Carrot Hiatus

There haven't been many local carrots around the past few weeks. That's disconcerting, because all through the bleak winter they've been such a consistent staple. Still, their absence lately is a sign that many good things are on the way, like strawberries, and asparagus, and snap peas.

Vegfest this Weekend

I spent this weekend at the 8th annual Vegfest. I've been doing the Vegfest since the very beginning, and I love it and I hate it.

I love the fact that this organization is able to organize 700 volunteers in order to pull off the largest vegetarian festival in North America. It's life affirming. I do believe that, as a species, we need to learn to eat less meat, and this organization certainly does their share towards helping to make that happen.

I hate the fact that it turns into such a feeding frenzy. That's an environment that doesn't bring out the best in people. And I hate being lectured about the purity of my ingredients when I spend most of my waking hours thinking about the best way to eat. I also wish there was more fresh food, and less processed stuff.

For all that, I'll be happy to participate next year, and the year after...

Chickpeas with Leeks and Herbs

This weekend is the annual Vegfest at the Seattle Center. Each year I cater a dinner the night before the event starts for the principal people involved. It's one of my favorite meals that I prepare all year because I'm cooking for cookbook authors and other people who are heavily involved in the food world. Here's a recipe I came up with for this year's dinner.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 leek, cut in half lengthwise, cleaned well, and sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon

1/2 teaspoon salt

black pepper to taste

2 cups chickpeas, cooked or canned

1 tablespoon champagne vinegar

1. Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan, then add the leek and garlic. Cook on medium low heat for about five minutes, until the leek is soft. Turn off the heat, then add the chives, tarragon, salt and pepper.

3. Combine this mixture with the chickpeas and vinegar. Serve at room temperature.

Local Ice

This is ice from Portland, in the freezer at the wholesale foodservice grocery in Seattle. A while back the price increased, and the employees were apologizing, saying that they had to charge more to cover the gas.

I asked why they didn't buy ice from the ice maker in Seattle, and they answered that their customers liked the shape of the Portland ice better.

Then one day I went in there and found both Seattle ice and Portland ice for the same price. I asked why they were charging more for the Seattle ice when the price increase was supposed to pay for the gas to ship the ice from Portland. They just looked confused.

These days, whenever I can, I just go to the ice maker in Ballard, and buy my ice directly from them.

Cheap Eating Without Discount Stores

Here are some helpful hints, in response to an article in yesterday's New York Times about gourmet cooking with dollar store foods. There are plenty of ways to save money on food without buying lots of processed garbage.


1. Buy bulk foods whenever possible. They're much cheaper than the packaged stuff.


2. Eat less meat and dairy. Learn to use these foods as components, rather than as the bulk of a meal. That's how most people have eaten for most of history.


3. Eat fruits and vegetables in season. In the spring you can get artichokes for less than a dollar. In the winter they're more like three dollars.


4. Pay attention to the price of each item you put in your shopping cart. If pecans are $9.50 a pound, pay attention and buy just what you need, instead of filling the bag because you're not paying attention.


5. Buy ethnic foods at ethnic stores. Taro root at Viet Wah, in the International District, costs less than a dollar a pound, but it's $3.99 a pound at Whole Foods. A lot of the other stuff at Whole Foods is competitive price-wise, but the ethnic specialty stuff is off the charts.


6. Learn what things should cost. If you're aware that conventional parsley is usually around $1/bunch, and organic parsley usually costs about $1.50, you'll know not to buy it when someone's charging $2.50.



Note that the first three suggestions are not only ways to save money, but also ways to eat more sustainably. And yet we tend to think of sustainable food as a more expensive option. Now there's some food for thought.

A Trip to the Grocery Outlet

The New York Times had an article in today's food section by a chef who tried to fix some decent meals using items from a discount grocery store.

I thought I'd write something in response about how you can save all kinds of money on groceries without shopping at discount stores. But first I thought I should take a closer look at the discount store in my neighborhood, in case it defied my preconceptions.

