The Allure of a Street Fair

Palm Springs Villagefest

Walking among the throngs of people last week at the Palm Springs weekly Villagefest, I wondered why so much interest among so many in street fairs.

Christmas Market in Paris

I've been to plenty of them around the globe from the Christmas Markets in France, the annual Chicago Neighborhood Festivals to numerous weekly farmer's markets.  Reflecting on each of the experiences, all of them were jammed with people.  What's the draw?  What do they all have in common?  My interpretation... they celebrate the character of the neighborhood and the people who live there.

Can it be we are all desperate to embrace our uniqueness?  Could it be that we actually like making a human connection with the vendors which is fulfilling and not frustrating?  Is it because there is an increased interest in preserving local cultivators and sustainable farming?  Or is it just a throwback to the rewarding experience of street markets and bazaars dating back centuries?  Grocery chains, department stores or malls just can't deliver the same experience.

The first street markets were the beginning of retail as we know it today.  Traders would travel miles to a city center on an assigned day of the week.  In historical markets, a charter was given to certain markets to protect their rights and competition from neighboring communities.   The fictional book, Pillars of the Earth, succinctly depicts the fierce competition for staking out markets in Olde England.

With all of the hub bub with the lack of transparency in recent years whether it be pink slime, no GMO labeling or manipulating our subconscious in what we purchase at the grocery store due to product placement, no wonder we revert back to a simpler format when given the opportunity.

I'd like to think we haven't evolved into zombies who succumb to only a national chain or brand as our only choice.  By supporting local artisans, farmers and businesses too, we can ask questions directly to the vendors, we actively keep the money in our respective communities, we reduce our carbon footprint, we promote our neighborhoods' uniqueness and we can be all the healthier for it.

Now to my latest discovery at the Palm Springs Villagefest.

No, not the Henna tattoos being marketed on the street

Not the Adobada meat on the rotisserie slathered in Red Chili Sauce

It was the Kettle Corn

Kettle corn is not unique to just this one fair; it's usually at every fair.  I just had never tried it.  I probably should have tried the Adobado meat with its surreal color, but dinner was awaiting us at home.  Thanks to my friend Mary Lou who bought a bag of Kettle Corn to share, John and I became enraptured.  I don't think I'll ever be able to go to another fair and not buy this sweet and savory delicacy! 

Tex-Mex Vs. Southwestern-Style Mexican Food... There Is No Debate

As I start my latest blog entry on the eve of the November elections, I have no idea how the elections will pan out. Nor am I going to discuss or speculate about the pros and cons of any candidate or position on this site. Would you not agree, however, this latest political season has been peppered with some serious conflict? So, the weekend before the mid-term elections, my husband and I did attend a rally but not the one that got all the hoopla. It was an event of our own making. Let's call it the first annual "Santa Fe Food Rally." Several of our great friends from Dallas were on hand for the festivities.

Most of my friends know I’m writing this blog and going into the weekend, I jotted down some ideas about what angle I might take when writing about our trip. Trying to be the best journalist, without really being one, I did not want to be the creator of our experiences, but organically letting the tortilla chips fall where they may. My story outline envisioned a battle between the "Southwestern Style Mexican food is best" versus "Tex-Mex can't be beat" camps. The only way to settle any disagreements was to consume great quantities of Mexican food (prepared "New Mexico" style) during the trip. My pre-conceived theory of one’s attachment to their local cuisine, by my estimate, would trump the merits of the competing version. I’ll merely sprinkle a little spice by asking pointed questions.

I have witnessed passionate discussions on this very subject before. Why wouldn’t it happen again? My friends are not shy of spirited opinion. For me, nothing beats Southwestern-Style Mexican food. It’s what I grew up with. My mother, having lived her formative years in New Mexico, passed on her love of the cuisine to me -- especially prepared the New Mexico way. Living in San Diego in my formative years, only reinforced it. While my husband and I were later living in Dallas, I just couldn’t acquire a taste for Tex-Mex. Just like I couldn’t acquire the taste of chicken fried steak. (Not to sound too Jessica Simpson like but, "Is it chicken or is it steak?") Sorry guys!

What's the difference, you might ask?

Traditional Mexican food was created with the local spices (oregano, cilantro, cinnamon, cocoa, cumin and chili powder) and ingredients (typically corn and beans) native to Mexico. The Spanish introduced rice to Mexico in the 1500’s. And depending on the region of Mexico’s food, you may encounter vegetable/chicken laced dishes in the Southeastern corner based on Caribbean influence, fish intense dishes on the Pacific Coast or more exotic renditions of iguana, rattlesnake and insect proteins in Puebla. There are many other regional versions as well. Just like regional differences you find here in the US in the way barbecue is prepared.

