Hannah Wallace

Cory Carman: how grass-fed beef saved the family ranch

When I heard Cory Carman speak at Ecotrust's food hub conference last spring, I knew I had to write about her. Her story, of taking over her family's ranch out in eastern Oregon and converting it to a 100% grass-fed operation, interested me for at least three reasons. First, ever since reading Michael Pollan's the Omnivore's Dilemma, I've been convinced of the environmental and nutritional superiority of grass-finished beef. (That is, beef that hasn't been fed corn for the last few months of its life.) So I'm always thrilled to discover ranchers and companies who are producing it. Second, Carman is part of a growing movement of educated young people who are choosing to make a living off the land. (For more evidence that this is, indeed, happening, check out the Greenhorns documentary.)

Finally, the challenges Carman spoke about that day—her struggle to find a USDA-inspected slaughterhouse that would take her business, finding an efficient way to get her beef to Portland eaters—illustrated logistical hurdles that small and medium-sized farmers and ranches face all over America. Sadly, our dominant food system is not set up for small, family-run ranches like Carman Ranch. That one plucky woman (and her other half, Dave) could tackle these challenges with creativity and perseverance, gives me hope that we can eventually change our food system.

Grass-fed beef is more popular than ever, but will it ever make up more than a tiny percent of the U.S. beef market? Americans have grown accustomed to marbled, corn-fed beef. Bringing grass-fed beef to the masses would require a major paradigm shift—not just in the eating and spending habits of the average American, but in the meat industry itself. We’d need to retrain ranchers in how to pasture cattle—how to keep them away from wild onions, bitterwheat, and forages that impart an off-flavor—and train them in the art of management intensive grazing. We’d need to give economic incentives for mobile slaughterhouses and smaller USDA-inspected facilities. We’d also need to end corn subsidies, which keeps the price of corn-fed beef artificially cheap.    

For Carman and her cow-share customers, though, all this is, in a way, irrelevant. Waving a hand to members who are lingering to divvy up their meat, she says, “They know where their meat comes from and know the cows have never left the ranch. They’re eating whole animal quantities. This is totally representative of how our food system should be.”

Read more about Carman in the November issue of Portland Monthly.

The Crème de la Crema

When I travel, one of the first things I do is seek out a local coffee shop. It must have character and a sense of place, of course. But equally important to me, it must source fresh beans (and pay farmers more than Fair Trade prices for them) and employ baristas who know that a small latte is made with two shots, not one. I suppose I've become a coffee snob—I want pour-over instead of drip coffee; I turn up my nose at over-roasted blends, preferring instead the tea-like qualities of a medium roast from Guatemala. How disappointing is it to pay upwards of $4 for a limpid latte?

Life is too short.

To help you in your quest for the best coffee, I singled out eight superb cafés—from London's Prufrock to Copenhagen's Coffee Collective—for an article in this month's issue of travel magazine Endless Vacation. This is by no means a definitive list. I have many other favorites—like Third Rail on Sullivan Street the West Village and Crema in Southeast Portland. But it's a good list. What are some of your favorites and why?  I'd love to find out.

TFT Interview with Josh Viertel

 

When you hear the words Slow Food, do you conjure up a multi-course locavore dinner with wine pairings?  If so, think again. Over the past three years, Slow Food USA president Josh Viertel has hammered home the mission of Slow Food: it's about advocating for food that is good (healthy), clean (i.e. no pesticides), and fair (farmers and workers get paid a living wage). As Viertel makes it clear in this interview I did with him for my column at the Faster Times last week, Slow Food is at heart a social justice organization that's rallying members to be politically engaged, whether that's by taking up the $5 challenge or pressuring Congress for changes to the 2012 Food and Farm Bill. Taking pleasure in food—and in cooking—will always be inextricably linked to the organization's larger goal of ensuring that, "Everyone can eat food that is good for them, good for the environment and good for the people who grow and pick it." For inspiration, here's a video of a group of farmers who took the $5 challenge.

 

 

Farmers Film Week 9: The $5 Local Meal from cinnamon Kennedy on Vimeo.

Women at the Top

 A recent Stanford-University of Chicago study showed that women in Congress sponsor and cosponsor more legislation than their male colleagues do. They bring more federal resources and assistance back to their districts and get more cosponsors for their bill. So why do women hold only 16 percent of the seats in Congress? And why are just a paltry 12 percent of U.S. governors female?  I found out during my recent interview with political strategist Mary Hughes, founder of the 2012 Project, a campaign that encourages women over 45 to run for political office. Here's a quick tease. (To read the  the full interview, click through to page 15.)

In 2008 it seemed for a brief, heady moment that women were asserting their rightful place in national politics: Hillary Clinton ran for president, and Sarah Palin for vice president. But neither were elected, and the 2010 mid-term elections proved a major setback for women in politics. For the first time since 1978, female representation in Congress actually declined. Today, women hold just 16% of seats in Congress. Only 12% of governors are women and 23% of state legislators are women. 

Hoping to reverse these depressing statistics, political strategist Mary Staton Hughes founded the 2012 Project, a nonpartisan national campaign to identify and engage accomplished women over 45 to run for political office. The Project, part of Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics, targets accomplished women from fields that are underrepresented in government such as science and technology, finance, health, and energy/environment. The timing of the project is intentional. It comes on the heels of this year’s Congressional reapportionment, the redrawing of state and congressional districts to reflect population shifts. This creates new open seats—and a once-a-decade opportunity for women who are new to politics. (Research shows that new seats are easier for political newcomers—male or female—to win than those held by incumbents.)

“I want to engage women who are pioneers in their fields, who have already broken some glass ceilings. These women have expertise that’s in short supply in many state legislatures,” says Hughes, who was an American studies major at Mount Holyoke College.

All the Pie in Portland

 

This year's Portland Pie Off was practically in my own backyard—the lovely Laurelhurst Park. How could I resist? Read more about it here, at T: Travel's the Moment.

Cleveland's Food Justice Hero: Councilman Joe Cimperman

The surprise darling of the Community Food Security Coalition conference last May was a little-known city councilman from Cleveland. He spoke fervently about his city, a city of flourishing community gardens, backyard bee hives and chicken coops, a city where all farmers’ markets accept food stamps, where schools get discounts for sourcing local food, and where both trans-fats and smoking on playgrounds are banned. His name? Joe Cimperman. A 4th term Democratic city councilman whose parents hail from Slovenia, Cimperman is a vocal advocate of community gardens, which create community and self-sufficiency. He told of coming together with community leaders, public health officials, doctors, and foundations to pass the Healthy Cleveland Initiative—a series of audacious policy goals that will improve the health of Clevelanders for years to come. (That is, if Ohio’s Republican-majority legislature doesn’t pre-emptively squash them.) He ended with this rallying cry: “Why are we in food policy? Because we want our friends to live longer!”

What are Cleveland’s secrets for becoming a food justice utopia? I recently interviewed Cimperman for the Faster Times to find out.   (My Q&As with food justice leaders can now also be read over at the fantastic sustainable food and agriculture blog CivilEats.org.)

 

TFT Interview with Debra Eschmeyer

Don't miss my latest interview with a food justice leader: FoodCorps program director (and organic vegetable farmer) Debra Eschmeyer.

here's a tease:

In every social justice movement, there’s a tension between the grassroots advocates who want immediate solutions, and elected officials, who inevitably compromise the movement’s ideals. The food justice movement is no different. But 31-year old Debra Eschmeyer has spent her career proving that you can (and must) marry idealism to political pragmatism. After growing up on a dairy farm in Ohio, Eschmeyer went to work on agriculture policy issues at the National Family Farm Coalition in D.C. Later, she was the spokesperson for the National Farm to School Network, which gets food from local farms into school cafeterias. At the same time, she served as a Kellogg Food & Society Fellow, a prestigious two-year fellowship that supports leaders who are working to create a healthier food system. As a Kellogg Fellow, Eschmeyer and several of her colleagues—including Curt Ellis (producer and director of King Corn) and Cecily Upton (a former staffer at Slow Food USA)—began cooking up an exciting new project: a national service organization that teaches public school students about food and nutrition...

Wholesome Wave, Practically Green, and Sustainable Sushi

I've been writing about a handful of forward-looking organizations and green trends: the awesome nonprofit Wholesome Wave (which doubles the value of food stamps used at farmers' markets) for Vegetarian Times; Practically Green, a site that gets you to publicly rate your green habits (and playfully compete with your Facebook friends) for Whole Living; and sustainable sushi bars for T: Travel. (Did you know that most of the seafood that's sold in this country is either net caught, farmed in an unsustainable way, or critically endangered?) Four new sushi joints are proving that you can source locally, seasonally, and conscientiously: Bamboo Sushi, Miya's, Tataki, and Mashiko. And this is not some flash-in-the-pan food trend: I just got an e-mail about a new sustainable sushi restaurant in San Francisco and Portland's Bamboo has announced it's opening a second location (on NW 23rd) this fall.  

 

 

the Wildcrafter: Lars Norgren

Last summer, I had a great adventure in the coastal forests that hug the Oregon Coast. I went on an early-morning foraging quest with chef Matt Lightner (from Portland's much-heralded Castagna restaurant) and his foraging mentor Lars Norgren. Tall with a shock of white hair, Lars reminded me of my favorite college English professor—garrulous, opinionated, and brimming with an infectious curiosity for the world. Only instead of a world populated by characters from the novels of D.H. Lawrence and James Joyce, Lars inhabits the natural world—a world overflowing with lambsquarter, yarrow, and wild mushrooms. He offered up a ceaseless commentary, rattling off the Latin family names of trees and edible weeds, explaining why truffle hunting is "horrible grunt work," and bemoaning the restrictive laws that fine pickers $10,000 for collecting more than a gallon of mushrooms. By the end of the day, my head was spinning with so much new information. (Only some of which I captured in this post for the New York Times' the Moment.) 

I recently had the chance to interview Lars again—this time for Portland Monthly's Farmers Market issue (May). Read on to find out how Lars followed his passion to make a career in mushroom hunting, becoming the go-to supplier for the top restaurants in town—from Little Bird to Nostrana. 

 

 

Dining à la Cart

When I travel, I often judge a city by its street food: the bratwurst in Zurich (served on a golden Bürli roll and slathered with mustard), the buttery crepes fromage in Paris, porchetta sandwiches at markets in small Italian hilltowns, and pretty much anything from a food cart in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. (My latest favorite was the spicy fried chicken breast sandwich—made from Washington state's Draper Valley Farms chicken and topped with organic coleslaw at Cackalacks Hot Chicken Shack.)
 

But after a long-ago trip to Guatemala, I've become more circumspect when eating food (and drinking "fresh" juice) in certain developing countries. (I have one word for you, my friends: giardia.) So for this month's travel health column in Endless Vacation, I quiz Pok-Pok's Andy Ricker on his tips for staying healthy without sacrificing culinary adventures. (Ricker knows whereof he speaks—he spends several months out of each year sampling the street food in Laos, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Macau, shopping for ingredients and ideas for his renowned Portland restaurant.) I also interview Dr. Daniel Capliviski, the director of Mount Sinai's Travel Medicine Clinic.

Two tips I always follow myself: take a probiotic such as Culturelle or FloraStor—starting a week before your trip—and avoid tap water and other beverages that don't come from a sealed bottle or can. (Developing countries are the one place I break my plastic water ban—or opt for beer instead of water. Giardia is a very nasty and stubborn parasite—it can take months to get rid of it.) 

On another note, if you're gearing up for a summer camping vacation, you might want to consult my spring column on how to avoid—and treat—poison ivy, oak, and sumac.  (Treatment suggestions welcome!  I'm always looking for effective natural remedies.) 

 

 

the TFT Interview: Barbara Finnin of City Slicker Farms

My latest Q&A with a food justice leader in the Faster Times.

Food Justice Movement Leaders @ the Faster Times

One of my New Year's resolutions (in addition to learning how to darn socks and taking a CPR class) was to write more regularly for my column at the Faster Times. I started small, re-launching my "Friday round-ups"—succinct summaries of the week's most provocative food politics gossip.

Here are the last few, in case you've missed them: 

• Joel Berg's Fridge, South L.A. Bans (new) Fast Food, and Walmart Joins Let's Move

• Policy Level Changes vs. Grassroots Initiatives to Transform Food Economies

•  And my favorite, the Aspartame Coverup, Elitist Foodies Suck, and Obama Approves GMO Beets

I've also been publishing a series of interviews with leaders of this country's food justice movement. A few weeks ago, I talked to Michel Nischan, founder of Wholesome Wave (the organization that is—among other things—encouraging low-income families to buy fresh produce by doubling the value of food stamps at farmers' markets.)  I also interviewed Nikki Henderson, the new executive director of People's Grocery in West Oakland. People's Grocery provides subsidized CSA shares to West Oakland residents, partners with a local hospital to offer nutrition education workshops, and is working with the community to grow the food justice movement in West Oakland from the ground up. Stay tuned for an interview with Barbara Finnin, executive director of City Slicker Farms.

