Nutrient Dense Foods: Heal the Soil, Heal Ourselves Part 1 of 6

“While the farmer holds the title to the land, actually it belongs to all the people because civilization itself rests upon the soil.” - Thomas Jefferson

Perhaps you’ve heard the complaints about how produce tastes these days: That it’s dull and lacks the flavor it had back when your grandparents were growing up.  Or perhaps from Europeans who state that the US has such lackluster produce compared to what they have back home.  Or the more obvious one: that the tomato you grow in your backyard is infinitely tastier than the one you buy at the supermarket or even at your organic grocer.  More importantly, from a health perspective, the lack of flavor actually translates to a lack of nutritional quality.  The soil in your backyard where you grow food, typically, has not been over farmed, over fertilized or over-sprayed with fungicides and herbicides.  Most of our conventional farmland has had all of these insults without a method of remineralizing the soil.  This surprisingly applies to some organically grown crops.  Organic simply means that synthetic chemicals are not used or genetically modified crops are not grown, but there is generally very little attention given to nutritionally managing the soil.  The clear issue here is the state of our soil because that is the medium for which all of life, as we know it, is derived from.  If we improve our soil, we improved our food, and from that we improve our health.  What are the steps that we can take to remediate our soil, our food and our bodies?  An understanding of what soil is would be the first step.From the study: Changes in USDA Food Composition Data for 43 Garden Crops, 1950-1999

Soil

There is a common thought in alternative agriculture that states that if we were to eliminate our topsoil (the first 6-8” of the ground) then our civilization would fall.  John Jeavons, ecology and food activist, estimates in his book, How To Grow More Vegetables, that worldwide only about 42-84 years worth of topsoil remain. In one handful of soil, you will find the most complex systems on earth containing trillions of organisms.  Some soil scientists speculate that there are more species of organisms in a shovel full of soil than can be found above ground in the entire Amazon rainforest.  And Scientists are beginning to create a genomic catalog of the earth's microbes.  These organisms are comprised of bacteria, nematodes, fungi, algae, protozoa and large macroscopic insects like earthworms and millipedes.  In order for this complex world to function, these organisms need to be present and they rely on minerals for their own function but also to impart that nutrition into the plant that eventually feeds you or feeds livestock that then becomes food for you.  Agriculture relies primarily on “N-P-K” feeding which you may have seen in different ratios on fertilizers.  All that stands for is Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potash (Potassium).  But there are 60-80 nutrients that are often ignored that are needed for an optimally functioning system to be in place.  It’s like taking a general multi-vitamin.  You get some basic nutrients but the body needs a greater and more diverse nutrient pool than what a multi-vitamin can give you.  It’s not something that I advise my patients to rely on.  For example, one multi-vitamin can contain the antioxidant beta-carotene as a pre-source of vitamin A.  What about the rest of the carotenoid family of lutein, zeaxanthin, lycopene, gamma and alpha carotenoids?  A multi-vitamin is a reductionistic approach.  Eating whole food feeds you full-spectrum nutrition.  The caveat is that the food you eat hopefully is grown in soil that enables the plant to produce the full-spectrum nutrients it was designed to have.

Improving Our Soil

If you think about which areas in this world are teeming with life, we think of the Nile or Amazon Rivers.  These are bodies of water that flood during certain seasons.  What happens with the flood is that silt is brought up from the river laid down on the earth after the flood and causes the soil to be remineralized regularly.  Life then grows abundantly from that soil.  In our agricultural system, we take and take from the soil and we try to give it a multi-vitamin from time to time but it isn’t enough to produce the healthiest plants.  So we need pesticides to kill off what’s attacking these unhealthy plants and herbicides to kill off the weeds that are choking the plants.  And that makes it on to your dinner plate.  The fact is, that an invasion of insects is a scientific index of unhealthy plants and similarly disease and illness in humans is a scientific index of a human with poor nutrition or a poor immune system.  Ensure the plant has what it needs and that plant will not succumb to disease.  Ensure the human has truly proper nutrition and a well-functioning immune system, they will be less likely to succumb to disease.  Of course, it’s more complex than this when we factor in genetics and environmental exposures but that’s for another blog entry.

A great case in point - we grew San Marzano tomatoes, the famed tomatoes from Southern Italy that are thought to be the best tomato for making sauce according to many chefs and foodies.  The few that survived blight last year were tasty but not mind-blowing.  When you look further into where in Southern Italy these tomatoes are typically grown, they are grown at the base of Mount Vesuvius.  The volcanic soil is one that is rich in minerals and nutrients!  The rich mineralized soil is the key factor in the legendary taste of the San Marzano tomato.

Growing Nutrient Dense Crops

Dan Kittredge Demonstrating Seed InoculationAfter learning about this “new” science we signed up for a year long course with Dan Kittridge, a farmer and researcher, to bring these techniques to the food that we grow to consume and to the seedlings that we grow and sell to our community.  I say “new” because there is more research that we need to coordinate and gather so that this can eventually become mainstream sustainable agriculture.  The “brix” measurement which I alluded to in December’s blog is a method to quickly ascertain the nutritional quality of a vegetable or fruit.  This brix measurement correlates with a longer shelf life because the fruit has more vitality and it also correlates with it's flavor.
 
To illustrate this point, we took a brix measurement of an apple which was cut at 11AM.  We all know that apples, when cut, turn brown because of an oxidative process that converts phenolic compounds which are beneficial substances found in certain foods, for example, resveratrol in grapes or catechins in green tea. The less phenolic compounds present, the quicker the oxidative process happens converting those phenols to secondary metabolites that take on a brown appearance.  We can then say that a highly nutritious apple, has high phenolic compounds and will take a much longer time to turn brown than the regular run of the mill apple.   This is a photo 3 hours later compared with a freshly sliced section of the apple.  Brix measurement of this apple was measured at 11 and an average apple should be at 10, a good apple should measure at 14 and an excellent apple at 18.  If this apple was just above average in terms of nutrition, what is that apple you’re eating that turns brown in less than 10 minutes?Apple slice on left cut at 11AM, slice on right cut at 2PM

Stay tuned to the next blog in this 6 part series to find out more about soil and what you can do about ensuring the maximum biological vitality in your food through nutrient dense growing techniques.  In the meantime, be sure to visit Dan Kittredge’s website “Real Food Campaign” and the non-profit organization “Remineralize the Earth” to understand more.

Farmer Pam, MD

The Future of Food and Farming: 2009 Young Farmer's Conference at Stone Barns

“The farmer is the only person in our economy who buys everything retail, sells everything wholesale and pays the freight both ways” - JFK

The Old Rockefeller Dairy Barn is now Stone Barns Ag Center
For the second time, we attended the "Young Farmer’s Conference: Reviving the Culture of Agriculture" (YFC) held at Stone Barns Agricultural Center this year in Pocantico Hills, New York.  This 2 day course was geared towards providing both the young and new farmer with tools and ideas to help ensure their success, to provide a place where these new farmers can network and exchange ideas, to learn the nuts and bolts of sustainable farming, and to discuss the obstacles, especially financial obstacles, of starting and maintaining your own farm.  The New York Times reported earlier this year, on a wave of liberal arts students choosing their summer internships, not at Goldman Sachs, but at farms in search of work (usually unpaid or nominal wages) and also fostering the student's belief in the need for social change.  This seemed to be reflected in the sea of 250 fresh young faces at the sold-out YFC this year.

With only 400,000 farmers in this country providing about 95% of the food we eat, the future of farming is dependant on a new generation of farmers that not only can farm, but are innovative and creative enough to face the new set of challenges that farming faces:  energy, climate and water changes.  We are facing the end of cheap energy, we'll need farming systems that will be resilient with climate change, and we’ll need to learn to grow food with 1/2 the amount of water we now use.
High Tunnels at Stone Barns

We started the first day with a beautiful breakfast provided by our favorite restaurant in the world, Blue Hill, in the context of a modern elegant setting with farmhouse nuances.

Meals in the grand dining room

THE CONFERENCE

Charlie's first lecture was an extremely practical one for those farmers who want to grow through the winter season. It was given by the head farmer at Stone Barns, Jack Algiere. It was extremely informative and fun to watch Jack get a bed ready for the next planting. As is usual with farmers, and not in many other business models, their are no "trade secrets" Everyone is always available to help their neighbor or competing farm learn the latest technique or any modality that will increase yield. It is so refreshing to be around people like that. One can only imagine what the day would feel like in other businesses if everyone approached work and their "competition" in this manner.

