Treasure hunt or travesty? It depends on your attitude.

Non-professional foodies express envy when I tell them I’m going to the Fancy Food Show. I guess because it sounds so, well, “fancy. I don’t know what people imagine: small, exquisite plates of foie gras and caviar arranged vertically; exotic grains cooked with pristine baby vegetables; elegant finger sandwiches with the crusts cut off; and petit fours.

It’s none of that, though I did try some bourbon-infused, sustainable California caviar that struck my fancy. And yes, there are fancy (and incredibly delicious) cheeses, but you have to find them among a great number of booths filled with wheels of commodity queso.

There are also tiny gems of companies working hard on making delicious food from good, thoughtfully sourced ingredients. But you just might miss their small displays hiding behind the enormous Hormel booth or the flashy celebrity chef launching his or her latest product line.

The yearly show in San Francisco takes place in both buildings of the Moscone Center, over three days. Walking the whole floor in one day, as I did, is a challenge. There’s no way to taste anywhere near everything, so the key is to look at it like a treasure hunt, and keep moving. Here are the highly subjective results of my personal trek.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Things That Shouldn’t Exist:

Business names like this one

Processed foods like this one that proclaim “it’s now even easier to eat fruit!” When has eating actual fruit ever been taxing?

Overbaked Trends:

Bacon: Why won’t it die? I tried a bacon marmalade spread that made me desperate to wash my mouth out with the (fortunately placed) microbrew across the aisle.

Greek yogurt: It’s great and everything, but at the end of 2012 will there still be room on the grocery shelves for regular yogurt? You know, the tangy stuff that doesn’t taste like whipped cream?

Chips that aren’t chips: Call me a crank, but some of these new snack chips made from beans, lentils, and alternative grains have too many flavors (sun-dried tomatoes, sesame, basil pesto, chipotle anyone?) and their textures are either like cardboard or (in the case of the puffed versions) greasy, rancid, Styrofoam. Stop it and give me a potato chip, a corn chip, or even a sweet potato chip. Please.

An Old Favorite That Still Delights:

Laura Chenel’s line of cheeses are fantastic. Soft goat cheese has become ubiquitous in grocery stores nationwide, but it wasn’t always so. Laura was the first to make this French style cheese in the U.S., and today she continues to break ground with cheeses like the Tome, and the Mélodie, which I was told is now made in Sonoma County, CA, after a stint of production in France while the company’s new cheese facility was under construction.

Greenest Surprise:

Gone (mostly) are the thousands of tiny plastic spoons. In their place, many exhibitors are using clever, compostable, scoops called EcoTensils.

Favorite Moment:

The passionate owner of Vin Tucci Wine Infused (and utterly delicious) Cookies treated me to an unexpected moment of poetry in articulating his food philosophy. “There are some things we eat in life, like raw oysters, juicy peaches, and fresh mozzarella, that tell us to slow down and pay attention,” he said, adding, “We have to wake up when we’re eating, or we’re just consuming calories.” Words to live by!

A Few Random Favorite Bites:

Susan Feniger’s Edamame Green Siracha Hummus was the bomb. You may remember her from early food TV in the show, Two Hot Tamales. She’s launching a line of products to go along with her new book, Street Food.

Oren’s Kitchen Slow Roasted Artisan Nuts are perfectly seasoned (rather than “flavored”) fresh tasting, and elegant. No acrid spices or rancid oil like you might find in so many commercial nut products. Owner Arnen Oren is a classically trained chef who has worked in some fine restaurant kitchens, and it shows.

Oregon Growers and Shippers makes seasonal preserves and jams from locally grown fruit. The jams are good, but even better are the company’s efforts to support the farmers in its region. Oregon is home to so much fabulous fruit, including strawberries, pears, and marionberries, and I like the idea of the farmers who grow them having a local outlet for their produce.

Canaan Fair Trade sells wonderful olive oil from centuries-old olive groves in Palestine, as well as other goods like spices and grains. All the farmers are represented by the Palestine Fair Trade Association and receive Fair Trade premiums. This social venture is providing a much needed opportunity for farmers who have a very difficult time staying on their land, finding markets for their wonderful products, and supporting their families.

Community Grains brings heritage grains grown and processed in California into the marketplace with artisanally produced polenta, pastas, and whole grain flours. This is a great example of how a food business can preserve biological diversity while strengthening the regional food economy.

Sierra Nevada Cultured Butter is sweet and tangy and incredibly full-flavored. I could almost give up cheese if I could eat butter like this on my bread every day.

Image: Embajada Ecuador

Call it the mid-winter doldrums. If you’re tired of returning home after work in darkness, and lacking both energy and inspiration to cook a nourishing meal, how about a warming, healthy, and quick one-dish meal using common (and comforting) ingredients that you might already have in your kitchen?

No special shopping necessary. Just good, simple food that you can prepare quickly so you can move onto what you really want to do like draping yourself in a blanket and reading a book.

Read on for 7 easy, customizable ideas to serve up to two people.

1. Smashed Potatoes and Garlicky Kale with an Egg on Top

20 minutes

1 large or two medium potatoes

2 – 4 tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 bunch kale, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated Parmesan or Pecorino (optional)

1 over-easy egg (optional)

Put the potatoes whole into a steamer basket and steam until tender. Meanwhile heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet, add the garlic and sauté gently. Add the kale and stir to coat. Add a little water, cover, lower heat and cook kale until tender, stirring occasionally. Add the potatoes to the skillet with the kale and smash them together with a potato masher. Add olive oil, salt and paper, and grated cheese to taste. Serve hot with an egg on top (if desired).

2. Spinach and Rice Soup

20 minutes

2 tablespoons olive oil or butter

1/2 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/3 cup white rice

1 bunch spinach, washed

1 quart broth (chicken or vegetable or bouillon based)

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated Parmesan or Pecorino (optional)

In a soup pot, warm the olive oil or butter. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and fragrant. Add the rice and stir to coat. Add the spinach and sauté until soft. Add the broth and lower heat to a simmer. Cook until rice is tender, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with grated cheese on top, if desired.

3. Warm Chickpea Salad with Salmon

15 minutes

This one is free form. Add any selection of vegetables you like in your salads. Use any dressing you like, or make this one as directed. Stir in Harissa paste or pesto if you have it, or not if you don’t.

1 can chickpeas, drained

1 can wild Alaskan salmon

2 generous handfuls of salad greens or arugula

1/2 cup of sliced radish, grated carrot, avocado, roasted peppers, or any other vegetable you have (optional)

1 garlic clove, smashed with a mortar and pestle

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Gently warm the chickpeas in a small saucepan as you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Make a quick dressing with the garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil. Combine the warmed chickpeas, salmon, salad greens, and vegetables in a medium bowl. Toss with the dressing and season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Lentils and Sausage with Greens

45 minutes

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 of an onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup lentils

2 cooked or smoked sausages, sliced

1 bunch kale, chard, or spinach, washed and chopped

Paprika or smoked paprika to taste

Lemon juice to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Warm the olive oil in a medium pot. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and fragrant. Add the lentils and water to cover by one inch. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a slow simmer and cook until the lentils are tender, about 20 minutes. Add the sausages, greens, paprika, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until everything is warmed through and the greens are tender. Add the lemon juice just before serving and correct seasonings.

5. Seasonal Vegetable Coconut Curry Stew

30-40 minutes

2 tablespoons vegetable or coconut oil

1/2 onion, chopped

2-3 cups cubed orange squash, root vegetables, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, mushrooms, or combination of any

1 can coconut milk

Good quality red or green Thai curry paste to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Cilantro for garnish

Heat the oil in a large soup pot, add the onion and cook, stirring until tender and fragrant. Add the vegetables and the coconut milk and enough water to cover. Bring to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are nearly tender. Add the curry paste and salt and pepper to taste. Continue to cook to blend flavors and until vegetables are the desired softness. Serve over white rice garnished with chopped cilantro.

6. Warm Roasted Sweet Potato and Sausage Salad

20 minutes

1 large or 2 medium garnet sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

2 to 4 tablespoons olive oil

1 or 2 cooked sausages

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

2 teaspoons pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon grainy mustard

2 green onions, sliced thinly on the diagonal

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Salt & Freshly ground pepper

Toss the sweet potatoes in 1 tablespoon olive oil with a little salt, and put them on a baking sheet. Roast in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes or until soft and beginning to crisp and brown. Halfway through the cooking time, slide a spatula underneath the potatoes to loosen them and flip them over gently so they don’t break apart.

Meanwhile, cut the sausages into bite-sized pieces and brown and warm them in a skillet with a little bit of oil. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, maple syrup, mustard, and a tablespoon or two of olive oil.

Toss the cooked sweet potatoes and sausages together in a medium bowl. Add the green onions, parsley, and dressing. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve warm.

7. Chilaquiles

10 minutes

2 eggs

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1/2 a red onion, peeled and sliced

3 or 4 corn tortillas

3/4 cup of your favorite red or green salsa

Leftover beans, shredded chicken, beef or pork (optional)

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Sprigs of cilantro, crumbled cheese, diced avocado for serving

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until smooth and add salt and pepper.

Stack the tortillas and cut them into eight wedges.

In a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat, warm the 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add the onion, and cook until soft. Increase heat to medium high and add the tortillas. Cook, stirring occasionally, until brown and crispy. Pour in the salsa, and stir to blend. Add leftover meats or beans (if using). With a wooden spoon or spatula, move the tortillas and salsa to one side of the pan, add the teaspoon of oil to the other side and pour in the eggs. Scramble the eggs for a few moments until nearly cooked. Stir them into the tortillas and mix together. Serve immediately garnished with cilantro, cheese, and avocado.

Images: Vanessa Barrington, JoeFoodie

Recipe Copyright Vanessa Barrington 2012

Resolve to start asking hard questions about the tuna on your plate.

