Indy Food Co-op

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Sounds like plans are moving forward for an eventual food co-op grocery store for members. Don't know where they are on support, but they've planned stops on their spring member drive at popular festivals and events. They're also planning a May member meeting. Updates on their blog, Indy Food Coop.

Indiana Food Blogs: They're sprouting up all over!

January always brings a new crop of food and wine blogs on all sorts of topics. Some have a clear and unique function while others give us an inside glimpse to a family's life -- and eating! I know how hard it is to blog -- and keep blogging. Best intentions and all that, so I usually tend to give new blogs a few weeks, keeping an eye on them before adding them to my list. It's April and a few are still going strong -- all offering some sort of unique view. May you have many happy blog years to come!

City on a Hill: WeLL-pal (and frequent guest on NPR's Fresh Air) music writer Ed Ward recently moved from Berlin (Berlin Bites) to Montpellier in France. Ed's an accomplished cook complete with a full repertoire of San Antonio-style Mexican food. He's currently regaling us with tales about his food adventures in France. Or, as he puts it "Food, Wine, Travel and Unavoidably, the French."

Indy Winter Farmer's Market: They're just going out of season, but I'll bet they'll keep everyone updated over the summer. Add them to your reader to stay up with the latest.

Indiana Wine Blog: Every niche needs a champion, and this blog has become it for Indiana wine. I have a fundamental difference of opinion with the author when it comes to his topic, but he's doing a great job of consolidating news and information about a local industry that needs some image help. It's worth a read -- and should become a forum for some lively debate/discussion.

Would I Buy It Again? Ever walk into a place and say "Who *eats* this stuff?" It's these guys. Reviewing fast food, burgers, pizza, fast casual chains, and the occasional sit-down restaurant, they answer one primary question: Would they buy it again? Unfortunately, the answer is usually "yes". ("It's gross-out fun!" Feed Me/Drink Me.)

Going Green Mama: I've mentioned this handy local blog before and it's a good add to your reader. Along with easy recycling tips, the reality of family and expenses, this blog shares food ideas (yogurt in your crock pot -- who needs a fancy maker?) and updates on the local farmer's market scene.

Shout Outs to Some Local Talent!

** A hearty congratulations to Indianapolis pastry chef Emily Griffin. Her Baker's Edge brownie pan (all edges, yes!) is featured in the spring Sur La Table catalog. Page 34!

** And a shout-out to another Indiana product -- Cheese Crisps from Grace Island Specialty Foods in Garrett, Indiana. You'd never know these perfect little gourmet cheese crisps are from an artisan producer until you read the ingredient list to see they contain only real food and spices. Nothing artificial here. Very professionally packaged -- find them at Cork and Cracker.

Monday Morning Duke's Mixture: Alinea, CSA's, and Whole Foods

Ah, the sun! This little break in the weather has been just enough to get me going again. First good run of the spring yesterday and I thought I was going to die! Too much duck confit! And with Valentine's Day right around the corner! While I scare up some posts to feed the masses, here are a few Monday morning tidbits to hold you over:

** Blogger Carol Blymire is still working her way through the Alinea cookbook with Alinea at Home. It's a fascinating read (Cranberry -- Frozen and Chewy) even if you're not following along on page 43.

** Going Green Mama has a list of all the CSAs in the central Indiana area. Some are hit or miss but unfortunately, she took her reviews down. CSAs are a good way to get started with local, fresh vegetables if you're not growing your own.

**The Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger is still in dispute -- and the FTC has asked for another 30 days to help spur "settlement" talks says Natural-Specialty Foods Memo.

It's Going Local Week!

The challenge? Eat something local every day or go to a Farmer's Market or U-Pick. Host a local foods dinner or read a book on better, local eating or slow food. More on Going Local Week and how to get involved at Going Local. Look for promotions and specials at all your favorite local restaurants and markets.

Farm to Table Dinners: Onward Ho!

Missed RBistro's Farm-to-Table dinners last week and I've been dying to hear how the spit-roasted goat worked out! In the meantime, Slow Food Indy gears up for the next one -- a joint-chef effort at Apple Family Farms in McCordsville on Sept 14.