Jack Algiere demonstrating greenhouse seeding

I veered off to a lecture given by Benneth Phelps and Ethan Roland on Permaculture, which is a sustainable way of farming, gardening and landscaping where it provides design tools for those that grow biodynamically, organically or even conventionally.  Everything is about increasing efficiency; tools and plants have multi-purposes, for example.  Things are planted with the goal of the "least effort for the largest effect."  I like that.  The most common example is the Sunchoke, also known as the Jerusalem Artichoke.  You plant this once and it not only yields a delicious root vegetable to be consumed, but it also grows tall providing ground cover that may act as a barrier to wind or provide shade, and also provides beautiful chocolate-scented flowers.  The beauty here for me is that I’ll never have to replant this; it’s perennial!  So I just got a food source, shade, wind protection and cut flowers in one plant!  We planted these out last October.

The next lecture we went to was “Vegetables with Taste: Growing and Marketing Vegetables with a Culinary Focus” given by Tom Wilcox and Caroline Pam from The Kitchen Garden Farm in Massachusetts.  They are a lovely couple with a food background (Caroline was a food critic and they both have been schooled in cooking) who now farm full time. It was very sobering to hear their financial data and how hard they work just to maintain a salary that is competitive to that they pay their workers. They gave some great insight into the personal relationships growers have with their clients and how important it is for business and also how rewarding it makes their day.

The next lecture we went to was given by Connor Stedman from Gaia University on Treecrops and Agroforestry.  This was a subset and extension of the Permaculture lecture and we came away with ideas for nut and fruit trees and bushes.  Next steps for HMG are currants, gooseberries, hardy kiwi and Paw Paw (a taste of the tropics in the Northeast!), American Persimmons, and hazelnut trees.

Photo from the Glynwood Center
On Friday we were inundated with extremely practical information.  The first was on soil nutrition given by Dave Llewellyn at the Glynwood Center in Cold Spring, New York.  The Glynwood Center is an amazing non-profit center that promotes environmentally sustainable agriculture and the preservation of farmland in the Northeast.  Dave spoke about nutrient density in vegetables citing a shocking example of the state of the present day quality of our food.  In order to get the equivalent nutrients of 1 apple grown in the 1930’s, we’d have to eat 6 of our present day apples!  Vegetables and fruits can be measured by a simple tool called the refractometer which tells you the “brix” content of the plant.  RefractometerWe think of brix typically in the wine, orange juice and maple syrup industries.  It's a measurement of sugar content but it also translates to a higher nutritional quantity of the plant.    For me, this was an "aha" moment.  I've been looking at various studies either supporting or refuting the idea that organic food is more nutritious.  Recently, a review came out stating that organic foods are no more nutritious than those conventionally grown. The reason why we may be seeing these discrepancies is that organic doesn't necessarily mean higher nutritional quality as defined by brix measurements!  Sure, I firmly believe that we should eat food that is free of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides and still believe that organic certified foods are important; those health effects may not be measured in terms of nutrition but unmeasurable by the potential effects years or decades later.  But, this is the reason why organic certification is not the be all and end all of what it means to be the perfect food.  It's ultimately much more important to know specifically where your food comes from rather than looking for a label at a supermarket.

This was reinforced when we had our lunch time Q and A with Dan Barber, chef of Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Blue Hill NYC, and winner of the 2009 James Beard award for Outstanding Chef.  (See Inside Dan Barber's Kitchen)  This guy was such a charismatic, witty, and energetic speaker that I had a fleeting thought that his head might explode while talking.  He told us about a great story of some Mokum carrots he served as one of the entrees at the Blue Hill tasting menu. A cantankerouDan Barber, Food Gods customer called him up to complain about how embarrassed she was for her guests who were at the table because they were served some measly carrots at a meal that cost $90-125 per person excluding beverages.  Mind you, the carrots were pulled fresh from the farm, marinated for 4 hours in a carrot stock and 5 other things I couldn’t imagine doing to some carrots to produce an intense carrot experience.  The customer didn't feel she was getting what she paid for because carrots, in her mind, are a cheap produce item.  In any case, we got around to the sobering stats of running a restaurant, the reality of buying locally, organically and realizing that the cost of food, even at Blue Hill, can even drive the buyers there to sometimes seek the lowest price.  Mr. Barber had once tested the brix content of an organic carrot the restaurant received from California and that reading was a big fat ZERO!.  Normally a good reading would be 8 or higher.  A great example of how organic doesn’t mean everything.

