Oxidation and Fermentation

While I make sure to consume as many blueberries as possible during their brief appearance at the Farmer’s market, not to mention raspberries, blackberries and the current hit around our house, black raspberries, I was recently cheered to hear that humbler (and cheaper) produce like dried red beans, plums and potatoes pack as much or more antioxidant power as the glamorous fruits. Read up on the 2004 USDA study at: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20040617/antioxidants-found-unexpected-foods. I think of that study, too, when tempted by the wiles of exotic fruits and berries which are touted in my favorite health food stores. Why rely on imported foods to get the benefits of foods which are growing all around you, in the case of blackberries and plums, usually for free?

Many of the super antioxidant foods are in season now, the time of maximum solar energy, and this underscores value of seasonal eating (you are probably experiencing more oxidative damage from sun exposure these days than usual) and suggests that the antioxidants are there because they confer some benefit to the plants themselves, as well. I am no doubt guilty of the sin of nutritionism a la Michael Pollan by suggesting one might eat the summer’s bounty for medical rather than culinary reasons, but such are we in America!

The warm weather is making all my fermentation projects go quickly these days. Currently on top of the fridge are kombucha made with kukicha (the twigs of the tea plant), red wine vinegar, yogurt pastry dough for tonight’s zuchinni quiche, and crème fraiche. On the back porch: umeboshi plums. I was so excited to make the plums and my favorite condiment, ume plum vinegar, when a friend dropped off a surplus of ume plums from his tree!

I’ll be co-teaching another fermentation workshop at the CoG this Saturday. This is from the CoG Log:

Saturday, July 18th 1-2:30 FREE!
Following up on the huge success of the Winter Workshops, Vanessa Barrington and Nishanga Bliss will take us on a further exploration of the wonders of fermentation. They'll demonstrate how to make classic half-sour dills, salvadorean curtido, and kombucha as well as show you how to ferment using whey to create lactofermented raita and homemade sodas, and a myriad of other condiments. As with our other workshops, this course is FREE and open to members and non-members alike! This is a great way to have your friends check out the CoG without obligation. They will also be welcome to shop the shelves at the warehouse after the workshop. Visit thecog.org for more info and location.

Summer Solstice

I’m saluting the solar max-out by getting my solar oven out of the garage and cooking some cranberry beans for soup and cornbread (with that fabulous Full Belly Farm freshly ground cornmeal and flour) in it for dinner. Traditional Chinese Medicine teaches that this is the most yang time of the year--a time of maximum expansion, activity and growth. The long days and warm weather can stimulate us into greater activity, but if our internal energy is not flowing smoothly, restlessness, anxiety, or insomnia can result. Choosing local, seasonal produce can help attune our bodies to the summertime. Visit a farmer’s market and indulge in oranges, berries, stone fruits such as apricots cherries, peaches and nectarines, plums, figs, melons and the year’s first apple varieties, or pick up vegetables such as corn, green beans, basil, summer squash, garlic, okra, cucumbers, avocadoes, tomatillos and the season’s first local tomatoes (spotted: super sweet Sungolds at the Tuesday Berkeley market).

The higher water content and more cooling nature of summer produce, combined with quicker cooking techniques, like sautéing, stir-frying, steaming and quick pickling are all in harmony with this season and our need to minimize both the time spent in the kitchen and our use of the oven. It’s a great time to experiment with “hypercooking,” where you select dishes that require a minimum of heating time. If I’m using a cast-iron skillet, for example, I’ll turn off the heat before a braised dish is done, and use residual heat to finish cooking. Two new finds at the local library: The Big Green Cookbook by Jackie Newgent and Cooking Green by Kate Hayhoe provoke by offering a myriad of ways to increase your green quotient by not only shopping for sustainable food but preparing it in a way to minimize energy use.

Most of us will do well eating more raw food during these long days, as their cooling effect is beneficial. Not only raw produce, but raw dairy products and animal foods (think ceviche, gravalax, and aioli) offer us a sensual blast of vitamins and enzymes. Those who enjoy strong digestion can eat over half of their foods raw in the summertime. People prone to more digestive challenges will do best with less raw food, but should consider eating more traditionally fermented foods, like raw sauerkraut and pickles, yogurt, buttermilk and crème fraiche, capers, kombucha, kefir and miso. Fermented foods are “super-raw” in terms of their nutritional goodness, in addition to providing immune-enhancing friendly bacteria. The warm temperatures of late are making my fermentation projects go faster than ever (current project: umeboshi plums and vinegar).

