I'm late to this topic, and perhaps have failed to add to, or take advantage of the momentum generated when this special Reuters report on food marketing to children was released April 27. But it's too important not to bring it to your attention, and by more than just a tweet.

Corporate Accountability International has just released a policy guide on marketing of fast food to children, which is an outgrowth of its Value The Meal campaign, which I have supported both financially and by hosting a house meeting to spread the idea to friends.

Few things sound as boring as a discussion of future federal crop insurance fortunes, but believe it or not, said discussion will be a fulcrum in the next Farm Bill, whether it comes up this year or next.

I don't care about crop insurance per se, but I do care about federal ag policies that subsidize some crops at the expense of others.

The first "Let's Talk About Food" event of 2012 is a whopper: Marian Nestle, the well-deserved queen of food commentary, and US Rep Chellie Pingree, one of Congress's food-policy leaders, highlight the bill.

I was asked twice yesterday for my penny's worth of reaction to this story, about whether extremely obese children should be put in foster care:

It has happened a few times in the U.S., and the opinion piece in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association says putting children temporarily in foster care is in some cases more ethical than obesity surgery.

In a blog post about whether potatoes are really as bad as implicated in a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine, food-policy doyenne Marion Nestle shares the six most common sources of calories in the American diet:

“Grain-based” desserts (translation: cakes, pies, cookies, cupcakes, etc)
Breads
Chicken and chicken mixed dishes (translation: fingers)
Sodas, energy, and sports drinks
Pizza
Alcoholic beverages

Following on my previous post, I take note of Carey Goldberg's post last week at the Commonhealth blog, where she is co-proprietor. She commented: 

Photo by Rolf Oeser for the New York Times

I wrote in June about the German city of Marburg, whose mayor and council voted to require every building to have solar panels. At the time I applauded it, though as is so often true, there is more to it than I grasped at first.