Julia and Paul Child did not have children, the discussion of which constitutes one of the more heartbreaking passages in My Life in France, but they did have cats. When Minette, their first cat, showed up on their doorstep, Julia noted, "Our domestic circle is complete." Pulling from Julia and Paul's letters as well as Julia's biographies, Minette's Feast tells the story of how Minette came to live and eat with the Childs in Paris.
Not only do Amy Bates' Hopper-esque illustrations capture the personalities of both Julia and Minette, but they make me want to spend so much time on individual pages -- absorbing every pinch of detail she's squirreled away in each one -- that Bug's two-year-old patience is sorely tried. I want to take in the length of Minette's whiskers, the shape and color of her eyes, every last morsel of food, and marvel over how Bates managed Julia's distinctive face and unruly hair. For his part, Bug just wants to get to the page where Minette chases a Brussels sprout tied to her tail. Once there, he chortles long and hard like he never has for any other book.
Click on image for larger view
Not every bit of text rhymes or patterns out a beat, but the few cases it does are enchanting: "And day and night, she could smell the delicious smells of mayonnaise, hollandaise, cassoulets, cheese soufflés, and duck pâtés..." And then there's my favorite repetition and internal rhyme, "But of course, mouse and bird were much preferred." Sprinkled throughout the story are smidges of French words and expressions that are also contained in a glossary and pronunciation guide in the back of the book.
What I adore most about Minette's Feast is how Reich recasts Julia Child's famous culinary beginnings -- her trips to the markets, her culinary experiments at home, and her tenure at Le Cordon Bleu -- as merely a quest to get her tortoiseshell "poussiequette" to eat something other than mice.
What's in a name? For over three years, husband-and-wife team Douglas Gayeton and Laura Howard-Gayeton have been exploring this question with their multimedia project, "The Lexicon of Sustainability." When you see the words "cage-free," "organic" and "pasture-raised" on a carton of eggs, what does it really mean? Can these labels change a consumer's perception of quality and impact their decision-making? Can language influence the way food is produced and purchased today?
They've interviewed 200 individuals from across the country involved in all aspects of food -- from farming, animal husbandry, foraging, production -- to answer these and other related questions. They've spoken with Alice Waters on edible schoolyards, Wes Jackson on reinventing wheat farming, Joel Salatin on ethical farming practices, mycologist Paul Stamets, urban farmer Will Allen, Temple Grandin and many more.
In addition to their interactive website, there's photographs featured in traveling "pop-up shows" and three short films about these industry leaders that are being co-presented by PBS Food and ITVS online. Douglas Gayeton corresponded with me via email to answer several questions about their ambitious initiative.
Douglas Gayeton. Image Credit: The Lexicon of Sustainability
You've had a long and varied artistic career thus far as a filmmaker, photographer, writer and producer. What was the initial inspiration for creating this new multimedia series, "The Lexicon of Sustainability"?
I spent nearly ten years living in Pistoia, a Tuscan town set between Lucca and Florence. When I arrived my Italian was poor and I didn’t know many people. Then a comedic sequence of events led to my working in the kitchen of a trendy hillside restaurant. I say “comedic” because I didn’t really cook before that experience, nor did I have much interest in food. What I learned there became my introduction to Slow Food, even if I didn’t know what the term meant. That accidental awakening started me on a journey to document the people of my town, how they lived, and the role food played as a fundamental part of their lives. My work began as a film, then a series of essays which culminated in the information artworks that eventually were published in a book called "SLOW: Life in a Tuscan Town."
As I traveled around the USA with "Slow," I was struck by how little the principles of the Slow Food movement, borne from over 2000 years of Italian cultural evolution, made sense in America. Our experience in this country, our historic relationship with food, and primarily the broken state of our food system require us to look at food in a much different way.
Since World War II, we have raced to centralize our food system, to consolidate manufacturing and eliminate local distribution hubs. We have become dependent on inefficient and inequitable farm subsidies and addicted to chemical solutions to maintain agricultural production at artificial levels, with no care for the environmental consequences. In doing so we have turned food into a commodity utterly stripped of its most precious cultural aspects.
The solution? We need a Marshall Plan to fix our food system, one that rebuilds the infrastructure necessary for healthy local food hubs in each community. We do this first by living more sustainably. Our project is an attempt to identify the most authentic voices in this movement and illuminate the terms and principles that define their innovative work.
Image Credit: Douglas Gayeton / The Lexicon of Sustainability
"The Lexicon of Sustainability" is therefore based on a simple premise: people can’t be expected to live more sustainable lives if they don’t even know the most basic terms and principles that define sustainability. By illuminating the vocabulary of sustainable agriculture, and with it the conversation about America’s rapidly evolving food culture, the "Lexicon of Sustainability" can help people to pay closer attention to how they eat, what they buy, and where their responsibility begins for creating a healthier, safer food system in America.
