Eighty-Sixed

Want More 80sixed? Try HistorEats!

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 23:59:00 +0000

For the next few months, I'll be pairing up with Natasha Martin of A Digital Feast and other famed fame for a new food blog called HistorEats hosted by The New School Free Press.

Truffle Oil Grilled Cheese - HistorEats debut post!

If you've ever wanted to know why grilled cheese is made with those yellow Kraft singles or what the deal is with those huge English Breakfasts, it's the place for you.

Every two weeks, we'll be giving you new takes on classic foods and little bit of background information to pass onto the dinner guests you'll be inspired to invite over after reading.

Beef Bags - Sustainably Wearing Our Meals

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 23:49:00 +0000

Some of my best friends are vegans or vegetarians or those pescatarians-who-can't-go-without-eating-fish-because-yum-it's-so-good. It might make it hard to pick a restaurant but, ultimately, I'm happy that they've made that choice. I don't ever think that the entire world will stop eating animal products. But with a lot of people being too poor to buy free-range, organic meat, I like to think that those vegetarians and vegans among us are helping to level out the playing field.

Even though books like Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food have taught me all too much about how awful our oceans are, I'll admit to eating sushi on occasion. I'll admit that on a very small student's budget in NYC, I sometimes want to throw some meat into my diet without paying $20 a pound. Maybe it's worse that I make those choices with the knowledge of potential consequences. But, again, there are a lot of times that I choose not to for the same reasons.

That whole concept of keeping things "equalized" again.

Meal-As-A-Bag Bags from Marlow and Sons - NY Post

I like seeing restaurants trying to get as much milage out of their food as possible—making dog treats, using all the organs and fats that most diners would usually push aside. So when I came across these bags from Williamsburg's Marlow and Sons restaurant, I was both impressed and (perhaps) a little bit weirded out.

In addition to making food as edible as possible, they're making it wearable as well. According to an article in the NY Post, some of the same local and grass-fed pigs and cows served in the restaurant have their hides tanned and turned into bags for select customers to buy for $300-400.

Leather bags are nothing new so why does it feel so strange to put all that talk of sustainable eating into your wardrobe? The pioneers would have done it.

I think that while we can talk about wanting "happy chickens" and "slowly grazing cattle" that it's still uncomfortable to actually be confronted by the fact that your meal was made possible only through the death of something else. While a burger may only last for a few hours (a leather bag for years), it's beef not Bessie.

By using the whole animal, we are reminding ourselves that there is a whole animal there to use. Reminding ourselves of what our eating choices actually mean may not turn us all vegan, but it will probably keep us making better decisions just a little bit more often. It's not a solution but it's more than a start.

Common Sense for the Five Senses

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:55:00 +0000

In the last few weeks there have been far too many days when I couldn't keep my eyes open. Not because of tiredness but from some mysterious pain that no one could figure out. This meant hours spent sitting in my arm chair by the window not reading but with an ice pack on my face. During this time, I realized just how much I rely on sight.

Of course sight is a good thing for getting from point A to point B, for paying for purchases, or picking out groceries at the store but it's more than that. If I could keep only one of my senses, it would be sight. I'm a bit lost without it. No reading or writing, no movies...any of those things that fill all of my time except for sleep and the rare social visit.

Reading David Foster Wallace on a cold day

So it made me wonder about the other senses. Though I love food, I would chuck aside taste in favor of sight any day. Is it possible that the meal in front of me wasn't as important as I thought after all? For those people who live and breathe music and just the sounds heard while walking, would they give up being able to feel the difference between a wall and a person to keep it?

Few people will end up realizing what it's like to lose an entire way of interacting with the world around them. It would be even rarer (except in a movie type "your ears or your eyes" situation) to be given an actual choice. But maybe it's worth thinking about.

A year ago, if someone asked me to pick the sense that was most important to me, sight would not have been at the top of the list. Those special pleasures in life—a steaming bowl of soup or a long cuddle—stand out because they aren't things I can enjoy every day. The activities of writing and reading and watching are constants.

This may be a post not entirely about food but, if you think food matters to you, take the time to really wonder what you'd give up to keep your sense of taste and smell.

Because that person is the one who should have their own Food Network show, not someone who gets their pleasure from seeing themselves on television. I want that person to write a cookbook and put so much into it that I'll actually use it for more than the photographs. I want that person to serve me a hot bowl of soup because, thankfully, I can still thoroughly enjoy all five of my senses.

The Sad Truths Behind Meatwater - Who Knows What's Real Anymore Anyway?

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:26:00 +0000

Meatwater Flavors - Till Krautkramer

Perhaps some of you have also heard of this very delicious stuff called Meatwater. It comes in such delicious flavors as beef stroganoff, texas BBQ, cheese burger, and peking duck among others. There's even a contest to come up with your own flavor! Of course, yes, it is odd that Meatwater's packaging bears such a close resemblance to the dreaded, flavorless VitaminWater (Why not just take vitamins? Is that really so hard?). Of course there's also the other caveat that Meatwater isn't all that real to begin with either.

Meatwater was an art project created by New York photographer Till Krautkramer who—if you can extrapolate artistic intent from Meatwater's FAQ—wanted to raise awareness for water conservation, a culture overly obsessed with saving time, and consumerism in general. Sounds like a lot. But the fascinating thing about this project was just how plausible Meatwater was as a product.

Vosges' Bacon Ice Cream

Though blogs are starting to come out with the sad news that, no, you can't drink liquified meat from a bottle anytime soon, anyone who's ever been to the frozen food aisle or, better yet, The Fancy Food Show should know that stranger products exist than these. (Bacon-flavored ice cream, anyone?)

There are also such strange frozen products as Microwavable Pork Rinds, frozen sushi, pickle pops, and (if you're in Germany) Obama Fingers! Meatwater is no Bonsai Kitten—who can honestly blame us for not being able to tell the difference between real and fake foods?

