Cavemen, Monks, and Slow Food: A History of Eating Well by Devra Gartenstein

This is a transitional time and we need transitional food. The Slow Food movement, the locavore movement, and other “food movements” can be “all or nothing” approaches. That way of thinking is standing in the way of getting people to eat better. I would love to see everybody eat fresh, local, and organic food, but until we get there, I would just like to see more people eat more lentils and fewer people eat industrial meat. The lentils don’t have to be organic, just not part of the industrial food system.

No-Knead Wild Yeast Whole Wheat Bread

For those of us who don’t have a lovely brick oven in the backyard, we can still make wonderful bread in our own ovens. And it’s “no-knead” so it’s easy! Many thanks to Jack Jenkins for this recipe!

Putting By, As My Grandmother Would Say

Fruit harvest is in full swing now and from what I’ve learned, you can pickle almost any of them. My grandmother would be proud of me, to see me putting by some fresh cherries, pickled for winter enjoyment!

Stalking the Wild Yeast with Jack Jenkins (Audio)

We’re speaking with Jack Jenkins, Country Living Grain Mills, who manufacturers and markets grain mills that are hand-powered, bike-powered, horse-powered, wind-powered, water-powered, and even machine-powered! And he sells them around the world. Jack tells us how to tame wild yeast so we can use it to make bread. Listen to how he does it.

On the Road: Quinoa and Teff

We are on the final leg of our “grain tour” of Washington and Montana where we met farmers and millers growing and processing heritage grains and grain alternatives. Kevin Murphy and Vicki Bradley are just two of the many links in the chain that makes it possible for this region to produce so many unusual – and delicious – cereal grains.

Is it boring? It’s not Provence.

Local food in Seattle. “The question—’Is it boring?’—is not one that people would ask about local eating in Provence or Thailand or Cajun Country, Louisiana.” (Plenty, Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, pg. 89.)