The visuals for "Lexicon" are stunning, particularly the mosaic-like compositions that marry photographs, text, animation and video interview in a truly unique way. How did you develop this unique aesthetic?
The Italian images in my book “SLOW” began as a happy accident. I quickly learned that a single image was not enough. Not only were my images too small, but they also lacked the ability to convey the concept of “time,” of the beginning, middle and end of things. The idea of capturing hundreds of images, at times over long periods of time, then creating mosaics seemed like the only solution.
The decision to overlay these images with text came at about the same time. I wanted to convey what these people said to me as I worked. I wanted to share their insights, their observations. And I also wanted to solve another problem I had with photographs, namely that they often left so much unanswered. I wanted to provide as much information as possible within an image, to create what someone once called a “flat film,” a single image that actually uses time, that tells a story.
Image Credit: Douglas Gayeton / The Lexicon of Sustainability
Regarding my typographic process: after completing a photo collage, my staff assembles a list of every possible question a viewer might ask, ranging from “What’s that strange thing in the corner of the picture?” to “How does that machine work?” to “What is that person thinking?” After our subjects answer these questions their words are meticulously applied to the image. The process is lengthy. One image with noted farmer/photographer Michael Ableman -- from taking the initial photographs to building the photo collage with text -- took over a year to complete. The result is a handmade and hopefully authentic artifact that explains a fundamental principle of sustainability in highly personal terms.
How did you find the individuals to feature in "The Story of An Egg," and why were you drawn to them?
“Pasture Management” and “Pasture-Raised vs. Cage-Free” were among the first images I created for the project, so they will always be special, but also because the two individuals I profiled are such admiral folks. David Evans, featured in “Pasture Management,” is a renegade. He created Marin Sun Farms, which has pioneered a number of sustainable agricultural practices in the Bay Area.
David Evans, Marin Sun Farms. Image Credit: Douglas Gayeton / The Lexicon of Sustainability
The second image features Alexis Koefoed from Soul Food Farm. She has a deep knowledge base on the poultry industry and is extremely eloquent. A real deep thinker. Way back in 2008, she told me that the terms “cage-free” and “free-range” were meaningless and that we needed to focus on a poultry practice called “pasture-raised.” Her convictions let me to make a short film called “The Story of An Egg." I find it very rewarding that four years after that image was created, supermarkets have started to carry “pastured” eggs. Some farmers markets (the Ferry Building in San Francisco being a notable example) have even decreed that “pastured” eggs and poultry are the only type available for sale. This shows, I think, that language is important. Consumer can make informed decisions -- and vote with their wallets -- if they know what the terms which define sustainability mean.
Alexis Koefoed, Soul Food Farm. Image Credit: Douglas Gayeton / The Lexicon of Sustainability
4) Can you give us an update on the current status of the project?
We have created almost 200 information artworks to explain how we can fix our food system. A selection of these are available as a "pop-up show." Anyone in the USA can apply to be a curator, unless they are actually curator. Farmers, students, teachers, librarians, activists and even government officials can go to our website to apply. They need to show how they will put on five shows in their community, involve their local food system, then serve as a “lending library” so that other schools and organization can use the show for their events. It’s a radical form of crowdsourcing, one taken from the web and applied to the real world. We anticipate over 500 shows in the USA in 2012.
Image Credit: Douglas Gayeton / The Lexicon of Sustainability
Image Credit: Douglas Gayeton / The Lexicon of Sustainability
In addition to the pop-up shows, we are making short films with ITVS and PBS, as well as a social network of ideas which we hope to launch later this year. And a book that sums everything up will become available next spring, while we turn our team’s attention to the next tasks at hand, namely taking on sustainability in water, energy and climate change.
Watch "The Story of an EGG" from the "Lexicon of Sustainability" series.
Can learning the meaning of a single term actually help change the food system? David Evans and Alexis Koefoed think so. These poultry farmers explain the real story behind such terms as “cage-free, “free-range” and “pasture-raised” so that consumers can make informed decisions when they go to their local supermarket.
Produced by Laura Howard
Directed, Photographed and Written by Douglas Gayeton
Edited and Animated by Pier Giorgio Provenzano
Music by Rumplefarm and Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
And learn more about Douglas Gayeton and his artistic process with this video "Douglas Gayeton At Work."
When eating is your job, how do you stay in shape? I’ve often wondered how people in the biz do it. Some are just lucky. Ruth Reichl and Dana Cowin have both attributed their svelte physique to good genes. (Oh, if only I was blessed with a hummingbird’s metabolism. I’d be unstoppable.) For the rest of us, maintaining balance can be a daily struggle.
Michelin three-star chef Masa Takayama runs every morning…and has lost 30 pounds in the past five years doing so. Jonathan Kauffman, SF editor of Tasting Table and former food critic at SF Weekly, follows a sensible plan of exercising 4-5 times a week (a mix of biking and an hour of cardio at the gym) and eating healthy on nights off. He shares:
I don't believe in detoxing, or rather, I never have a few days away from reviewing restaurants. I do cook mostly vegetarian on my non-review nights, just to make sure I eat as many fruits and vegetables as I can.
Marcia Gagliardi (The Tablehopper) at the Wine Museum in Barolo, Italy
If you follow Marcia Gagliardi’s Tablehopper (and you should), you know that this woman’s life is a decadent flurry of wining and dining, so I was delighted to pick her brain on this topic. Here’s what she had to say:
How do you stay balanced?
This is a constant and daily challenge. If I know I am going out for dinner that evening, which is usually the case five or six nights a week, I try to eat very clean, low-fat, and simple food at home for breakfast and lunch. I try to stick with oatmeal, or yogurt, flax cereal, and fruit for breakfast (although I am a huge fan of eggs, and just finished a two–week long breakfast taco bender when my friend brought me tortillas from Austin—I am hopeless). I also allow myself to indulge twice a week in a bagel with cream cheese and lox, one of my very favorite things for breakfast. If I let myself enjoy the thing I love a few times, I find it easier to stick with oatmeal, cereal, or breakfast shakes made with kefir on the other days.
I absolutely SWEAR by drinking Green Vibrance every single morning. I call it the green menace, but it’s really my best friend, packed with every green thing you can imagine. It’s the first thing I eat or drink in the day, every single day. Makes me perk right up, especially after a night of indulgence.
On Monday when I am home writing all day against my deadline (and most of Tuesday), if I was organized, I will have made a nice soup on Sunday or the makings for some dish I can quickly put together on Monday night for dinner, like kale with chorizo tofu or something like that. Since I eat so much meat and fish when I dine out, I try to eat vegetarian at home on Mondays. I really adore cooking from Heidi Swanson’s cookbooks when I am home, Super Natural Cooking and Super Natural Every Day.
I also try not to schedule two meals out in a day—if I do lunch somewhere, then I try not to dine out (or at least eat a lighter dinner). If you want to see a week in my life of eating, check out this “San Francisco Diet” piece on Grub Street from a year ago.
I also don’t drink at home, unless I have company—just the occasional nip of bourbon, or a split of Champagne if I’m heading out on the town or about to go dancing.
Lastly, I get my sleep. People ask me why I have so much energy, and it’s because I try to get at least eight hours, five nights a week. It’s what my brain needs. Deadline nights I get much less, so I try to keep it steady on the other nights. I find I have more productivity and less hunger and cravings when I get my rest.
You've talked before about detoxing every once in awhile. What's your detox regiment?
I am so grateful I met Lawrence Kampf of Hermetic Workshop, who hosts a Core Vitality Detox twice a year. He gave me the tools to really step back and reprogram a couple times every year. It’s three weeks long, mostly about no meat/sugar/caffeine/booze/processed foods/gluten—it’s about eating whole foods, raw when possible. And there are many other components, from meditation to group workshops to yoga to hot steams. It’s great to say no to everything for a while, slow down, and get in touch with your body’s needs, instead of jacking it with coffee, booze, and foods that are hard to process. I really do love my morning shot of espresso, however. That’s a hard thing to say goodbye to.
Do you have a workout routine that you swear by?
Again, this is always an adjustment. I have an awesome trainer, Joe Peteque, who I interval train in Alamo Square with twice a week. He makes me do all the things I don’t like to do, like sprint up hills and do pushups. I also ride my bike a lot during the week to meetings and dinners and errands. I love it. I also go for a couple long, brisk walks every week—it’s good to clear the head. I started running again (am using the app From Couch to 5k), however, because right now I’m at my heaviest. It doesn’t feel good to have the calories winning at the moment, so I have to kick some more cardio back in, and try to eat less. The chefs in this town need to stop making everything taste so good, criminy! I have also been missing yoga, and that great mental space/break/energy/insight it gives you, so am planning to get a day or two of that back in my life. Setting intentions!
*****
Setting intentions is right. Goals are important, whether it’s training for that half-marathon, or that pretty summer dress hanging in the closet. For now, I’ve found a nice balance between getting in a healthy dose of veggies every day, juicing, and simply trying to burn more than I consume. How do you maintain balance in your life?
Happy Mother's Day, and happy strawberry season! While fresh-picked California strawberries have been brightening up the farmers' market for a while, those first fruits are never the sweetest ones. It's different with vegetables; the first pick of spring's tender young fava beans, English peas, asparagus, and new potatoes may well be the best.
But fruit needs a little time to bask in the newly warm sunshine and longer days, and right now, strawberries have finally come into their own, ripe and red and lovely, ready to perfume the table and delight moms everywhere. They are versatile and delicious every way, although you can't beat breakfast in bed highlighted with a simple bowl of strawberries and cream.
