Great Interview with Alice Waters

Wow - between vacation and prepping for my upcoming Yoga Teacher Training, I've fallen behind on my blogging.


Hopefully I'll have some more tasty recipes and random stray thoughts coming soon, but in the meantime I wanted to let you know about a wonderful interview I heard on NPR today with Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA.


Alice Waters was at the vanguard of the "local, sustainable" food movement. Over the past 40 years she has cultivated partnerships with local farmers, ranchers and other providers who are all passionate about fresh, seasonal, organic food. She has also started a foundation to bring healthful, local food to schoolchildren with a program called "Edible Schoolyards." 


While I do enjoy the convenience and cost-effectiveness of shopping at large supermarkets, I do try to support local growers at farmer's markets and other shops that source locally. Honestly, I could really do more along those lines - convenience usually wins out - but I want to make an effort to do better in that area. One thing I do, though, is do most of my shopping around the perimeter of the store, and only get 20-30% of my groceries from the aisles. Even then, I try to focus on ingredients rather than prepared foods. The perimeter of the store is where the fresh produce, meats, cheeses, dairy and even baked goods are usually kept. I focus on the aisles where you find rice, beans, canned tomatoes, pasta, etc. Things that  you use to MAKE delicious dishes. I would say that only about 5% of my grocery cart is filled with prepared foods, and usually "snack" or "dessert" things like ice cream, chips or sometimes a particularly yummy looking cake. 


There's a difference in the way you relate to food when you take the time to gather it thoughtfully and with intention, even if "gathering" it means taking your time to choose the freshest, juiciest apple from the entire bin of apples in front of you. The food stops being a disposable commodity designed to fill your belly, and takes on the quality of being something that nourishes you or your loved ones. When you actually meet and chat with the person who grew the apple at your local market, though, you develop a reverence and respect for the food, and take time to lovingly prepare it. 


I hope you take the time to listen to the interview linked above - it may change the way you think about food forever.

My First Cooking Class

This past Thursday, I attended my first cooking class at Kiss Z Cook, a local store that specializes in offering "tools and techniques for the home cook." I intentionally signed up for their Vegetarian Class to see if I could learn some new techniques or get new ideas for some tasty vegetarian meals. The classes are normally around $75 for a two hour class. All tools and ingredients are supplied for you, there is a staff on hand to do the clean up, and the class is led by a local professional chef. After finishing the meal, everyone sits down and eats what they've just created.


Not knowing what to expect, I got there early. It immediately struck me how hot it was - makes sense, given that we're going to be in an industrial kitchen - but I immediately questioned my sanity for doing this on one of the hottest days of the year (this was during the recent heat wave). I also was a little surprised that the dining area wasn't air conditioned.


Before class, the students are offered water or iced tea, or we could purchase beer or wine. Some people came with friends or spouses, others, like myself, were flying solo.


We were led into the kitchen by the chef, a very affable gentleman named Dwight, and were told that we would be sharing the stations in groups of 3 or 4. Each station was supplied with recipes, a basket of produce, cutting boards, knives and an assortment of bowls and measuring utensils. There is a 4 burner stove and oven at each station as well. In the back of the room is the "common kitchen" where the students could find other pantry items, herbs, stock, etc. to be used in their preparations.


I was grouped with another guy who had taken one other class here, and who seemed to have some cooking experience, and two women who were also both first-timers like me. One of the women was a VERY inexperienced cook, and the other woman seemed like she is the primary cook in her house. We were instructed to look at the recipes, and decide who was going to be cooking what. There were three recipes - grilled eggplant with a vinaigrette, spinach salad with sauteed red pepper and asparagus, and wild mushroom risotto. I was psyched. I've never made risotto, and have always wanted to learn how!


Chef Dwight asked us to all gather around the main teaching station at the front of the room so that he could explain where things were, some tips on strategy, and to demonstrate some basic knife techniques, and how he wanted the vegetables to be cut. He made a special point of noting that he wanted to personally approve our mince of the garlic. He showed us basic onion dicing, and a GREAT technique for breaking down a red pepper that I hope to implement. Then he returned us to our stations.


We all gathered and discussed who would work on what. I mentioned that I'd never done risotto before, and would love to work on that, but for some reason the more experienced woman in our group said that she would do the risotto since she'd made it before. WTF?!? This is a cooking CLASS, not a COMPETITION. I came here to learn something. "You mince the garlic and do the grilled eggplant," she commanded. I didn't want to be a PITA, but I did say that I would really prefer to work on the risotto since I mince garlic and grill eggplant all the time. "You can watch me when I'm making it," she informed me. I was PISSED but decided that digging in my heels on this would just make me look bad, so I grabbed the garlic and started mincing.


