Sites on Organic and Sustainable Food

My blogging time is now divided between this blog, still focused on food, and The Roo Report at http://rooreport.wordpress.com, a daily dairy of my hospital bed rest. Food has been even more on my mind during my pregnancy and especially now that most of my meals come from the Winnie Palmer Hospital food service kitchen: read no organics, little variety, lots of packaged foods including corn syrup and food dye. Thank goodness for my family who brings delicious, whole foods from home.

I'm hoping that the first 6 months of healthy whole foods I fed my developing baby will compensate for 2 months of less than whole, less than nutritious food. All this has got me thinking too of sites and books I've valued over the years for information on making healthier food choices. Perhaps I've shared these in the past, but I find them worth reposting.

• The Cornucopia Institute rates organic milk and soy producers
• The Omnivore's Dilemma--a real watershed for us on food production
• Feeding Baby Green by Dr. Alan Greene is an excellent resource for pregnant and nursing mommies, but also for anyone who wants to benefit from a variety of whole foods
• How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman is an excellent reference work for vegetables and grain. I use it as a reference work for side dishes and ideas for what to do with cool stuff I find at the farmer's market
• Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson includes lots of quick cooking and no cook ideas for every meal.
• The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone is a great introduction to vegan and macrobiotic cooking. Silverstone's voice is friendly and her plan to introduce whole foods into American diets is simple and fun. She sells it by touting the beauty benefits of whole foods. Whatever works. The site is quirky, but the recipes and forums are smarter than most I see on the Web.
• Smart Fish Calculator--stay away from farmed salmon for heaven's sake. I'm stuck eating it here in the hospital, but seek out wild salmon when you can. The frozen Alaskan salmon from the health food store is good in a pinch. Noah's Market has wild from Scotland, but it is not nearly as good or as fresh or as in season as the Pacific salmon
• Laurel's Kitchen is still my go-to book on vegetarian and whole foods nutrition. It includes pages and pages of nutritional information on a variety of fruits, legumes, and vegetables and excellent information on dietary needs for men, women, children, and pregnant and nursing moms. Plus, the essay on bread baking is compelling.
• Epicurious, Bon Appetit, and Gourmet taught me so much about cooking real food
• EatWild.com and LocalHarvest.org connected me with find local food producers
• Evan Kleinman's KCRW radio show Good Food is always inspiring and directed me to urban homesteading resources
• The Environmental Working Group is a clearinghouse for primary and secondary research on everything from food to household chemicals and cosmetics
• The Daily Green consumer friendly advice