Meatless Mondays in 2010: Spread the Word

Let’s spread the word about the Meatless Monday movement in 2010.

It’s not a new thing. Meatless Mondays were promoted first by the U.S. Government during World War I to conserve supplies of key food staples for soldiers abroad. Herbert Hoover began the campaign, as head of the Food Administration and the American Relief Association, during Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, as a way of promoting volunteerism and personal sacrifice while the country was at war.

They even made menus available to support the effort.

Most recently Meatless Mondays have been promoted by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Center for a Livable Future. The U.S. Department of Agriculture supports the initiative with nutritional guidelines for those who are skeptical about going meatless for even one day.

With the threat of global climate change upon us, this simple action represents an important and powerful step we all can take. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that nearly 20 percent of greenhouse gases are caused by the meat industry. (Many estimates are even higher.) University of Chicago geophysicists estimate that, if we all cut our meat consumption by 20 percent (the approximate decrease achieved if everyone in the United States participated in Meatless Mondays), the reduction in greenhouse gas production would be the equivalent of every American switching to a hybrid vehicle. That’s huge!

Twelve billion gallons of gasoline would be saved if every American went meatless for one day a week during the coming year.

Producing meat takes a lot of water and pollutes our rivers and streams. According to the United Nations, meat production is responsible for nearly half of the stream and river pollution in this country. The production of one pound of beef takes about 2500 gallons of water to produce, compared to soy, which takes about 220 gallons. By participating in Meatless Mondays, an individual could save more than 800 gallons of water a week.

As if protecting our environment weren’t enough reason to take personal action, consider the positive health impact of cutting just one day’s meat consumption. Going meatless for one day a week reduces a person’s saturated fat intake by 15 percent, decreasing the chance of stroke, diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

Let’s join Al Gore, Paul McCartney, the Baltimore public schools and millions of others in 2010 by joining the Meatless Monday movement. Check out the Huffington Post’s weekly Meatless Monday recipe column and get inspired.

There’s plenty of help available on the Meatless Monday website. Most importantly, let’s all spread the word about this simple idea!

Dec 27 2009

Winter Soup to Nurture the Soul

Today, Anna Thomas offered me a Love Soup choice: make a hearty brown lentil soup or a red lentil and squash soup. Both sounded amazing and appealed to me in that warm, nurturing, fill the house with good smells kind of way that only a good winter soup can.

Having just about every ingredient for the hearty brown lentil soup on hand, that’s what I settled on to wind up my Christmas weekend and to pass a gloomy, rainy Sunday. Coincidentally (or not?), I came across an article today on Eating Down the Fridge, One Week at a Time after the holidays, a great way to offset the overindulgence to which we all seem to succumb at this time of year. (It was written following Thanksgiving, but the concept applies to the Christmas season as well, I think.) The idea is to challenge yourself to go without shopping for a week in order to eat modestly and creatively, wasting less food.

I had the potatoes, onions, carrots and garlic and on hand from my winter CSA, some grocery store celery and organic lentils (green, not brown) on hand as well.

The recipe calls for fresh cilantro, parsley and thyme, which I was able to purchase at the grocery store. All were beautifully fresh, wherever they came from.

The success of this recipe depends on four things, in my opinion:

good stock (thank you, CSA vegetables of the past),
freshly ground cumin seed (and lots of it),
large quantities of fresh herbs added at the end of cooking
and the fresh lemon juice squeezed in just before serving.

Anna Thomas has not disappointed me since I discovered her cookbook The Vegetarian Epicure in the late 1970s, wearing out the spine for the chocolate cheesecake recipe. (It’s still the best chocolate cheesecake ever.) Her record continues with Love Soup, her latest vegetarian cookbook, and I love that it’s almost entirely soup recipes. Not to be missed is the book’s introduction, which will move any cook to think about and remember why we love to cook in the first place.

Dec 26 2009

A Winter Potion, for Sure

A martini is not a drink. It’s a potion. –John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent.

