Accidental Hedonist

There is so much that is quotable from the article New Grub Street from the Columbia Journalism Review, that I could easily start several different conversations from it. I may just do so. But to get the ball rolling, let me offer my own take, without quoting from the article.

I feel one of the biggest failures of Mainstream Food Reporting (let’s call it MFR from here on out) is the lack of context it provides. A quick glance at the majority of food sections of most local papers is all that’s needed to verify that. A recipe or two, an article on the food of the week, and possible a restaurant review are often all that I’m able to find.

The reality is that food is part of a much bigger picture, one often ignored. When was the last time Cooking Illustrated did a piece on cultural economics or Gourmet Magazine published an article about how we can feed the planet?

To be fair, these focus of these magazines isn’t (and shouldn’t be) on these larger issues, but instead I’m using them to illustrate a point . Food touches EVERYTHING on this planet – economics, the environment, the extinction of certain species – but it is difficult to realize this when you look at the Cookbook section of the local Barnes and Noble.

So I’m very welcoming of this recent trend in food writing that talks about the bigger picture, although I’d wish they’d stop giving Michael Pollan all the credit for this trend Hullo? Did you guys forget about Eric Schlosser Fast Food Nation?

I really have little to add to this artery clogging wonder, other than the Major Kudos I give to the person who thought this up.

And yes, I’d like a bite or two…

via Slog

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Mad cow disease) in the United States beef industry is one of those issues that either seem to either promote outrage or indifference, depending upon the individual. I certainly fall into the former category, but not because I believe that we are at immediate risk from the disease. Rather, my outrage comes from the fact that recent testing was so badly managed, that we still don’t know whether Mad Cow is an issue here in the States, and the cattle industry (with an able assist from the Government) seems determined to keep us that way.

After the first discovery of Mad Cow in Washington State, way back in 2003, we were promised that the cattle industry would up it’s testing to determine how prevalent BSE was. The USDA started a program to test half of the nation’s 450,000 “downerˮ cows, or cows that could not walk.

However, there were many questions surrounding the testing procedures. Only a little over one half of one percent of the cattle population was tested, of which, none of them were of “healthy” cows. They only tested cows that showed possible symptoms. Downer cows and cows that were aggressive or agitated were tested. But BSE doesn’t make every cow show outward signs of the disease. Cattle can have the disease for months or years before showing any outward symptoms.

Oh, and testing was voluntary and not done randomly. The Agriculture Department’s inspector general found serious flaws in the testing process, and there were many questions surrounding their procedures.

And then, just like that, the USDA claimed that we didn’t have a problem with BSE and seriously reduced the scope of the testing program.

Here is the issue – If the testing was flawed, then the statistics we pulled from the testing are invalid, leaving us at the same point we were back in December of 2003 – not knowing if just how prevalent Mad Cow Disease is or is not.

And just yesterday we find out that we have the Bush Administration fighting “to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease“.

Re-read that previous paragraph and see if that makes any sense.

Why does the government wish to prevent a single meatpacking company (Creekstone Farms – see the back story here) from implementing a perfectly logical response to Mad Cow, both in terms of consumer safety as well as the free-market?

The problem with the question just asked is that there is no good answer. Every response to that question will either sound shallow and unreasoned (“Larger meat companies fear they might have to perform the expensive test” or “widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry”) or too conspiratorial (“The Cattle Industry does not want any bad press to affect the lucrative export business”).

But it’s still a question that deserves an answer. Just like the “What percentage of American cattle has BSE?” deserves an answer as well.

I’m not sure if there is an “official” Italian name for this dish – I mean one other than “Asparagus and Pancetta Spaghetti”. But, authentic Italian or no, it’s certainly a recipe that should be kept on hand when the asparagus season arrives.

The basic concept is similar to that found in the Sauté of Leeks, Endives and Radicchio with Spaghetti recipe from a week back. You have a slightly bitter ingredient (in this case the asparagus) balanced against the salty of the pancetta and the slightly savory of the Parmesan cheese. Add a little more ground pepper than usual, and “voila!” – there’s the best received dish I’ve had in quite some time.

• 1 lb spaghetti (or other similar pasta)
• 1/2 lb pancetta, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 lb asparagus, chopped into 1″ bits
• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
• black pepper, ground

Make the spaghetti according to the directions on the package.

While waiting for your pasta water to come to a boil, fry up the pancetta over medium heat for about seven minutes. Add the garlic, and fry for another minute.

Once the pasta water gets to the boil, add the spaghetti to the water. Then, add the asparagus to the pancetta frying pan, and fry until soft, roughly 7-10 minutes.

Drain the spaghetti and place into a large glass bowl. Add the olive oil and mix into the pasta. Then add the pancetta and asparagus, as well as 1/2 cup of the parmesan cheese. Toss well.

When plating, sprinkle the spaghetti with another helping of parmesan cheese and top with ground black pepper (to taste).

Serves 4-6

When Kate gave me the short list of potential guest bloggers, there was only one that I felt was up to the job, and I said as much. She writes a food blog called Sassy Radish, and I don’t know if she’s chosen a pseudonym to protect her privacy yet, so I’ll just refer to her as Sassy Radish.

Without further delay, here are the five questions I posed to her (via email) in an effort to get to know her better:

Gezellig Girl: How long have you been cooking/baking?

Sassy Radish: I’ve been cooking and baking really since I was about 5. The first conscious memory I have of helping out in the kitchen, besides washing dishes, which I hated, was when my mom gave me a paring knife and asked me to snip the ends off of radishes – which were my favorite vegetable growing up. And after that, we got to make my favorite vegetable salad with them – it was sheet bliss and I remembered thinking back when I was a kid, how food can be such an amazing way to bring people together and to foster these incredible memories. When my mom and I used to bake, she’d give me scraps of her dough and I’d make this circular Russian fairy-tale character “Kolobokˮ and used raisins for eyes and tried to give it a nose and a mouth, except that, after sitting in a hot oven for an hour, the facial features would merge and I would have a face with only eyes – creepy, but I’d eat it anyway!

GG: What are your favorite foods to make?

SR: I think if I had to pick things I absolutely love, they’re almost embarrassingly simple and are all comfort foods – rice with yogurt and lime pickle, potatoes and herring, mashed potatoes with olive oil. I am less into pastas, unless I make the pasta. I love to make quesadillas and guacamole. And when the weather gets cold, I love making soups, stewe, and I think my all time favorite meal is the Thanksgiving one. I’m getting more into dessert because it’s so exacting and I like the challenge of things being so regimented, which probably a good glimpse into my personality. I’ve become that girl who always has room for dessert, and now, I’m a proud owner of an ice cream maker and I’m obsessed with it! David Lebovitz’s new book is going to be put to some good use this summer! Overall, I like to create foods that are made from whole, unprocessed ingredients – Heidi from 101Cookbooks.com has been an incredible inspiration in this regard – and as I was getting more familiar with her blog, I realized that this is what I’ve been trying to communicate with food all along. Cooking food with whole, natural ingredients, preferably grown locally by small farmers, getting in-season produce – cooking with conscience – that’s what I really want to communicate. So that food is not only consumed as something sensory, that is pleasure-based, but also that it’s consumed with a conscious understanding of where food comes from, how it was treated. I guess I’m a little political with food!

GG: Why do you blog and how long have you been blogging?

SR: I had this crazy notion in college that I was going to graduate, work in finance for awhile, and then quit because this ezine I was going to start would become this amazing sensation and I’d manage it full-time. I had no aspirations of becoming uber-wealthy, just wanted to be a writer and share thoughts with other writers. I wanted to have sections of this ezine devoted to arts, news, cooking, etc. and I recruited friends of mine to work on them – but then reality set in and everyone was so busy with work, that the zine, became a personal zine, and the appropriate name for that would be a “blogˮ so that’s how I got into it. But overall, personal blogging wasn’t for me – I found that I didn’t have anything all that relevant or witty to say – I didn’t think it was all that grand to write about failed romance and whatnot, but I loved writing and photography and cooking – so that’s how it happened. I think that SassyRadish.com is about 2 years old.

GG: What is your favorite post (on your own blog) so far?

SR: I went back to review the posts and I don’t think I have a favorite one. It’s tough for me to pick my own favorites. I could tell you what I didn’t like about certain posts, but I can’t find one that I think was amazing. I guess I’m a bad self-promoter.

GG: What do you do when you’re not cooking/blogging?

SR: I am usually at work a lot – I work in finance and I love what I do, and it’s quite time-consuming. When I am not at work or cooking/blogging, I try to see friends, hang out with my boyfriend, go for jogs, walks with him. I photograph and read a lot as well. And now, I get to play around in our mini-garden on the roofdeck – we’re planting herbs and veggies – it’s like our little farm! I am so excited and I worry about the plants during the day – like is the sun too scorching for them, do I need to give them more compost? How I make compost? Will the harvest be good? I feel personally responsible for these little green guys. So that’s my boyfriend’s and mine new obsession.

And that, my friends, brings us to the end of my rein as the regularly scheduled guest blogger of Accidental Hedonist. I’ll be posting now and then, sooner or later, whenever the urge strikes me, so you’re not completely rid of me.

So, when there’s breaking news about bees or a story about sourdough I just have to share, you’ll be hearing from me. Until then…

Well I was going to start my vacation until this entered my inbox…

Washington May 24, 2007 – Earlier today, the House Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry approved new language slipped into the 2007 Farm Bill that pre-empts any state prohibitions against any foods or agricultural goods that have been deregulated by the USDA. The passage appears to be aimed at several recently enacted state laws that restrict the planting of genetically engineered (GE) crops, but could also prohibit states from taking action when food contamination cases occur.

“Given the recent spate of food scares, it’s shocking to see this attempt to derail safeguards for our food and farms,ˮ said Joseph Mendelson, Legal Director of the Center for Food Safety. “We need a Farm Bill that will promote stronger food safety standards, not one that attacks these vital state-level protections.”

The passage approved by the House Subcommittee today states that “no State or locality shall make any law prohibiting the use in commerce of an article that the Secretary of Agriculture has inspected and passed; or determined to be of non-regulated status.ˮ

Or to put it another way – Even though it’s been proven that the USDA’s authority to protect small farmers has been compromised, and that their track record in protecting the health of citizens and environments has been put behind the need to increase the profit of industrial-agriculture complex, we’re supposed to take the USDA’s word over that of the states who have put consumer and environmental concerns into their charter?

Yeah, I ain’t buyin’ that at all.

Feel free to contact the congresscritters below to let them know that until the public can trust the USDA, that it’s not a good idea to let them be the final word of food regulation.

Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry
Leonard L. Boswell, (D-IA) Chairman

Jurisdiction: livestock; dairy; poultry; meat; seafood and seafood products; inspection, marketing, and promotion of such commodities; aquaculture; animal welfare; and grazing.

• Leonard L. Boswell, (D-IA) Chairman
• Kirsten E. Gillibrand, (D-NY)
• Steve Kagen, (D-WI)
• Tim Holden, (D-PA)
• Joe Baca, (D-CA)
• Dennis A. Cardoza, (D-CA)
• Nick Lampson, (D-TX)
• Joe Donnelly, (D-IN)
• Jim Costa, (D-CA)
• Tim Mahoney, (D-FL)
• Robin Hayes,(R-NC) Ranking Minority Member
• Mike Rogers, (R-AL)
• Steve King, (R-IA)
• Virginia Foxx, (R-NC)
• K. Michael Conaway, (R-TX)
• Jean Schmidt, (R-OH)
• Adrian Smith, (R-NE)
• Tim Walberg, (R-MI)

Some may see this as a little story, but I’m not one of them.

Every few years, major contracts are hammered out that state which companies can provide food or beverages at major events throughout the country. Everything from hockey games to state fairs negotiate and sell rights to companies to have their products sold at these events. It should surprise no one that representatives from Coca-Cola and Pepsi are almost always involved, and it’s almost impossible to find any sodas other than one represented by these two companies being sold at concert venues, sporting arenas or even major high schools.

So when the Seattle Seahawks announced yesterday that neither Coke nor Pepsi will be sold at their stadium, it’s a big deal, especially for a higher profile team in a very high profile sports league. In their place comes relative newcomer and Seattle institution Jones Soda (the folks who sell the Turkey Flavor sodas around the holidays).

Jones is not new to event sponsorship, having been part of the skater culture for the past several years and being the “official soda” of several events. But getting a part of the NFL pie puts them onto a new level.

But the reason I really like this deal is that it may be a step back to food regionalism. Seeing Coke and Pepsi, as well as Budweiser, Starbucks, McDonalds, et al, being sold throughout the country homogenizes our culture. I don’t think that this is a good thing.

I’m of the belief that having regional diversity in our national marketplace is a very good thing. My thinking may be a bit “pie in the sky” but regional diversity can be a way of promoting civic pride. All you need to do is get a person from Kansas City and a person from Texas to talk about barbecue to understand that. Heck, thick about what Rolling Rock Beer meant to the folks in Western Pennsylvania before Anheuser-Busch bought them out.

But I’m getting ahead of myself, dreaming my Utopian dreams. Congratulations to Jones Soda, for pulling off a major coup.