First, though, you need to pick your berries right. If your mom taught you lots of great stuff but not this, well, here's what you need to know. Having harvested strawberries every day for months during my time at the UCSC's Farm and Garden program, I learned a few protocols beyond the obvious one of red=ripe. There are gradations of red, for starters. Orange-red, pinky red: these aren't the reds you are looking for. A red somewhere between stop-sign and wine: that's what you want.
Then, no white shoulders. Look around the stem cap; is the berry red all the way up to the top, or is there a tell-tale patch of greenish-white up there? Berries ripen tip first, so they're not fully sweet and ripe until the very top is red, too. The second test is scent; a box of truly ripe berries will pamper your Mom with its sweet, summery perfume. Finally, a truly ripe berry will be red through and through; a white, chalky-looking core means the berry was picked too soon.
Finally, the berries shouldn't have soft, shriveled spots or squishy tips; a mushy spot in the morning is a rotten spot by afternoon. Especially in organic berries, a few peck-holes are OK; we called jabbed specimens "bird-certified ripe."
Different types of strawberry have different balances of sweetness, tartness, and flavor. Our coastal climate calls for berries that can handle cool nights and foggy days. Seascape, Chandler, and Quinalt are all delicious berries that do well here, in both farms and backyard gardens, but to my taste, Albion, a cultivar introduced by UC Davis in 2004, is the champ.
For making this excellent strawberry salsa, I picked up a great flat of organic berries from Watsonville's Rodriguez Ranch at the Diablo Valley Farmers' Market. Right now, they've got sensational Albion berries as well as great Seascapes. I'm also fond of the organic berries grown by Swanton Berry Farm, Tomatero Farm, and Yerena Farms. It's worth it to seek out organic berries; conventional strawberry farms are big pesticide consumers, as the recent debate over the use of methyl iodide revealed.
Once you've got your berries, remember that heat and moisture are the enemies of a fresh strawberry. While nothing's better than a freshly picked, sun-warmed berry, if you want to keep your berries for a few days, you need to keep them cool. For best results, lay your berries out in a single layer on a paper towel inside a glass or plastic box. Place another paper towel on top and cover. Held like this, berries should last up to 3 or 4 days. Don't rinse or hull your berries until just before you want to eat or use them.
So, you're well stocked with beautiful berries for Mom. Strawberries and cream, a surefire hit. But what if you want to dress up those berries a little, show Mom you've learned a thing or two since your macaroni-necklace days? Meyer Lemon Ricotta Pancakes or Cottage Cheese Pancakes would go perfectly with a scatter of cut-up fresh berries. You could impress Mom with a pink-and-green souffle or this can't-miss breakfast strata, strawberries on the side. Or you can whip up a plate of her very favorite breakfast just the way she likes it, and serve these lovely muffins in a basket alongside. The real appeal? Baking, they'll make the kitchen smell like heaven in springtime.
The secret ingredient in these early summer morning berries is lavender sugar, made from sugar scented with a handful of lavender blossoms. It's easy to make: just let a handful of fresh, unsprayed lavender blossoms dry out for a few days, then mix them into a jar or canister of sugar (the pale gold, organic kind, by my preference). Close tightly and let the lavender perfume the sugar for a few days before using. You can use a similar technique to make vanilla sugar. Plunging a few split whole vanilla beans into a canister of sugar; after a few days, the sugar will have a subtle but delicious whiff of vanilla (leave the beans in the sugar; the flavor will deepen with time). Or, for a quickie version, split a bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with the tip of a knife. Rub the vanilla seeds into 2 cups of sugar; store in a tightly closed container to preserve the flavor.
Strawberry Lavender Muffins If you don't have lavender sugar available, you can substitute vanilla or citrus-flavored sugar in these muffins. For citrus sugar, finely grate the peel of 2 lemons or limes or 1 orange into 2 cups sugar. Mix peel thoroughly into the sugar and store in a tightly closed container.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour or whole-wheat pastry flour, or a combination of the two
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup lavender sugar (see note)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
5 tbsp butter, melted
1 cup chopped strawberries, about 10-12 berries
2 tsp lavender sugar
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line with paper liners.
In a large bowl, sift flour, cornmeal, baking powder, soda and salt together. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and milk together. Pour egg mixture into dry ingredients and mix quickly but gently together. Pour in melted butter and stir a few more strokes. stir in strawberries.
Spoon batter (it will be wetter than most typical muffin batters) into muffin cups. Bake 18-20 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and muffins are golden brown. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove muffins from cups. Serve warm.
Matt Coelho and Jim Woods have opened Cervecería de MateVeza on the corner of 18th and Church. The little beer shop is as authentically Argentinean as anything I've experienced since moving away from Buenos Aires at the end of 2008.
Tucked away behind Dolores Park.
In addition to bottled beers and beers on tap, Cervecería de MateVeza serves empanadas, small savory pastry pockets similar to Italian calzones. The empanadas are made by the Argentine-run company El Porteño, and are muy auténticas. Cervecería de MateVeza serves savory and sweet empanadas that pair well with the beers.
An empanada and draught beers.
Sweet empanadas and alfajores.
The three MateVeza beers on tap are:
1) IPA. Floral, Citrusy, not bitter or hoppy-tasting like a traditional IPA. It's lighter-bodied than I'd expected and absolutely delicious. Recommended pairing: Fuggazzetta empanada, with aged cheddar cheese, organic onions, and oregano.
2) Morpho Herbal Ale. "This is the most unique thing we do," explains Woods of the collaboration beer he created with the brewmeister of Mill Valley Beerworks. "In beer, the sweetness of malt is usually balanced by the bitterness of hops, but in this case we decided to use bay leaves and mate for the bitter component," says Woods. "After the first batch, it was still lacking in something, so we added hibiscus to give it a little tartness, with the ascorbic acid--Vitamin C naturally found in hibiscus flowers." The hibiscus also gives the brew a pretty, light ruby color. The essence of the bay leaves is one of the dominant flavors, and this beer would be great for the adventurous drinker. Luckily, the "beertenders" will pour a small flight gratis for any customer unsure of what they'd like to order. Recommended pairing: Pollo empanada, with Fulton Valley chicken, chicken chorizo, raisins, and olives.
3) My unabashed favorite of the three beers Cervecería de MateVeza has on tap was the Black Lager. It's a dark, black beer, with ingredients similar to a porter or a stout, but it's light bodied because it's brewed with yeast normally reserved for lagers, making the taste crisp and easily drinkable, and belying the rich, dark color of the beer and its foam. Recommended pairing: Champiñones empanada, which contains fresh, seasonal, local, organic mushrooms by Far West Fungi, shallots, Parmesan cheese, and crème fraîche.
The draught beers also come in bottles.
Woods enjoying a yerba mate.
The loose-leaf "tea," which is actually the leaves of a tree in the holly family, goes into the mixture during the mash, which is then gently warmed to about 150 degrees Fahrenheit. "It's like steeping the tea by mashing and warming the grain," explains Coelho. "Then, you're basically boiling this [naturally] sugary tea water, which is used as a bittering agent before fermentation." Unlike many traditional beermaking processes, the hops gets added in at the end of the fermentation cycle, purely for aromatics.
In addition to a changing selection of the MateVeza beers that are brewed at the Mendocino Brewing Company on tap, there is a carefully curated selection of bottled beers from Europe and the US, which ranges from the hard-to-find like "Rigor Mortis" to more "sessionable" beers, which is brewmaster speak for beers with lighter body and less alcohol that can be drunk with...less moderation. Think Scrimshaw.
"We will typically have three MateVeza beers on tap, two beers brewed in house on our 20-gallon system which will change weekly, and two or three rotating guest beers," says Woods.
Regarding the brewing process, Woods says, "I provide the recipe, the ingredients, and the packaging materials. We also have a very detailed process for each beer. I go up on most brew days. The system is pretty much automated and Mendocino's brewers are overseeing the whole process."
What Woods and Coelho are doing are ultimately trying to raise awareness for their own brand, MateVeza, but "I don't drink it all day," says Woods. "I drink it only every other beer," he laughs. The slim Woods, who says he drinks about 4-5 beers a day on average (and Coelho admits to 2 or 3 beers daily), says "I've lost a lot of weight since we started. Hauling all of this beer around and being on our feet all day keeps us fit!"
"I started my morning with Bikram yoga," says Coelho.
"And we're like those monks, the ones that substituted beer for their bread. I eat smaller meals now because a lot of my carbs come from beer."
Inside the cozy space, a "curiosity cabinet," made of four salvaged windows, houses an extensive selection of mate gourds. Woods says that should a customer care to partake of yerba mate, the service costs $5. The "draft board," or the list of beers available, is made from a vintage card game, Parker Brother's "Probe," which the duo describe as an odd, "Scrabble-like" game from the 1960's. "I scored five sets on eBay," says Woods proudly.
On the wall above a custom-made wrought-iron chandelier hang not one, but two giant velvet portraits of Elvis Presley. "When my girlfriend and I started dating three years ago," says Woods, "we discovered straightaway that we both owned a 'Velvis'." Clearly, some pairings: like velvet and Elvis, and yerba mate and beer--were meant to be.
The rules are pretty simple at Cervecería.
Cervecería de MateVeza
Address: Map
3801 18th Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
Phone: (415) 273-9295
Hours: Tue-Sat: 12:00 pm-10:00 pm; Sun: 12:00 pm-6:00 pm
Facebook: Cervecería de MateVeza
I'm a huge fan of any recipe that uses the entire fruit or vegetable, especially when you consider that we waste 50% of our food here in the United States. So the more I can get out of something, the better.
