Food Policy

Remember that gardening and healthy eating book that the first lady's been penning? It finally has a name: today, Crown Publishers announced the book will be called American Grown: How the White House Kitchen Garden Inspires Families, Schools, and Communities. The tome will discuss how changing our eating habits can impact public health in America.

According to the book's pre-order page on Amazon, American Grown will drop on April 10, 2012, with a retail price of $30 (all proceeds will go to an as-yet-unnamed charity). More reported details: Australian food photographer Quentin Bacon is behind the 256-page book's images, and the ghostwriter is Lyric Winik, who also helped write Laura Bush's memoir.

Now that we've gotten a glimpse of the White House gardens, I personally can't wait to see what the White House recipes entail. Perhaps the first lady will include some other favorite Fall sides along with her beloved no-cream creamed spinach?

Today may just mark a great shift in reeducating American people about the direct connection our bodies have to our food. For the first time since 1977, Food Day, a grassroots movement whose "goal is nothing less than to transform the American diet," has a national footprint. At its core, Food Day aims to mobilize the American public to get serious about more sustainable and humane food policies for the future.

While there are more than 2,000 different Food Day events being held around the country, they all share a common, admirable goal: reconnect Americans to their food sources. While many people are aware of the statistics associated with a diet made up of modified foods, they're still under the impression that healthful eating tastes, well, healthful. But Food Day makes the bold and true statement that "real food tastes great." Some of America's most known and loved celebrity chefs have stepped up to the plate. Mario Batali, Emeril Lagasse, and Ellie Krieger have all offered Food Day recipes in support of the celebration! Keep reading to learn about Food Day's specific goals.

Dining out just got a little bit healthier. This morning, Darden, the world's largest full-service restaurant company, announced today that it's partnering with Michelle Obama and her "Let's Move!" campaign to cut calories and sodium in its menu items.

Over the next five years, Darden's portfolio of restaurants — which includes The Olive Garden and Red Lobster — will aim to cut calories and sodium by 10 percent. Over the next decade, the goal is to reformulate, re-size, or remove offerings in order to slash calories and sodium by 20 percent. Fruits and vegetables will now be the default side dish options on Darden's children's menus.

It's great to hear that one of America's most influential restaurant groups has just made a vow to help America get healthier. Will this impact how often you frequent Red Lobster, The Olive Garden, or any of Darden's other restaurants?

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This afternoon, First Lady Michelle Obama will be joined by corporate chiefs from Walmart, Walgreens, Supervalu, and other national and regional chains to announce a new initiative to open or expand more than 1,500 retail stores in an effort to bring healthier food to underserved areas. It's the latest push in Obama's Let's Move! campaign to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity.

These changes, according to the Domestic Policy Council, will affect 9.5 million people and could create as many as tens of thousands of new jobs. As part of the campaign, Walmart will open 275 to 300 stores in food deserts between now and 2016 and continue its efforts to make premium, healthful foods like whole wheat pasta more affordable for low-income shoppers. Walgreens will expand its fresh fruit and vegetable offerings, among other nutritious options, to at least 1,000 stores.

The USDA defines a "food desert" as a place where 33 percent or 500 people (whichever is less) live more than a mile from a grocery store in an urban area, or more than 10 miles away in a rural area. Currently, 23.5 million Americans — 6.5 million of them children — live in low-income areas that are less likely to have affordable, wholesome foods.

How exciting that fruits and vegetables will soon be available in low-income retailers — drugstores, even — across the country. Still, it's hard not to question the incentives of America's retail giants. What do you think of the announcement?

Unless you're drinking, say, MGD 64 Lemonade, chances are, you won't know the nutritional value of beer. But a hotly debated proposal could change that.

The US government's Tax and Trade bureau introduced a federal proposal to provide more "standard-drink" information on beer labels — a piece of legislation that's been stuck in red tape for the last several years. Recently, the issue has reached a boiling point, with everyone from distributors to trade associations taking sides.

Diageo, the world's leading beer, wine & spirits company, made known its support for the proposal. "In the year 2011, it's sort of bizarre that alcohol's the only consumable product sold in the United States that you can't tell what's inside the bottle," said Guy L. Smith, executive vice president at the company.