Ragina Mahallick, Greg Hardesty, Chris Eley, Aaron Butts, and Thom England will all prepare dishes. Farm tour starts at 4:00 p.m., Dinner at 5:00. $65 per person. Buy tickets online. Proceeds to the delegation for travel to Terra Madre.

Producers Week at Goose, The Market

It's Producers Week at Goose, the Market where Chris and Mollie have scheduled several local growers and food producers to come in and talk to customers about their product. I'm so sorry I misssed Erin from Country Mouse City Mouse who was there on Saturday! Look for Mark Miles from Momma's Old Fashioned Applesauce this Thursday, 4-7 p.m.

And speaking of local foods, don't forget we're only one week away from Going Local week. The challenge? To eat something local with every meal -- or at least as many meals as you can. With the bounty of summer harvest upon us, it shouldn't be hard. More ideas and more information at the Going Local blog.

Hey, kids! It's Friday and the weather's great! Look for some interesting downtown restaurant news that should be coming later today, but in the meantime, how about a round up of what some other blogs are covering:

**Over at Gut Check, they have a trailer for a new competitive eating game (on the Wii, natch). Disgusting or coolest thing ever? You decide.

**The return of the serious martini, at least in New York from the NY Times. Thank the gods, gin is back. (Quick, someone alert Scholar's Inn, excuse me, "SI". Their new martini list is *awful*.)

**Michael Bauer from the SF Chron has a unique Northern California take on "hyper-local" but fails to recognize the Bay Area is no longer nearly as far ahead as they think. More than one new chef has discovered we Hoosiers are much further ahead of the times than they expected when it comes to sourcing local meats and produce. (Between Meals)

**On the other hand, some chefs are looking to buy local and having a tough time. Anyone know any carrot farmers? (Babelfish Tartare)

Michael Pollan Savors Some Local Goodness

I hear it was a who's who of local chefs and food lovers who got, well, down to local business the other night at Petit Chou. The occasion? Author Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food) was in town for his lecture at Butler and Martha Hoover organized a group of local chefs -- including Nicole and Eli Anderson of H2O Sushi and Neal Brown of L'explorateur -- to show Pollan that we're pretty committed to local resources. Dishes included Brown's elk tartar with orange, celery and a green olive and white chocolate emulsion, Eli Andersons' beet salad with pickled fennel, Hoover's chicken panini, and Nicole Anderson's incredible goat cheese ice cream.

Think Spring: Sign Up for Summer CSA Produce

Slow Monday due to the wine we had for Open That Bottle Night yesterday or Slow Food Monday, you decide. I don't know about you guys, but this weather is starting to get me down!Start thinking about Spring by signing up for your summer CSA shares. Use Local Harvest to find the Indianapolis area Community Sponsored Agriculture options best for you. The site lists programs, terms, and contact info for signing up.

Craft Beer Dinner, Krug, and More

Just a quickie today as I'm running around:

Craft Beer and Food Symposium: Chef Neal Brown has drafted the menu for the Craft Beer and Food Symposium, Feb 27 at L'explorateur. As you'll remember, the dinner grew from a discussion at Hoosier Beer Geek (and here) on pairing craft beer with food and in fine dining environments. He still has some space (he's capping the dinner at 30 people), so make your reservations this week if you're planning to attend. $65 per person. Here's the menu:

*Frank Boon Gueuze -- Stinky Fondue Rabbit Sausage Meatballs
*Brugge Black -- Chilled Oyster Oyster Tempura Black Oyster Stew with Pearls
*Czech Pilsner -- Loup De Mere Hot Buttered Popcorn King Crab Salad
*Broad Ripple Brew Pub Ankle Biter Barley wine -- Curried Leg of Lamb Cassis and Cassia Lentils

*Brugge Triple de Ripple -- Banana Pot Crème

If Sustainability Is Your Thing: This Saturday, Feb 23, you can learn more about local sustainability at Sustainable Earth 2008 Food, Farm, and Energy Gathering at the Fair Grounds. The conference will feature a number of seminars and trade show booths from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.. A conference program and more info at their website.

