I watched another food-focused documentary this past weeked called King Corn.  It’s the story of two friends from Boston who decide to grow one acre of corn in Greene, Iowa and follow it from seed to plate.  They quickly realize farming isn’t as romantic as they had thought, learning the sad irony that a farmer with 7,000 acres of corn can’t feed himself; the corn he grows is inedible and barely profitable.  King Corn examines the pervasive nature of corn,especially genetically modified corn in the US economy and diet.

King Corn was written, photographed, produced, and directed by Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, who drew huge inspiration from Michael Pollan.  Pollan is featured in the film, along with other notable food writers and reseachers.  I don’t think Cheney and Ellis are film students, and cinematically it shows at times, but they tell a very informative and enjoyable, if even a little upsetting, story of the most abundant grain in our country.

King Corn is available on DVD and slated to air on PBS stations across the country.

This weekend I watched The Future of Food, a documentary about genetically modified/engineered foods. The synopsis from the film’s website describes it best:

…an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade…The health implications, government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed by the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply…THE FUTURE OF FOOD examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world’s food system.

I was completely fascinated by the film, and particularly disturbed by how many genes and organisms have now been patented - a thought that has lingered since watching. If you’re at all concerned about what you put on your table and in your body, I consider The Future of Food mandatory viewing.

The Future of Food was written, directed, and produced by Deborah Koons Garcia, and is available on DVD. Watch the trailer

Everything really does taste better with bacon.

This is why IT huddles rock.

EDIT (06/04/08): Curious folks have asked. Yup, it’s homemade. It’s a rum-brown sugar cream base with candied bacon bits. And yes, it’s delicious!

Eli over at the aadl uncovered this gem of a recipe from the Ann Arbor Cookbook, 1904:  ”The following is all I know about cooking squirrels. First catch your squirrel. Skin him, etc. Parboil in a little water in a kettle, add salt, pepper, and enough butter to fry it brown. Then eat. If the animal is tough parboil a little more till he is tender”  -Contributed by: F. A. LYMAN

I’m totally inspired and looking forward to our next IT Dinner, 1904 style.  You can view the scanned original of this recipe and other historic Ann Arbor cookbooks at the Ann Arbor District Library’s Cookbook Collection.

The Theme
Southern foods from the Lee Bros. Cookbook

The Date
January 24, 2008

The Location
Billie’s House

The Menu
Mint Juleps - Joe
Pimento cheese platter with celery sticks, baguette, pain de montagne - Kathleen
Crab cakes - Brian
Lemon grits - Craig/Jenny
Sneaky collards - Elph
Fried apples with bourbon caramel - Billie
Buttermilk ice cream - Billie

No, not Ann Arbor Tobacco and Firearms but rather the Ann Arbor Tortilla Factory of which I recently was able to sample some of their stone ground corn tortilla chips and fresh salsa. The salsa, a mish of fresh produce, closely resembles pico di gallo and included a few non-standard ingredients like radish and lime. The tortilla chips looked home made and each chip had seemingly been packaged with love and attention. Both products had an ingredient list that could be counted on one hand but best of all they were incredibly scrumptious. I can’t wait to try some of their other products.

http://www.a2tortilla.com/

I was reading about Polenta in Marcella Hazan’s book, “Essentials of Italian Cooking” (available at the Deli) because I’ve always enjoyed grits, and polenta is like yellow grits. She has an extensive write-up on Polenta and admonishes that the best way to cook it is by stirring in an open pot for 45 minutes. I was aghast. I’d never spent that long on polenta or grits and they tasted fine! Besides my limp geek wrists would give out long before the end. Then I saw that she had a cheater recipe that called for stirring for a minute every ten minutes of cooking - that I could do! So this morning I put 3 1/8 Cups of water, 3/4 Cups coarse italian polenta, and 1/2 Tablespoon salt in a pot and brought it to a boil. Her ratio for polenta to water is 1 x 4.2 which I honored and it worked great. I set the heat and my timer and walked away. First ten revealed soupy lava. Ouch, it’s amazing how hot polenta is when it splashes on you! Second ten pretty much what I’m used to seeing. Third ten same thing. Then something happened between 30 and 40 minutes - the polenta went from grainy to creamy and soft. I did another 10 minutes with an open pot stirring every few minutes and it thickened up a bit more. Though it did NOT pull away cleanly (!) from the sides of the pot, as she writes, it seemed ready to my hungry self. I added some butter, grated Parm, and half a tin of warmed Ortiz spanish tuna. Wow. Unlike any polenta I have ever made - there is something definitely magic that happens around 45 minutes in to the cooking and it is so much better I don’t think I can ever go back. The yield was a bit greater than 2 Cups which is perfect for me.

