ColumnWhen simple just doesn’t suffice.

“Why is bone luging a thing?”

It was 3:30 on a Monday afternoon and this had to be the oddest text of the day.

“I did not know if this was a new foodie thing to do,” my friend followed up by way of explanation.

When you write a column on food, your friends and colleagues often take it upon themselves to one-up you on knowing what the latest and hippest thing in the food world is. And they’re often pretty successful.

I had no idea what bone luging was. So I looked it up.

For starters, the fourth Google option upon searching “bone luging” was a site called How Hipsters Date. I clicked hestitantly, slightly turning my head and squinting with both eyes the way you do when you’re watching a scary movie, in fear of what would pop up on the screen. You just never know.

Called “the new drinking fad food writers love to hate,” by Gothamist, bone luging combines the trend of bone marrow with the obsession of taking shots in ways reminiscent of college days. It’s simple: Eat the marrow out of a transected piece of bone, then use the empty bone to direct a shot into your mouth.

Cue disgusted shivering.

Tasting Table claims the trend hails from Portland – the little foodie bubble that I like to call home – and although I have never been to Metrovino which has bone luge on their menu, I can envision several local hot spots offering it sooner or later.

If you’re shaving fennel and serving crispy pig ears, a bone luge is really only so far away.

There is a lot of talk of food trends, but sometimes I wonder if trends are really trends at all, or simply the odd creation of a socially networked generation that’s obsessed with creating more internet fodder. Journalist Felicia Heaton went to the efforts of making a how-to guide:

Bone Luge How-To

Part 1: Order the bone marrow. Scrape it from the bone and eat it by spreading it on toasted bread. Or, if you’re die hard, suck it right off the spoon.

Part 2: Pick a liquor or fortified wine to compliment the marrow.

Part 3: Grab your smart phone in preparation for the obligatory Bone Luge photo.

Part 4: Pick up the bone as a funnel, pouring the drink at the top and watch it flow down the hatch. (Don’t forget to snap the photo!)

Part 5: Share your work via social networking.

Because would a food trend even be a food trend without the internet and people uploading photos of themselves in semi-compromising situations [note: most bone luging photos are not the most becoming, and it's not because of the 80s ski sweaters]? There is a bone luge Tumblr page and a hashtag. Give it a few weeks and it might end up going the route of bacon. Just read the manifesto. I can’t wait for the “Sh*t Bone Lugers Say” video to come out.

Is anyone else sick of food trends? What happened to regular artisan goat cheese made from happy animals and organic farms with farmers trying to make a difference? Have these admirably foodie foods gotten lost in the mix of smoke-infused cocktails and bartender mustaches?

As the same friend who tipped me off to bone luging in the first place said, “Can’t I just go somewhere that doesn’t serve complicated things?”

Social media and the internet have allowed us to connect with food lovers, influence the discussion on food politics and be inspired to eat better, but it’s also a wide world of cats eating cupcakes, which I am certain isn’t doing a damn thing for advancing the food movement.

Bad trends happen to good people. Keep in mind that taking the joy of food out of the equation and replacing it with the need to jump on the latest bandwagon isn’t hip or underground, it’s just trite and disappointing. When someone offers you some bone marrow and tequila, feel good about saying no. Because when it comes to food, you should keep it simple, stupid.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Image: thegift73

Organic and artisan goods perfect for gifting.

Trying to track down the best goods for food lovers? Look no further. We rounded up some of our favorite bites from Foodspotting, perfect for the foodie in your life.

Organic Wheat Beer (Mothership Wit)

Kombucha Vinegar (Happy Girl Kitchen)

Terre Rosse Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Azienda Agraria Hispellum)

Raw Vegan Chocolates (ChocolaTree Organic Eatery)

Achva Organic Halva (Johnvince Foods)

Organic Dominican Dark Chocolate Bar (Vosges Haut Chocolat)

Iswari Organic Raw Chocolate Making Kit (Nourish)

Emmy’s Organics – Flagstaff, Arizona

Artisan chocolate (Halls)

Assorted Macaroons (ET Artisan Sweets)

Organic Cheese Selection (SFO, San Francisco Airport)

Top Image: Out of the Kitchen Food Adventures

ColumnCan a bowl of comfort food really be called a “craze?”

