Seattle Local Food

Save the date! I plan on going to this and am excited to see who else will come too. The intersections are the places critical changes are going to happen; until we understand how things intersect –– public health and food policy, sustainability and social justice, nutrition and community, etc –– we’re not going to [...]

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In case you haven’t been following the progress of the 2012 Farm Bill, which just came out of the Agriculture Committee to head to the Senate floor, here’s a thoughtful update from Environmental Working Group about the draft that just came out of the committee. While some relatively small investments (in the millions) have been [...]

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My family and I first tasted lahmajoun at a street fair in New York City. I was probably eight or ten years old. I think it was an Armenian festival in honor of St. Vartan. It fit the formula of some of the best New York street fairs: It honored a saint probably unknown to [...]

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I just got off a call with an MBA student from Minnesota who had found me online via some things I’ve written about soda, health, and homemade alternative carbonated beverages. She wanted to interview me about attitudes in Seattle toward new soda products. It turned out she was doing a student project with a Minnesota-based [...]

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This is my new favorite thing. I already harvested nettles once this spring, and stocked my freezer with this year’s batch of addictive nettle pesto. But this recipe has me wanting to go back out this week for more nettles and freeze them blanched and ready for future batches of nettle saag paneer. The time [...]

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Edit: I assume everyone figured out this is an April Fool’s Day post. I’ll leave it up for posterity. Enjoy your Xanaxparagus! The House of Representatives and Senate have both passed a new piece of legislation concerning the intersection of agriculture and pharmaceuticals. A group of members of the House and Senate agriculture and drug industry [...]

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In spring, a young forager’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of greens. That’s how that goes, right? I don’t remember, but when March in Seattle brings its flowering trees, its longer days, and its weather, uh, exactly like October through February, I start looking at the ground for plants that are best when they first [...]

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This isn’t a post about food, I admit. These were ornamental cherry trees, not fruiting ones. But still. If you’ve wandered through Seattle’s arboretum in springtime, you’ve surely noticed the long, flat walkway of cherry trees. It’s lovely, but it wasn’t the best place for blossoms in the park. That honor went to a hillside [...]

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For those who haven’t heard, Seattle lost the incredibly kind and talented Christina Kim Choi, founder of Nettletown and co-founder of Foraged and Found. She was also a friendly face at the farmers market, an artist, a friend. I saw her not too long ago at the farmers market. The news still doesn’t feel quite [...]

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A few weeks ago, I tried an apple-fennel sauerkraut at a farmers market in Oakland. It was fresh and tasty, with whole fennel seeds mixed into the shredded cabbage and sliced apple. It inspired me to make my own, but to shape it according to my own taste. I felt like the apple stood out [...]

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Picture is my mother’s turkey last year. It’s a very small one, and she uses fewer vegetables than I do. ~ I haven’t posted in a while, but I was just writing out the family turkey recipe for someone and thought I’d share it with you all too. If you’re looking for a delicious recipe [...]

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FOOD DAY is here! Food Day local calendar is here! After months of hard work, Food Day is upon us. Food Day events in Washington State have already started, and there are some amazing things coming up this weekend and next week. Seriously, a field trip to the fascinating urban ag model at Hilltop Urban [...]

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I’ve been busy getting ready for Food Day, hence neglecting the poor blog lately. I’ve ended up the West Coast Coordinator of Food Day, focusing primarily on the Bay Area and other parts of California, as well as Washington State. I haven’t had much time for many of my favorite autumn activities like mushroom hunting, [...]

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I’m out of town today, which is a bit of a shame, because there are a number of great events going on in Seattle and Western Washington. The most delicious-sounding in Seattle: Mobile Food Rodeo, Seattle’s new food truck event. Twenty-one food trucks of all sorts, from Skillet to Minimus Maximus. Seattle is trying to [...]

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Confession: I’ve been having an affair with pupusas. I adore them. This doesn’t mean I don’t also love other foods deeply; my monogamous tendencies don’t really cross over into my world of eating. But there’s something incredibly satisfying about this treat, a soft-yet-crispy Salvadoran snack of masa (corn flour) stuffed with cheese, vegetables, beans, etc. [...]

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FACT: Bulbs of fennel in piles at the farmers markets are still young and tender, with mild flavor. FACT: The first fully-ripe apricots of the season have appeared in markets. FACT: Chicken salad is delicious. FACT: Thyme makes chicken salad even more delicious. This simple FACT salad (so-named for fennel, apricots, chicken, and thyme) was [...]