Plus, it makes it a lot cheaper to eat!
Which is why the pesto in this recipe is not the traditional recipe you are used to. It is made from the green leaves of the cauliflower plant. Yes, we are going use it all!
Here is what you will need:
1 Cauliflower
Pine nuts (about 1/8 cup)
Extra virgin olive oil
Garlic powder (optional)
Sea salt (optional)
If you're wondering why I chose a purple cauliflower, well there were two reasons. One, it is pretty. Yah, I'm that shallow. But regular cauliflower also doesn't photograph as well. The purple pops! Secondly, purple cauliflower has a sweeter and nuttier taste. It's subtle but it is there. And since I was going to use pine nuts in my pesto, I figured it would pair nicely. And it did.
1. Remove the cauliflower's leaves and chop the head and the stalk.
I prefer to clean cauliflower after it has been chopped. It's all those nooks and crannies.
2. Using a large mixing bowl, cover the cauliflower with about an inch of cold water and add 1 tablespoon of vinegar. It helps get the dirt out. Let it soak for about 15 minutes and then rinse it thoroughly. You don't want your "mashed potatoes" to have a vinegar aftertaste.
3. Bake the cauliflower (any parts that aren't leafy) for about an hour at 350 degrees until it is very tender.
4. To create the pesto, finely chop the leaves and the pine nuts, and combine them with some olive oil in small mixing bowl. You want to use just enough olive oil to coat the ingredients.
5. Once the cauliflower is done baking, puree it in a food processor or mash it.
6. Mix in some garlic powder and salt.
While I use fresh garlic 99% of the time, I really wanted the flavor you find in garlic powder for this recipe. I do something similar in my pasta sauce. I will use both fresh oregano and dried oregano; they taste different but add something special to the dish.
You can serve the cauliflower now by finishing it with the pesto or serve it twice-baked as I did in the video.
Kathy and Leroy Looper (Rebecca Frank and David Sinaiko), owners of the Cadillac Hotel and Tenderloin community activists, describe the Tenderloin as a “containment zone.” Photo: Rob Melrose, courtesy Cutting Ball Theater
In an innovative melding of art and food, the Cutting Ball Theater kicked off a month-long series of restaurant crawls called Tenderloin Trail. Held in conjunction with the theater company’s new documentary play, Tenderloin, theater-goers have the opportunity to check out several neighborhood restaurants before or after the play.
I had the chance to attend the play and the crawl last Saturday, and it was quite the immersive experience. Located in the heart of the Tenderloin (277 Taylor, at Ellis), Cutting Ball is the ideal location for a piece that gives voice to 40 people who live and work in the neighborhood. The street scenes you witness before and after the play meld seamlessly into the performance itself.
Theater documentarians documentarians (l-r Siobhan Doherty, Rebecca Frank, Tristan Cunningham, and Michael Uy Kelly) portray residents encountered on the street. Photos: Rob Melrose, courtesy Cutting Ball Theater
Tenderloin is the product of a year’s worth of interviews, wherein the actors recorded massive amounts of spoken testimony. Spending so much time with their subjects also gave them the opportunity to study their mannerisms, accents, and general personas, in order to replicate it on the stage.
The result was a vibrant, powerful work of art that showcases the joys, pains, and essential humanity at play in the Tenderloin. The same compressed intensity you can feel after walking for a few blocks in the neighborhood was handily replicated on stage. Characters included caregivers and service workers, immigrants and ex-convicts, artists and the down-and-out. There were small-time hustlers, cops, war veterans, gentrifiers, grade-schoolers, and a transgendered barkeep. It all wended together to create a complexly textured portrait of a neighborhood that defies easy categorization.
Killing time between the 2pm matinee and the 5pm food crawl, you could witness that same density of human drama right on the streets. I saw a high-speed police chase, replete with dozens of people stepping out in the street to gawk in its aftermath. I saw a raucous game of streetside dominoes. I met a woman, a self-proclaimed street-corner mayor, who complimented my girlfriend’s style and gave me a hot tip on where I should lock up my bike. I couldn’t keep all the interesting characters in my head because each one was replaced by the next colorful persona.
The food crawl itself took us to some of the more upscale eateries in the Tenderloin, places that are newer on the scene. Managing Director Suzanne Appel, who guides the tour, said this was largely a result of the newer places having a more sophisticated marketing structure, as well as more space to accommodate large groups. She attempted to involve more old-school, low-end Tenderloin restaurants like New Delhi, to no avail.
“The goal of the Tenderloin Trail is to give our patrons a broader perspective on what the Tenderloin has to offer,” said Appel. “We believe that the arts are a critical piece of the revitalization of the Tenderloin, but we need small local businesses, such as these restaurants, to make this a neighborhood where our patrons can have a great night out.”
Though some might say these restaurants don’t have the authenticity of Turtle Tower or Saigon Sandwich (both name-checked in the play), they are all chosen with care and well worth visiting. Highlights included the legendary fried chicken at farmerbrown, a newly invented drink called Tenderloin Tommy (ingredients included tarragon gin, egg white, homemade grenadine, grapefruit juice, and allspice) at Fish & Farm, and a beer and charcuterie sampler at 50 Mason Social House. I went on the inaugural Tenderloin Trail crawl and there were some logistical issues -- restaurants weren’t totally prepared for our visits and the food selection was spotty -- but Appel says these wrinkles should be ironed out by next weekend.
I also enjoyed the communal aspect of tromping around the Tenderloin with a crew of art-loving strangers, discussing the play and how it jibes with our own perceptions of the neighborhood. Of course, some participants were seeing the play after the food crawl, so I had to be mindful of giving away spoilers.
Tenderloin will run in conjunction with the Tenderloin Trail food crawl for the next three Saturdays. You can either see the 2pm matinee or the 8pm show, with the crawl running for about two and a half hours starting at 5pm. Tickets are $75 ($32.50 for just the play) and proceeds go to benefit Cutting Ball Theater’s ongoing programs. The tentative menu for each crawl is as follows:
May 12 farmerbrown - fried chicken, pork sliders, jalapeno cornbread muffins, and a Tenderloin Shandy cocktail
Listen to KQED's Forum:Voices of the Tenderloin
Fri, May 11, 2012 -- 10:00 AM
Conversation with Annie Elias, director of Tenderloin and members of the cast.
Disclosure: My girlfriend is a former colleague of Suzanne Appel and I had met her a couple of times socially prior to the restaurant crawl.
You can watch individual restaurant segments as well as view the entire episode online. The website also provides restaurant information not specified on the show, written reviews from the guests and restaurant recipes. If you have opinions on the restaurants featured please feel free to share your thoughts. This season, Leslie Sbrocco will continue to share wine tips with each episode.
Asparagus and artichoke salad, with mizuna, toasted oats and foie gras.
Unless something surprising happens, Californians will no longer see foie gras on restaurant menus starting July 1.A 2004 state bill enacted the ban, championed by then state Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, who told KQED's Forum he doesn't profess to be an expert on foie gras. He just wants to stop the force feeding of birds. "I don't know why chefs can't make something that tastes like foie gras that doesn't mean they have to torture birds to do it."
The legislation gave California’s sole producer, Sonoma Foie Gras, seven and a half years lead time to develop an alternative method of production considered humane. Founder/owner Guillermo Gonzalez tells KQED “Our last flock of ducks will be out of the farm by mid-June.”
In large part because of the lead time, many of California’s high end chefs say they were caught off guard. In an 11th hour protest, more than 100 signed a petition on behalf of the Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming Standards (aka CHEFS) and sent it to Sacramento. It’s unclear how effective they can be politically, even though many have spent the last half year throwing foie gras themed dinners/fundraisers for the cause.
Like Food Gal Carolyn Jung, I attended the last “FU Fois Gras rEvolution” held by Russell Jackson, the chef/owner of the now closed Lafitte Restaurant. He still sells t-shirts that say "I've got your foie gras right here, m!@#$%f^&*er." (Did I mention this is a heated debate?)
What really gets in Jackson’s craw about SB 1520 is language he feels opens the door for California regulators to shut down most, if not all, poultry production in California.
“How big was your turkey at Thanksgiving this year?” he asks. “Read the law. It's there, in black and white.” He actually read part of the law to diners at Lafitte before they tucked into a six course meal starring foie gras.
Section of SB 1520 25980. For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(a) A bird includes, but is not limited to, a duck or goose.
(b) Force feeding a bird means a process that causes the bird to consume more food than a typical bird of the same species would consume voluntarily. Force feeding methods include, but are not limited to, delivering feed through a tube or other device inserted into the bird’s esophagus.
I put Jackson’s charge to Bryan Pease, Co-founder and Board Chair of the Animal Protection and Rescue League in San Diego. He replied “The law focuses narrowly on the cruel practice of force feeding ducks or geese to enlarge their livers beyond normal size. It would not affect any practices related to chickens, turkeys, or ordinary duck or geese farming, in which the birds can eat as much as they want but are not FORCED to eat (in this case with a long metal pipe) more than they would voluntarily.”
How you “read” the videos that depict the process of gavage (force feeding) depends on which videos you watch. If you take Anthony Bourdain's word for it, “a few angry, twisted people” are misreading a process less objectionable than what you see people do to each other for a “pay per view film on the hotel channel.” If you take Kate Winslett's word for it, ducks and geese suffer a “terrifying and painful process” before being killed “for their diseased and bloated livers.”
Butcher paper blocks the diners' view of United for Animals protestors, but not their signs.