I was walking down the street with a friend in Brooklyn, ogling the multitude of good-looking restaurants and resisting the urge to take a photo of every single one of them.

“Do you guys have the ramen trend, too?” my friend asked.

I paused and thought for a second. Had I not just been invited to dinner at a ramen shop a few weeks ago? It was all coming back to me.

“Yeah,” I said, putting out of my mind for the time being the absurdity of the phrase “ramen trend.” At least I could appreciate the fact that Brooklyn wasn’t many steps in front of Portland; they were serving our coffee, after all.

And then a mere 24 hours later, after a cold winter walk, ramen seemed like just the thing we needed, which is how I found myself at Chuko ordering a bowl of miso with a poached egg, scallions and pork, feeding right into what has also been deemed “ramen fever“ and the “ramen craze.”

“That is not ramen,” said my colleague when I texted her a photo of what I was eating along with the words, “Look, ramen is trendy now!”

“Would be better with some fennel,” responded another colleague, to which we both smirked.

For the record, the ramen was delicious, on par with a mean bowl of pho I once ate on the streets of Hanoi, sold of course at one tenth of the price and consumed while sitting on a pink plastic children’s chair. But was I really sitting at a corner restaurant in Brooklyn, watching young couples in well fitting, dark colored jeans and waxed canvas coats out for a walk on a Saturday afternoon eating a dish once reserved for cheap college students? A dish that was now deemed a “craze?” As much as I hate to admit it, yes. And I loved it.

As it turns out, the basics are back. Gussied up burgers are everywhere, upscale food markets sell syrups for homemade soda and even five star restaurants offer fries. But as a smart woman once indicated, even if you call a scarf “fabulous” it’s still a piece of fabric wrapped around your neck, just as a bowl of macaroni and cheese is still a bowl of macaroni and cheese, no matter how much imported aged cheddar and truffle oil you add.

If recent reports are true, even burgers are for rich people. And so are doughnuts – if they’re covered in a blood orange glaze, that is.

Comfort food will always be comfort food. Some of us just don’t want to talk about the fact that we actually like it. So we spruce it up to feel good about eating it. Call it a guilty food complex, but plenty of us refuse to admit to stooping to the levels of fast food – horrors! – yet we’re more than happy to eat a burger made with long-haired oxen meat and doused in a generous dollop of handmade mayonnaise. It’s artisanal, after all.

And when we’re feeling down, even the smartest, healthiest food lover might be tempted by a bowl of cookie dough.

The fact that people of all manner of socioeconomic status like the same foods is nothing extraordinary. A burger is still a burger, a quesadilla is still a quesadilla, a grilled cheese sandwich is still a grilled cheese sandwich and a fry is still a deep fried potato; they all hit a spot that a beet salad sprinkled with goat cheese just can’t.

So, when you’re feeling your winter funk, reach for that bowl of ramen and feel good about the fact that you’re helping to bring basics back. Just make sure to add fennel.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones, Nona Brooklyn, Anna Brones, Week of Menus

ColumnStipple that fennel emulsion with cold-pressed chervil oil and serve.

The signs are clear.

You can name the five local artisan cheeses served at your neighborhood wine bar, and you have come to accept the fact that one of them comes from more than 100 miles away. At your dinner parties, you inevitably hear “You should start a restaurant!” at least once before the main course is even served. Your liquor cabinet includes various home distilled bottles that verge on being illegal. You’ve eaten at least one dessert or baked good made with butternut squash in the last week. You drizzle olive oil on your ice cream. You scoff at fellow diners who do not instinctively question the origin of their meat, or inquire after the cow’s/chicken’s/salmon’s name.

Yes, the time has come: You’re ready to channel your foodie chops into a full time gig.