Tex-Mex is a blend of food products available in America combined with Mexican Americans' influences from across the border. Generally Tex-Mex has beef product due to the ranching culture of South Texas. Toss in the Americanized elements of yellow cheese because of its cheap availability along with an emphasis in cumin.

Southwestern-Style Mexican food is a blending of items that may have been eaten by Spanish colonial settlers in the United States, cowboys, Native Americans, Mexicans and now modified by accountants and new-age chefs. It is similar to Mexican food, but it’s emphasis is in the chile such as red or green, most notably Hatch chile. Ask for red and green and they will bring it to your table “Christmas” style. In Texas and Arizona, green is not popular at all.

Red Hatch Chile - Southwestern Style

Green Hatch Chile - Southwestern Style

Surely this melting pot of food styles and regional tastes that made up our little group could get a rise out of somebody. Nope! Not one person stepped to the plate. Universally, my little sample size of friends on this trip preferred Southwestern Style Mexican food over Tex Mex. So much for my debate. The only nuances were whether or not they favored the red chile over the green. Believe me, we ate much of it. So much for the beginning, middle and end of my blog story. Where was the conflict?

As it turns out, this election season's conflicts, played out in :30 second commercials and newscast filters, influenced my anticipation that with every topic someone would take a “side.” The conflict, as it turns out, has been with myself. As trying as this political season has been to watch, I had forgotten to factor in my friends are reasonable, sane conversationalists giving consideration to others opinions. I didn’t need to go to a Washington rally (sane or otherwise) to be reminded most Americans are similar to my friends and it is just a few who are getting all the attention.

If you want to know where this not so great Tex-Mex versus Southwestern - Style Mexican food debate took place, visit the links below. All of these restaurants were terrific. Just like the company.

Tecolote Cafe
The Pink Adobe
Cafe Pasquals
The Pantry
Geronimo

Super Size Me ... My Way

If you asked me 10 years ago where my food came from, I would have naturally answered, “The grocery store!” Duh.  My selections were made based on the grocery store’s ability to provide a nice, sanitized presentation whether it be packaging or handsome looking produce.  Most people of my generation, growing up in an urban setting, would have answered much the same.  Aw…simpler times.

Ask me that question today and my answer takes about 20 minutes! This change in my response didn’t happen overnight.  It has been a personal evolution and revelation in the making.

A pre-Katrina visit to the Gallier House Museum in the French Quarter of New Orleans planted a seed in me for further contemplation. The docent who led our tour eloquently described daily life for a prosperous family, post Civil War. What resonated with me was the full-time effort it took for the lady of the household to plan meals for her family based on food availability.  Just think what it took to do this in a time before refrigeration and automobiles. Turning a mirror on myself, I remember thinking how easy I had it today. Trips to historical places like Gallier's, Boston's old town and even San Simeon here in California allow a chance to, just briefly, wear another persons shoes -- even if the person is long gone.

Around the same time, my mom, in an effort to provide the best possible nutrition for my dad’s health, had been seeking better food choices for her household.  She and I share the gene of inquiry! We would compare notes, but she was much better informed than I.  She’s the first person I knew to look to alternatives to prescription pills, but not excluding medical advice for better living. Her best piece of advice, read labels and understand what they mean.

So, I started reading labels.  Then I had to study what some of those strange things they were putting in my food were actually for.  And, what those strange things actually did to me.  Then I watched Fast Food Nation, Food Inc., Super Size Me and read Eating Well, Michael Pollan, Mark Bittman and Barbara Kingsolver among others.  In our collective effort to advance through the industrialized and communication eras, we, by silent majority, have allowed our food barn door to open wide. I feel like we've been taken advantage of while we've been slaving away at our jobs to pay for our food.  Doomsday?

I don’t see it that way.  The more information I have, the more empowered I feel. All but Fast Food Nation, provide a path to food salvation if you look for it.  Clearly, I’m a girl who views life as a glass half full.

Before long there was a wholesale clearing of our pantry.  High fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, names of ingredients I can’t pronounce …all of it, gone from our diet.  We are now at the point that if a canned or prepared item has more than five ingredients in it, we will not buy it. We also won’t buy anything in it with ingredients we don’t recognize.

Lately, the food news has been anything but positive. While it can be discouraging, the way I try to ground myself is to ask, “but what can I do?”  The only answer I’ve come up with is taking responsibility for myself.  It’s the only thing I can control.  I can’t get more local than that!

