INTEGRITY IN SCIENCE
I was shocked to learn, in reading the Winter 2013 journal, that the Weston A. Price Foundation had chosen to honor Andrew Wakefield with its Integrity in Science award. I am deeply disappointed in the position that your organization has taken in regards to Mr. Wakefield’s so-called research and wonder at how an organization such as yours, which seems to care about precedent and scholarly knowledge, can still support this man’s case, which has been so thoroughly debunked by a wide swath of scientific journals and credible journalists, which do not have a bone to pick and are not in the pockets of the pharmaceutical industry.
I ardently believe that it is incumbent upon an organization such as yours to be willing to be as stringent as humanly possible when propagating information, which can have such far-reaching implications to people’s health. Andrew Wakefield’s research does not, in any reasonable standard, pass this important test.
Editor’s Response: Dr. Andrew Wakefield was singled out for the wrath of the pharmaceutical industry when his research found the vaccine strain of measles virus in the intestinal tracts of children whose parents reported regressive autism and inflammatory bowel disease after the MMR vaccine. In the pursuit of the link between childhood vaccines, intestinal inflammation, and neurological injury in children, Dr. Wakefield lost his job, his career, his fellowships and his medical license. Many other teams and papers have replicated his work; these studies have been peer reviewed and published. Dr. Wakefield is in fact suing the British Medical Journal (which repudiated his published research paper) and the journalist who attacked him most virulently. His boss and supervisor, prestigious pediatric gastroenterologist Professor John Walker-Smith, who was also stripped of his medical license and accused of the same supposed wrongdoings, sued in the High Court in Britain and was fully exonerated on all charges. The judge severely rebuked the British General Medical Council for its egregious misconduct. Dr. Wakefield’s findings of a novel form of bowel disease are now so accepted in the scientific community that vaccine makers are attempting to develop a vaccine for bowel disease in kids with autism. There are well over two hundred scientific papers and case reports published in peer reviewed medical journals documenting and exploring vaccine injury and death. (These can be found at http://www.greatergoodmovie.org/learn-more/science/.) Both the U.S. and Italian governments have conceded that MMR can cause autism. Finally, I should add that WAPF, which supports non-toxic therapies, has always opposed toxic vaccinations. The Foundation will continue to support Dr. Wakefield and others like him, who have the courage to say the truth.
The Weston A. Price Foundation seems to me to be politically correct in its disregard for antibiotic use at this time in our history. However, I don’t remember reading in Dr. Price’s book that he did any research on them, so why does the Foundation jump on the bandwagon of condemning them? Are we all under the shadow of propaganda that combines all antibiotics under one umbrella term (like the word fat, which doesn’t distinguish between butter, Crisco or belly fat), and combines all use of antibiotics under that same high-dose/ short-term umbrella that generates the super bugs like MRSA?
My superficial understanding, with the help of Wikipedia, is “The term antibiotic was first used in 1942 by Selman Waksman and his collaborators in journal articles to describe any substance produced by a microorganism that is antagonistic to the growth of other microorganisms in high dilution.” Although antibiotics are produced commercially, we also have many natural antibiotics that fit this definition. There are also many synthetic drugs that are also now called by the same term, antibiotic.
Antibiotics are not all the same. The ones that may be responsible for creating the so-called super bugs work by interfering with the cell wall of their target. Many disease causing microorganisms just change their cell wall to evade persecution, thereby making the antibiotics ineffective. When these types of antibiotics are used in the standard high doses as prescribed by physicians for a short term of a week to ten days, all susceptible “germs,” as well as good guys, are killed, leaving only the strongest bugs to repopulate.
On the other hand, there is a class of antibiotics that works by inhibiting protein synthesis within the cell. This class of antibiotics targets pathogens that lack a cell wall. Because the pathogens have no cell wall, they must live as parasites within cells of a host. They are slow growing and stealthily multiply within our cells until our cells burst. They give off toxins causing us pain, and release bits of our own destroyed cells that cause all sorts of “autoimmune” conditions.
Antibiotics targeting protein synthesis tend to be the antibiotic used in animal agriculture to “promote growth.” Low doses of these antibiotics, such as the tetracycline class, promote growth of animals in unhealthy agricultural conditions by limiting reproduction of the pathogens that would normally slow the animals’ growth and cause disease. In low doses, the tetracycline class of antibiotics does not kill all susceptible micro-organisms, leaving only super bugs. Low doses do not harm the animal, or human host of the pathogen. Low doses slow down the reproduction of pathogens.