But before you go scoping out the latest empty warehouse space and decorate it with minimalist salvaged furniture and soy tea lights, take some time to focus on your menu. Foodie Underground has put together a foolproof guide to help you along your way to launching a successful business, one that’s sure to get you plenty of write-ups in the blogosphere and, more importantly, tweets from food nerds.

Aperitif

Bourbon, bitters and definitely something infused, preferably with bacon.

Champagne and elderflower.

Appetizers

Choose either a dynamic or intentionally plain name for this section of the menu. Anything in French will do, or simple phrases like “small plates.” Then make sure to have at least two of the following:

Wilted bitter greens.

Some type of carb with crust cut off.

A basket of bread studded with as much farmhouse cheddar or bacon as possible. Rosemary is so 2005.

Goat cheese. Preferably on beets, but other roots will do in a pinch. Think parsnips or rutabaga.

Braised greens on brioche. Both are on foodie menus everywhere, but in such an inventive pairing? Sure to get you a write up.

Main course

May also be referred to as “Mains.”

Creamy polenta. Garnish with bacon.

Roasted [free range chicken or alternatively, any extremely tiny poultry] with heirloom [insert root vegetable] atop fennel [emulsion, sauce, or stew]. Garnish with bacon.

Pan-fried offal seared in duck fat. Garnish with bacon.

Cured [insert pig part] with medium-rare [insert fatty pig part] and grapes.

Something Scandinavian would be nice, like pickled [anything] with an aquavit, lingonberry, dill sauce, but call it glaze.

Something French, that includes at least two prepositions written in italics.

Something soulful. Mashed fingerling potatoes with macaroni and cheese is a great start as long as you garnish with bacon.

Something that inspires the diner to use the word “locavore” in a sentence.

Dessert

Caramelized fruit with toasted hazelnuts drizzled in olive oil.

Hand-cranked ice cream flavored with a savory ingredient. Think black tea, coriander or bacon.

Anything baked in a ramekin.

Creme brulee with locally grown lavender, seasoned with bee pollen.

Cappuccino, as long as it is shade grown and isn’t – whatever you do – wet.

Other tips

Get a logo in Helvetica.

Accept cash only. Plastic would simply ruin the authenticity of the experience.

Hand write your menu. Or choose a typewriter font.

Stick to lowercase letters, or all caps, but make sure it’s one or the other.

Serve your booze in Mason Jars, your water in old wine bottles, and if you’re going for a more upscale feel, your housemade seltzer in bottles that close with a wire clasp.

Hang up some art, preferably a framed typography poster.

Paint your back wall in chalkboard paint and write up the day’s specials in cursive.

Have some pink Himalayan salt somewhere, ideally as a votive candle holder.

And when you’re finally open for business, be sure to let us know, because there’s nothing we love more than spending an evening in a low lit restaurant that’s painfully hip. We’ll bring cash, we promise.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones

Jot this down: reclaimed oak and leather, chalkboard paint, natural tung oil.

Handmade in Philadelphia, this chalkboard tablet would be an excellent gift for the foodie in your life. This being the age of the foodie, surely you know one by now. Perhaps you’re living with one. (Perhaps you are one.)

Tablets, perfect for jotting down recipes and other culinary notes, are made from reclaimed oak (salvaged from discarded bleachers at Liberty High School in Philly), reclaimed leather sourced from WWII-era gun holsters, chalkboard paint and natural tung oil. Because of the nature of reclaimed wood, each piece is its own, though they all uniformly feature a hole for hanging or securing to an optional stand.

Price: $22.00 from Branch Home.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

Column“Local” is the new “global” and fancy is put on the back burner for simpler, more laid back food.

It’s time to rejoice foodie undergroundists: fancy fusion with unintelligible names that make you feel self-conscious about your culinary prowess are out and simple, fun foods are back in.

You may have noticed the rise of hole-in-the-wall joints in your town, and the increasing use of farmers market produce in local menus, both out at restaurants and at home dinner parties, but our transition from haute cuisine to something a little more democratized is now official. According to the recent San Pellegrino Top 50 Restaurant Awards, local is the new global and these days we’re much more apt to opt for fun and informal food than anything with à la in the title.

