But I'm going to a wedding down south for a week. Will post when I get back. I got a great going away present though. I sliced my finger off. Details and image to come.
A la prochaine
SDM
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
In Memoriam - Anna Michalenko (File under many thanks due)
From the Saskatoon Star Phoenix
MICHALENKO - Anna of Saskatoon, SK passed away at Saskatoon City Hospital on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at the age of 93 years. The Prayer Service for Anna will be held on Friday, May 2, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. The Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. Both services will be held at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Holy Ghost, Hafford, SK, with Rev. Fr. Taras Udod officiating. Interment will follow in the Holy Ghost Ukrainian Orthodox Cemetery, Hafford, SK. Arrangements entrusted to James Werezak, PARK FUNERAL CHAPEL, 244-2103.
And what I wrote this morning;
With the passing of a legendary matriarch,
The mind pauses to consider,
Your own mortality,
I consider the great many debts I owe,
To the Mother Michalenko,
Without whom I would not know,
Joy beyond words,
Passion without bounds,
And love that touches the stars;
Affectionately today,
I sing her praises,
I celebrate her life,
And smile in the knowledge,
That her life, brought life to so many more,
And joy to even more;
Her life imbued a spirit of family,
True connectedness,
And an awakening which parallels my own family,
I cheer your grace Grandma,
And will evermore remember your wit and wisdom,
Your elegance and grace,
And the warmth of your smile,
Which reaches deep inside of me,
And lives on with your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren,
Thank you for delivering me,
All that I have,
Rest In Peace,
SDM
MICHALENKO - Anna of Saskatoon, SK passed away at Saskatoon City Hospital on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at the age of 93 years. The Prayer Service for Anna will be held on Friday, May 2, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. The Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. Both services will be held at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Holy Ghost, Hafford, SK, with Rev. Fr. Taras Udod officiating. Interment will follow in the Holy Ghost Ukrainian Orthodox Cemetery, Hafford, SK. Arrangements entrusted to James Werezak, PARK FUNERAL CHAPEL, 244-2103.
And what I wrote this morning;
With the passing of a legendary matriarch,
The mind pauses to consider,
Your own mortality,
I consider the great many debts I owe,
To the Mother Michalenko,
Without whom I would not know,
Joy beyond words,
Passion without bounds,
And love that touches the stars;
Affectionately today,
I sing her praises,
I celebrate her life,
And smile in the knowledge,
That her life, brought life to so many more,
And joy to even more;
Her life imbued a spirit of family,
True connectedness,
And an awakening which parallels my own family,
I cheer your grace Grandma,
And will evermore remember your wit and wisdom,
Your elegance and grace,
And the warmth of your smile,
Which reaches deep inside of me,
And lives on with your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren,
Thank you for delivering me,
All that I have,
Rest In Peace,
SDM
Monday, April 28, 2008
Reservation, My Time and Discovering Self (file under Oiu)
So I had my review this past weekend. It was a great experience. It is the first time in my life I feel as if I belong somewhere. I have watched myself become a man this year. The uncertainty of who I was and where I belong was turning me into a very ugly person. I would drink and do excessive amounts of anything, not so much running from myself as trying to run period. It made life difficult for the ones that I love most. Now, I wake up feeling refreshed, wonderful and ready for a new day.
I spoke a few blog posts ago about my daily Mantra’s that I write in my notebook. The following are some of the ones I have written lately;
Today I Achieve by Being ME!
I am that which is genuine!
I am that which is compassionate, caring and full of life!
I am that which is great and true.
Today is just a tiny step yet… forward.
Dreams come true if you’re willing to dare.
Everyday I write a note to myself at the top of the page. The whole day I find myself looking at it and repeating it. Finding within myself a strength of will and a force of personality that drives me ever forward. Gone are the days that I disappoint myself by failing to live up to my potential. I often, in the past, would speak of the troublesome feelings I had about the things I knew, the brain I have and the troubles that they brought me. Now, instead of bemoaning a world I can’t change (I usually don’t use the word can’t as I think it is naughty four letter word) I have chosen to accept the things I can’t change (not in the 12 step program kind of way either) and instead to focus on my own personal development. Utilizing the brain that I have to further enhance the passion, drive and desire I have to be the best Chef I can be. It is the most cathartic experience for me to let go of so much baggage from the past that was weighing me down and often found me hiding in a bottle or a line or a joint. Not that there is anything wrong with any of those in moderation but I never knew moderation. I sought and yet never found numb whereas now I seek and consistently find joy, life, love, passion and endless amounts of energy.
This brings me to my next point. I am an uber human. I have never felt it necessary to eat fruit, take vitamins, etc. I have since January however, as part of my transformation been taking great care of my body. I have been taking Greens Energy Plus and Greens Proteins every morning before going to work. At first I thought it was just something to do but now that it is part of my daily regiment I feel awesome. If any of you have not tried Greens Plus or are interested in it let me know as one of C and I’s best friends (in fact the wedding we are going to on Saturday YES!) who is a representative for the company. If you want more information you can go to; http://www.genuinehealth.com/english/ . Or contact me and I will put you in touch with her.
Prior to getting to my review in this post I would also like to point out that I have (although I’ve mentioned it before) started to track everything. I track what comes in every morning in dry goods (the weight), fish (what types and how much), the meat, and the fruits and vegetables. I track the yield of my stocks which are off the scale now. I track the yield of every dish I make as well as any comments I get on them. I track the number of events, the number of people at them as well as how the meal breaks down in terms of soup, salad and protein. It is my belief that by doing so after a year I will have a relative, real world baseline from which I can draw certain conclusions which will aid in my development of my restaurant. With every passing day I get more and more excited as I truly can see the light on the marquee if you will. That said; my review.
When Head Chef handed me the review document a couple of weeks ago. It was less than an hour between the time that he gave it to me and I had handed it back to him. It is the first time that I have had to do a written review in quite a while and it felt amazing. So when I came in on Saturday morning after a wicked party for Executive Chef’s birthday the night before I had not been expecting my review as Head Chef had been sick. I took care of the things that I had to before we got under way and then we headed over to our sister restaurant and spoke about the review for about an hour.
As I’m sure all of you know what a review is like I will let you know that I wrote down that I felt that I either met or exceeded expectations in every way. Head Chef walked me through how the review was used and said that I did in fact either meet or exceed expectations. While this is enough to send me over the moon I also am well aware of the fact that what I expect from myself exceeds what their expectations are. I am very hard on myself and this came up during the review.
Head Chef told me that this year is one of massive change for the restaurant. He said that there are going to be changes in the way that it is run and how people operate within it. He said that my attitude was great but that I should be mindful of what I am saying and how. This made perfect sense to me and whats more I had made the decision after filling out the review that my Modus Operandi was going to transform when I came back from Mexico. I have tried to fit into the kitchen in a way that is probably not serving me the best that it can. When I get back I am going to alter certain things that I felt I needed to address and in explaining this to him he agreed. I want to be respected. I want to deserve respect. I want to be the best and as such I need to start doing things in a certain way now as opposed to later. I really look forward to my first day back.
In this regard Head Chef asked if I was clouded at all. I answered him truthfully as I always do that I felt I was. Again in my desire to “fit in” I was allowing myself to do certain things a certain way, to say certain things and that this led to a duality that I did not want to face. He said that I should continue to shoot for the stars but that I had to calm down my expectation right now. I recognize that he says this so that I will not disappoint myself which would lead to a paralysis forming frustration. I know that and I know what I need to do in order to make sure that this does not happen.
We spoke about the time that I came to him and asked if I could make a few minor changes to the stock. I had told him at he time that I had no problem with his answer but he explained to me during the review his reason for saying such. He developed the recipe for his stock two years ago after much experimentation when he was at one of the vineyards in Ontario. I listened attentively as he explained how he arrived at his ingredients and his methodology and found a more profound respect for him because of it. His stock, remi and demi are a tried, tested and true recipe that produces great clarity, colour and flavour and that is why I shouldn’t tinker with it. OUI CHEF!
