Photo from the video Tamar Adler Talks About An Everlasting Meal.

Editor’s note: It’s unanimous these days: Cooking food from scratch at home is one of the best ways to eat sustainably without breaking the bank. It also enables eaters to easily support food producers who use environmentally sound, ethical, and humane practices. But most Americans can’t pull this off regularly. We recently invited Kurt Michael Friese and Tamar Adler — two people who have strong feelings about the importance of home cooking — to have a conversation for Grist. Adler is a chef, cooking teacher, and the author of the new book An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace; Friese is a chef, the editor of Edible Iowa River Valley, and the author of two books, including A Cook’s Journey: Slow Food in the Heartland and Chasing Chiles: Hot Spots on the Chile Trail (which he co-authored with Gary Nabhan and Kraig Kraft).

Kurt Michael Friese: I think Americans have been sold a bill of goods: I think they’ve been coerced into believing that cooking is a chore akin to washing windows, something to be avoided if possible and then done as quickly and grudgingly as they can manage. Too many people believe they don’t have the time. That’s the most common excuse anyway. And of course they do — it’s all a matter of priorities.

Tamar Adler: My sense is that there are three variables. A study that came out earlier this year found that 28 percent of Americans stayed out of their kitchens because they were scared they didn’t know how to cook. The other two variables are obviously time and money. The same study found that one-third of Americans spent more time thinking about what to cook than actually cooking. In other words, we have a very skewed relationship to the act of cooking.

The thing about priorities is that if we don’t know what cooking actually means — that is, the kind of cooking that makes deep sense in our lives — then of course we don’t have time, or money.

It takes a very long time to cook in a way that isn’t sustainable, and it’s very expensive. And it makes sense to feel bullied by being told to make something that takes a long time and costs a lot of money a priority. But of course, that’s not what we’re saying. It just takes a lot of explaining and careful guidance to show the whole picture of cooking, and how much it can give you, if you do it with a certain mindset.

Kurt: I have long said that I may be a part of the last generation to have learned to cook at his mother and grandmother’s apron strings. And if people are no longer learning to cook from their parents (because their parents didn’t learn either), then we need to find some new ways to teach them. One thing I’ve called for is something I call The Public Hearth.

Tamar: That sounds wonderful.

There’s lots more!  Read the entire conversation @ Grist.org

Tags: Books, cooking, food, food cost, food politics, food security, Food Writing, Grist.org, health, Technique // Add Comment »

Yes, meatloaf, casseroles, and other comfort meals can be found in church basements across all of Iowa’s 99 counties, but this is a state that knows its food and wine.

When I read Stephen Bloom’s screed against our mutually-adopted home state I was, like many Iowans (including his boss at the University of Iowa), insulted. I could not figure out which aspect bothered me more. My world revolves around food, and Bloom seems to have gleaned his information about what we eat in Iowa from a high school production of The Music Man.

Comfort food reigns supreme. Meatloaf and pork chops are king. Casseroles (canned tuna or Tatertots) and Jell-O molds (cottage cheese with canned pears or pineapple) are what to bring to wedding receptions and funerals. Everyone loves Red Waldorf cake. Deer (killed with a rifle is good, with bow-and-arrow better) and handpicked morels are delicacies families cherish.

I do not mean to claim that these dishes cannot be found in Lutheran church basements in all 99 counties, even if he is wrong about cottage cheese being in Jell-O molds (the cottage cheese is served on the canned pears, or more often on cling peaches), and even if, as a restaurant professional for 32 years, I’ve never heard of “Red Waldorf cake” nor has my fifth-generation Iowan wife. We think he must mean red velvet cake, which is common, though not nearly as common as the magnificent pies that are baked here. All this food can indeed be “comforting,” but as in so many other parts of his diatribe, Bloom chooses a couple small examples of something he’s seen here and concludes that it must be so for everyone across state.

Read the rest in The Atlantic

Tags: Agriculture, Articles, Atlantic Monthly, Devotay, Edible Iowa River Valley, Farming, food, food politics, Food Writing, Iowa // Add Comment »

In the US each individual state has its own set of laws regulating the production, sale and consumption of alcohol.  Naturally this results in a wide array of goofy, arcane, or sometimes just plain stupid liquor laws.  Some are enforced, others are not, and still others see that very enforcement lead to a reversal of the law, something I’d like to see here.  I’ll get to my problems with Iowa’s laws in a minute, but first, a little sampler from a few of the other states around the union.

Texas is one of the national leaders in this regard.  It is illegal in Texas to consume more than 3 sips of beer while standing.  But even if you sit down, you can be arrested for public intoxication while still in the bar.  And if you’re under 21?  Not a problem as long as you are with your parents – or spouse.  The age of consent in Texas is 17.

Pennsylvania has a whole slew of arcane laws (they still have the state stores that Iowa got away from during the 1^st Branstad administration), but my favorite is that they apportion liquor licenses based on population. Philadelphia has more restaurants than their allotment permits, so restaurants are forced to go “BYOB,” or to buy licenses from closing restaurants on the open market, often for as much as $250,000.  Cushions the blow of losing your restaurant I suppose if you can get a quarter of a million dollars for a piece of paper. [Read more →]

Tags: beer, cocktails, food politics, liquor, Raise the Bar, Table Wine, wine // Add Comment »

Industrial agriculture, like most powerful business interests, has a very effective lobbying organization not only in DC, but also in state capitols around the country.  Over the last few years they’ve been stung by surreptitious video recordings taken on a few farms showing examples of egregious animal abuse, unsafe working conditions, and environmental degradation.  See examples here, here, and here.

Needless to say, it makes them look bad, which of course they don’t like.  Now let me state right from the start here that I and the organization I represent, Slow Food USA, are not at all anti-farmer, and firmly believe that a vast majority of America’s farmers are honest, hardworking, industrious and well-meaning keepers of their land and heritage.  That said, there are exceptions, and like in any industry, a few bad apples can make the whole bunch look bad.

But instead of working hard to stop those few bad actors, Big Ag’s response is to try to criminalize the whistleblowers.  And their first attempts, in four states (Florida, Minnesota, Iowa and most recently New York) are so far reaching as to beg obvious 1^st amendment questions to say the least. [Read more →]

Tags: Agriculture, Animal Cruelty, CAFOs, capitalism, Farming, food, food politics, food security, health, Iowa, Slow Food // 2 Comments »

There is nothing more flavorful and succulent than a spit-roasted lamb

About 2 months ago Kim and I set out to accomplish a long-held goal: to build a roasting spit in our backyard and spend no money doing it.  The inauguration of our successful endeavor occurred Memorial Day weekend.  Here’s how we did it.

Building the spit:

A spit is little more than a stone-lined hole in the ground.  Some dig straight down (as for a Luau or a New England Clambake, some are dug into the hillside.  We chose the latter because our backyard is a long gentle slope.  If yours isn’t, you may have some extra digging to do and/or you may need to bring in some fill dirt.  In any case, what’s desired here is a strong earthen support for the bricks that make up the back of the spit.  This back wall helps direct the heat, making the roasting process more even and efficient. [Read more →]

Tags: Agriculture, Articles, BBQ, conviviality, cooking, food, Food Writing, Iowa, Meat, Real Recipes, recipe, Slow Food // 3 Comments »

THERE was a frost expected here two weeks ago, but Gary Paul Nabhan, a conservation biologist and inveterate seed-saver, was out in his hardscrabble garden anyway, planting his favorite food, hot chilies.

Chiltepin, chile de árbol the one that scrambles up trees, Tabasco, serrano, pasilla, Chimayó. These are only a few of the pungent peppers that Mr. Nabhan and two other chili lovers — Kurt Michael Friese, a chef from Iowa City, and Kraig Kraft, an agro-ecologist studying the origin of hot peppers — collected on a journey that began two years ago, in northern Mexico, and took them across the hot spots of this country.

Read the article at  Hot on the Trail of Chili Peppers – In the Garden – NYTimes.com.

Tags: Agriculture, Articles, Book Review, Books, Chasing Chiles, Farming, food, food security, Food Writing, gardening, Gary Paul Nabhan, Kraig Kraft, New York Times, Seeds // Add Comment »

A lot of people who read my essay about fixing our cooking problem pointed out that many people do not have the equipment needed and that accessorizing a kitchen properly is expensive.  It need not be so.  Mark Bittman showed us all 4 years ago that it takes about $200 to get the essentials, and $300 to be well equipped to handle most cooking jobs.  Not chump change, to be sure, but doable for a large majority of us and a reasonable investment for the return (the money saved by cooking for yourself is significant).

By MARK BITTMAN

Published: May 9, 2007

THE question I’m asked more often than any other is, “What kitchen equipment should I buy?”

Like cookbooks, kitchen equipment is a talisman; people believe that buying the right kind will make them good cooks. Yet some of the best cooks I’ve known worked with a battered batterie de cuisine: dented pots and pans scarred beyond recognition, an old steak knife turned into an all-purpose tool, a pot lid held just so to strain pasta when the colander was missing, a food processor with a busted switch. They didn’t complain and they didn’t apologize; they just cooked.

But famous TV chefs use gorgeous name-brand equipment, you might say. And you’d be right. But a.) they get much of that stuff free, the manufacturers hoping that placing it in the hands of a well-known chef will make you think it’s essential; b.) they want their equipment to be pretty, so you’ll think they’re important; and c.) see above: a costly knife is not a talisman and you are not a TV chef.

via The Minimalist – A No-Frills Kitchen Still Cooks – NYTimes.com.

See the link above for the whole essay (originally in the NYT), and follow Mr. Bittman around the store where he procured his gear in the video embedded there.

Tags: conviviality, cooking, food, food cost, food security, hunger, New York Times, Op-Ed, Technique // Add Comment »

Tags: Agriculture, Articles, Biodiversity, capitalism, conviviality, cooking, Elissa Altman, Farming, food, food politics, food security, health, Huffington Post, hunger, Michael Pollan // 3 Comments »

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Blue Plate Special hosts Kurt and Christine Friese talk to Deborah Krasner, winner of just about every award there is for culinary writing including a James Beard Award, an IACP award and a Gorrmand World Cookbook Award. Krasner discusses her new book Good Meat. We also discuss her culinary tours of Italy and Vermont.

Pantry Raid: How to make duck confit and cassoulet – time consuming but not difficult.

Related: read the Edible San Francisco review of Good Meat.

via Episode 75 Blue Plate Special: Deborah Krasner | Blue Plate Special with Kurt Michael Friese.

Tags: Animal Cruelty, Biodiversity, Blue Plate Special Podcast, Books, CAFOs, cooking, Edible Radio, Farming, food, food security, Food Writing, Grilling, health, Meat, Podcasts, recipe, Technique // Add Comment »

One of the aspects of Spanish wine that can make it somewhat puzzling for the casual observer is the layer upon layer of regions and subregions that officially are recognized as Denominaciones de Origenor Denominations of Origen. Unlike California, but not unlike France, the student of Spanish wine is expected to know the wine type by the regions. They are not usually identified by the grape the way they are here in the states.

Not too challenging until you realize there are 55 official DOs in Spain, and many of these are divided further into specific subregions. Add to this that Spain has more land planted to vine (about 2.65 million acres) than any other country in the world, and you begin to see a daunting task.

I’ve discussed some of the better known regions in this space before, so I thought we’d wander a little further afield.

Read the whole article (and get the recipe) @ Iowa City Press Citizen.

Tags: Articles, cooking, food, food history, Holidays, press-citizen, recipe, Table Wine, wine // Add Comment »