Food Rules #22: Eat mostly plants, especially leaves

There are so many benefits to eating your fruits & veggies: higher antioxidants, more fiber, lowered risk of disease, fewer caloric intake. Pollan argues that most plant foods are less "energy dense" than other things we eat, and it's probably true, especially if you are eating more locally.

If you have ever eaten greens fresh out of your CSA box or from the farmer's market or your garden, it's amazing how much better they taste. The texture is more delicate, they are almost buttery. Try it this summer. I almost hate to put dressing on the greens, they taste THAT good!

I just can't wait for farmer's market season to start up again in Chicago...who's with me?

Food Rules #22: Eat Mostly Plants, Esp. Leaves

Ok, now we're moving into the 2nd section of the book, where Pollan poses the question: What kind of food should I eat? His mantra, in case you don't know is "Eat Food. Mostly Plants. Not too much".

A little controversial for some (I'm not giving up my meat, just eating less of it and local/sustainable/grass-fed where possible), but he does have a point. Plants take less energy to produce, plant-based diets contain fewer calories and there is less disease associated with vegetarian-based diets than not. This section of the book should be very interesting to write about and I'm curious to hear your opinions on how you follow this thought, or don't, or want to , or what.

I will tell you what I have been trying more and more to do, however. When I cook meat at home, within the last several years I almost never cook meat at home that is not local and/or grass-fed (at least in part). I try to buy from a source that I trust (like Cedar Valley, Heartland, Black Earth, La Quercia, Dietzler, Nueske, Fabrique Delice, Creminelli, Fra'Mani - not ALL local, not ALL grass-fed, but I know the methods used and I feel FOR ME it's a better choice than the supermarket... another thought: it's so ) And yes, I DO sometimes cringe at the cost of beef tenderloin or some other nicer cuts, but those aren't everyday meals for me...and when I think about the value I'm getting and the other costs that I'm saving on (environmental, socio-economic, health) it's worth it to me. And again, eating meat less frequently than I used to.

Going out is another story - I know that oftentimes the meat I'm eating out at a restaurant does not follow the local/sustainable/organic/grass-fed theme. I'd be silly to think that (and frankly, if I'm eating that way, I'm more likely to cook at home because it's a more affordable option right now). But I choose those meals less than I would if I saw something from Becker Lane (pork) or Mint Creek (lamb). It's great to see so many restaurants, though, who are putting the name of the farm from where they are sourcing the meat on their menu. You will also find at least 1 meat purveyor at any farmer's market in Chicago these days...ah, electricity!

One final thing worth noting: taste a pork chop from Jewel next to a Cedar Valley pork chop and tell me which is better. Taste to me is way more important than "cheap". You can really taste the difference with a lot of these small producers because they use breeds and methods that factory farms don't and it's reflected in the flavor of the meat. Grass produces sweeter meat and milk than corn or soy or um, other animals. And I find I eat less and enjoy more. Well, try to eat less, anyway...

Food Rules #17 (and #18-#21)

Pollan's Rule #17? Eat Only Foods that Have Been Cooked by Humans. Large food corporations in general use too much salt, fat, sugar, preservatives, coloring...the list goes on. If food on the supermarket shelves is expected to have an extremely long shelf life, they've got to pack lots and lots of salt/sodium in those foods to make sure they still taste good months (years?) from now. And those carrots in the canned soup you're opening need to be a nice bright orange, so they have to use preservatives/sulfites. Now, I've got some canned foods on the shelves of the shops and in my pantry at home. But I try to keep the processed foods to a minimum and I'll be the first to tell you that a great, quick meal CAN be had in 15-20 minutes (using canned tomatoes with no salt added, troll-caught tuna with nothing added, beans, rice or pasta with little to no sodium, preservatives, etc. added) or heck, just bread and cheese.

Pollan expounds upon Rule 17 a bit more with rules 18-21:
*"Don't ingest food made by anyone made to wear a surgical cap"...well, maybe not so much in the City of Chicago, but you get the idea.
*"If it came from a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, don't"
*"It's not food if it arrived thru the window of your car"
*"It's not food if it's called by the same in every language"...Big Mac, etc. Does this include the "Royale with Cheese?"

Food Rules #16: Buy your snacks at the farmer's market

A pretty easy one to follow. Even out of season. Ever tried Seedling's dried fruit? Their dried apples & blueberries are fabulous. They also do dried cherries, strawberries & apricots. Occasionally, the dried fruits turn a little brown, but that's because they don't use any sulfites to preserve color. The flavor lasts a while, though. If they dry out a little, you can soak them in wine, juice or bourbon and make a sauce for pork chops or chicken. (I do whatever I can NOT to throw food out, it seems...even if I have to add bourbon to it).

