A blog about food, history, data visualization, and more
(Updated 3/28/15: new information about the San Francisco Diggers and their namesakes from 17th century England. 12/14/16: fixed broken links) Some birthday parties are enlivened by a clown, a magician, or a karaoke machine. But when an legendary restaurant like Chez Panisse hits 40 in a creative city like Berkeley, California, you can expect something […]
(Updated 10/30/16: fixed broken links, changed photos) Over the last several years, the urban farming movement in Detroit has received coverage from a variety of publications, from large newspapers to niche publications. Earlier in the week, the Los Angeles Times looked at Hantz Farms, which aims to use farming to bring Detroit back from the […]
Updated below The Spring vegetables at the farmers’ market again inspired me to cook a Japanese-style meal, using the same approach as the previous meals: preparing a variety of vegetables using several cooking methods. Most of the methods are well-known to me (simmering, searing, steaming) but my skills related to the “raw” method is currently […]
My second Washoku adventure began much like the first: browsing through Elizabeth Andoh’s cookbook to identify a few potential recipes, going to the farmers’ market and buying a variety of produce, then figuring out what to do with it all. This time the “Temple Garden Chowder” in Andoh’s book was the only seasonal and local […]
With this latest meal, I swing back from the Far East to a California cuisine sensibility. California is blessed with an early appearance of Spring vegetables, which can make cooking local foods a simple activity. Just cut them up, cook them quickly, and let the vegetable’s essence shine through. Souffles can be a perfect place […]
Inspiration from AfarFor my second meal of the May 2006 Eat Local Challenge, I took a culinary trip to Japan. It might at first seem strange to go so far during a local challenge, but Japan has a compatible food philosophy, with the foundations including seasonality and simplicity. The non-locality of soybeans–and consequently tofu–creates a […]
In my previous post about my first local meal of May, I promised to post the recipes to the three dishes I cooked. Here they are: Beet-Orange-Walnut SaladIngredients3 beets3 oranges1/2 c. walnuts, lightly toasted MethodWash and peel the beets, then dice into 1 cm cubes. Place in a steamer basket over water in a small […]
The Sources The numbers in the map above indicate the approximate origins of the ingredients for my meal: #1 – Sebastopol (48 mi), Redwood Hill Farm #2 – Santa Rosa (50 mi), Ludwig Avenue Farm #3 – Guinda (67 mi), Riverdog Farm #4 – Winters (50 mi), Terra Firma Farm #5 – Sacramento (70 mi), […]
USGS map downloaded from the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, University of Texas at Austin, found via Wikipedia:Maps. Post-processing with Microsoft Visio and the tools at pixoh.com An Alternative to Petro-Eating The American food system is powered by an immense amount of petroleum: raw materials are transported across the nation, converted into a product, sometimes wrapped […]