Author: welash28

Exhausted and starving after a long tattoo session (thank you to Max at Dead Drift Tattoo), I was more than ready to consume my weight in food. As I walked into the Colorado Block Party put on by Slow Food, I was dismayed to see long, crowded lines of people in such a small space. The drink lines seemed the shortest, but I needed food in my system. I hopped in the line closest to me and a volunteer was walking around passing out chips covered in goat cheese (?), so I snagged some and continued to wait in line for some mystery food. After a few minutes, the gentleman in line behind me awkwardly apologized for getting cheese in my hair and tried to wipe it out for me. At this point, I was tired and had accepted my fate of being forever squished in seemingly endless lines for mediocre food.

When I finally made it to the front, I was offered a tiny spoon of a delicious (but short lived) taste of a Colorado peach topped with honey chevre. At this point I decided to just move to the booth with no line; it was another small spoon of mole ganache with goat milk and toasted blue corn. Cool. My appetite was that of a ravenous beast still and I wandered over to a booth with an abundance of the same gross bite-sized sample (I can’t describe it, because I would rather not bring the memory to surface, seeing as I only ate two of them because I was desperate.) Eventually, I ran into my teachers and fellow peer. We delighted in each other’s company and quickly decided to split up and wait in line for two different things so we could get the best of both worlds. As one couple waited in line for the fried chicken, they had almost reached the front when it was announced that the vendor had ran out of fried chicken and would now serve beef tartare. Unsure of what beef tartare was, I pushed my disappointment aside temporarily… until I realized it was raw beef. Well, that was the final straw so we all resorted to getting multiple cocktails since they were easier to come by than food.

Overall, I found the event to not be worth the $69 I paid for it and a confusing misrepresentation of Colorado producers. On the brightside, Slow Food realized it was a disaster and it was their first time doing an event like this, so I can definitely being understanding. In my opinion, a helpful pamphlet would have been a great guide to knowing what vendors were serving what and giving a short description about each vendor as well would have done wonders.

I went into this workshop understanding that the premise of it would be that there is no such thing as American food, since America is just a big melting pot of many cultures. Seemed interesting enough, but I left feeling excited and inspired by what the panelists had shared with us.

The panel was made up of three incredible individuals: Sonja who runs ‘League of Kitchens’ in New York; where immigrants teach cooking classes in their homes. Rodriguez who owns Work & Class in Denver; a restaurant serving Latin american and southern cuisine. And Alan who owns Italian and Israeli restaurants throughout New Orleans, despite not even being Italian.

Sonja’s business really interested me, because she has been able to call out the traditions and expertise of those who live in her city and show that what immigrants bring to our country is meaningful. I hope in the future, a business like hers will open in Seattle, because I think we have the market for it and the interest. In light of our current political state, it is more important now than ever to showcase the contributions of immigrants.

Rodriguez really stressed that we should appreciate the simplicity of the roots we have. Her children often ask why she makes homemade tortillas, when she could save time and buy them at the store. It is because she wants to appreciate tradition and the value of a homemade tortilla, so that is why it is worth it to her.

America is a unique place where people enjoy diversity in food and are open to it; we will continue to evolve as a country as time goes on. All the panelists agreed that when it comes to food and cooking, there is no such thing as cultural appropriation. Cooking is all about learning and new experiences, it’s about honoring the culture. Oftentimes a dish with the same name can be made in such  a variety of ways and with so many different ingredients, that it will almost be unrecognizable (overall the process is greater than the outcome).

Food is open.

Chasing Traditions was a workshop lead by the Recipe Hunters (Anthony and Lela). Before going into the food stories of Mexico as advertised, they explained who they were and how they came to be the Recipe Hunters. After quitting their day jobs, they traveled the world using Workaway. Workaway is an online website where you can offer your time for volunteer work in exchange for free room and board. The goal was to live like the locals and learn from them. Before leaving, they would leave their host with a parting gift of homemade gelato made with a local flavor.

As time went on, they started the Culinary Heritage Corporation non-profit; through the non-profit they gave lectures, taught cooking classes, and cooked pop-up dinners. Also they made videos about the places they visited and the recipes the locals taught them how to make. Posting these videos on their Youtube channel was important, because it showed how beautiful and kind people were.

