Housewifing

No Logo by Naomi Klein. Published in 2000, this was a pioneering work in brand resistance and a criticism of the adverse impacts of globalization. Klein examines the true story of the products behind the brands, especially in the clothing and shoes industry, including tales of child labor, exploitation and corporate censorship.

The End of Fashion by Teri Agins. The author tells the story of fashion designer house in the 20th Century: how they stopped being professional ateliers and started focusing on marketing, branding and advertising.

The Cultural Politics of Fur by Julia V. Emberley. An examination of fur as viewed by different cultures around the world: a proof of gross cruelty to animals, a source of income and survival to the Dene and Inuit, status symbol, fashionable item, political issue, sexual fetish. Unlike the other two books I recommend here, this one is an academic text, and the (obviously political) viewpoint of the author on the subject is not really heard. Nevertheless, a fascinating, encompassing work on the complexity of wearing fur.

Tags: books, brands, child labor, ethics, fashion, fur, garment industry, naomi klein, no logo, third world

These three books have affected my way of life and eating habits tremendously. They’re all very well-known, but I think they’re worth another mention anyway.

Eric Schlosser – Fast Food Nation. This is an alarming and eye-opening journey into the meat industry in the U.S. The book pressed most of my eww buttons when I read it, despite being a meat eater, an offspring to a family of farmers, and a granddaughter of sheep breeders.

Michael Pollan – The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Michael Pollan tracks the sources of three meals along various food chains:  processed, organic, local, and personal (hunted and foraged by the author himself).  Pollan starts with a very simple question: what to have for dinner, and discovers there isn’t a simple answer to it at all. The Omnivore’s Dilemma is a lengthy book, covering much detail about the history and current practices of the agricultural industry and the food processing industry in the United States. Due to globalization, a lot of what the book describes is valid for other countries as well. Having read it, I will never look at corn the same way again, or meat, or a McDrive.

Michael Pollan – In Defense of Food. After the success and impact of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, Pollan faced the next natural question:  if so much of the food available to us is bad, then what should we eat? Pollan answers this questions with a short list of “rules to eat by”, and in the process tells us more about the science of nutrition, and why nutritionists are not really equipped to tell us what to eat.

Tags: books, eating, eric schlosser, ethics, fast food nation, food, health, In Defense of Food, michael pollan, nutrition, the ominvore's dilemma

“… the way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world. Daily, our eating turns nature into culture, transforming the body of the world into our bodies and minds.”

— Michael Pollan
(The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals)

After posting yesterday about “Isabella and the Pot of Basil”, I was inspired to search more artists who paid attention to food, cooking, farming, and fresh produce.

One of the most interesting artists in the context of food is Joachim Beuckelaer, a Belgian painter from the 16th Century who depicted cooks, butchers, market scenes and village feasts.

I especially like “Interior of a Kitchen from 1566. The painting depicts a cook standing in the kitchen and holding a basket of fresh produce, including one beautiful, perfect cabbage. Around her there are is a variety of animal carcasses, in different stages in the process of becoming meat. There is a striking contrast between life and death in this painting, and cooking is the art that makes sense of them both.

Another astonishing painting by Beuckelaer is is “Slaughtered Pig” from 1563.

A huge pig carcass is depicted on the dark background of a basement. On the one hand, it’s a gruesome depiction of slaughter. On the other hand, it’s a realistic, and very much needed reminder for humans about where out meat comes from, and why we should care about it.

Planting basil on the weekend reminded me of this painting by by William Holman Hunt from 1868.

The painting depicts a scene from John Keats’s poem by the same name. Keats’s poem is adapted from a story in Boccaccio’s Decameron about Isabella, a young woman who is supposed to marry a rich nobleman, but falls in love with the poor Lorenzo. When Isabella’s brothers learn of her love, they murder Lorenzo. Lorenzo’s ghost visits Isabella’s dream, and tells her where the body is. Isabella exhumes Lorenzo’s body and buries his head in a pot of basil.