Padraic MacLeish. Photo from www.mnn.comOur last lecture of the day was on Small Scale Beekeeping by Padraic MacLeish, beekeeper at Stone Barns.  We learned the biology of bees and the logistics of keeping bees on a small scale in New York including obtaining hive materials, equipment, approaching bees, and getting sweet honey.  BTW, if you want bees for next year, start now!  You need to start the process of buying and getting their hives set up now so that you will be ready by spring.  The Pfeiffer Center in Chestnut Ridge, New York will be giving a biodynamically-oriented intro course February 2010. 

CLOSING REMARKS

Closing remarks were given by Fred Kirschenmann, a leader of the organic/sustainable food movement, Distinguished Fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, and manager of a 3500 acre organic farm in North Dakota and president of the board at Stone Barns.  This extremely uplifting speech was important especially to those young and aspiring farmers who understand the reality of running their own farm - low pay, long hours and inclement weather.  He envisions that agriculture will change over to smaller operations with more knowledgeable farmers who can manage and intensively restore the biological health of the soil.   More importantly, the new young farmers will fundamentally redesign a system where everything is bred for high yield (maximum production and short term return) to a resilient system that is about nutritional quality, not just yield.  He gave us 6 suggestions for the young farmers in the room.

          1. To recognize that challenges are always opportunities.

          2. To accumulate a new capital other than money.  A human capital can provide us with       imagination, creatively and innovation.  This will be critical to solving the problems.  He referred to an essay by ecologist Richard Heinberg called “The 50 Million Farmers” who predicts that by the year 2040, there will be 50 million people growing food in their own gardens or in community gardens.  This is the type of human capital that we need.

          3. Creation of a caring economy: referred to a book by Riane Eisler: "The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics" whereby we create a system simply to help each other thrive and survive rather than the competitive one man/woman to him/herself kind of ethic that has predominated our economy.  He gave the example of the company Shepherd’s Grain  where grain farmers from Washington, Oregon and Idaho developed a relationship with local millers and bakers and together determined the price based on growing conditions and production costs.  It’s not based on the usual lower marketplace price of grain.  This business model is working.  Sales have exploded and this is a model we should look at.

          4. Reduction of transaction costs.  Travelling 250 miles to a Bronx farmer's market in a pick up truck won’t be sustainable when oil eventually approaches $300/barrel.  Places like Basis Foods in New York are committed to helping small and mid-sized farmers find a place for their products in restaurants and markets all while reducing transportation costs .  For the consumer, all their food will be entirely traceable.

           5. Create and pay attention to new sustainable models.  One example is Will Allen who grows tilapia and perch in addition to veggies in his 3 acre urban farm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  This is a closed cycle that feeds 10,000 people on 3 acres!

           6. Engage governmental agencies.  Yeah, we're really disappointed in some of Obama's appointments but there is hope in the new young blood in the USDA forming the resistance and trying to develop new policies.

This conference was such an inspiration for us that we plan to make big changes at our micro-farm.  Bees next year, serious scientific inquiry into the real nutritional quality of the food we produce, more efficient techniques will be in place, permaculture design applied to the remaining parts of the property that have not been tapped into and maybe trying out some Aquaponics.  That’s right - growing our own fish source!  We’ll be sure to be at the conference next year and in the meantime, I hope everyone who reads this will continue to vote with their dollars in making the right food choices to both support their own health and their local farmers.

Weekly Musings: Kohlrabi - What the Hell is That?

