Tiny Urban Kitchen

Exploring Food from Boston to Hong Kong and Beyond

  • About
    • About Me
    • Tiny Urban Kitchen’s Favorite Equipment
    • Press
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Index
    • Asian
      • Chinese
      • Taiwanese
      • Thai
      • Malaysian
      • Japanese
      • Korean
    • Appetizers
    • Soups
    • Salad
    • Pasta
    • Noodles
    • Rice
    • Vegetarian
    • Meat
    • Sweets
      • Baking
      • Ice cream
      • Cookies
    • Misc
    • Kawaii (Cute)
  • Travel / Restaurants
    • United States
      • Boston
        • Jen’s Picks
        • Boston
          • Allston
          • Back Bay
          • Brighton
          • North End
          • South End
        • Cambridge
          • Kendall Square
          • Inman Square
          • Central Square
          • Harvard Square
          • Porter Square
          • North Cambridge
        • Somerville
          • Davis Square
          • Union Square
        • Greater Boston
          • Brookline
          • Arlington
          • Belmont
          • Watertown
          • Newton
          • Lexington
          • Concord
          • Burlington
          • Natick
        • Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Berkshires
      • Vermont
      • Maine
      • New York
      • Washington DC
      • Philadelphia
      • Orlando
      • Chicago
      • Las Vegas
      • California
        • Los Angeles
        • San Francisco
        • Napa
        • Sonoma
      • Seattle
      • Hawaii
    • Canada
      • Montreal
      • Canadian Rockies
      • Toronto
    • Argentina
    • Europe
      • United Kingdom
        • London
        • Oxford
      • Italy
        • Rome
        • Piedmont
      • France
        • Paris
        • Bordeaux
      • Spain
        • Madrid
        • Barcelona
        • Catalonia / San Sebastian / Girona
      • Germany
      • Belgium
        • Brussels
      • Switzerland
      • Greece
      • Finland
      • Norway
      • Denmark
    • Japan
      • Japan Guide
      • Tokyo
      • Osaka
      • Kyoto
    • China (Mainland)
      • Beijing
      • Chengdu
      • Shanghai
      • Shaanxi
      • Shenzhen
      • Xiamen
      • Yunnan
    • Singapore
    • Hong Kong
    • Malaysia
    • Taiwan
    • Thailand
    • Australia/New Zealand
  • Michelin
    • Formerly had a star
    • Michelin Recommended
    • 1 Star
    • 2 Stars
    • 3 Stars
  • Jen’s Eating Guides!
    • Boston Restaurants
    • Boston Dishes
    • Tokyo
    • Hong Kong
    • Las Vegas
    • Napa / Sonoma
    • Taiwan (night markets)
    • Taiwanese (casual eats)
    • Street Foods of Bangkok (Part I)
    • Street Foods of Bangkok (Part II)
    • Kitchen Equipment
  • Trip Reports
    • All trip reports
    • New England
    • New York
    • Washington DC
    • Las Vegas
    • California
    • Canada
    • Europe
    • Florida
    • Japan
    • China

Tiny Urban Tidbits #6

May 28, 2010 by Jennifer Che 11 Comments

Tiny Urban Tidbits is where I share with you some insights, “tidbits”, or just random encounters from the week. I carry my camera with me everywhere I go, and I love capturing photos of interesting things that I discover. These may include new dishes from a restaurant that I’ve already reviewed, updates on what’s going on locally, or encounters I’ve had in the kitchen. It could even include a beautiful sunset, a funny sign, or just stuff I find amusing. Think of it as snapshots (literally!) of my weekly experiences with food – intertwined with stories, of course.
——————————————————————————————————————————-
StonyFieldRoundTable
This past Monday I was invited to join a round table discussion with Gary Hirshberg, CE-Yo of Stonyfield about food. More specifically, he shared his thoughts on how our choices regarding the food we eat affect both the health of the planet and ourselves.

