chefsblade

Ten Healthy Summer Foods That Won’t Break the Bank

Brie Cadman | Divine Caroline — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:39:00 -0700

Eating fresh, local, and in-season foods couldn’t be any easier than it is during the summertime. Fruit seems to drip off trees, vines burst with red and golden tomatoes, and yellow zucchini blossoms give way to long tubes of green. Whether you get your goods from the farmer’s market, a roadside stand, or your own backyard, the following ten seasonal fruits and vegetables are some of the healthiest and easiest to incorporate into your diet. What’s more, most of them are at their cheapest during the summer—running about a mere dollar or so per serving—making eating well as inexpensive as it is enjoyable.

1. Watermelons
Composed of about 90 percent water, sweet watermelons are an easy way to stay hydrated during the hot summer months. They also pack in nutrients, including vitamin A, B6, and C. In addition, watermelon, like most melons, is rich in antioxidants such as lycopene and citrulline. Researchers have also recently found that watermelon has “Viagra-like” properties, helping to relax blood vessels and even increase libido. As if eating it wasn’t exciting enough! Blended watermelon makes a refreshing drink, served plain or with a kick.

2. Tomatoes
A vine-ripened tomato, plucked straight from the plant, is arguably the ultimate summertime treat. (Peaches and cherries also vie for the title.) And full of vitamin C, beta carotene, and lycopene, tomatoes are nutritional powerhouses. Their versatility makes them easy to incorporate into many meals, and because they’re so prolific during the summer, farm fresh fruits are usually well-priced. Try them in pico-de-gallo salsa, cool down on a hot evening with healthful gazpacho, or try a simple caprese salad.

3. Berries
Berries are at their sweetest and juiciest during the warm summer months, and because there are so many varieties out there, you’ll never run out of options and tastes. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, gooseberries, blackberries … the list goes on. All berries are low in calories, high in vitamin C (with strawberries being the highest), and a good source of antioxidants and fiber. Some berries, like raspberries, can be relatively pricey, but if you’re near the woods or even an unkempt yard, free berry options abound! They’re great in sweet classics like blueberry muffins or in savory dishes like blackberry glazed lamb chops.

4. Peppers
Though peppers are available year-round, they are most flavorful and inexpensive during the summer, when they’re in season. Sweet bell peppers, especially the yellow and red varieties, are packed with vitamin A, C, B6, and fiber. Chili peppers are no wimps when it comes to nutrition, either. In addition to containing the same vitamins and antioxidants as sweet peppers, spicy peppers have been shown to reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Sweet peppers are delicious skewered and barbequed; chili peppers give this nopalita salad a bite.

5. Peaches
Growing up I had a peach tree in the backyard, and during July and August the tree would become so laden with fruit, we had to prop up the branches with sticks. I used to average around two peaches a day, and their sweet, juicy flavor is one that, for me, as with many people, is closely associated with summer. Taste alone is reason to eat them, but they’re also high in vitamin C and A, a good source of fiber and antioxidants, and contain lutein and zeaxanthin, which might prevent age-related macular degeneration. Try them in smoothies and in peach cobbler.

Next: Squash →

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6. Squash
Summer squash, including zucchini, crookneck, and patty pan (roundish ones) are high in manganese and vitamin C, and a good source of many other nutrients, including vitamin A and B. They’re low in calories and since most squash plants produce more bounty than one person can handle, they can be easy to come by in garden-friendly neighborhoods. At my local farmer’s market, I was able to pick up four small squash for one dollar—not bad! Perfect in zucchini lasagna.

7. Basil
Basil’s heady fragrance lends itself to numerous dishes and goes well with another summertime favorite, tomato. In addition to adding a flavorful punch, it’s also a good source of vitamin K, A, and calcium. Studies have also found that fresh basil has anti-microbial properties. Usually a buck or two per bunch, basil is easily incorporated into dishes, as in this fresh corn salad or homemade basil-infused oil.

8. Figs
Though some are averse to their texture, for those that love figs, they are a heavenly delicacy. Available from June into fall, figs are a favorite of Mediterranean climates like California. They range in color from the blackish-purple Mission to the greenish-yellow Calimyrna. High in potassium, fiber, and antioxidants, figs go well in sweet and savory dishes and are a nice accompaniment to goat cheese.

9. Plums
Never lacking in the variety of color, textures, and tastes, plums season lasts from about May to October, and during this time you’ll find a huge assortment in the markets. Plums, like apricots, peaches, and nectarines, are considered drupes, or fruits that have a hard stone pit. High in vitamin C, A, and fiber, they are also rich in antioxidants. The dried form is best known for its laxative properties. Plums are plentifully and most people with trees don’t know what to do with the excess, so obtaining them for free is easy, if they grow in your area. With all the leftovers, they can be eaten straight, sliced in a fruit tart, or made into plum jam.

10. Green Beans
Green or string beans are usually found year-round at large grocery stores but the summer and early fall is when you’ll find them at their best—crunchy and extra sweet. Rich vitamin K, C, manganese, and a good source of beta-carotene make them an excellent addition to a summer’s meal. An easy side dish is this green beans with roasted almonds.

Truthfully, it’s hard to limit this list to just ten. Almost all of the fresh produce you’ll find in the summer is healthful, and it’s just a matter of what’s available—cherries rather than berries, nectarines instead of peaches, or parsley instead of basil. If it’s colorful, fresh, and in season, you really can’t go wrong.

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Frank Facts About Hot Dogs

Allison Ford | Divine Caroline — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:40:00 -0700

Few foods have gotten a PR rap as bad as hot dogs have. In one classic scene from the film The Great Outdoors, Dan Aykroyd’s character chides John Candy’s character for ordering a hot dog, saying, “You know what they’re made of, Chet? Lips and [rectums]!”

Technically, Aykroyd used a much saltier word than “rectums,” but ever since that movie moment, hot dogs have had a reputation for being made with ingredients just a step or two above slaughterhouse floor sweepings. Rumors have even persisted that hot dogs include feathers, beaks, hooves, and other animal parts barely even fit for pet food.

Hot dogs may not be in the same league as filet mignon, but is their bad reputation really deserved? The National Hot Dog & Sausage Council estimates that Americans eat about seven billion franks during hot dog “season,” which stretches from Memorial Day to Labor Day. That’s about 818 hot dogs consumed every second. From the backyard to the ballpark, the millions of Americans grilling, boiling, sautéing, and steaming them this summer will be pleased to find out that the ingredients that go into hot dogs are not as sinister as we think.

The Inside Scoop on Ingredients
The basic ingredients in the average supermarket hot dog are far less exciting than what some fearmongers would have you believe. Most commercial hot dogs contain meat (usually beef or pork, sometimes chicken or turkey), fillers like flour or bread crumbs, seasonings and spices, binding agents, and curing agents. The ingredients are then blended together into a batter and stuffed into casings, cooked, removed from the casings, and then packaged for sale.

Meat processors who produce hot dogs don’t use the finest or choicest cuts of meat, but they don’t necessarily use inedible leftovers, either. The meat that goes into hot dogs is usually whatever’s left over after those choice cuts have been removed—tiny trimmings, fatty bits, tough sections, and other pieces of meat that aren’t big enough, tender enough, or attractive enough to be sold on their own. Although it’s still common to add variety meats or offal to handmade or artisanal sausages for flavoring, it’s now far less common to include organ meat or by-products in hot dogs.

Animal intestines are the traditional casings for hot dogs and sausages, but like variety meats, those, too, are becoming less common. These days, most commercial franks are made with cellulose, a plant-derived product, and the casings are removed after cooking.

Next: Sticker Sleuthing →

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Sticker Sleuthing
The USDA requires meat packers to disclose hot dogs’ ingredients right on the label, so a quick glance will tell you exactly what’s in your frank. If you’re looking for the purest hot dogs available, select ones that are labeled “all beef” or “all pork.” These are required to contain meat from a single species, without variety meats or by-products. If the hot dog does contain organ meats, the label should specify it, along with what animal the organs came from. Also, hot dogs that are produced in traditional animal casings, such as those obtained from sheep or pigs, should be labeled as such.

Of course, just because the USDA requires companies to truthfully label products with their ingredients, that doesn’t guarantee that they’ll actually do it. In 2008, hot dog producer Vienna Beef settled a class-action lawsuit after they misled kosher customers into thinking their hot dogs were pure beef, when in fact they used sheep or hog casings. Even though hot dogs that contain meat by-products, mechanically separated meat, or certain chemical additives or colorings should be clearly labeled, companies don’t always play by the rules.

Not So Fast…
Even if hot dogs don’t contain the unsavory substances that urban legends warn us about, there are still plenty of good reasons not to eat them. They’re full of preservatives, artificial colors, artificial flavors, and other chemicals common to heavily processed meats. They also have nitrates, which increase the risk of heart disease and heart attack, as well as MSG, which may have its own health consequences.

Hot dogs aren’t so different from many other foods in that they’re best consumed in moderation. The next time you’re at a barbecue or cookout and someone offers you a piping hot frankfurter with mustard and relish (or however you prefer to dress your dog), there’s no need to be concerned about those words of warning from The Great Outdoors. Hot dogs may contain many things that you wouldn’t want to consume every day, but lips and rectums aren’t among them.

