A Green Anniversary:

The Café At Books & Books Celebrates Five Years On Lincoln Road With New Menu And Green Initiative

MIAMI BEACH, FL . August, 2009– The Café at Books & Books on Lincoln Road turns five this year and Executive Chef Bernie Matz is celebrating with a green announcement.

“We have always been committed to giving our customers healthy meals with fresh and natural ingredients,” explains Chef Matz, “but we also wanted to make sure we were proactively taking steps to be more environmentally friendly as well.” Together, Books & Books’ owner Mitchell Kaplan and Chef Matz brought on BigGreenG, a New York City-based green certification program that helps restaurant owners become more environmentally friendly by improving and certifying one area of their business at a time.

The Café’s qualifying steps include offering hormone and antibiotic free meats and poultry and replacing plastic cups and utensils with a biodegradable alternative made of corn and potato. But it doesn’t stop there.  According to Chef Matz, “This is just the beginning.  We are working closely with the BigGreenG team to keep our green initiative going and make sure we were doing all we can in other areas as well, such as recycling, energy use, and take out containers.” The Café at Books & Books has already been awarded the certifications for Earth Friendly Foods, Green Products, and Community Star and is using 100% recycled and reusable take-out bags.

Opened in 2004, by Mitchell Kaplan, and under the direction of South Florida-based Chef Matz, The Café at Books & Books on Lincoln Road is a popular hangout for locals and visiting tourists year-round.  The Café has been consistently rated high marks and reviewers have called it “a gem on South Beach.” The Lincoln Road setting is the ideal locale for this breezeway café where bookshelves lined with classics set the stage for a menu as eclectic and flavorful as South Beach.

2-THE CAFÉ AT BOOKS AND BOOKS LINCOLN ROAD

Chef Matz is a knowledgeable and outspoken chef, who in his forties is at the top of his game. A gourmet Executive Chef & Nutritional Consultant, his cuisine incorporates the latest in clinical nutrition.  Goals include encouraging café guests and the public at large to improve their health, and to educate them in optimizing their quality of life and their capacity to enjoy it.

In honor of the fifth anniversary, Matz has re-tooled the Books & Books menu adding a selection of new vegan specials and opting to serve all-natural, free-range chicken and certified Black Angus All-American Beef.  Juicy burgers are 8 ounces of 100% all-natural certified Black Angus that can be topped with blue cheese, Portobello mushrooms, carmelized onions, goat cheese and red pepper, or veggies and white cheddar cheese.  A new selection of Vegan options, includes Grilled Organic Tofu & Avocado Salad and The Vegan Platter of grilled marinated organic tofu, black & white bean salad, roasted sweet potato salad, black bean hummus and grilled corn salsa. Salads are fresh and plentiful, such as the Seared Tuna Nicoise, Pan Asian Chicken, and Tropical Salad, featuring grilled shrimp, crumbled blue cheese, avocado, black beans & mango on mixed field greens. 

So, can one restaurant really make a difference?  According to Jeff Schleider, BigGreenG’s co-founder, it certainly can.  “When a business as well-known and respected as Books & Books takes the initiative to go green, it sets a great example and that creates a great momentum. The wonderful part about BigGreenG is that it is a community of businesses that are each becoming more eco-friendly one step at a time, so while each step alone might seem like a small one, together our members are making a huge difference.”

The Café at Books & Books on Lincoln Road is open Monday – Thursday, 10am – 10pm; Friday – Saturday, 9:30am-11pm and Sunday, 9:30am – 10pm.  Phone: 305-685-8898.  For more information, visit www.Bernie’sKitchen.com or www.booksandbooks.com

Organic Chefs Plan 40 Day Cycling “Takeover” Across Florida

Four young chefs, including a cancer survivor and a diabetic, create organic magic in the kitchen and are out to show the world how to stay healthy. The four self and family taught chefs, Chad Cherry, Kirk Nelson, Roosevelt Desir, and Andre Walker, formed a catering company which they named BeOrganic out of concern not only for their own health, but also to help educate others as part of adapting to a healthier lifestyle.  According to their blog:

“America has become an obese nation where the current generation will be facing a health crisis unheard of before.  We will start to see more of our friends and family afflicted with Cancers, Diabetes, Heart Disease, & a host of other conditions. Arising from the horrible food we intake, increased stress levels, and decreased exercise.  No matter who you are if you live like this you will pay the price as you get older and your body gets weaker.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.  Be Organic offers a lifestyle change starting with food that is good for you and actually tastes good.   Our purpose is to change as many lives as possible so that people don’t have to suffer with those illnesses.” 

