Free lunches may be elusive. Unhealthy ones are anything but.

Anyone can walk into (or easier yet, drive up to) McDonald’s, and three minutes later, be gorging themselves on a Big Mac, a pile of fries, and a Coke. If getting up from the couch seems like too much effort, a pizza (with or without hot dogs baked into the crust) is just a phone call and a 30-minute wait away.

On top of being convenient, unhealthy food is cheaper–at least according to conventional wisdom. Whenever we debate the feasibility of a food system based on sustainable agriculture or the intractable nature of the obesity epidemic, invariably, someone blames the high cost of healthy foods and the relative affordability of their less nutritious counterparts.

Newsflash: the conventional wisdom is wrong. According to a new report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service entitled “Are Healthy Foods Really More Expensive? It Depends on How You Measure the Price,” healthy foods are not necessarily more expensive than unhealthy foods.

In light of the fact that most Americans’ diets fall short of federal nutrition guidelines, the report set out to determine whether a commonly cited reason for our dietary woes–the high cost of healthy foods–is actually true. In doing so, it examines three different metrics to determine the cost of food–the oft-used cost-per-calorie metric, as well as two alternatives: cost per portion and cost per edible gram. The report found that, in all metrics other than cost-per-calorie, healthier foods (e.g., fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy) were less expensive than unhealthy foods (proteins and foods high in saturated fat, added sugar, and sodium).

The report’s methods appear to be sound, and, since not all calories are created equal, the two new metrics are arguably more rational ways to measure the true cost of certain foods. In addition, the findings should reassure cash-strapped Americans that eating foods like fruits, vegetables, and dairy can help us eat healthier and save us money.

The troubling part is that anyone finds the report’s findings at all surprising. A diet that includes (1) less calories, (2) whole foods instead of processed ones, and (3) a steady dose of home-cooked meals has always been healthier and cheaper. Furthermore, the fact that Americans routinely choose to eat diets heavy in processed foods and empty calories suggests that cost isn’t even the primary driver in people’s eating decisions.

The authors of the USDA study acknowledged as much in a conference call on Wednesday, asserting that consumers put a higher premium on convenience and taste than on cost. With respect to convenience, it’s easy to see why unhealthy diets beat out healthy ones: planning a recipe, buying ingredients, and cooking a meal is harder than pulling up to the drive-thru window or microwaving a frozen dinner.

But what about taste? In theory, a home-cooked meal should taste as good as or better than most alternatives–after all, you know which foods you like, and you get to prepare them based on your own taste preferences.

Unfortunately, preconceived notions about “healthy” foods’ lack of flavor combined with a general and growing disconnect from a food culture in which home-cooked meals play a significant role have conspired to make good food taste bad–both in our minds and on our dinner tables.

Still, the USDA report has value. Any time the idea that healthy foods can cost less than unhealthy ones receives news coverage, the conventional wisdom becomes a little less conventional, and a seed is planted in the minds of people who might never have considered the advantages of eating well.

But in a food culture where making tomato sauce and boiling pasta water is considered too hard, or where roasted vegetables aren’t considered tasty, we need to start thinking about factors other than affordability. On this count, we’re failing–and we’re paying for it.

Sam Mitchell is a freelance food writer. He previously worked in politics–both in the U.S. Senate and at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services–before leaving to attend culinary school, during which he worked as a line cook at Blue Duck Tavern in Washington, DC. Sam’s writing spans the food spectrum, focusing on the fundamentals and simple pleasures of preparing good food at home, as well as on the broader political, economic, and cultural implications of the way people produce and consume food. Visit him on his website and twitter.

I grew up spending summers in Germany visiting my Oma, where every hike through the woods had a purpose, ending at an outdoor cafe…with local pastries, of course!  So when Clear Spring Creamery advertised their Open Farm Day at the Dupont Circle market recently, I looked forward to a meandering country drive with the promise of fresh milk, cheese and honey at the end of the road.

Here’s what my friend Amanda and I found when we got to the farm (in Clear Spring, MD, west of Hagerstown).  I love the high-tech/low-tech dichotomy…

The cows rotate grazing on grass with no chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and are never given hormones.  (The Seiberts are working on getting organic status.)

