Food, Waste and Poverty

October 15, 2008 | by Ben 3

This post is for Blog Action Day 2008: Poverty.

What is your first thought on hearing the phrase “dumpster diving”? Is it “Yuck! That’s disgusting!” Or is it “I feel so bad for those people?” or “How can I help?”

Our knee jerk reaction is to judge and pity people who do this. Why don’t we instead wonder why so much good food is thrown away?

There are in fact many somewhat well-known essays defending dumpster diving. One is “On Dumpster Diving“ by Lars Eigner, which is in the commonly used essay anthology The Writer’s Presence. And the story “The Tao of the Dumpster” by Dirk Jamieson, on the author’s father’s penchant for bringing perfectly good feasts from the dumpster home to his family, was recently broadcast on “This American Life.”

We throw away around 27% of our food in America including fresh produce, milk and … continue reading

City Fresh

September 21, 2008 | by Sarah 1

A couple of weeks ago we walked by what looked like a tiny farmers market on Coventry Road. We were curious so we stopped by. It was a City Fresh pick up location. I had heard of City Fresh before, but we did not sign up for it because we had a negative experience with a CSA last summer and the pick up time seemed inconvenient.

My opinion changed however when we took a look at what the share holders were receiving. Granted part of the bounty is due to time of year, but the variety was impressive. We were sold, purchased a full ($20) share and eagerly awaited the following week. The first week we received a yellow water melon, tomatoes, apples, garlic, potatoes and more. There was enough of a variety that it was easy to plan dinners around the produce. The produce itself was awesome, and we’ve never before gone through a week’s allotment from a CSA … continue reading

Grilling

July 18, 2008 | by Ben 3

While I own a book or two on grilling and have frequently done Internet searches, I’ve yet to find a concise compilation of what you need to know at the outset. Here is a list of basics I wish I’d known when I’d started:

Always use a chimney starter for charcoal grilling. Putting some vegetable oil on the newspaper helps insure you’ll get a good fire going, as Alton Brown pointed out on Good Eats.
Charcoal (vs. gas) is best for red meat, less important for chicken and vegetables, and not really necessary for fish as it cooks so quickly.
Lump (or hardwood) charcoal is best for grilling–it burns hot and fast–while charcoal briquettes work better for barbecuing, i.e. slow cooking (indirect grilling… continue reading) with smoke.
Outdoor temperature significantly affects grilling time. If it’s 85+ degrees out (like today), decrease times by 10–20%. If it’s in the 50s, increase by the same percentage.
Wood chips should be

Ethnic Markets

July 13, 2008 | by Sarah 2

Ben and I have always shared an excitement for ethnic markets. When I was small my Mom used to take me to the European Import Store near the bratwurst stand at the West Side Market. I still need to have a requisite brat on a soft roll and make a stop into the import store, which will always be the “German Store” to me.

This week we discovered an Asian super market near Warrensville and 480. It was surprisingly large, very clean and well organized (the aisles had English labels). They had a huge amount of fresh Asian produce as well as lots of sauces, soups, noodles, tea, Asian cookware and tea pots. It was like taking a vacation to Asia without leaving town.

So, what is your favorite ethnic grocer, and why?… continue reading

Wall-E

July 11, 2008 | by Ben 0

Why a food blog entry on a children’s movie? I just read this article on Slate and thought readers might be interested. It’s subtitled “This Robot Hates Fat People: What Wall-E gets wrong about obesity and the environment.“

I’d be curious what other people think–but be sure to give the research a good look before you draw any final conclusions.

… continue reading