Hungry

Sitting hunched over at my kitchen counter at 10:30 p.m., I find myself eating a bowl of Cheerios with cold skim milk, and I remember that this is something my stepfather did most every night in the threadbare kitchens of my childhood, and there were many. But the last kitchen I clearly see him in is the one on 34th street, in our old neighborhood on Milwaukee’s Westside. He is sitting at our Formica table pushed up against the wall on one side of the kitchen lit by a dim overhead light in the middle of the ceiling. He sat…

Under the heading: Now, I’ve heard everything! The other day my cousin told me that a young mother she knows who works at Taco Bell often feeds her children something called, “taco-flavored dip.” What on earth could it be, I wonder? Taco flavored??? Made in the same factory in New Jersey that makes the flavors for McDonald’s French fries?  Oh dear. On the opposite end of the spectrum is a couple in California, Rachel Hoff and Tom Ferguson, who have taken eating local to a new level. They are not buying groceries at all, but rather, growing or raising everything…

Tomatoes: 2011 This is from the newsletter I get every week from the Seelys at Springdale Farm along with a lovely box of freshly picked, organic vegetables. (See June, 2011 issue of Milwaukee Magazine.) On the farm: As the tomato plants in the greenhouses wind down, (after harvesting from them for 10-12 weeks), we rip them out and prepare the soil for some fall greens that should be ready for us in November.  With the days getting shorter, and cooler, each delay by a day in planting something like lettuce or spinach can result in a delay in the harvest for…

The Feast of the Good Samaritan The parable of the Good Samaritan: 27…”Love your neighbor as yourself.” 28  “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29   But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” taken from Luke 10:25-37 New International Version (NIV)               And that is the question these days more than ever. In this time of high unemployment, increasing poverty (22% of all children live in poverty now and if you include near-poverty,the number is much higher), home foreclosures and rising food prices. Our streets have…

     Today is a day for tomatoes. And everyone I talk to seems to know that this has been a bumper year for them in Wisconsin. Not so in other places, like Oregon for instance.      But here, they are everywhere: In my CSA boxes, my garden, even in my much neglected tiny pot-sized garden on my back porch. I have a plant that has produced the teeniest tomatoes I have ever seen…about the size of peas. But small as they are, they have a powerful tomato taste. So I just pop a few in my mouth for a mid-day treat when…

So many warnings these days about the pesticides that may be in the food we eat that it seems sometimes that the very act of eating is dangerous. Like most people, I’m concerned but don’t want to live on a boring diet of food that reminds me sometimes of twigs and thistles. Now, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has produced a handy tool to use as a reference guide when we shop. They say that you can “lower your pesticide intake substantially by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated produce.” Here is a…

This morning I get up, post election, post Door County and I think: fish. We ate whitefish in Door County at a traditional fish boil and talked with the grandkids about Lake Michigan fish. I tell them that a fisherman once told me that Lake Michigan is so polluted that eating one Lake Michigan fish per year would be a safe limit. They were aghast. Then I came home and read the Sunday Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and learned from a front page story by Dan Egan that we don’t have to worry about how many to eat since soon there won’t…

On Saturday, July, 30th, I went to an unusual barbecue with two friends. We met at the side yard of Amaranth Bakery between 33rd and 34th and Lisbon Ave. for a barbecue/picnic/music/art fest. The art installation which had taken place across the street was the product of a group called Express Yourself. Follow the link to see what hey say about themselves: expressyourselfmilwaukee.org The music was good, the enthusiasm of all present was catching and what does this have to do with Hunger? Well, B.J. was there cookin’ up a storm. I brought home ribs and turkey legs with his…

Barbecue One of the many delights I had almost forgotten about as my diet became more vegetarian was barbecue. Then recently, I rediscovered it in the yard next to my favorite Westside restaurant, Amaranth Bakery. The yard belongs to David Boucher who owns the restaurant. He loans parts of it out to neighbors to plant vegetables next to his vegetables that he uses in his restaurant. Now, he has loaned out part of it to barbecue grills and B.J. is doing a brisk business unless he gets rained out. Larry and I have eaten the smoked pork shoulder with some…

Conversation with Larry   My friend Larry says I can make any food sound too awful to eat, and I should write about how I do this without even trying. Humpf! I think. But it’s true. I’m opinionated, especially about food. Someone who appreciates good food also has strong feelings against foodstuff that doesn’t cut the mustard so to speak.  Loving food doesn’t mean you love all food, especially ill-prepared or foodstuff that is simply too rough and that brings us to the subject of tabouli.   It all started when Larry came home with tabouli, and I didn’t act…