Do you know any food justice leaders who I should know about? Please e-mail me at hannahmwallace at gmail (or post a comment below) and I'll do my best to cover them here.

 

Oregon's Pre-existing Condition

Like many Americans, I have a pre-existing condition. And as a freelancer who bought my own health insurance plan in New York City, it turns out I had it pretty good. As I reported this article for Portland Monthly, I discovered that New York is one of just a handful of states that's known as a "guaranteed issue" state: insurance companies in these states must cover residents who have pre-existing conditions, as long as they've had continuous coverage. To my dismay, in Oregon (where I recently moved) it's nearly impossible to find affordable health insurance that will cover all of me—namely the autoimmune disease I've had since college. In the story, I interview Nancy Metcalf, senior program editor at Consumer Reports Health, who told me that, if you're self-employed and searching for a good health insurance plan, which state you live in matters way more than you think it does. (Massachusetts, for example, covers everyone who is uninsured, subsidizing residents who are at 300 percent of the poverty level or less. The really poor don't pay any premium; the moderately poor can find plans that start at $39 a month.) I also spoke at length to OSPIRG's Laura Etherton, a super knowledgeable local health care advocate, and sat in on an Oregon Healthy Policy Board meeting), which gave me insight into how Oregon's plan dovetails with the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (Though imperfect—for one thing, it won't require insurance companies cover adults with pre-existing conditions until 2014—Obama's legislation is worth fighting for, and I was happy to read in the Times this morning that Demoratic senators and reps are doing just that.)

Friday Round-up

Child Nutrition Re-Authorization. The Food Safety Modernization Act. The White House Garden gets a hoop houses! For a brief summary of what's going on in U.S. food policy and politics, see my latest column for the Faster Times.  

How to Stop the Bullies

This summer, I took a break from my regular beats of food politics and integrative medicine to write about something I knew little about: bullying. 

My piece (pg. 26 in the fall Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly) was spurred in part by the case of Phoebe Prince, a fifteen-year-old student who took her own life last January after being bullied mercilessly and repeatedly by classmates. (She attended South Hadley High, down the street from Mount Holyoke; the D.A. on the case is an MHC alumnae.) In the past month or so, additional bullying-related suicides, all of them anti-gay, have made national headlines: 18-year-old Tyler Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge after discovering his roommate had broadcast a video of him making out with a male classmate online. Billy Lucas, 15, of Indiana and Seth Walsh, 13, of California, both were victims of anti-gay bullying as was Asher Brown, 13, of Texas. All three committed suicide. To my mind, these qualify as hate crimes—and should be treated accordingly.

Though I didn't cover solutions to anti-gay bullying specifically, the basics of what I learned still apply: students need to be taught empathy and teachers (and parents) need to intervene when they witness bullying. Both of the top anti-bullying prevention programs employed at public schools across the U.S. focus on empathy building and teacher training: the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (named after pioneering bullying researcher Dan Olweus, whose initiatives were adopted by Norway in the early 80's to great success) and the Center for School Climate and Learning, which sends consultants into schools to absorb the school climate before recommending changes.

"I think of my work not as anti-bullying but as pro-social work," Christopher E. Overtree from the Center for School Climate and Learning told me. "We try to stimulate a positive social climate that makes bullying stand out as a negative behavior."

Instead of quick but ineffective fixes (such as teachers giving lectures on bullying), the Center for School Climate and Learning advocates more creative, holistic approaches. For instance, in one Tennessee school, Overtree suggested faculty and staff start a club where students could make hats for pediatric cancer patients. "It had a drastic change on the demeanor of the school," Overtree says. "Every student became engaged. Academically things improved, too." 

 

 

Travel as an Engine of Change

One of my favorite features at Travel + Leisure is the magazine's annual Global Vision Awards, where a team of illustrious judges (this year they included Dr. Joseph Stiglitz and documentary filmmaker Louie Psihoyos, who is also the executive director of the Oceanic Preservation Society) choose from a shortlist of companies and organizations that protect the environment, preserve cultures, and give back to the communities in which they're based.

This year, I signed on to report it—scouring the globe for travel companies and projects in the categories of Cultural Preservation and Community Development. The recommendation I'm most proud of? Accor hotels' work to combat child sex tourism, which won the Human Rights award in the Leadership category. Since 2000, in partnership with the NGO ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), Accor has taken an active stand against exploitation of children, training over 13,000 staff worldwide last year and raising customer awareness about this disquieting reality.

A few other winners that I put forth: the Cambodian Living Arts organization, which provides space, equipment, and a living wage to master practitioners of Cambodian folk dance; adventure travel company Myths & Mountains, which launched a nonprofit to construct libraries in impoverished areas of Nepal, India, and Bhutan; and Feynan Ecolodge, an ultra-sustainable lodge in Jordan's Dana Biosphere Reserve.

Read more here or see the November issue.

Foraging with Castagna Chef Matt Lightner

A few weeks ago, I got to tag along on one of chef Matt Lightner's foraging expeditions to the Oregon Coast. With us were Merrick, the CEO of branding/ad/creative agency Tangible Worldwide, and his girlfriend (both adventurous epicureans), my dear friend Kimberley Sevcik, and Jason, a sous chef from Castagna. Wildcrafter Lars Norgren was our de facto tour guide—teaching us about a parasitic vine called dodder that wraps itself prettily around salicornia (aka pickleweed) and illuminating the forest for us by pointing out wild mountain blackberries, hedgehog mushrooms and bracket fungus, and edible (and medicinal) weeds of all sorts.

Read about our adventure in the New York Times' T: Style.

Lars Norgren and Matt Lightner at Netarts Bay, the most saline body of water on the Oregon Coast

Oregon Wine Getaways

Though I'm a native Oregonian, I'd never ventured to the wineries in the southern part of the state—until researching this 12-page story for the October issue of Portland Monthly. But those full-bodied tempranillos and cabernet francs were some of my absolute favorites during the month-long research trip I conducted in July. 

Those and the pinots from Belle Pente, Bethel Heights, Cristom, De Ponte Cellars, Evesham Wood, Eyrie, Lemelson, Lenné, and... Let's just say that Oregonians are spoiled.

I also got to interview maverick winemaker John Paul Cameron about dry farming and the Deep Roots Coalition (a group of Oregon winemakers committed to not irrigating their vines); talk to chef Christopher Czarnecki about where he sources wild mushrooms for the Joel Palmer House in Dayton; and research the latest kerfuffle on closures. (Short version: a handful of Oregon winemakers believe red wines age just as well—if not better—with screw caps as they would with cork closures.)

In addition to the five weekend itineraries in the feature, I suggest a few excursions that make perfect day trips from Portland (which got pushed to the web due to lack of space in the magazine).  So if you just have one day to experience wine country, my recommendations are Hawks view Cellars, Big Table Farm, the adorable town of Carlton, or a bike trip with Pedal Bike Tours.

Personally, I'm excited about the afternoon cheesemaking classes at Kookoolan Farms, which in October include Mozzarella 101, Washed Curds, and Italian Hard Cheeses (all taught by Willamette Valley cheesemakers). Owner Chrissie Zaerpoor told me that the $50 class fee includes generous tastings of topically relevant cheese as well as homemade kombucha. (She and her husband Koorosh also sell everything you need to make cheese at home at their farm store: rennet, curd cutting knives, thermometers, molds, enzymes, and even acid-testing kits.)

Women Farmers and Food Justice Activists

There is reason to be hopeful about the changing landscape of farming—and food—in America.

Those of us who've been participating in the local food movement over the past few years may not be surprised to hear this, but there are 18,500 more small farms in the U.S. today than there were in 2002. (The U.S. Department of Agriculture, who provides these stats, defines small farms as those with $250,000 or less in sales.)  In other words, while gargantuan factory farms are still out there, polluting our water, eroding the soil, and using antibiotics and pesticides indiscriminately, there's a rising movement of younger, sustainably-minded farmers who are growing food (and livestock) organically and on a smaller scale. (This is not to say that all 18,500 of these small farms are organic or sustainable but in general, small farms tread lighter on the environment than a CAFO does.)  

Interestingly, this increase in small farms corresponds to a rise in the number of women farmers in the U.S. The 2007 Census of Agriculture shows that women have a growing presence in U.S. agriculture: of the 3.3. million farm operators in the U.S., 30 percent were women. (This represents a 19 percent increase from 2002—far outpacing the 7 percent rise in the number of farmers overall.) 

While reporting this article for the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly, I interviewed a range of inspiring women from the twenty-something farm manager at Added Value in Red Hook, Brooklyn to a journalist who documents Chicago's urban ag movement on her blog (she's also at work on a book about urban agriculture). I also spoke to a pioneering sheep's milk cheesemaker, an outreach coordinator for NYC's GreenThumb program (she's also on the steering committee for the Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners conference this fall), and a woman who farms wheat, alfalfa, wine grapes, and olives—and raises sheep—on 2,000 acres on the Western Cape of South Africa.

Portland's Happiest Hours

One of the first things a curious eater will discover about Portland (Oregon) is the ubiquity of food-focused happy hours. Not only are house wines and daily cocktails just $5 (and local microbrews often $3)—you can usually get a full dinner for under $10 (depending on how hungry you are). I just wrote about a handful of my current favorites for the New York Times' T: Style. What are yours? 

Sustainable Sushi: There are Plenty of Other Fish in the Sea

 
Last week, I had the pleasure of interviewing marine stewardship expert and ocean activist Casson Trenor for my column in the Faster Times. I'd come across Trenor's name while researching "sustainable sushi"—a relatively new concept at sushi restaurants here in the U.S., but one that's taking off as locavore diners turn their attention to where their fish is coming from. Then, by coincidence, Mark Bittman blogged about sustainable fish a few days later. Something is definitely in the air...or should I say, in the water.

I didn't have space for all of Trenor's sage advice in my column, so herewith is more background info on why you should avoid farmed salmon, Chilean sea bass, and orange roughy at fishmongers and restaurants alike.

(For the top three sushi fish to skip, see the full interview here.)

Farmed salmon has a myriad of negative environmental effects on our planet. It needs more protein than it provides. They either feed them wild fish or an engineered food pellet. It's important to measure how much wild fish protein goes into the farm to get one pound of fish protein. Conventional salmon tends to be between 3 pounds to 1 pounds. It's gotten better recently: a lot are down to 1.8-2.3 to 1 or even a little lower, which is a hallmark of progress. But it's still missing the point in my view. Aquaculture is about feeding the world. It doesn't make sense to pursue carnivorous aquaculture.

Chilean sea bass. A lot of stores will say, "we only sell Marine Stewardship Certified (MSC) sea bass." That is great in theory, but unfortunately not great in practice. MSC's traceability is good, but their sustainability standards are far too low. Think about it: we live on a finite planet. These fish live in the furthest reaches of the ocean under the ice shelves, in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere is the question asked, "Should we even be fishing here?" The very fact that we are sending fishing boats out to Antarctica is symptomatic of a broken system. Sustainable Chilean sea bass is oxymoronic, in my opinion.

Orange roughy, which comes from New Zealand, mostly, is still sold by quite a few retailers. Orange roughy does not reach sexual maturity until about 20 years of age It reaches market size at age six. You see the problem: we're fishing out the juveniles. Fish like that should not be commercially exploited. They're not built for it. There are plenty other kinds of fish.

The Kombucha Craze

Last summer, while visiting friends in Portland, Oregon, I had my first sip of kombucha. After a morning hike up the trails of hilly Forest Park, we stopped at a food co-op near Northwest 23rd.

Renee was keen on having some kombucha.

"What's kombucha?" I asked. Somehow, I hadn't yet noticed the fermented tea creeping into the aisles of Brooklyn bodegas and grocery stores.

"You know that jar of liquid on the sink with a blob fermenting in it?" she said. I had to admit, I'd been afraid to ask what that was. It looked like some sort of liquid compost. 

At first, I thought it was nasty. Sour with a slight carbonation and little wisps of what I would later learn is a SCOBY ("Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast"), kombucha tasted more like fizzy cider vinegar than tea. But over the course of a few days, kombucha started to grow on me. I learned that it's a traditional fermented tea with a long history in China, Russia, and the Middle East, and that it's packed with B vitamins, probiotics, folic acid, and organic acids of various sorts (though which ones is a matter of some dispute). I experimented with several flavors of GT's, a popular brand that I found in ready supply at Portland's New Seasons Market. On my return to Brooklyn, I began seeking out local brews such as Kombucha Brooklyn. Thus began my fascination with this tart, fizzy beverage.

