Can you believe big-city paper's food writing?

Image by Adventures in Librarianship via Flickr

The Record today carries an article from the Chicago Tribune on nutritious foods, including sardines (Page F-3). Because I eat a lot of sardines, one sentence caught my eye: "Avoid sardines packed in vegetable oil, which is high in pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids."

Before I dump all my sardines in oil and replace them with cans of fish in tomato sauce, I did some research and came across this from the American Heart Association:

DALLAS, Jan. 27, 2009 — Omega-6 fatty acids – found in vegetable oils, nuts and seeds – are a beneficial part of a heart-healthy eating plan, according to a science advisory published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

So who do you believe, Julie Deardorff of the Chicago Tribune (whoever she is) or America's heart doctors? The link to the AHA article is below:

Omega-6 fatty acids can be part of healthy diet

The lesson here is that material supplied by other newspapers, even big ones, shouldn't be run without a local editor such as Bill Pitcher and the features copy desk going over it thoroughly and editing it with North Jersey readers in mind. Unfortunately, Pitcher and his copy editors often are literally out to lunch.

Three reporters on one story?

The Record of Woodland Park is trying to milk the murder of a 9-year-old North Jersey boy for all it's worth. The desperate, incompetent editors assigned three reporters to the story today and put it back on Page 1, but you won't find any news in the paper from Hackensack or the other towns those reporters are supposed to be covering.

The three reporters spend so much time describing the murder suspect's mental illness, none of them questions why the boy was sent to stay with relatives in New York City on a regular basis, why he was up at 3 in the morning in his uncle's apartment or whether there was a sexual motive for the crime.

Two other staff-written stories appear on the front page, including the unusual appearance of a column by consumer reporter Kevin DeMarrais. He says cable television customers have options in the battle over higher fees for programs, but have you noticed how difficult it is to find the savings or the bargains touted by newspaper columnists such as DeMarrais, whether it is for TV service, airline fares or hotel rooms?

If you are looking for news of your town in the Local section, you won't find any, but there is plenty of crime, fire and accident coverage -- what passes for local news in the former Hackensack daily. In fact, on the front page today is a promotion for a video of a "stubborn" house fire on northjersey.com, the pathetic Web site of North Jersey Media Group. Is that all the so-called digital news group could come up with? 

If you usually ignore the Business section, you'll miss health-care news, an example of odd packaging. Shouldn't health-care and non-profit news appear in the feature section, Better Living? It took years for the lazy editors to put restaurant sanitary inspections in the Friday entertainment-restaurant section, though the list often omits Wyckoff and many other towns.

The danger of  food editor Bill Pitcher using recipes from outside sources can be clearly seen today in Better Living's so-called 15 Minute Chef (no home cook can prepare this meal in that time; it's just hype). The all-knowing Washington Post says you can't find wild salmon this time of the year, so advises us to use artificially colored farmed salmon. But wild Alaskan sockeye salmon is available frozen year-round at Costco, including the store down the street from the old Record building, Trader Joe's and other stores.

On the opposite page, an article from the Chicago Tribune sounds like "Healthy Eating 101" as it tries to persuade readers to try such nutritious foods as sardines, cabbage, tomatoes and broccoli. The "how to eat" cabbage paragraph ignores the wide availability of cabbage kimchi in North Jersey.

Relying on The Star-Ledger

Image via Wikipedia

The Record today is filled with election news, as you would expect, but short on municipal news and food coverage, as you also have come to expect.

The lead story on the front page is written by staffers from The Star-Ledger, which has entered into an agreement with the former Hackensack daily to share stories.

What the election didn't change is a system that allows only the wealthy to run for statewide office. You didn't see The Record or other media criticizing that system or calling for it to be dismantled. Such a system suits the wealthy owners of the powerful North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record, Herald News and many weeklies.

There is some food coverage on Page F-2 of Better Living. Can't you just taste the preservatives in the cold cuts sold by a Garfield deli or the mercury in the tuna featured in the cartoonish "Cheap Thrills Cuisine" recipe?  Yummy. On F-4, a piece from the Chicago Tribune on "taking control of your health" is silent on the benefits of naturally raised poultry, meats and produce.