American Cooking: Creole & Acadian // Gulf Oil Spill

I want to find as many books from the Foods of the World series as possible. I have the one pictured, American Cooking: Creole and Acadian by Peter S. Feibleman, and The Cooking of Provincial France by MFK Fisher.

Feibleman's prose doused me in the romance of Louisianan food from the perspective of one who had grown up with it. He has a delicious nostalgic tone along with the recipes and large photographs--traveling through his earliest memories of his own kitchen to the restaurants in the French Quarter, all the way to the bayou. He talks about glistening trees and shimmering water and eating po'boys in the rain, his lilting, lazy narrative easily evoking his New Orleans upbringing.

Does Your Bacon Generate Electricity?

One of many reasons people become vegetarians is environmental concern; not only are forests cut down to create fields for raising livestock, but the emissions generated by livestock contributes to global warming. This article in the New York Times describes the way one farm in Sterksel, the Netherlands has dealt with the environmental impact of meat and dairy production:

That is why a group of farmers-turned-environmentalists here at a smelly but impeccably clean research farm have a new take on making a silk purse from a sow’s ear: They cook manure from their 3,000 pigs to capture the methane trapped within it, and then use the gas to make electricity for the local power grid.

I like that increasing awareness of environmental repercussions has lead to the development of creative and practical farming methods. I'd say "buy Dutch pork!" but the pollution generated by importing it would probably negate the pollution saved by the producers.

New URL!

I've changed my Blogger URL to reflect my title-- please take note!

Apologies for any inconvenience this causes, I just thought it was about time to get rid of the confusing "groceryaddict" as my url while having The Grocery Fiend as my blog title.

Big Fish Eats Little Fish, Gets Sick--Starbucks Buys Clover

I'm not just a grocery fiend, I'm a coffee fiend as well.

Listening to National Public Radio on 89.3 KPCC this morning, I found out that Starbucks has purchased the Clover single-cup brewing system manufacturer. I have never tried Clover-brewed coffee, but I am still saddened that Starbucks bought it because it narrows the distribution of wealth even more.

It seems that the coffee leviathan is trying to regain its hip, cutting-edge "edge," which I think is a mistake. I just don't think that Starbucks is where we look for the hip and cutting-edge any more-- people who are looking for a coffee experience are going to independently-owned shops, not franchises, and I'm not sure using $10,000 Clovers is going to help.

Starbucks should have learned this after its acquisition of Diedrich's Coffee not only failed to prevent falling profit margins, but (at least for me) added to the evil-corporate-monopoly reputation that is the complete opposite of the counter-culture appeal it once had. It doesn't seem like a wise move to keep trying to do more rather than simply improve upon the services and products it is already providing. The purchase of Clover seems like nothing more than another step to dominate the coffee market, not a genuine move to better serve customers. They've become the McDonald's of the coffee world-- at least in terms of their products, as they treat their employees considerably better, from what I've heard.

Related coffee reading:

• According to Slate Magazine, the tide has turned from when a new Starbucks opening was a death sentence for an independent coffee shop: Why Starbucks actually helps mom and pop coffeehouses.
  
• Martin Diedrich went on to open the wonderfully successful Kean Coffeehouse in Costa Mesa, California.
• The Gothamist: Starbucks C.E.O. Unveils New Ideas to Shareholders
  

Is Cheap Meat Worth It?

The following video is from the Human Society website and is extremely graphic. I strongly advise against watching it if you are weak of heart or stomach.



The footage captures dairy cows too sick to walk being shocked, beaten, and terribly abused at the Hallmark Meat Packing Company in Chino, California. The men are torturing them to get them to stand because US law prohibits the slaughter of cows that are too sick to stand or walk on their own: such cows heighten the risk of mad cow disease and E. Coli entering the food supply. "Downed" dairy cows are supposed to be humanely euthanized-- these cows are being taken to be slaughtered.

In one instance, a cow is being led to slaughter that "has been lying in manure for hours."

As if it weren't enough that these sick animals are being tortured or that they will be fed to people, but they are to be fed to children: this slaughterhouse provides meat to the second largest supplier of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program, Westland Meat Company.

A number of wider issues can be extracted from this appalling news:

• In our hunger for affordable meat, what costs to our health are we incurring?
• There is an obvious problem with the agribusiness industry: how can we change it to make sustainable and humane farming more profitable?
• How can a school lunch program be effective if it provides such low-quality food?
• We know which kids from which schools in which neighborhoods end up eating this food-- this is not only an animal rights issue but a social justice issue.
  

I have never seriously considered becoming a vegetarian and I'm not sure if I will ever reach that point. However, I do consider the origins of the meat I buy and seek alternatives whenever I can. This could be part of the reason why the bacon I bought last night was the first meat that I've purchased from a grocery store in weeks. I will not be a hypocrite and say that everyone should go out and buy only organic, grass-fed, free-range, sustainably-farmed everything-- that's just not fiscally feasible for many, many people, myself included-- but I do believe it is important to maintain a consciousness regarding these issues, even if we cannot always act upon them.

More information:

• Learn more about the National School Lunch Program
• A community food assessment from South Central Los Angeles that highlights food justice issues: ACTION 2004
• See what Jamie Oliver has been doing in England about the state of school meals