firstly, foodie business. here's a representative pic of the spoils of our most recent farmer's market outing at t'afia:
when we got home, husband used his cooking prowess to make me this delectable thing:
the great difference between Canino's market and t'afia is that at t'afia you're definitely getting local products, which meant there wasn't as great a variety of choice as Canino's in terms of products and it was a bit more expensive (I think we spent about 30 bucks). some of our groceries (okra, little eggplants, and sweet potato tops) came from a community garden in the 5th ward, mushrooms and bell pepper from another local farm, new potatoes from another, cheese from another, and yard eggs from another. We sampled other tasty treats, and are excited to purchase other offerings in the future when our grocery envelope has a bit more cash in it (especially some locally made andouille sausage and refrigerated chicken samosas, both of which knocked me out). Canino's and their vendors have a ton of food available, much of it still acquired from California and whatnot (or wherenot). frankly, I enjoy the shopping experience of both. t'afia had some really cool specialty items... booths with beautiful oragami mobiles and framed art, gorgeous and delicate jewelry and accessories, and locally made seasonal soaps and face scrubs. not cheap... but sort of special, if you're in the market for that.
in rifling through my podcasts this week, I came across this one, Hands Off My Haagen-Dazs And IKEA on NPR's Talk of the Nation, featuring guest Charlotte Allen. Ms. Allen wrote this op ed piece in the LA Times recently, calling out food snobs everywhere. personally, I find the whole thing pretty funny, as Ms. Allen comes off just as humorously snarky and pretentious in her defense of cheap food and derision of various social critics as anyone in the hardcore locavore camp. while I support the freedom of folks to spend their dollars as they see fit, I don't have much admiration for her reasoning that because we're in a recession we should naturally migrate to the cheapest options available regardless of quality or product history, for food or anything else. nor do I think that people who decide to seek out products based on different criteria such as seasonality, manufacturing information, etc - yes, even in a recession - fall into the category of snobby elitism. what's so wrong with choosing to eat foods in season? is it so offensive to us to endorse personal limits of the dietary variety? so odd that such an idea should be connoted with elitism, especially in a nation that touts diets based on people depriving themselves of entire categories of food, like carbs, as a healthy eating option. and finally, my other problem with the way Ms. Allen's represented herself in both articles is her seemingly flippant attitude toward the economic realities of the actual local farmer and the effect our spending patterns have on anything outside of our borders....'that problem's in Mexico, what can we do about it? that's their problem, now give me my cheap strawberries in the dead of winter.' I think a lot of us share this tension of local/global responsibility to varying degrees about a myriad issues, but that doesn't make our stubborn "I want my cheap stuff!" stance any more attractive or ethical.
speaking of ethics, Ms. Allen suggests that foodies and locavores are out-of-touch nutjobs for encouraging people to spend more money on food even as jobs are disappearing and Americans are seeing how far they can stretch their bucks. true, many people find themselves in uncertain and scary economic times, but I wish she'd addressed the topic a little more in-depth - which, I must say, is my primary dislike of extreme pieces like this on either side of an issue... IMO, if you want to be most effective in stating your thesis, demonstrate that you've listened to and fully understand where the other side is coming from. the argument for spending more - or just differently - on food and choosing a better food product, while certainly tied to and affected by environmental and other factors for some people, is fundamentally based on perceptions of health: what are you choosing to put into your body to make it run? if that question becomes important to you, you'll try to make room for the answer that works for you, just as we attempt to make room for any other commodity/benefit we really want (not that that means we can always have it). for some of us, we ARE willing to forego extraneous costs in other budget areas, because we think our food choices might be more important to our overall health and well-being over the long haul. ELITIST JERK, WANTING TO BE HEALTHIER!! just jokes, didn't mean to shout at you there. I also think her points could come across a bit condescending to people on tight budgets, many of whom still manage to work long hours, avoid the dollar menu at Jack in the Box, and quietly structure their time to serve their families many whole or home-prepared foods. I was telling the husband that I'm not convinced that buying from farmer's markets (and using the local grocery store in tandem/supplementally) is that much more expensive than buying everything at your local Kroger or HEB, depending on how you choose to shop and the types of food you're looking for. I think it all lends itself to being very adaptable, if a person wanted to spend a little extra time shopping (which is probably one of the biggest issues... grocery stores are an easier 'one stop shop'). in our experience so far, we're not buying a lot of extra, processed/long-storage goods to stock our pantry... we're tending to purchase more fresh foods which is forcing us to eat what we've bought with whatever we already have in various combinations over the week before they spoil. plus, we haven't been buying as much meat (though our sausage/bacon consumption might have spiked since we found the both 'natural' and Texan Pedersdon's Farms brand) don't get me wrong, though... we still spent all of our grocery money this month.
