Health Food

Editor's note: A version of this editorial appeared in an early edition of Monday's Inquirer. Ah, the joy of it all: Sitting in a Starbucks last week, sipping an espresso macchiato and spotting a news story that proclaims that coffee has far more antioxidants than anything else we eat or drink. Antioxidants, of course, are the Patriot missiles of our internal system, seeking out and neutralizing so-called free radicals that can damage cells and hence make us vulnerable to a host of chronic diseases.

Two days after the event - which was Monday in the East Room of the White House - you could find Xeroxes of the news photos of Marco Lentini, 34, with President Obama taped to the windows of Lentini's Già Pronto panini-and-salad shops, one of which is on the ground floor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, the other (the more hopping of the two, given the state of the stock market) on 38th at Spruce, which fills up at lunchtime with Penn students who aren't in the mood for the Korean or Caribbean being dispensed from the gaggle of curbside trucks.

When Anne Marie Brambilla opened her health food store on Berlin Road 22 years ago, she never dreamed the business would turn her into something of an herbal expert. "At the time, I was eager to go into business for myself, and I thought that health food was an area that would really start opening up," Brambilla, 62, recalled. "As my business grew, I got more and more involved in learning about herbs and nutrition. I took classes, did a lot of reading, and really put my heart into it. " And now, Brambilla says her shop, the Shadyside Country Store, has the largest stock of natural herbs in this region.

You've probably seen those metal security gates that seem to cover every store in Center City at night. But did you ever notice that certain kinds of stores never seem to have them? Like shoe stores. And bookstores. And health-food stores. You'll rarely see a health-food store with a metal gate. According to Officers Mike Beukers and Bill Frazier, partners in a burglary detail in the 6th Police District in Center City, most of the thieves who break store windows are going after stuff they can sell quickly on the street.

Yogurt, rice cakes, bran and carob were once viewed as odd foods eaten only by hippies and eccentrics - the people who frequented the remote "health- food" stores. Now, virtually every supermarket in the land sells those basics of wholesome eating. So now that health food has gone mainstream, what has become of those pioneering health-food stores? They, too, have changed. As they drew more people through their doors, health-food stores were faced with the choice of turning away these new customers or catering to their needs.

"People who are concerned about health are people who enjoy living well," says John Zagara. Which explains why Zagara's, a market catering to the young, affluent, well-educated population of the Marlton-Cherry Hill area, offers natural foods, including macrobiotic take-out items, side by side with fashionable specialty foods like croissants and fancy cakes. At 18,000 square feet, the market, which opened in September, may be the largest of its kind in the country; it is certainly one of the most luxuriously appointed.

It seems that restaurants take turns in serving up food that sickens the public. Last week, about 1,650 Burger King restaurants were forced to suspend selling their primary product, hamburgers, until a new source for meat could be found. Years ago, I seriously considered purchasing a fast-food franchise, and none seemed better than one of the most successful - and profitable - companies known around the world. I trained for nearly a year, learning a great deal about the business and performing every task: preparing food, working the grill, running the counter, sweeping the floors and wiping tables, and nearly everything else that goes into running a successful fast-food operation.

At It's Only Natural in Rockledge, a banner stretched across the health- food store's front reads: "It's BAR-B-QUE time. " Inside, owner Rhonda Winokur has stacked her shelves with picnic fare: Fat-free tofu hot dogs. Tempeh. Veggie burgers. Tofu bologna. Soya cheese. Multigrain buns. "We literally sell out by the weekend," Winokur said. Customer Dorlyn Law picks out organically grown plums at the Montgomery County store. When she and her friend Frank McLaughlin pack a picnic, they stuff Tupperware with fruits and vegetables - preferably grown without chemicals - and fresh, home-baked muffins and bread, Law said.

If you thought those scenes in the TV show The Bionic Woman, showing Lindsay Wagner effortlessly springing over a 10-foot wall or running 50 m.p.h. up the side of a mountain in stylish heels were the result of special-effects camera work, I've got news for you. It might be that she could handle all this action because Lindsay Wagner is into health food in a big way, and has been for some time. In a nutshell, she doesn't eat any kind of meat, poultry or fish. Milk products are also taboo.

One taste of saltwater taffy, a lick from a custard cone, or a crunchy-sweet nip of a caramel apple and you are 5 years old again. People spend months of self-deprivation to fit into skimpier summer fashions. One trip to the Shore, and they find themselves in a taffy-pull between adult resolutions and their inner child. Sweet-shop proprietors say that the kid always wins in the end. "We did what the marketing people said and tried health food stands instead of cotton candy because it was the trend.

