russ parsons

there are several very good places in the wine country. in the buellton area, of course, there is the hitching post, famous from sideways. forget that, they still make good steaks. personally, i prefer the original, which is out in casmalia, near santa maria. also, i love brothers restaurant in los olivos. and there's a little italian place in santa ynez that i can't remember the name of that is very good, as well (santa ynez is not so big that you couldn't stand on the main corner and see it).

another idea along the "is your freezer working" line is to peel and chop the peaches, toss them with some sugar and lemon, put them on a jellyroll pan and freeze them solid. then puree them in the food processor with a little mascarpone. makes a great, dense gelato.

organic growing certainly isn't for sissys (to paraphrase my dad's comment on getting old). best estimates are that depending on the crop you can count on 10% to 30% lighter harvests (which, of course, means a corresponding price increase). And that's in ideally suited areas (one of the reasons the apple industry moved from New York to Washington State is because the dry climate discourages all those nasties).

i should have been clearer (and more accurate). i should have said that i have my disagreements with pollan, which is quite another thing altogether. and i found his first book inspiring. i also should have made clear that the market i was referring to was whole foods. there, is that enough mistakes for one morning? i also should have pointed out that while i find it curious that he didn't talk to them in writing about them, accepted journalistic practice is never to show pre-published work to the subjects of stories. i'm not sure why this is so, but it's a pretty firm rule. i've broken it a couple of times for my next book, forwarding technical sections to experts for comment, and i've found it to be very helpful (albeit somewhat awkward--some folks didn't agree with my characterizations of their fruits).

i have to admit that i'm not a huge fan of pollan's, though he is a good writer (and i like him MUCH more than eric schlosser). the idea of even presenting "your experience" of a market without at least talking to the market seems pretty shaky to me. and if you want a really good, balanced examination of the issues of organics and agrarian idealism, you really ought to read julie guthman's "Agrarian Dreams?", which is a book-length version of her doctoral dissertation. she's a santa cruz prof who was active in the organic movement way back and examines why it hasn't been realized in the way it was intended. Short answer: money. the early organic movement was based on a set of ideals, only one of which was getting away from pesticides and fertilizers. unfortunately, organic farmers found that competing in the commercial marketplace (and being able to make the payments on their land, etc), forced them to make many compromises along the way. This is an absurdly simplistic rendering of what is a very well researched and argued book. Find it and buy it if you care about these issues. i'm not sure how to render an eg-friendly amazon link, but here it is: Agrarian Dreams

bigboy, as one who has spent way too much time burrowing deep into the nass databases, i understand how easy it is to get crossed up, but i'm afraid you're comparing apples and ag. that $279 billion in 2004 is total farm income, which includes cattle, dairy, soybeans, field corn, etc. i was talking just about fresh fruits and vegetables. now, if you want something REALLY disturbing (and that tells you basically everything you need to know about american ag), check this out: price spreads

my favorite gazpacho base is fresh seeded tomatoes, soaked stale bread and garlic pureed, then thinned with ice cubes in a blender. then add a little vinegar and a thin stream of olive oil. from there, you can garnish as you wish. this is not my recipe, but my adaptation of janet mendel's.

i'm not doubting that there are things grown in texas, and probably a good variety, but it's nothing like the scale in california. those are usda statistics as far as where fresh fruits and vegetables come from.

maxwell, just out of curiosity, what are you seeing in farmers markets right now? i would have expected most texas ag to get started a little later than it does here. and, for the record, most produce everywhere comes from california. we grow more than 50% of the nation's vegetables and more than 60% of the nation's fruit. the second-place state is florida (mostly citrus) at 12%.

buying old wine is a tricky proposition in the best of cases and i certainly wouldn't consider an internet auction site one of those. i'd be very hesitant to buy older wine from anyone i didn't know well and trust. so much of the value of the wine depends on storage. it's not like an antique toy or postcard, where you can inspect the item visually. you don't know whether it's a good bottle or not until it's been opened and poured. and even then you can't be sure whether it was bad wine or bad storage (or bad shipping ... a morning on the front porch will cook an old burgundy to death). furthermore, i keep hearing reports that as the auction market has gone through the roof, more and more counterfeits are showing up. there is absolutely know way of knowing you've bought one of these.

interesting issues all. why do people prefer to spend money on potato chips rather than pasta? i don't really buy the time issue argument. instead, i think that for people on really limited incomes, it is a rare opportunity to participate in what they perceive as a "prestige" experience ... something they've seen on tv. and before any gulletteers get too high and mighty about this, i'd say the same rationale prompts an awful lot of so-called fine dining as well. poor people at farmers markets? i see lots and lots of them. granted, they're not as visible at, say, the wednesday santa monica or saturday ferry plaza markets, where they're pretty well outnumbered by the yuppie hordes (do people still say that?). but in southern california, there are something like 300 markets a week and i'd guess that at least half of them have significant participation by EBT participants (that's a kind of food stamps program for fresh fruits and vegetables). what's more, these markets are NOT composed of farmers dumping second-rate produce. in some cases, it's exactly the same farmers selling exactly the same produce as you'd get at s.m. in many others, its small farmers from within cultural groups (so much nicer than ethnic) who are selling in-group specialty items. this is major. as for wf dropping local farmers ... i can understand the necessity of concentrating distribution when you reach a certain number of stores. but i do think there must be a way to accomodate some small farmers that produce exceptional produce, then let people know why it's special and charge a premium for it.

i think we agree on most things. it's just that over the years i've grown wary of "culinary" solutions to societal problems. the last time around it was the importance of the family dinner. now, don't get me wrong, i think it can be an important part of socialization. but i also know people who come from incredibly happy and well-adjusted families who played music together instead of eating together ... that and the fact that some of the people who were the most vocal in espousing the position had some of the sorriest family relationships around. i think the best thing that any of us can do is to be happy and to try to live ethically and in that way serve as a good example for others who might want to join us.

