The Frugal Traveler on "The Center Cut": A New Yorker Learns Something about Farming and the Midwest

I have enjoyed immensely following Seth Kugel, the NYT's "Frugal Traveler," the past six weeks as he has made his way through what his summarizing installation calls (in the print edition) America's "Center Cut," from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to western Minnesota.  (I note, by the way, that his journey covers the territory of the federal Eighth Circuit, but with the additions of Kugel's Fifth Circuit kick-off and his brief foray into Kansas).  In his grand wrap up in today's paper, titled (online) "What I Learned Driving Through the Heartland," Kugel's lede has a decidedly agricultural flavor that I cannot resist highlighting here for Ag Law readers:

“The udder on this cow just keeps getting better and better as the day goes on,” remarked Barry Visser, Kandiyohi County Fair dairy cattle judge, over the PA system. A boy led his prizewinning Holstein away as a friendly crowd of western Minnesotans, and one out-of-place New Yorker, looked on from the modest stands. The dairy cow competition was nearing its end; the rabbits, hens and pigs had already had their days of judgment — no udders required — and were unwinding one building down. 

Kugel goes on to explain that, for all his worldliness (here there is shameless place dropping as Kugel establishes his world traveler bonafides by listing the major world regions he has visited), he had a lot to learn about parts of the United States, including how much variety there is from state to state, sometimes even county to county--never mind crossing an international boundary.  Clearly, Kugel's knowledge about farming and farm culture expanded exponentially on this journey.  He writes: 

Vague notions of the region were replaced by what I gleaned from museums and historical markers as well as from residents’ stories of their great-grandparents’ struggles as settlers. The simple question I asked of every farmer I met — How many acres does it take to make a family farm profitable? — launched conversations in which I learned infinitely more than you could by reading articles about farm bills.

* * *

But it was really the county fairs I attended — three in total — that won the Frugal Traveler blue ribbon for favorite activity. I didn’t even know what the 4 H’s in 4-H stood for before this summer (for the record: head, heart, hands, health), let alone that the institution shapes childhoods in much of the country. Later, when I realized that several county fairs are within a two-hour drive of New York City, I felt rather ignorant.

Ignorant, indeed.  Hasn't Kugel been reading his own paper, with its tendency to label "rural" anything north of Westchester?  See examples here and here.  

At a few points, Kugel refers to the people he met and the places he saw as "exotic"--like a small African tribe (the latter are my words, not his).  To observe that this highlights the rural-urban chasm in this country is to state the obvious.  I am also reminded of an interesting cultural studies article I have cited from time to time, Lisa Heldke's "Farming Made Me Stupid."  If Kugel thought that when he started his tour of the Eighth Circuit, he seems to have been disabused of that notion.  Just what I like in a reporter:  an open mind.  

My post about Kugel's visit to my hometown, Jasper, Arkansas--reported at the beginning of August--is here. The pride I felt when I read that story a month ago resurfaced with today's recap, pinpointing on a a map in our nation's premier newspaper of record my little ol' town's position in the universe, along with Kugel's other mostly obscure stops. Too bad the caption in the latter story (print edition) places the "most photographed rock in Arkansas," Hawskbill Crag (a/k/a/ Whitaker Point), in Missouri.  But then, you can only expect so much from a bunch of city slicker cite checkers.  

Cafe Spiaggia - Elegant Italian food in Chicago

While planning our trip to Chicago, we often read about Spiaggia, an Italian restaurant considered to be the best in the city. So we decided to take a cheaper route and dine at Cafe Spiaggia. This restaurant served wonderful homemade pastas in a more casual environment. Essentially Spiaggia quality at a fraction of the cost!

So we sat down in the narrow and quiet dining room, enjoyed a glass of the 2005 Foja Tonda Albino Armani (Veneto), and took in the view of N. Michigan Ave.