As I write in the March issue of Body + Soul (Download Hannah Wallace- Strange Brew) kombucha is the latest health craze, with indie companies and giants alike jumping on the kombucha bandwagon. (Red Bull has its very own label called Carpe Diem, and Celestial Seasonings is about to launch their own line of bottled kombucha, too.) Purportedly, the drink has all kinds of health benefits—devotees say it boosts the immune system, promotes energy, and improves everything from acne and digestion to arthritis pain and tendinitis. (Others swear by it as a hangover remedy.) But in the course of reporting this story, I found it very difficult to find even one M.D. who would champion the beverage. One, a well-known integrative physician, wrote simply, "As far as I can tell, the buzz is mostly hype—not much research behind it. For that reason, I’ve been reluctant to recommend it to my patients, although I don’t actively discourage it either."

 As with many healthy foods and supplements, kombucha hasn't had a groundswell of research dollars to help prove or disprove the health claims. For now, we only have a few in vitro and animal studies that show kombucha has potent antioxidant and immuno-stimulating effects. (It also improves sleep and reduces pain in rats, apparently, though don't ask me how the scientists know the rats sleep better once they've imbibed kombucha.)

But many holistic doctors and nutritionists spoke to me of seeing their patients improve once they introduced kombucha (and other fermented foods) into their diets. Brooke Moen, a San Francisco-based acupuncturist, told me that B vitamins, live enzymes, and organic acids are all crucial for good digestive health. "B vitamins are one of the things that get wiped out when the gut is imbalanced," she says. "And enzymes catalyze processes. They move things along, break things down."

Though Moen is skeptical of many of the health claims made about kombucha, she says it's not uncommon for many conditions to improve when a person's digestive tract is working properly. "Digestion is the foundation of health. Anytime you improve assimilation and elimination, the rest of your symptoms resolve," she says. From a chinese medicine perspective, sour and bitter flavors can "move liver congestion and qi stagnation"—meaning they assist the liver and gallbladder in breaking down and removing toxins. "A fundamental treatment principle for much illness is to help move that which is stuck," Moen told me. 

See here for my guide to making your own batch at home.

 

Solutions for Dry Hair, Chapped Skin and other Winter Blahs

 

As the snow continues to fall here in New York City, it seems an appropriate time to mention my last column for Endless Vacation travel magazine, a round-up of the best products for lackluster skin, static-prone hair and chapped hands. Unfortunately, it's not available online, but here are a few of my favorites: Kiehl's Imperial Body Balm, an ultra-rich cream that contains sea-buckthorn berry, a beta-carotene-rich fruit, and shea butter; Andrew Weil's Plantidote Mega-Mushroom Face Cream (a splurge at $61 for a small jar, but a little goes a long way); and the Body Shop's Ginger Scalp Care Shampoo. (Actually, my favorite product for staticky hair is the Body Shop's banana conditioner, which has just been re-released after a hiatus of 15 years.) I also include some drugstore finds such as A+D ointment (good for chapped skin and as a nighttime eye cream) and jojoba oil (for splashing on after a shower or bath).

My most recent E.V. column, on how to avoid heat-related maladies, seems entirely inappropriate for the current weather conditions. But it'll serve you well should you be headed to a tropical locale. (And if you are, I'm envious!)

An Upbeat Food, Inc. for Kids

On a family vacation in Ohio's Cuyahoga National Park a few years ago, fifth grade New Yorkers Sadie Hope-Gund and Safiyah Kai Riddle saw a chicken lay an egg and tasted the best cherry tomatoes "ever."

"I was like, 'Woah'," recalls Safiyah, now an 8th grader at the Manhattan Academy of Technology in Chinatown. "I thought you see everything in New York. You see everything—but not farming!"

The seeds had been planted for "What's on your Plate?" a documentary the girls spent the next two years making with Sadie's mom, filmmaker Catherine Gund. The movie, which aired last week on the Discovery Channel's Planet Green, is a spirited look at our unsustainable food system and how we can change it.

Two weeks ago, I sat down with Sadie, Safiyah, and Catherine over slices of (locally made!) Balthazar cake to talk about "bad" vegetarians, why good food should not be a luxury, and the importance of not telling other people what to eat. Check out my blog about the movie, which I did for the Atlantic Monthly's food channel. An edited Q&A of my conversation with the gals is now up at The Faster Times.

For upcoming screenings of "What's on your Plate" see here.

Brooklyn High Schoolers Study Michael Pollan, Sustainable Butchering

 
Butcher Ben Turley presents the students with sausages at Williamsburg's Meat Hook     [Photo by Joshua Bright]

Freelancing can be rough, especially in this economy. But reporting stories like this one, which ran in the Metro section of the Times this past weekend, is what makes me love my job.

For a year or more, I'd walked past Automotive High School in Williamsburg and wondered about the raggedy but lush vegetable garden bordering its majestic front. I always had another assignment or story idea to pursue, though, so never took the time to investigate. It wasn't until this fall, when I read about a fundraiser for Jenny Kessler's food politics class at Egg, that I started to do some serious research. I called Kessler and asked if I could sit in on her class, called "Land, Food, and You." 

In it, as Kessler read an excerpt from a book about America's obesity epidemic, I was surprised to see how engaged her students were by the material. (After all, these are kids who are training to be auto mechanics. How interested could they be in learning about factory farming, food miles, and the sinister high-fructose corn syrup?) Kessler had just read aloud statistics on the staggering advertising budgets for soft drink companies and fast food chains such as McDonalds.

"How many commercials do you guys see for fruits and vegetables or for the green market?" Kessler asked her all-male, mostly African American class.

"A day? I see, like...two," said a student named Arthur.  

"I see none," called out another student.

"I've seen one for whole grain cereal," continued Arthur, knowingly. "And I seen one with the fruits that probably everyone saw, where they're playing basketball. A tomato and shit..."

"That's Fruit of the Loom, man," broke in one of his classmates, to a round of hearty laughter.

Kessler suppressed a giggle herself.  "That one's for underwear," she conceded. By now, Arthur was chortling at his own mistake. But Kessler had made her point: there's no money to be made from marketing broccoli, tomatoes, or carrots. 

But there is money to be made from sustainably-raised meat, and the kids took this in on their field trip to the Meat Hook, Brooklyn's latest "sustainable" butcher shop. (The other is Marlow & Daughters.) They also learned how to make head cheese (one of the most sustainable recipes there is, in that it uses up flesh from the head that would otherwise go to waste)—and the very brave even tasted it. 

Kushima Warner muscling the 160-pound arm chuck of a recently-slaughtered cow (with a little help from butchers Mylan and Turley).            [Photo by Joshua Bright]

As I watched them watch the butchers, I could see why Kessler's students were so riveted: they work with their hands and so do these skillful butchers. (They also clearly loved the blood & guts aspect of butchering. One kid kept asking to see the hearts. Finally, butcher Tom Mylan threw a bag of pigs' hearts down on the butcher block. "Do you see it beating?" asked Kushima Warner, playfully. "We make scrapple with it," Mylan said. "We also trim it up and marinate it and cook it just like steak. Leave it medium rare on the inside...marinate it overnight in garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil and—oh man. They're incredible. They're also pretty inexpensive.") 

On the walk over to the Meat Hook, Kushima had expressed reservations about seeing animal carcasses up close. "It may make me not want to eat meat anymore," she told me. But by the end of the butcher outing she seemed far from squeamish—not only had she tried the Mortadella, Turley's homemade head cheese, and the raw steak, she was eager to cozy up to the arm chuck.

"In my opinion, the business they've got right now is a great business," student Edward Veloz told me on the walk back to Automotive. "They know what they're doing and it's not really healthy—because we know red meat is not actually healthy, but you can actually trust that the cow is fresh and was treated well."

Beyond Organic Wine

Food trends are typically followed by parallel trends in wine. Witness the recent focus on organic, biodynamic, and local wines—at restaurants and wine shops across the country. But, just as the locavore movement has begun spurning mere organic produce (consecrating “beyond organic” farmers such as Joel Salatin as movement heros), fans of terroir—let’s call them terroir-ists—are touting something called natural wines. 

For a quick primer, read my blog about natural wine bars (and restaurants with extensive natural wine selections), published in T: Magazine's The Moment blog. If you haven’t read Alice Feiring’s book The Battle for Wine and Love, you should. (For Alice Feiring’s definition of natural wines, see here. There is, so far, no certification process or label for natural wines.)

Chocolate Milk: Soda in Drag

I've been thinking a lot about public school lunches lately—not just because it's a subject that's perpetually in the news these days. For the past few months, I've been volunteering at Public School 157 in Bed-Stuy, for a grassroots non-profit called Wellness in the Schools. I'm part of the salad bar squad: I slice and chop veggies, prepare bean and pasta salads, and serve the kids both. Though New York City lunchrooms still have a long way to go—we can't get local produce or any olive oil, for instance (using subpar soy oil for salad dressings)—at least these first, second, and third graders of all ethnicities are enthusiastic about eating carrots, cucumbers, and celery.  It's only taken a few months, but now it's the rare student who passes the salad bar by without at least trying something.

So it was with great interest that I listened to this NPR segment on how the milk industry is lashing out at parents at this Boulder, Colorado school for taking chocolate milk off the menu.

"Chocolate milk is soda in drag," one mom (nickname: "the renegade lunch lady") says to NPR reporter Jeff Brady, noting that it has 3.1 grams of sugar per ounce. (Soda has 3.3.)

Apparently, this school isn't the only one to ban chocolate milk. The dairy industry, worried about losing more milk drinkers nationwide, has rather desperately launched a "Raise your hand for chocolate milk" campaign on Facebook including this propaganda-filled video. (Hmmm... I wonder how much these dieticians and actors were paid to say that chocolate milk is just as healthy as regular milk?)

Has it really gotten so bad that parents can't persuade their kids to drink plain whole milk?  Oh—that's right, whole milk is not an option anymore, at least in New York City public schools where city education officials removed it from cafeterias in 2006. At PS 157, the only choices kids have are low-fat or skim milk and low-fat chocolate milk. If I were them, I'd probably choose chocolate milk, too. Who wants to drink blue-ish skim milk or watery-tasting 1% milk?

The truth is, kids are not getting fat from drinking whole milk.  (When was the last time you saw a 3rd grader guzzling whole milk? I think that'd actually be cause for celebration.) I'm with Nina Planck on this subject—you need the saturated fat that's in whole milk to absorb the calcium and fat-soluble vitamins in milk. Whereas sugar (and an early addiction to it) leads to everything from ADD to cavities to diabetes.

As we say at the P.S. 157 cafeteria, one step at a time. We've got the kids eating fresh veggies on a daily basis—maybe next semester we'll figure out how to get some seasonal produce from New York state farms. And maybe, like that Boulder school, we can tackle the chocolate milk issue soon.

Second-grader Ella Lyons says it best, "No one's going to get regular milk if we have chocolate milk, because, I think, they're going to like it better because it tastes better...But it's not good for you, so I think we shouldn't have chocolate milk."

Steven Smith, Tea Shaman

Steve Smith knows a thing or two about tea. Having co-created both Stash and Tazo (two of the best known U.S. tea brands, Stash was acquired by Japanese tea company Yamamotoyama in 1993 and Tazo was bought by Starbucks in 1999), he probably could've retired early.

But instead, he's just launched a new line of meticulously sourced, beautifully crafted teas under his own name: Steven Smith Teamaker. When I visited his Portland, Oregon-based atelier this summer, I was impressed by how small and tightly run the operation is. There are no outside tasters or focus groups, just a team of five tea lovers (including Smith) who sift, taste, and package everything by hand. In his Zenlike headquarters on the northern fringes of the Pearl District, Smith and his crew blend tea by hand in small batches to maintain freshness and seasonality. He sources ingredients from farms he and his wife have visited—from Fayoum, Egypt (chamomile) to India (organic Darjeeling) to nearby Hermiston, Oregon (peppermint). Traceability is key: each artfully designed carton has both its batch number and the date packed printed on the bottom so customers can trace the ingredients down to the exact lot and garden. (You can even find out the week of harvest and farmer's name, should you so desire.) 

