in praise of sardines

Living la vida local, part 1: If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it...

I've been pondering a version of that old riddle during the past month, which, as I'm sure most of you already know, has been the second annual Eat Local Challenge month. Unlike last August's inaugural Eat Local Challenge (during which I apparently wrote 8 posts in the final 2 weeks!), this past month, I haven't had as much time to devote to writing about my experience of eating locally grown and raised foods. My version of the tree-falling-in-the-forest riddle goes like this: if I eat locally and don't blog about, am I still eating locally?

Just to hedge my bets, I thought I'd dash off a quick post [edit: actually 2, with the second part coming tomorrow Thursday], lest all the happy memories of the luscious strawberries, asparagus, fava beans, and wild salmon I've enjoyed during May be replaced by nightmarish visions of unrecognizable foodstuffs oozing hydrogenated fats and high-fructose corn syrup. Who would cast such an evil spell on this prodigal blogger? Am I the only one who has wondered whether the Wiccan-wood-nymph-earth-mother-goddess of the Locavores is, as the name would seem to imply, truly loca, possessing powers we should all fear? Well?

To appease any potential retribution from her Loca-ness (the Loca-ness monster?), I want to assure you all that I have been faithfully living la vida local, feasting on the fruits of our local farms, ranches and fisheries to the best of my ability. Frankly, eating local has been a bowl of cherries (particularly with the first appearance of Frog Hollow's cherries last Saturday).

When it comes to fruits and vegetables, which is the subject of this post (first of two), I have had zero incentive to look beyond the 100 miles from my home which, as any aspiring locavore knows, is where that arbitrary line is drawn beyond which one's stomach shall not cross. Yes, it has been a glorious month to live in this Eden called the Bay Area, filled with an embarrassment of riches that every foodie has been enjoying at our local farmers markets (and in our local restaurants). At home in our kitchen, my wife and I have been ecstatically buried beneath a hailstorm of peas and fava beans, asparagus and artichokes, green garlic and spring onions, which, believe me, have been a vast improvement over the real hail and rain that had saturated us down to the marrow of our bones for the previous 5 months.

The highlight of my farmers market visits in May has been watching the changing parade of wonders that is Mariquita Farm. Here I found some true rarities, like fava leaves, garlic and leek scapes (pictured left), cardoon flowers (not edible, but oddly beautiful, pictured at top of post), and, of course, their treacherous artichokes (pictured above right, which I featured last month).

Three vegetable dishes stood out as highlights in May. First was a starter of grilled asparagus with romesco sauce that I made from local Tierra Vegetables dried chillies, Lagier almonds, and Bariani olive oil, made from a recipe I posted last year.

Second came a seductive yet simple celebration of the fava bean. I cooked up some whole wheat spaghetti and tossed it with briefly cooked fava leaves and fava beans that had been stewed with garlic and rosemary, about half of which I mashed into a velvety sauce. Lots of black pepper and pecorino sardo cheese (from India and Italy, respectively... what're you gonna do?) and a squeeze of lemon made this labor of love one to remember.

Third, another night I made a sybaritic pasta dish consisting of long strands of hollow perciatelli that were sauced carbonara style with a raw farm egg, green garlic, Fatted Calf bacon, Italian (again? Am I falling from grace?) parmigiano reggiano, all buried under an avalanche of sweet peas. One of the few times I would use the word decadent to describe a pasta dish.

Then there's the local fruit. As I've said before, I am loco when it comes to fresh fruit, but I'm no pastry chef. When the fruit is as ridiculously sweet as Ben Lucero's strawberries are (finally, in the last week, they are no longer as waterlogged as previous weeks) or even the first Brooks cherries from Frog Hollow, I prefer to savor every bite unadorned. When I grow tired of gorging myself on plain berries and stone fruit, though, I have a few tricks up my sleeve (most of which involve some variation on custard or cake).

When it comes to fruits and vegetables (including nuts and olives and their oils), if you can afford it (a topic which could fill a whole series of posts), why would you want to not eat local while living in the Bay Area?

Tomorrow Thursday: we'll see that the picture isn't as rosy when it comes to local seafood.

