John Peterson Myers believes BPA may present a risk to unborn children.
FILE PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO

John Peterson Myers, founder of Charlottesville-based Environmental Health Sciences and former Hook FaceTime subject, is at it again—telling CNN that a chemical used to line metal and plastic food and beverage containers, bisphenol-A, more commonly known as BPA, can increase the chance of diabetes and heart disease. More alarming, says Myers,  pregnant women who consume BPA may be putting their developing babies at risk.

“There are some indications it may concentrate in the fetus. It’s definitely not something the fetus is protected from,” says Myers, who penned an editorial about BPA in the the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2008. “There are several [health concerns about BPA], but for me the most worrisome relate to diabetes and heart disease, triggered in infancy or in the womb.”

In 1963, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proclaimed the chemical safe, but new research is prompting health official to take a second look.

Indeed, a January 2010 report from the FDA says “recent studies provide reason for some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children.”

“I think it’s pretty serious,” Meyers told the Hook in 2008. “The levels [of exposure to BPA] in all Americans are above levels found to cause harm in animals.”

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Monticello’s kitchen comes to life.
PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR

Dish had a chance recently to enjoy a bite to eat in Thomas Jefferson’s renovated kitchen, and to visit his restored wine cellar, projects that are part of a new exhibition at Monticello called “Crossroads,” which will attempt to bring to life the cellar-level intersection between Jefferson’s day-to-day life above and the lives of the enslaved servants, chefs, and house mangers below.

The new kitchen features an elaborate stew stove along the front wall, an idea Jefferson brought back from France, which features eight individual “burners,” much like a modern cooking range, with only embers below as the heat source. There’s also lots of copper cookware, a prep bench, and many task-specific items, like a long, rectangular pot used exclusively for fish.

“This was Jefferson’s idea of a modern kitchen,” says Leni Sorensen, Monticello’s African American Research Historian, who also happens to be a culinary historian and pretty good hearth chef. “The trick to this kind of cooking (more)

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The popular City Market now takes plastic.
PHOTO FROM CITY MARKET WEBSITE

The Charlottesville City Market announced recently that it now accepting debit cards, including SNAP cards, the debit card system that replaced the traditional paper Food Stamp system.

However, the system is a little different from the one at the grocery store. If you’d like to use your debit card, you’ll need to go to the ‘token booth’ and tell them how much you’d like taken out of your account. You’re then given special City Market green tokens which you can spend like cash at the market.

For those with SNAP cards it’s sorta the same deal, though your tokens will be red, and vendors won’t be able to make change. So much for trying to be inconspicuous! However, there’s a program in place that allows SNAP card holders to double their money by shopping at the City Market— swipe your card for $10, and you get $20 worth of tokens to spend.

Look for the token booth, next to the Market Manager’s tent, on Saturday mornings.

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The old service station will be serving again this Friday, May 21.
FILE PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR

Over a year after the Fry’s Spring Service Station was closed after a 70-year run servicing cars, the historic building on the corner of Jefferson Park and Maury Avenues will begin its new life serving gourmet pizzas this Friday, May 21.

“It’s beautiful,” says co-owner and Downtown Grille owner Robert Sawrey, who, with business partner Steve Parry, has spent the last year renovating the station under the watchful eye of the Board of Architectural Review, which gave special historic protection to the building in 2008. “You walk in, and you just go ‘wow,’” says Sawrey.

As Sawrey explained back in January, Fry’s Spring Station, as they decided to name it, will have a brick oven big enough to cook 22 pizzas at a time, plus a small bar area and seating for 100. There will be another 45 seats under the elaborate porte-cochère in front and along Maury, which will feature heat lamps for year-’round outdoor dining.

In addition to pizzas and paninis, there will be soups, salads, various specials, brew pub beer, and a selection of Italian wines. Heading up the effort will be Sawrey’s Downtown Grille sous chef, Barry Binney, and his Brazilian-born assistant, Caroline Oliveira.

“My partner, Steve, has opened around 18 restaurants,” says Sawrey, “and he thinks this is the prettiest one of all.”

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On Sunday May 30, Wintergreen Performing Arts will host the Festival of Wine and Food. Enjoy an afternoon of wine, jazz, light fare, and the cool mountain air. Proceeds will support the performance and educational activities of the arts organization. Wineries on hand will include Barboursville, Cardinal Point, DelFosse, First Colony, Flying Fox, Horton, Kluge, Mountfair, Rockbridge, and Veritas. Tickets are $20, available the day of the event, which will run from noon until 5:30pm at the Evans Center at Wintergreen Resort. For more information call 434-325-8292 or email [email protected].

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