Jacques Pépin told Bay Area Bites he feels the activists "have no idea what they are talking about. And the worst is that they are righteous." Wolfgang Puck was one of the famously righteous chefs on the anti-foie gras side, until he was discovered serving it at private events, upon request.
Some predict a black market will develop, with the illicit goods smuggled in from places like New York, France and China. As Adrienne Hill reported for NPR, Chicago chefs and diners found a way around a foie gras ban there. That said, it's much easier to circumvent a city-wide ban than a statewide ban.
As I reported for The California Report and NPR, animal rights activists estimate some 300 restaurants around California still serve foie gras. The protestors are mobilized to meet the chefs and diners wherever they meet to eat it. Dana Portnoy told me outside Lafitte that groups like United for Animals and the Animal Protection and Rescue League have such a strong sense of urgency “because the ducks are being tortured on a daily basis until the ban takes effect.”
Here's the California Report story that aired May 9.
Julie Gillen of United for Animals ran around to a back window as Lafitte diners ate six courses of foie gras, from appetizers to dessert.
Here’s a handy (but hardly comprehensive) list for foie gras fans and protesters alike. As you can see, the heavy concentrations are in LA, SF and Wine Country:
Around lunchtime today KQED was abuzz about the new food truck pod that popped up around the corner on Bryant. I grabbed my Nikon and took a lunchtime photo op at The Mission Dispatch Launch Party.
Bob Wilms speaking to a friend at the Mission Dispatch Launch Party
I had the opportunity to meet Bob Wilms, Development Director of The New Black and Mission Dispatch at the event and he shared the story behind the new cool lunch spot.
Can you please share the story behind Mission Dispatch -- what is your new business about and how did this food truck pod become part of the venture?
The NWBLK (New Black) is an applied arts and contemporary furniture gallery that gives meaning to the objects of the 21st Century through engaging the public in the narrative of process, materiality and production. Think Donald Judd and Marfa, Texas as a reference point.
It's also a beast of an endeavor, a 9,500 sq ft space (at the 1999 Bryant Street building, the Old City Sign Shop) and we have Steven Miller Design Studio's offices, Figure Plant Fabrication, and an architect or two... desks, people designing and working, and this refined, and carefully edited gallery with work from people like Joe Ducet, Council, Matthias Pliessnig, that is slated to open in mid-September.
Origins of Dispatch:
The Mission Dispatch was born out of a good deal of trial and error in finding the right tenor of businesses that we wanted to populate our parking lot and the long building that shares the wall with KQED.
We hope to put a bakery and coffee take-out thing in the front, and from there we started to look at some makers, jewelers, craftsmen, and furniture designers to produce, distribute, and sell the work from the space. Eventually, we started seeing a cultural nexus that would serve as a confluence of ideas and innovation, all the while building community.
Matt Cohen from OTG was an early supporter of our project, and saw the potential for food trucks to work well in the space. He eventually got too busy, and I got anxious and decided to corral the trucks and circle the wagons myself.
Jim Angelus from Bacon Bacon was an early supporter of food truck service, and helped rally a bunch of trucks. I got some help from friends, and of course, my business partners, Steven Miller, David Fredrickson, and our staff were instrumental in pushing it off the ledge.
Can you talk about what your plans are for this space?
The plan is to build the lunch service over the next three weeks, and roll out some special events like Friday evening after work beer and wine, and Saturday pop up brunches etc.
We have two different trucks daily Mon-Fri 11am-2pm... Chairman is in tomorrow and on Thursday we're launching the Old World Food Truck which I expect to be awesome. People can follow us on Twitter @MissionDispatch, and they'll get schedule updates as I sit at the edge of my bed in the morning wondering how I got there and where I'm going to go.
What will your new business contribute to the surrounding community?
Our ambitions with the space are pretty modest, and very much focused in creating a space to nourish people with food, fun, the outdoors, and a chance to hang out and connect.
Based on the first day, I'm happy with where it's going. As far as the culinary options in the neighborhood, I'd like to see the envelope pushed, and all the great restaurants in the area continue to innovate.
What plans do you have for collaborating with Off the Grid?
There are no plans with Off the Grid at the moment, but Matt's the bomb, a real genuine dude, so if we're lucky something good will happen with them...Saturdays are calling.
How did you enlist the various food trucks that will be featured at Mission Dispatch?
I went on websites and blew a bunch of email smoke up truck drivers vents, and lucky for us, they are all very nice people, and were enthusiastic to give us a shot.
What is your personal relationship to food and the food community?
My gramps and his three Greek "cousins" had 17 bars in San Francisco between 1945 when the war ended and the late 60s, mostly near where the Moscone Center is now. They eventually migrated to the South Bay after George Christopher booted them out, and opened restaurants down there. I grew up in restaurants, and it was always my favorite place to be. My career and interests diverged into design, but I enjoy playing host to people...nothing better.
