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This page is about information provided by other sources of inspiration, mainly from the internet but also in books or other media. These means, all additional information and sources on this page are external.

A, B, C, D, E

A

Accounting [post from 25-04-09] (link status for this topic: all 25-04-27)

The WHO (World Health Organization) regularly publishes interesting information about mindful eating and good food. Here are some pointers related to the post ‘Accounting’ on the recommended daily intake of sugar: https://www.who.int/news/item/04-03-2015-who-calls-on-countries-to-reduce-sugars-intake-among-adults-and-children/. Also, I mentioned it in the post: https://www.who.int/news/item/15-05-2023-who-advises-not-to-use-non-sugar-sweeteners-for-weight-control-in-newly-released-guideline And, about another fascinating sugar experiment: https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/17-02-2022-from-3-scoops-to-0-reducing-our-sugar-intake-by-default

B

Buzzin’ Around [post from 24-08-16] (link status for this topic: all 24-08-13)

Berlin Beekeepers’ Association(s): https://wordpress.imkerverband-berlin.de/index.php/imkervereine-2/
You are true Berlin heroes. Thank you!

British National History Museum: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/insect-pollination.html
Article on Website: ‘BRITISH WILDLIFE: Seven insect heroes of pollination‘, by Beth Askham and Lisa Hendry
Museum work at its best. Thank you!

EU Pollinator Information Hive, European Commission: https://wikis.ec.europa.eu/display/EUPKH/About+pollinators ; Science for Environment Policy (2020); ‘Pollinators: importance for nature and human well-being, drivers of decline and the need for monitoring‘. Future Brief 23. Brief produced for the European Commission DG Environment. Bristol: Science Communication Unit, UWE Bristol (amazing brochure about pollinators and importance for nature and human well-being, free download on above mentioned page of European Commission)
Thank you for your work on behalf of people and nature in Europe and around the world.

Michigan State University, MSU Extension Native Plants and Ecosystem Services
https://www.canr.msu.edu/nativeplants/pollination/ Thank you for sharing the knowledge!

E

Education

Alphabet Soup [post from 24-09-06] (link status for this topic: 24-09-03)

Every year on the 8th of September we celebrate the International Day of Literacy. Still many people around the world, including too many children and young people who are the architects of the future, do not know how to read, write, do math, or connect to all the important information around them.
UNESCO has made an interesting video about the many implications of this:
https://www.unesco.org/en/days/literacy

Get It in Line [post from 24-09-20] (link status for this topic: 24-09-27)

The Dutch Voedingscentrum offers a lot of interesting information on food-related topics (https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/nl/service/english/what-do-we-do-.aspx). Their Guide to a Healthy School Canteen (in English) is very practical, but I got a lot of inspiration for how to view and communicate good food on the spot from the information on their website. (https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/nl/service/english/what-do-we-do-/a-healthy-school-canteen.aspx and the brochure: A healthy school canteen by Voedingscentrum – Issuu).If you’re a school, student council, or other group interested in changing the food at your school, you’ll find a lot of input here. Also, the people at the Voedingscentrum are very nice, just ask them if you have more questions 🙂 A big hello to The Hague and THANK YOU!

The YOUNG & RESILIENT RESEARCH CENTRE (https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/young-and-resilient) is interested in connecting the potential for change in young people with the necessary transformation of food systems as a means of securing future food for generations to come. They have a project called ‘Fix My Food’: https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/young-and-resilient/projects/past_projects/fix_my_food_childrens_views_on_transforming_food_systems The report on the project can be found on both the Western Sydney University and UNICEF websites:
-> https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/1872999/Fix-My-Food.pdf
-> Fix my food: Children’s views on transforming food systems – Fix My Food. Children's views on transforming food systems.pdf
Amazing work, people! And great thanks for sharing the knowledge.

