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Events — No Comments
21
Apr 09

Want to horrify your conventional-vore friends?

Bring them to a screening of Our Daily Bread at MIT on Tuesday night! (Hosted by our very great pal Ryan.)

Time: Tuesday, April 21, 6pm
Location: 6-120, MIT

Description:
Check out trailers and more, the MIT events calendar listing, and the flier (three iterations). [If printing, please consider using scrap paper!!]

Welcome to the world of industrial food production and high-tech farming! To the rhythm of conveyor belts and immense machines, the film looks without commenting into the places where food is produced in Europe: monumental spaces, surreal landscapes and bizarre sounds - a cool, industrial environment which leaves little space for individualism. People, animals, crops and machines play a supporting role in the logistics of this system which provides our society’s standard of living.

OUR DAILY BREAD is a wide-screen tableau of a feast which isn’t always easy to digest - and in which we all take part. A pure, meticulous and high-end film experience that enables the audience to form their own ideas.

Afterwards, Jamey Lionette, of the South End’s Lionette’s Market, will discuss his impressions of the film and his role in the local food system.

Updates — No Comments
21
Apr 09

Tooting…

Our own horn!

Some good folks in Vermont invited us on the radio last week to talk about this nerdy web site/community thing we like to do. (We used to live in VT before we moved here, plus this localvore lifestyle is just sorta the way things are done up there.)

Anyway, if you’ve got the inclination, here’s the link. The show’s called What To Eat on wool.fm and it’s hosted by Luise Light.

Oh, double toot: This Earth Day (Wednesday), check the Boston Herald’s food section.

(PS — Meet Your Meat is sold out! More soon…)

Meat — No Comments
17
Apr 09

More musings on the meaning of ‘local’

Yes, we read Mark Bittman’s Bitten blog. He had this to say today on a topic obviously near and dear:

However you define “local,” the meaning to you certainly includes “from nearby” — however you define nearby.

It might include “fresh,” but — for example — “local” meat is often frozen, and local fruit may be preserved in the form of jam. It might include “seasonal.” But then again there is the issue of preservation.

My point is this: You define it how you want to. You want to exclude frozen food, fine; you want to exclude out-of-season food, no problem. It’s up to you. Because, for better or worse (and I suspect better), the USDA has not yet begun certifying “local” as it has “organic” (which most certainly does not mean local, as I discuss here.

You can read the full post (which has links to other bloggers sounding off on the topic, here.

This debate may be getting tiresome for some of us, but it seems important that we keep having it. As the movement to a more sustainable diet gains ground, the naysayers are only getting louder. And better funded. And they’re winning soap boxes… care of the New York Times, even.

Seriously — go look at that lunacy the Times published last weekend, from a “scientist” who argues free-range piggies are, effectively, less healthy than their imprisoned brethen. The “study” he quotes was funded by the National Pork Board. Oops!

Incidentally, this scientist is also authoring a book called “Just Food: How Locavores Are Endangering the Future of Food and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly.”

Good eaters, stay tuned.

Events — No Comments
7
Apr 09

It’s official: The Meet Your Meat Tour

Where are we going? Three places: A Hardwick Beef farm to say hello to some cows; to Stillman’s farm to get a look at chickens and pigs; and to the People’s Pint to have some local eats. See the route on this Google map!

When? Sunday May 3 from roughly 9 to 6:30

Why? Because it’s important to have a connection to the food you eat. Because animals should be respected and admired. And because it would be fun to bring approximately 30 city folk west of Worcester in two large, anonymous vans.

How do I join you? CLICK HERE! It will bring you to PayPal. You can pay with any major credit (or your paypal account) there. We’re asking for $35 from everyone — in advance.

Why 35 bucks? Why in advance? Your donation will cover the cost of renting the van, the cost of paying an experienced bus driver for said van and the cost of gas. PS — You will also have to cover your own meal at the Pint. But it’s very affordable. Take a look at their menu.

