The 10th Annual Weston A Price Foundation Conference-- my .02

When I sum up the WAPF in a single short sentence (to someone who's eyes are already glazing over), I usually say they promote pre-industrial foods and food systems.

For those who want more info about what the Foundation does, here a link to the WAPF home page.

Last weekend's conference was my first.  It was truly fabulous to walk into a room full of real-food foodies-- attendance was about 1100.  It was great to not get the blank stare (or alternatively, the look of terror) when waxing rhapsodic about fermentation and raw milk.  And the meals were divine.

So- best parts of the conference were the food and my fellow attendees.

I doubt I'll attend again- but I'm glad I went at least once.  It is really nice to know I'm not alone.

Rendering leaf lard

(Cubing the lard)

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(Roasting the lard)
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(Rendered lard, before it cools)
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I went on a wild goose chase last week looking for leaf lard. What is leaf lard, you ask? Why on earth would I want lard? And, um, lard? Really?

Well, yes. Lard is real food. It isn't hydrogenated like shortening. (Hoists self up on soapbox.) There was a time when we humans ate real food. Then the "nutrition experts" --usually connected to the government, or corporations, or both-- stepped in and declared real food bad for you. Next, the chemists were hired to replace real food with food-like substances. Then we all started to get sick and fat. Think these things are related? (Falls off soapbox in a froth.)

But I digress, as I am wont to do. Leaf lard. Leaf lard is the interior lard that surrounds the organs, usually the kidneys. It is a finer grade of lard and doesn't have a pork taste or smell when baked, so it's much preferred for pastries.

Now, I'm not much of a baker. It's just not on my list of things to do, and even less so since I was diagnosed with celiac a decade ago. But, I decided that if I was going to bake this year for Thanksgiving, I was going to go whole hog (sadly, pun intended).

I looked for lard all week in downtown Detroit, in vain. It got to the point I was ready to order it online- for about $50.00, shipping included. That's an awful lot of dough for lard, even good lard.

But all along, all I really needed to do was wait for Saturday morning to go to our beloved Eastern Market in downtown Detroit. We go every Saturday, year in and year out, but our dear old farmer's market never ceases to amaze. If you can't find it at Eastern Market, you probably don't need it.

Certain vendors at Eastern are seasonal, meat vendors chiefly among them. The big old sheds that comprise the market are unheated, and the meat can't spoil in a Detroit winter. The pork vendor who appears in late November has an old portable glass butcher case with whole pig heads inside, among other impressively large pork parts. It's quite spectacular to see these whole, freshly butchered parts in what is essentially an outdoor market.

And wouldn't you know it; the pork vendor had leaf lard. For One Dollar and Forty-One Cents. that's a buck-forty-one. $1.41, people. That beats fifty bucks and airplane shipping any day.

Now I had to render it. And it was easy, and didn't take too long, either. Cube it up, toss it in a roaster (no lid), let it bake at about 325 until it melts. What's left will sort of look like soft pork rinds (but it's not what I'd call edible- I tried it, and it's darned nasty.) Strain out the solids, pour carefully and slowly into jars. Let cool. Voila, home-rendered lard, ready for baking. I cooled it outside; in a matter of hours it was solid and a beautiful snowy white. I will say that the smell during rendering was pretty strong- like I'd been frying chicken all day- and the smell stuck to my clothes and skin. But it diminished pretty quickly with the crack of a window. And personally, I don't mind smelling like I've been cooking something interesting.

I recommend this food adventure to any baker out there. It made for a fun, educational day. And I have my very own leaf lard, and also a source for leaf lard. Neat, huh?

"The Garden" movie premieres to raves and awards

(Capitalism will destroy everything)

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http://www.blackvalleyfilms.com/

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This is a full-length documentary about a 14-acre, South LA community garden that was formed by the LA Regional Food Bank in 1992, just after the LA riots. The garden grew to become the second-largest distributor of free food to the urban poor in the US. The gardeners and the community were horrified when city approved the the destruction of the garden in an unpublicized city council session.

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While the garden was approved by the city, neither the gardeners nor the food bank owned the land- though the land was lent for the explicit purpose of forming an urban garden. It's a complicated backstory, and I don't completely grock the legal loop-de-loops, so bear with me:

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The city had originally declared eminent domain in the 1980s to use the (privately owned) land to build an incinerator, but strong local protests against the incinerator won out. However, even though the incinerator project was defeated, the city still held eminent domain. The acreage was offered to the LA food bank, and the acreage was sub-divided into 360 individual gardening plots. In 1994, the city sold a small portion of the land, which broke the original contract with the property owner- he had contractual first refusal rights. The owner brought suit against the city, who eventually won back the land in an out-of-court settlement. And he decided he wanted to knock down the garden and build warehouses on the acreage.