I recently had the delicious experience of cooking for a yoga retreat in Pescadero. Picking ollalieberries warmed by the sun and scooping up a couple bags of heirloom beans at Phipp’s Family Farm that weekend was a quintessential summer indulgence. The yoginis were especially fond of this soup, which is a quick-cooking summer staple around our house:

Red Lentil Dahl
In Chinese medicine, red lentils are categorized as having a bitter taste, which makes them particularly beneficial to the heart, the organ most important to nourish in the summertime.

6 cups water
1 cup red lentils
1 6” strip kombu seaweed
1 tablespoon olive oil or ghee
1 medium onion, diced small
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 carrots cut in ¼” thick rounds
3 celery stalks, diced small
1-2 lemons, juiced
1 knob of ginger, grated (about 3 tablespoons)
Sea salt
Chopped cilantro

Fill a large pot with the water and add the lentils, soaking overnight if possible. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, skimming off any foam that rises to the surface. Add the kombu to the pot, cover and turn the heat down low. Meanwhile, heat the oil or ghee in a skillet, and then add the onion. Sauté for 5 minutes or so, until it begins to turn clear. Add the mustard seeds and curry powder, and stir occasionally until the spices give off their fragrance. Now add the carrots and celery and continue to cook a few minutes more. Next, the veggies and spices go into the soup pot. Simmer covered until the lentils are soft and creamy, 10-30 minutes more. Squeeze the ginger and lemon juice into the pot, and add sea salt to taste. Serve garnished, if you like, with cilantro. This soup is amenable to the addition of almost any seasonal vegetable. Later in the summer I’ll add the kernels of a couple ears of corn with the carrots and celery and finish it with a big handful of arugula. You can eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner, throw in leftover grains, or top it with a big scoop of yogurt.
.

Making It Easy to Eat Local

The Bay Area foodshed includes a thriving network of farms. Many sell what they grow through Community Supported Agriculture, where you traditionally pay the farmer in advance to subscribe for a month, season, or year’s worth of produce. I have been getting an organic produce box from Full Belly Farm, one of the pioneers of local organic agriculture, for several years. Full Belly is a medium-size family farm in the Capay valley which grows a wonderful array of fruit, veggies, and animals sold through CSA and farmer’s markets. They have trained hundreds of would-be farmers in organic techniques through their internship program, and reach out to thousands of people during their annual Hoes Down Festival, opening the farm to host a “celebration of rural living” with organic food, farm activities, workshops, music, wagon rides through the fields, and more. Another great project of Full Belly has been the reintroduction of wheat growing to our area. Until a few years ago, wheat was no longer grown on a commercial scale in California. All of our wheat came from large farms in the Midwest and Northeast. Inspired in part by the locavore movement (the word was coined by a Richmond author); the farm began cultivating heirloom wheat strains which thrive in our climate. Now there are three organic farms selling locally grown wheat at our Farmer’s markets and you can buy a totally local loaf of bread from artisan baker Eduardo Morel (http://web.me.com/eduardomorell/morellsbread/Home.html.
Visit Full Belly farm’s website at http://www.fullbellyfarm.com/csa.html.

One thing I love about the CSA model is that it keeps me cooking. I walk three blocks to get my veggies every week and we are going to eat them, so matter what. I have been pushed to try things I might not buy of my own accord. When in doubt, I toss it in olive oil and sea salt and roast it at 450 until it gets crispy, or I pickle it. The only time we don't eat everything is in the summer when Full Belly gives us melons every week. My sweetheart and I are two of the few people in the world who hate melons, so we give away what my son can't eat.

CSA’s in San Francisco:
· Eatwell Farms: pay in advance for a month, quarter or year to pick up a wonderful weekly fruit and veggie box with optional pastured eggs at sites all over the Bay Area and beyond. Some sites have wait lists. Visit: http://www.eatwell.com/.
· Farm Fresh to You/ Capay Organic. This family farm will deliver to your door weekly, biweekly or monthly, and you can cancel at anytime. There is no waiting list to get in on a customizable box of fruit, veggies and flowers. Go to: http://farmfreshtoyou.com/index.php.
· Eating with the Seasons is a consortium of local family farms. Subscribe by the month, season, or year and pick up a customizable produce box to which you can add farm products locally roasted fair trade coffee , olive oil, eggs, spices, granola, and conserves. Take a look at: http://eatingwiththeseasons.com/.
· My Farm is an exciting twist on the CSA model: they will come and plant a garden in your backyard, tend it, harvest it and bring you a weekly box of garden grown produce from you and your neighbor’s gardens! Don’t worry, they test the soil for contamination before they plant. If you don’t have space to put in a garden, you can also subscribe to this ultra-local, urban CSA box. Yup, there is a wait list. Learn more at: http://myfarmsf.com/about.html.

