If you are a native Clevelander or a person who is interested in food or family, the video I've linked below is an hour well-spent, with familiar faces like Michael Symon and Leon Bibb offering interesting commentary and memories. I just stumbled onto it on youtube and thought it was terrific. I hope you'll have a chance to watch some of it, if not the whole thing.
http://youtu.be/4z-eR_VJ7XQ
The filmmakers did a good job showing how Cleveland's food history means different things to different people. They even captured my very personal food experience--- the still photograph of an old Heinen's store (at 20:01) made me catch my breath. As far back as I can remember, for our family, food meant Heinen's. My father even worked there for a spell. As a toddler, I slipped out from the watchful eye of my daycare playgroup coordinator and ran away. It was not an aimless escape-- I could see the Heinen's roofline in the the distance. I knew if I could make it there, I might be reunited with my mother. Living less than 1/2 mile from the flagship Heinen's store, my mother was able to indulge in daily shopping trips in order to have the freshest produce on our dinner table. It is hugely significant that I associated the corner grocery store with family and security...with MOM. The aforementioned still shot was very typical of the Heinen's stores of my youth...heck, it might be "my" store...and I loved seeing it in this documentary.
I know the world has changed a lot, as have our eating and shopping habits. But unlike my faster-paced corporate peers and neighbors, I find myself at my local Heinen's every day of the week, though my visits are mostly for work. But in doing so, I have dodged the faceless experience that some folks have grabbing a frozen TV dinner or prepared sandwich at whatever store (or convenience mart or gas station) is handy to the commute home. Instead, I've had the opportunity to get to know people working and shopping there so my food experience is truly an integral way that I connect with my community.
And gosh, when I really think about it, that makes me so very happy. I guess it's OK that I am not a regular at some of the other more famous food shopping institutions that make Clevelanders proud and make neophyte foodies gush like teenagers when describing their grocery shopping experiences. Those institutions and cheerleader-types are arguably important to the overall culture of Cleveland, but I can't discount the fact that I've got a pretty cool connection with the folks right here in my little old neighborhood Heinen's. And if you've got a good thing going in your neck of the woods that makes you feel connected AND well-nourished, then amen to that, and please let us know all about it.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
High Fat Dairy and You
I know a fair number of people who won't touch dairy. I know even more people who regularly consume dairy but insist, even passionately, that it must be no-fat or low-fat. The low-fat hysteria of the 1980's was very successful in changing the way most of us eat, since most of us want to be trim and healthy, and low-fat eating was touted as the key toward those aims. I had to repeatedly prod my local grocer to please carry the full-fat version of a Greek yogurt when it was first introduced. When they initially stocked this new product, they only offered fat-free and 2%, so convinced were they that the full-fat version would be wasted inventory. They knew, from experience, what their customers were buying, and it was NOT full-fat dairy.
Well, healthy food consumers, keep your ear to the ground for developing news on dairy. It seems that low-fat may not benefit you in the way that you thought. We have always known that fat makes it easier for your body to assimilate the vitamins and proteins in milk, but the common sentiment was that the benefits of low-fat outshined the benefits of increased nutrient absorption. Now scientists are probing into whether the benefits of low-fat dairy are what we thought they were at all.
Stephan Guyanet is a neurobiologist who publishes an informative and accessible blog. He has just finished a most interesting study on the full-fat vs. low-fat dairy question. You can read it here: http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2012/07/new-review-paper-by-yours-truly-high.html
Stay tuned to stay healthy....
Well, healthy food consumers, keep your ear to the ground for developing news on dairy. It seems that low-fat may not benefit you in the way that you thought. We have always known that fat makes it easier for your body to assimilate the vitamins and proteins in milk, but the common sentiment was that the benefits of low-fat outshined the benefits of increased nutrient absorption. Now scientists are probing into whether the benefits of low-fat dairy are what we thought they were at all.
Stephan Guyanet is a neurobiologist who publishes an informative and accessible blog. He has just finished a most interesting study on the full-fat vs. low-fat dairy question. You can read it here: http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2012/07/new-review-paper-by-yours-truly-high.html
Stay tuned to stay healthy....
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
MAKE Them Eat Cake
I could be getting old and cantankerous, but I can't take the nincompoopery of the ubiquitous food experts out there for very much longer.
I accidentally stumbled upon a blog belonging to a "food coach." She tells you what to eat so you can be beautiful (like her, naturalement!). Of course, that's what every diet book has been doing all along, but this woman's approach is so artless. She basically comes right out and says: "Here, Ugly...eat this and that, like I do, because I am fabulous and gorgeous and I have a superstar life in NYC that's better than yours can ever be out there in hill country. And, oh...no pouting! I'm just trying to help you, poor thing."
She goes on flitting about her smoothies and her probiotics while she rallies around the impossible diet du jour, whatever it might be. She anthropomorphizes the chia seed into a young coquette, referring to the seed as a "she".
I cannot suffer a fool like this gladly.
The blogger has an assistant whom I suspect she does not pay, who sometimes helps her with the blog posts. Poor kid probably wonders how she'll make the rent while the boss lady has inflated the import of her gopher work as a substantial part of her young charge's curriculum vitae. After all, this lucky child hit the mother lode when she stumbled upon this opportunity to grovel for such a beautiful member of the culinary elite.
Oh, Puh-leaze! I'd give you the blog address so you could be fed up with people like this, too, but I don't dare drive more traffic to her self-serving site.
Yes, I agree food can contribute in great part to overall health and vitality, and anyone who is healthy and strong radiates their natural attractiveness more brightly than their peers who woke up sallow, bloated, sick, or hung over due to long-term misguided choices. So, please, by all means, DO eat well. But once you find out what eating well means to you, don't think you've cornered the market on health and beauty. You haven't.
Because as awesome as your blood counts look on a low-glycemic vegan diet, there is someone down the street who has recharged their health with a primal steak with lots of marbling and butter sauce.
I earn my wages primarily as a "healthy" chef. I cook for people in the way that they believe, or their doctor has told them, will keep them healthy. And let me tell you, there is a looooot of variation in these healthy diets. And you don't necessarily have to subscribe to the food trend du jour to be healthy. You don't have to wear jeans with skinny ankles. Or T-shirts with tattoo-inspired cursive writing on them. You don't have to shop at the grocer whose staff goes in for the homely look because "homely" sounds like "homeopathic".
You can do it however you want. And you should. Because among other things, the healthiest gift food can give you is a few moments of pure pleasure shared amongst the community of your dining companions. I can't think of anything healthier than breaking bread and sharing stories with good friends and family, even if said bread is not sprouted flaxseed with raw organic almond butter.
Me? I'm into baking lately. I bake a couple cakes a week. I used to hate the pastry arts, but now I find that it simultaneously stimulates my curiosity about the chemistry of food, while the whole ritual relaxes me. So, I am exercising my brain (potentially staving off Alzheimer's) while I reduce stress (potentially staving off wrinkles, gray hair, hypertension, and heart disease). I also cement relationships with the surprised smiles of family members and friends who get to keep the products from my baking lab. Finally and counter-intuitively, I seem to be dropping pounds as the baking hobby gains momentum. In fact, my sister sent me an article stating that the occasional, reasonable serving of high carb sweets may actually normalize grehlin, the hormone that controls your appetite.
That sounds pretty healthy to me even if it makes the highlighted hair on that upper-east side, know-it-all blogger stand on end.
Now, wouldn't it be great if we could make those blowhards sit down and eat a piece of cake every once in a while? It might give the rest of us in the food business a moment of peace from their non-stop proselytizing while they actually got some enjoyment out of life at the table.
I accidentally stumbled upon a blog belonging to a "food coach." She tells you what to eat so you can be beautiful (like her, naturalement!). Of course, that's what every diet book has been doing all along, but this woman's approach is so artless. She basically comes right out and says: "Here, Ugly...eat this and that, like I do, because I am fabulous and gorgeous and I have a superstar life in NYC that's better than yours can ever be out there in hill country. And, oh...no pouting! I'm just trying to help you, poor thing."
She goes on flitting about her smoothies and her probiotics while she rallies around the impossible diet du jour, whatever it might be. She anthropomorphizes the chia seed into a young coquette, referring to the seed as a "she".
I cannot suffer a fool like this gladly.
The blogger has an assistant whom I suspect she does not pay, who sometimes helps her with the blog posts. Poor kid probably wonders how she'll make the rent while the boss lady has inflated the import of her gopher work as a substantial part of her young charge's curriculum vitae. After all, this lucky child hit the mother lode when she stumbled upon this opportunity to grovel for such a beautiful member of the culinary elite.
Oh, Puh-leaze! I'd give you the blog address so you could be fed up with people like this, too, but I don't dare drive more traffic to her self-serving site.
