Eat. Drink. Better.

Our family traveled through Salt Lake City, UT, during our National Parks Extravaganza this summer on our way between Grand Teton National Park and Grand Canyon National Park. As always when we travel, we try to find local independent restaurants that source locally. Generally this is easy to do by looking for foodie blogs in a target area and either searching their posts or asking them directly for recommendations. I found the very helpful Gourmand Syndrome, who suggested Tin Angel Cafe.

The Tin Angel Cafe is right across from Pioneer Park at 365 West 400 South. (Addresses in Salt Lake City and in much of the rest of Utah, after some initial confusion, are incredibly helpful — an address actually provides directions to the location.) The funky ambiance manages to avoid both kitsch and preciousness, not a mean feat. The outdoor patio is a fun space overlooking the park across the street, but temperatures were in the 90s at 8:30 on a mid-June evening, and we opted to sit inside. Read the rest of this entry »

When my family was planning this summer’s National Parks Extravaganza, I did a little research on local eating in the cities through which we were traveling as we moved from park to park – Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle. As expected, I was able to find multiple restaurants and often a farmers’ market open the day of our travel through each city. However, I figured the National Parks food service offerings themselves wouldn’t even be part of my search – of course there’d be nothing local there! It was food service food. Even worse, government food service food. Something to be avoided when possible and put up with when unavoidable. Certainly nothing promising for a fan of local foods, or any foodie for that matter.

Our very first stop forced me to rethink that assumption. Boy, did I underestimate the potential of the National Parks food service. The food was often very good, and several stops were a traveling locavore’s dream. Yellowstone was a standout. Read the rest of this entry »

What was a “look, cool: wild yeast-fermented beer!” afterthought to my post on sustainable brewing has met an indignant commenter crowd who found my two-sentence description rightfully vague and careless. And so, as penance suggested by commenter koelschip, here is a complete guide to making lambic beer. Whether you are an old Belgian couple who ferments outside or a homebrewing web user with closed wild yeast inoculations in your basement, I think we can all agree that sour beer is delicious. And the greenness isn’t so bad either: reclaimed oak barrels, energy-free inoculation and all natural ingredients (provided you don’t start with the sham fruit syrups and packaged yeast…) contribute to its carbon-reduced diet.

Step #1: Move to Belgium

For purists, this is a must. Only in the Senne valley of Belgium can the brewer encounter the true wild yeasts of lambic beers which contain the essential bacterias, Bretanomyces bruxellensis and B. lambicus. In fact, to move to Belgium is the only way to enjoy an authentic lambic experience without compromising the eco-friendliness of the endeavor with trans-Atlantic shipping.

Step #2: Mash Up

A lambic wort is traditionally comprised of 60-70% barley malt and 30-40% unmalted wheat. Read the rest of this entry »

Oh say can can you see beyond the jammed big box checkout aisles as Americans rev up for the Fourth of picnic parade this weekend? Let us all remember that the most patriotic food on the party menu won’t be processed, shipped 1,700 miles or stuffed in multiple 100-calorie packs. But that doesn’t mean deprivation. On my menu this weekend you’ll find what I consider the three most patriotic foods: Local beer, fresh greens and a brat from beef cattle raised on grass in a pasture.

Guess I’ve always been an unconventional American patriot. No red, white and blue holiday t-shirts for yours truly. I haven’t seen a parade in years. But I do put a lot of thought into the picnic menu. The Fourth of July reminds me to remember and rekindle Thomas Jefferson’s vision of our democracy as citizens’ everyday participation in the political system – in my case, through conscious food choices.

Make a democratic statement with your food choices this weekend. Here are the criteria that resulted in my patriotic choices: Read the rest of this entry »

Who’s thirsty?

Between the barbecues, national holidays and beach vacations, cold beers become a necessity in many households over the summer months. As we pay more attention to the way our food is grown, harvested and transported, perhaps we owe it to the environment to be as vigilant with our beer. But how easy is it to find environmentally-conscientious breweries?

Beer brewing is not the most environmentally-friendly of activities, particularly regarding water usage. On average, six gallons of water are required to brew one gallon of beer - a ratio that must be drastically reduced in dry areas. Wastewater, carbon emissions and huge energy generators also contribute to the environmental sins of the industry.

But more breweries are taking notice of the eating public’s environmental awakening. While the biggest multinational breweries are beginning to make structural changes that promote sustainability, most of the greenest beers are (unsurprisingly) local and regional ones. Microbreweries are great agents of change because they interact with the communities that surround them. Their smaller size and community feeling make them more amenable to change, so it is easier to petition them and request more sustainable practices. Below are the top five eco-minded, North American mid-sized breweries: Read the rest of this entry »

With Memorial Day Weekend just around the corner, millions of people will be firing up their grills to celebrate an American past time. Here are some quick tips to keeping your barbecue safe, waste-free, and fun!

1. What’s the greenest grilling option? Electric and propane grills are definitely better than charcoal. If that’s your only option though, try using cleaner burning, natural charcoals. A great list can be found here at GreenYour.com. If you’ve got your heart set on the flavor that comes from grilling over wood, Woodflame grills were the most eco-friendly option I could find.

2. Skip the meat. As if you didn’t need another reason to lower your meat intake, I also recently came across this health-related article on the 5 Worst Foods to Barbecue. (Hint, none of them are tofu.) You can replace the burgers and hot dogs with some vegetarian knock-offs (respectively, I recommend Amy’s burgers which come in a variety of flavors, and Lightlife Tofu Pups.) Or you could even try making your own ahead of time. I have to admit, I’ve never tried grilling my black bean or white bean burgers, but it’s worth a shot! Read the rest of this entry »

We periodically roast a chicken on a Sunday (will post that recipe another time). Depending on what time of year it is and how everyone’s health is, I use the leftover chicken to either make my famous chicken soup (famous to my kids) or my favorite curried chicken salad. It also depends on the quantity and type of leftovers!

If we can’t find an organic, cruelty-free, free-wheelin’ chicken, I don’t do the roasting bit and use some type of chicken meat substitute (soy or wheat gluten) to make this yummy salad. Works well either way.

Ingredients
Quantities are totally subjective - it is all dependent on how much chicken you are using. Use your best culinary judgment and do what suits you best!

Read the rest of this entry »

Happy Earth Day! One our favorite local dining spots is both a microbrewery and a leader in using local vendors to source their ingredients. They have a great beer bread appetizer, served with blue cheese butter and cheddar-chive butter. We order it almost every time we go there, and I finally decided that I wanted to recreate it at home. Surprisingly, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be, with almost identical results. If you are looking for an incredibly simple quick bread that uses ingredients you are almost certain to have on hand, this is your recipe. I also easily duplicated the cheddar-chive butter, as well.

Read the rest of this entry »