“When you think of all the news you’ve seen about Louisiana, what images flash through your mind?” asked Mike Voisin, a seventh-generation Louisiana oysterman. Voisin, the CEO of Motivatit Oysters, paced around the air-conditioned conference room as he spoke to his visiting guests.

An assortment of bloggers and food writers from across the States–hand-picked to observe Louisiana’s seafood industries and partake in the state’s diverse food culture–sat around the conference room table conjuring up images: submerged homes, flood-stranded dogs, desperate men and women on rooftops waving white sheets for help, oil-slicked wildlife, and tar-soaked birds.

“We are not what the perception of what the media has made us,” Voisin said. Despite the fact that almost one hundred percent of the state’s fisheries are open and functioning and have passed national and state testing for health and safety, much of the seafood buying public fear the Gulf-state’s products aren’t safe to eat. According to Voisin, the unprecedented attention of the media has given Louisiana’s seafood industry a bad reputation.

“It’s kind of hard to get that image of an oil slicked pelican out of your mind when you’ve seen it a million times, isn’t it?” Voisin said. “Louisiana has a branding problem…We have shrimp, crabs, and oysters but what we don’t have are people willing to buy.”

The uniquely difficult challenge facing the Louisiana seafood industry is exactly why Louisiana Seafood Promotions and Marketing Board decided they needed to reach out to consumers in a revolutionary way–through food.

An Invitation to see the real Louisiana

When it comes to news headlines, a couple of things sell really well: natural disasters, tragic loss of life, celebrity gossip, hero stories, and adorable animals.  When one single news event touches all these aspects with one soaring narrative, it’s a media goldmine.

Blame it on the perfect storm of natural disasters that’s befallen Louisiana over the past seven years, but the state has certainly been the source of a lot of headline news. With Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Deep Water Horizon’s oil spill in April of 2010, international media teams swooped into the coastal state to document the disasters. Stories of tragedy, redemption, faith, hope, celebrity interest, and distress were easy to find in this Creole/Cajun state.

Thanks to a huge influx of money to the state of Louisiana, much progress has been made in just one year since the oil spill. Houses and businesses have been rebuilt, fisheries and rice fields are producing again, and tourism is improving (According to the tourism board, the state earned 5.3 billion dollars in tourism last year). Yet despite the positive changes and commitment to becoming a strong and successful state, Louisiana’s seafood industry is struggling.

Seeing a problem, Louisiana’s Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board did some research and quickly realized the general public couldn’t get over the horrifying images of the past so easily. So, in order to change perceptions about the seafood and motivate people to start buying Louisiana seafood again, they began devising a different sort of plan to get the word out.

Rather than coming up with slick slogans, cunning advertising, or a give away contest, the Seafood Board decided to call upon a handful of trusted voices in the food world to come and experience Louisiana from a culinary and cultural point of view. Who better to get the word out about a food crisis than a bunch of hungry and inquisitive food bloggers?

Bloggers (Amateur Gourmet, Serious Eats, Family Fresh Cooking, and Three Many Cooks) observe the day's blue crab catch.

The ever-gracious Blake Killian assisted the Seafood Board to create an itinerary that included tours of fisheries and seafood processing plants, restaurants, food festivals, interviews with chefs and culinary professionals, and day trips to observe the state from a local’s point of view.

They asked people like Matt Armendariz of Matt Bites, Pim Techamuanvivit of Chez Pim, Adam Roberts of Amateur Gourmet, Maggy Keet of Three Many Cooks, and a handful of other top food voices to report back to our millions of readers just what we learned. So when Blake Killian asked me to join this incredible group, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. I was honored to be asked to attend this week-long event based in NOLA.

Post Katrina Crabbing

I flew to New Orleans for the first time. I was immediately struck by the city’s rich history and incredible culinary past. I was anxious to learn about the French-Quarter, the city’s rich past, and taste the culinary treasures of the city. After a weekend of relentless eating* the group was bonded and ready to explore the factual aspects of Louisiana seafood.

We rode west to Slidell, Louisiana where Pontchartrain Blue Crabs fisheries were located. Lake Pontchartrain was an area hard hit by Hurricane Katrina. Along with the destruction of homes, businesses, estuaries, boats, docks, and wildlife, the storm destroyed the fishermen’s only true link to income: crab processing plants.

Lake Pontchartrain Blue Crab Meat

A handful of us grabbed our cameras and headed out via boat onto Lake Pontchartrain to observe a fishermen catching pots of crabs. As with any fishing endeavor, catching crabs is time a consuming and body-taxing job. There are pots to pull from the water, crabs to sort through (be careful of their claws, the really can hurt you!), and baiting to be done with each and every trap. Though the work may seem appealing for anyone who loves the sea, the only sexy thing about crabbing was the guy catching the crustaceans.

Maggy Keet of Three Many Cooks photographs something beautiful

After grabbing a small pot of crabs, the group returned to see the next step in the fishing process.  We were introduced to Gary Bauer, owner of Pontchartrain Blue Crabs, a no nonsense man with a thick Louisiana accent. Bauer told us how his modest processing facility was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The lake’s water raised up over 18 feet and washed everything away. Everything, that is, except a concrete slab.

“I built this dock around this slab, just to remind me,” he said laughing.

Gary Bauer, Owner of Lake Pontchartrain Crab

A friendly man with a clear understanding of his business’ integral role as a commercial link between fishermen, their catch, and the consumer, Bauer was compelled to quickly rebuilt his facility after the hurricane. If he didn’t rebuild, he explained, the local fishermen and crab-pickers wouldn’t have work.

“I rebuilt as soon as possible to keep my workers,” Bauer said.

It was quiet outside on the dock, save for the sound of boats pulling up to unload their catch.  Before stepping through the doors into a temperature controlled processing center, we nervously chuckled and snapped photos of ourselves wearing not so flattering hairnets.

Once inside, many of us were surprised to find tables lined with men and women . There were not machines, here, only hard working men and women doing the monotonous work of cleaning each and every Lake Pontchartrain’s blue crab of its meat. There was no music or news reports playing inside the processing room. In the sterile white walled space,  crab pickers pulled tiny shards of soft crab meat from cracked shells.  Hardly anyone spoke as they used plastic-gloved fingers to pick out the delicate meat.

