Devotay

Iowa City has a great bodega with the best chicken taco on the planet and excellent tamales. It's called La Reyna, and they're about to open a small, simple cafe next door. It's on Keokuk across from Kmart.

Check out Edibkle Nation, the official blogspot of the Edible Communities publications. Just getting rolling, but very well done by the fellah who did the ubiquitous Saute Wednesday Blog

I heard on NPR yesterday that one of his nicknames at the paper was Jonny "3 Lunches" Apple !!! A life well lived. Hope I earn a nickname that good someday.

Definitely. He was all about good grub, and did not suffer snobs lightly.

Read the whole story here Sadly I remember him best for some disparraging comments about the Heartland and its food, but he was a great writer and a true professional. He will be sorely missed.

Glad you got to go to Simone's, it's a real treat, like dining in a Grant Wood painting. She was one of our original Slow Food members here (we started with 4 and now have 62, as well as 4 more convivia statewide - not bad ) Simone is also one of the famers in our CSA, Local Harvest, which is hte best run one in the area IMHO.

Maytag's good, Ronnie, but have you tried Schwarz und Weiss or Harmony Blue from Golden Ridge Cheese in Cresco? Blows Maytag out of the water

Another good call. Herb & Kathy Eckhouse debuted their prosciutto di Americano at Slow Food Iowa's Field to Family festival last year. It's great stuff, and anyone who hasn't tried it should go out of there way to find it. What else is out there gang?

I agree that sautewednesday is great, and everyone should note that the same great minds behind it are now hard at work on EdibleNation.com, the blogging arm of the wildly successful Edible Communities Magazines

Thanks for that, yep we've got him, in fact he was kind enough to buy an ad with Edible, so we like him even more. Matt was one of the first we turned to. While he was building his gem on the prairie in Mt. Vernon, he spent several months working for us at Devotay. A great guy with real talent - Lincoln Cafe is doing very well.

I'm looking to all you Heartland Gulleteers to help me out. I am launching a new magazine, "Edible Iowa River Valley," and while I know the area fairly well, I don't know it all. So please post your recs for the best food, best farmers, best artisans in the region that runs from the Des Moines/Ames metro east to the Mississippi, and I'll try to get some recognition for the folks who are doing the local/sustainable thing really well.

Why not check with the University of Gastronomic Sciences? They're a Slow food enterprise, and do lots of stages for their students - perhaps they know of others? Most of it is for delegates only, but there will be some sessions open to the public. The details areHERE

hello Bruce, I have a couple of your issues here. I especially liked the Andy Griffin article "Tears in the Milk" in this past spring's issue. I'm running Edible here in the Iowa River Valley. Our first issue hits stands in October, and Tracey and Carole will be here next week. We're scrambling for ads and finishing up our editing from the 12 writers we've recruited. it's exhausting but invigorating!

When was that? it's a quarterly, so the next one may not be out yet. What did you see in it that you liked or didn't like? Would you (if your business is appropriate) consider advertising in it? Why or why not?

I'm proud to announce that on October 8th, the first issue of Edible Iowa River Valley will hit the stands here in eastern Iowa, joining 18 other members of Edible Communities, a family of locally produced magazines throughout the country covering the very best of the local food scene. Has anyone here on eGullet heard of these? Do you read them in your community? If you don't have one in your area, do you think it would work there?

"I have seen the enemy, and he is us" - Pogo (Walt Kelly, 1958) A. ← While there are those out there who are overheated about just about any argument one would care to make, I would not say that Mr. Schlosser is one of them. His argument is from the point of view of an investigative journalist who looked into an issue and reported what he found. He does not say that you should or shouldn't do anything, just that these are the facts he has uncovered. While Morgan Spurlock might be accused of saying some folks are addicted, I don't think you'd get that fromSchlosser's book. As for the movie, I really don't know what to expect from it. I also would suggest that Schlosser offers no regulatory or goveernmental solutions whatsoever, and acknowledges that it is indeed a choice. He argues only that it should be an informed choice.

Thanks and thanks. Yes I did see those debates, and to me they came off like this: Schlosser: Your food is bad for people, the environment, animals and our health system McD's: Yeah, but we're getting better Schlosser: Perhaps, but not better enough McD's: Well can't you just give us credit for trying Schlosser: I have, but the changes in the UK are miniscule compared what needs to be done in the US and worldwide McD's: Nuh-uh Schlosser: Ya-huh I'd love to see a formal, Harvard style debate on the subject. Meanwhile, the movie looks like fun.

Well, I can't get the extra credit, because I have neither read nor seen A Scanner Darkly, however, here's what I had to say about Fast Food Nation when the book was released, from a review I published online and in the local paper.

The trailer for Fast Food Nation is now upon YouTube.com. I believe that given enough exposure, the book and (hopefully) the movie can have the same sort of positive effects as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle had 90 years ago. With the caveat that, as Sinclair himself said, "It is difficult to convince some of something when when his paycheck depends on him not understanding it." What do you think?

YES! Glad you agree Ron. I too think Paul's place may be the best in Chicago, and can't wait to get back to try Avec, I love the concept and the menu is right up my alley.

Yes, I have a large cookbook collection and a modest collection of antique kitchen tools, but what I hope to leave with my children is an understanding that cooking is not a chore. It is not like doing the windows or the laundry. Cooking is what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. It is what makes us who we are, and therefore should be approached with both reverence and passion. I believe they already undertand that when cook for them it is how I show them my love, like my parents and grandparents did for me. I hope they carry on that tradition.

Those who are interested in this topic should take a look at this summationof the Times article Read the whole article here And also check out a similar thread to this one located HERE

The clause on my menu that addresses this issue says it about as well as I can put it: "We change the menu according to the seasons, the market, or Chef Kurt's whim." This way we keep it interesting, fresh, and local. Nearly everything rotates on and off my menu. The 2 items I can remove are the Paella (we're a tapas restaurant, after all) and the ensalata de pollo (chicken salad). If I removed the chicken salad I am convinced that the City Council would call a special session to address the situation.

And this just in from the Folks at Tadre's Poiint Creamery in Zionsville, Indiana: keep up the good work, SFIndy!

Since Terra Madre 2004, Slow Food has continued to work with food communities all over the world. The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity funds Presidia to protect and promote traditional community products threatened with extinction. TRAINING EXCHANGES have been organized to enable food communities to share experiences, gather information and develop appropriate production methods and strategies of promotion and control. About 100 producers from 15 countries were involved in exchanges in 2004 and 2005. Slow Food is working to support and restore FARMERS’ MARKETS. It was initiated with a project in Mali, promoted by former Minister of Culture Aminata Traoré and supported by the country’s food communities to restructure the old fruit and vegetable market in the national capital, Bamako. Slow Food USA has created the TERRA MADRE KATRINA RELIEF FUND, with proceeds from private donations and convivium events throughout the US, to support Gulf of Mexico food communities hit by hurricane Katrina in summer 2005. The beneficiaries — 12 fishermen, farmers and restaurateurs (Leah Chase among them)— will be at Terra Madre 2006 to share their experiences with producers from other continents. To date more than $30K has been raised.