I'm trying to get back into the habit of blogging by doing daily diaries this week, but unfortunately I lack photos and content for today. So some random musings:
Mad Martha's article on pasta salad this month begs the question: what is a salad anyway? If all the vegetables are cooked, and even the sauce would taste fine warm, aren't you just eating cold pasta? I can't say that I'm enticed by the idea of cold wilted greens on pasta, but generally I'm a big fan of pasta salad. The secrets to a good one, in my opinion: lots of vegetables, preferably including a few unexpected ones (raw corn is good); lemon juice not vinegar; plenty of salt in the pasta cooking water; good oil.
The locavore purists hurt the cause. Fussing over whether spices count and so on looks like insanity to outsiders. Then you end up with people convinced that we're going to ruin the economy by not allowing for imports and exports - according to at least one person commenting on an article about the Vermont locavores, Floridians won't be able to buy maple syrup and Vermonters will end up with scurvy if these crazy liberals have their way. So, let's reiterate: it's all about proportions. Vermont should export maple syrup, and it's fine for them to import some orange juice. But why should they import apples? Why should Britain import and export almost equal quantities of lamb? A sane approach would be maximizing regional food security by maximizing local production and diversification of production for local consumption, while still depending on some imports (the quantity of imports needed will depend on the region's own resources). This seems pretty obvious, but clearly when people for whom local eating is a new idea hear about it, they assume the point is extremism. Don't feed their fears.
Plums are better than peaches, at least in New England. I can't stop eating the local plums.
I could give up everything else sweet as long as I could eat ice cream every day.
Tammy at Food on the Food gets funnier all the time.
The weather is starting to turn a little cooler - at least at night. That makes me happy. I'm starting to get the cooking itch...
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3 comments:
You're just trying to get some of my ice cream, aren't you!
I agree with you, though. I anticipate the Eat Local Challenge will make me more appreciative of the things we fly in from other places that don't grow well here, like pineapple or citrus. But the point is that you learn just how much you CAN get locally, and who to get it from.
This year, for some reason, the plums are stupendous. I wonder if the trees agree among themselves whose turn it is to bear the most spectacular fruit, like Italian football teams discussing who's going to fall where in the league this year.
I totally agree with you about the locavore purists. Well said.
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