 And the chickens happily peck away around what looks like a gypsy caravan.

Mark Seibert giving the farm tour

Mark and Clare Seibert started the creamery on family land six years ago, and offer milk, eggs, yoghurt, and several cheeses, sold mainly at FRESHFARM markets across the area.   Non-homogenized creamtop milk (just give it a shake) and Clare’s creamy camembert are their specialties.  Both are really good.  Look for them at your neighborhood farmer’s market, or like I did…at the end of a country road.

Martina White of Reston, Va., is a nonprofit fundraiser by day and avid farmer’s market enthusiast on the weekend.  She blogs with her friend Amanda West about her passion for supporting local farmers as a way to preserve the small farm way of life just beyond our fine city at agrowingseason.wordpress.com.

Tip #1

The predominant veggie you get in the spring is greens, both cooking and salad. I won’t address making salads – don’t think you need my help with that. However, many people are challenged by cooking greens and I hope this primer helps you.

Leafy greens: collards, kale, mustards, chard, spinach, escarole, beet greens

Nutrition -  Dark green leafy vegetables are a rich source of minerals (including iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium) and vitamins, including vitamins K, C, E, and many of the B vitamins. They also provide a variety of phytonutrients including beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which protect our cells from damage and our eyes from age-related problems, among many other effects.

Storing – As soon as you can, swish around in cold water, drain, chop and store your greens in a salad spinner. Use throughout the week.

3 simple recipes for leafy greens

1) Sauté garlic in olive oil or butter, then throw in by handfuls accordingly. Six cups of raw greens become approximately one cup of cooked greens. Cook for a minute or two and splash with balsamic or other flavored vinegar or lemon. Cook only for 3-4 minutes total to retain bright green color.

2) When cooking any casserole, you can either layer the bottom with chopped greens and then layer on top with sliced potato, meat, onion, tomato sauce and cheese. While it bakes, the greens absorb all the flavoring. Greens like kale or mustards are good in the bottom of pot roast.

3) Kale and collards are especially good in soup. In a large pot of water or chicken stock, cook 6-8 potatoes with the skin on along with several pods of garlic. Once those are cooked through, run in the blender and then put back into the stock. Add 4-6 cups of chopped greens, along with sliced spicy sausage and some chopped tomato. Simmer for ten minutes or until the greens are cooked enough. Season with salt, pepper and some paprika.

Coming next…other spring goodies and what to do with them like radishes, bok choy, mushrooms…yum!

YIELD 6 to 10 servings depending on mold size

1 ½          cups whole milk

3/8         cup almond meal (or ground almonds)

1         small sprig fresh rosemary

½          cup honey

1          envelop (1 tablespoon) powdered gelatin

¼          cup whole milk

1         cup crème fraiche (or sour cream)

Organic viola flowers for decoration (optional)

In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan over medium heat, combine 1 ½ cups milk, almond meal, and rosemary and heat until tiny bubbles form. Remove from heat and let steep 30 minutes. Strain through a jelly bag (or a thin kitchen towel), pressing hard on the almond solids to extract as much flavor as possible. Put strained milk back in sauce pan, add honey and heat, stirring until honey is fully dissolves and milk is hot to the touch. Do not boil.

Sprinkle gelatin over ¼ cup cold milk in a medium-sized bowl, let stand 1 minute and whisk to dissolve completely. Add hot milk, a little at a time, whisking to prevent lumps. Cool and chill until mixture starts to thicken, stirring occasionally (if you use an ice-bath it may take only 20 minutes). Whisk crème fraiche to soften it, then whisk in in the milk mixture until well incorporated.

Spoon the mixture into small molds. I prefer 1/3 cup individual jelly molds (small brioche molds, ramekin or small Mason jars also work) Refrigerate until completely set 4-6 hours or overnight.

To unmold, dip the mold in hot (but not boiling) water 1 or 2 seconds; be careful not to let the water in the panna cotta. Invert on a dessert plate. Spoon a fruit sauce or arrange fresh berries around the pudding. Garnish as desired. Refrigerate for up to a few hours until ready to eat.

