Are you vegetarian? Not that there’s anything wrong with that. If you are, you might have a high IQ or at least want to be perceived as smart.

A new study in the Social Psychology Quarterly March issue has linked high IQ, or measured intelligence, in adults and adolescents to “increases [in] adult liberalism,” including a tendency to be vegetarian, atheist and approving of same sex marriage.

Previous research had shown an even stronger link between high IQ teens and eventual vegetarianism.

Is this sheer snobbery and biased science? Can’t omnivores wear smartypants, too?

Stories about this study, combined with recent press appearances by and accolades for the novelist turned food writer-activist Jonathan Safran Foer and his book Eating Animals have turned up the volume on the ever raging environmental debate this week.

Safran Foer discussed his decision to make his own plate vegetarian or vegan, and to feed his infant son a vegetarian diet too on The Ellen Degeneres show. On air he quipped, “We continue to believe the meat on our plate comes from these idyllic [farms]. But on a chicken farm, an egg-laying hen farm even, more than 99% of hens live in these enclosed sheds each given about the space about the size of Mariah Carey’s engagement ring.”

A 67-square inch chunk of bling doesn’t exist, not even for the diva. But that’s the real size of living quarters for a beast in a factory farm, and about the size of two pages of a hardcover copy of Eating Animals. Safran Foer mentioned several more horrific sights he witnessed in researching food and farms for his book beyond that, on the show. Responses to his segment ranged from farmers trying to do right by their customers and livestock expressing anger at his generalizations, to kudos and support from vegan activists.

We asked Sandra McLean, a Slow Food New York City chapter leader, committee chair and all around food expert if adopting a vegetarian diet is the only (or the smartest) way to go green. Noting that Slow Food doesn’t take a pro-vegetarian, vegan or omnivore stance, she says: “Any animal that is raised humanely in the manner which is natural to its species is environmentally sensible.”

For omnivores, McLean advises buying and eating beef that comes from grass-fed, grass-finished steers that are raised as “the ruminants that they are,” meaning they should be able to graze for their food, and chickens that are raised in portable henhouses, which she called “a nice example of agricultural synergy.” A portable henhouse is moved about once a week around a field that will be planted with some crops. The birds’ manure fertilizes the field, and the chickens eat grubs and insects that populate it. McLean also suggests limiting meat intake to a 4 oz. portion daily, at most, to decrease the environmental impact of an omnivorous diet.

Above all, McLean says, “A person has a right to choose to eat the types of food that support his or her lifestlye and belief system.” Slow Food’s belief is that food choices should be based upon the credo of “good, clean and fair,” she says meaning good for the eater and the environment (and good tasting), clean as in grown and raised without pesticides, hormones or antibiotics, while being fair to the farmer, the farmworker and the animals.

Basic Reading:

“This study…advances a new theory to explain why people form particular preferences and values. The theory suggests that more intelligent people are more likely than less intelligent people to adopt evolutionarily novel preferences and values, but intelligence does not correlate with preferences and values that are old enough to have been shaped by evolution over millions of years.” – A Science Daily news feature on Kanazawa’s constroversial study of liberal vs. conservative IQ

“[A new] study found that young adults who said they were ‘very conservative’ had an average adolescent IQ of 95, whereas those who said they were ‘very liberal’ averaged 106. Vegetarianism…was shown to be related to intelligence in previous research, [the study’s author] Kanazawa said. None of this means that the human species is evolving toward a future where these traits are the default. Kanazawa said, ‘More intelligent people don’t have more children, so moving away from the trajectory is not going to happen.’” – A CNN Health story by Elizabeth Landau

“Jonathan Safran Foer, a smart Jewish boy from the American east coast has now written a book about what’s wrong with the modern way in which most of the animals we eat are produced. Which is to say, everything: the genetic manipulation of the breeding stock to produce maximum feed-to-meat conversion, regardless of the suffering it causes; the appalling circumstances in which these creatures are then raised, crammed together, the stench of their own shit in their nostrils; the barbarity of the slaughter process, which can result in cattle literally being flayed alive.”-A book review of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals in The Guardian Observer