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I spotted some lovely yellow patty-pan squash at the Madrona Farmers Market on Friday. They were medium-sized ones, at least a few inches across. Usually I like tiny patty-pan squash –– I like to cut them in half or quarters and quick-sauté them –– but I wanted to try doing something new. And that something [...]

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Time to play with your food. Asparagus season has lasted into July, one of the few benefits of the cool-and-wet May and June this year. Asparagus, like artichoke and several other foods that don’t begin with A, is a  funny-looking vegetable, the kind that’s prone to inspiring whimsical dishes. Admiring a pile of asparagus at [...]

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I went to Lake Chelan for an overnight this week and serendipitously caught the Chelan Farmers Market. One vendor was selling all sorts of gorgeous produce for ridiculously cheap: huge bunches of baby carrots for a dollar each, generous bundles of herbs for fifty cents, and bags of ripe red currants for a dollar. I [...]

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Thanks to Sarah for sending on this article. Apparently, New York State is telling farmers market cheese vendors that they can no longer cut cheese to order or cut samples at farmers markets. To do so would require, as stores require, a license to process food as well as industrial kitchen infrastructure on premises (under [...]

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I had to learn to like liver. It fit perfectly the definition of “an acquired taste” that I came up with as a teenager: A food that tastes strange to you, but you keep wanting to taste it because there’s something compelling about its strangeness. Then, one day, you like it. After I’d already learned [...]

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These are the collard greens that once spiraled me into full-blown Collard-Related Astonishingly Voracious Eating (CRAVE), a rare-but-not-so-serious ailment. Symptoms include compulsively buying collard greens and garlic, and longingly glancing at Brazilian restaurants. I still relapse pretty frequently. Spring collards are happily waving their round leaves at me in farmers market stalls these days. Helllooo, [...]

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My friend Sani and I tried an experiment in honor of the ongoing Soda Free Sundays campaign. We decided to choose two Thai herbs and see whether we could turn them into delicious, unsweetened soda. Contestant #1: Pandanus leaf, otherwise known as bai toey. It’s a long, thin leaf. If you’ve eaten Thai food at [...]

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In case you haven’t heard, the Seattle City Council has ratified the Seattle Farm Bill Principles, a set of broad priority recommendations for the 2012 U.S. Farm Bill as a means of reforming the food system. I just added my name as a supporter and hope you will too (link to do so is here). [...]

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The situation When planning for a recent Jewish community bonfire and barbecue, the organizers had a dilemma: We wanted to serve meat at the  barbecue, and wanted it to be kosher so it was accessible to members of our community who keep kosher. But we also wanted it to be sustainable meat: local, pasture-raised, small-farm-sourced, [...]

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Here’s a neuroscience film I made, for fun and for a science communications class. I used footage from the San Francisco Ferry Building farmers market, since I was meeting up with my parents there. Since farmers market produce features heavily, I’m calling it an excuse to post the film here. I’m going for, uh, charmingly [...]

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If you’re near the UW campus in Seattle, don’t miss Robert Gottlieb’s talk tonight. He’s one of two authors of Food Justice. CAGJ (Community Alliance for Global Justice) is organizing the event. The event is  from 7-8:30 at UW Architecture Hall 147, Grant Lane and Stevens Way, Seattle, WA. I haven’t read the book yet. I’m drawn [...]

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I’m at this marvelous conference for the next few days, discussing food policy issues, both local and national. This includes topics like farm-to-cafeteria work, food access and hunger issues, and even local and national visions from the food movement about changing the Farm Bill. Seattle is a bit of a leader on this topic; check [...]

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I’m all for making things from scratch, and I think it would be fun someday to make my own Thai curry pastes. But I have to say, there’s something wonderful about having pre-made curry paste on hand. Curry paste + coconut milk + seasonal vegetables + meat = one of my favorite formulas for a [...]

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Have you heard of Soda Free Sundays yet? It’s a community-wide challenge to skip soda and other sugar-loaded beverages one day per week, now through early June. I quite literally can’t remember the last time I drank soda, but I took the pledge anyway and am passing the message on. Whether you drink soda or [...]

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There’s a lot going on and much catching up to do. Three things first! ~ Raw Milk Symposium If you’re near Bloomington, Minnesota this Saturday, May 7th 2011, don’t miss the first annual Raw Milk Symposium! There’s more information at http://RawMilkSymposium.org. Looking over the agenda, they do a nice job of balancing policy with nutrition [...]

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Slaughterhouses have been declining in the Bay Area and around the country, according to the recent New York Times article  Slaughterhouse Shortage Stunting Area’s Eat-Local Movement. This is, the article explains, both an effect and a cause of the national transition from small, sustainable producers of meat to large ones. Here in Washington State, with [...]

