Presto Pasta Night, Mexican Torta and Earth Day

Broiled herring with spicy tomato mustard sauce and rice

Today's Food Diary

Breakfast: Flax seed sourdough toast

Lunch: Broiled herring with spicy tomato mustard sauce and rice

Dinner: Spaghetti with spinach tomato sauce

Baking/sweets: Polenta coconut chocolate cookies, polenta crackers

I hosted this weeks Presto Pasta Night. You can read the review here. It was fun though it would have been even more fun if I got to taste the dishes. I will keep on the lookout for opportunities to be a judge on Top Chef and other cooking and eating shows.

Today's Favourite Photo

Source: Eats Well With Others

Vegetarian Mexican Torta

Today’s Favourite Blog

Source: Huffington Post

Today is Earth Day. And the Earth is not what it used to be. We are giving it a hard time unfortunately. Scientists say that about one-third of global greenhouse gases is connected to our food system. Livestock, including meat and dairy production, is thought to account for 18 percent of the world's total emissions. And the US is the worst offender. I was shocked to read that an average American consumes 84 pounds of beef per year, more than twice the average European and four times the Japanese. 

I remember when I first visited US, I went to a steak house and asked for the smallest steak available. I was offered steak from the kids menu and it was big enough for me. And the guy sitting at the next table was  eating steak that was bigger than his plate. That sight is permanently embedded in my brain. As I was leaving he was half way through. This kind of consumption is bad for the environment and for our health but its good for business.

Eighty four pounds is the average. If we exclude vegetarians, infants and those consuming ‘not much’ the rest would be consuming a number of pounds per week. That’s really a lot. Talking about mass consumption, in Kyrgyzstan (and maybe other Central Asian countries) they have a sheep eating competition. Competitors actually attempt to eat a whole sheep. And some may have succeeded, if not at the very least left a very significant dent in the sheep.