What else do I need to do? Sign up fast! Email me with any questions. AND bring some snacks or a bagged lunch. It will be a long day of traveling before we get to the Pint and we don’t want any crankypusses.

So here’s a *rough* schedule of events:
9 a.m. — Be at to the Harvest Co-op in Cambridge; find the creepy vans.
11 a.m. — We arrive at Hardwick Beef! (It’s about a 90 minute drive.)
11-Noon — Tour Hardwick Beef
12-12:30 — Chill, eat our bagged lunches
1 p.m. — Arrive at Stillman’s!
1-2:30 p.m. — Tour their operation!
2:30-3:30 p.m. — Drive to the People’s Pint
3:30-5 p.m. — Enjoy a brew and other yummy stuff
6:30 — Drop off at the Harvest Co-op

Updates — No Comments
12
Mar 09

Actually sustainable sustainability

Go read this!

It’s a MotherJones story that raises some excellent questions that those of us who believe we’re on the good side of the Endless Food War should be prepared to ask ourselves, and should try to answer. For example: can small local agriculture feed billions of people? is it practical to have 20 separate trucks of food (carrying, roughly, the same crops) drive from western Mass to Boston every day of the week for a farmers’ market…?

For my part, i would like say: Obviously sustainable, local agriculture in the idyllic and manageable polyculture model, cannot feed billions of people. But, um, nor should it try to. Nor should any food system.

What I wonder (and what this article doesn’t quite address) is why do we feel the need to think in terms of busting up the current industrial food system — or transforming it? Why can’t we start thinking of how to take care of ourselves regionally. Trade will remain a part of the equation, as it always has been, but in a much altered and reduced role.

Small is the key here. Small is beautiful and it’s the only way, I think, to de-emphasize the no. 1 driving force for industrializing anything: Profit.

Updates — No Comments
6
Mar 09

Visualizing local food

I’m nearing the end of a lovely spell of relative unemployment and the study of digital things at Emerson College. But for one of my last school projects, I worked with two very good eaters, Bill and a fellow called Onion. We put together a Google map of most of the local food sources in the Boston/Cambridge area.

Google, despite all of its world domination tendencies, makes it it fun and easy to make your own map art. Here is ours. A rather pretty and powerful (if i do say so) representation of the many ways and places you can get the good stuff in and around this little city.

We’ve left it public so you can feel free to contribute. But if the Google maps interface is scary, please tell me about any spots we’ve missed. I’ll happily add to it for you.

Events / Meat — 2 Comments
18
Feb 09

The Stillman’s meat truck / meet JJ

For the handful of you who don’t already know JJ Gonson, we’d like to introduce to her. She’s a friend of ours and a champion of soup from our recent Souper Bowl. She’s also a semi-retired rock star and a personal chef with a deep and abiding love for food of the local variety.

But perhaps the most important thing for you to know about JJ right now is that she is committing a great public service by posting this on her blog — info on the Stillman’s delivery *this Saturday* in Central Sq. In fact, she’s working as a sort of conduit between us, good eaters, and the Stillmans, excellent feeders.

From 3 to 4 p.m., Aidan will be parked behind the Harvest Co-op with lamb, pig and beef and (we’re hoping) a chicken or two. If you visit JJ’s post and comment on it with your order, Aidan will check it and try to accommodate. And that’s all you have to do to get some of the finest local meat, directly from a farmer. In February. In Cambridge.

Ahem! while we’re on the subject of JJ. She’s a pretty friendly lady and she likes to prepare big dinners that she calls O.N.C.E. (one night culinary events). She’s hosting a special ‘deep of winter’ O.N.C.E. on March 1 and she’d like you to attend. Get a taste of the menu here and the cost ($20-50).

Updates — 2 Comments
30
Jan 09

Corn is evil and is everywhere

The other night, Darry and I, along with our friend Heather, went to the Haley House dinner/talk with Sally Fallon. The food was prepared by Didi Emmons, some of the kids in the HH’s advanced cooking class and some interns and it was *out of control* delicious. Korean short ribs, two types of fermented kimchi (a la Nourishing Traditions) and a mixed mash of potatoes and butternut squash.

But the talk, dare I say it, was a bit …disappointing. Let me clarify that we are devoted to Sally and the Weston Price Foundation (her .org) school of thought when it comes to eating. No refined foods. Animal fats and butter are best for you. Soak grains to improve digestion. Raw milk does not kill! Have cultured, fermented goodies whenever you can. Eat yummy food in the form it’s supposed to appear in: whole and fresh and unadulterated by the General Mill machine, etc.

Sally kind of pronounced those basic principles and then the “talk” was suddenly and abruptly over. She did open the floor to questions — questions I thought she gave slightly blase answers to. And when inquired about issues of sustainability (like, um, do the same rules apply to meat that comes from a feedlot or to food that comes from a factory thousands of miles away?), she seemed to be less concerned about the ethics that we hold near and dear.

In fact, she even said, “don’t worry so much about where it comes from.”

Well, I think we should worry, Sally. I worry anyway. And I don’t think you can really separate principles like the ones you find in Nourishing Traditions from the principles of sustainable agriculture.

Food that’s good for you = real food.

Ahem! However, one *very* valuable nugget Sally shared was yet another horrifying fact about high fructose corn syrup: …..That it contains friggin’ MERCURY.

A recent study found it was detectable in nine out of 20 samples of commercial high fructose corn syrup. For further and amusing comment on this development, I point you toward a post on the Globe’s Dishing blog.

Events — No Comments
23
Jan 09

Sally Fallon, kimchi + ribs at the Haley House!

Our friends at the Haley House are hosting a pretty rad lady this week. Sally Fallon, she of the cookbook Nourishing Traditions and our personal inspiration in the ways of soaking grains, will be speaking on Jan 28 at 7 p.m. To spice up the discussion, Boston food scene visionary Didi Emmons and the advanced cooking students from Haley House will be making korean beef ribs and homemade kimchi for dinner.

They’re asking for 75 bucks per person for the event. All of the proceeds benefit the Haley House’s youth cooking program. You can watch a very lovely video, here, about that. There’s limited seating… so if you want in, contact kelly@haleyhouse.org, ASAP!

Community / Events — No Comments
21
Jan 09

Souper Bowl I — RSVP now!

We would like to see you all again. And that’s one reason why on Feb. 8 from 3 to 6 p.m., we’re hosting our first annual Souper Bowl at the Haley House Cafe in Roxbury.*

There will be five different soups, with options for vegans, vegetarians and carnivores. There will be beer. There will be bread and cheese. There will be other treats. All of this, of course, will feature regional ingredients and local producers.

And all of this is available to you, good eater, for 10 bucks.

For those of you who made it to our beer tasting, cheese fest and/or assorted potlucks, hopefully you know that we like to practice this local foods thing in the company of others. It’s a fun time and it calls attention (in a rather lively way) to how possible it truly is to acquire local, sustainable food in the city. Even in the dead of winter.

And that’s the other reason why we’re hosting this event: To show the naysayers that even as we’re all walking around with our February faces, we can still lay our hands on some very spectacular meat and veggies from New England. Localvores do not only come out in summer and fall.

So here’s the deal:
Space is limited. Please RSVP to info@bostonlocalvores.org and note how many guests you’ll be bringing. The first 40 people to respond will certainly get in. Any thereafter will be placed on a waiting list. I’ll write you to confirm your spot.

We’re asking you to:
-Bring a bowl (um, to eat from, because we’re trying to be efficient)
-Bring a $10 donation, or more if you like. A bit of the money raised will be used to cover the cost of food. The rest will go directly to the Haley House and the very cool programs they have there.
-RSVP as soon as possible

A couple more things:
We are in the process of firming up our menu and sponsors. We’ll send more details as soon as we can.
We’re alsolooking for a couple of volunteers to help with prep/clean up. If you’re interested, please give a shout.

*We’d be remiss if we didn’t give props to the Mad River Localvore Projectin VT for the Souper Bowl idea. They’re hosting their second annual this week!