Living streptomyces bacteria produce low doses of tetracyclines in nature to do exactly the same thing—to defend against pathogens that would invade them. This is only my rudimentary understanding of a huge issue.
There have been many controlled studies, and case studies, that prove the infectious root of arthritis, scleroderma, and many, many of our chronic diseases. This globe is now one big human CAFO, after all.
The late Thomas McPherson Brown devoted his life to curing people of rheumatoid arthritis with tetracyclines, and proved the efficacy of an antibiotic cure for scleroderma. A year after Dr. Brown’s death, in 1990, Dr. Joseph Mercola, having about a dozen rheumatoid arthritis patients, attended a meeting in Chicago sponsored by the Arthritis Institute, where a dozen physicians from around the country discussed Dr. Brown’s antibiotic protocol. Dr. Mercola himself said he used Dr. Brown’s protocol on thousands of his own patients with good results (http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/08/16/ rheumatoid-arthritis-protocol.aspx#!).
In this video, Dr. Mercola wanders all around about needed nutrients that can be purchased in pill form. He basically ignores the importance of the power of tetracyclines to control the pathogens. My hypothesis is that all of the peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price were naturally exposed to streptomyces bacteria and the tetracyclines these bacteria produced.They didn’t need to know about them, the streptomyces bacteria were in the lands they lived on and in their fermented foods because there was no way to keep them out. These bacteria increased in the fermented foods because the fermented foods were as rich in nutrients as the soils in which they grew.
We no longer have access to these specific microbial helpers. We no longer ferment the dirt of the forest along with our sauerkraut.
I have been almost totally cured of disabling rheumatoid arthritis with nothing other than Dr. Brown’s tetracycline protocol, and only scorn from the many doctors I visited. I am what they call “non-compliant.” In my second year of low dose tetracycline, I am getting younger all the time. I have heard from seven people about my letter on mycoplasmas in the Fall 2013 issue of Wise Traditions. I believe there are many more out there who are under the cloud of bad press for antibiotics. I cringe every time I see on the WAPF Facebook page articles condemning all antibiotic use, with no understanding of the huge numbers of people being sentenced to ignorance of the cause of their incurable disease.
Editor’s Response: Weston Price did not address the issue of antibiotics because these drugs were just coming on the market when he retired. Starting in the late 1940s, antibiotics largely pushed out cod liver oil as a way of protecting against infectious disease. Our philosophy is always to try diet first—including, in the case of rheumatoid arthritis, bone broths, cod liver oil and fermented foods. Antibiotics, including low-dose tetracycline, should be a remedy of last resort, and even then, these allopathic compounds should be used in conjunction with a nutrient-dense diet.
ONCE AGAIN PRICE WAS RIGHT!
Sometimes the absence of something is more revealing than the presence of it. While other dentists were jumping on the antibiotic bandwagon in the early to mid-twentieth century, Dr. Weston A. Price continued to practice according to his conscience and the knowledge he had gained from his research on pulpless (root-canalled) teeth. This included an assessment of his patients’ susceptibility to disease and if this was indeed positive, appropriate cavitation surgery of the tooth (extraction and removal of all the surrounding dead bone). However, in patients who had a stronger constitution who he believed could reasonably quarantine the bacteria released from a root canal, Price practiced watchful waiting and would only intervene when signs or symptoms in these patients indicated the need for extraction.
Dr. Price was not only knowledgeable but a leader in researching and teaching about these dental focal infections. However, not everyone was in agreement on this subject. In fact, the backlash against these twentieth century pioneer physicians and scientists diagnosing and treating focal infections (dental, tonsil, sinus, appendix, etc.) was fierce. For one, many conventionally oriented doctors felt that dentists were overstepping their bounds by performing oral surgery to treat systemic disease (rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, ulcers, etc.) since they considered the body their turf. Further, endodontics was becoming a recognized field in dentistry, and these newly minted dental specialists didn’t appreciate focal infection advocates vilifying their primary treatment—the placement of root canals. However, the most significant cause of the demise of focal infection interest and study in the mid-twentieth century was the discovery of antibiotics.
First identified by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928, penicillin soon became the panacea for every medical and dental infection—or even any suspected infection since it was often used prophylactically. Further, this new “miracle drug” was readily embraced by both patients and doctors alike as a relatively cheap, painless, easy-to-administer and non-invasive alternative to extraction. Although Fleming himself warned that the “misuse of penicillin could lead to the selection and propagation of mutant forms of bacteria resistant to the drug” (New York Times, 1945), the unbridled optimism for the use of this medication continued to grow.
