Michael Pollan Talks Processed Food, Organics in MN

Posted by Jennifer Heigl

Food author and activist Michael Pollan, author of ‘In Defense of Food’ is visiting the Twin Cities this week to talk food. Local newspaper, The Star Tribune, had a chance to speak with Pollan yesterday regarding his food activism.

Here are a few of my favorite bits from the interview:

Q: With the recent contamination scares, people may be feeling a sense of security in processed foods, which are exactly what you argue against. How do you respond?

A: A lot of people think processed food is safer because it’s so sanitized, but that really means that everything’s been killed. It’s dead. There’s definitely a fear coming of food grown in the soil, which is really sad. A lot of the problem with produce comes in the processing.

People are relying on companies washing fresh lettuce and putting it in a bag with an 18-day shelf life instead of doing it themselves. The consumer should assume that whenever they outsource food preparation, there’s a certain amount of risk involved. Not that you’re always going to get it right yourself, but the scale of the problem is a lot smaller.

Q: With people looking to stretch their food dollars, is the message to eat organically and locally, which often means more expensively, losing steam?

A: I’ve heard contradictory things. I know Whole Foods is struggling, but I’ve also talked to people who make organic food, and they’re doing just fine. This spring, we’ll see what happens in the farmers markets.

You can read the rest of Pollan’s interview here!

Concerned about your food safety? Check out my tips for keeping yourself, and your family, safe from food contamination.

Australia’s Vogue Recognizes Sustainable Food Producers

Posted by Jennifer Heigl

While the United States continues to build it’s green and sustainable following, Australia’s Vogue Entertaining + Travel recently handed out their annual Produce Awards, recognizing sustainable farms and food producers within the country down under, in categories including ‘from the paddock’, ‘from the dairy’, ‘from the earth’ and ‘from the sea’.

“The Awards are dedicated to discovering and celebrating the finest food growers and suppliers in the country. Whether you’re a three-hat chef, or someone who enjoys cooking at home, these are the producers and products you need to know about. This year, the produce was of such a high standard that rather than presenting just one runner-up to each winner, we decided to add a new ‘gold medal’ category,” says Trudi Jenkins, editor-in-chief of Vogue Entertaining + Travel.

“The Awards are not just a celebration of Australia’s fantastic produce; they acknowledge the people who are committed to quality and consistency in what they grow and make, and those who promote small producers through restaurants, providores and markets,” she says.

National judges included a number of well-known Australian chefs, including Alla Wolf-Tasker, Matt Moran, Cheong Liew, and Philip Johnson.

The winners list (minus the long list of regional recognitions):

From The Dairy: Holy Goat La Luna, Victoria, AUS

From The Earth: Daylesford Organics Heirloom Vegetables, Victoria, AUS

From The Sea: Pristine Oyster Farm, South Australia, AUS; Spanner Crabs Noosa, Queensland, AUS

From The Paddock: White Rocks Veal, Western Australia, AUS

Best New Product: Redgate Farm Jurassic Quail, New South Wales, AUS

Consistently Excellent Product: Blackmore Wagyu, Victoria, AUS

Outstanding Use of Regional Produce By A Chef: Dan Hunter, Royal Mail Hotel, Victoria, AUS

Outstanding Farmers Market: Willunga, South Australia, AUS

The Maggie Beer Award for an Outstanding Contribution to Australian Food: Stephanie Alexander, “The Cook’s Companion”

This year’s award ceremony also included a new award, Food Heritage and Sustainability, with Spring Bay Mussels of Tasmania, AUS taking home the prize.

Good on ya, mates, for your support of sustainable food production!

A Secret Ingredient to the Tomato Sauce

Posted by R.K. Gella

Most Americans are back to eating peanut butter, tomatoes are ordered up in salads and sandwiches without a suspecting thought, and spinach, it graces menus unabashed and bluntly.  Besides wasn’t that E. coli mishap like forever ago?

