A Video Interlude from the Troubles

Whatever those troubles may be.

The backstory on this project, Playing for Change, is at Bill Moyers Journal, starting at 3:45 in the piece . (Thanks for the tip, Ron).

Food for Thought: Holiday Book Picks

Uncertain Peril

Clare Hope Cummings

"It comes down to this: whoever controls the future of seeds controls the future of life on earth.” Claire Hope Cummings isn’t afraid to snap her readers to attention with statements like that, but between wallops her writing is thoughtful, nuanced and carefully argued. She presents two books in one: first, a twisted history of how agricultural seeds have gone from public to private, particularly through genetic engineering; second, a hopeful vision for the future inspired by what Cummings sees as the central character of seeds—generosity. Uncertain Peril is a thorough primer on seed-related issues, but its excellent research and unusual narratives makes it a good read even for a seasoned farmer activist. - Lisa M. Hamilton

Closing the Food Gap
Mark Winne
You've heard the gripe: sustainable foods aren't accessible. But that doesn't mean they can't be. Mark Winne worked on getting good, healthy, local food into poor communities for decades and offers a sobering primer in this book. He doesn't just offer in-the-trenches stories of setting up farmers markets and food banks but of dealing with the political, economic and cultural impediments of feeding low-income communities. One solution inHartford: simply altering a bus route so poor residents could get to a decent grocery store. Another in Philadelphia: building out independent inner city grocery stores. In other words, solutions exist. They just aren't off-the-shelf. 

 - Samuel Fromartz

The Mad Farmer Poems
Wendell Berry
The lines in Wendell Berry’s latest book braid together the author’s many voices—wry satirist, defiant agrarian, gentle naturalist. Together these short poems aim to address, somehow, a world he finds both perilous and filled with beauty. “That is the glimmering vein/of our sanity,” he writes, “dividing us/from the start: land under us/to steady us when we stood,/free men in the great communion/of the free. The vision keeps/lighting in my mind, a window/on the horizon in the dark.” - LMH

Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper
Fuchsia Dunlop
I came upon this book, subtitled “a sweet-sour memoir of eating in China,” after cooking with Fuchsia Dunlop’s excellent cookbooks on Sichuan and Hunan. A Brit foodie with a serious Jones for Chinese cuisine, specifically street food, she finagled her way into cooking school in Sichuan. From there to the far flung kitchens she visited, she honed her craft and immersed herself in a culture. Two caveats about this engaging book: first, you must love Chinese food, real versions of which are rare in the U.S. Secondly, you need a strong stomach for things we wouldn’t eat but which she eagerly pops in her mouth. If those are met, I see no better way to learn about the phenomenon that is China rising than through her food. - SF

Pet Food Politics
Marion Nestle
You're pet food isn't only pet food. It's intimately connected with the human food chain, as Marion Nestle shows in this short, incisive read. She weaves together the various strands of the melamine pet food disaster in 2007 and shows how the weak links in the (pet) food chain put our food at risk. If you're a pet owner who wants a primer on the incident, this is your book. If you're concerned about pet food that isn't just fed to pets -- well, this book is for you too. - SF

American Farmer
Paul Mobley and Katrina Fried 
This hulking, oversize book is a bear to get off the coffee table and into your lap, but it's worth it. The more than 150 portraits of farmers and farm families from throughout the United States are gorgeous, saturated with color and character. Organic-minded foodies might be disappointed to find it focuses on more conventional farmers, but that's the book's strength: it offers a sympathetic yet honest portrait of the whole spectrum of American farmers, not just the ones who make it to the pages of the dining section. - LMH

Cookbooks

Fish Without A Doubt
Rick Moonen and Roy Finamore
No food is more intimidating to cook than fish, which is why people tend to save it for restaurants. That's a shame because it's actually one of the most versatile and fastest-cooking proteins around. Still, if sea creatures intimidate you, Moonen is your man. He balances challenging recipes with work-a-day meals in this lovely book, with a big emphasis on tips: that is, how to buy, store and work with fish. (The big winner in my book: paillards, or thin slices, of wild salmon seared on a cast iron grill in a minute or two. My five-year-old gobbles them up.) Another bonus is that every fish in this book is sustainable, and with so many options there's really no reason to eat anything else. In short, this book is an indespensible kitchen companion. - SF

Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics
Ina Garten
Everyone has their go-to cookbooks. Well worn and batter-splattered, with recipes you eventually know-by-heart. Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Cookbook is one of mine. That’s why I was genuinely excited about her new Back to Basics. Garten’s all about flavor. Her take on simple still means elegant enough for company, but stress-free for me. Not so confident in the kitchen? This cookbook is one you can lean on, offering tips from how to garnish to an FAQ in the back answering questions on raw eggs and kosher salt. - Clare Leschin-Hoar

Renewing America's Food Traditions
Edited by Gary Paul Nabhan
Gary Paul Nabhan has been on a mission of connecting food to place, and in this gorgeous book zeros in on vanishing heritage foods. Organized around region, he offers foods from a once rich and diverse culinary landscape. The stories about these folk and Indian foods make for good reading, and while the recipes sound exotic, they were once as common as corn chips are today. A few that caught my fancy: "Broken crab and Choppee okra stew," "Crow bison cattail stew," "Cape Cod cranberry scones," and "Choctaw persimmon pudding" -- the latter, an immediate possibility since the fruit is now in season. - SF

Fresh & Honest
Peter Davis
In this book, local-foods champion Peter Davis celebrates the growers who’ve been supplying his Cambridge, MA-based restaurant for years. While some of the recipes are ambitious for a home cook, plenty are satisfying and winter-hardy like the maple stout-marinated beef brisket or the gingerbread cake with fresh cream.  - CLH

Christmas Cookies
Lisa Zwirn
Sam already knows I’m baking-impaired and cookie swaps give me anxiety. That’s why I’m enjoying Lisa Zwirn’s new cookbook Christmas Cookies. Fifty choices aren’t overwhelming and range from lemon squares (my favorite) to chocolate peppermint cookies. - CLH

A Quiet Wave Building -- Food Insecurity

Poverty hardly ever makes the news, though it's getting harder to ignore these days, with the rise in unemployment and loss of 1.3 million jobs in the first 10 months of the year. The national unemployment rate is 6.5 percent, though for people 25 and older without a high school diploma -- a heavily low income group -- it is already about 10.3 percent and economists talk about the jobless rate peaking a full year from now.

All of which means "food insecurity" is growing. That bland term describes people who don't have enough to eat, never mind the good healthy food the readers of this blog aspire to. In a good summary, the Nation's editor, Katrina Vanden Heuvel, writes:

According to the USDA's annual report on food security, nearly one ineight Americans struggled with hunger in 2007 -- which means "36.2 million adults and children... didn't have the money or assistance to get enough food to maintain active, healthy lives." 691,000 children "suffered a substantial disruption in the amount of food they typically eat" -- a more than 50 percent increase from 2006 and the highest number since 1998.

Now, non-profits are running thin on donations and food banks are getting low -- precisely the scenario food activist Mark Winne presented in his recent interview with me. He elaborates his position in a recent blog post, saying the solution is not a dramatic increase in charity but rather a dramatic decrease in poverty at the root of food insecurity.

Hopefully the stimulus program under discussion by the Obama transition team and on Capitol Hill will do just that -- create jobs not just bailouts -- and not a moment too soon.

Meanwhile, if you want to see what's happening to the white collar workforce check out this chart of fourth quarter layoffs over at the WSJ blog Real Time Economics.

- Samuel Fromartz

Mind-Boggling Jersey Tomatoes, Circa 1933

Reading a post over at Ethicurean about the concentration of tomato processing in California reminded me of a picture in Ed Kee's Saving Our Harvest: The Story of the Mid-Atlantic Region's Canning and Freezing Industry. More than 1,000 independent canning operations were located in the mid-Atlantic at the end of the 19th century, feeding the East Coast. (Ed is an extention agent at the University of Delaware who generously gave me a copy of the book).

