Looking for a farmer’s market or CSA near you? Here’s a handy dandy website (LocalHarvest.org) that acts like Market Central for your entire local, organic, sustainable (did I miss anything?) meat, fruit and vegetable needs. It’s a thorough and well-organized listing of what is going on and where. I have it from a reliable source that a recent shipment of passion fruit was incredible, thanks for the tip, Daniel. If I lived in the US full time, I would certainly sign up with a CSA. I think the fun of having a farmer’s bounty delivered to you each week would be wonderful, and the challenge of what to do with an abundance of turnips in the winter could lead to incredible inspiration.
Take a look at the meat and fish offerings that are available. Pricey for sure, but I’m also sure they are top quality. There was a recent thread on eGullet that discussed the problems of bringing clean, quality, organic foods to the masses. It’s one thing for those of us who are blessed with Benjamins in our wallets to make informed choices about our food sources, but what about the vast majority of people who can’t afford grass fed beef? Who is working on this problem? Is there an organization out there that would assist in re-educating the masses and making clean foods more affordable? (My use of the word clean is shorthand for local, organic and sustainable.) Is there an Alice Waters for the financially challenged? Now, here would be a great philanthropic project for some of the star chefs who have made us more aware of the excellent products that are to be found in our back yard. Their star wattage could be used to illuminate the problem of getting healthy, clean foods into the hands of children. Check out this article on carrots in schools, and tell me what you think.
Spending chunks of time in the U.S. and Italy gives me a little distance from each culture and a chance to observe. Italians are nowhere near as hung up on food as Americans are. Italians are passionate about their god given right to pleasure and Americans still seem to be hung up on Puritanical virtues. The U.S. supermarket aisles are full of denial packaging; lots of ‘no fat’, no this, no that. Diet fads sweep the nation, wrapped in that all consuming quest for eternal good health. We came back from Italy last year and no one was eating anything white. So bizarre.
I had never considered this from a moral point of view, until last night when I attended a lecture given by the Culinary Historian Society. Rachel Laudan, noted author and food historian, was speaking on the topic of “Refined Cuisine or Just Plain Cooking”. In a very tight nutshell, the essence of her theory is that primarily in Western culture, there are two broad schools of thought: cooking foods brings refinement and perfection and is emblematic of culture, the opposition says cooking causes the food to be disguised, the enhancement to food encourages unnatural appetite and therefore corrupts.
Oddly, sadly, NYC does not have a permanent indoor food market. Seattle has the amazing Pike’s Place Market, and we only have the Chelsea Market, which is not in the same ballpark. The New Amsterdam Public group is trying to change that. On Sunday, Dec. 16, from 11-4, there will be a one-day trail run at the old Fulton Fish Market space at the South Street Seaport. The space has been vacant for two years and it’s about time that something worthwhile goes in there….and no, Manhattan does not need another indoor shopping mall. What this non-profit group is trying to do is to create a market where local (within 500 miles is considered local) purveyors and foragers can bring their goods for sale and create a stable food community. This includes wine makers, f a butcher, cheese and fishmongers etc. I’m hoping Wild Edibles will be bringing some of those little red Maine shrimp, they are in season right now and soooo delicious.
Why bother when there are Greenmarkets scattered around the city? Because there are rules and restrictions about what sorts of foods can be sold at temporary, outdoor food stalls. Because the production and the demand for local products is greater than what the Greenmarket can provide. Because it gives the shopper a consistent source of product, and the farmer a consistent place to sell the product. And it’s a covered market, so weather isn’t becomes less of a factor. I didn’t say it was heated, so dress warmly!
This should be fun: Mario Batali is scheduled to be there, handing out porchetta sandwiches. Now, this makes it an official festa, not Batali, it’s the porchetta that seals the deal. Ask any Umbrian.
Here’s the basics: Wintermarket Sunday, December 16, 11-4 pm The event is free, with a $5 suggested donation Location: the water side of South Street, between Peck Slip and Beekman St.
What can you taste in a wine? Is taste and the perception of flavor purely subjective? Are there actual physical components that trigger our taste buds?
This was the essence of the event that was held at the Astor Center last night. Philosopher Barry C. Smith has compiled a series of essays from fellow philosophers, wine makers, and wine critics that explore the mental and mechanical machinations of how we taste. The book is called Questions of Taste: The Philosophy of Wine, and he brought along two of his philosopher contributors with him last night: Ophelia Deroy and Roger Scruton.
The discussion was anchored by the tasting of 4 wines: 2 wines from the chardonnay grape, one made in Chablis, France, and the other in Santa Barbara, California and then a vertical tasting of the 2004 and 2002 St. Romain Rouge “Sous Roches” Burgundy.
