Lonnie April 27th, 2008
We’re avid readers of Anthony Bourdain’s books. Two of them have impacted our family somewhat dramatically. The first was Kitchen Confidential. Aside from being just a great read, it was also the third book our then-early-adolescent son read. He read it cover to cover, but it was at the third chapter that he came running to announce that he wanted to be a chef. Why? He pointed to the title of Chapter 3: “Food is Sex”. That did it. A couple culinary degrees under his belt, he’s now in charge of the mignardises in a restaurant in New York.
But the book that continues to inspire me is A Cook’s Tour, and specifically the chapter, “Where Food Comes From“. Read it, and you’ll understand why he says that where our food comes from is not always pretty. But it’s the larger concept behind that chapter that makes me think a lot and sometimes do strange things.
Strange thing #1: I make coffee in a 70-year-old vacuum coffee pot.
Continue Reading »
Lonnie October 26th, 2007
It’s almost November and we’re still harvesting tomatoes, basil, thyme, rosemary, peppers and red cabbage. Come to think of it, every plant in our experimental raised-bed garden in our urban yard is still producing! I learned a lot this summer: Continue Reading »
Lonnie July 12th, 2007
One of the reasons we moved from the ‘burbs to the city was so that we wouldn’t have to drive so far to get to the kinds of stores we like to shop in: small, ethnic grocery stores that have fascinating ingredients, as well as the Regional Market with its locally-grown and produced foodstuffs. It’s not just that the vegetables are fresher and the eggs taste better, it’s that we can buy more of our food in bulk in these places and thus control the way they’re packaged. We’re trying to avoid plastic. Here’s why: Continue Reading »
Lonnie May 8th, 2007
I love visiting another Syracuse blog, Cookin’ in the ‘Cuse. Just working my way through her links, not to mention her articles, makes me feel extra good about … well, food, and doing positive things. The link I followed today, Eat Local Challenge, brought me to something that’s becoming increasingly, incrementally important in my life: eating locally produced food. Here are ten reasons to eat local food. Once you’ve read them, you might consider starting to make those small changes that eventually make a real difference in the way you eat, in the Syracuse economy, and in the amount of energy spent to get your food to you. The day of the 3000-mile salad is coming to a close.
Nobody says you have to suddenly stop eating everything you’re used to and start eating what’s left over from last fall (ugh! a turnip? an old cabbage?). Rather, begin to make choices based on the following:
If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic.
If not ORGANIC, then Family farm.
If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.
If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Fair Trade.
Continue Reading »