Sylvie Rowand of Washington, Va., grows, forages, and preserves food; cooks for others and teaches the pleasures of growing your own food and eating seasonally through workshops and her blog, www.laughingduckgardens.com.

Mavis Johnson with great-grandson Miles; another generation of gardening?

My mother was the original master gardener. She may not have the formal certificate but she’s got street cred. Her vast garden fed a hungry family of eight year-round, and inspired a love of gardening in all six of her children.

Oh, we whined when we were sent out to weed, a never-ending task, and bickered among ourselves about who was slacking. Weeding eventually gave way to picking the day’s bounty. There’s nothing like eating a carrot just pulled from the soil, or splitting open the first peas and gobbling them on the spot. But shucking enough peas or stringing enough beans for our big family was hard work.  There were occasional benefits to having six children – and assigning the garden work to the child labor force was one of them.

Mom had a green thumb, and her bounty graced practically every meal put on the Johnson table. We ate fresh produce all summer and into the fall. She also ‘canned’ fruit and vegetables, a lost art. Her gorgeous produce lined the shelves of her basement pantry – hundreds of Mason jars that gleamed like jewels.  Ruby red beets, emerald beans and pickles, carrots, tomatoes.  Peaches, cherries, pears bought by the crate, patiently peeled, pitted, blanched and sealed into glass jars.

Mom’s garden was ringed with apple trees, so she canned and froze apples that provided an apple pie every Sunday until the next season rolled around. (Her flaky piecrust secret?  Pork lard. She would smile to know that lard and lardo are on every chic restaurant menu today.)

Once we settled down, the Johnson children eventually drifted back to their gardening roots. My brother in Minneapolis starts his seeds under grow lights when snow still covers the ground, lovingly tends his veg in terraced beds, and then gives away the harvest. Another brother is in pursuit of the hottest peppers on Earth, astonishing his sibs by chewing on pickled habaneros. Sis in Alaska gets “biggest veg” bragging rights, taking advantage of Alaska’s endless summer sun. San Diego sister has citrus trees of every color. And Oregon sister harvests “U-Pick” cherries and berries.

Dearest Mom: Thank you for giving us the lifelong gift of gardening.

Sandy Johnson is a journalist and a gardener, equally passionate about both. She lives in Alexandria, VA.  Visit her on her blog, Grassroots & Gardening.

Last Saturday I attended my second beekeeping class. I continued my fascination with bees as I learned more about ‘husbanding’ this tiniest of domesticated creatures. Honeybees cannot live without human interaction: an outbreak of a parasite called the varroa mite in the last decade effectively wiped out most of the feral honeybee populations in the U.S.  Although honeybees are incredibly industrious and are able to fix many problems they encounter as a colony, they need human assistance countering the onslaught of varroa or they can be effectively wiped out.

Knowing that this little colony will depend on me is a good feeling. Knowing how much they will produce in terms of reproduction and honey by this time next year is astounding: a small nucleus of 10,000 bees installed this spring will grow to 50,000 by the end of this summer. By next spring they can produce 40 pounds of honey per hive. That’s enough for a five gallon bucket.

As our class ventured to the hives at Prince George’s Community College and took turns opening hive covers, pulling out bee-covered frames, and generally gaping at the bees, I noticed that our class, myself included, was a whole lot less worried about the bees than before. In fact, we were getting downright comfortable with them. I looked behind me a few minutes after we had the hives open, and the air was literally filled with bees. We watched as our instructor, Jeff, dumped a new package of bees he received from a supplier, into a new hive. All 10,000 bees went in with a ‘shoosh’ sound like pouring of cereal.  We viewed a queen, in her little queen chamber box, kept separate from the others in the hive.  She was released from the little box by removing the cork opening, allowing her to stroll out to meet her subjects so anxious to attend to her.

