julie & julia

I just watched the movie 'Julie & Julia' and it prompted me to write another entry. I am coming to realize my blog is more about food than environmental issues, though I truly believe eating healthy, supporting local farms and sustainable agriculture is very 'green' in it self. It was a very fun movie. As they were talking about recipes, I was looking them up in 'the' book. What Julie did was a really cool idea, I wish I had thought of it first! Julie had an idea, that turned into a blog and experiment, that turned into a book, that turned into a movie. Julia took a class, that turned into a book, that turned into another book, and another, that turned into a TV show.

I need something like that. A class in college that I hated at the time, turned into an independent study on local food systems, turned into a passion to support local farms and farmer's markets and read anything and everything about food systems, turned into.... I'm hoping it turns into working on a farm, that turns into taking some courses in agriculture and eventually turns into owning a farm of my own. Is that a weird goal in life - to own a farm and work on it??

I get excited when I read about jobs that are for farm help. I love the food network - Iron Chef America, Top Chef, Barefoot Contessa. I love to hear about foods I don't know or interesting combinations. My favorite book is 'Food Lover's Companion' where I can look up any and every food term. Something as simple as milk or as complex as coffee. (You will never know how complex coffee is, and also how amazingly interesting it is, until you work for a small company run by coffee geeks, believe me.) I don't know if I love to cook, I am not there yet, but I certainly enjoy it. It is more fun cooking with someone, I feel, or cooking for people, rather than just for myself. I do love going to farmer's markets. I love to meet the farmers and hear them talk about their products and see all the wonderful things that can be grown and raised so close to 'home.'

Julia Child talks a lot about going to the markets in Paris and how wonderful they were. Well, they still are. Even if I am not looking to buy anything, I love walking through the markets in Paris. You have the produce stand, the cheesemonger, the butcher, the baker, (the candlestick maker...ha!) the wine merchant....each has their own specialty and can advice from personal knowledge. How wonderful.

Edinburgh, Scotland has only one market for the whole city, but how wonderful it is. I went every Saturday morning this past summer. I got the eggs from the egg lady. ('These were laid on Thursday and will last four weeks.' Ever heard that in the grocery store??) I got bacon from the pork man. ('Would you like smoked or unsmoked? Lean or fatty? Thick cut or thin?') Produce came from the hippyish, organic stand. ('These beans are so good. This week we picked them and we would eat one and pick one, eat one and pick one. But don't tell the owner!') There was a chocolate stand with this woman and her partner and baby. She made everything - all sorts of chocolate bars, ice cream and the hot chocolate was amazing. Beautiful lilies were for sale and I heard people saying 'oh, we can't buy them now, we aren't going straight home.' The woman selling them said 'no worries, they were cut this morning and will last 24 hours without water.' I ask you, where can you find such knowledgeable vendors, promoting such wonderful products besides at a farmer's market? Needless to say, I cooked a lot this summer and would go weeks without even going to a grocery store.

The US has many great markets, as well. I move around a lot, and unfortunately, don't get to visit markets or cook wonderful meals as often as I would like. I will say this - what happens when you buy a pumpkin in October at a local, organic farm?? You still have it sitting on your counter in February. I can't bring myself to compost it because it it still so beautiful.

Food is a wonderful thing. It brings people together, creates opportunities to try new things and it is healthy for you in its pure and natural state. It is unfortunate what today's food industry has done to destroy that image.

Well done, Julie Powell. You not only mastered French cooking, but you showed us you don't have to be Julia Child to do it (as wonderful as she may be).