Food news is more interesting than the rest of the headlines

I've made a commitment to myself to post something each week. This week is getting away from me, for too many reasons to recount here.
But I've been meaning to note some of the things I heard on last week's Science Friday, which was heavy on the food system news. First - I want to learn how to make coffee kombucha. Doesn't coffee kombucha and avocado toast sound like a breakfast of champions?
More importantly, there was a long conversation with Amanda Little, the author of The Fate of Food.
You can read and listen here: https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/eating-smarter-in-a-warming-world/
But if you are having a busy week too, consider her three tops tip for eating responsibly in the age of rapid climate change.
1) Reduce your consumption of ruminant meat. I would modify that a bit. Reduce your consumption and choose beef and lamb this is pasture-raised in a climate-smart way. More expensive meat means less meat, a good thing.
2) Watch out for food waste, a big contributor to methane emissions. Did you know that people who eat the most healthful diets are apt to generate the most food waste? Develop strategies for smart shopping, good storage practices, leftover management. If you can, find friends with backyard animals who'd like your extras, get a worm farm, compost! There are all kinds of tips for reducing food waste these days. Watch this space.
3) Vote! Seek out and support candidates who are science literate and seeking policy solutions and appropriate incentives for a resilient food system.

Misleading date labels contribute to food waste.
While we wait for legislation that can standardize and clarify, you can educate yourself and others about what date labels really suggest.
Taste and smell remain the best indicators of food quality. The milk in my morning tea lived on past the date on the carton. It's milk from a large local brand, Clover, and it has been stored properly. If it gets stinky or lumpy it goes; otherwise it's just fine.

The Food Law and Policy Clinic of Harvard Law School continues to publish useful reports on this and other issues around extra food and reducing food waste. Check it out.
https://www.chlpi.org/flpc-releases-issue-brief-calling-federal-legislation-standardize-date-labels/?fbclid=IwAR14ifBkxD73BRbIEsDo4B0NWLwh3rEPGOgDDilFCAOLXSWS4gXyWph7PaM

A New Look - and less wonky sidebars

Well, I've just finished a tour de links and cleaned things up a bit.
I realized in doing so that I have many more links on extra food which I could have posted, but most  can be found through the Sonoma County Food Recovery Coalition web pages, and the link is on the right.
"Extra food" is a much better way of saying food waste. We decided in our Coalition that it should only be called food waste if it ends up in the landfill. If it can be shared with people, fed to animals, or composted, it isn't waste. Our little group here in Sonoma County includes representatives from gleaning groups, food justice organizations, cooperative extension, environmental health, and waste management - and a pig farmer.