Olive oil from Tuscany specially made for Spiaggia with house-made flatbread. We loved the Parmesan cheese on the crispy and flaky flatbread.
Hand crafted chitarra ($17) with olive oil poached tuna, capers, olives, San Marzano tomatoes, and oregano. This dish had a nice salty taste with a little spice. The homemade pasta was excellent and the sauce was light.
Perciatelle (thin hollow pasta, $18) with La Quercia guanciale (pork jowl), onions, garlic, basil, and Calabrian peppers. This homemade pasta was thicker and tubular in shape. This was a wonderfully rustic and substantial meal.
Tiramisu ($9) with double espresso ($5.50): This dessert was so light and delicious. The mascarpone cheese and the illy espresso-soaked lady fingers had great texture and flavor.

Cafe Spiaggia is located at 980 North Michigan Ave in Chicago, IL.

Update on Pavlovsk

National Public Radio provided additional information on the proposed sale and development of Pavlovsk Experiment Station in an interesting article, Researchers Fight to Save Fruits of Their Labor. This issue was first noted here in the previous post, Can Twitter Save Rare Pavlovsk Plants?

Leonid Burmistrov, a fruit and crop researcher at the institute for 40 years was interviewed for the story.

Scientists have left over the years, he says, as the government cut funding. But through it all, he says, the research station has collected fruit and berry varieties from around the world, stayed in touch with scientists abroad and cataloged everything.

"Like [what is] winter-resistant, resistant to different kind of fungi, diseases or bacteria," Burmistrov says. "What is the quality? What is the taste? And so, so on."

The idea of ripping these plants from the ground for the sake of development?

"No," he says sternly, standing amid fruit trees. "It's not possible to think about the possibility."

But it still a very real possibility. Here is the podcast.

Food & Agriculture: The New Trend in Higher Education

As someone who has practiced, taught, and wrote about agricultural law for over twenty years, the current upswing in interest in studying issues of food and agriculture is gratifying. You can imagine my reaction when the Washington Post published Field Studies: In Exploring Culture, Politics and the Environment, Food Programs Hit the Academic Mainstream last week.

The article reports that Yale now offers 19 food and agriculture courses, with that number up almost 50 percent from five years ago. "Psychology, Biology and Politics of Food, taught for the first time in fall 2006, had to be moved to one of the college's largest lecture halls to accommodate the 325 students who registered."

"There's a generation of students that understand that the modern world has been shaped by agriculture, and they are turning to their curriculum to understand those connections," says Melina Shannon-DiPietro, director of the six-year-old Yale Sustainable Food Project, which runs the pre-orientation program [in organic farming].

And, highlighting that the trend is not just at liberal Yale, the article references "pioneering" food studies programs that have existed for some time at Boston University and New York University. "[F]ood is now entering the academic mainstream" with new programs this year at the University of New Hampshire and the University of California at Davis and food courses referenced at George Washington University and Catholic University.

Professors point to several reasons behind the boom in food studies. One is competition for enrollment. As more students profess a broader awareness of food and its cultural and environmental implications, colleges are scrambling to offer courses to attract them.

Trends in academia also are fueling the growth. First, the explosion of food literature has produced books students want to read. "When I first taught a course on food seven years ago, it was hard to find books," says Carolyn de la Peña, associate professor of American studies at UC Davis. Instead, she had to use narrow, often technical articles that didn't appeal to students.

In the past 10 years, a body of literature has emerged: Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation," Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and Morgan Spurlock's documentary film "Super Size Me," among others. "You can hand them to a student, and they can see how their own choices affect labor practices or health or the environment," de la Peña says.

Will the trend continue? While "[p]rofessors acknowledge that all the courses in the world aren't going to end college students' love affair with pizza and beer . . . once you have gone from ignorance to a greater understanding of how your choices impact the food system, you can't go back."

In the LL.M. Program in Agricultural Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law, we are continuing to expand our offerings in food law, with three courses in the curriculum and others being developed. There has been enough interest among J.D. students so that we have opened two of these classes to them, and yes, we have had to move to a slightly larger classroom (although admittedly we are a long ways from the largest lecture hall). Similarly, our new Journal of Food Law & Policy has been very well received. And, I have contracted with Carolina Press for the publication of an Agricultural Law J.D. casebook - with an emphasis on the natural link between agriculture and food.

Westvleteren - The Holy Grail of Beer

We had the good luck of being at the right place a the right time to have the Westvleteren 12 from Brouwerij Westvleteren, the most sought after Trappist beer that is arguably the best beer in the world. First we were discussing good Belgian beers with the owner of a bar, and then suddenly, we were drinking a beer so good it would put most beer or even any other drink to shame.

