Earlier this year, Nestle’s Kit Kat made green headlines by announcing its bars in the U.K. will be made with fair trade chocolate. Now, Kit Kats have been making headlines again, this time for combining that ethical chocolate with very environmentally destructive palm oil.

Greenpeace has launched a campaign, with an unsubtly altered Kit Kat logo that declares Nestle a “Killer.” Why? Nestle “uses palm oil from companies that are trashing Indonesian rainforests, threatening the livelihoods of local people and pushing orangutans towards extinction.” Those unethical palm oil companies includes Sinar Mas group, Indonesia’s largest producer of palm oil, whose practices are so destructive that even Kraft and Unilever have cut ties with the giant.

Nestle, however, has stuck with Sinar Mas, thus prompting the Greenpeace campaign. I’m guessing whatever inroads Kit Kat made into the eco-ethical chocolate market with its fair trade sourcing announcement will be derailed by Greenpeace’s efforts, which include a disturbing short video that shows one Kit Kat eater ending up with orangutan blood all over his face.

Have a break? from Greenpeace UK on Vimeo.

Kit Kats aren’t Nestle’s only products named and shamed. Nestlé’s Crunch, CoffeeMate, and PowerBar are among other products orangutan fans should avoid. And this isn’t the first time Nestle’s gotten in trouble for destroying rain forests in Indonesia. Back in 2007, World Wildlife Fund reported that Nestle — along with some other companies — was buying coffee illegally grown in habitat for endangered tigers, rhinos, and elephants.

Nestle’s penchant for using one attention getting green ingredient like fair trade chocolate for a few token products while continuously sourcing its many other ingredients with little regard to environmental or ethical concerns shows me that that ethical consumers make the best shopping decisions by looking at a company’s overall ethical sourcing practices, not just certification for an ingredient or two in a couple products.

Earlier:
>> Sweet Earth Chocolates: Decadent desserts with an eco-ethical center
>> LUSH gets orangutan-friendly with Jungle soap

Image via Greenpeace

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Your nearby community supported agriculture (CSA) program and farmers’ market let you enjoy fresh local eats while supporting your local economy. But if pickup times or market hours just don’t work with your schedule, an organic produce delivery service can fill the gap — and have you trying out new fruits and veggies too.

The Fruit Guys is one handy organic produce delivery service. I’ve written about the The Fruit Guys’ fruit delivery service — a healthy alternative for office snacks — a while back, but the company has since added a weekly home delivery service that brings California fruits, vegetables, and other yummy treats grown within 100 miles of San Francisco to the doorsteps of California residents!

My slim suitcase-sized box arrived with a burst of fresh produce — plus a bag each of California-grown beans and raisins! A one-sheet guide to the produce (also available online) let me know where all the produce came from. My meyer lemons, for example, came from Redwood City, navel oranges from Springville, and blood oranges from Pauma Valley. Most of the produce — including the rapini, curly parsley, and shallots — came from Coke Farm in San Juan Bautista, while the delicata squash were grown by Blue Moon Organics in Aptos.

The backside of the one-sheeter — made of post-consumer recycled materials, of course — had recipes for penne pasta and steamed artichokes and shallots that sounded delicious — though my lactose intolerant self couldn’t handle the creamy, cheesy dishes. But I made do, deliciously, by making baked delicata squash, parsley-heavy tabouli, and a garlicky rapini dish.

The delivery was delicious, relative locavore-friendly for me, and of course, convenient. The one downside, however, is the packaging waste. While The Fruit Guys will pick up the 75 – 100% post-consumer recycled content boxes for reuse in the San Francisco Bay area, Southern Californians aren’t so lucky, and have to toss them in the recycling bin along with the paper padding used to cushion the produce.

For this reason, I’ll personally stick to the L.A.-based delivery companies that will let me reuse my box — but will miss the yummy extras like the beans and raisins in The Fruit Guys’ deliveries, as well as the strong commitment to California-only produce. If you live in the Bay area — or in other California towns that don’t have local organic produce delivery services — I highly recommend trying The Fruit Guys.

A regular Fruit & Veggie Case delivery (pictured) from The Fruit Guys costs $32; a small case (16 servings) is also available for $24. You can also pick from all fruit and all veggie cases for the same prices. Set up a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly delivery — or just try out the service with a one-time delivery.

