Tasting Labs

Eggs 1/10/17

Look, it’s 12pm and I haven’t had any food today, and I know that scrambled eggs are an all-American breakfast favorite, but that last thing I want to feed my body are hard-boiled eggs. There’s something about a hard-boiled egg that will always smell like a sewer to me. It has an aroma that is all vinegar and fermenting cabbage, two smells I am familiar with after living in a house with the amateur experimental cook that is my mother.

But of course I’m going to taste them anyway, and there’s something about the spoonful of the scarlet salmon roe next to the Stiebrs Farms chicken egg that I am begging to explore.

The Egg Lady golden egg is a first for me-I’ve never tried an egg that was scrambled inside of its own shell. The color is a faint creamy yellow and I’m not necessarily provoked by its flavored. But now we’re reading the article about Barbara Long, Egg Lady, and I’m thinking about what the care for 1,200 hens must look like. I taste the golden egg again and I find I appreciate it more this second time around.

The Pink Egg might be my favorite. The contrasting pink and yellow are visually stimulating and the taste is sour yet earthy. The beet has definitely made its mark on the taste of this egg. The entire experience makes me think about my favorite farm-to-table restaurant in Omaha. Block 16, described as serving farm-to-table street food, adds picked onions onto a few different dishes on their menu. Nice.

The Marbled Egg is “gnarly.” Most of the egg white has peeled off with the shell leaving a disfigured oval shape. This one is my favorite, there is something about it that tastes like cinnamon and reminds me of the comforting times throughout winter.

 

Spices, kale 1/24/17

I didn’t make my own spice mixture this week because I was assisting in preparing lunch (the lunch that maybe, hopefully embodied the hearth). I want to think that the hearth still has a central role. It has changed with the transformation of technology and it has adapted through changing political and economical periods. As a society, we are less reliant on cooking in the homes. Food is available in restaurants, on the sidewalk, through a small window on the side of a truck. Prepared food is accessible at any dollar value from any kind of commercial set-up. At these locations, the hearth does not exist, we are separate from those that cook our food and we have the liberty to take our meals further from the place that they were created. We are so far from our kitchens, from the center of our homes that the hearth is practically nonexistent. We are encouraged to grow up and move out of our parent’s houses and be able to pay for school, pay for housing, pay for our social lives, pay our taxes, pay for our food. It’s a high expectation. The hearth disappears. In seminar, we spoke about this, and realized that there are places that the hearth still exists. Houses full of friends who live together just so that they can pay the rent. The property isn’t theirs, but the community that they have created is a reinterpretation of that original hearth. I think that this will continue to be the hearth in 2020, it’s not far off…

 

Tea tasting 1/31/17

type of tea appearance flavor  aroma
oolong pale yellow hay, with green undertones (steeped) I feel the taste on the middle of my tongue, the sides are “tangy.” The aftertaste reminds me of sweet apricots. dried: floral

steeped: foliage, earth

pu er

(212 degrees)

dried: dark, golden brown

steeped: auburn mahogany, orange red

woody dried: i didn’t smell anything(?)

steeped: ooh, it’s the barn. it’s dirt and rain. it’s raking piles of leaves for the compost pile.

a little smoky too.

 

Corn 2/7/17

Corn chips, corn puree, corn syrup, corn flakes, corn bread, bourbon, polenta… I’m feeling a little sick, a little overwhelmed. The corn that we eat is so flavorless, maybe because we’re so used to tasting it in everything. Some things on this plate make me feel a little lower than others.

The processed dry foods, the chips, syrup, and flakes are uninspiring, I think I’m the most overwhelmed by these things, thinking about everything else that isn’t on this plate, but is made from the exact same ingredient: corn. They taste worse than the corn bread, polenta, the bourbon. There is no energy in them the way that there is in the hand-made items. After trying a bit of everything, I feel a little worn out. Please, no more corn.

 

Tea tasting 2/14/17

what is trauma, what is healing unnamed-1

i keep finding you in places i didn’t know exist, pockets of rot eating their way into the space that was once my spine. the fields beneath my ribcage, the backs of my shoulders, the words behind my mouth. they’re all yours now.

four days after the full moon, she collapsed into the bottoms of our cups. now she floats back up to the rim, full, malty, illuminated by afternoon sun that seeps through the windowed doors.

i think about the open slits on the west wall of the barn who captured the dusk and were reflected by the mirrors on the opposite side of the room. clouds of dust, woody, and then bright, pour into our throats.

 

Bread 2/21/17

Bread and milk are classified into what most American consumers would consider “household staples.” Before the commodification of these foods, bread and milk were local items and simple to obtain. They were both considered acceptable within Grahamite values because of their lack of flavor and therefore with their high calories, were popular in the 19th century. Today, supermarkets carry multiple brands and types of milk and bread and they are no longer reliant on local supplies.

I think that there are some groups of people who prioritize local and domestic food, but this is not the case everywhere. We should also consider the historical relationship between domestic foods and our desire to climb social ladders. In the 19th century, the exoticness of food traded from far away was appealing to middle and upper class people who desired to climb the social ladder. Traveled foods were purchased for hosting gatherings in ones home with the goal to impress visitors. Bread, milk, and other local commonalities were not impressive or desired, they simply were.

However, after the creation of the Slow Food Movement in 1989, the idea of local food became trendy and desirable by foodies in Italy and elsewhere. While trade and commoditization were old inventions at this point, the foods that were most commonly considered “slow foods” were already luxuries, such as expensive wine and crafted cheese. The Slow Food Movement today is tied to environmental concerns too, and is practiced in over 100 countries; however, local food is still considered a niche market in the scope of the global food economy.

 

Tea 2/21/17

I keep thinking about the Da jinya tea that Kotomi shared with everyone. She mentioned that drinking it is known to increase the plasma in the blood of the drinker. I find it interesting drinking da jinya and noting its social lubricant properties, the ones that make it effortless to relate to those drinking with you and participate in a communal healing that connects people to one another. On the same note, I am enamored by the idea that the tea is physically healing you too. By increasing plasma, there is a greater flow of antibodies and enzymes within the blood stream. Plasma circulates all elements through the body and gives them to areas of the body that need them. Often, plasma is used to create therapies for people with chronic blood conditions. It’s healing in more way than one; just like the consumption of tea!

Tea 2/28/2017

type of oolong appearance flavor notes aroma
four seasons of spring felt it in my collarbones, upper sternum strong tannins, floral changes throughout mouth jasmine, floral, smells like purple
High moutain

-semi fermented, withered

-balance between green/black tea

green, wrinkled, kale-like

i feel it under my jaw

sweet, vegetal

sweetly sour aftertaste like raspberries or mangoes have

tannins at roof of mouth

eyes closed: the warmth of light indoors at night

woody, muddy scent of forest floor, smoky fires