Kids call this the flying saucer vegetableOne of the many things I’ve learned from having a micro-farm is being forced to explore my boundaries. I have a constant curiosity about things and a love of learning.  I guess that’s how I went from English Major in college to advertising post college, to medical school, to holistic/integrative medicine, to farmer.  This has applied to, among other things, food.  While I’m not quite as adventurous as insect-organ-rodent eating Andrew Zimmern of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods, I could be persuaded to, at least, try many cultural delicacies.  But one does not have to venture far from the beaten path to explore the vast varieties of vegetables available either at farmer’s markets or to be grown at home.  Kohlrabi is one of the vegetables I’ve been introduced to in the last 2 years that I have really come to love.  Prior to this, I had never heard of or eaten Kohlrabi and was skeptical of this sci-fi looking bulb with it’s big leafy protrusions.  But as I experimented with it, it has now been added to my repertoire of cancer-fighting cruciferous vegetables in addition to being a good source of fiber, potassium, calcium and vitamins C and A.

In my practice, I see a fair amount of people with different cancers in different stages and one of the things that they are most interested in when seeking unconventional therapies or ways in which they might complement their existing allopathic treatments, is what they should eat to support their bodies.  One of the family of vegetables that I always stress, based on current research, are the family of cruciferous vegetables also known as brassicas.  The phytochemicals most notably important are indole-3-carbinol and isothiocyanates which, on a cellular level, may lead to the arrest and death of cancer cells.  Patients are always surprised to learn about the variety of brassicas available, aside from the usual broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.  Well, we can now add kohlrabi to the list.  It’s important when modifying one’s diet to rotate foods if not for anything other than avoiding sheer boredom.  When you present variety and surprise, people are less apt to revert to their usual poor eating choices.

Kohlrabi: The Basics

Kohlrabi are European in origin.  The name translates to “cabbage-turnip” in German but found its way to Northern Indian in the late 17th century.  But to this day, Kohlrabi is still an unknown to most people in the US.  That was proven when I went to Chelsea Market -- the ultimate foodie’s shopping paradise in the trendy Meatpacking district of Manhattan and home to the Food TV Network.  When I’m planning on pairing a dinner I rely on two people to turn to for exquisite pairings: my local connect Joe Printz at Grape D’Vine in Tappan NY and Chelsea Wine Vault at Chelsea Market.  So I asked the staff at Chelsea Wine Vault for a pairing with my kohlrabi cakes.  “What’s kohlrabi?” he asked.  Puzzled, he referred me to an even more experienced pairer who pairs wine for the Food Network TV, and who also wasn’t sure what kohlrabi was. After a description of the taste of the veggie - a cross between broccoli stems and turnips, he made a pairing that was right on.  

Kohlrabi is a pale green bulb (or purple) that forms from the stem just above the soil and is best eaten small (2-3” in diameter) in warm weather since it can become woody in texture if grown any larger.  But cooler weather allows the stem to get larger without the change in consistency.  Usually, it is grated raw for salads and coleslaw or chopped and used as a component in stir-fry dishes.  The leaves, if young, can be used in the same way as kale.  I like to find other ways to prepare kohlrabi and my favorite one is kohlrabi cakes with minted yogurt sauce (see below)


Growing/Harvest/Storage Tips:

This easy to grow vegetable can withstand shady areas so I often tuck it in places along the fence where nothing else will flourish.  Though this can be direct seeded, I like to start indoors in soil blocks 4-5 weeks before transplanting out both in the cool spring weather and again in the late summer for a fall harvest.  Quick to mature (50-65 days), the varieties I’ve grown most successfully is “Kossack” and I’m experimenting with the purple variety “Kohlibri“.  If grown in warmer weather, be sure to harvest when small (2-2.5” diameter).  The bulb will be more forgiving in the fall when you can allow it to get as large as 4” and still retain the sweet and crunchy consistency.  Bulbs can be kept in the refrigerator for several weeks but only with their leaf stems removed.

Young fall purple kohlrabi
Recipe: Kohlrabi Cakes with Minted Yogurt Sauce

4 Kohlrabi bulbs (approximately 1.5 lbs)
1/2 cup chopped scallions
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbs bread crumbs
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup of oil for frying (I use grapeseed or rice bran oil)
1 1/2 cups of minted yogurt sauce

Peel (for large bulbs) and shred kohlrabi and set aside in colander to drain for 30 minutes.  Squeeze out any excess moisture
Combine kohlrabi with scallions, eggs, bread crumbs, ginger and red pepper flakes, S &P.  Blend well in a mixing bowl.
Heat oil in large skillet and drop mixture to preferred size  until golden, 3-5 minutes per side.  Drain on paper towels.  Serve with yogurt sauce.

