Eat to Live, Live to Eat: in which the columnist attends the Gremolata launch celebration
September 26, 2008
My mom’s cookbook collection is vast, spanning centuries of information, and bringing her garden and indeed, the whole globe, right into her kitchen. It wouldn’t be a surprise to find a spiral recipe collection put out as a fundraiser by the ladies of Latvia, or a guide to insect cookery around the world. There is for sure an entire volume on what to do with your Ontario zucchini harvest, a rare English translation of Romany gypsy cookery, and Tony Chachere’s amazing southern American swamp food guide, complete with recipes for raccoon, possum, and gator.
I’m forever sifting through this stunning wealth and jotting down interesting ways to stuff an eggplant, or learning the nutritional content of the oyster and how it got there. I dreamed of having a food library just as vast, but reality was in the way: my tiny urban dwelling, while perfectly adequate, is not a sprawling farmhouse. The kitchen is about three feet by three feet. And so I must be choosy with my cookbooks, to fit them onto the one shelf that they share with my coloured mixing bowls and the coffee maker.
I don’t know the exact science behind the birth of Malcolm Jolley’s Gremolata Magazine, but I bet it’s not that different from me sitting at Mom’s, grazing through her cookery library, washing fresh earth off of the tomato harvest, stirring something simmering and garlicky, and sipping some amazing Niagara wine- from grapes grown across the street. How can we bring this experience into the city? How can we connect the most sacred substance we know of- food- with our newfangled technologies?
Why, with Gremolata dot com, of course: “Our business model is simple. Provide superior content and the ability for people to connect and interact with it. We embrace technology and incorporate it with the traditional values of classic journalism.”
Gremolata is that portal that magically marries modernity to a total emphasis on our local heritage, yet somehow manages to be armchair travel to all corners of the earth. It is a vast library of cookbooks. It is a place to tune in to what’s worth watching on food television. It’s a place to meet the people who grow, prepare, and eat our food. It skims the headlines of the world news, letting us know what we need to about the one topic on which every human being depends entirely. It helps us shop for wine. Yes, there is a time and place for the pages of a cookbook, complete with pumpkin pie stains of past Thanksgivings. Yet the techno-gifts of today’s world are not in competition with these savory saving graces. They can keep us in touch with joy.
Indeed, the five year old web magazine- which as of yesterday evolved into an interactive gathering hub for chefs, writers, relatives and other people who eat – has a very simple and pure soul. Its entire mandate, while dressed opulently in gourmand experiences and contrasting philosophies of what food means, is bare bones basic. “The greatest moments in our day and our life can surround the simplest of pleasures.”
We eat. We drink. We are merry.
What is ‘gremolata?’ Well, technically, it’s a concoction of garlic, parsley, and lemon peel that accompanies a heavy Italian meal such as veal shank. But its meaning transcends its ingredient listing and suggests notions like ‘on the side’ or ‘to go with perfectly’ or ‘a little something extra’ or ‘a morsel.’ The much courser word ‘shmecks’ is a bit off, but not entirely, and the Louisiana “lagniappe” is just about perfect, except the southern ‘little extra’ is not necessarily food, and not necessarily lemon and garlic. Gremolata conjures ‘the simplest of pleasures.’ There’s a vast world of meaning that goes into what we put into our bodies. Our world, our health, our cultures are all dependent on the fact that we need to eat and how we do it. Lucky for us creative humans, we don’t simply run out, grab a bird or a berry, and be done with it. We mix, combine, experiment, and gather together.
Last night hundreds gathered together in celebration of Gremolata’s new direction, which has evolved from a stricter magazine format with scheduled issues to an ever-building and totally interactive portal. The evolution is thanks to our Jolley founder and his colleague James Geneau. The launch was held at Hart House at the University of Toronto, where the church and academia-architecture was a spirit not lost on me. Upon entering, I surveyed the scene before me, and it was one of total joy. There were food lovers of every ilk, totally relaxed, a sea of garnet wines, and laughter. Gremolata celebrates the heritage of the earth right where we are, and dozens of incredible Ontario food producers were sharing their magic with us.
