Gilfeather and Parsnip Soup!

So i found a gilfeather (top round vegetable) at the farmers market last weekend and decided to buy it because i didn't know what it was. Doing a little research I found the gilfeather to be a root vegetable indigenous to vermont! (it must have been fate) It was named for John Gilfeather of Wardsboro - a town on the southern border of Vermont who grew the rutabaga (although he called it a turnip) in the early 1900's. Each frost it undergoes in the ground only increases the sweet yet mild flavor, which makes this root veggie particularly well suited to grow in vermont. In fact it is one of the few vegetable actually indigenous to vermont and is a heirloom variety.

So inspired by the creamy turnip soup that the chef at my restaurant makes I did a little improvising and made a spicy gilfeather and parsnip soup. I started by sauteing a diced onion in butter, then adding vegetable broth and the root vegetables (i threw in 1 random potato for texture) and simmering for about 45 minutes, or until soft. Next adding in some heavy cream and blending it with my handheld kitchen aid (which since my butter making incident I am very careful with). Once everything is pureed, I simmered a few dried chili pepper in the soup for about ten minutes. This adds a nice smokey flavor. Overall I couldn't believe the sweet flavor of the gilfeather, balanced with the parsnip unique flavor. I loved the creamy texture with the smokey flavor too. Watch the video I took when i made my roommates taste it!

Franklin Cafe, South End Buttery, Central Kitchen and Green Street Cafe

Some other places I've checked out lately:

I stopped in to Franklin Cafe for a bite of eat after going to a Bordeaux tasting at the Boston Harbor hotel. I had a tasty Seared Tuna with scallion potatoes and a small side salad - $17. It was perfect, and to go with I had a Cucumber Gin martini. I liked Franklin Cafe, located on Shawmut in the South End, just down the street from my favorite, Formaggio's. It's a dark little restaurant know as an industry hang out of the area as they serve dessert until 1:30am. The only downfall was they don't serve dessert. From a business stand point this makes sense in a way, you don't make a lot of profit from dessert and its going to keep the customers there another 20 minutes when you could be turning the table and getting more people in and out. Never the less, I live for dessert and was a little put off.

It did however give me the opportunity to walk a block down to the South End Buttery. From first appearance it looks just like a bakery, but a few years ago they opened up a restaurant and bar in the back and it was super cute. Downstairs is a restaurant and upstairs a tiny little bar. I had a hot chai cocktail and creme brulee and a little limoncello. Fun little place, I'd recommend!

Another night I started out at Central Kitchen in Central Square with a cocktail and Mussels. It was a dark, rustic decor. Yummy bread from Iggy's (does anyone bake their own bread anymore?) served on a little cutting board. Small menu, but I liked what they had going on their. Unfortunately the couple next me at the bar was being obnoxious so I left after that. Also they have really little wine glasses (fail). I headed over to green street grill to meet friends. we had some cocktails, and enjoyed a tasty Mac n Cheese with tomato. For dessert we shared a rosemary ice cream and pumpkin ice cream. While it looks from the outside like a dive bar, the inside is clean and sleek without being pretentious. I'd check it out!

Bergamot!

So I've been doing a bit of wining and dining the last few weeks! I've been rather into going out to eat solo. I've found eating at the bar is a fun way to check out a lot of the restaurants around town, and i usually end up chatting with rather interesting people. Who says you need someone else to go with you to go have a fabulous meal! So here's some of the places I've checked out Recently.

One of my new favorites is Bergamot on the edge of somerville and cambridge. I've probably driven past it a ton of time and never noticed it, but its on the corner its on the corner of Beacon and Washington Street sort of behind Inman Square. Its super cute. I liked the atmosphere of the bar (casual, fun, classy) and found the dining room (while cute and slick) a little stuffy. The kitchen is open to the dining room and you can see the chef's cooking. I got to chatting and it turned out the old general manager and bartender from my restaurant Pigalle worked there and so I ended up with soo much food. All the staff was very kind :-)

They had a very decently price Bar Menu around 10-12$ and even the dinner menu was decently priced with entrees around 20-25$.