I should mention that Chef Dwight wasn't kidding when he said that he was very specific on his garlic mince. I got it as small as I thought I could, called him over to check it, and was told that it still wasn't small enough. So, I minced some more. Finally, after several more passes over the garlic I got the approval. I was relieved to see that others had to redo their mince as well.


The other guy who was in our group was pleasant enough, but kept wanting to chat about what I did for a living, who did most of the cooking in our house, etc. He also kept calling the chef over to check every little thing that he did. The less experienced woman in our group didn't want to do a lot of cooking, instead she hovered over each of us trying to see what we were doing. She did take over sautéing the red pepper and asparagus. She couldn't understand why it wasn't browning, and I suggested that she let the veggies cook a bit between stirs. 


Finally, the time to make the risotto came. Having been busy mincing and grilling, I hadn't been able to observe the prep for the risotto, so I just assumed that "I've made it before" lady had actually read the recipe and understood what she was doing. I immediately realized that not only had she not read through the recipe completely, but that she hadn't even made sure all of her prep was complete.


I also realized that the risotto was not really going to be vegetarian as it was being made with chicken stock. Another "WTF?!?" 


So, risotto-woman cooked off the mushrooms, transferred them to a plate, then tossed the rice into the skillet to begin to cook it. She then started asking us what she was supposed to do next at each step. Totally understandable that she needed someone to prompt her on a recipe that requires a little timing, but she was completely lost. Chef Dwight came over to assist, and the risotto ended up coming out fine.


We all sat down to eat, and I must say that the food came out pretty tasty. That said, overall I was a bit disappointed in the experience, and not just because of my difficulty with my cooking partners. In some ways, it really wasn't their fault.


While Chef Dwight provided some guidance on basic knife techniques, and a good tip on how to determine if a grill is heated to medium, medium high or high, there was very little actual instruction. He circled the room, and jumped in whenever we needed him to, but I would have liked it if he would have been demonstrating as we cooked. At one point I asked him to check the flavor on a vinaigrette that I prepared, and he declined. I had tasted it myself, and thought it was missing something, but without some guidance, I didn't learn what it was. 


I will say that having the clean-up taken care of was a bonus, and Chef Dwight clearly knows what he is doing. He has a good personality for the job as he has a lot of people calling for his help all the time, and he moves around the room with ease. I just wish there were more teaching and instruction. Except for a couple of prep tips, I really didn't learn much. 

My New Adventure - Blogging about Food

So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being.
Franz Kafka

There were a few incidents that occurred over the last year that prompted the idea of doing this. Well, if I were honest, this has probably been in the works for a few years, but specifically the idea of writing about one of my passions started to marinate about a year ago. It was about a year ago, you see, that my wife told me that she was going to start to eliminate meat from her diet. Not all at once. Just bit by bit...a little at a time... She started with red meat and pork. Shortly after that it was all barnyard creatures. I asked if that included squirrels, rabbits, deer, snakes, wild turkeys and other game fowl. I got the "I'm just going to be patient with you" look. "Everything but fish and seafood, but they're going next."


"When?"


The look again. I thought it was a reasonable question.


"What should we have for dinner?" Ahhhh...distract me with something shiny...


My wife cooks. Actually, she cooks pretty well, though she disagrees with me on that point. I usually end up doing a lot of the cooking because a) she has a pretty stressful job that requires her to work long hours, and b) I enjoy it. No, more than "enjoy," I love it. I love food. I love eating food. I love preparing food. I love watching television shows about food. I can't think of anything food related that I don't love. Except, maybe, cleaning up. But even that doesn't bother me too much. And besides, when I cook, I use a LOT of dishes. Using lots of dishes when you cook is a sign that you love someone a lot.