BeOrganic has “taken over” kitchens at Food Festivals, Children’s and Senior’s centers, and last April, had the honor of serving President Obama and the First Lady.

Their “Takeover Tour” will encompass 1,600 miles of bicycling across the state of Florida.  The team is planning on making 40 stops and “taking over” kitchens along the way to demonstrate their healthy yet tasty style of cooking.  Watch for more news on the BeOrganic Chefs in future issues and try some of their original recipes which we will post right here each month.  You may also follow them on their blog: http://www.organictakeover.tumblr.com and website: http://www.neweraorganic.com.

FYI---Important Facts from the New Movie “FOOD, INC.”

By Nancy Powell Radlauer (PowellReviews@aol.com)

THE GREEN GRAPEVINE:

v  In the 1970’s the top five beef packers controlled 25% of the market. Today, the top four control over 80% of the market.

v  In the 1970’s, there were thousands of slaughterhouses producing the majority of beef sold. Today, we have only thirteen.

v  In 1998, the USDA implemented microbial testing for salmonella and E. coli 0157h7; if a plant repeatedly failed these tests, they could shut down the plant.  After being taken to court by the meat and poultry associations, the USDA no longer has that power.

v  In 1972, the FDA conducted 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, they conducted only 9,164.

v  During the Bush administration, the head of the FDA was former Executive-VP of the National Food Processors Association. The chief of staff at the USDA was the former chief lobbyist for the beef industry in Washington.

v  Prior to renaming itself an agribusiness company, Monsanto was a chemical company that produced, among other things, DDT and Agent Orange.

v  In 1996 when Monsanto introduced “Round-Up Ready Soybeans”, it controlled only 2% of the U.S. soybean market. Now, over 90% of soybeans in the U.S. contain Monsanto’s patented gene.

v  Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas was an attorney at Monsanto from 1976 to 1979.  After his appointment to the Supreme Court, he wrote the majority opinion in a case that helped Monsanto enforce its seed patents.

v  The average chicken farmer invests over $500,000 and makes only $18,000 a year.

v  32,000 hogs a day are killed in Smithfield Hog Processing Plant in Tar Heel, N.C, which is the largest slaughterhouse in the world. The average American eats over 200 lbs. of meat a year.

v  30% of the land in the U.S. is used for planting corn.

v  Modern supermarkets have roughly 47,000 products, but the majority of these products are produced by only a handful of food companies.

v  70% of processed foods have some genetically modified ingredient.

v  California State passed ”SB63 Consumer Right to Know” law requiring all food derived from cloned animals to be labeled as such, but the law was vetoed in 2007 by Governor Schwarzenegger who said that he couldn’t sign a bill that pre-empted Federal law.

v  Corn products include ketchup, cheese, Twinkies, batteries, peanut butter, Cheez-Its, salad dressings, Coke, Sweet & Low, juice, Kool-Aid, charcoal, diapers, Motrin, meat and fast food.

v  Corn, which is the main ingredient in animal feed, is also used as a food additive, and found in: T Cellulose, Maltodextrin, Gluten, Fructose, Saccharin, Sucrose, Sorbital, Citric Acid, Di-glycerides, Semolina, White Vinegar, Baking Powder, Vanilla Extract, Margarine, and Starch.

v  1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes; the rate is 1 in 2 for minorities.

v  E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks have become more frequent in America, whether from spinach or jalapenos.  In 2007, 73,000 people were sickened from the E. coli virus.

v  Organics is the fastest growing food segment, increasing 20% annually.

See the movie FOOD, INC. and spread the word! http://www.foodincmovie.com/

Welcome To Mai-Kai – Recently Renovated And Certainly Going Green

By Marguerite Gil   www.famae.org

If you didn’t know about Mai-Kai before you read this article, I’ll sum it up for you quite easily by writing…it’s an adventure in dining.  Start with a tropical drink, then appetizers to tempt and tease, discover entrees that will fulfill and satisfy the most discriminating connoisseurs, sip a beverage to compliment the dinner and finally happily tingle the taste buds with an exotic dessert. But that would only be a small part of the Mai-Kai experience.

