Groceries a-go-go

I've been out of the loop again, but this time I blame it on the fact that I don't live in the effected neighborhood. Last I'd heard, Whole Foods was slated to move out of its old 3313 University Ave. location and into a shiny new space just a few blocks up, where a new development is slowly being built. That seemed a bit odd to me, especially seeing as how there's already a Sentry right across the parking lot, and a Copps just down the street. What neighborhood needs, let alone can support, three full-service grocery stores?

Apparently, however, the downturn in ye ol' marketplace and other such factors have nixed Whole Foods' plans to move and open a new store. Poor babies*. Y'know, I'd like to see a mixed used, preferably sustainable development go in where there is now only a big, gaping hole, but I think they could (and will likely now have to) find better use for it than yet another grocery store. And, too, there are other neighborhoods in this city that are decidedly lacking in easy-to-access groceries. If we're going to encourage new stores to open, why not point them in the direction of an area that actual wants/needs them?

It's important for neighborhoods to have various essentials within reasonable walking distance. We've done a great job of building totally isolated communities where you're pretty much forced to hop in the car to do any errands, and that's a damn shame. Not only is it ecologically smart to build mixed-used, it's also financially smart for the people who live there: less gas money (and car payments, insurance, etc.) to get where you need to go, more exercise, more community connectedness.

So I'm not at all bummed to hear that Whole Foods is likely having to pull out of its weird plans to move a few blocks just to be in the same 'hood as two other big stores. I'm not surprised, either, to hear that these large, ambitious developments are having financial trouble. Hindsight is certainly 20/20, but I think there were plenty of sound voices in the wilderness warning us about unchecked building even before the current downturn. If nothing else, we now need to take the opportunity to really rethink how we go about improving our neighborhoods and cities. It's becoming more and more crucial every day.

*Whole Foods as a store is nice enough and all, but I've never been a big fan of their overall business plan and bizarre CEO.

Easier every day to eat local

This is so cool.

Four geography students at the UW-Madison have created an interactive map of local food sources (within 100 miles of Madison), including farms, co-ops and markets. It's still in beta mode, which means it's not quite done, but what they've got so far is quite impressive and pretty slick.

Check out the "100 Mile Diet Map" here.

I love stuff like this. Easy to use and pretty thorough, it makes the task of getting more of what you eat from local sources so much simpler. And frankly, if we hope to get more people on board with the local food movement, the easier it's made the better.

A few other local food resources:

• Wisconsin Local Food
  
• Slow Food Wisconsin
• Wisconsin Eat Local Challenge
• Eat Wild (national resource with many WI farms)
• Wisconsin's Farm Fresh Atlas
• Home Grown Wisconsin (sustainable growers serving restaurants)
• Savor Wisconsin

It is possible to get most of your food from more local producers, and with world food prices being what they are, we should be doing our best to encourage people and governments to get more of their food from nearby sources. It cuts the cost of transporting it, helps support local economies, lowers the demand for fuel, and helps with sustainability issues. Will it fix everything overnight? Probably not, but all signs point to it being the healthier, longer-term solution.

Fools rush in

Skyrocketing fuel prices? Dig up the oil sands in Canada! Skyrocketing food prices? Tear out the Amazon rainforest for agricultural use!

Seemingly easy solutions like these are awful tempting when we're faced with ever increasingly daunting challenges in the world. A global food crisis is at hand (or already in progress, depending on how you look at it), and we're all feeling the pinch at the gas pumps. But is more really the answer? And more important, is easy really better?

An argument can be made for the former question--increased efficiency, better technology and new sources may help us increase food and fuel production without overwhelmingly negative consequences--but as for the latter, it's not likely.

Dan Gunderson, in an editorial for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, argues that we need to up production in places like Alberta, Canada where vast oil sand reserves live:

While "renewability" is an important factor in our future energy choices, reliability is also essential. Contrary to popular perception, world oil and gas reserves remain abundant. But the lack of access to these reserves is a primary limiting factor in our domestic energy supply.

More than 20 years of ill-considered public policy that restricted access to government lands or prohibited exploration activities has led to higher prices and a significant tightening in current global energy supplies.