After doing this for awhile and gaining popularity, the two often received sponsorships; recently this included Wales and Baluartes Slow Food. Slow Food employed Recipe Hunters to take on the task of ‘prisidia’, which is the ‘protection of process’. So they journeyed to 3 different parts of Mexico in order to know the process behind three endangered ingredients.

Maguey de Altiplano is agave from the plateau of Mexico; it is a fermented sap that has been consistently made the same way forever. The extraction method is actually more sustainable to the plant and more pure in the long run. Next they focused on the Tiaola Serrano Chili Peppers that are used to make a dry salsa. The salsa is prepared by the women in the region and is a source of empowerment for them. The final ingredient were the heirloom beans of Tebetlixpa, which were being re-cultivated into the land.

After presenting, they opened the floor for questions and feedback from the audience. One extremely important critique was that they needed to incorporate more of the culture, landscape, and language into their videos; the full story was not being told with many of these key factors missing. The Recipe Hunters seemed flustered, but responded by acknowledging this needs to be done, although it is difficult to incorporate everything into such a short amount of time. All in all, the Recipe Hunters strive to educate viewers about indigenous people and their traditional recipes that have been handed down over generations.

At first glance, this workshop seems like a chance to gorge yourself on cheese and beer (which it was), but it was also a good opportunity to learn how to pair the two together. So as I walked into the room, I was surprised to find a Whole Foods goody bag on each seat filled with flyers, stickers, a coupon, and my own hunk of cheese to take home. After already eating more than my fair share of cheese at the Slow Food tasting market, I felt overwhelmed with the idea of eating more cheese, and then taking cheese home with me. (It sounded like a digestion disaster waiting to happen, but at the end of the day it turned out my stomach was stronger than I had anticipated.) Beer on the other hand, was something I was always prepared for, especially on a hot day in Denver.

The event was double sponsored by Whole Foods and Slow Food USA; which makes sense considering the demographic and the nature of Slow Food. Anyhow, our taste-guides informed us on how beer and cheese are a natural pairing since they go through a similar fermentation process. Cellar West Artisan Ales specializes in Belgian farmhouse ales and use wild yeast strains for all their beers. Avalanche Farm and Dairy makes artisan goat cheeses using milk from their own grass-raised goats. They have an USDA processing plant, along with their own restaurant and bakery.

For our first pairing (out of a total of five), we sampled fresh chevre with the Make Hay Oak Fermented Saison. The beer was tart and the chevre was creamy  with some saltiness towards the end. Together they were a delicate pairing that brought out more grassiness in the chevre. Pairings are all about intensity and balance, so you don’t want one part to overpower the other half. In a good pairing the two parts will complement each other and often times amplify certain tasting notes that would otherwise be overlooked. Using the same beer, we sampled a new cheese: the Aspen Valency. With a ash and mold rind, this cheese was runny and soft…not my cup of tea. Although it did pair splendidly with the beer, by bringing out more wheat flavors due to how strong (and moldy) the cheese was. According to our taste-guides more phenolic characteristics come out as beer age (two compounds equal barnyard-y).

The third pairing was the Cabra Blanca goat cheese with with the Grey Muse Oak Fermented Grisette. Cabra Blanca has a washed rind with bright notes of lactic acid. It’s made using a South England recipe and a colander. Paired with the beer, notes of mushroom rose to the surface. Next came the Hand Bandaged Goat Cheddar which is made in 20lb. wheels and aged one year (the secondary culture kicks in after seven months). This robust, nutty cheddar was paired with the God’s Eye Wild Porter with Blackberries. They were an equal match in flavor and depth, perfectly complimenting each other.

Finally, we had reached our last pairing: Midnight Blue with Aquarius Dry Hopped Spelt Saison. The cheese was made using only raw milk and turned out to be a perfectly balanced blue cheese. Everyone in the room raved about this pairing and hands rose up excitedly asking where Midnight Blue could be bought. All in all, I felt that the mile-high marriage was a joyful success and I left the room happier (and a little more tipsy) than I had entered it.

As we made our way to one of the underground rooms at Union Station and found seats in the crowded area, I waited for the start of this workshop with anticipation. Food Heals was a panel of distinguished members of the Slow Food community, all offering different perspectives on the topic at hand. They started us off with a documentary by Lara Lee, that focused on the transformation of AK47s into gun guitars. One of the panelists had a similar idea; melting guns into shovels. These shovels would then be used to plant trees; specifically fruit orchards that would produce food in the future for the surrounding community. Since humanity and the food system is broken, Kyle stressed the importance of addressing these issues via moral change and the other spiritual aspects of change.

Another panelist started off by stating that trauma lives on in us on a molecular level and that we should honor the indigenous lands we grow food on (specifically by recognizing and stating the indigenous names for these lands). She also discussed how working with food is associated with the idea of enslavement, so we need to focus on healing our relationship with the land.

Environmental racism exists in the fact that marginalized communities are feeling the worst effects of climate change so far; it is important to think about how we can disrupt these patterns of oppression by changing the community and taking action ourselves.

Kevin, another member of the panel, discussed how he exposed people to some truths about food and enslaved people by cooking at a remake of a historical (almost) post-slavery dinner. He was able to recreate and reconcile that time and space in order to show participants a blip in time and the importance of historical dinners. Food essentially nurtures principles of social justice.

They ended with some final notes including that we should ‘compost our grief” and maintain patience during this long struggle was face ahead of us.

The Ancient Grains Block Party was much more of a success than the Colorado Made Block Party from the night before. Whiskey and rye cocktails flowed like water and there were plenty of carbohydrates to cushion their fall. Crooked Stave was even there serving beer, which gave me a nice sense of pride and deja vu since I had previously toured their brewery earlier that week. In fact, food was so abundant that we all left with croissants to eat for breakfast the next morning.

There was even a station for making pizza and another station that was giving away sourdough starters. This should be no surprise to people who know me, but I was ecstatic about receiving my starter (courtesy of Eataly), smuggled it on the plane, told everyone about it, and then never fed it or used it. What can I say, I’m not perfect and maybe I’m not ready for a dog yet since I can’t even take care of my pet yeast. Looking at the instruction pamphlet for my mother yeast, I wish I could come up for a better excuse for not refreshing it besides laziness…but I can’t. As the afternoon drew to a close and it was time to head to our next session, I managed to swipe a bag of whole wheat pasta to add to my ever growing collection of food souvenirs I would be bringing home at the end of this trip.

Attending this dinner, I didn’t know what to expect besides sampling olive oils and eating some delicious food. After buying my ticket for the event, I also learned that there would be a change of plans with having Tavernetta host a pop-up at the dinner in the form of cooking all the food for us. Tavernetta is a new and upcoming Italian restaurant in Denver and we got to sample their dishes before they were even open to the public. So when the day arrived to actually attend the dinner, I wandered around downtown Denver trying to find the entrance. Tucked away in a well kept alley way, I found a professionally dressed woman standing outside the lobby. I must have looked confused, because she thankfully asked if I was looking for the Olive Oil dinner and sent me up to the fifth floor of the office building. I walked in and was presented with my choice of a wine spritzer cocktail and I anxiously choose one; uncertain of what I was even being offered since many of the words seemed unfamiliar to me. I continued past the kitchen to the balcony area and was introduced to the coordinator of the event, who informed me to look for my name card to find out where I would be sitting. Luckily, I didn’t have to walk up and down the long table in order to find it, since it was right in front of me. I nursed my drink and looked around at all the people deep in conversation. Perhaps I had made a bad choice by coming, since I was obviously the youngest person there and my ensemble seemed a little too ‘Seattle grunge’ for this dinner. Before I had time to let all of my self-conscious thoughts seep in, Bob came to my rescue. Bob was a retiree who volunteered for many wine auctions/events, lived in Napa Valley, accepted interns for some unknown reason, and was the head of a Slow Food Chapter. Our idle small chat filled the social hour nicely and I was thankful to not be a wallflower. After awhile we were advised to take our seats and the event officially began. I stared at the tastefully ribbon bound box sitting in front of me and wondered if I would get to take my own mini bottles of olive oil home.