Malcolm Jolley
James Geneau
(In turn, the launch also honoured The Stop Community Food Centre. The Stop is a sustainable ‘food bank’ and education project that grows and gives real food, engaging those who need their services in learning and social involvement. A dazzling 100 percent of food used by the Food Stop comes from local farming. It was worth going just to learn about this amazing place, because I confess with embarrassment that I have never heard of it. It’s not that long ago since I’ve used food bank services, and I always lamented how the crappiest of the crud is what was donated for the poor. The Stop thinks outside the can, and though I would never shun the generosity of an emergency meal, a project like this can help people in a whole different way than just the critical need today. Please visit www.thestop.org to learn more about this incredible food centre.)
The Stop Community Food Centre
The Gremolata experience yesterday was like an edible re-enactment of Thanksgiving- the real one, where we are thankful for our food, not the one where we steal it from those generous enough to share. Is there anyone who does not secretly loath Christmas, preferring Thanksgiving? It’s all the good stuff of the holiday- food, family, and heritage- and none of that consumerist gift crap and heinous mall music. While I once enjoyed Hark the Herald Angels sing as much as anyone did the first forty-eight renditions they heard, I could happily go the rest of my years without ever, ever humming Deck the Halls or White Christmas against my will again. The meals aren’t that far off- turkey, cranberries, and at my house both red and white sauerkraut. I always loved the insignia of Thanksgiving, even if our kindly kindergarten teachers did leave a few massacre details out of the friendly Indian stories. I loved the idea of sitting with a feathered chief, learning how to get the eggplants and corn and pumpkins out of the earth and into the cornucopia!
The autumn harvest couldn’t be a better time for the Gremolata launch, because in its essence, the ‘magazine’ is all about Thanksgiving, all year long. Food and family. Local harvest. Global traditions. Gremolata.com is a cornucopia of friends sharing food.
Some of the food we shared last night caused me to run out of adjectives. Divine, inspiring, succulent, spectacular, delicious, intriguing, bold, charismatic….
This summer, Caplansky’s opened a deli menu at The Monarch Tavern (12 Clinton Street, Toronto). Last night they shared what was by far the best-smoked meat I have ever put into my mouth. Ditto for their crisp, salty pickles. I’ll be making a trek across town on a regular basis for this stuff- possibly even today!
Now, pickles are one of my favourite weaknesses. And so I stopped by Forbes Wild Foods to try something weird- pickled milkweed. WOW! Forbes Wild Foods (www.wildfoods.ca) is as local as you can get. Our ‘ancestors ate wild crafted foods’ that grow freely in their habitats, and ‘do not need watering, fertilizing, cultivation, or spraying.’ What, you mean you just go outside and pick stuff that’s there and eat it? Yes, exactly. Forbes harvests the foods by hand and only uses items that are in abundant supply from Mama Nature! So, what does that mean- dandelions? This imaginative food source sells fifteen or more types of dried wild mushrooms. How about wild rose petal syrup, or birch syrup? Fiddleheads, daisy capers, cloudberry compote…this is seriously radical stuff, taking the meaning of ‘all natural’ down to its purest essence. Why not try one of their gift baskets this Thanksgiving or Christmas?
Soiled Reputation offered ‘temptations from the garden.’ I indulged in about seven types of heirloom tomatoes- purple ones! You can read more about Malcolm Jolley’s visit to this awesome farm (http://gremolata.com/Articles/322-Soiled-in-Stratford-Antony-John-and-Friends.aspx). They grow vegetables throughout the winter, making ‘local produce’ possible all year long.
Finally, I can’t depart without mentioning the Arvinda’s line of spice rubs and seasonings. The most horrible part of going gluten-free- besides, of course, living without beer- was the surprise presence of gluten in nearly every spice mix on the market. While I’m quite adept at mixing my own spices, when you’re trying out other cultures, you can’t just assume your Canadian hand is as skilled as the ones that have made it since time began. For example, Creole or Cajun spice blends were a staple of my chicken making for years, and now I miss them. Arvinda’s impressive line of curry and masala mixtures is entirely gluten-free with no additives! They are totally affordable, and available widely (Sobey’s, for example, or check in with them at www.arvindas.com. The cook in a rush is not always a lazy cook, and even if we’re pressed for time, we deserve to enjoy and serve a delicious menu. I’ll have one of each of these blends on hand from now on for those hasty but tasty occasions.