We even have local nuts now! 2 farms at the Green City Market are selling locally-grown nuts, quite a surprise for this cold climate. In season, I also love just getting a pint of raspberries or blueberries and eating them on the spot. Another great snack? Eat Green Foods Granola Bars. These bars are a meal, not just a snack. They're made with local honey & butter, Missouri pecans & Michigan dried fruit and just a touch of salt, which I love.

Pollan encourages healthy snacks like those likely to be sold at farmer's markets, in lieu of junky sweets & unhealthy chips, etc. I think you can even find some locally-made jerky at the winter markets, for those of you who can't cut it on fruit & nuts alone.

Food Rules #15: Get out of the Supermarket whenever you can

Pollan makes a good point: You won't find any HFCS at the farmer's market. Farmers' markets, food co-ops, small independent grocers with an emphasis on "real" food are out there and growing, but still the big chains rule. The chains are what keep food processing plants and factory farms busy. But you won't find heirloom apples or tomatoes in most big grocery chains. You WILL get to talk to the person who planted the seeds, worked in the hot sun and heavy rains to make sure their crops were perfect by going to the farmer's market. You can even buy shares in the farm from where you want your beef & chicken or your weekly vegetables to come from. More and more these farms are offering drop offs around the city at shops like ours. I think as a consumer this is very rewarding and exciting: it's kind of like the stock market - you buy shares in the farm (called "Community Supported Agriculture") and when the weather cooperates, well your return is robust. When wind and hail sometimes mercilessly ruin crops and fox destroy the chicken coops, your investment can be a bit disappointing, but you are partnering with the farm so that long term you both benefit (not to mention our environment and local economies...)

So writing about farmer's markets leads me to another thought: if you've ever purchased preserves or brownies or salsa or many other products outside of raw vegetables or local meat, those products are mandated by the City of Chicago to be prepared in a commercial kitchen. This ensures the integrity of the process: the kitchen has a license that dictates it be inspected by local officials to make sure that kitchen is in compliance with things that prevent foodborne illness and other 'bad' things...however, many of the vendors we've seen pop up in Chicago over the last few years are just getting their feet wet with their business. They're using the markets as a way to 'beta-test' their products, or they simply aren't at a production level that allows them to have a store front - an endeavor that takes A LOT of capital and has high demands (like rent, utilities, payroll, property taxes and much much more). So, in lieu of taking the risk too soon, or taking on too much, these small-food entrepeneurs are lucky enough to be able to go to kitchen incubators: shared commercially-inspected kitchens that exist by renting out use of the kitchen to several businesses at a time, usually by the hour.

Kitchen incubators are terrific - in fact, they've been the launch pad for several small Chicago businesses: Floriole, Hoosier Mama Pie Company, Vella Cafe. These ladies all got to test the waters by prepping food at Kitchen Chicago, then selling their goods at farmer's markets to see how people would like their product and it worked! This week city of Chicago health inspectors crushed a couple of businesses (and livelihoods) when they inspected a commercial kitchen incubator & destroyed thousands of dollars worth of food that had been stored/prepared at the kitchen. Now here's the crazy irony: the city will not issue business licenses to food vendors that don't have a physical address. Kitchen incubators serve as the physical address & the licensed kitchen that inspectors can go to to make sure everything's on the "up and up"...individual food businesses can then apply for their licenses using the kitchen's address and each have a separate inspection.

This week officials were at Kitchen Chicago completing inspections and upon discovering some frozen fruit being stored by a food artisan using the shared space, proceeded to throw away all of it (oh, after pouring bleach all over it). Read the piece written by Monica Eng of the Chicago Tribune, who happened to be there collecting info for a separate story:
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/thestew/2010/02/health-department-destroys-thousands-of-dollars-of-local-fruit.html#more

To me, as a small-business owner who proudly and CONFIDENTLY supports many small-food producers who work out of commercial kitchens, I think the actions by the city are a blow not just to small business, but to much of our population. The city's actions imply that large-scale food processors and companies who choose profits over local communities are more important than trying to bolster our local food economies. Forget the slap in the face to people who can't afford to feed their families & to those who picked the fruit (that the city threw away) at 5am to get it to the farmer's markets to people who CHOOSE to support the local/sustainable movement. I need another day or two to wallow in this sad state and after that, I'm going to do my best to continue to support local foods, continue to run my business with integrity and with a mission to help in my own way to heal our food system. Please forward Monica's blog post on to as many people as you can. We need light shined on this type of behavior and we need better and more straightforward and FAIR rules put in place for small business. Thanks for listening!

Food Rules #14: Eat foods made of ingredients you can picture in their raw state

Pollan asks us to picture the ingredients listed on a package of Twinkies or Pringles & imagine what the ingredients look like raw. Can't do it, can you? Following this rule helps keep all sorts of chemicals and "foodlike substances" out of your diet. I'm not giving up the occasional Coca-Cola, though - it's too damn good on those "difficult" mornings - but trying this rule on for size at least empowers us to make better decisions about what we consume every day.