However, as we know today, Price’s restraint was prescient. Bacterial resistance to antibiotics has become epidemic—ranging from MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphyloccus Aureus), to VRSA (Vancomycin Resistant Staphyloccus Aureus), to the horror of Clostridium difficile—a bacterium so virulent it literally peels the lining off the colon and is estimated to cause two hundred fifty thousand infections and fourteen thousand American deaths a year (Antibiotic Resistance Threats, CDC, 2013). But this drug-induced morbidity and mortality is not only confined to hospital settings; “gut dysbiosis” has become a common diagnosis for the devastating effect antibiotics wreak on our intestines, leading to such autoimmune conditions as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile d iabetes a nd Type 1 d iabetes (J. Autoimmun, 34, May 2010). And the related epidemic intestinal permeability (“leaky gut”) from antibiotics where the body has difficulty differentiating “self” (normal cells and tissues) from “nonself” (undigested food antigens, noxious excretion products from pathogenic microbes, toxic metals and chemicals, etc.) is the very definition of autoimmune disease itself. In fact, the use of antibiotic drugs in the twentieth century and the rise of autoimmune diseases – from only a handful in the early 1900s to currently comprising over one hundred different illnesses today—paralleled each other quite synchronously over the twentieth century.
Currently even conventional doctors and their allopathically oriented government agencies are sounding the alarm in regard to the ongoing misuse and overuse of antibiotics. Dr. Davies, England’s Chief Medical Officer, has stated that “Antibiotics are losing their effectiveness at a rate that is both alarming and irreversible. . . ” (11/24/12, www. nursingtimes.net). And the conservative U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued a report naming antibiotic resistance as one of the most “urgent” threats to global health, and warning both physicians and scientists about the “potentially catastrophic consequences of inaction” (Antibiotic Resistance Threats, CDC, 2013).
These frightening forecasts can certainly be daunting. But it is important to remember that killing bugs is an allopathic creed arising out of conventional medicine only in the last two centuries. By following the wise traditions of our ancestors as Dr. Weston A. Price observed in the fourteen different cultures he studied around the world in the 1930s, properly prepared nutrient-dense diets provided these exceptionally healthy indigenous peoples with readily assimilable proteins, fats, and carbohydrates to deal with life’s stressors and to ward off disease. Thus, by utilizing the dietary principles Dr. Price discovered, along with skillful biological dentistry and a non-toxic and healthy lifestyle, as well as nutritional supplements, herbs, and homeopathic remedies when required, we too can achieve and maintain optimal health, and relegate modern allopathic drugs to where they primarily belong— to be used only occasionally in acute emergencies.
Louisa L. Williams, MS, DC, ND
San Rafael, California
Editor’s Response: For more information on the rise and fall of focal infection research please see Chapter 8 in Radical Medicine by Louisa Williams. For more information on the harm antibiotics do, see Curing CASPERS at www.radicalmedicine.com.
My daughter told me this today and I found it interesting. A friend had given her a box of gluten-free crackers at Thanksgiving. She and her husband did not like the crackers so, since they live in a redwood forest with lots of critters around, they tossed them into the forest for the animals to eat. They assumed the animals would eat the crackers. But, she told me, the crackers are still there, and they have not even gotten moldy. Made me think of butter versus margarine!
SOY AND FEVERS
I want to share a success story. My son was having asymptomatic fevers of unknown origin (one hundred four degrees for six to twelve hours, at least twice a month) and getting sick all the time. He already had some odd reactions so we got him allergy tested. It turned up that he reacted to all the things he had natural aversions to. Two of the biggies were soy and legumes. We had been vegetarian for years, and all of his life. We omitted all these items from his diet and introduced local soy-free clean meats. Since doing this, he has not only been sick less, but also has not had one asymptomatic fever.
SOY AND ECZEMA
My son is sensitive to soy. It caused one of the most vicious and aggressive cases of eczema that many doctors and pediatricians have ever seen in a child (nummular eczema).
Since going organic and avoiding soy, my son is free from eczema hell. No more unfermented soy for him! He would scratch his back up against his crib in the night till he bruised and bled. My husband and I purged a basketful of creams and ointments the other week and couldn’t believe that what ended up being the solution was eliminating soy and tidying our diet. We are pretty good, but when we slip up or eat out frequently during busy times, my son suffers again.
