My friend, Amalia Haas, is an organic beekeeper who works at the intersection of sustainability, health, beekeeping and Judaism. Learn more about her work as an educator, entrepreneur and environmental activist here at MommyBlogExpert.
Feed me! This is for the Super Bowl, in case you were wondering! Continue reading
In honor of the New Year, I share here a poem by the artist, author and educator Judy Chicago. I am inspired in particular by the last part of this poem, and by the idea that as health and wellness improve and flourish in our homes and communities, the medical-care delivery economy must, inevitably, shrink. More beans and greens means fewer dialysis centers. Fewer food deserts, fewer heart attacks. More physical activity, less depression. Continue reading
This is a good week to talk about taking a walk. When it comes to health care, I consider mobility a goal of the highest priority. The one other goal about which i feel this way is blood sugars; I’ll pay any price to keep patients’ blood sugars normal. And I’ll pay any price to keep a person mobile. When my kids were growing up, and they were feeling crummy (I’m cranky; I don’t feel well; I’m bored; I have too much homework), I would always say, “Go for a walk!” It got to be a joke in our house. They took it to the next level. Fever? Go for a walk! Migraine? Take a hike! Broken leg? Walk it off! Appendicitis? “Very funny,” I said. Continue reading
This week I heard Thomas Friedman, the journalist, author, and Pulitzer prize winner who writes extensively on globalization (market), environmental issues (Mother Nature), and the Middle East. He shared his perspective on these and more, as you can see if you check out the twitter feed I generated while I listened. I’ve been thinking a lot about one particular thing he said, which was this: “Culture really matters. People, God bless ‘em, have bodies and souls.” Continue reading
I’m starting to think about something warm and a little sweet, with a special bit of pizzazz for the holidays coming up. If you pull out your crockpot and make this, you will be a very happy camper. Your tastebuds and belly will thank you. And me. Probably both of us. Make it soon. Then you’ll have time to make it again for Thanksgiving, or a potluck, or a holiday party. Continue reading
Wishing all my friends, family and readers a happy and HEALTHY year ahead, starting with this gorgeous sweet potato tzimmes, which will definitely make an appearance on our holiday table this coming week! Read through before you start — the magic is in how you prepare the baking dish. It should be good and hot, the oil fragrant and almost spitting, before you fill it with the ingredients. Continue reading
In honor of Passover, which begins this coming Friday evening, I decided to write today about the Maxwell House Haggadah Project, a project of Nora Feinstein, student at Barnard and JTS, the Jewish Theological Seminary. The haggadah is a short book that retells the story of the exodus from Egypt of the Hebrew people, and from which almost every Jewish family reads aloud at the annual Seder meals during which we celebrate the first (and sometimes second) night of Passover.
The Maxwell House Haggadah remains the longest running commercial promotion in American history. Its story begins in 1923, when Rabbi Betzalel Rosen declared that coffee was made not from a bean, but rather a berry, which made it acceptable (kosher) for drinking during Passover. Since beans are considered a forbidden food to Eastern European Jews during Passover, this changed everything!
The Maxwell House Coffee company, owned by a small Tennessee company that was hoping to make Maxwell House a national brand, had an idea. To break into the northeast U.S. market, they hired Joseph Jacobs, who was working at the time as an advertising coordinator for a number of Yiddish newspapers in the NY area.
The new field of niche ethnic marketing was still in its infancy: In 1933, Jacobs crafted ads that ran in the Jewish Daily Forward, a periodical so popular that it is still in circulation today. In fact, an article of mine about trans fats in kosher food processing ran in the Forward a few years ago.
Joseph Jacobs had the idea of providing a free haggadah with the purchase of a can of Maxwell House coffee, and the idea caught on like wildfire! In a short time, the new haggadahs could be found in almost every American Jewish home. In fact, according to Feinstein, to this day, eighty years later, Maxwell House continues to be the most popular brand of coffee among American Jews. That’s a rather successful marketing strategy, especially considering that Folger’s, and not Maxwell House, is the most popular brand in America overall.
Why do I tell this story here? Because whereas coffee appears to have beneficial effects on our mood, our concentration, and even our blood sugars, most products of the American food industry cannot make that claim. Yet niche ethnic marketing became such an extraordinarily successful strategy that it was used to entice and teach entire communities of consumers (e.g., Latinos, African-Americans, non-Jewish Eastern Europeans, Greeks, Italians, and just about any other group you can think of) to purchase and use items that they had never heard of before. These strategies included the underlying, subliminal message that the more new stuff you bought, ate, and fed to your family, the more American you became. And that was an absolutely irresistible message for a nation of immigrants.
That’s why it’s time to take matters into your own hands. Read ingredient lists; avoid stripped carbs like white flour and sugar as best you can; discard all trans fat-containing items (vegetable shortening, anything partially hydrogenated); load your plate with produce; and (re)learn to cook for yourself if you’ve forgotten or never knew how. Your health is on your plate.
Also, if you have a story to add to the MHH Project, you can contact Nora Feinstein at http://maxwellhousehaggadahproject.tumblr.com or mhhproject@gmail.com or @mhhproject.
Happy holidays, gut yuntif, to all!