“Adult intelligence predicts adult espousal of liberalism, atheism, and sexual exclusivity for men (but not for women). Childhood intelligence at age 10 significantly increases the probability that individuals become vegetarian as adults.” – A blog post and discussion that asks if the new study is unfair, via Overcoming Bias, by Robin Hanson

Further Resources:

Why It Matters if Liberals Are Much Smarter, a ScienceBlogs post by Razib Kahn

Critical views on Kanazawa’s research and his limited sample of American young adults via BeliefNet

Village Voice blog post by Chantal Martineau talking about the book Eating Animals and its reception outside of the U.S.

PETA’s press release announcing an award for Jonathan Safran Foer, his pro-vegetarian views and his book

Image: Ha-Wee

Morning coffee to get you up and running by 6:30am, a quick scan of the news, a rapid fire session of midday email, a “break” for lunch eaten in front of your computer while you hit Facebook, an afternoon of back to back meetings, a race home to change and grab your mat for a yoga session, an evening dinner date, and all the while, checking your Blackberry for work emails.

Sound familiar? If your average day looks a little like this, you’re not alone. Technology has helped in a lot of aspects of our lives, from paying bills online to keeping in touch with old friends, but sometimes it all gets overwhelming and it’s easy to ask, “do our lives ever slow down?”

Enter the slow movement, a cultural shift towards making time to slow down. The movement’s proponents are convinced that our speedy lives are destroying our health, families and communities. But slowing down isn’t just about turning your iPhone off during dinner, it’s about a holistic approach to your whole lifestyle, from how you travel to what you eat.

Slow Travel

One of the main components of slow travel is taking the time to be a part of local culture and connect with the people. Instead of racking up as many passports stamps as possible during a 5-day stint, slow travel advocates spending time in one place, often in rental villas where travelers can easily fall into pace with everyday life of the local culture.

A common way to experience the local surroundings and culture is through WWOOFing. The program, which stands for “Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms,” allows travelers to spend time working on an organic farm, giving back to the local community and being part of a culturally authentic environment. Here are some tips for getting the most out of your WWOOFing experience.

Although not essential to slow travel, doing something to help the community you’re traveling in has become an integral part of the movement and voluntourism has made its way onto the list of socially conscious slow travelers. Combining travel with volunteer projects, voluntourism has become popular with travelers that want more than cocktails by the pool at an all-inclusive resort. Hands-on experiences include everything from trail building to helping with scientific research to constructing houses. If you’re interested in this kind of traveling, Voluntourism.org is an excellent place to start.

Slow Food

Aiming to preserve cultural cuisine, the slow food movement isn’t just focused on eating better, it’s about preserving plants, seeds and agriculture and ensuring that we respect earth’s resources. The movement has so much momentum that several official organizations have been launched.

Slow Food USA aims to link “the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.” That means less time spent gorging on fast food and more time thinking about making connections between how our food is grown and what it really tastes like. People around the country are attaching to that idea, from urban foragers taking time to harvest fruit in urban environments that might otherwise go to waste to building communities through street carts.

On the more scientific side of things, there’s the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, whose mission includes not only defending biodiversity, but also endorsing sustainable agriculture and protect small producers and their communities. Even the USDA launched a public awareness campaign focused on local food called Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food that we recently covered here.

Ultimately, what the slow food movement comes down to is being more conscious about where our food comes from and appreciating what we put in our bodies. What are the easiest ways to start bringing the slow food movement into your everyday life? Cook at home instead of opting for fast food; if you have your own garden, share the wealth with your neighbors; seek out restaurants that are committed to using local, sustainable ingredients.

Slow Fashion

With quickly changing seasons, cheap yet fashionable knock-offs of the latest trends used to sell like wildfire, but just as with food and travel, even fashionistas have taken a turn down a slower path. Slow fashion has put the focus on not only what clothes are made out of but what they’re made for, and whether or not they’re going to last.