When it came to my initiative he said that I am meeting his expectations on the high end. I don’t really have a comment on that but I was happy to see that it was recognized. Sometime in the kitchen it is hard to know whether or not things are getting noticed but he assured me in the most wonderful way that they are.
When it came to my technical knowledge he said that I am also at the high end of his expectations. He said that my study is clearly making a difference in what I am doing and that it will continue to serve me going forward. The same was true of my organization although he did suggest that rather than making my prep lists the way that I do that I create a time limit for what I am doing as opposed to a time that I am going to do it. His suggestion is actually quite brilliant as by creating a benchmark I am always looking to improve upon that benchmark.
In terms of my presence he reminded me that I should be mindful of my strong kitchen presence. He spoke about me in relation to the others and that I need to be a keen observer of perception versus reality. From this I gleaned (and as I said earlier there will be a marked difference between then and when I get back from Mexico) that I need to start leading by example now. That by doing so and being mindful of my presence I can actually aid in the excelling of others.
We spoke about my disappointment at not being on the line. I told him that I recognized that I wasn’t going to make my goal. At which point he said that I need to be aware of my goals. Set short goals. 3 month goals. By doing so I keep my spirits up and have the ability to excel at the benchmarks I set for myself.
All in all I think that the review was fair. I listened intently to what Head Chef had to say and I felt FINALLY that I had found a place where I can be myself. I found a place that allows me to live every day to the fullest and leads me down a path of my choosing in the most beautiful ways.
So that said, I am shooting to be Garde Manger at our sister restaurant in the fall. Between now and then I am going to get all the knowledge that I need to excel at the position. I am also going to pay attention (as I do already) to everything that goes on around me so that when the time is right I can incorporate a method that works for me entirely. I know that I will be in our sister restaurant no matter what in the fall and that I will excel.
Thus, my friends, we are caught up. Naturally, this week is going to be a busy one but I should be able to get a couple more posts done. Then I am off to Mexico to recharge my batteries for what is sure to be a fun filled, non-stop roller coaster ride of a summer. Fasten your seat belts because you all are along for the ride.
Sam Walton once said; “High expectations are the key to everything.”
Dream Inspired and Big!
A la prochaine
SDM
I spoke a few blog posts ago about my daily Mantra’s that I write in my notebook. The following are some of the ones I have written lately;
Today I Achieve by Being ME!
I am that which is genuine!
I am that which is compassionate, caring and full of life!
I am that which is great and true.
Today is just a tiny step yet… forward.
Dreams come true if you’re willing to dare.
Everyday I write a note to myself at the top of the page. The whole day I find myself looking at it and repeating it. Finding within myself a strength of will and a force of personality that drives me ever forward. Gone are the days that I disappoint myself by failing to live up to my potential. I often, in the past, would speak of the troublesome feelings I had about the things I knew, the brain I have and the troubles that they brought me. Now, instead of bemoaning a world I can’t change (I usually don’t use the word can’t as I think it is naughty four letter word) I have chosen to accept the things I can’t change (not in the 12 step program kind of way either) and instead to focus on my own personal development. Utilizing the brain that I have to further enhance the passion, drive and desire I have to be the best Chef I can be. It is the most cathartic experience for me to let go of so much baggage from the past that was weighing me down and often found me hiding in a bottle or a line or a joint. Not that there is anything wrong with any of those in moderation but I never knew moderation. I sought and yet never found numb whereas now I seek and consistently find joy, life, love, passion and endless amounts of energy.
This brings me to my next point. I am an uber human. I have never felt it necessary to eat fruit, take vitamins, etc. I have since January however, as part of my transformation been taking great care of my body. I have been taking Greens Energy Plus and Greens Proteins every morning before going to work. At first I thought it was just something to do but now that it is part of my daily regiment I feel awesome. If any of you have not tried Greens Plus or are interested in it let me know as one of C and I’s best friends (in fact the wedding we are going to on Saturday YES!) who is a representative for the company. If you want more information you can go to; http://www.genuinehealth.com/english/ . Or contact me and I will put you in touch with her.
