The Great Food Debate

The issue of food—where it comes from, who grows it, how they grow it—has been a hotly contested issue over the past couple of years. With books like The Omnivore’s Dilemma and the recent documentary Food, Inc., many are starting to question the ethics involved in food production.

Growing up, I was exposed to the world of agriculture quite a bit. I remember getting to go to work with my dad, who worked as a consultant for farmers around the state, meant getting to walk around fields and see farms. I lived across the street from a silo and cornfields and practically had cows in my backyard for a couple of years. I was even in 4-H for a brief period of time that ended in my rooster getting its head snapped off by a hawk.

Of course, I’ve had my fair share of the other side of life—dear old suburbia. And while I may not be able to look out my window and see cornfields anymore, I’ve still always been on the periphery of the world of agriculture. My internship doing public relations for the Missouri Soybean Association and Merchandising Council this summer gave me invaluable experience and exposed me to even more. Currently, I’ve got a great internship doing alumni communications for MU’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. My days with agriculture are far from over—the other day I wrote up a small story on dairy judging.

And let’s not forget my biggest tie to agriculture: food. I love food so much that I have a blog about it! So when it comes to the much-debated issue on food these days, I find myself torn.

You see, I can’t simply say I’m for sustainable agriculture and only support local, organic foods. It’s not that simple. On the other hand, I also can’t say I completely support our current agricultural system.

I agree that the way most Americans eat is horrendous. A happy meal does not count as a meal more than once a month, if that. The solution is so simple: eat better! Eat fruits and vegetables. Eat whole grains. Eat lean protein. So, if we’ve all heard these suggestions, why don’t more people follow it?

Well, like I’ve mentioned before, I am indeed a college student living on a tight budget. I would love nothing more than to make sure that the meat I purchase is completely hormone free and that the animals were given ample opportunities to play Ring Around the Rosy in the grass while they were alive. But I know that isn’t possible because I can’t afford that.

What I can afford is the frozen chicken that Wal-Mart has, and I know it isn’t exactly excelling in quality, or ethics for that matter. Furthermore, fruits and vegetables are expensive. For a dollar or less, a consumer could get an apple, which will average about 50-60 calories, or get a small bag of potato chips that ring in at around 150 calories. Simply put, to the average consumer, it seems you get more calories for your buck with cheap, processed foods. Expecting the general public to accept a shift to sustainable local agriculture seems pretty ridiculous then.

The problem is that the general public’s attitude toward food does need to shift. Fruits and vegetables should be a higher priority. It was only this summer that I really learned much about the way subsidies work for our country’s farmers, and while I think helping farmers is great, I also think other crops should be more heavily promoted. Corn and soybeans get most of the subsidies because they serve as basic food ingredients and help feed animals that we eventually eat. Why not give more support to farmers that grow the fruits and vegetables we so desperately need better integrated into our daily lives?

Speaking of farmers, I think the issue I have most with this new food movement is the villain-ization of the American farmer. I can’t tell you how many articles I read this past summer about how farms were owned by large companies that pumped their animals full of antibiotics and pretty much ignored the general well-being of the animal.

I’m not saying there aren’t some farms out there that do that, but here’s the thing: the farms are not generally owned by large companies, the animals may be, but the farmer runs it, not the company. Secondly, it would cost a great deal to farmers to give every animal antibiotic cocktails on a regular basis. They simply can’t afford to do that. Farmers are struggling, too.

The most obvious response I have to these claims? If the farmer did not take care of their animals, then they would lose money. It isn’t in their best interest to treat the animals poorly, so they don’t. I’ve been to many farms, and in none of those farms did I see absolutely filthy conditions. Most of them are pretty clean, considering there are animals there.

There is such a large gap between Americans and their food, and making the farmers out to be the bad guy doesn’t make it any better. Americans spend 10% of their income on food—much less than other countries. If we make it more difficult for farmers to farm efficiently, the cost of our food will inevitably go up, not to mention push farmers that we have out of the picture.

I don’t know what the solution is, and I’m 100% all right with being honest about that. What I do know is that sustainable local agriculture seems a bit too idealistic. We already don’t have enough farmers; where on earth would we find even more to make sustainable local agriculture function properly? But I also know that the way Americans perceive food needs to change. Blame the system, blame commercialization, blame what you will, but blaming American farmers is the last thing we should do.