Quiet industry

“Buenos dias!” Bauer said to his workers. They hesitantly looked up from their work. They couldn’t help but notice the flock of men and women with cameras trained on them like paparazzi. A woman with a serious face spontaneously smiled at the folly of food photographers like a movie star. The group of workers burst out laughing.

Relieved of the awkward tension, the group responded. “Buenos dias,” the workers said in a sing-song unison voice.

Once the group was outside, Bauer spoke to me about his business. “I put ads out all the time for local help,” Bauer said. “But no one in the states want to do this job.”

“Each year it gets more difficult to get government permission to bring in laborers from Mexico.” Bauer said. He currently employs workers from Mexico and other Latin American countries using the H1-B work visa program which allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations like crab picking. Bauer is proud that most of the people working in his processing plant are returning workers from other countries.

As we loaded onto the bus I felt a new kind of gratitude for every morsel of sweet crab meat I previously only  appreciated for its flavor.  I was attune with the cost of making a high-cost seafood item available at the market. Machines weren’t responsible for what was inside those plastic buckets. People–beautiful, hard working people with families and big dreams–were behind each and every aspect of the delicate, sweet crab meat. I felt a connection to the fisherman, the crab picker, and the committed business man. From now on–I promised myself–every bite of crab meat will come with it a promise to appreciate its history and the many hands that brought it to me.

Humble oysters

Oyster shells at Gold Band Oysters

We pulled off the Delacroix Highway in Hopedale Louisiana in search of Sam Slavich, a fourth-generation oyster man who is facing another difficult year following a long string of hard times. We stepped up to the dock and went aboard his humble oyster boat. Slavich and his crew were quiet as we swarmed their boat and pointed our cameras at their weary faces. We snapped pictures as Sam described his day (it started at five o’clock that morning) and what difficulties he was facing.

Sam Slavich, Oyster Man

“We’ve got a few minutes before we have to unload,” warned Slavich as the sacks of oysters waited to be unloaded by three strapping teenagers with a fork lift.

Slavich explained that the recent weather disasters have significantly depleted the local bayous of their previous bounty. At its peak, Louisiana produced one-third of the nation’s raw oysters. Now, only time will tell if men like Slavich will have the chance to keep oyster farming.  “It will take three years for a crop of new oysters to properly seed,” Slavich told us. Until then, Slavich and his crew will have to tough it out through the lean financial times and wait for their oyster beds to grow into a harvestable, market size. Before, the money was fine. Now, Slavich explained, there’s not much to be made.

Are the waters safe for the oysters, someone in the group asked. “Absolutely,” Slavich said. “These here are high quality cooking oysters.”

Oyster man

After the British Petroleum Oil Spill

The next day we took a two hour drive outside of New Orleans to visit Motivatit Seafood–the company known as Gold Band Oysters around the world–processing plant in Houma, Louisiana.

Once we stepped off the bus into the blazing heat of Louisiana, the group was lead to a chilly conference room at the heart of the Motivatit oyster processing plant. Mike Voisin, the CEO of the company and seventh-generation oyster man, didn’t waste much time getting to the heart of his story.

Mike Voisin, CEO of Motivatit Seafoods

This was his family’s business–eight generations’ worth–of men and women who have built a business around Louisiana’s rich natural resources. Of the many family members working for the company, Mike introduced his son Kevin and his daughter’s husband, Jason Gilfour, to the group.

The Voisin family’s oyster farming lineage includes Mike’s father whose love for invention lead him to invent a system that revolutionized oyster processing. Through much trial and error, Mike Voisin’s father invented a machine that uses a high pressure water system to clean the exterior of oyster shells and consequently kills spoilage bacteria (giving it 7-14 more days of shelf life) and shucks the oyster in one fell swoop.

An oyster worker at the dock

Technological progress aside, Louisiana’s oyster industry is struggling. Since the oil spill, Louisiana’s oyster production fell 50 percent. As a result, Voisin’s family business lost 40 percent of its revenue. The company had to let go of about 30 processing employees and 40 to 60 boat captains and deckhands.

Beyond the physical effects of hurricanes and oil spills, people like the Voisin’s are fighting hard to assuage consumer fears about their products.

What are the risks?

According to reports, scientists from NOAA and EPA have done two-tiered tests (sensory and chemical testing for hydrocarbons) and have found Louisiana oysters to be safe for eating. According to many in the seafood industry, including Dr. Jimmy Guidry a Louisiana State Health Officer, oysters have received more testing for hydrocarbons now than ever before in the history of Louisiana. Louisiana will use $18 million from oil company BP to test 400 samples a month for the next 20 years to step up testing and monitoring Gulf seafood .

“People don’t want to believe what the government says, when they say that everything is alright,” said Kevin Voisin, a Marketing manager at Motivatit. “People understand when there’s something wrong.”

Workers at Motivatit Seafood

Much of the devastation that rocked Louisiana continues to threaten the livelihoods of many within the state. Yes, billions of dollars have been spent rebuilding, cleaning up the oil spill, and getting families and businesses on track. But Louisiana’s brand has definitely been tarnished.

Chef Brian Landry of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board noted that once people see Gulf seafood and taste it for themselves, they understand just how good it is. “Putting a plate of seafood in front of someone goes a long way toward changing minds,” said Landry.

As a food lover and health advocate, I definitely had my concerns about the safety of Louisiana’s seafood. In going to Louisiana I was given a much better understanding of the place, the people, and the history of this historic culinary destination. Honestly, when I was invited to attend this trip, I had no idea I’d be introduced to so many culinary professionals and be given unlimited access to the humble men and women of Louisiana’s seafood industry.

From the struggling oyster farmer, the handsome crab fisherman, the helpful server in a tiny neighborhood diner, to the outspoken businessmen–each and every person had a story to tell about the importance of Louisiana’s food culture. I can honestly tell you based on what I observed is that Louisiana is not only producing healthy agriculture and farming fresh seafood, they’re doing it in a much safer way than ever before.

“That’s why we want to show you this unique place,” said Mike Voisin. “[Louisiana is] tied to its roots. It’s culture. It’s land. Our resources are rich.”

“What can you do to help the Louisiana Seafood industry,” one blogger asked. Without skipping a beat, Mike Voisin had an answer.

“Buy Louisiana seafood.”

Seeing (and tasting) really is believing.

*There were so many great eating excursions on this trip I will be writing an entirely separate post about the food. Stay tuned!