The two chardonnays were both from 2006, Dom. Ste. Clair, JM Brocard and Au Bon Climat Chardonnay. Walking us through the basics of tasting, sniff before swirling or agitating, then swirl and sniff, then taste, he made a strong point that for the average, non professional taster it is difficult to evaluate a single wine, but it becomes easier if you are comparing one wine to another. So, we compared, and it was hard to imagine that these were the same grapes. The Chablis was lean, clear, crisp, some described it as isolated, while the Chardonnay was soft, round, plump, buttery, as sunny and open tasting as its inhabitants and climate. Ophelia Deroy explained how the vanilla that we tasted in the California wine could physically come from the oak barrels or the grape stalks themselves that create a vanilla shaped molecule found in the wine. So, you really are tasting something vanilla like in that wine. But, was the Chablis tasting like its creators: lean and cautious, while the Chardonnay was redolent of its carefree inhabitants?
Next we tasted the two red Burgundies, and here the descriptions of what we were tasting became more ‘philosophical’: could we literally, actually taste the terriore? The leaf mold that occurred during the heavy rains of 2004? For me, the 2004 was too tannic to be enjoyable, my tongue felt all dry and tight, not at all pleasant. But then as we discussed the mechanics of tannins, it was suggested that served with a steak, which is protein, the wine would then taste delicious. Not having a steak in front of me, I reached for a bite of a protein-laden piece of parmigana. Un miracolo! The tannins were softened and the wine tasted and felt delicious. Now, I’m thinking that the way wine tastings are conducted might be off track. If you accept that wine and food go together, and I do, why bother with wine without food; there are quicker and easier ways to get alcohol into your system. Shouldn’t a wine be tasted and consumed over a meal and then evaluated? Or at the very least, shouldn’t some sort of protein be offered with those tannic wines?
Which led to a discussion on the “cross modal” effects of tasting, or how our senses are not separate senses but are holistic, integrated. Our eyes set up the expectation for a wine, beginning with the label on the bottle or box, whether we are drinking from a lovely crystal glass or a paper cup, and even the color of the wine in the glass preps our other senses. The nose is a powerful component of tasting, and what the eye has seen, sets up the nose to smell, which prepares the taste buds to taste. Think about how a smell triggers your saliva glands, gets your mouth ready for chewing and tasting. Heston Blumenthal, creator and chef of The Fat Duck in London, is doing some interesting experiments on how we perceive flavor. An oyster is split in half, first one half is eaten, and then the sound of the ocean was played into half of the subject’s headsets, while the control group listened to music. The ocean listening group consistently reported that the other half of the same oyster that they tasted was ‘saltier’.
All of this is kind of scary when you think of the marketing implications of sight and sound on our taste perceptions. Or it’s kind of exhilarating when you contemplate how you can manipulate a diner’s experience. And of course I mean manipulate in a positive, flavor enhancing way, not in a McDonald’s has figured out the music that will make you buy more way. Although I’m sure they are already working on that.
I’ve never thought about taste and flavor as having a philosophical bent, but now whole new paths to thinking about flavor have been opened. Thanks again to the people at the Astor Center for hosting this thought provoking evening.
The European edition of Time Magazine’s June 25th edition is titled “We Are What We Eat” and has various articles about food. Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food, contributed an article called “The Importance of Home Cooking.”
Here’s an excerpt from the first two paragraphs: “When I was a child in Bra in Italy, hardly any mothers had a job, grandmothers lived with their children and grandchildren, and lunch and dinner were rites you couldn't miss. Even if the world were collapsing around you, you would go home at a set time, sit down at the table and eat a full meal fondly prepared by the women of the house. Most ingredients came from local markets, though a lot of the vegetables were grown directly in our allotments, and meat came from animals raised by friends or acquaintances. The most "exotic" foods were bought at the neighborhood grocer's shop.
Women were emancipated at last and started to go out to work.”
So, now it’s a woman’s fault that our culture has gone to hell in a hand basket? If only we had stayed at home, everyone would be eating healthy, home cooked meals? I was so emancipated that I worked all day in an office, shopped on the way home, and made dinner. OK. I didn’t make lunch, so call me emancipated. It was an exhilarating 15-hour a day emancipation. What is this guy smoking?? Women joined the work place (I love that expression, the “work place”, what, we sat around and ate bonbons all day at the home place?) because one income wasn’t enough to support a family in the way that they wanted to live. Women joined the work place because staying at home wasn’t all that they were capable of, and there was a trade off. But to insinuate that it’s a woman’s fault is just bullshit. Maybe we should blame our men folk that they weren’t working hard enough to make enough money. That’s not a fair statement, and neither is Mr. Petrini’s statement. To be fair, he does back off in the last paragraph of the article: “I'm not advocating a return to the family scene of my childhood; such environments were often indicative of poverty and social backwardness. And going back to the old days would force women back into the kitchen.”