Some of that success might be equated to the down economy, but fortunately it looks like the trend is sticking no matter what the size of people’s pocket books.

But the expansion of this more relaxed gastro scene does not seem to have slowed down as the economy has bounced back; quite the reverse in fact. Casual, fun dining, with a genuine focus on good and exciting food, is simply too successful.

If the study holds true, this means serious changes to the dining industry. Fancy, Michelin 5 star will always stick around, but an increased obsession with local and low-key could mean great things for budding culinary crafts-men and women. To get the opinion of the new generation of chefs, The Wall Street Journal asked acclaimed 25-year-old chef Stevie Parle of Dock Kitchen in London what he thought.

“People no longer enjoy themselves very much in posh restaurants, where it feels like you are eating with your grandfather. One good trend is that people no longer associate an expensive meal with a posh one. People can come to my restaurant and spend £80 a head on good wine and the like but they don’t expect it to look super fancy or all the dishes being miniature and perfectly laid out on the plate.”

Of course 20-somethings aren’t dictating the future of cuisine, but the growth in food interest from the younger generation is certainly having an impact. This crowd, not necessarily raised in the pantries of fine dining establishments, has a genuine love for good food, and semi-broke 20-somethings are just the type to come up with the innovation and ingenuity that the food world is currently craving.

There are plenty of 20-something foodie blogs out there, proving that it is possible to enjoy, and create good food, without a traditional training. Ultimately, they represent the growing group of “real people that love real food.”

And that’s just what might change the food industry.

It’s empowering to know that food change could come from the ground up. No longer dictated by big restaurants, it’s the smaller, more local operations that are making a difference and the rest of the world is taking notice.

Trading haute cuisine for fun cuisine doesn’t have to mean that the quality will change. Fun food isn’t all hot dogs and cupcakes, it’s simply more about dishes that don’t take themselves to seriously. Food for the sake of food, where a salad is a salad – preferably grown on the restaurant roof top – and ordering a burrito can be done with 0% guilt because the taco truck uses all organic, locally sourced ingredients.

Look out for food that continues to push the envelope, and if you think being a food lover is equated with pretentiousness, think again, because as it turns out, the most popular stuff coming out of the food world might just be coming out of your own backyard.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Wootang01, Ed Yourdon, Anna Brones

ColumnCelebrate all things local with NYC’s Eat Drink Local Week.

Who says you need a bucolic setting to eat locally? Urban metropolises are showing that they too can provide sustenance for their inhabitants in new and creative ways, and this week New York City takes the crown.

Eat Drink Local Week (EDL) kicked off in New York City over the weekend, a collaboration between the Edible magazines of New York State and partners from the entire food chain. The idea is to get people all over the city excited about local food and during the 7-day festivities challenge them to take part in the “lip-smacking locavore lineup.”

Some of our favorite from the list of 20 challenges:

-Drink like a local! Swig libations from New York breweries and wineries. Bonus: make a farmy cocktail starring local herbs or produce.

-Cook your cast-offs! Think corn cob stock, sauteed beet tops, and pickled watermelon rinds.

-Shuck your own clams, mussels, scallops or oysters.

-Drink only local water—it’s called “tap,“ people.

EDL has also identified the seven ingredients of the week, and if you can manage to pull all of these into one recipe we’ll be highly impressed:

1. Strawberries
2. Peas
3. Chives and Green Garlic
4. Rhubarb
5. Lamb
6. Oysters
7. Yogurt

This list means that there are a whole lot of chic restaurants around town serving up prix fixe menus that put those ingredients to creative use, like Marinated Mackerel with Pickled Rhubarb, Cucumber, Fava Beans, and Watercress at Aquavit and Peas, Bacon, Sweet shrimp Risotto with Liberty Garden Arugula at Print.

And beyond just eating, there are plenty of chances to learn about food and drink, as well as interact with the people that make it.

• Bring Something Win Something: Take part in Union Square Greenmarket’s interactive campaign that encourages foraging, happening all week long.
• Watch Urban Roots: Check out the free screening of this film about city farming in Detroit, July 27th, 6:30 p.m.
• Meet Your Maker: Throw down with the good brewers at Brooklyn Brewery as well as other local food businesses, June 29th, 6-9 p.m.

