So, what's a Kohlrabi? Good freakin' question. I got one last week in our Community Supported Agriculture ("CSA") share. Every day I opened the refrigerator and it stared at me, defiantly, as if to say, "I dare you to find a way to put me into dinner! I dare you! I dare you! Try to eat me!! You are a mere mortal and I am Mighty Kohlrabi!! Bow to my blobby, rooty superiority--you will not conquer!" Finally I got out a big knife, killed it, and put in a soup.
Which brings me to the thing about this whole eating locally and seasonally. The weekend before last, we were visiting some good friends and conversation turned to sustainable eating and whether or not it's practical to think that everyone in world could eat organically grown, local, seasonal produce. Specifically, could a climate like Arizona realistically support its population strictly on locally grown, organic produce and meat? Is there enough farm-able land? Enough water? I'd like to think if we were really willing it could be done, and clearly it was done in the past (although there were a lot fewer people), but the truth is I don't know if it is reasonable to expect everyone to hop on board the non-processed food train. Because, to be honest, I'm not always on board. I know that I'm supposed confront the weird veggies in my CSA share with a sense of open minded adventure. But then I have a week when I'm really tired, and my ouwies still hurt, and I don't feel like cooking and I've got some funky looking thing in my vegetable bin that's going to go bad if I don't deal with it, and I just want my simple broccoli and cauliflower and carrots from New Zealand or Albania or wherever, all cleaned and chopped, and ready for mindless consumption. If I, someone who feels pretty strongly that we need to change the way we interact with the world, especially in the way we grow and eat food, is struggling with this, how could we ever convince a large portion of population to voluntaryily give up convenience eating? Maybe the answer is that we never will, but eventually someday, everybody will be forced to eat this "new" way because gas and oil will just be too expensive to support the well traveled melon and its cousin the amazing traveling zucchini. There's a happy slogan for conscious food consumption: "Eat Local or Die." Maybe that's what it'll take for me to get it too.
Man, what a weird bulbous root. Fortunately, the universal answer to all strange vegetables is always "soup".
ReplyDeleteI don't think that we'll ever be able to convince everyone to eat more consciously all the time, but as it becomes more convenient to buy local produce (I mean, even Safeway is starting to stock local and health food goods), more people will add some things to their carts. It may not replace EVERYTHING they buy (as it hasn't everything I buy or you buy), but you know, it starts to add up. I think there's a lot of positive changes that have happened in the last 5 years, and I'm sure that it will continue in the next 5.
Check out this link, btw, I think you'll enjoy it:
ReplyDeleteHighWaterLine.
The New Zealand perspective:
ReplyDeleteWe have global produce here, but the main difference between here and the US is the price! We have strawberries and avocados in the stores now (in winter, please) but their prices are outrageous. I think an avocado is about $5 at the moment. More than anything else, this is what keeps Kiwis eating "locally". This price difference doesn't occur to the same effect in the US probably due to the large market size.
So if you could just work on produce import tariffs...