The best beans and rice recipe - my own!

I eat beans 'n rice about three times per week.  This simple meal is uber cheap, a cinch to prepare and as hearty and healthy as they come.  Beans are packed with protein and soluble fiber and I keep this dish simple using two spices that are as delicious as they are healthy: rosemary and turmeric.  

Rosemary's health benefits are well documented.  Its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties protect against cancer and keep skin healthy.  And turmeric is a known healer that's rich in antioxidants.  Toss in organic flax seed for Omega 3s and some nutritional yeast for essential B vitamins and you're talkin' serious health benefits.

Here's what you need to whip up this fantastic and healthy dish (serves two):

• One small red organic onion, chopped
• Two cloves organic garlic, chopped 
• One 15 oz. can of organically grown beans (kidney, black or garbanzo), drained and rinsed
• Two cups organically grown cooked brown rice 
• 3 tbls olive or coconut oil 
  
• 1 1/2 tbls turmeric 
• 1 tbls rosemary 
• 2 1/2 tbls sriracha chili sauce
• 3 tbls ground flax seeds
• 2 tbls nutritional yeast

In a large skillet add the oil, onion and garlic and fry over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.  Grind together the rosemary and turmeric using a mortar and pestle.  Add the beans and spices to the skillet and stir constantly for 5-7 minutes.  Turn off the heat and stir in the flax seeds and sriracha.  Sprinkle with the nutritional yeast and enjoy!

The race to develop lithium-ion batteries; will the US lose to Asia?

I'm a big proponent of battery powered cars because as the grid gets cleaner (and maybe Obama will get an all-new, schnazzy green grid underway when he takes over) battery powered cars will offer extremely efficient, clean transportation.

But the US is in danger to losing out to Asian countries in the race to develop advanced LI batteries that will power the cars of the future, largely because our current manufacturing infrastructure can't support producing them.  

Now, a group called The National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Battery Cell Manufacture plans to introduce a proposal to Congress in January to raise $1 billion to $2 billion for LI battery manufacturing - right here in the good ole US of A.  Here's hoping that the Alliance is successful and that the insular, paranoid US auto industry accepts that it needs to work together (to some extent) to develop the technology to power tomorrow's cars.

How will Obama impact our food policy?

Like millions of Americans (and millions more across the Globe) I cheered loudly at Obama's decisive win in November.  Finally, I thought, we can look to 2009 with renewed optimism after eight horrendous years of George Bush's failed policies.  

With respect to food policy and agribusiness, what can we expect from Obama?  This article from The New York Times offers some clues.  

Unfortunately it doesn't appear he's going to tackle the issue with much assertiveness.  How could he, really, when the economy is in the toilet, we're bogged down in two wars and America's global reputation is at its lowest point ever?

His selection of former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture, however, is a positive step.  Vilsack has talked publicly about reducing subsidies to huge "mega farms" and endorses better treatment of farm animals.  And he wants to put healthier, organic foods in schools.  We should all be concerned, though, about his ties to big agribusiness.

It looks like the animal rights and environmental protection movements have a lot more work to do if the US is going to shut down factory farms and encourage a wider understanding of how our food choices affect our health, the welfare of animals and the environment.

Elephants die earlier in zoos - DUH...

This is a sad story if ever I've read one.  A study published in the journal Science found that elephants in zoos - who often live in cramped, sterile and non-stimulating environments - live half as long as their "working" cohorts.

The average African elephant in captivity lives only 19 years, compared with an average of 56 years for elephants in the wild, according to the study.

Working elephants include elephants in Burma and other countries that are put to work by villagers (usually hauling logs out of the forest).  While I'm no fan of forcing elephants to work, at least they get to be with their own kind when they're not working, and retain some semblance of wildness.  

They live in the forest and stay closer to their family groups.  Perhaps most importantly they get plenty of exercise which keeps them fit, strong and healthy.

Zoos are awful and unfortunately the lonely life of a display animal is especially traumatic.  And deadly.

Tragic.

I'm glad to see the BBC picked up the story and hopefully mainstream domestic media will get hold of it soon.  People who visit zoos need to know about this.

New vegan restaurant in Boston!

My friend Jer just tipped me off to the pending opening of chef Wheeler Del Toro's new vegan restaurant, "Wheeler's Cafe & Ice Cream Bar."  And I'm waiting with bated breath for the grand opening on Dec. 15.

The cafe will be located at 334 Massachusetts Avenue, near Symphony Hall.  And since I live at 701 Mass. Ave, me thinks I'll be visiting quite often.  After spending two years living in New York City I can attest to Boston's dramatic lack of veg restaurants.  The opening of Wheeler's Cafe will be one small step for Boston and one giant leap for Boston's vegetarians and vegans.  

It looks like Del Toro is quick to refute the notion that vegan food tastes, well, bad:

"I think people hear 'vegan' and they think militants eating twigs and dirt!  I love eating and I'm not going to create anything that doesn't taste good."

And maybe the best part will be this: the cafe will offer free Wifi and the occasional DJ spinning "gentle jazz, house and hip hop."  

See you there...

Finally, a focus on agriculture emissions

This story in today's New York Times examines the drastic toll that agribusiness continues to take on the environment. Today there are trillions of animals around the world raised solely for human consumption. Trillions! According to the article, consumption of red meat in developing countries like China, India and Brazil has risen 33 percent in the last decade. This steady increase in demand for meat is pumping more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere than cars, buses and airplanes.


There are bright spots, such as a group of green-minded farmers in the Netherlands who, according to the Times, have banded together to "cook" the manure from their 3,000 pigs to capture the methane and use the gas to create electricity. We need more innovation like this to ensure that an industry that takes so much can start to give back in ways that will help everyone.


And it's time for more mainstream media to take note and to cover these issues. Focused, sustained press coverage will generate greater oversight and (hopefully) necessary regulation that will reduce cruelty, improve the safety of the meat that's produced on factory farms and lessen pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.