...and in the East Bay:
· Grub Box. If I can ever let go of my beloved Full Belly Box, I’ll sign up for this one, which is grown in urban community gardens in Oakland and other sites in Alameda County. They not only take food stamps to pay for subscriptions, they offer a subsidized box to West Oakland residents ($12/wk) as well as sponsorship subscriptions ($24/wk) which allow you to help pay for a box for a needy family. Be inspired at: http://www.peoplesgrocery.org/staticpages/index.php/grub_box

Bay Area Meat CSA’s:
Omnivores who want to get real about eating local, sustainable meat should look into joining a local meat CSA to save money and give local farmers the support they need.
· Marin Sun Farms: Subscribe for six or twelve months and get local pasture-raised beef, lamb, pork, chicken and goat at a 20% or more discount off the prices you’ll pay at the Farmer’s market. Monthly pickups at locations all over the Bay Area. You can opt out of any single species, and choose from a selection of boxes containing roasts, steaks and/or ground meats, plus add-ons like bones and organ meats. $5-17/lb. All the details on their website at: http://www.marinsunfarms.com/meatclub.html.
· Clark Summit Farm Meat Club: I have been a member for several years and really enjoy the pasture-raised beef, pork, eggs, and sometimes chicken and veal from this family farm in Tomales. They have monthly pickups in Marin, SF and the East Bay. Wait list is 6-12 months long. $6-18/lb, plus bargain specials. Go to http://www.clarksummitfarm.com.
· Bay Area Meat CSA (BAMSCA): This was our original local meat CSA. After a few years, the organizers decided to switch from the traditional CSA format to a facilitated model: they provide technical support for members to organize whole animal buys themselves from BAMSCA’s network of local ranchers. Visit the website to join and find a local group who is planning a purchase. This is a great way to get the lowest prices on local meat without having to buy a whole animal directly yourself! Take a look at http://bamcsa.ning.com/.
· Sierra Farms Lamb: One of the ranchers who works with BAMSCA is Mel Thompson, who raises lamb on pasture near Oroville. Whole or half lambs go for $7/lb and you can contact him directly or work through the BAMSCA site if you’d like a smaller share. I have been ordering from Mel since last fall and savoring this tasty lamb at less than supermarket prices. Check out Mel’s page at: http://bamcsa.ning.com/profile/MelThompson.

Spring Cleaning

Spring is in full force and our thoughts turn to…cleansing? After 6 months of annoying health problems that acupuncture and herbs didn’t seem to help, I reluctantly did a three week cleanse a couple of months ago. My general rule is to eat as healthfully as possible 80-90% of the time (my definition of eating healthfully has changed over the years, of course), and not to worry about the rest. When faced with a dietary restriction, my natural instinct is to rebel. But my symptoms were nagging enough that I was willing to try anything. With motivation high, I spent a week detoxing off of caffeine so the cleanse wouldn’t be too much of a shock to my system. It was easier to follow than I expected, although I had to postpone a dinner invitation or two so I wouldn’t feel too deprived (how could I dine at the house of the Brownie Master [all organic, Fair Trade, cane juice and molasses sweetened brownies, no less]without indulging?).

Well, I am happy to report it worked. In fact, I felt great. My skin was clearer than it had been in years. The only annoying side effect was an increase in gas, which is a really common symptom among cleaners. I plan to follow my own advice and cleanse twice a year—around the equinoxes is an especially fortuitous time. Many annoying symptoms can be cleared with periodic cleanses, and they are a good way to support the body‘s own efforts at detoxification. I don’t recommend fasting as a detox method, as the body’s detox pathways require significant nutrients to function properly. The following it the cleanse I followed. It is food-based and relies on a number of well-known detoxifying foods. If you have specific substances you are trying to remove from the body or specific symptoms you want to treat, seek the advice of a trained acupuncturist, herbalist or other health care practitioner.

