We are two city dwellers learning to can, pickle, bake and cook in a manner that is nourishing both to the body and the conscience. Eating local has been important to us for a while, and having moved to NYC from California, we realized how lucky we had been to live in such a diverse agricultural center. Our first winter in NY was a real wake up call - there are only so many cabbage, potato and turnip dishes you can eat!
The next summer, remembering all of the cans of home grown veggies my grandmother had in her cellar in upstate NY, I was determined to learn how to pickle and can. Once we got over the fear of botulism and accidentally killing our friends and family, it became a really enjoyable and satisfying process. And there is nothing better than opening a can of farmers market tomatoes in the middle of a snowstorm in February.
The more we shopped the markets and canned, the more fanatical I became (and the more Craig benefitted from my fanaticism). I was picking up cookbooks left and right, trying out new recipes, reading about local farms, fisheries and ranches. In the middle of this, it occurred to us that we should take a closer look at the packaged foods we were eating (granola bars, crackers, etc). Having thought that we were doing the right thing by buying "organic" or "natural" products, it was quite a shock to learn just who owned the supposedly small, natural companies - Monsanto, Johnson & Johnson and Kellogs just to name a few. Truthfully, these aren't the companies that we want to support with our dollars. So, we are trying to make what we can and find worthwhile companies to support when we can't.
We aren't naive enough to think that this will be easy or that we can cut big business out of our diet entirely (or that we will only eat local or only eat organic). And we aren't suggesting that anyone else needs to do this. We just want to give it a go, try to do as much as we can. Sometimes we'll suceed. Sometimes we will fail miserably and will have to report back on our kitchen disasters. And sometimes I'll have to confess that I gave in to my craving for a spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's.
The next summer, remembering all of the cans of home grown veggies my grandmother had in her cellar in upstate NY, I was determined to learn how to pickle and can. Once we got over the fear of botulism and accidentally killing our friends and family, it became a really enjoyable and satisfying process. And there is nothing better than opening a can of farmers market tomatoes in the middle of a snowstorm in February.
The more we shopped the markets and canned, the more fanatical I became (and the more Craig benefitted from my fanaticism). I was picking up cookbooks left and right, trying out new recipes, reading about local farms, fisheries and ranches. In the middle of this, it occurred to us that we should take a closer look at the packaged foods we were eating (granola bars, crackers, etc). Having thought that we were doing the right thing by buying "organic" or "natural" products, it was quite a shock to learn just who owned the supposedly small, natural companies - Monsanto, Johnson & Johnson and Kellogs just to name a few. Truthfully, these aren't the companies that we want to support with our dollars. So, we are trying to make what we can and find worthwhile companies to support when we can't.
We aren't naive enough to think that this will be easy or that we can cut big business out of our diet entirely (or that we will only eat local or only eat organic). And we aren't suggesting that anyone else needs to do this. We just want to give it a go, try to do as much as we can. Sometimes we'll suceed. Sometimes we will fail miserably and will have to report back on our kitchen disasters. And sometimes I'll have to confess that I gave in to my craving for a spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's.
Comments
Post a Comment