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Sugar: Are You an Addict?

Tricia Martin | Eating is Art — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:57:00 -0700

Excessive sugar consumption, writes Annemarie Colbin author of Food & Healing, is believed to be involved in a host of very common problems: hypoglycemia or hyperinsulinism, diabetes, heart disease, dental caries, high cholesterol, obesity, indigestion, myopia, seborrheic dermatitis, gout, genetic narrowing of pelvic and jaw structures, crowding and malformation of teeth, hyperactivity, lack of concentration, depression, anxiety, psychological disorder, insanity, and even violent criminal behavior. In addition, it raises our insulin levels, inhibiting the release of growth hormones, which depresses the immune system. Too much sugar, literally, can make you sick.

So why all the fuss? Considering all the damage that sugar can do to our bodies and minds, why do people love it so much? How come certain people just can’t seem to get enough? After reading this long list of ailments, I took a long pause. I started thinking about my own personal draw to sugar, especially during my more formative, learning years. I remember it tasting good, there were a lot of things I could make with it, and I literally craved it. Even as recent as six months ago, if I was needing comfort, I would run to the kitchen to bake a dozen chocolate chip cookies to calm myself. But interestingly, I’ve noticed I haven’t done this in about four or five months. The education I am receiving at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition could have something to do with it, but it was what Colbin explains next that hit home for me.

If the whole earth is a system, she explains, and living systems tend to keep themselves balanced as they evolve toward forms of higher complexity, sugar eating must fit somewhere in earth’s balancing act. Throughout this book, she gives energetic properties to different foods. One theory is that sugar is associated with strengthening our ego awareness and enhancing our personalities because she has labeled it as expansive (light, scattering of thoughts, associated with short bursts elation/happiness).

Now I was really interested to see where this theory would go—somehow I felt like I was being directly spoken to.

Colbin is not the first to make such statements. Rudolph Hauschka, a German scientist, scholar, and researcher at The Clinical Therapeutic Institute at Arlesheim was the first to discuss sugar in this effect. Sugar has done its job, says Hauschka, when people develop a full consciousness of themselves as individuals and of their place in the universal order.

This certainly makes a lot of sense when thinking about children and teenagers addiction to sugar and sugary substances. They can’t get enough! Because they are in process of gaining their independence and finding themselves. With this in mind, I came to realize my lack of desire to bake super sweet goodies has dropped off a cliff since I’ve been feeding myself on a deeper level and doing something that I am absolutely passionate about. I am not craving sugar because I have found a purpose—something that I love and am excited about. Holistic health was such a natural segue that it was effortless in my decision to follow that path—always a clear sign for me that something is right. Colbin and Hauschka make it clear that, once we become clear and comfortable with ourselves, we don’t need sugared sweets anymore.

Something that I find fascinating is the interconnectedness, the wholeness of our direct relationship we have with the food we put inside our bodies. Not only does it make us feel a specific way physically, but it has psychological and emotional effects as well. Interestingly, this theory put into words something I had been feeling for quite some time and I was compelled to share it with you. What are your thoughts or observations about sugar?

Social Media and the Independent Restaurant

Andrew Garrison — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:53:00 -0700

The restaurant industry and social media platforms have always had a tenuous relationship. With the advent of the message board and blog, suddenly the phrase “everyone’s a (restaurant) critic” became excruciatingly true. Next time you’re going to go out to eat, hop on your computer and Google the restaurant you’ve chosen. No matter where you’re going, - a rural truck stop diner or Jean-Georges, I guarantee there will at least be a couple dozen (if not hundreds) reviews.

I’ve heard a number of friends and peers in the industry lament the fact that “any hack with a blog” can smear a restaurant (deservedly or not) and damage its credibility, but fail to acknowledge or fully understand the enormous potential that free web-based platforms offer the restaurant industry – especially the independent operation.

The gleaming boxes of corporate kitsch in your local suburban mega-mall have the budget to pull off equally ostentatious websites (see The Cheesecake Factory’s website), buy endless ad space in popular magazines, and afford the rent in spaces that are prime for a constant flow of diners. Smaller restaurants – from your mom & pop diner, to your farm-to-table fine dining establishment – have to be much more resourceful and reliant on media reviews or word-of-mouth.

For help with the questions I had about independent restaurants (and indie business in general) maximizing their exposure on a minimal budget, I turned to three of my friends – Tyler Hayes, Andy Santamaria, and Jonny Thompson – who also happen to be involved in social media consulting, web design, entrepreneurship, and are just generally good, tech-savvy guys.

1. Twitter
is a great way to reach the masses, and a lot of chefs and restaurants are using it, but are there any particular strategies to capitalize on that potential level of exposure?

Tyler: They are? Nice. The fact that they're using it is probably the best strategy. Those who choose to do something of their own will, rather than because an "expert" told them to, will be more successful. But you did ask a legit question, and it's a foregone conclusion at this point that the best specific strategy on Twitter is authenticity.

People are unbelievably good bullshit-detectors, so being true to who you actually are - not some alternate version of yourself - will bring you the most success long-term. It may not be sexy, but it's smart,
kind of like saving money by paying your credit card bill on time.

Jonny: Yes, you can do a lot with Twitter but not all the principles and strategies for Twitter would apply to a restaurant. In the restaurant industry reputation can make or break you. As the social web landscape continues to grow, Twitter continues to play a stronger role in “word of mouth” marketing. There’s definitely tactics to focus on and tactics to avoid.

Restaurant Twitter Strategy: Dos and Don’ts of using Twitter

Seek:

Do: start following users who are located near or around the restaurant. Do this gradually.

Do: follow restaurant industry leaders.

Do: follow local media outlets and restaurant related critics.

Don’t: massively follow as many people as you can. Your account will look spammy when the number of “Following” vastly outnumbers your “Followers”.

Engage:

Do: send out event notifications, specials, and creative restaurant updates. Think about what’s important to your day-to-day customers. Tweet a photo of a really colorful drink right before happy hour on a Friday afternoon. Make sure your tweets are useful.

Do: If a customer mentions something positive about your restaurant, retweet it. If a customer says something negative, reach out to them and ask how you can help. Attempt to diffuse or address the issue.

Don’t: send out irrelevant commentary or unrelated updates. Your followers are following you because they expect your messages to be about the restaurant. Don’t dilute your messages. If followers want news, they will follow CNN. If they want sports, they will follow Sports Illustrated. If they want an obnoxious commentary, they will follow Glenn Beck some Joe Schmoe.

Don’t: start a Twitter account and neglect it. You need to update it regularly.

Listen:

Do: Twitter (as well as other social mediums) can be very powerful for extracting feedback and reaching out to your customers. Use Twitter’s search by plugging in your restaurant’s name or some related keywords to monitor what people are saying. Take this information as an opportunity to get a beat on what your customers are saying.

Don’t: neglect what people are saying. If retweeted, negative customer comments can spread quickly.

Also, consider using a free service like Bit.ly to shorten URLs when you place them inside of your tweets as well as track how many users are clicking on your links.

Andy: As far as using Twitter to get gain influence with your audience, I have a little experience from my friend who I consulted. Laura Bonicelli. She has a home-cooked delivery meal service. The best thing for her was to answer questions. A lot of people have questions about cooking and it's amazing how effective it is to say, "what are your cooking questions that I can answer?"

Next Page: Free Tools & Resources that Every Restaurant Website Should Have >>

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2. For a small restaurant with a tight budget, what are some website essentials that are either missed or not used to their full potential?

Jonny: Free Tools & Resources that Every Restaurant Website Should Have
There are a lot of great tools and resources out there, but there are the critical ones that every restaurant website should include.

Google Analytics – is a free tool by Google which allows you to see how many visitors are coming to your site, where they are coming from and much more. This is a no brainer and this will show you everything you need to know about how your users are navigating your website.

Google Alerts – (again) a free tool by Google that monitors information posted across the internet based on keywords that you specify. It then sends a email alert to you when it spots new content. This can be useful for tracking what’s being posted on the internet about your restaurant (or your competitors).

Google Local Business

WordPress – you’ll have to work with a web developer in getting this setup, but WordPress is a free intuitive content management tool which will allow you to make content updates to your website without having to call your web developer all the time. This is great for keeping your website up-to-date.

Social Media:

Start a Twitter Account – get your Twitter account setup and start aggregating content.

Start a Facebook page – go to Facebook and create a page for your restaurant. Aggregate the same content that you push out to Twitter. Post pictures and relevant information.

Add yourself to Yelp and Urban Spoon – you may be reluctant to do this but if you don’t do this, someone will for you. By creating it yourself you can ensure that the information is correctly represented. People will post reviews and feedback. Check back often to read what others say.