Of course you will all gather with me from now on, to share and experience food the Gremolata way. (In case you didn’t know, I’m the Gremolata Spice Girl! Don’t miss my column, introducing the history, magic and flavour of one spice at a time. I also cannot resist the urge to plug the extensive article selection by the offbeat and amazing Ivy Knight.) If you’re new to Gremolata, you can be sure your life is about to get richer, more abundant, more connected to the earth, and to others. Yum!
The Spice Girl
Visit writer Lorette C. Luzajic at Gremolata, or at www.thegirlcanwrite.net.
By chance lately, the fields I’m researching in food and nutrition topics have brought a great deal of emotional conflict to light, mine and the rest of the world’s. I used to cry over the lies told to me by the beef industry, and so I was a vegetarian for five years. Too bad it made me sick as a dog and I didn’t even know it: it did feel good spiritually to avoid a contribution to animal suffering. Now I’m an omnivore again, just as Mother Nature dictated, and shocked all anew by another big bad business: the soy industry. In case you don’t yet know it, vegetarian or meat-eater I don’t care- soy is a big fat lie and in fact it is a poisonous plant. But that’s another story, coming soon. I love vegetables, and I probably eat more vegetables and more kinds of them than most vegetarians, but I was also shocked and frightened recently to find out that a wholesome friend like grain may be the cause of both the rise and fall of civilization.
So here I am, in a state of disillusion, working diligently to study all sides of these controversies as I piece together what the hell humans are supposed to put into our mouths. And that’s when I was presented with a copy of VegNews Magazine, a highly recommended vegetarian lifestyle magazine. Juicy dish on big issues, food, cooking and hip modern living cheerfully resound from every page. It’s never boring and many of the articles are surprisingly well rounded.
Indeed, I was pleased to see a great discussion about choosing childlessness. I choose not to own a car- owning one in downtown Toronto is an expensive, unethical lifestyle choice that is easily avoided. It was nice to see childlessness acknowledged as an ethical ‘green’ option. Of course I support breeders- let’s face it, it’s natural to desire offspring and a family, and no matter how overpopulated the world is. Human nature will dictate what most of us will find fulfilling. There’s also the fact that children…just happen… more often than not, and their lives are precious. But I’m sick of being told that childless couples or individuals are to be pitied, or worse, that they are selfish. How can it be selfish to choose not to introduce a new consumer of the earth’s resources? How can it be selfish to choose my part in shielding another living soul from the sorrow and chaos and suffering in the world? It was refreshing to see this issue considered as a positive choice in our evolution. Those longing for children still have options….literally, millions of options. Adoption is a remarkable thing, and I can’t imagine why people would have their own child instead of adopting one who needs a home…unless, of course, it happens, which is the unfortunate tyranny of nature.
A story about the evils of pet food manufacturers was also very interesting, showing some enthusiastic investigation into contaminants and shady business practices.
Still, I was disappointed throughout the magazine. I realize it’s not a magazine for omnivores, so who am I to comment? But then again, must vegans pass passé propaganda back and forth to each other, without critically examining reality?
I can and will argue that the cases against meat eating are feeble and woefully misguided, but I have to wholeheartedly respect another adult’s decision to eat without cruelty.