After learning recently that New Hampshire produces its own vodka from apples grown right in my home town, I recently made a trip to the distillery at Flag Hill Winery in Lee, New Hampshire to taste and learn more.

Flag Hill Winery and its vineyards sit on acreage along the Lamprey and North Rivers protected with support of multiple agencies, including New Hampshire’s Land and Community Heritage Investment Program. It’s a beautiful spot.

Flag Hill Winery grows several varieties of grapes for its many wines and, since vodka can be produced from almost any starchy or sugary plant, they could have chosen to produce vodka from grapes. They instead decided to produce General John Stark Vodka from apples in response to a local surplus in apple production at Concord, New Hampshire’s Apple Hill Orchard.

Three bushels of apples make three gallons of cider mash, which distill to one 750 ml bottle of vodka, so surplus in the apple business was good news for this newly forming distillery. Surplus apples surely made better economic sense than grapes, already in demand for wine production.

The cider mash is fermented in 500 to 1000 gallon tanks until it’s 8 percent alcohol, then brought up to 172 degrees F. for the distillation process. Alcohol vapor moves through the columns of the copper still and through a condenser where it condenses as liquid. It is distilled three times, filtered and blended with “artesian spring water.”

The resulting General John Stark Vodka is one that Revolutionary War General John Stark might have enjoyed; he certainly would have been honored to have the first New Hampshire vodka named for him. Stark was a farmer and a lumberman from the area of Manchester, New Hampshire known as Derryfield. Now home to a golf course, great sledding hills and one of the city’s best parks, sadly, no farms exist there any longer.

General John Stark toasted his fellow Revolutionary War veterans in 1777 by saying, “Live free or die; death is not the worst of evils.”

Flag Hill’s General John Stark Vodka is not an “infused” vodka; it does not taste like apples. It has a clean, relatively smooth finish. It’s a product New Hampshire locavores should be proud to serve at holiday celebrations.

Flag Hill Winery also offers a delicious vodka-based Cranberry Liqueur, using cranberries from nearby Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It’s rich red in color and, on this snowy day, seemed to sing out to pair up with the vodka and become someone’s Christmas gift.

The tasting experience sent me home with visions of festive holiday martinis dancing in my head.

Martinis have been around a long time–at least a hundred and fifty years–but it’s hard to track down credible information on the drink’s true origins.

The most colorful story describes a miner, having struck it rich in the California Gold Rush, stopping in a Martinez, California bar to celebrate while en route to San Francisco. The champagne he asked for was not available, so the bartender mixed up a cocktail he called a “Martinez Special.” It was made from gin, a dry Sauterne wine and garnished with an olive. The miner, after enjoying a few more and resting for a day or two, went on to San Francisco where he spread the word about this wonderful new drink. It later became known as the martini, made with gin, dry vermouth and finished with an olive.

In recent years, martinis evolved away from the traditional gin and vermouth cocktail to include a myriad of vodka-based, exotically flavored cocktails, all served in elegant stemmed martini glasses. Martinis, always cool, became trendy and infinitely fun. More importantly, they became available to those of us who claim vodka as “our only spirit.”

Vodka is a perfect winter celebration beverage. Its roots are in the cold, dark slavic winters of the middle ages, when low-alcohol beverages like beer and wine could not be stored or shipped for fear of freezing. A practical, sturdy drink that even made itself useful as an antiseptic and antibiotic, vodka could be made by simply freezing fermented mash and drawing off the unfrozen liquid. Vodka means “little water” in Russian. What could sound more innocent than that?

Martini Time arrived on Christmas Eve when Santa’s gift basket included the necessary spirits, along with cranberries and limes. The Christmas Eve Cranberry Martini was born and Three Wise Women came (bearing gifts and traveling from near and far) to enjoy it.

Thank you, Apple Hill Farm, Flag Hill Winery and Cape Cod cranberry farmer, whoever you are, for bringing a festive Christmas Eve Cranberry Martini to us this year.

A potion, for sure.