PHOENIX - A federal trial began yesterday for an Indiana man accused of forcing his grandsons to hike for miles in the Grand Canyon without food or water in brutal August heat. Investigators have said that Christopher Alan Carlson of Indianapolis told them that the boys were overweight and that he thought hiking the Grand Canyon would help get them into shape. Carlson, who is in his mid-40s, has pleaded not guilty to six counts of child abuse. The criminal complaint against Carlson said the boys told investigators that Carlson hit, pushed and choked them repeatedly and kicked them with his steel-toed boots, and also forced their fingers down their throats to make them vomit during trips into the Grand Canyon.

I've never met Allan Borushek - "The Calorie King" - but he's usually with me wherever I go. His handy little book fits nicely in my purse, helping me decide when to resist tasty temptations and when to give in and chow down. If I'm stumped, I gaze at his wise eyes and mustard-yellow crown and ask, "What would The King do?" To make myself feel extra awful, I also consult Eat This, Not That , from Men's Health magazine's best-selling "food swap" series. (I got it from a friend who spent her teen years making me Butterfinger Blizzards - 105 percent of daily saturated fat!

Our 'welfare' is a job for government A letter writer Thursday ("Overstated government role") implored us all to read the Constitution with regard to the question of the government's obligation to provide health care, arguing that it is not the government's responsibility. Ignoring the fact that the Constitution says nothing about the appropriate economic system for this great republic, I would like to draw his attention to the preamble. By reading it, we learn that one of the stated goals of the Constitution is to "promote the general welfare" of the country.

Two days after the event - which was Monday in the East Room of the White House - you could find Xeroxes of the news photos of Marco Lentini, 34, with President Obama taped to the windows of Lentini's Già Pronto panini-and-salad shops, one of which is on the ground floor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, the other (the more hopping of the two, given the state of the stock market) on 38th at Spruce, which fills up at lunchtime with Penn students who aren't in the mood for the Korean or Caribbean being dispensed from the gaggle of curbside trucks.

Q: I am looking for two salad dressings that involve avocados. First, I want to find a recipe for a good dressing for an avocado salad - not your typical vinaigrette, something that will enhance the flavor of the avocados. The second dressing is one like my mother used to make that had avocados in it. She called it Avocado Goddess Dressing. Other than avocados, I know it also had anchovies, and it was creamy. Thank you for your attention. - Sally S. A: Sally, my whole life I've been told I have a "zero attention span," so I really appreciate being thanked for what there is of it. However, when it comes to avocados, you may have a hard time getting me to focus on anything else, because they're among my favorite foods.

Search for a shirt Baseball players are more superstitious than 14th-century serfs. Take Minnesota's Justin Morneau, who apparently believes the American League MVP award he won last year was not the result of his physical skills or training routines, but rather the Todd Bertuzzi T-shirt he wore under his uniform. (Why anyone would wear a T-shirt honoring that NHL thug is grist for another day.) According to Tom Powers of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press, Morneau discarded the shirt after 2007 because it started to disintegrate.

It's an outrageous contradiction. On one hand, public-health experts try to educate Americans about the importance of healthful food choices. On the other, our federal government shells out billions of dollars to subsidize the production of pork, beef and other artery-clogging meat, as well as oil and sugar - while fruits and vegetables receive almost no support at all. At the heart of the problem: the farm bill, a massive piece of federal legislation...

For decades, we've been told to shape up and eat better. Americans finally seem to be paying attention, perhaps because baby boomers are feeling their age. Or perhaps because the next generation was listening, if not following, all along. Lately, we've seen pomegranates and blueberries take root and reach into almost every food category. Even dark chocolate was hyped as a health food. Our fascination with food has resulted in "gastro-porn," a term coined by trend-spotter Marian Salzman and futurist Ira Matathia, coauthors of Next Now: Trends for the Future (Palgrave Macmillan, $26.95)

Editor's note: A version of this editorial appeared in an early edition of Monday's Inquirer. Ah, the joy of it all: Sitting in a Starbucks last week, sipping an espresso macchiato and spotting a news story that proclaims that coffee has far more antioxidants than anything else we eat or drink. Antioxidants, of course, are the Patriot missiles of our internal system, seeking out and neutralizing so-called free radicals that can damage cells and hence make us vulnerable to a host of chronic diseases.

Andrew Hicks is banking that his Mill Town Square, between Pennsylvania and Lancaster Avenues, will become a trendy destination in this old mill town turned suburban enclave. His company, Tripoint Properties Inc., has sunk $11 million into the borough's largest retail site. "I bought it with the idea of totally revitalizing it," said Hicks, 37. "It's what you would call an extreme makeover. " Hicks said he liked projects that require creativity. And the idea of producing a Main Street-type center appealed to him. "We felt that Downingtown, with its historic background and the nearby parks, would make a great location for this.