The Conscious Kitchen by Alexandra Zissu

The Conscious Kitchen: the New Way to Buy and Cook Food -- to Protect the Earth, Improve your Health, and Eat Deliciously by Alexandra Zissu

This is a short little book (barely 200 pages) with all kinds of practical ideas and advice.  Pick it up soon -- you won't be disappointed.

Zissu begins the book with her ten "Conscious Commandments . . . ten easy things you can do. . .  to move toward having a more conscious kitchen" (I'm just sharing the bare bones of these commandments -- for the full scoop, get your hands on the book!):

1. Eat less meat.
2. Just say no to bottled water.
3. Buy local organic or sustainably farmed fruits and vegetables.
4. Eat only the least contaminated sustainably harvested wild or well-sourced farmed seafood.
5. Always consider packaging when shopping.
6. Cook at home.
7. Avoid plastic as often as you can.
8. Try composting, even if you live in a city or a house without a yard.
9. Whenever possible, reduce energy use in the kitchen by choosing efficient appliances, cooking methods, and dishwashing practices; don't leave appliances plugged in when not in use; ask your electric company for alternative energy sources like wind power.
10. Spread the word. [guess that's what I'm doing here!)

I already try to do a fair bit of this.  I'd like to be more conscious of packaging while food shopping and I'd also like to figure out the best way for our family to start composting!  If you are reading this, feel free to check back in and keep me accountable.  ;)


A few other facts, ideas, and resources to get you started:

• PLU (price look-up -- on the stickers on produce) codes begin with nine and have five digits if the product is organic, begin with four and have four digits if conventional.  Genetically modified PLUs should start with eight and have 5 digits.
• Google "Great Pacific Garbage Patch"
• www.pickyourown.org
• www.localharvest.org
• www.dinegreen.com
• www.oceansalive.org and www.blueocean.org (both for information about buying and eating fish
• Use loose-leaf teas in a French press -- saves packaging!
• Some cities provide free tests for you to test your own tap water.  (Something else I should probably do and that you all should bug me about.  :))
• Decaf coffee is usually made by soaking beans in solvents -- including one that is a paint stripper.  If you'd like to avoid this in your decaf, look for beans that have been CO2 or water processed instead.
• Zissu highly recommends cooking with cast-iron and includes detailed instructions for seasoning your cast-iron pots and pans.
• Put a dollar in your fridge door and shut the door -- if the dollar falls out or you can feel cold air coming out, the seal is not tight enough.  You can buy a replacement seal at the hardware store and install it yourself.

This is just a sampling -- The Conscious Kitchen is an important book -- I got it from my library and you can too!