TRULY GOOD FOOD
The health benefits of raw milk are well documented. Our own doctor praises my family for producing our own food from our garden and milking the cow that gives her raw white gold to us on a daily basis. My four healthy and beautiful children only got ear infections when I bought pasteurized milk from the store when my cow was dry. (Those were three sad months!)
But that is not what I want to write about. I have to mention the superior taste that raw, nonhomogenized milk has, something even my young children have noticed. My five-year-old turned his nose up at the store-bought (organic) milk for the first month of buying it, claiming it was “weird tasting.” Now I’m no expert or foodie, but my children are right. There is no comparison. Raw milk is a perfect example of truly good food.
Colmar Manor, MD
Editor’s Response: When raw milk is unavailable, it’s probably best just to give your children cheese.
MOVE TO AMEND PETITION
How can we put pressure on multinational agricultural corporations to improve their environmental responsibility, product quality, and treatment of employees and livestock? How can we give more power to small farms?
One easy but important step is to sign the petition at the Move To Amend website. It states “We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling and other related cases, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.”
Let’s get big money out of politics! Elected officials should work for human well being, not shareholder profits!
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
In the article “Dangers of Statin Drugs” on your website, I believe that another danger should be addressed. Over the past few years I have noticed many automobile accidents that do not appear to have any reasonable cause, usually involving elderly drivers.
Examples include backing into a building when the driver intended to go forward; stepping on the accelerator instead of the brake; and turning left instead of right—or the reverse of this action. Most, but not all, accidents have been minor.
Your article identifies issues of “memory loss,” “confusion,” “slow reaction times,” and “weak leg muscles.” These could definitely explain these strange accidents.
Would it be possible for your organization to research such accidents and determine whether statin drugs could be identified as a basic cause? If so, it may be advisable to add a warning not to drive when using statins.
Robert A, Klabis
Editor’s Response: It is very difficult to obtain such information, but we can assume that the widespread use of statin drugs makes driving more dangerous for all of us. And what about airplane pilots? Former astronaut Duane Graveline describes how an attempt to warn pilots not to take statins was quashed by the pharmaceutical industry.
WISE TRADITIONS IN SLOVENIA
As a chapter leader, I was intrigued by the raw milk vending machines throughout Slovenia. When I researched more about this amazing republic, I was impressed with the health, nutrition, and safe travel freedoms.
Off I went on an adventure for five weeks in December 2013 and January 2014. Sylvia Onusic (who offers summer tours to Slovenia) recommended I contact Vesna Veliscek (now a chapter leader in Slovenia) for her hands-on activities (www.slocally.com). Vesna and I attended a gourmet Food Walk in charming Ljubljana led by Iva Gruden of www.Ljubljananjam.si. I invite you to visit these impressive websites for their unique offerings.
There it was, a clean, gleaming beacon of health: my first of many raw milk vending machines. With joy, I inserted half a Euro and received a glass bottle, then inserted one Euro to dispense one liter of fresh, creamy, rich milk. Since I had kefir grains with me, I cultured the milk that very evening in my hotel room. I cultured every two to three days and fattened up my happy grains. I left these grains with three families who are now actively culturing and passing on the kefir grains to others.
By the way, I visibly lost weight on this trip by consuming the richest and most delicious food that Slovenia has to offer, that is, the traditional Slovenian foods. This was the typical breakfast served: a plate mounded with homemade prosciutto, salami, hard and soft cheeses, farm eggs with pancetta, olives and olive oil from the trees outside, white corn polenta, warm bread from the stone oven, fresh and dried fruit, and hot tea from herbs growing within view. This is how I started my day.
Please contact me if you wish to know what I had for lunch and dinner!
Vesna’s hands-on activities were varied: a beekeeper for raw honey, bee pollen, royal jelly and propolis; promoting a remote village for its sheep and goat cheese; running a restaurant serving trout from the Soca River a few steps away; and promoting specialty wine cellars. Vesna and I had many serendipitous experiences by being in the moment.
Miha Gartner of www.slotrips. si assisted me with tourist farm stays, seaside accommodations and airport transfers. His attentive follow-up was so appreciated.
All in all, I enjoyed being in the company of slim and active Slovenians with their sparkling eyes and warm, welcoming smiles. I am returning to this remarkable country for May and June to enjoy the cherry blossoms, ripe orchard fruits and the summer season. Revisiting Iva, Vesna and Miha will be a joy.
