October 1st

Standards for the term "sustainable agriculture"

The Agricultural Law blog today links to an interesting controversy about the definition of "sustainable agriculture."

Under guidelines from the non-governmental but influential American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the Leonardo Academy is gathering stakeholders and experts to discuss standards for this widely used term. The academy, a Wisconsin-based non-profit "think and do tank," described the process in a press release (.pdf) yesterday.

USDA, which prefers a broader definition of the term "sustainable agriculture" than the draft under discussion, has petitioned (.pdf) ANSI to revoke the accreditation for the Leonardo Academy to lead this standard-setting process. The Leonardo Academy has responded (.pdf).

[Update 10/1/2008:] The proposed ANSI standard setting process has generated opposition from some longstanding sustainable agriculture advocates. Kathleen Merrigan at the Friedman School points out a letter that she and a few dozen others sent (.doc) Aug. 19, urging participants to consider a long series of concerns before pursuing the proposed approach. The concerns include potential overlap with the existing organic standards, the adequacy of farmer and farmworker participation in the standard setting, the capacity of any new definition to accomodate changes in sustainable agriculture practices as they develop, and the need for long-term enforcement of any new standard.

This is more material than I have been able to absorb yet, but it seems to offer an interesting mix of policy argument about both substance and process for defining what has until now been a fairly inclusive concept.

Briefing on food prices

I gave a briefing (.pdf) yesterday for House of Representatives staff in DC, on the topic of rising food prices. In the past 12 months, grocery food prices in the United States have risen about 6 to 8 percent (depending on how different types of food are weighted in the overall index).

This is of course much higher than the 3 percent increases that have been typical in the earlier part of this decade, but perhaps not as high as you thought if you have been following the news about raw food commodities. Some prices of raw commodities have doubled in just a couple years, for a variety of reasons, causing great alarm. Short term contributors include weather, low carry-over stocks, and export controls by some producer countries. Long term contributors include world population growth, rising demand for meat and dairy products, competition with biofuels, and rising energy prices.

Because the farm cost is less than 10 percent of the value of the grocery food dollar in the United States, consumer grocery prices are somewhat buffered in this country. Also, we have for a number of years spent a comparatively small fraction of our disposable income on food, on average. The slide below is based on international comparison data for selected countries (not all countries) from the Economic Research Service. It is not surprising that poor countries spend a higher fraction of income on food than the United States does. It is notable, though, that our food spending share at least through 2006 was small even by comparison to some more prosperous industrialized countries.

Other interesting data series from USDA/ERS include the food spending share over time.

The lunchtime seminar was organized by the Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics (C-FARE, an outreach organization for the agricultural economics profession) and the National Coalition for Food and Agricultural Research (a broader umbrella group that publicizes the value of research on these topics). In addition to my presentation with an economic perspective, the lunchtime briefing in an Agriculture Committee meeting room at the Longworth House Office Building included a representative of the American Dietetic Association (ADA), who turned out to provide a great interdisciplinary set of resources for staff questions afterwords. The moderator was Ephraim Leibtag from USDA/ERS, whose work on food prices has been widely followed lately, including this article from Philip Brasher.

In addition to consumer concerns about the overall food price level, bigger concerns for me include the rates of food insecurity and hunger in low-income U.S. populations, and the cost of healthy diets. Both issues have to do with more than just prices.

Meanwhile, for unrelated reasons, it was an exciting day to be on the House side of Capitol Hill. During the lunchtime seminar, I could hear from outside the voices of protesters against the bailout. Later, while I was in a follow-up meeting in the early afternoon with staff from one of the Massachusetts congressional delegations, there was a bustle in the office as the Congressman arrived and briskly rounded up staff for an urgent meeting. Only later in the airport did I hear the big news that the House voted down the financial bailout plan.


Data source: USDA/ERS. Follow link for clearer image.

Refresh blog from Supermarket News

I recently started reading the Refresh blog from Supermarket News staff. One recent post summarizes how different supermarkets are participating in various approaches to labeling humane production practices for animal products, based on survey data from the World Society for the Protection of Animals. Another post has some gentle fun with the expansive view of local food taken by a fine internet site in the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) area, called eatgreendfw, which does however include a link to delivery from Fred's Alaska Seafood. "Last I checked," Jeff Wells writes, "Kenai salmon were not native to north Texas."

Octopus in a Stew - O foods.

♫ Put your head on my shoulder ♪, hold me in your arms ♪.... ♫ Octopus ♪! Specially dressed by Paul Anka (turn the player on to get the real feeling). Could a potatO ask for more? A love story of hugs and hOt desire! The ultimate embrace... lOve is in this dish!

This is my entry for O Foods. Please read hereunder for information. I first heard about this Event at the Leftover Queen and have seen lots of recipes already in the blogosphere starting with O or ending with the same vowel. If you feel like joining us, please hurry, today is the last day.


O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. In honor of Gina DePalma, author of Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen and Executive Pastry Chef of Babbo Ristorante in NYC, who was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Sara of Ms Adventures in Italy, Jenn of The Leftover Queen, and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso are asking you to donate to the:
Ovarian Cancer Research Fund and then, out of the goodness of your hearts and to be eligible for the OFoods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month Contest, please do the following:

Post a recipe to your blog using a food that starts or ends with the letter O (e.g., oatmeal, orange, okra, octopus, olive, onion, potato, tomato) and include this entire text box in the post;
OR

If you’re not into the recipe thing, simply post this entire text box in a post on your blog to help spread the word about the event and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.
AND

Then send your post url [along with a photo (100 x 100) if you’ve made a recipe] to ofoods[at]gmail[dot]com by 11:59 pm (Italy time) on September 30, 2008.
We will post a roundup and announce prize winners on October 3.

Prizes:
1 Recipe Prize for best “O food” concoction: $50 gift certificate to Amazon;
1 Awareness Prize for only publicizing event: Copy of Dolce Italiano cookbook.
———
From the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund:

* Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women; a woman’s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is 1 in 67.
* The American Cancer Society estimates that 21,650 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the U.S. in 2008 and about 15,520 women will die from the disease.
* The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often vague and subtle, making it difficult to diagnose.

* There is no effective screening test for ovarian cancer but there are tests which can detect ovarian cancer when patients are at high risk or have early symptoms.
* In spite of this patients are usually diagnosed in advanced stages and only 45% survive longer than five years. Only 19% of cases are caught before the cancer has spread beyond the ovary to the pelvic region.
* When ovarian cancer is detected and treated early on, the five-year survival rate is greater than 92%.

Please donate to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund and help spread the word!

I'm also sending the recipe to Elly from Elly says Opa! and her musically perfect event: Eat to the Beat. This time I must be the last one, sorry about that!, hope to be there earlier the next time :D.

Elly asks us to write a little story about the connection between the dish and the song and in my particular case...

* The sight of an octopus head doesn't remind me of Paul Anka.

* I have never been eating this dish while Paul Anka's song was playing in the stereo...

* It's only that while I prepared the dish for the picture and saw the head of the octopus laying over the potatoes... the song came to my mind!!!

Ingredients for 4 servings: 8 octopuses (about 18 cmts each), 2 big red onions, 2 garlic cloves, 1 glass of water, 1 glass of dry white wine, 4 medium potatoes, some olive oil, some salt, black ground pepper and 4 romesco tablespoons.

• If you freeze the octopuses before cooking them, they will be more tender!
• Defreeze. Take a casserole and put the octopuses in, cover with the water and wine. Boil until it reduces completely.
• Chop the onion in small dices and add to the casserole, turn heat to the lowest and let it sweat with a bit of olive oil.
• When the onion starts getting some golden colour, add the peeled and minced garlic and when fragant, add the potatoes (peeled, cleaned and cut).
• Cover with water and cook at low heat until potatoes become tender. Taste and add salt and pepper to fit your taste. Add the romesco, cook for 30 seconds while shaking the casserole in order to avoid breaking the potatoes and it's done!

Serve it hOt baby!

Cassoleta d'Albergínia i Butifarra

I bet you all guessed what the title means... yes? no? Aubergine (Eggplant) and Butifarra's Cassoulete, where Butifarra is our Typical Catalan Sausage :D. Basic ingredients for a basic dish. Since Medieval ages, the catalans have been using this veggie in their kitchens and I want to keep with the tradition ;D.

I'm sending this recipe over to Valli from More than a Burnt Toast and Ivy from Kopiaste to enter into their wonderful Event: WORLD FOOD DAY. In Valli's words:The blogging community spans the globe so I would like you to submit a recipe which represents your country that would feed at least 6 people. You can send something that is a family favourite or a regional favourite that uses local and perhaps seasonal ingredients.

We could then lay each dish back to back and have enough food to feed everyone on our street. If more people joined we could feed everyone in our city...our country...the world...you get the picture!!! A conga line of international dishes to feed the world!!!!

The aim of the Event is to make people aware of the world's increasing hunger and how the use of biofuel impacts in the poor countries' harvests and needs. Please head to her blog for more info.

When Fall comes, these kind of dishes are frequently "played" in my oven. I just love it for its simplicity and the use of such basic ingredients: milk, eggplants and pork meat... and lots of bread to clean the plate! A cheap dish to feed the whole family :D.

Ingredients for 6 servings: 6 medium eggplants, 4 butifarras (or your regional sausage, preferably pork), salt, black ground pepper, and olive oil. 60 grs of butter, 60 grs of flour, 3/4 of liter of milk, and some grated mozzarella.

• Preheat the oven at 200 ºC.
• Prepare the eggplants on an oven tray: cut them in two pieces, with the help of a knife cut their pulp making crosses over them. Be careful not to cut its peel. This will help them to get roasted better. Pour some salt and olive oil over them.
• Place in the middle rack and roast for 30 minutes at 180-200ºC
• Peel the butifarras, and fry their raw meat in a sauce pan with just a bit of oil. Stir and fry until the meat is done.
• When the eggplants are ready, take away from the oven and add the pulp to the sauce pan with the butifarra, add a bit more of olive oil (just a bit, the eggplant absorbs it all) and stir for 2 minutes. Taste and add salt if needed. Reserve.
• Prepare the bechamel: Pour the butter inside a pot, when it becomes liquid, add the flour, take away from the heat and stir until you get a paste, put back in the heat and add the milk little by little while stirring. Add a bit of salt and black ground pepper (optional).When it starts to boil it will achieve its thicker texture. Take away from the heat and pour some in the bottom of the cassouletes.
• Place the eggplant/butifarra mixture in the cassouletes and some more bechamel on top. Sprinkle with the cheese. Place in the oven's top rack and gratin until you see the golden crust.
• Eat while hot... and don't forget your bread :D

About cooking classes, Bloggers and Awards.

This week I've been a bit absent in your blogs. I feel sorry about it :( It's been a crazy week! Lots of new things to be done! Cooking classes to attend! Yes, you heard perfectly well... cooking classes! And you will immediately think... Ain't this "girl" lucky? And I will shout from here (so that you hear me) YEEEEEEEsssss :D

See? On Tuesday I attended to a free class (again, you heard well) from Mireia Carbó, a Fantastic Cook whom had her own TV show and has published 3 books already. If I had to describe her in two words, I would say she is a practical cook :D
There I went with my mom, to my old neighbourhood... Sagrada Familia. Mireia cooked 3 courses in two hours; traditional Catalan dishes, the ones our grandmoms used to cook: Faves a la Catalana, Meat Cannelloni and Crema Catalana. I will soon be posting these recipes, here you have just one picture of the Faves. I've been searching for the translation but couldn't find it. How do you call them?

There were 70 people attending and I couldn't ask her if I could take pictures during the class... but next time I will. Hopefully it will be by the end of October.

And on Thursday I attended to another cooking class, this time in La Boqueria (Barcelona's Ramblas Market). The cook was Iker Erauzkin, a Basque chico living in Barcelona and now starting a business in Mallorca. Iker has also published a bunch of books (3 or 4) I'm not sure of the quantity and if I had to describe him in two words I would say he is a Poet Cook, he cares a lot for quality and presentation too.

There were only 12 people attending this class, maybe because the fee is 20 Euros... but to my surprise, we ate the menu Iker cooked after the class... and it was fantastic!!!! The 3 courses were: Steak Tartare the way the chef likes it, Confited Ducks' gizzards with crayfish and artichokes and Fardalejos, a dessert typical from La Rioja.

I had such a great time that I will go back next week for another dose :D. The pictures I took this time didn't come out as good as I expected, but I'll show you just one and hopefully, when I try it myself, there will be a bit more of natural light in my kitchen.

This is Iker showing us the head of a swordfish!!! And hereunder a couple of his books (he loves to use flowers in his dishes) and the 3 courses we devoured after the class.

So, stay tunned... there will be much more comming soon :D

This week I have also felt a bit exhausted; maybe the change of the season, maybe the cold and bad weather, maybe that blogging is asking too much from me... I just had to put a restraining order between my computer and I. Blogging should be a fun thing to do and sometimes it makes me feel bad because I can't be everywhere all the time!

Please follow this link to see what I mean and you will probably agree with me. HAVE YOU EVER FELT THIS WAY? Do you have any strategies that you want to share here? (it only gets 30 seconds... I know you are busy too!)

Now to the Awards. Chicas, chicos... I do feel soooo honoured! Thanks sooooo much♥♥♥. It seems that I've been collecting them lately... Take a look at the generous bloggers that keep spreading them in the blogosphere. This time I will just keep them with me, not passing them over.

Joan from Foodalogue sent me this cute teddy bear -----> Chocoholic Award

Janet from Gourmet Traveller and Valli from More than a Burnt toast passed me the shinniest award ever -----> Brillante Award (see it shine in my left column)

Nathan from La Cocina de Nathan gave me back the -----> I love your blog Award (also showing in my left column)

Ivy from Kopiaste and Jen from A2eatwrite sent me the ------> Arte y Pico Award (left column)

Chicos, chicas thanks sooooooo much for having my blog in mind when giving away these awards. I do appreciate it :D

Have a great relaxing weekend!

And while you're voting no...

I rely on the wisdom of others to explain financial markets, including the proposed $700 billion bailout proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson. It counts as food policy, in the sense that it counts as everything policy and will dominate the U.S. fiscal situation for years to come, well into the new administration. Let me summarize the wisdom of people I trust on the Paulson plan. Tyler Cowen thinks it's awful. He quotes Matthew Yglesias (who claims to be drunk but seems to be blogging quite lucidly):

The plan is bad. But bad policies get enacted all the time. But we’re at a point now where congress is, allegedly, in the hands of progressive leadership. Simply put, if congressional Democrats manage to acquiesce in a plan that spends $700 billion on a bailout while doing nothing for average working people and giving the taxpayer virtually no upside in a way that guarantees that even electoral victory would give an Obama administration no resources with which to implement a progressive domestic agenda in 2009 then everyone’s going to have to give serious consideration to becoming a pretty hard-core libertarian.

It’d be one thing for a bunch of conservative politicians to ram a terrible policy through. Then we could say “well, if some progressives win the next election things will be different.” But if this comes through an allegedly progressive congress then the whole enterprise starts looking pretty hollow.

Politico says many economists are skeptical and Greg Mankiw thinks it's awful. Mankiw links to Yves Smith, who hates the plan and thinks you should too. You can see the pattern here.

Update 1:50 pm: I can't help adding this commentary, from ABC's Jack Tapper.

As the Bush Administration asks for close to a trillion dollars to prevent a worldwide financial cataclysm, here are some numbers you might find interesting -- courtesy of the ABC News Research Center and ABC News' Barbara Paulson.

In 2007, Wall Street's five biggest firms -- Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley -- paid a record $39 billion in bonuses to themselves.

That's $10 billion more than the $29 billion loan taxpayers are making to J.P. Morgan to save Bear Stearns.

Those 2007 bonuses were paid, even though the shareholders in those firms last year collectively lost about $74 billion in stock declines -- their worst year since 2002.

Red Mullet stuffed with Trumpets of Death and wraped in Ham... on a bed of Romesco and Potatoes.

Have you ever thought: After this experience, I'm ready to die! It has happened to me a few times in my life... : Fleetwood Mac on the car radio, my beloved driving through the bends of Costa Brava, the scent of the pines and the sea... Aaaahhh. The birth of my daughter and her warm first touch... fragility and humanity in one small tiny creature. Dolphins swimming and jumping by the boat that's taking me to the island and the sun rising...

Today one of these moments has enlightened my life :D. A palate sensorial experience!!!
Special dressing today: Fleetwood Mac and their beautiful song: Storms (turn player on)

See that drop falling from the Iberian Acorn Ham wrap? It's one of the esential LIFE's oils!!! I took this picture while stuffing the red mullets with the mushrooms and wrapping them with the Ham... the smell was already killing me!!!

I've been searching for red mullets for months now and finally I found some at my fishmonger. These were big ones (15 cms each aprox.). Their taste and flavour makes them really special.

I made a new romesco sauce, I had some Iberian Acorn Ham and since it's finally Autumn... I used some Trumpets of Death (a mushroom: Craterellus cornucopioides). Don't you worry at all if you cannot find these ingredients, the ham could be replaced for some bacon slices (although we all know it won't be the same ;D) and the trumpets for your seasonal mushrooms.

Click here to buy the best Iberian Acorn Ham online!

Here in Catalonia we love mushrooms-hunting! If the end of the summer and begining of Autumn is rainy, our forests become smurfs land ;D. There's lots of mushrooms to be hunted, and people loves to get up really early in the morning, take 1 or 2 basquets, jump inside their cars and drive off to the mountains. I used to do that with my parents when we were kids but as an adult, I rather go to La Boqueria :D

Now to the recipe!

Ingredients for 4 servings: 8 fresh red mullets, 5 to 6 medium potatoes, 100 grs of mushrooms, 100 grs of Iberian acorn ham, 1 garlic clove, some fresh parsley leaves, romesco sauce, olive oil and salt.

• Peel the potatoes, wash them and cut in thin slices. Pour some olive oil in an oven tray, place the potatoes and sprinkle some salt and a bit more of oil over them. Heat the oven to 200 ºC and when hot, place the tray in the middle rack. They will be backed in 20 to 30 minutes aprox.
• Meanwhile, have some olive oil in a sauce pan, cut the garlic in fine slices or dices and sautee, when fragant add the cleaned mushrooms. Stir for 1 or 2 minutes at medium heat and drop the minced parsley on top. Stir once or twice and reserve.
• Clean the red mullets under tap water. If your fish monger has already cut them in two and taken the bone, head and guts away, better for you! Make sure there's no flakies left. Sprinkle some salt on them.
• Take two fillets, place some of the sautee mushrooms over one (on the white side) and use the other to cover the mushrooms. Take one or two Ham slices and use them to wrap the fish.
• When you have all ready, and the potatoes are backed, place the fish over the potates inside the oven for 8 minutes aprox.
• Prepare the plate with some potatoes on the bottom, pour some romesco sauce over them and place the stuffed fish on top... As I said... a palate experience!!!

See how to prepare a good Romesco here. As you might know, this sauce is now world famous but it's original from down south Catalonia. Follow this recipe and enjoy the difference!!!!

Boston GreenFest Sep. 27-28

The Boston GreenFest will have music, food, fun for kids, and interesting talks this Friday and Saturday, Sep. 26-27, from 10 am to 5 pm, at City Hall Plaza. At 11 am Saturday, sociologist and economist Juliet Schor will speak about "Green Economics."

Massachusetts referendum on income tax repeal

This election, there will be a binding referendum on the Massachusetts ballot to end the state income tax. The proposal would eliminate 40% of state revenues, causing havoc in state budgets and public services, from education to policing.

(U.S. Food Policy is nonpartisan, so I re-read the sentence above several times to be sure it is a dispassionate summary of the facts.)

Several public interest groups are leading a campaign to Vote No on what they call this "reckless" referendum. The groups include Stand for Children and the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO), an inspirational and astonishingly diverse multi-faith multi-community organization that U.S. Food Policy has covered previously because of its work on the Massachusetts health care reform.

The groups are collecting pledges from registered MA voters who plan to vote no on the referendum. There is no cost to fill out the form. The Vote No campaign tells me contact information you supply will be used once for a reminder before the election, and not sold or shared with other organizations. The main advantage of giving your name is to inform policy-makers about the level of public concern about the referendum. If you would like to pledge in this way, and are willing to let GBIO get credit for having helped to collect your pledge, follow the link to GBIO's part of the Vote No on Question 1 site.

AP reports on video showing abuse of pigs

I haven't yet decided to watch the video accompanying this report from the Associated Press. Don't worry, the video does not launch automatically when you follow the link.

WASHINGTON (Sept. 16) - An undercover video shot at an Iowa pig farm shows workers hitting sows with metal rods, slamming piglets on a concrete floor and bragging about jamming rods up into sows' hindquarters.

On the video, obtained by The Associated Press, a supervisor tells an undercover investigator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that when he gets angry or a sow won't move, "I grab one of these rods and jam it in her (anus)."

The farm, located outside of Bayard, Iowa, about 60 miles west of Des Moines, is a supplier to Hormel Foods of Austin, Minn. PETA wants to use the results of the investigation to pressure Hormel, the maker of Spam and other food products, to demand that its suppliers ensure humane treatment of pigs.

Hormel spokeswoman Julie Henderson Craven on Tuesday called the abuses "completely unacceptable."

Apparently, nobody is disputing the evidence on the video. An expert who works on animal health issues with the industry denies such practices are widespread.

A Healthy Incentive Pilot to supplement food stamp benefits

There seems to be real motion this year on proposals to pilot some type of healthy incentives supplement to the basic benefits in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, the new name for the Food Stamp Program). The supplemental benefits could be targeted to particularly healthy foods, such as fruits, vegetables, or whole grains.

Technical questions concern whether a supplemental benefit should be incorporated into Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card benefits, or whether it should use some type of paper coupon system. If the EBT cards are used, would a single card be re-programmed to have separate accounts for restricted and unrestricted food benefits, or would a client carry two EBT cards?

The Farm Bill included language promoting a pilot program. USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is hosting an upcoming symposium on the topic, on Oct. 16, in Alexandria, VA. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) in July released a report (.pdf), describing some of the options:

Changing individuals’ eating habits is difficult, given the many factors that influence food choices. However, the pilot projects authorized in the recent Farm Bill provide FNS with a unique opportunity to test whether financial incentives would help low-income Americans purchase and consume more of the foods that contribute to a healthy diet. Although research has found that financial incentives and nutrition education both show promise, not enough is known about the costs and long-term effectiveness of these approaches, either alone or in combination. Moreover, the financial incentives studied included coupons. Incentives using the current EBT technology, although technically feasible, are largely untested at this point. Also, the success of efforts to improve dietary intake may hinge in part on the availability of targeted foods, which may be limited in certain areas, such as small stores in large urban areas. Little is known about efforts to increase access to healthy foods. Only by testing these approaches, either alone or in combination, can the costs of such a program be estimated.

Here is a partial illustration of just one of several mechanisms explored in the GAO report.

FDA drafts a policy on meat and dairy products from genetically modified animals

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday published a draft policy guidance document, explaining how the agency would approach regulation of food from genetically modified animals.