Dec 24 2009

A Look Back at the 00s and a Nifty Tool for Finding Local Sustainable Food

In the coming days, as 2009 winds to a close, we’ll hear lots of summaries of the past decade. The Green Fork blog, from the Eat Well Guide website provides an excellent look back at the lack of progress in this country in addressing energy and climate change issues. At the same time, the writer strikes a hopeful chord in looking toward the future, and emphasizing individual responsibility. It’s a worthwhile read, and a good blog to bookmark for information and ideas on sustainable food and environmental issues.

The website itself, the Eat Well Guide offers a nifty database to help readers find “local, sustainable, organic” restaurants, caterers, bakeries, grocery stores, farmers markets, CSAs and more, all by zip code, location or keyword. For my local area, 40 organizations came up; it’s off to a good start.

A great example of a tool that’s there, ready to help individuals, business and farmers bring local food communities together, anywhere. As the Concord, New Hampshire local food movement gets underway, I hope we encourage use of this tool and others like it to get the word out about local options.

Dec 23 2009

Toss Aside Food Goals in Choosing Holiday Seafood?

Trying to do the right thing can be surprisingly complex, and holiday celebrations can complicate the pursuit even further.

Consider the following carefully considered personal goals:

Eat food that will benefit my overall health.
Buy local food, when possible.
Buy food that is grown, raised or harvested using environmentally responsible, sustainable methods.
Know what I’m eating and from where it came.

Now comes Christmas, time to celebrate with friends and family. One part of my planned Christmas celebration involves a seafood meal with friends, and planning it is proving to be challenging. There’s the ever-present issue of juggling personal tastes, but that’s easy in comparison to navigating the sometimes confusing information about sustainable seafood.

I recently read Jane Goodall’s Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating, a chapter of which provided an abundance of information about the sorry state of our fisheries and the shocking pollution caused by fish and shellfish farming throughout the world. So much information, in fact, that I finished the chapter more committed than ever to moving toward a plant-based diet, as much because of information overload as because of what I’d read. Not being one to retain long detailed lists easily–like lists of recommended fish and shellfish species–I came away with somewhat of a “no more fish” philosophy.

This represents a nutritional loss, considering the protein and omega-3 fatty acids. Add to the mix the threat of mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) contamination in the large predatory species like swordfish and tuna, the reasons to leave seafood off my list were becoming compelling.

I sought guidance from the Monteray Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program, which offers a series of handy pocket guides for regions throughout the United States, geared to help concerned consumers like me make informed decisions. The guide offers three lists: Best Choices, Good Alternatives and Avoid.

Back to the Christmas decision. Of course, I’d like to stick to the Best Choices list.

With one of my goals being to buy local, whenever possible, I’d prefer to buy Atlantic seafood, but there’s not much of that on the list. Even lobster turns out to be a problem. What food says “celebration” better than lobster?” With most of the lobster currently being harvested at one-pound size, individuals are not staying around long enough to reproduce. Swordfish is on the Best Choices list, but only if it’s harpoon or handline-caught, and I’ve never seen either in these parts. (And, of course there’s that mercury and PCB issue.)

Although many farmed alternatives appeared on the Best Choices list, I’m only aware of farmed salmon in the northeast (not on the list), so my options were grim.

I moved to the Good Alternatives list and was relieved to find Atlantic swordfish there, with no specifications as to the means by which it was caught. If I compromise on the contaminant issue, swordfish could be the answer. U.S. and Canada shrimp are also an option, but I just read that four kilograms of “bycatch” are discarded for every kilogram of shrimp retained for sale. In fact, according to USA Today, 28 percent of the annual fish catch (900,000 metric tons) is tossed overboard because it’s not the desired species.

Obviously, other factors need to be considered, like the need to be flexible enough once in a while to enjoy a special meal with friends. Becoming aware of the complexities of an issue like sustainable fisheries management is daunting, but not impossible. If I were to adopt that “no more fish” philosophy completely, I would close the door to learning a wealth of information about what’s happening to our oceans, our fish and our shellfish. By eating it once in a while and doing my best to make a thoughtful decision, I’m raising my own awareness and maybe even the awareness of others. After all, adopting the “no more fish” philosophy without continuing to become informed would certainly not enable me to discuss my position adequately at the table.