Actually it wasn’t – only 2 ½ years ago if your counting, and that’s not to mention the salmonella outbreak in 2007 – and though spinach farmers have been able to move forward, as has the tomato industry and eventually the peanut butter manufacturers, what hasn’t been grappled with until recently is an updated public examination of our food stock and policies.

President Obama ordered a review of the Food and Drug Administration earlier this month following the Peanut Corp. of America knowingly shipping out tainted products from a plant in Georgia that sickened 500 people.

As it turned out the processors knew the plant was indeed contaminated with salmonella since 2007.

So how did this slip by inspectors?  In NY Times this week, an op-ed contributor, E.J. Levy, discussed the unsavory (to the fullest exacerbation of the word) policies utilized by the FDA via their booklet “The Food Defect Action Levels: Levels of Natural or Unavoidable Defects in Foods That Present No Health Hazards for Humans”, in which a percentage of “natural food contaminants” are explicitly condoned.

Among the booklet’s list of allowable defects are “insect filth,” “rodent filth” (both hair and excreta pellets), “mold,” “insects,” “mammalian excreta,” “rot,” “insects and larvae” (which is to say, maggots), “insects and mites,” “insects and insect eggs,” “drosophila fly,” “sand and grit,” “parasites,” “mildew” and “foreign matter” (which includes “objectionable” items like “sticks, stones, burlap bagging, cigarette butts, etc.”).

According to Levy’s survey of the booklet, tomato juice and paste were mostly prone to fly eggs and larvae, while the kraut on your dog could lead you to ingest up to 50 thrips per serving.

It makes you wonder if the protein intake on the nutrition label is calibrated appropriately.

Peanut butter — that culinary cause célèbre — may contain approximately 145 bug parts for an 18-ounce jar; or five or more rodent hairs for that same jar; or more than 125 milligrams of grit.

Levy also points out while the FDA considers these items solely “aesthetic” and “offensive to the senses”, with no outward harm posed to the consumer, the book hangs its policies on a hook of economics, stating that it is “impractical to grow, harvest or process raw products that are totally free of non-hazardous, naturally occurring, unavoidable defects.”

To read the FDA booklet in its entirety click here.

New Editor In Chief at Michelin

Posted by R.K. Gella

Who said it was an old boys club?  For the first time in the 108-year history of the Le Guide Michelin (or the Michelin Guide) a woman will take control over the publication as editor-in-chief.  More shocking to the house of Michelin is not that Julianne Caspar, a former restaurateur and Michelin inspector, is a woman but that she’s a German. Caspar, who seldom has been photographed (ideal for a candidate of the position), will be taking the reigns of the French edition marking only the second time a non-Frenchman has had authority to do so.

But not all French nationals are up in arms.  Three-starred Parisian chef, Guy Savoy, offered some congratulatory remarks and noted a trend.

[Caspar’s appointment] shows a new open-mindedness of spirit… the number of one, two and three star restaurants in Germany [shows] that they have really come on with their cuisine in the past few years”.

Daily Blender Exclusive: Food Network’s Sandra Lee

Posted by Jennifer Heigl

In my hobnobbing with celebrity chefs over the last few weeks, I have to say that no one is friendlier than author, chef, and host of the Food Network’s Semi-Homemade Cooking, Sandra Lee. While in Seattle to promote a new trio of cookbooks, Lee sat down with me to talk about her work as spokesperson for Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale. Established in 1984, Share Our Strength helps to combat childhood hunger through national fundraising programs, including Taste of the Nation, Operation Frontline, and the Great American Dine Out.

Q: You just returned from the 2008 Conference of Leaders in Washington, DC. How was that experience for you?

A: You know I always get emotional! It was a lovely event, and we were honoring the volunteers and the people that make a difference. It was moving and wonderful. Everybody was jazzed. It’s going to be more important to do that kind of work now, more than ever, because of the economy. There are going to be more children in need, at risk, and we all just need to start working together.

Q: What about Share Our Strength and the Great American Bake Sale made you want to get involved?