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The garden thrived for 11 years; completely unbeknownst to the gardeners, some of it while the suit was under review. 330 families farmed those 360 plots, but the plots economically and socially supported large portions of neighborhoods, provided families with extra income, children with a place to play, and immigrant palettes with hard-to-find foods from their home countries (most of the gardeners were of Latin American descent).

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The garden was ultimately destroyed in 2006, despite star-studded protests and international media attention. Luckily, many of the gardeners have since found new plots.

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You can bring this movie to your neighborhood independent theatre- click on the contact link on the movie makers' website for questions about distribution. Be sure to watch the trailer. It's a movie that will make a food activist out of you!

Lunch- Mexican spinach salad

(MMMmmmm)

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We more of less live on very simple variations of Mexican or Mediterranean food all summer. This was lunch for me today and dinner for us last night-- roasted beans and salsa with something I made up; I've dubbed it Mexican fried rice. It's all on top of a bed of fresh greens. I heated the beans and rice separately in the microwave- it's a nice foil to the cool, crisp greens and refrigerator-cold salsa.

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For lack of a better name I'm calling this dish Mexican spinach salad, but like everything else I make, it's open to lots of variation- namely, whatever I have in the garden and whatever I have in my pantry!

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A word about calendula petals- they are basically tasteless, but they are pretty, and with all that intense color, they surely contain some micronutrients. And they get a lot of OOoohs! when served on a dish. Just make absolutely certain that they haven't been sprayed with anything. I strongly recommend using only your own edible flowers on food.

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Here's the provenance and anatomy:

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From the garden:

Mixed greens

Asian mustards

Spinach

Lemon thyme

Cilantro

Calendula petals

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From the farmer's market:

Dried cranberry beans

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From far away, grain:

Rice

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From far away, dairy:

Shaved Parmesan cheese

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From far away, vegetables and fruit:

Canned tomatoes (for salsa)

Black olives

Garlic

Onion

Lemon

Avocado

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From far away, spices, oil, condiments:

Cumin

Cayenne pepper

Lebanese olive oil

Salt

Kelp (for cooking the beans)

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Bean Tips!

The cranberry beans I used were dried. I've made a pot of beans or bean soup or some beany thing probably every week for the last 20 years, mostly from dried beans. Here are four dried bean tips- #1 was the newest discovery for me.

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1) Some beans will never get soft no matter how long you cook them. This is usually attributable to age. Even if the beans are dried, local and recent is better than far away and old. Check your farmer's market- there is probably a farmer there who grows and dries his own.

2) Cooking beans with a little square of kelp really helps to soften them. Kelp contains enzymes that help break down the tough proteins. Lately, I've been putting a square of kelp in the initial soaking water, too. It seems to make a difference.

3) Never salt beans until they are cooked- salt inhibits softening.

4) After changing the soaking water and rinsing well, bring beans to an initial boil, but immediately reduce to a very low simmer. This helps with the softening process, too- and also reduces the 'side effects' of eating beans.

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Mexican fried rice

This is my new favorite rice dish- it added a lot of interest to this salad. I made it up after having something similar recently in a local Mexican restaurant. I think I'll take the "fried rice" theme further next time and add an egg and some different vegetables from the garden.

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2 to 4 cups white or brown rice, already cooked

1/2 to 1 cup hot water or broth

Cumin to taste (minimum 1 tbsp or so)

1/4 cup really good olive oil

salt to taste

cayenne pepper to taste

Chopped cilantro, handful

chopped garlic (optional)

chopped onion (optional)

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Put oil in pan, allow to heat up. Add garlic and onion at this point, if including. Once garlic and onion is well cooked, add cold rice- break up well with spatula or spoon. Coat thoroughly, reduce heat and cover.

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Heat water (or broth), add cumin, garlic, salt, cayenne, to liquid, stir well. Add to rice, combine well. Allow to simmer until heated through- if liquid is too much, remove cover and cook off.

Lunch- my favorite meal

(This was really good)

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MMmmm, lunch. The last of my lettuce will be picked this weekend, and I just might plant some (inedible!) Gerbera daisies in their place; we've had some hot weather lately and the delicious little lettuce plants are gearing up bolt. They are getting a might bitter.

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This salad combines mixed greens, tomato salsa, and homemade blue cheese dressing, with roasted chick peas and the last of the leftover quinoa pilaf. I love the combination of creamy blue cheese dressing and a spicy tomato salsa on salad- they are a nice compliment to each other.

Here's the provenance and anatomy of lunch:

From the garden:
Mixed lettuce
Spinach
Kales (Red Russian and curly)
Asian mustards
Parsley
Lemon thyme
Cilantro

From far away, canned veg:
Organic chick peas (roasted- see recipe below)
Organic chopped tomatoes (for salsa, see recipe below)

From far away; dairy:
Blue cheese Hormone-free-- (see blue cheese dressing recipe, below)
Organic goat's milk
Organic sour cream, or organic cream cheese blended with milk

From far away; fruit:
Fresh lemon

From far away; misc:
Tamari
Celtic salt
Bragg's apple cider vinegar
Lebanese olive oil
Pepper
California black olives

You might have noticed by now that I rarely do what the dear, brilliant Julia Child would have called "cooking". She hated Italian food- she claimed it wasn't cooking, it was "combining". While I love what Madam Julia did for the palette in the US, on this one point I completely disagree. My style of cooking definitely veers towards the Mediterranean, on all sides of that sea. And on that particular sea, it is all about combining. And, if your ingredients are fresh, seasonal, and at their best, combining is all food really needs.

