Wow. I haven't done this in years (for those of you that remember the old Saute Wednesday days), so I'm a bit out of
practice, but here goes...
There's always a backstory.
"What is Edible Communities?" Is a question I get all the time, and I must say that I've got my answer pretty well down. So does Folio and it goes something like this.
The end of eating as we know it.
Sara Deseran, senior editor at 7x7 Magazine, laments the almost certain demise of the San Francisco dining scene in a recent blog post:
This is the down-and-dirty: Restaurant owners are going to have to make up for this somehow. They have options, of course: closing and getting out of town, using cheaper ingredients (there goes your Marin Sun Farms rib-eye) or, most likely, adjusting menu prices, if they haven't already (sticker shock, coming to you soon). As for the culture of dining, you can also expect to see a rise in big restaurants with corporate backers. As Gerald Hirigoyen, owner of Piperade and Bocadillos, says, the law is going to hurt the mom-and-pop operations the most. “I’m just going to go live on a desert island,” he said wryly. “That, or go work for Google.”
She refers to the recent ruling that went into effect when San Francisco became the first city in the country to require all businesses to provide paid sick leave to their employees. Nice in theory, but it's going to bankrupt alot of small restaurants and drive alot of others out of town.
"We think it will cost us $180,000 to $200,000 a year for just those three increases,'' said Dave Stanton, managing partner of Tres Agaves, the Mexican restaurant near AT&T Park that opened to rave reviews in October. "I'm going to have to raise prices for all my drinks and appetizers a dollar and entrees two dollars. I don't know how else to do it.''
I can get off on a local heirloom tomato as much as anyone else. Or a fresh California date, crispy with tart honey that I can get only for a few weeks in Southern California. Or breaded sautéed abalone when I'm in Monterey. But the idea that this is the best way to eat, that most of our food should really come from within 100 miles, that farm-to-table produces a superior diet, is antiglobalization idiocy."
And then he proceeds to finish with this gem:
"I’m going to keep buying food from my foreign neighbors. Because it’s the only way we Americans learn about other countries, other than by bombing them."
The Time article.
Reminds me of the famous words from this idiot, er, I mean congressman:
"I know people on the outside can sit and complain about this, but frankly most of those people have no clue what they're talking about," Peterson said. "Most people in the city have no concept of what's going on here."
Dams along a 300 stretch of the Klamath river are finally going to be scrapped, and according to the NYT, "The removal of the four dams and the restoration efforts would constitute one of the most far-reaching efforts ever to reverse the harm done by human intervention on a river while safeguarding the viability of the towns, industry and agriculture along it." The deal is not quite done, and it must be reviewed by federal agencies, including the U.S. Justice Department, and the dams' owner, PacifiCorp, and the ultimate Un-daming (De-daming? Ex-daming?) wouldn't be complete until 2015. Which probably means more than a few more short salmon fishing (and dining) seasons. Damn! Coverage in Grist, the NY Times, and the SF Chronicle.
Kinda, sorta related: Join Nextcourse for their Turning the Tables event at 1 Fort Mason on February 8th to discuss the water crisis that, while global, has tremendous impact in our own backyard. The Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta faces multiple challenges that require immediate action. Governor Schwarzenegger's Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force in its report released December 17th has taken a giant step forward by highlighting both the estuary's immediate and long-term priorities.
The key note speaker will be Senator Joe Simitian representing the 11th District who will discuss the current crises and the various actions proposed by the Blue Ribbon Task Force, and, most importantly, what you can do to guide California towards a sustainable future. Senator Simitian will be joined for a panel discussion by Mindy McIntyre the Water Program Manager for the Planning and Conservation League and Paul Johnson owner of Monterey Fish and author of Fish Forever.
Carol is Cool
SF Chronicle's Carol Ness looks at the COOL law (for country of origin labeling) after a deluge of emails landed in the food section's in-box when last week's Taster's Choice column revealed that Trader Joes frozen spinach came from China. Ah, Trader Joes, that bastion of locally grown and produced foods. No wait, I'm thinking of a farmers' market. Sorry. Apparently, the fine folks at TJ's have cancelled deliveries (at least in San Francisco) of Chinese spinach and garlic due to customer complaints. Now I haven't been in a Trader Joe's in years, so I'm wondering if they sell apple juice too. Because, of course you know that most of the apple juice sold in the U.S. comes from China. Yep, es verdad. China is one of the worlds largest apple producers and you can bet that Chinese apples are going to start showing up on grocery store shelves before you can say "Johnny Appleseed". More of that depressing news here.
Clone the right thing
Deputy editor of ESF and queen of all things Ethicurean, Bonnie Powell, lets loose on the FDA and their recent decision to unleash cloned foods on the masses.
Ah, but never fear, the FDA also looked at long-term studies in which milk and meat from clones were actually fed to animals. They found no evidence of health effects, allergic reactions, or behavioral changes in lab animals that ate this diet for a whole three and a half months!!! What’s the bleepin’ rush, people?
More here (Bonnie, please take it easy and don't throw things at your computer screen, or me, for that matter).
Coming soon: Look for the "Clone Free" label on meats and milk from a farmers market near you. I know, isn't that clever? That's it for this weeks news feed. I'm ending this with my new sign-off quote, which is also the very last bit of content in the latest issue of ESF (in the current issue, see if you can find it).
"Despite its artistic pretensions and its many accomplishments, humankind owes its existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.
Pollan Poetry 
