Dani Nordin's blog

This morning, I noticed a request in my e-mail from HARO, a newsletter I subscribe to that lists press inquiries from reporters working on stories.

It's getting to be that time again on the East Coast; the time when specialty food makers (and the foodies who love them) start gearing up for the two big tradeshows: the Fancy Food Show (held each year in June at the Javits in NYC), and Expo East (held for the last couple of years and going forward at the Convention Center in my hometown of Boston).

On May 9th, I braved the Boston subway system to attend the Future of Food Conference at Boston University. Speakers and attendees included policy analysts, food activists and thought leaders from around the world.

I’m not one that normally subscribes to a ton of magazines. A few that are important to me I keep around; HOW, Pink and Yoga Journal are subscriptions I’ve maintained for years, and I refer to them again and again. Yes! Magazine I subscribed to for a year, mainly out of support for its message of personal responsibility, sustainability and social change. However, when I decided to let the subscription lapse (I just wasn’t reading it), I started receiving direct mail from them every other week for the last three months.

Among the stack of holiday cards I usually receive here at the zen kitchen, I found a great one from my friend Mo: a Reproduct Zero-Waste card. It’s a beautiful card, printed on tree-free recycled paper, and it comes in a reusable gatefold reply envelope that you can use to send the card back to the company for recycling in Shaw Carpets.

According to a recent post in the Agriculture Information online community, the nation’s first certified-organic bar has just opened in New York City’s Greenwich Village:

The bar, GustOrganic, is located inside the popular New York City organic restaurant of the same name.

Now with both a certified organic restaurant and bar in the same building, dedicated organic food eaters and beverage drinkers won’t have to step outside of their organic lifestyles at GustOrganic in order to have a before, during and after dinner cocktail with their 100% organic meals.

I was just pointed to this blog post by Martin Bishop of Landor Associatesannouncing Amazon’s recent decision to

Just in time for the holidays, it’s the zen kitchen’s first annual Holiday Survival Kit! This handy-dandy PDF is full of worksheets and tools - some practical and some downright silly - that’ll help you get through some of the most common family holiday dilemmas, including:

Although I’m very political by nature (after all, I started my career at 16 as an environmental activist), I try not to go too deeply into politics in conversation with folks I don’t know well. It’s too likely to get heated, and personally, I’d rather talk about food and business and the like.