one more little observation... I do think these topics also come down to people's preferences, and as much as I enjoy good debate I wish we -collectively - didn't feel a need to express our own likes in the context of villainizing another. preferences are feelings, and are highly individual. mine are subject to change a lot, too. we're enjoying our various food experiments, undoubtedly, but I wouldn't make value judgements about how other people choose to feed their families. as I've heard, "it's safe to assume that people are generally trying to do their best with what they've got".
and the best I've got today involves dried 'cow' beans (because they're totally black and white) in the crock pot with some onion and a chunk of the pork loin we defrosted yesterday. dried beans are such a good, cheap option, and I LOVE any sort of bean under the sun... my main issue is remembering to put them on to soak the night before.
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the other night we thawed some Christian Cattle Company beef patties (thanks, Mom and Dad!) to grill up burgers. at one point, M came inside, handed me one of those hand lighter things, and told me to follow him outside. with Chino pacing around our legs and sniffing longingly at the grill, M read the oncologist's report from this month a year ago, when a growth was removed from our sweet old dog's mouth and found to be malignant. the prognosis wasn't good... Chi was given a matter of months before they thought his health would start deteriorating. the medical options were both invasive and expensive, so we decided to allow our dog to live as many days as God would let him while we spoiled him a bit and made the most of our time together. here we are, a year later, and he's still with us. we commemorated the anniversary by ceremoniously burning the report in our chiminea and giving this good dog a hamburger.
lookee!! the husband *just* forwarded this email correspondence:
Good Day Dr. E,
Last year we visited your office with our dog Pacino after a malignant growth was found in his mouth by his GP. You took care of him and presented us with some options, which unfortunately were well beyond what we could spend to fight canine cancer. So we decided to do nothing, and let him live the rest of his days with a little bit table food and new chew toys until he appeared uncomfortable. I remember you suggested that he would have about 4 months.
I know that where you work you deal with a lot of terminally sick pets and parents who have to cope with losing someone they've loved for a decade, the same as losing a young child. I can't say that I know what it takes to work in that environment every day. So I thought you'd like to know that Pacino is still with us, a year later, with no signs of slowing down. He loves to play and run, he still jumps up on furniture he shouldn't, he still brings us his toys to let us know it's time to give him attention. All of the things that make him who he is are still there, every day. Since our trip to your office we've lived every day with Pacino as a special one, and that has made the last year more significant for all of us.
MGB
and her response:
I am so happy to hear the "good stories". I always love it when they exceed our expectations. You have the right mind set- just cherish each day you get and love him to the fullest. Spoil him rotten!
Dr E
so sweet. :) I love that M thought to write her.
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the other night, we took in the Happy Mondays and Psychedelic Furs at the House of Blues. I really had a fun time... I didn't get a good pic of the Happy Mondays, but they put on a super fun, groovin' show and I liked them a lot. here are pics of the PFs... M joked that their lead singer looks like an architect, or a software developer. they were great, and still sounded like themselves. here's a little clip of 'Pretty in Pink':
I'll close this entry with some random pics from the last week or so. note my choice to break out the UGGS even though we've only really had one cool day so far. I'd wear these babies all year 'round if I could.
-m.y.