EDL runs through Thursday, June 30, 2011. If you don’t live in New York City, these events make you wish you had a round-trip ticket there doesn’t it?

Want to check out some of our locavore faves in NYC? Check out our Locavore Guide to Manhattan on Foodspotting.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Image: Edible Manhattan

Nutrition fads draw attention, but the real harm is in common, processed foods.

Food myths abound, but whether or not you try to cure a hangover with food from the greasy spoon or lose a few pounds with a maple syrup fast, you’re probably not doing a significant amount of damage to your body in the long term. There, is however, a whole lot that we don’t know about our standard diet that is causing a problem. Studies show most Americans know very little about what they’re eating, and in a society seduced by labels like “low fat,” “sugar free,” and “reduced sodium,” we are very trusting. How many of us really take the time to know what we’re eating? We’re not all chemists and nutritionists, but there are laymen’s terms when understanding food that we should focus on.

According to a report by U.S. News Health, 76 percent of 1,000 Americans polled, agreed with the statement: “Wine can be good for your heart.” Partly true, it turns out that only 30 percent of those polled actually knew what the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends as a daily limit for consumption. Think you know how many? It’s two glasses per day for men and one glass per day for women. Exceed that, saysthe AHA, and you’re at increased risk for a handful of serious health issues like heart disease, cancer, and obesity.

That same report found that we know very little about the sodium in our food choices. 46 percent of those polled said that table salt is the primary source of sodium in American diets, when in fact, processed foods like canned foods and condiments make up almost 75 percent of sodium consumption in the U.S.

This brings me back to a recent Michael Pollan lecture I attended. We’re stuck in a vicious cycle of focusing on all of the various “health” labels, and yet we have totally forgotten about what foods are really good for us. In our quest for finding quick fixes to our health problems, we have totally lost touch with epicurean reality.

Forget the organic, gluten-free vegetarian fusion dishes; when it comes to our national food culture, we have to get back to basics, and with that, an understanding of what we’re putting into our bodies.

Some common misunderstandings:

Fat free means calorie free

As a society, we’re way too focused on fats, and anything that screams “fat free” is probably compensating with ample amounts of sugar, an ingredient that as of late, is much discussed as a food toxin.

If you’re not eating meat, you’re not getting enough iron

You don’t need a portion meat a day or even a month to keep up your iron levels, and in fact, most Americans are getting too much iron. Green vegetables, beans and lentils will supply plenty of iron for your body, and are less absorbent when you’re already at your iron intake maximum.

Fats and oils are bad

We don’t need to be dousing our plates in olive oil and butter, but if you’re swapping natural fats for synthetic replacements in the hopes of canceling out the negative effects, you’ve gone a step too far. Our understanding of fat’s role in health and weight has evolved since the 90s fat phobia that gripped the country and left us collectively fatter and sicker. Monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats are vital, according to the Mayo Clinic. Even butter can be healthy in reasonable amounts. Opt for what’s minimally-processed over what’s “free,” and trust what Mother Nature provides.

While we each have to find the balance of nutrients that works for our own bodies, that should be built on a foundation of unprocessed, unbleached, unrefined whole foods. Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks seems to have a good grip on that idea. Her Super Natural Cooking cookbook is a frequently skimmed-through publication in my own kitchen.

Over the last several decades we’ve made it acceptable to eat unhealthy food, to the extent that simply seeking out fresh produce from the farmers’ market makes one a foodie. When did it become snobby to choose broccoli over a microwaveable pasta dish with processed alfredo sauce?

We obsess over crash diets and cleanses, miracle nutrients and superfoods, and argue about the risks and benefits of them all. But it’s not fad diets that hurt us so much as the diet.

Editor’s note: Our Foodie Underground column will resume next week, including a special announcement. Stay tuned!

Images: stevendepolo

ColumnWhy we have to stop thinking of the “foodie” movement as a trend.