Many things have changed since Mai-Kai first opened in 1956.  Their menus have morphed.  More so with the selection of organic products now available in many fresh markets.  The explosive Island Review has also been bumped up to… Spectacular!  Basically, the whole environment has been revamped into ‘Green mode’.

Recently Mai-Kai invited guests to enjoy “A New Beginning.”

Expect (as always) to find delicious international dishes, from duck to filet mignon to shrimp to a variety of chicken choices. There are dramatic preparations such as suckling pig roast and flaming cherries Hawaiian specialties.

Mai-Kai has been a pioneer in other areas too. Green changes are definitely on view at Mai-Kai. After the ravages of Hurricane Wilma, the eatery was devastated.  Today amazing improvements are apparent and awaiting your attention.  The exterior as well as the interior of the restaurant are brand new. Over 15,500 fresh palm leaves now cover the rooftops.  The wall on the north side of the building has been replaced, painstakingly distressed and meticulously hand painted, to give a rich, weathered, and antiquated look. As you enter the Mai-Kai, you’ll notice a newly redone front entrance. All the chairs and stools have been replaced and all of the tables refurbished.  Outside, the entire Lanai dining area has been rebuilt. Lush tropical vegetation flourishes with new plantings. The pristine waterfall and tiki torches add that unique island feel. A finely crafted wood planked bridge is in place and it opens onto a friendly thatched canopy doorway.   There are bamboo overheads which protect guests at the tropical oasis too.  The Molokai Bar has been completely renovated, but the drinks are still native-happy concoctions that will put a smile on your thirsty lips.

To round out the entire facelift, visit the updated website (www.maikai.com) and check out the fun surprises and hidden features.

Mediterranean Experience Miami
Tourism and Gastronomy Expo

Opens To Public for First Time

By Nancy Powell Radlauer

     ENV’s Green Grapevine

The Mediterranean Experience Miami returns in partnership with the Latin Chamber of Commerce of the United States (“CAMACOL”) following a two year hiatus. Acclaimed as one of North America’s most prestigious gourmet shows, its 3rd edition is scheduled from May 28 to 30, 2009 at the Miami Beach Convention Center (Hall C).  The Expo is anticipating 5,000 industry professionals and 150 exhibitors, transforming more than 130,000-square-feet of space into the most authentic experience yet.

For the first time, the Expo will open to the public on Saturday, May 30, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. General admission tickets are $35 per person and include access to all 150 exhibitors’ booths as well as seminars delving into culinary and tourism topics like the Mediterranean diet and socioeconomic development. 

“Mediterranean Experience Miami will transform the many faces of the Miami Beach Convention Center into a Mediterranean playground,” says Jose Luis Esteve, President of the Mediterranean Experience.  “We are happy to announce our partnership with CAMACOL as their commitment to developing and expanding business activity among the United States and Latin American markets holds true to our beliefs of collective inter-activity amongst local, regional, national and international businesses.”

The Mediterranean (“in the middle of the land”) is comprised of 21 modern-states in Europe, Asia and Africa, which border the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.  Their healthy diet is thought to reduce the risk of heart disease resulting in the increased popularity of Mediterranean agriculture in the North American marketplace, while their cultural tourism of sun, sand and sea, is considered to be one of the most important tourist regions in the world; accounting for approximately a third of total tourism revenues.*

Founded in 2005, the Mediterranean Experience Miami Expo was created to stimulate international business growth between Europe and North America.  Their mission is to form relationships that spur international influences, building a platform for localized markets to experience globalization.

The 2009 Expo will be held in partnership with CAMACOL, the largest Hispanic business organization in the state of Florida, whose mission is to foster the entrepreneurial spirit of Florida’s Hispanic and minority communities. The Company conducts programs to strengthen local business activity, promote economic development, facilitate international commerce and serve the civic needs of the community and state.