Consumers are trending towards slow fashion, making the new top items ones that are made to last (read: “trans-seasonal”) as well as designed and produced with the environment and humanity in mind. How do you incorporate slow fashion ideals into your everyday lifestyle? Invest in a small wardrobe of well-made pieces that work together, made by manufacturers with integrity.

Slow Cities

It’s not just individuals taking steps to slow down – cities are doing their part as well. Cittaslow is an international network of more than 120 cities that have adopted a common set of goals to improve residents’ way of life. The slow cities movement started in Italy in 1999, when Mayor Paolo Saturnini chose to keep his town of Chianti, in Tuscany, small and protect local business, and it has spread from there.

Now a worldwide success, Cittaslow towns all commit to working towards over 50 goals and principles that will improve local life, evident in the movement’s official slogan, “International Network of Cities where living is easy.” Taking ideals of the slow food movement, slow cities put a focus on sustainable agricultural practices, conservation of and support for traditional artisan products, hospitality programs, historic preservation, and educational programs for all ages. Even in the high speed US, Cittaslow has taken hold, with Sonoma, Calif. being the first US town to be honored for its slower pace.

What three things would you slow down, if you could?

Images: Only Sequel, Anna Brones, Anna Brones, helgasm, Steve Parker

You gonna eat that? Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that once planted in the wild, genetically modified organisms, such as bio-engineered fruit, grain or vegetables can change native, wild plant neighbors’ DNA. In the future, food activists worry, you might not even have a dietary choice.

A flurry of news stories, blog posts and Tweets have “cropped up” in recent weeks around this study and related events. Even teenagers are dialed into the debate over the merits and dangers of GMOs, says Jenny Kessler, who founded and directs the Garden Program at The Automotive High School in Brooklyn, New York.

Kessler teaches English, ESL and a class called “Food, Land and You.” Through this coursework or participation in the Garden Program, Automotive students learn about farming and industrial agriculture and gain hands-on experience cultivating and cooking food.

“Some of my students agree with economist Jeffrey Sachs that genetically modified crops should be used to alleviate world hunger now, since they can grow on depleted land in bad conditions,” Kessler says, “but most are concerned that GMOs aren’t tested enough before they enter our mainstream food supply. Or they worry that modified seeds and cross-pollination will make natural products scarce and expensive, or even extinct.”

The Garden Program group (as seen on Flickr.com/autogarden) wishes for – after a personal visit from Anna Lappe or Michael Pollan – better information about the effect of modified crops on human and plant health, and to inspire Americans to buy more locally produced food.

Basic reading:

“A report by a team from the United States and China appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, [where] researchers point out that gene flow between crops and their wild relatives is common and difficult to contain. They note concerns that wild plants could, as a result, gain genetically engineered resistances. And these could affect the natural balance in their environment.” -VOA Special English Agriculture Report transcript

“While disease-resistant crops have been a boon to commercial farmers, ecologists worry there might be certain hidden costs associated with the modified crops. There is concern in the ecological community that, when the transgenes that confer resistance to viral diseases escape into wild populations, they will (change) those plants…and impact the biodiversity of plant communities where wild [plants] are native.” -US News And World Report feature

“Bayer CropScience AG is responsible for financial damage sustained by Missouri farmers when their rice crops were contaminated by genetically modified seeds, the growers’ lawyer told a federal court jury in St. Louis…Testing of one of the ‘LibertyLink’ [rice] strains at Louisiana State University was completed in 2001. While there has never been a specifically identified contamination event…studies suggest an event of cross-pollination with ordinary rice or a mixing of regular and genetically modified seed occurred then.” -Bloomberg news story

“The number of people affected by food shortages is starting to rise again. Is the solution a new biotech version of the Green Revolution, or a green Green Revolution based on organic farming?” -BoingBoing.net opinion, discussion

“The debate over genetically modified crops has flared up in India, where critics have stalled the commercial release of insect-resistant eggplant, despite recent approval from the country’s biotechnology regulatory committee.” -Scienceline.org news feature

“This week the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science, called for an extra £2bn to be spent on research into global food security. In order to achieve the estimated 50% increase in food crop production that will be required by 2050, the society is calling for a grand plan that involves developing…crop varieties using conventional breeding and genetic modification.” -Small Cap News profile of the company Futura Gene

Further resources:

”..Say No to GMOs” Natural News blog opinion

The website of The Center For Food Safety (CFS) a D.C.-based organization that lobbies for slow food, organic and sustainable farming practices, and against “harmful food production technologies.”

