food museum blog

Today I Will Eat Persian Food

Today I will go to Pars Restaurant in Albuquerque where I will eat stewed eggplant with cinammony overtones, along with aromatic rice. I will have yogurt with chopped veggies on the side. I will have tea in glass cups without handles, but before that I will sip the yogurt , mint and fizzy water drink known as "dugh."

If I decide to indulge in what we once ate regularly in Iran, as Peace Corps vols, I will try chicken kabobs, the chicken marinated overnight in a tasty yogurt concoction. ( We became veggie-fishitarians in 1975...) The rice will be served with grilled tomatoes, a tiny dish of sumac, and a raw egg. I will mix the egg into the rice and sprinkle some sumac on top.

I will likely finish up with two tiny pieces of baklava, seasoned with rose water.

I will wear green.

Gas Bags--Bag 'Em

 Wind has come early to Albuquerque, and left in its aftermath plastic bags. All over the mesa bags are caught in tumbleweeds, or  snagged on sage.  In the past few days I have retrieved as many of them as I can-- offerings from the Giant Mini-Mart, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried, Walmart, Walgreen's, The Dollar Store and Smith's come up again and again. Over 3 dozen bags thus far.

The technology for biodegradable/compostable bags made from corn starch or potato starch, renewable commodities, has existed for years. As have reusable bags of all types--string, straw, leather, nylon, dried dung, you name it.

Plastic bags are so 20th century, so made from petroleum, so lethal to wildlife.  How hard is it to start carrying reusable bags?  San Fran was the first American city, as far as I know,  that banned plastic bags in use by chain stores and supermarkets. LA will enforce a ban starting 2010. Vermont is intending to impose a tax of 17 cents on each plastic bag used by the customer, also beginning 2010.  The Colorado legislature recently backed away from a ban, the silly boobs. But the planet still hosts buggy whip manufacturers who cannot let go, apparently.

The entire country of Ireland banned the bags long since.  Other countries are in various stages of anti-plastic bagism. Shoppers in Belgian supermarkets who do not bring their own carrying devices must withstand withering glances fr0m their fellows, and pay for the flimsy bags the store may still have tucked under the checker's stool.  Even China is getting steamed on the issue.

Here at home I gently encourage the clerks at Walgreen's not to automatically toss a toothbrush into a plastic bag. Wait. See if the customer really needs one. Etc.

Recently I was one of the first 50 customers to snare a reusable bag at Ace Hardware. I think stores should either give these away willy-nilly--free advertising--or sell them at cost.

The no-frills grocery store I pop into in Florida solves the problem by having no bags at all. You either bring in a bag, grab a used t.paper carton from the store, or juggle your goods to the car.

Before the petro bags are all gone, however, if you're handy with a crochet hook, visit this.
( Tks to www.plasticbagbag.com for pic of a plasticbagbag.)

Exquisite Excess

We have an unemployed, unmarried mother of 6 deciding she absolutely had to have more children; we have a whistle blower filled with info on the nefarious Bernie Madoff ignored for years by the SEC; we have our beloved and leguminous Peanut Corporation of America knowingly shipping out salmonella-afflicted products, inspection reports by the state overlooked by the overworked USDA, slapped in a file cabinet; we have Republican leaders deeply involved in the financial and international debacle of the past eight years whining and wringing their hands on tv because their wisdom is being overlooked----whatever!!

Justice: PCA filed for bankruptcy. Its CEO took the Fifth before Congress days before, his emails piling up as evidence against him.

Questions:  

Did Bernie's wife squirrel away $15 million in chump change before his arrest? Has she Madoff with it?

Where will the nation's Lovebirds in Chief have Valentine's Day dinner? ( In Chicago.)

What would happen if you didn't   A--pay your taxes; B--have a financial plan ready, accurate to the penny, as you are asking for,  ooh, billions of dollars?

Does anyone really like that bizarre red velvet cake?

Scary Peanut Satay Sauce?

As I prepared a leftover multi-grain pasta and veg dish for my lunch yesterday, I considered opening a brand new jar of Trader Joe's Peanut Satay Sauce to go with.
OY!

What about those nasty, scheming, b*****ds at Peanut Corp of Amurrica? Were they in any way involved with TJ's sauce?