Full Disclosure: My trip was furnished by Louisiana Seafood Board. I was not paid to write or to furnish my opinions. My opinions are solely my own.

“There’s an energy crisis occurring in America and it’s happening in the hearts and minds of its people,” said my friend Ari Weinzweig, in a recent conversation. He shared with me how clear he was that there’s an energy crisis going on–one that’s just as serious as the one centered around our planet’s resources– in our nation’s workforce. Working men and women are checked out, uninterested, frustrated, unfulfilled, and looking forward to going home and doing something else. Poll most people and they’ll tell you the only place they can find emotional rewards or intellectual stimulation it’s outside of the workplace. It seems that the happy and fulfilled worker is a lucky, rare bird with the good fortune to have stumbled across a very special job in a very place.

People who are truly happy in their work naturally give off a positive energy. Those that are happy in their work have a way of making the people around them happy. And unless you are a shut off individual with no ability to read energy, the good feeling coming off happy individuals is contagious.

I recently had an epiphany about the power of good energy the other day while spending some time at Huckleberry, a neighborhood bakery and gourmet café in Santa Monica, California.

Happiness is a transferable energy source

Huckleberry was packed the moment I arrived. Despite having secured a table off to the side of the small eating area, I was stepped on, brushed against, and more than occasionally jostled by the long line of customers waiting to be served. I didn’t really care about the unconscious manhandling of the hungry guests, however. I had a bowl of silky and dense yogurt covered in a blanket of golden granola to savor.

But it was more than the power of oven-toasted oats that made me feel so content. It seemed that my good mood was a direct result of the energy of the place. The positive energy was so abundant I could tap into it—like my laptop plugged into the wall jack–and fill up for later.

Rather than write, I watched the happiness of the front of house staff and kitchen workers dressed in tee-shirts and bandannas. I wasn’t sure what I was witnessing at first, it all appeared like a gauzy mirage of smiles. But the more time I spent studying the activities of the room, the more I observed the important nuances of the human interactions of the little storefront.

Zoe Nathan, Co-owner of Huckleberry

I grew increasingly aware that the positive energy of created by the cheerful Huckleberry staff came from them doing good work and openly enjoying the simplest of tasks. A teenage worker methodically placed a vase of flowers and dried wheat on a table with a subtle grace. A baker eyed a counter top and brushed flour from it before depositing a heavy plastic container on top of it. The impish Zoe Nathan (owner and culinary visionary of Huckleberry) rubbed a hand over a tight tee shirt, pulled snug across her round, nine month-pregnant belly, as she sampled a salad from behind the counter. Huckleberry had a recognizable feeling to it, like the touch of a memorable textile. That feel-good, esoteric texture reminded me of a handful of other favorite eateries across the country that shared a similar vibe of good work and great products.

The more I watched, the more aware I became of my own energy level. Realizing how I came to my elevated energetic state brought an important insight: being in the general vicinity of so many happy workers made me whole percentage points happier. What I was witnessing, appreciating, and—ultimately–plugging into like an energy source, was a group of people pursuing a vocation they loved. It was then that I understood: the source of my contentment was a direct result of my proximity to the cheerful staff. Happiness is a transferable energy source.

The Importance of a Vocation

A society built on the foundation of work that is without reward, is one that’s heading for collapse. Without renewable internal energy sources, our workforce will have nothing to pull from to motivate them except external “fuel” that can be derived from entertainment, food, wine, drugs, hobbies, and some times even destructive behaviors to take our minds off the mundane activities required of us to pay our bills.

In Ari’s newest book, he quotes Emma Goldman, a turn of the century activist, for her very modern perspective on work. In 1917 she wrote:

Freest possible expression of all the latent powers of the individual…is only possible in a state of society where man is free to choose the mode of work, the conditions of work, and the freedom to work. One to whom the making of a table, the building of a house, or the tilling of the soil, is what the painting is to the artist and the discovery of a scientist—the result of inspiration, of intense longing, and deep interest in work as a creative force.

Though Goldman was writing about anarchism, her point still holds true for the workforce of today. In order to be a fully realized and satisfied individual we must find work that fulfills us to the core.

In order to maintain a healthy, professional eco-system we must become a self-sustaining workforce. But ask an every day American to dig down and figure out what really makes them happy isn’t an easy task. We’re too busy hating our jobs and constructing a hodge-podge of personal distractions to find the time to figure out what kind of work truly fulfills us. And when we do take the time to see what we truly enjoy, we must contend with deafening sound of commercialism and fear mongering. Every day we are told by television, radio, print, and online chit chat that there are lots of things we should want. We should want a life filled with technology. We should want nice clothes. We should want to travel to exotic places. We should want a fancy car or expensive home.

But beyond the should’s, what do we really want?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this question of what energy and happiness in the workforce lately, because I am certain that the work that I do in restaurants is important, valuable, and fulfilling. I love what I do and feel a sense of pride every day I go to work and humbly step up to the plate and serve people. It’s my job to get out of my own way and listen to what people have to say. In the grandest and smallest ways possible, I go out of my way to make sure every customer (and employee) knows that I care about them and what they are experiencing.

And yet…

Every day I encounter people who think the work I do is menial, without merit, and unworthy of respect. I read rants on message boards and stories that suggest that people who work in restaurants “should shut up, stop complaining about not getting respect, and get a real job.” Even here on my own website, people tell me without hesitation or an inkling of any prejudice, that the work of servers is “easy”, something anyone without a college education can do, and doesn’t merit pay (tips). But the truth of the matter is, the work that I do requires a high level of skill, education, talent, and commitment.

Despite all the work that goes into serving the public the level of disrespect that people in the service industry get is hard to bear. Our industry requires physical stamina, long work days, multi-tasking skills, memorization, study, humility and professionalism. It took me years and various degrees of self-loathing, before I could truly admit to myself that I enjoyed working in the food business. Once I recognized that I had found my vocation, I forsook my screenwriting career and embraced my true calling.

The more I look around me, the more I realize that many of us in America have forgotten the meaning (and importance) of the word vocation. Vocation is a job that calls to you. It is work that creates a strong feeling of being destined or called by a higher power of some sort—or inspiration—to undertake a particular kind of work.

The butcher, the stock trader, the candlestick maker, and the actuary

All of us love doing certain things. Some like to cook, others to sew. Some are thrilled by the unraveling of atoms, for others, it’s numbers. Some wear protective gloves, while others require the precision of bare skin. Who are we to judge another for the line of work they love?