...

Not everyone understands that the oil sands and other petroleum resources found in places like Canada increase U.S. energy reliability and security. Some people even suggest that we can simply eliminate petroleum from the American way of life and the economy will continue to grow and create jobs and the promise of a better quality of life for future generations. These folks, it seems, would simply turn 300 million automobiles into so many lawn ornaments, eliminate millions of jobs, do without valuable products, and use the bicycles that the Chinese and Indian people are so eager to abandon.

While I agree that we can't afford to simply and immediately eliminate all petroleum from our lives, to reach the important long-term goal of at least mostly phasing out its use we must think long-term.

Oil sands production and refining is extremely energy intensive, requiring a great deal of natural gas and water. Natural gas production in Alberta has apparently already peaked, and any increase in oil sands production is likely to accompany a reduction in natural gas imports to the United States. Not a great outcome. Plus, oil sands extraction is "generally held to be more environmentally damaging than conventional crude oil - carbon dioxide emissions, for example, are roughly three to five times greater with tar sands extraction." Plus, digging up huge swaths of land, in this case Boreal Forest, is very likely to cause irreversible damage to the ecosystem.

What's important is that we increase the efficiency and safety standards for current production sites while also working hard to create and improve more sustainable, renewable sources of energy. These new sources, like any new market, will help to create a great number of new jobs, many of which aren't likely to require a great deal of retraining for workers already skilled at jobs in existing energy fields. The trick in all of this, of course, is doing our best to make the transition as smooth as possible. Kinks will be inevitable, but certainly human ingenuity can help to minimize their impact and maximize the positive results.

Plowing ahead with the same old methods without thinking through their long-term effects and consequences is what got us into our current mess. Why repeat the same old mistakes?

Under the guise of growing a more en vogue crop, that's exactly what Blairo Maggi, the governor of Brazil's chief soy-producing state, would have us do. Now, I'm a huge fan of soy--as a vegetarian, it's probably my largest food group. But we don't need to plow under the Amazon rainforest to grow it. Maggi, however, seems to think otherwise:

"With the worsening of the global food crisis, the time is coming when it will be inevitable to discuss whether we preserve the environment or produce more food. There is no way to produce more food without occupying more land and taking down more trees," Maggi told Folha de Sao Paulo. "In this moment of crisis, the world needs to understand that the country has space to raise its production."

He's right on the last count, but the country has space outside of the rainforest to raise its production. This according to their own government officials:

Still, Brazilian government officials maintain that agricultural expansion need not come at the expense of the Amazon rainforest. In January Brazilian Agriculture Minister Reinhold Stephanes told Reuters that outside the Amazon, Brazil has 100 million hectares of land available for cultivation, including 50 million hectares of degraded pasture land and 50 million hectares of cerrado, a grassland ecosystem bordering the Amazon rainforest.

So why on Earth would you choose to destroy one of the world's most valuable and fragile resources instead? The soil in the rainforest is extremely bad for agricultural uses. "The soil in the rainforest is very fertile but only the top few inches and only while the rainforest itself is left in place. If you take away the rainforest, the soil itself is not very good at all. The soil's fertility derives from the intense biological activity in the rainforest. This activity is so rapid that biomass from dead plants is recycled and the nutrients made again available in a matter of weeks." Once you clear all of the flora that sustains this cycle, the land begins to erode and degrade at a rapid pace.

Plus, undisturbed rainforests (of which there are few, if any, left) help maintain a worldwide balance between oxygen output and carbon dioxide intake. Greater rates of tree felling and organic decomposition lead to far greater amounts of carbon dioxide being released into the air, as does burning large swaths of the forest. And the repercussions wouldn't end there.

Fact is, we need to apply our vast cerebral and monetary resources to developing and improving more sustainable, more long-term productive methods of fuel and food production. This is possible. It already exists. All that seems to be lacking is education and willpower.


(photo credits here and here, h/t John A. for the subject)

The good, the bad, the delightful

The Good:

A "sustainable village," complete with natural sewage treatment, a school of organic agriculture and businesses powered by the sun, wind and renewable organic fuel could find a home in Fitchburg.

