My Vending Machine Dream Came True (almost)

Imagine this in our waiting room (of course then no clients could fit)

What do you dream about? Exotic adventures? Romantic encounters? Seeing someone you no longer can? Playing professional sports? I imagine those are fairly common. Me? I’m a little different (as you may know) and food-centric and so I ponder what life would be like if there was an Organic Avenue in every airport, if all burgers were “grass-fed” all coffee fair-trade things like that. Truth be told, I’ve never had an actual nighttime dream about a vending machine (yet) but it would probably be more of a nightmare. And stop- if you tell yourself you made  “better” choice  when you hit the vending machine c’mon better than a Twix bar doesn’t mean much. Vending machines are a last resort or guilty pleasure but healthy? Not so much.

Well that’s about to change, last week Farmer’s Fridge launched.Farmer’s fridge offers fresh salads and snacks and restocked every morning. You’ll recall last week Joanna posted about Salad in a Jar, Farmer’s Fridge offers multiple, beautiful jarred options in recyclable jars. Farmer’s fridge has also partnered with SPE Certified to confirm the quality of their ingredients. Kale salad or hummus and veggies with the push of a button? Pretty amazing.

I spoke with Farmer’s Fridge founder Luke Saunders yesterday. His background is in manufacturing (which had to help) and he is one of those people who brings a cooler and stocks up at the nearest Whole Foods when on the road. He realized people needed better solutions; not everyone is not on team “cooler” unless of course the cooler comes to them. Farmer’s Fridges are nice looking, wrapped in reclaimed bar wood, no need to tuck these away in a back room or at the end of a hotel hallway. 

The offerings are mostly gluten free, organic for the Dirty Dozen and affordable (salads start at $7.99). This is a game changing concept, the only sad part is that they launched in Chicago. However, Luke says to contact them on Facebook or Twitter and say “I want you here” they are working on their expansion plans. My dream vending machine would have kale, quinoa, salmon and Greek yogurt… and not it's a reality, it just has to come to NYC. I told Luke we’d be happy to test market at Foodtrainers.

What would your dream food-situation involve? What would you put in your personalized vending machine? Where would you like to see Farmer’s Fridge?

Just how bad are pesticides?

Last week EWG came out with their annual “dirty dozen” (and here’s a CBS segment on the subject I was interviewed for).  The dirty dozen summarizes the most highly contaminated produce and there’s also a “clean” list.  Jenn, of Peas and Crayons wrote a terrific post on the subject. I’m always curious if consumers really take action based on the results. Sometimes it seems as though there’s  the “already organic” camp who go organic to whatever extent they can afford. Then there’s the “organic schmorganic” camp (my mother is a member of) who dismiss the notion of organic is optimal. In the Venn diagram of produce purchasing the “Schmorganics” have substantial overlap with “organic = exorbitant”.  Perhaps, if we stop and think what pesticides have the potential to do to us, people would be swayed. So, just how bad are pesticides?

“Cide” means to kill. When we, or our family members, ingest pesticides we are in ingesting something designed to kill. Sure, they are designed to kill pests but you would you take a hit from an exterminator’s can? As I said to CBS, every bodily system is affected by pesticides. From cancer to Parkinson’s the research is grim. A few examples:  

Pesticides may harm your children, even if they’re not born yet

Pesticides kill insects by attacking their brains and nervous systems, it’s not surprising they affect the development of children’s brains. One study showed ADHD may be cause by damage to neurotransmitters that are affected by pesticides.

A study in the Journal Environmental Health Perspectives  also suggests pesticides may be associated with the health and development of children. “Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health have found that prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides -- widely used on food crops -- is related to lower intelligence scores at age 7.”

What made this especially concerning was that  the results were similar for the NYC children studied at Mt Sinai Medical Center as they were for the children in California living in an agricultural center in Monterey.

Pesticides can make you depressed and less fertile

Pesticides can affect your mood with studies showing depression associated with chronic pesticide exposure. Pesticides can affect those spermies and fertility. I always talk about pesticide exposure when I see clients who are TTC. 

Pesticides can make you gain weight

We think about how certain medications make us gain weight, ever think about how each of the chemicals on your produce affect you? There's an herbicide called atrazine that causes weight gain in rodents. The mice gained weight and in  particular gained visceral fat that increases risk of heart disease. Atrazine is on of the most common pesticides used on crops, particularly on sweet corn.

Purchasing certified organic ensures that no pesticides are used.  You want to eat your fruits and vegetables without a bad taste in your mouth…and those pesticides? They taste like crap too.

Are you “already organic”, “organic schmorganic or organic = exorbitant?  Do you use the dirty/clean dozen to guide your decisions?