Website Essentials:
You shouldn’t expect your restaurant website to be a common hangout for web users. The truth is that users have specific goals when going to a restaurant website and in my experience the top three things people are looking for are:
1. Menu options (and price)
2. Location
3. Pictures

Every restaurant website should make sure they have the accounted for the following:

Home page – this is a no brainer but it’s important to point out that this page must be properly setup. Ensure the following:

Utilize great imagery – don’t cut corners here. It is essential that you have near perfect images for food and atmosphere. People really pay attention to those things.

A nice opening intro message – this is your 30 second elevator pitch to tell the user what you’re about. This is also great for getting more traffic from search engines.

Your address in the footer – place this on the homepage because Google, Yahoo!, and Bing will pick this up and will sometimes add special features to your listing within search results.

About page – this page will act as a continuation of your 30 second elevator pitch on the home page. Great for search engines and also a way to highlight the deeper details behind the restaurant.

Site pictures – again, don’t cut corners here.

Location – people will want to find you. Don’t hide your directions or location.

Open Table – include a link that will allow customers to make reservations online.

Employment – an often overlooked visitor to a restaurant website is somebody who is looking for a job. Setting the correct expectations on your website with how to seek employment options can save a lot of headaches.

Fresh content – while the restaurant website is still not a very appealing place for users to hangout, adding fresh content to your site will greatly improve your standing in search engines, which will add to exposure. A great way of doing this is by either adding a blog or News & Events section.

NOTE: Do yourself a favor and do not add music to your website. Usability studies continue to show that this is one of the most disliked features a website can have. If you have music, you can be assured that users will leave quickly or not return again.

3. Are there any particular social media platforms that could be useful in the restaurant industry that haven't necessarily been marketed to that niche?

Jonny: (Not positive if this has been marketed much yet) There are so many great social media platforms and tools out there but one tool that I keep hearing more about in the restaurant industry is Guest Pulse (http://guestpulse.com/). Guest Pulse is a tool specifically for restaurant owners and managers for tracking reputation around the web and within social channels. It particularly does a good job of monitoring reviews from critics and user review sites.

Tyler: That completely depends on context. But I guess if you want a short answer: no. As with any client, I would advise to think strategy first, tactics second. This means define your goals - preferably
holistic goals based on valid, reliable data, not information that comes from silos like just the Marketing department or the CEO's gut intuition. Then get the smartest people in the room together to define
the best strategy to meet those goals. Don't make 5-year plans, or even 1-year plans, they're worthless. Just define what needs to be solved now. Try something, then adapt & iterate again. Then ask for feedback from everybody - not just the whiz kids - on what you might not be seeing; that's crucial, get as many outside ideals as possible. Always heed outside counsel, that's often where the best ideas come
from. Just ask Google or 37signals.

Next Page: Is a Facebook fan-page a Useful Marketing Tool? >>

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4. Is a Facebook fan-page a useful marketing tool in your opinion? What can an independent restaurant do to get the most out of it?

Jonny: A Facebook fan-page will only be a useful marketing tool if you make it useful to your audience. If you’re going to setup a Facebook fan-page, you must commit to updating it and providing good content. In the Facebook environment, users are drawn to pictures and video. Make sure those are a part of your Facebook strategy.

When starting a Facebook fan-page, find some of your close friends to help you start promoting it by asking them to become fans. This will help jump start your fan-base.

A great way to get the most out of your Facebook page is by creating spreadable content. When users find something that is of value to them, they like to pass it on. A good example of spreadable content could be a special promotion or deal. It could even be an event with your restaurant.

Tip: Try to get a local celebrity or news personality to become a fan of your restaurant and you’ll see a nice jump in fans.

Tyler: Sure, as long as you use it for something novel. Too many companies don't. They just toss the responsibility to the youngest worker bee, but why should she give a shit? She's being paid horribly and is constantly under threat of losing her job. Independent restaurants could easily become top dog by using Facebook, but it's just a tool.

Again, strategy first. "Who is our primary customer base? Do they exist on the Internet? Do they care about us enough to visit our Facebook page? Or should we try and harness a different group who use the Internet more, but maybe don't know us very well?" Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, these are all just tools. If an independent restaurant really wants to get the most use out of Facebook, they better have a damn good reason to be on it in the first place. If they have a damn good reason, and a damn good person running their Facebook page, I guarantee they will get the most out of it.

It's all just a matter of connecting with people. No one gives a shit about your restaurant dude, sorry. Well, maybe your mom does. But everyone else wants to know about you, why you make the decisions you do, why you put basil instead of garlic in the recipe, why you changed the # of seats. Why don't I follow Microsoft on Facebook? Because I don't care about their company, it's too huge and they've got nothing to say as a company. But I follow Bill Gates on Twitter, because he's making huge strides in human rights advocacy and has something to say that I care about. Don't worry about the people who don't care about you, not everyone is going to like you or care about what you have to say. Just focus on the people that do care, and care back. You will succeed so much more than the people who don't, I promise.

(By the way, that's something we need to collectively stop doing. We all - everybody - assume that young people are good with technology. Trust me, they're not. I worked at a college IT Helpdesk for 4 years,
and young people are just as dumb & helpless with technology as their
parents. They just use it more.)

5. Aside from cooking great food, how can a chef/restaurant make peace with the food blogger without pandering to them?

Jonny: Making peace with the food blogger may be an ongoing struggle but one step in the right direction is to reach out to the food blogger. Accept criticism as constructive feedback. When a blogger writes something up about your restaurant that is negative (or positive), you have the great opportunity to acknowledge and respond to them. Instead of lashing out, try to address their concerns. You’re not always going to make them happy but in the social channel, a lot of the times people just want to be heard.

Tyler Act like they're your grandmother. Respect them as a human being and act decent. In the grand scheme of things, your food isn't a big deal. F***ing up a relationship over your food is. Decide, right away, whether you want to interact with this person or not. Don't hover in the middle. Either develop a relationship with them or don't, depending on what you feel is best. If you mess up, at least you were committed 100% and they can still respect you for that.

6. What the hell is Foursquare? And does it do anything for a chef/restaurant owner?

Jonny: Foursquare is a location based social platform that allows users to “check-in” at commercial establishments and receive points and badges. Foursquare users can become the mayor (within Foursquare) of different establishments if they check-in often enough. It’s important to ensure that your restaurant’s information is correctly represented on Foursquare.
Overall, I think the verdict is still out on how restaurants can truly benefit from Foursquare but here are a few things you can utilize.

Customer Monitoring:

Find out who’s been to your restaurant and follow them on Twitter.

Find out what people are saying about your restaurant by checking out the ‘Tips’ column

Customer Rewards and Benefits

You can claim your restaurant on Foursquare and offer specials and promotions for frequent visitors.
Either way, keep an eye on Foursquare because there will be more features coming out in the following months.

Andy Now here's what I'd do with it. Sign up for the businesses part if you can. Make sure all the information for your restaurant is accurate. Sometimes people make their own locations so you can have duplicates or incorrect information for the location. Make sure it's all correct.

Then, periodically check out the website to see who is "Checking-in" to your restaurant. Make sure to let people know that you can check-in on Twitter. If you see someone check-in who has a prominent twitter account or is an "influencer" find them in the restaurant and give the a free drink.

Someone did this to me one time when I was in Punch Pizza. I checked-in and the manager came over to me and asked, "Are you AndySantamaria on Foursquare?" When I said yes he gave me free pizza on the house. I then let my twitter followers know that checking-in to punch pizza could randomly result in happiness.

I'd just do it sparingly. Maybe look into setting up a promotion for people that become mayor of your restaurant? Check out the bulldogNE on foursquare.

Tyler: Foursquare is the most disgustingly awesome digital tool (yet) to come alone (so far) for businesses catering to customers. It is a smartphone app that determines the phones location via GPS, and
estimates what locations are nearby (e.g. restaurant, bar, convention center, barber, event). Many apps do this. Foursquare's unique value is that it created a game on top of all these locations, allowing any user to digitally "check in" at these venues. This may seem pointless. It's not. It's useful for consumers and for business. For example, bars can see - among Foursquare users - who "checks in" the most at
their bar; this person is called the Mayor. Businesses can reward their Mayor by offering a free drink whenever the Mayor checks in on Foursquare and shows their check-in to the bartender. As a consumer, I
get a free drink. The game aspect really comes into play when more people check in, fighting for the Mayor status. That's just the beginning.

Follow us on Twitter and check out our websites for more fantastic (mostly) relevant content!

Andrew Garrison (me) - @BooomCity

Andy Santamaria - @andysantamaria

Jonny Thompson- @jonnytee

Tyler Hayes - @thetylerhayes

Follow Chef’s Blade on Twitter, too! - @ChefsBlade

Many thanks to Tyler, Andy, and Jonny for take the time to offer up their opinions and expertise.

Buy Local or Organic?

Allison Ford | Divine Caroline — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:17:00 -0700

Standing in the produce section, you hold up two seemingly identical peaches. One has an organic label, and one was grown at a farm only ten miles away. Which piece of fruit is better—for you and for the environment?

Modern conscientious eaters have a lengthy list of “food rules” to which they’re expected to adhere. No commercial meat. No fast food. No unsustainably farmed fish, nothing grown more than one hundred miles away, and nothing grown with chemicals. In a perfect world, we’d all tend our own organic produce and slaughter our own humanely raised meat, but in the real world, we have to make choices, and especially when it comes to produce, the choice sometimes comes down to buying local products or buying organic ones. Is one really better than the other? Given the choice, which should we purchase?