If you’ve spent any time at all researching ethical eating choices, you already know to steer clear of the endangered Bluefin Tuna (also known as toro) at your favorite sushi bar.

But, the waters get a little murkier when we’re talking about other types of tuna such as the Ahi in the seafood case at your local grocery store, the Yellowfin on the restaurant menu, or the “chunk light” in those little cans in your cupboard.

Food Police are downers, and I’m not interested in judging anyone’s food choices, but the tuna situation is serious. We are loving tuna to death and to the detriment of our own health. Even if you bought it at your favorite groovy natural food grocery store, ordered it at one of the best restaurants in town, or picked up the can that says “dolphin safe,” it doesn’t mean it’s okay to eat. Tuna is popular and as long as we keep buying it, most retailers will continue to sell it. Here are the problems with that:

Species in Decline

Most species of tuna are under pressure or in decline from overfishing, with more than half at risk of extinction. Tuna are far-ranging fish that roam freely across international fishing boundaries, making enforceable quota agreements complicated. The demise of long-lived predator species like tuna can have an outsized ripple effect on the food web, and cause as yet unknown imbalances in the entire ocean eco-system.

Environmentally Destructive Fishing Methods

Tuna are fast swimming, powerful beasts that have inspired the fishing industry to develop sophisticated ways of finding and catching large numbers of them. Industrial fishing vessels use sonar to find large schools of tuna, and most commonly catch them using purse seines, or long lines, both of which result in an enormous amount of bycatch, including sea turtles, sharks, and sea birds. Much “dolphin- friendly” labeling is bogus and that “dolphin-friendly” can of tuna may still be plenty unfriendly to other species.

Dangerous Levels of Mercury

As a long-lived fish, environmental toxins like mercury can bioaccumulate in the tissues of tuna, posing a real health risk if eaten often. The FDA advises limiting tuna consumption to between 6 and 12 ounces a week, depending on the type of tuna.

After finding higher levels of mercury than FDA guidelines recommend consuming from canned and pouched tuna samples, Consumer Reports issued even stricter guidelines telling pregnant women to avoid tuna entirely. Mercury concerns aside, from an environmental standpoint, where it’s caught and how it’s caught means everything. In the absence of regulation, it’s up to us to start asking more questions about what we’re buying. To find out where the responsible fisheries are, check in with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Guide. To find out which fishing methods are environmentally preferable read up on them here.

Is there any type of tuna I can eat?

The only tuna you should be eating is that caught locally by small fishing boats trolling with a hook and line. Pacific Albacore from the West Coast is a good example, and can be found fresh or in cans. You will, however, find it to be a rather expensive delicacy to be enjoyed occasionally. But take heart. Saving the tuna for special occasions makes sense from a health standpoint because of the mercury, and if the high price lowers demand, it’s all for the good because perhaps we can leave some for future generations and the long-term health of the ocean. Buying pole and line caught tuna also means supporting the livelihoods of small-scale fishers. Ethical brands include Wild Planet, and American Tuna.

What fish can I eat instead of tuna?

From the EcoSalon archives you’ll find 11 sustainable, healthy choices including sardines, halibut, and farmed trout and mollusks. Monterey Bay Aquarium also has a chart of alternatives here.

So most of you aren’t about to replace your tuna salad sandwich with a sardine salad sandwich, but why not try canned wild salmon? Mix it with mayonnaise and add capers, dill, and a squeeze of lemon and see what you think. You might just like it better.

Images: Japes18, Dive Karma ,Tony the Bald Eagle

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate,  on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

A rift in slow food reveals big growing pains.

The foodiverse was all atwitter over this article from Chow last week. A rift has been forming between two factions within Slow Food USA, a non-profit organization that promotes the pleasures of the table, artisanal food production methods, sustainable agriculture, and direct connections between producers and consumers.

On one side is what we’ll call the Alice Waters faction that thinks food is too cheap to keep farmers who are doing the right thing in business and that people should prioritize food over consumer goods – and pay more for it. On the other side is some of the newer leadership of Slow Food that seeks to counter the charges of elitism that have continued to dog the organization, and to broaden its appeal to a younger, broker, and less well-connected demographic.

Think $20 pasture-raised chickens compared to Slow Food’s Recent $5 meal challenge. In some ways, switching its focus to value, rather than preciousness has helped Slow Food. Membership is up. But, according to the Chow article, donations are down from well-heeled donors who are unhappy with the organization’s new direction.

Critics insist that Slow Food must reach more people or risk being irrelevant to most of the population. Anna Smith Clark, The San Francisco Bay Area Governor of Slow Food agrees, but also thinks the laser-like focus in the media on higher profile elements around Slow Food do the organization a disservice. She points out that ordinary members within the organization are continually finding ways to disseminate the ideals behind Slow Food to different groups.  “There’s nothing written about the people who volunteer hours of their time planting the seeds of change in their communities among their friends and family members, or working with like-minded organizations,” says Smith Clark.