Minted Yogurt Sauce:

Combine 1 1/2 cups of greek yogurt with 1/4 cup chopped mint, 1 Tbs lemon juice and 1/2 tsp of salt and black pepper to taste..  Refrigerate until ready to use.


Adapted from The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Shiela Lukins

Farmer Pam, MD

Q&A with Hook Mountain Growers

Miriam K asks: 

What can you recommend for growing in the winter? I work with little kids and the process of planting is meaningful and educational on so many levels. what would you recommend? Thanks!

 OUTDOORS

There are 2 considerations when growing in the fall and winter season.  Daylight length and temperature.  We're now in early October which obviously means the days are getting progressively shorter.  As the days get shorter, growing does continue but gets severely stunted. And as the days get colder, there are only certain vegetables that like the cooler temperatures.  Usually, the latest one can plant is mid October and the only vegetable you can do that with is spinach, at least in zone 6 (find your zone).  The issues with growing from seed at this time is that the plant needs to establish a certain amount of maturity so it can continue to produce for you all winter long.  If you plant too late, you'll have a tiny seedling that will sit there for months and growing will be severely stunted.  This situation I described can work in an outdoor "cold frame" which is like a micro greenhouse, or,  can also be simulated with a "low tunnel" which is a system of a short hoops and a thin fabric called a floating row cover that lets in light and rain while retaining heat. 

photo: Ruth LivelyThis creates a condition where temperatures can be kept about 20 degrees higher than the outside temperature and will protect the plants from excess moisture and wind, which are the other crop killers.  This system can also be used to extending the growing season for existing plants.  For example, we have a bed of bell peppers filled with green fruit waiting to turn yellow, red and chocolate but we're very close to the first frost date (zone 6).  By covering this bed, we enable the peppers to have a longer growing season than what is typical in this region.  Or we have lettuces and mustard greens that we planted in early September that can tolerate cold temperatures but not super low temperatures.  This gives them the protection to continue growing for us throughout the winter months.  With a cold frame system, 2 frames (about 4x8 ft) for each family member should provide fresh food all winter.  This, of course, assumes that you built and planned and planted a majority of things by the end of summer.

4 different baby mustard greens

INDOORS

Growing indoors during this time is more difficult given the lower light levels but it's not impossible.  For an educational activity for kids, I think is an amazing way to teach kids to nurture something and provide responsibility.  Beyond that, I think they come away with an appreciation of where their food comes from and hopefully will acquire a taste for vegetables!  Alice Waters, chef and local food advocate, does a lot of work establishing this system of growing food and cooking in progressive school systems. In terms of what you can grow under lights during the fall and winter, I think leaf lettuces would be the quickest and easiest choice.  They like cooler temperatures and you'll be able to cut off baby lettuces and then allow the plant to regrow providing you with fresh salad over the season.  We call these "cut and come again."

What you will need for this endeavor are some basic tools. 

1) A fluorescent growlight system can range anywhere from $45-100 depending on the size.

2) Wooden wine boxes.  I'd go to your local vintner and ask for any old wooden crates.  This may be harder to find as most things are shipped in cardboard.  I'd then drill a few holes on the bottom for water drainage.

3) Organic potting soil to fill the box.

4) Seeds.  There is a huge variety of lettuces which can be ordered through the mail.  I like Johnny's Seeds in Maine.  You can do a mixed variety or you can select ones that you like (arugula, frisee etc).

In the planting box, seed closely in moistened soil.  Ideally you want to have a bottle mister and not pour water directly into the box especially when plants are just emerging.  Keep the soil continually moist and watch for the first signs of growth.  At that point, put the box under the grow lights for at least 10-12 hours per day.  Depending on soil conditions, you may want to add diluted organic fertilizer (seaweed base) every few weeks for continued production. 

Hope this helps and happy growing!