Fresh from the Farm

When you buy food from farms within your community, you’re supporting local businesses. But you’re not just supporting the farms themselves; you’re also supporting the local workers who do the planting and harvesting; the companies that provide equipment, seeds, and service; and the local markets that sell them. Small farms are more integrated into and invested in their communities than factory operations are, and patronizing them spreads the wealth around. Another big benefit to buying local is that it forces you to think in terms of growing seasons. Yes, that means you won’t get tomatoes during the winter, but eating seasonally is a good way to stay in tune with the natural rhythms of nature and become familiar with your region’s agriculture.

Buying locally also eliminates the need for farmers to pay to transport their products over long distances. According to the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, the average carrot travels 1,838 miles from farm to table, so local food both saves fuel and eliminates the need for expensive packagers and distributors who add to the final cost. Those savings for the farmer can translate into a substantial savings for the customer, too: according to the University of Michigan Center for Sustainable Systems, about 23 percent of the total fossil fuels used in food production are devoted to processing and packaging. When you buy local products, especially at a farmers’ market, the farmer is able to keep eighty to ninety cents of each dollar you spend—far higher than what he or she would earn for the same product bought in a supermarket hundreds of miles away.
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But the best part of local food is that it’s fresher. Factory farms—even organic ones—pick their produce before it’s ripe and then allow it to ripen on the way to market. An organic apple from the grocery store was likely picked about a week ago, as opposed to a local apple, which could have been picked as recently as this morning.

Local food, however, is not necessarily sustainable, humanely raised, or environmentally friendly food. Many small farmers still use pesticides or fertilizers, which account for a substantial part of the fossil fuel use in farming. According to the University of Michigan, approximately 40 percent of the fossil fuels used in agriculture are spent on manufacturing chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Ingesting these chemicals has its own health risks, as well as environmental consequences.

In Search of the Big O

When you buy any food labeled “USDA Organic,” you know exactly what you’re getting. Farms with this certification undergo stringent testing to ensure that no chemicals come in contact with the produce. Organic meat cannot receive the organic certification unless it’s antibiotic- and hormone-free. Not only do the farms themselves have to maintain these high standards, but so do any packagers or shippers that handle the products on their way to market. Organic farming in this country has increased significantly in the past decade, but it still represents only a small percentage of food sales. We sometimes think of organic farms as being small, family-owned operations, but nowadays, many large-scale organic-farming operations ship to supermarkets all over the country, such as Whole Foods. Buying organic produce—wherever it comes from—ensures the survival of these food distribution networks and makes it easier to increase production and bring more organic food to more people. Another benefit of supporting large-scale organic farming is that it increases the acreage of farmland that remains pesticide- and fertilizer-free, which is great for the environment.

The organic produce found in most supermarkets travels from farms all over the country. The good news is that this enables people everywhere to have access to organic food, but the bad news is that it uses fossil fuels the same way conventional produce does: organic produce from factory farms still undergoes packing and shipping, and it’s still transported hundreds or thousands of miles, ripening during the journey. Organic fruit picked in Florida and shipped to Ohio doesn’t do much for local food systems or suppliers, either.

Ultimately, the decision of whether to buy local food or organic food should be made based on your own priorities and needs, and on what’s available in your area. If your greatest concern is avoiding pesticides, buy organic. If you’re just trying to eat seasonally and reduce your carbon footprint, local food may be the way to go. If you live in California, you have a wealth of options for both local and organic food, but Hawaii has to import 90 percent of its food, so choices may be slim. Seek out farmers’ markets, where you can interact with the farmers themselves and ask questions about how they grew their plants or raised their animals. Shopping at farmers’ markets—whether the food is organic and local, or just local—is the best way to get acquainted with where and how your food was grown. Even if you do your shopping at Safeway or Publix, when customers start asking questions, the company will start providing answers.

Whether you buy your produce local, organic, or both, the important thing is getting off the system of factory farming. Both choices are important in discouraging harmful agricultural practices and encouraging the production of the kind of food that keeps us—and our world—healthy.

How to Turn a Vacant Lot Into a Pizza Parlor

Mon, 10 May 2010 12:09:00 -0700

How many parties have you walked into only to find the living room empty and a crowded kitchen, everyone huddled near the stove or around the table? Maybe it’s the smell of food. Maybe it’s the warmth of the stove. Maybe it’s our ancestral heritage. Kitchens are the hearts of our homes, so why not for the whole neighborhood? “Community ovens can be the glue that keeps a neighborhood together,” says Ray Werner, a Pittsburgh based community oven builder. Want to build a hearth for your hood? Here’s how to get started.

1. Decide why. So why do you want to build this thing anyway? Is there an unsightly vacant lot? Does your neighborhood need more public space? Are you trying to create a space for an annual event? All of these are great reasons to start a community oven. The clearer your mission, the easier it will be to build a team and get the local government on board, which brings us to our next step.

2. Round up a posse.Part of the process of building a community oven is building the community around the oven. The core of your community will be the team committed to getting it built. This team should include neighbors (both residential and business), a local baker (or chef) and at least one local government official. The most important member of your steering committee is a mason—the person with the fundamental building knowledge. You can do this on your own, but having a committed team will make the process easier. “Make it a gathering place in the building of it,” says Ray Werner.

3. Select a site. Where you choose to build the oven will impact who uses it, how it is used and how long the building process will be. Other important things to consider, says Werner, are water sources (you’ll need one), storage capacity, and how much foot traffic there is in the area. Choosing a location that already has a decent amount of foot traffic will make allow you to have a built-in community. But don’t dismiss a place simply because it’s in disrepair. Sometimes the most neglected spaces are the easiest to convert and the easiest for the community and local government to get behind.

4. Sketch it out. “Brick ovens aren’t brain surgery,” says Werner. But they do require building codes, so you’ll need to have a plan (and ideally drawings) that demonstrate the viability of the structure. Address any and all safety concerns you can imagine in your plan. If there’s an architect in the neighborhood—or even better, on your steering committee—have her add in a few details to make it neighborhood appropriate and you’re good to go.

5. You got a permit for that? Use your local government contact to help with the building permits and this should be fairly straightforward (unless you live in Manhattan). The best way to ensure a speedy permit process is to have a thorough plan that addresses safety issues.

6. Prep your site. “Ordinarily you’ll need about an 8-by-8 foot site for the oven,” says Werner. Other things to consider: the location of the oven (do you want it facing the street or tucked away?), what kind of covering you want over the oven (cooking in snow is apparently quite sublime), where to store supplies like wood and cooking utensils?

7. Brick by brick. If you build it they will come. In this case, it’s actually true. Think of this as your community’s campfire, a giant outdoor kitchen where parties are thrown, potlucks are held and cooking classes are taught. If you’ve enlisted a trusted mason, great, this means your job is a lot easier. If you’re building it yourself then you’ve probably already consulted Oven Crafters and have your plan. Digging a trench and building a chimney may seem like a lot a work, but Werner says you and your neighbors could be enjoying wood fired pizzas in a couple of days.

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The Eight Best Food Stories of the Year

Peter Smith — Mon, 03 May 2010 10:53:00 -0700

Check out some of the year's most important stories written about food, all in the running for this week's Beard Awards.

The James Beard Foundation hosts its prestigious award ceremony at Lincoln Center in New York City on May 3. Much like James Beard, the man himself—a quintessential American cook who loved to eat—the Oscars of the food world tends to favor upscale dining in big city places. While the foundation could make a bold statement by highlighting more cooks who are making a difference by making dinner, in at least one category, it’s shown it is willing to award a combination of food and social change—a viable and visible countercuisine.

Beard was a “patron saint of culinary values,” according to food writer David Kamp, and as more reviewers move away from being mere culinary mentors towards acting as consumer advocates, one of the James Beard Award’s categories—for food journalism—shows just how contemporaries are serving up social values through food.

Here are eight of nominees worth reading:

“In Through the Back Door” in The Oxford American

John T. Edge consistently writes about Southern food with a scholarly flourish. He doesn’t celebrate virtuous eaters and hipster farmers; instead, he writes about how food can bridge fractured race and class relations, in this case, with greasy, hickoried pork-shoulder sandwiches known as barbecue.

“A Hunger to Help” in Westword

Jared Jacang Maher looks at a restaurant in Colorado using the same method of paying the bills that Radiohead used for In Rainbow. Patrons can pay $5 or $15, and the soup-kitchen crowd mingles with vegan punks, and where culinary idealism meets social justice.

“Throwing Out the Wheat” in Slate

Dan Engber questions the latest diet fad: gluten-free. Going G-free is expensive, maybe not altogether worth it, and gluten intolerance is often misdiagnosed. Engber delicately suggests that gluten anxiety—and the media hype surrounding it—might just be another manifestation of another condition: general food anxiety.