Prior to getting to my review in this post I would also like to point out that I have (although I’ve mentioned it before) started to track everything. I track what comes in every morning in dry goods (the weight), fish (what types and how much), the meat, and the fruits and vegetables. I track the yield of my stocks which are off the scale now. I track the yield of every dish I make as well as any comments I get on them. I track the number of events, the number of people at them as well as how the meal breaks down in terms of soup, salad and protein. It is my belief that by doing so after a year I will have a relative, real world baseline from which I can draw certain conclusions which will aid in my development of my restaurant. With every passing day I get more and more excited as I truly can see the light on the marquee if you will. That said; my review.
When Head Chef handed me the review document a couple of weeks ago. It was less than an hour between the time that he gave it to me and I had handed it back to him. It is the first time that I have had to do a written review in quite a while and it felt amazing. So when I came in on Saturday morning after a wicked party for Executive Chef’s birthday the night before I had not been expecting my review as Head Chef had been sick. I took care of the things that I had to before we got under way and then we headed over to our sister restaurant and spoke about the review for about an hour.
As I’m sure all of you know what a review is like I will let you know that I wrote down that I felt that I either met or exceeded expectations in every way. Head Chef walked me through how the review was used and said that I did in fact either meet or exceed expectations. While this is enough to send me over the moon I also am well aware of the fact that what I expect from myself exceeds what their expectations are. I am very hard on myself and this came up during the review.
Head Chef told me that this year is one of massive change for the restaurant. He said that there are going to be changes in the way that it is run and how people operate within it. He said that my attitude was great but that I should be mindful of what I am saying and how. This made perfect sense to me and whats more I had made the decision after filling out the review that my Modus Operandi was going to transform when I came back from Mexico. I have tried to fit into the kitchen in a way that is probably not serving me the best that it can. When I get back I am going to alter certain things that I felt I needed to address and in explaining this to him he agreed. I want to be respected. I want to deserve respect. I want to be the best and as such I need to start doing things in a certain way now as opposed to later. I really look forward to my first day back.
In this regard Head Chef asked if I was clouded at all. I answered him truthfully as I always do that I felt I was. Again in my desire to “fit in” I was allowing myself to do certain things a certain way, to say certain things and that this led to a duality that I did not want to face. He said that I should continue to shoot for the stars but that I had to calm down my expectation right now. I recognize that he says this so that I will not disappoint myself which would lead to a paralysis forming frustration. I know that and I know what I need to do in order to make sure that this does not happen.
We spoke about the time that I came to him and asked if I could make a few minor changes to the stock. I had told him at he time that I had no problem with his answer but he explained to me during the review his reason for saying such. He developed the recipe for his stock two years ago after much experimentation when he was at one of the vineyards in Ontario. I listened attentively as he explained how he arrived at his ingredients and his methodology and found a more profound respect for him because of it. His stock, remi and demi are a tried, tested and true recipe that produces great clarity, colour and flavour and that is why I shouldn’t tinker with it. OUI CHEF!
When it came to my initiative he said that I am meeting his expectations on the high end. I don’t really have a comment on that but I was happy to see that it was recognized. Sometime in the kitchen it is hard to know whether or not things are getting noticed but he assured me in the most wonderful way that they are.
When it came to my technical knowledge he said that I am also at the high end of his expectations. He said that my study is clearly making a difference in what I am doing and that it will continue to serve me going forward. The same was true of my organization although he did suggest that rather than making my prep lists the way that I do that I create a time limit for what I am doing as opposed to a time that I am going to do it. His suggestion is actually quite brilliant as by creating a benchmark I am always looking to improve upon that benchmark.
In terms of my presence he reminded me that I should be mindful of my strong kitchen presence. He spoke about me in relation to the others and that I need to be a keen observer of perception versus reality. From this I gleaned (and as I said earlier there will be a marked difference between then and when I get back from Mexico) that I need to start leading by example now. That by doing so and being mindful of my presence I can actually aid in the excelling of others.
We spoke about my disappointment at not being on the line. I told him that I recognized that I wasn’t going to make my goal. At which point he said that I need to be aware of my goals. Set short goals. 3 month goals. By doing so I keep my spirits up and have the ability to excel at the benchmarks I set for myself.
