Meatless Monday Musings: Slow Food Compromises in a Winter World

One of the benefits of living in a “college town” is the opportunity to hear firsthand what visiting visionaries have to say. On February 2 I was in the audience that packed the Yale University Art Gallery auditorium to listen to famed restaurateur and food activist  Alice Waters’ thoughts on the “importance of slow food.”

Alice Waters is one of my heroes. Without Alice there would most likely be no Yale Sustainable Food Program, no Edible Schoolyard Project, no garden on the White House lawn, and certainly no Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. There would also be far fewer farmers’ markets. 

President Obama awarded her the National Humanities Medal in 2014. The citation read: “Alice Waters, for celebrating the bond between the ethical and the edible. As a chef, author, and advocate, Ms. Waters champions a holistic approach to eating and health and celebrates integrating gardening, cooking, and education, sparking inspiration in a new generation.”

I have a copy of her book The Art of Simple Food (autographed on an earlier stop in New Haven) and have gifted several others. 

And, on our very first trip to the Bay Area, my husband and I rode the BART (under the Bay!) to Berkeley in the hopes that we could show up for lunch at Chez Panisse without a reservation and get in the door. We were lucky. We chose the Fixed Menu and two Mt. Tam ales. It was a lunch I will remember forever.

I love Alice.

And I try to live by the Slow Food principles: GOOD, CLEAN, FAIR. But Alice lives in a land where fresh-picked produce is plentiful all year long, and much of what she espouses is just not possible during winter in the Northeast, particularly not when the temperature a few weeks ago plummeted to -2°F and felt like -25!

Strawberries at the Mountain View, CA Farmers' Market in February

Weather in CT, February 2016

Yes, spring is on the way and soon wild ramps and the first early crops will appear at the local CitySeed Market. But nothing nothing can survive the frigid weather unprotected, and there are not enough high tunnels and greenhouses to provide all the food CT residents need right now. What is available at my farmers market comes with a high price tag and the pickin’s are slim. 

I do not characterize myself as a consumer with the means to “purchase produce from small farms…to pay the true cost” and I yearn for variety. So this time of year I search for fresh produce from places in my hemisphere where the season is the same as mine, such as citrus from Florida or California. Usually this means picking up what I need in the produce aisle, but occasionally I will buy a quantity of something directly from a grower through Local Harvest.

When asked by a student after the talk what she thought about shopping at Whole Foods, Alice told the student that she should avoid the middleman and purchase directly from the farmer and that she was sure area residents could guide her to places where she could do so. I am sorry, Alice, but this is simply not possible in late winter in Connecticut, certainly not if you are on any kind of budget.

Particularly during these pre-spring days in New England we need Whole Foods, other supermarkets, and corner stores. Sometimes we have to compromise while trying to embrace Slow Food Principles. 

I hope Alice does not take offense. 

For I have another crisis crying out for her attention — the food that is being served to the nation's seniors in meal programs, assisted living facilities, and in nursing homes. If she can only accomplish for seniors what she has already done for schoolchildren… imagine locally prepared, nutritious, and tasty Slow Food Senior Meals. Farmers and seniors would all benefit. If anyone can get this moving, Alice Waters can!

Happy Meatless Monday. Have a great week!

On Mondays I often blog on food, food issues, or gardening in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Signs of Change 7.31.15

All around New Haven there are signs of change, real signs… 

The Yale campus is dotted with signs proclaiming “Urban Meadow” – patches of landscape, planted with wildflower seeds and sparsely tended. The unkempt appearance of some of these plots may be a little tough to get used to, but this “Meadow” (about a mile from downtown New Haven) is a wonder to behold — a sea of Black-Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) in full bloom. 

Rudbeckia hirta, a plant native to all the lower 48 states, is a member of the aster family. It can tolerate a wide range of soils and temperatures, and has no major insect or disease pests. You can read more about Rudbeckia hirta on this USDA factsheet. 

Its flowers attract nectar seeking bees, butterflies, and insects. Its seeds attract birds, as the poop-covered sign above attests. The companion website to the movie Queen of the Sun: What are the bees telling us? recommends planting a large volume of the same type of bee-friendly flowers  in your garden or yard to provide bees with forage. One of the suggestions is Rudbeckia hirta.

These plants bloom from June to October. Note that they do tend to crowd out other flowers growing near them. But if you love Black-Eyed Susans, have lots of sun and plenty of space, and don’t have time to weed, Rudbeckia hirta is the plant for you. 

This particular Urban Meadow is located on upper Prospect Street near the northern border of Yale’s main campus, in front of the planetarium, nestled between Farnam Gardens and Betts House.

A Squash is a Berry; Shaw’s is No More

The phrase should perhaps be eat your fruits and fruits.

I had long known that tomatoes are a fruit, but somehow had never made the jump to winter squash. And not only is a squash a fruit; it is a berry. And it is not just a berry, but a pepo, a berry with a thick rind. Cucumbers, summer and winter squashes and melons are all pepos. Peppers, eggplants and bananas are just berries. 

Nor was I used to thinking of legumes (peanuts and beans) as fruits, but fruits they are. And most things we call “nuts” are actually fruits in the nut subcategory, but not almonds, which are drupes like cherries.

Do you have all this straight? It was a relief to learn that some “vegetables” are not fruits. But perhaps we should be calling them roots, shoots and leaves.

On the same day I was absorbing all this arcane knowledge, I also heard that my local supermarket, which I consider a great place to buy pepos and other fruits and vegetables, and where I discovered the parsnip, will be Shaw’s no more. Supervalu is divesting itself of all its Shaw’s stores in Connecticut. Most are being acquired by Stop & Shop, but no buyer has been found for the downtown New Haven store.

This is a blow to New Haven, particularly to the Dwight neighborhood, adjacent to Yale University. With its store on Whalley Avenue, Shaw’s is the only major chain with a presence anywhere near the downtown area. Many who live and work in the neighborhood do not have cars. It is about five miles away in any direction from Shaw’s to another store of similar size and quality.

It was quite an accomplishment when the Dwight Community Development Corporation succeeded in attracting Shaw’s to the neighborhood in 1998. Downtown New Haven had been without a major supermarket for years. Shaw’s became a place to shop, as well as a source of good neighborhood jobs.

I have chosen to shop at Shaw’s over its competitors. Its prices are fair. The store is clean and well-stocked. It is convenient. They have the best bananas around. Ask anyone. I am very sorry Supervalu has chosen to leave the state.

The developer of 360 State Street has promised to include a supermarket on the ground floor of the 500 unit apartment complex which is under construction in my ward. (There is a hefty penalty if he does not.) The footprint is not as large as Shaw’s, but the market will be close enough for me to walk there with a shopping cart. If an agreement can be reached, and the store is to my liking, I will have my grocery store.

But 360 State is a long walk from the site of Shaw’s, and a store at this location will not solve the problem for the people who live in the Dwight neighborhood, for the many residents who have jobs at Shaw’s, or for Yale students. Lower Whalley Avenue has already experienced the closing of Rite-Aid and Staples in the last few months, leaving empty retail space and parking lots and very few places to shop. For students without cars, The Yale Bookstore (Barnes & Noble) and Gourmet Heaven are the only convenient (albeit pricey) options.

Surely Shaw’s would not have remained in New Haven all these years without a reasonably good profit margin. I hope that one of the other chains can look beyond its usual suburban model to open a store in a city center. I am sure the City of New Haven and the Yale Office of New Haven and State Affairs are doing their best to find a buyer.

I hope they succeed. And, if they do, I promise I will give their pepos (and parsnips) a try.