“Nachos for Lunch? Yes, Every Day” in the Chicago Tribune

Monica Eng finds that the gooey, cheesy fried tortilla snack have gone from ballpark standby to school-lunch staple. If you want an abbreviated version of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution—without the made-for-reality-TV gimmicks—this piece succinctly tackles the complex subject of school lunch reform from the lunch line up.

“The Charcuterie Underground” in the Chicago Reader

The federal rules for curing meat, it turns out, were designed for industrial food processors. As part of year-long series, Mike Sula visits two guys running a small-scale bacon and sausage company—who represent part of the politicized front line of the nation’s growing charcuterie revival.

“Not So Clear Cut” in the Houston Press

What’s really in a fajita? Robb Walsh tracks down the origins of a beefy, Tex-Mex mystery meat, and comes up with some intriguing discoveries—not only what’s in a tortilla, but also what’s in a name.

“The Price of Tomatoes”Gourmet

Barry Eastabrook visits the tomato capital of the United States and finds dozens of underpaid workers living in squalid conditions. In his simple, evocative piece, the ever-intrepid reporter sheds some much-needed light on the social costs of growing many supermarket tomatoes.

Who knows? Maybe these stories represent the vanguard of things to come, the day when the Beard Foundation makes a high-profile shift toward awarding the best and the brightest, chefs and writers who cook up something delicious—and socially provocative.

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Herbal Essence: Fresh or Dried Herbs?

Allison Ford — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:38:00 -0700

Buying ingredients for cooking, like many other pursuits, is a constant compromise for most of us. We’d love to subsist entirely on organic, local food, but we settle for splurging only on grass-fed meat. We’d love to use the finest implements and tools, but we content ourselves with a few high-end pots and supplement those with some bargain dishes and silverware. Anybody who cooks from scratch on a regular basis has most likely run into the herb conundrum as well: is it worth it to buy them fresh, or is using store-bought dried herbs an acceptable substitute?

In a perfect world, we’d all have beautiful, healthy herb gardens where we grew our own specimens of parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, and delicately tended the plants until we harvested their aromatic bounty. But let’s get real … how many of us are really growing all our own herbs at home? Few, if any, and the alternatives are equally frustrating. If we buy fresh herbs, they can go bad before we’ve had a chance to use them all; if we buy dried herbs, we lose out on flavor. Utilizing herbs wisely and frugally depends on knowing which herbs are worth buying fresh, which dried herbs you can use to cut corners, and what to do with all those bunches and bottles to maximize their effectiveness once you’ve brought them home.

Best When Fresh:

Basil

Cilantro/Coriander

Dill

Parsley

Mint

Chervil

Tarragon

These herbs all feature broad, flat leaves and are very high in moisture. Since they can lose much of their essential oil if they’re dried, they’re best when used fresh, and it’s usually worth the cost. However, if you don’t use all of them right away, these are also the herbs most likely to wilt and discolor after just a few days in the refrigerator. To preserve the life of your fresh herbs, snip the stems as you would a bouquet of flowers, and stand the bunch upright in a glass of cool water. Cut several ventilation holes in a plastic bag, then place it on top of the leaves. Cilantro should be kept in the refrigerator, but other herbs can stay right on the countertop. Preserving herbs this way and changing the water in the glass every few days can help them last up to two weeks or more.

Fine When Dried

Oregano

Rosemary

Thyme

Sage

Bay leaf

These herbs are different from moist, delicate, leafy herbs. They have a woodier, oilier texture and a lower moisture content, so it’s perfectly fine to buy them dry and store them in the cupboard. Dried herbs should be kept in sealed glass or plastic jars, away from light and heat sources. If they’re stored properly, they can last for several years without a noticeable degradation in flavor.

Dabbling in Drying

One way to marry quality and convenience is to buy herbs fresh in season and dry them yourself to use all year long. Although some leafy herbs store better than others—cilantro is the notable exception, and does not dry well—just about every herb can be dried and preserved for later use. Doing the task at home can often be more economical than buying prepackaged herbs at the supermarket, and easier than you might think.[page]

If the herbs are dirty, rinse away any debris, and then tie each bunch together and hang it upside down in a sunny spot (this allows the oils to concentrate in the leaves). Once the herbs are no longer moist, move them to a dark, dry location and hang them again, this time covered by a paper bag with ventilation holes (the bag prevents the herbs from accumulating dust or insect eggs). Woody perennial herbs could dry in as few as three to four days; moister herbs might take as long as a few weeks. Once the herbs seem to be completely dry, remove the leaves from the stems and seal them in a glass jar. Check them in about a week, and if there’s any moisture condensing on the inside lid, take the herbs out and give them some extra drying time.

In general, dried herbs have more intensely concentrated flavor than fresh herbs, since the individual leaves lose moisture and size but retain the same amount of flavor oils. Even with this difference, either one can be substituted for the other in any recipe, as long as you adjust the amount. When using fresh herbs in place of dried ones, use approximately three times as much to achieve the same level of flavor. If you’re substituting dried herbs in a recipe that calls for fresh, divide the recommended amount by three. If you keep dried herbs in the cupboard, check their flavor every so often to be sure that they haven’t dried out completely. Even herbs stored well will eventually lose their flavor.

Ultimately, the decision whether to buy fresh herbs or dried ones should be dictated by the kinds of foods you like to cook, and what you will find most useful. If you love cooking Mexican or Italian food, you may find fresh oregano to be a great help, even though most cooks can survive with the dried stuff. Likewise, if you use basil or parsley only once in a great while, there’s no harm in skipping the expensive fresh bouquets and grabbing a bottle of dried leaves. Just because you don’t have time to cultivate your own glorious herb garden doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the ripe flavor of freshly cut herbs—but for your wallet’s sake, make sure to spend wisely on the ones that deserve the splurge.

Why Mondays Should be Meatless

Tami ONeill | Good — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:42:00 -0700

The case for going without meat one day a week.
Is there anything more American than the chicken nugget? Quick, cheap, portable and deep fried, these golden morsels have become as synonymous with our culture as

Six ways to bring life back to your table.

It happens to the best of us. Despite the stacks of dog-eared cooking magazines piled high on our coffee tables, the eclectic cookbook collections that fill our bookshelves, or even our best intentions of whipping up delicious fare for our families, dinnertime can turn into an uninspiring rotation of the same handful of reliable recipes, week after week, month after month.

As a personal chef, I make my living preparing meals for individuals and families alike, but professional experience aside; I’m still a busy working mom who’s often stymied by the age-old question – “What’s for dinner?”

When I get caught in a dinnertime dead zone, I rely on six sure-fire tips that always help get my creative cooking juices flowing.

1. Cabinet Foraging

Remember the electric pasta machine you absolutely had to have? The meat grinder you picked up on a whim? Or the sorbet maker that was so on sale it would’ve been a sin not to buy? If you’re like me, many of these items are lucky to have been used once before assuming their position in the Cabinet of Forgotten Gadgetry, where instead of inspiring your culinary endeavors, they now sit gathering dust. There’s no better way to dig yourself out of a rut and make the most of money already spent than to find the dustiest piece of equipment in your kitchen and put it to use. Odds are the new gear will force you to pull out a new recipe or revisit an old, forgotten favorite.

2. Travel the Globe

No passports or long airport security lines required! Choose a city or country that you love or that you’re curious about and scour your cookbooks or the internet for a recipe or dish that flavor-fully represents that locale. Take a stroll through your grocery store’s international food aisle for further inspiration. You’ll be doing double duty as you savor new ingredients and learn about foods from far way (or close at hand) lands.

3. Buy Something You’ve Never Seen Before

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is simple. On your next visit to the produce section, spend a few extra minutes taking in the scene, keeping your eye out for your next great ingredient. You’ll know it when you see it, because you won’t know what it is when you see. Walk right up to that mystery vegetable or other-worldly-looking fruit and pop it right into your reusable shopping bag. Most produce sections have a kiosk or recipe rack featuring info and recipes on how to use various fruits and vegetables. Armed with a free recipe and your mystery produce, your plated adventure can’t be far behind.

4. Face Your Biggest Food Fear

Just the mere mention of the word soufflé can cause fear in the hearts of many home cooks. For others, it’s roasting a whole chicken, making pie crust from scratch or deep-frying anything. I am deathly terrified at the prospect of making Turducken (a deboned turkey stuffed with a deboned duck that’s stuffed with a deboned chicken. Seriously.) However simple or complex, identify the one thing that makes you afraid to step into the kitchen, find a recipe for it and make it. That’s it. Just make it. You’ll likely conquer your food fear and add a new recipe to your repertoire to boot.

5. Take a Cooking Class

One quick internet search or browse of the phone book (remember those?) and no matter where you live, you’re likely to find several places where you can learn to chop, braise and sauté from a pro. Taking a recreational cooking class will give you an opportunity to learn a new skill or two and you’ll go home with several new recipes in hand. Besides the recipes, you’ll also have a chance to bounce your cooking questions off a trained professional. Most cooking schools offer a choice of classes that are hands-on, where you’ll actually get to cook; or demonstration, where you get to sit back and watch the instructor in action. Either way, you’ll leave with some level of familiarity with the recipes, making it more likely that you’ll give them a go at home.

6. Become a Locavore for a Day

Jumpstart your cooking and help save the environment by becoming a locavore for a day. You’ll only be eating foods that are grown or harvested within a 100-mile radius of your hometown, but not to worry, you’ll still have plenty to choose from at your local farmers’ markets and at some higher end grocery stores that make a point of offering locally grown foods. These different, fresher selections may give you a new pool of foods to choose from and fresher food can only breed fresh ideas for how to prepare them.

Keep these tips handy and you’ll be ready to face your next dinner dilemma with ease.

Obesity is Now a National Security Issue

Mallika Chopra | GOOD Magazine — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:14:00 -0700

We need programs like Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" to ensure the health—and safety—of future generations.

"Lets Move," says Michelle Obama in her first nationwide initiative as First Lady, and the country needs to do just that. With two thirds of American adults, and one third of American children overweight or obese, Michelle Obama has taken a bold, public step to address a problem that affects the health, productivity, economy, and dare I say, the security of our nation.

The U.S. obesity problem is complex, but the First Lady is addressing it head on. “This isn’t like putting a man on the moon or inventing the Internet,” she said recently. “It doesn’t take a stroke of genius or a feat of technology. We have everything we need right now to help our kids lead healthy lives.”

The initiative brings together federal agencies, non profits, and businesses for a ground-up redesign of our health landscape. Let's Move is rethinking school lunches and breakfasts, remaking neighborhoods for walking and playing, providing healthier food options in under-served neighborhoods, and encouraging doctors to regularly check Body Mass Indexes (BMIs) for early detection of obesity risk.

Just recently, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that one in five U.S. teens has unhealthy cholesterol levels. The rate jumps to 41 percent for obese children. In children, abnormal cholesterol levels—defined as low HDL (good cholesterol), high LDL (bad cholesterol), or high levels of triglycerides—could lead to health problems like heart disease, diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, and a host of other illnesses. Chronic diseases, such as asthma, heart disease, and diabetes, account for 75 percent of health care spending today, so fighting obesity is a key to disease prevention.

Aside from disease-related health care costs, the loss of productivity has a real impact on American society. The leading disqualification from enrolling in the U.S. Armed Forces is being overweight. The retired army general Johnnie Wilson says 75 percent of young people at the prime ages for military recruitment, 17 to 24, aren’t fit to serve; they're too fat to serve, making obesity, in the General's estimation, a national security issue.

Inspiring programs, like Shape Up Somerville in Somerville, Massachusetts, have paved the path for other communities to follow. The program, launched by Tufts University in 2002 and supported by the CDC and philanthropic groups, holistically approaches lifestyle and infrastructure. Shape Up replaced unhealthy snacks and drinks in schools with healthy choices, added bike lanes and pedestrian walkways so people would ride or walk to school or work, encouraged neighborhoods to create community gardens and restaurants to add healthy dishes to their menus. The result in one year was astounding: School children in Somerville gained 15 percent less weight than their peers. Less weight gain has a significant impact for the long term health and weight gain of children who are prone to obesity.

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While Michelle Obama works on the macro level to change school programs and community infrastructure, ultimately, it's up to parents to instill changes at home and within our communities to realize healthier, lifelong habits for our children. A study recently released by Ohio State University showed that young children who ate dinner with their parents and siblings, got adequate sleep, and had limited TV time were almost 40 percent less likely to be obese than those from less disciplined households.

So let's look at the micro level. Here are some ideas of how we parents can foster healthy lifestyle habits in our children.

Lead by example. If we want our kids to eat healthy and exercise, we need to do the same. I'm a big believer in achieving a healthy, moderate, balance in diet and exercise for myself and my kids. As the First Lady says, "There is a place in this life for cookies and ice cream and burgers and fries. That is a part of childhood. This is just about balance, about really small changes that can add up, like walking to school when you can, replacing soda with water or skim milk, trimming portions just a little.”

Encourage our children to find an activity they love. Support participation in team sports. Introduce them to yoga classes, Wii Fit games, Dance Dance Revolution, hula-hooping, walking the dog, etc. The family that plays together, stays together.

Seek out physically active cultural activities like Taiko drumming or learning traditional cultural dance. My 8-year old daughter takes Indian dance classes every week. It's rigorous physically, but it also helps her learn about her culture and meet other Indian kids in our community.

Organize fun fitness activities with fellow parents in the area. Anyone for volleyball in the park or beach runs?

Make eating and exercising a family affair. Make breakfast a time to set intents for the coming day, and dinner a time to catch up on all that happened. Start walking or riding bikes together to school or on weekends with your kids.

I applaud Michelle Obama, as a mother and the First Lady, for bringing awareness and action to our serious obesity problem. I hope as individuals and communities, we take on the tasks to improve our lives, families, and communities.

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In Defense of Fancy Water

GOOD Magazine — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:29:00 -0800

Jesus impressed his disciples by turning water into wine. Water sommelier Michael Mascha thinks water is miraculous enough.

Supermarket shelves are stacked floor to ceiling with bottles of water, most of which comes from a tap, just like the one you have at your kitchen sink. So why are we paying for it? Because, at least according to Michael Mascha, the author of Fine Waters: A Connoisseur’s Guide to the World’s Most Distinctive Bottled Waters, we don’t know any better. Your standard filtered stuff—anything that says “purified” on the label—is made by big companies like Coke (Dasani) and Pepsi (Aquafina) and is incredibly wasteful to buy and horribly unexciting to drink.

You can get Dasani-quality water from your tap, but what you can’t get is water that’s been in the ground, untouched for 10,000 years, with a natural effervescence, mineral content that rivals a multivitamin, and a natural “terroir”—the unique combination of soil and climate that influences the flavor of anything that comes out of it. That, Mascha says, is worth paying for, as long as we harvest it responsibly and treat it like something to be savored, not recklessly consumed.

GOOD: Why should I care what kind of bottled water I drink?

MICHAEL MASCHA: What you’re seeing in the marketplace is the confusion between two very different products that happen to have the same name: bottled water. One is purified tap water sold in a plastic bottle in your supermarket. Then there is real water from a natural source that also happens to be sold in a bottle. And because people are not paying enough attention, they confuse the two.

G: What’s wrong with drinking Aquafina, or any of the other brands packaged by major food and beverage companies and sold on supermarket shelves?

MM: Don’t get me wrong, Aquafina doesn’t make you sick or anything—it’s perfectly good drinking water. It just isn’t very exciting; it’s a commodity. In general in the food world, there’s a trend away from commodity toward products with a natural terroir. Ten years ago, [olive] oil was oil. You went to the supermarket, you bought some oil. You now have three different kinds of olive oil at home you use for different applications. Olive oil has made the transition from being considered a commodity into being considered a product with terroir. Bottled water right now is in the same process.

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G: What difference does terroir make?

MM: If the water is in the ground for 15,000 or 20,000 years, it has more time to absorb minerals. Water doesn’t necessarily get better as it gets older, but if you have a source that was hermetically sealed for the last 7,000 years, you can be fairly sure that what’s there has very little industrial pollution. If you go to Tasmania, they collect rainwater, because it has the cleanest air in the world. The geography is not only shaping the water, but also shaping the perception of what water is.

G: And what is water?

MM: I have a background in wine, so I talk to wine people and I talk to water people, and they’re the same. They’re very passionate about sourcing where the water is coming from, and about the soil, so it’s basically the same idea: You have a natural product—one is wine, the other is water—and you need to protect the environment around the source, and have other people around the world share the experience you have by delivering them the water (or the wine) in bottles. It’s a very similar attitude.

G: Isn’t this all a little overblown?

MM: People laugh about water, but I also enjoy chocolate dramatically. I would contest that most Americans have never tasted chocolate, because they eat Hershey’s; that’s not chocolate, that’s a chocolate-like substance. Real chocolate comes from a plantation, from a particular species, and follows a particular process. That’s what’s happening as we move from bottled water into natural foods.

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Chicken and Egg: The Evolution of City Chickens and Urban Livestock

Jacky Hayward | Chef's Blade — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:06:00 -0800

From bees to chickens and even goats, urban farming has taken root in many an urban environment recently. Many turn to urban husbandry as a way to fight against industrialized farming, while others want to connect with their food, and others still want a more cost effective food source. And then there are those who just want a more symbiotic relationship with their pets; these are the types that tend to name their chickens and goats. Bees, on the other hand, are a little harder to name.

Urban husbandry has a long history. In medieval times, urban citizens raised hogs and cows in their backyards for food, but it smelled bad and polluted water so neighbors complained, and livestock was eventually outlawed.

Fast forward to WWI. Between 1913 and 1921, First Lady Eleanor Wilson grazed her sheep on the White House lawn. Her wooly lawnmowers kept the grounds lush as they simultaneously fed themselves and fertilized the grass; White House employees also sheered the sheep for their wool.

Since Wilson’s presidency, no livestock has been raised anywhere near the White House, let alone on its lawn. Until fairly recently in fact, few urban citizens have had any desire to see livestock return to city limits.

