Local Food

Michael Pollan's "Food Rules": Keep it Simple, Then Simplify

Namedropping Michael Pollan isn't likely to bring you much insider food cred these days. If you think about good, real, local, organic, sustainable, fresh, tasty, whole food - heck, if you've watched "Oprah" lately - then you've probably already heard the name Michael Pollan more times just this week than you can count. When "The Omnivore's Dilemma" was published in 2006, many of us were just starting to think about the amount of corn we were consuming.

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Heavy Table Offers Fun Foodie Nights Out

Photo of Chris Olson by Becca Dilley, Heavy TablePhoto of Chris Olson by Becca Dilley, Heavy TableI haven't been shy about my love for Heavy Table, an online magazine focused on food in the Midwest. Although the site's not strictly focused on local food, the staff's passion for good food brings them back to local sources on a regular basis.

This month, Heavy Table is venturing into the sexy world of real-life events with a couple of terrific sounding ones. Here's the down-low (or is it the low-down?):

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Eating Lassie? Jonathan Safran Foer's "Eating Animals" Gives Us Lots to Digest

Jonathan Safran Foer's "Eating Animals" is one of my favorite food books ever. I don't agree with everything it says, but the book is so incredibly compelling, the arguments so well reasoned, and the descriptions so very vivid, that I recommend it to anyone who is thinking seriously about our food and where it comes from.

Early in the book, Safran Foer takes great pains to describe why we should be eating dogs. He even goes so far as to provide a "classic Filipino" recipe. Here's a small excerpt:

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A Fresh Start: All Around the House

Are you thinking ahead to spring? I know it’s hard to fathom in the midst of our deep freeze, but spring really IS just around the corner. Sadly, spring is when my allergies rear their ugly mugs and turn the otherwise lovely experience of new life blooming into a major sneeze-fest. Whether you've got allergies or you’re just looking for a way to clear your home of allergens, toxins, and other not-so-pleasant environmental hazards, here are some ideas that may help. (Don’t forget to check out our previous articles on detoxing your kitchen and your bath and laundry.)

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Come Celebrate Simple, Good, and Tasty's Birthday at Our February Local Food Event at Grand Cafe

From Wikipedia:

Cassoulet (from Occitan caçolet [kæsəˈleɪ; Fr. kasuˈlɛ]) is a rich, slow-cooked bean stew or casserole originating in the south of France, containing meat (typically pork sausages, pork, goose, duck and sometimes mutton), pork skin (couennes) and white haricot beans.

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An Interview with Organic Valley’s Theresa Marquez, Part 1: Our Broken Food System, Agriculture of the Middle, and the Co-op Model

I’m thinking a lot about food systems these days. Fundamentally, there seems to be collective agreement that ours is broken (unless you happen to work for Monsanto or Smithfield), so I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how we might fix it. (Jill Richardson’s excellent “Recipe for America” has a few ideas too - that and her La Vida Locavore blog are well worth reading.)

Specifically, I’ve been thinking about food systems that are:

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Fast, Easy, Cheap, and Local: a Recipe for Slow-Cooked Tuscan Pork with White Beans

A new year full of possibilities and quandaries lies before us. If you’re trying to figure out how to feed yourself and your family more home-cooked, tasty, local meals without breaking the bank, purchasing a myriad of strange ingredients, or spending hours in the kitchen, keep reading.

As Mother Nature has decreed it, the start of the New Year in Minnesota is always a cold one. For me, a salad just doesn’t hold the same appeal this time of year as a hot, hearty meal, so I'm getting reaquainted with my slow cooker. Also known as a Crock Pot®, the slow cooker is not a sexy kitchen appliance. But what it may lack in pizzazz it more than makes up for in its ability to do all sorts of heavy lifting, transforming simple ingredients into something far greater than the sum of its parts, all while you’re off doing something else.

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A Fresh Start: Detox Your Kitchen

Who out there is undertaking a January detox this year? I know I am, for the 4th time in about 2 ½ years. Somewhere in our collective consciousness, the detox has become a fairly commonplace practice, giving our bodies a clean slate on which to scribe the new year. But what about the rest of your surroundings? I don’t know about you, but once I start this ritualistic stripping away of toxic baddies and enriching my diet with all of this fabulously healthy local and organic food, I wonder what else around here needs to be buffed up. A detox for the home? You know, that sounds pretty sensible. But where on earth to start?

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Writers Wanted: Join the SGT Team!

Are you a talented writer with a passion for local food? Spend your time hanging out with local food chefs, organic food organizations, fair trade coffee makers, co-ops, and/or farmers markets? Read books by Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman in your spare time? Anxiously await the next film from the folks who brought us "King Corn" and "Big River"? Have you been admiring this site from afar?

If so, we've got an opportunity for you!

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Alice Waters Hosts Sunday Night Suppers to Raise Money for D.C. Central Kitchen and Martha's Table

Alice Waters Photo Courtesy of Chezpanisse.comAlice Waters Photo Courtesy of Chezpanisse.comHere's a terrific opportunity to eat magically delicious local, organic food, prepared by some of the world's greatest chefs in support of a great cause. If only I had $500 and lived in Washington D.C.! But maybe you do? Check out the recent press release I received from the good folks at Chez Panisse:

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