Poured from a 12oz bottle into a chalice (standard Chimay glass) at room temperature, the Belgian quadrupel drank more like a cognac than a traditional quad. Dark fruits are apparent, with rich date and fig, a little brown sugar...enough fruit and rich flavors to balance the alcohol of the beer so it remains smooth. There was no harsh edge or burn even on the finish. Some of the alcohol was noticeable on the nose but this beer was so enjoyable. We could not believe how drinkable and balanced this was at 10.2% ABV. The bottle itself was over 4 years old (the 12 can age longer than most wines).

Our friend also had the Westvleteren 8 (dubbel style) which we offered to buy along with the rest of the 12 but to no avail. Either way, we are grateful for having the pleasure of tasting the best beer in the world. At least we didn't have to wait several hours in a car in rural Belgium for a small allotment.

If you come across any, don't pass up the chance to taste or buy. It is worth it no matter what it costs. A true once in a lifetime beer experience. We wish we had a couple of bottles to age at home.

Westvleteren 8 and 12 are only available (legally) through the brewery at Abbey of the Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren.

Barbuto

We enjoyed watching Chef Jonathan Waxman on the most recent season of Top Chef Masters.  Between his calm demeanor and his ingredients-first approach to cooking (after all, he was the chef at Chez Panisse), Chef Waxman's restaurants soon became a must-try destination for us. We finally got the chance to dine at his restaurant Barbuto and were eager to try his renowned roasted chicken.

Located in the affluent and trendy West Village, the restaurant (with its opened garage door windows) has a nice outdoor patio feel (even when you're dining inside).

Zucchine crude ($11):  Shaved heirloom zucchini salad with hazelnuts and black olive dressing ($11):  This was a clean and tasty summer dish.  It was lightly dressed with cracked black pepper and we loved the crunchy textures between the nuts and cool zucchini slices.  Between this salad and the one we enjoyed at al di la in Brooklyn, we have been inspired to make similar salads at home.  It's a great way to use up all of the fresh zucchini we buy at the farmer's market!  

Paccheri con Salciccia ($19):  Instead of the fresh ricotta that normally tops this dish, goat cheese was used instead (the restaurant had run out of ricotta cheese).  The goat cheese was very mild and silky in texture (very similar to ricotta).  We enjoyed this entree-sized plate of homemade pasta.  We found it very similar to rigatoni with a spicy sausage ragu.

New flatware arrives as we anxiously await our roasted chicken...

Pollo al Forno ($19):  We were waiting for this roasted JW Chicken!  We loved the juicy, well-seasoned chicken with crisp skin and fresh salsa verde.  There was so much food, we definitely did not need sides!  There's something comforting about warm roasted chicken, and the leftovers were perfect for a late-night snack.  We may need to make this at home! (We found the recipe here).

Peach and Raspberry Crostata ($8):  What we liked about this dessert was that the fruit really stood out  instead of being buried in crust and sugar.  The homemade whipped cream was light, airy, and delicate.  This simple dish allowed the seasonal fruit to shine.

Barbuto is located at 775 Washington St (at W 12th St) in NYC.

Recommendation: FORA TV

For your learning pleasure, and for an excellent teaching tool, I recommend Fora tv.

FORA.tv was founded in 2005 and is funded by a select group of investors including William R. Hearst III and Adobe Ventures. It advertises itself as having "the web's largest collection of unmediated video drawn from live events, lectures, and debates." It posts lectures from "the world's top universities, think tanks and conferences" and makes it available for "anyone to watch, interact with, and share --when, where, and how they want."

There is a fantastic collection of over sixty food law & policy lectures, over a hundred on agriculture.

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Our United Nations-Inspired Meal

New York City is home to the United Nations - and to so many people from around the world. After finding kangaroo meat at a local butcher shop, we wondered how many other interesting ingredients we could find to make an United Nations-inspired International Dinner for our adventurous and non-adventurous family members.

