The first of our weekly index with links to stories in the news that NBN thinks you might want to know. Whether you’re looking to impress your friends, embarrass your brand manager or actually trying to learn more before your big meeting take a look below. NOTE: some full stories may require registration or a subscription.
Sunday April 7 NY Time’s Sunday Magazine food and beverage issue has a slew stories worth reading including the cover story by Mark Bittman about his search for healthy fast food. The Time’s blog also featured a discussion with Bittman.
- In addition the magazine included a story on hunting your own dinner
- As well as a profile of New York’s famed ‘spice therapist’ Lior Lev Sercarz and his shop La Boîte which is open to the general public just 12 hours a week. While first thinking this was just another of bit of hyped-up everything is better in Manhattan the story provides a compelling read. “The spices he laid out smelled and tasted nothing like the time-forgotten powders in my pantry. They were steroidally potent, burrowing in my nostrils like tiny aromatic voles. After giving an umber mound of cumin a whiff, I felt as if someone had probed my sinuses with a wire brush. I realized then how ignorant I had been.”
Wednesday April 10, NPR’s Blog discusses efforts to eradicate fire blight among apples and pears and the current provision in the National Organic Program rules allowing the use of an antibiotic to combat it when growing organic pears and apples.
Thursday April 11 Salon story on Eden Foods’ attempt to block new federal health insurance rules requiring coverage for birth control and contraceptives. While not discussed in the article, Eden is one of the oldest companies in the natural products industry and has also been one of the most ideologically pure, pursuing product choices that resulted in higher retailer prices, lower sales growth but greater loyalty among hard-core organic purists.
Thursday April 11 PR Newswire release on the 25th anniversary of organic farmer cooperative and organic dairy powerhouse Organic Valley. The cooperative will soon become the nation’s first organic brand with $1 billion in annual sales.