Food activist Anna Lappe’s website

Economist Jeffrey Sachs’ official bio, including recent news by and about him

Changemakers.com GMO competition page soliciting “solutions that educate consumers about what they’re eating, and the effect their food choices will have on the environment and society”: includes profiles of the winning ideas (via Ashoka.com)

Editor’s note: This is the second installment of EcoMeme, a column featuring eco news, tech and business highlights by new EcoSalon writer and columnist Lora Kolodny.

Image: liangjinjian

Slow down and take time to smell the rosés.

That’s our highly recommended approach to the eco-sensual pairing of artisanal food and terroir-expressive wines at this Sunday’s Golden Glass Wine Event at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Pavilion.

It’s also the prevailing philosophy of sponsor Slow Food USA, an organization dedicated to advocating the importance of sustainable farming practices that respect traditional knowledge and taste.

Complementing more than 100 no-pesticide wines from around the globe will be exclusive sampling from some of the Bay Area’s top restaurants and artisanal producers, including: A16, Absinthe, Aquarelle, Heaven’s Dog, La Poggio Trattoria, SF Baking Institute, Slow Club, Stella Cadente and Trattoria Corso.

Whew! And you thought this coming Sunday was for popping the top off a Bud Light for dad as he basted ribs on the BBQ in celebration of Father’s Day. How “˜bout a radical departure? Treat him to a brave new world of pure, delicious food and fruity no-nonsense wines fast by the San Francisco Bay.

The best news about the Slow Food Movement – as on display in this event – is that it combines high-minded principles with unsurpassed gourmet pleasures.

A few bites and sips later, your dad just might be more than happy to trade in his brewski and back rib for a Bordeaux and brioche.

When: Sunday, June 21, 2009
General admission: 2:00 ““ 6:00 p.m.

Entrance fee: Advance purchase: $60 (Slow Food members: $55); at the door $70; Food only and under 21: $20 (all entry tickets include 5 food tasting tickets. Additional food tickets can be purchased in groups of 5 for $20).

Where: Fort Mason Center, San Francisco
The Festival Pavilion

Images: Joe Budd Photography

The benefits of using a slow cooker are being gobbled up by the green world as we look for ways to cut down on the energy used by a conventional oven of which only six to 13 percent goes towards the actual cooking of your food. That’s why in the book Cooking Green, Kate Heyhoe refers to the oven as the Humvee of the kitchen.

“The kitchen is ripe with opportunities for going greener,” she writes. “It’s the place where people can make real choices, and take direct control of their impact ““ without letting the family feel deprived, hungry, or stressed. In fact, everyone will feel better just knowing they’re helping the planet ““ and they can do it one bite at a time.”

Popular in the 70s, slow cookers are hot again because they’re right in line with the slow food movement – the antithesis of the drive-through mentality that has made us unhealthy and obese as a nation. Slow cookers take new stock in a healthy, eco lifestyle.

Costing from $40 to around $100, cookers offer savings in time and money, along with the energy incentive. People love that they are versatile and can be used to make everything from braised, grassfed, free range meats to poached fish, vegetarian stews and cookies. Especially with meats, the slow process makes them very tender.

My Aunt Dorothy in Encino, who is quite a good cook, is addicted to her new pot and will probably find a way to employ it for the upcoming Passover dinner in April. Like other users, she likes being able to fill the slow cooker with good ingredients and get going on her day, hit the links or play with her grandchildren.