I generally stay away from these stores because I'm turned off by all the cheap, processed foods. But the Madrona Farmers' Market, where I vend, is held in the parking lot of a Grocery Outlet. They're great hosts, and I can usually pick up items there that I've forgotten to bring, like soap and paper towels.

Today I checked out the store on 130th and Aurora. As I expected, I found long aisles of canned meats and vegetables, and boxes of convenience foods. But I was actually impressed with the cheese section, which included ricotta salata as well as several varieties of flavored havarti.

I was disturbed by an observation I made on my way out the door. The ice was priced at 99 cents, and the sign said that was a $2 savings over the price of $2.99 that regular grocery stores charge. I buy ice regularly, and I rarely see it for more than $1.29. Even Whole Foods--Whole Foods!--sells a bag of ice for a dollar. If discount store prices are so low, why do they have to lie about what the competition is charging?

March Is National Frozen Food Month

I rolled my eyes the first time I saw this sign: just another trade organization making another desperate grab for our attention.

But then I got to thinking about frozen foods, and I started feeling like maybe they are worth celebrating.

Despite the ubiquity of TV dinners, frozen foods are far superior to canned foods in flavor and also in nutritional content. All in all, freezing may be the best way to preserve food, although drying certainly has its benefits, and even pickling can make a tasty product.

Clarence Birdseye invented the frozen food process in 1923. He'd observed people in northern climates storing food in ice, and was looking for a way to preserve seasonal produce. As an aspiring locavore, I can certainly appreciate the sentiment.

Chunk o' Bacon

I grew up in Brooklyn. As a child, my brother thought that concrete was the natural state of things, and they trucked in soil when they wanted to plant something.

I thought about that when I saw this piece of meat at the Sea Breeze Farm booth yesterday. It took me a minute to realize that it was bacon: I'd never seen it unsliced before.

The world of food holds so many wonders.

Easter Sunday at the Market

It was a wet and sloppy Easter Sunday at the Ballard Market. Few people turned out-hey, I wouldn't have turned out if I hadn't been working. On days like this, I'm not there to make a living. I'm just there to show that I'm a trooper.

My Favorite Market Musicians

My favorite market musicians were playing at the U District this morning. Moe Provencher does folk and roots music, and some lovely original stuff.

They recently got back from a trip to India, and have been playing around town again. They were at Ballard last Sunday as well, and they'll be there again tomorrow if the weather is decent.

Expensive Eggs

The price of eggs has been steadily rising, mainly due to high feed costs.

Eggs are an important staple food, and this is not the first time that a price increase has been upsetting to consumers.

The increase in egg prices is part of an overall increase in the price of food lately, brought on by everything from rising fuel costs, to greater overseas demand for products we like to enjoy cheaply at home.

Most of us can afford to pay more for food, although it may mean that we spend less on other things. We've somehow figured out how to make room in our budgets for cell phone bills and high speed internet connections. I don't want to be insensitive to the tribulations of folks who are genuinely struggling to get by, but personally I think that the low food prices we've grown accustomed to are more of a problem than the high prices we're seeing now.

During the past forty years or so, the federal government has deliberately worked to lower the price of food. Farm subsidies have encouraged mass production of a handful of crops, especially wheat, corn, and soy. Food safety regulations favor large scale meat and dairy operations, making it nearly impossible for small scale operators to compete.

As a result of these policies, we're confronting epidemics of all kinds of diseases that are directly related to the way we eat, and the food that's available in most supermarkets doesn't have much flavor.

The price of good quality, sustainably produced food has been rising at least as quickly as the price of supermarket fodder. Still, I wish we'd learn to separate our collective passion for low prices from the decisions we make about what to eat.

Brussels Sprouts with Cashews

One of my personal goals this winter was to learn to like Brussels sprouts. I've succeeded to the point that I'll be sorry to see them go.

