I recently wrote and posted a long screed about why the organic movement doesn’t seem to embrace ethnic foods, and why the ethic communities don’t embrace the organic movement. I think I’ve concluded that it’s too long for a blog post, so interested readers can find it here.
I’d really like to hear your thoughts on it and everything I post, so please, post away! My goal for this blog isn’t some bloviating monologue–it’s to create a community of the world’s breakaway cooks. That would be YOU, if you’re reading this!
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What a thought-provoking piece. It *is* striking that the the organic world and the seasonal/local/organic worlds are largely separate, even here in culinary dogma-free Northern California. I’m going to comment as someone whose DNA is Chinese but whose culinary perspective is purely San Franciscan.
I think the largest hurdle to integrating the two worlds is the perception that organic is exclusive. And the truth is, it largely is. Unless we’re talking about immigrants who are professionals, most are like my folks: blue collar and not about to spend $3 on a pound of broccoli. And if people keep demanding the $4.95 rice plate at Happy Garden, you’re not going to see “Maraquita Farms Broccoli with Prather Ranch Beef” anytime soon.
Then there’s farmers whose business model is to grow what people will buy (and there’s nothing wrong with that). They’re growing for the chefs/buyers at Chez Panisse, Nopa et al, not for Koi Palace. I shop at the Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market every Saturday, but my mom never shops with me because there’s little there for her. In the spring I may buy some gorgeous pea shoots from the Knolls or pomelos from the Hamadas in winter for her…but for the most part I take home raddichio and beets for myself. Even the meat is butchered differently. My mom makes a fantastic braised beef dish that relies on a cut that combines belly/diaphragm (kind of like a fatty bavette) and beef tendons. Neither Prather nor Marin Sun Farms offers that kind of cut. So if I want to make her yummy dish that’s rich with star anise, ginger, garlic, scallions, palm sugar, and soy, I have to do it with short ribs. Is it “authentic?” Probably not.
Lastly, there is a stigma against upscale ethnic cuisine (Exhibit A: Chowhound or Calvin Trillin). I harbor some of these biases myself. There is a very narrow understanding of “authentic.” I don’t think anyone at The Slanted Door would ever claim to serve Vietnamese food so authentic that you’re transported to Hue. It’s a fantastic example of *second-generation* Vietnamese cuisine that’s been refined as the family got more prosperous and assimilated into the Bay Area. If you’ve ever eaten a plate of 200-Dong noodles at a muddy roadside stand manned by a toothless grandma, it’s inevitable to get that Anthony Bourdain sense of smugness that suggests you know what is excellent, authentic Vietnamese food. While the experience of eating at a muddy roadside stand was a thrill, I’ve had my share of mediocre noodles at those stands. Not every dive serves awesome food. The quality of the Slanted Door’s glass noodles with dungeness would blow that roadside dish away. But can they be compared apples-to-apples? Of course not.
Wow…didn’t realize I had such strong opinions about this topic. Would love to hear what other Breakaway readers think.
Wow, and yours is equally thought-provoking, Karena, thanks! It’s clearly all about price for lots of people, not just immigrants. But I think we have to understand that there IS a price to cheap food from the Central Valley, whose motto seems to be “cheap food at any cost.”
Your point about different cuts of meat is a good one, one I hadn’t thought of.
I think *part* of the reason why humble street food in southeast Asia tastes so good is that, unlike in the US, all the produce is almost ipso facto local. They’re not trucking (and certainly not flying) in crap from thousands of miles away, it’s just the local stuff, possibly even grown by the hawker him/herself.
As for the stigma against upscale ethnic, screw that! I genuinely don’t care if something is dogmatically “authentic” — I do demand though that it be authentically tasty. Nothing else matters!
Thanks for checking in — please stick around!
Eric – congrats on the new blog and gung hei fat choy! I love the sparkling matcha idea cool green tea is a pleasure unknown to many.
I have to say the ethnic/organic/local “debate” gets a little crazy for me sometimes. I just had jamon iberico and that pretty much kills the eat local thing for me until I move to the extramadurra.
Addressing the issue of sustainable seafood is another example of how difficult it is to get people to think expansively and globally about these issues. It’s exhausting and I say, the frog got it right “isn’t easy being green.” I did find through a Monterey Bay Aquarium friend a sustainable seafood pocket guide in Chinese that one might use to try to begin the conversation. My assumption is that in Chinatown it will fall on deaf ears. Fresh and cheap – those are the key.
Interestingly, we have Cambodian (I think?) farmers in a unique program in Mass. who appear at our farmer’s markets with wild greens I’ve never seen, even in chinatown. Could be that bridge you were looking for.
-Jacqueline
Your readers might might be interested in knowing about Thimmakka, a Bay Area non-profit that focuses on “greening” ethnic restaurants (particularly South Asian ones).
