"Food, Inc."

<img alt="http://www.foodincmovie.com/img/site/movie_poster-large.jpg" src="http://www.foodincmovie.com/img/site/movie_poster-large.jpg" /><br /><br />We finally watched "Food, Inc." I've read way too many of the sources to find it surprising -- especially Michael Pollan's books and articles. Despite my familiarity with many of the details, I found many really good issues discussed in it. Impressive: seeing moving pictures of feedlots, CAFOs, slaughterhouses, chicken houses for hundreds of thousands of chickens, and farmers ruined by Monsanto.<br /><br />I don't like extremists or fanatics, so I would have liked to see a broader range of organic farmers and innovators against mass production. I am suspicious of the claim that Joel Salatin's methods can scale upwards. And I'm ultra-skeptical about the interview with the CEO of Stonybrook Farms (now part of a big agriculture corp) and his pride in the mass-market organic yogurt sold at WalMart. But I have a distrust of hippies who got rich on their hipness, which might be misplaced.<br /><br />In general, I wish the authors had a vision for how to feed all the people on earth without some of the mass market methods. This is an issue that's frequently avoided. Yes, we put Mexican corn farmers out of business with cheap corn and NAFTA. And it was bad for their economy. What next?<br /><br />I think my shopping habits already conform to the authors' goals (and yes, I know not everyone can afford to shop the way they suggest). But I think the points about the food industry, lack of regulation, persecution of farmers (such as those who re-use seeds and are pursued by Monsanto), and the corruption of the regulatory process are all very important.<br /><br />Lenny says the "veggie libel" laws are the worst offense revealed in the film. That term refers to laws that prevent people from criticizing foods, food manufacturers, or growing processes; a set of related laws also prevent people from suing food industries when they are harmed. Oprah's successful defense against being sued for libel against hamburgers around 15 years ago is the best-known example.<br /><br />On the whole: good film.

"Food, Inc."

We finally watched "Food, Inc." I've read way too many of the sources to find it surprising -- especially Michael Pollan's books and articles. Despite my familiarity with many of the details, I found many really good issues discussed in it. Impressive: seeing moving pictures of feedlots, CAFOs, slau…

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In Season

Tonight for dinner we had a number of dishes that can only be made when their key ingredients are in season. During the long wait from one summer to the next, it's easy to forget what summer fruits and vegetables taste like. Fresh and exciting things I used and made:<br /><ul><li>Chopped tomatoes. The local tomatoes that I bought had a special aroma that you only get when the tomato has been ripened -- almost over-ripened -- on a vine on a farm not far away. Our first course included the tomatoes and a chopped olive salad that was ready-made at Whole Foods, my own cream cheese spread, and herb butter that I made with fresh cilantro.</li><li>Butterflied leg of lamb, made on the grill using a Julia Child recipe. I think it was a very small lamb, perhaps local but I'm not sure. It was the most tender lamb I've ever had.</li><li>Green bean salad with dried mushrooms and red pepper and a light vinaigrette -- the green beans now are small, not old & tough. The red peppers are still the industrial green-house version -- I hope that the odd-shaped local pimentos and nonstandard red peppers become available soon. For them, I will have to make it to the Farmers Market.<br /></li><li>Lettuce salad with Michigan dried cherries, toasted pine nuts, and cherry balsamic vinaigrette. And one touch of Michigan maple syrup.<br /></li><li>Peach cake (which I described <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2008/08/polish-peach-and-apricot-cake-from-new.html">here</a> when I first made it). The very first tree-ripened Michigan peaches are here. They make all the difference. So juicy and soft the "free stones" don't even want to come out. I added a few exceptional-tasting blueberries that came from Western Michigan.</li></ul>Time to get philosophical. Sorry, I haven't the energy -- I was cooking and preparing vegetables all afternoon.

In Season

Tonight for dinner we had a number of dishes that can only be made when their key ingredients are in season. During the long wait from one summer to the next, it's easy to forget what summer fruits and vegetables taste like. Fresh and exciting things I used and made:Chopped tomatoes. The local t…

