Urban farming, French style

As if there wasn’t enough to love about Paris already, this past weekend a group of farmers set up mini-farms all down the Champs-Elysees, transforming the grand boulevard into a gorgeous and (they hope) educational agricultural wonderland. The photos I saw in the New York Times were captivating, and I bet there a ton more out there (hello, Google!).Here’s a link to a series of 10 at the Guardian.

The project was designed to draw attention to farmers’ plight as a result of the current financial downturn, a critical cause, but just as interesting, at least to me, are some of the quotations in the NYT article, which confirm many of the things I learned about people and their relationships to farming, animals and food (and the troubling dimminishment thereof) while writing EFB. Apparently, it’s not just an American problem. There was this: “The people worry about the animals,” said Nicolas Mousnier, 29, who raises sheep in Limoges, standing in a straw pit, watching over a herd of 40 sheep, a massive black sow and eight squealing piglets. “This connection still exists. We have to maintain it.” And also this: “You can see that they’re cut off from nature,” said Daniel Millet, 66, returning down the avenue with his wife from a hike outside the city. “People are truly curious about what they’re seeing.”

Suddenly I have the urge to go plant wheat and raise goats in Times Square.

Friday Food Writers: A.J. Liebling

I’m back in Berlin, but in keeping with my week’s travels, I thought it was the perfect time to induct the legendary A.J. Liebling into my Friday food writers pantheon. Born in New York in 1904, Liebling was a journalist who eventually ended up writing for The New Yorker. He loved Paris, where he went for the first time at the age of three, and he adored food. The collection this is from, Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris, was given to me by David Shea, the chef and co-owner of applewood, who told me it’s his favorite book. In particular, I love how this passage captures the pleasure of sending extra food out to people you care for when you’re in the restaurant kitchen and they’re in the dining room. I had a few chances to do this at applewood and I always got a huge thrill out of it.

The primary requisite for writing well about food is a good appetite. Without this, it is impossible to accumulate, within the allotted span, enough experience of eating to have anything worth setting down. Each day brings only two opportunities for field work, and they are not to be wasted minimizing the intake of cholesterol. They are indispensable, like a prizefighter’s hours on the road…A good appetite gives an eater room to turn around in. For example, a nonprofessional eater I know went to the Restaurant Pierre, in the Place Gaillon, a couple of years ago, his mind set on a sensibly light meal: a dozen, or possibly eighteen oysters, and a think chunk of steak topped with beef marrow…But as he arrived, he heard Monsieur Pierre say to his headwaiter, “Here comes Monsieur L. Those two portions of cassoulet that are left–put them aside for him.”…M. Pierre is the most amiable of restaurateurs, who prides himself on knowing in advance what his friends will like. A client of limited appetite would be obliged either to forgo his steak or to hurt M. Pierre’s feelings. Monsieur L., however, was in no difficulty. He ate the two cassoulets, as was his normal practice; if he had consumed only one, his host would have feared that it wasn’t up to standard. He then enjoyed his steak. The oysters offered no problem, since they present no bulk.

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April in Paris

Apologies for the sporadic posting this week. I’m in Paris, where I’m deeply involved in a project I’ll call The Continuous Consumption of Carbohydrates. It’s very hard to write when you’re surrounded by pain au chocolate, souffles, and many, many other delicious items. Last night at dinner I had cassis macaroons. Tonight, I’m gunning for an asparagus souffle. There were some profiteroles in there somewhere, too.

The Cheese-Hater is at home with his father, leaving me free to sample fromage to my heart’s content as well. Which I am doing. As part of my project.

In between meals (when I’m not having a snack), I’ve been checking out Every Kitchen Table, a great place for everything sustainable food related. At the moment there are some really good restaurant recommendations, too.

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