Edibles Made the News in 2009
By Peter Rowe
That edible stuff on your plate? In 2009, we called that "news."
Food played a central role this year in tales from the politics, business, arts, science and crime beats. (The latter involved school lunchroom workers with a strict "Use a Twinkie, go to jail" policy.) The stories ran the gamut from sweet to sour, well-done to overcooked.
If we are what we eat and drink, in 2009 we were complex and multifaceted. We were serious, too, or should have been. This was a rotten year to be a nut.
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FIRST FOODIES
Keys to the White House come with mind-boggling powers. The president can dispatch armies and fleets. Sign or veto legislation. Address the nation from the Oval Office, and command a team of top-notch chefs. President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrived in Washington, D.C., this January with reputations as "foodies," fans of fresh, local and seasonal foods. They established their bona fides by dining on Chesapeake crab agnolotti with sunchoke puree; wood-roasted scallops with mushrooms and Parmigiano-Reggiano; and huckleberry cobbler served with caramel ice cream.
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SHELL SHOCK
On Jan. 10, Ohio-based King Nut recalled peanut butters marketed under two brands -- King Nut and Parnell's Pride. This was the first of more than 350 recalls of peanut-related products that continued throughout the year. Inspectors found salmonella had contaminated peanuts found in butter, brittle, sauce, caramel corn, brownies, ice creams, cookie doughs, trail mixes, energy bars, pies, cakes, bird suet and dog biscuits. Peanut Corporation of America, whose roach- and rodent-infested processing plants in Georgia and Texas were traced to salmonella outbreaks, filed for bankruptcy in February.
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THE ART OF FOOD
"Julie & Julia," a movie about the culinary adventures of Julia Child (Meryl Streep) and modern disciple Julie Powell earned more than $118 million. Another film, the documentary "Food, Inc.," won critical praise but found few ticket-buyers, grossing less than $5 million. In the fall, Powell's book "Cleaving" gobsmacked some readers, stunned by the memoir's raw blend of butchering and extramarital sex.
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BARGAIN ON AISLE 365!
Recession-worn shoppers adopted several tactics to trim their grocery bills. Many shopped at club stores and "big box" stores -- Wal-mart is now the United States' top grocery seller. And coupon use climbed 10 percent in 2009, after 17 years of decreasing usage. Leading the charge: digital coupons, which by midyear had notched a 25 percent increase.
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THINKING GLOBALLY
The number of hungry people in the world hit a record 1 billion in May, the United Nations estimated. While the global recession had pushed down food prices, it had also meant decreasing trade, development aid and charitable donations. How does the U.N. define hunger? A daily diet of under 1,800 calories, or less than one Guacamole Bacon Six-Dollar Burger (1,040 calories) and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Shake (820 calories) from Carl's Jr.
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SUFFERING LOCALLY
The United States hasn't escaped from this worldwide problem. In November, a USDA survey found that nearly 17 million children live in households that occasionally run short of food. One in eight Americans, including one in four U.S. children, now relies on food stamps, a record hig
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FROM FARM TO FIRST FAMILY
The 1,100-square-foot White House garden was embraced by Michelle Obama, who helped plant and harvest arugula, red romaine lettuce, green oak leaf lettuce, butterhead lettuce, eggplant, spinach, chard, carrots, sugar snap peas, shell peas, fennel, parsley and chives. This bounty of produce was featured in the Obama administration's first state dinner, Nov. 24, honoring India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh. (Here's hoping the meal was in better hands than the security: This was the dinner that Michaele and Tareq Salahi crashed.)
The garden is "one of the greatest things I've done in my life so far," the first lady/first farmer told reporters. "(T)he first thing world leaders, prime ministers, kings, queens ask me about is the White House garden. And then they ask about Bo. Everybody, it's the garden and Bo, or Bo and the garden, one or the other."
Among the garden's visitors: Alice Waters, whose Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, Calif., is a showcase of local, seasonal and organic food.
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INSPIRED BY DENNY'S GRAND SLAM?
The Padres started serving Sunday breakfast on Petco Park's diamond in the middle of a disappointing season. "We want to own breakfast," said Tom Garfinkel, new president of the club, which narrowly escaped owning last place.
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OUT OF THIS WORLD
NASA announced it had found significant amounts of water, in the form of ice and vapor, under a crater at the moon's south pole. No word yet on whether the bottling rights have gone to Evian or Palomar.
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HOW TOUGH WAS YOUR SCHOOL?
This tough: When a food fight broke out in a South Side Chicago middle school cafeteria, 25 students were arrested and jailed. The charges: reckless conduct. The community's reaction: disbelief.
"I was all for some other kind of punishment, but not jail," said Erica Russell, mother of two eighth-graders who spent eight hours in the slammer. "Who hasn't had a food fight?"
Peter Rowe writes about food for The San Diego Union-Tribune.
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