Flavored water isn't exactly anything new either. There are brands like Hint, Aquafina Splash, and VitaminWater that can be found in virtually any grocery store ever. For whatever reason, buying a bottle of water isn't eco-conscious anymore but flavored water has remained okay. Personally, my favorite of all the flavored waters is a brand called Ayela's that costs entirely too much and tastes too good to use in anything but a wonderful summer gin cocktail. But I would never buy a bottle and carry it with me to sip on during the day.

I honestly can't put it better than Krautkramer, "Anyone can do anything they want with a water product. You can sell any liquid as long as it doesn't kill somebody. It's all a matter of taste whether anyone will buy. In fact, it could taste terrible and people would buy the water if it they think that something that tastes god-awful is something more 'real.' Astronauts drink reprocessed urine. Space programs need to reduce water weight in space crafts. We aspire higher."

Well thanks for looking out for us, guys. I'd be the first to say we need all the help we can get.

I Do Not Want a Beer In Hand: Attempts To Escape Beer Culture

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 19:18:00 +0000

Beers I Cannot Love- flickr

Beer and I got off to a bad start. My first memory of drinking it occurred after an accidental taste of beer-ice from where a can had exploded in the freezer. I was seven at the time and ran out the kitchen door spitting it out of my mouth. That'll teach you to think eating ice from a freezer is a good idea.

Years and years later, I've made it a point to sip on any beer my friends or family are tasting. No matter how special or expensive it is, chances are that I still won't like it. I've had Czech beer and German beer and locally brewed kinds that Michiganders and/or Brooklynites drool over. I've tried beer with dinner and at special bars like Williamsburg's Barcade (if only they could keep the games and sell wine or liquor instead) or The Jolly Pumpkin outside of Traverse City, MI.

I would not eat green eggs & ham. I do not like them Sam-I-am

Sadly, I would probably try beer in a house, with a mouse, in a box, in a car (while not moving of course), and any of the other ways Dr. Seuss's Sam tried to get his friend to eat green eggs and ham. But it's a lost cause.

I just don't get this whole beer thing.

It's not something I'm particularly proud of either. At least if you don't like salmon you can still go out to eat. Beer and it's growing culture are a bit harder to escape. Even people who aren't that into wine can simply avoid Napa or order another drink with their meals. It's hard to be in your twenties and not like beer. It's the cheap thing to drink, beer bars are "cool," and in every group of people there always seems to be that one person on their way to being a brewer themselves.

I keep hoping that someday I'll magically understand the fever people catch over a good sip from their steins. Visiting for my friend's birthday, we went to a beer bar called The Dirty Truth where I ordered a glass of wine while everyone else around me enjoyed large $10-15 glasses of beer. I couldn't begin to speak the language. I felt like I was stuck in a physics conference.

You can "not really like gin all that much" or hate the taste of vodka but (from personal experience) 9 out of 10 people do not believe you if you don't like beer.

Maybe it was the ice in the freezer that set me off on a lifetime wrong-foot. Maybe the hops don't agree with me (I can drink Coronas and those fake beers without feeling ill, unlike the good ones). Maybe the world is just out to get me. For someone who likes food so much, I certainly am getting left behind on this trend.

Icy Grapes on a Budget: January's Niagara Icewine Festival

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 02:46:00 +0000

Icewine grapes--flickr

Thanksgiving 2009 marked my first taste of ice wine. I had never heard of it before—grapes and frost we not a combination that I knew could play nicely together. So, sharing a small bottle of Northern Michigan ice wine around the table made me wish the size of it had been less Demi and more Methuselah.

Last summer, visiting Chateau Chantal where the wine was made, I had grand plans of buying a bottle for myself. My friend Jimmy and I took our five free tokens and tasted away. I was worried when I saw that the ice wine wasn’t even available for tasting—a few glasses cost $5 and came with a small plate of dessert. I knew my dreams were shattered when I saw the $68 price tag of the half bottle.

I figured ice wine and I would always be distanced by a gap that a student’s budget couldn’t bridge. Then I came across an article about the Niagara Icewine Festival which goes from January 14 until January 30. Though a $20 bottle isn't exactly cheap or a small fee for a tasting, this kind of drinking is much more budget friendly than $70.

The program makes it a little difficult to figure out exactly how budget-friendly the festival is but there seems to be a lot of cheese and Icewine involved. Inniskillin, one of the favorite ice wine producers, is sponsoring an ice lounge complete with freezing furniture. “Warning: no tongues on the furniture.” (Just in case you were getting any ideas.)

Of course, it seems like I’ve once again found out about a food/wine festival too late to actually attend. I want nothing more than to spend my last weekend before classes driving back up to Niagara and tasting one glass of Icewine after another. At least I got on their email list. There's always next year?

More importantly, there's always wine-by-mail. Maybe someone really wants to buy me a present. It's worth a shot.

(While this video about making Icewine has the same music and photomontage as most promotional tourist videos, it still makes my mouth water. )

The Benefits Of Just Getting That Drink (Company Be Damned!)

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:22:00 +0000

After over a month away from cooking, I attempted to make banana pancakes over the weekend. What I discovered was that making food--like any other art form--requires a lot of practice if you want to do it well. They would have been great! That is, if I hadn't made them so thick that even with the outsides burnt, the very center was still raw. I blame the bananas.

With that effort failed, it was back to pasta until magical-Wednesday when I had three hours to kill between appointments in Manhattan. My entertainment for the evening: walking around the West Village looking for a good happy hour special (and some food as well).

I finally found a little Mexican restaurant called Bamboleo. I wouldn't by any means classify the burrito I had there as insanely cheap or gourmet but the 2-for-1 drink specials sweetened the deal considerably. So, at about 4:30 on a Wednesday evening, I sat myself down at a table by myself and proceeded to drink and eat and people watch and read a copy of The New Yorker.

