still acquiring their taste preferences.  You should feel comfortable introducing texture-appropriate, low-mercury fish (but not shellfish) to babies as early as 6 months, and baby food marketers are finally catching on to the idea by introducing salmon baby foods.

Salmon, in Reality: Farmed vs. Wild

Over 90% of salmon sold in our country is farmed.  The reality, sadly, is that the vast majority of “Atlantic salmon” sold in the U.S., regardless of its country of origin, is raised in penned-off, crowded water “farms” where the fish are very susceptible to infection by parasites due to the close quarters, and the large amounts of waste generated pollute nearby open waters.  According to the Environmental Defense Fund, farmed Atlantic salmon is also very high in PCBs, an environmental pollutant that may have a detrimental effect on developing children at high levels.  Furthermore, farmed salmon are fed commercial fish food that contains a relatively high amount of grains like corn (you can thank ongoing corn subsidies in the Farm Bill for that one), which makes the farmed salmon relatively higher in inflammatory omega-6 fats and lower in the desirable omega-3 fats than wild salmon.  However, to be fair, farmed salmon still does contain a respectable amount of omega-3s.   If your salmon isn’t labeled “farmed” or “wild” (which it should be, according to a new law passed in March 2009), you should assume that it is farmed, Atlantic salmon.

While wild salmon is generally endangered, particularly in the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean fisheries in Alaska are very well-managed to prevent over-fishing.  Their fish have lower levels of PCBs and feed on their natural prey, which contributes to their naturally high omega-3 fat content.  Therefore, Wild Alaskan salmon is currently the best choice for omega-3-rich, low-toxin, environmentally-sound salmon.

Most canned salmon sold in the U.S. comes from Wild Alaskan salmon (it will be labeled as such), so if fresh Wild Alaskan salon fillets are cost-prohibitive, I’d recommend trying out some fun recipes using the canned stuff.

Arctic Char

Alternatively, a fish called Arctic Char is very salmon-like in appearance, taste and nutritional value, and is a less expensive alternative to wild salmon.  While this species of fish, which comes mostly from the US, Canada and Northern Europe, is generally farmed, the farming system used is much less harmful to the environment and the fish than the typical Atlantic Salmon farming operation.  And according to a report by the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, Arctic Char tolerate denser quarters much better than salmon.  I’d recommend Farmed Arctic Char about as strongly as I would Wild Atlantic Salmon for all of these reasons.

It’s worth mentioning, but perhaps not dwelling on (since there’s nothing we can do about it), that plenty of imposter farmed salmon is being mislabeled and sold as “wild” to unwitting consumers, even at fancy, reputable markets.  What can I say about this except that all we can do is make the best choices we can with the information we are given, and hope that unscrupulous marketers are few and far between.

Pay Attention to your Salmon’s Country of Origin

I’ve written previously about the risks associated with purchasing fish imported from countries with lax enforcement of health and environmental norms, of which China tops the list.  I recommend avoiding fish imported from Asia in general and China in particular, as the FDA only inspects 1% of these imports for illegal contaminants such as antibiotics, pesticides and carcinogens.  Granted, I’ve never actually come across salmon imported from China, but this warning applies to all fish, especially Tilapia, for which Chinese imports dominate the U.S. market.  By law, all fish must be labeled with its country of origin; if your supermarket doesn’t provide this information, they are breaking the law and you should let them know.

The next layer of complexity: Organic and Genetically-Engineered Salmon

Currently, there is no standard for “organic” labeling of fish, though the USDA has proposed guidelines for future certification that may or may not be adopted.  By definition, “organic” fish would need to be farmed fish in order to meet the standard, and the feed would need to contain 75% organic material and no more than 25% wild fish to qualify.  I guess that means a farmed salmon fed 75% organic corn could be considered organic?  Additionally, these proposed guidelines do not appear to take environmental concerns related to fish farming into consideration.  So for the time being, I think Wild Alaskan salmon is nutritionally and environmentally preferable to any “Organic” Salmon you may come across now or in the future.

And finally, as if the salmon landscape wasn’t confusing enough, a company called AquaBounty Technologies has developed a genetically-modified salmon that has been under consideration for approval by the FDA.  The salmon’s main claim to fame is that it carries a gene for growth hormone from another fish species that enables it to grow faster, making it a commercially-attractive proposition to profit-minded salmon farming operations.  (There are other curious things about this new creature; see NPR’s piece on ‘Weird Facts About Genetically Engineered Salmon‘ for the details).  Thankfully, the FDA Advisory Panel which met this week did not vote to approve this new Frankenfish, citing the need for more safety data related to its possible effects on food allergy promotion and the environment.  But given the agency’s industry-friendly history related to genetically-engineered foods, it may just be a matter of time until this new variable to consider–assuming the FDA even requires that it be labeled– arrives at a fish counter near you.

If you want to let the FDA know that you oppose the approval of this genetically-modified salmon, you can click here to sign an online petition.

Swimming Upstream

*Sigh*.  It’s a lot to keep up with, and sometimes it can feel as though in our quest to eat real food that’s good for us, we’re swimming upstream.  The best we can do is keep as informed as possible, keep cooking at home with the best foods and ingredients we can afford, and vote with our wallets for the food producers we feel are doing things the right way.

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