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Community canning centers during WWII and today

By Marc

The "Of Course I Can" poster was created by the U.S. War Food Administration in 1944 as part of the nationwide victory garden program. Victory gardens made an important contribution to the home-front effort by producing a significant amount of food (approximately 40 percent of the vegetables consumed in 1943) and by providing a way to contribute to the war effort for those who could not fight on the battlefield.  The book "Eating for Victory: Food Rationing and the Politics of Domesticity" by Amy Bentley contains a chapter examining victory gardening and canning during the war, gender politics, and how the nation responded to the call to do their part in the war by gardening and canning.

Chickens will soon be eating local wheat at Eatwell Farm in California

By Marc

When Nigel Walker of Eatwell Farm near Dixon, California, discovered that much of his certified organic chicken feed was coming from China, he realized that he wouldn't feel right marketing his eggs as "local," so he started to look for a new supply of feed. It turns out that he didn't need to look far — just over to the next farm.

A neighboring wheat farmer was looking to transition to organic practices — with the goal of eventually gaining certification — and so the farmer and Walker started a collaboration to grow wheat for the Eatwell chickens.

Low cost labor and untaxed fuel cause migrations of frozen fish

By Marc

Some of the world's sea creatures make incredible migrations to feed or mate.  Tuna, for example, swim back and forth across the Atlantic or Pacific.  In the globalized economy, some fish go on long migrations even after they have been frozen.

The new book "Bottomfeeder," by Taras Grescoe provides a fascinating look at the state of the world's oceans (I reviewed the book over at The Ethicurean). The book is a compelling combination of nature, history, politics, and culinary arts.  If you want to understand more about why certain fish are rated "best," "good," or "avoid" on lists like the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch list, "Bottomfeeder" is a must read.

Near the end of the book, Grescoe visits a fish processing facility in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.  Some of the fish that go through the plant have been on long migrations before arriving and some fish continue their migration after processing.

The evolving farmers market

By Marc

In last Sunday's Los Angeles Times, Russ Parsons has an interesting story about a recent evolution at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market.  The Wednesday market has long been a place for chefs to meet, to pick up the best produce in Los Angeles, and to be inspired by the seasons.  Lately, though, chefs have seen produce trucked away by big companies to be shipped to far away restaurants.  Parson writes:

Though no hard figures are kept, some growers say that as much as half of what they sell at the market is bought by produce companies.

As a result, what had long been a kind of informal meeting place for many of Southern California's foodies and chefs is no longer quite so clubby. What chefs once regarded as a combination of culinary laboratory and kaffeeklatsch -- a place to find new ingredients and ideas and swap gossip, sometimes seemingly in equal proportions -- is more and more a place for big business.

"It used to be that everyone thought how great it was to be out there picking things for ourselves; it was so exciting," said Matt Molina of the white-hot Mozza restaurants, co-owned by star chefs Mario Batali and Nancy Silverton. "Then all of a sudden it began to become a business, a big-money business. Now farmers are sometimes catering to the big people, so local restaurants are sometimes getting left behind.

The chefs could get the same produce if they called in advance, but some think that a Tuesday afternoon phone call might kill a Wednesday morning idea that could lead to a magnificent new dish for the restaurant.  The chefs say that coming across a new ingredient or combination of ingredients can spark unexpected preparations.

For farmers, this evolution is a huge benefit:  having a big produce company place an advance order means a guaranteed sale, as opposed to the perpetual gamble of bringing highly perishable vegetables to a market where they might not catch anyone's attention and be turned into compost or animal feed back on the farm.

It seems counterintuitive for big produce companies to be buying at the farmers market, but I only see it a convenient place for the pick up, certainly easier than having the farmer struggle through the legendary L.A. traffic to a warehouse across the city.

Parsons writes that the farmers market is trying to mediate the conflict between the chefs and wholesalers.  I hope they can figure something out because a lot of culinary innovation has occurred at the Santa Monica Farmers Market, innovation that will slow if the chefs stay away from the market.

Marc lives in Berkeley, California.  He writes Mental Masala (an enticing blend of food, history, travel, and nature) and contributes to The Ethicurean.

Photo of eggplant from Jen Maiser's flickr collection, subject to a Creative Commons License.

Bread meets conceptual art

I live in an area with some extraordinary bread: complex naturally-leavened creations from Acme or Semifreddi's, surprisingly light 100 percent whole wheat from Vital Vittles and many other great offerings. And yet I still bake most of my own bread (even sourdough on occasion). 

The transformation of the uninteresting ingredients of flour and water into something that is alive and aromatic is a magical experience for me.  Bread baking is a physical act, an observational act, an exercise in patience, and eventually a wonderful sensory experience.

Bread presents a locality problem for Northern Californians, as not much wheat is grown in California. There are a few sources of wheat, to be sure, like Full Belly Farm in Yolo County.  And bread doesn't have to be one-hundred percent wheat -- loaves can loaded with goodies like nuts, seeds, grains and fruits.

So for the past year, I've been experimenting with what I call the "local loaf," a loaf of bread made using many ingredients available at the Berkeley Farmers Market or from local sources:  whole wheat flour from Full Belly Farm in Yolo County, pecans from Sonoma County, honey from Napa County, milk from Straus Family Creamery in Marin County and brown rice from Massa Organics in Butte County (the locations are mapped after the jump).  In the end, around sixty percent of the raw ingredients (by weight excluding water) were from local sources.   

As I worked on this project over many months, I thought about conceptual art.  In conceptual art, the concept behind the work takes precedence over the aesthetics of the piece.  Tom Marioni's Walking and Drawing a Line as Far as I Can Reach, for example, are explorations of human activity -- the actions of walking and reaching, respectively.   If I wanted to stretch some words a bit, I could almost call the project of making bread from local ingredients "conceptual baking."  That is, the concept of using local ingredients took precedence over flavor and texture (but not too much precedence -- the bread is quite tasty).

After the jump, I present my recipe for this bread and a map showing the source of the local ingredients.

The World Trade Organization, U.S. farm subsidies and local food

By Marc

Here's something unexpected:  the World Trade Organization (WTO) -- one of the most powerful forces for globalization and international homogenization -- might actually help the local foods movement in the United States. 

A little while ago I wrote about how planting restrictions in certain farm subsidy programs.  These restrictions impede the creation of a local food system by requiring farmers to permanently withdraw from the program if they grow fruits and vegetables on the program land.  Clearly, no one should receive corn, soy or cotton subsidy payments for land that is used to grow fruits and vegetables, but I think it makes no sense to permanently penalize farmers for trying to grow crops that people who live nearby might want to purchase.

It turns out that the WTO might have a problem with those planting restrictions. It is another example of the messiness that exists at the intersection of international relations and domestic politics.

A recent FarmPolicy.com newsletter explained the WTO's concerns and the implications for U.S. farm policy in great detail.  In less detail, the WTO agreements strive to eliminate all trade-distorting subsidy programs (subsidies that give certain producers an advantage over others), thus allowing something resembling "free trade."  In WTO documents, farm subsidies are classified into three "boxes" according to their trade distorting effects  "Blue box" payments are the most trade distorting and are essentially forbidden by the trade agreements; "amber box" payments are marginally distorted and are subject to a limit;  "green box" payments do not distort trade and therefore have no limits. 

Local food in Kansas

By Marc

Via the Ethicurean digest, an article in the Parsons Sun about how farm subsidies are affecting rural life in Kansas ends with snapshot of the local food situation:

Paul Johnson, Lawrence, an organic farmer and lobbyist with the Kansas Catholic Conference, said subsidies do little for either rural populations or small farms.

He notes that Kansas consumers spend about $525 million a year on fruits and vegetables, yet only about $15 million worth of those crops is grown here.

It would take only 150,000 acres to grow enough fruits and vegetables to satisfy consumer demand in Kansas, according to studies done by Kansas State University in the Kansas River valley.

Johnson, a market gardener in the summer, recognizes that not all of the state would be suitable for fruits or vegetables. But he said Kansas is so focused on big agriculture that it misses the larger picture.

"I guess it's sexier or more handy to get into a $250,000 combine and ride the prairie," he said.

How does 150,000 acres compare with the amount of farmland in Kansas?  It's basically nothing:  Kansas has 10.3 million acres planted in wheat (according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service).

Marc lives in Berkeley, California.  He writes Mental Masala (an enticing blend of food, history, travel, and nature) and contributes to Ethicurean.

Image credit: Photo of the wheat harvest in the Palouse (Washington, Oregon, Idaho) from the USDA ARS Image Gallery.

Preserving a peck of pears with panache

By Marc

I was fortunate to receive a gift of twelve pounds of a pears from Cookie Crumb and Cranky a few weeks ago (which was just a small fraction of their trees' amazing output this year, as noted here).  Unlike some backyard fruit trees (like my plum trees), the fruit was actually delicious on its own, and I suppose I could have eaten a few each day until they were gone.  But with the farmers market full of summer fruit, it would be foolish to binge on pears for a week.  So, of course, I turned much of the gift into preserves.

[The beautiful photo to the right was taken by Jen Maiser, not me]

San Francisco restaurants go local

By Marc

In this week's Tablehopper newsletter, I learned about a new effort to recognize local foods in San Francisco:  the restaurants that serve it, the groceries that sell it, the farms that grow it, and the artisans that use it in their creations.  Called Eat Local San Francisco, the group's first big event is an "Eat Local Week" from September 23 to 29.  During this week, member restaurants will create daily specials that rely on the locally-grown ingredients.  As of today, nine restaurants are participating.  A slow start, to be sure, but the 23rd is still ten days away, so others may join in before Eat Local Week begins. 

The founders of Eat Local SF include such commercial interests as the San Francisco Council of District Merchants, San Francisco Small Business Commission and Open Table (an on-line reservation system), so it seems that eating local has become a marketing hook.  That's fine with me, as supporting locally-owned business is one of the main reasons to eat local. 

I hope the Eat Local SF efforts encourage restaurants and stores to use more local ingredients and to tell consumers how they use them.  Some SF restaurants have been doing this for a while.  The Slanted Door, for example, lists farm names on their menu.  The current on-line dinner menu, for example, mentions Prather Ranch beef, Allstar Organics summer squash, Star Route Farm baby spinach, Dirty Girl Farm haricots verts, and Catalan Farm sweet corn, among others.  That's useful if you have heard of the farms, but not useful if you haven't.  It would be far more informative if restaurants made maps showing where their suppliers are based, like the Highwayman pub in Lancashire, UK. 

Marc lives in Berkeley, California.  He writes Mental Masala (an enticing blend of food, history, travel, and nature) and contributes to Ethicurean.

Federal rules stymie local food efforts in Iowa

By Marc

"About 32,000 acres could supply Iowans with five servings a day of fruits and vegetables for three months out of the year, according to Iowa State University economists. Iowa farmers will harvest nearly 14 million acres of corn in 2007."  That's the sidebar message in a Des Moines Register article brought to my attention by the invaluable FarmPolicy.com newsletter.

Iowa farmer Gary Boysen grows sweet corn, peppers, tomatoes, cantaloupes and other produce on 65 acres near Harlan.  He sells his produce at nearby supermarkets and Wal-Mart.  And he would like to be growing more fruit and vegetables for Iowans.  However, a big obstacle is standing in his way:  federal agricultural rules.

If farmers want to plant fruit and vegetable crops on land enrolled in USDA subsidy programs, they must permanently give up the possibility of receiving benefits. Not just for the period when they are growing non-program crops.  Permanently.