The Expo will be open to industry trade on Thursday and Friday, May 28-29, 2009 from (10 AM - 5 PM) and to the industry trade and the public to Saturday, May 30, 2009 (10 AM - 4 PM). The Expo drawing hundreds of buyers from across the country and featuring an international roster of exhibitors and trade guests,

For more information www.mediterraneanexpo.com or call 305-567-2822

HEMP FOODS ARE HEALTHY & DELICIOUS ALTERNATIVES TO COMMON FOODS THAT MAY CONTAIN ALLERGENS

 by:  Michael LeBel     

Shelled Hemp Seed, Hemp Protein Powder, Hemp Seed Butter and Hempmilk are Recommended by Nutrition Experts and are Widely Available

Winnipeg, Manitoba (January 22, 2009) - What do peanuts, shellfish, tree nuts, dairy, soy, and eggs have in common?  They have all made the list of the top allergy causing foods.  In fact, 12 million Americans suffer from food allergies, causing 30,000 emergency room visits and 100 to 200 deaths per year in the United States.  Allergic reactions can manifest as swelling of the throat, difficulty talking or breathing, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, low blood pressure, flushing, itchy skin or hives, unconsciousness, and even death in rare cases.  Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods and Oils (www.manitobaharvest.com) offers hemp in various forms that provide superior alternatives to some of the most common food allergen offenders.

A Better Butter – Hemp Seed Butter is a Nutritious & Delicious Alternative

Skip the trans fat, hydrogenated oils, added sugar, preservatives, artificial flavors and/or colors that often creep into peanut butter and some nut butters.  Instead, reach for Manitoba Harvest’s decadent, raw, and “living” Hemp Seed Butter.  This delicious, energizing green spread (due to naturally occurring chlorophyll), is produced in a sustainable manner from shelled hemp seeds and cold-pressed hemp seed oil that are GMO-free and grown without the use of pesticides and herbicides.  “Hemp Seed Butter offers a spectacular nutritional profile including complete protein, balanced essential fatty acids and Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA),” says Meghan Atkinson CN, a nutrition consultant based in Los Angeles, California.  “Of all the nut and seed butters on the market, Hemp Seed Butter is the only one that contains balanced Omega-3 and Omega-6 essential fatty acids (EFAs),” adds Atkinson.  It can be enjoyed the same way you would use peanut butter and other nut butters.

Blissful Sips – Hemp Bliss Organic Hempmilk as a Dairy Alternative

Amino acids (proteins) and milk sugar (lactose) are the main allergenic components of cow’s milk.  Even if you can tolerate conventional dairy milk, if it’s not organic, it usually contains harmful growth hormones and antibiotics.  Plus, conventional cows are fed grain, which is unnatural for the animals and in addition lends to an unbalanced ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 EFAs.  In most non-dairy milks you have other allergens to battle including soy, almonds and gluten from rice or just too much sugar and never enough balanced Omega-3 and Omega-6 EFAs.  Manitoba Harvest’s Hemp Bliss organic hempmilk provides the perfect balance of omega-3 to omega-6, as well as 5 grams of protein, and 250 mgs of GLA (gamma-linolenic acid, an Omega-6 superfat) per serving.   This amazing dairy alternative provides all of the daily omega-3 needs (1,200 mg) in one delicious serving (1C/240ml).  It is available in 4 flavors: Chocolate, Vanilla, Original, and Unsweetened Original ( a simple product with only 4 ingredients).  Hemp Bliss is perfect in shakes, smoothies, cereal, coffee, tea, and more.  Use it the same as milk or other milk substitutes in any recipe.

Clean Green Protein Power – The Hemp Protein Powder Trend is Gaining Strength

Some of the most common protein powders on the market are made from soy or whey.  “Soy contains high levels of phytic acid, which decreases the assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc,” says Atkinson.  “It also contains phytoestrogens that disrupt endocrine function, she adds.  “Soy’s high levels of aluminum are toxic to the nervous system and kidneys; and the process to create soy protein compromises the integrity of the amino acids.” 

Similarly, whey contains two major allergenic proteins, alpha-lactalbumin and beta-lactaglobulin, of which some people that are sensitive to dairy, can experience allergic reactions.  And like soy, depending on the processing method of whey, the quality of the protein can be affected.  To get you your protein in a raw whole food form, Manitoba Harvest Hemp Protein uses a unique, cold-processing method to separate most of the oil from the whole hemp seed.  The result is a delicious, easily digestible protein that contains all branch chain amino acids, beneficial fats (Omega-3, -6, -9, GLA (Gamma-Linolenic Acid, an Omega 6 super-fat) and SDA (Stearodonic Acid, an Omega-3 superfat, fiber, chlorophyll, calcium, vitamin E, and iron.  One serving contains 15 grams of protein and mixes perfectly in shakes, smoothies, green drinks, and juices.