Rosemary Duma, RN Chapter Co-Leader
Las Vegas, Nevada
I read the articles on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and Roundup in the Fall issue of Wise Traditions. They were astounding! They arrived at a time when I was bleeding and under doctor’s care for bladder problems. After reading the articles I stopped eating all GMO foods. Now I am eleven days without a show of blood and I feel my strength has returned! Thank you for that information.
Still, changing my diet to eliminate all GMO-produced foods has been very depressing. I doubt that any one I tell about this menu change of mine will ever want to do it. Soy oil is in almost everything. Even in vitamins. And can there ever be a complete list of GMO foods? Will they never stop till all crop foods are GMOs?
The Weston A. Price Foundation is very courageous to teach people about GMOs. You are going to be either hated or loved.
San Francisco, California
I was appalled and disheartened with my 2014 Shopping Guide which reads on page 1, “Shopping Guide Now Available as an iPhone App.”
Thomas Cowan, MD, a member of the WAPF Board of Directors, gave the following excellent advice in 2009: “Throw away your cell phone; live as far away from a cell tower as you can” (Winter 2009, page 26). Beverly Rubik, PhD, in her Wise Traditions 2012 conference talk, warned WAPF members of the harmful changes in the blood when exposed to wireless devices (as seen under dark field microscopy).
German studies clearly show the pathological agglutination effects on human red blood cells (also termed rouleaux) after just twenty to ninety seconds on a wireless phone. Even more disturbing is the fact that a bystander almost six feet away was found to suffer blood changes as pathogenic as the blood of the nearby phone user.
People ignore the effects of “second- hand” radiation on those in the vicinity of the transmitting wireless devices. Yet, it is documented in many independent scientific studies that fetuses, babies and children are the most vulnerable to harmful exposure effects of radio frequency microwaves.
Many grocery shoppers are mothers. Some are pregnant or have young children with them. I often see moms using iPhones within inches of their babies in shopping carts, some of whom are allowed to play with wireless devices. Microwaves blasting from cell phones pass through barriers (concrete, wood, glass) and travel miles to cell towers. Imagine how easily they penetrate human bodies, especially those of babies. The Russian government warns: “Use of mobile telecommunication devices for those under eighteen or pregnant should be restricted” (Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection).
High levels of radio frequency microwaves and electromagnetic fields from an iPhone were described by a WAPF member in the Summer 2013 Wise Traditions (page 9): “I just tested my wife’s iPhone and I was shocked. My meter measures both microwaves and magnetic fields. Not only did the phone put out the expected microwaves, but it also generated a huge electromagnetic field. The phone spiked my meter from three feet away. . . I have never seen such strong fields from any appliance— that’s what was so shocking.” Yet, this is the very device now recommended for accessing the WAPF 2014 Shopping Guide!
In a YouTube video, Dietrich Klinghardt, MD makes the following comment: “Right now we are in the process of sacrificing generations of children in the name of the god of cell phones and electro-communications. . . they are being crippled in their soul development and their higher development.”
And in a private training seminar for medical doctors Dr. Klinghardt explained: “The worst one [cell phone], by the way, is now the iPhone. I don’t know if you know how the iPhone works, but the iPhone is a horrible, horrible idea . . . Every iPhone user is a broadcasting panel. You’re a walking, broadcasting panel. And the only way you can switch that function off is by taking the battery out. Even if you turn it off, the iPhone is still a sending mast. It’s a really evil technology. Unbelievable!”
Thank goodness WAPF has been tireless in its warnings about soy, GMOs, processed foods, and so on. Just as important are consistent warnings on the well documented and devastating effects of radio frequency microwaveemitting devices. Should the WAPF actively contribute to harm by offering an iPhone download of the Shopping Guide in the name of making product selection quick and convenient?
The words of Dr. Neil Cherry (1946- 2003), Associate Professor of Environmental Health at Lincoln University, New Zealand, should guide us all: “Electromagnetic fields and radiation damage DNA and enhance cell death rates and therefore they are a Ubiquitous Universal Genotoxic Carcinogen that enhances rates of cancer, cardiac, reproductive and neurological disease and mortality in human populations. Therefore there is no safe threshold level. The only safe exposure level is zero, a position confirmed by dose-response trends in epidemiological studies.”