 

The Celebrity Carnivore "Meats" Hook Mountain Growers in the Hudson Valley

Scenic Hudson River and the Bear Mountain BridgeWhat a whirlwind of events this past weekend.  Because of a meeting arranged by best HMG friend Anne H. with her nephew Michael from South Dakota, we were asked to partake in a lower Hudson Valley local food gathering with Anthony Bourdain, host of the reality food show No Reservations.  And because of an interesting set of connections, Michael and his brother-in-law Cody, visiting from Alaska, both gifted in skinning and grilling wild game and other animal meats, were asked to prepare local goat and venison for Anthony Bourdain as he made his way up the Hudson Valley on a boat.  We were asked to join the festivities and bring along some local Hudson Valley vegetables along with Camp Hill Farm.  Hook Mountain Growers not only brought a beautiful bounty of vegetables to show, but prepared the night's side-dishes from our homestead to feed 20 people including Anthony and the show's staff, the boat's crew, and the few others involved in assembling this laid-back but momentous night.  The two of us had less than 48 hours to prepare, squeeze fours hours of seeing patients in our medical offices that morning, and fly home to harvest and prep the vegetables and cook the meal and transport it 30 minutes north of our kitchen.  Somewhere in between, we had to water and care for the farm which is not an inconsequential chore.  May seem like a lot of time considering cooks on Top Chef are able to produce a first course meal from 3 ingredients in 40 minutes.  Remember, we're medical doctors by day, farmers by night and food fanatics during all hours.

I first became aquainted with Anthony Bourdain after reading his first tell-all book, Kitchen Confidential (2000) followed by A Cook's Tour (2001).  Bourdain's sarcastic humor and cocky insouciance made me a fan from the start.  The rare times we do watch television, we usually like to view programs about food, culture and cooking (OK, and Heroes too) and Bourdain's show No Reservations tops our list.  As Bourdain explores almost every corner of the world he quickly becomes part of the local scene whether it be in Laos or in the home of a Hindu family in Queens, New York.  His ability to listen to and easily bond with people enables them to open up to him and his devil's advocate questioning always bring intelligent conversation to the table.  When we met Bourdain, he was the man you see on screen; there was no offCody and Charlie with local goat-screen persona or ego.  You get what you see, which is a New Yorker's charm.

On the food end, Cody and Michael procured the goat the night before, slaughtered and disemboweled the goat that afternoon and hung it on a tree in preparation for the skinning.  A large grill pit was started with washed up pieces of oak from the shores of the Hudson River. The Bear Mountain Bridge was in the background and combined with the crisp sunny weather set the stage for an incredible evening.  It's hard to imagine that such a well put together show, one that won an emmy for cinematography, was so quickly and almost haphazardly put together. Whatever my concerns, the evening turned out to be a laid-back scenic event that made you feel like you were at a friend's BBQ on the beach.  Pam and Michael at the grill with film crew

Pam, Anthony and JoanieWhile the goat was being prepped, the only thing to munch on was the green and purple roasted tomatillo salsa I made and watching Bourdain go back again and again to sample more made me feel like an Italian grandmother watching her family heartily eat and enjoy her cooking.  At one point, after repeating dippings into the salsa, Bourdain called it "irresitible." 

As serving time came along, I was ready to start grilling the Adirondack blue and Nicola white Potatoes I pre-roasted at home.  The idea is to make the potatoes crispy as I had done in the past with the recipe.  This grill pit was a bit challenging.  It was a rectangular area of cinderblocks with what looked like a subway grate on top and wood slowly burning and smoking underneath.  The result wasn't crispy as I had hoped but instead, it became deliciously smoky.  Once done, I added it to a pan with red currant and sungold cherry tomatoes,  blanched green beans and tossed with a basil-garlic vinaigrette. Is there anything more beautiful? Yes, my new French Bulldog pup, Henry Hudson

The other dish we served was a braised rainbow swiss chard with garlic, anchovies and parmesean all made by my sous chef farmer Charlie before leaving home.  It was simply heated on top of the grill and served right out of the pot.  Bourdain was seen tearing off bread we brought from Amy's Bread in Chelsea Market, dipping in the chard and throwing his head back in delight.

When we finally sat down, as Bourdain often does with a local family at the end of each episode, we were asked to join his table.  While everyone was getting settled and the goat meat gathered, one of the boat crew members injured his eye when a top flew off unexpectly from some locally-brewed beer lacerating his conjunctiva and causing some mild blood loss.  Luckily they had us, 2 docs on the scene for a medical evaluation.  Thankfully, there was nothing serious. 