This fall, Smith released 12 teas (including white peony with asmanthus from China and a Darjeeling Bungalow or "Bed" tea from India) and though he has just 40 accounts, they're the right ones: Zabar's and Eli's in Manhattan and Portland's New Seasons grocery store. There's also a lovely tea room on site @ 1626 Thurman St., Portland (Phone: 503/719-8752)

I single out Smith in the current issue of Monocle (subscription only) as a "Leader of the Pack" in a story on Companies to Watch. ("Identifying a gap in a market is the easy part; creating a pioneering company to plug that gap requires a bit more skill. We present five firms that have found their niche and done the hard work, too.") 

This high-tech Japanese machine magically fuses the cornsilk tea bags together without glue (it has to do with ultrasonic waves).

Larry King Show on E. Coli Misses the Mark

This story originally appeared on The Faster Times.

This weekend, I finally got around to watching this Larry King segment (which aired on October 13th), featuring foodborne illness lawyer Bill Marler and the mothers and grandmothers of several children who have been victims of E. coli 0157: H7, including Barbara Kowalcyk, the outspoken mother from Food, Inc. who has gone on to found the Center for Foodborne Illness.

The show also contains a strange medley of pro and anti-meat figures from biochemist T. Colin Campbell (anti) to star chef Anthony Bourdain (very much pro). Nutritionist Nancy Rodriguez is vehemently in favor of eating meat in moderation; novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, who has just written a book about being a vegetarian, Eating Animals, weighs in, too. (I told you it was an odd melee.)

Aside from the squirm-inducing questions from King himself—at one point he pointedly asks the grandmother of Kevin, a healthy two-year-old who died of gangrene of the small intestines after eating E. coli-tainted ground beef, if his death was painful. Looking dumbfounded, the woman answers, “Yes, Larry, it was very painful”—the show was disappointing on many levels. I know talking heads go through media training that tell them to inflexibly hammer home their points, but the back and forth between Campbell and Rodriguez was circular and skirted around the (to me) crucial distinction between factory-farmed beef and beef that’s been raised humanely and safely by small-scale farms.

Campbell’s argument is that the caseins in protein help “turn on” cancer growth—his book the China Study details the results of a large-scale study that Campbell directed in the 70’s and 80’s which surveyed death rates for twelve different kinds of cancer for more 65 rural counties in China. (The outcome, according to the book’s web site was “People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic diseases…”) Rodriguez respectfully disagrees, pointing out that animal protein is a more efficient way to get essential nutrients and vitamins such as amino acids, iron and B vitamins. She concedes that “diligent” vegans can get enough zinc and amino acids but says meat is a more practical source for most Americans. The average American is not going to start consuming large quantities of lentils and Brewer’s Yeast (or fortified soy milk), for example.

What neither of them delve into is what type of meat they’re talking about here. When Campbell carried out his research in China, was the meat that the Chinese ate from pastured animals? (Disclaimer: I have not read the China Study, so have no idea, but I’m guessing the answer is no.) Were they doused with antibiotics the way most cattle raised for consumption are here in the U.S.?  And when Rodriguez talks about feeling absolutely safe serving her son hamburgers off the grill, is she serving him Cargill burgers or those from Niman Ranch?

The person who gets closest to raising this issue is Bourdain, an adventurous traveler and eater who loves meat—but who does not love the industrial system that raises it here in the U.S. His succinct rant was a gem, and elicited a simple “Wow” from Larry King:

If you look at our basic design…we have eyes in the front of our head. We have fingernails. We have high teeth and long legs…we have evolved so that we can chase down smaller, stupider creatures, kill them and eat them.  That said, we may be designed to eat meat—we are not designed to eat fecal coliform bacteria. And I think the standard practices of outfits like Cargill and some of the larger meat processors and grinders in this country are unconscionable and border on the criminal.

Yet Bourdain didn’t single out the type of meat he prefers to eat, presumably the kind that does not come from gargantuan meat processors such as Cargill. This would’ve been an excellent opportunity to give a shout-out to a small family-run farm whose meat is of such superior quality that it probably never tests positive for this dangerous strain of E. coli.

Safran Foer, too, notes that 99% of the meat that’s raised in this country comes from factory farms. Right, but we CAN choose that 1% that is not factory farmed, no? (Especially in Brooklyn, I yelled through my computer screen to Safran Foer, who lives in the foodie borough, too.) But really, all over the country…in rural Utah. In fast-food restaurants in Oregon and Washington. Even in Missouri. But instead, Foer seems to be saying, being a vegetarian is the only practical choice to this practically inescapable industrial food system.

Foer briefly touches on his ethical reasons for spurning meat, arguing with Bourdain’s logic that eating animals is somehow “natural”: “The entirety of human progress is defying what is natural. If we were so concerned with what is natural, we wouldn’t obviously be in this studio right now, having this conversation.” (He expands on the ethical side of his reasoning in an excerpt from his soon-to-be-published book in the food issue of the New York Times Magazine.)

Thankfully, Marler gets the last word in, though, asking the Beef Manufacturers Association to be more transparent with the public. Private companies should, for example, post the results of the USDA’s inspections on their web sites. (Not surprisingly, Patrick Boyle from the American Meat Institute did not think this was a good idea.)

Note: Author Jonathan Safran Foer responded to this article on The Faster Times here.

Friday Round-up (Urban foraging & School Lunch Reform)

This column originally appeared in the Faster Times on Oct. 16th.

These days, it’s not easy keeping up on the latest in Food Politics. That’s why I decided to start a regular “Friday Round-Up” column, supplying you with links to the latest stories and blogs on everything from school lunch reform to urban foraging.

Speaking of which:

• Urban Foraging. You hear a lot of people complaining these days about how expensive it is to eat a nutritious, local diet. If you’re sick of shelling out $5 for organic salad greens (and haven’t figured out the perks of a CSA yet), get some tips from two of my Faster Times colleagues, Rachel Wharton and Sarah Karnasiewicz, both of whom have recently written about foragers. Rachel’s story on Wildman Steve Brill, who is still leading his popular tours in New York’s Central Park is in this month’s Edible Manhattan; Sarah interviews Langdon Cook, author of the new book Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager, in Salon. Cook, who worked for corporate America for many years (where he’d scarf down lunch in 20 minutes at his desk—sound familiar?), forages in the mountains and waterways of the Puget Sound. Brill, on the other hand, is an urban forager: he picks dandelions and purslane from the cracks between the sidewalk and snags mushrooms such as hen-of-the-woods from oak trees in Central Park.

• School Lunch Reform. This week is National School Lunch Week, which seems appropriate judging by the amount of ink spilled lately on efforts around the country to reform lunches at public schools. It’s not clear to me what, if anything, happened this past week to commemorate it, but President Obama’s proclamation (as quoted on Obamafoodarama) makes it sound as though he’s got something up his sleeve:

In the coming months, my Administration will continue our partnership with Federal, State, and local leaders to strengthen the National School Lunch Program. We must work together to remove barriers that prevent some eligible children from receiving meals, and update nutrition standards to reflect the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Let’s just hope things don’t go haywire, as they have in New York City, where misguided attempts to banish unhealthy food from the schools has led to the banning of bake sales. Getting rid of soda and vending machines I can understand—but bake sales?  Really folks. Removing whole milk and home-made cookies from our schools overlooks the true culprits of childhood obesity: processed snack foods and sugary sodas. (Not to mention the horrible canned and frozen/reheated grub that passes as food at most school cafeterias. Oh, yeah, and the fact that gym is being cut at many schools.) And what are sports teams going to do to raise money, now?

Meanwhile, also in Edible Manhattan was an excellent story by Jan Greenberg about Chef Bill Telepan and a group called Wellness in the Schools. Telepan, like others in this country, realize that much can be done to improve the quality of cafeteria food at the local level. He volunteers one day a week at his daughter’s school, P.S. 87, and has been instrumental in creating themed-food days such as Salad Day, Hormone-Free Milk Day, and even Grass-Fed Beef Day. (School officials put the kibosh on this last one; apparently no raw meat is allowed to cross the threshold of public school kitchens in NYC.)

Finally, the profile on Naked Chef Jamie Oliver in the New York Times Magazine’s food issue, while not solely about Oliver’s efforts to reform school lunch programs in Huntington, West Virginia, is all about the young chef’s next T.V. show: “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” in which he challenges middle-and-low income Americans to eat and cook healthy food. (Oliver has chosen Huntington as the site of his next “Jamie Oliver Challenge” based on stats from the CDC that showed that half of the adults in the Huntington-Ashland metro area are obese and that the area has the dubious distinction of leading the country in rates of heart disease and diabetes.)  It will be remarkable if Oliver can achieve in the U.S. what he did in the U.K., with his program “Jamie’s School Dinners.”: “When he eventually succeeded in getting them to abandon their processed poultry and fries and eat his food, the teachers reported a decrease in manic behavior and an increase in concentration,” says journalist Alex Witchel. “The school nurses noted a reduction in the number of asthma attacks. Those findings…were the impetus for the British government to invest more than a billion dollars to overhaul school lunches.”

Know Your Butcher

This post originally appeared on the Faster Times.

Last week, I wrote up a quick summary of Michael Moss’s chilling article about this country’s byzantine network of slaughterhouses and meat processing facilities, where no-one takes accountability for the safety of our food supply.

Yesterday, I got an e-mail from a New York City market called the New Amsterdam Market reminding me that there is an alternative to the industrial model.  Founded in 2005, the New Amsterdam Market is a monthly venue (located down at Manhattan’s South Street Seaport) that showcases local produce, cheese, and meat as well as regionally-made prepared food such as porchetta sandwiches, popsicles, and Mexican-style chocolate. But what distinguishes New Amsterdam from most farmers’ markets is that it is comprised of purveyors—i.e. the cheesemongers and shop owners who sell regionally-made food for regional farmers (who often don’t have the time or desire to sit at a stand for six + hours on the weekend).

“Two Master Butchers Take on a Half Pig Under the Brooklyn Bridge,” the press release announced.

Intrigued, I read on.

On October 25th, the market “will feature farmers and meat ranchers, regional distributors, butchers, and purveyors who can trace and identify the source of every pound of meat sold to the public, even to the specific head of cattle.” In addition to purveyors and farmers selling sustainably raised meat, there would be a meat cutting demonstration by fourth-generation butcher Josh Applestone (whose Kingston, NY meat store, Fleisher’s Grassfed and Organic Meats helped reintroduce the concept of local sourcing and a revival of the art of butchering) and Tom Mylan, erstwhile butcher from [Brooklyn foodie destination] Marlow & Sons. (Mylan also helped open the nearby sustainable butcher shop Marlow & Daughters and is now working on launching another butcher shop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.)

Yes, but would the Market be selling sustainably-raised, grassfed hamburger meat? And if so, would the local purveyors and farmers be able to “trace and identify every pound” of that ground beef? Could they ensure me that there would be no ammonia-doused “filler” from Uruguay or enormous squalid slaughterhouses in Omaha?

I called up New Amsterdam Market director Robert LaValva to find out.

LaValva was sure there’d be no “filler” from Uruguay, but he put me on to Jake Dickson, owner of the new Dickson’s Farmstand Meats in New York’s Chelsea Market to answer the rest of my questions. Dickson will have a stand at the New Amsterdam Market on October 25th. I immediately went to his web site and read up on his philosophy:

But most of the meat available to the US consumer leaves much to be desired. It embodies the worst of our industrial agriculture practices and what is widely available is of poor quality. It doesn’t have to be this way! There are small scale, environmentally conscientious farmers producing healthy, delicious, artisanal meats right here in New York State! These are farmers who care about the animals and the land on which they are raised. These are the people I wanted to work with and whom I continue to seek out on your behalf.

I like this guy! Furthermore, if you click on “Our Farms,” you can see the eight or so local farms Dickson buys his meat from. (There are short blurbs on each farmer, too, so you can find out how each farm produces its meat. The cows at Herondale Farm, for instance, graze the fields as long as the grass grows, after which they enjoy the alfalfa baleage and hay that is put up for the winter. A little map shows you how many miles it is from farm to market: 250.) Talk about traceability.

So I called Dickson to find out where he sources his grass-fed beef. I caught him driving back from Double L Ranch, a small facility near Albany that slaughters his meat. (He was driving the carcasses back to NYC where he butchers them on location at his Chelsea Market shop.)

“Right now I have three-and-a-half steers and eight lambs in the back of my truck,” he said.  I asked him about his process for making hamburger meat.

“We try to use one steer at a time,” Dickson told me. “We never mix farms—always single farms. And 98% of the time it is a single animal as well. Our general rule is single farm, single animal.”

