FERN’s Friday Feed: Bodega dreams
Welcome to FERN’s Friday Feed (#FFF), where we share the stories from this week that made us stop and think.
How bodegas explain New York
BBC
“Berlin has its Spätis, Japan has its convenience stores and New York City has its beloved bodegas,” writes Pierina Pighi Bel. “According to the city’s Health Department, some 7,000 bodegas dot the city, and you can hardly walk two blocks without stumbling upon one of these handy, all-in-one convenience stores that have historically been owned by members of the Hispanic community. Many are open 24/7; some feature friendly felines behind the counter; and, in a city where space is at a premium and large supermarkets can be hard to come by, all are stocked with a mixture of everyday items like eggs, tinned foods, snacks, beer, cleaning supplies, toiletries and lottery tickets.”
This San Francisco diner stops the cosmic clock
Alta
“George and Nina run the kind of place you drive by for years, then one afternoon, your tire needs fixing nearby and at last you push through the old swinging doors. With a lurch, you unmoor from time,” writes Chris Colin. “Before you, in faded pink and pale blue, is the kind of interior you’d believed extinct. A chipped old countertop stretches the length of seven round stools, then horseshoes around the other side. Cloudy salt and pepper shakers stand at the ready, last touched yesterday or in 1973, hard to say. A row of Triple Play pinball machines from 1955 lines a wall; stationed along the counter and at the adjacent booths are a series of personal Stereo Consolette chrome jukeboxes. A menu hand-lettered on what might be sheets of old plywood lists the offerings—burgers, eggs, fried ham, hotcakes. Beneath it, a door leads to the old barroom. Save for the effortful warming of an old carafe, the diner is silent.”
New report issues damning verdict on food’s fossil fuel addiction
DeSmog
“Food systems are responsible for at least 15 percent of all global fossil fuel consumption, according to a major report launched ahead of the COP28 climate summit” by The Global Alliance for the Future of Food and consultancy firm Dalberg Advisors. “The analysis shows that the production, transport, and storage of food are driving greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of the EU and Russia combined,” writes Clare Carlile. “Ultra processed foods like snacks, drinks and ready meals, along with chemical fertilisers made from natural gas, are singled out as major sources of pollution … [T]he research comes weeks before global leaders gather in Dubai to discuss ways to limit catastrophic global heating.”
Is bariatric surgery the answer to childhood obesity?
The New York Times Magazine
“Last fall, Alexandra Duarte, who is now 16, went to see her endocrinologist at Texas Children’s Hospital, outside Houston. From age 10, she had been living with polycystic ovary syndrome and, more recently, prediabetes. After Alexandra described her recent quinceañera, the doctor brought up an operation that might benefit her, one that might help her lose weight and, as a result, improve these obesity-related problems,” writes Helen Ouyang. “Through the years, Alexandra seemed to have tried everything … Desperation — and hope — led her to try gimmicky lotions that promised to burn fat … After the doctor suggested bariatric surgery, an operation on the gastrointestinal tract that helps patients lose weight, they spoke to friends who had successfully been through the procedure as adults. They decided it was a smart option for her.”
Does chicken soup really help you when you’re sick?
The Conversation
“Chicken soup as a therapy can be traced back to 60 A.D. and Pedanius Dioscorides, an army surgeon who served under the Roman emperor Nero, and whose five-volume medical encyclopedia was consulted by early healers for more than a millennium. But the origins of chicken soup go back thousands of years earlier, to ancient China. So,” writes Colby Teeman, “with cold and flu season in full swing, it’s worth asking: Is there any science to back the belief that it helps? Or does chicken soup serve as just a comforting placebo, that is, providing psychological benefit while we’re sick, without an actual therapeutic benefit?”