...follow up to previous post.

I thought it might have sounded a bit odd when I said previously that I was surprised that such an abundant array of vegetables could be grown in one garden in Ireland. I guess I assumed there was, but I was disappointingly surprised by the lack of local foods in the local store - yes, it is a chain and does have a good amount of Irish produce, but the more-organic store, The Green Man up the road doesn't have any fresh produce besides wild lettuce (but it does have some gorgeous Irish cheeses that I lustfully fancy). If there were such farms and gardens hidden in all these fields of green that not only characterize but cover the island, they should be for sale! Sharing my same thoughts, or at least confirming that my thoughts were not so odd, an article from the WSJ writes that chefs, particularly the ones voted best in the world, yay, are moving away from the molecular gastronomy trend and moving towards promoting the local movement - using more vegetables, less red meat, from the surrounding areas. WSJ writes, "Magnus Ek, 44 years old, the chef-proprietor of Oaxen Krog, believes the terroir approach to cuisine emerged after Scandinavian chefs worked and traveled abroad. "When we returned, we looked at our environment in a different way and suddenly discovered what we had on our doorstep, like fantastic wild berries and mushrooms," he says." 

If you could see all the beautiful produce that could be, and is, grown locally - why would you want to buy the rather tasteless tomatoes from Holland just for the sake of including a tomato in a salad? (sorry, Holland). 

and yes, the article uses the word terroir a lot, and in interesting ways - "terroiriste" - and after our terroir class, i will never be able to hear that word with a complex misunderstanding and slight distaste for the word. 

"There is great produce everywhere -- we have created a unique kitchen in the middle of nowhere, but if you just open your eyes and look, you can find local herbs, plants and berries," he says. "Every day there is something new popping up." Belgium chef Kobe Desramaults., WSJ.

Read also the WSJ interview with Michael Pollen, who understands that it's not so easy for everyone to eat locally given the changing seasons in different parts of the world. 

Two quotes to share:

WSJ: Does eating local, sustainable food have to be a lifestyle priority, or can people do it casually?

Mr. Pollan: People can do it casually. There are people who go [to a farmer's market] every week, and there are people who go when the mood strikes them. To eat well takes a little bit more time and effort and money. But so does reading well; so does watching television well. Doing anything with attention to quality takes effort. It's either rewarding to you or it's not. It happens to be very rewarding to me. But I understand people who can't be bothered, and they're going to eat with less care.

WSJ: What do you wish people here understood about their food that they don't now?

Mr. Pollan: We've been conditioned by artificially cheap food to be shocked when a box of strawberries costs $3.

But it's important to know that farmers aren't getting wealthy. When you see strawberries being sold for $1 a box, picture the kind of labor it takes to pick those strawberries and the kind of chemicals it takes to produce those kinds of strawberries without hand weeding.

Eight dollars for a dozen eggs sounds outrageous, but when you think that you can make a delicious meal from two eggs, that's $1.50. It's really not that much when we think of how we waste money in our lives.