Size Doesn't Matter: As the Jacoby Agency/Prudential Elegant Vintages International Wine Auction approaches, tickets are on sale! Don't miss this black-tie evening with 50 live auction wine lots and 90 or so silent auction lots (mostly wine, but with jewelry, art, and other treats.) One of my favorite lots so far? Three bottles of Krug Grand Cuvee NV -- 375 mL, 750 mL and 1.5 L. (Special thanks to Moet Hennessey USA)

Good for the Good Earth: Cory at Property Lines reports Broad Ripple's natural food store The Good Earth is looking at the space vacated by Sunflower. No deal is done yet -- they're just looking -- but it could be a good move for them and the space.

Whither Scholar's Inn, I mean, "SI"? We all know opening dates are usually vapor, but does anyone have an update on the re-opening at "SI"? Earlier this week the space was still pretty disorganized with ladders, paint cans, and very little furniture. Looks like it will be at least end of March to me.

Wine, Jazz, and and Milk -- in the Raw

OTBN: Don't forget this Saturday is Open That Bottle Night! OTBN is the one day every year where you plan a dinner party, invite some friends, and open those bottles of wine that you've been "saving" for a special occasion. You know those bottles, the ones that may be years old, that may be past their prime, or just plain mysteries. Bring a story to go with it and if you're really ambitious, you can write up your evening and send it to the Wall Street Journal's wine writers Dorothy Gaither and John Brecher, the creators of OTBN, who cover it every year in the paper.

Chicago with The 'Box: Looking for something to do this weekend? Sunday, February 24, The Chatterbox Jazz Club is arranging a day trip to Chicago's Millennium Park to visit the Museum of Modern Ice -- which looks *amazing* -- and the Edward Hopper exhibition at The Art Institute of Chicago. The trip will leave at 10 am and return 10 pm. $45 per person. Interested in going? Get thee to the website and email David directly. (His address is at the bottom of the page.)

Pepsi Raw: In the UK, Pepsi has introduced their first new soda in 10 years -- Pepsi Raw. Paler than their traditional soda, the drink package lists *all* ingredients and features all natural ingredients including pure cane sugar, apple extract, natural carmel coloring, coffee leaf, tartaric acid extracted from grapes, gum arabic from acacia trees and sparkling water. The drink features no artifical flavors, sweetners or other ingredients -- and is high fructose corn syrup free. Working in the very active UK natural foods test market, they're gambling on transparency. No word on if or when we'll see this product in the US. From Natural Foods Specialty Memo:

By departing from the time-honored soft drink maker's code of keeping at least some of their cola ingredients secret (natural flavors is meaningless for example), Pepsi is blazing a new path with its "Raw" cola by listing everything the drink contains on the label. To this day, Coca Cola goes to great lengths--and expenses--to maintain the "secret ingredient" or two in its famous Coca Cola, even though it lists the primary ingredients on the can or bottle. Cola marketers also have believed leaving a little something out, the "secret ingredient," creates an illusiveness which creates new drinkers. We think that once might have been true, but it isn't likely the case today.

Hormone free milk prices go up? I haven't seen this in other sources yet, but Norm over at IBJ's "news" blog says that Kroger is threatening to drop milk produced with artificial growth hormone and that, *gasp*, your milk prices might go up! I fear Monsanto's PR machine is doing damage control after bill banning small dairies from labeling milk "artificial hormone-free" -- called absence labeling -- was withdrawn by its sponsor two weeks ago. I think most of us would gladly pay a little more for milk we know didn't come from a mega-dairy using artificial bovine production enhancement hormones. I haven't seen anything official from Kroger (or Dean Foods, for that matter), but if a major chain were to take a stand, it would be big -- and good -- news.

Joe's, Ivy Tech, and More Miscellaney

Joe's Butcher Shop Closed for Routine Maintenance: Don't panic! (with props to my man, Arthur Dent). If you went by Joe's this weekend and found them closed, don't worry. Joe is taking advantage of his slowest time of year for some specialized butcher shop maintenance. They're only expecting to be closed for seven days, so plan to stop in for great fresh meat and tidbits maybe as early as next weekend.

Ivy Tech's Culinary Expressions Cafe: It's time again for Ivy Tech's Culinary Expressions Cafe. The inhouse cafe is a chance for culinary students to run their own restaurant and they need actual customers to serve. Plan to stop in for lunch this Thursday (1/31) or Friday (2/1) for an extensive looking hot and cold Asian Buffet. They'll continue with lunches every Thursday and Friday though the spring featuring Mexican, Middle Eastern, Spanish, French, and more. For reservations or more info, contact Chef Thom England at 317.921-4619.