I don’t think it’s socially backward to eat together whenever possible, and I’m not being forced back into the kitchen. I don’t think that Mr. Petrini has a clue about what women have done, and continue to do to safeguard “The Importance of Home Cooking”. He needs to descend from his Slow Food throne and listen (not talk to) some real people, who day to day, are doing the best they can to put good food on the table. Rant over. Mr. Petrini seems to be ruffling a lot of feathers these days, and I guess he’s now ruffled mine.
On average, in America, 32 meals per year are eaten in the car. Fast food companies are designing meals that will fit in your cup holder. Sort of blows that whole eating local movement right out of water, unless it means eating a cup holder full of cherries on your way home. Here's the article from the LA Times, full of all the luscious details.
All this bad news. Pick a category: world politics, gun control, food issues. Everywhere you turn, you feel so beaten up, so overwhelmed by the bad ‘ju-ju’ that surrounds us. Rancho Gordo, in his excellent blog, and on eGullet, has been leading a discussion about farmer’s markets and Slow Food. No, it’s not a warm fuzzy discussion; it’s an examination of what’s going on with the founder of Slow Food, Carlo Petrini. Over the course of the past few years, different people have been complaining about the high handedness, the elitism that Mr. Petrini is fostering. It’s a thought provoking discussion, and worth reading. So where is the ray of hope? Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo was talking about the future, about young people starting gardens, talking about eating local and sustainable, supporting farmer’s markets. Well, here’s my good news: my 21 year old son and his girlfriend have planted a garden, and it’s growing. When I asked Curtis what he wanted to grow in the garden, he said with a big smile, “Everything!” He and Lauren talk about where their food comes from, what they eat and they care very much about the environment. That’s the warm fuzzy news, this generation is waking up and beginning to fight the fight.
Those bags of pre-cut vegetables, those cups or trays of fruit salad, we've all grabbed one, out of a need for speed or convenience. But, did you ever wonder how all those bags of pre-cut fruits and vegetables get into the bags? I just assumed that they were fed into some cutting machine and then sealed into the bag. I assumed wrong.
Beth Slovic of Willamette Week Online, in Oregon, did some investigative reporting, and found that Del Monte produce is cut by hand in a massive plant in north Portland. The story has all the elements that you would suspect: undocumented aliens, low wages, predatory employer practices; but the WTF moment for me was the 8 day shelf life of pre-cut pineapple. Blech. We’ve all cut up a fruit salad, and if some bit is left in the back of the refrigerator for 8 days, it is well into science experiment territory. You have to assume that kid’s school provided lunches also use these pre-cut fruits and vegetables, then its also a logical progression to think that the produce varieties are bred for shelf life, not taste, so the next progression is into ‘no wonder kids don’t eat their fruits and vegetables”. Kids don’t like to eat cardboard, no matter how colorful it is. What would the world be like if we had to wait for strawberry season or tomato season? If we actually ate those fruits and vegetables in season and discovered real flavor? Radical thinking, isn’t it?
There is a little market event going on in the Piazza today and they are promoting artisinal products. Our favorite cheese maker is here, along with Guido the butcher, Alberto the ironworker and a few others.
We were all passing the time of day in the piazza, chatting with this person and that person, when we suddenly noticed the piazza was empty….deserted. It took a moment to realize, this is Sunday, it was lunchtime, and everyone was heading home for Buon’Pranzo. Sunday lunch is a very serious business here in Montone! And as we were heading home to our lunch, we noticed this older gentleman settle himself down at one of the café tables. He brought out his bottle of home made wine, a loaf of bread, some cheese and prosciutto, and he looked about as happy as a man can be.
The Milan based “L’Accademia Italiana della Cucina” has announced the results of its research: 60% of Italian restaurants abroad are awful. Now, for some reason, this is news. This week, in English speaking news outlets, the recently obscure “Academy for Italian Cooking” is having its moment of fame. After their dedicated researchers combed the world, they announced that Italian cooking abroad is crap. They were horrified to find pineapple on pizza; and frankly, so am I. Pineapple on pizza is revolting. I don’t care if my son says that I’m closed minded! I’m curious: why the hubbub? Slow news day at the BBC? I have a strong concern about this conclusion: the “researchers” were Italians who live in Italy. Could there be a more genetically biased group? They can’t agree on how anything should be made; neighbors will argue to the last drop of grappa in the bottle, about what goes into a ragu. And you are sending these ‘researchers’ into the bowels of London, traipsing across the US in search of ‘authenticity’? I have a vision of Sancho Panza’s Italian twin: Sergio Pancetta on a horse named Quixote in search of “Authenticity”. For another point of view, Ted Asbaghi, goes to the wall defending the Italian-ness of the Olive Garden. Far be it from me to argue with Mr. Asbaghi, unless, of course, he has a good bottle of grappa to fuel the conversation!