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Simple homemade salsa (cheating with canned tomato)

1- 28 oz can of chopped tomatoes in sauce (I like Muir Glen organic- no HFCS)

2- medium, or 1- large white onion, finely chopped

3 or 4- cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1/8 cup of best olive oil you lay your hands on

Salt to taste

Cayenne pepper to taste (or chopped habanero, if in season)

Handful of cilantro from garden to taste, finely chopped- use stems, too

Splash of apple cider vinegar, if desired

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Combine the above. That's it. It makes double the amount of store-bought for half the price. And it keeps for a long time, not that it will last very long- in our house it's gone in 3 days. In season, this is amazing with garden tomatoes. That glorious day is least 6 weeks away for me, but since my cilantro is coming along, I've been craving salsa.

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Simple roasted beans (cheating with canned beans)

1 or 2- large cans of beans (I like Westbrae Naturals- no HFCS)

(Beans can be garbanzos, red beans, kidney beans, cannellini- any bean your little heart desires)
1/8 cup of the best olive oil you can lay your hands on (Good olive oil makes a difference)
Salt to taste
Splash or two of tamari
Cayenne pepper to taste (or chopped habanero, if in season)
1 to 2 cloves of garlic (optional)
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Combine ingredients in a bowl. Spread in single layer on cookie sheet (foil on cookie sheet is helpful). Broil in oven on med-low until desired crunch or consistency- usually about 15 or 20 minutes. The beans are already cooked so it's a matter of mouth-feel. I cook them until they aren't mealy anymore, which (tragically) involves a lot of sampling...

Simple blue cheese dressing (for 2-3 salads)
1/4 cup organic blue cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup organic sour cream
splash organic milk (optional- I use goat's milk)
lemon juice, until desired consistency
Crack of fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Sometimes I leave out the sour cream- I did this time. But it's better with it.

Combine. You know the drill. This keeps about 3 days, but it never sticks around that long.

Not-entirely-local, but low-on-the-food-chain lunch

(Nice red tray, huh?)

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This is another variation on my favorite Greek lentil soup recipe. What I love most about this thin-bodied lentil soup is that it can take so much variation. Today, it has potherbs from the garden (i.e., mustards and greens that are a bit overgrown and ready to bolt from the heat, so I cooked them into the soup to staunch their sharpness), some baby bok choi from the farmer's market, and a big dollop of quinoa pilaf in the middle.

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I'm a recent convert to quinoa; I had it before (years ago), but I never liked it much until I tried it as a cold pilaf when I was in an Oregon restaurant a few weeks ago. It's a *very* delicious partner with this soup. When lemons are more seasonal, a splash of lemon juice would certainly be a fine addition to this dish.

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The quinoa was rinsed very well (it has a bitter coating- rinse it several times) and cooked for 20 minutes. Then I put a half-cup of it into a bowl and added a pre-sauteed onion, a generous sprinkling of celtic salt, a dash of cider vinegar, a dash of cayanne, a dash of tamari, and some more olive oil as a top drizzle once it was added to the soup. It was pretty amazing. This will be my lunch for the week.

Local: it's what's for lunch

(yummy)

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Here's the anatomy and provenance, more or less, of what I've been eating for lunch over the past several weeks:

From my favorite farmer at our Farmer's Market--
White beans, in soup
Sourdough spelt bread- he grows the grain and his family bakes the bread- it is incredible!

From other sellers at the Farmer's Market--
Michigan potatoes, in soup
Michigan carrots, in soup
Michigan onions, in soup

From my garden- mixed chopped greens, early thinnings--
Mizuna mustard
Komatsuna mustard
Spinach
Red Russian kale
Curly kale
Happy rich
Vitamin green
Various leaf lettuces
Parsley
Marjoram
Skyrocket Arugula

(I just clip off enough for lunch and chop it stems and all. Sadly, there are no leftovers for the buns at this early stage.)

From far away--
Apple cider vinegar
Lebanese olive oil (from the farmer's market, grown on seller's family farm in Lebanon)
Celtic sea salt
Pepper
garlic, in soup

It's so simple, but so delicious. I must say, the greens done this way are even better with a Greek-style lentil soup. Olive oil and vinegar are lightly drizzled over the greens after they are on the soup.

Someone pointed out to me something vaguely disturbing about that amazing olive oil- how do I know that it's not blood olive oil? How do I know that profits are not being used to fund terrorism? Well, I don't of course. But it does weigh on my conscious just a little bit.