Cities are filled with businesses, but few companies that are filled with happy employees. You can see it in the face of business people, waiters, retail workers, gas station attendants, DMV workers, state employees, teachers, and employees all over this country. There is so much self-hate—its origins may start with all the judging and resentment they field from the people around them—that people throughout our country are turning to addictive activities and mood enhancers to take the edge off. But where is there to hide when the problem is inside?

It’s time we took a look at ourselves and how we treat the people around us. Some would say we are all children of God. Isn’t it time we did something about this energy crisis in America? Are we not all worth the love and respect of a proud parent? In cities all over America, there is an opportunity for all of us to find a great source of energy in the happiness of its people.

What makes you happy?

Other Service 101 Posts

Other Service 101 Posts:

• Service 101: Finding My Mecca
  
• Service 101: On Getting Great Service
  
• Service 101: So You Want to Own Your Own Restaurant
• Service 101: Finding My Religion
  
• Service 101: A Brief History of Tipping
  
• Service 101: When Gratuity IS Included
• Service 101: Service NOT Included
• Service 101: Why Servers Don’t Get Any Respect
• Service 101: Restaurants Are Not Picnic Tables
• Service 101: Waiting Tables is An Honorable Profession
• Service 101: Why You Shouldn’t Eat Out on Valentine’s Day
• Service 101: Why Diners Need Restaurant Critics
• Service 101: Just Because You’ve Traveled Doesn’t Mean You Are a Restaurant Expert
  

If a diner is unhappy with service at a restaurant they can voice their concern to the management or leave less tip for their waiter. As I mentioned recently about a recent poll on CNN’s food blog, Eatocracy.com, 49 percent of the people polled said they have left nothing for waiters, while another 34 percent said they have left a very low tip–as little as just a penny–to show their dissatisfaction with service. The amount of a tip, many respondents explained, gives financial reward to waiters for good work and punishes the bad ones.

But what happens when a restaurant eliminates the tipping structure out of their business model entirely? Does service improve or get worse?

Jay Porter, the owner of The Linkery in San Diego, says that his front of house staff and kitchen workers’ performance improved once his restaurant stopped accepting tips. The small neighborhood restaurant began its “no tipping” system in 2004 when they instituted a flat 18 percent “table service fee” on the final check for diners who eat at the restaurant.

“No other profession has the customer adjusting your pay scale according to performance,” says Porter. “That’s just not a circumstance when people do their best work.” Porter says this unique payment model brings his restaurant in line with other American industries. “It’s good for our staff to be seen as professionals, just like every other profession in America. No other profession other than the restaurant industry has people evaluating your work and basing payment on that.”

Porter is careful to point out that unlike other restaurants that add a fixed gratuity to all of their diners’ checks–places like Thomas Keller’s French Laundry, Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse, or even Venice Beach’s Sauce on Hampton–The Linkery is the only restaurant in America that doesn’t accept any payment beyond a service charge. “We don’t work for tips. We charge for what we do.” Any additional money diners might leave behind for the wait staff is donated to charity.

What does Porter say to people who argue that restaurant service fees fail to motivate servers to give good service?  “People who don’t like the idea of our service fee are the very same people who have jobs where they don’t have to worry about their pay being adjusted every fifteen minutes,” says Porter.

Michael Lynn, a recognized expert on tipping and a professor of consumer behavior in Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, says most diners dislike the practice of tipping. “They wish they didn’t have to tip, but they dislike a service charge even more,” Lynn says. “But if you ask a diner if they would you rather see menu prices go up fifteen percent so that servers can make a liveable wage, that’s something they don’t even really want to consider.”

According to Lynn, Eatocracy’s poll doesn’t accurately reflect diners’ real tipping habits. “Very few people walk out without leaving a tip,” Lynn says. What people say they tip and what they actually leave behind are very different, Lynn says.  “The weather outside has as much of an influence on tipping as does the level of service,” says Lynn. The professor has tracked thousands of restaurant tabs for a trend in tipping. According to Lynn, “less than two percent of people stiff the server.”

Though that may be true, servers earning less than minimum wage can be the unfortunate recipient of a zeroed tip, with or without any explanation from their guest. Working for tips requires subjective performance reviews from customers on an ever fluctuating, minute to minute basis. Front of house staff at restaurants work in a  financially tenuous situation that no other industry’s employees have to bear.

Other Service 101 Posts:

• Service 101: Service NOT Included
• Service 101: Why Servers Don’t Get Any Respect
• Service 101: Restaurants Are Not Picnic Tables
• Service 101: Waiting Tables is An Honorable Profession
• Service 101: Why You Shouldn’t Eat Out on Valentine’s Day
• Service 101: Why Diners Need Restaurant Critics
• Service 101: Just Because You’ve Traveled Doesn’t Mean You Are a Restaurant Expert

On Saturday, April 17th, hundreds of food bloggers from across our country will combine baking talents for the first annual National Food Bloggers Bake Sale. This first annual fundraiser–part of the Great American Bake Sale–will give food lovers from Massachusetts to California the chance to buy treats from their favorite blogs and rais money to support of Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger in America.

The event is the result of private chef and food blogger, Gaby Dalkin of WhatsGabyCooking.com.  Thanks to her organizational skills and clever ideas, this year’s nation wide food blogging bake sale promises to raise thousands of dollars to feed our country’s hungry children. Nearly 17 million—almost one in four—children in America face hunger. Despite the good efforts of governments, private-sector institutions and everyday Americans, millions of our children still don’t have daily access to the nutritious meals they need to live active, healthy lives.

Here in Los Angeles, some 50 food bloggers will team up to put together a notable collection of sweets for the bake sale. Hosted by the generous people at Morel’s French Bistro (a former employer) at The Grove, my friends and fellow bloggers like Gaby, Matt from Matt Bites, Erika from In Erika’s Kitchen, Rachel La Fuji Mama, and Esi from Dishing Up Delights will be on hand to talk about their baked sweets and their love of food.

If you live in LA, I look forward to seeing you there! I’ll be bringing the spiced caramel corn. Recipe to come soon!

I’ve been thinking a lot about a very special person in my life that’s about three thousands miles away from a great big hug I desperately need to give her. Bleak hours are the time for embraces, warm cups of tea, soft blankets, silly smiles, and gentle kisses. But my beloved friend is back home on the east coast, in a difficult bog that is so deep and wide I can feel its ripples hit the Pacific.