Refrain from: alcohol, caffeine, grains (except brown or wild rice and quinoa), nuts and seeds (except flax meal), dairy except for organic ghee, all packaged and refined foods

Choose:
Vegetables: Eat all types, as much as you wish. Raw vegetables are more cleansing, cooked ones are more strengthening. People who are robust and those cleansing in warmer climates can choose more raw foods (50% or more), those who are tired or deficient and those cleansing in cool weather should choose more cooked foods (75% or more).
Detoxifying veggies, eat often: Avocados, artichokes, asparagus, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, burdock, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chives, cucumbers, eggplant, garlic, jicama, kohlrabi, leeks, mushrooms, onions, peppers, rutabaga, radishes, especially daikon and Spanish black radish, sea vegetables, turnips and
Leafy Greens: all, such as arugula, beet , daikon, and turnip greens, dandelion greens, kale and collard greens, mustard greens, Swiss chard, spinach, lettuce of all types, edible flowers
Fruit: Choose any fresh or frozen fruit, except bananas and coconut. Try to eat twice as many vegetables as fruit. No dried or canned fruit.
Fats and Oils: Choose only expeller pressed organic olive oil, unrefined coconut oil or ghee for cooking, and organic expeller pressed flax oil and olive oil for dressing salads. Flax meal may be added to smoothies or sprinkled on other foods.
Beans: One to three servings of organic lentils, mung beans, chickpeas or other beans daily. Avoid unfermented soy (tofu or soy milk), tempeh and shoyu/tamari OK.
Grains: One to three servings of organic brown rice, wild rice or quinoa daily.
Animal Foods: Choose from organic or pastured chicken, beef, lamb, goat or pork and wild-caught, low mercury seafood only. Up to 4 2-3oz. servings per day. Up to 3 organic or pastured eggs daily. Prepare animal products by boiling, baking, roasting or poaching or raw (no raw egg whites). No cured, smoked or preserved meats, but canned salmon, sardines OK if your budget is tight.
Seasonings: natural wheat-free tamari or shoyu, chickpea miso, umeboshi plum, raw apple cider or other raw vinegars, fresh lemon juice, celtic sea salt, real salt or other unprocessed salt, fresh or dried organic herbs and spices, raw honey, nutritional yeast
Fermented foods: raw sauerkraut or lactofermented pickles, ideally with each meal
Beverages: Aim for ½ your body weight in ounces of water a day (average is 8-10 ounces), more if you exercise vigorously. Choose filtered water, herbal teas, kombucha, beet kvass, freshly pressed vegetable juices or dilute freshly pressed fruit juices. I sometimes drank water-processed organic decaf coffee, but that was bending the rules a bit!

Shopping for A Better World

Week of 4/27/09	Safeway (Castro)	Rainbow Grocery	Farmer's Market (North Berkeley)
Onions	$1.49/lb	$.77/lb	$1.50/lb
Carrots	.99/lb	1.79/lb	2/lb
Sugar Snap Peas	4.99/lb (non-organic)	4.99/lb	4/lb
Radishes	3/$1 (non-organic)	1.99/bunch	1/bunch
Celery	2.19/lb	2.29/lb	2/lb
Garlic	5.33/lb	4.99/lb	5/lb
Cilantro	.59/bunch (non-organic)	1.59/bunch	1.25/bunch
Eggs	3.99-4.49/doz (organic)	4.55/doz (organic) 7.50-8.50/doz (pastured)	4/doz (organic) 6-8/doz (pastured)
Butter	4/lb (non-organic)	6.29/lb	$10/lb (pastured)
Brown Rice	1.89/lb	.97/lb	2/lb
Lentils	1.59/lb	1.61/lb	n/a
Strawberries	4.79/lb	4.59/lb	4/lb
Quinoa	n/a	3.09/lb	n/a
Asparagus	4.79/lb (non-organic)	5.99/lb	5/lb
Green Onions	.79/bunch (non-organic)	.99/bunch	1/bunch
Cauliflower	2.39/head	2.99/head	2/head
Vital Vittles Real Bread	5.19/loaf	4.65/loaf	4/loaf
Broccoli	2.39/bunch	1.39/lb	2/lb
Whole Milk	4.49/ ½ gall	3.70/ ½ gall	n/a
Walnuts	7.49/lb (non-organic)	9.39/lb	8/lb

 

If our main distinguishing feature as Americans is that we consume far more than our share of the world's resources (and apparently drive the world economy by so doing), is more conscientious shopping the best way we can help save the planet? I hope not the best, but concede that it is important! And shopping is an unavoidable part of post-industrial life. Last week I repeated my comparison shopping experiment, this time adding in a visit to Safeway, the third largest supermarket chain in the nation. The only time I normally shop at a major supermarket is when on a road trip. It had been years since I ventured into the Safeway nearest my office. Things had changed: there were more organic products available than ever, and an interesting grind-your-own nut butter bar had sprung up where there used to be deli items. Are supermarkets taking cues from natural food stores?