The legislation would mandate breweries to provide nutritional facts such as calories, carbohydrates, fat, and protein on bottles and cans, as well as alcohol content by volume — a piece of information that's currently optional. Opponents — many of them small craft brewers — maintain nutritional analysis and new labeling equipment would be too costly. Where do you stand on the issue? Do you feel you have a right to know about the calorie and alcohol content of the beer you're drinking?

Well, here's an exciting first: Michelle Obama has inked a deal to write her own book about healthy eating. The first lady's new tome will touch on the benefits of healthy eating, the story behind the White House South Lawn garden she helped build, and her family's favorite healthy recipes. Obama didn't take an advance for the currently-untitled book, scheduled to drop April 2012; rather, proceeds will go to charity. The book announcement was made this afternoon during the South Lawn garden's Spring planting. "I hope it will be a beautiful book, as well, something that everyone can take something away from," the first lady said. The as-yet-unnamed book will be available as an ebook, an enhanced multimedia ebook, and an illustrated hardcover that will feature photos of the White House garden throughout the year.

Even without more details, it's obvious this text will become a bestseller. Will you buy it?

• The history of bacon in civilization, illustrated. — Voracious
• New editor Adam Rapoport has big Bon Appétit changes in store. — Eater
• All about Foodily, an ad-free recipe search engine. — Slashfood
• 10 lucky foods to devour on Chinese New Year. — Chow
• Yes, you can: buy great cheese on a budget. — Serious Eats
• New York's famed Le Cirque is expanding to India. — Grub Street NY
• The dish that celebrates Chinese New Year and the Super Bowl at the same time. — Salon
• A primer on the USDA's new dietary guidelines. — The Atlantic
• Muskrat, otter, beaver, oh my! Inside a woodland creatures dinner. — New York Times

The beginning of 2011 marks a big change for food personality Mark Bittman. The cookbook author and culinary writer announced today that he's retiring his New York Times recipe column, "The Minimalist," after 13 years.

In what he calls a "change of scenery," Bittman will move to the magazine and opinion sections of the paper, addressing food policy, diet and health, and sustainable eating in an opinion blog, an online column, and a New York Times Magazine column, to be called "On Food."

Already missing "The Minimalist"? Don't worry about separation anxiety just yet.

Bittman will continue making web videos for the series. And don't forget: he'll also have a Cooking Channel show by the same name that'll launch in March. Are you an avid follower of Mark Bittman's recipes and writing?

As grocery bills continue to get steeper, Walmart is hoping to make a name for itself as an affordable place to buy healthy, wholesome food.

At a Washington news conference Wednesday, America's largest grocer stood by First Lady Michelle Obama and pledged to make its food products more healthful — and affordable. "We don't think any American should have to choose between what's affordable and what's healthy," executives at Walmart declared. The decision is right in line with Obama's food policy push for more corporations to market healthy food to kids.Walmart pledged to build new stores in urban and rural underserved areas and reformulate thousands of packaged food items by 2015, removing industrially produced trans fats, cutting sodium by 25 percent, dropping added sugars by 10 percent, and developing new labeling that'll call attention to whole-grain and unsweetened food options. It also plans to work with suppliers to lower prices on fresh produce at a rate that will save customers $1 billion annually.

The corporation's plan follows efforts to source more food sustainably. Regardless of its motivations, I'm glad Walmart's taken this long overdue step. Will you shop there more?

How will America's food landscape change in the coming year? If two recent articles from MSNBC are any indicator, organic will really hit the mainstream in 2011.

The first details results of an adult consumer survey, which illustrate that while the percentage of people who buy organic over the past two years hasn't budged, what has changed is where they're buying it. Fewer sales are coming from Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and natural foods stores, with more generated at Target and conventional grocers such as Safeway.

Government changes in food policy and the passing of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act will also impact the number of organic vending machines; vending franchises expect "exponential" growth in organics this year, as schools, offices, and gyms trade in Twinkies and Oreos for the likes of gluten-free granola, organic yogurt, and fresh fruit.

Do you anticipate buying more organic in the coming year?