Dickson went on to tell me about the inconsistent quality of grass-fed beef. “Most of the grass-fed beef out there is of very low quality,” he said. “The variation in grass-fed is much wider than it is with corn-fed. It’s much harder to do well.” He cautioned that “grass-fed” has become such a buzzword these days that many producers and purveyors (and restaurants) throw it around without defining the term. To Dickson, grass-fed cow meat means the cows were “100% grass-fed and grass-finished.” Dickson is not one to believe that grass-fed cows are inherently better than corn fed, though. “They have a different flavor and a different texture,” he said. “There are good and bad variations of both.” Indeed, he sells an organic grain-finished beef from Wrighteous Organics in Schoharie, NY.

LaValva had said something earlier in the morning that stuck with me. “You read about the E. coli scares and all they [the USDA] do is talk about increasing inspections. They don’t think, ‘Maybe this whole system needs to be thrown out.’  If the meat is that cheap, it means you’re compromising something along the way. Should meat be cheap? Why not have that debate?”

What do you think?  Should meat be cheap?

And how many of you have a relationship with your neighborhood butcher?  (No, not that kind of relationship…)

A Picnic in Toronto: Celebrating Slow Food and Green Spaces

There are worse ways to get to know a city than through its food.

This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to be in Toronto for both Nuit Blanche and a  fundraiser "picnic" for Slow Food Toronto and Evergreen, a non-profit organization that makes cities more livable by creating and restoring outdoor spaces. The event was held at the spectacular Brick Works facility in the Don River Valley—a former brick quarry and factory that dates back to 1889 and that's used for a weekly farmers' market, chef workshops, sustainability fairs, etc. It will soon be the site for Evergreen's ambitious new environmental community center, slated to open in summer of 2010. (In fact, that's what this fundraiser was for: generating funds to finish the construction.)

First of all, forgive me, because I did not take notes. You try scribbling in a notebook while carrying a wine glass in one hand (you only get one for the entire picnic) and a compostable bamboo plate in the other. So I rely purely on my fickle memory and the memory of my boyfriend and our friends (Torontonians)—and the handful of business cards and menus I swiped from various food stands.

The theme of this year's picnic was "locally global"—a celebration of Toronto's diverse food traditions. Each chef (specializing in Mexican, Indian, Middle Eastern, etc. cuisines) was paired with a leading locavore chef and a local grower to showcase a seasonal ingredient.

Chef Jamie Kennedy Making Pakoras

Anyway, the wait was worth it: crispy heirloom bean pakoras (above) with yogurt raita or a smokey eggplant salsa. After this, things get a little foggy, no doubt helped by a glass of Steam Whistle pilsner and a generous swig of Frogpond Farm's standout organic cabernet-merlot. (Frogpond is one of two certified organic wineries in Ontario.)  I had a plateful of Argentinian goodness from a restaurant called Canoe: steak tartare, lamb empanada, and a salted tongue (a delicacy I saved for my meat-loving boyfriend); a diminutive pulled pork taco; and a lovely spear of butter chicken and stewed apricots. Clearly, this all called for another wine pairing, so I refilled my glass with a touch of organic and biodynamic merlot from Southbrook Vineyard.

As the five of us slowly made our way over to the dessert area, I looked up from my now-empty plate long enough to notice that several eaters were in a similar state of post-prandial bliss: walking around the barn-like room with dazed expressions, licking their fingers and looking for the next delectable morsel. (Mind you, there were over 60 restaurants present so it did get a bit overwhelming. What is it about being human that makes you want to try everything?)

The thing about these Slow Food events, where zillions of top chefs and local producers are vying for your attention, is that they tend to be fairly insular. (Well-heeled foodies hitting a never-ending smorgasbord of the best local food and wine...I must admit, it does sound elitist.) However, this was hardly a navel-gazing event. Proceeds from the tickets supported two worthy causes: in this case, both Slow Food Toronto (which defends biodiversity and supports small-scale, sustainable, local economies) and Evergreen's new facility, which will eventually house a native plant nursery and garden center, a "green job" training program for area youth, food gardens, farmers' markets, hands-on geology exhibits, and so on. (For more on Evergreen Brick Works, see here.)

Sweet: Ontario Peaches

So then, back to dessert. I tried a prune streusel cake with a dollop of whipped cream from Crush Wine Bar; a tiny piece of Matchbox Garden carrot cake (made with heirloom carrots by Amuse-Bouche chefs Jason Inniss and Bertrand Alépée), topped with a sprig of lavender; a sliver of fresh Ontario peach that blew me away (above); and a Hungarian dumpling with plums from Loïc Gourmet.  Just to prove that I could exercise some restraint, I skipped the homemade honey ice-cream, made with honey from the hives that sit atop the Royal York hotel.

Everyone agreed that the culinary highlight of the day was a pear-pumpkin fritter (made by Brook Kavanagh from La Palette), with a cinnamon-and-maple syrup custard interior. The organic pears were sourced from Ontario's Lincoln Line Orchards and the pumpkins (which were puréed and added to the batter) were from a nearby farm called Psennings.

Earlier in the afternoon, when I was still hungry and sober, I'd spoken to a woman from Farm Start, an Ontario-based non-profit that offers support and training to a new generation of farmers, in some cases linking them up with "mentor farms." Canada's farmers are aging: the number of farmers under the age of 35 has declined from 25% in 1991 to 12% in 2001.

Standing in the Brick Works with my empty plate, I was not worried about the future of small farms. I was surrounded by chefs committed to serving seasonal cuisine, growers ready to supply it, and regular people more than happy to pay for it. Judging by the turnout at this fundraiser, Canada's Slow Food movement, like the U.S.'s, is alive and well.

Where Does Your Beer Come From?

This is the third in a series of articles about polyculture and sustainable farming in Oregon. Read the previous installment, or start at the beginning of the series, which I wrote for The Faster Times.

After sipping wine made from grapes that had not been irrigated (divine!), and then visiting a winery that's practicing polyculture (following the spirit of biodynamics), it was time to visit a farm that produces Oregon's other quintessential beverage: beer.

Even though I've been a beer drinker all my life—my father used to homebrew the stuff and I once thirstily grabbed a Coke bottle from the fridge, only to discover mid-gulp that it was a dusky porter—I'd never, until this summer, seen a hop.

As it happens, the town I grew up in—Salem—is a mere 10 miles from what was once the hop-producing capital of the world: Independence, Oregon. In the 40's, the population of Independence swelled to 50,000 during hop season—with hop-harvesters camping out on the side of the road. Though hop production waned in the 50's, Independence is still the center of much hop activity, including the farm that supplies Oregon's own craft brewer Rogue Ales.

Hops before the harvest at Rogue's farm

As Dustin, a handsome young Rogue employee, showed an assembled group of journalists (and the crew from a new T.V. pilot lamely called "Beer Men") around the farm, he told us some hop history: it was Pliny the Elder who first documented hops, in his Naturalis Historia, but the Germans were the ones to first brew beer, in 732 AD. Of the three species of hop plant, it is Humulus lupulus that is used to flavor and stabilize beer. Dustin then led us into the high-ceilinged hop plant, with its well-worn stairs and rickety cat walks. I was bewildered by the masses of conveyor belts and pulleys going every which way. It all seemed so archaic and intricate. Thankfully, it was the day before harvest, so none of the machines were running. (I hear it's a deafening clatter.)

The intricate machinery at Rogue's hop facility (Photo by Annalou Vincent)

Dustin assured us that the guys who operate the machinery use food-grade quality oil and lubricants. It was at this moment that I realized I'd never once contemplated the origins of my beer—let alone that beer production involves such marvels of engineering, long before it's even brewed or bottled.

From Independence, I drove north with my friend Lisa Donoughe (founder and director of Watershed Communications, who had organized this hop trip) to the town of Mt. Angel. Better known for a Benedictine monastery and its Alvar Aalto-designed library, Mt. Angel is located smack dab in the middle of Oregon farm country.

After a tour of the Annen Brothers' hop collection facility, we met Gayle Goschie, a 3rd generation hop farmer who is turning heads in the beer industry with her commitment to sustainable farming practices. Gayle, along with her brothers Gordon and Glenn, farm 400 acres of hops, and sells them to everyone from Anheuser Busch to craft brewers such as Bridgeport and Deschutes Brewery.

Though most hop farmers say it's "impossible" to grow organic hops (particularly in Oregon, where powdery and downy mildew, mites, and aphids thrive), Gayle has started an experimental 6-acre organic plot. Instead of artificial chemicals or fertilizers, she plants companion plants like garlic and sprays wintergreen and spearmint oils to attract beneficial insects such as ladybugs. Last year, this organic plot thrived, but this past spring was extremely wet, which meant that aphids and downy mildew were out in full force. Nonetheless, Goschie recently told me that Deschutes enthusiastically purchased the majority of her organic crop this year, and is working hard to produce a 100% organic beer.  (Interestingly, most beers that are USDA-certified organic are not necessarily made with organic hops, since they are still fairly hard to source—and cost twice as much as conventional hops. A product needs to be comprised of 95% organic ingredients to get the USDA organic label and organic beers do that by sourcing organic malted barely and wheat. Both Wolaver's and Peak are trying to source 100% of their hops organically, but haven't gotten there yet.) The Goschies are growing many varieties of organic hops including Willamette, Fuggle, Cascade, Teamaker, and Centennial. They're also testing 24 S.S. Steiner experimental varieties, as well as Summit and First Gold hops grown on low-trellises.

Gayle's eyes lit up as she told us about all she was learning from growing and nurturing organic hops. "I'm curious to know what's the difference in the hop cone between organic and conventional," she said. She's already noticed that organic hops are not as uniform as conventional hops. She's learned to discourage spider mites by allowing the foliage cover to stay put (instead of weeding it as conventional hop growers do). "Spider mites winter in the soil," she said. "They don't build if it's not hot—they won't come up the vine."

But as with wine, organic is just one certification for hop farmers to strive for. Goschie Farms is one of the few hop farms in the U.S. to be certified Salmon Safe.

Gayle Goschie, innovative hop farmer

(Photo by Annalou Vincent)

When I first heard about this eco-label, I did a double-take. What on earth could inland hop production have to do with salmon?

It turns out that many conventional farming practices in the Northwest hurt the salmon population: pesticide runoff, erosion, and damage to animal habitats to name a few. Salmon-Safe certifies everything from Willamette Valley hazelnuts to Walla Walla wines; recently, Real Simple magazine rated Salmon-Safe as one of 8 eco-safe labels you can trust.  Hops are a new addition to the nonprofit Salmon-Safe's repertoire.

To qualify for Salmon-Safe certification, hop growers need to meet rigorous conservation requirements, including finding natural methods to control weeds and pests, protecting streams and wetlands, planting cover crops to prevent erosion and runoff, and reducing irrigation.

"A lot of this, including integrated pest management techniques, we were already doing," Goschie told us with obvious pride. Thanks to her grandfather, who started farming the Silverton land in 1905, she and her brothers know the benefits of composting, pest management, and polyculture. (They also grow specialty seeds, grass, and even some wine grapes.) Before seeking the Salmon- Safe certification, the Goschies had already converted to drip irrigation (as opposed to pipes, which waste a lot of water) and had installed moisture monitors in the field. Compost goes on all fields and they plant native grasses between their farm and the highways to prevent sediment runoff. (This is important so sediments don't ultimately cover nearby fish breeding areas.)

Goschie Farms and Sod Busters (another Oregon hop farm) are the only two to be certified Salmon-Safe in the country—and Deschutes is (as far as I know) the only brewery to promote lines of salmon-safe beer: Green Lakes Organic and Hop Trip (a fresh hop beer). Green Lakes, which had a clever ad campaign ("How to Drink Like a Fish...") deconstructing the Salmon-Safe label, is a limited release beer that's only available in the western states—oh, and Texas.

Skippy's, Froot Loops, Fudgsicles: "Smart Choices"?

A few weeks ago, I read this article in the Times about a new labeling program ironically called "Smart Choices," that is clearly a desperate attempt by various food conglomerates to counter the sustainable food revolution. Nutritionally bereft foods such as Cocoa Krispies, Froot Loops, Fudgsicles and Hellman's Mayo have made the list and get a cheery green check mark and the "Smart Choices" imprimatur. (The official-looking logo says, "Smart Choices Program: Guiding Food Choices.) Companies such as Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods, ConAgra Foods, Unilever, General Mills, PepsiCo and Tyson Foods have all signed up and the entire program is chaired by a nutritionist (!!) named Eileen T. Kennedy, who is the dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts.

This makes my blood boil.

I was raised to be skeptical of food labels, to examine the "Ingredients" lists on packaging and steer clear of foods that had sugar as one of the first three ingredients. My folks only allowed us to have Golden Grahams and other specious excuses for cereal (which at the time, of course, my sister and I adored!) for dessert. And guess what?  I didn't have my first cavity until I was a senior in high school.