F, G, H, I, J

H

A Helping of Happiness [post from 23-11-03] (link status for this topic: all 231031)

‘Planeterranea: An attempt to broaden the beneficial effects of the Mediterranean diet worldwide’, by Vetrani C, Piscitelli P, Muscogiuri G, Barrea L, Laudisio D, Graziadio C, Marino F, Colao A. – Front Nutr. 2022 Sep 2;9:973757. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.973757. eCollection 2022. PMID: 36118764 under https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.973757/full on the international platform ‘Frontiers in Nutrition’, also available on the platform of the American National Library of Medicine under https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9480100/

This study was also supported by UNESCO and the UNESCO Chair in Education for Health and Sustainable Development, University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples, Italy. If you are interested in more background, please see the list of references at the end of this article. They include a number of very interesting open access articles on related aspects of nutrition, such as

– Martínez-González MÁ, Hershey MS, Zazpe I, Trichopoulou A.: Transferability of the mediterranean diet to non-mediterranean countries. what is and what is not the mediterranean diet. Nutrients. (2017) 9:1226. 10.3390/nu9111226

– Krznarić Ž, Karas I, Ljubas Kelečić D, Vranešić Bender D.: The Mediterranean and Nordic diet: a review of differences and similarities of two sustainable, health-promoting dietary patterns. Front Nutr. (2021) 8:683678. 10.3389/fnut.2021.683678

Solid Background on the traditional diet and lifestyle of Okinawan senior citizens you can find in on the pages ‘Okinawan Food Culture’, ‘Island Vegetables’ and ‘The Secret of Okinawan Longevity’ under the focus link ‘Food and Longevity’ on https://visitokinawajapan.com/discover/ (official Okinawa travel guide). More Scientific Background you can get over the blog of the website of the ORCLS – Okinawa Research Center for Longevity Science under https://orcls.org/orcls-blog/

Again, a very big ‘Thank you’, to all the scientists involved for their amazing work and their generous offer of open knowledge. The same goes for the platforms of ‘Frontiers in Nutrition’ and the marvelous American National Library of Medicine. Let me also add how proud I am of you, to see so many different nations, disciplines and cultures working together to address our shared challenges and needs. That is just grand!

I

Ingredient Specials

Bear’s Garlic ([‘Who’s seen the Bear?’], post from 24-03-24, link status for this topic: all 24-03-14)

Wikipedia’s background on Bear’s Garlic: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allium_tricoccum (Americas) and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allium_ursinum (Europe and Asia)

There is a great deal of official safety information available online about foraging for and consuming freshly harvested bear’s garlic. One example is from the official Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) in Vienna: ages.at/en/human/nutrition-food/food-information/wild-garlic. Also, contact your regional or local health authorities for advice. Better yet, go with a professional forager who knows how to harvest the plant, protecting both your health and the plant.

For examples of the early use of bear’s garlic in abbeys and monasteries for medicinal purposes, visit the ‘World Heritage Monastic Medicine’ website of the Research Group on Monastic Medicine, an initiative of the Institute for the History of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Biology at the University of Würzburg: http://www.welterbe-klostermedizin.de/index.php/blog/305-zur-geschichte-von-baerlauch-als-heilpflanze

If you want to delve even deeper into the glorious past of this amazing plant, the Biodiversity Heritage Library of the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives has some fascinating literature on it: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/. Here, however, it may be easier to use the Latin names of the main branches, Allium Tricoccum and Allium Ursinum (see Wikipedia articles above)

If you are in northern Germany and prefer the direct approach, try the annual Bear’s Garlic Days in early spring on the island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea: ruegen.de/kultur-und-kulinarik/baerlauchtage (German).

