“They say laughter is the best medicine but I say food is.”
Nwando Onuigbo
Monthly Archives: April 2013
Roasted meat and veggies
A lovely way of eating meat and veggies simply done by parboiling all the ingredients (except the broccoli), drizzling with seasoned oil, roasting till golden brown and its ready to eat.
News flash!
Are you thinking healthy and nutritious?
# Frozen food gets ready for its image upgrade
ConAgra is one member of the new Frozen Food Roundtable, along with General Mills, Heinz, Kellogg, and other big manufacturers. They have ordered up a campaign “designed to change the way consumers think and feel about frozen food by promoting…
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/04/18/177797900/frozen-food-gets-ready-for-its-image-upgrade
# Raw milk fan? Report shows raw milk food poisonings are increasing
Raw milk may be one of the latest health trends, but it may also be linked to increasing cases of food poisonings. Infections and deaths from campylobacter, which is linked to raw milk, have grown over the last five years, The Associated Press said …
http://www.examiner.com/article/raw-milk-fan-report-shows-raw-milk-food-poisonings-are-increasing
# Top gripes about airline food
We’ve all been there. Packed plane. Close quarters. Your seatmate chomping on some god-awful smelling thing they brought on board. But who can blame them, really? Airlines offering food on domestic flights is all but a thing of the past, unless you …
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/airline-food-complaints/story?id=18956314#.UXTYEbWkrIc
# Food book of the week: Skinny weeks & weekend feasts by Gizzi Erskine
This quirky and vivacious book is an attempt to answer the conundrum which every food-lover like her faces: how can I satisfy my appetite and keep control of my weight, without resorting to eating the equivalent of sawdust? Her answer is to avoid …
# Food allergy: Constant vigilance the best treatment
Although it may seem that nearly everyone is allergic to certain foods, true food allergies are rare. Roughly five to eight per cent children and one to two per cent adults suffer from food allergies. One of the reasons for this could be that people …
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/food-allergy-constant-vigilance-the-best-treatment/1105054/
# Education key to preventing food safety scandals
BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) — The Chinese government on Tuesday vowed to overhaul food safety standards and crack down on illegal food additives in its latest move to improve food safety. In a circular that sets major tasks for food safety in 2013, the …
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-04/19/c_132323887.htm
# Food hackathon looks to the future of food technology, colorful food searches
Earlier this month, developers, bloggers and all kinds of food lovers banded together for two straight days (and nights) at 450 Townsend for the Food Hackathon. Created by Matt Wise, Tim West and Wayne Sutton, three of the cofounders of Cosemble, and …
Food News!
This undated photo provided by Meixu Lu shows Lingzi Lu in Boston. Boston University confirmed Wednesday, April 17, 2013, that Lingzi Lu, who was studying mathematics and statistics at the school and was due to receive her graduate degree in 2015, was among the people killed in the explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon Monday, April 15, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Meixu Lu)
# Chinese woman killed by Boston Marathon blasts was graduate student, food fan
BEIJING, China – She was a food fan, eager for culinary discoveries. In her last microblog update the morning before the Boston Marathon blasts, the Chinese graduate student identified as the attack’s third victim posted a photo of ciabatta-like bread …
# Horsemeat scandal was ‘food fraud’
Europe’s horsemeat scandal is “a matter of food fraud and not food safety”, the European Commission said after random checks showed less than 5% of tested beef contained positive horsemeat traces. Random testing was ordered in February across the EU …
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/international/horsemeat-scandal-was-food-fraud-1.84953
# Food Standards Agency to review its handling of the horsemeat scandal
The Food Standards Agency is to review its handling of the horsemeat scandal, it announced on Wednesday. At a board meeting in Cardiff, the Food Standards Agencywatchdog said it would launch the investigation into its response to the adulteration of …
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/17/fsa-review-handling-horsemeat-scandal
# True Food Kitchen – Healthy, Hearty and Delicious
Fifty years of writing about food and restaurants and I never wavered. ‘Til now. You see, about three months ago I read several books and New York Times articles about the dangers of… wheat! Yes, that ingredient which grows on the prairies and whose …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-weston/true-food-kitchen-healthy_b_3095849.html
Food in the News!
# Tinned food can’t replace fresh – but it can be just as good
Can we find ripe tomatoes in the dead of winter? In the words of that most irritating of builders, yes we can. It is Canned Food Week. Last year sales of canned food rose to £2.4bn, with nearly all of us – 99.2%, apparently – buying some kind of food …
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/apr/16/tinned-food-fresh-just-as-good
# USAID Head says changes needed urgently on US food aid programs but …
WASHINGTON — The head of the Obama administration’s international food aid efforts says a proposal to shift the way food is delivered abroad could help an additional 4 million starving people. But there doesn’t appear to be much support for the idea …
# EU tests show 1 in 20 beef meals tainted with horse
BRUSSELS — Thousands of DNA tests on European beef products have revealed extensive foodfraud across the European Union, with almost one in 20 meals marketed as beef likely to be tainted with horse, the European Commission said Tuesday.
Okro aka “Ladies fingers”
Okro popularly known as Okra and fondly called ladies fingers is a good source of Vitamin B6, folic acid and dietary fiber. Other nutrients it includes are Vitamins A, B1, C, K, Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium and Zinc.
Asides all these, I love it for its vibrant greenness and crunchy gooiness. So I have here two types of Okro soup. The first type is the way the Igbos cook it and the second type is well, something I just coined.
Mixed draw soup:
I call it mixed because the soup is mainly a mix of Okro and Ogbonno.
Ingredients:
- Palm oil
- Onions, chopped
- Ogbonno, ground
- Beef stock
- Crayfish, ground
- Attaragu, ground
- Okpeyi, ground
- Seasoning (Maggi star® and salt)
- Dry fish, boned
- Boiled beef (boiled with only salt, Maggi star® and onions)
- Fresh Okro, chopped
Procedure:
-Put the palm oil in a pot, heat it up a little and fry onions till just translucent.
-Add the Ogbonno and stir-fry till it has dissolved.
-Pour in the stock and add all the ingredients except the last three. Stir well and leave to boil.
-Add the beef and fish and cook for 5 more minutes.
-Add the Okro, stir well, cover the pot and cook for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and leave the pot covered for the Okro to steam well until ready for serving.
-Serving suggestion: Serve with hot pounded yam.
White Okro Soup:
I call this “white” because it contains no palm oil.
Ingredients:
- Beef stock
- Iru
- Crayfish, ground
- Attaragu, ground
- Seasoning (Maggi star® and salt)
- Boiled beef pieces (boiled with only salt, Maggi star® and onions)
- Smoked mackerel, boned
- Onions, chopped
- Fresh Okro chopped
Procedure:
-Combine the first 5 ingredients in a pot and cook for 5 minutes.
-Add the beef and fish and cook for a further 5 minutes.
-Lastly add the onions and Okro and cook for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and leave the pot covered for the Okro and onions to steam well until ready for serving.
-Serving suggestions: Serve with sour Eba (made from Ogori garri).
Food joke
Food News!
Putting an organic label on ordinary foods can trick shoppers into believing that they are healthier, taste better and have fewer calories
# Organic food
In blind tasting trials, the majority of the “food snobs” couldn’t tell the difference between organic and “normal” food and many preferred the “normal” food. The same results were observed with the “bottled aster snobs” when compared with tap water.
# Obama proposes end of monetized food aid
JOHANNESBURG, 11 April 2013 (IRIN) – In a major development, President Barack Obama has proposed an end to the sale of US food aid in developing countries, with options for buying food locally and cash transfers, among other radical reforms to the …
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/97833/Obama-proposes-end-of-monetized-food-aid
“I feel “junk f…
“I feel “junk food” as we know it today, is a misnomer. Any food, even the so called “healthy foods” can be junk food depending on if the proportions are imbalanced. All foods should be enjoyed, the catch is to eat in balanced proportions.”
Nwando Onuigbo
Fruits, juices and veggies!
Tomato ‘n’ bean tango
Note this is not for the faint-hearted; it’s for those who want to eat as healthy and as natural as possible. It has no dressing, no seasoning, no fancy foot work but I assure you it’s high in neat vitamins and minerals. Enjoy.
Ingredients:
Green beans
Tomatoes
Procedure:
- Remove the tips of the green beans, wash and then microwave, blanch or boil for a minute or two.
- Immerse immediately into cold water so as to stop the cooking process and maintain the vibrant green color.
- Wash tomatoes and cut into chunks as decided.
- Combine the vegetables in a pretty plate and it’s ready to eat.
- Watermelon juice ‘n’ Tropical salad
Ingredients:
- Banana slices
- Papaya (paw paw) cubes
- Pineapple cubes
- Watermelon cubes (two portions; one for salad and the other for juice)
Procedure:
- For the salad, combine the above fruits in layers (you can use other tropical fruits available to you).
- For the juice, put the watermelon cubes in a blender and run till smooth.
- Sieve, chill and its ready to drink.
- For extra zing and pazazz, you could lime wedges and sugar.
- Orange juice ‘n’ fruit salad
Ingredients:
- Apple wedges
- Papaya cubes
- Oranges
Procedure:
- For the salad, combine the apple and papaya in layers in a bowl.
- For the orange juice, you need about 4 to 5 oranges depending on the size of the oranges or your glass.
- Wash the oranges, cut them cross-wise into two and squeeze them using an orange squeezer. Prior to this, you may peel off the rind using a knife if you are concerned that the zest will enter and give the juice a bitter taste. This is especially necessary if the oranges have thick rind.
- Sieve the juice and pour into a glass.
- Enjoy.
gourmetfinesse 