A rather gruesome story, really, but a beautiful painting from the Pre-Raphaelite period, which is one of my schools of art, if not the absolute favorite.

Make pesto. Originally from Genoa and Provence, pesto now has thousands of versions. I like the basic recipe with olive oil, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan and just a bit of salt and pepper. Sometimes I replace the pine nuts with cashews.

Flavor butter. Just blend soft butter, chopped basil, chopped garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. The wonderful basil butter especially compliments meat, tomatoes and rich breads.

Combine with a tomato sauce. Adding basil to any tomato dish or sauce will automatically improve its taste. In fact, it is even recommended to plant basil in the proximity of tomatoes so that it affects their flavor.

Bake bread. For example, in this recipe. A good combination for bread is also basil and sun-dried tomatoes.

Add to a sandwich. Basil is a delicious replacement to lettuce and other leafy greens.

Garlic. One of the most useful condiments in the kitchen, garlic is very easy to grow. Each clove planted in the fall will yield one plant in the spring, so even a single head planted carefully can bring you a lot of garlic. Use potting soil rather than garden soil and make sure you use a container with excellent drainage, otherwise the garlic may rot. Place the cloves at least 5 inches apart, with the pointy ends pointing up. Garlic needs full sunshine, and not too much water. Water only when the soil is dry to the touch.

Scallion. Traditionally planted in the fall and winter, but with proper care and controlling sunlight and temperatures, green onions can prosper all-year around. Again, superb potting soil, excellent drainage and avoiding over-watering are keys to success.

Basil. Plant basil in the winter, place the container in half-light, and only water when the soil is dry to the touch. Basil is one of the most rewarding herbs to grow in the garden. It can be used for pesto, tomato sauce, salads, flavored butter, pasta, soups, fish…

Peppermint. The ultimate tea enhancer. Peppermint needs more water than most herbs so it’s usually recommended to grow it in a separate container.

Tomatoes. Tomatoes are very easy to grow in containers, although support is needed as the plant grows upwards. I use simple sticks and twine for that purpose.

Lemons. The first thing I noticed when I moved into the 18-storeys-building I now live in was that one of the neighbors upstairs grows a lemon tree in a gigantic container. I was so thrilled. Turns out, citrus plants are container-friendly, and you don’t have to have a garden to enjoy fresh lemons from a tree. You do need a sunlit porch with enough room for a very big container, though.

Strawberries. They need a lot of sunshine, which somehow makes sense, because they taste like summer. I know I’ve already said “excellent drainage”, but with strawberries, I can’t stress it enough. Spread a layer of pebbles at the bottom of the container, before adding potting soil, and only water after sticking your finger in the soil to make sure it’s dry in the bottom as well.

Other food plants that grow well in containers: thyme, oregano, rosemary, radish, cucumbers, peppers, beets, and onions. I’m always experimenting with new things.

Tags: basil, food, gardening, garlic, herbs, lemons, onion, strawberries, tomatoes, vegetables

Growing my own food isn’t always easy. I’m no professional farmer, I don’t live in the country anymore, and I don’t even have a backyard. There are some foods that I’m simply unable to grow myself, especially animal products. Other foods are very easy to grow, even in urban conditions.

In the past year I’ve adapted my food-growing skills to container gardening. I learned that growing herbs and vegetables in pots and planters is very different than growing them in plots. With a garden, you can usually count on Mother Nature to do a lot of the work for you. Container gardening, on the other hand, requires more care, superb soil and excellent artificial drainage.

The work is very well worth it. It saves time and money, but it’s especially culinary useful and a great way to make food more delicious. Container gardening can help you make tea with freshly-picked peppermint, real pesto from richly aromatic basil or pasta sauce from ripe tomatoes, exploding with flavor that hardly exists in pre-packaged supermarket bought foods.

Here’s my simply how-to guide, inspired by this morning’s planting of basil.

Get seeds or seedlings of the plant you want to grow. I personally prefer seedlings for two reasons. First, it’s easier for an amateur to determine the quality of a seedling than the quality of seeds. Second, there’s less chance for pests to harm the plant: eat the seed or interfere with germination.

Choose an appropriate container. Any size will do as long as plants have enough room to grow and that there’s adequate drainage.  A small citrus tree obviously needs a much larger container than herbs.

Fill 2/3 of the container with soil, preferably good-quality potting soil.  A soil mix especially made for containers is better than garden soil because it is formulated to prevent plants from drying out in the pot.

Dig holes for the seedlings. I simply use my finger, but you can use any tool that scoops the ground and makes holes. Make sure the holes are at least 5 inches apart from each other so the individual plants have enough room to grow comfortably.

Place the seedlings in the holes. Gently press the soil around the base of each plant.

Water generously, but don’t drown the seedlings. Watering is gentle art. The soil must never dry out, but too much water will cause the roots to rot. The soil has to be moist, not dry, not soaking. Excellent drainage is an absolute requirement for successful container gardening. Only if the surface of the soil is dry to the touch, then it’s time to water.  However, don’t let the soil go dry for a long period of time, but check every day.

Place the container according to the appropriate amount of light that the plants need. Herbs usually need some shadow. Vegetables require full sunshine.

Provide particular plant care.  Some plants are very cold-sensitive or prone to specific types of pest.  Others, like basil or mint have a tendency to grow tall. To encourage a growth of more leaves, pinch off the growing tips just above the first set of leaves, allowing new shoots to sprout from the stem. Plants like tomatoes and cucumbers need support growing upwards. You can buy a special cage for that end or simply use support sticks and twine.

Protect from pests. Plants can be attacked by various types of insects and diseases. Inspect the plants on a regular basis for insects, color changes, holes, etc. If your plants get sick, you can choose to use chemical pesticides or more natural solutions like vinegar or horticultural oil.

Harvest the plants when they’re at the peak of maturity. You’ll know this by the intoxicating smell and the excellent flavor.

Tags: container gardening, farmers, food, gardening, herbs, plants, seedlings, seeds

The weather was beautiful yesterday. My husband and I seized the opportunity to enjoy some rare winter sun, took my mother with us, and drove to visit my uncle.

My uncle is a farmer. He grows mostly herbs of various kinds and some vegetables. The visit was lovely. We consumed delicious desserts prepared by my uncle’s wife, spend quality time with the family, and enjoyed ourselves a lot.

As usual, I went home with some of my uncle’s produce: fresh, aromatic basil, green onions, nice romaine lettuce, perfect carrots and ripe, flavorful tomatoes. Much of the basil will become pesto tomorrow. The rest will probably be used for pasta and tomato sauces. The onions, lettuce and tomatoes will be combined into salads. The carrots, I’m not sure yet. I’m not a big cook of carrots, though I suppose I could add them to a dish of grilled vegetables with olive oil and a bit of thyme.

My uncle also gave me a tray of 500 basil seedlings for my porch planters. I plan to plant them this afternoon, and do everything in my power to be kind to them. They’re no ordinary basil seedlings for home-use that you buy at a nursery. They’re the real deal: best quality plants from genetically sturdy seeds, specifically cultivated for professional agricultural use.

These specific seedlings are from a batch that’s supposed to reach fine European markets in a couple of months. They smell fabulous already, and my uncle assures me that their quality is so good, they’re practically impossible to kill, even for an amateur food grower. I’m already eager to include them in fabulous meals.

Tags: basil, farmers, food, gardening, herbs, pesto, seedlings

1. The Sartorialist. Perhaps one of the most famous blogs in the world. Scott Schuman posts pictures of fabulously-dressed people from NYC and other places around the world.

2. The Michelle Obama Look Book at New York Magazine. And while I don’t always share Mrs. Obama’s taste in mixing and matching or big belts, she’s always an inspiration. Her understanding of color is impeccable and she has a true talent in picking the right dresses.

3. InStyle’s Look of the Day. 5 daily pictures of well-dressed celebrities.

Tags: fashion, instyle, Michelle Obama, new york magazine, sartorialist, style, the cut