For now, I will continue to keep educating myself. I will continue to keep balancing my desire for good, fresh food with the reality that I simply cannot afford an organic free-range chicken. But most importantly, I think for now I will continue to have an open mind about this issue.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

I always love taking one meal and playing with the leftover ingredients the next night. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. For instance, Jim and I made pot roast on a Sunday night a couple of weeks ago and ate it every night until Thursday. Then, we made "pot roast pasta"--basically pot roast veggies and meat mixed in with egg noodles and a cream sauce based off of the jus from the pot roast. I ate it that night because I had to, but it wasn't my favorite, probably because I was really sick of pot roast.

Thank goodness last night's reinvented dinner work wonderfully. On Wednesday, Jim made his delicious pan-fried chicken, which I've posted about before. The next night, we decided to make buffalo chicken pizza with the leftover chicken breast. Yum! It's super easy if you've already got the chicken cooked from the night before and it is quite delicious.

Your favorite pizza dough will work just fine. This can be a mix, canned pizza dough, or a ball of dough from your favorite pizzeria. If you live in Columbia, I recommend stopping by Shakespeare's and asking for a ball of their large pizza dough. It costs less than $1 and it's great crust dough.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Pizza dough

1-15 oz. can tomato purée

2 T. wing sauce

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

2-3 T. butter

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1/2 green pepper, diced

8 oz. fresh mozzarella, sliced (or you can find mozzarella pearls)

1 to 1 1/2 pan-fried chicken breasts, cut into slices or chunks (recipe found here in previous post)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll out the pizza dough to make a "large" pizza. It's not really technical, just roll out the dough until you like the size and thickness. Take a fork and poke holes throughout the crust to prevent air bubbles. Place the crust in the oven for 10 minutes.

In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the garlic and cook 1-2 minutes. Add the tomato purée, wing sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Add the chicken.

When crust is done precooking, take out of the oven. Spread the chicken sauce mixture evenly over the crust. Place the mozzarella cheese evenly over the pizza as well. Finally, spread the diced onions and green onions over the pizza.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until cheese is starting to brown and bubble.

Missouri Chestnut Roast

A view from the MU Horticulture and Agroforesty Research Center in New Franklin, Mo, at the Missouri Chestnut Roast. How lovely is Missouri in the fall?

This past Saturday was one of the best days I've had in a long time.

After what seemed like two solid weeks of raining and gloomy clouds, the sun finally came out just in time for the 7th Annual Missouri Chestnut Roast. Held at the MU Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center (HARC) in New Franklin, Mo., the event featured, of course, roasted chestnuts. It didn't stop there though. There were many different producers and vendors featuring their own products and tours of the research farm and vineyards.

After trying some chestnuts, which I thought tasted like a nutty potato, we decided to walk around the vendor's tent. Les Bourgeois Winery and Schlafly Beer had tastings of some of their products, and while I didn't really enjoy Schlafly's Pumpkin Spice Beer, I finally got to try Les Bourgeois' Norton wine after studying about it AND picking the grapes! The Norton had a buttery, supple mouthfeel that was surprisingly pleasant.

Goatsbeard Farm also had tastings of their goat cheese. Goat cheese is probably my favorite kind of cheese, so we bought two of their cheeses, Walloon and Missouri Moon. The Walloon is a hard, aged cheese with a delicious bite and the Missouri Moon is a soft cheese similar to Camembert. Considering I get gourmet cheese cravings the same way a normal person might get fast food cravings, I'm glad to be stocked up! If you live in the area, I highly recommend you try Goatsbeard Farm. You can find their products at the Columbia Farmer's Market, Hy-Vee, Root Cellar and Clover's Natural Market.

Other products included: apples, a variety of nuts, chocolate, spa and bath products made from honey and a selection of potted plants from chestnuts to wildflowers. One booth even had edible insects. I must admit, I was a bit of a pansy. Jim threw the chili-flavored mealworms back like a pro while I squirmed and made stupid faces. I regret not trying them!

To end the day, we went on a walking tour of the research vineyards at HARC lead by my Grapes and Wines professor. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, the leaves were beautiful colors, and I couldn't have been any happier to be outside!

I'm glad to have a new tradition, because that's exactly what the Missouri Chestnut Roast is perfect for: getting outside on a lovely fall day in Missouri and sampling many local products.

The Missouri Chestnut Roast is held annually to promote agroforestry practices. For more information, you can visit their site here.

Skip It: Broadway Brewery

I am so disappointed.

Last night, Jim and I went to Broadway Brewery. It just opened and we were both very excited to try their food and beer. We even got on their web site and looked at their menu. Locally grown food? Check? Interesting and innovative menu items? Check. What stuck out to me was a Butternut Bacon Pizza: "pureed butternut squash, crumbled bacon, caramelized onions, and cheddar cheese." Yum.