The keyword here is ‘adult.’ Any discussion of raising vegan children gets my ire up- yes, yes, meat is contaminated and yada yada…so head to your local Mennonite farm or farmer’s market and pick hormone-free, free-range products (and while you’re at it, detox the hormone-saturated soy products from your fridge before your son grows breasts.) It’s one thing to make a sacrifice or a commitment of your choosing and vote for a cruelty-free diet- but acting as if humans have not been omnivores for millions of years is kind of like pushing your head into the sand and leaving it there. Many argue that chimps are vegetarians, and as we share 99 per cent of their DNA, we are also ‘supposed to be’ vegetarians. Then it is argued that ‘most people’ worldwide are vegetarian. Actually, our brains are made up of DHA- fish stuff- and we might still be chimpanzees if we didn’t start eating fish and animal protein as a species. And in fact, there are nearly no vegetarian human societies throughout all of history- except for religious cultures. Vegans- almost none. Veganism is a brand new way of life, and though some individuals have chosen this historically, there aren’t many groups of people who ate zero animal products. Anywhere. Period. Nearly every traditional society of the world eats meat- some almost exclusively! I’ll respect your choice to avoid dead animals if you acknowledge science and anthropology, and don’t give me any crap about feeding infants nothing but apple juice or soy milk.
So yeah, I did get pissed when in the middle of a wonderful story on overpopulation, adoption, and childlessness, one woman writes. “And who is to say your child will not decide to become carnivorous at some point in their life? We ultimately have no control over that.”
First of all, lady, no one ‘becomes’ carnivorous. You can only ‘become’ vegetarian. You are already carnivorous. Second, desiring a natural diet is not a dirty secret. If you can’t love a child for her nature, then yes, you better absolutely refuse to have one.
My ire continued when the pet food story tried to dole out the usual propaganda about vegan food being better for dogs and cats. To be fair, there was some half-hearted acknowledgement that cats ‘might’ need meat. Umm, hello? Yeah. I don’t care if you don’t want to pay for meat. Then you cannot have this type of pet. Plain and simple. It’s extremely naïve to impose your diet decisions on another species, born meat eaters. If you are against animal cruelty, how can you even entertain the idea of forcing grains and vegetables on animals that don’t eat them? This left me scratching my head and feeling as if that ‘vegans are evil’ website I stumbled upon, that pissed me off for knocking someone’s choice and ethics, might have something to say after all.
Then there was Dan Piraro asking, “Would you bang a burger eater?” I was hoping for an intelligent and amusing column on the perils of dual-camp hook-ups. Instead I get this ridiculously pompous side note: “Meat eating humans often call themselves ‘carnivores,’ but this is a misnomer. A carnivore is a scientific classification for animals with specific physical characteristics and which require meat to survive.” (Let me inject my own side note here- “Oh, Dan, you must be talking about…CATS. Cats are carnivores.”) He continues, “Humans are not in this category and bear no resemblance to animals that are. Humans who eat meat are masquerading as carnivores, make-believe carnivores, carnivore wannabes.”
Ummm, excuse me?
It doesn’t matter what the rest of the world does- even if every last person ate meat, you surely don’t have to do anything you damn well don’t want to, Dan. If you want to walk on your hands instead of your feet, go nuts. If you want to eat wonderful plant foods, invite me over for dinner. If you want to eat metal scrapings, then don’t. But don’t tell me- or anyone- that I’m a ‘make believe carnivore.’ Because while the world stats don’t mean you should take up eating any food you find cruel or distasteful, they do surely tell the truth about what we are: carnivores. Humans are hunter-gatherers. We are also inventive, and found all kinds of options for eating, some amazing, some vile.
Vegetarians like to use the chimpanzee example, and then say ‘half the world is vegetarian.’ Is it true? No. The most vegetarians are in religious countries. Hindus don’t eat cow. Moslems and Jews don’t eat pork (but are not vegetarian.) India has a high vegetarian population, perhaps one of the highest in the world. Stats are hard to pin down, but roughly 15 per cent. How many vegans? Almost NONE.
In first world countries like the US and UK, where choice is king, most choose meat. Only 3-4 percent are vegetarians. Less than one per cent are vegan. That’s in UK and North America, where there are more vegans per capita than any other place in the world, which brings the number of vegans worldwide down to something like 0.00004 per cent.
Today there are huge hunger problems around the world. Those begging for food cannot be choosers. But what about historically? Historically, there were no vegan societies, and vegetarian societies were nearly always religious ones.