In large part, FDA would treat the genetic modification like it would treat a new veterinary drug. A company would have to prove that the new product is safe for human consumption, and it would have to prepare an environmental assessment. If these documents seemed satisfactory, FDA would "exercise discretion" by allowing the product to market under existing regulations, even though those regulations don't address genetic engineering specifically. FDA would retain the right to regulate a genetically engineered animal product more strictly at a later date, if health or environmental problems became apparent later.

Some concerns have been raised about the FDA draft guidance. For example, Michael Hansen from Consumers Union pointed out that the draft guidance says nothing about labeling genetically modified meat and dairy products, so consumers who care about this issue would not necessarily be able to identify the genetically modified foods. Gregory Jaffe from the Center for Science in the Public Interest asked whether, for example, FDA would on its own be able to assess the environmental impact of a new genetically modified breed of salmon, whose rapid growth could threaten natural wild populations.

The public may comment on the draft guidance through November 18.

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24. A Spanish Menu - My gift to the Winners of the Olympic Games.

Special dressing: SUPERMAN from Barbra Streisand (turn player on)
This is my little tribute to the new World Wide Super Heroes: Men and Women whom have gone beyond, whom seem to be from another planet: they can fly, they can nearly breathe under water and they seem to have never ending strength.






Their awesome and brilliant work and their extreme ability has made me enjoy this year's Olimpic Games like I never did before!







Please join me in Congratulating these Giants of the Sport: Rafa Nadal, Yelena Isinbayeva, Gervasio Deferr, Usain Bolt, Gemma Mengual and Michael Phelps, just to mention a few of the winners.






It wouldn't be fair if I didn't mention also those who participated and didn't win. They were also fantastic and maybe another year they will be able to get a medal and the world's recognition. Bravo for you too, guys!






After seeing this show of muscles, tenacity, illusion, strength, discipline and beauty... I have been wondering... What is about an athlete's diet? Do they follow a strict protein diet? How many times a day do they eat? Do they get extra vitamins or fiber or oxygen... or...






I couldn't believe it when I knew about Michael Phelps' diet. I bet you all thought the same: Wow! For those of you not in the know, see hereunder what the press published about Michael's daily ingest.





Breakfast: 3 fried egg sandwiches, 2 cups coffee, 5-egg omlette, bowl of grits, 3 pieces of french toast, 3 chocolate chip pancakes 

Lunch: 1 pound pasta, 2 ham and cheese sandwiches, energy drink 

Dinner: 1 pound pasta, 1 large pizza, energy drink 

12.000 calories in total 

I'm not a dietist nor a nutritionist but eventhough he surely burns all calories with his daily exercise I would have never thought this could be healthy. However, he has demonstrated that this is the fuel he needs to be an Olympo's God, so I better shout my mouth here!

I just want to offer him and the rest of the Olympic guys this Spanish menu as a gift for the good times they have given me this summer :D. Maybe Michael like's it best and the next Olympic games he gets 10 medals!!!

A Spanish Menu

Steamed Broccoli with Spanish Extra

virgin Olive oil.

*

Tortilla de patatas con chorizo.

*

Pimientos del Piquillo stuffed with

Chicken's croquettes' paste.

You know I'm not a desserts' person, so that will be up to you guys!

Serves 4

We start with  the Broccoli (I'm uploading no images here, because it's so simple). Clean, Wash and cut in medium pieces. Place on top of the steamer and steam until tender. Place over the plate, sprinkle some salt and black pepper on top and pour some Spanish Extra virgin Olive oil.

Now for the Tortilla de Patatas con Chorizo, we will cook it the same way we do a normal Tortilla de patatas but adding the Chorizo to get its extra wonderful flavour in the omelette.

Ingredients: •4 or 5 eggs (big size), 4 medium potatoes, 1 big onion, 100 grs of moist and tender chorizo (you might choose a spicy one or not), olive oil and salt.

* Peel the potatoes and wash them under tap water, then cut them into small thin pieces. Take the onion and peal it, then cut it in slices and put it together with the potatoes.

* Peel the chorizo and cut in slices.
* Take a new pan or one that is only used for omelettes and pour some olive oil in it. Turn the heat into medium. When the oil starts getting hot cook the chorizo at medium heat and when has left its juices, reserve.

* In the same pan and with that same oil cook the potatoes and onion at medium heat. Take a wooden spoon and stir it. After 1 - 2 minutes pour some salt and drop the heat to minimum. Then put a lid over the pan and let the potatoes and onions sweat.
* Keep on stirring every 3-5 minutes.
* Depending on the potatoes (each kind needs different time for cooking) it will take between half an hour to 45 minutes to have it ready. When you see the texture soft and breaky turn the heat off.

* Beat 4-5 eggs (depending on size) inside a bowl.

* Take the onion/potatoes from the pan into the bowl caring that the oil stays in the pan. Use a tool with holes to do that. Stir it all up. Add the reserved chorizo slices. Stir.
* Pour the oil of the pan inside a recipient. Clean the pan and pour back 3 table spoons of this oil, making sure it gets all over the pan and borders.

* Drop the mixture into the pan when it’s hot. The heat should be medium-high. Spread the mixture all over the pan and keep on shaking the pan to see that it doesn’t get stuck to borders and bottom. Turn the heat medium/low.

* After 5 minutes aprox. With the help of a plate bigger than the pan, turn the omelette upside down. Leave the omelette out of the heat and pour 3 more oil spoons in the pan. Put the omelette back into the pan and cook the other side. Keep the fire medium/low. After 5 minutes aprox. it will be finished! Make sure it's completely cooked by inserting a toothpick. If it comes out clean, then it's done :D

Pimientos del Piquillos stuffed with Chicken's paste. Stuffing the Pimientos del Piquillo it's easy: Just have one can ready and use the croquettes' paste to stuff them. 

Pimientos del Piquillo are these tiny, shinny red peppers original from Navarra. They are already roasted and have a wonderful smocky taste... We usually buy them canned and their flavour combines very well with many stuffings (cod fish, rice, chicken). Today, I used chicken's croquettes paste because I had some leftover and  it ended up as a great combo.

This croquettes' paste is done with two chicken breasts and some herbs and beer. See how to get the paste here.
When you have the croquettes's paste ready, open the peppers' can, take their seeds off and stuff them. Place in a plate and they will be ready to eat with some toasted bread.

I'm sure that eating this menu will make you play 3 tennis matches in a row, fly over the clouds, make impossible handsprings, run like a cheetah, feel like a mermaid, and swim never ending oceans.

Or maybe you will only feel like having a great Siesta ;D.

Sardines in a Pickle - Sardinas en Escabeche and an Award

Did you buy far too much Sardines? Did you see their silver skin shinning on the fishmonger's desk and thought... MMmmm I could have them grilled this Saturday and invite the family over... but then the weather turns rainy and stormy and you change your plans. It's a perfect situation for a Pickle!

Preparing a Pickle or Escabeche (that's how we call it here) it's one of the easiest things to do and you can use the sardines in a pickle in so many different ways afterwards. For example: In a sandwich or bocadillo (bocata is the popular word); to do some Montaditos (see picture hereunder) with layers of different ingredients; as part of a salad with pasta, sardine, lettuce, blah.

There's many different ways to perform a pickle, feel free to add other ingredients.
Ingredients for 4 servings: 16 fresh sardines, oil to fry them, flour and salt. 6 garlic cloves, 200 ml. of white wine vinegar, 100 ml of water, 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, 1 tablespoon of sweet red paprika, 1 thyme branch.

• Clean the sardines under tap water taking their head and guts away. Let them dry a bit.
• Heat some olive oil in a sauce pan.
• Coat the sardines in flour and fry when the oil is hot. When done place over kitchen paper to leave there the excess of oil. Place the sardines in a glass recipient.
• Don't take the skin off the garlics, just smash them with a plain knife and fry in the same sauce pan with the same oil, add the bay leaf, the pepper and the thyme branch.
• When the garlic starts to get some colour, take the sauce pan out of the heat and add the paprika. Stir so that it doesn't burn. Add also the vinegar and the water (careful it can splash you). Stir and put back over the heat. When it starts boiling pour it over the sardines we had in the glass recipient. Make sure the pickle covers them.
• Let it cool down and when cold place in the fridge.
• They can stay there for days :D

Want a bite? ;D

Now to the Award! Always smiling Judy from No Fear Entertaining sent me over this cute award: Thanks so much Judy, I love your blog t♥♥!!!

The rules are as follow:

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you (as shown above).
3) Nominate at least seven other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on your blog.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.So the ones that I am choosing are the ones that I read all of the time and have actually become "friends" with most of them.

And the blogs I Do Love are:

1) Ivy from Kopiaste: A wonderful cook and friend living in a wonderful country: Greece :D
2) Laurie from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska: A cook poet in Alaska.
3) Janet from GourmetTraveller: Magnific Chineese food cooked in Switzerland.
4) Susan from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy and Chewy: this is my gift to you, Susan :D
5) Nathan from La Cocina de Nathan: Latin cooking in North America. Adelante Chico!
6) Ts and Js from Eating Club Vancouver: Fantastic food and pictures ready to be devoured!
7) Antonio from Olive Juice: Recently discovered and still drooling with his pictures and recipes!

♥ YOU KNOW I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO SEND YOU THIS AWARD TO ALL ♥

Beef packing industry consolidates further

As of April, 2007, the top four firms in the beef packing industry had 83.5% of the market share (.pdf). That's high enough to raise concerns about market power for both farmers (as cattle suppliers) and consumers (as beef food buyers).

Firm (number of animals slaughtered daily)
1. Tyson (36,000)
2. Cargill (28,300)
3. Swift & Co. (16,759)
4. National Beef Packing Co. (13,000)

Then, still in 2007, the Brazillian company JBS bought Swift. And kept on munching.

"Unbelievably," Gristmill reported in March this year, "the beef market is about to get dramatically more concentrated."

JBS ... signed deals to buy the fourth-biggest packer, National Beef Packing, as well as the beef-packing assets of hog giant Smithfield, the fifth-biggest beef packer.

If U.S. antitrust regulators wave the deals through -- and nothing in recent history suggests they won't -- JBS will control 33 percent of the market, Reuters reports. One company will slaughter one in three U.S. cows.

The environmental web magazine is worried, naturally. So are many cattle producers. And that's not all. This week, the sober policy outreach publication of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) had this to say:

The acquisition of the fourth and fifth largest U.S. beef packers (National and Smithfield, respectively) would push JBS Swift Group past Tyson Foods as the largest beef processor in the United States. It will also contribute to further consolidation in the already–highly–concentrated U.S. beef processing sector. Consequently, the purchase is certain to invite close scrutiny from the Department of Justice (DOJ) as well as from other participants at every level of the beef industry. The deal has already sparked high–level debate, with Sen. Herb Kohl (D–WI), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, penning a letter to the DOJ urging them to block the proposed acquisitions.

The expansion of JBS is notable not only for its possible effect on the horizontal structure of the beef processing industry but also because it involves a substantial degree of vertical integration. Five Rivers Ranch is the largest cattle feeding entity in the U.S., with a one–time feeding capacity of over 800,000 head. Having consolidated ownership and, presumably, management of the largest feeding and processing operations in the country would be an unprecedented arrangement for the industry. This development is quite likely to reinvigorate the debate over statutory restrictions on vertical control of livestock by packers.

Fried Frog Legs with Green Sauce dip

Special dressing today: The Dance of the Hours. (please turn player on)

Yes, I must be a bit insane... who else would think about putting a ballerina costume to some frog legs? I can't help it, when I see frog legs the Dance of the hours comes to my mind and I imagine them dancing in my plate!

Have you ever tried Frog legs? It's quite a new thing for me... I tasted them for the first time only 3 years ago. Saw them in a restaurant and I just had to try them! The meat is so tender and tasty! And if you fry them, the different textures make them even more attractive.