Discussions about Slow Food tend to focus on the need of reaching two specific groups: low income people and well-off foodies. For low income people the message is that it doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming to cook local, organic, real food, while the message for foodies is that when they fetishize taste, no matter the cost, they leave out a huge proportion of the population, for whom their message is useless.

As Slow Food grows up and the focus shifts away from its famous founders, there’s a third group that it will be crucial to reach: The enormous swath of the population with plenty of money to pay for good food, but who simply doesn’t care. This group doesn’t care about farmers, doesn’t care where food comes from, doesn’t care if it has additives, doesn’t care if it has too much packaging. Some probably doubt that organic is even healthier. Let’s call them the honey badgers of the consumer food market.  They really don’t give a sh*t.

If you’re a foodie living in a foodie bubble, you might forget these people exist. To remind yourself of the reality, go to a high-end conventional grocery store in any town in America, look at the cars in the parking lot, and watch what people put in their carts. It’s not a rarity to spot someone walking to a late model Mercedes or $70,000 Escalade with a grocery cart full of hundreds of dollars’ worth of processed, packaged food. Stacks of hot pockets, multiple giant boxes of Froot Loops, cases of Coca-Cola, jars of cheese dip, enormous bags of chips, and nary a fresh (or even frozen) vegetable in sight. Now go hang out around the parking lot of a fast food outlet in any well-off suburb, and notice how busy the drive-thru is.

So how does Slow Food reach those people? Smith Clark says people gravitate to the ideas of Slow Food around any number of issues, from concern for farm workers to childhood obesity. They get little tidbits of knowledge from community, news, friends, and family members, and at some point, the flashbulb lights up: “What are you going to do with the money in your pocket?” I ask if there isn’t some way to reach these people more quickly than these myriad individual conversations.

“I think that’s why it’s called Slow Food,” replies Smith Clark.

The honey badgers of the consumer food market vote. Changing the food system so that it is fair for both farmers and eaters is going to mean breaking the stranglehold the food industry has on food policy. Good food advocates need to reach the honey badgers and convince them that organic, sustainable food is not only better, but it’s also worth paying for, spending time cooking, and going to the polls for. Until then, you can pay all you want for chicken and heirloom vegetables at the farmers’ market, but the fast majority of food will still be processed, a lot of family farmers will still be impoverished, and those $20 chickens will continue to reach only a niche market. It’s going to take time. That’s why it’s a movement, not a revolution.

ALSO CHECK OUT:

Be Still my Beeping Crackberry: In Defense of Slow

Slow Fashion Alchemy

Slow, Meet Furniture. Furniture, Meet Your Maker.

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate,  on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Image: Lifesupercharger

How to move on from the holiday excess and truly feed yourself.

If, like many, you overindulged during the holidays, you might be feeling tempted to subsist on raw carrots, lettuce, and water for a few weeks – but this approach is all wrong. It’s not what your body needs right now and it will leave you starving, in more ways than one.

First Step – Forgive yourself and stop feeling guilty so you can move on. If you need help, visit the very cool Choose Love Project and view videos of women talking about their struggles with body image. Now, go take a nice brisk walk or head to a yoga class. Do whatever it is that makes you feel balanced. Don’t punish yourself for enjoying the holidays by overdoing it at the gym.

Feeling better? Now, let’s get sensible.
Whether you’re a vegan, a vegetarian, or an omnivore, you can follow the same set of principles for healthy winter eating. Make sure everything you eat is seasonal, prioritizing deeply colored foods; use long, slow cooking techniques to concentrate flavor (and satisfaction), adding plenty of warming spices; make sure everything you eat is whole and unprocessed; foster healthy digestion by adding fermented foods to your diet; and don’t be afraid of fat in moderation. Just make sure it’s healthy, high quality fat.

Seasonal and Colorful

If you want to know what’s in season, take a stroll through a farmers market. If you don’t have year-round markets in your area, think roots, and dark leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables like cabbage and broccoli, winter squashes, citrus, and the last of fall’s pears and apples.

Warming

Long, slow cooking, high heat roasting, and braising are the most satisfying cooking styles for winter, lending themselves well to fibrous vegetables and greens, as well as beans, whole grains, and certain cuts of meat – all are foods that are good to eat right now. Think slow simmered meat and/or vegetable stews, chili, roasted root vegetables and squash, bean dishes, chewy grains, and braised greens. Add plenty of warming spices like ginger, cumin, pepper, and cinnamon to your cooking.

Whole

Stay away from processed and packaged foods. Shop the perimeter of the store for fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, seafood, and high quality, minimally processed diary products. Shop the bulk bins or grocery shelves for beans, lentils, and whole grains. Try cutting out sugar in favor of less processed sweeteners like maple syrup, honey, and molasses. If eating meats and seafood, whole versions are more economical and tasty. Try baking, steaming, or broiling a whole fish, such as trout or bass, enjoy omega-3 rich sardines, or roast a whole chicken.