I have been known to bag on Fitchburg (where their downtown is a "state of mind") on more than a few occasions. Word on the street back in the day was that this next door neighbor of Madison's was essentially formed by business interests that wanted a place nearby to the city where they could operate with fewer regulations and taxes. Call me wacky, but that seems like an odd reason to establish a city. Aaaanyway, I was pleased as punch to read this article in the WSJ today.

The Bad:

Ever wonder who really owns some of those tasty organic and "natural" food brands that we all know and love? Yeah, disappointing. I was heartened not to find Amy's on the list, because Amy's is the shit. Seriously.

The Delightful:

Can you smell that? That's the scent of snow melting, ice breaking, sand clogging sewer drains and mud forming all around--in other words, SPRING! And not a moment too soon. Even us hearty Wisconsinites had had quite enough of this winter by about, oh, the beginning of February. I was starting to think wistfully of places like LA, places that normally instill a healthy sense of dread, and their warmer weather. No more! There's nothing like an especially harsh winter to make spring a truly glorious experience.

Have a great weekend!

Pizza Brutta is...uh...very good-ah!

What? It rhymes!

Anyway, last night me and my fella headed over to this new restaurant over on Monroe Street to find out whether their "Neapolitan Style Pizza" was up to snuff. See, we're like, experts on the subject now and highly qualified to judge. Ahem.

A friend of mine had recently recommended Pizza Brutta to me, mentioning that they had a wood-fired oven and used lots of organic ingredients. Sounded good to me. I love thin crust pizza, especially when it's cooked in a wood-fired oven. The deep dish, Chicago-style stuff has never appealed to me, but unfortunately, here in Madison, it's much easier to find thick than thin. So it was with great relief that I left Pizza Brutta last night with one more place in town to get great thin crust pizza.

We walked into a warm, inviting space where, just behind the main counter, the oven and its low, hot embers could be seen. A friendly guy, presumably the owner and/or main chef, greeted us with a smile. Being snobby traditionalists, we both ordered a margherita pizza (I complimented mine with a Spotted Cow, which, along with the Capital Maibock and something else I can't remember, they had on tap) and then went to find our seats and wait for the food to be brought out.

I'm told that cooking pizza in a wood-fired oven, when done properly, only takes a few minutes. The speedy delivery of our pies suggested that Pizza Brutta knew this, too.

The pies looked great: thin, lightly charred crust topped with a tasty tomato sauce, melted fresh mozzarella cheese, basil and a sprinkling of oil. The crust was a bit crispier than the stuff we'd had in Naples, but still delicious. In fact, the whole thing was really, really good and I finished it off without much trouble. Pro tip: the slices are so thin that I found it easier to eat them folded, but that's half the fun!

During our meal, we overheard the main guy talking to a table of people nearby, asking them what they thought of the gelato. Our ears perked up immediately. In addition to a love of thin crust pizza, we'd also picked up an addiction to gelato during our travels abroad. Ever since, we've been hunting out places in the area where one can get the tasty cold treat, so far sampling the goods at both Java Cat (our favorite) and Paciugo. We were excited to hear that there was yet another location in town where we could sate our addiction.

There were only three flavors available that night: chocolate, pistachio and lemon-basil. Intrigued and slightly confused, we inquired about the lemon-basil. He told us that they were actually out of lemon that day and so the gelato was only basil flavored, which only served to confuse us more. Basil flavored gelato? How could that be good? But he insisted we try some. Hesitantly, we both took a bite of the stuff. I braced for an overly herbal flavor wave, but actually found it to be quite pleasant. Not at all ordinary. Still, it struck me that it would be best with the lemon compliment, and so we both decided to go with the more traditional chocolate.

The chocolate gelato was wonderfully flavorful without being too rich. Owner/chef guy asked us what we thought of it, and we both agreed that it was very good, if just a tad bit grainy. He admitted that their machines for making it were a bit small, making it harder to get it to freeze fast enough to beat the formation of ice crystals. It sounded like something he would be working on improving, but even still, it was good stuff.