You go and tell the Masai warriors or the Eskimos that they are make-believe carnivores.
Thing is, some of these clowns actually will. As if the anthropology of a million years of winter dwelling didn’t have it’s own wisdom. As if you can actually grow plants in the snow, and even if you could! As if those African tribal societies that still hunt and eat meat (and drink blood) almost exclusively have not been incredibly healthy.
Finally, I thought the last page- What’s in Your Fridge?- was a clever idea. But looking into this cookbook author’s fridge, I was saddened. No, there were no Cheetos, no Big Macs, no Sara Lees. But the produce was still relegated to the bottom drawer, and the fridge was brimming with plastic jars and boxes of ‘health food.’ A whole sick market of unfood has blossomed out of vegetarianism, and the sad thing is that the eaters think it’s healthy stuff. Like I said, I have more vegetables than most vegans in my kitchen. If it has to be bottled up, packaged, processed, and boxed, it barely resembles the food it once was. Now we all need the odd glass jar for our tomato sauce or our mustard. But this fridge was bursting at the seams with jars of…junk food- with healthy sounding names. Why are so many vegans scared of produce? I’m not.
Now that all of that is off my chest, I’m still going to invite you all to pick up a copy of VegNews. First, I have to applaud them for being open-minded enough to write a story on the soy debate. I will have to rush to get that back copy before I can comment, but most veg mags won’t even consider the mounting evidence that soy business is just as dirty as beef business. This issue featured a letter to the editor, whining that the mag would publish ‘farmer’s’ propaganda against soy, and like most vegans, never considered they are being duped by the biggest farm industry of them all: soy. The only reason we think soy is healthy is because the soy industry told us to. Kudos to a magazine for the kind of inquisitive journalism that can at least present information possibilities that might lead people to truth…especially when soy is known to pull ads from offending free speechers. The impact of this type of press muzzling can’t be underestimated: alternative presses, even successful ones, are desperate for revenue, and I respect them for bringing the issue up.
And while this type of story might help seekers find alternate vegetable proteins and cure some health problems, it’s not just veggies who can benefit from broadening their minds. We all can. A little awareness of animal cruelty can go a long way for us carnivores- perhaps the torture/factory farm exposes will encourage us to buy wisely from ethical farms and companies. We may be inspired to incorporate more vegetables- and thus, more panache- into our meals. Both teams would be wise to remember the ‘live and let live’ mandate of spiritual living: we might become vegetarian for health, or like me, we might come back to nature for health reasons (no one with thyroid disease should be eating soy products, vegetarian or not.) Meat eaters and vegetarians never have and never will see eye to eye, but we still share the planet. I would rather celebrate the foods we do share together instead of focusing on the ones we don’t. Let’s work toward respecting our ideologies, even if they differ, and respect the facts as facts. Isn’t this the first step to peace?
Now you all know I get hot under the collar when asked for my opinion and that I tend to ramble on and on. Diana Wilson, also a lapsed vegetarian, and a brilliant writer, said it all better in My Vegetarian Affair, an article from the food issue of Maisonneuve (winter 2007). She became a vegetarian because she didn’t want to eat dead things- same as me. Seventeen years later, she randomly opened a tin of tuna. “I was tired of being tired,” she writes, “of popping pills to ward off chronic anemia.” In this brief, fascinating article she examines the emotional punch behind humans eating. She highlights our cultural revulsion. She says that food choices defy reason. “In North America, we eat sardines, but not goldfish…We eat cow, but nor horse.” We don’t eat fly larvae like the Japanese, or other insects, which are common and deeply nutritious fare around the world. We don’t even eat for nutrition, though we like to think we do. How many of us choose Cheetos, or Diet Coke—all those healthy vegans cracking open the Diet Coke right after the speech about the big bad beef company and the perils of saturated fat. Mmm, real healthy. Wilson sums up the stark reality of it all: “We will eat what we want to eat.”
So there it is.
VegNews Magazine
www.vegnews.com
Visit writer Lorette C. Luzajic at www.thegirlcanwrite.net.
