Taking a different look at food

As born and bred Kansas girl now living in San Francisco, the type of food I prepare and the way I look at it is incredibly different than how I grew up eating. A decent portion of this change can be attributed to San Francisco food culture, but the way Americans as a whole are viewing food is also shifting.

Growing up in a tiny, rural town whose restaurant options included the local diner, Pizza Hut, and Dairy Queen, my mom made breakfast, lunch, and dinner — from scratch — every day. We rarely went out to eat. My dad was a food scientist and so processed food was frowned upon and most times strictly prohibited. Velveeta isn't cheese, and it definitely is not food. All of this is to say I had a very nutritionally balanced childhood.

However, our vegetables were homegrown (but not organic), our chocolate chip cookies homemade (with Hershey's chocolate chips), and the beef we consumed (corn fed) was so local it would have brought any San Franciscan to tears. 

Over the past 5 – 10 years the way we look at food is changing. It's not only what we eat, it's how we eat. 

We don't just want organic vegetables, we want them to be heirloom and we want to know where they were grown. We want hormone-free, grass fed, local beef. And by golly we want fair trade coffee, chocolate, and quinoa.

Paying such close attention to our food is a macro trend — a positive one I might add — that may make us roll our eyes occasionally *ahem Portlandia* thankfully doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

Bao wow!

I have very few savory food crushes, but over the past few weeks I've been crushing hard on bao, a type of steamed bun that can be stuffed with meat or vegetarian fillings. After a bit of internet-ing, we decided that they seemed simple enough to make, so we purchased a bamboo steamer and did a trial run tonight. The results were...well, I have no photos mid-bite so I think that answers the question.  They'll be on the menu again soon enough.

Please excuse the poor photo quality

Contemplating habits

I'm not a huge fan of meat; not for any particular reason. Large chunks of meat make me noxious and I don't really care for the taste, so it's not typically a part of my diet.

That being said, I'm lucky enough to have a husband who is willing to go along with my food preferences, so for the past 3 years, we've eaten vegetarian at home just because. If we're eating out, meat finds its way into our dish (we usually share) about 1/2 the time.

More recently however, Vince has been engaging me in conversations about the ethical side of eating meat. Specifically, should we be eating animals who are self-aware? Would you eat a dolphin or an elephant? If you revolt at that thought, should you really be eating a cow? What's the difference?

The conversation is just beginning for us but I have a feeling there will be more to come.

Mid-Day Drawing. Mid-Day Menu.

Mid-day menu from Dobbs Ferry in Hayes Valley on 03/03/2012.

Dear Internet: Please Fix #1

There are only a few things (okay, maybe a few more) that drive me nuts on the internet. I've decided to catalogue these items in hopes that they will resolve themselves.

While you may catch meat touching my lips while dining out, we eat vegetarian at home which makes us flexi-tarians, but let's not get too technical. When searching recipe sites for planning our dinners for the week, I tend to automatically select the "vegetarian" filter and go from there. This is where the real issue occurs. Most recipe databases group desserts and meaningless sides into the vegetarian category.

News flash: Your popcorn trail mix and pumpkin doughnuts are, in fact, vegetarian, but they are primarily a dessert, snack, or breakfast item. The pumpkin doughnuts do look tasty, but unless they include bacon (and even if they do) please categorize them as a dessert or snack. You're messing with my dinner menu.

On a more positive note, if you haven't already, I highly suggest purusing Gojee – one of the most beautifully curated recipes sites I've seen in a while.

Eating Good Food

This post has been sitting in my drafts folder waiting on images for over a month. Maybe its time to just publish and post more delicious food images later? Below are heirloom tomatoes from  Farm Fresh to You located in the Ferry Building Marketplace.

Disclaimer: I don't consider myself a food snob or a foodie. I just like to know what I'm eating.

Growing up with a mother who made amazing food (specifically English toffee at Christmas-time) and a father as a food scientist, Velveeta cheese didn't have a chance in our home. In fact, not many processed foods did.

Because of this, I've always been conscious of the food I eat, but since moving to San Francisco, a place where everyone is a foodie in some sense, I've become particularly obsessed with eating food in it's most natural state. Moving from the midwest to California, it's been a pleasant surprise to realize how easy it is to buy seasonal vegetables at one of the many of farmers markets during almost any week of the year.

While it used to feel like chore to pick out a menu and food for the week (I'm a budget-y type person) it's become especially fun to head to the store or farmers market, select the most seasonal produce, and make a menu from there.

So what's the point? I've discovered an incredible sense of self-satisfaction just by knowing that my food didn't travel 2,000 miles to my mouth when it could have traveled less than 50.

Finally!

I've finally tasted the only food smell I've had since my bike incident a week ago. Oddly enough, it's quiche! Not sure, but I think I've found a favorite new food. (Or at least until this smell / taste deficiency goes away).