As Dana Jacobi tells it, timing is everything. Her first soy book, published in 1996, won culinary awards, but it didn’t really catch on until five years later, when the public was ready to embrace the benefits of soy. On the other hand, 12 Best Foods, her latest book, has been an instant success, due to the public buzz about antioxidants.

Keeping ahead of trends is a big part of what makes Dana a successful book author. She is a sought-after prognosticator who spoke at the Natural Products Show press briefing earlier this fall. Dana, a friend of many years, shared with me the information she presented. It represents her projections of food trends we can expect to see six to 12 months out. [more…]

Hurricane Katrina has taught me one important lesson: in an emergency, be prepared to go it alone. I’m not the only one to draw that conclusion. In the San Francisco Chronicle weekly poll published yesterday (Sept. 17), 79 percent had the same insight.

We are all vulnerable to natural disaster or terrorist attack. While there may be a ground zero that affects a central core, the reverberations of a disaster, natural or man-made, can have a wide-ranging and devastating ripple effect. [more…]