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped shallots
1 leeks, halved lenthwise, cleaned well, and chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt (or more, to taste)
1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and quartered
1/2 cup roasted, salted cashew pieces
2 tablespoons red wine
black pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet, then add the garlic, shallots,leeks and salt.Cook on medium-low heat for about five minutes, until the shallots are transluscent and the leeks are soft.

2. Add the Brussels sprouts, cashews, wine and pepper, and cook for about ten minutes longer, until all the veggies are soft.

Zane and Zack's Gourmet Sauces

This is Steve, selling Zane and Zack's hot sauces at the Ballard Farmers' Market. I call him "Uncle Steve", because the company is named after his nephews.

The Zane and Zack folks are my neighbors at the Ballard Market, and they also supply me with hot sauce that I serve with my tamales and quesadillas. It gives them an extra opportunity to sample their product, and it gives me an extra condiment to offer.

Zane and Zack's is a family operation: Sam, the owner, names all of his products after family members. Their Three Brothers Habanero Sauce won the Taster's Choice Best in Show award at the Fort Worth Zest Fest last summer. It's great stuff, provided you like it hot, like I do.

Kale Buds

Two years ago nobody was selling kale buds at farmers' markets, but last year, all of a sudden, they were everywhere. They're the tasty, colorful, early yellow flowers of the kale plant. The upper parts of the stems are nice and tender, but the lower parts can be tough and chewy.

Kale buds are a perfect example of an edible part of a plant that folks got in the habit of throwing away, or composting. Then some farmer got the idea to bring them to a market and see if anyone would buy them.They were successful enough that, before long, everyone was selling them.

Nettle and White Bean Bruschetta

It's nettle season! They're not just pesky, prickly weeds, but also a valuable food and herb. Eat them early and often, while they're here.Foraged and Found Edibles is selling them at local farmers' markets, and you can pick you're own, if you're careful. Handle them with gloves until you put them in the pan to cook.
This recipe makes enough to cover about 8 slices of bread.

1 Tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium-sized shallots, sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
3 large handfuls nettle leaves (see note above)
1 cup cooked white beans
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

8 small slices bread (day old is fine)

1. Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan, then add the garlic, shallots, salt and rosemary. Cook for a minute or two, until the shallot is transluscent, then add the nettles and cook for about five minutes, until they've cooked down. Add the white beans and heat them through, then add the balsamic vinegar.

2. Arrange the bread slices on a baking sheet, and toast them at 375 degrees for a minute or two, until they're crispy on the outside but soft underneath. (You can brush the outsides with a little olive oil, but it's not necessary.)

3. Spread about a tablespoon of the bean and nettle mixture on top of each slice, and serve.

Daffodils!

One of my favorite things about being a market vendor is catching sight of some seasonal item that I haven't seen in a while. Today there were daffodils at the Ballard Market.

Daffodils aren't that exciting in and of themselves: they're popping up in gardens all over town. But the vendors who sell mainly flowers are finally starting to return. Spring is so close.

The Mayor and the Farmers' Market

This is my friend Heidi with the Mayor at the U District Farmers' Market this morning. He was down there for a few hours to talk to folks about their concerns regarding U District crime. (Funny, the place was crawling with cops.)

Maven, from Newsreal 98105 was there as well, covering it for her neighborhood blog.

Heidi and her husbrand, Dylan, will be launching a market concession called "Green-Go" this spring. Keep an eye out for them at the Lake Forest Park Sunday Farmers' Market, and others.

Thirty Percent Less Plastic

The latest thing in the bottled water industry is a bottle that uses 30% less plastic. Commercials proudly proclaim, "Little changes can make a big difference."

Does anyone actually buy into this and feel good about the little difference they're making when they use a bottle with 30% less plastic? It just seems so cynical to me, like the push towards ethanol based fuel instead of a movement to drive less.

I drink bottled water sometimes because I find I drink more water when I spend money on it. I'm not proud of this. I know the facts: tap water is more tightly regulated than bottled water, 90% of plastic water bottles end up in landfills, 17 million barrels of crude oil go into a years' worth of Americans' plastic water bottles.

I still drink bottled water sometimes, but I'm certainly not going to delude myself into thinking that I'm doing something for the planet by choosing a bottle with 30% less plastic.

Cooking is Not a Competitive Sport

I'm embarassed to say that I watched the season premiere of Top Chef last night. For me Top Chef is like a train wreck: it horrifies me, and yet I can't look away. I'll probably watch the whole season. After all, they give you so many opportunities to make up the episodes you miss.

The idea of cooking as a competitive sport is bizarre to me. Granted, Top Chef is hardly the only show to do that, but something about the mix hooks me in spite of myself. I think it has something to do with the fact that the contestants are professionals, but not celebrities.

It's about everything I don't want to be as a cook. You'll never catch me in a chef coat, and the recipes that make me most proud are the ones with the fewest ingredients.

Still, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens...

The Wierdest Meat Recall Ever

Last month's meat recall had to have been the wierdest one ever. For one thing, most of the meat had already been eaten and, as far as we know, nobody got sick. The group that brought the offenses into the public eye wasn't even particularly concerned about food safety, their issue was animal welfare.

From a public health standpoint, the violation that occurred had to do with animals that became unable to walk in between the time they were checked by federal inspectors upon arriving at the slaughterhouse, and the time they were shoved and prodded onto the killing floor.

The CEO of Westland/Hallmark first insisted that none of the meat from the sick animals had made its way into the food supply, but finally admitted to a Senate subcommittee that some of it probably had.

Perhaps the wierdest thing is that, aside from animal rights activists, nobody seems particularly outraged or afraid. Maybe we've grown jaded. Or maybe there have been so many food safety scares related to meat that folks have either chosen to eat better meat or no meat at all, or just live with the risks.

The Recession and the Farmers' Market

Despite the dire warnings and reports that I've been hearing on the news, I'm pleased to report that the farmers' markets where I've been vending this winter have been thriving, at a time of year when farmers' markets don't normally thrive.

I don't want to be cocky about this, and I realize that anything can happen, but I don't think it's an accident that chain stores at malls are closing while people are choosing to spend more of what little money they have on better food.

Ethical Corporation magazine doesn't think it's an accident either. The researchers they cite say that ethical businesses tend to suffer less during tight economic times, because the people who support them care about more than price.

Sex and Chocolate

Overheard at the market this weekend:

First woman: "
She's seeing the chocolate guy, but she hardly ever get's to have sex because he's always off in Africa sourcing chocolate."

Second woman: "You can't cheat on the chocolate guy."

First woman: "No, you can't cheat on the chocolate guy."

Winter Veggie Stew with Potato Dumplings

I was flipping channels a few months ago and I stumbled on Martha Stewart and Francis Ford Coppola making gnocchi. They were a pleasure to watch. I've never made gnocchi because everyone says you need a ricer to process the potatoes. I don't have one and I can't imagine buying a tool that I'll only use for one thing. FFC was saying that his grandmother would just use equal parts potato and flour, with nothing else. That gave me the idea to make dumplings using that ratio, something that could be cruder or rougher than gnocchi, but maybe with a similar mouth feel. This recipe makes 4 servings.

For the dumplings:
2 medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
water to cover
1-2 cups white or whole wheat pastry flour
1 Tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the stew:
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 leek, sliced lengthwise, cleaned well, and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon thyme
2 cups chopped winter veggies (carrots, parsnips, turnips, etc.)
2 cups water
2-3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (use Wizard or Annie's brands if you want to keep it vegan)
2 cups cooked white beans
3 Tablespoons rice flour

1. Cook the potatoes in boiling water for about 10 minutes, until they're soft. Mash them and then add the flour, mixing with your hands. It should be moist enough to hold together, but not sticky. Add the parsley and salt and work it in evenly.

2. Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the leek, garlic, salt and thyme. Cook for about five minutes, until the leek is soft, then add the remaining veggies.

3. Cook on medium-low heat for about five minutes, until the veggies are just soft, then add the water, Worcestershire, and white beans. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about five minutes.

4. Roll the potato mixture into balls the size of radishes, and drop them gently into the stew. Continue simmering for about five minutes, until they rise to the top.

5. Sprinkle in the rice flour a little at a time, stirring gently, until the broth starts to thicken.

Winter Celery

I saw people carrying around celery at the market this morning. I hadn't seen local celery in a while, so I rushed out to find it. It was from Stony Plains Farm, and I asked whether it was the first of the season. He said that he'd had it off and on. In any case, he was sold out of it after half an hour.

Who ever thought we'd be so excited to see celery?

A Penny a Pound for the Immokalee Tomato Pickers

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a group advocating for the rights of agricultural workers in southwest Florida, has stepped up its campaign to get Burger King to agree to pay an extra penny a pound for tomatoes, so the pickers can earn a better wage.

A penny a pound doesn't sound like much, but for these tomato pickers--whose wages haven't increased appreciably since the 1970's--it can make the difference between a living wage and a near-starvation wage.

It's hard to imagine that a penny a pound would add up to much for Burger King, which claims to be concerned about the issue, and has expressed a willingness to do something, as long as that something doesn't involve adding a penny to the price of a pound of tomatoes.

Burger King has donated $25,000 to another organization addressing the needs of migrant workers in South Florida, a sum that could have covered the price increase on two and a half million pounds of tomatoes.

I can't possibly get inside the heads of the Burger King executives, but they must be concerned about opening the door to this kind of activism. If they give in to the tomato pickers, then their own workers might organize as well.

It helps Burger King's cause that the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange has threatened a $100,000 fine against any of its members who meet the Immokalee Coalition's demands.

Maybe I'm naive, but it seems to me that a penny a pound has got to be cheaper than all this negative publicity. Unless, of course, you're afraid of paying fair wages to everyone.

Chard Stems

We tend to throw away all kinds of perfectly edible parts of the plants we use. Stems, peels, seeds: many of these plant parts have plenty of nutrients and flavor, but our cooking conventions have gotten us into the habit of tossing them in the trash (or the compost.)

I like to try to use these plant parts, within reason. There's a reviewer at the Seattle Post Intelligencer who's written about my restaurant and also about my farmers' market booth, both times using the expression "honest food" when describing the inclusion of stems that many other places throw away. At first I took it as a backhanded compliment, something like, "I like that dress so much more than what you were wearing last week!" I think she was probably just surprised and ambivalent about it, and didn't quite know what to say.

I think many of our conventions about which parts of the plant to use and which to throw away have their roots in a kind of culinary class chauvinism. Throughout history, rich folks could afford to throw away perfectly edible foods and pay hired help to meticulously trim stuff away. Still, the stems of some greens, like mature kale, are really too tough to be enjoyable. I recommend experimenting, and not being afraid to defy conventions.

It's Summer in Chile

I saw an ad on TV the other day about the wonders of produce from Chile, where it's summer now. The ad was placed by the Chilean Fresh Fruit Industry, a group like those trade organizations who put up billboards touting the wonders of avocadoes.

The ad struck me as a reaction by large growers against the burgeoning movement of shoppers demanding locally grown food.The QFC logo appeared at the end of the commercial, so I stopped by one of their stores to see what I could learn about Chilean produce. Strangely, none of their signs boasted of produce grown in Chile, although the small print on some of the package labels identified Chile as the country of origin.

Fascinated by the discrepancy between the boasting tone of the ad and the lack of information at the store, I visited another supermarket, Shoreline's Central Market. A number of the produce signs there, like the one in the above picture, mentioned Chile as the source.

