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Listen to this podcast from The Erie Wire, in which 'Renegade Lunch Lady' Chef Ann Cooper shares her thoughts on bringing heathier food to schools.

Excerpted from 'Organic Coffee, Certification, and Processing' by Sandra Marquardt, Mike Dill, and Jennifer Rose for Tea and Coffee Magazine

There's no more personal choice than what you feed your body, but what do you really know about the food you eat? Fat, carbohydrates and calories are listed on every label, but where that food comes from, what's been added and what's been removed isn't as easy to see.

When I asked to spend time observing the kitchen operation at my daughter’s elementary school, I thought I was going to see people cook. The food service provider for D.C. Public Schools, Chartwell-Thompson, had recently ditched the old method of feeding kids with pre-packaged meals from a food factory and replaced it with something they called “fresh cooked.” Being one of those folks who’s trying to return to cooking from scratch with fresh, local ingredients, I was anxious to see how Chartwell’s plan would play out.

As parents, we want to feed our children healthy food. What parent would turn down the chance to give a child delicious, healthy food that is convenient, a good money value, that the child loves – and then responds with a, “Thank you, Mommy, that was great! May I help clean up?”

YAKIMA, Wash. -- More than two decades after parents dumped apples from children's lunch boxes because of concerns about a chemical applied to the fruit, most researchers agree the crop is safer although most of it still carries pesticide residue.

To  read the full article, click here.

In the highly scripted world of presidential itineraries, security, and
staff, it's hard to pull off a surprise. But that's exactly what President Barack Obama did on Saturday when he threw First Lady Michelle Obama an early 46th birthday party at Restaurant Nora in Northwest Washington.

To read the full article, click here.

It's organic cereal for breakfast. Locally grown Brussels sprouts and cage-free chicken at dinner.

Lots of us think about personal or planetary health when we eat. And lots of us add a glass of wine to our carefully considered menu because, the experts keep saying, it's good for the heart.

This is all mainstream, by now. But flowing in a pure rivulet along with this larger trend is a new focus on and respect for organic wine and wine made with organically grown grapes.

Michelle Obama celebrated her 46th birthday this weekend with a swank surprise party at Restaurant Nora in Washington, D.C. The eatery is America’s first certified organic restaurant — meaning 95 percent or more of everything served has been produced by certified organic growers.

To read this article, click here.