Luxury continues to inspire the culinary world, and its eager diners. From $3,000 dinner reservations to a select list of the world’s 50 best restaurants, the top tier of the food chain is elevating the art of eating with price tags to match. In contrast, the general public faces rising food prices (which is even worse for the developing world).

The foodie echelon is always looking for the latest and greatest; those concerned and engaged with what they eat are often branded as pretentious fools who care too much about food. Tell your friends you’re thinking about checking out the new artisan charcuterie and you may earn an elevated eyebrow.

When did caring about food become food snobbery?

First, we have to remember not to take ourselves too seriously. Toothpaste for Dinner has a wry comic poking fun at food pretension:

We can all find a little humor in poking fun at our gustatory obsession with local-this, organic-that, but, as self-described foodies, are we aspiring to become the kind of food snobs people do poke fun at or are we just creating healthy attitudes?

When I think foodie, I envision a person equally as interested in getting their hands dirty in a bed of their own homegrown kale as they are in throwing down a couple extra dollars at the farmers’ market to score the best chanterelles; a person concerned with real food who is willing to spend their hard-earned money to buy and enjoy it. Only equating foodies with luxury or upscale concoctions is simplistic. For sellers to elevate the prices of whole or organic food, it essentially privatizes it, taking out of the hands of the people willing to defend it and use it daily, not just for frivolous occasions. But as we have learned in the past year of the Foodie Underground column, this is fortunately not the case – despite mainstream media hype.

Despite how easy it is for mass media to focus on $3,000 dinners and $600 cookbooks, food culture isn’t changing because of shock value. It’s changing because of markets where shoppers can talk to their farmers. It’s changing because of friends who get together and see how many ingredients they can source locally for their dinner party. It’s changing because schools are starting to think about the benefits of serving organic to children. It’s changing because there’s a new media world full of food-savvy individuals who are encouraging others to contemplate their relationship to food.

With a love for what we eat, we have to stop thinking of good and creative food as a trend and start thinking about how we make it a resilient American tradition.

The underground markets featuring the DIY products of urban-dwelling bakers. The apartment windowsill herb garden turned full-blown balcony vegetable garden. It’s reveling in taste. It’s getting our hands dirty. It’s engaging with our community. It’s ensuring that everyone can be involved. And that is no trend.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones, Toothpaste for Dinner, Anna Brones

When it comes to cuisines, a city’s status isn’t just about collecting restaurants with 3 Michelin stars. These days it’s all about a holistic approach: numerous hole-in-the-walls serving up hard-to-find goods, ample access to fresh and local (preferably organic) produce, a local wine culture. Just as the underground food movement has taken hold, making it cool to make your own food, harvest your own vegetables and buy a share in a community-run vineyard, so has the definition of food culture.

You think food-centric cities and the usual suspects pop up: New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Paris. But according to a recent study by CNBC, the foodie cities of the country aren’t just the standard handful. According to the study, the top 10 places for excellent food and excellent food culture are:

• Santa Rosa, California
• Portland, Oregon
• Burlington, Vermont
• Portland, Maine
• San Francisco, California
• Providence, Rhode Island
• Boston/Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Seattle, Washington
• Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Santa Barbara, California

But how was the list determined? Calculating data on the ratio of local restaurants to chain restaurants, number of Whole Foods and cooking stores, number of wine shops, wine bars, craft breweries, and brew pubs; and the number of CSA (community supported agriculture) farms and local farmers markets.

Which brings me to a minor frustration: Whole Foods is an indicator of a foodie city? With the influx of underground farmers markets, supper clubs, and soup swaps it’s certainly clear that our food trends are not being dictated by larger chains, no matter how many local, unpasteurized, artisan varieties of chevre they sell.

Take Whole Foods out of the picture and it’s easy to posit that these cities are deemed foodie hotspots because their inhabitants care about an important combination of things: personal and environmental health. They have a relationship to where their food comes from, they know the value of eating well and, above all, their cities provide an infrastructure for doing so.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground. Each week, Anna will be taking a look at something new and different that’s taking place in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to culinary avant garde.

Image: mastermac