Luxury. That's the word I didn't expect to come to mind when I signed up to get a weekly produce box last winter. But having my personal farmers curate my produce has been a revelation. If you've been reluctant to indulge yourself, watch this video to see how much it...

I can't wait to go to San Francisco this weekend, where I'll be with kindred spirits devoted to making the world a better place. We'll mostly work to transform a core human activity, but the food alone may be worth going for: an "amazing farmers' market style lunch with lots...

What should farmers do to make sure fruits and vegetables are safe to eat? That's the question at the core of listening sessions being held by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, with upcoming events in Chicago; Portland, Oregon; and Washington, D.C. The agency is seeking comments through May...

I'm heading out to the store in a few minutes to shop for my favorite party of the year: a New Year's Day buffet. Tradition, science, and my spreadsheets all say it's a great way to start your new year off right.

• Southern tradition holds that the more beans and...

The new meta-study from Stanford asks Are Organic Foods Safer or Healthier Than Conventional Alternatives?

No doubt, this study will have many people, even parents, breathing a sigh of relief. Finally, justification to save a few cents by buying conventionally raised food so they can use the...

Don't let gas prices put the brakes on your holiday plans. Use these easy tips to scrimp painlessly on food. You'll enjoy a healthier, less stressful weekend. Use your savings to fill your gas tank or to splurge on rides, shows, and other memory-making activities. Even though I’m an ardent...

Food prices are already going up as a result of the terrible drought in the Midwest. Withered corn and soy crops will likely boost the cost of meat, soft drinks, fast food, and processed food more next year. These foods rely on corn and soy, which are usually cheap because...

What's a researcher to do when results call for a personal makeover? I thought the obvious answer was "learn and adapt." But for now, becoming vegan or vegetarian might cause your research to be ignored by top reporters and professors.

That was the unfortunate message from a session on "Staying...

In this video interview, Dr. Marion Nestle talks about how to keep your weight down, stay healthy, and enjoy your food, sharing insights from her new book, Why Calories Count. I talked with her at the 2012 International Association of Culinary Professionals in New York City.

Why Calories Count: From Science to Politics

Dr. Nestle's new book is an encouraging and fascinating story about the mighty yet invisible calorie. Written with Dr. Malden Nesheim, this book helps you grasp why calories are confusing (for one, there are many definitions of a calorie), why you need them, and how you use them.

With that knowledge under your belt, you then learn what happens if you have too few or too many calories. Particularly helpful is the section on various fad dieting strategies. And particularly encouraging is the flexible, understanding tone throughout the book. Nestle and Nesheim love to eat, and want you to enjoy the pleasures of good food too.

My favorite section is the last, which looks at the politics of calories, the influence of the food industry, and changes that make food available nearly everywhere and all the time. Learn the marketing tricks of the alcohol and beef industries and get a glimpse of why food labels are so confusing.

Nestle knows what she's talking about. She's a professor in two departments at New York University: Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health (the department she chaired from 1988-2003) and Sociology. Her degrees include a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an MPH. in public health nutrition, both from the University of California, Berkeley. Nestle helps us care about complex and often contradictory information that affects our health in her books and on her blog, Food Politics.

Eat better, eat less, and move more

The conclusion of Why Calories Count offers refreshingly straightforward advice about how to stay healthy and trim in a society that promotes overeating: eat less, eat better, and move more. How? Pick from many practical tips, including getting organized and eating reasonable portions of real food washed down with a glass of water.

If you feel overwhelmed by conflicting diet claims or just want to be a better grocery shopper, Why Calories Count is for you.

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"We never eat alone," says Crescent Dragonwagon. "Even if you are eating by yourself, you are not alone." That's because one of the three purposes of food is the "medium of benign connection." Who couldn't use a little of that these days!

You'll never think about peaches the same way again after hearing her describe their luscious solution to their reproductive dilemma. After all, they "can't go on Match.com to mate!"

Dragonwagon's new cookbook, Bean by Bean, is on my short list of essential cookbooks. Crescent's warmth, wit, and intelligence shine through in her book as they do in this video, taken at the 2012 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) conference in New York City.

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Kathleen Parker's op-ed piece in The Washington Post this week describes "The Sweet Tooth that Spawned an Epidemic." The column seemed spot on until the last paragraph, where she writes:

... eating with such attention to the glycemic index ruins your life. You won't have any...

Paula Shoyer, author of The Kosher Baker, discovered a dessert unlike any other she'd seen while on a recent trip to Rome. In the video below, Paula talks about spotting the blackened, lumpy wonder and her surprise after tasting it.

Pizza Ebraica, or Jewish dessert pizza, can be expensive if you buy all the ingredients just to make it. But as Paula suggests, it can be a super-thrifty way to use up the bits and scraps of dried fruit and nuts in your kitchen. Make it while spring-cleaning your pantry or for Passover (it's unleavened). Paula calls her version the ugliest dessert you will ever love. It's already dairy-free, but my variation also makes it vegan by using half a flax-seed egg instead of the egg white.

In the video, I mention my Stoup recipe, which is a way to use up most of your savory kitchen leftovers and scraps. The result varies, but this stew-soup most often resembles another Italian favorite: minestrone.

This weekend, I'm going to listen to the Rat Pack while I give my kitchen a good spring scrub, then enjoy an easy homemade dinner of Stoup and Pizza Ebraica. Organic food is affordable if you use every scrap!
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Egg prices soared 9.5 percent last year and will go up more in 2012, says the USDA. Should that put a crimp in your baking? No! Mix up a flaxseed "egg" in less than a minute. An organic flaxseed egg costs about 9 cents, or $1.08 a dozen....