A: Share Our Strength focuses on childhood hunger…and I know a lot about that. When I was growing up, we were on welfare and food stamps, so it’s a very personal cause for me. I understand the feelings of these children, their insecure feelings about food.

Q: What do you hope your celebrity status will bring to the Great American Bake Sale?

A: Awareness, motivation, community outreach and inclusion.

Q: How has your work with the Great American Bake Sale influenced your writing and culinary endeavors?

A: I really started focusing back on basics when it comes to money-saving meals, and how you can make a difference even on a budget.

Q: In addition to the Great American Bake Sale, you’ll also be participating as a guest chef for Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline this year.

A: Yes! I’m hoping to share my knowledge of how to really utilize the grocery store efficiently…how to create something extraordinary out of something ordinary. I think the program teaches not only culinary skills, but also self-esteem. It educates both the parents and the kids on what to eat and what not to eat.

I’ll be participating in a Share Our Strength fundraiser down at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in February as well. I served on the board of UNICEF for two terms and resigned to focus more of my attention on Share Our Strength. I find the more time I have, the more I get involved – as should everyone. We’re responsible for educating our children about healthy food habits.

–

For more information about Share Our Strength’s programs:

Great American Bake Sale – The Great American Bake Sale encourages local communities to host bake sales, with proceeds directly distributed to local hunger relief organizations. Over 3,500 across the nation registered to host bake sales in 2008.

Operation Frontline – Operation Frontline trains chefs and professional nutritionists to volunteer-teach adults, teens and kids how to prepare healthy, tasty, low-cost meals. Since 1993, the program and its hundreds of volunteer instructors have conducted more that 4,000 nutrition and financial-planning courses and helped more than 45,000 low-income families across the country learn how to eat better for less.

Taste Of The Nation – Hosting nationwide culinary events, with celebrity chefs including Tom Collichio, Tyler Florence, and Emeril Lagasse, Taste of the Nation has raised more than $70 million for anti-hunger organizations across the country.

Great American Dine Out – With nearly 4000 restaurants participating nationwide, Great American Dine Out is hosted annually by some of your favorite restaurants with proceeds distributed to local school and food programs, community gardens, food pantries, and shelters.

A Tasteful Pursuit – In it’s fifth year, A Tasteful Pursuit features events and auctions catered by some of the nation’s top chefs.

photo courtesy of Jennifer Heigl

The Day I Met Anthony Bourdain…

Posted by Jennifer Heigl

So, here it is. My unabashed “I heart Anthony Bourdain” post. While I was overly ecstatic to hobnob with a whole host of Food Network chefs at the NYC Wine & Food Festival last week, as well as an opportunity to dine at Le Bernardin and meet super chef Eric Ripert, I have to admit I was a giddy schoolgirl when it came to my chance to shake hands with Mr. Bourdain himself. With knees knocking and palms sweaty, I was first in line after the Adrià TimesTalk to have Tony sign a copy of Nasty Bits for me.

But what is it about the man that makes him so fabulous? Sure, he’s a great chef and does a fabulous show, but I love his wit, his sarcasm, his way with words. (Oooh..did I mention his daughter and I have the same birthday?) Or perhaps it’s just his ability to remain true to himself even as I grinned from ear-to-ear beside him. In fact, I’d be offended if he had smiled for the photo.

I’ll even take this chance to put in a good word for Bourdain’s upcoming show, At The Table with Anthony Bourdain. According to his latest blog post, it may not develop into a full series, but we’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

Thanks again, Tony!

2008 NYC Wine & Food Fest: TimesTalk with Ferrán Adrià and Anthony Bourdain

Posted by Jennifer Heigl

Famed chefs Anthony Bourdain and Ferrán Adrià in one place? Where do I sign up?! Sadly, unless you were really on top of things and ordered your tickets to Saturday’s TimesTalk super early, you may have missed out on Eric Asimov’s chat with Bourdain and Adrià. Tickets to ‘A Revolution of Food’ sold out in record time, but luckily, your favorite Daily Blender blogger had her name at the top of the waiting list and shimmied in just as the talk was about to begin.