I bought all organic except if unavailable as noted. A surprising find was some organic animal products at the supermarket, including organic chicken (2.99/lb for a whole chicken) and ground beef (5.99/lb, comparable to Farmer's market prices), and organic milk (a national brand, inferior to our local Straus) but no butter. However, it should be noted that the produce almost all came from two large producers, Cal Organics and Grimmway, which are basically factory-farmed organic. By contrast, the coop, Rainbow grocery, carries a mix of factory and small farms and the Farmer's market is all smaller farms.

While the prices were variable at each market, the overwhelming difference was in the quality of the food and the entire shopping experience. No matter how many little faux thunderstorms moisten the produce at Safeway each day, the quality will never approach that of food fresh picked the morning of the farmer's market. While I ran through Safeway as quickly as possible, only waving at an acquaintance I met in the aisles, the people-watching at the coop was significantly better, though it was super-crowded as it was coupon day. Research indicates that the average adult does not enjoy grocery shopping. I'm sure the average farmer's market shopper does! My trip started off with a bang when Michael Pollan himself was in line in front of me in line and I actually mustered up the courage to tell him I am a fan. He acknowledged me graciously and ran off to get those fabulous Lucero farms alpine strawberries. I chatted with friends, strangers, farmers and producers, my son played with the other kids in the grassy median, we munched with delight the season's first stone fruit, juicy apriums, and an hour and a half flew by. I was right in line with recent research which indicates that the average Farmer's market shopper has ten times the number of conversations while shopping than the average supermarket shopper.

Another overwhelming difference between the supermarket and the coop and farmer's market was that the latter sell real food, while the former mostly sells frankenfood. This is highlighted by the issue of GMO's. Jeffery Weeks, GMO expert and the founder of the Institute for Responsible Technology, estimates that about 75% of the products at the average supermarket contain GMO's, and this was no doubt true at Safeway, although I believe nothing on my shopping list was contaminated. Since Rainbow carries many processed foods, there are no doubt GMO foods on the shelves there, although their high rate of organic products and no-high fructose corn syrup policies certainly limit the amounts. Check out this post on GMO products you are likely still using: http://www.alittlebitofgreen.com/2009/04/27/7-gmo-products-i-bet-you-are-still-using/. I was happy to note that Dagoba organic chocolate is labeled as containing non-GMO soy lecithin!

My efforts to avoid GMO's were mostly successful this week, with the exception of a pre-half-marathon spaghetti feed hosted by the Weott volunteer fire department which was no doubt made with corn, soy and canola if not more. While I was happy to see the bottled salad dressing didn't contain partially hydrogenated oil, it was made with soy and/or canola and wasn't organic. Why have we forgotten the simple art of making salad dressing? How can even self-respecting conscious people bring bottled salad dressing to potlucks? It's vastly better, cheaper and healthier than the commercial stuff…I see that this is becoming a pet peeve. See my previous post "Blameless Salad" for a great, non-GMO salad dressing recipe. Happy shopping!

Join the No GMO Challenge

I was off in the Happiest Place on Earth for my birthday last week and missed the start, Earth Day, of the No GMO challenge. But now I am jumping on board and I urge you to do so, too. Follow this link to read all about it: http://realfoodmedia.com/no-gmo-challenge/.

I have been studying GMO's in depth for a couple of months now and I am convinced that GM foods are the biggest environmental and health threat we face today. There are many documented health threats from GM foods. For example, in a well-designed, double blinded study in the UK in 1996, young rats fed GM potatoes were found to have damage to most organ systems, including the thymus, spleen, brain, liver, and testicles along with potentially cancerous proliferative cell growth in their stomachs and large intestines (Pusztai, 1999). As is typical of the whole GMO story, the potatoes got approved by the UK government anyway. One of the creepiest risks: the potential that transgenes, which are not necessarily broken down by digestive processes as the manufacturers claim, can infect our precious gut bacteria.

GM foods permeate the food supply in the U.S. The major crops include soy, canola, corn, sugar beets and cotton (used in food in cottonseed oil). Most processed foods, if not labelled organic, contain derivatives from one of these crops and are likely to contain GMO's. The website above has great guidelines for how to seek out non-GMO foods and how to spot hidden sources of GMO's. I'll be posting regularly over the next month on my adventures in non-GMO eating and my concerns about their threat to health, food and even herbal medicine! Stay tuned.