All in all I think that the review was fair. I listened intently to what Head Chef had to say and I felt FINALLY that I had found a place where I can be myself. I found a place that allows me to live every day to the fullest and leads me down a path of my choosing in the most beautiful ways.
So that said, I am shooting to be Garde Manger at our sister restaurant in the fall. Between now and then I am going to get all the knowledge that I need to excel at the position. I am also going to pay attention (as I do already) to everything that goes on around me so that when the time is right I can incorporate a method that works for me entirely. I know that I will be in our sister restaurant no matter what in the fall and that I will excel.
Thus, my friends, we are caught up. Naturally, this week is going to be a busy one but I should be able to get a couple more posts done. Then I am off to Mexico to recharge my batteries for what is sure to be a fun filled, non-stop roller coaster ride of a summer. Fasten your seat belts because you all are along for the ride.
Sam Walton once said; “High expectations are the key to everything.”
Dream Inspired and Big!
A la prochaine
SDM
The Spice Trade (file under Sugar n’ Spice and everything nice)
It can’t of taken humanity long to try experimenting with various flavours of foods and methods of preparations. If you think about it we live in age now that makes it so easy for us to walk into a supermarket and get any of a million different flavours. But what about the trials and experimentation that must have taken place to come up with the fact that fennel can be a spice, a vegetable and a herb? Or that garlic could taste so good if it was roasted? The Spice Trade opened up our senses to a cornucopia of flavours, colours and even textures.
Cinnamon seems to be the first example of a trade staple. Its trade peaked somewhere around 100 AD with an insatiable Roman demand. In fact it accounted for more than 50% of imports to the Mediterranean from Asia and East Africa. As I’ve said before the Arabs (due primarily to geography) controlled much of the Spice Trade. In order to justify their prices the would come up with clever myths making the spice all the more luxurious (think of it as a pre modern Nike ad). These myths also served to protect their trade from rival factions and protected their near monopoly.
Eventually the monopoly was upset (though not shattered until much later) by the fact that Rome realized that it could usurp the Arabs control by building their own ships and undertaking their own spice “missions.” This fact and the discovery of the ‘monsoon winds’ made an already flourishing trade in Rome expand even more as what had taken a long time before could now be accomplished in less than a year. Pliny estimated that prior to the discovery of the ‘monsoon winds’ that the trade imbalance was as much as, if not more than $100,000,000 a year. In today’s dollars that would be a ridiculous sum of money exponentially greater than that. Due to the discovery of those winds 5 pillars emerged as ‘luxuries’ in Roman society; Indian Pepper, Chinese Silk, African Ivory, German Amber and Asian Incense.
The importance of spices and the other luxuries is clearly understood when one remembers that when the Barbarians were at the gates (No not the Nabisco ones) in the 5th century AD they were demanding not only title and lands but also 3000 pounds of pepper. As the Barbarians were rushing toward the gates there was a rush out of Rome and other cities as the dwellers there realized that there was a greater threat to them personally living in a city than there would be if they were living away from it. Civilization itself became threatened by this fact, as cities became a natural magnet for invaders. Civilization depends on large urban centres and could not survive easily with a free for all return to the land.
As I touched on in the previous blog post, the rich in Rome started to feed differently than the poor. In fact in Rome the wealthy were now the proud owners and keepers of fish farms and aviaries which kept them fell fed and probably also gave rise to new methods of income as well.
These advances in food availability and supply led to the development of new menus not just for the rulers of countries, or city-states but also for the priesthood and the members of religion. From the fall of Rome until around the 12th century there is a large gap in our understanding and knowledge of food history.
For Monarchs as well as “Monks” there was a massive dependence on the “people.” In a Monarchs case they would travel from place to place collecting tribute, as was their “birth” or “conquest” right. For example an eighth century Monarch who stopped to rest in one of his villages was entitled to;
300 loaves
10 Sheep
10 Geese
20 Chickens
10 Cheeses
10 Measures of Honey (It is still unclear to me what a measure of honey is though I would suspect it was quite large)
5 Salmon
100 Eels.
As such you can imagine how a traveling Monarch stopping unannounced in a village might cause quite a hardship for his citizens. By contrast ‘Monks’ in this same period were living on approximately 1000 calories a day.