2008 Indiana Horticulture Congress: If you're interested in taking your knowledge about local foods and production to the next level, you might investigate the Indiana Horticultural Congress which starts Monday and runs through Wednesday at the Adam's Mark Hotel by the airport. The conference, sponsored by Purdue and featuring mainly Purdue speakers, has sessions and tracks for farmers markets, organics, wine grapes, fruit, raw agriculture, agritourism, vegetables, and botanicals. Look for some practical sessions (like labor and immigration compliance and grant funding for farmer's markets) and some growers specifics (like Apples: Where We've Been and Where We're Headed.) Additional sessions include details on organic certifications, land management, sustainability, and even weed management. The conference also serves as the annual meeting for the Indiana Winegrowers Guild with tracks each day on wine making and grapes. The conference is hosted by the Indiana Vegetable Growers Association, the Indiana Horticulture Society, Indiana Farm Market Association, the Indiana Wine Grape Council and others.) Registration, full schedule, and details available in a downloadable program from the site.

A Few Events This Week...And Next

Tuesday, January 15

A Caymus 10-Year Wine Dinner: Love vertical tastings? Want to see how some of the best wines in the world have aged? You'll have a rare opportunity at the Kahn's room at 52nd the Keystone. In addition to the paired wine with dinner including Caymus Napa 1995, there will be 1.5 oz tastings of Caymus 88, 89, 90, 91, and 92. The cheese course will feature tastings for rest of the vertical -- Caymus 94, 95, 97, and 98 and 2000. $210 per person. You must RSVP by Monday at noon to Kahn's. (251-9463).

Thursday, January 17
Bloomington Dine Local Night: If you're in the Bloomington area on Thursday, make sure you support an establishment participating in the first of four yearly Dine Local nights, sponsored by the Local Growers Guild. You have a wide selection of options from Bloomingfoods and FARM to Trulli Flatbread and Restaurant Tallent. (Even Upland Brewery is participating.)

Thursday, January 24
Bloomington Forms Weston Price Chapter: Chapters of the Weston A. Price Foundation might be considered the activists of the Slow Food movement. Their goal is to "promote local, traditional food choices." If you're interested, the organizational meeting will be 7:00 p.m. in room 1C of the Monroe County Public Library. The group wants to discuss potential activities for 2008 and discussing educational and legislative efforts. If interested, check the website: wapf.betterlocalfood.org.

Leftovers, Again?

It's a slow and rainy Monday with the last of the leftovers from last week. (Think of it as a Feed Me/Drink Me version of a turkey sandwich.)

Look in the Want Ads: Know how to make curry mayonnaise? Then hey, if you're a chef, Barcelona Tapas might be looking for you. Local papers are featuring their ad looking for an executive chef at the Indianapolis location.

Looking Good! Here's a big shout out to Jared Fogle who still looks pretty darn good after all these years. Famous now as Subway's pitch man, Fogle says he's still having a great time. Now thirty years old, he was a student at IU when he lost all the weight walking and eating Subway sandwiches. We ran into him last week at Mo's downtown after a Pacers game. (He's much better looking in person than on TV.) Go, Jared!

"Blows the Top Right Off the Popper": Who knew farmer's market popcorn could make such a difference? Over the weekend, popped some corn I bought from a farmer's market stand. Huge kernals! Huge corn! Lots of big, fluffy white pieces! It made a huge mess but what a treat -- it will be perfect for making caramel corn later in the winter. Don't know who this corn is from as there was no label on the bag, but thanks, whoever you are!

Quiz Answer: Scoville Scale measures hot pepper heat! While at least one chef said he was off to research if there actually was a system for measuring the quality of fish roe, he still knew the Scoville Scale measures how hot a pepper is. For example, a bell pepper has a rating of 0 (no heat) and mild peppers like pimentos have a rating of around 500. A jalapeno is generally rated around 2500-8000. Thai peppers? Around 50,000-100,000. And Scotch Bonnets/habaneros rate around 100,000-350,000. Here's more on how they get the number including a spiffy chart. And of course, 96% of you got it right.