Closest I could get to professional culinary instructiSo in addition to providing the only non-meat items on the menu, we were pretty handy medically as well!  As the cameras tried to remain as inconspicuous as possible while filming our conversations, Bourdain made the comment down the table to me that usually he doesn't really get excited about vegetables but he was sure digging ours.  Ahh, maybe this is the start of my culinary second career...

Anthony Bourdain unable to resist the salsa verde; Anne sitting

 Grilled New Potatoes with Summer Beans and Tomatoes

As the conversation got underway, Bourdain played his usual devil's advocate stance, teasing out the issues at hand and making the topics much more complex and interesting.  The talk that night was about Hudson Valley food and eating locally and what it all means.  Alexandra Spadea of Camp Hill Farm and one of the founders of the Rockland Farm Alliance spoke of the importance of preserving farmland -- RFA's mission.  Bourdain asked, what is local Hudson Valley food?  I think the term "local" no longer implies the particular area's known crop like Idaho is potatoes and Ohio is corn nor is it a set of specific foods that make up a particular cuisine, like Mediteranean fare which is fish, olive oil, tomatoes etc.  I think it's whatever it is that you can grow in the particular climate or zone.  For example, the lower Hudson Valley of New York is at the same latitude as southern Italy, so in terms of sunlight strength, we have similar growing conditions.  At HMG, we grow whatever we like to eat (except sub/tropical veggies and fruits).  To me, growing Hudson Valley food means the usual varietals of tomatoes, bell peppers, beans etc and their unusual heirloom varieties but the more esoteric vegetables as well: Chinese bitter melon (see earlier blog entry), Vietnamese fava beans, puntarelle, and lemongrass.  Bourdain also broached the topic of accessibility and palatability of local fresh fare to people who were raised on cheap meat and include iceberg lettuce as their entire day's vegetables intake.  I think it's a really valid point.  In my last journal entry on eating local pasture-raised beef and the evils of the factory farm, I advocated a few things like paying more for quality meat from small farms and eating less of it to compensate the expense of doing so.  Sounds like good advice especially if it creates less disease and illness saving untold millions in health care costs.  Bourdain brought up a legitimate point: How do you convince the person who has eaten cheap meat all their life to suddenly change their eating routine.  Or, how do you asking the working mother or father to come home after a long day of work and a possible long commute and cook up a meal when fast food options are so quick, cheap and easy.  I agree that this is a hard sell but it starts with education and creating an awareness of actions and consequences.  This is something that we see time and time again in our medical practices.  How do you help someone who is obese, comes from a long family history of diabetes and heart disease, to finally make choices that are not easy.  To lose weight.  To stop drinking soda.  The family unit has changed so dramatically over the last few decades.  Where we used to rely on our extended family for help, we are more and more isolated thus making tasks like cooking a low priority.  I grew up with a grandmother who lived at home with us while both of my parents worked full time jobs.  She cared for my brother and I and shopped, grew and prepared all of the food for our family.  But my brother and I were crucial in the household as well; there were chores.  I helped peel vegetables.  My brother fertilized the garden (See blog entry "Origins").  The household today doesn't have a grandma typically so closely involved in the daily cooking and children's activities consist of internet browsing and computer games, 5 different afterschool activities and TV.  Families may have to look to the past to be able to make the necessary changes we desperately need.  I'm glad Bourdain brought these points up because these are the questions that will need to be answered before we are able to become a healthier, more responsible nation.

RECIPE: SWISS CHARD with ANCHOVIES, GARLIC and PARMESEAN

Serves 2-3

1 bunch Swiss Chard
2 garlic cloves, sliced
3-4 anchovy fillets
1-2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare chard by removing the stems or ribs from the leaves and cutting them into 2” ribbons.  Chop stems to 1/2-3/4” size and reserve.  
Heat olive oil in pan and saute garlic in oil for 30-45 seconds, do not brown.  Remove garlic with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Add anchovies to hot oil and stir until they break down.  Add chard stems and cook for about 5 minutes, then add leaves and cook until tender (about 5-8 minutes).
Remove from heat and add in garlic, lemon juice and parmesan.  Stir to combine and serve warm.

Adapted from Gourmet July 2009