In fact, I looked forward to it all day. When we got to the restaurant, I was impressed. In the same space that Uprise Bakery used to be in, the restaurant was a little loud, but it had a great atmosphere. Not too bright, awesome artwork on the walls and you could see the brewing equipment next to the kitchen through windows in the back.

I looked over the menu, even though I knew what I was going to get. We ordered the Peasant Platter for an appetizer--sausages, local cheese, pickled vegetables, ground mustard and toasted baguette. Sounds good, right? Well, the couple bites I had were good. I just didn't get that many bites. We ate the entire platter in under five minutes there was so little food, and for $12, I was kind of mad.

For dinner, I ordered the Butternut Bacon Pizza. Jim ordered the Pork Burger. When we were served, I was upset again. My pizza looked like cheese melted over a saltine cracker and his burger was very small, considering it was $9. I took a bite of the pizza. My internal dialogue went a little something like this: "Way too salty and cheesy. No butternut squash flavor. Are there even any caramelized onions on it? Where is the bacon? Why does this smell like a Cheez-it?"

I then took a bite of Jim's burger. Oh boy. There was a ridiculous amount of salt on the meat. I mean so much, it was almost inedible. He would've sent it back, but we hadn't eaten in a while and were both way too hungry to wait another 15 minutes.

Jim and I looked at each other and started to laugh. For the remainder of our meal we continued to be Tom and Padma from Top Chef and "judge" our food and its appearance. Let's just say we would have asked them to please pack their knives and go home.

The manager came around after a while and asked us what we thought. I glanced at Jim quickly, and we told the manager our honest opinion. After all, we were paying nearly $30 for our meal and we didn't like almost any of it. So the manager took off the price of Jim's beer, which actually was very good.

In the end, the restaurant has a nice atmosphere, but the food is way under par. Most of the items cost right around $9-10, but the taste of the food isn't worth the price. For the sake of this restaurant, I really hope they get someone in the kitchen who knows what their doing.

I really hate having to say something bad about a new restaurant, especially one I looked forward to for such a long time, but they still have a long way to go. Oh well. At least they gave me a great idea for a new pizza recipe to try at home!

Pickin' Grapes and Makin' Wine

Talk about good timing.

Just when I was learning the harvesting and winemaking process in my Grapes and Wines of the World class, I actually got to go pick grapes!

A weekend or so ago, Jim and I went to his family friend's vineyard to help them harvest their grapes. They started the vineyard a couple of years ago to make their own wine.

It was a gorgeous morning--the sun was out, but it was still cool. The vineyard wasn't that big, so the work was easy. That's a good thing when you have to start at 7:30 on a Saturday morning!

Hand harvesting was all that bad. You just have to watch out for the spiders! Grape picking is glamorous, n'est pas?

Here, the grapes are in a machine that de-stems and crushes them. You just turn the hand crank on the side and the drop down into the bucket at the bottom! When we were done, they placed the crushed grapes in big food-grade plastic barrels and covered it. The skins stayed with the juice because that is where red wine gets its color and distinctive characteristic of dryness. Tannins create the "dry" sensation you feel after you drink wine and the skins are where you find the tannins.

At some point (not sure when...guess I should study a bit more, huh?) they will add sulfur dioxide to the grapes to eliminate any unwanted microbes, usually natural yeasts already found on the grapes. These wild yeasts interrupt the desired fermentation process.

Then the grapes ferment until there is no more sugar for the yeast to ferment. At this point, the skins are separated from the juice and then the wine is left to age (for red wines). The aging process helps lower the tannin level to create a more mellow wine flavor.

In this vineyard, Norton grapes are grown. Norton grapes are the state grapes of Missouri. The Columbia Daily Tribune's food section ran an article on Norton grapes and local Missouri wineries a couple of weeks ago. I know I'm excited to try it.

A lot of this information came from my class. Of course, I always want to know more than my teachers tell me, so I've been reading Wine for Dummies, and I really like it. It has a lot of information on individual grapes, wines and regions.

Food Therapy: Pan-Fried Breaded Chicken Cutlets

Let me just start this post by saying one thing:

I hate frying.

It stresses me out, I can never get the temperature of the oil just right, and I usually end up cursing, crying, getting popped with oil or a combination of all three. The problem? Well, I love fried food. I love frying my own taco shells or making my own pork wontons. The solution? Let Jim do it!