It's something I don't do nearly enough. I don't remember the last time I sat at a table for one...if ever. When I go to a bar, I can always talk to the bartender or scan the room for someone to strike up a conversation with. Plomping myself down at a restaurant's table screams that I am not only on my own but not looking for your company anyway, thank-you-very-much.

Eating by myself never seemed worthy of more than cooking at home or, for a special occasion (like finals week), ordering some take out. Going to a restaurant was something that I did with friends or a date. "My friend is in town so I guess I should put $30 aside for dinner." Ordinarily, I would have never thought once, much less twice, about spending that kind (read: any) of money on a meal I wasn't sharing with a friend or Netflix instant.

But there I was. The thought of drinking by myself still seems to carry some connotation of alcoholism--that lonely old man sitting at the end of the bar. If I'm not going to let myself have a few glasses of sangria without waiting for someone to join me, I know I could be waiting a long time.

About to taste some wine in Napa, CA.

I've missed out on a lot of things searching for someone to accompany me. I've still never eaten anywhere during NYC Restaurant Week. I miss museum exhibits all the time for lack of a companion. Even traveling seems like something I should put off until I have someone to split the hotel bill with. (Who would take pictures of me standing in front of all those old buildings and majestic backgrounds?)

I found that spending money on myself was a better investment than many of those shared moments. Sappy or not--and maybe that drink special was to blame--it reminded me that I was worth something outside of someone's company. If I want a drink and a filet mignon, dammit, I'm going to have it now!

Why wait to get a date before going out in an evening dress and heels and sitting down at a table at a good or even great restaurant? I should stop pretending...I'm only in it for the food anyway.

Michigan's Greek, Non-Brooklyn, Coney Island Dog

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 16:07:00 +0000

Maybe they’ve always been there. Hidden at stoplights and off highways, tucked into the side of a mall in downtown Ann Arbor. How did I never notice it before? This certainly isn’t my first time in Michigan much less Ann Arbor/Detroit/Ypsilanti area. Somehow, on this visit, the “Coney Island” restaurants are everywhere I go.

2010 Coney Island Labor Day

Living no more than 20 minutes from the real Coney Island, the cuisine of Brighton Beach or the boardwalk seems to be all beer, funnel cakes, and Nathan’s hot dogs. The food is appealing enough on a hot summer day (or at a county fair) but I can’t see myself wanting to take it 600 miles west to Detroit. I can’t see myself wanting to find five different restaurants of the type within a five-mile radius.

But no, it appears the Coney Island restaurant has absolutely nothing to do with Brooklyn other than a name. The first restaurant to bear the Coney Island name was the Todoroff’s Original Coney Island. Located in Jackson, MI, the place has been open since 1914—opening in the midst of Coney Island’s hold on public imagination.

The oddest thing about these Coney Island restaurants isn’t that they originated so far from Brooklyn or even that there are still so many of them around today. They’re Greek-American diners. The main foods on the menu are breakfast dishes, Coney dogs, and gyros. Not quite the combination that comes to mind when I think of an American diner.

Christmas day or not, it kind of sounds like a good lunch to have while I’m visiting. (I had pizza for dinner last night so traditional fare has been off the menu this year.) Where else would I go to get a Coney Island dog?

Brooklyn?

When Should Customers Swallow Their Pride and Ask a Server?

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:02:00 +0000

I was reading this post about a man who is trying to sue because his server didn't tell him how to eat an artichoke. It would be nearly impossible for me to agree with what he is doing. However. it does bring up a question that I've often heard talked about in restaurants. How much explanation should a server give their customers?

It seems to be a nearly impossible balance to maintain. The first time I had foie gras was in a restaurant where I worked. I happened to be friends with my server; if not I probably would have never had the courage to ask whether I should eat it with a spoon or by hand using the tiny little crackers on my plate. Today, all those problems behind me, I would probably be offended if someone gave me a plate of foie gras or caviar and leaned down to say, "Now you don't eat that with your hands I hope you know..."

It's much easier to ask what something is than how to eat it. Maybe you would look a bit silly not knowing what "steak" was but certainly asking about the differences between cuts of meat is not off limits. If you had (somehow) never seen a banana before, I imagine that there would be a fair amount of trouble trying to eat it.

The artichoke, wonderful as it is, is one of the few foods that I'm not sure you could figure out how to eat without being taught. Restaurants are good for a few different things: not having to set the table or clean up, trying foods that are too complicated to have at home, and getting to have foods that you may have never even seen before. But just as you won't have a meal served to you unless you ask your server for it, they certainly aren't going to risk offending you to tell you how to eat it.

Chances are, unless you ask in the most offensive way possible, no one is going to make fun of you for not knowing.

The New Brooklyn Cookbook: A Travel Guide

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 15:08:00 +0000

Everyone loves a good cookbook, whether a staple like Joy of Cooking or the coffee table cookbooks like Big Sur Bakery Cookbook. Still, I wouldn't say the release of a new cookbook (especially one so area-specific) often makes such a splash.

But The New Brooklyn Cookbook is more of a travel guide than something to use in the kitchen. In addition to the featured recipes from 31 restaurants included, there are long descriptions of each place's history, goal, and sometimes interviews with the chefs. More importantly there are photos, not just of the food, but of the restaurants themselves.

And while the food photos in this book certainly look delicious, many of them remind me of why I pay to eat at a restaurant in the first place. "Stuffed Squid with Ratatouille, Polenta Fries, and Balsamic Butter" from The Garden sounds delicious. It also sounds like something I would burn, overpay for, and ultimately make me wish I had gotten take out instead. In trying to show themselves off, many of the recipes given by these restaurants are not only complicated but involve expensive ingredients.

Those recipes give me a photographic taste of the restaurant from my home. Why look to unreliable Yelp reviews when you can see the actual ingredients behind the dishes you order or the full run-down of what the restaurant is known for?

But while you're at home flipping through a cookbook to decide where to eat in Brooklyn, take a moment to appreciate recipes that are meant for an apartment kitchen. The Good Fork's Steak and Eggs Korean Style takes the process of making a fairly normal breakfast staple and adds the twist of kimchi rice and other seasonings to make it new. There's a recipe for mac and cheese courtesy of Dumont and a simple sweet tea from Egg.

Can A Celebrity Chef Restaurant Still Be A Chain?

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 13:09:00 +0000

Chain restaurants are the Wendys, the Chick-fil-A, the McDonalds, and the Waffle Houses of this world (just to name a few). They’re the places that you loved to eat at as a special treat as a child and these days might only be frequented in airports or on long road trips. Some of these places, of course, are a little bit better than the others. Waffle House versus Denny’s and KFC’s buckets versus a tasty Chick-fil-A sandwich.

Chain Chick-fil-A in it's natural habitat, Chancesales

But what happens when the chain restaurants get a little fancier? The next step up the ladder gives you Applebee’s then Olive Garden maybe a California Pizza Kitchen. Here in New York and other large cities, high-class chain restaurants can easily set a guest back $60 per person. Haru, a restaurant group with “nine high class locations” is mostly found on the east coast but a competing sushi restaurant chain (and former employer), SushiSamba can be found from Los Angeles to Vegas to New York to Tel Aviv. Talk about always feeling at home. But why not just go to a place that actually shows the local flavor?

To be fair, I’m not sure Vegas has local flavor apart from casino buffets and what has been brought in by other expensive chains. Not that the food there isn't good—as my over-the-shoulder-reading boyfriend pointed out "they have some of the best restaurants in the world."

For the other cities, it seems that a great restaurant (Craft, Nobu, Momofuku, and others) might get diluted from being too easily accessible. I thought part of the fun of visiting New York was getting to go to great restaurants that couldn’t be found anywhere else.

It’s what makes chefs like René Redzepi (and many more) particularly unique in the restaurant world. In an interview in the Fall 2010 issue of Gastronomica Redzepi said that he would not open a second Noma. “I have the opportunity to be part of something special, something I don’t think I am ever to see in my life again, so I am not going to ruin it just to make more money.”

Not something you hear so often from celebrity chefs anymore, especially when their restaurant has won two Michelin stars.

Recently, there’s been a lot of buzz around Craft chef Tom Colicchio’s announcement that his latest restaurant Riverpark would mark the end of an increase to his Craft restaurants.

But with four restaurants and the “assumption that it dilutes the brand” is it maybe too late? The food at these celebrity chef chains is not chain food. Perhaps, however, it would be better for chefs who want to open multiple restaurants to make them a bit more different from each other. The first place to start might be with the name. Because no matter the differences in menu (shown in particular in the Momofuku restaurants which have the main restaurant and a more affordable noodle bar), if it sounds like a chain it might come off as one.

A successful group of celebrity chef restaurants should each be worth flying across the country to visit. As it stands now I get the feeling that if you’ve eaten at one, you’ve eaten at them all.

What It Means To Be A Foodie

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 12:31:00 +0000

I’ve been thinking about what it means to be “a foodie.” A person who simply appreciates eating beyond the normal experience doesn’t seem like it should be a bad thing, right? It used to be that someone who loved food was simply an epicure rather than a follower of each trend that popped up in the restaurant industry and beyond. Sometimes it seems simpler to have stayed with model airplane building as an interest.

A piece in the Orgonian brought these thoughts back up to the surface. The author, Lee Williams, starts out by saying, “To me, food is what you eat, not what you pray to.” And there’s something to it. That diner down the street that you love—and there’s always one even if it’s stuck back in the recess of childhood—probably did not serve free-range meat or organic fruit. And you, you foodie, loved it.

Courtesy of Schreiner's

There is a restaurant located in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin that exemplifies this for me. Schreiner’s—a place with a gift shop up front where you can buy magnets and an I’ve been going there since before I could formulate memories and the food, which is no wagyu kobe, leaves my entire body satisfied rather than my foodie mind and taste buds. The restaurant—now in its fifth location—opened in 1938 and has been around ever since. My grandmother cooked for her husband and five daughters nearly every night until they were out of the house and then decided that enough was enough. My grandma's home cooking is the cooking of Grandma Schreiner as well.

Although the restaurant now has a Facebook page, little else seems to change in between visits. If there is talk of getting a "new head chef" there, I doubt anyone wonders if Schreiner’s will survive as a result.

While I may have moved houses close to twenty times, Schreiner’s is the one place I can rely on to be part of any family holiday. The qualities that leave me stuck with this "foodie" label are the same ones that have led me to appreciate places like Schreiner's so much. A diner that has been around since the 30's isn't exactly trendy but it's good. As any good foodie, I appreciate the things that keep people coming back to the same place for years—a feeling of being home.

Maybe someday those sustainable and organic restaurants in the neighborhood will end up being the same for children who are young now. It’s possible that ten or fifteen years in the future, comfort food will also be associated with sustainable ingredients. But for now the food that we pray to is also that which keeps us warm and satisfied long into the next day.

Too late for me.

Poverty in Schools...Meet the Comments Section

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 12:49:00 +0000

Washington D.C., according to a Gallup poll conducted last year, was not able to feed 40% of it's children at one point last year. This is why, in addition to the usual reduced-price or free breakfasts and lunches offered by many public schools, an "early dinner" program was put in place. An article in the Washington Post gives further details such as the lack of access to fresh fruit and vegetables for not only children but adults at home who are unable to feed their families. Given the information presented, the dinner program seems like a good move though it will cost the school system $5.7 million this year (government spending whether school system or otherwise always seems to come in numbers that seem somewhat astronomical).

However, a Grist article shone a bad light on other aspects of poverty in schools and in the capital. It called attention, not to the article about school dinners, but the poll conducted by the Post to see if people were in favor of the measure. The results themselves do not say that people simply don't want to feed hungry children but rather that it is not the responsibility of the schools.

Washington Post Poll started 10/12

The comments that go along with the poll, tell a dark story. CathyJS said, "Call it mean spirited all you want but enough is enough, let the parents feed the kids like they're supposed to!" Meanwhile, sideshowbob1 falls into an even lower category by saying, "The year will be 2050 and blacks will still be complaining about being held down and not being able to handle life's requirements without ongoing, permanent government welfare. It's the black circle of life."

At some point in the conversation, the comment section ceased discussing whether or not the school should feed hungry children. People like Trippin1 who write "Because someone had unprotected sex in their teens, had kids and the father ran off, it's our responsibility to provide their kids three meals, free education, free healthcare, foodstamps and social security." may not be the source of poverty or malnourishment for these children. However, many of these commenters are an example of the way in which relatively simple issues like feeding hungry children turn into a rant on poverty and race in general. Stick to the point. The internet is a big place and there are more relevant places than a comment section for The Washington Post to air your views.

The Childhood "Obesity Epidemic" Shouldn't Be About Fat Content

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 22:28:00 +0000

I never heard so many children called out for being fat on a playground as I have since Michelle Obama started her crusade for healthy food. Obesity at all ages is a widely recognized problem and I take no issue—regardless of motive—with people being called toward healthier eating. The more we look toward unprocessed foods and getting our fruits and veggies in, the better the system of industrial agriculture will eventually become. Looking toward organic food does as much for the planet as it does for our tastebuds and bodies.

Just Baby Fat Here, flickr

That being said, if I were a child who was overweight, I don't think I would want all the publicity. "Obesity epidemic" or not, what happened to the idea of letting a kid have some baby fat before slamming them with diets and the idea that they aren't up to a certain standard of beauty?

Alice Waters and related programs which teach children to appreciate a well crafted meal are the solution. The focus needs to be taken off of calorie intake, sugars, and saturated fat being the enemy. Rather, we need to continue this new drive toward making food interesting again.

An recent article in Dailymail revisited the idea of home cooking. According to the piece, consumption of convenience food rose 300% between 1997-2008. The reason for this was not that we were fat and therefore eating microwave meals; we were eating those things because many of us don't have the time or knowledge to do things any other way.

I took almost no interest in cooking until I signed a lease on an apartment. For me, feeling at home immediately equates providing for those who are my guests within it. One of the first things I did after buying a dining room table was inviting people over for a large dinner. I grew up in a manner that saw many meals as something that had to be gotten out of the way to keep a stomach from rumbling. Another article recently examined the findings that one out of every four children eats meals in his or her bedroom.

If food only exists on the level of sustenance then it will never matter if we're eating potato chips or a carefully made, grass-fed pot roast with fresh vegetables. Looking at lowering fat percentages rather than our attitude toward food itself treats the symptoms while letting the same virus rage.

If we remind people of all ages that food can be more than just a source of energy, that it has a fascinating history, that homegrown tomatoes will always taste the best people will eat better on their own. We don't need laws, we need passion.

The Gulf Oil Spill Has Been Stopped: What is Next for Fish and Fishermen?

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 00:05:00 +0000

Spraying Chemical Dispersant, U.S. Coast Guard

There have been a lot of readers coming to this blog for information about the BP Oil Spill's effects on fishermen. In June, before the spill was finally plugged with what can only have amounted to an astounding amount of concrete.

What now? An article published in December 2009 by Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry examined the effects of diesel oil and chemical dispersants on rainbow trout. While the exact makeup of the dispersant used in the Gulf of Mexico is unknown, the study found that "Chemical dispersion increased the bioavailability and toxicity of diesel to trout by 100-fold."

The oil may be gone but damages are just starting to surface.

An article by Abrahm Lustgaten in Propublica points toward the 2009 study being far from unrelated to the Gulf Spill. Lustgaten writes, "the dispersed oil can also collect on the seabed, where it becomes food for microscopic organisms at the bottom of the food chain and eventually winds up in shellfish and other organisms."

With an increasing percentage of the Gulf Coast being opened back up to fishermen, this is not a comforting thought. We may have been protected from finding droplets of oil in our Gulf shrimp but who will continue testing the quality of the seafood over the coming decade? I somehow doubt that Beyond Petroleum has this in their Oil Spill Recovery budget.

I fear us getting into a situation similar to the recent Salmonella outbreak: a recall rather than protection from illness. Fishermen are just starting to get back on their feet. If more hazardous things than oil start being found in Gulf seafood they will once again be out of work, this time without BP's compensation.

A Free School Breakfast For All Students

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 02:27:00 +0000

There's been a lot of talk lately about school cafeterias. Michelle Obama continues her campaign to make meals healthier while Jamie Oliver's food revolution has sparked changes across the ocean to Europe. Meanwhile, bake sales have been banned in New York and soda is vanishing from vending machines across the country.

Except for the bake sale ban, most of these changes have not reached the top of my radar. Having healthy children does start with giving them healthy food but I haven't entirely forgotten the days when caffeinated Pepsi was a necessity to getting through the day. Overall the improvements are just that but if I could give any program full marks it would be the breakfast program implemented in Pueblo, Colorado.

In this school, breakfast is served for everyone. While disadvantaged students are often the only ones given an early morning cafeteria meal, this school has made eating well a community experience. Carts with staples like juice, cereal, and milk are wheeled to each classroom. According to USA Today’s article, it has increased participation in the breakfast program by almost 800% by bringing breakfast to the students.

In elementary school I was not big on breakfast. Most of the meals my mom made me were simply nibbled and in later years I just didn’t make anything at all. While I had no reason to eschew breakfast other than not liking to eat in the morning, I’m sure that many other students feel the same way.