Since my life is built around food and its comforting pleasures, the one thing I long to do is cook a warm and satisfying meal for her. No shipping container can hold the moment of making a meal together. But a well-made care package that’s filled with healthy and tasty treats may be just the thing that I can do to offer some much-needed sustenance. Perhaps just a handful of happiness.

In hopes of finding a healthy recipe for a mail-friendly package, I turned to one of my new favorite cookbooks: Lucid Food. The author, Louisa Shafia, is a chef and caterer based in New York City; her cookbook is filled with recipes that celebrate the seasons and the idea that food should be sustainable for the planet and our bodies.

Ever since Shafia sent a preview copy of her beautiful cookbook a few months back, I’ve been marveling at her healthy, seasonal, and eco-conscious recipes. Shafia is a kindred spirit, a gifted chef, and—it should be mentioned—the newly minted fiancé of a good friend of mine! So knowing that I was in the hands of a pro (and friend by proxy), I quickly settled on her healthy granola recipe. I’ve modified her recipe a bit—to cater to the likes of my beloved, and with the hope you’ll seek out Shafia’s version of her new cookbook.

It’s been nine months since my writing partner, Leah Greenstein, and I created Food Ethics and our controversial Food Blog Code of Ethics. In those months, much has happened here in the world of online food writing and criticism. The Federal Trade Commission has made it punishable by law for big (and little) companies to give money and gifts to bloggers without being transparent about it. One blog offers badges to denote a commitment to honesty and integrity. Blogs that once skirted the issue of freebies and comps, now openly state their affiliations, biases, and disclose freebies.

But when Leah and I first decided to write our statement of purpose nine months ago—for the sake of being clear on what we stood for in online writing—the topic of ethics in the blogosphere was something that was whispered between online writers. Many had opinions, but few were willing to publish their thoughts on the matter. So, when Leah and I decided it was time we write out our five-point manifesto on food blog ethics, our words and point of view caused a lot of controversy. We were shocked at how many people got engaged (and enraged) and suddenly everyone was talking about ethics. In a time when most people were interested in new iPhone apps and the birth of Twitter, we were ecstatic that we were surrounded by people arguing about philosophy. Getting people to think about the effect of their words before they hit PUBLISH was our goal.

So it was with great pleasure that Leah and I discovered Food Ethics was mentioned by Robert Seitsema, the author and food critic for the Village Voice in his comprehensive Columbia Journalism Review article, “Everyone Eats…But that doesn’t make you a restaurant critic”. In it, he masterfully charts the history of restaurant reviewing in the United States since the 1970′s and the effect of a handful of people on food writing.

Between mentions of the monumental effect of Criag Claiborne’s reviewers guidelines on food reviewing, how Gael Green’s sexy prose and memoir-style forever changed food writing and how Ruth Reichl shook up reviewing when she made her reviews a “bona fide literary form”—there was a full paragraph dedicated to our Leah and I and our blog, Food Ethics.

According to Seitsema, Craig Claiborne’s “procedural framework” for restaurant reviewing set the stage for generations of food writers and our blog FoodEthics “hedged on many of Claiborne’s principles, but sought to partly maintain them.”

“In the half century since Craig Claiborne developed his reviewing system, the nation’s attitude toward food has changed profoundly. Eating in restaurants has gone from being an infrequent occurrence for most people to being a primary form of entertainment. The marketplace is filled with new food, more food, and more-expensive food, and eating has become a preoccupation for the millions who consider themselves foodies. Many patrons no longer want to become regulars at one or two restaurants—they’d rather sample the vast smorgasbord the city offers, and many consider being the first to reach a new place a preferment. This behavior is creating a boom-and-bust cycle for restaurants, in which novelty and buzz is valued above excellence.”

Thanks to technology and the speed of doing business, things are changing fast. But amongst all of this transformation, Sietsema points out, there still remains a need to maintain ethical guidelines in food writing. Claiborne’s reviewing structure that he created decades ago still remains important to mainstream media. As citizen journalists flood the internet every time they press “publish”, the future of online writing lays in the hands of every man. Progress is important. But it’s integral that we remember the lessons of the past.

If you have a blog, where do you stand now about this issue? Considering that once you hit publish you become a citizen journalist, do you believe you should follow a journalistic code when it comes to reviewing products or businesses?

As we wade deeper into the holiday season, the more many of us think of ways to give back. Donating to a local charity, helping out a friend in need, and giving handmade gifts are wonderful ways to contribute to those that are in need.

This year, I am proud to say I am participating Menu for Hope, an annual campaign–started by food blogger and writer Chez Pim–to raise funds in benefit of the United Nations World Food Programme and its Purchase for Progress initiative. Not only will I be eagerly bidding on other great food blogger’s donated items (like MattBite‘s Food Photography Class or Jen Yu of Use Real Butter’s beautiful photography) I will be donating a wire sculpture to the event.

Menu For Hope Bid Item: UW35

The sculpture I’m donating is called “Bistecca,” an ode to the great animal that has inspired many a great recipe.

What was once a quiet, secret art form I did for myself and for loved ones, my wire sculptures are three dimensional drawings in steel wire. It’s a meditative art form that allows me to dive deeper into my creative process, contemplate spatial issues, and deliberate on thematic issues I’m passionate about. I am inspired by the generations of artist from my own family (Virginia Lee Burton, Hilja Burton, George Demetrios, Aris Demetrios, my sister Kate), Picasso’s line drawings, and the wire sculptures of Alexander Calder, I began creating wire sculptures over a decade ago.

The sculpture is made from galvanized steel and measures 9″ x 8″. The sculpture would retail on my Etsy Shop for at least $100, so the chance of winning it for $10 is a great deal for a one of a kind piece of art.  The winning bidder will have the option to select “Bistecca” a sculptural ode to a mighty cow, or, they may choose to have a specific food item (like a cow, a fish, an apple) sculpted just for them. “Bistecca” is made from galvanized steel and measures 9″ x 8″. The sculpture retails for $90 on her Etsy shop.

Remember – the code for this bid item is UW35. You will need this code to bid for this sculpture.

What is Menu for Hope?