Food|and Drink|Eat Local Challenge|San Francisco|Fruit|Vegetables

Spanish cookbooks I recommend

A reader recently sent me the following question via email:

"Can you recommend a good starter cookbook for Spanish cooking. I'm thinking something in the vein of Paula Wolfert or Patricia Wells -- flavorful, rustic dishes that would give me a good sense of the fundamentals of Spanish food."

Because I frequently write about Spanish cooking, people often ask me what my favorite cookbooks on Spanish cuisine are. I started to answer the reader's email and, as my reply grew longer and longer, I thought I should just put the answer on my blog. That way, if anyone else cares to hear my opinions on the topic, they will have a place to read it. I hope my response will be helpful.

In my opinion, there is no starter cookbook on Spanish cuisine that is quite at the same level as Paula Wolfert, Patricia Wells or, I may add, Marcella Hazan. The problem is that Spanish cooking is incredibly diverse and regional. Galicia, Asturias, the Basque region, Catalunya, Valencia, Andalucía, the Castillian heartland - the regional specialties are all so different, easily as varied as the regions of France or Italy (in fact, I would say more varied). The reason Wolfert's book on the cooking of southwest France is so good is that it focuses in depth on one region. However, there are some very good books out there.

The author who has been writing about Spanish cooking for an American audience the longest is Penelope Casas. She's an American who is married to a Spaniard and they split their time between NY and Spain, where they lead luxury cultural and gastronomic tours. She has written an indispensable travel guide to Spain, Discovering Spain, which I often consult when planning a trip, even though it was last updated 10 years ago. In fact, this guide book illuminates the culinary differences between the various regions better than any cookbook. Only the enormous Culinaria Spain, replete with shamelessly sumptuous food porn, rivals Casas' guidebook in this category.

Casas also has several cookbooks out that are all highly regarded. However, my personal opinion is that many of her more general earlier books seem dated and lack the intensely personal voice of someone like Wolfert, Wells or Hazan. That said, I do like her newest book, La Cocina de Mamá (2005), quite a bit. She collected family recipes from many well-known chefs and other more traditional cooks, so there are lots of rustic dishes to tempt you. To discover more about the rice cooking of Valencia and Alicante, her Paella (1999) book is a good resource too.

For an all-purpose introduction to Spanish cooking, however, I prefer and highly recommend Anya von Bremzen's book The New Spanish Table (2005). She provides tempting recipes for the lusty traditional dishes associated with Spain, yet also balances them with a few of  the more innovative and modern approaches to cooking that are so prevalent today (and not just in restaurants). This book is packed full of valuable information and I thoroughly enjoy von Bremzen's writing style, so I was able to overlook the publisher's choice of graphics. Be sure to read this book from cover to cover, because the most interesting anecdotes and techniques are scattered throughout the book in the recipe headers and little info boxes.

Another excellent introduction to Spanish cuisine that I recommend with equal enthusiasm is Janet Mendel's My Kitchen in Spain (2002). She is American-born and has lived in Andalucía for decades. Like von Bremzen, her recipes are excellent. They focus more on traditional Spanish cooking, especially that of Andalucía (one of my favorite regions), and there are a lot of interesting Spanish pastries which you don't find in other books. For "flavorful, rustic dishes," like the author of the email has requested, this may be the best book. In fact, Wolfert's personal recommendation is prominently displayed on the book jacket!

Another favorite region of mine is, of course, Catalunya. To learn about that region, you can do no better than Colman Andrews' classic Catalan Cuisine (1988, reprinted in 1992, 1999). I find his writing style to be highly engaging. You'll have to look elsewhere, however, for photography.

As an aspiring restaurateur, I am interested in the cooking of other chefs who have tried to adapt the highly product-dependent cuisine of Spain to American and British audiences. I am often inspired by the recipes found in the two books by the chef-proprietors of the restaurant Moro in London, which I have yet to visit. Their most recent book is Casa Moro (2004). Although I also have not had the good fortune to visit any of Josés Andrés' restaurants in Washington, D.C., I love his new book, Tapas: a Taste of Spain in America (2005). I would categorize all the recipes in these books to be balanced and flavorful, but perhaps less rustic than what the author of the email is looking for.

