I've been thinking a lot about food lately

I don't like to post two entries in one day, but food has been on my mind and I want to write about it. As a child born in the late 70s, I grew up eating TV dinners and processed food. I won't even get into how ignorant I was (not too long ago) about cooking or the produce section of the grocery store. My grocery cart and cupboards used to be filled with microwaveable meals and other convenience foods. This has changed drastically in the past 8 months. My partner and I have started to eat healthily - and I've lost over 20 lbs. in the process. In the last couple of weeks, we've been attempting to eat only 'real food' or 'good food'. Funny how I put both in quotes. Anyway, eating real food is not easy... but I'm up for the challenge.

Though this change was initially brought on by a conversation with a friend of mine, it has only been reinforced almost daily in the past week or so. I've been reading The Omnivore's Dilemma and my friend Rachel's blog. Both will convince you, better than Fast Food Nation or Super Size Me ever did (or didn't), to change your eating habits. Neither FFN or SSM did much for me (besides confirm beliefs I already held) because I didn't really eat fast food anyway (except the BK veggie on road trips - or their french fries when i was hung over). Oh - and speaking of Burger King, the New York Times reported today that BK announced yesterday that they are going to start being more socially responsible about where they buy their eggs, pork and chicken. Way to go, BK. To check out the creative way that Free Range Studios is getting the word out about where our food comes from (and other topics), check out their 1-2 minute films.

Meanwhile, today's Diane Rehm show discussed the Food and Drug Administration's approval of allowing meat and milk from cloned animals into our food supply - without labeling it as such. If you watched last week's episode of This American Life, you know that a clone is not the same as the original animal, at least that's what Ralph and Sandra Fisher found out with Second Chance. The FDA says that food from clones is safe to eat but opponents, like the Union of Concerned Scientists, are... well, concerned. I am too.