Manitoba Harvest - An Award Winning Hemp Foods Pioneer

Founded in 1998, Manitoba Harvest is the largest farmer-owned, vertically integrated hemp food manufacturer in North America.  The company contracts thousands of acres of hemp seed production in Central Canada with dozens of farmers, many of whom are shareholders.  Manitoba Harvest owns and operates a 20,000 square foot kosher and certified organic facility and their products are distributed to thousands of stores in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan and are also sold as bulk ingredients to food and cosmetic manufacturers. 

In the 1990’s activist and co-founder Martin Moravcik worked with the Manitoba and Canadian governments to re-legalize hemp agriculture.  The goal of reintroducing hemp farming came to fruition in 1998 when the Canadian government began issuing hemp farming licenses and he partnered with Mike Fata and Alex Chwaiewsky to form Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods & Oils.  Manitoba Harvest was honored with the 2006 Socially Responsible Business Award for their work pioneering sustainable hemp agriculture in the 1990s and for spreading organic farming in Manitoba and across Canada.  For more information, please visit www.manitobaharvest.com.

Giving Thanks to America's Good Food Movement

by Jim Hightower

    The thing that I'm most thankful for on Turkey Day is not the abundance of food at my family's table, but the rebels who produced it.

    No, not Butterball. And not Wal-Mart, General Foods or any of the other corporate powers that loom large over America's food economy. To the contrary, I'm thankful for the "good food movement" that has arisen all across our country in rebellion against those powers.

    It's a burgeoning movement of small farmers, consumers, food artisans, local marketers, restaurateurs, community groups and many others (maybe you) who are steadily creating a viable grass-roots alternative to corporatized, industrialized, globalized food. In the process, these folks are sowing the productive ideas of sustainability, organic, local economies and the Common Good, nurturing them as core values for a new food system.

    The origins of the movement are in what I call the Upchuck Rebellion — a steadily spreading revulsion during the past 30 years or so at the damage being done to people, to our land and water, and to food itself by the food industry's singular focus on ever-larger profit for itself. Folks began to say, "There's got to be a better way," and then they'd set out to do what they could to create it.

    Of course, the Powers That Be snickered and sneered, insisting that the corporate way is the only way, that it's futile to try defying the established order. But as one of the enterprising pioneers in the organic business puts it, "Those who say it can't be done should not interrupt those who are doing it."

    Those doing it include farmers seeking a more natural connection to the good earth that they work. Their shift in attitudes and methods coincided fortuitously with a steady rise in the number of consumers seeking something more wholesome than what industry delivers — which includes edibles saturated with pesticides, injected with sex hormones, ripened with gas, plumped with antibiotics, contaminated with feces, zapped with radiation, dosed with artificial flavorings, preserved with carcinogens, loaded with trans fats and otherwise put through the corporate wringer in an effort to squeeze out an extra penny of profit.

    The good food movement grew slowly in the 1970s and '80s, gained momentum in the '90s and has mushroomed in this decade.Just one aspect of it — organic products — has gone from a fringe market to mainstream in only three decades. There are now more than 8,000 organic farmers, and retail sales of organic products will top $23 billion this year. The annual growth rate in sales is nearly 20 percent, far outpacing all other sectors of the food economy. The Hartman Group, a market research firm, found in a recent survey that 70 percent of Americans buy some organic food, and nearly 25 percent of us buy it every week.

    Equally impressive is the boom in local marketing, linking an area's farmers and food artisans (cheese makers, bakers, etc.) directly to the area's consumers in a mutually supportive economy. More than 4,600 farmers' markets, for example, have blossomed across the land, now operating in practically every city and town. Also, there are some 300 food co-ops, as well as local grocery stores, restaurants, schools and other providers now buying foodstuffs that are produced locally and sustainably.

    Just as good food springs from well-tended ground, so has this movement. No one in a position of power — governmental or corporate — was behind the creation of this new economy. It literally has percolated up from the grass roots as ordinary people informed themselves, organized locally and asserted their own democratic values over those of the corporate structure.

    The good food movement has spread from family to family, town to town, not only changing the market, but also the way Americans think about food. On a personal note, I owe my Turkey Day meal — and most others that I have — to the bounty of this movement. In thanks, I lift a glass of organic beer in tribute to all involved.

    To find out more about Jim Hightower, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

ARTICLE USED WITH PERMISSION. COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC