Green Options

According to the New York Times (NYT), the mess that is COPIA (offically the American Center for Food, Wine and the Arts), the ambitious Frankenstein’s monster in the heart of Napa that was founded in a large part from money donated by the late Robert Mondavi, finally filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code.

Anyone who has been following this soap opera for the past several years can only shake their head in bewilderment. COPIA was and is a good premise that got caught up in to much self importance and pretentiousness. No one wanted to come and no one came.

Brace yourself. It’s that time of year again.

I love Christmas as much as the next guy. The lights, the color, the celebration, the sharing, and especially the eating and drinking. The spiritual side of Christmas often goes a little unnoticed amid the mad rush of present buying, decorating and food preparation. Many traditions have played a part in forming Christmas as we know it today but it seem the most important is the spirit of commercialism.

In keeping with the true meaning of Christmas, I’m going to give you some helpful hints in choosing sustainable gifts for those on your list. These aren’t you ordinary boxes with colorful ribbons and fancy bows.

So, let’s go shopping.

I am a commissioner on the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission, an industry-funded agency and part of the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Commission Program. Among our other responsibilities to the fishing fleet, we have been charged with the enhancement of the image of the Dungeness crab industry, and to increase opportunities for profitability through promotion, education and research.

An additional requirement is the sustainability of the industry as a whole. The Oregon Dungeness crab fishery is one of the most sustainable fisheries and the most valuable ’single-species’ fishery in Oregon. The issues of Wave Energy development along with the proposed Marine Reserves off of the Oregon coast have prompted the fishing industries to make sure our concerns are heard and taken into account.

One of the biggest headaches when entertaining, especially during Thanksgiving, is deciding what beverages to serve with dinner. As Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg (authors of What to Drink with What You Eat) wrote in the Washington Post,

The prospect of choosing a bottle that will please all of your guests and complement all of your dishes can perplex the most confident holiday host.

Even avid wine lovers can be struck with a temporary case of oenophobia — fear of wine — around Thanksgiving. The prospect of choosing a bottle that will please all of your guests and complement all of your dishes can perplex the most confident holiday host.

So what do you do? BYBO is one answer. Another is to let me help you choose a few bottles to uncork without breaking the bank or cashing in that IRA.

Brian Lehrer of the Brain Lehrer Show on WNYC Radio spoke with author and activist Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma, The Botany of Desire, In Defense of Food) about government agricultural policy.

What can we do?

There is an online petition to encourage President-elect Barack Obama to choose Mr. Pollan as the next U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

This may sound egotistical but I know a LOT more than you do about cooking a turkey.

Allow me to explain…

Back in 1999, when I was teaching at the California Culinary Academy, I was involved in both the cooking and the tasting of the San Francisco Chronicle Food section’s Turkey Challenge. Over a two week period, we cooked 28 turkeys to find the best method of producing a plump, juicy and flavorful bird.

We brined some turkeys and left some uncovered overnight in the refrigerator. We roasted some, barbecued others, deep fried one and even smoked another. We cooked some breast up and some breast down. Some we basted and some not, some were covered in the oven and some not. Some were stuffed and some not. We cooked turkeys at an oven temperature varying between 325º to 450ºF. Are you getting the picture?

As a former restaurateur, I have always been appalled, even disgusted, at those restaurant/food blogs that feel it is their need to consistently obsess over the demises of a local entrepreneurs hard earned business. Why must we always rubberneck and concentrate on the negatives? With the state of the restaurant biz these days, do we need 5 posts-a-day on which chef is going to layoff more staff or who is about to [...]

According to the Taipei Times, a student at Dayeh University in Changhuain Taiwan died in late October during the annual steamed bun eating contest. The 23 year old was participating to see who could finish two steamed buns stuffed with egg and cheese in the fastest time. The student couldn’t stop vomiting and fell unconscious during the competition. Although he was rushed to the hospital, it was too late. The cause of the death remains unclear, but some believe he choked to death. All this for NT$2,000 (approximately US$60.)

“The pig is an encyclopedic animal, a meal on legs.”
“Dans le cochon, tout est bon (Everything in a pig is good).”
Grimod de La Reynière (1758-1837)
It’s not a misprint. Salumi is Italian for the whole family of salted, cured cuts of meat or sausages made primarily (but not exclusively) from pork. It is a category of cured meats that includes salami but also includes other products such as coppa (spicy cured pork shoulder), soppressata (spicy dried pork sausage) and bresaola (air dried beef). In Italian, cured meat products are generally referred to as affettati, the Italian equivalent of the French charcuterie.
Salumi Artisan Cured Meats, Seattle, Washington
Clockwise from top: Lardo, Oregano Salami, Lamb Prosciutto, Culatello, Salumi Salami, Hot Sopressata Salami, Mole Salami, Lomo, Guanciale, Finocchiona Salami, Smoked Paprika Salami. Center from top: Cotecchino, Cotto, Coppa, Pancetta.

In a recent post entitled Do TV Executives Think We’re Stupid?, I ranted, with the help of author, critic and food writer John Mariani, about the worst (and best) cooking shows on television. I’m taking another cue from Mr. Mariani, choosing my favorite movies where food is a character.

Luckily, there are some wonderful food- and wine-related films that tell us more about the seductive interplay of food and wine, cooking and canoodling, elation and exhaustion than some pumped-up TV “chef” screaming into the camera.