I started with a momisette sour to start which has Genever, Pastis (french anis flavored liquor), Orgeat (syrup made from almond, sugar and rosewater), and Classic Eggwhite sour. I had never heard of Genever, but Paul the bartender explained to me if gin and whiskey had a baby, this is what it would be. Its the herbs and flavors of gin, but its distilled like whiskey and is actually what gin evolved from. It was absolutely delicious. Its interesting, I've been seeing a trend around the city of bringing back classic prohibition era inspired cocktails. Very interesting....

They sent out a little amuse from the chef but i forgot to take a picture (with my crappy iphone camera) and I can't really remember what it was but it was yummy :)

Next I had fried oysters crusted with potato napa cabbage slaw,

carrot-raisin emulsion and fried capers. $11

Grilled Griggstown Quail chickpea-manchego puree, chorizo dust, napa cabbage, piquillo pepper vinaigrette. I went CRAZY for the chickpea manchego, sooo good. I can't wait to try making it. I've definitely been in love with beans lately. $12

The best of the night was the lobster melt. Cheese and seafood are usually such a culinary fopaux, but this was the most amazing thing I've ever had. Lobster grilled cheese. At 11$ its so worth going for. The bartender said before he worked there, he worked at craige on main, and came every monday on his day off for the lobster melt. I will definitely be back for that!

They were kind enough to send out a side of brussels sprouts tossed with ham and roasted. So delicious. My favorite veggie find of the winter for sure. I had never really had it until it showed up on the crispy duck dish on the menu at my restaurant. What and under valued vegetable! I don't really understand why its always had such a bad rap i my mind, but they were definitely super tasty. I guess its a generational thing about how its cooked and if you've never had any how would you know!

Next I was fed some sort of small almond tart as a dessert amuse. yum!

White Chocolate Lime Mousse dark chocolate teardrop, lime filaments, white chocolate powder. This was heaven. $10

Stop in for a bite at the bar at Bergamot!

Recover Green Roofs!

I had a great experience yesterday meeting the very cool dudes of Recover Green Roofs. I heard about co-founders Mark Winterer and Brandon Shea via a video a friend posted on my facebook of a project they worked on in Dorchester, building a rooftop garden for the restaurant The Ledge.

Recover Green Roofs from Paper Fortress on Vimeo.

I went to check out Recover Green Roofs yesterday in their office based in olive square in somerville. For those of you who haven't had a chance to make it over to The Fringe Movement, you should really check it out. Its an artist collective of workspaces tucked right behind union square. There were so many cool things going on in addition to Recover, I was struck by amazing energy. Check out a little of what's going on.

Fringe from Paper Fortress on Vimeo.

Mark showed me some of the project they have worked on and the process they go through to build and design the gardens.

They told me about a potential upcoming project. They are having discussions with downtown tapas restaurant Toro about a food roof, but it is still in the preliminary stages. Its super exciting to think about a premiere downtown restaurant having a rooftop garden to grow its vegetables! So you know I will be following this project and photographing the building of the garden! Mark and Brandon were really excited about having the project documented as well.

Mark showed me a company they grows designs in plants starting in a green house and then eventually can be hung vertically on a wall!

Plus they had some really cool terrariums. Have I just found the coolest thing going on in Somerville? I think maybe.....

Wine Expo Food Demo

I had the pleasure to assist Chef Marc Orfaly of Pigalle at a food demo at the Boston Wine Expo. I've been thinking about the passing of knowledge and food traditions (or the lack there of!) Gone are the days of passing knowledge generation to generation and chef's are celebrities. The knowledge of a chef seems to be more a novelty than a tradition. I watched a couple other chefs demonstrate dishes from their prestigious restaurants in Boston, and it got me thinking. Cooking is very much about prestige. The prestige of one person cooking food to present to another. I realize I do it myself when cooking dinner for friends. There are so many dynamics when it comes to people and food. I was watching a NASA show about space missions to Mars tonight and they were discussing the space packaged dehydrated food that astronauts would have to eat for up to three years on a mission. More interestingly they talked about how important it was to the astronauts to share meals together even though they were coming from little dehydrated packages and how this social dynamic plays such a large role in how humans relate together. So what is it exactly that bonds us together over food when its not communal preparation or lusciously tasty food? What are the factors? What is it about people and food that creates such a dynamic relationship past sustenance. The astronauts said the control of pleaure....something to think about....

