Nowadays I pride myself on the years accumulated of non-fast food consumption. It’s been at least 5 years, if not 10. And then I move to Portland, OR, where local, fresh food is abundant. It was only a matter of time for this foodie-hub to ignite an admirable fast food eatery. That’s right people, Burgerville is actually really cool and moving in the right direction.

I’d heard of Burgerville after moving here. It’s name came up when others spoke of this city’s food enlightenment. But when I found out that Burgerville was fast food, I immediately condemned it.

This summer though, Burgerville crossed my path in a much finer light. While attending the Oregon Sustainability Experience, a week-long conference covering sustainability in Oregon’s food chain, we visited a Burgerville to see how sustainability was taking form in the mainstream. Right off the bat, there were a number of details that struck. Consider the following,

- the Director of Sustainability (yes! a fast food chain has one) quoted Michael Pollan in her introductory remarks (what can I say?! You know Pollan is one of my food heroes.)
- 67% of food purchasing goes to local producers
- 26% of food costs comes from producers certified by third party groups (i.e. Food Alliance Certification)
- 89% of Burgerville employees are insured on a company insurance program; specifically, anyone working 20 plus hours a week has a monthly premium of $20
- the nutritional characteristics of the food ordered is printed on the receipt!

Burgerville receipt from 10/13/10

So, here we have this local fast food place that wants to be transparent. They want the consumer to know that a burger, fries and shake is unhealthy. Obviously, there is no warning sign about the hazards of consuming their shakes, but this remains a significant move towards putting more responsibility on the consumer.

Add to this, the fact that Burgerville is not that cheap. Our large platter of sweet potato fries was $5!  The beef in the burger, the berries in the smoothie and the seasonal fried sweet potato fries are all in touch with the true (or almost true) cost of food.

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I was also impressed by their commitment to waste management. The cups and utensils are compostable; and there’s not one giant bucket labeled “trash.” Instead, they offer a bucket for composting, another for recycling and a third for trash. But instead of labeling trash as trash, Burgerville has humanized the thing we know most.

Not trash. Not Garbage. This stuff goes to the landfill!

The garbage goes in the landfill and that is how they label it. Genius! I think that our relationship with garbage is so twisted that we throw things away with little to no consideration. But when you label the trash as ‘landfill,’ you place a tangible and recognizable face on that trash. This small detail really struck me as a meaningful attempt to change the way people think about waste. They’re doing a great job on challenging conventional fast food standards and I think this waste-related issue is so key.

In a culture that romanticizes sustainability (and rightly so) it’s important to have some institutions that can model a positive path to that end point. Burgerville wants to source its food from local farmers and ranchers; they want to treat their employees with respect; they are focused on the future of waste management and they really value the meaning of local food, albeit local fast food.

Part of me feels like I’m selling out by praising an establishment that sells fast food. But the other side, equally rational and more compromising, is willing to see the changes that are possible in this day and age. If you’re like me and you grew up on fast food and you have that craving for fries and a shake, why not go to a place that sources local milk, local berries and local potatoes but honors the easy-to-cook deep fryer?

For those nostalgic moments, go to Burgerville!

Related posts:

1. The Oregon Sustainability Experience
2. The Urban Farming Revolution
3. A Chance to Join the Food Movement! (If you live in Portland.)

The goal is simple. Once a month a meal will be open to the public. The dinner table (which is actually an old wooden door turned dining setting) will seat roughly 8-10 people, cooks included. Notice I pluralized the work ‘cook.’ You see there’s me and then there’s the neighbor, let’s call her Rachel. Rachel, another culinary dreamer (who also went to culinary school) and I, will plan, shop, prepare, serve, wine and dine with the guests. For the social experience to ensue we will present the food and enjoy the conversation. Hopefully we can do those two things at once!