And so, thanks to FoodBuzz and VISA Signature, we were able to explore New York City, find and cook some very interesting ingredients from different countries, and get our family's reaction



We started out in Chinatown and came across lots of exotic fruits sold by vendors on Canal Street. We bought dragon fruit, rambutan (red fruit with soft spikes), custard apples (looks like bruised artichokes), and starfruit. Then we headed to Hong Kong Supermarket for snacks like dry seaweed and shrimp chips. Finally, in another market, we found our next interesting ingredient to cook for our dinner - jellyfish!

We quickly went around the world - First heading up to SOHO to Spanish store Despana (to get KAS soda), then we went out to the LES to Australian outpost Tuck Shop (the only place in NYC to get Tim Tams, fantastic cookies), Dual Specialty Store (a great Indian store with tons of lentils, spices, and interesting vegetables like karela or Indian bitter melon), and finally to a small Polish deli named Polish GI Delicatessen and bought some Polish cookies.
Lastly, we headed to Sunrise Mart in the East Village. This is the best Japanese market in NYC! Here we grabbed a cold Kona coffee beverage, Korean green peppers, and a bag of nuts with dried anchovies. We ended our grocery run with Trader Joe's (where we happily grabbed some dried Mangosteen - we heard the fresh version of these fruit were the tastiest fruit in the world, and some dried Turkish figs). Now we were ready to cook our meal!

We bought salted jellyfish that came in packaged bags, to ensure we wouldn't poison our guests! We read that the salt and preservatives used to store the jellyfish neutralizes any venom. It also requires a lot of water to make it crunchy. We decided to prepare the jellyfish, traditionally used in Asian cultures, in two different ways - Jellyfish Salad (adapted from a Mario Batali recipe) and Fried Jellyfish with Korean Green Pepper Marinara Sauce (our take on Fried Calamari)
To prep the jellyfish, we took it out of the package and sliced it into thin strips. Then we placed it in a colander for 30 mins under cold water. While the jellyfish was rinsing, we boiled water.
We split the jellyfish into 2 batches:

Fried Jellyfish: This batch was placed in a bowl of hot water for 15 mins. Afterwards, we drained the bowl and poured cold water over the jellyfish. We then squeezed the water out and patted the jellyfish dry with paper towels.

Salad Jellyfish: This batch was left in the colander and then we poured hot water over it. We rinsed them again in cold water for about 15 mins and then poured more hot water poured over it. Lastly, we cooled the jellyfish again with cold water, squeezed the water out, and patted it dry with paper towels.

Finally, the jellyfish were ready for cooking! (Please see the end of the post for recipe details).

What's great about jellyfish is that it has no flavor - so we only taste any seasonings we put on it. Making this Jellyfish Salad was very easy - and we thought it tasted light and fresh. We paired it with a South African Chenin Blanc.

But what did our diners think about our Jellyfish Salad?

"Jellyfish was great and fun! It was not fishy nor chewy."
"Beautiful presentation. Nice and light. The jellyfish was a nice surprise - unexpected but not overpowering."
"Very unique texture - slippery and tender. Flavor of the dressing could be tasted in the jellyfish. Arugula gave it a nice pepperiness to the salad."

We used Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) to coat the jellyfish and made a nice, spicy marinara sauce to go with it. Though it took a few tries to sufficiently coat the jellyfish, we were able to make a nice batch of lightly breaded jellyfish.

What did our diners think about our Fried Jellyfish?

"Nice texture - crisp yet chewy. Also liked the garlic in the sauce - very flavorful!"
"Loved the mixture of jellyfish and bread crumbs. The sauce's spiciness was great and a good combo with the jellyfish."
"The texture was close to big algae - very good, but the sauce made all the difference."
We found the karela or Indian bitter melon in Dual Specialty Store. We were attracted to its unique shape - it looked like a lizard with bumpy scales! To prep it, we had to scrape off the bumps and harder skin, rolled it in salt, and then sliced it up for the curry. We decided to use the Japanese curry (milder and sweeter than Indian curry) to see how the two flavors would taste together. We didn't know that half of our guests never had any type of curry before in their lives!

What did our diners think about our Karela Japanese Curry?

"First experience with curry - It was a nice mix of flavors."
"The curry was flavorful and aromatic. The karela was ok - maybe it would be better in smaller pieces. After adding a bit more salt, the dish was excellent."
"Never had curry before, and didn't really like it. The potatoes were good though."