Vegetable Butcher!!!!

Jennifer Rubell - An Artist Who Uses Food as Her Canvas from Gestalten on Vimeo.

Check this artist out Im so obsessed with it!!!

From her Bio on her website

"Jennifer Rubell creates participatory artwork that is a hybrid of performance art, installation, and happenings. The pieces are often staggering in scale and sensually arresting, frequently employing food and drink as media: one ton of ribs with honey dripping on them from the ceiling; 2,000 hard-boiled eggs with a pile of latex gloves nearby to pick them up; 1,521 doughnuts hanging on a free-standing wall; a room-sized cell padded with 1,800 cones of pink cotton candy.

Viewers are encouraged to partake in the work, violating the traditional boundaries of art institutions and engaging senses usually forbidden in or absent from museum and gallery contexts. Rubell’s work explores the intersection of the monumental and the ephemeral, and serves as a counterpoint to the virtual nature of much of contemporary life.

Some of Rubell’s notable previous projects include Old-Fashioned, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The de Pury Diptych at the Saatchi Gallery, London; Icons, at the Brooklyn Museum; Creation, for Performa, the New York performance-art festival; and, since 2001, a yearly breakfast project in the courtyard of the Rubell Family Collection in Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach.

Rubell, 40, received a B.A. from Harvard University in Fine Arts, and subsequently attended the Culinary Institute of America. She wrote about food for over a decade prior to beginning her artistic practice, including columns in the Miami Herald and Domino magazine, and the book Real Life Entertaining (Harper Collins). Rubell lives in New York City. "

She sorta annoys me when we she says shes not into performance art after she talks about marina abromovic, but the pieces look reall amazing. There's something there.....

The performing continues even when I don't realize...

So my strictly local eating experiment of a senior thesis ended last spring but its effects have not been lost. In fact my whole life pretty much revolves around food. I manage (and mostly feed my self) a french restaurant, make work about food, eat food, search for local food, visit farmers markets, purvey the top restaurants in town, host dinner parties and feed others, and read about food. It all has to fit in, the performing really couldn't have ended...I think I constantly perform my food choices, perhaps its just a bit more fluid.

I've been doing a lot of thinking of how to proceed after my local eating challenge. So much about that project was about informing my perspective and experience. And so I've learned so much, and realized the complications and complexity of local eating, its not so cut and dry. While i still champion a nutritious and locally grown piece of food, I find myself thinking less about activism and more about knowledge.

Yes I want you to want to eat local food, and everything has come so far to help you do that, but I also realize its a whole cultural phenomena working against that impulse. Its a food system that is working against you. First of all its not very accessible but i think more interestingly its a lack of knowledge.

Our food system has evolved in a way that we have lost most of our food traditions that are tied to seasonal eating and eating for our climate. You don't have to know how to cook food to eat it and you don't need to know whats in season. In fact most of us would probably just equate being in season as when something tastes better. I never even knew asparagus is only meant to be eaten for two week in the spring. How would you when its in the grocery store year round. I remember seeing a long stalk of brussels sprouts at the farmers market this summer and being shocked by its form. And then finding it so ironic we don't know what most of our food looks like when its in growing form. I mean kind of hilarious?

(funny looking right?)

Which brings me to my next thought. One of the biggest gain of my local project? I tried root vegetables and discovered they aren't disgusting, if not sorta yummy. Too bad I didn't try them until the end or know what to do with them.

Like I mentioned, I work at a french restaurant. All you really need to know about french food is that everything is doused in butter and its delicious no matter what. While I'm not entire sure if its a seasonal thing or a gourmet thing (maybe both..) the chef (marc orfaly) uses a lot of what I would say kinda out there vegetables. Really they aren't out there vegetables at all merely ones the everyday person doesn't encounter. Needless to say I've gotten to try and fall in love with a ton of new vegetables. Go figure, its all in how you cook them ;-) Here we are back to the knowledge thing, knowing how to cook them! I've had an amazing opportunity to taste and learn how to cook a lot of new dishes from one of the most knowledge Chefs in the city.

So after being dumbfounded at the stalks of brussels sprouts this summer, I was very curious to try them when I saw them go onto the menu. The dish is crispy duck confit over bacony brussel sprouts and potato puree topped with a cherry glaze. How could it not be good right!?!

