Content related to Cooking, Brewing, and Recipes
Back in the Before Times when I could buy in bulk with my own containers or use reusable mugs at coffee shops, zero-waste challenges were a comparative piece of cake. Plastic-Free July is just one of many things that has been made harder by the presence of the novel coronavirus. Here are some of the decisions I’ve made that take health and waste into account.
This is a great time of year for birthdays, though I may be slightly biased. For my birthday this year, I had planned to combine my loves of classic literature and craft beer in a joint “Leaves of Grass” poetry reading and Bell’s “Leaves of Grass” beer tasting. Unfortunately social distancing has complicated matters, but I’m still feeling connected, even while apart.
Over the past three weeks, we’ve looked at the story of DuPont’s production of the chemical compound C8 despite studies that indicated danger to humans. It appears their replacement chemical Gen-X may cause some of the same problems that C8 did. Additionally although C8 can no longer be produced, it is still present in pre-2015 cookware and other products. So what do we do?
I once heard someone say that turning on your faucet is the biggest act of blind faith you can imagine. Perfluorinated compounds, like those used in the production of Teflon and other non-stick, water-resistant, and grease-resistant products have shown up in drinking water all over the country (not just near DuPont plants) and in materials in every country on the planet.
When I mentioned to my dad that I was researching DuPont, Teflon, and impacts on health, he told me that when he was a kid, he lived next to their Louisville works. I was horrified as he told me how he and his friends would sneak onto the dumping grounds for fun… and how many of those friends have now died from brain cancer.
Over the summer, Christian and I watched a fantastic documentary on Netflix called “The Devil We Know” about a chemical compound used in the production of Teflon and DuPont’s role in covering up potential negative health impacts. With the release of the movie “Dark Waters” in theaters this coming weekend, it seemed like a good time to dive into the details around the subject.
Many vegetarians say they don’t eat meat because of responsibility to the environment. Mock meat is a great way to reduce your footprint, but I wanted to see how the numbers stack up when comparing our different options. Just how beneficial are plant-based foods for the environment compared to their meat-based equivalents? Are there negative impacts of these “responsible” food choices that we’re not considering?
About 5% of Americans are vegetarian, and many of us don’t even miss the taste of meat. Nevertheless, plant-based burgers designed to resemble beef are appearing in upscale restaurants, grocery stores, and now fast food chains. Eating a plant-based diet is one of the easiest things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint. Is meatless meat good enough to get meat eaters to cut back?
In just the past week, I had the opportunity to try both the Beyond Burger at a cookout and the Impossible Whopper at Burger King. With all of my raving on social media about these new and different options, I’ve gotten a lot of questions from both meat eaters and vegetarians, some of which I could answer, and some of which I couldn’t – until now.
When the weather gets hot, you need to stay hydrated, but how do you do that if you’ve pledged a Plastic-Free July? Sports drinks come in plastic bottles, and are further secured on flats in layers of plastic film. This summer I turned to an old recipe that predated plastic (and probably the Roman Empire) to help me through the heat and my zero-plastic challenge.