Earlier: Organic fruits and veggies, simplified.

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Natural health guru Andrew Weil has many eco-foodie fans — myself among them, especially because of the tasty Chocolada Walnut Pure Fruit & Nut Bar from Weil by Nature’s Path Organic. And last weekend, I had a lucky opportunity to hear Andrew Weil speak at The Organic Center’s 7th Annual V.I.P. Dinner in Anaheim, Calif., sharing his thoughts on what we who care about organic agriculture should focus on to push the movement forward.

green LA girl readers already know many of the benefits of organic food — both for human health and the environment. Behind a lot of the scientific research that establishes the many scientific benefits of organics is The Organic Center, a nonprofit that works on peer reviewed scientific studies on the benefits of organic farming. Because of its valuable work, The Organic Center has many, many fans among eco-luminaries and green businesses — which is why everyone from Ken Cook, head of Environmental Working Group, to Margaret Wittenberg, global vice president of quality standards and public affairs at Whole Foods, to Gary Hirshberg, CE-Yo of Stonyfield Organic, came to the dinner to celebrate — and raise money for — the Center’s work.

Andrew Weil was the keynote speaker, who talked about how to address some of the misinformation and bad studies about organic farming that have been reported on the media — like a study that claimed organic foods aren’t any more nutritious than conventional foods:

I do in fact believe that plants grown organically do produce higher levels of key antioxidants and other phytonutrients. But the most important fact about organic food which was not addressed in that British medical journal article is what it’s not giving you. It’s not giving you toxic agrochemicals. And that’s what to focus on.

When you show a slide to the general audience showing the list of toxins found in the umbilical cord blood of average babies, that makes a strong impression on everyone. And when you can show research that, if you put babies and infants on organic foods, those levels come down in the tissues and the blood, that is very dramatic and powerful…. That’s what we should focus on….

So I would urge the people who are doing the scientific research in this area to work on documenting those differences rather than trying to focus on nutritional advantages of organic products at this stage of things…. That’s what will advance this movement at the present time.

Not everyone at the dinner agreed with Andrew Weil’s perspective. In fact, Charles Benbrook, chief scientist for The Organic Center (below) spoke later in the evening defending the Center’s scientific research into the nutritional benefits of organic food.

Of course, Andrew Weil did make it clear that he was talking about what types of research might be most beneficial for the organic movement at this moment. While there’s certainly room for research in all aspects of organic farming, I tend to agree that right now, those who haven’t yet embraced organic foods will be more likely to be convinced to do so by learning about the perils of pesticides than the pleasures of phytonutrients — making scientific research on the former a quicker and more effective way of getting people to switch to organic foods.

But perhaps some people are indeed more convinced by nutrition research than pesticide research. What made you decide to eat organic?

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Started avoiding dangerous pesticides by eating organic? If fear’s the big motivator pushing you towards a greener lifestyle, here’s how you can avoid the secret dangers of everyday things that lurk in things in your kitchen — and the fast food drive thru window:

1. Ban the can. Already got a reusable water bottle free of bisphenol A — a.k.a. BPA, a chemical lining linked to everything from sexual dysfunction to heart disease to reproductive problems? Then you’ll want to avoid canned foods — since almost all cans are lined with BPA. Here’s how to get the cans out of your kitchen without making grocery shopping or cooking more difficult.

2. Don’t nuke plastics. Even plastic containers labeled “microwave safe” have been shown to leach chemicals, so stick to glass and ceramic containers when using the microwave.

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I’m really a coffee girl, but lately, I’ve started drinking a cup of tea at noon as a pick me up — and have come to realize I’ve been missing out! For the eco-ethical tea drinkers in search of a new brew, here are my favorites:

For the gourmet tea snob

Zhena’s Gypsy Tea’s line of biodynamic green teas are about the tastiest teas out there — and are organic, fair trade, and biodynamic certified to boot! I recommend the rich and fruity Caramelized Pear blend.

More locally, Beverly Hills’ Art of Tea offers delicious and beautiful loose leaf, bagged, and blooming teas. I enjoyed a tasting a few years back. Most are organic and many are fair trade certified (some blends just don’t make use of ingredients available through fair trade) — and come in scrumptious flavors like Banana Dulce and Blueberry Cheesecake. Find them at SoCal Whole Foods — or pick from a bigger selection online.

For bargain seekers

Choice, Equal Exchange, Numi, Zhena, and Traditional Medicinals all make affordable fair trade, organic teas. Co-opportunity has good selection from these brands, but many can also be found at Whole Foods and other stores.

Taste-wise, my favorites are Numi’s Puerh teas and Zhena’s herbal teas — but keep in mind that these teas, while yummy, don’t compare to the more expensive luxe teas mentioned above.

For mate drinkers:

Guayaki Yerba Mate makes rainforest-expanding tea — since the company’s business model allows for sustainable agriculture that maintains and restores rain forests.

Guayaki’s a member of the Fair Trade Federation, and its yerba mate products are all organic certified. Get it by the bag at the Co-op or Whole Foods — or invest in a whole pound of loose leaf yerba mate for just $12.

For cool thirst quenchers:

Fair trade and organic bottled tea’s now easy to find, since Honest Tea got bought by Coca-Cola and started popping up even at gas stations. I like Honest Tea, but love the taste of Numi organic bottled Puerh teas even better — and also recommend Steaz Teaz (to get caffeinated), Guayaki Lemon Elation (to get mate’d), and Adina Holistics (to not get wired) — all reviewed here.
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Last but not least for eco-friendly tea drinkers on the go: Libretea’s a handy reusable tea infuser-mug that lets you enjoy loose leaf tea wherever you go.

Photo by mat.teo

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>> After a very public protest from whale-friendly activists, The Hump apologizes for serving endangered whale meat. (via LA Daily) Earlier: The Hump could get shut down.

>> The 2nd annual Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale happens April 24 – May 2. Sign up now, whether because you’re actually vegan or because you’re lactose intolerant like me and wish for more dairy-free baked goods. The money you raise can go to the cause of your choice.

>> Sirens magazine editor Heather Wood Rudúlph went vegan for a month — and shares lessons learned. Among them: “It’s OK to eat dairy and meat—if you do it responsibly.” One of her lessons, however, is false. Wine is not always vegan, due to additives used in some wines. Earlier: Processed, imported vegetarian proteins not greener than local meat.

Image via veganbakesale.org

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For delicious eco-ethical chocolates that will delight vegans and milk chocolate fans alike, visit Sweet Earth Chocolates’s online shop. Here, you’ll find all kinds of organic, fair trade chocolates — from simple dark chocolate bars to nutty caramel turtles to peanut butter cups — almost all available in both milky and vegan versions!

My favorite Sweet Earth delicacy is the ultimate vegan peanut butter cups, which balance out a deliciously creamy, salty peanut butter middle with a 65% bittersweet chocolate coat. You get a mouthful of intense natural flavors — free of the mostly-sugary synthetic taste of, say, Reese’s. A 3-ounce bag with five cups costs $7.95.

For the minimalist, the Bittersweet bar with 72% cocoa content delivers a powerful caffeinated punch with a citrus note. That bar’s made with just three ingredients — organic chocolate, sugar, and vanilla — which shows the deliciously complex flavor’s all in the high quality of the organic, fair trade cacao itself.

In fact, Sweet Earth Chocolates does best with simple products than with more complex ones like the Ultimate Turtles — at least when it comes to vegan versions. The vegan turtles I tried — made with dark chocolate, vegan caramel, cashews, and rice crispies — tasted rather bland, with the vegan caramel almost devoid of flavor.

The box of Turtles also had some strange nutrition label issues. The 7-ounce box contained 6 truffles — but gave nutrition facts based on a 1-ounce serving size! I had to whip out a calculator to figure out that each truffle had 176 calories — not worth it for a bland turtle. I’ll have to try the classic milk chocolate with non-vegan caramel to see if the flavors work better. A beribboned gift box of 6 truffles costs $10.95.

Beyond the yummy goodness of the chocolates themselves, Sweet Earth Chocolates was founded on a delicious goal — to promote organic and fair trade practices in West African cocoa farms, where some of the worst forms of child labor are known to be rampant. Tom Neuhaus, who teaches Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and founded Sweet Earth with his sister Joanne Currie in 2004, organizes annual trips to West Africa to help educate people about the plight of cocoa farmers there, to spread awareness, and to promote fair trade. Those trips are part of Project Hope & Fairness — a nonprofit started by Tom that carries out the goals of Sweet Earth Chocolates.

Sweet Earth Chocolates doesn’t actually get its chocolate from West Africa, but from the Dominican Republic, Peru or Costa Rica, “the only countries in the world where there are farmers’ cooperatives that are certified organic and Fair Trade,” according to the company’s website. “In the meantime, a portion of our profits from our chocolate bars will go to support West African cooperatives in their efforts to become organic.” Find out more about these efforts by reading my interview with Tom here.

Shop Sweet Earth Chocolates on its web store, stop by its retail shop if you visit San Luis Obispo, or find them at some select stores, mostly in Northern California.

Earlier:
>> Equal Exchange’s new bars: Dark pleasures for eco-ethical chocoholics
>> nicobella vegan organic chocolate truffles: Decadence with antioxidants
>> Kraft-owned Green & Blacks to go 100% fair trade

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If you’re concerned about bisphenol A — a.k.a. BPA, a chemical lining linked to everything from sexual dysfunction to heart disease to reproductive problems — you’ve probably opted for a BPA-free reusable water bottle. What many would-be healthy environmentalists aren’t as aware of, however, is the fact that BPA’s in pretty much all canned foods. Even green-thinking companies have a hard time getting BPA out of their cans — which is why for now, I’ve just learned to avoid canned food altogether.

Now, I know banning the can sounds daunting to many who’ve relied on canned beans and dolphin-safe tuna as greener alternatives to factory farmed beef and overprocessed veg meats — but once you get a few simple habits in place, I’ve found de-canning’s actually fairly simple — and less troublesome than relying on canned food! Here’s how I do it:

1. Shop light. Buy beans in bulk, and you’ll save a lot of energy — that you used to spend lugging those heavy cans from the store. In fact, if buying heavy canned and packaged foods are what’s forcing you to drive to the store to bring everything home, simply de-canning could lighten your load enough to consider making the trip by bike or on foot.

After all, if you’ve been eating local to reduce the huge carbon footprint associated with food miles, then shopping car-free should be part of your locavoring strategy. Even when food’s locally grown, driving long distances to buy the stuff is less green than getting less local groceries delivered.

I really enjoy walking to my local co-op to get my groceries — especially since I get to pass a fig tree that, when in season, yields free dessert! Go can free and get back on the streets.

2. Go bulk. I eat almost all organic and local — and still spend less money on food than most people. How? In addition to being mostly vegetarian, I make use of the bulk bins at my co-op, where I can get fair trade, organic coffee for $7.99 a pound, organic rolled oats on sale, and — more relevantly in terms of this de-canning issue — all sorts of beans on the cheap!

Do the math, and we’re talking serious money savings on beans. According to the California Dry Bean Board (yes, there is such a board), a pound of dry beans will yield 5 to 6 cups of cooked beans, while a 15-ounce can equals about a cup and 2/3 of cooked beans. A pound of dry organic black beans at Co-opportunity costs $1.69 — or about 28 to 38 cents a cooked cup. A can of organic black beans costs between 99 cents (when on sale in a can that contains BPA) and $2.19 (for Eden Organics’ BPA-free can) — or 59 cents to $1.31 a cooked cup. Why pay double or more for the same stuff?

3. Cook simply. Of course, dry beans require that you cook them. This is much simpler to do than most people believe the task to be — especially if they’ve cooked them incorrectly before and felt the process took forever!

The main bean cooking tip: Soak them first, for 6 to 8 hours. Post-soak, they’ll cook up pretty fast — between 60 to 90 minutes. I like to soak them overnight, then put them on the stove in the morning. By the time I’ve finished journaling and caffeinating, the beans are done!

4. Save energy. Once cooked up, let the beans cool to avoid heating up your freezer with still-hot beans. Then put a half to one-cup of cooked beans in small, individual containers. This way, you can simply take out one or two containers as you need them — instead of having to thaw a vat of beans whenever you decide to make something.

How does storing beans in the freezer save energy? In addition to saving you the energy and space used by a can opener — or your own arm strength struggling with manual can openers (I never really mastered those), a full freezer will retain its coldness better and run more efficiently. Plus, once you’re ready to use the beans, you can move the containers from the freezer to the fridge the night before — and the beans will keep your fridge cooler as they dethaw.

5. Eat yummier soup. If beans aren’t so much the issue as an addiction to canned soup, I strongly recommend a Hipcooks class to cure this costly addiction. Make your own yummy fresh soup!

6. Feel healthy. Going can-free for beans and soup will help you dramatically reduce your exposure to BPA. And if you decide to take it easy on the canned tuna too, you’ll cut your mercury consumption. Did you know that if you’re a woman who weighs less than 200 lbs, eating just one can of albacore tuna a week puts you over the FDA’s recommended limit for mercury?
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Got additional tips for canned food addicts? Share them in the comments.

Photo by pinwheel

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Extra virgin olive oil evokes images of pretty olive groves. Eco-foodies, however, know all too well that not all EVOOs are environmentally-friendly. At Grist, Tom Philpott points out that industrial-scale olive production causes serious ecological destruction — and that some cheap olive oils are cut with cheap sunflower and hazelnut oil!

Thanks to my farmers’ market, I’m able to avoid these olive oil-related eco-worries entirely. I simply get my EVOO fix from Adams’ Olive Ranch in Strathmore, Calif., which offers a few different local olive oil options as well as very tasty whole olives!

Once in a while, though, I want to try something different — since olive oils, like wines, each have their own unique flavors and characteristics. Here’s a couple I’ve enjoyed:

Alter Eco Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. For olive oil with serious environmental and ethical creds, go with Alter Eco. This fair trade company works to counter all the bad news about war, conflict, and razed olive groves by working with family farms in Palestine.

Alter Eco’s gourmet olive oils are organic and fair trade certified — and also technically carbon neutral, since an Alter Eco cocoa farming co-op in the Amazon plants trees to offset the amount of carbon emissions created in making these products. According to Alter Eco, these fair trade olive mean “an over 30% increase in farmer revenue over conventional prices” that go toward “financing scholarship funds, micro loans for women’s empowerment programs, and olive tree planting.”

I loved the buttery flavor of the “Robust” olive oil made with Rumi olives — perfect as a high-quality finishing oil. A “Mild” flavor made with Nabali olives is also available. A 12.7 oz. bottle costs $19.99 and can be found at Alter Eco’s web store as well as many Whole Foods, local co-ops, and health food stores.

Gaea Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Organic. Give Greek olives a try by tasting this organic olive oil, made from handpicked olives. Gaea’s an olive company that has made some eco-friendly moves, like buying carbon offsets through myclimate and incorporating what the company calls “non-depletion policy on wild products, recycling policies, and integrated crop management” — but details on these policies remain a little vague, and only a few their many products are organic certified.

Still, Gaea’s organic EVOO is definitely worth a try for those curious what Greek olive oil tastes like. The slightly fruity flavor of this everyday oil drew raves from Steve Balogh of Groovy Green. Gaea products can be found in many supermarkets. A 17 oz bottle costs $13.99 at MyBrands.
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Can’t get enough organic olive oil? Read Tom Philpott’s review of 5 organic olive oils — mostly from Italy — at Grist.

Photos by Kevin H., Alter Eco, Gaea

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>> Santa Monica’s celeb-studded sushi spot The Hump could be shut down for serving endangered Sei whale meat, after Heal the Bay president Mark Gold called them out. The restaurant’s on city property, which means the city can terminate its lease if restaurant owners commit a crime. More in two weeks, after the city investigates the issue.

>> Love Tender Greens‘ local, organic produce paired with organic wines? A new Tender Greens location opens at Sunset and Vine in Hollywood today.

>> Grace restaurant will move to downtown L.A. later this year — and plans to get up to a quarter of its produce from its own garden. to the rectory of St. Vibiana’s later this year, Owner Neal Fraser “has an idea for taking diners into the garden to pick, say, five ingredients for a tasting menu.” This feature article from the L.A. Times also highlights the green efforts of many other local restaurants, including Tender Greens, York, Comme Ca, Napa Valley Grille, and Mixt Greens.

>> The City of L.A.’s growing gardeners with a green gardener training course intended to give eco-friendly and marketable skills to lower-income residents:

Thirty-one gardeners participated in the pilot training program that began late last year, and 89 are expected to be trained soon through the program, which was funded with $250,000 in federal stimulus money, through the city’s Community Development Department, and conducted in partnership with the Institute of Popular Education of Southern California, an immigrant education group.

Earlier: A Green landscape design contest — and 6 free green garden events

Photo by Jory .

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