Relationship with Food

It's been interesting lately as I've read articles, read books, and researched food - a theme that keeps popping up is having a relationship with food. As I type out the words 'Relationship with Food', my mind instantly thinks of making bread from scratch. There is something so humbling and relaxing for me about taking a few ingredients, spending a fair amount of time (and patience) in the process of kneading, proofing, forming, baking and cooling and finally enjoying the finished product. I also think of my mom who has a wonderful, abundant garden every year, which yields incredibly fresh, fantastic produce. When I lived in Salt Lake City, I always loved that my mom would give me loads of produce to take home; not only did I love it because she is one of the most generous people I know, but also because her garden always produces so much. Unfortunately, I'm now 1500 miles away from my mom and her garden, but I am lucky enough to have Scott's mom fairly close who also has an incredible garden who loves to share her harvest as well. I think of these ladies and their involvement in literally getting down in the dirt to create something that not only they connect with, but that they share with those around them that they care about.

I watched a documentary the other day called Food, Inc. which I highly recommend. It is incredibly insightful in explaining facts about the relationship between agriculture and large companies and involves personal stories from people whose lives have been influenced by food and their relationship with it. Some of the personal stories include: a mother who lost her young son to the E. Coli virus from eating contaminated meat; Farmers who work for (and are basically controlled by) large companies; Farmers who independently produce and their experiences and insights; a family who is tight with money and isn't able to afford expensive produce, so they buy cheap fast food instead; Big businesses and their involvement with cheap production and labor (touching on the issue of immigration). Truly, I could write this entire blog (and then some) on this documentary, but it could get really political and biased very fast and that certainly is not my intent at all. What it all comes down to is a few key points that they actually stress at the end of the documentary.

• Buy from companies that treat workers, animals and the environment with respect. This may cause you to have to do some research on various companies and what/how they produce, but it'll be worth it - In regard to any other business, I can't imagine anyone would really want to help a business that is disrespectful to their employees, so in addition to that, why would anyone want to buy from a company who is disrespectful to the actual product you are putting into your body?
  
• When you go to the supermarket, choose foods that are in season and buy foods that are organic. This is something that I really intend to work on. I think it goes down to the fact that, generally, Americans don't know what exactly is in season because we can get most things year round. I think we all get a little help of being aware of whats in season in the grocery store - usually it is the produce that is being heavily advertised and on sale (For instance, right now is a great time to get fresh berries).
  
• Know whats in your food; Read labels - Are you having a hard time pronouncing a major ingredient of a product you are thinking of buying and don't know what the hell it is? Food shouldn't be chemically complicated and most fresh ingredients (including meats and dairy) don't need chemicals, growth enhancing hormones, antibiotics or preservatives. People have been doing fine without these chemicals for thousands of years, why do we want to start putting this in our food (and our bodies) now?
  
• The average meal travels 1500 miles from the farm to the supermarket – buy foods that are grown locally, shop farmers markets, plant a garden - Truly speaks for itself. I'm actually really excited to shop farmers markets this year - the mid-west is such an exciting place to be with all the produce that is now in season and grown incredibly close.

Hope that didn't come off too preachy, but I feel it's really important stuff to consider. For me, this is essential knowledge. It would be incredibly hard to work with food with the intent of selling it to the public if I had no idea what exactly is in each ingredient and where it came from. And, I'm going to be very honest - having organic and local ingredients sells. People are (and really, should be) willing to pay for quality.

I've been reading a book called Chef's Story - 27 chefs talk about what got them in the kitchen, trying to get a better idea of the background of incredible chefs today. There have been some interesting stories and backgrounds, but in respect to this blog entry, I'm going to spotlight an incredible chef, Dan Barber. He is the chef behind Blue Hill in New York City and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico, New York - both of which are acclaimed for locally grown and seasonal produce. He was awarded the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef, New York City in 2006 and in 2009 was named James Beard’s Outstanding Chef. (For those of you who don't know, the James Beard Award is the Oscars of the culinary world) What sets him apart is his remarkable ideology of having a relationship with food - working with locally grown and produced food every day in the kitchen, concentrating simply on flavor. I read that one of his restaurants is on the actual farm property that he grows his produce from and people are able to connect the process of seeing the product in the ground that they will be enjoying on their plate later. I imagine it would make the entire experience so much more intimate! Here's a quote from the chapter I read on him recently:

"There are issues that are important to me. So if people are going to say I sound haughty and arrogant and elitist, well, I've stopped counting the number of times I have heard those criticisms. What is important is that organic is more than a word to slap on packaging or on a menu. It comes from organism; it means "the whole." There are three legs to it. It's not just how it's farmed, but who is farming it and, very important, where is it coming from? Who is growing your food? What community is growing it for you? That's the name of the game."

I know doing this research has proved to be more educational than I imagined - but it's really just beginning for me. I'm really excited to develop a better understanding of where the food I plan to purchase is coming from, what's in it, who is growing it - hopefully being more involved with farmers markets here in the city - and I encourage you to do the same. I imagine it's going to be an incredibly rewarding experience.