Enough is enough

How many more warnings do we have to receive regarding the dangers about eating? I am not meaning a processed, canned convenience that went wrong. Rather, we are talking fresh fruits and vegetables tainted with salmonella or e-coli bacteria or fish with mercury levels that are harmful to the yet-to-be born.

This latest round of reports pulling tomatoes from shelves and cautioning about the possible contamination of lemons is too much to bear. If ever we need to start eating locally and creating a relationship with our food growers, not the distributor, is now. Securing our foods stuffs from tracts of land the size Rhode Island seems completely out of scale and is no wonder that suspect waters seem to able to get through adding only obiterating nutritional value.

It is time we demand our food production take a step back to a smaller, more human scale production where regions feed themselves and smaller independent farms become the rule once more. If we continue to allow multi-national concerns to own, operate and disperse the products that end up in our bodies we are destined to suffer further advisory broadcasts. If our legislators do not want to step in then we must take our shopping bags and go somewhere else. If a farmer’s market is problematic (http://www.usda.gov) or try a CSA (http://www.csa.com), and take control back about of the foods you eat.


Kale with Caramelized Onions and Portabello Mushrooms - yields 6 servings

2 pounds Kale
2 bunches spring onion - sliced into pieces
2 Portabello Mushroom - sliced into 1/4-inch strips
1/4 cup Olive Oil
salt and pepper to taste

Pull the leaves of the kale from the stem, and blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain. Sauté the onions in olive oil until they start to turn golden this will take about 10 minutes, and then add the mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms soften, about 5 minutes. Toss with the kale and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.


This is great on toasted peasant bread or as a bed for a piece of chicken.