Praise for Obama's USDA deputy choice

Some sustainable and organic farming advocates are happy about the president's choice for the No. 2 spot at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Kathleen Merrigan.

"This amounts to a major win for organic, sustainable and local food advocates, since Merrigan is not only well-versed in these issues but has been a tireless advocate for them," Samuel Fromartz wrote on his ChewsWise blog.

The Consumers Union also praised the choice. "We would expect her to be a strong defender of USDA’s organic standards, which have been under repeated attack for the last several years," said Jean Halloran, director of Food Policy Initiatives at the organization.

And on Civil Eats, Paula Crossfield wrote, "While our fight is far from finished, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that finally the interests of eaters everywhere will have a voice at the USDA."

Merrigan is now an assistant professor and director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Program at Tufts University. She has been administrator of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service and helped develop the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, which mandated national organic standards and a program of federal accreditation.

President Obama on Monday announced his intention to nominate Merrigan to be deputy secretary at the USDA.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo: Bill Coleman organizes produce at the farmers market in Santa Monica. Credit: Allen Schaben / Los Angeles Times

Calls for improvements in food safety

Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports magazine, is happy to hear President Obama's call for a food safety review, coming on the heels of a nationwide recall of hundreds of items that contain peanut products.

It might help that Sasha Obama is among the gazillions of kids who eat peanut butter sandwiches. (For the record, major brands of jarred peanut butter are not part of the recall.)

The president said Monday that he wants to review the Food and Drug Administration, in light of the recent recalls. “I think that the FDA has not been able to catch some of these things as quickly as I expect them to,” Obama said.

His 7-year-old daughter eats peanut butter sandwiches, "probably three times a week. And you know, I don’t want to have to worry about whether she’s going to get sick as a consequence to having her lunch,” Obama said on the "Today" show.

The FDA declined to respond.

Consumers Union called on Congress to require the FDA to make annual inspections of factories such as the one in Blakely, Ga., that the federal government has linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 500 people. 

The plant was inspected last summer by Georgia inspectors under contract to the federal government. The FDA inspected the plant in January, after the outbreak had occurred, and issued a report citing problems there. But until then, it had not inspected the plant since 2001.

What's for Obama's inaugural lunch?

After Barack Obama takes the inaugural oath of office and delivers his address, he and Vice President Joe Biden and other members of his team will do lunch. It's a tradition-laden affair, held in the gorgeous Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol, and has sparked a lot of interest. Here's a look at the Abraham Lincoln-inspired menu:

First, a seafood stew. The main course,  pheasant and duck served with sour cherry chutney and molasses sweet potatoes. As for dessert, the Obama lunch will end with an apple-cinnamon sponge cake topped with sweet cream glace.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who chairs the committee hosting the lunch, made sure that all the wines will be from California, including the champagne served with dessert.

Read more here.

Don't forget National Cheese Lover's Day

Inauguration Day is barely dawning, and some of us already have Inauguration Fatigue — soon to be added to the DSM-V as a sub-category of Cynical Personality Disorder — thanks to the wall-to-wall "news" coverage.

It's the end of eight years of Republicanism. It's the middle of a horrific recession. Barack Obama is the first African American president of the United States. I get it. But this whole "historic presidential inauguration" thing has overshadowed a lesser-known holiday. Jan. 20, in addition to being Inauguration Day, is National Cheese Lover's Day.

What cheese tastes good with a new president? How about smoked mozzarella, good old American cheese or a thematic array of blue cheese, white cheddar and Edam (covered in red wax, of course). If you want to take the inauguration to a much cheesier level, pick up a brick of Barick Obama (that's not a misspelling), a washed-rind, cow's milk cheese made by Vermont's Lazy Lady Farm. At $24 a pound it's not cheap, but it is fresher than Lazy Lady's Tomme de Lay or Condisend.

— Elina Shatkin
Photo: A supporter of Barack Obama in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Sept. 7, 2008. Credit: Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP/Getty Images)

The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste: Obama Cognac

With Barack Obama's face popping up on everything from the usual memorabilia -- posters, T-shirts and commemorative plates -- to more uncommon goods such as cupcakes, sneakers and even toilet paper, the thriving trade in Obama-bilia just got boozier: Hennessy, the liqueur of choice for any self-respecting rapper, has issued a commemorative Obama cognac. The man should get royalties.

What's so special about it? Aside from a black label and a black seal that reads "44" and "In Honor of the 44th President," not much. Instead of going elite and offering a limited number -- say, 1,000 bottles -- of its X.O. (Extra Old) cognac for exorbitant prices, parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton will offer 180,000 bottles at $30 each of its lower grade V.S. (Very Special) cognac. (Don't know the difference between a Vieille Reserve and an Hors d'Age? Here's a handy guide to deciphering cognac labels for dummies.) Maybe the company is betting that Americans will want to kill three birds with the same stone by emulating their favorite hip-hop stars, honoring Barack Obama and getting soused on Inauguration Day.

And in case you think this is a crass attempt to tie the presidential inauguration to personal inebriation, Hennessy will donate an unspecified amount to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Take that, social critics who deride the disproportionate number of alcohol ads targeted to minority communities!

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton