eat less meat!

How preposterous of me to tell you so?  Not.  Surprisingly, this is a huge environmental issue that goes way beyond the potentially ethical question of killing (they call it harvesting now, to make it sound more harmless) a living being and eating it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a vegetarian.  However, in the Western industrialized world meat consumption has skyrocketed from eating meat once a week or so to just under 200lbs/person/year in the US since the advent of cheap meat!  This enormous meat consumption in combination with the rise in world population and the increasing numbers of people able to afford the cheap meat has become a recipe for disaster.

The environmental calamity arises from "cheap" and "too much."  Why?  Because the CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) that these poor animals are raised in are among the biggest greenhouse gas emitters on this planet - generating about 18% (!!!) of greenhouse gases.  In addition, the huge amounts of animal waste leach antibiotics into our ground water.  And to top it off, the conditions under which these sorry souls are being raised, then killed and processed are so horrendous that it is literally unbelievable (read Jonathan Safran Foer because you must know).

There is nothing necessarily wrong with eating meat per se.  As a matter of fact, especially during childhood and adolescence animal protein helps to grow the brain.   But like with anything balance is the key and industrialized nations have become meat addicted.   Food researcher and author Marion Nestlé has advocated eating meat in condiment quantities.

How can we help?  First and foremost by resisting to buy cheap supermarket meat, which comes from CAFOs.  Instead, buy your meat at or from a local farm where the animals have been raised sustainably.  Yes, it will cost more.  But we ought to consume much less of it!

It's in the quality, not the quantity.

You may also want to revisit a series of three posts on meat eating.

on sauerkraut and kimchi

I love Sauerkraut and Kimchi.  Both are simple and cheap traditional cabbage based fermented foods, the first from northern Europe, the other from Korea.  Fermented foods in general are enormously healthy because they replenish your gut system with beneficial bacteria - and a healthy gut is prerequisite for a strong immune system (see an earlier post on fermented foods). While you can easily buy them both, beware of Sauerkraut (and pickles, for that matter) made with vinegar or the cooked canned version, and Kimchi with MSG (must read the labels!).   Sauerkraut and pickles in vinegar are not fermented and therefore do not have the beneficial bacteria we so need!  The sour taste of inauthentic mainstream Sauerkraut (or pickles) comes from the vinegar used for ease of manufacturing in an industrialized process.  And MSG is definitely not something you would want to eat - follow the link for more information if you don't know already.

So why not make both yourself?  It is so easy, quick, satisfying and fun (the pounding part of Sauerkraut especially).   I save large wide-mouth glass jars for storing them.

Sally Fallon's Sauerkraut has exactly three ingredients (cabbage, salt, whey), or four if you like caraway seeds in it.  I am a purist and prefer it without.  Saveur magazine dedicated a whole issue to Kimchi a few years ago since you can make Kimchi (like pickles) with just about any vegetable, and you can become more or less sophisticated with your ingredients.  But start nice and simple (follow the link to an easy recipe) and see whether you like the process and the result.

To the good bacteria!

local food relationships

In other parts of the world, whether Europe, Asia, South America or Africa, farmers' markets that sell fresh fruits and vegetables, but also meat, dairy, bread, spices and condiments (and kitchen utensils, clothing, and what not) year round, are nothing unusual.  Our local market in Paris, where I grew up, was held three times a week, as is Union Square Market in Manhattan.  Here in the US farmers' markets are relatively new, as is the entire foodie movement in general, and markets are mostly held once a week during the growing season.  Yet, the whole food movement has taken root quickly and with a vengeance.  People now love to know where their food comes from. Beyond the farmer's market a CSA (community supported agriculture), basically a subscription to a portion of the farmer's harvest, is a great way to get to know your local farmers, invest into their crop for the season and reap the benefits.  While produce CSAs are the most common, some CSAs also offer flowers, fruit, honey, eggs, even meat.  A few farms in the immediate area that do CSAs are Rogowski Farm, High Breeze Farm and Bialas Farms, to mention just a few.

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I buy as much as I can locally.  Many of our eggs come from a friend who has chickens and sells her surplus during the warm season, but also from High Breeze Farm (although they run out of eggs so quickly I can't get there fast enough much of the time).  Honey I buy in 5lb jars from a local potato and onion farmer who is also a beekeeper.  Some of my meat comes from a young professional couple who started raising their own chickens and hogs at their farm Hickory Field a few years ago to assure high quality meat, and who dream of making a living at it in the future.  I get beef, some pork, as well as maple syrup from High Breeze Farm, and raw milk from Freedom Hill Farm.  And until recently we even had our very own cheese maker in the area, Bobolink Dairy, who unfortunately moved away.

Then there are farm-to-table restaurants, which are either farms that also run a restaurant (in our direct area Rogowski's once-a-month Field to Fork Gourmet Supper Club comes to mind), or a restaurant that grows its own produce, and even its own meat, such as the Stone Barns research center in Tarrytown, NY with its fabulous Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurant.

And if all of that does not get you in touch intimately enough with your local farmers now there are entire communities built and centered around a working farm, called agrihoods, as the NY Times reported.

Of course there is still your local seasonal farm stand for spur-of-the moment drive-by buying if you don't want to commit to a CSA for the season.  But if you would like to try a CSA now, in early spring, is the perfect time to scout out your local farms and find out who offers what.

spice up your life

spicesSpices have healing powers besides making food so much more interesting.  During the Middle Ages, when spices first made it to Europe from the spice islands, they were rare, exotic, cherished and very expensive.  Thus they were surrounded by an aura of far-away-lands and saved for special occasions. It's been said that people who like hot and spicy foods have a zest for life, and that people who prefer bland foods prefer a more unexciting life.  The Indian cuisine has perfected the use of spices and developed world famous spice mixtures such as curry and garam masala.  The North African spice mixture harissa is another example of a widely known spice mixture.  Usually each cook blends her own so that no two curry or harissa mixtures are alike.

spices 2

Spices such as cinnamon, cloves, cumin, especially in combination with garlic and onions, also all chili powders, are known to kill bacteria and are commonly eaten in warm climates to safeguard against the possibility of potentially slightly spoiled foods.  In Indian cuisine the spices are sautéed in oil or ghee to develop their flavors before vegetables or meats are added.

DSC00173I buy spices in bulk, 1lb bags of organic spices from the food coop, and keep surplus in the freezer or share it with other coop members.  Why not spice up your life?

healthy cooking 101

You may have read food critic Michael Pollan's famous food slogans to  "eat food, not too much, mostly plants," and to eat only "what your great-grandmother would have recognized as food."  This excludes of course all the processed bad-for-you convenience foods, and basically recommends making your own out of a few good base ingredients.   Some people really don't like to cook, the way I don't really like to garden.   They don't connect with the creative act of manipulating raw ingredients and making magic out of it, although they may be creative elsewhere in life.

So for all of you who don't like to cook, here are some really simple tricks to make something delicious out of nothing much in mere minutes.    Some of the simplest and most wholesome homemade foods are of the dippy kind - the stuff you can scoop up with chips, raw or semi-cooked vegetables (crudités in French), a piece of toasted bread or pita or toasted tortilla.  They don't even require cooking.

  • Hummus and bean dips - put cooked chickpeas or beans into your food processor  with some tahini (sesame seed paste), lemon juice, garlic and salt, a bit of olive oil if you like, and some water for thinning.  Voilà - hummus, the Middle Eastern specialty.  You could omit the tahini and add rosemary or oven roasted garlic to cooked beans or lentils, you could add sun dried tomatoes or roasted peppers to the hummus, or anything else that strikes your creative fancy (perhaps herbs, cumin, or chili to add heat).

  • Guacamole is mushed up ripe avocado with some lemon juice, salt and a bit of chopped tomato, nothing more. 

  • Pesto is simply a whole lot of basil leaves processed in the food processor over a base of a bit of cheese (parmesan or pecorino), a few nuts (the traditional pine nuts are expensive; walnuts work fine, I often use sunflower seeds), a bit of garlic and salt, and then enough olive oil to bind it all together.  That's it.  Delicious on pasta, a sandwich, pizza, a slice of toasted bread, a raw sliced tomato, keep on dreaming.....

  • Liptauer is an easy spread I remember from my German childhood.  It is simply Greek yogurt (now that it's so easily available) or fresh farmer cheese with some paprika (smoked is yummy), caraway seeds and salt folded in.  So easy.  Great as a spread on some crisp bread (quick and healthy snack), a dip for raw vegetables or chips, or just as is by the spoonful (for breakfast or snack).

warming winter foods

This time of year we naturally tend towards hearty soups and stews.  The French have their cassoulet, the Chinese eat their snake soup in the winter.  As Paul Pitchford says in his seminal Healing with Whole Foods, "cold and darkness drive one to seek inner warmth."

But besides the thermal warmth of a hot stew, according to Chinese medicine certain foods have actual warming properties and accelerate your sluggish energy when the temperatures are cold (such as snake soup, but no recipe for that here, although we ate it when we lived in Hong Kong many years ago).  Paul Pitchford talks about the benefits of salty and bitter foods in the winter, and my acupuncturist reminded me that this is the time of year for bone broths and warming spices like ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.

Save the bones or bony back when you make chicken or get some beef bones, and simply put them in a big pot of water with some carrots, celery and onions and simmer for a long time, even over night.  Right now I have a whole bunch of chicken necks cooking on the stove to make a soup base (found two bags in the freezer from my last chicken order from the farm).  Or better yet, for a richer broth roast the carcass or bones in the oven with some vegetables before cooking.

These broths are delicious as is, or make a great base for all kinds of heart warming and hearty soups. And why not invite a few friends over to share your soup and shake off the winter doldrums?

too much of a good thing

What goes up must come down.  We have been eating a lot of rich foods in the past few days, and are likely to resume eating rich foods next week for the New Year's celebrations.

Fact is most of our special holiday dishes are protein based, whether from meat, fish, or crustaceans.   Fact is, though, that as omnivores we thrive on a well balanced diet, and that festive meals tend to be especially rich in protein, fat and sugar, while lacking what we consider the mundane basics - produce, fiber, grains. Culturally and historically, protein in whatever form was expensive because costly to provide - ergo reserved for special occasions.  Same went for sugar and fat. Remember the Sunday roast? It was special.  Meat was not eaten every day; nor were cakes and pastries.   We used to save them and savor them.

photo courtesy www.jeanclaudesbakery.com

Things are a bit out of whack now because food has become cheap and that former frame of reference is gone.  Most of us can afford all the "special" stuff, which is no longer so special.  Therefore we need to reign in those cravings through self-control and activate our critical-analytical thinking skills.  At the prospect of a meatless dinner my son usually says "awwww" in disappointment.   But too much of the rich stuff and we feel heavy, sluggish, full.

So back to well balanced meals after the holidays for a well balanced body.

what the heck is kernza?

You might ask what the heck Kernza is?  It's about sustainable agriculture.   Sustainable means in short eternally renewable from within, which is without bringing in outside products.

We almost take for granted the annual winter seed buying ritual from seed catalogs.  But I always thought that buying those decorative annuals for the garden was a bit of a waste, compared to perennials that come up every year again, no worries, no money, no effort.  Wouldn't it be nice if our wheat came up every year again?  No buying seeds, no sowing, no tilling, less effort, less money.  Researchers have been working on exactly that: developing perennial varieties of our staple cereals, and Kernza is one of them.

This is thinking more in terms of permaculture (please read my previous post on it), a perennial polyculture, which is what most ecosystems look like as Mark Bittman explains in a recent article:  "In perennial polyculture, the plants may fertilize one another, physically support one another, ward off pests and diseases together, resist drought and flood, and survive even when one member suffers."  How does that sound for a wonderfully cooperative plant community?  No Darwin here.

You can start small in your own garden by saving seeds from this year's harvest for next year's planting instead of relying on the big seed companies; or look for a local seed library for some interesting heirloom varieties.  Local seed libraries  (see Hudson Valley Seed Library) work collaboratively and require you to bring back some of your own seeds to keep the library replenished.

Think in renewable cycles.