This week, I located a site for their new home, up on a hill near our house, in a pasture near some trees, for morning sun and part-day shade during the hot summers and some protection from wind in the winters. I think they will like it. For water there is a small pond nearby. For food, there is my father’s vineyard (grapes produce tiny flowers in spring that I hope they will like) along with a multitude of wildflowers in the fields. I built up a small platform to keep them more elevated against critters: skunks mostly, who love the taste of bees and are immune to their stings. I painted their box a welcoming bee-rrific yellow. I hope to get my own little colony within four weeks.I’ll be doing this when I get my own package of bees. Urban beekeeping is burgeoning in DC.  Those with townhouses keep them on roofs. Those with larger backyards may place them there. Keeping them away from interaction with neighbors is probably the number one priority of an urban beekeeper. Providing them good water sources so they won’t go looking in your neighbor’s dog bowl, swimming pool or bird bath. Placing them high up or with a ‘barrier’ near their opening so that their flight path goes above peoples’ heads.  One must take all this into consideration for site planning for your hive. After looking for a location to place them within all my options (I don’t have a townhouse rooftop, and my community garden wasn’t able to do bees at this time), I decided to land my little hive at my family’s place in West Virginia. My dream is to be an urban beekeeper. But until that time, I’ll get my feet wet in the safe confines of a rural landscape.

I can’t wait until I drive out there with a box of bees in my car. Now that will be a blog post!

Amanda West’s interest for local farming stems from summers spent on a West Virginia family farm and has combined with other passions in local historic preservation, preserving the rural landscape and its culture, and keeping economies local, not global. With over two decades of non-profit experience primarily in historic preservation and community development, she is currently taking a sabbatical from work to explore locally sustainable farming, food and economies. She looks forward to encountering and learning from the people, places and initiatives in this multi-faceted field which brings together so many sectors of society, along with seeing where the next chapter of her life may take her.

You can read more posts from Amanda on her blog with Martina White, entitled agrowingseason. 

We’ve got a big problem. Even bigger than the overuse of weight-related puns when talking about the American obesity epidemic.

This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention held its second annual “Weight of the Nation” conference — a gathering of political leaders, health professionals, and concerned citizens intended to highlight and discuss progress in the effort to address the public health crisis presented by the United States’ alarmingly high obesity rates.

The conference coincided with a deluge of new obesity-related fodder, including an upcoming HBO documentary and the release of two reports — one by the Institute of Medicine (the health arm of the quasi-governmental National Academy of Sciences) and one published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine — that include the latest set of statistics on the growing obesity problem, analyses of its implications for Americans’ health and our nation’s economy, and strategies for combating it.

Both reports articulate the same basic state of play: currently, approximately two-thirds of U.S. adults, and one-third of children, are overweight or obese. The human and economic costs of obesity-related illness and death are enormous; obese individuals are far more likely to live shorter lives and suffer severe health problems, including heart disease and diabetes, increasing national medical costs by hundreds of billions of dollars every year. And the problem is getting worse — the AJPM report estimates that, by 2030, 42% of the population will be obese.

According to that report’s authors, part of the reason obesity rates are so much higher than they were 50 years ago is that high-calorie foods are far more abundant and cheap than they used to be, making it much easier for someone to gain weight while eating the same “amount” of food. On top of that, our food culture increasingly extols a super-sized, all-you-can-eat mentality, mitigated only erratically by the latest fad diet.

So what can we do to reverse the trend toward a heavier, unhealthier population? While the complexity of the problem is daunting, almost everybody agrees that encouraging people to eat healthier and exercise are part of the solution. Not surprisingly, the first two “goals” articulated by the IOM report are “Make physical activity a routine and integral part of life,” and “Create food and beverage environments that ensure that healthy food and beverage options are the routine and easy choice.”

But when it comes to figuring out how to achieve those goals, particularly with respect to the food part of the equation, there is no consensus. This is especially true for the policy approaches that public health experts believe have the greatest impact on individuals’ food decisions: taxes, regulations, and other restrictions on high-sugar, high-calorie foods and beverages.

There has been a good deal of teeth-gnashing over the failure of recent efforts to enact some of these approaches–e.g., a federal soda tax, limits on what food stamps can buy, and rules governing how unhealthy foods are marketed to kids–including among supporters of the sustainable food movement, who share the desire to incentivize better food choices (and naturally derive pleasure from anything that sticks it to large food corporations).

In the crossfire between public health advocates (who are often singularly focused on “evidence-based” strategies to reduce obesity, regardless of whether such policies are otherwise desirable) and food companies (whose arguments are tainted by their clear financial interests), we often miss out on the chance to have a level-headed discussion about whether we want a system in which government policies actively prescribe which foods we should eat.

Presumably, most Americans–on both sides of the debate–would like to be able to choose the foods they eat without the government putting its finger on the scale, especially in an environment when our notion of what’s good for us and what isn’t is constantly evolving.

Of course, they’d also like a food system and culture that doesn’t send an inordinate number of people to an early grave, or drag down an already overburdened health care system. Whether we can have both depends on whether a sea change in the way people think about food is truly possible.

Sam Mitchell is a freelance food writer. He previously worked in politics–both in the U.S. Senate and at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services–before leaving to attend culinary school, during which he worked as a line cook at Blue Duck Tavern in Washington, DC. Sam’s writing spans the food spectrum, focusing on the fundamentals and simple pleasures of preparing good food at home, as well as on the broader political, economic, and cultural implications of the way people produce and consume food. Visit him on his website and twitter.

I’ve always thought bees were mysterious and wonderful. And when I began to pursue my interests in local and sustainable farming, I considered bees as probably the smallest animal husbandry option available. Later, when I found out at this year’s Rooting DC garden event that urban beekeeping was possible, I tracked down the people and resources provided by the two enthusiastic urban beekeepers in the bee session.

That led me to an introduction to beekeeping class at Prince George’s Community College, helmed by another enthusiastic and knowledgeable instructor, Jeff, who keeps numerous hives on the roof  of his Georgetown home. What I’ve learned in this process so far is that not only is D.C. wonderful for bees because of the diversity and length of blooming flowers and trees for bee “forage,” but a lack of pesticide use makes the bees healthier and the honey better. Honey from the different neighborhoods of D.C. tastes different, as the bees pick up nectar from different sources of plant life. Urban beekeeping in D.C. is growing and stretching our idea of farming in an urban setting (more on that later.)

So I found myself a few weeks ago, on my first bee-lesson day, with a veil covering my face, standing in a semicircle around two hives with seven other students. Our instructor wasn’t wearing any protection, comfortable as he was with the bees. He used a ‘smoker’ to puff smoke into the hive to calm the bees. As Jeff lifted the top of the hive off, revealing the bars of honeycombs and the heart of the hive, the hum was amazing. It was quite loud and unlike anything else I’ve experienced. It was like someone cued a movie sound track of  ‘bee noise’ and turned it up to 11. Except it was all natural, coming from the moving mass of golden bodies on the hive and buzzing (yes, you have to just use that word) around us.

With the use of the smoke and his easy movements, the bees were not threatened and buzzed placidly around us. I was amazed as I watched my fellow students, who all stood calmly with bare arms exposed and only faces covered, peering into the hive.  I realized how we take our cues on how much to be afraid from other people: I kept looking at them to see if they seemed scared, and since no one was, I didn’t panic.

As Jeff explained all that we were seeing – bees, honeycomb, eggs, and stashes of honey and pollen the bees place carefully to keep their lives going — I lost most of my tense apprehension and became enrapt.

At one point I happened to look behind me and our semicircle of people around the hives. Probably 200 bees hung in the air, buzzing up and down, circling, filling the space behind us. Jeff remarked that he saw this phenomenon often when people grouped around the hives. These bees were waiting patiently for us to leave as we were a barrier between them and their hive. They were, like airplanes, in a holding pattern. When two people in our circle backed out and created an opening, the bees instantly started a bank down through that space to the opening of a hive. But only the bees to our right. The ones on the left were still being blocked. The bees of course knew which entrance to the hive was home, and as we eventually walked away, the remaining waiting bees swooped down and into the left hive, clogging the entrance with their backed-up arrivals.

That was my introduction to bees carefully ordered pattern and world. Their patient waiting gave me a glimpse into this thinking, fascinating society, a world within a world that I am grateful to peek into.

Amanda West’s interest for local farming stems from summers spent on a West Virginia family farm and has combined with other passions in local historic preservation, preserving the rural landscape and its culture, and keeping economies local, not global. With over two decades of non-profit experience primarily in historic preservation and community development, she is currently taking a sabbatical from work to explore locally sustainable farming, food and economies. She looks forward to encountering and learning from the people, places and initiatives in this multi-faceted field which brings together so many sectors of society, along with seeing where the next chapter of her life may take her.