Chef Ferrán Adrià is one of the world’s culinary leaders in ‘avant-garde’ cooking. Since the age of 18, Adrià has been making waves as head chef at Spain’s legendary El Bulli, expanding the creativity and innovation of each culinary dish in his kitchen. Utilizing syringes, nitrogen, and other assorted unconventional techniques, Ferrán Adrià has pushed the limits of food since day one at El Bulli. Restaurant magazine has even named it the best restaurant in the world a record four times (2002, 2006, 2007, 2008).

Touring with Phaidon to promote his first book in English, <a href= A Day at El Bulli, Ferrán Adrià sat down with New York Times chief wine critic Eric Asimov and El Bulli documentarian Anthony Bourdain, to talk about his gastronomic innovations.

“Ideally, I’d like to cook for you all,” Adrià began to explain through his interpreter. Instead, the crowd had to settle for a beautiful viewing of two of El Bulli’s dedicated customers enjoying a meal at the famed restaurant. From the joyous smile on the woman’s face to the expressive eyes of her dining companion as they took each bite, you could tell it was meal to be savored. With seventy staff members for only fifty diners, there is a great attention to detail, obvious in the short film clip. “Cuisine is a language. When you cook, you’re creating a dialogue with the diners,” he noted.

“I think you’re the only person who has dined with me at El Bulli,” Ferrán comments to Tony, who’s 2006 documentary, “Decoding Ferrán Adrià”, tracks Ferrán’s culinary process at El Bulli.

“The restaurant is very comforting,” Bourdain responds, “It’s a succession of dishes and surprises. But it’s like Eric Clapton seeing Jimi Hendrix play guitar. You come out thinking, ‘What do I do now?’” It’s the responsibility of the diner, he notes, to arrive for dinner at El Bulli with an ‘open mind, open heart, and a sense of humor’.

“A meal at El Bulli is like a film in which I want to establish a dialogue with the diner,” Ferrán Adrià interjects. “It’s one thing to have a dialogue [about avant-garde cuisine] but it’s another thing for people to understand.”

Awarded four Michelin stars over the years, El Bulli, only open six months a year, has a menu that changes with each season. What’s the process like to develop new dishes each time? “It’s like standing in a room with forty paintings. Starting on June 15th of each year, we take down the first painting and replace it individually, and you continue in this manner. If I kept the menu the same each time, why bother going back to work?”

On developing his own culinary style:
“Imagine you needed to create a language. The first thing you would do is create an alphabet. From there, you can create words, sentences, poems, novels.”

On creativity and cooking:
“I think the first amendment of a creative person is to change and evolve. There are many different ways of cooking many different ways of being a chef, and I respect them all.”

On fellow chefs attempting to emulate El Bulli:
“There are people who try to copy who are not doing it well, but there are also people who make bad pizzas.”

On the future of avant-garde techniques being used by home chefs:
“Without a doubt. Ten years ago the discussion of avant-garde cuisine didn’t exist. Who knows what we’ll see in [the next] ten years.”

2008 NYC Wine & Food Fest: TimesTalk with Nigella Lawson

Posted by Jennifer Heigl

Nigella Lawson

During my NYC Wine & Food extravaganza over the weekend, I had the opportunity to sit in on two of the TimesTalks discussions held on Saturday afternoon. The first TimesTalk I attended featured New York Times Magazine editor at large Lynn Hirschberg interviewing ‘domestic culinary goddess’ Nigella Lawson, who spoke candidly and animatedly about her food experiences. And yes, she’s just as outspoken and beautiful in person as she is on her shows, “Nigella Express”, “Nigella Feasts”, and “Nigella Bites”.

Wearing a brown boatneck top and a long black skirt, Lawson spoke about her move from political writer to culinary writer to television food host, her struggles with the passing of her first husband, and the similarities between writing and cooking.

