Blog

First, there was Fresh. Then, Food, Inc. Now, the latest food documentary that begins with the letter F gets its own Minneapolis screening tomorrow night.

Food Fight approaches the local-food movement from the perspective of a chef, acknowledging that food is, above all, “a sensual experience.” Fittingly, it prominently features the chefs, like local-food icon Alice Waters, who were among the first to claim that the best-tasting food comes from the healthiest, most sustainable sources. Or, as nutritionist Marion Nestle exclaims on camera, “Who would ever have guessed that the taste of vegetables would turn out to be the start of a revolution?”

The time has come! Dave and Don brought over the pig last night - an 80 pounder from Hidden Stream Farm, purchased from Clancey's in Linden Hills, MN. Within an hour, we had prepared the pig with a bunch of tasty seasonings and enclosed it in a homemade China Box. I think Dave and Don - both experienced pig roasters) are getting sick of my nervous quips, but what do you do when you come face to face with your first dead pig? Frankly, getting to know my food makes me a little bit uncomfortable.

Here are a few pictures from last night's preparation. They're not for the squeamish, but I think they're worth seeing and thinking about. Here goes.

This is my friend Dave Micko, getting the pig ready. In the absence of a table, we made due with an old door from my house, covered with foil and resting on the China Box.

It’s been a weird growing season in the Twin Cities this year. We had a hot spell in spring, then crazy rain, then a dry but cool summer. Not so much fun for my flowers, but good material for grousing with fellow gardeners. It puts me in mind of that old saw, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.

Nobody says that very often anymore, perhaps because it’s no longer true. Most of us do, in fact, contribute to the root causes of unstable weather, the climate change it heralds, and the general planetary degradation that marks our age.