But I well know that my family was not typical. And when a parent who is shopping for cereal sees a label that seemingly tells them the food is healthy, they may believe or want to believe that it's true. I wish that most people knew better, but the fact is—they don't.

So where is our government on this?  How can we stop the madness?

William Neuman, in his article, said that the FDA and and Department of Agriculture had sent a letter to the Smart Choices organizers, saying they "intended to monitor its effect on the food choices of consumers." That's a start, but it's not exactly going to stop the program in its tracks.

Then I read on Marion Nestle's site that Mike Smith of Change.org has organized a letter-writing campaign asking the nutritionists on the board of Smart Choices to resign. If you, too are outraged by this insidious labeling initiative and believe that Teddy Graham's and Froot Loops (41% sugar) are— if not evil—better reserved for the rare snacking indulgence, please take a moment to write a letter to the Smart Choices folks.

Nearly 4,000 people have already done so and—get this—Tufts University, the American Diabetes Association, AND the American Dietetic Association have all asked that their names be removed from the Smart Choices site.

The Politics of "Green Wine"—and Added Sulfites

This post originally appeared on the Faster Times, generating dozens of comments. Clearly the subject of what does, indeed, cause a red wine headache is still controversial—and it's still up for debate.

A few weeks ago, I posted an article about natural wines—just one of the many "green" wines that are getting more attention (and accolades) these days. There's also certified organic wine. Wine made from organic grapes. Biodynamic wine. And—murkiest of all—"sustainable" wine.

A friend recently posted on Facebook that she'd finally come to the conclusion that she can't drink red wine anymore—she wakes up in the middle of the night with raging headaches. Several people (including me) posted that she's probably sensitive to sulfites and that she should give sulfite-free wines a try. (Another friend posited that it was the histamines in red wine that give people headaches—this actually seems more plausible to me since white wines typically contain more sulfites than red. Reds have more natural preservatives in the form of tannins.) 

A discussion ensued about which wines do and do not contain sulfites. Here's the scoop: all wines contain some naturally-occurring sulfites—they are produced by yeast during the fermentation process. In the U.S. any wine that is "USDA Certified Organic" cannot contain any added sulfites. Those organic wines that do contain small amounts of added sulfites are labeled "made from organic grapes." Winemakers with this label add no more than 100 ppm (parts per million) total sulfites—in the form of sulfur dioxide (known as SO2).

QUEST on KQED Public Media.

This recent radio program from KQED in California tries to clear up some of the confusion about all these different eco-wine categories, including this controversial issue of "added sulfites." Reporter Andrea Kissack talks to so-called biodynamic winemaker Tim Thornhill from Parducci Winery and also interviews skeptics who gripe that natural wines have an "organic funk." Towards the end of the segment, she quizzes Luc Erotran from San Francisco's Terroir Natural Wine Merchant who shuns winemakers who are trying to "surf the green wave" and gives his own definition of natural wines.

According to the Organic Wine Journal, the use of added sulfites is a subject of much debate in the organic winemaking community. "Many vintners favor their use, in extremely small quantities, to help stabilize wines, while others frown on them completely," reads the copy on the Organic Wine Journal's site.

While there's nothing inherently wrong with sulfites—they help wines with any kind of shelf life avoid premature oxidation or possible spoilage—they are a chemical and according to the USDA, 1% of the  population is sensitive to them. For more on the still-mysterious subject of Red Wine Headaches, check out this article by Marian Burros.

Anti-Soda Ad Campaign Receives Mixed Welcome from New Yorkers

Just in time for the labor day weekend, New York City's Health Department unveiled its latest public health campaign earlier this week: a series of in-your-face ads warning New Yorkers of the health perils of drinking too much soda and other sugary beverages.            (See ad, above.)

This seems like a no brainer to me. Ever notice how in other countries, where obesity rates are much lower, Coke and Pepsi bottles (not to mention bottles of juice, Orangina, and sports drinks) come in comparatively petite sizes for roughly the same price? 

Actually, these bottles are not petite, they're normal. We've just gotten so used to drinking Big Gulps (32 oz and up) and Venti Frappuccinos (yes, "Venti"=20 ounces) that those European sizes seem quaint and old-fashioned.

But this morning, as I surveyed the comments over at the New York Times' City Room blog, I see that my approving reaction is not a common one.  (Or at least, if it is, it's not being shared on the comments section of Sewell Chan's story.)

The critiques range from the aesthetic ("For the life of me, I couldn’t tell that it was human fat, pouring out of that bottle...It took them three years and over a quarter-of-a-million dollars to come up with this? Sigh.") to the anti-authoritarian ("I look forward to a day when the NYC public health department will remind me to wipe my own bum and chew with my mouth closed, don’t take out the second mortgage, and look both ways before I cross the street.").

If you read all 70 comments, a theme emerges: New Yorkers don't like being told what to do. (Surprise, surprise.) And furthermore, they don't think this 3-month public health campaign will change peoples' habits. One post-er, who calls himself "Consumer Scientist" wrote:

I don’t know who moderated and interpreted the focus groups behind this but, as a senior researcher with over 30 years of conducting qualitative research supporting all kinds of public health campaigns, I know that the “billy club” approach to issues advertising has almost no effect. I’ve been involved in campaigns promoting condom use, vaccinations, cholesterol control and glucose management. In each case, we learned that a softer and more sympathetic approach wins hearts and minds.

These jarring ads may be satisfying for advocates who want to “stick it in the face” of their targets but average consumers tend to react with offense and resentment. Mostly, they dismiss the message as “just not about me.” It’s really a waste of public resources to indulge in campaigns that will have so little impact.

Consumers tend to talk back and argue with ads that are meant to batter them. Even though I tend to avoid sugared drinks, I started thinking, “If they replace Coke with milk, given the high incidence of lactose intolerance in New York, no one will be able to travel by subway any longer.”

I found this enlightening, having never studied what types of advertising "works" when it comes to public health issues. (Yet I do know from living through the pro-active public health years of the Thomas Friedan/Bloomberg team in NYC that a combination of taxing and banning substances that cause chronic illness is an effective two-pronged approach. Frieden's antismoking efforts decreased the number of smokers in the Big Apple by 350,000 and cut teen smoking in half.)

I have no doubt that that the $277,000 spent on the ad campaigns (a third of which comes from a private donor, btw) could've been spent on more tangible things—to help install "edible schoolyards" at struggling public schools or to help pay for gym teachers and new equipment at schools that are forced by budget cuts to reduce P.E. programs. Obesity is not caused by mainlining soda alone.

Ultimately, though, I agree with "PG," who writes:

I applaud the ads. I know they are just one step in what will be a very long process to change American eating habits.

Let’s not forget, the soda industry has been pasting their ads, quite effectively, on our public spaces for years. They worked. And we need to undo the damage.

What do you think of the ad campaign?

The Globalization of Healthcare

As we continue to debate (and debate and debate) health-care reform in this country, many Americans who are either uninsured or under-insured are traveling abroad for health care. And not just for plastic surgery or dental work, as I found out while writing this article for Endless Vacation (RCI's travel magazine).

The savings are enormous, even, unbelievably, when you factor in international airfare and luxury hotels. In India, which has an array of top-end facilities including Wockhard and Apollo Hospitals, the average price for medical care is 80% less than it is here in the U.S., according to Devon Herrick, senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis in Washington D.C.

Adventurous travelers are heading to Costa Rica for dental work, India for high-tech heart and orthopedic surgeries (including hip resurfacing, which is not widely practiced in the U.S.), and Turkey for oncology care. And the total number of "health tourists" is only expected to rise in coming years, according to health economists. 

If you're intrigued, check out these 7 tips which I gleaned from Josef Woodman, author of Patients Beyond Borders: Everybody's Guide to Affordable, World-Class Medical Travel.

Slow Food: Not Just for Foodies Anymore

A few months ago, I heard an interview on the Leonard Lopate Show with Josh Viertel, the new president of Slow Food USA and Ruth Reichl, the editor of Gourmet.

I was impressed with both speakers, but especially with how Viertel framed the new goals for Slow Food's U.S. chapter: he wants the organization to shift its focus from merely celebrating slow food (i.e. healthy, fresh, seasonal food that takes longer than five minutes to consume) to making it accessible to all Americans—especially to kids. "Food that's good for you, for the environment and for the people who grow it," Viertel said, "Is not a privilege, it's a universal right."

Viertel has put his words into action by organizing Time For Lunch, a national campaign that kicks off on Labor Day with Eat Ins around the country. 

What's an Eat-In?  It's part protest (of the horrible processed "food" that's currently the norm at most public schools) part public potluck where residents bring their own dishes to share with neighbors.  An invite arrived in my Inbox the other day from my CSA and the request was simple:

Bring a dish that

-Is nutritious and uses whole foods (not processed foods)
-Costs less than $20 to make
-Is delicious to kids

In exchange, I get to meet members of my communty over a potluck lunch, see a movie screening ("What's on your Plate"), cooking demonstrations by the team from "Growing Chefs," and enter a raffle for prizes that include a 18lb ham from Heritage Food and gift vouchers from local eateries. (I'm hoping for Marlow & Sons.)

But the hope is that this grassroots movement of Eat-Ins will send a message to Congress, that we as a nation are demanding school lunch reform. Tater tots, cardboard frozen pizzas, and frozen corn are not a joke anymore: we have a childhood obesity epidemic in this country (the childhood obesity rate has more than tripled since 1980!) and a correlative increase in chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes.  Getting healthy, fresh, delicious food into our school lunch cafeterias should be a priority, not an afterthought.

So far, over 10,000 people have signed up for Eat-Ins in all 50 states.  To find one in your area, check out this map on the Time For Lunch site—or organize your own.

Far from being an elitist club of European-loving, arugula-chomping, relatively well-off locavores, Slow Food is becoming a diverse movement of Americans of all classes who are demanding that our school cafeterias get a much-needed upgrade. Stay tuned for future coverage of Slow Food actions and activities.

An Inside Look at the White House Kitchen Garden

The Obamas' kitchen garden, the first White House vegetable garden since Eleanor Roosevelt's World War II Victory Garden, has gotten a lot of press this summer —both good and bad. But this video is the first behind-the-scenes look at all the work that has gone into it, both by White House staffers (and the First Lady herself) but also by Bancroft Elementary School students. The video was released by the White House yesterday, the first day of school for many D.C. area kids. (Thanks to Obamafoodarama for the tip.)

It's a heart-warming video, during which you'll see the transformation of the garden over the course of the summer, from March when Assistant Chef (and Food Initiative Coordinator) Sam Kass and his crew amended the soil with sulfated pot ash and crabmeal ("Our crabs are sourced from the Chesapeake," Kass proudly tells the camera) to June, when the garden is lush and ready to harvest (the garden supplies the salad course for a dinner of 20 of the nation's top economic advisers. Nice!).  Throughout First Lady Michelle Obama gets the students involved: they till, they plant, they harvest, and they eat.  One kid told Kass that she now eats all of her vegetables at dinner, proving that it's not impossible to instill healthy eating habits in your kids. (I didn't think it was, but some people have their doubts.)

We get a little bit of history on Thomas Jefferson (Kass is using seeds from Monticello), a little how-to info (the crabmeal gives nitrogen and calcium to the soil, increasing its fertility), and some honest talk from First Lady Michelle Obama about her goal of feeding her family "in a healthy way yet quickly." Despite all the work that goes into backyard farming, it's true that once the fruits and veggies mature, there's nothing "faster" than picking them and eating them.

The 1100-square foot garden has produced over 200 pounds of food (as of July) and is still going strong.

One thing I wish the First Lady and Kass had mentioned in the video is how little it cost to produce this abundance: less than $200, according to this transcript from an April garden planting with the students. (Tellingly, one of the students guesses that it cost $100,000.)

Granted, this figure does not include the cost of labor, but as we continue our nationwide conversations on the importance of eating regionally and healthily, it's vital that we also focus on the issue of affordability. Unlike Whole Foods (aka "Whole Paycheck"), which is off limits to much of this country, backyard gardening is not an elitist endeavor.  Nor is it solely a rural or suburban endeavor, as you know from my past posts on urban gardening. (And here and here.)

So get out there and get your hands dirty!  It's too late this season to start your own vegetable garden but you can still volunteer at community gardens (or rooftop gardens such as Rooftop Farm in Brooklyn or one of these eight around the world). Or simply help out a neighbor by offering to eat his or her produce. (It's harder to eat it all than you think!)

Big Wine and an "Omnivore's Dilemma" to Expose It

(This article was originally published in my Food Politics column at the TheFasterTimes.com.)

