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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us May 10, 2005 The Sustainable Kitchen Lettuce pray: Find local food to cook One of the cornerstones of sustainable cuisine is cooking with the seasons. Stu Stein But why, in this glorious FedEx age of year-round, jet-shipped tomatoes from Israel, grapes from Chile, and lemons from Florida should we limit ourselves to cooking with the seasons? There are many answers — some leaning toward the spiritual and some toward the scientific. The short answer is: We are part of nature, and nature is part of us. Cooking with the seasons sustains a connection as old as our species. If you are about to put something into your body, or the bodies of your loved ones, you should know where it came from, who grew it and how. That is difficult these days. The sad fact is that the average produce item found in U.S. grocery stores today has traveled between 2,400 miles to 4,000 miles from farm to market. How many gallons of fuel, how much fouling of air and water did it take to bring you that tomato? And who grew it? Under what conditions? Even that reassuring sticker, “Certified Organic,” loses credibility after several thousand miles. To me, eating seasonally means eating locally. In doing so, you are getting produce from someone you know and trust and you are keeping local family farms alive. In return, you are getting flavor and freshness. “Freshness” is not just a fuzzy feel-good word of ad-speak. It is crucial. Studies show a steep decline in nutritional value from the moment produce is plucked from the field. If you eat it within twenty-four hours, you get significantly more vitamins. A tomato picked days, even weeks ago, and shipped (even in refrigerated trucks or cargo holds) pollutes the environment on its long way to us, and then adds injury to insult by delivering only a fraction of its original nutritional content. And then there’s the spiritual side of the story. When you eat local seasonal produce, you are ingesting something that basked in the same sun as you did, was bathed in the same rains, and thrived on the same air. Local foods embody a great wisdom. They possess the spirit of the place they grow. Search out and use what the season has to offer: asparagus, sorrel, spinach, parsley, cilantro, scallions, chives, broccoli, kohlrabi, peas, rhubarb, radishes, and ... lettuce. For me, lettuce has always had mysterious spiritual overtones about it. Maybe I just feel humbly thankful that I was able to live past the Great Iceberg Era and into the Lettuce Renaissance. Our local farmers are growing dozens of kinds of lettuce this year, with names like Hyper Red Rumple Waved, Batavia Blonde and Outredgeous. Even mainstream grocery stores now carry tender Boston, crunchy Romaine, delicate Frisée, buttery Bibb, and silken Endive. A wonderful part of the Lettuce Renaissance has been the Heirloom Revival. It’s not just for tomatoes. It’s a rediscovering of nonhybrid varieties of lettuce, many of which came to this country with our immigrant ancestors and were grown year after year in backyard gardens. These heirloom varieties may not be as bright green or as long-lasting in the refrigerator. But what you get instead are distinctive flavors, colors and patterns that would have made Monet paint heads of lettuce instead of water lilies. Lettuce is a cool-weather crop and it is perfect in May and June, and again in September and October. Pick through it carefully as you wash, discarding any wilted, bruised, or broken leaves (they are a breeding ground for bacteria and will soon turn your lettuce to slime). As with all produce, try to get it as soon as possible after it has been picked, and then eat it within a day or two for maximum flavor and nutrition. There’s the answer. Cooking with the season imparts flavor, nutrition, and a physical and spiritual connection to our farmers, our communities, our ancestors, and our earth. So I urge you to make the connection. And as Neville Heath Fowler said, “Let the monopolies tremble at a green revolution. We have nothing to lose but the burger chains. We have a world to win. Veggies of world, Unite!” DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Free Musick Downloads Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks Heloc Calenders 2005 Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress tcg student loan consolidation Home Equity Loans teleconferencing W2 Forms cortisol weight loss Diamonds Paris Hilton Mesothelioma Free Home-Loan Referrals Tatoos Website Design & Marketing Student Loans African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems Helzberg Diamonds Currancy Exchange Online Casinos Community Student Loans Tatoo Poker Games Homeschooling Auto Insurance Mortgage Calculator Mailing Lists Payday Loans Click Here .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams