Health and Safety

Calling all Calories

Lost in the weeds (and there are a lot of them) of the health care bill, whoops – law, is a provision that requires most fast food restaurants to uniformly post calorie counts.

And that means posting them so someone can actually read them and use them. No teeny, tiny print on the soggy part of the burger wrapper. No little sign in a back hall near the bathroom.

The FDA has to come up with a national standard for menu labeling that will be appropriate for and required by all fast food establishments with 20 or more locations. That’s about 200,000 restaurants nationwide. And the labeling standards will override all the ones that have been popping up lately city by city and making these same restaurants a little crazy with the inconsistency.

Yup – these guys were actually in favor of a one standard deal.

And one of the main people you can thank for this – Connecticut’s own Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of New Haven. DeLauro, Chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration and Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, proposed this as the MEAL Act back in 2003.

Let’s repeat that – 2003.

Again — 2003. How many calories over the dam since then? Huh? What were we waiting for?

“I am delighted that menu labeling has been included in the historic health care reform legislation that President Obama signed into law today,” DeLauro said in a statement. “Americans will now be able to make more informed choices about the food they are eating, and with childhood obesity rates tripling over the last 30 years, this legislation is imperative to the health of our nation.”

Of course in January the Journal of the American Dietetic Association published a survey by Tufts University of 10 chain restaurants that showed a heck of a lot of the calorie counts they did post were an average of 18 percent higher than they listed.

And, while we’re on the bad news, you know in 2008, according to the CDC, only one state, Colorado, had an obesity rate below 20% — it was 18.5%. Connecticut was actually pretty good at 21%.

Recently the New York Times reported things have leveled off. Yeah, so what’s the good news? The story said: nearly 34% of adults are obese, more than double the percentage 30 years ago and 17.

Oh geez – one battle at a time.

The New Kale?

Kohlrabi is variously described as looking like Sputnik or a hot air balloon. Both would be pretty accurate. Otherworldly for sure, these pale green or deep purple vegetables seem to have multiplied at farmers’ markets and in CSA boxes like pods from Invasion of the Body Snatchers – and I suppose a case could be made for resemblance — or like, well, kale.

I suspect the reason is far less heinous. They’re cheap and easy to grow, can withstand all kinds of cold temperatures, do very well in heat, don’t seem to have any diseases – low maintenance, just what Connecticut farmers like. And so for all you CSA members in particular – watch out, they’re coming.

So what is this little odd veggie? It is far better known and more common throughout Europe. The name is more or less German. Kohl means cabbage; rabi means turnip. In fact kohlrabi is in the cabbage family. It may look like a root vegetable, but it is not. The nearly tennis ball-sized bulb you see with all those leaves attached grows above ground.

The bulb can be eaten raw – usually shredded like a slaw. Or you can cook it. Trick is you have to peel it past the woody exterior. If you pick it very young, you can eat the whole outside, but don’t count on finding that at the market. The leafy tops can also be eaten – but cooked is best.

The flavor is often described as turnips mixed with cauliflower. I’ll tell you, I don’t see it. The bulb tastes very much like broccoli to me. The leaves taste like – well, sorry to say this … kale.

The leaves can be steamed or sautéed in oil – but they’re tough so give them time. Super high heat can make them bitter, so watch that too. With garlic or garlic scapes in oil, salt and lots of pepper and then finished with fresh lemon juice, they make a nice side dish.

With the bulb – I think less is more – just steamed is sweet enough. Maybe a touch of salt and butter. Theoretically the bulbs can be roasted – but who the heck wants to be roasting things in the middle of summer? And of course you can drown them with any sauce, dressing, pesto you can think of.

But that actually would sort of defeat the purpose of eating kohlrabi. You see – it’s good for you. Low calorie, loaded with Vitamin C (140% of the RDA), plenty of fiber and a nice dose of potassium.

And remember – they’re coming.

Stripers Deciphered

Striped bass – stripers, in the vernacular – seem to have a certain association with summer, though they’re really a year-round fish. Either way, it’s worth sorting out the Connecticut confusogram of stripers.

For starters – there’s been a statute on the books for a long time here that prohibits commercial fishing of striped bass. So if your fish store says “local striped bass” – it may be close, like New York or Massachusetts, but it’s not Connecticut.

But – Connecticut commercial fishermen can, with the proper licenses and all that jazz, fish stripers in non-Connecticut waters and bring them back here. So the fisherman can be local.

And – sport fishing of stripers is permitted, but that’s for personal consumption, not sale.

Stripers, however, have had a health issue for a number of years – namely PCBs – those now-banned cancer-causing industrial compounds that were dumped in waterways all over the east coast. Those nice big striped bass just soaked the PCBs in as a predator eating the stuff that ate the other stuff that ate even more stuff that ate the worm contaminated with PCBs.

The way Dave Simpson, the director of Marine Fisheries for the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection explains it: “Each level gets more concentrated.

“The bigger they are, the higher they are in food chain, the more they tend concentrate contaminants.”

In the last month or so, there’s been some good news on that front. Connecticut, along with six other states, has loosened its health recommendation on how often to eat striped bass (and bluefish). Based on a review of data from 2008, the state Department of Public Health recommends that non-risk groups can safely eat striped bass once a month. That is actually more frequent than the old once-every-two-months recommendation.

Non-risk groups would be everyone except, children, pregnant women, nursing mothers – and you might want to add in the elderly.

Simpson suggests to lessen the PCB risk even further, cut away the dark part of the fish, which is fattier – and fat is where PCBs cluster. Or cook it in a way that the fat drips out, namely grilling.

Striped bass tends to be a thickly-cut, moist fish that can stand up to a grill without drying out, falling apart or otherwise becoming – oh you know, fishy. You can just grill it plain with a touch of oil and pepper, or use a marinade although that may keep it from getting a nice crust, if that’s what you prefer.

I prefer a sweet and spicy rub I make with a secret hot chile mixture from New Mexico. Failing that you can concoct or buy whatever you want: a Southwestern mix of dried chile and herbs; a curry; a North African mix of cumin, paprika, turmeric and cayenne; a jerk mixture – all would work.

Grilled Striped Bass

½-1 cup light brown sugar (not dark – it burns, sticks and makes a mess)
Spice mixture to taste
Canola oil
1 pound striped bass cut in 2 pieces

In a flat glass pan like a small baking dish, mix brown sugar and spice mixture. Add canola oil just to moisten slightly. It should not be runny. Dredge meat portions of fish in mixture, covering it thickly. Let sit about 10 minutes. Grill on oiled, heated grill, adding more mixture if needed. Fish should make a nice crust with a moist interior. 2 servings.

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