Now, if you want to know my favorite Spanish cookbooks written in Spanish (and Catalan), that's a whole other topic.

Like all things, cookbook preference is intensely personal and subjective. I suggest you use my opinions as a starting point. Go to your local bookstore or library and look through the books I've mentioned and see which ones resonate with you. Have fun and buen provecho!
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If you follow the links above, you will be taken to a great on line resource for discounted cookbooks, Jessica's Biscuit (ecookbooks.com), which I prefer to the site named after the South American rain forest (Why would a bookseller name themselves after a forest any way? Think about it). However, I strongly encourage everyone to support your local independent (non-chain) bookstore and buy your books there, even if you have to ask them to place a special order. Sorry for the editorial, but I have a friend whose fabulous neighborhood bookstore is struggling. In addition, one of the best bookstores in our city, A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, is on the market (in fact they sold their website URL, bookstore.com, so I don't have a website for them). Besides, this is Eat Local Month, so how about we locavores consider buying our cookbooks locally too!

Food|and Drink|Cookbooks|Spain

On strike!

N: "You, on strike? From what?"

Brett: "From blogging about food."

N: "But you haven't posted about anything on your blog for a couple of weeks. If your strike is to be effective, don't you have to write about something frequently enough that people will actually miss you when you take the day off?"

B: [Indignantly] "Did it ever occur to you that I may have been silently holding a one-person strike for the past 2 weeks, demonstrating to my readers what the Internet will be like without food blogs."

N: "You mean without your food blog. Do you seriously expect anyone to buy that horse pucky [edited, in case any of N's second graders read this]?"

B: [Sheepishly] "Well, it's plausible..."

N: "To you, maybe. Seems to me more like you've been on vacation from your blog, busy working on something else. Have you told them what you're working on yet?"

B: "No. And I won't today, because I'm not blogging about food, remember?"

N: "Remind me again why you're on vaca... er... strike."

B: "Well, Pim has organized a Day Without Food Blogs (see here for a list of participating bloggers) to encourage food bloggers to refrain from blogging about food today in order to draw attention to some legislation proposed by dastardly lobbyists from large telecom companies and Internet service providers..."

N: "Did you just say dastardly? Nobody uses that word any more. Who do you think you are, Dudley Do-Right?"

B: [Long pause, combined with a stinging glare] "As I was saying. This proposed legislation will end Net Neutrality by allowing phone companies and Internet service providers to create what will amount to a two-tiered system. It's a little complex for my tech-phobic brain to comprehend, but there's a lot of analogies about plumbing and construction out there involving small and large pipes, dirt roads and super highways. Read or listen to former Secretary of  Labor Robert Reich's explanation here. Basically, if this legislation passes, when you want to access my little blog, it will feel as if you were sucking Jello up a swizzle stick..."

N: "A what?"

B: "A swizzle stick. You know, those two super narrow plastic straws attached to one another that you use to stir your coffee at Starbucks."

N: "First of all, I don't go to Starbucks. Secondly, I think those plastic things are called coffee stirrer thingies."

B: [Sigh] "Any way, when you want to access a site like ABC or The New York Times, their content will arrive at the speed of that beer bong you used at that fraternity party back in college."

N: "I never used a beer bong."

B: "Well, I didn't mean you, per se. I meant you, the reader."

N: "Then why'd you say 'you' when you meant 'they'? Besides, how do you know that any of them used a beer bong?"

B: "It's all part of the analogy to get my point across about the legislation."

N: "Right. What was it? Blogs are Jello through coffee stirrer thingies and paid sites are beer through beer bongs. Is that the gist of it?"

B: "Yes."

N: "Wow, that is dastardly. Aside from your self-proclaimed 'strike,' what can we do to prevent this legislation from passing?"

B: "Go to savetheinternet.com right now and sign the petition. If you live in the United States, write to your Congressperson and Senator, too, to show your support for preserving the democracy of the Web."

N: "Maybe you should start posting again, Brett, so that your readers will have something to be afraid of missing."

B: "Yes, yes. Don't you have some homework to go correct or something?"

Net Neutrality|Day Without Food Blogs