High Quality Healthy Fats

Don’t be afraid of fat as it warms, promotes satiety, and carries flavor. Just make sure it’s a healthy fat enjoyed in moderation. Think olive oil, organic butter from pasture raised animals, good quality lard that you’ve rendered yourself from a humanely-raised animal, coconut oil, and organic peanut oil.

Digestible

Promote good digestion and that feeling of lightness you’re seeking by eating reasonable portions more often, and making sure you’re including unprocessed (and unsweetened) yogurt, kefir, and aged raw cheeses, like parmesan in your diet. Try pairing fermented pickles or sauerkraut with fatty or rich foods, stir a little miso into dressings or marinades, or drink kombucha between meals.

A few recipes to try that illustrate the principles above:

Lentil Soup with Spinach and Lemon

Butternut Squash and Coconut Curry

Celery Root Soup with Bacon and Honey

Warm Farro Salad with Roasted Squash, Oyster Mushrooms, and Chard

Quinoa Salad with Dried Cranberries and Pumpkin Seeds

Chickpea Hotpot

Simple Farro and Bean Stew

Chicken and Lentil Cholent

Whole Steamed Fish with Ginger and Scallions

If you sometimes crave a little something sweet before bedtime, instead of grabbing a cookie or diving into the ice cream, try a cup of warm milk with honey and vanilla. It is mighty satisfying and will help you sleep.

For a more in-depth look at these principles and a Chinese Medicine perspective on what to eat for best health and most enjoyment (as well as delicious recipes) visit Gastronicity, and look for the author’s upcoming book, Real Food All Year, from Harbinger Press, due out in April 2012.

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate,  on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Images: Vanessa Barrington

To-do list: shop, prep, make easy appetizers, think now about what to do with leftovers.

Your guest list is done, the menu is planned – now the fun part begins. Whether it’s vegan tofurky, a traditional elaborate menu, or the potluck path, here are some tips and ideas for making the day as easy on the host as possible.

How to shop:

There is nothing more frustrating than pushing through crowds of shoppers while you crisscross the store. You want to hit each aisle precisely one time. Here’s how:

•  Now is not the time to shop in an unfamiliar store—plan to go where you know.
• Write your list according to the grocery store layout putting all dairy items together, all produce items together, and so on.
• Make two shopping trips, if possible. Visit the store early in the morning or late at night as early in the week as possible for the non-perishable goods, and then swoop in at the last minute for the turkey and salad fixin’s the day before Thanksgiving. Bike if you can or bring a friend to circle the parking lot if parking is an issue.

 What to make now:

You want to prep as much ahead as possible so that your day of cooking is as relaxing and easy as possible

• Cranberry sauce, salad dressing, and homemade broth can all be made up to five days in advance.
• Make the pie crust ahead and the filling too and put them together the morning of Thanksgiving.
• Cut the bread in cubes for the stuffing and leave out to dry two days ahead. If making cornbread stuffing, bake the cornbread ahead of time.
• The day before: prep the celery, onions, herbs, and other aromatics for the stuffing, make herbed butter to baste the turkey, make soup (if serving), wash and prep the vegetables and salad greens.

Restorative snacks for the cook:

Here are a few ideas to help you stay light on your feet, but energized:

• A hard boiled egg and avocado on toast
• Apples and nut butter
• A handful of dried fruit
• A bowl of yogurt and fruit
• A pile of lettuce tossed with some canned salmon or sustainable tuna and a simple vinaigrette

Simple Appetizers:

Thanksgiving is not the time to roll out the fried chips and cheese platters. Light, healthy, palate awakening appetizers are key in advance of this decadent meal:

• A selection of interesting artisanal pickles
• Radishes and salt
• Olives and a few spiced nuts
• A yogurt based vegetable dip with vegetable sticks
• Ceviche

Wine Pairings:

Turkey pairs well with red, white, or bubbly. But big fruit and alcohol bombs won’t do, so drink what you like best, making sure to choose lighter, food friendly varietals with plenty of acid to cut the heaviness of the meal.

• Reds: California Pinot Noir, Beaujolais Nouveau, Dolcetto, Montepulciano
• Whites: Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Blanc, Arneis, Verdicchio, Muscadet
• Roses and sparkling wines—light, not too fruity, or sweet is the way to go

Non-Alcoholic Drinks:

Provide plenty of refreshing, non-alcoholic drinks to keep guests hydrated and sober enough to drive home.

• Pear spritzers (sub bubbly water for Prosecco), pomegranate spritzers with pomegranate juice and bubbly water.
• Hibiscus iced tea
• Apple Ginger Sparklers

 What to do with leftovers:

Once you’ve had your fill of turkey and cranberry sauce sandwiches, what to do? Don’t waste food! Here are some unusual ideas to make sure you eat it all up:

• Turkey tortilla soup
• Vietnamese Turkey salad, or simply mix cubed turkey with mayo, halved grapes, poppy seeds, celery, and salt and pepper for an all-American version for sandwiches.
• Turkey enchiladas
• Turkey Gumbo or follow your favorite chili recipe, leaving the ground meat out and add shredded turkey just before you serve it.
• Mashed potato cakes

Images: Vanessa Barrington, davidmarcel, shankbone, derek gavey

The Super Committee and the Secret Farm Bill.