Around this same time there was a horrible spread of crop failures due to the spread of ergot. With this crop failure was a rise in tales about and in fact real truth behind massive cannibalism. This truth is probably what led to the development of both the Vampire and Werewolf myths of central Europe. I wonder what spices go well with the human heart.
Around the 15th Century the Mongol Hordes devastated the once Arab monopoly. This takeover sent the Spice trade into chaos. As a result of this chaos Europe began to realize that it could bypass (just as the Romans had several centuries before) the monopoly and travel to and return with spices at a greatly reduced rate. However the opposite was true in Italy where the great fortunes of Florence and Venice were built on trade (not to mention Rome) where with the European bypass spices lost their relatively low prices and became so great that a new food style was born in Italy; “Nuova Cucina.” Light spices and simple ingredients benchmarked this style. Something which still holds in regions of Italy today though the reasons have changed.
Next post I am going to speak about the full history of food and where we are today.
I am reminded of a quote from Jane Stanton Hitchcock; “The key to life is imagination. If you don't have that, no mater what you have, it's meaningless. If you do have imagination... you can make feast of straw.”
If you think about it it is so true. Be inspired and dream big.
A la prochaine
SDM
Cinnamon seems to be the first example of a trade staple. Its trade peaked somewhere around 100 AD with an insatiable Roman demand. In fact it accounted for more than 50% of imports to the Mediterranean from Asia and East Africa. As I’ve said before the Arabs (due primarily to geography) controlled much of the Spice Trade. In order to justify their prices the would come up with clever myths making the spice all the more luxurious (think of it as a pre modern Nike ad). These myths also served to protect their trade from rival factions and protected their near monopoly.
Eventually the monopoly was upset (though not shattered until much later) by the fact that Rome realized that it could usurp the Arabs control by building their own ships and undertaking their own spice “missions.” This fact and the discovery of the ‘monsoon winds’ made an already flourishing trade in Rome expand even more as what had taken a long time before could now be accomplished in less than a year. Pliny estimated that prior to the discovery of the ‘monsoon winds’ that the trade imbalance was as much as, if not more than $100,000,000 a year. In today’s dollars that would be a ridiculous sum of money exponentially greater than that. Due to the discovery of those winds 5 pillars emerged as ‘luxuries’ in Roman society; Indian Pepper, Chinese Silk, African Ivory, German Amber and Asian Incense.
The importance of spices and the other luxuries is clearly understood when one remembers that when the Barbarians were at the gates (No not the Nabisco ones) in the 5th century AD they were demanding not only title and lands but also 3000 pounds of pepper. As the Barbarians were rushing toward the gates there was a rush out of Rome and other cities as the dwellers there realized that there was a greater threat to them personally living in a city than there would be if they were living away from it. Civilization itself became threatened by this fact, as cities became a natural magnet for invaders. Civilization depends on large urban centres and could not survive easily with a free for all return to the land.
As I touched on in the previous blog post, the rich in Rome started to feed differently than the poor. In fact in Rome the wealthy were now the proud owners and keepers of fish farms and aviaries which kept them fell fed and probably also gave rise to new methods of income as well.
These advances in food availability and supply led to the development of new menus not just for the rulers of countries, or city-states but also for the priesthood and the members of religion. From the fall of Rome until around the 12th century there is a large gap in our understanding and knowledge of food history.
For Monarchs as well as “Monks” there was a massive dependence on the “people.” In a Monarchs case they would travel from place to place collecting tribute, as was their “birth” or “conquest” right. For example an eighth century Monarch who stopped to rest in one of his villages was entitled to;
300 loaves
10 Sheep
10 Geese
20 Chickens
10 Cheeses
10 Measures of Honey (It is still unclear to me what a measure of honey is though I would suspect it was quite large)
5 Salmon
100 Eels.
As such you can imagine how a traveling Monarch stopping unannounced in a village might cause quite a hardship for his citizens. By contrast ‘Monks’ in this same period were living on approximately 1000 calories a day.
