Fermentation Demo, Wed 9/29/2010, 12PM, Cambridge Center Farmers' Market

I'll be giving a vegetable fermentation demo at the how2heroes table at noon sharp tomorrow at the Cambridge Center Farmers' Market, at 5 Cambridge Center:



I'll be done, packed up, and out of there by 12:45PM at the latest.

My plan is to get some turnips or rutabagas, beets, and parsnips, peel them all, shred them on a box grater, salt them, and start them fermenting. Low-tech. Keepin' it real.

Please come by if you're available.

Spicy Cole Slaw (Cortido) Video

Meant to post this a while ago: a video from the demo I did on August 4 at the Cambridge Center Farmer's Market.

My take on a spicy cole slaw—I called it "Cortido Americano" ("Americano" so that no one could complain that it was inauthentic…).

Baby Carrots

A sophisticated, $25 million ad campaign has been launched promoting baby carrots, by a coalition of carrot farmers. Article here, videos here. For instance:



Watch some of the videos. Slightly surreal.

A good thing, all in all.

Very Local Meat

I just came across this excellent article about raising rabbits entitled, amusingly, Backyard Bunnies Are the New Urban Chickens.

Backyard is pretty much as local as it gets.

Raising rabbits is tempting. I've also thought about raising guinea pigs for meat, as 98% (!) of rural households do in the Peruvian Andes (according to this article).

Rabbits and guinea pigs eat scraps, peels, and other by-products of human cuisine. You can use their waste as fertilizer. Their quick reproductive cycles make it easy to get started. And they are silent, unlike chickens.

Comments from any rabbit-raisers out there?

Akimenko Meats, Neighborhood Butcher, Coming To Inman Square, Cambridge

I was very excited when I learned that someone was opening a butcher shop selling Meat Of Known Origin half a mile from my house.

That someone is Vadim Akimenko. His shop will be at 1164 Cambridge Street, and is scheduled to open in November.

I had the pleasure of talking with him a few days ago. I will detail our conversation in a future post. In the meantime, for a little taste of what he's about, here's how he characterized his mission on his kickstarter page:

Akimenko Meats strives to bridge the gap between the city dweller and our local farmers. Our commitment to our neighbors is to bring in local, organic, and sustainable products while supporting the local agricultural community, building customer awareness, ultimately aiding our local economy.

Akimenko Meats will deal primarily with farms in a 250 mile radius and whole animals. To help make Akimenko Meats more sustainable we will offer house made charcuteries and stocks, making use of the whole animal. Our ultimate goal is to make local and sustainable meats available to all walks of life and year round. Akimenko Meats does not believe that eating with an ethical conscience should be a privilege that only the wealthy can afford.