Yes, I agree food can contribute in great part to overall health and vitality, and anyone who is healthy and strong radiates their natural attractiveness more brightly than their peers who woke up sallow, bloated, sick, or hung over due to long-term misguided choices. So, please, by all means, DO eat well. But once you find out what eating well means to you, don't think you've cornered the market on health and beauty. You haven't.
Because as awesome as your blood counts look on a low-glycemic vegan diet, there is someone down the street who has recharged their health with a primal steak with lots of marbling and butter sauce.
I earn my wages primarily as a "healthy" chef. I cook for people in the way that they believe, or their doctor has told them, will keep them healthy. And let me tell you, there is a looooot of variation in these healthy diets. And you don't necessarily have to subscribe to the food trend du jour to be healthy. You don't have to wear jeans with skinny ankles. Or T-shirts with tattoo-inspired cursive writing on them. You don't have to shop at the grocer whose staff goes in for the homely look because "homely" sounds like "homeopathic".
You can do it however you want. And you should. Because among other things, the healthiest gift food can give you is a few moments of pure pleasure shared amongst the community of your dining companions. I can't think of anything healthier than breaking bread and sharing stories with good friends and family, even if said bread is not sprouted flaxseed with raw organic almond butter.
Me? I'm into baking lately. I bake a couple cakes a week. I used to hate the pastry arts, but now I find that it simultaneously stimulates my curiosity about the chemistry of food, while the whole ritual relaxes me. So, I am exercising my brain (potentially staving off Alzheimer's) while I reduce stress (potentially staving off wrinkles, gray hair, hypertension, and heart disease). I also cement relationships with the surprised smiles of family members and friends who get to keep the products from my baking lab. Finally and counter-intuitively, I seem to be dropping pounds as the baking hobby gains momentum. In fact, my sister sent me an article stating that the occasional, reasonable serving of high carb sweets may actually normalize grehlin, the hormone that controls your appetite.
That sounds pretty healthy to me even if it makes the highlighted hair on that upper-east side, know-it-all blogger stand on end.
Now, wouldn't it be great if we could make those blowhards sit down and eat a piece of cake every once in a while? It might give the rest of us in the food business a moment of peace from their non-stop proselytizing while they actually got some enjoyment out of life at the table.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Not so Hot Toddy
Toddy...not the stuff Grandpa drank when he got a head cold, but the stuff that Coventry Arabica used to use to make the world's finest Cafe Mocha back before there was a coffee shop on every corner. Toddy is cold-brewed coffee and one of those things I never think of at 6:30 a.m. when my brain is on autopilot and I robotically fill up the reservoir on the classic drip-style coffee maker.
Although some fanatical purists may practically show their teeth while arguing their favorite method, I think there are so many ways to make a good cup of coffee. I've had outstanding joe from a French Press, from a percolator, from a Melitta filter, even from a saucepan (Turkish style). My basic opinion is that the coffee itself has to be halfway decent and it has to be made with a little focus. Other than that, however you want to get those coffee grounds wet is all up to you. Just make sure to save me a cup.
The reason why I am brewing some toddy overnight is because the heat index is currently in the triple digits and, much as I need a kickstart in the morning, a hot beverage doesn't hold as much appeal right now as it does mid-January. But the thought of an iced beverage in the morning, balanced somewhere between mellow and bitter, is making me want to go to sleep right now, just to rush tomorrow!
This month's Bon Appetit magazine had a one-page blurb on cold-brewed coffee, which is what got me going. The magazine gives proportions to make a whole pot. The Bon Appetit writers also have a similar blog post on the matter here: http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/2011/09/how-to-make-your-own-cold-brew.html
Since I am only planning on drinking a couple of cups of the stuff, here are my reduced proportions that I have brewing right now:
3/4 C coarsely ground coffee beans
4 C of water
Everything just gets all stirred up in the same vessel and allowed to sit overnight. I plan to filter out the grounds through a cheesecloth-lined strainer in the morning.
I have great expectations for my toddy. And as long as I am deviating from my hot black coffee routine, I may even indulge in a wee bit of heavy cream.
Although some fanatical purists may practically show their teeth while arguing their favorite method, I think there are so many ways to make a good cup of coffee. I've had outstanding joe from a French Press, from a percolator, from a Melitta filter, even from a saucepan (Turkish style). My basic opinion is that the coffee itself has to be halfway decent and it has to be made with a little focus. Other than that, however you want to get those coffee grounds wet is all up to you. Just make sure to save me a cup.
