Getting Cosy with Pesticides for Christmas?

I simply couldn’t let this one go: “Can you decorate your [Christmas tree] without getting pesticide residue in your lungs and on your skin?” (NYTimes, Dec. 3, 2008)

Mala Pijaca for suits and hardy marketeers

Located in the urban sprawl to the west of the city center, Podgorica’s small market, called Mala Pijaca, targets those who live or work in the immediate area and are in a pinch for produce. While this market might be viewed in a better light if it were the only market in town, when stacked up against Podgorica’s other market, Velika Pijaca (see my previous post), Mala Pijaca is decent at best.

Calling all Food Patriots!

Walk through a supermarket in Podgorica, Montenegro and you will be overwhelmed by the number of labels that include “Montenegro” in their name. Olive oil is prominently named by the region in Montenegro from which it is produced, brand names are often hard to find. In outdoor markets this tendency is amplified by the calls of vendors hawking their goods. In the same way that ‘Florida oranges’ are a class of their own in the U.S., mandarins from certain regions of Montenegro are alleged to be sweeter than others and are advertised accordingly. As I previously wrote, even Nikšićko Pivo, the one beer produced in Montenegro, is considered to be the “national beer of Montenegro” and is held in high esteem by nearly every Montenegrin I’ve met.

 

“What good is an organic carrot with a giant carbon footprint?”

Take a seat Whole Foods and “organic” superstores of your ilk. You are NOT the silver bullet to our 21st century food complex. As Michael Pollan warned in his June 2006 letter to John Mackey, the C.E.O. of Whole Foods Market, local production is a vital component to the food consciousness movement.

Go Dark and Unfiltered for your HEALTH

Yes! Wine is not the only alcoholic beverage that offers some health benefits. In addition to reducing the risk of cardio-vascular disease (a quality of all alcoholic beverages, in moderation), BEER contains vitamins, flavonoids, and antioxidants.

Here’s the catch: you must pour out that mass market “Big Beer” (i.e. Coors, Miller, Budwiser, etc) and pick up a craft brew! While I will spare you my full rant on the superiority of craft beer, know this: craft beers have far greater health benefits. Moreover, craft beers that are darker, unpasteurized, and unfiltered, are better yet.

Honeybee is Canary in Coal Mine

MEPs of the European Parliament are calling declining European bee populations a “bee emergency,” and pressing for EU action. More important than the honey that they produce, bees pollinate the fruits and vegetables that humans consume. Although through selective breeding some vegetables no longer need cross pollination to bear fruit, for many this is not the case.

Preserving a Poultry Industry

While I am certainly a supporter of promoting heritage breeds, farmer reeducation camps (NYTimes article titled “Preserving a Poultry Project” published 11/18/08, read here) seems like an awfully simplistic approach. Without building increased demand for heritage breed birds (for food, farms, etc…), any effort to preserve them for altruistic reasons alone will result in failure.

The Coming D.A. Farm

provisional 'cut of meat payouts'

Whoever said that food and politics don’t mix was fantastically mistaken. As a political junkie, poll addict, and FiveThirtyEight.com groupie this election season I wagered the farm on Obama and won BIG. 

As a prologue to the run-down of my winnings, a brief note on intent: In writing this post, I invite the suggestions of all readers as to particular breeds of animals, farms from which they can be purchased, and any other advice for a first-time animal farmer. If all goes as planned, the Delicious Attack Farm will open its doors during the late spring/early summer of 2009.

Nikšićko Pivo

Shortly after I arrived in Podgorica, I found myself staring into a florescent-lit cooler at a small market nearby my apartment. I had sampled a Nikšićko Pivo on my first day out and about, and was in search of something different. I found it. In a cooler packed with bottles and cans of Nikšićko, half a shelf was filled with bottles of Jelen Pivo, the national beer of Serbia.

Bringing my bottle of Jelen to the cash register I was greeted with a wagging finger. Not yet proficient in Montenegrin, I was unable to understand the cashier, and opted to place my bottle of beer next to the register and take out my wallet. No sooner did I release the bottle of Jelen from my grasp, then it was picked up by the attendant, brought back to the cooler, and exchanged for a bottle of Nikšićko.

Boston Hay Market Sriracha

A. Maki:

Mark Bittman’s NYTimes article of Nov. 18th on homemade hot sauce (read here) made me reminisce about our own Hay Market sriracha. Different from his recipe, I recall that we used cider vinegar instead of white wine vinegar, and that we tossed in a healthy amount of garlic. Owen, if you’ve got this recipe on paper somewhere, post it here for a useful side-by-side comparison.

Also, have you ever been to THE ‘hot sauce blog’?

O. Maloy:

We made two versions of the sriracha. The first was simply a combination of habaneros, jalapenos, fresh cayenne peppers, tons of garlic and a few glugs of cider vinegar. I don’t have the exact recipe, but I would guesstimate that we added…

• 1 part habanero,
• 2 parts jalapeno,
• 3 parts cayenne, and
• 2 parts garlic,

…all rough chopped, to a saucepan and poured in enough vinegar to just cover them, and a pinch of salt. We then allowed the chili mixture to simmered for about 20 minutes. After removing the pot from the heat and allowing the chili mixture to cool, we poured everything into a food processor and pureed it into a sauce.

This was my favorite recipe. It was delicious, had a great red color, was firey hot, and did not spoil since it contained so much vinegar. The other version was made with all green chiles and had some cilantro in it.

Sriracha: Put it in your SALAD DRESSING

I found out the secret to great salad dressing: sriracha. I added just a tiny bit of sriracha to my last batch of salad dressing, which was made of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, salt, pepper and a scant half teaspoon of sriracha. 

The sriracha added a little something to the background that took the dressing above and beyond your typical homemade dressing. Also, I was afraid that it would add a southeast Asian flare to the salad that I didn’t quite want at the time, but it did no such thing. The sriracha helped to emulsify the salad dressing, too.