If the words “Farm Bill” make your eyes glaze over and your head start bobbing, you’re not alone, but slap yourself awake because the Farm Bill is not just for farmers; it’s for all eaters. And it matters.

During a recent panel discussion at the Community Food Security Coalition Annual Conference, I got a historic view of why Federal food policy in the guise of the Farm Bill matters, and what we can do to influence today’s version.

First a little history, Dan Imhoff, author of Food Fight, the Citizen’s Guide to Food and the Farm Bill, and several other books on food system issues, reminded us why the farm bill exists. I paraphrase below.

The first Farm Bill was written in 1933 under conditions of misery for farmers and eaters across America. Dust clouds drifted across Texas, taking with them precious topsoil. Without price supports, low crop prices meant farmers just planted more to get ahead, farming more and more marginal and vulnerable areas, and causing prices to drop even lower. Farms failed and the government stepped in and started paying farmers not to plant crops. Meanwhile, the government took control of surplus grain stocks and distributed these to the needy. The first farm bill was designed to support farmers and reform agriculture through grain credits and price supports, while promoting conservation of farming areas and distributing food to people in need.

Today though the bulk of the money goes toward nutrition programs for the needy, much of the remainder is spent in the form of subsidies for a narrow class of crops that are used for ethanol, animal feed, and processed food ingredients, corn being the biggest recipient. Little money goes toward fresh food crops that people actually eat in their unprocessed form, which is why critics say the Farm Bill promotes obesity and our epidemic of diet related diseases.

According to Imhoff, when the first farm bill was written in 1933, there were 6 million family farms. Today there are only 2.2 million farmers and 84% of them are losing money. This is because a small group of mega farms are the biggest beneficiaries of the system. Under the farm bill, fresh vegetables, fruits, and nuts (the ones we should be eating) are considered “specialty crops” and receive little support from the farm bill.

As an illustration, the new USDA 2010 Nutrition Guidelines or “My Plate” recommends that half of our nutrients come from fruits and vegetables and one-quarter from grains. Imhoff showed us a visual of what the ag subsidy plate would look like with only 2% of the subsidies going toward what people should be eating most of. For a detailed look at where the subsidies go and who gets them, check out The Environmental Working Group’s Farm Subsidy Database.

So what can we do to fix this lopsided situation?

Some say that all subsidies should be scrapped and let the free market decide. Others say that price floors should be favored over subsidies to give family farms (regardless of size) a leg up in competing with agribusiness.

Every five years we have a chance to influence federal food and farming policy when the farm bill comes up for renewal. The 2008 Farm Bill brought some real, though modest, gains for small family farmers, conservation, and hunger programs. With the Good Food movement in full swing, folks were hoping for more from the 2012 Farm Bill, but that was before the Super Committee,  charged with cutting the overall deficit, was formed. The four ag representatives on the committee, Frank Lucas R-Okla., Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and Pat Roberts, R-Kan., propose making $23 billion in cuts to agriculture. Some say these four will essentially decide the 2012 Farm Bill behind closed doors, amounting to what some, including Mark Bittman, are calling a Secret Farm Bill.

Big ag lobbyists will be clamoring for cuts that will benefit their constituents, but there is hope. Another speaker on the panel, Democratic Representative Chellie Penigree from the state of Maine, spoke about a bill she introduced with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) on November 1 called The Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act (SB 1773 and HB 3286). She outlined some of its provisions for helping local and regional farmers and ranchers, preserving and promoting nutrition programs, improving access to healthy foods, and supporting both family farms and new farmers. Pingree stressed that it’s up to us to let the four representatives on the committee, as well as our own senators and representatives, know that we support this act. The bill was introduced with 34 sponsors and has gained more since, proving that there are people in Congress who support the kind of food system we want. We just have to make sure we speak out loudly enough to drown out the chorus of lobbyists.

The decision could be made before Christmas, so get on the phone right now and call the Senate switchboard at (202) 224-3121, tell them where you live, and ask for your epresentative. Tell the staffer who answers the phone that you want to support local food and family farmers through The Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act.

Don’’t go back to sleep. Follow the progress of the Farm Bill at Food Democracy Now, and The Environmental Working Group.

Your food future depends on it.

Images: Fishhawk and Vanessa Barrington

Fun ways to ensure a waste-free harvest season.

It’s a sad fact that nearly 50% of the food we grow goes to waste. Some of that is wasted in the fields, after harvest, and some in distribution. Out of the food that actually makes it to the store, we, as consumers, throw away nearly 1/3 of the food we buy and take home.

Clearly we need to work on using what we have on hand. Even if you routinely use up your produce before it turns to mush in the crisper, if you’re a gardener, or a farmer’s market deal shopper, you’ve probably ended up with a bumper crop of vegetables and a shortage of ideas.

In honor of the harvest season, here are some tips for dealing with large quantities of produce.

