All posts filed under: International Food

Exploring new fruits and vegetables

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I’ve made a promise to myself to buy fruits and vegetables that I’ve never heard of before, or have never tried when I find them at a market or store. The idea behind this is that if more people buy these things than more market producers will grown them and the diversity of food that we find in our stores will continue to grow. There’s so much more food out there than what we are given in a grocery store. With that in mind, we went to a market recently that had a number of things I’ve never seen before.

Cauliflower and Lentil Curry

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I decided to try out this cauliflower curry that I found a couple of weeks ago. I love all things curry so I figured it would be delicious, and it was! We had just a bit of rice left in our pantry so I decided to add it, and I adjusted the spices a tad. I also adjusted the lentils, but I don’t think it was necessary. I made a lentil shepherds pie earlier in the week and had some left over (roughly 1.5 cups), so that’s what I used. If you’re cooking them for this recipe, I would use the original amount of 2.5 cups. I’m one who loved a crunchy texture, so I served this with two pieces of toasted sourdough (naan would have been ideal). I forgot to take a picture of it once it was finished. So here’s my leftovers and empty bowl. Whoops!

New country, new fun fruit!

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I’ve started volunteering with a community center in Sydney that’s doing some pretty great work. The Lane Cove Community Center has a host of volunteers that provide various services.  The garden volunteers go to the houses of folks in the community that can no longer maintain their gardens. The idea is that if the volunteers work in the gardens, then the home owners will be able to stay in their homes longer.

Chocolove

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Alright, I’m back with a new time zone! We’ve finally made it to Sydney and this is the first day where things aren’t completely crazy (it’s Wednesday, we got here on Monday). So, I wanted to start my new adventure by telling you about one of my favorite chocolate brands, Chocolove. To be fair, I’ve only had their dark chocolate, but I’m assuming the milk chocolate bars are just as delicious. Right now, my favorite is their Chilies and Cherries in Dark Chocolate. Chocolove is a chocolate bar company that takes their social responsibility seriously. They take a variety of approaches towards ethics, social issues, and sustainability (see below), because they believe that each of these approaches addresses a different need for both the customer and the farmer. Read more here.  

We Ate Grasshoppers!

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I didn’t take this picture, it’s from The Black Ant’s twitter page. When I first read about entomophagy (the practice of eating insects), it was through an NPR article (The Joys and Ethics of Insect Eating) that was introducing the reader to the company Little Herds. One thing that Robert Nathan Allen, the founder of Little Herds, mentioned was the greatest barrier to Americans eating insects what the “ick factor”. The article, as a whole, was very compelling. After reading it, I promptly went to the Little Herds website and bought the chocolate chip cookie mix and some of the cricket flour. Since buying these, I’ve made chocolate chip cookies, bread, and a potpie with cricket flour. At first, Jason was not a fan of this. To be fair, I started off with the cookies which was a mistake. The cookies were good. But Jason might be obsessed with chocolate chip cookies and didn’t appreciate the change in flavor (even though it’s slight). The bread and potpie were much easier to get by him. Read …

LA Times Reveals Disturbing Investigative Report on the Living Conditions in Mexico’s Megafarms

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One of the increasingly difficult aspects about trying to lead a socially and environmentally conscious lifestyle is discovering articles like NPR’s “Mexican Megafarms Supply U.S. Market Are Rife with Labor Abuses” and the LA times “Product of Mexico” investigative series. After a while, it starts to feel like no foods are safe. What can one person do about the living conditions of farms in a different country? Well, I don’t know if it’ll help – but I plan to write letters to all of the companies names in this report and tell them that as a customer I demand more oversight of the companies from which they receive their produce. Read more here.

Culinary Adventures in Peru

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Fair warning, this post is picture heavy. My husband and I recently went to Peru and hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. After the first part our trip (the hike) we spent some time in Lima. One of the days that we were there, we decided to take a culinary food tour that I want to talk. We booked these tickets months in advance and I was so excited once the day finally came. Read more here.

Rodale’s Online Shopping Haven

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If you’ve never heard of the website Rodale’s, take the time to do a quick online search. It’s incredible, they have clothing, fitness accessories, beauty products, food stuffs, and items for the home and garden. Personally, I’m tempted to buy the garland pictured below, hang it against our huge window and hang all of our holiday cards from it with clothes pins. According to this part of the website, Rodale’s is a place for people who care about their health, the environment, and their family, but don’t feel that they should have to sacrifice style, comfort, or quality to live in “harmony with nature.” Rodale’s is also for people who “believe that the people who make your products are valuable human beings who deserve to be treated with dignity.” Read more here.

Defining Fair Trade

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Since we’re getting closer to the gift-giving holidays, I thought I would post some information on a couple of different shops that offer fair trade items that could make wonderful presents. I’m currently working on this, and it will be posted under Responsible Shopping soon (hopefully next week). When I started looking at all of these shops, I realized that while I knew some aspects of what defined fair trade, I didn’t feel confident that I could accurately explain it to someone else. So I decided to do some research to teach myself. Read More.

Little Herds

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So, I’ve known that there are a lot of cultures our there that practice entomophagy (eating insects) for awhile. And, like most Americans that idea has made me squirm a bit, despite being 100% open to the idea. I think it’s the legs. In April, I read a really interesting article, The Joys and Ethics of Insect Eating, on NPR about eating insects that this great organizations called Little Herds. They are a small group of people based in Austin, Texas. They travel around the country trying to provide your every day American with the opportunity to try insects. On the main page of their website, they state that: With demand for meat rising around the world, and many nations facing starvation and food deficiencies, we know we have to change the way we view food. Current farming practices are ravaging the environment, polluting the water and air, causing deforestation, overfishing, and contributing to the rise in infectious diseases. Cultivating insects as food addresses each of these problems. But in North American and in Europe, …