The photo above is of tomato trucks lined up in front of Campbell Soup Co. plant in Camden, N.J., in 1933 -- yes, this was the Garden State until the garden moved West. Here's one of the many labels in the book:

 

- Samuel Fromartz

A 75th Anniversary: I'll Drink to That

By Clare Leschin-Hoar

As if our current economic woes weren't enough to remind us of the 1930s, this Friday, December 5th, marks the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. It lasted 13 thirsty years until 1933. That's reason to celebrate -- even if you might be feeling a bit pinched lately.

While I've never had to imbibe in any bathtub gin or homemade hooch, it's exciting to see some of the country’s best bartenders bringing back some authentic vintage-era cocktails made from ingredients like rye, applejack and plenty of gin.

In Boston, cocktail guru Jackson Cannon of Eastern Standard brushed up on his Prohibition history, and has been reviving cocktails like the Jack Rose, El Presidente, The Scofflaw Cocktail and the Monkey Gland in a year-long celebration. It culminates in a roaring Twenties-themed costume dinner and party Thursday night.

Speakeasy's have also sprung up. In New York City, there's cozy PDT, which stands for “Please Don’t Tell”. Don’t know where to find it? Head to hot-dog joint Crif Dogs on St. Marks Place and look for a vintage-style phone booth where you pick up the receiver and press the button. If you measure up, you’re buzzed in through a secret door where bartender Jim Meehan slings era-appropriate cocktails in a low ceiling room.

In Chicago, Violet Hour and their famed bartender, Toby Maloney are where locals go for speakeasy cocktails. At San Francisco’s stylish Bourbon & Branch, patrons can nurse whiskey mash in a room with red velvet walls, or they might hop over to 21st Amendment which is holding a "repealebration celebration" on Friday.

For the aspiring mixologist, here's a couple of recipes below the fold.

Scofflaw Cocktail
Courtesy of Jackson Cannon

1 ½ ounces rye whiskey
1 ounces dry vermouth
¾ ounce grenadine
¾ ounce lemon juice

Shake, strain into a chilled lowball, channel knife lemon twist over the glass, no garnish.

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& (yes, it’s called the “&” cocktail.)
Courtesy of Jackson Cannon

1 ounce Old Tom Gin
1 ounce brandy
1 ounce sweet vermouth
Dash of orange bitters

Shake, strain into a martini glass, no garnish.

Anatomy of a Thanksgiving Meal

By Lisa M. Hamilton

In celebration of Thanksgiving, I'm offering a photo essay that documents a unique raising turkey collaboration in the one-time poultry capital of California, Petaluma. A local Slow Food group, whose members wanted to raise heritage breed turkeys as part of the organization’s efforts to save endangered food species, got together with the local 4H club, which was focused on breeding another endangered species, young farmers.

"Sometimes when I explain what we do people look at me like I'm a monster," Cathy Thode, one of the project's organizers, told me. "I see it differently. We've raised these birds from day one, we know everything they've ever eaten, and we know that right up to their last breath they were never once mistreated. If you're going to eat meat, well, I think this is the way it should be done."

While some of the images are not for the faint of heart, if you eat turkey, the story is worth a trip.

Images: © 2008 Lisa M. Hamilton

Postcard from a Slaughterhouse

This post was contributed by Joe Cloud, a former landscape architect who took a career course change and bought a family-owned slaughterhouse in Harrisonburg, Virginia, near his family's farm. His partner in the venture, True and Essential Meats, is Joel Salatin, the grass-based livestock farmer featured in Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. These small operations are fast disappearing (the former owners were in their 70s), meaning smaller farmers lack options to slaughter livestock. Cloud hopes to grow the business of sourcing from local farms but that is still just a small portion of the operation.

By Joe Cloud

As owner/operator of a small local slaughterhouse, I see a lot of pigs over the course of a month.  Some of them are raised in industrial operations in Pennsylvania.  We buy them to make sausage in my plant. The rest are brought in by small farmers from all over Virginia to be slaughtered and processed for sale in farmer's markets, at restaurants, and directly to consumers.

The pigs all spend a day to several weeks in the humble little barn behind my plant.  The moments when I go out to feed and water them are among the best parts of my day.  Alone in the cobwebby old structure, I talk to them, bring them their corn ration, and take a moment to just watch them being pigs. I like to touch the pigs while feeding them -- lay a hand on a round hip, feel the warmth and the coarse bristle against my skin.  Perhaps this is strange, knowing we will soon take their life, but I appreciate the sense of connection. This morning it was cold, and I had to smile looking at a pile of Joel Salatin's Polyface pigs peacefully sleeping in a big pile to keep warm.

It is fun to step into a pen full of hogs – and informative. Joel's little pig dudes run up eagerly like curious dogs, and immediately cover your legs with inquisitive round snouts checking out the smells.  No fear or shyness here. They run and jump around, snuffeling  excitedly.  Black, tawny, red, spotted, their coats literally shine with health. Glossy bristles give their bodies a bright sheen.

But when I step into a pen of industrial hogs, the atmosphere is completely different.  Sunk in a sleepy torpor, they lack awareness, and they startle with alarm. When you surprise a pig, they bark like dogs and scurry mindlessly around. Perhaps I should say hobble – many of them limp.  Raised on hard concrete, their feet and joints are malformed, and they live in pain. The deep sawdust in my barn is the best they have ever had.  Their white flanks and shoulders are covered with bloody scrapes – they have been fighting, working to establish their dominance hierarchies in middle age.  Unlike Joel's hogs who are raised together in their little band in the woods, the industrial hogs have no sense of a pecking order because they have not grown up together.

We'd like to process hogs from small local farms, but that isn't an option right now. There aren't enough hogs raised locally.  We bought a going concern with two dozen employees and customers to take care of. But the hope is to build these new local markets. Then maybe all the hogs out in the barn will be like Joel's. One day.
Image: T&E Meats

Fast-Tracking Sustainability at USDA

A lot of rich and worthwhile discussion has taken place lately about what government could do to promote greener agriculture, healthier food, and small scale farming, most notably in the comprehensive NY Times article by Michael Pollan. Supporters have gone so far as to petition the Obama transition team to appoint Pollan secretary of agriculture (he demurred in a comment on Ethicuraean).

Rather than push a dark horse, however, people interested in sustainable food and agriculture do have a real opportunity to support a significant appointment at the USDA. I'm speaking of Tufts University professor Kathleen Merrigan, who has been raised as a possible candidate for Undersecretary of Marketing and Regulatory Programs.

Who is Merrigan and why should we care?

I first heard about Merrigan while working on Organic Inc., looking into the origins of the Organic Food and Production Act of 1990 and sustainable agriculture policy. She was mentioned repeatedly by people I talked to, because as a senate staffer for Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Merrigan had drafted the organic law. She then went on to work at the USDA's agricultural marketing service (AMS), which runs the organic program. Even before then, she was involved in sustainable agriculture policy and has been ever since -- in organics,  conservation, food access, and small farm issues. While Pollan helped put these issues onto the national agenda, people like Merrigan have long been doing the wonky policy work.

Outside government, she has worked for the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture, served on a the Pew commission on biotechnology and has been active in the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture. She now heads the Agriculture, Food and Environment Program at Tufts School of Nutrition and Policy. As marketing and regulatory undersecretary, she would oversee AMS, GIPSA (Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards Administration), and APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) - touching virtually every aspect of agriculture.

In short, this is a real shot for a major position at the USDA by someone who has pursued the change mantra in agriculture for nearly two decades. The political awareness Pollan has driven about agriculture could well sweep Merrigan into a position at the USDA -- and push a sustainable agenda ahead.

While we're on this topic, the Blog for Rural Affairs has an in-depth look at Tom Vilsack, who WaPo is calling a "near shoo-in" for Ag Secretary. It's well worth a read and not just for his view on organics and biotech.

- Samuel Fromartz

Image: Tufts University

Your Thanksgiving Challenge?

...To lose 10 pounds. Not.

Actually, Eat Well Guide and Consumers Union are launching a challenge you can eat -- a local and organic Thanksgiving. “Withthe holidays around the corner, and fuel-inflated food costs soaring, this is the perfect time to use our interactive Eat Well Guide to find locally produced turkey, fruit, vegetables, baked goods, dairy, meat and more, wherever you live,” says Eat Well Guide Director Destin Joy Layne. Post your recipe and check out those by Dan Barber, Mario Batali and Alice Waters on the Consumers Union site.

Another resource: The Local Harvest Catalog, which has a Thanksgiving section. I buy award-winning Pennsylvania garlic from Farmer Troy though that site (he also comments on the blog so it's mutual).

Also, many farmers markets have extended hours ahead of Thanksgiving or are opening up if they've already shut down for the season, Edible Chesapeake reports. The magazine also has a good read - and taste test - on heritage turkeys. The top bird: the Midget White which was actually bred in the 1960s.

 - Samuel Fromartz

Image: Turkeys at Nicks Organic Farm in Maryland

Talkin' Texas Shrimp (with Recipes)

By Clare Leschin-Hoar

I attended the New World Food and Wine Festival in San Antonio this past weekend, and was able to see first-hand what some of the best local chefs had to offer. As you might expect, there was a slew of tasty Texas beef dishes that had more than a dash of regional Mexican influence. There’s a burgeoning wine scene, so many dishes were paired with local Texan wines too. But what actually grabbed my attention more than once was the Texas white shrimp.

It’s hard (but not impossible) for me to find American wild or farm-raised shrimp here in the Northeast, but in San Antonio, chefs like Moses Cruz of Oro Restaurant and Bar, and John Brand of Pesca on the River have easy access to both sustainably farmed and wild caught white shrimp, which I found to have a sweet yet delicate flavor.

Russ Miget, environmental quality specialist for the Texas Sea Grant Program and the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, says boasts about the sustainability of Texas white shrimp are sound. Shrimp reach sexual maturity at six-months and spawn at least once, and more often twice a year, laying 250,000 to 300,000 eggs each. And while bottom trawling is used, the shrimp boats are fishing off a mud-bottom floor, and are not dragging heavy nets over coral reefs. Bycatch is about three pounds of non-shrimp to every pound of shrimp, but much of it, like crabs, can be used.

Brand especially is a fan of the local wild stuff. “Unlike a lot of farmed shrimp from overseas which can be frozen and refrozen many times, this shrimp is frozen only once, on the shrimp boat, with the heads still intact, and it’s a bit sweeter like the sea. The flavor is so good, you don’t have to fuss with it much,” he said.

We agree, and tapped the chefs for a couple of recipes for you, because we know what it’s like to scramble for that showy holiday appetizer. And if you're searching for a mail-order source, this list of Texas Shrimp suppliers has several that sell retail.

Recipes below the fold

Cold Poached Texas White Shrimp With Oven Dried Cranberries Kalamata Olives - by Executive Chef Moses Cruz

Serves 6

3 medium sized carrots peeled, sliced ¾-inch rounds
1 whole stalk celery cut into ¾-inch slices, washed
2 medium Texas yellow onions
1 bottle dry white wine
2 quarts cold water
3 ounces kosher salt
1 ounce coarse black pepper
In heavy pot bring all above ingredients to a boil for 10 minutes.

2 pounds large Texas White Shrimp peeled and deveined.

Add shrimp to boiling water (above), remove when it reaches a boil again, Let sit for 2 minutes Drain shrimp and chill in ice bath. Once cooled, remove and let air dry.

2 wheels of herbed Boursin cheese
2 ounces dried cranberries, finely chopped
1 ounces pitted Kalamata olives, finely chopped

Soften cheese add cranberries and olives. Mix well and let rest for one hour. Form into 1-inch balls. Split cooled shrimp and arrange on platter, tail up. Place cheese mixture in middle and serve. (Clare notes: the shrimp sitting on the plate fanned out tail up, and then the cheese is in a ball, stuffed on the back of the shrimp, under the tail, so you lift the shrimp and pop the whole thing in your mouth, minus the tail. It was surprisingly good.)

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Grilled Texas White Shrimp with Saffron Garlic Chimichurri, Grilled Bread and Serrano Ham - by Executive Chef John Brand

Serves 4-6

Chimichurri
2 teaspoons saffron threads
8 cloves garlic
1 shallot
1 bunch parsley
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons sherry vinegar
Juice and zest of one lemon
Salt and pepper

One dozen large White Texas Shrimp, peeled and deveined
¼ pound shaved Serrano ham

Blend chimichurri ingredients in a food processor. Toss with shrimp. Thread shrimp onto wood or sugar cane skewer and grill both sides. Remove shrimp from the grill and toss in Aioli sauce (below). Arrange on a platter with grilled baguette, shaved Serrano ham and garnish with frisee or arugula.

Garlic Lemon Aioli
6 egg yolks
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons garlic oil
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cup  light olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons freshly chopped chives
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley

In a large bowl whisk together yolks, Dijon, lemon juice, and red wine vinegar.
Slowly add the oils to form an emulsion. Add chives and parsley, season with salt and white pepper. Refrigerate.

Cash from Fish Trash

A friend alterted me to this story about an organic fertilizer start-up, Pacific Gro, which was founded by Jim Brackins four years ago, when he was 67.

He gets fish waste from seafood companies in Seattle that typically utilize, at best, 52% of the fish carcass. The remainder -- the guts, gills, skin, bones, fat and scales -- goes into the garbage, but rather than waste them Brackins picks the stuff up. “The name of the game in the industry is 100 percentutilization,” he is quoted as saying. “Everybody wants and strives to use 100 percent of the resource so there is no waste."

The article explains how he processes the fish waste into fertilizer then sells it to organic and conventional farmers.

Pacific Gro’s wet organic fish fertilizer is being used on 70,000 acres of Idaho farmland and Brackins recently secured a contract with Horizon Organic Dairy, the country’s largest organic dairy, in Twin Falls, Idaho. In 2009, Brackins will process 6.5 million pounds of fish waste, enough for 650,000 gallons of fertilizer, and hopes to expand his acreage by 25 percent.

This reminded me of another story I recently read that took a new look at China's oft-sited pollution troubles. It mentioned how greening is being viewed as a business opportunity and told the story of China's "Queen of Trash," Cheung Yan, reputed to be the nation's richest woman.

Ten years ago, when China stopped logging its own natural forests to prevent a recurrence of big floods, she anticipated a paper shortage. She went to the U.S. and drove around in an old pick-up begging municipal garbage dumps to sell her their waste paper. She was so successful that today her company, Nine Dragons, ships more than 6 million ton of waste paper a year into China, which she recycles into boxes for electronics goods that will be taking the next container ship back to Europe and North America. Nine Dragons is now the world’s largest manufacturer of packaging.

Talk about cash from trash. Notwithstanding the debate over packaging, the point is: there is no waste -- only a resource stream -- and to those that see waste as a resource belong the spoils.
- Samuel Fromartz

image: flickr photo

Fish: Good News and Bad

The LA Times reports that fishery managers on the West Coast have decided to try and save the region's fishery by granting fishermen exclusive rightsto a portion of the catch. We've written about catch quotas before, but this is positive news in a place where three fisheries were declared an economic disaster eight years ago.

The new approach, often called "individual fishing quotas," will give commercial fishermen from Morro Bay on California's Central Coast to Puget Sound in Washington state the right to bring in their portion of the catch when the seas are safe and they can command higher prices.

It will also eliminate rules that forced fishermen to shovel tons of dead fish overboard because they didn't have permits to sell particular species inadvertently caught in their nets.

"We expect in five to 10 years this will be one of the best-managed fisheries in the country," said Johanna Thomas, Pacific Ocean policy director of the Environmental Defense Fund.

The same can't be said for Atlantic cod, which looks like it's crashing again. Kate Wing over at Blogfish writes:

The cod of the Gulf of St. Lawrence have 40 years left, at best, and only 20 years if fishing stays at current levels. Douglas P. Swain and Ghislain A. Chouinard report on this imminent extinction in the latest Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, only, being scientists, they call it extirpation. Technically, extinction requires you to prove all the fish are gone, while an extirpated population is barely hanging on -- too small to sustain itself, much less feed people or wildlife.