The place where I go to spend my summer holidays it's surrounded by rice fields: a green sea in the summer... but if you step in a rice field you will feel your feet a bit humit down there :D. It's frog's land. This dish is very typical from this area but I made some minor changes to the original recipe so that I could meet Peter's ingredients proposal.


There's a shop in the village where I always go to buy the seafood and they also sell frozen frog legs. What a surprise I had when I saw that they are imported from Vietnam!!!! Again, here is an example of globalization. Amazing!

Anyway, no matter from where they are, if you follow these simple steps you will be able to enjoy an original and fantastic lunch/dinner! This is my entry for The Queen of the Leftovers: Jenn DiPiazza and her Royal Foodie Joust. There's still time to get in there and show your cuisine abilities to the world! Come and join us :D


Ingredients for 4 servings: 16 frog legs (if you feel that's not enough feel free to add some more), 1 tablespoon of fennel seeds, 1 glass of milk, half glass of beer, some salt, some ground black pepper, all purpose flour, 2 garlic cloves, olive oil and some springs of fresh parsley.

• The day before defroze the frog's legs and marinate them with: the milk, beer, fennel seeds and some salt to fit your taste. Leave them inside the fridge overnight. Next day you can either cook them for lunch or dinner. They will absorb better the marinate the longer they stay in there.
  
  Prepare the green sauce with: a bunch of fresh parsley springs, the garlic cloves, salt and some olive oil to get the texture you want. Have all ingredients in a food processor and mix well.
  
  Strain the frog legs and coat them in flour. Fry in hot olive oil and reserve on kitchen paper. Add some extra salt on them.
  Prepare the dish with the dancing frog legs and the green sauce. Hope you enjoy it!

Contaminated infant formula in China

Chinese officials say more than 1,000 infants were sickened, and two died, in a recent scandal over melamine adulteration, which is being covered in the Washington Post, New York Times, and Associated Press. Part of the back story stems from international concern over watered down infant formula from China, with insufficient amounts of protein and other nutrients. Adding melamine can trick testing laboratories into thinking there is more protein than there really is. Unfortunately, the adulterated formula may be less nutritious and, at least in conjunction with other contaminants, melamine is implicated in kidney problems for infants. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned in 2004 against use of infant formula from a Chinese manufacturer, but formula from China may nevertheless be imported and sold in some specialty markets.

Marion Nestle, whose new book Pet Food Politics recounts an earlier melamine scandal in pet food, this week describes the implications of the new scandal in an interview on the Eating Liberally blog:

Astonished doesn’t begin to describe it. The point of The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine, the subtitle of Pet Food Politics, is that the 2007 pet food recalls were an early warning of disasters to follow. By the time the book went to press in May this year, we were already dealing with the heparin crisis. This was a completely analogous situation in which Chinese producers substituted chondroitin sulfate for heparin because the heparin assay only looks for sulfur, apparently. Melamine has a lot of nitrogen. Protein assays test for nitrogen and don’t care whether it comes from protein or melamine. Chondroitin sulfate and melamine are a lot cheaper than the drugs or food ingredients they replace.

In Pet Food Politics, I trace the use of melamine—fraudulent and not—back to the mid-1960s. David Barboza, the intrepid New York Times reporter based in China, actually got animal and pet food producers to confess that they had been fraudulently adding melamine to feed for years. My guess is that these producers had been adding it in lower doses, got greedy, and upped the dose or used sloppier formulations that contained cyanuric acid. You need a lot of melamine to damage kidneys. But when melamine is mixed with cyanuric acid, it crystallizes in kidneys at very low doses. If it could be added to food for cats, dogs, and farm animals, why not add it to other foods? If nobody is checking—which, apparently, nobody is--you have a good chance of getting away with it, especially if the animals are eating other foods as well.

But infant formulas? These are just like pet foods in that the animal or baby is completely dependent on the one product for complete nutrition. So as with pet foods, there is a good chance of doing great harm and getting caught. Officials didn’t get upset about pet foods because they view dogs and cats as “just pets.” Infant formulas get everyone’s attention. And you can find plenty of Chinese infant formula in Chinese markets in the U.S. It’s doubtful that getting rid of them would be on anyone’s priority list for enforcement.

Fuel inputs in the food system could be reduced by 50%

Here is the abstract from David Pimentel's recent article in Human Ecology:

Petroleum and natural gas are the primary fuels in the US food system. Both fuels are now in short supply and significant quantities are being imported into the USA from various nations. An investigation documented that fossil energy use in the food system could be reduced by about 50% by appropriate technology changes in food production, processing, packaging, transportation, and consumption. The results suggest that overall, farmers benefit as well as consumers.

Somebody tell me, why not?

Calvin Beale, 1923 - 2008

USDA's influential senior demographer Calvin Beale passed away this month at the age of 85. He lent his name unwillingly to the "Beale codes," which measure a locality's rural or urban character on a continuum, and which he modestly credited to a predecessor at USDA. He was also famous for a series of demographic analyses of newly reversed migration flows from urban to rural areas. His most beloved work, which offers a window on the whole United States as well as his own sense of connection to America's rural people and places, is his long series of hundreds of photographs of county courthouses. The Washington Post has an insightful and respectful obituary this week, including a nice interview with John Cromartie, Beales' friend and protege for many years at USDA'S Economic Research Service.


Photo: Calvin Beale. Former courthouse in Johnson County, MO, built in 1838.

Chipirones en su Tinta - Squid in its Ink

Alert! Alert! You don't wan't to miss this post! You have never had anything like this before! Come over here, take a look at the pictures and the recipe and tell me you don't want to cook this... I nearly cry when I tasted them!

Chipirones are small squids (5 to 6 centimeters large), these ones where fished by the beach and had a good price. My fishmonger is Super! The best time to get them this size is July, August and begining of September. When October arrives they get their adult size.