While most of the focus of the program is environmental, Thimmakka says that its 30 “green-certified” restaurants in Alameda and Santa Clara counties are “buying wholesale bulk organic produce, grains, and meats” as ingredients for their cooking.
I don’t think it’s so much a question or issue of whether the restaurants are upscale or not — most of the ones on Thimmakka’s list appear not to be — but rather whether they are committed to sourcing, buying, and using organic ingredients from a health, environmental, and perhaps even philosophical perspective.
Needless to say, a lot of the less-wealthy people in the world eat organic not because it’s trendy or even healthy, but because they simply can’t afford the massive inputs required to farm on an industrial scale, and in more and more cases, are concerned about getting “locked in” to using patented genetically-modified seeds that cannot be saved and replanted in the traditional manner they are accustomed to.
I have yet to read any post yet that is so thought provoking and full of ideas that I am wanting to share.
First of all, to Karena, you are so CORRECT about the stigma against high end (specifically, higher priced), ethnic cuisine. The Slanted Door is a perfect example of how they are unfairly being used as a poster child by some foodies to illustrate how it is “not authentically Vietnamese”. I, being Vietnamese , am always in the minority when it comes to forums with other Vietnamese food enthusiasts on the issue of Slanted doors “authenticity”. I’m constantly sharing my opinion (much like yours) on how you cannot compare some of SD’s quality dishes and approach to food in the same category as your hole in the wall, dive, $4 Pho establishment. Just because you pay a little more for food in a more cleaner, contemporary and crisply run restaurant frequented by more “gringos” than “viet’s”, doesn’t make it any less Vietnamese. Granted, some establishments deserve the beatings they deserve, but I think SD is one restaurant that has raised the bar for Vietnamese food and really helped open up the minds of many other Vietnamese restaurant owners and chefs to important issues as buying local and sourcing responsibility.
Eric, I enjoyed reading your article and you bring up some very good points. For many Vietnamese, they may not know it, but they are eating much more organic than they realize. There are many Viet grocers that still purchase some herbs and vegetables from local, home gardeners. These same gardeners (mostly older ladies)
will set up shop outside Viet shopping centers as well. They will sell anything from home grown chili’s , herbs and greens. I, as well as many others, am a regular customer because I can buy these fresh from their garden, cheap, support these local “farmers” and eat “organic”. Does this still count as “organic”?
Dr. Countercorp: thanks for the tip on Thimmakka; I had no idea they existed. I agree — upscale isn’t the issue at all, it’s about sourcing practices.I’ll make it point to eat at some of the places listed. Have you tried any?
WORC: Thanks for the comments.
I *NEED* to know about some of these Viet grocers, because I’d love to buy from them. Are you talking about the little mom-n-pop places on Larkin?
Hi Eric,
No, I’m in Southern California and Little Saigon (Westminister) is my local playground. I have an extensive list of where the “little old ladies” sell at and which of the smaller grocers sell from local home growers. As our Vietnamese community in Southern California grows, so does the demand for larger, more contemporary grocery stores. These larger grocers buy from larger farms. But there are still a small handful of grocers and shops that will buy homegrown herbs, fruits, vegetables and cooked goods from local residents.
When I can, I try to spend my money with here and with my little ladies. The five to ten dollars or so that I spend with them (and I get so much for my money!) lets them know that their honest, hard work is appreciated and I hope they continue their love of growing.
If you’re ever in the area, we’ll give you an fun and extensive tour!
Ah, that makes sense. I was there last year, and saw some of them. Went into a restaurant full of older Viet men, all of whom smoked — so interesting! Smoking has been banned in CA restaurants for many years, but there they were, puffing away! They were most amused that I had stumbled in there, bought me drinks and everything. I’d love to go back, and to get the full tour from you!
Ahhhh, you stumbled into a Vietnamese “cafe”, very different from your typical American “cafe” where you would find a turkey sandwich on rye with a side of mixed greens with lemon zest vinaigrette. Definitely no turkey meat here, let alone any mixed greens(they would wilt from all the smoke!). There is a unique element to Viet “cafe’s” that are not focused on food, but rather…well, you know, you saw and experienced it.
Let us know when you’re in town, there’s some FANTASTIC stores here that sell only unique fruits and some home grown vegetables that are to die for!
Eric, great piece on the tangential relationship between ethnic and organic food movement.
But I do agree with you. It’s just a matter of time before they start intersecting. They have to!
Look at how lentils, moong beans, garam masala are now available in Luckys, Alberstons etc. Now they just have to move to the organic section!
But as both these movements become more powerful, their intersection will happen.
Thanks (fellow) chutneylover. How I would love for organic versions of moong, etc. to be available! I really do think it’s coming.