24.8.08

Farmers Markets

I have just finished reading Eat your Heart Out, by investigative journalist Felicity Lawrence (see Gaurdian review on link). Without exaggerating, this book has completely redefined how I think about shopping for food, supermarkets and food marketing generally. It's release coincides with two similar books by Michael Pollen's, The Omnivores Dilemma and In Defence of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. Whilst I have not yet read Michael Pollen's books, people who have say that they have equally shaped and redefined how they eat and shop. Michael Pollen was the academic who when recently touring Australia was widely quoted as saying "don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognise as food". Without getting too much on my soap box I would urge anyone with an interest in their own health and more broadly the health of the planet to read one of these books.

Thanks to this book I am now trying to shop as locally and as directly from the grower as possible. Tomatoes are in prime season in New England so this week I'm eating tomatoes as well as summer
squash, eggplant, basil, corn and for fruit, the first of the apples for the season and probably the last of the white peaches.
Look at the wonderful collection of heirloom tomatoes I managed to get - no more expensive than regular ones bought at the supermarket and with great names like Brandywine, Pineapple, Chocolate and Cherokee. All with their own distinctive taste. If anyone has any suggestions of how to cook with squash I'd be very grateful!

5 comments:

jane_8888 said...

looks like a great loot and a very funky shopping bag!

Chrissy said...

Harvard looks great! Squash soup - rub halved squashes with salt and olive oil, roast for about an hour or until very squishy. Fry some bacon or ham in a pot, remove, leave the flavoured oil in there. Add the roasted squash and some chicken stock. Boil. Season to taste with S&P. Puree. Add some cream. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and bacon/ham pieces. And the other one is cut the squash into wedges, add tomatoes and sliced onion. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for about half an hour - a good side dish, goes well with mash and chicken. Good luck! x

Clare B said...

Thanks Chrissy, great suggestion. Will have to try it out with my next lot. I ended up stuffing them with a yummy vegie mixture and then popping them in the oven to bake. Very good in the end!

Clare said...

Bear,
I stood in front of cereal aisle in Waitrose, what a dilema! I knew brown highly cooked ceral bad for me, but I love it, one of my favourite meals, with fruit and yoghurt! The warning on cereals (Special K especially bad) was on TV not long after you left UK, info known for 6 years! In the end I bought Wheatbix and museli, how will I give up??!!

Clare said...

There's nothing like beautiful, if slightly over-ripe, tomatoes baked in oven with olive oil and salt and basil! We liked it in NH!!