New York. Restaurants. Wow. Extremely well fed. Not enough time.

db Bistro Moderne Friday Night
Modern French-American bistro (duh)
Our ‘fanciest’ for the weekend - changed into nice shirts on the street after having been walking for a while.
What we had: The db Burger - stuffed with short ribs, foie gras, and black truffle, which is their trademark dish. Several of us had cocktails, great Old Fashioned. Other dishes included bacon wrapped salmon with roasted figs. Had some Madeira for dessert.

Otto Saturday Lunch
Mario Batali’s pizzeria
Billie’s favorite of the weekend. Most tables had young children. Lots of space.
What we had: Pizza Lardo (wow, texture), Pizza Vongole (mountain of clams, in the shells, atop the pizza), Pizza Quattro Stagioni, Spaghetti alla Carbonara. Alphonso Olives (purple). Good service.

LAN Saturday Dinner
Japanese Fusion
What we had: Sushi. Inventive. Fresh. Actually got Toro. They had a woman sushi chef! We were obviously the last people on the priority list for service, but they did a good job. Elph had a glass of Tokaj that he’d read about but never tried. Yummy desserts.

Shake Shack Saturday Afternoon
Union Square’s burger and shake joint in Madison Park
Billie stood in line for an hour and 40 minutes, waited another 20 minutes for food.
What she had: cheeseburger, rootbeer float

Union Square Cafe Sunday Brunch
Our second annual Sunday brunch at USC.
Our server Basha was great! They treated us very well. Love the service there!
What we had: raw oysters and champagne, grilled fillet mignon of tuna with wasabi mashed potatoes, black bean soup with Sherry, calamari, gnocci, USC french toast - they brought us several complimentary desserts. Had a nice cup of Sencha. We had a great window seat.

Little Giant Sunday Dinner
Friends of Zing, nice ambiance, music and light were great, it was getting cool and damp outside but it was warm inside, service was a little gruff
What we had: burrata, swine of the week - pork chops, egg cream with Stoli vanilla, short ribs, ginger mojito, cote du rhone (they had no Cab or Syrah). JoeG drank a Bee’s Knees - honey infused vodka, splash of ginger ale, twist.

More pics added to the NYC 2007 photo album.

This is a photo from our good friend Kristie at Mail Order. If you’re a discerning Zingernaut you can tell by the chairs, plates, and reflected rafters that this was taken on the Roadhouse patio. I really like the shot because of the reflection, but also because it conveys the feeling a having just enjoyed a really good meal and trying to savor that last bite (or gulp, in this case) for as long as possible. (Having just read Heat, I’m feeling rather poetic about food.)

It seems like in the finance and service driven work of ZingNet we often struggle with how to reach our Great Food! bottom line. We don’t cook food and we don’t sell food. But we do support businesses that do both.

IT sends out a survey whenever we close a trouble ticket. The feedback we’ve gotten has all been in a similar vein: bring food.

ZingNet huddles every-other-week, usually twice a month, and there is always food at the meeting. ZingNet is also striving to establish a presence in all the businesses.

Thinking of these things while noshing on some Rick’s Picks, I thought, “ZingNet needs to eat more. We need to get lost in the land of a thousand flavors.” (more…)