The reason why I am brewing some toddy overnight is because the heat index is currently in the triple digits and, much as I need a kickstart in the morning, a hot beverage doesn't hold as much appeal right now as it does mid-January. But the thought of an iced beverage in the morning, balanced somewhere between mellow and bitter, is making me want to go to sleep right now, just to rush tomorrow!
This month's Bon Appetit magazine had a one-page blurb on cold-brewed coffee, which is what got me going. The magazine gives proportions to make a whole pot. The Bon Appetit writers also have a similar blog post on the matter here: http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/2011/09/how-to-make-your-own-cold-brew.html
Since I am only planning on drinking a couple of cups of the stuff, here are my reduced proportions that I have brewing right now:
3/4 C coarsely ground coffee beans
4 C of water
Everything just gets all stirred up in the same vessel and allowed to sit overnight. I plan to filter out the grounds through a cheesecloth-lined strainer in the morning.
I have great expectations for my toddy. And as long as I am deviating from my hot black coffee routine, I may even indulge in a wee bit of heavy cream.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Are We Eating Local? ...Are We Not Eating Local?
My visiting sister-in-law recently asked me about the strength of the local food movement here in the Cleveland area. I thought about it for a minute, then declared that I thought it might be losing steam around these parts.
I based that statement on the fact that fewer people I happen to encounter in my personal life are doing CSAs (community sponsored agriculture "farm-share" programs). And then there was the instance in which I recently called 411 information in order to get the number of an urban farm I was familiar with (when I happened to be in that area having a bit of a produce emergency), and the operator came up with nothing. Zilch. Zip. Nada. Was my farm gone or just poorly marketed??? Additionally, one of my favorite cafes, specializing in local food, was shuttered last fall. Furthermore, the chef of this cafe once confessed to me that the operation was only able to be truly local for part of the year...after all, if you haven't made your fingers bleed from a non-stop autumn canning marathon, you are bound to run out of local produce when Northeast Ohio is under a thick blanket of snow.
So after I went out on a limb and said I thought the movement was weakening, I read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on Chef Dan Barber. You can read it here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304765304577482560684797868.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Barber is a thoughtful, intelligent chef and the article challenges the reader to consider a number of things about sustainable cuisine. Barber also insists the local food movement is only in its infancy, and will continue to grow, even if it is for the "wrong" reasons.
Hmmm....
I have to admit I do see lots of folks trying to grow their own produce in backyard patches and pots along the patio. And if there is a choice at the grocery store, I generally will choose local produce over trucked-in-from-who-knows-where stuff. But who knows how many people are really doing gardens. And who knows how consistent schlubs like me really are while out shopping for food.
I freely admit that I don't make it to the farmers markets a lot, mainly because the hours have not fit my schedule. I don't drive 25 miles east or south to pick things up right at the farm. I have a black thumb and a backyard groundhog I have adopted, so my own personal victory garden is limited to invasive herbs that thrive in spite of my ham-handed care and my voraciously herbivorous yard-mate. Finally, my experience with CSAs is that you had better be creative with zucchini, because, when you open your weekly delivery, you'll think the zucchini bumper crop is never going to end.
However, within the last few days, I have, in my travels, stumbled upon a couple of urban Mom-and-Pop garden and produce markets that sell lots and lots of gorgeous local produce at fair prices. And because I don't have to get there at a specific window in time as I woud with a pop-up/once-a-week farmers market, it makes the shopping experience a lot more practical for me. I will definitely patronize these places. The J&L Open Air Market near University Circle was one of these locations, and I thought the produce looked terrific. No website as far as I can tell, but the address is listed here http://businessfinder.cleveland.com/1114470/J-and-L-Christmas-Trees-and-Open-Air-Market-Cleveland-OH. Another place is Cavotta's Garden Center in Collinwood/Nottingham Village. This place is so cool... even if you are not a foodie or a gardener...it is an idyllic little wonderland tucked into an east-side corner of the city. http://www.cavottas.com/index.html
I am going to do a better job of eating local, even if it means eating my words to my sister-in-law. Not that I want to be yet another tediously preachy, do-right foodie type (because Lord knows, I don't want to be filed under that label), but because I happen to prefer the tenderness of just-picked lettuce over stuff that comes in a vacuum-sealed baggie. I happen to prefer the flavor of a plum that got ripe on the tree over the one that got ripe on the back of a truck. I prefer to shop at small businesses when I can because I'm a small business, too, and I'm hoping that some positive what-goes-around-comes-around karma might bolster my ability to earn a living, too. And when you get right down to it, I really like not having to wait in a long checkout line.