It’s a simple idea with incredible results. Menu for Hope is an annual fund raising campaign hosted by Chez Pim and supported by an ever-growing group of food bloggers around the world.  Started over five years ago as a way to donate funds to those affected by the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia, Menu for Hope was created as a charitable organization for food and wine bloggers to participate in.

From December 14-25, Menu for Hope will hold a worldwide charitable raffle full of unique food related gifts. For every $10 donation, participants will have the chance to win a bid item. The more you give, the more chances you have to win.  Even better than winning is knowing that the proceeds will go directly to the United Nations’ World Food Programme. At the end of the two-week fund raising campaign, tickets will be drawn and the results will be announced on Chez Pim on Monday, January 18.

Menu For Hope’s creative structure and the commitment of participating bloggers, made this little grass roots campaign to raise a money a significant force in ending world hunger. In just three years since Menu For Hope joined up with the UN World Food Programme, this yearly fundraiser has raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars in support.

Who is the beneficiary of this year’s campaign?

Menu for Hope, in conjunction with UN World Food Programme–the world’s largest food aid agency—will donate all proceeds of this years fund raiser to a new initiative at the WFP called Purchase for Progress (P4P).

P4P empowers low-income farmers to contribute crops to supply food to WFP’s global operation. In addition to giving low-income farmers money for their harvests, the UN World Food Programme hopes to create economic opportunities for the farmers’ local community. More on P4P can be found here.

Also, in a symbolic move, Menu For Hope will join with the World Food Programme’s “A Billion for A Billion campaign.“  By taking part, you will contribute funds to the more than a billion chronically hungry people worldwide. To find out more about A Billion for A Billion here.

Who collects the money?

All funds will be donated directly to a third party site called First Giving. First Giving collects the donations and sends the money directly to the WFP in one lump sum.  Find out more about how FirstGiving works here.

To Donate and Enter the Menu for Hope Raffle

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Choose a bid item or bid items of your choice from our Menu for Hope main bid item list.

2. Go to the donation site at Firstgiving and make a donation.

3. Please specify which bid item you’d like in the ‘Personal Message’ section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per bid item, and please use the bid item code.

Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a bid item of your choice. For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for UW35 and 3 tickets for UW35 – 2x UW35, 3x UW35.

4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.

5. Please check the box to allow us to see your email address so that we can contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

Check back on Chez Pim on Monday, January 18  for the results of the raffle.

Thanks for your participation, and good luck in the raffle!

Feel free to email me with questions or leave them in the comments. Please note that I’m unable to answer any questions about bidding or the raffle itself. Make sure to check in with your regional host for those types of inquiries.
PS, This year our West Coast hosting duties are being performed by my friend, Shauna of glutenfreegirl.com. I want to thank her for all the hard work it takes to organize this monumental campaign! THANK YOU SHAUNA!

It’s 4:17 a.m. and fog drapes over the apple orchards of Devoto Gardens like misty gauze. While most of Sebastopol sleeps, apple grower Stan Devoto is in his kitchen boiling water. “It’s too early to brew coffee,” he says, grabbing a bag of green tea. He drops the tea bag into his favorite mug and reaches for the door.

There’s still 60 miles to drive, a truck to unload, apples to organize, signs to put up, and flowers to arrange, before his day of selling apples at the Ferry Plaza farmers’ market in San Francisco even begins. Behind the wheel of his Toyota Previa, Stan blasts oldies on the radio to keep awake.

Back in the 1970s—some ten years before Stan started Devoto Gardens—Sebastopol was the Gravenstein capital of the world. But apple farming isn’t what it used to be. Sonoma County’s land has become so expensive that vineyards and multi-million dollar homes have replaced most of the apple orchards.

The Slow Food Foundation for bio-diversity named the Gravenstein one of the country’s near-extinct heirloom apple varietals with the hope of drawing national attention to the plight of apple growers. Yet despite the apple’s historic status and its delicious versatility, the future of the Gravenstein apple looks bleak.

Growing Risk

The cost of doing business is quickly becoming an issue for the ten remaining apple farmers in Sebastopol. The long hours, the backbreaking work, the utility bills, taxes, and soaring price of insurance and fertilizer make the economic feasibility of apple farming nearly impossible. With the return on investment that wine grapes offer, many growers are leaving the apple business entirely.

But despite growing financial pressures, Devoto Gardens continues. Flavor could have something to do with Devoto’s success. At a recent barbecue, a handful of children ignored confectionary delights to eat not one, but three Devoto Gardens’ apples in one sitting.

Devoto sells nearly 50 mature heirloom varieties like Honey Crisp, Black Twig, Pink Pearl and Gravenstein. And they’ve been selling heirloom varieties for years—way before the heirloom trend caught on like wild fire.

“From very early on Stan wanted to plant lots of different apples,” his wife Susan explains. “We were lucky because he thought of making the change early.” Stan’s instinct to plant apples with differing flavors and uses gave Devoto Gardens a head start on getting heirloom apples into farmers’ markets.

Devoto Garden’s dedicated participation in farmers’ markets is an undeniable factor in their success. By selling apples directly to customers and restaurants, Devoto is able to bypass middlemen and pocket the money that distributors usually charge. “Without farmer’s markets and relationships with chefs,” Devoto is quick to suggest, “We wouldn’t be in business.”

Selling directly to customers nine times a week isn’t easy. The drive alone to farmers markets like the Ferry Building, Marin, St. Helena, Napa and Walnut Creek takes hours a day and keeps Stan away from the farm for long stretches of time. “It’s difficult to be a grower and a distributor,” Devoto says. “But you have to do all in order to survive. You can’t stay on your tractor all day long. ”

For more information about the Sebastopol Gravenstein Apple Presidia Project, click here.

THE GRAVENSTEIN APPLE: First planted in 1811, the Gravenstein is one of the first apples grown and sold in Sonoma County. Known for its versatility as a sweet-tart, crisp, and juicy apple. The Gravenstein is good for pies, sauces and snacking.

Devoto Farms: Visit Devoto Farms in Sebastopol to purchase apples and flowers directly from them or buy a variety of heirloom apples from their stand at farmers markets and specialty food stores throughout the San Francisco Bay area.  Call Devoto Farms for a complete listing of farmers markets they sell to. The Devoto’s can be found selling their apples at the Ferry Building every Saturday in San Francisco.

