Food Revolutions of August
Two food revolutions going on around here.
1/ A girl named Jenny started writing down what she made her family for dinner every night. Then she did that for 4,500 dinners. Now, she has a cookbook and a fantastic dinner-centric blog. I can’t shake the image of her notebook, how viscerally aware she must be, as she pages through it, of those 14 years of living and living well. I want that for myself.
2/ Everyone who loves food is reading An Everlasting Meal, by Tamar Adler. It’s modelled on MFK Fisher’s How to Cook a Wolf, a book she wrote in 1942 to help people through the hungry days of World War II. MFK’s is an amazingly readable and warm book that somehow gives advice on all of life, and I relaxed as soon as I read that Tamar hoped only to be like her. I’ve been jumping around from chapter to chapter, but here’s a quote from Chapter 2, that I loved:
And always buy a few dark, leafy greens. This will seem very pious. Once greens are cooked as they should be, though: hot and lustily, with garlic, in a good amount of olive oil, they lose their moral urgency and become one of the most likable ingredients in your kitchen.
So true. Nothing judges me more as I hunt for maple syrup and heavy cream in my fridge than the bundle of bushy chard nearly forgotten in its foggy ziplock. The very cool company Joe works for would tell you that web video is worth a thousand words, and in the case of Tamar’s tactics, I certainly agree. She made this video to illustrate a few principals of cooking from that chapter, and it’s so great: how to stride ahead.
8 Comments
Abbie
That video is one of my favorites. So brilliant. (And it’s totally true about the leafy greens!)
girlpolish
Totally true, too, the second part. I’ve been keeping a sautéed batch on hand, and it goes with everything! (mostly, mac and cheese)
Erin
Love this! Thank you for sharing—I hadn’t yet heard of the book, or seen the video. Another good option, which perhaps she covers, is fermenting the veg. A good resource for that is Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.
girlpolish
Is Nourishing Traditions a classic one? Very into whole milk with the cream, and lots of meat?
Erin
Exactly. By the same woman who founded the Weston A. Price Foundation. Whole animal, full-fat, old-fashioned eating! It was through a lecture of hers that we were connected with a local farm that sells organic, raw milk. We drive down for our max in litres every week (also free-range eggs, fresh sourdough bread, cheese, cream, etc.). It has been one of my favorite parts of living in Auckland.
girlpolish
ok that sounds like the coolest thing ever. Good thing you went to that lecture! I love it when connections are made like that.
Thought of you guys when I read the Miranda Kerr interview in the New York Time’s magazine. They’ve been living in Wellington!
jessica ireland
fully obsessed with Jenny! and her husband. they are too cool. p.s. love the new blog!!
girlpolish
Thanks Jessica!