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Saugatuck Farmer's Market

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4844566150/" title="market3571 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market3571" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4129/4844566150_79ae8c0acd.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />Before breakfast (served at 9 by our B&B) we walked up the hill towards the bridge across the Kalamazoo River to Douglas. Saugatuck has a farmer's market on Friday mornings -- we stopped to look around -- it seemed deserted. Later, our B&B hostess explained the lack of customers: the yacht owners show up at 8:00 to buy flowers, and the locals come at 11:00 to buy vegetables. Since we were there just after 8, we saw no one but the farmers. Each one seemed to have his or her own specialty -- blueberries, peaches, tomatoes, corn, flowers...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4844566500/" title="market3565 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market3565" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4106/4844566500_712f1dbf28.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4844566324/" title="market3570 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market3570" height="480" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4133/4844566324_019e3851eb_b.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4844566656/" title="market3567 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market3567" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4091/4844566656_baf9ed8217.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />We ended our 24 hour getaway with around an hour sitting on Oval Beach -- one of the world's most beautiful beaches. See: <a href="http://maetravels.blogspot.com/2010/07/oval-beach-saugatuck-mi.html">Oval Beach, Saugatuck MI</a>

Saugatuck Farmer's Market

Before breakfast (served at 9 by our B&B) we walked up the hill towards the bridge across the Kalamazoo River to Douglas. Saugatuck has a farmer's market on Friday mornings -- we stopped to look around -- it seemed deserted. Later, our B&B hostess explained the lack of customers: the yacht owners sh…

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Marro's Restaurant

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4844567478/" title="morros3564 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="morros3564" height="480" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4110/4844567478_d248daa465_b.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4844567352/" title="morros3563 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="morros3563" height="479" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4104/4844567352_ff81405be7_b.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />Marro's in Saugatuck has been serving American-Italian food for 40 seasons, and they do seem very popular with the crowds of tourists in the picturesque town. After our bike trip to the dunes, we wanted a relaxed dinner -- nothing pretentious (if you want pretentious, Saugatuck can oblige). We also shared a piece of cheesecake, which the menu says is the best in the history of the world. It was good cheesecake, though perhaps age-old global superiority is a stretch.

Marro's Restaurant

Marro's in Saugatuck has been serving American-Italian food for 40 seasons, and they do seem very popular with the crowds of tourists in the picturesque town. After our bike trip to the dunes, we wanted a relaxed dinner -- nothing pretentious (if you want pretentious, Saugatuck can oblige). We also …

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Saugatuck

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4842062770/" title="1twin oaks inn by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="1twin oaks inn" height="480" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4092/4842062770_5dbdf08504_b.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />Twin Oaks Inn was our destination this morning. After an easy drive from Ann Arbor to Saugatuck without traffic surprises, we checked in at around 11:00, feeling that we had <span style="font-style: italic;">retreated</span>!<br /><br />We walked around, looked at the old-fashioned and very old chain ferry and all the yachts in the harbor. The ferryman cranks a crank that pulls the boat across the Kalamazoo River via an underwater chain.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4842123232/" title="chainferry by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="chainferry" height="334" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4091/4842123232_5a04f37ed5.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />Sadly, the Kalamazoo River is currently threatened by an oil pipeline breach upstream, but the water here is not yet affected, and we hope the oil can be contained.<br /><br />We had lunch on the waterfront.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4842063168/" title="1mermaidlunch by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="1mermaidlunch" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4108/4842063168_537a6bf061.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />After lunch Len got our Bike Fridays out of the car -- they both fit in the trunk along with all our luggage. We discovered that a superb bike path has just opened that goes from just outside the town of Saugatuck to the Dunes State Park. It's wide, paved, and has wooden bridges where it goes over swampy creeks. The wood is so new that the bridges still smell like sawdust.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4842062902/" title="bikepath by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="bikepath" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/4842062902_29b96aa957.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />We locked the bikes to a tree in the park and walked over to the beach.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4841446127/" title="beachvw by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="beachvw" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4124/4841446127_1202f5f993.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />After a dip in the perfect-temperature water of Lake Michigan and a long time napping on the beach, we walked back over the dune and started back towards town.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4841446009/" title="froghome by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="froghome" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4109/4841446009_7462046c82.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />I heard frogs singing on my bike. Groucho would ask: what were the frogs doing on your bike? Never mind. The four or five miles of bike path are beautiful, as there is a lot that you see from a bike and not from a car.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/4841445845/" title="1kilwins by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="1kilwins" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/4841445845_39273f0fc2.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />Our last bike stop was for Kilwin's ice cream. Lots of fun things to eat between activities here. Before we end our 24-hour stay we hope for dinner somewhere in town, breakfast made by our hospitable hostess Willa, and maybe even an early lunch.

