Saturday, February 25, 2006

Harvest for Hope

Everyone should read this book. I just read it for my book club and it has changed the way I shop for food. We were already on the "buy local" train, and we switched to organic milk over a year ago. But now it is quite different.

Unlike my high fructose corn syrup freak out, I did not clear my shelves of anything non-organic. I gave myself permission to use up what I already had, but replace it with better choices when the time came. I found that there were too many choices (not enough acceptable choices) at my local supermarkets, so I have come to rely on the Food Co-op and Key City Fish. I expect to use the Farmer's Market more this year than I ever have.

We have not become vegetarians. We don't even compost. But I did ask QFC (where I get a latte five days a week) to start offering organic milk as an option. They did, and I am not the only one requesting it. I only buy organic produce, and I especially look for the signs that say it comes from a local supplier. Cheese is now organic, as is all our meat. We are fortunate to have not one but two organic bakeries in the area, one only three blocks from our house. One of them even sells balls of frozen pizza dough. (Sidenote: I made my first pizza a few nights ago -- using just olive oil and garlic as a base, no red or white sauce. I added spinach, chopped salami, kalamata olives, and three kinds of cheese. It was GOOD.)

OK, enough from me. Just read the book. Tell me what you think.

4 Comments:

Blogger Rebecca said...

Thanks for the pizza reminder. My family prefers homemade pizza much as you describe.

Tell me about the salami.

March 07, 2006 12:57 PM  
Blogger Beth said...

We used slices off a chub of Salametti from Applegate Farms (no nitrites, grain fed, humanely treated, etc.) I looked it up; they carry Applegate at the Fred Meyer on Division, if you are interested. I sliced them pretty thick, then chopped them into chunks and sprinkled over all. It is very flavorful and doesn't add the grease that thin slices do. You can use less and still get good flavor.

March 07, 2006 8:20 PM  
Blogger Rebecca said...

We generally avoid anything that is ground cow, but I will look for this at the Fred Meyer in our neighborhood. The one on Division is north of the retail zone we jokingly refer to as "Canada".

March 09, 2006 5:01 PM  
Blogger Beth said...

The Salametti has: pork (never administered antibiotics, growth promotants, or animal by-products), sea salt, dextrose, spices, wine, lactic acit starter culture (not from dairy), and garlic. No ground cow.

March 09, 2006 9:57 PM  

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