My ultimate favorite I've discovered is braised purple Cabbage. I had tried some cabbage in a soup i made during my local project and thought it was just alright. I had never had cabbage cooked like this though. Diced cabbage slow cooked in butter, then honey, sugar, and balsamic vinegar until it all sort of carmelizes. AMAZING. I fell in love with it on the pork weinershcnitzel. I got so obsessed with it that I would make every time anymore came over for dinner to the point where my friends now ask me, are you making that awesome cabbage?!?! (a small step for cabbage propaganda!) I even made it for my roommate, who made it for his dad, who then wanted to learn how to make it!

So I keep coming back to this idea of knowledge and the passing of knowledge. I guess I have conflicting feelings. I mourn the loss of tradition that makes food knowledge so important. I also realize it probably means a lot to have such a food security that we don't need it. But at the same time I want to honor those who practice a knowledge and craft. I don't need to know how to butcher a cow to eat a steak, but i really appreciate those who do. It may seem obvious but I never considered that each cow comes with a small number of each cut of meat. After reading and article in the new york times food issue about buying into a cow, i looked at the stacks of meat in shaws much differently. I'm looking to make a trip to savenors in cambridge or catch a butchering demonstration at the butcher shop.

So I suppose you could say I'm on a search to meet and find the people of knowledge. To engage a more primal understand of how my food is made and how to make it myself. Stay tuned... cheese cave.....mushroom growers....chefs....

Farmers Market Calender

So I sorta jotted down the schedule of some of the farmers markets i had check out, but boston localvore did it much better and made an app. just click on the different views of the calender. Theres soo many going on daily that if you're able to travel a little, you could shop at the farmers markets almost like going to the grocery store. Or at least sometimes.

http://bostonlocalvores.org/2010-farmers-market-calendar

Anatomy of a local Meal via boston localvore

Oh so very cool

http://bostonlocalvores.org/archives/2016

In the real world....

Hello all!

I'm getting back to my beloved blog! Its been a couple months since I last wrote, and my life has shifted in a different way of living. My eating local project started as my senior thesis project and has really impacted how I eat and the choices I make. I've finished school, and found myself in a radical new adventure of the real world has taken center stage. I had been thinking the next step would involve getting out into the world and advocating what I've learned, but I feel I'm still learning myself. Its a daily task to navigate my food choices and figuring out how to live my beliefs all on my own. No structure, no one to report to. But its also a really exciting time. Local food is coming out in all its glory. Most of the farmers markets in the city are up and running with amazing produce and options since I was going to the winter farmers market outside of the city. Its becoming quite easy to shop locally with a farmers market almost every day. After 60 days of local food ended, I went so far in the opposite direction of eating (no local food at at all) that i was having a hard time navigating how to integrate local eating into everyday life. But I finally have been figuring it out. I would say I've actually been eating a large bulk of my diet in local food. I think the key to getting these foods into my diet is figuring out what to do with them. Working on local recipes was my answer to this issue, but I myself am still figuring out how to cook everything. Its still learning. But as I learn to cook in new ways, I do get to share them with the people around me, when my friends are willing :-) So I'd say its a process, one I want to share!

Here are the markets I have been going to!

Mondays: Central square 12-6 on Bishop Richard Allen Drive (parallel to mass ave)

Tuesdays and Fridays: Copley Square 11-6 both days

Thursdays: Prudential Center on Boylston 11-6

Some upcoming markets i haven't checked out yet:

Fridays: Allston Market!! Starts tomorrow! at the intersection of North Harvard and Western Ave 3-7

Mondays and Wednesdays: City Hall Market - City Hall Plaza along Cambridge Street: 11-6

Tuesdays and thursdays: South station. Across the street from south station: 11:30 - 6

Sundays: South End/SOWA open market: Open Market on Harrison Ave 10 -4

Wednesdays: Cambridge Center, Main Street, near MBTA: 11-6

Sundays: Cambridge Charles Square Plaza: 11-3

Tuesdays: Harvard Market at the intersections of Oxford and Kirkland in Cambridge 12:30-6

Thursdays: Kendall Square - 500 Kendall St - 11-2:30

more info at http://www.massfarmersmarkets.org/

mountain of kale

local kale mountain cooked in red wine sauce with onions, bread from the farmers market and couscous

chicken with a rhubarb and mushroom glaze! Made with my own rhubarb i grew!