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You may have recently seen this graphic depicting general changes in American caloric intake from 1970 to 2005. Take a look if you haven’t. The graphic is very nice visually, but while it accurately portrays USDA data, it’s also inadvertently misleading. USDA’s own categories (shown in the graphic) are very broad and general, but the [...]

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 It’s barely April, but I’m getting excited about October. The reason? An event called Food Day, scheduled for October 24th. It’s being billed as an Earth Day for food, an opportunity to galvanize people from all parts of the food movement and engage new people. The event will include simultaneous activities in cities across [...]

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New hot-flash-pasteurization device allows infants to suckle without alleged risk [Edited to add: Now that the date has passed, and most of you have figured it out anyway, I'll clarify that this was an April Fools' Day piece. Enjoy! -DG] Readers –– I’m in Washington, DC this week, reporting the latest news from our nation’s [...]

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I’m about a week late with this news: Thundering Hooves Ranch, which I think was the largest Washington State grass-fed beef supplier, has closed. We still have many great local grass-fed meat producers (Skagit River Ranch, Olson Farms, Sea Breeze, Stokesberry, etc, plus many who don’t sell at Seattle farmers markets but do take orders [...]

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Rachel is coming home! Well, technically she’s already come home. But more on that in a moment. As you might have heard, Rachel, the bronze pig who stands watch over Pike Place Market, charming visitors and raising funds for the Pike Market Child Care & Preschool, Pike Market Medical Clinic, and Pike Market Senior Center [...]

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Like many local-food advocates, I admire Michael Pollan for the fact that his writing has made so many people aware of the problems with America’s industrial food system, and aware of the value of pasture-raised feeding over less-sustainable, grain-intensive methods. But I’ve been frustrated since he came out with his seven-word soundbite: “Eat food. Not [...]

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Take one part mid-March, one part cabbage, and one part meat, and stir into the collective mind. I’m guessing Irish food comes to mind, with its cabbage and corned beef or its stews of lamb and cabbage and wintry vegetables. But you’d be surprised how versatile these humble ingredients can be. This dish is a [...]

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Here’s a recipe that will appeal to fans of Thai food, paleo/low-carb eaters, people who want yet another delicious Thai-inspired use for Stokesberry Farm’s ground chicken and local tasty winter vegetables, or anyone who wants to try something new. Pad woon sen is a particularly delicious Thai noodle dish. Woon sen are thin glass noodles [...]

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I just got an update about this event. Please attend! The poster is shown here. RSVP by February 18th. Support small family farms like Estrella Family Creamery, as they fight the FDA action, and brainstorm together how to solve the problems our region faces around food sovereignty and sustainable food production.

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This recipe happened by accident. Here’s what I was going for: I’ve been making quiches with alternative crusts. Sometimes frittata-style/crustless, sometimes gluten-free, often nut-based. Recently I made a quiche whose crust was made of thinly-sliced potatoes (you could also use sunchokes) that I’d layered throughout the pie pan bottom and sides, covered in olive oil [...]

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The New York Times has an article today that you should check out if you’re at all interested in the ongoing tensions over raw milk cheeses and federal regulations. The FDA is reviewing the rule that requires cheese makers to age any raw milk cheeses a minimum of 60 days before sale. Apparently, the FDA [...]

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Today (starting last night) is an obscure Jewish agricultural holiday called Tu B’Shevat. It’s literally the New Year for Trees. Way-back-when, people needed a date to restart the agricultural calendar each year, and this date was chosen, being around the time of year the almond trees were in bloom. A lot of modern sustainability-focused Jews [...]

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Friends and blog readers may remember that my grandmother was braving pancreatic cancer these last few months. She left us last Thursday. My heart is pretty torn up about this, even if my mind knows all the right things: that I’m so lucky to have had such a wonderful grandmother, that it is better she [...]

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[Okay, so technically food justice starts with "fo" but this looks like a fantastic event for a good cause.  Details below!] ~ Food Justice Starts with Us! — A benefit event for Clean Greens Farm & Market Saturday January 29th 2011, doors open at 5:30pm @ Garfield Community Center, 2323 East Cherry St. Seattle, WA [...]

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It’s wintertime, and the weather’s been unusually cold.  This is not, traditionally, the season when a young (wo)man’s fancy turns to orchard-keeping and permaculture. But why not?  Start thinking now about that new chicken coop you want to build, what to do about that homely apple tree in your yard, and whether maintaining a thriving [...]

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