So, for utterly self-serving reasons, I've renewed my enthusiasm for local food. In that previously referenced article, Barber cites hedonism as the fuel behind the local food movement. The activists out there may find this concept base...not good enough to nourish our troubled planet on a multitude of levels.
My in-laws and everybody else may call me a waffler (here I am, eating my words!)...but I'll let the reader draw his/her own conclusions. But I would love to know, honestly, are you people out there in blog-land doing that much local food? Is it easy for you? Is it a pain? Are things better one way or the other??
I based that statement on the fact that fewer people I happen to encounter in my personal life are doing CSAs (community sponsored agriculture "farm-share" programs). And then there was the instance in which I recently called 411 information in order to get the number of an urban farm I was familiar with (when I happened to be in that area having a bit of a produce emergency), and the operator came up with nothing. Zilch. Zip. Nada. Was my farm gone or just poorly marketed??? Additionally, one of my favorite cafes, specializing in local food, was shuttered last fall. Furthermore, the chef of this cafe once confessed to me that the operation was only able to be truly local for part of the year...after all, if you haven't made your fingers bleed from a non-stop autumn canning marathon, you are bound to run out of local produce when Northeast Ohio is under a thick blanket of snow.
So after I went out on a limb and said I thought the movement was weakening, I read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on Chef Dan Barber. You can read it here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304765304577482560684797868.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Barber is a thoughtful, intelligent chef and the article challenges the reader to consider a number of things about sustainable cuisine. Barber also insists the local food movement is only in its infancy, and will continue to grow, even if it is for the "wrong" reasons.
Hmmm....
I have to admit I do see lots of folks trying to grow their own produce in backyard patches and pots along the patio. And if there is a choice at the grocery store, I generally will choose local produce over trucked-in-from-who-knows-where stuff. But who knows how many people are really doing gardens. And who knows how consistent schlubs like me really are while out shopping for food.
I freely admit that I don't make it to the farmers markets a lot, mainly because the hours have not fit my schedule. I don't drive 25 miles east or south to pick things up right at the farm. I have a black thumb and a backyard groundhog I have adopted, so my own personal victory garden is limited to invasive herbs that thrive in spite of my ham-handed care and my voraciously herbivorous yard-mate. Finally, my experience with CSAs is that you had better be creative with zucchini, because, when you open your weekly delivery, you'll think the zucchini bumper crop is never going to end.
However, within the last few days, I have, in my travels, stumbled upon a couple of urban Mom-and-Pop garden and produce markets that sell lots and lots of gorgeous local produce at fair prices. And because I don't have to get there at a specific window in time as I woud with a pop-up/once-a-week farmers market, it makes the shopping experience a lot more practical for me. I will definitely patronize these places. The J&L Open Air Market near University Circle was one of these locations, and I thought the produce looked terrific. No website as far as I can tell, but the address is listed here http://businessfinder.cleveland.com/1114470/J-and-L-Christmas-Trees-and-Open-Air-Market-Cleveland-OH. Another place is Cavotta's Garden Center in Collinwood/Nottingham Village. This place is so cool... even if you are not a foodie or a gardener...it is an idyllic little wonderland tucked into an east-side corner of the city. http://www.cavottas.com/index.html
I am going to do a better job of eating local, even if it means eating my words to my sister-in-law. Not that I want to be yet another tediously preachy, do-right foodie type (because Lord knows, I don't want to be filed under that label), but because I happen to prefer the tenderness of just-picked lettuce over stuff that comes in a vacuum-sealed baggie. I happen to prefer the flavor of a plum that got ripe on the tree over the one that got ripe on the back of a truck. I prefer to shop at small businesses when I can because I'm a small business, too, and I'm hoping that some positive what-goes-around-comes-around karma might bolster my ability to earn a living, too. And when you get right down to it, I really like not having to wait in a long checkout line.
So, for utterly self-serving reasons, I've renewed my enthusiasm for local food. In that previously referenced article, Barber cites hedonism as the fuel behind the local food movement. The activists out there may find this concept base...not good enough to nourish our troubled planet on a multitude of levels.
My in-laws and everybody else may call me a waffler (here I am, eating my words!)...but I'll let the reader draw his/her own conclusions. But I would love to know, honestly, are you people out there in blog-land doing that much local food? Is it easy for you? Is it a pain? Are things better one way or the other??
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