Chris Arnade: McDonald's: you can sneer, but it's the glue that holds communities together (The Guardian)
When many lower-income Americans feel isolated and empty, they yearn for physical social networks. All across US, this happens organically at McDonald’s.
Michael Moss: The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food (NYTimes.com)
…a series of small case studies of a handful of characters whose work then, and perspective now, sheds light on how the foods are created and sold to people who, while not powerless, are extremely vulnerable to the intensity of these companies’ industrial formulations and selling campaigns.
AlterNet: How TV Superchef Jamie Oliver’s ‘Food Revolution’ Flunked Out
It’s not terribly shocking that a reality show about an ignorant millionaire trying to fix a school’s lunch program with his own special menu was a costly, exploitative, and ruinous failure, but the disastrous state of school lunch programs nationwide *is* shocking.
Tim Ferriss: How to Keep Feces Out of Your Bloodstream (or Lose 10 Pounds in 14 Days)
On how *all* grains contain bio-chemical defense systems that cause an inflammatory reaction in your gut and lead to a host of health problems, and how the paleolithic diet is a cure for it. The comments section is very long and bewildering in its inevitable conflict. (I should be following this diet already, but I cheat too often. At the very least, I should do what the post suggests and try to go 100% for a month.)
New York Times: Don’t Point That Menu at My Child, Please
A "nefarious chicken-finger pandemic?" "It pains me that many children now grow up eating little besides golden-brown logs of kid food, especially in a time when the quality, variety and availability of good ingredients is better than ever."