The Moon Meets Local Harvest
At risk once again of devoting this blog to the quiet discussion of amazing films, I will proceed to highly recommend yet another:
Moon, directed by Duncan Jones and starring Sam Rockwell. The trailer doesn't sell it, at least not to me, but it is ridiculously good.
Carl Warner
My mind occasionally does wander past film, art, and music, but, as you may have observed, only in the direction of food and drink!
Sometimes I like to imagine my 18-year-old-self meeting my 34-year-old-self. The good-hearted though junk food/soda/cigarette addicted 18 self takes one look at the 34 self with wrinkled eyebrow, chuckle, and "Whoa...!" 34 smiles and observes 18 sip a Mountain Dew (she is trying not to smoke until after the meeting), feels relief that the word "ma'am" was not used and shrugs, knowing 18 is not prepared to believe the story of her future anyhow.
Carl Warner
My unlikely interest in health food began when I moved to California. It couldn't be helped because the markets were bursting with gorgeous produce that is not readily available in the Midwest, and the cafes and restaurants were cooking this mysterious new produce in forms surpassing deliciousness. Once I began consuming more fresh foods I felt remarkably better and survived a disabling health crisis, which led to complete fascination, several years of studious cooking, experimentation, and reading.
My daughter, Ruby, was then born in 2003 with EE, a disease in which the body reacts to food like an invading allergen. On a bit of a whim, Kris and I decided to take Ruby's allergy tests with her. The most interesting results for all of us came from a delayed-reaction blood test (normal allergy food panels measure acute reactions) to hundreds of foods, called the IgG4. This test is performed in very few labs in the U.S., and unfortunately is not accepted as credible by medical doctors. The IgG4 was, regardless and by far, the most helpful tool not only in our quest to understand what foods Ruby could tolerate, but which foods were causing Kris and I to have chronic health symptoms.
Ruby's allergies include egg, dairy, soy, wheat & all grains except rice, nuts, seeds, shellfish, tuna, pork, corn, tomatoes, asparagus, broccoli, cantaloupe, and more. SO! Following several weeks of withdrawal, we began eating produce, fish, meat, and rice almost exclusively... though Kris and I still admit to the occasional, sudden disappearance of an entire bag of tortilla chips. Enter several more years of fascination, cooking, experimentation, and reading. Since this is our main fare, we have shopped mostly at farmer's market stores...
Carl Warner
Until now!
We are finally beginning the process of joining a CSA. I believe it is the right thing to do on many, many levels. It has been on my list of things to get to ever since reading Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma, followed by every other book he wrote, and eventually looking my 34 self in the eye and convincing her she actually does not have the time or resources to start her own farm at the moment. I feel like I have read all the foodies now, but Michael Pollan is the one who actually moved me to this action, for whatever reason. Even then, I still put it off until now because it is going to be a commitment to do the research, get to know the new foods, and learn a more spontaneous form of cooking.
Two extremely helpful resources:
It appears that, in Arizona, $18-25 will buy you a huge weekly basket of local, organic produce (some of these include eggs), with the option to half or double it, if you please.
Grass fed and free range beef, buffalo, lamb, chickens, eggs, dairy, even ethically caught fish also available in any cut or quantity you can imagine. Are the proteins I speak of here more expensive than found at the store? Absolutely. Did I still find that combining CSA costs for produce and proteins, plus beverages and grains (rice and tortilla chips!) purchased elsewhere cost less than what I am paying now? Absolutely.
Could 34 possibly convince 18 of how exciting and beneficial this is? Hmmm...
We have joined our local CSA also! $15 gets us a HUGE box of vegetables from the South Central Farmers. Opening it is heaven. Every thing I pull out is so beautiful...a work of art. It forces us to eat with the seasons (which I like) and to explore new recipes (which I also like). Eating feels even more sacred.
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Yea! I'm excited about this, too. Help me though, do you think that one box is enough for us, or should we do two? I wish we could do a three week test drive to know!
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Our CSA was really tranformative for us this past summer. It is amazing to live in a place that I can eat local/seasonal meals all year- crazy really. Now when I go to the farmer's market with my own perceived staples, I just buy what ever looks beautiful. I must cease- I could write for a long time, I am food obsessed right now!!
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Lol, yep, when I was researching the CSA's this week, I found myself salivating! I do want to hear people's stories/experiences when time allows!
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Saw moon last Saturday. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Did you catch the short in the special features? The interviews were good too.
I know of a 27 year old who struggles to look at vegetables most days.
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No! Didn't catch the short... but it's around here somewhere, I'll check it out. That's why I told the whole story (again)... it is such a strange twist of fate that I came to eat this way...
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I'm kidding! I too,in a city of chicago dogs and deep dish pizza, find Ruby approved gems like this (where I was when you called me last night):
http://www.greenzebrachicago.com/menu.html.
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MMMMMMM. Call me back so you can take me out to eat there!
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what a fun read. i saw moon at the theater in july i think. i'm ready to see the dvd now. your food journey was well written. our generation is better known for soda drinking and drive through eating. it feels good to make the right food choices.
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Yeah! It literally feels good to make the right food food choices, thus the fascination. Remember produce tests at Martin's?
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