Perhaps this is a twisted rationalization for continuing to eat seafood once in a while, but I do love seafood, and I do want to believe that maintaining sustainable fisheries is possible. More and more information is becoming available for consumers on this issue, as well as the more well-known issue of mercury and PCB contamination. It’s time for consumers to step up, become informed, and demand sustainable, clean fish and shellfish at our markets.

I will make the final decision at the seafood market, tomorrow, list in hand. I’ll make it knowing that I approached it with my original goals in mind. I’ll also make it with the others who will share the meal in mind, and our desire to share a special meal together as friends.

Life offers lots of opportunities to practice the art of balance, doesn’t it?

Dec 21 2009

A Warm Welcome Home by Local Veggies

I’m back in New Hampshire and, as predicted, found the first share of my winter CSA waiting for me.

Potatoes, lettuce, bok choi, acorn squash, butternut squash, turnips, onions, one leek and a bag of beautiful carrots.

Yes, I celebrated my return to good food by roasting some veggies up right away! (My version of fast food, I guess.)

I’m settling in with my new copy of Anna Thomas’ vegetarian soup cookbook, Love Soup, thinking about cooking Ten-Vegetable Soup with Cranberry Beans tomorrow night. Or, perhaps Stewed Root Vegetables with Moroccan Spices.

It’s great to be home.

Dec 20 2009

A Blizzard Refugee in Chicago

I’m stranded in Chicago because of the big snow storm on the east coast.

Through the mysteries of air travel, my connection yesterday from Chicago (where it did not snow) to Manchester, New Hampshire (where it did not snow), was canceled. The end result of waiting in United Airlines’ three-hour customer service waiting line was to be rebooked on a flight for tomorrow morning. After being warned numerous times that no seats would be available until after the first of the year, that seemed like great news.

That was lucky break number one, I guess.

I was able to get a room at the local Marriott Courtyard, sparing me the adventure of passing two nights on the floor of O’Hare International Airport. By about 10 p.m., I was warm and comfy in my new digs, with my laptop, a couple of books, a bag of nuts and a toothbrush. Suitcase, in a heap somewhere.

That was lucky break number two.

Passing a day and a half in an airport hotel probably isn’t many people’s dream. Food offerings are painfully limited and there’s no place to walk to to find anything different, let alone healthy. Breakfast was the highlight of my day: green tea, oatmeal, fruit and nuts. For lunch, nuts and more tea. I reached a low point at dinner, munching on stale corn chips and spinach artichoke dip.

What I discovered was that, in this depressing blizzard refugee world, being a 98 percent vegetarian who cares about whole food is close to futile. Of course, I have to eat, but the choices were pretty dreary here. And, that last choice left me feeling like I might have been better off hitting the nuts again.

When I get back to New Hampshire tomorrow, I will find the first installment of my winter CSA and I’ll get back to my normal routines.

That’ll be lucky break number three. I’m ready.

Dec 18 2009

Where Flowers Bloom and Tasting Is Encouraged

It’s hard not to fall in love with a place where flowers bloom in December.

But it gets even better.

I read somewhere yesterday that the descriptors “local” and “organic” have become so commonplace in San Francisco that restaurants are dropping them from menus and marketing materials. It’s just expected that restaurants are taking advantage of the locally available, often organic, bounty. I even passed a convenience store that listed “organic food” on a window sign of offerings.

A beautiful farmers market happens throughout the year every Saturday and Tuesday at the Ferry Building, which already offers fresh, gourmet food inside seven days a week.

On Tuesday, it was the perfect spot to arrive at just before lunch time.

Tasting seemed to be encouraged everywhere.

So many pear varieties, all in one place.

Black radishes. If we can grow them in New Hampshire, I haven’t seen them. They have a mild bite and are quite tasty to much on, sliced.

It was painful to be a hotel-dwelling air traveler, with no means of using these beautiful vegetables. The whole experience brought new meaning to “eating with my eyes.”