Overall, I was much impressed. The ingredients were fresh, the wood-fired oven seemed well used, the prices were very reasonable, and the other food options looked interesting, too. I can say, without a doubt, that we'll be back to try out some of the other dishes and different types of pies. I would whole-heartedly recommend Pizza Brutta to anyone who asked and I'm extremely happy to have even a close approximation of Neapolitan style pizza nearby.

Travel Tales: Stumbling Onto the Ultimate Pizza

I want to tell you a story. Do you have a minute? It's a pretty good one, I promise.

Once upon a time--actually, late May of 2006--me and The Boy saved up our pennies and had ourselves a totally excellent adventure. The itinerary was Rome for three days followed by a ferry ride to Croatia, where we would be staying on an island called Korcula in an apartment we'd rented with three other friends. It was an amazing trip: we were able to squeeze in a side trip to Pompeii (where my inner history dork positively wallowed in the scenery), we explored the Eternal City, discovered how beautiful the Dalmatian Coast is, walked the entire length of the walls around the city of Dubrovnik, and ate seafood caught fresh from the Adriatic (a novelty for us landlocked Midwesterners).

Still, one particular adventure stands out the most: our quest to eat pizza in Naples, the Holy Land of pies. This is the story I want to tell, in the hopes that it will lead one of you to find this same pizzeria some day so that you, too, might know true bliss.

On our second day in Rome, The Boy and I met up with Cory, a friend of ours from back home who had been traveling abroad solo but was coming with us to Croatia. We decided to take a day trip to see ancient Pompeii, and to get there by train, it's necessary to go through Naples. I had recently read the book "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert, in which she extols the heavenly virtues of Neapolitan pizza, and so I suggested that we stop in the city for lunch. Everyone enthusiastically agreed.

The book had given the name of one pizzeria in particular, but once we actually arrived in Naples, I realized that I had forgotten to get directions to or even write down the name of that place. Undaunted and ever the plucky traveler, Cory approached a young man on a taxi scooter just outside the train station and proceeded to ask for recommendations. He broke the ice by offering a cigarette--the international friendship currency. Thing is, Cory didn't speak a lick of Italian and the young man spoke very broken English. Still, they gamely engaged each other in a round of charades and two word sentences, eventually leading Cory to believe he'd understood something resembling directions to a good pizzeria.

We set off on foot, something that many guide books and seasoned travelers had warned against in this, the city of purse-snatching "centaurs" (guys on scooters who drive by and take what they can from you) and other hooligans. Still, we took some comfort in being in a group and in the fact that none of us were wearing Rolexes.

Our path took us straight down a major thoroughfare, past gangs of uber fashion conscious Italian youths, gobs of street vendors and the noise of construction. Finally, we reached the turn-off we were pretty sure our guide had indicated to us. It took us back into a working-class neighborhood full of narrow, cobblestone streets, colorful flags hanging between buildings, limoncello vendors, and people going about their day-to-day business. Caught up as we were in the sights and sounds of the back streets, we soon realized that we had no idea where we were going anymore.

As The Boy and I discussed our options, Cory disappeared. We found him down and across the street, surrounded by a throng of emphatically gesticulating men. Our first thought was that he was being mugged, and so we circled around from two directions, The Boy looking for some large blunt object he might be able to use as a weapon, and me just trying to figure out what was really going on.

As I closed in, it became clear that Cory and the men were engaged in some kind of discussion, and by the time I finally walked up beside him, I could hear him repeating "pizzeria! pizzeria!" while the confused Italians repeated back, "piazza? piazza?"

Before taking the trip, The Boy and I had divvied up language duties one to the other: he would learn basic Croatian, and I would attempt basic Italian. Now was the time for my extremely shaky skills to shine! I actually understood where the gap in communication lay, and so I put my hand on Cory's shoulder to stop him, turned to the men, and managed to say "Pizzeria molto bene?" (roughly: "very good pizzeria?").

The men burst into a chorus of understanding, waving their arms and hands in the air as if to say "Why didn't you just say so?" I was hard-pressed not to start laughing at how stereotypical it all seemed. But they were more than happy to recommend a good place to go. They kept repeating the words "Cleen-tone, Cleen-tone, il presidente!" which was at first baffling, but I just figured the name of the place was "The President" and they were referring to our last decent example of such a thing as a way to make themselves clear. We thanked them, and the merry band of Italian men saw us on our way.