I called my local TJ's and asked.   The back and forth of the staff was not that reassuring. 'Hey, Luis-- what about the Satay Sauce?  Peanuts from those guys or what?"

Silence.

Me: Errr, isn't there some kind of list?
Them:   Yeah, well, maybe, I think so, on our website.
Me: Well I know that some of your peanut trail bars are on the USDA list of tainted products.
Them: Oh yeah?
Me: Yeah.
Them: Hang on.
Me: ( gnash, sigh...)
Them: No problem, no worries. The Satay Sauce is not affected.
Me: You're sure?
Them: Luis, are we sure?
Me: ( OY!)
Them: We're sure.

So the fact that I woke up at like, 2 am, with weird tummy things going on was, like, nothing to worry about?   Huh?
OK, so maybe it was just my overactive mind.

Later, like, just now, I checked the TJ's website. At the bottom of the Home page is a tiny line of type that mentions the peanut thing. And when you click on it, it takes you to a page all about their having destroyed those crappy tainted products. No mention of Satay Sauce.

New worries, though: STILTON CHEESE, for gawd's sake. How could anything biologically inappropriate penetrate that stinky, bacterially-awash cheese?

Luis?

Peanut Eaters---Explore This List

If you buy peanutty "health" bars, cookies, crackers and more, you may want to avoid the items on this massive list generated at the FDA website. All involved contaminated peanut products from the now legendarily reckless Blakely, GA processing plant of the Peanut Corporation of America.

Food News from Gaza--Dwindling Daily Bread

According to this from the UK, 17 Israelis, of them nine civilians, were killed by Hamas rockets in 2008. That's in one year.  In the past 10 days, about 512 people in Gaza have been killed by Israeli air raids.

Can you say "disproportionate response?"  According to many international politics gurus  this has always been Israel's military policy.

Naturally, after the lengthy blockade and current events, people in Gaza are hungry. This report from the United Nations is dated January 02, 2009:

"No wheat grain (has) entered Gaza since the beginning of the hostilities resulting in the closure of all mills. Mill owners confirmed that the Ministry of National Economy in Gaza ordered them to allocate the available wheat flour to bakeries and distribute it under its supervision (instead of them selling it on the market). As of today, fewer than 20 bakeries throughout the Gaza Strip are operational, due to lack of flour and cooking gas."

As I read about Hamas rockets and Israeli war planes, setting aside who is right and who is wrong,  I picture medieval soldiers catapulting huge stones, darts and spears at fortified castles. Why are we still engaged in this sort of nonsense in the 21st century?

Apparently it is unthinkably harder, more complex, and more time consuming to sit down around a table and talk over differences, possibly fortified with tasty powerful food, than it is to slaughter people and destroy property.  ( Mind you, I know that professional diplomats and peace keepers have tried to do this, off and on, for decades. )

But without the support of the world's leaders, the diplomats' tortoise-like efforts will make little headway against the weaponed-up hares.

( Photo of Palestinian baker thanks to BBC-UK, http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_5375000/5375686.stm)

Feasting !

Remarkable amounts of tasty food have been delivered to the hard-working volunteers I have been privileged to canvas with in New Mexico these past several weeks. Green chile stew, breakfast burritos, tamales, salsa.........and today here in west coast Florida, at a string of storefront residences rented by the Obama for Change campaign in St Petersburg? 

Pasta, brown rice with lentils, spinach salad, pizza, and, amazingly huge trays of roast veal, and lamb, brought in by a woman from Bosnia, decked out from head to toe in Obama gear. Few can claim to be as enthusiastic a supporter as she. And she's not even a citizen!

This country's promise is back.

P.S. The Republican National Committee Just Robo-Called Me

Fresh from posting about world hunger today, I received a call from the RNC at 202 863 8500 suggesting that Senator Barack Obama associates with terrorists and that the Democratic Party will enact radical legislation, etc., etc.

This while Rome burns. Amazing, isn't it? Make people afraid, vilify your opponent with lies, propose nothing positive about your Party's plans.

I just left word with the RNC press office that I would be blogging about this.   If this pathetic politicking infuriates you as well, perhaps you could ring up these losers and leave your own message.