Clean Out the Refrigerator Friday

Fresh Market Renderings: Do we bloggers talk? Of course we do! Had a fun lunch the other day with Cory from Property Lines and, as promised, he's posted the architects drawings of Fresh Market. (This, of course, in lieu of any really Fresh progress over there. So far, they've moved dirt and added curbs.) Parking at the old Atlas was precious, so I'm happy to see that as they've lost space making it pretty, they'll be adding spaces on top of the multi-level building.

Turkeys, Turkeys: Looking for a fresh, local, presumably medication free, bird for the holidays? Going Local offers a few sources for ordering local, fresh turkey, but time is running out. Additionally, Joe's Butcher Shop is taking orders, as is The Goose, but deadlines are fast approaching -- like *tomorrow*. (Using a frozen bird? The rule my mother always used was to thaw 24-hours for every 5 pounds.)

Workout, Then Beer: Not that we're likely to see football players switching to Coors Light anytime soon (even though it *is* the official beer of the NFL), a recent news article touts that beer may be better for your salt and electrolyte-deficient body after a workout than water. Well, duh. While scientists aren't advocating beer after a workout, it makes sense since calories and carbs can be better than water -- sometimes. And, hey, if you're one of those people who unnecessarily drinks sports drinks all the time (with all the sugar and carbs included), beer could be a better option. Study from the UK via Accidental Hedonist.

Hmmm, Thanks. I Think: Hey, I don't mind if you use my stuff, just send some traffic my way (and click on some ads, will ya'?) I'm flattered that columnists like Indy Star's Susan Guyette consider me a must read but a little attribution would be nice. (Check out her "Restaurant Buzz" at the end. I'll leave it to regular readers to decide how familiar it seems. Thanks to a reader for the pointer.) The one new piece of news regarding what's replacing Mo's Loading Dock gives me the fear. Apparently, according to Guyette, "you'll recognize the name of the famous food outlet as soon as the deal is signed, sealed and delivered." "Famous food outlet" is not necessarily good news.

Tracking the Carbon Footprint of Wine

While I think organic production is generally a good idea, I encourage people to examine the facts instead of blindly buying anything that says it promotes sustainability. I lived in northern California long enough to see a lot of people running around Whole Foods screaming for organic turkey when they had no idea what it really was -- where it came from, what it ate, and frankly, if it came from an organic production facility three states away instead of a local producer providing a better product. Don't get me wrong, I believe in buying local and that most locally produced products -- meat, vegetables, fruit -- are often vastly superior to mass-produced products that travel. But, I also believe that consumers need to educate themselves and know the smart questions to ask instead of just blindly reading "organic" or "all natural" labels. And, while local is generally, better, some parts of the world just produce and grow certain foodstuffs more cheaply and efficiently. Food miles can't only be measured in distance. Ultimately, the question becomes "what impact does this product have on the world around us?" and "is it worth it?" The answer will be different for each of us.

Enter Dr. Vino and his recent paper published for the American Association of Wine Economists. In it, he studied the carbon footprint of US and international wines -- from growing and production to bottling and transport -- looking for the most significant impact on the environment. What he found was intriguing. Growing and production techniques make a very small difference (including organic growth). The impact on the environment is almost all related to packaging and transportation. Considering that most of us drink wines from France, California, Australia, and S. America on a pretty regular basis, Dr. Vino's paper give us a solid idea of what makes a wine "green."

*Organic wines don't necessarily have a lower carbon footprint. They're just organic. They don't significantly reduce green house gas emissions. So, going organic across the wine industry isn't the answer to climate change. Purchasing only organic wines is fine, if that's your cup of tea. However, if you're doing it solely for the environmental impact, it's not ultimately the biggest factor.

*Transportation makes up the majority of a wine's carbon footprint: As he notes in his report, shipping by container is better than truck. By truck is better than airplane. So, that import you like from Italy? Depending on what port it arrived in, it may have a lower carbon footprint than a boutique wine from that small house in California.

*Packaging matters: Of course, it does. Glass is heavy. Boxes and new packaging (like bags) are less so. (And my favorite point, it's more efficient to drink a magnum. Well, sure. If you have 20 friends over!)