Green, Sustainable, Organic Businesses
The talk was quite interesting. One of his main points was that it’s possible to operate a business in green, sustainable ways and make profits at the same time. He even implied that, in the long run, it’s more profitable to run a business this way. Of course, Stonyfield is the poster child for this vision, as he shared how Stonyfield has held high standards in these areas yet has been growing faster than almost all of its main competitors. He really believes that businesses (as opposed to governments) are the ones with the real power to truly change the way we farm, sell, and produce food. He also told us that the consumer is very powerful, and could definitely send messages by “voting” with our wallets.
Stonyfield Gary Hirshberg
Why Organic?
Aside from the damage that conventional farming does to the environment, he also touched upon the health effects of pesticides on human bodies, citing both previous and recent studies correlating pesticides in food with various ailments such as cancer and ADHD in children.

There was a Q&A afterwards, where many people posed all sorts of questions. I asked him about the high cost of organic goods, and whether moving to a completely organic food system could still feed everyone, most notably the poor. He acknowledged that organic food is prohibitively expensive for many right now, but he still thinks there are ways to get closer to his goal. As a side note, he pointed out that all food was organic 100 years ago, and it really was not until post-WWII that pesticides and other chemicals started becoming a regular part of conventional “monocultural” farming (meaning that the same soil is repeatedly used over and over for the same types of crops, thus depleting the soil of nutrients, forcing the need to use heavy, chemical fertilizers).

He ended by saying that the way to bring down the price was to 1) increase volume (currently only 3% of produce sold in the US is organic) and 2) remove government subsidies so that organics can compete more fairly with conventional. He praised places like Walmart, which sells organic foods at competitive prices, for moving us towards the “volume” side of this solution.

What do you all think? Do you ever buy organic? If so, how much? How often do you think about sustainability? 

I met some great food bloggers while I was there, including Tina from Carrots and Cake, Athena from Forays of a Finance Foodie, Erin from Erin Cooks, Elina from Healthy and Sane, Jennifer from Savor the Thyme, Ali from Food, Fitness, and Fun, Meghan from Travel Eat Love, and Jules from Daily Grommet.

We also met at EVOO in their new Cambridge location and enjoyed a wonderful local, sustainable, and organic meal there. To see all the food we had, click here.

Speaking of Local Foods . . .
I was recently contacted by Effie’s for a chance to try their oatcakes and corncakes, dense, biscuit-like cookies made out of either oats or corn. Effie’s was founded in 2008 by Joan MacIsaac and Irene Costello, two friends who decided to sell these cakes that Joan’s mom, Effie, used to make back in Nova Scotia. I happen to LOVE both oats and corn, so of course agreed to try out the oatcakes and corncakes.
Effie'sCakes
I loved these biscuits! They are dense, buttery, and slightly nobby, a bit reminiscent of Hob Nobs but not that nobby and much more buttery. I liked the corncakes too, although they are subtly flavored with anise, which I don’t really like as much. They suggested pairing the corn cakes with a sharp cheddar, which I tried. Although it’s pretty good, I think I most prefer them plain with a nice cup of tea or coffee.

A bag of 12 costs $6 and you can get them locally in a lot of places such as Formaggio Kitchen, Whole Foods, Russo’s, Dave’s Fresh Pasta, or online. They actually sell all over the US, and I was tickled to find out they actually are sold at Churchill Market in Toledo, Ohio, which is the supermarket that my family went to while I was growing up.

Million Miler Part II
Remember when I said that Bryan didn’t get to meet the pilot or receive a black card when he hit a million miles on AA?

Well, guess what? I was only half right! This came in the mail today . . .
One Million Miles AA
Yay! New a black card that says “1 Million” on the upper right corner!  Hee hee hee . . .

Have a great looong weekend everyone!