( New Mexico is going Blue this election--no wonder the RNC is throwing Joe the Plumber's effluvia our way.)

Farming and Electing---Kids, the Adults Are Here!

Back in the high desert after a vacation along the east coast, I can report A--a lack of rain here; B--the aroma of roasting chiles in the air, and ; C--a need in yours truly to vent.
I hear a "har-har" radio story about a man who happily has eaten a BigMac every day since the early 1970's, and I reflect on the inanity of much of what is labeled" news" these days. (Incidentally, the report said the guy walks 10 miles a day............!)

Even food news as noted in effete east publications endlessly focuses on the same boutique farms like Stone Barns, outside of New York---why?  because it's close to NY and easy to get the story. Kidstuff.  We had a terrific time there ourselves, but the notion that its all-natural restaurant, Blue Hill, is accessible to the average mortal is utterly bogus. It's hideously costly and difficult to book into. And many other places across the country serve up tasty, locally-grown food as well. Thankfully, this is a trend.

Having just spent about a week working on Summit Springs Farm in Maine with two old pals,  in the farm's first summer as a CSA, I can attest to the fact that growing food is exceedingly hard, satisfying, down and dirty, frustrating, joyful, tiring, and all the rest. In other words, the undertaking is full of contrasts, of gray, of subtlety. It is serious stuff,  the work of adults, of grown-up people who comprehend its importance. 

Case in point re contrast---The giant horn worms that found the tomato plants in the greenhouse are spectacular beauties, busily going about their mandate to destroy said plants. Feeding them to the happy hens in their enclosure made me both utterly satisfied, ( as were the "girls,") but also a twinge remorseful--these creatures are perfectly designed, and turn into hummingbird-sized hawkmoths, if they make it that far in their lifecyle. Of course they fancy many of the solanaceae--tomatoes, tobacco, eggplant, and potatoes, too, though I have never seen them on any spud plants in my realm.  I plucked them from my bin-grown tomatoes earlier this season, after finding two giants decimating a datura ( Jimson weed) plant not close by.

As the farm is headed towards its organic rating, it uses no pesticides. So the tomato plants are fading away earlier than they might, under onslaut from the lovely green worms. And the squash bugs are working away in the winter squash rows, though thus far the squash are holding their ground. ( I know, as we weeded the hell out of them...)

Each week the farm decides what to offer its CSA members, and sometimes, these choices are tough--rain rotted many of the potatoes, the chard is fading, the new lettuces not yet ready--and yet satisfied customers roll away from the small garlic-festooned barn with what IS available. Apples just picked from one fecund tree by Sonya. Jewel boxes of yellow and red cherry tomatoes, and plenty of "blue" spuds.

We are looking at a crucial election this year, by the way, one that will impact the nations of the world, as well as the planet, and, of course, these United States. While some wish to pretend we are electing junior high student council personalities, and that up is down and backwards is forwards, sorry, kids, the grownups are here, and when we are not weeding, planting, harvesting and selling,  we are voting like responsible adults.

(Two of the Rockin' Goddesses weeding away in the eggplant row.)

Food News From All Over

Recent food reports tell us that A---women eat less in times of famine, as they provide for their children and husbands first, B---low carb diets, as well as the Mediterranean diet, work far better than low fat diets, and C--jalapeno peppers may be the salmonella culprits, and that $100 million in losses later tomato growers are looking at cooking up a mess of marinara sauce.
A--Duh!
B--Duh!
C--OK, not so obvious...

Oh, and this reported in The Guardian from Angela Hartnett, a Brit chef acquainted with Michelin stars, her own, that is: 
"What's the best/worst thing about the British food scene?
The best? Hmmmm. The worst is that we think we're now a nation of foodies and we're not. Oh, and I think it's really bad that good food costs so much and bad food is so cheap. That's wrong."

As noted in an earlier post, I am finally reading Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, written with contributions from family members, and it truly is more than it seems. As many of you know, she recounts with sly humor a year of eating locally, most from their own 40 acres in Virginia, but also examines with graceful precision a range of food issues. The perils of cheap food, raising and dispatching animals, infusing unexpected recipes with veggies, organic vs sustainable et al, and more. A bonus: simple, straight-forward recipes, plus, an invitation to make cheese. I plan to try this asap.