Puree it—Pureeing produce can whittle large amounts of produce down to more manageable quantities. Take a large winter squash for instance. You can roast it and puree the pulp and use it in soups, risottos, pancakes, muffins, cookies, quick breads, and even oatmeal. Pureed squash also freezes well. You can roast and puree small quantities of odds and ends like summer squash, eggplant, peppers, and even greens like spinach and mix and match them to make a variety of delicious dips like Ajvar, spinach dip, and more.

Soup it—Of course you can puree anything (broccoli, peppers, potatoes, eggplant, greens, squash, tomatoes) and turn it into soup but you can also make a chunky, brothy, minestrone like soup with many different types of vegetables. Mix in some cooked beans for added protein. Green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, shredded greens, summer squash, and sweet potatoes all lend themselves well to this method. It’s fine to focus too. If you have a lot of leeks, onions, and garlic, and not much else, simply sauté in butter, add broth, and puree for an elegant allium soup.

Salad it—Anything can become a salad. Lettuce not required. Roast a bunch of beets, potatoes, squash, or sweet potatoes and combine with a tasty, full flavored dressing. Add protein if you like, herbs, green onions, cheese, toasted nuts. Anything goes. Some of these vegetables lend themselves to mixing with grains. Beet and farro salad anyone?

Dip it—If you have an abundance of peppers, carrots, fennel, and other sweet and crunchy vegetables, you may consider cutting them into sticks and making crudités. There’s no better excuse for making Bagna Cauda, a warm anchovy and garlic dip from the Piedmont region of Italy; a luxurious French brandade, or baba ghanoush.

Stock it—Lots of odds and ends, especially aromatics? Make up a big batch of vegetable broth and freeze it for soups later on. Or freeze the scraps from prepping over several weeks and make a big pot of stock once you have a good stash. Carrots, celery, leeks, onions, potatoes, mushrooms (including stems), garlic, chard stems, lettuce, and corn cobs, really just about any other vegetable that’s not too bitter is fair game for vegetable stock. Just make sure you include a balanced assortment.

Freeze it—We talked above about freezing pureed vegetables. Skip the potatoes, as they don’t freeze well. Fruits like berries and stonefruit are also great for freezing. Sliced plums and peaches will serve you well all winter in pies, cakes, and crisps. Too many tomatoes? Make a big batch of salsa and freeze it. The texture will suffer slightly but it will still taste better than store bought salsa come January. Cut corn kernels off the cob and freeze them in bags to add to casseroles and soups all winter long.

Shred it—Summer squash is easy to shred. Freeze it or use it right away to make savory cakes,  quick breads, and salads. Shred potatoes or sweet potatoes for potato pancakes.

Dry it—Make your own “sundried” tomatoes by cutting them in half (or slices), salting them, and putting them in a very low oven for several hours. This process concentrates their flavor and makes for a very versatile ingredient in soups, stews, pastas, and on pizzas. And then, of course, there’s the ubiquitous kale chip, which, when you get right down to it is dried kale, and an excellent way to use up a lot of kale in one fell swoop.

Can it—Saving the obvious solution for last…don’t forget canning, a method of preservation used by our foremothers (because they had to or risk starvation) and by plenty of current cooks (for pleasure and fun). Order a book and go to town. Or visit one of the many great websites focusing on canning and preserving. Two of my favorites are Punk Domestics and Food in Jars.

Happy Harvest! Use it or lose it!

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate,  on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Images: Vanessa Barrington

 Umami, known as the fifth taste, is what makes certain foods savory and deeply flavorful.

When you taste something with complex layers of flavor that fill the mouth and satisfy the soul, it’s likely you’re tasting umami. Umami is famously present in many animal products including cheeses, aged meats like salami, salted fish like anchovies, and fresh meats and seafood that have been caramelized at high temperatures. Luckily for vegetarians and vegans, umami exists in any food that contains the amino acid L-glutamate, including many plant-based foods.

Great vegan and vegetarian cooks know how to use umami-containing or umami-friendly ingredients to their best advantage to unlock the flavor in their dishes. Read on to learn their secrets.

Soy Sauce or Tamari—Fermentation is one way to develop umami in food. Soy sauce and tamari, both made from fermented soy beans, are rich in umami and salt. A tiny dash in salad dressings, drizzled into soups or veggie stews, or onto plain steamed vegetables can intensify the flavors of the other ingredients.

Bragg’s—Bragg’s Amino Acids is another fermented soybean product. Popular in raw food preparation, Bragg’s contains 16 of the 20 amino acids needed for balanced health. Use it as you would soy sauce or tamari.

Ume Plum Vinegar—A Japanese condiment that is derived from traditional Japanese pickled plums, this vinegar is salty, and a little bit sweet, with lovely floral characteristics. When you taste a dish and think that it just “needs something,” this might be the something it needs. Much more complex than Bragg’s or soy sauce, it can be used in the same ways suggested above. Don’t be afraid to tweak a Western vegetable soup with this Eastern condiment. It works.