Date with the Desert

I’m freshly back from a week-long sojourn on the East side of our state, down to Death Valley via the most romantic of California highways, 395. It traverses the back side of the Sierras through lovely, hot-spring studded valleys, passing the lower 48’s highest peak, Mt.Whitney, and approaches the lowest spot in the Western hemisphere, Death Valley’s Badwater, at -282 feet. This California is so far from the urban bustle I usually inhabit as to seem to be another state, if not, another planet.


Road trips are a challenge to local and sustainable eaters. Sometimes principles must be sacrificed and you just try to find good food, or failing that, food.

The culinary Mt.Whitney of the trip was dinner on our first night at a Basque restaurant, JT’s, in Garberville, Nevada. Family style dining is almost extinct in the Bay Area, but it lives on in the Basque tradition. You are seated, sometimes at a dramatically long table you’ll share with other diners, and immediately start in on bread and butter (why does restaurant butter always taste so good?), followed by a tureen of soup, in this case, chicken, plain but crisp salad, next beef stew and those wonderful Basque beans before your entrée. We tried tender lamb chops with handfuls of whole roasted garlic cloves, and a platter of my first ever bacon-y sweetbreads (!). All served with French fries, made from potatoes, in-house. Was the meat from the cows and sheep I saw grazing in the fields all around, tended by downy-cheeked Basque shepherds? I didn’t pop the bubble and ask. We made space in our dessert stomachs for the scoop of ice cream and lovely decaf which came next. All this, served with a bottle of house wine for the table, with a cocktail, for 3, came to $51. Western Nevada has a handful of Basque eateries, but JT’s is the finest I have tried.

Any road trip across California or the West will make one wonder what all the fuss about grass-fed beef is about. Throughout the Western states, in the most unlikely places, you find cows, happily munching on grass. No one has been able to figure out how to raise cattle in confinement, so the vast majority are born and live at least the first part of their lives with their mothers, on pasture. While much grazing on public and private lands may be overgrazing, it doesn’t have to be. The problems come with finishing cattle, which is done almost universally on the feedlots and in the CAFO’s which are such environmental and ethical nightmares. Why? Cost, government regulation, and consumer demand. American consumers supposedly prefer the color, taste and texture of grain-finished beef. I hope the rising interest in pastured animal products will drive the abandonment of the CAFO/feedlot system. When I am on the road and don’t have access to truly ethically raised meats, I go vegetarian, look for wild fish, checking my Fish Guide, choose lamb which I've heard is not generally grown on feedlots, or sometimes opt for beef as in the sweetbreads above because these animals at least spent part of their lives on grass.

The culinary Badwater of our trip was Lone Pine, last stop before Death Valley and departure point for trips up Mt. Whitney. Lured by the prospect of a venison burger, we were painfully reminded of how low American coffee-shop food can go. We had taken refuge indoors that night, daunted by the 45-mile an hour winds buffeting the Owens valley. The town redeemed itself in the morning when I found locally-roasted fair trade organic coffee to fuel my run up through the psychedelic and historic Alabama hills with snow-capped Whitney beckoning ahead. I gaze upon that mountain with an inner smile, remembering climbing it as a teenager.

The Holy Grail of desert food has got to be the date shake. Of course mixing dates into a vanilla milkshake is completely over the top! But in the middle of a long hot desert afternoon there is nothing finer. I was sad to discover they are not raising dates commercially in Death Valley anymore. Heading home, after stopping by Tacopa, site of an old-fashioned, sex segregated county-run hot spring, we heard that nearby China Ranch Date farm was worth a stop. And it was well worth drive down their windy dirt driveway through a hallucinogenic canyon to this family farm/oasis/nature preserve for a thick date shake and a stroll along the shady creek and through the cactus nursery.


I do have an emergency box of mac n’cheese and a couple of cans of black beans in our camping supplies, but in general, I relish the chance to cook and eat real food when camping. Our first camping night we had Prather ranch burgers, tucked into airy ciabatta from Schat bakery, a local favorite in Bishop and Mammoth, greened with a handful of Fully Belly farms mizuna doused with vinaigrette. Gazing at the the alpenglow on the stunning backside of the snowy Sierras, I was prompted once again to wonder: Why does a good meal camping taste so much better than the same good meal anywhere else?