Devoto Farms: 655 Goldridge Road, Sebastopol, CA; (787) 823-6650

There’s a crisis happening in the food world and few have any idea that one of our country’s most beloved food industries is on the verge of collapse.

Your local dairy farmer is on the brink of disaster.

Milk does a body good, but not the dairy farmer

As things stand, current milk prices equal half of what it takes for dairy farmers to feed and milk their cows. If milk prices don’t stabilize soon, independent dairy farmers across our country will fold. Some warn that beyond the loss of local dairy farms, many of these farmers are losing the will to go on.

In just six months, two dairy farmers have committed suicide.

Thanks to the recent recession and pressure from large dairy corporations like Hood and Horizon, individual farmers are struggling to keep from losing everything. Every carton of milk sold at the grocery store represents a loss of funds at a local dairy farm.

According to Amanda St. Pierre of Dairy Farmers Working Together, many farmers are so depressed by their increasing debts they refuse to put time towards bringing public awareness to their cause–for fear of missing valuable hours of work.

A lose/lose situation

According to a recent Los Angeles Times story, California dairy farmers have been hit especially hard. As the number one dairy state, California farms produce one-fifth of the nation’s supply of milk—that’s $7 billion worth of milk annually. LA Times writer, Jerry Hirsch reports that farmers are staying afloat by getting loans on their property and selling off their cows for slaughter. If milk prices don’t go up soon, he wrote, farmers will spend the loaned funds in short time and quickly go out of business.

As an increasing number of dairy farms face bankruptcy, the future for our nation’s milk farmers looks increasingly dim. Even the organic dairy farmers—once the most profitable sector of the dairy business—have seen any profit disappear as health-conscientious customers skip the higher-priced organic milk for lower priced options from large conglomerations. Now, many farmers are wishing they hadn’t made the investment to go organic.

Respect the Cow

After seventeen years as a beans and rice vegetarian—I avoided meat and poultry for political and ethical reasons–I started eating red meat after becoming increasingly desperate for a change of diet and a source of real iron. I forsook food politics for the health benefits of–and pure enjoyment from–unabashed eating. A thorough read of Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma changed all that, however, as his words reminded me of the need for political and ethical eating–even as an omnivore.

I quickly adapted my post-Pollan diet to create ways for my buying dollars to show respect for the animals’ lives, the planet’s needs, the farmers’ work and the talents of dedicated artisans–while still enjoying my foodie cravings.

When I read this week’s shocking story in the LA Times about California dairy farmers, I began wondering what I could do as a consumer to help put a stop to this mounting crisis.

HOW CAN WE HELP?

Request local dairy farmers’ participation at your local farmers’ market: According to a recent New York Times article, some New England farmers are considering selling their milk directly to the public. Research dairy farms in your area and ask the farmers to participate in your local farmers’ market.

Local dairy farmers could take advantage of the recent popularity of local farmers’ and begin to offer their products directly to the consumer. With this sort of presence, consumers will have access to information about where their milk comes from, how the cows are raised, and will have a direct relationship with the farmer that will result in dedicated buying dollars. In addition, the Vermont House of Representatives recently passed a bill month to increase the amount of raw milk a farmer can at farmers’ markets.

When possible, pay extra to buy local.

Boycott bad brands
According to the Organic Consumers Association, brands like Horizon not only manipulate local farmers to lower their milk prices, but as a corporation they use loopholes in national organic standards to sell a milk produced from factory farm feedlots where the animals have been brought in from conventional farms and are kept in intensive confinement, with little or no access to pasture.

Get political

–Sign the Holstein Association’s petition for the USA Dairy Price Stabilization Program.
–Sign a letter from Farm Aid to Secretary Vilsack asking for his support in setting fair prices for milk for our nation’s Dairy Farmers.
–Donate to Dairy Farmers Working Together or email them here to join their newsletter to find out about the upcoming Dairy Farmers Working Together conference call, slated to happen on June 30th. On this call you will be able to hear about issues facing dairy farmers and what concerned consumers can do to support dairy farmers.
– Send a letter to HP Hood to stop requiring Organic farms to reduce production.

What ideas do you have for lending support to your local dairy farmer?

Thanks to America’s thriving love affair with food, many eaters today are keenly aware of what’s on their plate. Though yesterday’s diners were content with the simplicity of chicken with mixed vegetables, today’s food lovers desire something more specific—say, a dish that features local organic produce, butter from a family farm, imported sea salt and a flame-grilled free-range, organic Jidori chicken breast.

This relatively new found appreciation for food politics and understanding an ingredient’s history and origin may be due in part to the influence of the culinary media, innovative restaurants like Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse and best-selling books like Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma. Perhaps due in part to the booming wine industry, the US is populated with people that have made words like organic, varietal, terroir, and mouth-feel common in the national argot. In less than fifty years we’ve gone from a country of iceberg lettuce-eating jug wine-drinkers to a nation of arugula-nibbling wine aficionados. And despite the lagging economy, the market is full of flavor-seeking, politically minded, socially conscious consumers that are attentive to the ingredients they buy.

So it shouldn’t have come as a monumental surprise to a big city butcher when, in 2005, Carrie Oliver—a 40-something home cook and brand-marketing specialist—asked where the NY strip steak she bought came from. The butcher knew only the basics: the beef was hormone free, raised locally and considered USDA Prime meat. But, Oliver asked, after buying the same cut of meat week after week, why did the steaks taste so different if she was cooking them all the same way? The butcher shrugged. Could the steaks be from different kinds of cows? What were the cows fed? How was the cow raised? Why did identical cuts of meat sometimes have such a variety of flavor and texture?

Oliver was hungry for more information. Without a widely recognized book like Omnivore’s Dilemma to fuel her research in the practices of beef producers (the non-fiction tome would hit the best seller list one year later, in 2006), Oliver decided to start her own grass-roots study.

The quest to find the perfect steak

Armed with a handful of identical cuts of steaks purchased from local butchers and city grocers, Oliver and friends set out to taste through the grilled steaks to uncover what made each one different.

As the group tasted through the steaks they took notes. Some steaks tasted gamy—like blue cheese or liver–while others tasted of sawdust, or buttered popcorn. Textures varied as well. Some steaks were mushy while others were firm or chewy. Though all the meat was cooked to the same temperature, Oliver and her group realized that every steak offered different textures, mouth-feel, flavors and balance–factors that seemed undeniably similar to wine tasting.

