Hello!
Are there any vegans reading this newsletter? Or beer drinkers (as we tend to focus on wine and sake)? We’d really like to know who you are so that we can tailor our content to subjects that you would be most relevant to you. What do you like most about this newsletter and what could you care less about? Keep an eye out for a short reader survey in the next week or so. We’d love your candid feedback!
This is the thirty-sixth edition of EAT.DRINK.THINK., a weekly survey of what we’re cooking and drinking, plus the most interesting food media on the web.
By the way, I'm Bruce Cole, Publisher of Edible San Francisco. If you’re new, welcome! You're getting this email because you subscribed. If you'd like to hop off anytime, simply unsubscribe. I appreciate you reading this newsletter. Let’s eat!
🍔 EAT
Bonjour! Join us along with chefs across the country including the Bay Area’s own including the Bay Area’s own Alice Waters, Traci Des Jardins, Chris Cosentino and Kenji Lopez Alt as they honor Jacques Pepin by contributing recipe videos to support the Jacques Pepin Foundation. The foundation offers free culinary and life skills training, helping individuals gain confidence and employment in foodservice. You can show your support by purchasing or gifting a membership with options to receive the annual video recipe book, posters of Jacques's art, signed cookbooks, and even a personalized video message from Jacques. And be sure to watch Kenji Lopez Alt’s video above, where he tells the story of his first time meeting with Jacques Pepin.
#Protip: via Kenji’s video ☝️ Jacques seasons his burgers with salt not during the cooking process, but once they're done. Adding salt to ground beef, especially when forming the patty, will dissolve muscle proteins that cross-link with each other and make your burger tougher—or as Kenji says, chewy like sausage.
DRINK
On Drinking: a glass of this 2017 Sauvage Chenin Blanc, Vista Verde Vineyards looks really good right now (while we’re writing this newsletter at 6 p.m. on a Friday night). But honestly, we’ve drastically cut back on our wine consumption lately and have been drinking a solo Corona with dinner. Blame the pandemic, or rather our response to it, which was to consume more alcohol than usual in an effort to forget about the impending humanitarian disaster. Our evening routine eventually morphed into a copita of mezcal, followed by vermouth on ice, or maybe if we were especially disgusted by the previous administration, a healthy pour of Fuck Trump and His Stupid Fucking Wall. That segued into a couple glasses of wine with dinner (we usually have at least a couple bottles open in the fridge to choose from). Ultimately our alcoholic indulgence really started to affect our sleep patterns, as in we weren’t getting much, which was the opposite of the drinking intention. Plus it really started to dull our palate, which we only realize now as we’re slowly sliding into opening wine for dinner again. It tastes really amazing, like a brand new beverage! There is such a degree of clarity in every glass it makes us wonder what we were missing before. 🤔 Now that the virus seems to be diminishing and vaccinations are open to more age groups (getting our first dose this weekend), we’re going to at least cut back on our Corona consumption.
THINK
On Veganism: A lot to unpack in Alicia Kennedy’s latest essay. She taps the meatless seafood made by Buddhist monks centuries ago as one of the original vegan foods and notes the Ital diet of Jamaicans is also mostly vegan, while asking “why is the image of veganism in most omnivores’ heads so white? The answer could be as simple as, “because then it’s easy to dismiss.”
Seriously though, how often do diners have to endure eyerolls when they identify as vegan?
Kennedy notes: “Because while not everyone has to go vegan, there is a lot of intellectual dishonesty at play in the hate and mockery. … Accepting the diversity of practitioners and thought would mean not dismissing veganism wholesale as a bougie, white, and aggressive obsession. It would mean seriously grappling with what it means to eat industrial meat and dairy in a warming world where the food system accounts for one third of global greenhouse gas emissions, and where beef is the biggest offender with chicken not lagging far behind?” From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy
📋 Survey Says: “the various ways that climate impacts on food and agriculture are adversely affecting our health. Rising CO2 levels lead to less nutritious crops; increased incidence of diseases and pests may cause some farmers to use more toxic on-farm chemicals; and rising temperatures can lead to upticks of bacteria in the water, making it harder to keep our irrigation-dependent food supply safe.” The Counter
🌲🌲🌲🌲 Timber! new research links the average western diet that consists of coffee and chocolate and beef (among others) to global deforestation. In other words, we’re responsible for the felling of four trees every year, many in wildlife-rich tropical forests. The Guardian
New Old Bay News: the spice was created by a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the US and was fired from McCormick & Company for being Jewish. My Jewish Learning
Opening Soon! La Cocina’s Municipal Food Hall (332 Golden Gate Ave.) opens April 5. The non-profit is know for its successful programs that help low-income food entrepreneurs grow their businesses and turn them into brick and mortars. Graduates include Guadalupe Guerrrero of El Pipila, Nite Yun of Nuym Bai, Fernay McPherson of Minne Bell’s Soul Movement, and Reem Assil of Reem’s California.
“On Monday, the 7,000-square-foot La Cocina Municipal Marketplace will open its doors for thrillingly diverse lunchtime takeout service: pupusas, tacos de guisado, Algerian-style couscous and California-Creole jerk chicken tacos.” KQED
🎥 Watch: a new film explores food, culture and feminism in the Native American roots of Texas Mexican food. “Women are the engineers behind certain cooking methods, such as roasting, grinding and blending, and the creators of flavor profiles that we enjoy today when we think of traditional Mexican food.” Truly Texas Mexican
🎧 Listen: Jaymee Sire’s Food Network Obsessed Podcast. Of course you remember Jaymee as a sideline reporter for the Giants, Warriors, A’s, and Sharks back in the day. After a stint at ESPN, she transitioned to food coverage as a floor reporter for Iron Chef Showdown and has appeared on the Food Network Star. Sire is now the host of the network's first ever podcast. In this episode she interviews Maile Carpenter, Editor-In-Chief of the Food Network Magazine (and former Senior Editor at San Francisco Magazine in c. 2000).
👀 SPOTTED
Touchy-Feely or TMI? 🤔
Yippee Ki Yay
ICYMI we shared our April Spotify dinner jams playlist last week. This month’s list leads off with a Fontella Bass classic from 1966 and quickly segues into a rambling mix of covers and culture, including Durand Jones and the Indications outstanding version of David Bowie’s “Young Americans.”
That’s all for this week.
Thanks for subscribing to Eat. Drink. Think. This post is public, so feel free to share it. Actually, we’d be eternally thankful if you shared it with everyone you know 😉
We’re outta here. Be well and take care,
–Bruce
Do you follow us yet?
Instagram: 25K+ followers
Twitter: 53K+ followers
Facebook: 6500+ followers
Did you miss the last newsletter? Check it here.
"Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end" –John Lennon