Saugatuck

Twin Oaks Inn was our destination this morning. After an easy drive from Ann Arbor to Saugatuck without traffic surprises, we checked in at around 11:00, feeling that we had retreated!We walked around, looked at the old-fashioned and very old chain ferry and all the yachts in the harbor. The ferryma…

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Redefinitions

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/07/27/dining/20100728-TACO.html">Here's a really neat NYT slide show</a> about Korean tacos, truly imaginative fusion food.<br /><img alt="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/07/27/dining/20100728-TACO-slide-CU3A/20100728-TACO-slide-CU3A-thumbWide.jpg" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/07/27/dining/20100728-TACO-slide-CU3A/20100728-TACO-slide-CU3A-thumbWide.jpg" />

Redefinitions

Here's a really neat NYT slide show about Korean tacos, truly imaginative fusion food.…

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Bruschetta

<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Bruschetta</span> originally meant "slices of toast with things on them, depending for success on the quality of the bread and olive oil," according to <span style="font-style: italic;">The Oxford Companion to Italian Food</span> by Gillian Riley. During earlier, less prosperous times, Italian farmworkers and laborers spread salt, oil, salami or cheese on stale bread. Today "the concept has been turned upside down, and small, exquisitely put-together morsels are served with wine to stimulate jaded appetites ... . <span style="font-style: italic;">Bruschetta</span> was known and loved in Lazio before its current popularity, as well as in Tuscany and Umbria." (p. 79)<br /><br />As I said about <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2010/07/crudites.html">Crudités</a>, recipes change, and definitions change, just as words change. What Italian farmworker eating his meager snack would have dreamed of the Jack-in-the-Box brand Bruschetta Chicken Ciabatta Sandwich with 660 calories and 26 grams of fat? He might have loved it. (I haven't tried it, as I never eat at that chain.)<br /><br />I decided to make a version of <span style="font-style: italic;">bruschetta</span> for a first course to take to a friend's house last night. My first experience with this dish was partway through its Americanization process -- the garlic-and-olive-oil flavored toast is spread with chopped tomato and basil Maybe this is the trendy Italian version. Here's my product, in progress, and on the table:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcrnXqF7Ghyphenhyphen49lBMP3c-XRhPLKfXVAAJrFSMCrJTXZC4Q-1lCLzQghPSV-XQw2LeZwtlfVQP0uKF4PJW2BMiSwmVTvq_TVgNRFTBourkTgDoOS-BsOB2BNB9Df5TnsPGcCvQqgLIvAWRui/s1600/bruschetta3514.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498301815662463986" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcrnXqF7Ghyphenhyphen49lBMP3c-XRhPLKfXVAAJrFSMCrJTXZC4Q-1lCLzQghPSV-XQw2LeZwtlfVQP0uKF4PJW2BMiSwmVTvq_TVgNRFTBourkTgDoOS-BsOB2BNB9Df5TnsPGcCvQqgLIvAWRui/s320/bruschetta3514.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhdyzQQ8IykKX3ZBXro7Awa675BqLksUsdITZ8zxUYrX1PcwKwUKANLtsZ5_gdk82rhQsTg9z4qGfUSrCB6JqGI6ljQWQmLmoHxTMbuskaGq8cdLA9Xub6QKi96MH2JsnwxLts9yX3mJKo/s1600/bruschetta3516.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498301808140958402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhdyzQQ8IykKX3ZBXro7Awa675BqLksUsdITZ8zxUYrX1PcwKwUKANLtsZ5_gdk82rhQsTg9z4qGfUSrCB6JqGI6ljQWQmLmoHxTMbuskaGq8cdLA9Xub6QKi96MH2JsnwxLts9yX3mJKo/s320/bruschetta3516.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" /></a><br />We all spread our own tomato mixture on the bread, which was sliced from a Zingerman's baguette and browned in good olive oil and crushed garlic.<br /><br />The morphing of <span style="font-style: italic;">bruschetta</span> has in fact taken one really odd turn. At some restaurants in California, they serve the chopped tomatoes -- but not the bread! In one little cafe where I ate last year, in DelMar (near La Jolla), the waitress apologized profusely, when we considered ordering the dish, explaining that she had lost the argument with the chef when she tried to convince him that there should be bread. He was essentially serving <span style="font-style: italic;">bruschetta</span> as a breadless salad. But as Riley says, "Definitions are best not agonized over."

Bruschetta

Bruschetta originally meant "slices of toast with things on them, depending for success on the quality of the bread and olive oil," according to The Oxford Companion to Italian Food by Gillian Riley. During earlier, less prosperous times, Italian farmworkers and laborers spread salt, oil, salami or …

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