The parallels with wine making peaked Oliver’s interest. The more Oliver researched, the more she began to understand that the way the cows were raised—on the land vs. in a pen–had a very direct correlation to how they tasted. Beef’s taste and mouth-feel is the result of terroir (where the cattle is raised), technique (how they are fed and treated), varietal (the animal’s breed), and—in a way—vintage (what sort of stresses that year’s environment presented). It became clear to Oliver that artisanal practices of ranchers, beef brokers and processors were undeniably similar in results to those of thoughtful wine makers.

So why couldn’t great ranching practices be rewarded with market dollars, just as attentive wine making techniques have been? Beyond the political and ethical issues of grain fed cows (cows are ruminants and can not properly digest corn), Oliver hypothesized that thoughtful ranching and ethical husbandry were undeniably linked to taste.

A brief glance at Harold McGee’s book On Food and Cooking, tells us she’s onto something.

“Despite the prestige of Prime beef, the current consensus among meat scientists is that fat marbling accounts for no more than a third of the variation of the overall tenderness, juiciness, and flavor of cooked beef. The other important factors include breed, exercise and feed, animal age, conditions during slaughter, extent of post slaughter aging, and storage conditions before sale. Most of these are impossible for the consumer to evaluate, though there is a movement toward store and producer “brands” that may provide greater information about and consistency of production.”–Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking

If marbling accounts for no more than one third of flavor, Oliver wondered why more people aren’t spending more time thinking about the other two thirds.

A revolutionary is born

Looking at the relatively recent success of artisan wine making in the United States, Oliver realized that the beef industry lacked a market that focused specifically on beef that was raised, processed, and butchered using only artisan techniques. Granted, books like Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma has had an effect; Whole Foods market offers only hormone free beef and has grass fed and grain fed meat available at most stores. But national support for ethical practices in the 74 billion dollar beef industry has been minimal at best.

“Where there was once only Sanka or Juan Valdez for the American coffee drinker, ” the bright-eyed Oliver recounts at a recent beef tasting, “We now have a market saturated with coffee options—Ethiopian, Kenyan, Guatemalan. You name it.” But with beef? Oliver crosses her arms and gives her most enthusiastic grin. “Black Angus is today’s Juan Valdez.”

Undeterred by the powerful machine that is the beef industry, Oliver left behind her life in corporate America to start her own artisan beef business. With a mission statement, a website address, and an employee roster that included only herself, Oliver began the Oliver Ranch Company in February of 2006. Oliver’s goal was clear, she wanted to offer consumers beef that had a traceable history from farm to fork, had no added growth hormones or preventative antibiotics and consumed a100-percent vegetable based diet. What she created was an on-line, specialty food company that offers artisan steaks, sausage and beef jerky from a handful of handpicked beef ranchers, and is shipped directly to consumers.

Oliver’s biggest challenge is, like any new food-based businesses, is making that first contact with a group of consumers that do not yet realize the value of a specialty food. In today’s suffering economy it takes a very convincing argument to make someone want to buy meat on-line, rather than around the corner at the local butcher or grocery store.

There’s no denying the carbon footprint of shipping meat across the country. Oliver insists, however, that her business model for shipping artisan beef direct to consumers’ homes is a better choice for the consumer and the artisan beef producers in the long run. “If we properly reward those who are conscious stewards of the land and follow superior animal husbandry practices, we will be able to eat cleaner, more healthful, better tasting meat,” Oliver’s voice rises with a passionate staccato. “Most importantly, families can stay on their farms doing what they do best.”

Oliver admits her ace in the hole is flavor. “Once you taste the difference between one hundred percent grass fed or a grain finished meat,” Oliver explains to a recent tasting panel, “you’ll know exactly what it is you like.”

Oliver Ranch’s most popular product is the Taster Pack, a selection of four or eight different steaks (all the same cut, all from different ranchers and breeds), that allows people to blind taste test–in the style of a wine tasting–an array of steaks from different ranchers and different aging techniques. Since individual’s tastes differ, the winning steaks vary based on opinion.

At a recent beef tasting in the Costa Mesa home of Todd and Diane of White on Rice, Carrie Oliver led a small panel of food writers (Leah from Spicy Salty Sweet, Matt from Matt Bites, myself) and invited chef, Steve Sampson, Chef of a soon-to-open Orange County restaurant Osteria Ortica, to a blind taste test of six steaks. Each steak was grilled for the same amount of time and was seasoned lightly with salt in order for tasters to understand the true flavors of the meat.

Tasters’ palates vary greatly, leading to a handful of favorites. Despite the Costa Mesa tasters’ socio-political aversion to corn fed beef, the overall winner for taste, however, was a corn, hay and fermented grass fed dry-aged Charolais-Cross (the breed of the cow) from the Elliott & Ferris Family Ranch in Front Range Region, CO. The Charolais-Cross’s meat had a tight grain, with a juicy, complex flavor that lingered, a good texture, and excellent bite. Other taste winners included a wet-aged Holstein-Friesian (a cross breed from a familiar milking cow) from Bob Beechinor of 3 Brand Cattle Company in Imperial Valley, California. That steak was complex and surprisingly gamy with its iron rich meat and almost liver-like flavor.

Groundswell vs. the elite revolutionary

Starting a demand for responsibly raised beef isn’t easy. With much of the beef industry’s concern in maximizing profits, cost per pound of meat, increasing marbling, grabbing USDA prime labeling and reducing cattle loss by increased use of antibiotics and hormones—Oliver’s fight has a David vs. Goliath ring to it.

Some could argue that Oliver Ranch’s choice to offer a variety of grass fed and grain fed beef isn’t the best socio-political choice. But with many consumers driven by flavor first, the promise of humanely treated animals is enough. In hopes of elevating the cause of seeking out the best ranching practices, however, Oliver created the Artisan Beef Institute, an organization that supports the discussion of ethical treatment of animals—from the farm, to the abattoir, and the butcher’s board—and educates consumers about good ranching practices, breed variations, the affects of feed on different breeds.

“There’s a lot of misinformation in the category of beef. You want to do the right thing,” Oliver explains, “but how do you do it?”

With politically-minded food lovers like Michael Pollan, Alice Waters, Barbara Kingsolver, and Carrie Oliver working hard to create a common language and understanding of the origins of the foods we eat, we may very well be on our way to having better ingredients on our plate.