While Nigella began as a writer, penning columns for The Sunday Times, The Spectator, and British Vogue, she made the transition into television shortly after her first cookbook was published. Lawson noted that before she moved into writing culinary features, she realized she was using cooking “in order to marshal [her] writing thoughts.”

“Cooking is manual, practical, and wholly consuming,” she explained, “I think there’s a story and truthfulness in writing about food.”

When Lawson’s first husband, journalist and educator John Diamond, was dying of throat cancer, she found solace in cooking, sometimes struggling with John’s inability to truly enjoy the food she created. She found the best gift she received during this difficult time was a delivery of groceries from a friend.

“The enjoyment of food is an important part of life. In times of suffering, people tend to ignore [the grief], but it hasn’t been forgotten. Even when people are ill and unable to eat, it’s not as if they’ve forgotten about food. In the end, food is about sustenance and nourishment.”

On organics:

“It’ll be very interested to see how [the organic market] fares in the current economic climate…I would rather not eat meat than eat meat that’s been raised both inhumanely and dangerously.”

On her script-less, conversational television tone:

“It’s as if someone’s in the kitchen with you. You don’t really know what you want to say until you say it.”

On praise for supporting a healthier body image for woman by encouraging the enjoyment of food:

“I like being applauded for eating…We should be grateful that we can buy all kinds of foodstuffs year round.”

On having guests over for dinner:

“[My friends] aren’t as nervous as I am when I have people over to my place. I feel like [my guests] expect more.”

Culinary Celebrities, Great Food: NYC’s Wine & Food Festival

Posted by Jennifer Heigl

Oy! Between the outstanding food and drink at this weekend’s NYC Wine & Food Festival and the early morning flight back to the West Coast, I’m beat! The festival, I have to declare, was a smashing success as well as a fantastic addition to an already established capital of culinary stars. Kudos to festival creator Lee Brian Schrager!

A few of my personal highlights:

• “Do I have chocolate in my teeth?” asked legendary crooner Billy Joel, flashing me his pearly whites while departing last night’s SWEET event. Joel’s beautiful wife, Katie Lee Joel, is the author of The Comfort Table and a former judge on Food Network’s Iron Chef America.
• “Can I have yours?” answered adorable Mark Simmons from Bravo’s Top Chef Season 4 when I asked for his autograph. (Hey, you never know when today’s eliminated chef becomes tomorrow’s celebrity chef – and he’s adorable! Did I mention that?) Simmons was enjoying the atmosphere at Saturday night’s Macy’s Culinary Council Star Party.
• “Oh, you don’t want his autograph!” teased The FN Dish host Bruce Seidel as Bobby Flay put pen to paper for a fan.
• “I thought he was a bit of a bastard,” laughed famed El Bulli chef Ferrán Adrià referring to friend, and “Decoding Ferrán Adrià” documentarian, chef Anthony Bourdain, who calls the menu at El Bulli “shock effect food” in his bestseller, Kitchen Confidential. On tour to promote his new book, A Day at El Bulli, Adrià and Bourdain spoke at Saturday’s TimesTalk with Eric Asimov.

Stay tuned to Daily Blender for more of my favorite moments from this weekend’s festival!

Newman’s Own Paul Newman Dies at 83

A sad day indeed, not only for the world of acting, but also for the wonderful world of natural and organic food. Last evening, actor and entrepreneur Paul Newman passed away peacefully at his home in Westport, Connecticut after months of cancer speculation.

While his acting career is well known, including classics like “Cool Hand Luke”, “The Sundance Kid”, and “The Color of Money”, Newman also co-founded Newman’s Own, a natural and organic food company providing everything from salad dressings to pasta sauce, with 100% proceeds donated to educational and charitable organizations. Newman and his co-founder, author A.E. Hotchner, wrote a memoir about their company experiences, and the subsequent development of their summer camp, Hole in the Wall Gang, titled Shameless Exploitation in the Pursuit of the Common Good.

Goodbye, Paul. Thank you for your pioneering efforts in the organic world. You’ll be sorely missed.

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