Although, packing these Brussels sprouts into my suitcase was a real temptation.

This farmers market brought the community together around food in ways that I haven’t experienced on the east coast. Food vendors offered freshly prepared spring rolls, hummus, candies, Indian foods, popcorn–all alongside the most beautiful fruits and vegetables. Shoppers of all kinds–tourists, residents, ferry commuters–poured in from all directions.

Dogs were welcome, too, especially those with work to do.

I’m sure, if I give some thought to it, I’ll remember why I live in New Hampshire. Was it something about how sweet that first warm spring day feels after a long, cold winter?

Dec 15 2009

Good Food Around Every Corner in San Francisco

I am fortunate to be in San Francisco for a few days, with a little time right now to enjoy all the city has to offer. In San Francisco, there’s good food around every corner. Actually, there’s no need to wait for the corner–it’s everywhere.

So much of it is fresh, local and organic. Best of all, it’s easy to find ethnic food of any kind. Within one block of my hotel, I can choose from Thai, Mexican, Irish, Italian, Indian, Japanese and Chinese. I’m sure I’ve left something out.

Today, I took a walking tour of Chinatown, venturing into the back alleys and down streets less traveled by tourists and more traveled by the neighborhood’s Chinese residents.

We stopped at an herbalist’s shop, piled high with thousands of medicines and herbs and smelling exotic.

I learned that good quality ginseng root goes for a good price in Chinatown: three pounds for $100, and that’s apparently a bargain.

The most fascinating food scenes were the fresh fish, meat and fowl vendors, many of whom offered live animals for sale. I saw live frogs, crabs, and several kinds of live fish, either swimming in crowded tanks or flopping around on tables. We walked back into a narrow passage to see stacked cages of live birds for sale, including quail, many breeds of chickens and I’m not sure what else. Our tour guide cautioned us not to photograph any of this. Angry vendors have been known to come running out, yelling at photographers capturing these scenes. Perhaps they don’t quite meet city health regulations, or maybe the risk of images ending up on animal cruelty websites is just as risky. I heeded the advice.

The fruits and vegetables were beautiful, fresh and cheap.

We had a peek at a fortune cookie factory, where taking a photo cost 50 cents.

One of the more interesting things about Chinatown is what is not there. There are no convenience stores (at least, as we know them), no large grocery stores and no fast food or chain restaurants.

I couldn’t guess how many people live in this very dense urban neighborhood. It seems to buzz with bustling shoppers, vendors, sounds and smells. People spill from every storefront; laundry hangs from every balcony and window and the park is alive with activity.

While entire families live in one room apartments, some others are lucky enough to qualify for and eventually move into a relatively spacious subsidized housing complex (after as much as a six-year wait). Although many of the young people are choosing to move to other parts of San Francisco (according to our volunteer tour guide), a few choose to stay to raise their families in Chinatown.

This little garden, one of many tucked into Chinatown’s shadowy open spaces, speaks volumes of the vibrant spirit of the neighborhood.

Dec 11 2009

Addendum to Famine Awareness Post

Yesterday’s blog post left me wondering about my responsibility to my readers, and the possible limits of what can be shared in a blog on any given topic.

I’d written once before about hunger at the local level in Hunger, Homelessness and My Own Rotting Veggies, and the topic has been on my mind for a while. It’s an important issue that I think we all can work to change by acting in many ways, big and small. Locally and globally.

I found the video I posted yesterday in the course of looking at information related to food discussions happening at COP15 Copenhagen, and gained an insight into hunger at a different level–hunger that is so extreme the evening news does not show us.

When I began this blog, I did not intend to use it to explore such an immensely challenging and upsetting issue. In my heart, I believe that all serious social and environmental issues can be effected by local action, and I believe the same about hunger. Yesterday’s video was a step in opening my own eyes to the scope of this particular problem, worldwide.

That step, for me, was critical in understanding the importance of addressing hunger and food security for all people.

To the extent that Nourishing Words has readers, I hope my readers understand.

Nourishing Words

on food, sustainability, gardening and healthful living

Monthly Archives: December 2009