Nutritional Yeast—Available in health food stores -and hip, independent theaters that sell popcorn- nutritional yeast is beloved by vegans for its nutty, cheesy flavor. Sprinkle it on popcorn, add to mashed or baked potatoes, or stir it into vegan casseroles.

Toasted Nuts and Seeds—Toasting seeds and nuts really brings out their flavor, and truly makes a difference in the umami quotient of your cooking. Grain salads, pilafs, and green salads can all benefit from the savory addition of toasted pumpkin or sesame seeds, or nuts, such as walnuts, almonds, and peanuts.

Dried Mushrooms—Mushrooms are treasure troves of naturally occurring umami. Drying them simply concentrates what’s already there. Reconstitute some dried shiitakes and add them to a winter squash stew or a brothy Asian noodle soup. Dried porcinis make swoony risotto and will help your barley soup sing.

Miso—Adding a spoonful of this fermented soybean product is a great way to add depth to vegetarian soups. Simply stir it in at the end of cooking, when you’re adjusting the seasoning. When combined with lemon juice, garlic, and herbs and spices, it makes a great marinade for grilled or roasted vegetables. These same ingredients can also double as a salad dressing.

Nori—why is sushi so crave-worthy? Partially because of the toasty, unique flavor of the nori that it’s wrapped in. You can buy nori in sheets and use scissors to snip it over vegetarian soups, stews and salads, or purchase it in flake form in the versatile Japanese condiment furikake, which is used to season plain rice. When buying furikake, read the ingredients, as some versions contain bonito or other fish.

Tomato Paste or Dried Tomatoes—Like mushrooms, ripe tomatoes contain a naturally occurring form of umami. When dried or concentrated into a paste, the umami characteristics are amplified. Add dried tomatoes or tomato paste to beans, marinades, or vegetable stews for a more complex flavor.

Caraway Seeds—Though spices don’t technically contain umami, they can bring out the umami in certain foods. Caraway seeds add a light smokiness and have a particular affinity for cabbage and potatoes. Add them to potato salads, coleslaws, and breads or rolls.

Cumin—Toasted cumin seeds can make almost any bean or lentil dish better. They have an intense savoriness of their own that adds a meaty character to foods into which they are incorporated.

Smoked Paprika—Adding smoked paprika to a bean dish or split pea soup is a great way to make as if you’ve used bacon. Need I say more? Even if you’re not into pretend meat, you might like to stir a little smoky paprika into potato salad, your favorite vinaigrette, hummus, baba ganoush, or a marinade for grilled vegetables.

Images: Rooey, Creative Tools, thepinkpeppercorn, jmurawski, fboyd, arminflikr, jackson3, miansari66

ColumnAdvertising tricks from the food world.

In this edition of Fit to Eat, we’re focusing on advertising and marketing: the good, the bad, the ugly and some gray areas in between. The very bad form award goes to one well-known seafood chain using the prospect of ocean species extinction as a marketing campaign to sell menu items; Chipotle, the burrito chain, enlists Willie Nelson to cover a Coldplay hit to highlight the company’s commitment to supporting small scale farmers; Yum! Brands, the grease factory that brings us Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell, is working state by state to make it possible for food stamp recipients to use their Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) dollars on fast food (I can see the billboards now); Con Agra is being sued in a class action for advertising its genetically modified corn oil as “100% natural”; and Dean Foods touts that its chocolate milk is made from…milk! Imagine that, real milk, coming soon to a school lunch tray near you.

“Save the Salmon” says Legal Sea Food, but not because salmon are an important part of the food chain, or because they are a sacred food to Native Americans, or because they are amazing creatures. Nope. Save them so that Legal Sea Food can sauté them with lemon butter sauce. Same goes for trout and crab. Yeah, it’s supposed to be funny, but environmentalists aren’t laughing.

Chipotle, the only national fast food chain that sources hormone and antibiotic free meats, produced this animated video of farmers going back to the old ways of doing things with Willie Nelson covering the haunting Coldplay song “The Scientist” in the background. Cynical marketing campaign or sheer brilliance?

Ever looking for new markets, Yum! Brands is applying for inclusion in the food stamp programs in several states. On one hand, it looks like a giant government subsidy for fast food, but the company says fast food is one of the few food options available to homeless food stamp recipients and others without kitchens or the ability to prepare meals.

Some clever lawyers turned the GMO industry’s own language against it, suing Con Agra for its use of the verbiage “100% Natural” on cooking oil that is likely to be made from genetically modified plants. Zeroing in on this definition of GMOs from Monsanto, “Plants or animals that have had their genetic makeup altered to exhibit traits that are not naturally theirs,” the lawsuit contends that consumers are being misled by labels that convey that the product is a natural, wholesome product.

Aiming its new high fructose corn syrup-free chocolate milk squarely at school lunch programs nationwide, Dean Foods unleashes a marketing blitz to tout the attributes of its TruMoo chocolate milk product, among which is the selling point that it’s actually milk! Nutritionists are split on whether or not chocolate milk should be allowed in schools. What’s your take?

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate,  on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.