My 5- and 2-year-old are totally digging the hit single from the newest Apple iPod gal, Feist. Gotta hand it to Letterman, his act's kind of old at this point, but he still has good musical guests from time to time.
On to actual food-related items...
Robert Samuelson at the Washington Post lays out some staggering numbers about farm subsidies and begs the Senate to do something about them in its version of the Farm Bill. Only problem with Samuelson's column is his suggestion that beef, chicken, and pork producers get by just fine without subsidies, when really they are indirectly subsidized because they get cheap (subsidized) corn feed. I suspect he knows this, but admitting it would have undermined his argument. Pundits these days, unfortunately, are a lot like politicians: they don't like facts to interfere with their blanket assertions.
Speaking of the Farm Bill, I write letters about it and they get published.
And the awards for belly-bloating fast-food atrocities of the month go to (drum roll)...
- Domino’s Pizza, for its Oreo pizza
- Pizza Hut for its dippin’ strips pizza. Mmmm, just what I want, pizza dipped in ranch dressing. Excuse my French, but WTF??!!
Finally, not sure what your meatloaf recipe looks like, but mine is kinda tangy:
- 1 pound of ground beef
- 1 pound of ground pork
- ½ cup of finely diced onion
- 1 egg
- 1 cup of fresh bread crumbs
- Heaping tablespoon of diced fresh thyme
- Good bit of salt
- Good bit of pepper
- 1/3 cup of ketchup
- 2 tablespoons of
- 2 tablespoon of brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
Mix together the first 8 ingredients very well. Either put in a loaf pan or mold it into loaf shape and place it on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.
Mix together the last four ingredients.Put the meat loaf in the oven for 30 minutes, remove, cover the top in the glaze, and put back in for another 15-20 minutes.
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2 comments:
Thanks for the work on the farm bill. Samuelson, while well intentioned, doesn't quite tell the whole truth. He certainly does not mention the fact that a vast majority of farmers would support real reform. And he doesn't mention the fact that the continuation of multi-million dollar farm program checks is a result of pressure from a small minority of rich mega-farms, with the political help of those who benefit from low crop prices and unlimited production- food corporations like ADM, and yes, giant livestock farms. He also doesn't talk about the evolution of farm programs and how they differ today from the past, which is an important aspect of farm policy.
He is completely accurate on the general cycle of government programs, but I would certainly argue the defense industry is a lot more subsidized and pampered.
I also appreciate his point regarding food production; those opposing reform always claim farm programs guarantee a "cheap and abundant" food supply. That is simply not true.
Dan Owens
Center for Rural Affairs
www.cfra.org/blog
Thanks for visiting my lowly neck of the woods and the great feedback. I'll chock up Samuelson's shortcomings in this column, in part at least, to laziness.
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