As I have already learned since our first planning conversation, there are 2 types of multi-course meals. On the one hand, you have the standard fare of appetizer, salad, entree and dessert; and on the other hand, you have a deconstructed version of the same food (kind of.) In the second version you have an appetizer or antipasta, soup or grain (think pasta or gnocchi), then fish, vegetable, meat, dessert. Well to tell you the truth, I don’t know the exact order yet. That is to be learned. What’s important to note is that unlike the standard sequence, in the deconstructed version you take each portion of the meal and make it its own course. For example, instead of serving meat with a starch and a vegetable, you serve three different courses: a meat, a vegetable and a starch. This order of events is reminiscent of the European fare mentioned before.

The supper club, unlike the fancy restaurant experience, has the pure intention of mingling stranger upon stranger. Sitting among the elongated dining room table/door are guests from all parts of the community, each joining the meal to experience a really good meal. Each dinner will only serve organic, local, grass-fed/pasture-raised and seasonal foods. Each course will be paired with a wine, all of which will be sourced from the NW. And the best part of all, this feast to end all feasts will cost the patron a decent fee of $25.

And here’s the thing about the cost: the twenty-five dollars goes directly to the cost of the food and alcohol. There is no profit to be made here. The ultimate goal is to work with the best ingredients and to make a fantastic meal that everyone attending can appreciate. I realized that in order to fulfill my food fantasies I would have to rely on the good will of friends and neighbors who would help burden the cost.

And thus, the supper club is born.

Menu for Supper Club 1:

First Course
Roasted pumpkin soup with a toasted curried pumpkin seed garnish

Second Course
Composed roasted beet, chevre and pistachio salad with balsamic reduction

Third Course
Rustic rosemary lamb chop with foraged mushroom risotto and braised greens

Fourth Course
Vanilla bean custard with fleur de sel shortbread

Related posts:

1. Food Fantasies
2. A simple menu (weekly menu 2)
3. Thank you Alex Roberts (or) Chocolate Pudding on a new level

Last week I boarded a bus with 30 professionals, grad students and other food politic wonks to explore the pieceses of an ever-increasing sustainable food system here in Oregon. Coined “The Oregon Sustainability Experience,” the week-long adventure drove us all over, visiting multiple participants and benefactors to the evolving sustainable food systems across Oregon. From Portland to Hillsboro to Monmouth to Corvallis to Philomath to Tangent to Junction City to Salem to Brooks to Woodburn and then back to Portland, we invested 40+ hours to investigation, analysis, reflection and immense discussion on the various topics that be.

Over the next several weeks and maybe months, I will post entries on each of our visits. We dined with plant breeders, toured small, medium and large organic farms, geared up in white gowns to see processing facilities, and of course ventured among heritage breed pigs and chickens, and at one point blew our minds in an dialogue with migrant farm workers. Suffice to say, we ran the gambit on sustainable agriculture in the Northwest.

You will be happy to know that I also took loads of pictures! I know that this blog lacks the creative efforts of my photo-friendly eye, and so I intend on showing the reader some of the sites we saw on our trip. Aside from the informative lens of who, what, where, when and how, I look forward to divulging some of the why questions that rang deep inside throughout this experience. Some of the thoughts that still linger in my brain include:

• Do we want to sustain a global food system, or move towards a sustainable localized food system?
• Is ‘sustainability’ an inherently liberal issue?
• The battle between local and organic in the context of sustainability
• Peak oil, climate change and the future of sustainable trends
• Sustainability – a class concern?

With so much to share, I’m still weighing the idea of posting regularly on this trip, i.e. several times a week or once every couple weeks, etc. At the same time, with so much to say and the desire to write more often, I can see posting many entries in the near future. As I mentioned a moment ago, beyond a news report, I really aim to engage some of the deeper issues I uncovered during the week-long conference.

For all my previous posts on food politics and eating seasonally and teaching food literacy, I think the theme of sustainability loomed in the background. Here is an opportunity to go that much deeper into an increasingly important issue.

Related posts:

1. Good Man Eats Takes a Break
2. Burgerville – Fast Food for Ethical Foodies
3. Local Food Movement Gains Serious Support

This summer, the same students who regularly chow down candy and fast food for breakfast, learned how to grow peas, berries, potatoes, kale, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, beets and other commonly found garden ingredients. Not only did the students grow and harvest many of these plants, but with the enthusiasm of myself and some awesome assistants (staff from the school), students prepared incredibly healthy and delicious meals every day! Sure, some of the meals were loved more than others, but I think it’s fair to say overall that students ate their food pyramid-requested-share of fruits and vegetables at every lunch.

Along the 18 raised beds that volunteers and community members constructed in late spring, there also lies 6 or so fruits trees, a huge 12-person bench (constructed by students), an outdoor sink and when needed, a portable stovetop. We had ourselves a simple outdoor kitchen. We steamed, sautéed, boiled and braised. We prepared many fresh salads with our homemade salad dressings (ranch, blue cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.)

Beyond the confines of the outdoor classroom, we made various ventures to other exciting food projects across town. On one trip students spent the day at Food Work’s farm on Sauvie Island and harvested crops with high school youth from North Portland communities. Another day we went down to the Pioneer school and participated in a work party to help harvest and improve another school’s garden. And during the last week I organized a trip to Ned Ludd restaurant where students saw a lamb get butchered, learned all about the importance of sourcing local meats and toured the neighboring Short Cut farm to see the source of Ned Ludd’s 50-yards-away fresh produce.

Though it felt like the class ended too early with so much information and experience left uncovered, the celebration yesterday afternoon was fantastic. Beneath our tents sat a buffet of student-prepared foods, including crab sushi, fruits salads, smoothies and chicken and shrimp shish-ka-bobs. Student’s had friends and family attend, the principal and some school faculty attended, and of course many of the policy makers from the county and city wanted to see the food revolution they funded.

Thinking back on this opportunity, I could not be any prouder and satisfied with the program. I loved getting to know the students. I loved the commitment students developed for the health and beauty of the garden. I loved the pride and confidence our cooking class instilled in the students. And I genuinely hope that this program continues years into the future. The impact was very real for all of us. Yes, “From Soil to Stovetop” was a huge success.

Related posts:

1. Guess Who Received a $4,000 Grant?!
2. A Future Food Project (or) An Idea is Born
3. School Gardens are All the Rage – Resources to Join the Movement

Many moons ago I was approached by a woman named Kate who had read a blurb about my cooking classes in December. We emailed back and forth and she finally visited a class later that winter. Lucky for me, she liked what she saw and invited me to teach a class for her organization – Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (aka EMO.) It turns out that this local faith-based non-profit is doing a lot of exciting programming among congregations in Portland and beyond. Many of these programs focus attention on food and farms, eating healthy local foods, and preventing spread of obesity and type 2 diabetes, etc. Previous cooking classes had been successful, but this time there was an interest in critical food literacy. Beyond the basic cooking class we delved into the processed food conundrum and the environmental, economic and health-related consequences of the industrial food chain. (wow, that’s always a mouthful.)

So, over the last few months the meeting and planning and talking evolved. A binder was born, complete with recipes I had done in previous classes and relevant resources I accumulated in my diligent internet research. And last night we made the dream real.

Around 6pm, in a lone and nearly empty basketball court, I preached the gospel (pun intended) of eating local, seasonal foods. I talked about subsidies and overly cheap processed foods. Participants unveiled the importance of eating seasonally (for those that don’t know, this includes *supporting local farmers and a local economy, * eating fresh whole foods that are chock full of real nutrients, and * keeping the Earth a little bit healthier by avoiding processed and petroleum-induced food products.) Together the 18 families and individuals made enough brown rice and vegetable stir-fry to feed the masses and then some. The lovely fragrance of garlic and ginger wafted through the kitchen as young adults tossed salad greens with homemade salad dressing. To be honest, it was a fantastic class! I loved it. I loved teaching and being there as a resource. It feels really good to preach to a different choir.

So that’s what I did last night. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the food revolution is upon us! Be it school gardens or after-hours in the church kitchen, people are engaged and eager to eat healthier foods. And I am happily there to cheer them on.

Related posts:

1. Session 1 Complete!
2. Cooking Class Conundrum
3. A Successful Cooking Class

From the very beginning I wanted this public space as separate from my life. Yet the problems I face during the day will inevitably trickle down to this site. The most direct influence is the absence of writing. If I am distracted I am less likely to write. Over time this tendency inflates and the next thing I know I have not written in days, weeks, a month?!

In this short post of reflection, let me say this:

I am rebuilding myself and redefining my relationship with the food movement and my career. I am in the process of rediscovering my passion and potential. I am finding my voice (again.) I appreciate your patience during this process. If you like what I have to say you will come back. If you are tired of waiting, maybe it will be awhile. But I promise that this lapse is almost over.

Good Man Eats is making a comeback.

Related posts:

1. Good-Man-Eats Goes “Food Publisher!”
2. A Bad Blogger
3. Reality Check – where is weekly menu 25?

Nowadays, I’m considering a return to traditional locavorism with a slight twist.

As to be expected, eating locally also means cooking from scratch. It means no coconut milk or ginger or citrus fruit. No condiments (unless made locally from locally sourced ingredients), no fancy imported wine, and of interest here, little use for the modern-day grocery store.

This time the rules will be a bit more flexible. Our location – Portland, OR – is also far more receptive to a local eating challenge. The weather is mild year round, there’s an abundance of meat and seafood, and there are lots of fruit varieties to chose from.

The goal is to eat local and source most, if not all of our food from the source. Aside from toilet paper and other household items, the grocery store/food coop will also serve as our source of grain.

Put differently, we hope to shop at the grocery store once a month. We will continue to receive our meat from Afton Field farm. We will begin a dairy delivery with Noris Dairy (delivered right to our door no less!) Our produce will come from a variety of places: farmers markets, our garden, other people’s gardens, and hopefully a buying club. In fact, I just learned today about a new buying club starting in our neighborhood, one focused on produce and coffee. All that’s left is grain and condiments!

Between now and June 1st we will slowly stock our pantry with beloved grains; cover our fridge with preservation ideas; love our garden, and make the arrangements with the buying club and dairy. As you might imagine, I am very excited about this new project!

The planning stages are upon us and I hope to share this process with all of you.

Consider this an introduction.

Related posts:

1. Grocery-free Living
2. Living off the grid
3. Food Fantasies

The overlapping interests of a just food system.

Over the weekend I attended the very first, Multnomah County Food Summit. Gathering 250 people into a conference hall for an all-day event on a sunny day, was no easy feat. Luckily, all I had to do was show-up.

A first of its kind for sure, the food summit brought both grandiose ideals and a diverse selection of committed activists to the table. As the mini image shows above, the goal of the summit is to integrate 4 main principals into the pillars of a movement. Now we all know the movement had begun far before last Saturday. And yet, no one in Oregon (as far as I know) has initiated a project of such size and impact.

If this were to succeed, the food summit hopes to develop a thorough action plan for the county, one that stretches into the next 15 years. From all the qualitative data collected at the event – from worksheets to discussion groups – the event facilitators will extract the big ideas and common interests of the attendees. Thereafter, four groups will form to develop individual plans in their specific subject area. As the image shows above, the 4 main objectives include:

1. Economic Vitality: promote a thriving local economy
2. Healthy Eating: make the healthy choice an easier choice for all
3. Social Equity: build systemic justice, health and food security
4. Local Food: increase viable local options in our food system

As much as these principles guided the discussion for the day, much time was devoted to uncovering those voices not at the table. All the while, various speakers informed the audience of projects happening across the country with similar goals.

The event was both overwhelming and inspirational. To see so many engaged citizens all sharing the same passion was a real boost for me. As the lone educator on Monday nights trying to influence the lives of those not attending the summit, this opportunity let me leave my little vacuum of a classroom. If anything, the event reminded me that the local food movement is really just beginning. There will be funding (eventually) to promote projects like my own. There will be top-down and bottom-up approaches to tackling healthy food disparities and mighty corporate interests. There will be a collective movement of diverse people joining in.

This is clearly the beginning of the food revolution. (post-Jamie Oliver)

Related posts:

1. A Future Food Project (or) An Idea is Born
2. Pro-Food Anti-Foodie
3. I Thought I was Starting the Food Revolution!?

I am the proud recipient of a $4,000 grant through EPNO – East Portland Neighborhood Office. The funding will enable Fir Ridge High School to offer a summer science class called, “Everyday Science: From Soil to Stovetop.” The 4-week class will help students retrieve missed science credits through learning about gardening and cooking. I will be the cooking instructor and will team up with the gardening teacher to provide the class. Aside from improving student’s knowledge of science terms and concepts, we will also use the class to empower kids with the tools to organize their community around food.

Does it get better than this?!

Related posts:

1. Cooking Class Takes New Direction
2. A Future Food Project (or) An Idea is Born
3. School Gardens are All the Rage – Resources to Join the Movement

"Local Food" on a whole new level.

Wow. Does it get better than this?!

For those of us that lack the resources to spend the summer in Bristol Bay, Alaska, here’s an awesome opportunity to reap some of the benefits. I introduce to you, Iliamna Fish Co.’s wild salmon CSA.

(For those of you who don’t know the term, CSA refers to Community Supported Agriculture. The CSA model enables anyone to purchase a share of the farm’s, or in this case fisherman/woman’s catch. The upfront cost provides the member with a set amount of product over a set period of time. For example, a $600 CSA share from a produce farm could provide a weekly box of fresh produce for 6 months. All of a sudden, a week’s worth of local, seasonal and organic produce is in your household for at the cost of $25 a week! That’s a pretty awesome deal, especially come late July and August when the bounty is exploding at the seams. Now, transfer this image of summer’s bounty to the possibility of wild sockeye salmon.)

Iliamna Fish Co. is a small company devoted to catching wild sockeye salmon using the most sustainable methods for the scale of their catch. Unlike industrial fisheries that net tons of fish at the cost of harming other fish species and habitats, Iliamna fishes in shallow water with short nets. Their labor-intensive model ensures a .3% by-catch rate. To explain,

This three-tenths of a percentage by-catch (calculated from our total salmon catch) consists of only starry flounder (platichthys stellatus), an incredibly hardy bottom feeder. There are, literally, no other fish to be caught in shallow water with set net-sized gillnets. Per boat, a 0.3% by-catch is approximately 80 flounders per season, 98% of which we return, alive, to the ocean. (text taken from site.)

Certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, the fish you purchase are knowingly caught and slaughtered employing sustainable methods. The size of the company ensures transparency and as they explain on the site, supporting the workers and the local economy is as important as supporting sustainable fishing.

If I’ve got your attention now and you are as excited as I am about this find, you’ll be even more enthralled by the costs and benefits. One share is 22 pounds and you receive it in the form of 12 individually, vacuum-sealed and flash-frozen filets, weighing in at 1.85 pounds each. Each filet can comfortably feed 5-6 people. The share cost is $198, which amounts to $9 a pound. To compare, New Seasons sells wild sockeye filets that were also frozen at sea for $13 a pound.

My only worry about all this is that I share this opportunity with other Portlanders and then miss out on the chance to get a share. Honestly, this is too good to pass up. Eating wild salmon is a true luxury, and to know where my money is going and what it is supporting makes it far more meaningful to purchase.

So here you have it folks, a sustainbly-caught, wild salmon CSA for the good people of Portland!

Related posts:

1. The Case Against Farmed Salmon
2. Urban farming – a world of possibility
3. The Grass-Fed Manifesto (Part I)