©2009-2014 Tiny Urban Kitchen
All Rights Reserved

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Tidbits

« EVOO
Corn in the Microwave »

Recent Posts

  • L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon Hong Kong January 18, 2021
  • Nostalgic Reminders of Home: Five Guys Hong Kong January 6, 2021
  • Elementary Hong Kong January 5, 2021
  • Happy New Year 2021! A Look Back at 2020 January 1, 2021
  • Restaurant Le George Paris December 29, 2020
  • Nice Yakiniku and Fine Wine Hong Kong December 28, 2020
  • Merry Christmas 2020 December 25, 2020
  • Sushi Shikon Autumn 2020 December 24, 2020

Latest Chinese recipes!

Comments

  1. chubbychinesegirl says

    May 28, 2010 at 1:29 am

    that’s awesome!!!!! wow where are u guys going with 1M mileS?

    Reply
  2. tinyurbankitchen says

    May 28, 2010 at 1:53 am

    Ha ha, why are you still up? Usually it’s only west coast people who comment at this hour!

    The million miles is a lifetime accumulated amount, not the amount he currently has! He’s used up a lot of those miles throughout his lifetime, so the amount he currently holds is much less!

    Reply
  3. pang says

    May 28, 2010 at 3:11 am

    its only valid for 1 year ??

    Reply
  4. jentinyurbankitchen says

    May 28, 2010 at 10:45 am

    The million miles part will stay with him forever, but the “executive platinum” status must be earned year to year. You have to fly 100,000 miles per year to get that status.

    Reply
  5. Elina says

    May 28, 2010 at 11:03 am

    I tasted Effie’s once at Formaggio Kitchen and really enjoyed them. Definitely buttery and thus a treat 🙂 I love the picture with the card – so creative!

    Reply
  6. jentinyurbankitchen says

    May 28, 2010 at 11:53 am

    Yah! I limit myself to 2 per day, max! That’s already 180 calories, heh heh. They are delicious, though!

    Reply
  7. Meghan@traveleatlove says

    May 28, 2010 at 3:28 pm

    I love Hob Nobs, so I definitely think I would love Effie’s oat cakes!

    Reply
  8. skip to malou says

    May 29, 2010 at 9:54 am

    hmmm i think i would love the effies oat cakes as you got me on the “buttery” part haha!

    wow 1 million miles? that’s a lot of travelling!

    Reply
  9. Shannon says

    May 29, 2010 at 9:04 pm

    sounds like an awesome lunch 🙂 and i’ve always wondered about effie’s, thanks for the review, i’ll have to pick them up next time!

    Reply
  10. Mardi@eatlivetravelwrite says

    May 30, 2010 at 6:34 am

    Congrats to Bryan on a million miles and thank you for the recap of the Stonyfield luncheon – definitely some food for thought there.

    Reply
  11. financefoodie1 says

    June 3, 2010 at 11:07 am

    I’m glad we sat next to each other! And wow 1 MM miles?!?…so sweeeet!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Archives

Categories

Awards

Saveur
PFB

BostonGlobe

Most Recent Posts

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon Hong Kong

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon Hong Kong

Five Guys Hong  Kong

Nostalgic Reminders of Home: Five Guys Hong Kong

Elementary HK

Elementary Hong Kong

Happy New Year 2021! A Look Back at 2020

Restaurant Le George Paris

Restaurant Le George Paris

Great Yakiniku and Fine Wine

Nice Yakiniku and Fine Wine Hong Kong

Merry Christmas 2020

Sushi Shikon Autumn 2020

Foodhallen + Amsterdam Eats and Museums

4850 Restaurant Amsterdam

4850 Amsterdam – Nordic Inspired Creative Food

France!

Yam'Tcha Paris
David Toutain Paris
Divellec Paris
Breizh Cafe Paris
Clamato Paris

Kawaii! (Cute)

Norway!

Food Advertising by logo

Chinese Recipes

Okra with Chicken
Food Advertising by logo

Shop & Support us!

Spain!

Girona Spain
Amelia San Sebastian

Japan!

Bulgari Il Ristorante Luca Fantin
Sukiyaki Imafuku Tokyo
Sushi Ishimaya Tokyo
Disney Sea Tokyo
Tempura Fukamachi Tokyo
Shinjuku Gyoen

Cambridge restaurants

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress