I am a big foodie. My husband and I will spend weekends planning meals, research restaurants we want to try, organize vacations around types of food we want to have, know chefs by face like celebrities (yes, we're dorks). I'm trying to raise our kids not only with an open mind to try new foods but to be very conscious of the foods they're eating. Ironically, it was the satire site "Food Network Humor" that called my attention to a show that to my knowledge, got very little advertising, even on its own network. But this show has raised my consciousness to another area of food and hunger that we all must be more cognizant: waste.

The theme of the show The Big Waste was to ask two sets of Food Network chefs to prepare a meal with ingredients that were considered waste. I'm not talking about green bologna sandwiches. Even these chefs, with decades of experience in the restaurant industry, were genuinely shocked by the sheer volume of perfectly good foods that are thrown away daily. In an age where one in four children go to bed hungry, it's hard not to be shocked at the routine waste that could answer so many needs.

Enormous food waste is the result of the old way of thinking about the agricultural economic model.

• When food prices fall below expectations or are driven lower by “Big Ag”, small farmers see themselves as having no choice but to waste tons of perfectly good food because the cost of bringing that food to market would generate an economic loss.
• As seen on "The Big Waste", grocery stores routinely throw away tons of perfectly good produce and meats due to small imperfections in appearance. Some store chains such as Whole Foods takes some of this excess product and gives it to local food pantries, but most of it ends up in landfills and compost heaps.
• Many distributors of food products routinely waste hundreds of tons of food product as a means of price control and profit protection. When these distributors find themselves with excess product with a low shelf life, they would prefer to throw it in the garbage than to sell it at a discount in order to protect the original price of the product.

One of the segments of The Big Waste involved chef Bobby Flay going to a pick-your-own farm and discovering that waste accounts for 40-50% of the crops, because too often, customers will cut produce and then see some small imperfection, or a better/larger example of the produce and toss the rejected produce back on the ground. A small grocery in NYC acknowledged that they routinely throw out around eighty pounds of produce daily because they know customers won't select the produce with cosmetic imperfections, broken stems, etc. Eggs are thrown away because of discoloring on the shells, or that they're too large or small for egg containers. Whole chickens are discarded because the skin breaks or bones are broken during the butchering process. All told, some 27 million tons of perfectly edible food is thrown away every year.

I've searched through the Food Network site in vain to find when the show will re-air. Unfortunately and quite inexplicably, Food Network is not promoting this show at all. I can't find clips on Hulu or YouTube either. But please, if you want an eye-opening experience, find this show. And the next time you're in the grocery store, don't be afraid of a little blemish. If more people paid less attention to cosmetic appearances and more to nutritional content, it would be better for all. CookingMatters offers ten additional tips to help individuals waste less food.

Republican’s are freaking out about the voter turnout in Florida. They are trying to close the vote down at 7:00PM. Sharp. No matter if you are on line or not. The unofficial word on the street is that out of the approximate 18% who have voted already, the edge is going to Kerry 2-1. We are manning the phones reassuring democrats that they will be able to vote if they get on line before 7:00PM, no matter how long it takes to actually vote. We will also be bringing food and drinks to all voters waiting on line throughout the day and night.

6:18PM EST:

Latest news out of the Kerry camp in Florida is that Kerry leads by one point at this time. Still hitting the phones and getting ready to hand out food on the polling lines.Be back in 20 minutes with latest update!

Messages to Karl Rove

DC Media Girl: I’d like to remind Rove of how his buddy in bastardy, dirty politics and general scumbaggery Lee Atwater ended his days. It might be food for thought

TCF: The Conservative Confederacy

Newsie writes a letter to the YR.

In perhaps one of the largest turnarounds in modern political history, only six months after winning reelection, Bush has apparently squandered his mandate and now finds himself a lame duck, his powerful political capitol spent. Yes, dear readers, America is finally on to the man and it is doubtful that his presidency will survive the next two years.

So unlikely is his political survival that we here at the RECOVERING LIBERAL feel completely comfortable in beginning what amounts to as a countdown to IMPEACHMENT (Drum Roll Please!).

And what a lovely impeachment it will be, televised and tivo'd, and commented on by AL and Randi at AIR AMERICA while being dutifully dissected by our brothers and sisters in the BLOGGING COMMUNITY Including: BLONDESENSE, AMERICAblog, ,  DAILY KOS, and of course here in the red, white and blue pages of the LIB.

We are confident that in the next twenty-four months Dubya and the gang will be relegated to their rightful place in history as the war criminals, thieves and zealots that they most definitely are.

That they will be taken to task for lying about the WMD'S and for generally disregarding the will of the American people, who mostly believe that war should only be fought only when our nation is at jeopardy and not because war is good business.

We further believe that they will be held to answer for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives squandered as collateral damage in this War for Oil as well as for the senseless loss of our own troops, and for the ongoing pain and suffering of those soldiers, sailors and marines lucky enough to survive their tour of duty in Iraq.

Additionally, it is our sincere hope that they will be charged for their crimes against the environment and for the senseless destruction of the air that we breath, the water that we drink, and the food that we eat in the name of shameless profit.

Lastly, it is our fondest desire they be made to pay dearly for the climate of hate, which they have engendered, endorsed and fueled with their draconian approach to the maters of gay rights, stem cell research and evolution, as well as their support for those who preach hate in God's name.

And these are just some of the things which we would like to see them answer for in this life. God, I'm sure, has a few issues of his own to discuss with them.CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, and of course here in the red, white and blue pages of the LIB.

We are confident that in the next twenty-four months Dubya and the gang will be relegated to their rightful place in history as the war criminals, thieves and zealots that they most definitely are.

That they will be taken to task for lying about the WMD'S and for generally disregarding the will of the American people, who mostly believe that war should only be fought only when our nation is at jeopardy and not because war is good business.

We further believe that they will be held to answer for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives squandered as collateral damage in this War for Oil as well as for the senseless loss of our own troops, and for the ongoing pain and suffering of those soldiers, sailors and marines lucky enough to survive their tour of duty in Iraq.

Additionally, it is our sincere hope that they will be charged for their crimes against the environment and for the senseless destruction of the air that we breath, the water that we drink, and the food that we eat in the name of shameless profit.

Lastly, it is our fondest desire they be made to pay dearly for the climate of hate, which they have engendered, endorsed and fueled with their draconian approach to the maters of gay rights, stem cell research and evolution, as well as their support for those who preach hate in God's name.

And these are just some of the things which we would like to see them answer for in this life. God, I'm sure, has a few issues of his own to discuss with them.

We don't do too much food blogging here at C&L, but oh my goodness, homemade Pop-Tarts. h/t Relaxed Politics. Open thread below....

(Steps to becoming a Locivore--A video by Chelsea Hernandez, who is not affiliated with GastroNomalies.com)

Guestblogged by Ali Savino

I know many of us here consider ourselves to be part of the progressive movement. And for those of us who have been around for a while, we remember how lonely and uncertain it was. There was nothing but uphill battles to be fought against political Goliaths who had industry and riches behind them. And there was no way a rag tag bunch of outsiders armed with nothing but a little online savvy and a lot of righteous outrage was going to take on the system. But we proved everyone wrong, and while the fight is not over (Universal Healthcare) and there is still work to be done (public financing), no one can say that the progressive movement isn't a force to be reckoned with.

Now there are some new kids in town. Like the progressive movement, they have huge, fearsome opponents with an endless supply of funds. Like the early years of the progressive movement, no one is taking these new comers seriously yet. Like the progressive movement they are up against unbelievable odds. Yet their cause is true and right and they cannot fail.

They are the food movement.

The food movement encompasses an extensive battlefield covering everything from energy independence to salmonella outbreaks to equitable trade policies to caring for the neediest among us here and abroad. Their opponent is Big Food, with more resources than Big Oil and lessons learned from Big Tobacco. They are masters of manipulation and keepers of Congress, and for decades they have run amok unchallenged. But the status quo is changing. Organics are no longer the realm of the DFHs. Americans are asking why there is recall after recall. Food prices sky rocketed last year. Obesity exploded in the last decade. There is something very, very wrong about what we eat and how we eat it.

As for me, I became interested in food policy after learning about soil depletion and how it is leaving our produce with fewer and fewer nutrients. That's right - even if you're eating your carrots and apples, you STILL may not be getting your daily allowance of vitamins. And the kick in the shins? Those dietary requirements are written by food lobbyists who are motivated only by their bottom line. So who really knows anymore? That's what the food movement is all about - giving people the access and information to start making food choices for themselves instead of Madison Avenue telling us all what to eat.

The food movement has some good starts. Books by people like Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, and Mark Bittman are national best sellers. Movies like Supersize Me, Fast Food Nation, Food Inc and the upcoming Fresh are bringing the issues to the masses. Me? Along with several other fab food policy bloggers (check out my blogroll for some great suggestions) I’m doing my part to bring food policy into the realm of food consumers with GastroNomalies.com.

GastroNomalies isn’t for the wonks – it’s for the rest of us who are just trying to figure this food stuff out and have a lot of fun doing it. Because food is FUN and if it stops being fun, then what are we all doing this for?

The food movement shares many common values and several common goals with the progressive movement. The two are natural allies. So stop on by.

Ali Savino is the founder of www.GastroNomalies.com

Connecting.the.Dots: V.P. for saving the planet

Facing South: Gulf Stream Coach - the politically connected company handed a $500 million federal contract to manufacture trailers for Hurricane Katrina victims knew its product was contaminated with dangerous levels of cancer-causing formaldehyde in early 2006. But they failed to notify residents or take any action to protect them.

Petrelis Files: AIDS exec gets a pay raise, then cuts food and supplements to patients.

Shakesville: Onward HMO soldiers, marching as to war

Newshoggers: If the only tool one uses is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.

ANNALS OF JOURNALISM: The "gas tax holiday" and objective journalism...Crude Reporting..Obama moves right, pundits cheer...Har Har Har...Maybe someday, Maureen Dowd won't write something juvenile enough to make Annals...Zzzzzzzz: get ready for CNN's exciting convention coverage...Can we stop with the "liberal media" trope now?...Bypassing the Corporate Media...Jane Mayer shines some light on The Dark Side...Tom "six months" Friedman is angry because the world hates us...Shut up!...Judy Miller in a tent...

Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather)

This Week with George Stephanopoulos marks the passing of pioneer comedian George Carlin, fast food entrepreneur Wilbur Hardee and costume designer Kermit Love as well as 20 service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to icasualties.org, the total casualty count for Iraq is now 4,427 and per IBC, there were 178 Iraqi civilians killed during that same time period.

I took the kids to see Wall-E this weekend, and it struck me as a surprisingly layered work for a G-rated kids movie, something for which Pixar should be congratulated. It's also a cautionary tale, both ecologically/environmentally and for American passive consumerism. Set 700 years in the future, Earth is uninhabitable due to the amount of garbage (stacks of garbage reach as high as the skyscrapers) and humans live on an orbiting space station, waiting for Earth to come back to life. The space station itself is a Vegas-like cruise ship rendered only slightly more extreme than in reality, and the humans recline in floating lounges with TV screens in front of them, junk food in a slurpy cup easily available. In this environment, humans have become fat, weak and dull, unable to see anything around them but the screens, and isolated from each other.

Even if you don't have young children, the message alone--done with quite of bit of subtlety--makes the movie worth seeing. Don't miss the blending of themes from Hello Dolly!, 2001, and Brazil within the soundtrack.