Ken Hardy Chapter Co-Leader
Las Vegas, Nevada
Editor’s Response: Much as we may object to cell phones, iphones and ipads, they are not going away. Our Shopping Guide App will reach thousands of people who have never heard of WAPF before, and help them find foods that could protect them, as least partially, from the effects of EMFs. Rest assured, we will still continue to publish the Shopping Guide in hard copy form, for those who do not use cell phones or iphones (including myself). We will even be providing a version of the Shopping Guide for old fashioned computers.
I am a chapter leader in a small town, and for years I was discouraged by low numbers attending our chapter meetings. Starting in 2010, there were three to five at meetings, then it grew to twelve for a while. Then a young woman named Jodi started coming to meetings last year. She had been extremely ill with many symptoms, up to thirty in all, the main one being frequent incapacitating migraine headaches. After changing her diet she started to feel better, and then after one meeting she chatted with Dr. Wayne Feister, and he said to her, “Maybe it is the MSG.” She then did a lot of study, and became quite the expert on food additives. She is now celebrating one year of great health with no headaches.
She is so happy she has become a crusader for the Weston Price Foundation. She orchestrated an article in the local paper with a photo of her and myself with the whole story. She and I have since had many inquiries. The local library contacted me because folks had come in there wanting more information on WAPF. I had to go in and explain that yes, they already have Wise Traditions on the shelf. I also took in my WAPF business card, plus some brochures.
Jodi has been posting info on her Facebook page causing my group to grow even before the newspaper article. We now have about thirty people at meetings, and we are still growing! The dear girl is on a mission.
Jane Kraft, Chapter Leader
Kenton/Hardin County, Ohio
A FOOD EVENING
I have been a chapter leader for Herefordshire in the UK for two years and for twelve years have been running a guest house with my partner Robert Elliott. Our overriding passion is real food (sourcing, cooking and eating!) and since being introduced to Weston Price by one of our guests, we have taken every opportunity to talk about the Foundation and its work to anyone who has been prepared to listen!
In 2008 we published Rob’s first book, The Food Maze, a distillation of our own research into modern industrial food production and its impact on our health and the environment, wrapped around our own personal journey of discovery. We are always thrilled when we get positive feedback from those who have read it and as a result change the way they do things, such as swap their supermarket allegiance for independent shops, start growing their own vegetables or seek out a local raw milk producer.
For example, a couple named Hannah and David came to stay with us last November. They coincidentally had read The Food Maze before they visited us. Since November they have been spreading the real food message to family, friends and their local community. Their enthusiasm knows no bounds and I would love to share it with you. They live in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire and have two young children. Below is the letter we received from them.
“The food evening we hosted a couple of weekends ago was a great success. It felt a bit odd at first, but we soon settled into it, and everyone was very well fed by the time they left. We talked about everything we’ve learned and done, gave out books and then we just fed people.
“We had eating going on in our living room, and the dining room was set up a bit like a shop—with loads of produce set out (mainly dry whole foods and toiletries) with prices per unit marked on so that people could see and touch them, and get a real sense of value for money.
“Then we had another table with loads of books on it and David had some brilliant chats with people there.
“It was really nice to hear the conversations that emerged naturally over ‘dinner.’ The food was a slightly strange concept, but we wanted to take people on a tour of a whole day of eating. So rather than a big full-on meal, we did small portions of breakfast, lunch, dinner and tea. It felt mighty odd giving people a small bowl of porridge with their glass of wine to start a Saturday night dinner party, but it actually worked brilliantly! So we had porridge with various toppings—homemade yogurt, local honey, homemade jam and Rapadura sugar. Then David made a delicious pearl barley risotto with local cheese and thyme from the garden. We had homemade breads with homemade butter and a birthday cake for one of our guests made with stoneground flours, Rapadura sugar, butter from the dairy, and eggs from our friends’ chickens. We also had raw milk tastings.
“We had an old fashioned butter churn on display, which was passed around throughout the evening. Everyone helped to make the butter (from untreated cream from the dairy) that we ate with the bread later on.
“The parting shot was really to invite people to be part of three strands we’re involved in—online wholefoods bulk shop, raw milk/cream/butter round, and FarmDrop. It was a great success. The amazing thing is that everyone who came has sent me a shopping list, so I am placing an enormous order on Friday night. We are collecting approximately forty pints of milk every ten days or so at the moment—it’s only for three families so far, but that’s fine for now.
“FarmDrop is exciting. I have a webinar interview that will teach me more, but it looks likely that I will be setting up one here in Irthlingborough. This will be the first in our region, and hopefully will happen in the next few months. If you have a look at the website you’ll get the gist of it : http://www.farmdrop.co.uk/#/
“The other exciting thing that has happened since I last wrote, is that we have got chickens! Still very young, so no eggs for a little while, but they seem very happy in our yard, and the children have been absolutely wonderful with them. I would say our food waste has been reduced by well over 75 percent now that all the veg peelings are going straight to the chickens!”
A footnote to the story is that Hannah’s application for a FarmDrop in Irthlingborough has been accepted. We await with great anticipation the next chapter of their story.
Sally Dean, Chapter Leader
LES DAMES DC FOOD SYMPOSIUM
by Kim Hartke, WAPF Publicist
Les Dames d’ Escoffier is an international organizationof Women in the Culinary Arts. It originated in New York City, and the second oldest chapter is the Washington, DC chapter. Every two years the DC chapter holds a food symposium, where women in the food, beverage, and hospitality industry gather to learn about trends, techniques, and professional skills they will need to excel in their field. The event is open to the public, and many who attend are interested in food, nutrition, and wine. This year, for the first time, the Weston A. Price Foundation exhibited at this fascinating day of food festivities and workshops.
The international president of Les Dames, Beth Allen described their mission as advocacy, farming, nutrition, health and wellness, and philanthropy. The women of Les Dames to date have raised four million dollars and awarded scholarships to help deserving women attend culinary school.
The sessions during the event incorporated many topics close to the Weston A. Price mission. One of them, called Backyard Farming, featured a live hen, Oprah Henfree, who came for show and tell. The panelists also discussed beekeeping, kitchen gardening, farmers markets and sustainable farming.
“Charcuterie: How Salt and Time Transform” was about home food preservation which demonstrated nourishing traditional foods such as liver pâté, gravlax, and rillettes. Another speaker taught about olive oil and how to evaluate a product’s purity and authenticity.
A fascinating session called “Food and Culture” was led by the writers of American Food Roots, a website devoted to telling food stories. The new Internet journal highlights the cultural diversity that abounds in our melting pot America. The website is looking for unique food heritage stories, and they are creating an active and engaged community around geographic and ethnic foodways. The writers plan to write or film more stories about agriculture. One of the writers mentioned how huge fermenting is now, but seemed unaware of the role that Sally Fallon Morell and Sandor Katz have played in popularizing this traditional food. She attributed the interest in ferments to the availability of produce at farmers markets.
Particularly insightful was the panel discussion about the future of restaurant food. Phil Petrilli, who worked for Chipotle during its ascendency (he helped engineer the chain’s relationship with Joel Salatin), is now leading the national operations of Noodles and Company. He said both of these restaurant chains are based on the concept of “fast casual.” He said today’s recession-weary consumer is eating out less, and demanding more in quality, while still wanting an economical meal. He said consumers’ palates are expanding and flavors like curry and coconut are no longer scary but desirable. He sees spice levels and heat levels also increasing on restaurant menus. He explained that cravability still rules, and is created by sugars, fats and salts. Noodles and Company makes their chicken stock in-house at commissaries around the country, with fresh produce brought in daily.
The leading restaurant consultant in the world, Michael Whiteman, appeared on the panel through a video linkup from his home in Brooklyn. When asked about food trends, he said that innovation has stalled at the upper end of the market. He believes all the hot food trends are coming from the bottom end, where food is most affordable. He said the innovators are the chefs in food trucks, hipster joints and start-up fast casual restaurants. He claims that what is exciting today’s diner are the mash-ups of different ethnic foods, such as a Mexican taco topped with Korean kimchi. He said people want the collision of cultures on their tongue, and he dubbed all these gastronomic experiments and multinational taste thrills “world food.”
Lisa Kartzman, communications director of a food importer, Roland Foods, listed the top food trends. She said the top trends are flavors and spices, fresh herbs, health and wellness, ancient grains, gluten-free, non-GMO, organic and sustainability. She said when Roland first exhibited at the Natural Products Show, only one and one-half aisles were devoted to food products. Today, half the show is food. She also said more and more chefs are asking for non-GMO products.
It was a rewarding day, and it was heartening to hear echos of Weston A. Price principles in many of the sessions. The Dames were very excited to have WAPF as a new exhibitor, so chapter leaders in metropolitan areas may want to find out if there is a similar event sponsored by the Dames in your city.