My wife decided to go vegetarian because she does a lot of work in the animal rescue field. I guess it's hard to reconcile spending hours on the weekends driving a cute little furball puppy halfway across the state so that it won't be euthanized, then coming home and eating a cow or a chicken or a pig that spent much of it's life in filthy, inhumane conditions simply to die an undignified death so that we can have something to slow-roast and smother with BBQ sauce. So, she decided to align her food choices with her ethics. And I admire her for it. I wish I felt as strongly about this as she does, but I'm just not there quite yet. But just as she is supportive of me as I continue to be an omnivore, I am supportive of her choices as well, and as a by product, I eat a LOT less meat now. Maybe 2-3 times a week. Usually fish or chicken (I'm not saying that by way of justification...just that those are what I'm drawn to). Oh, and an occasional hot dog. All-beef, of course, grilled and topped with a nice spicy deli mustard, diced onions and some pickle relish.


I digest. Er, digress...


So, for my wife, vegetarianism is a lifestyle choice. For me, it's a cooking challenge. And it's been a learning experience. I'm discovering lots of ways of preparing foods that are familiar to me, and I'm even discovering how to cook with things that I probably never would have attempted before. Like tofu. For those unfamiliar with tofu, it's basically a flavorless mushy cheese-like substance made from curdling soy milk. Just like chevre is a very tasty, creamy substance made from curdling goat's milk.Part of the reason for this blog is to share some things that I'm learning - some tasty recipes, some things to avoid, some ways to modify existing recipes to make them veg-friendly, and some thoughts on non-veg items. Like hot dogs. And pastrami.


The second reason that I decided to launch this was an incident that occurred a few months ago. I was driving to teach a yoga class, and needed a snack. I stopped by a large, well-known chain grocery mega-store and asked where I might find the Power Bars. "Over there in the Nutrition section."


Seriously? I'm in a grocery store surrounded by produce, fruit, legumes, meat, fish, dairy - all the things required to make a healthy meal, and they have a "Nutrition" section? Shouldn't the whole freakin' STORE be your "Nutrition" section? This made be begin to consider how we view our food, and sadly, the fact that most of the food that we consume isn't really nutritious.

nu·tri·tious -
[noo-trish-uhs, nyoo-]–adjectiveproviding nourishment, especially to a high degree; nourishing;healthful: a good, nutritious meal.

The other occurrence that prompted me to consider writing about something that I'm passionate about, but really have very little training in, also happened at a large, well-known chain grocery mega-store. I had filled my cart with lots and lots of fresh produce, some vegan sausages (Tofurky brand Kielbasa and Italian Sausage - the texture will never be the same as regular sausage, but I have to say that they're very flavorful and satisfying) and other items. Oh, and some non-dairy ice-cream-ish treats for our dogs. Which I never get, by the way, but I saw them, and had a momentary lapse of good sense. I got to the checkout, which was attended by a rather large woman in her early 40's. She began to ring up my order, and I could tell that she was a bit annoyed that most of my cart contained items that couldn't be mindlessly run over the scanner. She kept shaking her head and "mm-hmm-ingfaux-sausages and she exclaimed, "Your meat ain't got no meat in it!" Part of me was angry - how dare this woman question my food choices! Besides, she could back away from the Dorito's herself! Then I became amused, then a little saddened that someone who works in a grocery store (with a separate Nutrition section) doesn't view fresh fruits and vegetables as food. They're a chore, "just something to clean and chop!" Finally she saw the Dog Ice Cream and she laughed and said something about having to fight the dog for desert if she came to eat at my house.


I think many people share this woman's philosophy - food is no longer about providing healthy, nutritious fuel for our bodies, nor is it about demonstrating our love for other by feeding both their bodies and their souls. Food, for many of us, is about getting something quick and easy on the table, or in a container that can be eaten in the car of the way somewhere, or something that will fill a hole in our hearts or psyches. There are lots of reasons for this - our busy, over-scheduled culture being one - but ultimately we have lost the connection that we have to our food. It's now a commodity that we purchase with very little thought. Just something with far too much fat, sodium and preservatives that we know instinctively isn't good for us, but can be microwaved quickly. Or it's something that comes from a drive-thru window from a disembodied voice, prepared by someone who knows how to slap a frozen patty on a grill and plunge a basket into a deep fryer.


What I hope to do with this blog is to de-mystify the idea of freshly-made, healthy food. To show that good food can be tasty, interesting and not overly complicated to prepare. To show how to use both prepared and fresh ingredients to create a healthy, satisfying, nutritious meal for a fraction of what it would cost in a restaurant, and without much of the fat and sodium that leads to so many health problems. To empower the home cook with skills and strategies that still allows them the free time to live their lives. And finally, to have a little fun on this strange new road that I'm on - living in a mixed kitchen and treading the middle path between ethics and appetite.


Bon appetit!