When I Grow Up...

...I want to have a real kitchen. As in, I want to cook real foods with real ingredients. Local ingredients. ORGANIC Local Ingredients. And all will be well, and all will be delicious.

Except for a few things: 1) I'll be a poor art teacher for a while, surviving on PB&J, 2) I may or may not be in a region where I have a regularly accessible farmers market (my home town's closest is probably 45-50 minutes away) and 3) I'm so used to having whatever foods I want, when I want them. I realized that I have no concept of seasons regarding most foods. I'm used to having whatever, whenever. In fact, the only clues I really have for what's seasonal come from either holidays (like pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving) or growing up on my grandparents' farm. They raised sweet corn, strawberries, melons, and potatoes. My parents have a tomato and pepper garden in the summer. That's about where seasonality ends for me.

So while I wouldn't dream of eating sweet corn in say, January (you've never had sweet corn until you've had it the day it was picked...it's beyond words) , I'm used to having things like blueberries or squash or broccoli any month of the year. On one hand, this pretty awesome. I can eat a huge variety of food all year round.

But on the other hand...well, you probably know the story. Carbon footprints, inorganic compounds, outsourcing of labor to industrial farms...none of it is a very pretty picture.

I'll turn to Lauren Winner (love her!) for some thoughts. She's referencing the author Barbara Kingsolver (author of the essay "Lily's Chickens") in the following quote:

"Why is Kingsolver so committed to [eating foods only while in season]? Because shipping food from greenhouses around the world is America's second-largest expenditure of oil...As Kingsolver explains, 'Even if you walk or bike to the store, if you come home with bananas from Ecuador, tomatoes from Holland, cheese from France, and artichokes from California, you have guzzled some serious gas.' To eat seasonally (and locally) is to enact a politics of reduced consumption." (Winner, Mudhouse Sabbath)

I don't say all of this to be some eco-green-hippy-christian. I've just been thinking about it. I talked to my friend High School Beth last night for a while about that concept of "my future kitchen" and it just got me to thinking. Mostly I was thinking about these delicious Mushroom and Asparagus Tarts...am I eating them right now? Wait, I'm not? Hmm...I'd better go do something about that...



PS - I've got mad love for food blogs...except for how much they want me to have a fully stocked kitchen and Whole Foods on hand (I have neither). If you want to check out some beautiful food (and find the recipies!) check out FoodGawker, where they gather the prettiest and most delicious foods of the day...mmmm....