*East coast, France. West Coast, Cali. The United States is a big place. It's probably no surprise that it's incredibly expensive to truck wines to the East coast from California. However, it might be a surprise that it's more expensive than drinking wines that arrived from France via ship. Check out the map for the line of optimization for California versus France. (Hint: It's just east of Indiana.)

Ultimately, much of the study confirms what we already suspected. Transportation is the most inefficient -- and carbon heavy -- part of the process when you're shipping food from one place to another. While the wine industry is lagging behind in technology like new packaging (driven greatly by a consumer reluctance and lack of education), what we didn't see in this study were mentions of many things that we thought were the issue. Cork, for example, appears to be a relatively small part of a wine's carbon footprint.

What's the answer? Well, the good news is that it's not just "drink local wines." Indiana wine quality aside, the real issue is that while vina vinifera grapes will grow just about everywhere, not every region of the country has the best climate and environ for making terrific wines from their juice. Additionally, if you check, many local wines are made from juice that arrives from California or the Pacific northwest, you guessed it, in a truck, effectively negating your good intentions and providing you with a sub-par product as well. Luckily -- especially if you look at the map in Dr. Vino's paper, the answer also isn't "buy only US wines". Depending on the number of cases produced, the bottles, and how it's traveling, that's not always a low-carbon-footprint answer either.

The real answer is consumer education. Just as many consumers now understand how to better buy meat and assess whether it's hormone and antibiotic free regardless of how it's labeled, savvy wine consumers should understand what goes into to making a wine bad for the environment. And if the industry really cares, they'll work to help wine makers with the educational process. They'll work to help consumers understand that new packages like wine pouches are better for the wine, cheaper to produce, and much more efficient to ship. They'll help consumers understand that heavy glass bottles are not a mark of quality -- regardless of country. And they'll educate them on the process such as sourcing and on new techniques (such as oak chips versus barrels). With a better understanding, consumers can make their own decisions instead of a knee-jerk reaction. (Many consumers are no longer disturbed when a bottle of high-end Napa Cabernet arrives with a screw top. And lower end consumers are already used to seeing screw tops in many of the sub $10 Australian and NZ wines.

Working together, with a little effort, we can all learn together about what's really sustainable and best for the environment while still getting to drink high quality wines from around the world.

Choices, Choices -- Local Not Always Better

Friend and reader David Z. sent a pointer yesterday to the op-ed in yesterday's New York Times on local eating. Reducing your "carbon footprint" seems to have been the buzz in NYC for months now and finally, eating locally and narrowing your personal impact on the world have hit head on. At issue? The fact that we eat fruit, veg and meat from 1000s of miles away. Local has to be better right?

A study in the UK on "food miles" -- the distance your food travels to get to you -- asked the same question and came up with surprising results. Instead of just looking at transportation costs, they looked at all factors:

Instead of measuring a product’s carbon footprint through food miles alone, the Lincoln University scientists expanded their equations to include other energy-consuming aspects of production — what economists call “factor inputs and externalities” — like water use, harvesting techniques, fertilizer outlays, renewable energy applications, means of transportation (and the kind of fuel used), the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed during photosynthesis, disposal of packaging, storage procedures and dozens of other cultivation inputs.

Incorporating these measurements into their assessments, scientists reached surprising conclusions. Most notably, they found that lamb raised on New Zealand’s clover-choked pastures and shipped 11,000 miles by boat to Britain produced 1,520 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per ton while British lamb produced 6,280 pounds of carbon dioxide per ton, in part because poorer British pastures force farmers to use feed. In other words, it is four times more energy-efficient for Londoners to buy lamb imported from the other side of the world than to buy it from a producer in their backyard. Similar figures were found for dairy products and fruit.

The results aren't that surprising. Just as the central plains in the United States became America's Breadbasket in the early 20th Century, it's reasonable to believe that certain parts of the world can produce foods to feed a planet -- and produce them well. It also makes sense that large scale operations for lamb in New Zealand can be not only cost but ecologically efficient. Not only can long distance food be cheaper, know that sometimes it's better for the environment as well. Local is better except when it isn't. The trick is knowing the difference.