SMORGASBORD: The prince’s speech . . . Healthy dessert . . . Drizzle the sizzle . . . Stamp Out Hunger

The prince’s speech

The Prince of Wales was once cruelly mocked for allegedly talking to his plants. Today, the man who would be king is listened to seriously when he talks about sustainability issues, especially those involving food production.

Now, his keynote address from 2011’s “The Future of Food” conference in Washington has been published as a booklet: “The Prince’s Speech: On the Future of Food” (Rodale, $6.99).

The problem, as the prince sees it, is the current state of industrialized food production. How can the world create a more sustainable and durable method of food production addressing environmental, economic, public health and quality of life concerns, he asks, amid “so many competing demands for land, in an increasingly volatile climate and when levels of the planet’s biodiversity are under such threat or in serious decline?

“Over a billion people … are hungry and another billion suffer from what is called ‘hidden hunger,’ which is the lack of essential vitamins and nutrients in their diets,” the prince declared.

After underlining the irony that more than 1 billion people are overweight worldwide, he writes that “very brave steps” are needed to correct the problem for future generations. “We have to put Nature back at the heart of the equation.”

Healthy dessert

Another new twist on the transformation of yogurt from health food to dessert: YoCrunch Pie Parfaits.

They salute classic pies (apple, cherry, triple berry) and come with a crunchy, tastes-like-pie-crust topping. Creamy, sweet and tart. Each cup is 120 calories.

A pack of four 4-ounce cups has a suggested retail price of $3.49. Find a store locater at yocrunch.com.

Drizzle the sizzle

There you are in your kitchen, staring at some uncooked chicken breast halves and some salad greens, and you have no idea how to turn them into food. Kraft has the answer: new Sizzling Salads chicken dinner kits, in four varieties (Chicken Caesar, Asian Chicken, Southwestern Chicken and Greek Chicken).

Each kit consists of two (6-ounce) bottles, enough for six servings each, of cooking sauce for the chicken and a complementary flavor of dressing for the salad. Saute your chicken with the cooking sauce and combine your salad ingredients with the salad dressing.

The kits are available at supermarkets with a suggested retail price of $4.29.

Stamp Out Hunger

The National Association of Letter Carriers and Campbell’s Soup again is hosting the 20th annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive May 12. Residents are encouraged to leave a bag of nonperishable foods near their mailbox before delivery time that day.

Last year, mail carriers picked up more than 70 million pounds of food that was donated to food banks.

Tags: life, updates, food, smorgasbord