After the Great Depression ended, food production became more industrialized than it ever had before. Many Americans moved to the suburbs and livestock became exclusive to rural farms. With the population ballooning, it didn’t make sense for food production to be in cities any longer. Slowly, large farming conglomerates bought out smaller mom and pop farms, and consumers started to buy their groceries from chain stores rather than from farmers or producing it themselves. At first, this move made sense. As livestock and farming production became more centralized it became more efficient; this, coupled with government subsidies, made food inexpensive and freed up American’s time to do other things, which seems like a good thing, right? Initially, yes. It made living more affordable and convenient.

But how would these industrialized farms continue to produce food at cheaper and cheaper prices? Corners had to be cut. Soon, large food corporations like Tyson and Perdue began producing meat in unprecedented ways: Animals were raised in small cages, fed unnatural diets, and consumers had no contact with the people raising their food let alone any idea how their food was being raised. This wouldn’t have been a problem if the food being raised was delicious and healthy, but it wasn’t.

Millions of salmonella cases and a Mad Cow outbreak later, consumers today are not only questioning the food system but they are raising their own livestock. The question arises, however, when raising livestock returns to cities, will neighbors again complain about the noise and the smell, just as they did in the middle ages? The answer is sometimes yes.

Next Page: The New Urban Chicken>>

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For the most part, livestock laws are determined on a city-by-city basis. While most cities don’t allow larger, commercial livestock like cows and pigs, many do allow chickens due to their appeal as both pets and livestock. New York City, Oakland, San Francisco, Houston, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, and Madison, Wisconsin all allow chickens but restrict the number of hens per property and ban roosters. What’s interesting is that many of these cities didn’t have laws regulating livestock until recently, which placed urban legal gray area, simply because there were no laws around it.

In Madison, WI in 2004, for example, no laws prohibited chickens themselves but building a coop for them was not allowed. This effectively made the practice of having chickens illegal, but not the chickens themselves. Urban dwellers kept their birds in yards as a sort of open secret and if no neighbors complained, everything was fine. But sometimes neighbors did complain and a city inspector would visit the chicken owners, sometimes telling them they had to get rid of their fowl. Eventually, the chicken owners rallied to pass a chicken ordinance regulating the urban birds. These new laws make sense; oddly enough, however, it is still illegal to enter Wisconsin with a chicken on your head.

Still, these chicken laws are only loosely enforced. Lupine Swanson in Portland, OR started raising chickens four and a half years ago and now has a flock of six; the legal limit is 5 in the city unless you have a permit, but she and her husband have never gotten one. Three of her neighbors also raise chicken and another raises ducks while still others on her street keep bees. And even the neighbors who don’t have chickens can easily be bribed to love them with fresh eggs. Still, there’s a lot more to having chickens than just eggs. For Swanson, she loves how her chickens reduce and convert kitchen scraps into food. She loves seeing her daughters grow up caring for chickens as pets, understanding a symbiotic relationship between animal and human. Generally, more and more Portland residents raise chickens, which is reflected in recent change to the law that allow more chickens without a permit. Even Portland Mayor Sam Adams tweets about his chicken eggs.

But, having chickens is still very challenging. They are not immune to diseases. They attract predatory animals. They disappear and are killed. The practice of sorting hens and roosters at birth is inexact and urban dwellers will often end up with unwanted roosters who will eventually be deposited at animal shelters. And it’s not only roosters that end up at shelters; it’s all chickens. Hens and roosters alike are being dropped at animal shelters doorsteps. In one week this past October, there were 6 chickens at the San Francisco animal shelter and 8 at the Oakland animal shelter near where I live.

Chickens are sort of considered the “gate-way” farm animal. Many urban livestock converts aren’t satisfied with just eggs anymore, but want to raise bees and goats. Hanna Hart who currently lives and works at Taluma Farms, an organic goat farm in Marin County, brought goats into San Francisco. This past May, Hanna decided to move to San Francisco, looking for a break from rural living. But she realized she couldn’t live without her goats. Wanting to have her cake and eat it too, she decided to bring two goats into the city, creating an urban goat share, where San Francisco residents would let the goats in their yards to clear brush, while also being able to milk the goats as they were converting their yard’s brush into food. In theory, the plan seemed like a great idea. But the reality was much different.

Next Page: From Chicken to Goats>>

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As Hanna drove into the city with the two goats, who were around a year old at the time, one of the goats tried to sit in her lap while she was driving; her boarder collie, Owen, sat snarling at the goat. Other drivers looked into her car perplexed and the tollbooth worker apologized for only having dog treats. After a week in the city, it was clear the goats were stressed by the change from the rural hills of Marin to the urban environment. One day, when Hanna was only able to spend a few moments with them, the goats rolled a barrel to get to the window where they last saw her. They broke the window and ended up wandering the streets of the Mission District as confused as the city dwellers who saw them. Animals Control eventually called to say the goats had to be taken away from the streets. This brings us to another important distinction: There is no San Francisco ordinance saying whether SF residents can keep goats; chickens and other small foul are mentioned as are dogs and cats, but no goats. Hanna decided to take a loose interpretation of the laws surrounding larger animals and went with it. For her, a return to urban pastoralism is a cause worth fight.

For many, the growth of city livestock creates a renewed sense of community in urban environments. City Slicker Farms (CSF), in Oakland, California, works to bring fresh foods to West Oakland, CA through a variety of venues, including a program building personal urban farms in residents’ backyards. Realizing that residents needed more than just fresh produce, CSF taught residents to raise chickens on their land as well. City Slicker Farm’s executive director Barbara Finnin talks about how it was not only the new food source that residents loved about their neighbors’ chickens but also the connection they had with them. For Barbara, the curiosity sparked by backyard chickens is one of the most exciting things about CSF; neighbors are now talking to neighbors about their chickens and about their gardens, creating a whole new dialogue around food and just a dialogue in general. “For whatever reason, many of these neighbors may never have talked before,” says Finn; now they have something to talk about. Most of the participants in City Slicker Farms find out about the program through word of mouth. The conversion of West Oakland into farms is happening almost “virally” Barbara says. And that’s really cool.

The new urban farmer wants to combine the benefits of the city with the advantages of country life. They want to know their food personally. They want healthy and delicious food that’s also cheaper. They also love the community that urban farming has created. Urban residents raising livestock in their backyards have a new thing to talk about with their neighbors. They can trade honey for eggs, milk for meat, or whatever else their fellow urban dwellers are raising close by. A new urban economy has been born, but quite a bit different than that of Wilson’s time and most certainly from medieval times. Historically many instances of urban husbandry were born from necessity. But this time, instead of growing from a lack of food, urban farmers are raising their livestock in an excess of bad food.

Brooklyn's Backyard Chicken Keepers *food curated* from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.

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10 Backyard Chickens

Todd Parsons | Chef's Blade — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:57:00 -0800

Wouldn't it be lovely to have fresh eggs for your restaurant?

She’s holed up with the expression, “Leave me the heck alone!” I zoomed in from a distance so as not to get too close and ruffle any feathers. I like the geometry of the simple laying structure. It doesn’t have to be the Ritz for these beauties. They just need somewhere to sit in peace and quiet for a few.

Todd Parsons has always been an inquisitor of things unknown. Finishing college and hopping aboard his trustworthy sloop to explore what was over the horizon, he sailed solo down the coast of the U.S. and points further south. After two years of meeting and photographing people of varying cultures, races, and ideas, his love for documentary photography was born. A decade later, now based out of San Francisco, Todd lends his creative passions to photographing a wide range of interests. Mainly focusing on families and people who are in the midst of their own cultural change – whether it's a wedding or newborn baby – he’s truly humbled to look through a viewfinder and call it work.

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Top 10 Aphrodisiacs

Jacky Hayward | Chef's Blade — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:39:00 -0800

Cook up something extra special this V-Day!

Spanish Catholics once deemed avocados so sexy that they banned the (round and quite nutritious) fruits. Fortunately, they’ve since lifted the ban so we can all can enjoy the folic acid, vitamin B6, potassium, and deliciousness. Avocados are also said to boost immune function. So they are not only sexy fruits, but healthy and delicious ones!

Next Page: Tree Bark, Anyone?→

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Traditional Herbs: Yohimbe, Tribulus, and Maca

Several traditional herbs are undergoing scientific tests for their aphrodisiac properties, including yohimbe, tribulus, and maca. These herbs are often sold as natural Viagra, but be warned &mdash too much yohimbe can kill you, which isn’t going to help you in the bedroom, now is it? Still, these plants are being studied to see if their medical properties can be isolated and turned into the next Viagra. But do we really want the next Viagra?

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The World's Sexiest Chefs

Neha Grey | Divine Caroline — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:09:00 -0800

Chefs shouldn't always be behind the scenes...

There’s nothing sexier than a man (or woman for that matter) who knows how to cook. Fortunately, my future husband is an amazing chef. In fact, he wooed me with a four-course meal the night he proposed. These five sexy chefs could serve me cold slugs and I’d still be beggin’ for more.

First Chef→

[photo:15762]

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9 Fast Food Meltdowns

Jacky Hayward | Chef's Blade — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:27:00 -0800

Does this burger make you crazy?

If McDonald’s denied you nuggets, would you punch through the drive-thru window? Or, if your orange juice was missing from your order, would you call 911? Probably not, but some people would. These are their stories. And their meltdowns.

Most of us don’t expect the highest quality food when visiting McDonald’s. However, one woman at the end of December 2009 did. When her hamburger wasn’t cooked to her liking, she demanded her money back refusing the employee’s offer to remake her burger. When she wasn’t given her money back, the unidentified woman went on a rampage. She poured water across the cashier desk, threw a sign over the counter, and pushed over a glass display case and three cash registers before she cursed and fled. The woman still hasn’t been identified. Do you know who she is? You might know her by her as a picky-eater.

With all these examples of people losing it over fast food, one wonders why these customers are losing it. Does constant consumption of the food loosen a few screws? Or is the very difference between what the food is advertised as being and the reality drive individuals to madness? What do you think? Comment below!

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Celebrating Citrus

Tricia Martin | Chef's Blade — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:06:00 -0800

Delicious Winter Citrus! (photo by T.M.)

Citrus season brings a necessary and amazing wallop of pizazz to these bleak winter days. It's like a burst of fresh air, with a hint of zest. I love going into my local grocery store and seeing the absolute abundance of all these different types of citrus: a true feast for the eyes!

I go in an out of liking citrus, so I decided to figure out why. I believe it comes down to the fact that I don't really crave a juicy orange unless it's cold outside. Go figure! Eating a bad orange for me is like eating a bad tomato or peach — the memory is hard to erase. And I've found that a lot of Valencia oranges and Naval oranges – like the ones you might find at Safeway – to be absolutely tasteless and super fibery, and not in a good way either. It wasn't until I decided to try different types of citrus while they were in season did I find that I really love the tangy, sweet juice and delicate pieces that come from this amazing fruit category.

This orange is tiny and while is sweet and juicy, also has a distinct flavor. It's a deeper note, something a little more complex than just your average tang of sour or zing of sweet, it's what differentiates it from the other citrus. They are easy to peel and would go great if you squeezed one or two into your normal juice in the morning.

all photos by Tricia Martin

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Eat the Yucky Stuff

Julie Deardorff | Tulsa World — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:07:00 -0800

As a child, Kristine Hinrichs of Milwaukee routinely choked down boiled cabbage so she would be allowed to leave the dinner table. It wasn't until Hinrichs grew up and left home that she made a startling discovery: Cabbage was nutritious - and could be delicious.

It's not easy giving certain foods a second chance. But if you're looking to add some nutritional powerhouses to your diet, as Hinrichs was, food experts say it might be worth revisiting dishSes you've despised. "Our taste sensations, interpretation and appreciation can change over time," said Dr. Donald Hensrud, a Mayo Clinic weight management specialist. "There's also some conditioning that goes on; we learn to like certain foods, and we get used to them over time."

Take milk. Years ago, we typically drank it whole and complained that skim milk tasted like water. But skim grew on us. "Now when you go back to whole milk, it tastes like cream," Hensrud said.

You also may have an aversion to foods that weren't prepared right or, like cabbage, have a sulfurous odor. But it's possible that "if you don't get that smell, you find something like broccoli more pleasant," said Marci Pelchat of the Monell Center, a Philadelphia-based taste and smell research institute.

Hensrud doesn't recommend forcing anything down, but he does think most of us underestimate our ability to change. Consider experimenting with the following polarizing foods.

Sardines

Turnoffs: Strong, fishy taste. Tiny bones. Reputation as a frugality food.

Turn-ons: High in vitamin D and loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, which protect your heart and brain. Lots of protein, calcium and selenium. Low on the marine food chain so toxins such as mercury don't accumulate. Inexpensive.

How to eat them: Avoid sardines packed in vegetable oil, which is high in pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. Try "a squeeze of lemon, toasted red chile, extra virgin olive oil and mixed green herbs over garlicky al dente whole-wheat fettuccine," said Dr. John LaPuma, a chef and the medical director for the Santa Barbara Institute for Medical Nutrition and Healthy Weight.

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Cabbage

Turnoffs: When overcooked, produces the smell of rotten eggs. Too much cabbage may make you gassy.

Turn-ons: One cup of shredded, boiled cabbage has just 33 calories but has 4 filling grams of fiber. Loaded with phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals. May reduce your risk of cancer and has a protective effect on the brain. Fermented cabbage (sauerkraut and kimchi) is a non-dairy source of probiotics, or bacteria that have a health benefit.

How to eat it: Can be steamed, fried, boiled, braised or baked. Use it in corned beef and cabbage, soups and stews and cold dishes such as coleslaw, said registered dietitian Dave Grotto, a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association.

Tomatoes

Turnoffs: Contain a slimy, jellylike substance around the seeds; thin skin, grainy pulp and seeds. Sweetness and acidity can vary.

Turn-ons: Lycopene-rich (red) tomatoes can help reduce your risk for heart disease and certain cancers, including pancreatic and prostate, said LaPuma. Cooked tomatoes - including canned tomatoes and paste, juice, soup and ketchup - contain up to eight times more available lycopene than raw tomatoes. Excellent source of vitamins A, C and K, and a good source of potassium, fiber and other phytonutrients.

How to eat them: Eating tomatoes with fat helps the body absorb their lycopene. The whole tomato has the greatest health benefits, so get the tomato paste products with peels, said LaPuma.

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Broccoli

Turnoffs: Sulfurous smell.

Turn-ons: An abundance of antioxidants makes broccoli one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat. Aside from its anti-cancer properties such as sulforaphane, broccoli is a nutritional powerhouse that contains vitamins A, C and K, as well as folate and fiber. Has antibacterial properties.

How to eat it: Use it in dips, casseroles, soups, lasagna, stir- fry and salads, suggested chef Dana Jacobi, author of 10 best- selling cookbooks.

Beets

Turnoffs: Earthy flavor, slippery texture, can turn urine a startling pink color.

Turn-ons: An excellent liver tonic and blood purifier. Beets have betaine and folate, which work to reduce homocystein, a naturally occurring amino acid that can be harmful to blood vessels, said nutrition expert Jonny Bowden in his book "The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth." High in potassium, which is also important for heart health. Contains the most sugar of any vegetable, yet is low in calories.

How to eat them: Baked, broiled, steamed or shredded raw and added to salads. The leaves have even more nutritional value than the roots.

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Brussels Sprouts

Turnoffs: Parents or grandparents cooked them into oblivion. Sulfur content gives them an unappetizing odor.

Turn-ons: Has a higher concentration of glucosinolates, a type of compound believed to have cancer-fighting properties, than any other plants in the cruciferous vegetable family.

How to eat them:Trim the sprouts then toss with olive oil, salt and crushed garlic. Roast in a 400-degree oven for about 30 minutes until tender.

Licorice

Turnoffs: Strong, tart taste and smell.

Turn-ons: Licorice root - the herb, not the candy - is known for having a soothing effect on mucous membranes in the throat, lungs and bronchial tubes. It can also be used to treat everything from athlete's foot to ulcers, according to James Duke, the former chief of the Medicinal Plant Resources Laboratory at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

How to eat it: Buy it as an herb and add it as a sweetener to aromatic teas, suggested Duke, the author of "The Green Pharmacy Guide to Healing Foods." But long-term use has side effects; don't use it regularly for longer than six weeks and don't take it if you're pregnant or under medical care. SUBHEAD: Childhood 'ick' foods are worth a second taste

Originally published by JULIE DEARDORFF Chicago Tribune.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

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Ada Schools Honored for Nutrition

eth L. Jokinen | The Lima News, Ohio — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 07:55:00 -0800

ADA - Ada schools is making sure pupils eat healthier, and the state is taking notice.

The district is one of about 30 schools around the state to be recognized for its use of best practices to promote a healthy school nutrition environment. The district earned an honorable mention award in the Stellar Award program.

"It is quite the honor to be acknowledged for trying to put the best nutrition we can in front of those children," said Ann Hersey, food service director.

The state established the award in 2003. Recipients are selected based on their efforts to adopt U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines for wellness policies. Guidelines include offering healthy a la carte and vending machine choices, providing pleasant environment for pupils, and training for food service staff.

"Schools that provide high-quality meals to their students help prepare young minds and bodies for learning," state Superintendent Deborah Delisle said. "These schools have shown a commitment to nurturing the whole child that deserves to be recognized."

Ada has worked to take higher fat items out of the menu and a la carte selections, keeping the fat below seven grams. It has also switched to 50-50 or 100 percent juice. It takes a lot of work to keep school food nutritional, but Hersey said it is the most important part of her job.

"Due to the cost of food and different options available, it is extremely hard," she said. "It is not an easy job to come up with something nutritious they will like."

You can comment on this story at www.limaohio.com.

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To see more of The Lima News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.limanews.com.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

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Celebrating Citrus

The Cocktail Citrus

The Tangelo

The Tangerine

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The Mandarin Orange

Eat the Yucky Stuff

Sardines

Cabbage

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