The anticipation for opening my small present was killing me, but I tried to wait patiently. Meanwhile, the coordinator talked about the importance of the California Olive Oil Council and what they do. Board members on this council have well-trained palettes and can distinguish unique tasting notes within the olive oil. They also check for purity, perfection, and certify that it is in fact extra virgin olive oil. Many olive oils are blended with canola oil or are not extra virgin at all. Buying anything with the California Olive Oil Council seal ensures that you are buying oil of the highest quality with no defects.

Finally, we were instructed to open the box and there were four small containers of labeled olive oil in each one. We would be sampling four different types of oil that night, paired with dishes that were made with that specific oil as well. The owners/farmers of each oil were present as well and would talk shortly about their business and taste of their olive oil.

While waiting on our first course to arrive, we snacked on roasted vegetables and charcuterie. The vegetables were roasted using olive oil from Calivirgin and I just so happened to be sitting across from the couple who owned that brand. As we sampled their olive oil by slurping, breathing in, and letting it coat our tongues (similar to tasting wine), I listened to them talk with pride about how they process their olives and operate their business. After they sat down, I complimented them on their delicious oil and unique packaging, making a mental note to use their oil for basic recipes since it had no strong flavor notes (at least none that stood out to me).

Before our first course (antipasto) arrived, we were once again treated to a appetizer that was not on the menu: a dish of raw fish served with a creamy chevre. Incredibly light and divine. When our “antipasto” finally arrived, we received a pouring of a white California wine to accompany it. It was a delicious insalata with summer lettuce, snow pea, turnip, bagna cauda, and Calivirgin Olive Oil.

As my hunger had not yet been satisfied and my taste-buds craved more gastronomic delights, I made small talk while waiting anxiously for the next course. Before it arrived though, we had to sample another olive oil. This one was Ascolano from Wild Groves; originally used for table olives Ascolano produces complex and tropical flavors as an olive oil. (This was my personal favorite.) Wild Groves olive oil was used to produce our second course of summer squash and chive pictured below. The squash was another culinary success that ended to soon and left me anticipating the next course; one could easily call me an overeager, yet appreciative eater at this point.

All this time, our glasses of white wine seemed bottomless as servers continuously poured more whenever we were below half a glass. Yet at this time, our glasses were swapped out and replaced with glasses containing a California red wine. This prominent transition only meant one thing, it was time for the main course and what pairs better with red wine than steak. Our beef ribeye came local from Colorado state and was served with lacinato kale, pancetta, and fava bean. Umami and rich in flavor, my hunger was finally contained and my palette satisfied. The olive oil pairing was the “medium” courtesy of ENZO Olive Oil Company; it paired perfectly with the steak, because of it’s buttery, nutty notes and peppery finish.

All good things must come to an end, so with our final olive oil tasting came our final course. The olive oil we tried last and included in our dessert was the Arbequina by Seka Hills. Notes of ripe and green fruit with hints of pepper characterize the flavor profile of this olive oil and it paired well with the pistachio cake, yogurt, and peach.

As the wine stopped pouring and I took my last few bites of cake, we gave a round of applause for all who had contributed to this amazing dinner. I said my goodbyes to my fellow diners and slipped out the back door down to the elevator. Tired, buzzed, and full of olive oil ladden food I climbed into my Lyft and dreamed of a future where olive oil was appreciated by all and bought from local producers instead of generic containers from Costco. Who knows…my daydreams may not even be that far off considering the goals of the California Olive Oil Council.

~

Below I have included the olive oils mentioned in this post:

CaliVirgin Olive Oil

Wild Groves Olive Oil

ENZO Olive Oil

Seka Hills Olive Oil

 

The unsustainablity of restaurants is a topic that is always in the back of my mind, due to the fact that I have worked in an extremely unsustainable restaurant for five years and prior to that worked in a camp dining hall that was as equally or even more unsustainable. Being a college student with rent to pay and a jam packed schedule, doesn’t leave me with the luxury of finding a new job that better fits my morals. So I look forward to a future where I feel proud of the company I work for and find ways to make it more sustainable. For the time being, I try to compost as much as I can at my current job and spend to much time stressing over the commodity corn-fed, industrial beef we sell.