This Colorado program brings together the need to bring food to hungry children with another chance for classmates to socialize with each other. Suddenly subsidized meals are no longer a social stigma. For young students to experience eating together may be the best way to encourage healthy relationships with food later in life.

The quality of the juice and cereal will probably not stay with these students for long. However, the benefits of continuing programs like this one could stay with everyone for generations to come.

Who Is Killing Your Food? Sustainable Fishing for Fishermen and Marine Life Alike

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 01:18:00 +0000

Phan Thiet Fishermen—flickr

There are many articles and books that can help you decide which fish you should eat or avoid. It’s another story entirely to find out which fishermen you should be eating it from. Short of a coastal area where you can drive to the shore and buy freshly caught fish recently dragged from the water, consumers rarely know what part of an ocean much less what boat their seafood comes from.

These were the thoughts that resurfaced while reading a post from Utne Reader about workers off the coast of Santa Rosalia, Mexico. The author, Virginia Sole-Smith reports on a night squid fishing in this town as well as the factory workers who help process the squid before shipping. The dangers of the job at sea kill two to three men each year.

Fish in the grocery rarely carry more information than whether it is Atlantic or Pacific, farm-raised or wild. Forget about getting this information from most restaurants who buy fish from distributors who buy fish from the markets where countless boats and fishermen are represented.

One of my favorite restaurants is Le Petit Bistro located in Rhinebeck, New York. The wooden ceilings makes me feel like I’m in the hull of a beautiful boat and I can’t imagine that the space could seat more than about fifty people at a time.

The entire restaurant’s wait staff consists of a small handful of people like the server, Dan who carries a large chalkboard from which he reads and describes the day’s specials in a truly mouthwatering fashion. The last time I ate there was with a graduation party and one guest asked, as a bit of a challenge, if the fish came from a certain coast.

Without missing a beat, Dan countered that in fact it came from a place slightly near there and went on to describe such in depth geography as to make it seem like he dragged the day’s fish out of the water himself.

If all restaurants and grocery stores operated with this level of precision, places like Santa Rosalia might have a chance at change. Perhaps my recent viewing of The Cove is coloring my perspective on corruption but it seems truly astounding that a simple question like “Who killed my food?” is so hard to answer.

Recipe for One: Quick and Easy Zucchini Pancakes

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:51:00 +0000

What's left of my baby-sized zucchini

As depressing as a one serving recipe may sound, sometimes cooking for one isn't so terrible. It's been a long week and it was a wonderful feeling to get home and make dinner when I was hungry without waiting for people to join me.
This pancake is light and fluffy and would be excellent at dinner next to some potatoes and a healthy dose of sour cream and cheese. It can also be a brunch hit—though I always love pancakes I never feel full after eating them...not the case with these! If only I had some sausage. Yum.

Quick and Easy Zucchini Pancake for One
Though this recipe is fairly filling for one person you can easily double or triple the recipe. If you're using pancake mix pay attention to the quantities given on the box and simply grate enough zucchini and onion that it seems like you have at least half of each. I like the sweetness that a generic pancake mix gives these pancakes but for a healthier option try making the mix from scratch.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup grated zucchini
1/4-1/2 cup grated onion (depending on your tastes)
1/4 cup pancake mix
1/4 cup whole milk
1 egg
pinch of salt

1. Grate zucchini and onion into a large bowl. I liked my final mixture to look more like confetti than ribbons—a medium-sized hole on your grater will work well for this.

2. Add pancake mix, milk, and egg and stir the mixture together.

Pancake about to be flipped

3. Preheat frying pan on low and add batter! With the pancake mix these treats bubbled up especially well and were quite fluffy. No burning here.

You can make multiple small pancakes or do like I did and throw it all together into one large pancake.

So there you have it! Whether using a baby-sized zucchini or smaller ones, enjoy this multi-seasonal treat.

Zucchini Pancakes and Ginger People

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:34:00 +0000

Whew! There's been a lot of catching up to do in food news between the egg recall demanding at least three posts from all major players like the New York Times and the regular industry concerns. It's been a long break from Eighty-Sixed but I wanted to enjoy my Michigan vacation as best as I could. The first week was relaxing and filled with food from The Jolly Pumpkin on Old Mission Penninsula as well as the classic Cheese Shop in Leland.

The second week, well that didn't go quite as planned. A stomach flu finally let up on the same day that my boyfriend had a waterskiing accident that landed him with eight stitches that have finally started to heal a week later. Then he got sick as well, postponing our drive back to New York. My computer also crashed. None of these things are food related but it's still been a pretty series of unfortunate events.

Last night however (and I should have taken photos) we finally made use of the five to ten pound zucchini that I bought at the Ditmas Park farmer's market last Sunday. It was actually the size of a baby and cost $2.00. I am one of the world's zucchini lovers. Squash too. I'll buy one and chop it up into salads, couscous, pasta. I firmly believe that zucchini makes most dinners better.

So we turned half of the zucchini into a dinner for four. My visiting friends got busy grating zucchini and onion which they mixed with pancake mix to turn into truly amazing zucchini pancakes. Meanwhile, my boyfriend sauteed zucchini and threw in a touch of Ginger People's Ginger Jalapeño Spicy Dip. With just enough flavor and kick to make it better than the average hot sauce, we've been putting it on everything and still have half a bottle left!

The recipe we used last night was a far cry from exact but I am planning to redo it this evening and will post an official Zucchini Pancake recipe tomorrow!

Smarter Shopping At The Grocery Store: Have More Money For Good Food

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:40:00 +0000

Inside the Grocery Store- Flickr

As a working student, I often find myself weighing hunger against the contents of my bank account. It’s worst when I’m alone—with friends I’m willing to shell out $20 to make a meal that I know will both feed all of us and make leftovers that last the next few days. Apart from rent, food takes up the largest amount of my budget and much like sleeping sometimes I wish I could do it because eating tastes good not because my body will break down otherwise.