Kangaroo meat is a very lean meat - we only seared it on both sides for 3-4 minutes and then let it rest. We made a Collard Green side (based on an Ethiopian recipe) with Korean green peppers.

What did our diners think about the Kangaroo steak with Ethiopian Collard Greens?

"The meat was tender and the collard greens were surprisingly spicy due to the peppers. Excellent flavor."
"Wow! The meat was cooked to perfection. It looked like sirloin, but it tasted gamier. The greens reminded me of escarole and the peppers added a nice kick.
"The meat was good and not too gamy. It went well with the sharp taste of the collard greens. The greens had a great taste and the bitterness was counteracted by the spice. Excellent."

For dessert, we decided to make frozen yogurt with the Dragon Fruit. Dragon Fruit, or Pitaya, is commonly found in Southeast Asia . The fruit itself (including edible seeds) is very mild and so we sweetened it with Agave syrup from Mexico. Also, we love vanilla, so we used vanilla yogurt and soy milk, but these can easily be substituted.

What did our diners think about our Dragon Fruit Frozen Yogurt?

"Love yogurt, so I loved this frozen yogurt."
"Not too sweet - which is excellent in my book. Great presentation which makes it taste even better."
"Nice consistency. Really good." (He went for seconds.)

By now we were getting pretty full - but we all tried a little bit of the fruit we had bought. Everyone was intrigued by the different fruit - Dragon Fruit tasted like kiwi to one, Custard Apple tasted like pear to another, and the Rambutan reminded most people of lychees and longans. After we gave some Rambutans out for our family to take home, they were eager to show them off to friends and co-workers.
Of course, we were able to please our critics with this cocktail! Thanks to our brave family for trying everything and for their candid reactions. Cheers to Foodbuzz for allowing us to take up this International challenge and open all of our eyes to new foods from around the world!

Here's our list of NYC International Grocery Stores:
Hong Kong Supermarket - 68 Elizabeth St.
Po Wing Hong Food Market, Inc - 49-51 Elizabeth St.
Despana - 408 Broome St.
Tuck Shop - 68 E 1st St.
Dual Specialty Store - 91 First Ave.
Polish GI Delicatessen - 109 First Ave.
Sunrise Mart - 4 Stuyvesant St.


Our Recipes (recipe card template adapted from MessyVegetaraianCook)

No, Chairman Mao, revolution is a dinner party

Máo Zédōng was wrong. Revolution is a dinner party:

The term "foodie" is no longer reserved for an exclusive club of chefs and discriminating diners. Today, food has become a focus — and a cause — for a broad audience, from individuals such as . . . Chico [Cal.] residents offering their yards to an idealistic urban farmer, to corporations such as Chipotle, which this month announced that each of its more than 730 restaurants will be required to buy a percentage of the produce it serves from local farms.

Sodexo, the world's largest food-service company, now sources from 700 independent, regional farmers and is overhauling its menus to focus on seasonal and local ingredients. Wal-Mart announced last month that it plans to buy and sell $400 million worth of locally grown produce at its stores in 2008. "It's no longer the fringe elements," said Tracey Ryder, founder of Edible Communities, a publisher of regional food magazines. "We call it the new mainstream."

This weekend, the movement shows its strength as tens of thousands of food activists gather in San Francisco for Slow Food Nation — four days of political rallies, lectures, dinner parties and tastings. The conference, three years in the making, is the first national assembly of the American wing of Slow Food, an Italian organization founded in 1986 in reaction to the opening of a fast-food restaurant (a McDonald's) in Rome.

Peachy

Prunus persica, the ordinary peach, is prized around the world as one of nature's sweetest treats. In America, only the apple exceeds the peach among commercially cultivated fruits. Peach-friendly places around the globe, however, fall within two narrow bands, one in each hemisphere. Extreme cold, though not enough to kill the trees themselves, can kill a season's new buds. And peaches ripen fully only in summer's heat.