This is a traditional Basque recipe and I kind of followed the recipe steps but gave it a little twist.

I'll tell you why. Chipirones are normally stuffed with their own legs, but these ones were so small that I couldn't do that. The recipe ingredients are the ones that the traditional recipe asks for except for the fish stock. So let's call this: Chipirones en su tinta v.2.

Basque people have fantastic seafood recipes. You can have this as a tapa with a good glass of wine or as a main dish. Elaboration of the recipe is for kindergarden ages; the only hard step here is cleaning the squids. Take your time, turn radio on, have a glass of wine while cooking and seduce your man/woman starting with his/her stomach.

Ingredients for 4 servings: 1 Kg of cleaned chipirones, 2 medium onions, 1 Kg of ripe tomatoes, 2 green peppers, 3 garlics, extra ink from a big calamar (you can buy this one frozen, or ask your fishmonger for extra fresh ink), 4 sandwich slices of bread, olive oil, salt and black ground pepper.

• Clean the Squids carefully under tap water, take their main "bone" out and place on a strainer without taking any other parts aside. See that they are clean inside their body.
• Pour some olive oil in a big sauce pan (enough to cover the surface). Add the chopped onion and when transparent add one minced garlic clove. When fragrant add the chipirones, sprinkle some salt and pepper and stir for 5 minutes, if you don't see it becoming black, then add the extra ink's bag. Reserve.
• Start a sofrito with the other chopped onion, one more garlic, and the peppers (chopped in dices), when tender add the tomatoe that you have grated (leaving the peel aside). Taste and add salt and pepper to your taste. Stir and cook at medium/low heat until sofrito is done. As I said many times before, sofrito will be cooked when all the water has evaporated and the tomatoe turns darker and gets oily.
• Use a food blender to get all veggies mixed and then use a fine strainer to leave the peels and seeds there and get a fine cream/sauce.
• Pour the sauce in the Chipirones sauce pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir well.
• Meanwhile fry the other garlic (sliced) in some hot oil in a different sauce pan and add the bread cut in small pieces, when toasted reserve over kitchen paper.
• Get the dish ready: Take a earthenware dish and pour the chipirones inside, place the toasted bread on it and some parsley leaves on top.
• This dish goes really well with white rice.

I'm taking these Chipirones en su tinta and a Rioja wine bottle to Stiky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy to celebrate her Blogiversary Bash. Congratulations, Susan :D Let's party!!! One year of blogging is something to celebrate... Happy Blogiversary!

STILL HUNGRY? MAYBE YOU WANT TO HAVE A COLD CARROT'S PUREE WITH IBERIAN ACORN HAM TO COMPLETE THIS MENU :D. 

If you live in the southern hemisphere maybe you would prefere to have the puree a bit warm.

Foodies on the Web, Jan. 30 - 31, 2009

Boston University's Food, Wine, and Art programs are hosting a symposium in January called "Foodies on the Web."

The goal of the Symposium on Food and New Media is to explore how, if at all, these new technologies have changed the way people eat, cook, share recipes, decide where to have dinner, learn about nutrition, or simply think about food?

Topics of interest include, but are by no means limited to, the following:

• Blogging
• Community building tools such as Yelp, Chowhound and Citysearch
• Online shopping (artisanal products, cooking tools, eBay, etc.)
• Wikis
• Web Video: YouTube, How-to’s
• Video, Web-based or other games (Cooking Mama, Diner Dash, Food Fight)
• Non-digital interactive forms such as interactive installations or museum exhibits

We welcome all perspectives, including:

• Explorations or critiques of the above technologies or tools
• Discussions of legitimacy and authority around the question, who gets to write about food?
• What is the role of a restaurant critic and food writer in the age of the web?
• Historical perspectives in terms of how these new forms of communication fit with or extend from more traditional forms: recipe books, restaurant criticism, newspaper columns, food TV, etc?
• Discussion of the ways these developments are seen as a threat to "traditional" media (i.e. TV, magazines and newspapers) and to "traditional" trades (i.e. restaurant critic, recipe writer, food writer, etc)

There is a call for papers (.pdf) with a Sep. 15 deadline.

Cherry Tomatoes Salad

This past weekend my daughter in law brought us these garden pearls! These tiny cherry tomatoes are a real treasure! Sooooo sweet and juicy. She has her own garden and never goes to the farmer's market... I can't imagine how much money she saves per year!!!! She grows tomatoes, potatoes, beans, swiss chard, broccoli... not to mention her fruit trees: figs, apples, peaches... I was gonna say she is so lucky, but you cannot imagine the hard work this garden implies.

She harvests all the veggies and fruits and preserves/freezes them so that she and her family have cans and jars in their pantry to use during the long winter. I used some of the cherrys to make a colourful salad and each bite was a blast of flavourful juices!She also gave us 3 kilos of ripe huge and meaty tomatoes that I will use to cook a sofrito and preserve in a jar... but this will be another post's entry.

Meanwhile, and for those of you in the mood for a salad, write down the ingredients: Serves 4. 200 grs of Conchiglioni naif, 1 can of sweet corn, a good bunch of cherry tomatoes and some ruccula leaves. Some salty toasted sunflower seeds would be perfect here, but I didn't have any. Extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and black ground pepper.Boil the pasta following the package instructions, strain and drop some olive oil on top so that it doesn't get sticky, cool down and reserve. Get the rest of ingredients in a bowl, add the pasta, mix carefully and pour the dressing on top. I normally use Extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper but feel free to add any other dressings... whatever you like best :D

Looking for a second dish to complete the menu? My suggestion here would be a Duck's Breast dressed in Nuts and Herbs with a Raspberry sauce. Isn't the title of the dish seducing you already?

I'm sending this pasta salad over to Ruth's Presto Pasta Nights, hosted this week by... Ruth!!! Please notice that there will be a fantastic roundup with all the participant recipes! A wonderful opportunity to find great pasta dishes :D