When I come in contact with free food, I horde it. If only I could eat enough food that it would keep stored for the week! I usually spend about $30-60 dollars a week on groceries but I know people, like my father, who make do with coupons and end up making much better meals for less.

Today I came across a few blogs and articles that make me think I could be doing this better. Jeffrey Strain of Grocery Coupon Guide recently completed a challenge where he made himself spend no more than $1 on food each day.

$1 a day? At that rate I might save $53 dollars a week which adds up quite quickly. Strain’s site offers a section called Grocery Guides that shows a variety of tips for saving money on groceries. In my neighborhood there are two easily accessible stores—one is the organic co-op and the other the “cheap” grocery store. Now I had already discovered that buying the same cage-free eggs and organic milk from the co-op will cost me an extra $5 dollars even though it’s not quite a block away.

But I rarely look at coupons or what is on sale. I also have never considered going out of my way to the potentially cheaper grocery stores. A quick two minutes online showed not one but two additional grocery stores that both seem to have better prices and aren’t that far away. One even offers a savings card (something neither of my usual haunts have).

Grocery Circular- Hubpages

Another piece of information I could keep in mind better is the shelf life of things I purchase. Too many times have I bought delicious zucchini only to find them covered in a film of mold a few days later. I hate wasting food but it happens all too often when I plan for Tomorrow’s Special Dinner and end up staying out after work instead of cooking.

In addition to all this “food savings” I was reminded of another way to save money. Though I know quite well that many people miss out simply by not asking for things (the worst that can happen is almost always a simple No), it never occurred to me to start asking not just for raises but in-store prices as well.

Apparently it’s not only possible to get cheaper food but also clothing, airline tickets, books, rent…just about anything by simply asking if a discount is available. Last summer my mother and I were out shoe shopping and she jokingly asked the clerk if there was a discount available to people with dogs since we had brought ours along. She ended up getting the same shoes over 25% off. So I know it can be done; it just makes me feel uncomfortable to do it.

But when you look at the money you can save it means more for the things that matter. Buying most groceries for even $2 dollars a day can lead to money for that $18 dollar a pound free-range meat or allowing for a donation to a charity or even just some extra padding in your savings account. It is possible to get food more cheaply from the local farmer’s market just by asking if the person is willing to sell for less—the potential for a yes is even better if you buy in bulk or at the end of the day.

Culinary Camp Turns Kids Into Professional Chefs

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:45:00 +0000

Though I went to horse camp, 4-H camp, Norwegian camp, and a handful of others, today I discovered “cooking camp” is a new option for kids today. When I was five I made concoctions like most children from trying to make lilac perfume (process: put blossoms into a wading pool and step on them like grapes) to a dessert I called “sweeten pies” made with flour, water, granulated, and powdered sugar. Yum.

But today’s wannabe pastry chefs and food network stars are fancier than that. With cooking camps accepting children as young as three-years-old, by the time kindergarten is over your child will be able to simmer and sauté better than many New York line chefs.

Photo Courtesy of Kid's Culinary

At Kid’s Culinary Summer Camp of Vermont, campers can stay overnight for either one or two weeks during the summer. Currently, the camp is offering two different types of courses—“sauté kitchen” and “baking and pastry arts”—although it is possible to attend both sessions.

For the oldest chefs and cooks, Culinary Institute of America offers their “boot camp” programs in addition to shorter, weekend classes. They have campuses located in Texas, Northern California, and Upstate New York with things to choose from at each. From two to five day camps, there are more general courses like the basic and advanced culinary training and also camps that focus on nothing but BBQ or Mediterranean cuisine. With some exceptions, these are not classes for younger teens so be wary of trying to sign up anyone under 16 or 17 years.

Feedlot Bison Aren't As Healthy As Free-Range: Why Animals Should Be Farmed Naturally

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 20:27:00 +0000

I once ate a venison hot dog topped with morel mushrooms. Chewing my way through the odd textures, it was nothing like the “mystery meat” dogs I’m so accustomed to being simultaneously in love with and terrified of. This was back in Michigan where (like most of the Midwest) eating game meat is a fairly common occurrence.

The attraction to wild game is understandable. Not only did you make the kill and know where it’s coming from but you also aren’t hurting the environment so much as keeping it in check (although that subject is wildly open to debate). While there’s a chance of getting a free-roaming disease or two if not handled properly, the meat is natural and tastes—like it or not—the way meat used to taste.

Bison in the Wild--Flickr

But I’ve never heard of a feed lot for deer. So the idea of raising bison (those large beasts we hunted almost to extinction) in packed quarters is a bit backwards. Of course, people who want to eat bison meat want to find an easy way to do it and it’s not impossible to raise bison on a ranch.

Like Andrew Gunther, I don’t agree with the idea of keeping undomesticated bison in close quarters. In terms of the health of the animal and taste of the meat (the two central arguments) I don’t think it works well for any animals—domestic or not.

Bison may be particularly susceptible to E. Coli when put on a feedlot. But the same traits that cause large bison to need to roam in herds for health doesn’t slowly sap out of an animal just because it’s been a staple of farm life for hundreds of years.

Why not let bison meat speak not only for itself but for all feedlot animals? When put in close quarters birds and animals are more likely to develop diseases; a corn-based diet makes their meat less healthy and lackluster in taste.

If large-scale farming is the only way to feed people at cheaper prices, maybe we could spend a few extra dollars and find a way to do it in a more natural fashion. Moving away from an unhealthy diet is probably a good first step for all animals even if it means they end up a few pounds skinnier in the end.

The Real Conscious or Sustainable Eating: Looking Back on 100 Posts

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:41:00 +0000

Today's Food, flickr

Almost worse than a slow news day is one in which I find too many topics worth writing about. I was highly tempted to give in to my sillier side and write about the unfolding Thomas’ English Muffin Drama but then I realized that this post marks the 100 one I’ve written for Eighty-Sixed.

