Monthly Archives: August 2008

Scenes From Slow Food Nation

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The artsy display at the olive oils tasting pavilion.

Like a culinary Woodstock, crowds of foodies continue to congregate at this weekend’s Slow Food Nation celebration in San Francisco to support all that’s sustainable, organic, family-raised, handcrafted, traditionally made, and downright delicious.

An expected 50,000 are expected to attend lectures, films, concerts, and tastings that illuminate and showcase why access to good food made without chemicals, antibiotics, genetic engineering, and harm to the environment is a right we all should have.

Slow Food is a global organization founded about 20 years ago in Rome, when citizens rose up in ire against the planned opening of a McDonald’s by the landmark Spanish Steps.

Endive grown by Solano's California Vegetable Specialties

This is Slow Food’s first mega event in the United States. Most of the events already are sold out, including the super-popular Tasting Pavilions, where visitors can sample everything from charcuterie to pickles to spirits to cheese, in focused, educational tastings.

Swiss chard and other veggies growing in the Victory Garden

But one of the best free events is still open to all comers. Through Aug. 31, the market in Civic Center Plaza will showcase the best of the best from California farmers and producers.

Elephant Heart plums from Blossom Bluff Orchards in Fresno

Here’s your chance to sample and buy Frog Hollow Farm peaches, Marian Farms biodynamic raisins from Fresno, Stinson Beach-based Ancient Organics’ ghee, Lagier Farms’ Bronx grapes from Escalon, and plenty more.  Additionally, nosh on gourmet prepared foods, including novel ice cream flavors from Ici Ice Creams in Berkeley, 100 percent grass-fed hot dogs from San Francisco’s Let’s Be Frank, and Vietnamese street food from San Francisco’s Out the Door.

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Beer Trumps Wine, or Does It?

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Apparently, suds rule over vino among today’s imbibers, ages 30 to 49. That, according to a recent Gallup Poll that showed beer’s lead over wine and spirits has returned to double-digits for the first time since 2002, particularly among drinkers in that age group.

The annual Consumption Habits poll shows that in combined data from Gallup ‘s 2004 and 2005 surveys, drinkers between the ages of 30 and 49 were about as likely to prefer wine as beer.  Now, drinkers in this age bracket have shifted back to beer, with an average of 47 percent in the combined 2007-2008 data saying they most often drink beer.  Drinking preferences among adults ages 21-29 have remained stable in recent years, with the majority showing a wide preference for beer.

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Eggs and Toast — The Glam Way

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Take a seat for a decadent treat. Photo by Heather Wiley, Drew Altizer Photography.

That’s the only way to describe the luxe “Eggs and Toast” package at the Redwood Room Bar in the Clift Hotel in San Francisco.

Forget over-easy. Think Tsar Nicoulai California Estate Osetra Caviar (from sustainable farmed sturgeon). This is no time for whole-wheat, either. Think crispy potato chips instead. And coffee has given way to premium Champagne.

Ahh, that’s the kind of eggs and toast I’m talking about. It’s all part of the Redwood Room’s 75th anniversary celebration.

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Marveling At Miracle Fruit

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Hallelujah, I’ve experienced a miracle — albeit a modest one.

It didn’t involve seeing Jesus on a tortilla or the Virgin Mary in a rust stain on the side of a building. No, my miracle involved a teeny-tiny red berry known as “miracle fruit.”

Haven’t heard the buzz on this fruit, Synsepalum dulcificum, that’s native to West Africa? Well, brothers and sisters, let me fill you in. I’ve been intrigued by the fruit ever since reading a New York Times story about it in May.

This small fruit purports to have an amazing effect when eaten: It changes the taste of anything you stick in your mouth afterwards, particularly things that are sour or bitter, leaving them seemingly sugary sweet.

Admittedly, I was more a curious skeptic than any kind of true believer. So when my friend, Elaine Villamin, winemaker at her family’s Eden Canyon Vineyards in Creston, Calif. (believed to be the only Filipino-American estate winery in the country) asked me to come to a miracle fruit event she was hosting last weekend, I jumped at the chance. Elaine planned to have attendees test the reaction of the fruit on her wines, as well as a variety of other foods, including Tabasco, white vinegar, pickles, Spam, and her homemade pot roast. Talk about a rather curious last supper.

The event was held at Periscope Cellars in Emeryville. Trivia fans will note that its warehouse area was the set for the first season of Bravo TV’s “Top Chef.” The Kenmore appliances are still there as proof.

About three dozen folks forked over $12 in hopes of having a miracle last Saturday afternoon. The seeds ($3 each and just a tad larger than pomegranate ones) were picked just a couple days ago in South Florida, where they are grown by Curtis Mozie who sells them through his Web site.

We were instructed to pop the seed into our mouth, to suck on the smidgen of pulp that’s pretty tasteless, then spit out the bitter seed. We also were told the effect of the protein, miraculin, would last about an hour. Then we made our way around the tables set up with condiments and foods, trying each with eager anticipation.

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