Around this same time there was a horrible spread of crop failures due to the spread of ergot. With this crop failure was a rise in tales about and in fact real truth behind massive cannibalism. This truth is probably what led to the development of both the Vampire and Werewolf myths of central Europe. I wonder what spices go well with the human heart.
Around the 15th Century the Mongol Hordes devastated the once Arab monopoly. This takeover sent the Spice trade into chaos. As a result of this chaos Europe began to realize that it could bypass (just as the Romans had several centuries before) the monopoly and travel to and return with spices at a greatly reduced rate. However the opposite was true in Italy where the great fortunes of Florence and Venice were built on trade (not to mention Rome) where with the European bypass spices lost their relatively low prices and became so great that a new food style was born in Italy; “Nuova Cucina.” Light spices and simple ingredients benchmarked this style. Something which still holds in regions of Italy today though the reasons have changed.
Next post I am going to speak about the full history of food and where we are today.
I am reminded of a quote from Jane Stanton Hitchcock; “The key to life is imagination. If you don't have that, no mater what you have, it's meaningless. If you do have imagination... you can make feast of straw.”
If you think about it it is so true. Be inspired and dream big.
A la prochaine
SDM
Grain and its many uses and Religion (file under Hmmmm Beer a la Homer Simpson)
As long as humanity has existed we have looked for ways to seek some respite from the daily grind. Somewhere along the way we figured out that we could take simple ingredients and turn them into a great liquid. BEER!
The importance of beer to our species is almost as important as salt. To put this into perspective. Sumer, one of the great civilizations of the past used as much as 40%, no that is not a mistake, 40% of their grain yield for the production of that glorious liquid. It was so important to Sumerian culture that workers were given a ration of beer according to their station of life. (Speaking of which, if one were to get to say the Saucier station wouldn’t it be a great idea if he got a ration of beer from Chef???) A temple workman would get an allotment of just under two pints a day. Senior dignitaries and very important persons would get up to four times more, or approximately 8 pints a day. This difference led to dignitaries using beer as a form of currency.
As I’ve mentioned before there are a great many similarities between the dawn of civilization and today. One example of this is clearly demonstrated by the similarities between Hammurabi’s Code and the Campaign for Real Beer in 1980. Not to mention the Reinheitsgebot or Bavarian Purity Law which concerned itself with the purity of beer and its sale.
I mention all this because as Reay Tannahill points out the evolution of food is closely related to the evolution of drink. It has become an important part of any meal which is a celebration and indeed even a home meal. I myself have been known to drink a pint or twenty.
Now moving away from the use of grain for beer to something far more important to us as a means of survival. Bread! As long ago as the formation of Egypt and soon there after the nobles of Egypt had at their disposal more than 40 kinds of breads and pastries. When I first discovered this I was quite shocked but when I thought about the development of civilization it made a lot of sense to me. After all bread is relatively easy to make and is a good source of energy and whats more it fills the stomach quickly.
These two facts bring me to my next point. There is a direct correlation between the development of religion and food laws. When we think about it we can look today to Kosher or Halal and realize that their historical importance is much more than some arbitrary determination by some ivory temple sitting fat cat. At first these laws were designed to limit disease and sickness but, in my own opinion, as food handling and safety has improved their relevance is greatly diminished. Again I stress that this is my opinion and is based on my research and I do not pass judgment on food regulations and laws as required by certain religious sects. However, I do believe that these laws over the course of history have done more to isolate and promote persecution by allowing through food the immediate identification of your religion. Moreover, as far back as 3000 BC in the Tigris and Euphrates and Nile Valleys the diet was adapted to a centralized and farming based system which led directly to the development of despotism. Can you say Yes Pharaoh?
Once money was introduced around 625 BC it did not take long before there was a discernable difference between what the various segments of society were eating. Prior to the development of money allow there was a difference in the social order, i.e. classes, the food they all ate was relatively similar. But by the 5th century BC there was a distinct class of poor people and the diet was as such affected. Prior to this time it was the quantity and not the quality of food that was affected. This reality led, at least in part, to the development by Rome, of the first social welfare system related to food. The Annoma was established to distribute bread to relieve poverty within the city.