Chestnuts [‘Treasure Tree’, post from 25-11-21, link status all 25-11-17]

About the resilience of the tree:
https://my.ucanr.edu/sites/SoCo/files/27156.pdf (University of California: Chestnuts as an alternative Crop), https://www.nabu.de/umwelt-und-ressourcen/oekologisch-leben/essen-und-trinken/natur/15276.html (German)
Projects for reestablishing chestnut trees: https://www.flaeminger-esskastanien.org/projects-8 (German),
https://esskastanien.bayern/ (German), https://californiachestnuts.com/pages/about-us, https://www.washingtonchestnut.com/thefarm.html, https://canadianchestnutcouncil.ca/
Good luck, and thank you for your work on bringing the chestnut back. Marvelous!!

About the nutritional facts: https://californiachestnuts.com/pages/chestnut-nutrition, https://centerforagroforestry.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Chestnut-Nutrition-Handout-digital-version.pdf
Allergy issues: https://www.aha.ch/aktuelles/latex-und-kastanien (German), https://www.nussallergie.org/wissen.html (German, see ‘Baumnüsse’)

King Oyster Mushrooms ([‘Oyster with Plenty Pearls’], post from 25-03-21, link status from 25-03-10)

The company that makes my favorite mushroom is in Helvesiek, up north between Hamburg and Bremen. Pilzgarten works according to the very strict “Demeter” standards for organic food production, and their king oyster mushroom has already won them an award for innovation (see https://www.pilzgarten.de/). You can find out more about the ‘Kräuterseitling’, as the king oyster mushroom is called in German, at https://www.pilzgarten.de/pilze/frischpilze/kraeuterseitling-2/ (German). If you have any questions just ask, they have been in the international mushroom growing business for a long time and are really passionate about what they do. Their mushrooms are also very tasty. I know from experience. Great job, everyone at Pilzgarten!
Also see about the king oyster mushroom:
>>> https://www.rote-liste-zentrum.de/en/Artensuchmaschine.html?q=Kr%C3%A4uter-Seitling
>>> https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/are_soil_nematodes_beneficial_or_harmful
>>> Jürgen Guthmann, Heilende Pilze, Quelle & Meyer, 2017 (German)

(Small Round) Red Radishes [Little Red Raddish Root’, post from 24-04-26]

Here comes the link to an article about the ‘nutraceutical potential’ of radishes – that is, their nutritional composition and possible properties for healing and preventing illnesses. As usual, I am only suggesting additional external background here, not evaluating it (I am neither a medical doctor nor a certified nutritionist). I do this because I think it might offer another dimension to the usual view of foods.
From the National Library of Medicine: Deciphering the Nutraceutical Potential of Raphanus sativus – A Comprehensive Overview; Abinaya Manivannan, Jin-Hee Kim, Do-Sun Kim, Eun-Su Lee, and Hye-Eun Lee (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6412475/, Journal Nutrients. 2019 Feb; 11(2): 402., Published online 2019 Feb 14. doi: 10.3390/nu11020402, PMCID: PMC6412475, PMID: 30769862)
Link status: 2024-05-10
Also interesting in this context is the background information for the post ‘A Helping of Happiness‘ above.

K, L, M, N, O

L

Liquid Truth (Post about fresh water availability, posted on 250711)

Sources:
>> On July 4, 2025, the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) released an article titled “BUND sieht hohen Wasserverbrauch an Hitzetagen kritisch” that was published in numerous German media (e.g., Nordkurier, ZEIT, and N-TV). The DPA interviewed Verena Fehlenberg from BUND (Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz) for the article.
>> More information on groundwater stress and the connection between water scarcity and extreme heat can be found at https://www.bund.net/themen/aktuelles/detail-aktuelles/news/fuenf-ueberraschende-wahrheiten-ueber-hitze-und-duerre/ (German)
>> Also see data by UNICEF and WHO about availability of fresh water: https://data.unicef.org/topic/water-and-sanitation/drinking-water/ and https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water

M

Markets (extra background on posts from the subcategory ‘Local Foods’)

Millet

Explanation by FAO: About | International Year of Millets 2023 | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Dokument on the Resolution of the UN general assembly:
International-Year-of-Millets-2023.pdf

