Food news antipasto

We recently learned that Sri Owen, who popularized Indonesian cooking worldwide, died last month at the age of 90. Born in Sumatra, Indonesia, she moved to Britain in 1964 and was an internationally celebrated author, lecturer and cook. Her books include The Rice Book (winner of the Andre Simon award) and Indonesian Regional Food and Cookery. She served on the committee of the Guild of Food Writers and the Oxford Food Symposium.

There is now another reason to love cheese. Researchers have found that people who ate high-fat cheese had a lower risk of developing dementia. Before you indulge too much in your celebration of this news, physicians warn that there are other health issues, such as cardiovascular disease, that can result from eating high amounts of saturated fat. Also, this study was limited and only found a correlation between eating cheese and dementia, which does not prove cause and effect.

And now for the not so good news about food. Researchers at Leiden University in the Netherlands looked at plants’ responses to increased levels of carbon dioxide. What they found in the meta-analysis is that crop yields rose, but the food contained fewer nutrients. Zinc in particular dropped by a large amount in some crops. Scientists said this analysis will spur investigation into methods to counteract any negative effects on nutritional quality due to CO₂ increases.

Two weeks ago, we reported that Jamie Oliver was going to resurrect his Italian restaurant in the UK. Not everything is coming up roses in the chef’s world, however, as we found out this week that the Jamie Oliver Group is cutting 20% of its workforce. The group is not connected to the relaunched restaurant business, but includes Oliver’s media activities and partnerships with third parties.

Italians celebrated this week as United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognized Italian cuisine as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This marks the first time an entire national cuisine has received this honor. The food itself is only part of the reason for this recognition. UNESCO also highlighted the fact that cooking was a “communal activity” and a “daily practice,” which shows how Italians embrace it as a integral part of their lives.

If you think about Italian food, chances are high that lasagna will come to mind. While this is probably not news to our Members, a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of making lasagna covered with aluminum foil in a steel pan. The acid and salt in the tomatoes can create a galvanic reaction between the two different metals, resulting in what has been called “lasagna battery.” You can avoid this by making your lasagna (or any acidic dish) in a ceramic or glass pan if you are going to cover it with aluminum foil during the cooking process.

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