Chefs Collaborative

Happy Thanksgiving! At this point, you’ve probably heard about the Sarah Palin turkey slaughter video. If not, you should watch it now.

After granting one turkey a pardon, Palin fielded questions for an interview while a man slaughtered turkeys behind her. It may have been embarrassing for Palin, but the scenario was both entertaining and disconcerting for You Tube viewers.

It’s hard to say what’s worse: the fact that the Governor of Alaska could be so oblivious to her surroundings, or the fact that Americans were so alarmed to see that turkeys have to be killed in order for us to eat them. By coincidence and thanks in large part to youtube, we’ve all been granted access to the metaphoric glass abattoir described by Michael Pollan in The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

This incident, and the attention it drew, is further proof how disconnected eaters are from the sources of our food. If Palin had been standing in front of a nicely browned and stuffed bird with those little frilly things on its drumsticks, there would have been no controversy. But stick her next to a killing cone and it’s a different story. The interview was a mistake on Palin’s part, but with Thanksgiving here it serves as a reminder that a turkey doesn’t turn into dinner by magic.

Why did viewers react to the video so viscerally? I’ve watched it several times in mixed company, and each time a few people react with disgust. If they were vegan, I might understand, but if you’re going to eat meat, you shouldn’t be as squeamish as a fifth grader in sex-ed.

This is the connection Chefs Collaborative works to strengthen. “Farm-to-Table” is more than a catchphrase, it’s a path food takes on its way to your gut. But without an understanding of the various paths food can and does take, ”farm-to-table” is more like “out of thin air to table.”

So this Thanksgiving, remember to give thanks to people who produce our food, and to that special someone who helped you show a little more gratitude: Sarah Palin.

–Aaron Kagan, www.teaandfood.blogspot.com

In the latest Producer Profile, Chefs Collaborative member Ray Brandhurst of Four Winds Seafood lists some of the sustainably caught products he offers besides his trademark shrimp. Among the options are finfish like sheepshead and croakers.

One hundred and thirty years earlier, Mark Twain mentioned those same two fish among the American foods he missed the most while on tour in Europe. In addition to “Sheep-head and croakers, from New Orleans” he included the following:

American butter

Saratoga potatoes

Connecticut shad

Baltimore perch

Brook trout, from Sierra Nevadas

Lake trout, from Tahoe

Black bass from the Mississippi

Virginia bacon, broiled

San Francisco mussels, steamed

Philadelphia Terrapin soup

Canvas-back-duck, from Baltimore

Prairie hens, from Illinois

Missouri partridges, broiled

… just to name a few (there are 85 total). He asked that all of them “be hot when I arrive.”

While Four Winds offers species that many shrimp lovers are unfamiliar with, Twain’s letter is a reminder that the regional foods like croaker and sheepshead are nothing new. Hence the “R” in RAFT (Renewing America’s Food Traditions), the coalition project of which Chefs Collaborative is a lead partner. 

The introduction to the latest RAFT book states the intent in choosing the word “Renewal” over the original suggestion of “Rescuing.” “Renewal” implies a return to an existing tradition, while “rescuing” gives the impression that without the effort, the subject of the rescue would otherwise crash and burn.

Without the support of consumers, this could be true of products like Ray’s shrimp, which face steep competition from foreign imports whose impact is far worse for both the planet and the palate.

While there is a very real sense of urgency around supporting our local food producers, Twain reminds us that by valuing regional cuisine, we are completing a circle only broken within the past hundred years or so. By choosing local, heirloom American foods over their mass produced, potentially poisonous Chinese counterparts, we vote with our forks (or crab mallets) to renew the rich American food legacy that lies waiting for us to reclaim it.

Of course having shad, terrapin and prarie hens in the same meal might not qualify as sustainable eating, but Ray’s sheepshead, croakers, or shrimp would be a good place to start.

–Aaron Kagan, www.teaandfood.blogspot.com