Thanks to the slew of recent books and movies about our food supply (led by The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Food Inc.), more Americans than ever are aware of where their food comes from and what’s in it. Readers of this column also know that mass-made juice can be loaded with “flavor packs” and concentrates from up to 12 different countries.

But what about wine?

This may come as a surprise, but most of the wine sold in the U.S. today has been processed and adulterated beyond recognition by corporate growers who are intent on maximizing profits. Is nothing sacred?

Over the last 24 hours, I’ve been devouring Alice Feiring’s excellent book The Battle for Wine and Love: or How I Saved the World from Parkerization and am quickly discovering that the wine industry in many ways mirrors the food industry. At many big wineries (both here and around the world), the life is processed out of the grapes even before they appear on the vines (with over-irrigation, which increases yield but also leads to shallow roots and extraripe fruit). Then, during the fermentation process, meddlesome winemakers add everything from industrial yeast, bacteria, and enzymes to tannins and microbial agents—all to “improve” the taste and mouthfeel of a wine, often so it will appeal to a mass-market palate. (OK: they also throw in these additives to speed up the fermentation and control the process. You know, to make the whole thing more scientific.)

Some winemakers are also brandishing hi-tech processes such as micro-oxygenation and reverse osmosis (also called “ultrafiltration”), techniques that allow them to further manipulate wines.

Fiering writes:

In today’s globalized wine scene, winemakers would like to make wine as standardized as possible. Adding industrial yeast to the wine helps. It ensures that fermentation will start and finish when the winemaker wants it to, not according to the whims of nature. This is extremely important when Costco is expecting its new shipment of wine from Gallo in April—plus, the retailer doesn’t want the customer to bring the wine back complaining that it doesn’t taste like last year’s model.

Today, there are hundreds of industrial yeast replicas, including one genetically modified strain that was recently approved for use in the U.S.

At issue here is not food safety or even nutrition (though I wouldn’t be surprised if organic, biodynamic and naturally-made wines turn out to cause less of a hangover and are proven to contain more antioxidants than their processed cousins) but diversity and complexity of flavor.

Feiring believes (and I agree) that these wines are uniformly bland and characterless—they are artificial, their unique terroir masked by the introduction of such “designer yeasts,” chestnut tannins, oak extracts, and other indignities. Often, as Feiring shows, scheming winemakers mess with their vintages solely to achieve a higher score from influential wine critic Robert Parker (which, of course, leads to a surge in sales). After Parker awarded Helen Turley’s rich, syrupy 1993 Zinfandel a whopping 95 points, for example, he started a trend that hasn’t stopped to this day. “The paradigm of a great wine shifted to one big, jammy, oaky fruit bomb,” writes  Fiering. “And the whole industry adjusted accordingly.”

To me, the central dilemma with Big Wine is actually one of transparency. Though I can choose to drink wines that are made in the natural Old World-style, there is no wine labeling law that requires that GMO yeast, tannins, or bacteria (or new-fangled filtering technologies) be disclosed. Even artisanal producers have begun using these “scientific” techniques—but it is unlikely, as Feiring points out, that they’ll divulge them on labels anytime soon.

Part of the pleasure (and risk) of drinking wine comes from savoring its subtle flavors and the ineffable qualities bestowed on the grapes by the terroir, the weather, and the irrigation (and cultivation) methods. Wine made in the Old World style is alive—it changes from year to year and even, once uncorked, from day to day. It has a sense of place.

Feiring’s book is an Omnivore’s Dilemma for the world of wine and winemaking. I just hope it raises the same level of awareness and appreciation for Old World winemaking techniques as Pollan’s book has for polyculture and sustainably-farmed, honest-to-goodness food.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to seek out small producers who create authentic natural wines—people like Oregon vintners Russ Raney of Evesham Wood, Brian O’Donnell of Belle Pente, Jason Letts at Eyrie, and John Paul at Cameron.  (These wines are at the forefront of my mind since I’ve just returned from Oregon. Know any amazing natural wines from other regions?  Please share them below.)

Manure Mix=Floral Bouquet? Polyculture at an Oregon Vineyard

(This article was originally published in my Food Politics column at the TheFasterTimes.com.)

The wines at Belle Pente (beautiful slope), a 70-acre farm off a dusty road in Carlton, came highly recommended by Russ Raney. The grapes here are organic and the winery is biodynamic; winemaker Brian O’Donnell is a recent member of the Deep Roots Coalition. Coincidentally, I’d read a brief article in the Oregonian a few days earlier about how Brian and his wife Jill have begun diversifying their vineyard by raising goats and Highland cattle.

Below: Sheep and chardonnay at Belle Pente

Belle Pente is not easy to find, nor is there a tasting room, per se. But we had called ahead and so Brian was expecting us. As we drove up a gravel road, we sped past the O’Donnell’s farm and cellar, it turns out. (After visiting a few of the bigger area wineries that day, we’d come to expect a sign, if not a parking lot.) It wasn’t until we’d reached the crest of the beautiful slope (from which we had a magnificent view of the valley) that we realized Brian had been waving us down from his tractor.

“Vineyards are inherently a monoculture,” Brian told us, as he poured us a glass of dry Muscat from 2007. He and Jill are trying to change that by adding livestock and native plants to their winemaking repertoire. They’ve had the goats for fifteen years—they got them originally to clear the land of broadleaf weeds so they could minimize the use of herbicide, but they also milked them, making cheese for home use. Whereas the goats prefer broadleaves, the sheep like grass—so both animals help maintain the vineyard, while also adding to the “manure mix.” Ultimately, the grass-fed sheep are sold at auction for their meat. “They turn our pasture grass into food for humans,” said Brian.

The chickens, which are a relatively recent addition, eat the annoying cutworms (which had been nibbling on the tender new growth of the vines at night)—the eggs, said Brian, are a nice side benefit. (They sell the surplus to neighbors.)  The Highland cows are also brush eaters; their manure goes into making some of the biodynamic preparations, so the O’Donnells have no need to import it. (Eventually the cows, too, will be sold for meat.) In an attempt to restore as much of an indigenous natural habitat of the region as possible, he’s also begun planting native grasses such as Blue Wildrye, Tufted Hairgrass, and Slender Wheatgrass in the aisles between the vines. Brian also supplements the animals’ diet with white grape skins, which aren’t fermented.

This sort of integrated farming is a key tenet of biodynamic farming. It’s also a smart prevention strategy. “Introducing (or restoring) biodiversity is a key to maintaining a healthy, thriving vineyard environment that will ultimately require fewer costly interventions in terms of pest and disease control,” Brian said.

The Muscat was crisp and floral. Belle Pente is one of only three Oregon winemakers to make a Muscat, a wine that’s typically found in Northern Italy (sometimes in the Alsace). The grapes for this vintage come from a vineyard down the road in the Yamhill-Carlton District, where the vines go deep into the soil, past thick stones and marine sediments.

We tried a 2007 Pinot, which had a minerally character, and a 2006 pinot gris reserve, which, Brian told us, had a a more Alsatian style. Next we sipped the Murto—a jammy pinot that’s sourced from an estate in the Dundee Hills where the soil is volcanic. It had a spicy kick and a deep earthiness; I could’ve easily had a full glass. Or two.

Since I wasn’t driving, I also wasn’t spitting as my boyfriend and Brian so elegantly were. (I have yet to master the art of elegantly spitting. Plus, when a wine is so delish, spitting seems like a travesty—even if it is early afternoon and you haven’t eaten lunch yet.)

So forgive me, because this is where my notes lose their precision. I did scribble in my notebook that we talked about the principals of biodynamics, which include lunar cycles, preparations (spraying the vines with silica and highly concentrated compost) and integrated farming techniques. I asked Brian how a New Yorker like him ended up on a remote vineyard in Oregon (he fell in love with wines while working for Intel and HP in Mountain View, California in the 80’s), and, as we tasted more wines—an Estate Reserve Pinot Noir with dark black fruit and an excellent estate grown Chardonnay that had just the right balance of oak (it’s barrel fermented but with old oak—a 50/50 mix of French and Oregon oak)—we discussed other risk-taking winemakers such as Branco Cotar in Slovenia and Gravner in Italy. (Gravner, Brian said, is “pushing the envelope.”)

Though there is something exceedingly romantic and right about drinking a wine in the region where the grapes are harvested, I had to ask: where can I find Belle Pente wines in New York City?  Surprisingly, they are distributed to 15 states—including New York. Among the NYC restaurants who carry it are such foodie destinations as Cru, Gramercy, and 11 Madison. Still, unable to resist, we bought a few bottles for friends and family before thanking Brian and bidding him farewell.

The Belle Pente Vineyards at Dusk (courtesy of Belle Pente)

Evesham Wood and the Importance of Deep Roots

(This article was originally published in my Food Politics column at the TheFasterTimes.com.)

Last week, while visiting my family in Salem, I made a stop at Evesham Wood (one of my favorite U.S. wineries) to talk to owner and winemaker Russ Raney.  (Full disclosure: he and his wife attended the same church as my folks so I’ve been a champion of their wines since they founded Evesham Wood in the mid-1980’s.)  I was eager to taste his certified organic pinot noirs and French-style chardonnay but also to hear how the recent heat wave had affected his vineyards and the grapes.

I’d noticed, as we drove up the sloping hillside towards the Raney house (the wine cellar, which is modest in size, is appropriately tucked under the Raney home), how green and lush the vineyard looked. It was a hot, dry Oregon summer day and there appeared to be no sprinklers or irrigation pipes anywhere in sight.

When I asked Russ his secret, he launched into an animated discussion about the importance of not irrigating. It turns out Evesham Wood is a charter member of the Deep Roots Coalition, a group of Oregon growers who spurn artificial irrigation for environmental reasons but also because it affects the resiliency of the vines and, ultimately, the taste of the wine.

“If you irrigate, you can’t taste the difference in the wine from year to year,” Russ said. (Which is sort of the whole point of making and drinking wine, if you think about it: a wine’s unique taste comes from its particular terroir and each vintage is different.) If you don’t irrigate, the vines are forced to go deeper into the soil to find water. They also find minerals there that add to the grapes’ complex flavors.

“The roots grow shallower if they’re irrigated, and they get used to the water,” Russ explained. Whereas, during the week of 105-degree-plus weather, Evesham Wood’s vines—some of which reach as far as five feet down—were just fine because their roots are getting adequate moisture from the soil. By comparison, irrigated vines in the Willamette Valley reach only 14 inches below the surface, tops.

This is why wines from places like Walla Walla, an arid wine region in eastern Washington, are suspect (and, it turns out, controversial)—not only from a water conservation perspective but also from an old-world winemaking point-of-view. Deep Roots purists (the practice is also known as “dry farming”) believe wine should not be grown in dry regions, period.  The vines that get watered with drip irrigation remind me of humans’ reliance on antibiotics: the more we take indiscriminately, the more our bodies require to wipe out serious bacterial infections such as MRSA. Whereas people whose immune systems are strong from years of taking good care of themselves don’t need antibiotics when they get a simple sinus infection or bacterial infection. Their roots are deep.

We tasted some wines directly from the barrels, including a French-style (unoaked) chardonnay and several pinots, discussed the merits of screw caps (best for young whites and rosés, says Russ, not so much for anything that’s red or aged over a few years), and got Russ’s recommendations for other Oregon wineries who are making phenomenal old-world style wines. One of these was Belle Pente Vineyard in Carlton…

Coffee: is it Good or Bad for your Health?

A latte at Portland's 3rd St. Stumptown, August 2009

The news about coffee couldn't get much better: drinking it lessens one’s risk of type 2 diabetes, liver cirrhosis and gallstones—not to mention heart disease and cancer. It's a legal performance-enhancer. And according to a recent Finnish study, drinking 3-5 cups a day can even stave off dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. Yet, as I write in the latest issue of Body + Soul (pg. 127), coffee does have some downsides—and some people can tolerate the beverage better than others.

In the course of my research, I discovered that coffee actually has a long history of medicinal use. In the 14th century, Arab women would drink it to alleviate menstrual discomforts; the Turks, for their part, claimed coffee was an aphrodisiac. The Indian Materia Medica prescribes coffee for everything from infant cholera to spasmodic asthma and states that coffee “assists assimilation and digestion” and even protects against malaria. In Chinese medicine, coffee would be classified as a medicinal herb that regulates liver qi and purges the gallbladder—which is to say it improves mood and promotes the production and flow of bile. (This explains coffee’s ability to prevent the formation of gallstones and alleviate constipation.) 