So what have I done?  For the last couple of years, I’ve concentrated on getting all my produce from our local farmer’s market and have been greatly rewarded with better tasting food.  Added benefit…it actually is less expensive then the grocery store!  I’ve also dabbled in growing my own. Since moving back to California, the climate makes gardening a joy but I was clearly a novice at growing vegetables. No one told me I had to pick a zucchini the moment I observed it’s growth.  Nor did I have the where with all to know I should rotate my crops every year (one year I had a great tomato harvest and the next only two sorry looking globes).  How quickly a generation or two loses the ability to know how to grow their own food.  In my family tree, it was only two generations ago they led an agrarian lifestyle.  It’s a good thing I didn’t have to rely on my farming skills to feed myself.



Perhaps I should have picked the zucchini a day earlier

This last summer however, I was clearly getting better at my gardening craft by making soil improvements and generated the most glorious tomato vines that just kept on giving. Yes! The more I researched to improve my skills, the better the pay off. I’ve now taken it to the next level with my winter vegetable garden.

After this weekend, my patch is now a raised vegetable garden with a removable covering to protect the plantings from our California heat.  I enlisted my husband’s help and researched the plans.  After two days of power tools, much digging, assistance from our dog Sammi and 90 degree heat we have a 50 square-foot redwood plot with spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, Swiss chard and herbs seedlings thriving in their new environment.  I’m already planning my winter meals around them.

 
Taking responsibility for myself has now become my hobby… not only am I’m loving it, I'm all the healthier for it!

If you want to build your own raised bed, these instructions were easy to follow and I'm pleased with the outcome:  http://www.sunset.com/garden/perfect-raised-bed-00400000039550/

Eating Out - What's Your Preference?

 
Why is it I flinch when a friend of mine wants to eat at the same place, order the same thing and is more than okay eating at a chain restaurant versus a locally owned, creative hot spot?  Am I the only one who reacts the same way to his choices?  His other friends lovingly tease him about his predictable ways as well.

I have asked why he prefers his restaurant and menu choices.  It’s all about expectation. He likes going to a place where he knows exactly what he will get.  There is something comforting when he can rely on consistency and convenience.  Same wait staff, same lighting, same food, same portion size and so on.  Chain restaurants rely on people like him for their survival.

(Being fair, he does occasionally eat at locally owned eating spots but even then will order the same tried and true dishes.)

On the opposite end of the spectrum I have friends who do nothing but choose restaurants by the “eat locally, think globally” approach.  They are wanting the artisan experience or are trying to eat as healthfully as possible.  While the experience may be unpredictable, the potential reward is tremendous food, presentation and atmosphere.  More than likely, the ingredients will have been purchased through a local sustainable food source and the entrepreneurial spirit motivates the owners to succeed.  As a patron of a locally owned restaurant there is the joy of discovering it all.  The locally owned restaurant succeeds or fails based on whether or not they are able to meet those expectations.

In both cases, a restaurant's success or failure relies on its guests’ anticipated and actual experiences.

I’ve always thought of myself as the adventurous type.  Philosophically speaking, life is short and it is meant to be lived fully, with variety.  Experiencing another’s creativity feeds my soul and my tummy. But as I was preparing to order breakfast from my favorite mom & pop café this last weekend, it dawned on me that while I am a strong supporter of the local guy who ends up supporting the local economy, I tend to order the same thing every time I go to a restaurant I’ve visited before.

Light bulb moment…I fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum!  Have I been hiding under the veil of something I thought I was?  It’s very strange to realize you are not living up to your self-described image.  Beginning with that meal, my challenge has been to remind myself to live it up and order something new.  I continue to be a work in progress.

I'll end with this thought, being mindful of a restaurant choice and the menu selections will only help you appreciate the experience all the more.  Most importantly, you will start to consciously create the person you aspire to be through your choices.  If only it were that simple given access and convenience and other motivating factors. 

Is there a right or wrong when it comes to our restaurant choices?  Where do you fall in the spectrum and why is that?

Here’s some interesting factoids to get you thinking from the National Restaurant Association’s list of the Top 20 Food Trends for 2010:

1. Locally grown produce
2. Locally sourced meats and seafood
3. Sustainability
4. Bite-size/mini desserts
5. Locally produced wine and beer
6. Nutritionally balanced children's dishes
7. Half-portions/smaller portion for a smaller price
8. Farm-/estate-branded ingredients
9. Gluten-free/food-allergy conscious
10. Sustainable seafood
11. Superfruits (e.g., acai, goji berry, mangosteen)
12. Organic produce
13. Culinary cocktails (e.g., savory, fresh ingredients)
14. Micro-distilled/artisan liquor
15. Nutrition/health
16. Simplicity/back to basics
17. Regional ethnic cuisine
18. Nontraditional fish (e.g., branzino, Arctic char, barramundi)
19. Newly fabricated cuts of meat (e.g., Denver steak, pork flatiron, Petite Tender)
20. Fruit/vegetable children's side items