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....
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.
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