You can read more posts from Amanda on her blog with Martina White, entitled agrowingseason. 

If I had to strip my garden to one item, it would be the tomato. I am stupid in love with tomatoes, and am counting the days for the first heavenly bite of garden-grown fruit. But one must be patient – 60 days for the Juliet, 80 days for the Brandywine, etc.

I rely on tomato tips from Mike McGrath, the “Garden Guru” whose wit and humor enliven local news station WTOP. McGrath calls tomatoes the “drama queens of the garden” and “the gateway drug of gardening.” I agree.

From him, we learned that crushed egg shells provide calcium to grow sturdy stems so the branches can stand up to the heavy tomato fruit. We dutifully collect egg shells for months before we plant, and then crush them into the soil. McGrath recommends a dozen egg shells per hole. We also enrich the soil with rich worm castings (aka worm poop) from CRR’s vast composting enterprise.

McGrath says early May is the optimum time for planting tomatoes – once temps at night rarely dip below 50 degrees. He is fierce about watering: only in the early morning and only at the ground level: “Never let your leaves get wet.”

McGrath has other no-nos:

• Do not tread unnecessarily on the ground around your tomatoes because you are compacting the roots which need to spread underground for maximum fruit.
• Do not plant your tomatoes in the same spot every year. Crop rotation will prevent verticillium, a disease that will kill your tomatoes.
• Never prune the suckers that grow from every tomato plant because every green leaf provides nutrient to the fruit. “Only suckers cut the suckers,” he says. Ouch – I sheepishly discard one of my own tomato-growing practices.

Sandy Johnson is a journalist and a gardener, equally passionate about both. She lives in Alexandria, Va.  Visit her on her blog, Grassroots & Gardening.

Like fashion advice and African traffic laws, I’ve embraced the recipe as a gentle suggestion and useful navigation tool, rather than the law of the land.  This week’s recipe was born while looking around my kitchen:  My produce CSA starts next week, and I needed to polish off the last of the winter vegetables hanging around my kitchen – onions and sweet potatoes, mostly.  I had some chicken broth in the fridge that needed to be used or frozen, and a jar of Zambian peanut butter I wanted to try.  (Spoiler alert: it is pretty much like any “natural” peanut butter.)  With the recent cool weather, I consider spring a legitimate soup season and decided peanut stew was on the menu.  This recipe is an amalgamation of groundnut stew recipes found on the internet and my imagination.

Peanut Stew with Chicken

Serves 4-6

 INGREDIENTS

1-2 Tbs fat of choice (I used chicken fat from my last roast bird, but olive or vegetable oil is perfectly fine)

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

1 Tbs grated fresh ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb chicken breast, sliced or cubed

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

4-6 cups chicken broth

1 14 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes

1-2 sweet potatoes, cut into chunks

1 bunch kale, stemmed and torn into pieces

1/2 c peanut butter

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oil over medium heat; add onions and cook until browned.  Reduce heat and add the ginger, garlic, and cayenne.  Stir until fragrant.  Add the chicken and cook until beginning to brown.

Add 4 cups of broth, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the tomatoes, sweet potato, and kale, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender and chicken is cooked through. Add more broth if desired.

Mix some of the broth with the peanut butter, then stir it into the soup. Add salt and pepper to taste.

The great thing about this stew?  It’s infinitely adaptable.  If you’re not feeling soup in the spring, reduce the amount of broth and serve over rice.  If you don’t eat meat, cut the chicken, use vegetable broth and add more veggies or some protein (chickpeas might be nice).  If your tastes lean further east, substitute coconut milk for some of the broth and add some fish sauce.  If you have coriander or cilantro in the kitchen, that can be a great addition.  If you have regular potatoes or winter squash to use before your CSA begins, toss those in, too.  Just be prepared to rattle off the adaptations for any jealous coworkers eyeing your lunch!

Amy Saltzman is an avid gardener and cook in DC.  She is a member of the Lancaster County Farm Fresh and North Mountain Pastures CSAs.