There are tips you should follow for using a slow cooker, and I found a great resource at Crockpot Cooking, which covers everything from the shopping (buying a cooker with a removable liner for easy clean-up) to only filling the pot half way or three-quarters for successful slow cooking. Here are a few other great suggestions:

• Foods cooked on the bottom of the slow cooker cook faster and will be more moist because they are immersed in the simmering liquid ““ as a result, if your food mix is such that you want everything cooked evenly, you may find that you want to stir the food about half way through the cooking time (though this is not necessary).
• Always remove the skin from poultry, and trim any excess fat from meats. Fats will melt with long cooking times, and will add an unpleasant texture to the finished dish. Fatty foods will also cook too quickly.
• You can thicken juices and concentrate flavors by removing the lid and cooking your meal on HIGH for the last half hour of the cooking time.
• The temperature the food should reach as quickly as possible is 140° F. If you are at home during the cooking times, test the food temperature after four hours of cooking on LOW – the temperature should be at least 140° F. If it isn’t, there’s a problem with your slow cooker and you should replace it with a new one.
• For food safety reasons, it’s a good idea to cook your meal on HIGH for the first hour to quickly bring the temperature up to 140°. Then turn the dial to LOW and the food to finish cooking throughout the day.
• The LOW setting on a slow cooker is about 200° F, and the HIGH setting is about 300° F. Note that both of these temperatures are well above the minimum safe temperature of 140° F.
• Do not put frozen foods in the slow cooker. All foods should be defrosted prior to cooking so the food temperature can reach 140° F as soon as possible.
• Most meats require 8 hours of cooking on LOW. With a slow cooker, you can use cheaper cuts of meat than you might otherwise – not only do you save money, but these meats will actually cook better in the slow cooker. Cheaper cuts of meat have less fat, which makes them more suited to slow cooker cooking.
• Ground meats must be cooked in a skillet before cooking in the slow cooker.
• Seafood should be added during the last hour of cooking time, or it will overcook and have a rubbery texture.
• Large pieces of meat can be browned before cooking in the slow cooker, but this step isn’t necessary. However, browning adds color and helps in flavor development.
• One hour on HIGH heat is equivalent to two hours on LOW heat.
• Cayenne pepper and Tabasco sauce tend to become bitter if cooked for long periods of time. Use small amounts and add them closer to the end of the cooking time (normally within the last hour or so).
• Add tender vegetables like tomatoes, mushrooms and zucchini during the last 45 minutes of cooking time, so they don’t overcook.
• Dairy products should be added during the last 30 minutes of cooking time, unless the recipe states otherwise.
• Liquids do not boil away in a slow cooker, so if you are making a recipe that wasn’t specifically developed for the slow cooker, reduce the liquid content by 1/3 to ½, unless you are cooking rice or making soup.
• Remove any excess cooked food from a slow cooker or liner before you store it (this is because the liner is made of such thick material the food can’t cool down quickly enough to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria).
• Stir in spices for the last hour of cooking. Otherwise, they lose their flavor if cooked with the rest of the ingredients for the longer cooking period.
• Follow the slow cooking layering instructions carefully. Many are surprised to learn that vegetables (other than tomatoes, mushrooms and zucchini) do not cook as quickly as meat, and should, therefore be placed in the bottom of the appliance.
• Don’t lift the lid to stir the ingredients, especially if you are cooking on the low temperature setting. Each time you lift the cover, enough heat will escape such that the cooking time should be extended by 20 minutes to half an hour. To check the cooking progress without lifting the lid, spin the cover until the condensation under the lid falls off, thus making it easy to see inside the cooker.

You can google great slow cooker recipes like this delicious dessert from the Organic Fruit and Veggie Club.

Enjoy and keep it going slow!

Crockpot Apple Crisp

Your whole family will love this easy and mouth watering recipe!

2 cups peeled and sliced Organic Gala apples
2 cups of granola cereal
1-teaspoon cinnamon
¼-cup honey
2 tablespoons melted butter

Butter inside of Crockpot. Mix together first 3 ingredients inside Crockpot. Mix honey and butter and drizzle over mixture. Stir gently and cook for 8 hours on low until apples are tender.

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