N

Nutrition

Food Database of the Swedish Livsmedelsverket (The Swedish Food Agency): Search for nutrients – Livsmedelsverket
A big ‘Thank you!’ to Sweden. Amazing tool! Excellent work!
Be sure to click on ‘English’ as the language choice in the upper right corner of the page, if your Swedish is not so good (I do not speak a single word, although part of my family lived there for some time … )

O

Obvious (post about Dr. Alice Salomon for International Women’s Day 2025, posted on 25-03-07)

>> Short biography of Alice Salomon on Alice-Salomon-Archive (German) https://www.alice-salomon-archiv.de/geschichte/alice-salomon/
>> Profile of Alice Salomon on the website of the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences in Berlin https://www.ash-berlin.eu/en/about-ash-berlin/profile/history/
>> Background Information on the Academy in the Digital German Women’s Archive (German): https://www.digitales-deutsches-frauenarchiv.de/akteurinnen/deutsche-akademie-fuer-soziale-und-paedagogische-frauenarbeit
>> History of the The International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) in which Alice Salomon played a vital role https://www.iassw-aiets.org/about-iassw/brief-history/
>> Council on Social Work Education’s ‘Spotlight’ about Dr. Alice Salomon by Connie Gunderson and Joachim Wieler https://www.cswe.org/CSWE/media/OtherFiles/International-Social-Work-Leader-Review_ALICE-SALOMON.pdf
>> Also check the Internet Archive (https://archive.org), a virtual non-profit online library, for works by Alice Salomon

P, Q, R, S, T

P

Place with a View

R

Roots

Book recommendation: The Science of Plants
(available completely online, Creative Commons-License CC BY-NC 4.0)
Amazing book by Tom Michaels; Matt Clark; Emily Hoover; Laura Irish; Alan Smith; and Emily Tepe at the University of Minnesota, Department of Horticultural Science. Thank you for sharing the knowledge._…

T

Table Talk

Think Oval

2024
HKW (Haus der Kulturen der Welt = House of the Cultures of the World)
The Anthropocene Project – Basic cultural research using the means of art and science: https://archiv.hkw.de/en/programm/projekte/2014/anthropozaen/anthropozaen_2013_2014.php
Program of the event: https://archiv.hkw.de/en/programm/projekte/2013/the_whole_earth/start_the_whole_earth.php
Whole Earth archive (including collection of Whole Earth Catalogs): https://wholeearth.info

Planetary Health Diet: The EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet: https://eatforum.org/learn-and-discover/the-planetary-health-diet/ and different views on the topic (for example general info for everyone and specialized info for food service providers, farmers and cities): https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet-commission/the-planetary-health-diet-and-you/
Launch of the EAT Commission in 2025 (new report, actions):
https://eatforum.org/update/the-2025-eat-lancet-commission-report-launches/ (announcement and links)
https://eatforum.org/campaign/our-cultures-our-meals-cooking-for-planetary-health/ (campaign)

The German Nutrition Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung) stated that while they agree with the concept in principle, they would suggest some local and regional adaptation processes. This makes sense, because just as no diet is perfect for every person, different regions and their particular circumstances require different diets. See the German Nutrition Society: https://www.dge.de/english/, and their suggestions on the ‘Planetary Health Diet’ from 2022: https://www.ernaehrungs-umschau.de/fileadmin/Ernaehrungs-Umschau/pdfs/pdf_2022/05_22/EU05_2022_PR_DGE_Position_en.pdf

For an example of how regional adaptations to a concept like the Planetary Health Diet could be made, see the background information on the ‘A Helping of Happiness‘ post on this page above (under ‘H’) about adapting the Mediterranean diet to different local needs.

U, V, W, X, Y, Z

(No additional info yet)

Please note: All of the additional information and sources listed above are external. I have carefully researched them, but I cannot take any responsibility for the content of the websites and other media. Please see Legal Notice for further explanation.