Slow Food & CSAs: Not Just for Liberals
We are not just what we eat but how we eat. The cultivation and consumption of our meals are activities as distinctively human as walking, talking, loving, and praying. Learning to regard the meal not merely as something that fills our bellies and helps us grow, but as the consummate exercise of beings carnal and earthbound yet upwardly and outwardly drawn, is a crucial step in the restoration of culture. The suggestion that the inculcation of such values might be an essential part of an adequate education ought to resonate beyond the confines of the doctrinaire Left.
At the American Conservative, “Food for Thought,” an argument that slow food and agricultural reform are not just trendy theories of the left.
Link from The Morning News.
I was fortunate enough to receive a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share last week and the week before, when a friend of a friend couldn’t pick it up. I just finished the last of the vegetables today, polishing off a white bean and garlic scape dip with kohlrabi matchsticks. It’s been a great learning experience to receive these boxes of local seasonal produce. It’s required thought, preparation (a LOT of lettuce washing; thank Gaia for the salad spinner), research, and trying new things, like sauteed radish and kohlrabi greens. But we ate the whole box of food.
And it was good.
July 10th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
We just picked up our share today and lo and behold we have scapes. Would you be billing to share the recipe for the bean and scape dip - it sounds tasty.
I know all too well the effort it takes to wash all those greens. In fact I am avoiding it right now. But the fresh organic lettuce is soooo worth it.
July 10th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I found this recipe by Melissa Clark at the NYTimes. The foodies at The Kitchn, though, came to the same conclusion as me–use two cans of cannellini, not just one, and only use the smaller number of scapes. I only used three scapes, and added half a cup of cauliflower to mine in case the kids would eat it (of course, they didn’t) so that should have lightened up the garlic flavor, but it was still quite strong.
Recipe: White Bean and Garlic Scapes Dip Time: 15 minutes
Time: 15 minutes
1/3 cup sliced garlic scapes (3 to 4)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, more to taste
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt, more to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling.
1. In a food processor, process garlic scapes with lemon juice, salt and pepper until finely chopped. Add cannellini beans and process to a rough purée.
2. With motor running, slowly drizzle olive oil through feed tube and process until fairly smooth. Pulse in 2 or 3 tablespoons water, or more, until mixture is the consistency of a dip. Add more salt, pepper and/or lemon juice, if desired.
3. Spread out dip on a plate, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with more salt.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups.
July 11th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Scapes are so very garlicky–but I have an old friend coming over for take out dinner tonight, and I think I’ll make this for our appetizer.
I love our CSA. I love not having to worry about the vegetables I buy at the store, figuring out the reason certain foods taste right together is because they are ripe together, eating vegetables I wouldn’t normally buy and getting to know the Titus family, who run the farm. I believe the longer one has a share, the quicker meals and recipes come together. I start to be able to see a week’s worth of food as soon as the vegetables are in the house.
For some reason, this week was particularly easy–Grilled Ginger Steak Salad, Grilled Chicken Tacos and Beef and Broccoli with brown rice, with all of the ingredients save garlic (coming soon, though), ginger, seasonings and brown rice arriving locally–including the meat. It does mean planning, though I’ve found with our local meat supplier that since the meat arrives frozen, I just make sure I have a lot of the cuts we like on hand (four chickens, five flank steaks, packages of ribs and pork chops, etc.). As long as I remember the night before what I’d like to make, I can pull it out in time.
I’m glad you enjoyed your box–I love ours.
July 11th, 2008 at 11:36 am
I have a half-share of a CSA, so I get a box every other week. I love it.