Anyhow, I found this panel to be inspiring and one of my favorites during the Slow Food Conference; I hope they have more like this in the future, because its easy to overlook restaurants when people strive to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

The panel consisted of the former editor of Lucky Peach magazine, the co-founder of Snooze/President of EAT DENVER, and the author of Root to Leaf. Each panelist had their own unique ideas and take on how to make restaurants more sustainable; both from a customer’s point of view and from within the restaurant itself. Consumers often don’t realize it, but they have the power of the dollar on their side. They can put the pressure on restaurants and demand that their meal be offset (ie: carbon neutral). As you have probably heard before, it is important to vote with your dollar and vote for political candidates who care about sustainability. All of these things do play a big part in restaurants and the panelists even suggested demanding a a sustainability feature on Yelp; they created a Pokemon stop feature, so the public has the power to get a sustainability feature, too. It would also be lovely to have a outside resource, like a B-corporation rating, that confirms when a restaurant is sustainable. As a consumer, there are many things that can be done as suggested by the panelists, so there is little need to feel helpless, just demand more sustainability and accountability.

As a restaurant, they had a infinite amount of suggestions, many of which even saved the restaurant money in the long run. In the finance world, sustainability needs to be re-branded, so business owners realize that it isn’t just a hippie wet dream, but an unique lense of looking at the world that can ultimately save them money. Most importantly the panelists stressed that behavioral changes in creating an energy management system is the easiest way to save money (ex: turning off lights when the room isn’t in use). Getting a repair and maintenance schedule set will also save you money in the long run, so you aren’t faced with a enormous bill when something goes wrong. Keeping staff and having a low turnover rate is another obvious money saving trick. My favorite idea they had about saving the earth and saving money, was taking things that would have been turned into compost and turning them into profit (ex: cocktails out of food waste. Garnish, juice, or muddle).

Reducing food waste within the restaurant is one of the most important things that can be done to be more sustainable. Organizing and consolidating your fridge on a regular basis is extremely helpful. As well as, having an initial dish then using the waste to create a secondary dish. If there is food waste, it is important to compost it, since putting food in a landfill is a huge inefficiency. Recycling glass is also important and glass can even be reduced by putting more beers on tap or using ‘bladders’. Hosting a ’12 months of green’ program at a restaurant is another effective way to introduce a new subject about being more ‘green’ each month.

Ingredient wise, they stressed that farm-to-table shouldn’t just be a trend; seasonal cooking should be the new norm. Also there is this “wild” idea that if we raise beef properly then we can actually sequester carbon and it will help reverse climate change (imagine that!).

So many things can be done to improve the world if we just listen to the ideas of others, demand better sustainability in our restaurants, vote with our dollar, and change the way we use (or don’t use) food.

 

The Food and Freedom panel was one of the most disappointing events I attended during the Slow Food Conference. Carlo Petrini (founder of Slow Food) is held on such a pedestal and adored by middle aged, well-off white women… that I expected more from him. I’m not saying he is terrible, but he is more the kind of person who gets the masses riled up and ready to create change. Not the kind of guy who can answer a question head on. I left the discussion unsatisfied and slightly confused. Even looking back on my notes, I’m not sure what to make of them or what to write, but I can make a valiant effort.

Essentially, Carlo made some good points about corporations and the ads they produce. He described how ads use extremely refined psychological tricks to make us slaves to the system instead of the citizens we should be. Instead of being slaves to Nestle and Monsanto he advocated for us to become active subjects and make policy by eating ‘better’. He emphasized that we should not change out of fear, but instead anticipate fear. He concluded this rant by stating that monopolies are a threat to our democracy, so we should spend our money the right way and bring our metaphorical pitchforks to create change. (Carlo also expressed extreme worry about the democrats who protect the big companies and not the farmers.)

When asked how Carlo felt about marginalized communities not being able to afford to eat the way he encouraged members of Slow Food to eat, his answer was less than satisfactory. Basically, he explained that old retirees in Italy can afford to buy local & organic, so everyone else can afford to do the same. He stated that only the rich are concerned about how the poor can afford to buy this food, and that they should consider the value of the food and not the price. This is a touchy subject for the Slow Food Community, and something they receive lots of critiques on. Of course the movement is not perfect, but I hope that Carlo is able to better understand the issues marginalized communities deal with in the future, so he can give a better solution.