When Professor Silver gave our class our final assignment, Ill admit I was worried. We were to bring a dish to our final class that was both seasonal and regional in its ingredients. We(Jessie and Jessica) decided to pair up and work together to bring this assignment to life. Deciding to make Napoleons, a recipe that Jessica had learned from her grandmother, we set out to find out local and seasonal ingredients. Our produce was purchased at the Ferry Building's farmers market as was out feta cheese. The basil came from Jessica's basil plant, and the bread and pesto came from Trader Joe's.
The Ingredients are...
Cherry or Heirloom Tomatoes (small)
Feta Cheese
Sourdough Bread
Basil
Pesto
Red Onions
First you must cut the tomatoes into thin slices, the feta into thin squares, and mince the red onion.
Once you have sliced and diced, cut the bread into bite size pieces and then lightly toast.
After the bread is toasted begin assembling. Lightly spread the pesto onto the toasted bread and then add the feta, basil and tomato. Sprinkle a few pieces of onion to the top of each Napoleon and enjoy!
Here was the video that Jessie, Katie, and I put together in response to our trip to the mission! It was originally posted by Jessie March 11th but I wanted to be sure to have it on my blog as well. I went for a more traditional radio show and the other two... just take a peak at their creativity!http://tinyurl.com/amyg2v
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
It’s hard to believe that the semester is drawing to a swift yet chaotic end and that ESF Spring 2009 has taken our last field trip. For our last hurrah we ventured to Cole Valley and Haight Street eating at establishments one could say i representative of each vastly different neighborhood. First on the agenda was to meet promptly at 6pm at Zazie, a charming, warm, and inviting French bistro, where one of our ESFers, Nick, currently works and hooked us up. Zazie is well known for its delicious food, use of free-range meats, and friendly atmosphere, so needless to say everyone looked forward to devouring this delicious meal.
photo by david silver http://tinyurl.com/qgqzj7
Seated at a long rectangular table the group began scouring the menu trying to decide what would they would share, or perhaps decadently have all to themselves! Jessie and I decided that we would share the Chicken and a side of Macaroni and Cheese as well as share a half bottle of Cabernet. When our food arrived we were by no means disappointed. Our chicken was tender, flavorful and moist accompanied with spinach and heavenly creamy mash potatoes. The Mac and Cheese was outstanding with a backed cheese top that gave way to the warm and gooey world of cheesy goodness.
photo by http://tinyurl.com/q2kqdp
As I ate my chicken I couldn’t help but think of the Omnivores Dilema by Michael Pollan. While I knew that Zazie used free-ranged chicken I still couldn’t help but think of the wonder that is Polyface farm. At Polyface owner Joel Salatin, not only allows for his animals to roam outside and eat grass and bugs, but he gives his animals and their lives purpose. Salatin takes the approach of not merely raising chickens but, pigs, cattle, turkeys, and rabbits, and focuses on how to take advantage of their symbiotic relationships. By allowing and helping to facilitate these natural relationships Salatin’s livestock helps to take care of each other while restoring nourishment to the land. For example three days after the Cattle graze an area the chickens are brought in to fertilize the soil with their manure which is high in nitrogen. The chickens also act a cleaning crew that eats the fly larva that reside in the cow patties and thus help to control the fly populations that pester the cows. So the cows feed the chickens with their waste and in turn the chickens use their waste to grow the food for the cows. In this “Circle of Life” the animals are not just a commodity to be consumed by humans, they are instrumental in helping one and other survive, and thus they are allowed to live lives as nature had intended, lives with purpose. Here a a link where Daniel (son of owner) explains how they do it check it out! http://tinyurl.com/r63v2b
After finishing our meal at Zazie we headed on over to the McDonalds on Haight and decided to indulge ourselves in some desert be it sweet or savory. After reading about the horrors of industrial corn in the Omnivores Dilemma I thought for sure some people would be apprehensive about ordering a tasty treat. Much to my surprise everyone jumped right in and enjoyed not only ice cream and McFluries but also the infamous French fries. As we watched the colorful characters that frequent this McDonalds and enjoyed the last few moments of our trip I couldn’t help but wish I was not in this dirty, crowded, and commercialized space, and instead was roaming the pastoral hills of Polyface farm.