Am I the only localvore out there?

One thing I've been thinking about for a while is the importance of support and community on the part of local eating. Most of the people that I have read about (No Impact Man, Barbara Kingsolver) all do their local eating together with their families. I've met some of my farmers, and I've plowed through the social norms of eating, but I feel I'm lacking the connection to others that are as passionate about their beliefs. I can't imagine I'm the only one in boston interested in local food. I bet even some of the people around me would like to eat some local food, but haven't made the steps or don't know where to begin. While my 60 days of local eating was extreme, it can even be little steps and small choices, it doesn't have to be an all or nothing. So I want to invite anyone interested in learning how to find local food, cook it, or even just eat it to join forces and come together. Call me! Email me! jduncan802@gmail.com I don't know if anyone still reads this, but I know its hard to do it on your own, so why not do it together! Let me know!

Post-Local

Its been about three weeks since my 60 days of strict local eating has ended. I've been having quite the love affair with non-local food, and i think its time to really think about what this means. In the reality of real life where I'm not bound by a set of rules, how do my beliefs and morals really play out? Well so far, not very well. I pretty much haven't eaten any local food since my 60 days ended. I have been regularly eating tortilla chips made in needham, because they are so good and easily found at various stores, but where the ingredients come from I don't know. I've switched back to organic milk that comes from wisconsin because it taste better to me, and i don't have to buy such a big container, and thus don't have to drink as much milk so fast because milk often gives me a stomach ache. But shouldn't local milk taste better? Perhaps organic local milk would taste the best. I don't know what it is but the crescent ridge milk i get at whole foods doesn't taste very great to me. Perhaps it has to do with that the milk is sourced from all around new england. Turns out its not that easy to find out exactly where your milk is coming from even if there is a location on the bottle, which is usually where its bottled. The best tasting local milk I have had comes from shaw dairy which is sold at the dairy bar in somerville. Honestly though I haven't been motivated to drive all the way to somerville for milk, when i can walk two block to whole foods. I think this also raises an interesting point of transportation of food on both end: farm to store, and consumer to store. the milk from whole foods traveled 1, 158 miles to the store and i walked two blocks to buy it. the milk from the dairy bar traveled 39 miles and i had to drive 8 miles round trip to buy it. Its clear that the consumer takes on extra energy costs (gas), time, and carbon emissions to be able to support a local business/farmer, and get a quality product. It seems that the biggest issue for the local movement is not a matter of convincing people its a good idea but making it accessible. If after going so extreme to as to eat local for 60 days, I won't even drive to somerville for milk, how could expect the average person would? Organic has caught on at most large shopping conglomerates, which is a start. Its true that organic is better than not, but while organic original signified the values of local - safeguarding
the ecological integrity of local bioregions; creating social justice and
equality for both growers and eaters; and cultivating whole, healthful
foods.- it now often usually points to industrial organic farming. Large scale organic doesn't use chemicals (at least not much), but it still grows large monocultures of single crops which drains the land of resources, is transported high distances, usually from central or south america as more of food is being imported for a cheaper price, where labor can be paid for less, and rhe food is picked unripe and ripened in a truck, and threatens to put local farmers who can't compete in scale out out of business. With organic being the 'big thing' these days many large businesses are jumping to put the cachet on their product. But is more the idea of organic that they are actually selling? Let think whole foods for a minute who really markets the whole idea of organic and local. But to actually distribute on such a high scale of whole foods, how could they buy produce from a small farmer? Real, "whole" foods cannot be shipped around the country. Michael Pollan makes a good point that how our food is grow is inseparable from how we distribute it, which is inseparable to how we eat it. Its a toss up, who 'should' bear the responsibility, the system or the consumer? I think at this point, the system leave it all up to the consumer. Its hard, and expensive, and time consuming to eat your beliefs, but in the end we are a consumer of our food.

normal eating?

Its been a week now since my two months of local eating has ended. I've had my indulgence, still enjoying it a bit, but I'm left wondering how to resolve going back to a "normal" eating. I've learned so much doing this project and really valued this experience, but as a busy college kid with still injured fingers, franticly trying to get ready for my senior show, I don't have the time or energy to put in to finding and preparing all my food the way i have been. Part of it is the time of year, winter farmers markets have ended, and the spring ones will start soon - access is hard right now. I really appreciate the option to be able to buy food while i'm out, particularly when i'm at school and hungry, I can buy a snack now. so thats really great. I appreciate fruit!!! besides apples i didn't have any fruit. a diversity of vegetables. its funny though, i bought corn on the cobb for our bbq last night well knowing that corn is not in season and that it was from florida, and let me just say it was a sad piece of corn. limp, scrawny, flavorless. sort of similarly, i had my favorite ben and jerry flavor (magic brownies) and i'll be honest it didn't taste as good as i remembered, which was shocking because ben and jerry's is my thing. I had a burger and shake from u burger and felt terribly sick. I don't think I can drink milkshakes anymore, also shocking as its one of my favorite treats. Such intense dairy and sugar don't seem to agree with me anymore. I've also noticed i get full much more easily since doing my project. I'm satisfied by smaller portions than i used to. I find when i get a sandwich i can eat only half, and then the other half a few hours later. Its probably a good thing. I think its interesting to think about the over eating of americans, how it just feels normal and how its possible for your body to adjust to healthier portions instead of feeling deprived. Back to my original question, how do i reconcile my beliefs and my eating now in more real life situation without the extreme rules? The project certainly has changed me. Not in an eating disorder way, but i think about everything i eat, in terms of where its come from, how its grown or eaten. Do i want chicken in my pad thai if i can probably guess that it was raised with no room to move, its beak cut off, never seen the light of day, and pumped growth hormones to the point that its breasts were so big? or do i want to support the genetic modification of soy and gene patenting that is allowing large seed companies like monsanto to sue farmers who's crops have been pollinated by their geneticly modified seeds when there's no way to control pollination if i order tofu? like plato's cave, you can't go back to ignorance. i can't help but think about everything i eat, which can be overwhelming sometimes but ultimately part of the experience i wanted to gain from my project. one may think that one person can't make a difference but really we are the consumers of our food and we make the choice everytime we buy and then eat food. the food system is an economy, and every dollar goes somewhere. vote with your fork, eat your values. think about it. what you buy and eat is a direct action that has the potential to be farm more effect than talk or preaching ever will. If you don't like the system, don't participate in it. of course its easier said than done, but even small actions or changing part of your diet is profound. it doesn't have to an all or nothing kind of thing, but i think it really empowering to be able to have such direct choice and control over the issue of food that when thats not the case in many other political issues such as education or health care. the more people support local agriculture economy, the more it will respond with access and options. personal action really is how our food system will change. just think about it. :-)

p.s. my aesthetic manifestation of the project will be going up as an exhibition on sunday at 601 newbury, with an opening reception friday april 16th 6-8!

So i've been living the non-local life pretty well now, eating out every meal and indulging in every way. the result? gained 3 pounds in 4 days, and i feel like crap. I went with friends to Uburger, and while it was all tasty and good i felt terrible after. i couldn't even make it through more than a 1/4 of my shake, and i LOVE shakes. my stomach hurt after, i felt really lathergic for hours, and grouchy.

basically its time to for me get back to more whole foods and veggies. I even feel sick the morning after. I gotta get back to healthy eating before i get used to feeling like crap again! i haven't run since i hurt my fingers two weeks, so its off for a jog and a tasty salad for me today!

popping champagne from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

3 days post local

So its a bit late but i thought i would let you know how life has been since my local eating challenge ended on thursday and ive been assimilating back into food culture. let me just say its ben great. it feels so freeing, and eating has become so fun! i haven't cooked anything, which has been relaxing. Every meal feels like a spontaneous adventure. I haven't had to worry about planning out my meals which has been nice. and COFFEE!! i may have not been perfect about the 100 miles but i didn't drink any coffee for the whole 60 days, not even a sip. so naturally ive been indulging in lots of coffee, and getting all sorts of buzzed in a way i never used to. sort of annoying actually! not a great feeling to have become so sensitive to coffee. my stomach hasn't loved much of what i've been eating (particularly ice cream?) but i haven't exactly eased in. here's what i've been eating the last few days :-)

lots of iced coffee with cream (i usually do milk or soy milk, but livin' life) donuts, lobster roll, milkshake, crackers, cheeseburger, asparagus (out of season and hard but AWESOME), fries, ben and jerry's (even being my favorite flavor, it didn't taste as good as i remembered...) pretzels, hot dog, pizza, eggs benedict with smoked salmon and spinach, mussels, emack and bolios ice cream, and a few bites of mac n cheese.