Most of all, though, peaches have a chilling requirement. In technical terms, peaches require a certain number of chill hours in order to undergo vernalization, or the competence to flower in spring after exposure to prolonged winter cold. Perhaps the best colloquial expression of this folk wisdom (albeit one tinged with longing and impatience) comes from the folk singer-songwriter, Gillian Welch:

Peaches in the summertime, apples in the fall
If I can’t have you all the time, I won’t have none at all

A Song Dynasty painting of peach blossoms and a bird, attributed to Emperor Huizong (1082-1135).

Bad times will and do befall us. In whatever we set out to do, including but not limited to the cultivation of peaches, a season of cold is not only inevitable. It is affirmatively necessary.

Let us therefore confront the cold, as we must, and clear those trees that have fallen. Frost today, fuzz tomorrow. Though we hope for a peach harvest we have yet to see, we do with patience wait for it. And that fruit, when at last it will have ripened in a summer yet to come, will taste on account of winter all the sweeter.

Synthetic Biology

My most recent Forbes.com article (coauthored with Henry Miller, M.D.), "Will Over-regulation  in Europe Stymie Synthetic Biology," is available at http://www.forbes.com/sites/henrymiller/2012/08/29/will-overregulation-in-europe-stymie-synthetic-biology

Ag Biotech News - on Twitter

Twitter sometimes gets panned for those who tweet about what they had for breakfast and other aspects of personal life that are best left unpublished to the world. The other side of twitter is the ability of people with shared interests to communicate news and ideas efficiently. This morning provided me with an example of this very valuable use of Twitter.

I follow both Dean Jim Chen and Professor Katharine Van Tassel on Twitter and appreciate their timely links to interesting news and commentary on agricultural and food law issues. Dean Chen tweeted "Non-GMO" labeling will challenge the FDA even as it seeks to buoy the market for natural and organic foods. http://bit.ly/4nqLQm. Similarly, Professor Van Tassel tweeted, "New Non-GMO seal, a butterfly perched on two blades of grass in the form of a check mark, will debut this fall. http://bit.ly/kpBO4"

Both link to a NY Times article, ‘Non-GMO’ Seal Identifies Foods Mostly Biotech-Free about a new industry group, the Non-GMO Project that is establishing a testing program and a label for products that comply with a standard of less than o.9% GMO products, a European threshold for labeling.

Professor Van Tassel tweeted on another article that I might have missed, New study: heat can produce a potentially toxic substance in high-fructose corn syrup that may kill honeybees.http://bit.ly/oWKEX. The link is to a Science Daily article that describes a new study with food safely and colony collapse disorder implications.


I admit that I still have trouble on Twitter wading through some of the personal tweets and deciding who to follow and what to post. Nevertheless, it serves to link me to my colleagues in a new way and to provide me with their insights in a very efficient manner.

Those interested in following Dean Chen's twitter account, J.C. Redbird can find it at chenx064. Professor Van Tassel's tweets can be followed at KVTPhoenix. Both blog on our sister blog in the Jurisdynamics network at BioLaw. And, by the way, there is the aglawllm twitter account for you to consider as well.

Union Square Greenmarket - Year-round Farmers Market in NYC

Every Saturday we're in the city, we try to head out to one of the many farmers' markets in Manhattan. With today's rainy weather here in New York City (plus our preparations for tonight's 24, 24, 24 Foodbuzz dinner - please see tomorrow's post for details), we're probably going to stay indoors. Instead, we hope to brighten your day with (sunny) photos from the largest farmers market in Manhattan: Union Square Greenmarket.

This is where lots of great restaurants (e.g. Union Square Cafe) buy their ingredients. (If you get up really early and get there around 8AM on a Saturday, you can follow chefs and restaurant employees around to see/buy what they get).

Huge red and white onions.

Rustic peaches.

Yup, those are purple peppers! We bought one, but after cooking, they turn green. Our friend Mardi had the same experience with purple beans and wrote about why they turn green.

Eggplants and zucchini and summer squash, oh my!

Red and yellow tomatoes.

If you look closely, you can see purple carrots amongst the orange ones. We've eaten these raw before - it's only purple on the outside (and orange on the inside). So after lightly peeling them, some of the purple color is gone.
Purple radishes (they tasted milder than the regular ones below)

Red currents

The Union Square Greenmarket is on Broadway (at E 17th St.) in New York City. It is open year-round.