As I have alluded to before the ceremony and celebration of political eating had more to do with symbolism than it did with the actual meal. According to Apicius the proper etiquette for a Roman dinner party demanded that there be 9 people sitting at a table together. I’m not quite sure why the number nine but I would like to figure it out. Anyone out there know?
So we’ve worked our way up to the Spice Trade now and this is where food begins to get real interesting as you’ll find out in my next post.
An old Egyptian proverb states; “Do not cease to drink beer, to eat, to intoxicate thyself, to make love, and to celebrate the good days.” Think about it. Why would they say that?
At any rate I hope you are dreaming big and inspired.
A la prochaine
SDM
The importance of beer to our species is almost as important as salt. To put this into perspective. Sumer, one of the great civilizations of the past used as much as 40%, no that is not a mistake, 40% of their grain yield for the production of that glorious liquid. It was so important to Sumerian culture that workers were given a ration of beer according to their station of life. (Speaking of which, if one were to get to say the Saucier station wouldn’t it be a great idea if he got a ration of beer from Chef???) A temple workman would get an allotment of just under two pints a day. Senior dignitaries and very important persons would get up to four times more, or approximately 8 pints a day. This difference led to dignitaries using beer as a form of currency.
As I’ve mentioned before there are a great many similarities between the dawn of civilization and today. One example of this is clearly demonstrated by the similarities between Hammurabi’s Code and the Campaign for Real Beer in 1980. Not to mention the Reinheitsgebot or Bavarian Purity Law which concerned itself with the purity of beer and its sale.
I mention all this because as Reay Tannahill points out the evolution of food is closely related to the evolution of drink. It has become an important part of any meal which is a celebration and indeed even a home meal. I myself have been known to drink a pint or twenty.
Now moving away from the use of grain for beer to something far more important to us as a means of survival. Bread! As long ago as the formation of Egypt and soon there after the nobles of Egypt had at their disposal more than 40 kinds of breads and pastries. When I first discovered this I was quite shocked but when I thought about the development of civilization it made a lot of sense to me. After all bread is relatively easy to make and is a good source of energy and whats more it fills the stomach quickly.
These two facts bring me to my next point. There is a direct correlation between the development of religion and food laws. When we think about it we can look today to Kosher or Halal and realize that their historical importance is much more than some arbitrary determination by some ivory temple sitting fat cat. At first these laws were designed to limit disease and sickness but, in my own opinion, as food handling and safety has improved their relevance is greatly diminished. Again I stress that this is my opinion and is based on my research and I do not pass judgment on food regulations and laws as required by certain religious sects. However, I do believe that these laws over the course of history have done more to isolate and promote persecution by allowing through food the immediate identification of your religion. Moreover, as far back as 3000 BC in the Tigris and Euphrates and Nile Valleys the diet was adapted to a centralized and farming based system which led directly to the development of despotism. Can you say Yes Pharaoh?
Once money was introduced around 625 BC it did not take long before there was a discernable difference between what the various segments of society were eating. Prior to the development of money allow there was a difference in the social order, i.e. classes, the food they all ate was relatively similar. But by the 5th century BC there was a distinct class of poor people and the diet was as such affected. Prior to this time it was the quantity and not the quality of food that was affected. This reality led, at least in part, to the development by Rome, of the first social welfare system related to food. The Annoma was established to distribute bread to relieve poverty within the city.
As I have alluded to before the ceremony and celebration of political eating had more to do with symbolism than it did with the actual meal. According to Apicius the proper etiquette for a Roman dinner party demanded that there be 9 people sitting at a table together. I’m not quite sure why the number nine but I would like to figure it out. Anyone out there know?
So we’ve worked our way up to the Spice Trade now and this is where food begins to get real interesting as you’ll find out in my next post.
An old Egyptian proverb states; “Do not cease to drink beer, to eat, to intoxicate thyself, to make love, and to celebrate the good days.” Think about it. Why would they say that?
At any rate I hope you are dreaming big and inspired.
A la prochaine
SDM
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