so yeah its been good. even though i've been eating sort of indulgently, i really can't eat as much as i used to (in general, not just treats) and i definitely eat smaller (healthy) sized portions now. my body is craving veggies. ive been having stomach aches. i need to go grocery shopping and get back to normal(ish) eating.

I have videos over due to show, and some recipes from a cook book i'm making, along with a map to share. The work I am making about this experience will be on exhibition at 601 newbury st. april 12-17th with and opening reception on april 16th 6-8. it will be fabulous. come share free champagne and wine with us. you might even get to see me making cheese and sample some if you're lucky!

best

Food Wrap Up!!

Thursday-

Brunch: Omelette with salsa (Concord, MA - 21.4 miles) and cheese (Providence, RI - 49.6 miles) (eggs -Elizaville, NY - 165 miles)

Dinner: Tempeh (Somerville, MA - 5 miles) with melted cheese (Providence, RI - 49.6 miles)

Late night: Bravo Pizza (after midnight so totally legit!)

Drinks: Narragansett (Providence, RI - 49.6 miles) and champagne at midnight!

Wednesday-

Breakfast: Eggs (Elizaville, NY - 165 miles)

Snack: tortilla chips (Needham Heights, MA - 5.6 miles)

Dinner: Tempeh (Somerville, MA - 5 miles) Potatoes (Starksboro, VT - 13.5 miles from Bristol, VT 228 from boston) and Parsnips from Burlington, Vt - 22.1 miles from bristol, VT 223 from boston

Drinks: UFO White

Last day, (yesterday!)

Last Day! from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Today!

Here is what i ate today:

Breakfast - Plain Yogurt (Stonyfield in Londonderry, NH - 51.5 miles) with Maple Syrup (North Brookfield, MA - 59.6 miles)

Snack - Carrots (Hadley, MA - 101 miles)

Lunch - Salad (HOME GROWN GREENS!!! 0 miles), potatoes (Lewis creek farm in Starksboro, VT - 13.5 miles from Bristol, VT 228 from boston) and onions (Warwick, NY - 185 miles from south deerfield, 228 miles from boston)

Dinner- Nachos : Chips (Needham Heights - 5.6 miles) Salsa (Concord, MA - 21.4 miles) cheese (Providence, RI - 49.6 miles) Potatoes (potatoes (Lewis creek farm in Starksboro, VT - 13.5 miles from Bristol, VT 228 from boston) Parsnips ( Burlington, Vt - 22.1 miles from bristol, VT 223 from boston)

Update

I've gotten behind, as usual, because its been really hard to type. i've upgraded to bandaids on my fingers now and will get my stitches out in a few days, but it still hurts a bit. Anyway. Its' been really hard to feed myself local food without the use of my left hand. not to literally put food in my mouth, but to get food, and to prepare it (chopping, cooking, ect.) So i've had to make some compromises. The week kid of blurred together, but i've been eating a lot of the same things, so i'll make a list of the local and not local food i ate in the last week:

non local-

bagel Turkery sandwhich from bruggers, darwins, sandwhich, bravo pizza x 2, spinach salad, tuna sandwich, fries, wings

local-

spinach x3, oatmeal x 3, chorizo sausage x 3, pasta with sauce and cheese, eggs, potatoes, cabbage onion soup x 2, tortilla chips, crackers, home fries

so really not good on the illegal foods as i like to call them, but i haven't really had any food, so its been pretty tough, but my wonderful friend james drove me to sherman market in somerville on friday to stock up on some food which was really awesome. also i'm eating a salad for lunch today all with greens ive grown myself! its a rather small salad....

anyway sunday and yesterday i did good with all local food and will keep it up through thursday which is my last day!!! i don't know what i will have cause i have cheated with most of the things ive wanted. perhaps a really lovely glass of wine....