Food, food, food

So today I made merluza and mashed potatoes for lunch. The cooking time was soooo much longer than what the recipes said. It turned out pretty good for a first try. I'll post the recipe after I've made it a couple times.

Lately, I've been thinking about how to be a locavore in Northern Minnesota, and have thought of some ways of going about it:
pumpkin pancakes -- I found a recipe that looks just fabulous
hunting deer - there are tons of them..possible recipes:

• venison stir-fry
• venison curry
• grilled venison steak?
• venison paella (made with wild rice if possible, hehe)
• venison cazuela
• whatever the Ojibwes ate
  

Another recipe that occurred to me:
The Up North sushi roll, consisting of wild rice and fresh walleye in a maple syrup sauce. Yummy. Someday, when I make it, I will post a picture. Hahaha.

I found a super interesting website that talks about food and diet. For people interested in healthy diet, I recommend checking it out. It's actually a pdf file that describes the "Intergrative Nutrition" program in NYC, like for people who want to study nutrition. But the actual pamplet they have prepared is intriguing. They even have posted a new food pyramid, the best one I've ever seen, might I add.

low-carbon diet and related babblings

The locavore movement is now contending with the organic one, because although no chemicals are used to produce organic food (supposedly), considering the impact one's carbon footprint puts into question how ethical it is to buy Chilean grapes, unless of course you live here. Because if you live in the States, fuel will be needed to export those grapes. Eating locally appears to be where its at and previously obvious choices (for some) are put into doubt. So in order to combat the maybe-not-so-good-for-the-Earth organic fad, you can now partake in a low-carbon diet. I can barely contemplate the hordes of deer and wild rice someone living in Minnesota may have to eat to stay low-carbon. A lot of weight would be lost in the north country. Perhaps pumpkins and squash could be used for more than just Halloween decorations and Thanksgiving pie. Luckily strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and apples all grow there, as well as corn, peas lettuce, etc. ...I suppose that corner of the Earth is rather bountiful. In Chile I could almost live off the fruit and vegetables sold on the street. Speaking of bountiful...the pears are absolutely gorgeous and the cactus pears are sooo sweet right now, and quite cheap too. Capitalism's homogenizing/essentializing effect means consumers may not even know what fruits and veggies are in season. Here in Chile I've got more of a grasp on it. Though in Minnesota, there's not much in season 6 months of the year.

Anyway I suppose my idea is to have a garden. Some of my ex-co-workers in Minnesota have a HUUGE pumpkin patch and surplus zucchinis every year, so I could probably partake in those if I ever go home. Meanwhile, I imagine that studying pre-Colombian diets could go far to give an idea as to what to eat in América.