Despite coffee's proven health benefits, many in the holistic health world scorn the beverage, saying coffee depletes the adrenal glands (among other things). Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., the director of the Institute for Traditional Medicine in Portland, Oregon, disagrees. “The frequently repeated comment that caffeine causes adrenal exhaustion was based on one old and not repeated animal study,” he told me. Nonetheless, he acknowledges that coffee is not right for everyone and says moderation is key: one to three 6-8 ounce cups a day is a good range. (A Starbucks “Tall” is 12 ounces—so try to limit yourself to two Talls. And lay off the Frappuccinos. Such sugar-laden beverages are “just a mess” says Dharmananda.)

Coffee—which comes from a berry, let’s not forget—is a traditional beverage with a long history of being enjoyed by various cultures: it’s been cultivated since at least the 13th century, when Arabians began roasting and grinding the beans before brewing the bitter elixir. Michael Pollan's by-now well known edict “Don't eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food” has become my mantra. I’m sure my great-great-grandmother, who lived in Baltimore in the first half of the 20th century, wouldn’t know what to make of a Frappuccino. But I bet she drank and savoured her coffee. And so, then, will I.

theFasterTimes.com/foodpolitics

It's not easy staying on top of food politics and food safety news these days, but it's a task I welcome with this new gig at theFasterTimes.com ("a new type of newspaper for a new type of world"). Though TFT only launched last week, I've been blogging for some time now about issues as diverse as Sysco (and how it works with small-scale regional farms), the lengths I'll go to get a fix of raw milk, and low-income locavores.

Check it out, and while you're there, take a look at what my food colleagues are doing: former Saveur editor Sarah Karnasiewicz covers street food, Melissa Clark (a regular contributor to the Times' Dining section) writes about her snacking habits, Scott Gold (aka the Shameless Carnivore) covers, simply, "meat," and so on.

Slo Food Nation: Slovenian Tourist Farms

Farm tourism has always been popular amongst a certain type of traveler. But these days, with Michelle Obama planting an organic vegetable garden and the Slow Food movement gathering mainstream momentum, seeking out local, seasonal fare—even while on vacation—is becoming a priority for many food-obsessed travelers.

Staying on a working farm, whether it’s an agriturismo in Italy or a Bauernhofurlaub in Germany is an authentic (not to mention affordable) way of seeing a country: you meet the locals, stay in pristine undiscovered settings, and sample regional culinary specialties. It’s an experience guaranteed to satisfy the curious—and omnivorous—locavore.

Farm tourism is going strong in Slovenia, one of my favorite countries. Read my story about Slovenian kmetije from this weekend's Sunday New York Times. Here are a few photos from our trip to the Škerlj farm last summer to whet your appetite:

 

Homemade pasta with zucchini, zucchini blossoms, pancetta, and parmesan at the Škerlj farm

 

The pool at the Škerlj kmetija, where I spent a good deal of time reading MFK Fisher and gazing out at the Karst landscape

A typical room at the Škerlj farm

Mercury + your health

Mercury is a heavy metal that’s found naturally in the earth’s crust. But there’s nothing natural about the amount of mercury that’s released into the atmosphere these days: 104 metric tons a year, according to the EPA. Coal-fired power plants, which generate over half of the U.S.’s electricity, are the nation’s largest source of mercury emissions. But mercury is also emitted from municipal and hazardous waste combustors, medical waste incinerators, and chloralkali plants (chlorine-producing factories) and it finds its way into our water via the improper disposal of batteries and other mercury-containing products such as thermometers, thermostat switches and even compact fluorescent light bulbs. 

From these combined sources, elemental mercury accumulates in lakes, streams and oceans, where it converts into methylmercury and is absorbed by fish. Large predatory fish—those that live longest and are higher on the food chain, such as tuna, swordfish, shark, king mackerel, and tilefish—contain more mercury than small fish. 

But as I report in the June issue of Body + Soul (tear sheet here: Download Hannah Wallace- Mercury+ Health), the list of high-mercury fish is much longer than the FDA would have us believe—and it's not just pregnant women and children who need to beware. Jane Hightower M.D., author of the riveting book Diagnosis: Mercury: Money, Politics, and Poison, discovered through diligent detective-work that many of her patients—otherwise healthy adults—were suffering from mercury toxicity. The reason? Thinking that fish (packed as it is with brain-boosting omega-3's) is healthier than meat, they were eating it (sushi, fresh swordfish steaks, you name it) two to three times a day.

I wouldn't doubt it if Jeremy Piven really did have mercury poisoning. His symptoms—extreme fatigue, dizziness, and neuro-muscular dysfunction—are the very ones that Hightower has seen in her San Francisco-based patients. Once again, moderation seems to be the key to a healthy life. Meanwhile, instead of listening to the FDA, I'll be consulting the Environmental Working Group's sensible, fact-based list of fish to avoid.

Swap 'til You Drop: a Real Simple bartering guide

I didn't need a recession to inspire me to barter—I've been doing it for years in the form of a bi-annual clothing swap. Friends and friends of friends come over with bags overflowing with clothes, purses, barely-worn shoes, and jewelry. We begin in an orderly fashion, taking out one garment at a time and telling a little story about it. ("This is an old boyfriend's sweater. I know it's really cute, but I never wear it anymore—it has bad energy."  or "I bought these pants at a design outlet in Milan but they've never fit right." or a common one: "My mother-in-law gave me these...and they're just not my style.")  But within minutes, the swap devolves into a half-naked free-for-all.

What surprises me every time is how much fun it is—not just to get "new to you" clothes and bags and shoes but to see friends wear one of your skirts with more pizzazz than you ever did. (Also, it's amazing how willing you are to take a fashion risk when there's no financial investment involved. That pink leather jacket? Why not? If you don't wear it much you can always recycle it at the next swap.)

My friend Tara and I just threw a swap last weekend. My goal was to ruthlessly prune my spring/summer wardrobe, and not take much in return. But how could I say no to a pair of almost-new orange Coach loafers that my friend Caroline brought? (Too tight for her, she lamented.) Or the funky vintage Anna Sui pants that Melissa doesn't, for whatever reason, wear anymore? I gratefully took these two items and more. (Thanks, Tara, for the super-soft cotton nightie and the black Old Navy pants.)

 

My "new" orange loafers

My guide on "How to Barter Anything" in the June issue of Real Simple doesn't touch on clothing swaps, but is full of tips on how to barter your skills (or stuff) directly with someone else. (See pg. 145 of the actual magazine for a more complete version; the fun sidebars of swapping "couples" did not make it online.) One thing I learned: it pays to be creative—you don't need to trade what you do for a living. Kevin Simon, a clothing designer based in Venice, California, typically swaps her hand-dyed clothes for massages and other services. Her personal trainer, however, didn’t need high fashion—“she wears gym clothes all the time!” says Simon. “I would hear how busy she was and saw that I could make a difference,” says Simon, who initiated a barter with her trainer by offering to do her laundry as well as pick up her meals at Whole Foods twice a week. A deal was struck. In exchange, Simon gets twice-weekly training sessions.

But I also discovered that much of the bartering trend is happening online. The Internet neatly solves the main drawback of bartering: finding someone who needs what you have and at the same time is offering what you need. (Economists refer to this rare star-alignment as the “coincidence of wants.”) Sites like BizX.bz, Paperbackswap.com, Swaptree.com, and Zwaggle.com bypass this limitation by operating on a points system. Members receive a point (or points) when they give a skill or item to another member. They can then trade those points for another service, book, DVD, or toy with anyone else who belongs to the network. On Zwaggle.com, members earn points (called “Zoints”) which they can then redeem with any of the 15,000 other members spread across the country. The genius of this system is that you can actually find the service, book or toy you need—there’s no settling for whatever it is that your neighbor or friend happens to have.

Time Banks, a social change organization where time is a form of currency, is another big part of the bartering trend. I hope to write about Time Banks in more detail soon. 

Coffee Culture in NYC

When I first came to New York City almost 15 years ago, I was dismayed by how few independent coffee shops there were. I liked Oren’s Daily Roast, and when I moved to Brooklyn, I frequented Ozzie’s in Park Slope. And then there was that strange café run by Moonies in midtown that brewed Green Mountain coffee from Vermont. But other than that, coffee in this city was mediocre at best. I couldn't understand why some savvy entrepreneur didn't open a Pacific Northwest-style café—they'd make a killing. 

Well, a lot has happened over the past 8 or so years, starting with Ninth Street Espresso, Joe the Art of Coffee, and Gimme! (in Williamsburg). But even since I reported my story on coffee cuppings last year, the number of "third-wave" coffee shops here has mushroomed. I can't keep up with the openings, mostly in Brooklyn, but some in Manhattan. (There are also a number of existing cafes that are switching to higher-quality roasters, such as City Girl on Orchard St., which now serves Stumptown.) In short, it's a good time to be a coffee drinker in New York City. (It's about time.)

That was the gist of a panel I was on yesterday at the first ever NYC Coffee Summit, hosted by the International Culinary Center and Edible Manhattan. I spoke about coffee education from the consumer's perspective: how can the typical NYC coffee drinker learn to distinguish between an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and a Brazilian pulped natural of the Catuai variety? How can he or she learn how to make a great cup of coffee at home? My answer: chat up your barista, go to cuppings (and "home brewing" classes), and read coffee blogs.

Here's a list of cuppings and classes offered (mostly for free) in NYC and environs:

• Counter Culture coffee holds weekly cuppings on Friday at noon at Everyman Espresso (136 E 13th St between Third and Fourth Aves) and at 6PM at Roots & Vines (409 Grand St at Clinton St..) In June, they’ll start public cuppings at their brand new New York training facility.

• Café Grumpy has cuppings once a week at both locations—the dates and times are posted on their Web site. They'll also be hosting barista classes and home brewing classe @ the Chelsea location as soon as their back room renovation is complete.

• Joe the Art of Coffee has cuppings the first Monday of every month at 6:30 at the 13th street training facility, but also classes on "How to Brew Coffee at Home." (The next one is May 12 at 8:15 PM.)

• Intelligentsia has weekly cuppings at their new NYC "training lab" but also brewed-coffee tastings (the different profiles from french press vs chemex, for example), espresso tastings (four different single origins in a tasting), food and coffee pairings, plus home brewing classes, latte art classes, espresso classes, and "seed-to-cup" classes. (Daniel Humphries, now Intell's NYC guy, tells me he'll have another coffee and cheese pairing soon—not sure if that'll be under the aegis of the NYC Coffee Society or Intell.)

• Ken Nye tells me that Ninth Street Espresso (which now serves Intelligentsia) will start cuppings and other workshops soon, most likely at the 10th Street/tompkins Square location. 

• Gimme! in Williamsburg has cuppings every so often—but they rarely advertise, so if you live in the 'hood, just ask a barista.

• Stumptown will start regular cuppings at Café Pedlar in Cobble Hill (or is it Carroll Gardens?) soon. (Probably Saturday afternoons.) A few of their NYC accounts hold cuppings: Variety Cafe (one of my new favorites), and Marlow and Sons (81 Broadway in Williamsburg). Lizz Hudson from Stumptown is doing a cupping on May 13 @ Spoon Catering at 17 W. 20th St.

For more on NYC's vibrant coffee scene (and its early history), see Liz Clayton's article in the latest issue of Edible Manhattan.

And finally, for those of you who could use a guide to all these third-wave cafés, check out Anne Nylander and Neil Oney's NYC and Brooklyn coffee tours. (Anne and Neil own TampTamp, Inc., a specialty coffee service firm.)

One more thing: If you're truly obsessed with coffee, James Hoffman's blog is an education in and of itself. Hoffman, who won the World Barista Championship in 2007, is based in London and I can guarantee that he's more obsessed with coffee than you are. He posts about barista championships, food chemistry, roasting and latte art, but don't miss the videocasts of him brewing coffee with the Chemex, Moka Pot, and even with snow. 

Now, it's time for another cup of Ecco Caffé's Fazenda Serra do Bone from Brazil...

Pathfinders in Public Health

I wrote this article about Mount Holyoke alumnae who are spearheading important public health projects before the swine flu epidemic hit.  But this outbreak (just like the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe, and the very real dilemma of antibiotic resistance here in the U.S.A.) shows just how vital preventive measures are—and I'm glad to see that President Obama is focusing on prevention. Since his deputy chief of staff is a Mount Holyoke alumnae, I'd like to think she read this article carefully—particularly the answers these five women gave to my question What would you ask President Obama to do for public health? 

Luxury cabins in Slovenia

It may come as a surprise, but Slovenia—the small former Yugoslav republic that is fast becoming a locus of the international slow food movement—has a handful of design hotels, and not just in Ljubljana.  Read my short item in T: Travel on three of the country's coolest rural retreats: Nebesa, Soncna Hisa, and Posestvo Pule.