My absolutely favorite food writer, Mark Bittman, made a presentation which you can see here.
It is excellent and even retains some of his characteristic humor, though it is Very Serious Indeed, dealing as it does with how we eat vs. how we should eat and how we grow our food vs. how we should.
One of the biggest problems for the planet, for the animals themselves and for our health is industrially-raised cattle. Here in contrast, is a picture of happy grass-fed cattle where we walk our dogs.
Bittman also has a blog called Bitten which I never tire of. AND three arrogantly titled cookbooks I'm aware of and have: "How to Cook Everything", "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian", and "The Best Recipes in the World". I have them all. They all are excellent with the possible caveat that the vegetarian recipes, for my taste, could use a bit more seasoning with herbs and spices.
By the way, Jim came home from his bamboo school and reported that ALL the meals were vegetarian, and were delicious. This is high praise coming from Jim, and was I happy to hear it! I don't think I want to be a total vegetarian, but we find ourselves eating less and less and less meat and not minding. As you'll see in his presentation, Bittman lumps cheese in with the no-no's. I can't quite see myself giving up cheese: our major sin is Tillamook Sharp Cheddar which we get at (gulp) Costco. If I remember correctly, cheddar is REALLY bad for you. The other cheeses which I like a lot and Jim is a little less ecstatic about are the Mexican cheeses we buy at our Mercado de Sabado, or Saturday market, which are locally produced at a dairy free of hormones and antibiotics and such. I also love the yoghurt from the same vendor. It REALLY tastes tangy!
Anyway we eat awfully well here. If not always organic, our produce is always fresh and available just a few blocks from our house if we're lazy or in small fruit and vegetable stores or stands or the Coatepec market or the mercado de sabado where it is organic. And I have my own abundance of fresh herbs, often greens, now some Italian plum tomatoes started with seeds from the North End of Boston, and hopefully, soon we'll have beans and peas. This is organic. And of course there is the fresh trout.
This is mango season again, and the mangoes are once again hanging on their long stalks like Christmas ornaments from their fat, round trees.
So watch the Bittman presentation and get excited: preparing good, fresh stuff is fun and it tastes wonderful.