www.eatlocalchallenge.com

Insanum Asylum

By Expat Chef

Based on my “Squashed” entry, I’ve admitted to having to work hard to like a few veggies. Like eggplant, Solanum melongena, once referred to as Solanum insanum. As a member of the nightshade family along with potatoes and tomatoes, eggplant was once thought to make you crazy if you ate it. And for a time, I felt like I was crazy to try it, too. Yes, it has some of the same texture issues as summer squash. It also lacks a lot of flavor. And often, what flavor it does have is bitter.

But for some reason, the beautiful color perhaps, every year as it comes into season, I attempt to cook it in a way that I will like it. Usually, the poor veggies go bad before I work up the courage to make an attempt.

local eating bits and bites

by Sara Zoë

I manned a table at the Portsmouth NH farmers' market this morning, and while I struggled a bit to boil down the concept of the challenge into a 12-sec soundbite I could feed people as they walked by, I was heartened at how many people stopped to pick up a brochure or let me put a sticker on their kid who said, "I just head about this on NPR" or "I read about this in . . . ." (you name it - people mentioned Time magazine, National Geographic, Mother Earth, etc.).

Eat Local Challenge- Frederick

By Sarah Irani

The Eat Local Challenge has spread to Frederick, Maryland! September is our challenge month. First, we'll launch the challenge with an event at the Common Market on August 30, at 6:30pm. The event will feature a discussion on the importance of eating locally, the far-reaching impact of our individual food choices and an introduction to the September Challenge. The Common Market will provide some delicious snacks grown right here in our foodshed.The purpose of this gathering is twofold. First we want to raise awareness of the shortcomings of the industrial agricultural model and bring together resources for local eating and sustainable agriculture here in Frederick County. Secondly, this will be a great chance to meet other locavores in the area.

At the end of September we'll host an Eat Local picnic potluck and share our new food adventures.

Check out our website: Eat Local Challenge- Frederick!

Sarah is a sculptor living in Maryland. She is a member of the Summer Creek Farm CSA and the Common Market Co-op.

Give me what?

By Expat Chef

Okay, okay. It's a proud mom story. Bear with me, please.

So, we're at this petting zoo, like an educational farm place. We go there often. The kiddo gets to walk a lot and see lots of animals and plants that you find on farms, feed baby goats, drive little tractors ... It's fun, actually.

We're sitting in the garden area, near the vegetables. And, this family comes along, our kids end up sitting next to each other. The mom looks at my kid and holds her hand up in the classic "Gimme Five!" position, but says, get this, "Gimme a McDonald's Happy Meal!"

Blank stares from us both. Clearly the woman is insane, or Happy Meals now cost five bucks. Which is even more insane.

So, she ups the ante, "Gimme a Happy Meal with FRIES!!!"

I finally realize she is serious and talking to my child.

Let it Rain

By Expat Chef

It’s been hot here. That’s an understatement. 105-degree days with 115-degree heat index. Hot. Nasty, drought-inducing, yet humid, just to mock us and make it even more miserable. The air-conditioning broke down at work. All week. Then, like a miracle, a violent wind swept in. Friday brought a dark, rainy and turbulent day. Saturday arrived, under 80, partly cloudy, a cool wind, and those huge puffy white clouds like the ones in children’s drawings. In other words, a perfect day to go to the market.

A day for buying flowers and a baguette, lingering over coffee, listening to the improvisational jazz music from the band. A day to just be Outside.

Just as the drought in the weather ended, so too, did the drought in variety at the farmers' market. The market was exploding with new and different produce. The usual items were there, but I’ve talked enough on those. The first melons, including ambrosia cantaloupe, sweet and tender; Eggplants, white eggplants and aubergines; jalapenos and tomatillos, beans and corn; plums and dark sweet cherries. Buttery new golden potatoes, just out of the ground. I’d swear they felt creamy when I was cutting them up to roast.

In praise of a fleeting moment

by Heather C.

  In the last week signs saying "Sweet Corn" have begun sprouting up all over in my area.  This is a season that I wait all year to experience.  Sure, I eat frozen corn in the winter but I wait until July to eat corn fresh off the cob.  Corn bought out of season in a store just can't compare. 
  In a way I wish it did.  At times I get cravings for fresh corn and know that I need to wait for months to get it again.  Isn't the desire that grocery stores are attempting to fill by stocking out of season produce?

Putting Local Eating into Federal Legislation

By Marc

The current food system, with its ubiquitous corn products, feedlots, and multi-thousand mile transportation networks, did not "just happen" through the wonders of the free market.  It has been shaped by government agriculture, transportation and trade programs, like the interstate highway system, crop subsidies, water projects, federally-funded export programs, health regulations, and so forth.  And since policy was important in creating the current system, policy can influence its evolution to something more sustainable.   

Congress and the Executive Branch are always tinkering with agricultural programs, as recently documented by the Washington Post in an ongoing series.  For example, if a House member needs to bring home some pork to help his bid for the Senate, some customs duties can be diverted to provide checks for ranchers in his district.  Or if a powerful Senator wants to help out the catfish industry in his state, a letter to the Agriculture Secretary can secure a rule change.

Just Peachy

Okay ... one last post on fruit, and it's off to a new topic, I promise!

By Expat Chef

Seems like I am always eating, or about to eat when I write these posts. Or, maybe I just eat a lot, so the odds are in my stomach’s favor. Probably so. I am eating the last of the “Balsamic Peach and Blueberry Compote,” a rather tasty combination of fresh berries, peaches and 20-year-old balsamic vinegar that likely aged another 10 years in the cabinet. Oh, and a dash of pepper. You can find the recipe on epicurious,com sans the odd clumps of “stuff” from the bottom of the vinegar bottle. I added blackberries because I like them.

The unfortunate thing is that the real ice cream (from a local dairy) is gone. My husband went to the store to replace it during a moment where he felt fat and guilty. (Yes, he is being a girl). So now, I have to eat this lovely compote over some fat-free, sugar-free excuse for a frozen treat.

Rhapsody in Blue(berry)

By Expat Chef

By mid-summer, I have been hitting the local farmer's fresh berry supply pretty hard, perhaps too hard. I’ve made crumbles and pie, cakes and pancakes, eaten them raw on salads, cereal, yogurt and ice cream, laced with Grand Marnier and whipped cream, and just plain old plain, by the handful as I am peering into the fridge trying to figure out what else to make with them.

The dilemma was resolved with the arrival of my most recent issue of Gourmet. Right there on the table of contents page, popsicles. Popsicles! It’s 90-plus degrees here with a heat index of 102. Oh yeah, I am making popsicles.

It’s actually quite easy. Or at least it should be. When I was in culinary school, part of our final exam included finding all the pitfalls in a recipe that would cause an average home cook to mess up. I fell victim to one of these. I should have known better. When the recipe innocently states, as an afterthought in parenthesis, “Use caution when blending hot liquids,” this really means: Blend only 1/3 of the mixture at a time, or plan on repainting the kitchen. Dark blue.

Finding New Sources

by Birdsong

This weekend, I had a great time attending the 16th Annual Taylorsville Solar Cook-off, which features lots of great blues music.  There were at least three dozen different cookers in operation, working on dinner for some of the campers and vendors.  The event is sponsored by Blackhawk Solar of Quincy, California, and takes place in the beautiful Indian Valley.

I was delighted to find that among the more usual crafts vendors, there were two local food resources (well, near the edges of my 100-mile radius, but still within it) that were new to me.