And just where they said it would be, we found Pizzaiolo del Presidente, a place that would soon become my food Mecca. It would also turn out to be one of Naples' most famous pizza destinations, its profile significantly raised when, in fact, President Bill Clinton had paid it a visit back in '94. Because of it's somewhat remote location, however, the restaurant stays relatively tourist-free (except for the three of us, of course), and is a favorite amongst the locals.

We took our seats, and each one of us ordered an individual pie. Normally, I can't even come close to finishing a whole pizza, but I took this to be one well deserved exception. If you ever find yourself lucky enough to be eating at a pizzeria in Naples, do yourself a favor and don't share. I had the traditional margherita (fresh tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and oil), The Boy had his with "buffalo" mozzarella, and Cory had some similar incarnation. None of the pies vary by more than two ingredients. Why mess with a good thing?

I can't begin to describe how amazing they tasted. The crust was phenomenal--they prepare it in secret, and it cooks in pretty much 30 seconds flat--all light and flaky and bubbly and ohmygodI'mgoingtocrythisissogood! We ate in stunned silence, occasionally exchanging awestruck glances and uttering simple things like "wow" and "oh my God" until we finished. Our only regret was that we couldn't take more with us for the road.

Since then, every pie I've ever eaten has been, at best, a sorry approximation of that glorious of that Neapolitan masterpiece. That's really the only downside.

The moral of our story is that it's always worth wandering off the beaten path, and that asking the locals for their recommendations is the way to go. Hold on to your purses, but don't be afraid to put yourself out there, too. And for the love of God and all that is holy, if you're ever remotely close to Naples, eat the pizza!

Feel good story of the week

Speaking of Second Harvest, I stumbled across this article in the State Journal today and it brought one big smile to my face:

State Journal readers helped give Edgewood High School kitchen worker Richard Hare his best birthday ever.

Hare traditionally uses his birthday week in mid October to raise money for the Second Harvest Foodbank.

In the past, his Richard 's Birthday Raffle has raised $300 to $400. This year, to mark his 40th birthday, he set the ambitious goal of raising $1,000 to help feed the poor.

Did he succeed?

Did he ever.

"The outpouring of support has been absolutely astounding, " said Edgewood President Judd Schemmel.

Hare went to Second Harvest on Tuesday with a wrapped box containing checks for $14,352. And money is still arriving at the school.

You too can help donate to Second Harvest, a national network of food banks with an office here in Madison that helps to provide meals to people and families in need, by attending dane101's Hallow-rockin'-ween this Wednesday. The $7 cover charge goes to benefit the program.

There are any number of food drives and fundraisers around this time of year, as we're reminded by dint of national holiday to give thanks and give back. It's a good habit to be in as a nation, but we should also be obligated to do this sort of thing all year round, and to help find ways to bring and keep people out of poverty in the first place. The following is a short list of some of the organizations working to do these types of things in Madison and the surrounding areas. Take a look and consider volunteering time, money and/or resources to one of 'em.

• Second Harvest Foodbank in Madison
• Dane County Food Pantry Network (big list)
  
• Madison Area Food Pantry Gardening Network
• Common Wealth Development
• Fair Housing Center of Greater Madison
• Tenant Resource Center
  

We can use this time of year to help remind ourselves of what's good about our own lives and that there's much each of us can do, as individuals or as groups, to help improve the lives of others. In the richest nation on Earth, it seems the least we can do.

Eat Local, Feel Good

I'm glad I stumbled onto this just in time--today is the first day of the Wisconsin Eat Local Challenge, organized by the UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems. It's a pretty straight-forward challenge: sign up, spend at least 10% of your food budget on things grown and produced right here in Wisconsin (or within a 100 mile radius of your home), keep track of it on a handy scorecard provided at the site, then submit your final tally via a short survey. There's a small prize incentive, but really, what more incentive is there than support of local farms and producers? Plus, delicious food. I can hear my belly rumbling now....

For resources on where to find local food in your area, check out the Savor Wisconsin website, or use the guide on the WELC site itself.