It is hard for a student to envision a course like Eating San Francisco.A course that is challenging, groundbreaking, hands on, and enjoyable.A class with an environment and structure that not only encourages creativity but, individuality, and thinking outside of the box, all while its students are exploring a diverse city through its rich culinary history.Lucky for the students at the University of San Francisco there is no dreaming required, for the course is alive and well affording its students not only amazing first hand experiences but the opportunity to create unique works of multimedia to share with the public.As a student at USF and a member of the inaugural ESF class I had the chance to see firsthand the compelling and remarkable work of my fellow classmates as they have evolved over the semester.
The course is centered on field trips about every other week that allow the class to explore the neighborhoods of San Francisco through their unique food and culture.Before each field trip we are assigned readings which help to give the class some common ground as well as some frame of reference about the neighborhood’s history before our adventures. There have also been opportunities for students to become more aware about their eating habits through assigned readings such as The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan and the assignment to document what you eat over the course of a day.We have also had the opportunity to participate in our university’s organic garden as well as have the chance experiment with documenting food and its preparation through the assignment, “How to Prepare a Delicious Meal”.The final project for ESF will be to prepare and document a meal that is both seasonal and regional.As far as our adventures in the city go we have traveled to Northbeach, The Mission, The Castro, and most recently Chinatown, with only a trip to Noe Valley and McDonald's on Haight remaining.
Unfortunately I was not able to attend the class’s most recent field trip to China town and I must admit I was really bummed out.It wasn’t just because everyone would be eating yummy Dim Sum without me, it was because I would be missing out on the chance to explore a part of the city with the “ESF Paparazzi”.I think most in the ESF crew would agree that there is something really special about traveling around with so many creative minds.It is as if the creativity it contagious and is constantly challenging everyone to step up their game and examine things in a new and more interesting way.However there was something good that came out of missing the Chinatown trip and that was I had the opportunity to examine the work of my peers from a different perspective, and that was as an outsider.
As I perused through the various projects it was as though each project was an individual bulb that made up an television screen, alone they each shined brightly but together they illuminated a more complete and complex picture.Two of the most interesting themes that seemed to keep popping up were this feeling of being a foreigner, and chicken feet.
It is easy to see why one might feel as if they have been transported to another place and time when they walk the streets of Chinatown.The students of ESF picked up on the drastic change in architecture, store layouts, colors, smells, goods sold, and the demographics, all of which were carefully analyzed by some of the students in their quest for understanding why they perhaps felt out of place.This is where I believe the chicken feet played a role.At Dim Sum there was the opportunity for the class to try one of the Chinese delicacies often referred to as “Phoenix Talons” .It was pretty apparent from both the pictures and video that most were a little uncomfortable or at least intrigued by the prospect of trying this foreign delicacy.While the response to their taste varied (some people really liked them), some found the chicken feet texture, and the fact that they were clearly recognizable as feet, to be a little too much for their taste.I found it particularly interesting given our readings from The Omnivores Dilemma where one of the main themes/problems is that Americans are too detached from their food, whether it’s where it comes from, or what it actually is that we are putting into our bodies.For those who commented that the feet looking like feet was what turned them off from trying it, or perhaps liking it, they further supported that the culinary culture in the United States is not predominately concerned with the average person knowing exactly what they are eating, instead ignorance is bliss and one should enjoy consuming their anonymous meal.This cultural difference could be another contributing factor as to why some felt like foreigners. It speaks volumes of the caliber of work the students of ESF put into their Chinatown projects that an “outsider” can begin to make cultural distinctions based on their experiences without even being there.
Please take the opportunity to check out the amazing projects (links below) and please leave your comments so that everyone has the opportunity to sit with their work and feedback!