He doesn't mind frying food, so when we make it, he takes over (thank God). I already have two scars on my hand from frying something two years ago. I don't need any more.

I've had a terrible day that involved a forgotten calculator and not understanding the shape of a dam for a conversion problem on a chemistry test. I knew nothing could fix my day like some good old fashioned food therapy! Pan-fried breaded chicken cutlets are familiar and comforting, and when served with roasted potatoes and vegetable gravy it's also refined.

Pan-Fried Breaded Chicken Cutlets

Cutlets:

4 chicken breasts, seasoned with salt and pepper

Flour

2 eggs

2 T. water

Bread crumbs

1/2 sprig rosemary

Place one chicken breast in a gallon Ziploc bag. With the flat side of a meat tenderizing mallet, pound out the breast until it is about a 1/2 inch thick. Repeat with all breasts.

Fill a dinner plate or pie dish with flour. In another dinner plate or pie dish, mix together 2 eggs and 4 t. water (2 t. for each egg). Add enough bread crumbs to another pie dish and mix in rosemary.

Dredge one chicken breast in the flour. Shake off excess flour and place breast in the egg mixture. Let excess egg mixture fall back into the pie dish. Place the breast in the bread crumb mixture and coat until bread crumbs cover the whole breast. Repeat with remaining breasts. Let the breasts rest on a plate or pan for 20-30 minutes.

Add enough oil to a heavy 10-12 inch skillet (cast iron if you've got it) to come a little less than halfway up the side of the chicken, about 1/4 of an inch. And it's important that you don't use olive oil here and instead use another oil like canola, which is still very healthy, because olive oil has too low of a smoke point for the temperature you want to aim for with this dish.

Now that you've got the right kind and amount of oil, heat the oil until it reaches 350 degrees (you have a candy/frying thermometer right?).

Once the oil is good and hot put one of the cutlets into the pan and cook evenly on each side until the internal temperature reads 165 degrees (you have a digital instant-read thermometer right?). Once done, remove the cutlet from the pan and place on a cooling rack with paper towels underneath to catch the excess oil.

If the oil has dropped below 330 degrees, wait until it reaches 350 degrees to begin cooking the next chicken cutlet.

Serve with vegetables and gravy on top.

Vegetables and Gravy

1/2 red onion, diced

1/2 zucchini, sliced

1 large carrot, sliced

Around 15 stalks of asparagus, bottoms cut off and cut into small pieces

1 T. butter

2 T. flour

1/2 c. chicken stock

While the chicken cutlets are resting before getting cooked, heat a large skillet over high heat. When pan is very hot, coat bottom of the pan with olive oil. Add the carrot and onion and let cook, stirring the whole time, for about 1-2 minutes, or until onion starts to become translucent.

Add 1 T. butter and lower heat to medium. Add the asparagus and zucchini and cook for about 1-2 minutes. Add the flour and mix together.

Add the chicken stock and deglaze the bottom of the pan. Let simmer until chicken is done. Salt and pepper to taste.

Sometimes Mistakes are Good

Classes are now in full-swing and are keeping me quite busy. I will, of course, try to update the blog as much as possible, but between classes and writing some pieces for the Tribune, I'm quite busy.

So maybe it wasn't such a bad thing I forgot the ricotta cheese in my lasagna--it made wonderful cheesecake!

If you're looking for a light dessert, try this. It's not as dense as cheesecake made with cream cheese, but it's still very good. For added elegance? Make a honey balsamic glaze reduction to drizzle over the cheesecake.

Ricotta Cheesecake

2 lbs ricotta cheese

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup all purpose flour

6 eggs

2 oranges, zested

1 t. almond extract

2 tsps vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 320 degrees. Set rack in the middle of the oven.

Butter and flour a 9 1/2 inch spring form pan and tap out excess flour. Place the ricotta, zest in a large mixing bowl, and beat it until smooth. Add the sugar and the flour and continue mixing until blended. Beat in the eggs at low speed, one at a time. Add the vanilla and almond extract. Add salt.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the center of the oven for about 1 hour, until a light golden color. Make sure the center is fairly firm, and the point of a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. It will sink slightly as it cools. Cover, and chill until serving time.

Honey Balsamic Glaze Reduction

¼ cup balsamic vinegar


1 T. honey

Bring vinegar and honey to a boil then turn down the heat and let it simmer until it’s been reduced to half the original amount, about 10 minutes. It should stick to the back of a wooden spoon and will thicken as it cools.