i really don't see the vast majority of people as being uninformed victims, just because they make different choices than I do--or even choices that i might regard as uninformed. I'm no economist (I can barely balance my checkbook), but this seems to be a truly silly argument Pollan is making--how is food different than any other product? shouldn't making a better product, or one that more people want (or think they want) increase sales for food just as it does for cars and computers? On this, we agree almost 100%. however, if those consumers who make purchasing decisions based solely on price don't see a benefit in buying food that we think tastes good, why should they spend more for it?

that's an interesting point todd. however, i have a hard time believing that american obesity would be cured by people eating strawberries only when they were grown within 20 miles. personally, i like eating rather locally (does fresno count?) and in season and i feel that it enriches not only my cooking, but my life. but i'm somewhat hesitant to force my beliefs on other people (who may in turn decide that i should stop eating my foie gras). and i'm extremely hesitant to try to address vast societal problems with what seem to me to be rather simplistic solutions.

this is an interesting exchange. of course, one big difference between john mackey's view of the situation and michael pollan's is that mackey actually has to make his beliefs pencil out for stockholders. one of the nice things about journalism is that we can have very well argued opinions about how other people should run their businesses without any risk involved. i can see both sides of the argument: i think WF would probably argue that although they are not perfect, they are moving the ball in the right direction. others would argue that they should be moving faster. personally, i think we've got a pretty sweet set up right now, where the people who choose to eat locally and seasonally can do so while the rest (and the vast majority), can still access food at an affordable price. and i'll tell you, some of the farmers market farmers i talk to are as worried about high-end retail moving in their direction as mainstream retail is about wal-mart, etc.

it's my recollection that shelly beans really come on strongest toward the end of the season. we'll get limas earlier, and fresh garbanzos, too. but cranberries, etc., usually come out in early to mid-august. though with the planting delays this year, it could be even later.

an old trick that seems to have fallen by the wayside is cooking peas on a bed of lettuce. that really helps bring out the "green" flavor. also, if you insist on using a stock, use the lightest one possible and simmer the pea pods in it for 20 minutes before you use it.

and was there ever a nom that was better earned?

or--and this may be heretical--you can prepare the sauce base and then at the last minute toss sugar snap peas in it just until they brighten. unless you've got great peas, sugar snaps have much more flavor.

when you go to a street fair on the central coast of california, you'll see rigs like this for santa maria bbq--they're huge flat trailers fitted with a heavy iron grate that raises and lowers with a series of winches. we're talking about a cooking surface measured in square feet rather than square inches. as for me, i'm sticking with my weber one-touch. i picked it up a couple of years ago after several years on a hardware store weber, and it is amazingly sturdy (compared to the other one) and really easy to clean up. true, neither the grill nor the fire grate are adjustable, but that's only a problem the first couple of times until you figure out how to manage it (duh: add more wood!).

i use frozen nixtamal, which i can get in mexican groceries here in southern california. it doesn't have exactly the same flavor as new mexican--can't figure out why not, actually--but it works well. i rinse about half of it really well to get rid of the "corn" flavor. i'll make up about 4 or 5 pounds worth of nixtamal with a roughly equal weight of assorted pork parts and dip deeply into my stash of chimayo red. that's the overview. being a cook, i of course complicate it beyond all reckoning, making a pork stock with bones and feet, cooking the corn in the stock, adding back the meat, etc. but it's good and it is enough for the 50 or 60 people who come by.

you're in baby! we're a small group, but we have remarkably low membership qualifications (rewards, however, are delicious).

i have only eaten at cafe san estevan once and had a very good meal there. it was several years ago. i really liked the new mexican stuff i had. kind of reminded me of a sadly departed sf restaurant called rincon del oso, if i recall correctly. new mexican food, but with the slightest bit of polish. i run into john sedlar every once in a while. he is running a business making a gourmet line of tamales that is available in high end stores here (and maybe elsewhere) and is involved in a long long long-running project to open a tamale museum dedicated to the foods of the sw. and dear ludja, boy is my face red. how could i have forgotten posole? every year at christmas i make a huge batch of it to serve at an open house! and carne adovada... the real stuff is absolutely amazing. i used to live in the rio grande valley in abq and there was a little mom and pop grocery store around the corner that sold marinated pork ready to be made into carne adovada. 1,000 pardons for forgetting those two favorite dishes.

mealy, cottony, dry, little flavor ... 9 out of 10 it's chill damage. the fruit was chilled somewhere between the tree and your mouth. can happen to all stone fruit. never refrigerate any of them until they are fully ripe.

easy enough: the true new mexican menu is basic in the extreme. you've got enchiladas, which can be made with yellow or blue corn, rolled or flat (blue is usually flat because of its delicate texture), filled with cheese, chicken or beef, and served with either green chile or red chile sauce. sopaipillas, which are usually served for dessert, are also served enchilada style "stuffed". burritos. tacos are almost always hard-shelled and filled with hamburger (why bother?). you can get red chile or green chile stew. sometimes you'll fine quelites, which are stewed greens, or calabacitas, which is summer squash. that's usually a very good sign of someone who is trying something other than tourist food. also desserts like natillas, which is a custard dusted with cinnamon. the good news is that limited as it is, this is extremely delicious food and very, very affordable. figure about $10 to $12 a person with beer. if you're going to be in santa fe, my favorite place (as i mentioned above) is la choza. but there are several other good places for this kind of food. and if you want to step up a notch, do visit cafe pasqual, which is always very, very good if somewhat "college-educated".