Since the first post back in March of 2009, my idea of what this blog would be about has changed dramatically. The first thing I realized was that working in a restaurant may be dramatic but is not all that interesting unless you’re Anthony Bourdain. I also discovered that as much as I love to cook that this was not going to be another one of those blogs where people post photos of the things they’ve cooked or baked that day (delicious as it may be). Over time, I also realized that there is a way to write a lengthy essay and a way to write an internet-friendly blog.

Though I’m more disciplined than I was in the past, it’s not easy at all to tell myself that I need to spend hours reading food news every morning and then, four to five times a week, write about it as well.

I don’t get paid for this. There’s no fame involved either. The thanks I get is knowing that people who are searching for “impact of bp oil spill on fishermen,” “kansas bee pasture,” “brooklyn milk delivery,” or “backyard pets” might end up on one of these pages and find what they were looking for.

Surprisingly, for all the cooking blogs that abound on the internet, I’ve found very few that deal with the issues of how we eat and why we should (or should not) continue in the same fashion. We (myself and probably 99% of those reading) have been given the ability to make our food choices into an actual statement about what we want for the environment and ourselves. By making decisions like becoming a vegetarian or only eating organic or local food people are thinking before they eat, not eating to survive. It’s a rare and decidedly odd position to be in.

While we are able to make these choices to push away some foods and accept others into our kitchens, people are starving and dying because of a lack of access at all. That factory farm cow we won’t eat because it hasn’t been treated well might be thrown out because it has gone bad. While it might be difficult to keep with a food philosophy, the real choice isn’t in organic versus non-organic. The new toughest question is what we should do with the food that has gotten left behind.

John Muir's Bee Pastures Could Be A New Cure for Colony Collapse Disorder

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 19:58:00 +0000

I was eating at Cafe Tibet with my friend’s parents earlier this week and we got to talking about bees. They have a hive back in Fairfield, Iowa and I now have a standing invitation to come play with a real hive and buzzing bees whenever I get a chance. Though my obsession with bees is almost coming up on its second year, I still have yet to see a hive in person.

But there are some big changes that have happened to bees in that time. For one, beekeeping is now legal in New York and the on-going trend of backyard farming is only making it more popular. The problems faced by bees are now common knowledge as well due to the publicity of Colony Collapse Disorder. Just this morning I got a jar of Gimbal’s “Honey Lovers” candy that donates 5% of proceeds to honey bee research.

So I was saddened to discover that bees are still dying in large numbers. According to The Kansas City Star, honey production dropped 12% last year while more than 50 billion more honeybees died of colony collapse disorder. Not only have cell phones been scientifically linked to a further demise of apis mellifera but the varroa mite is still a large problem for bees and beekeepers in every country except Australia.

Buying honey from local or boutique apiarists may be trendy but apparently it’s still not quite enough. Even the hives belonging to Christopher Teasdale, the New York Times “bee blogger” are starving.

However, a semi-new solution of “bee pasturing” has been raised. Our first “domesticated” creatures are moving even closer to our view of animals on a traditional farm. Pennsylvania apiarist, Dennis VanEngelsdorp has long been a proponent of the idea of creating meadows rather than lawns (the latter of which are virtual desserts for pollinators).

But it seems as though this idea may actually become a reality in more than just the scattered backyard. Though the interest is mostly concentrated in California, I’m pleased by the idea of creating wildlife sanctuaries for the benefit of bees. For those interested, University of Georgia has a great basic guide to establishing a bee pasture in your own available land.

Interestingly, these sanctuaries aren’t a new idea for California. A chapter of John Muir’s 1984 book The Mountains of California is titled “The Bee Pastures” and describes the state as “one sweet bee-garden throughout its entire length, north and south, and all the way across from the snowy Sierra to the ocean.”

Hopefully it won't be too late before we try to make this vision true once more.

My Office's Single-Use Coffee Machine Makes Espresso Taste Like Plastic

noreply@blogger.com (T.K. Danovich) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:50:00 +0000

There are few things I love more than free coffee. Not only does it make the day pass more quickly—it’s hard to be involved with work when you’re falling asleep while doing it—but it also gives me a reason to get up and walk to the kitchen for yet another refill. Free coffee is an amazing thing especially when the alternative costs $2-3 dollars and a long wait in line.

Keurig B60 Machine

But free bad coffee is just a tease. Increasingly it seems that many employers are switching to various brands of the single-use coffee that come in disposable plastic cups. Not only are they bad for the environment but they taste terrible as well. For a while I thought I had beaten the Flavia machine by using the “espresso shot” setting (same caffeine, less coffee flavor) but the taste of plastic is too strong. Each time I take a sip of my coffee it taste like chemicals, like the plastic has actually melted its way into what I’m now drinking. Add to this the fact that the coffee is weak no matter what the setting. I’d have to drink multiple cups of plastic coffee to get the same results as with a French press at home.

The odd thing is that I didn’t notice the plastic at first. For whatever reason, the flavor has been growing stronger with every cup I brew. The first three or four cups I ever tried (from a Keurig machine over Thanksgiving) tasted fine. I actually liked the coffee. Almost six months later when I revisited the same machine while on vacation, the coffee ended up down the drain.

For whatever reason (physical or psychological) the more I hear about or taste the plastic in this coffee, the less I can ignore it. The once-great treat of free coffee is no more. And I’m not the only one.

I’ve read almost seven forums related to the single-use coffee machine and a large number are complaining about this same plastic taste. Most companies say that it is a “new machine” taste and that a vinegar rinse or continued use will make it stop. So why is this same taste occurring with the office coffee maker which has to be used at least twenty times a day?

My poor French press, accidentally broken months ago, was a true companion. I didn’t realize how great until starting down the slippery road of coffee machines. The coffee may not have been free but at 30-50 cents a cup, I’ll pay for quality.