According to the Chilean Fresh Fruit's website, the country's geography creates a "photosanitary region", or an area isolated enough to be free of pests that are common in neighboring regions. This lessens the need for pesticides (although it seems that there are all kinds of pesticides that are banned in the US but still used in Chile.)

Aside from the issues of food miles and pesticide sprays, agriculture geared towards mass production for the purpose of export endangers longstanding traditions in communities of indigenous, subsistence farmers all over the world. Chilean agriculture is no exception.

I'll take locally grown grapes, even if I have to wait for summer.

Stinging Nettles

I was packing up my booth after the market on Sunday when this guy walking by with two paper bags stopped and asked me if I wanted some nettles. He said he'd found a good patch of them and was on his way to sell them to Dandelion Herbs, down the street, but he had more than they'd be able to use.

I have friends who think it's wierd and frightening to accept food from a stranger this way, but for me it's an important part of market culture. There's so much surplus around, and it's fun to share and experiment.

My naturopath tells me to eat nettles when they're in season, and drink nettle tea. It's great for your immune system, especially for allergies.

You have to handle nettles with gloves, at least until you cook them, because they have potent stingers which make your skin itch and burn. Cooking neutralizes them. I'm going to steam mine, and eat them with some oil and vinegar.

The Sad Story of the School Lunch Program

The New York Times ran an article this weekend about San Francisco teenagers who are eligible for free school lunches but would rather go hungry than be seen eating the food the school district makes available to them.

It was only a few weeks ago that we heard about the tens of millions of pounds of recalled beef that had already been served as part of school lunches. Most of the kids I know won't go near the lunches served at their schools because they're nasty, not because they're free.

The school lunch program started in the 1930's as a way to use agricultural surpluses. In 1946 Congress passed the National School Lunch Act, making the program permanent and establishing minimal nutritional requirements.

Throughout its history, the program has struggled to balance its mission to provide low cost nutrition to low income children with the reality of having to use cheap, industrial ingredients.

There's been talk lately about upgrading the system. Here in Washington the Olympia school district has successfully implemented a a plan to use local and organic ingedients, and there's a bill currently working its way through the state legislature aimed at bringing local, organic produce into the school lunch program. But most local farms are too small to meet the school district's needs, and the system to date has been too streamlined to match individual farms with individual schools.

The school lunch program is broken because the whole mainstream food system in this country is broken. Fix the system of agricultural subsidies, and fix the practice of mass producing low quality staples and shipping them long distances, and the school lunch program will fix itself.

The Wonderful Ballard Farmers' Market

Today was the third sunny Sunday in a row and the Ballard Farmers' Market was hopping, as usual. I took this picture before the market even opened; there are often so many people around that it's hard to drive in to unload. On the one hand that can be frustrating, on the other hand it's exciting that folks are eager enough show up early.

The Ballard Farmers' Market started out as part of the Fremont Sunday Market in 1990. It moved to Ballard in the winter of 2001-2002, a move which gave both venues room to grow and establish their own identities.

The market in Ballard was originally held in the US Bank parking lot, a site that was eventually developed into the Ballard Library. After it's first summer there it moved to the brick-lined Ballard Avenue, with a permit to close the street to vehicle traffic on market days. Last summer it expanded half a block north to accomodate all the vendors who wanted to sell there.

It just keeps on getting better.

High Calorie Pesticides-Fact or Fiction?

Here's a snippet I overheard at the bank the other day:

First teller: "My brother is over in Afghanistan and he says the produce there is so much better than the produce here. They spray the stuff here so heavily that you could eat just lettuce and gain weight."

Second teller: "When I was in college the president of the university announced that they were putting extra spray on the produce because so many girls were anorexic or bulemic."

Now, I like to assume there's a kernel of truth embedded in every wild story. Were they spraying the produce with extra nutrients? Are pesticides high in calories? Does anybody know anything about this?