In case you couldn’t join us yesterday for Food Sunday, here’s what you missed…

Toby Wollin kicked things off with a news roundup:

Last week, Aunt Toby discussed findings from British researchers regarding chemicals found in carpeting and nonstick cookware being associated with Thyroid disease. This week?

Arnold Strikes Again

“California’s governor has vetoed a bill that would have banned a DuPont-made chemical in food packaging in that state.

Instead, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this week signed a pair of bills backed by the chemical industry that establish a regulatory framework for chemicals that are potentially hazardous to human health.

State legislators had approved a bill that would have limited the amount of perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, in stain- and grease-proof items like fast-food wrappers to no more than 10 parts per billion by 2010….PFOA, also known as C8, is used in the production of DuPont’s nonstick coating Teflon and other products….United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard said in a statement the union was "outraged" that Schwarzenegger bowed to pressure from DuPont and the chemical industry, which lobbied against the bill. Gerard called the veto a "slap in the face" to workers at DuPont plants who have shown higher levels of PFOA in their blood than the general public.”

Thanks, Arnie.

Jill Richardson followup up with a discussion of pesticides in our food:

I just finished reading a book I highly recommend: The War on Bugs by Will Allen. Allen grew up on a farm, then studied war chemicals in the Marines, and was surprised when he returned to the farm to find out that farm chemicals were "modified versions of the nerve poisons and antipersonnel weapons that [he] learned about when studying chemical warfare in the Marine Corps." Today he’s an organic farmer and he serves on the policy advisory board of Organic Consumers Association (as do I).

Allen’s book was a FASCINATING read. I was familiar with part of the story, which I wrote about in my own book. Agricultural chemicals didn’t hit the big time until after World War II, for a number of reasons. But much of the story happens before World War II, before they became widely used on U.S. farms. That history is significant, and Allen uses primary sources to completely document it.

As early as the 1800’s, advertisers began promoting farm chemicals, often industrial wastes and often highly toxic heavy metals like lead and arsenic. The story of advertising and PR in the U.S. is its own story and it’s told very well in the book Toxic Sludge is Good For You (which I also highly recommend). Allen tells the history of advertising as it relates to pesticides and other farm chemicals. Even before pesticides hit prime time in the U.S., advertisers were hard at work, trying to figure out how to successfully overcome farmers’ and consumers’ concern about applying poisonous chemicals to food.

alanaclaire taught us how to make mozzarella cheese:

A supermarket is quite an amazing thing.

You can walk in with a list clutched in your hand with the security that you will walk out with every item on that list. Not only that, but there will be choices among choices involved. You know you must buy cereal, but what color will it be? Shall it be based in corn or wheat, puffed or shredded, or perhaps shaped like Dora?

So many choices!

So why, with the wonders of the supermarket available to you, would you want to try to make food at home that you usually buy at the store?

I’ve gotten more curious about making normal everyday foods in this last year. I’ve made fresh pasta, puff pastry, ice cream, pudding, granola, yogurt, bread, salad dressing, ricotta, tomato sauce, applesauce, pickles, sauerkraut, hamburger buns, chai- whew, we could start to fill a supermarket of our own here.

Today, we add mozzarella to the list.

Bill Egnor gave us a recipe for Scottish Buttermilk Soda Bread:

This week I was going to give you my Grandmothers Irish Soda Bread recipe, but I when asked Herself (as the matriarch of our sprawling, brawling Irish family is known) she was surprisingly adamant that it not be shared on the internet. Not being a fool nor willing to cross Herself, I had to scramble and find this recipe for Scottish style soda bread. The biggest difference between Irish style breads is the lack of raisins or currents.

Scottish Buttermilk Soda Bread

This bread is interesting in that it has no yeast and does not require kneading, but is not a “short” or “quick” bread. All of the rising is accomplished by buttermilk and the baking soda. It makes a single loaf.

And demi led a discussion of Superbowl advertising and snacking:

I’ll tell you what I’m serving up for grub during the Superbowl. At Big Lots, I found a cheese and sausage tray that was meant to be a Christmas present. Last week it was 75% off. I’m pretty sure the food isn’t any worse for being a month older than it was before Christmas. Ha! I love a good bargain. Who doesn’t?

What are you going to eat while you’re watching the Superbowl? And, may I suggest we all MOON the Focus On The Family ad?

Head over to the posts, write down the recipes, and leave us a comment! Then come back next week for more Food Sunday.