Corduroy Orange

I don’t know any more about this event than what is contained in the press release, so I’m just going to reproduce the press release verbatim. I suppose that’s what usually happens with newspapers, too—they just don’t reveal that’s what they’re doing.

SAVE THE DATE for Rachel’s Sustainable Feast, May 25 from noon to 5:00 p.m. outside Rachel’s house in Springdale. The best of Pittsburgh’s chefs committed to buying locally, more local farmers’ markets, and as many of the region’s great environment, conservation and fair-trade organizations and vendors as we can squeeze into the block party.
This year we’re challenging people to travel to the event in as sustainable a method as possible - walk, bike, paddle, bus, carpool, use alternative fuel. $5 General Admission (kids under 6 FREE) For more details, follow this link.
This event is part of the Pittsburgh Great Outdoors Week www.greatoutdoorsweek.org

As reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on May 5,

On a quiet, 100-acre farm in Cumberland County, Mennonite farmer Mark Nolt, his wife and his 10 children have for three years operated a dairy whose best-selling product is one the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture considers contraband: raw milk.

Pennsylvania requires its raw milk producers to obtain a permit, but Mr. Nolt stopped applying for the permit in 2005 and has continued to sell raw milk and dairy products in the face of multiple citations, a court injunction and two raids that resulted in $50,000 of product and equipment being seized from his farm in Newville.

Raw milk has been a hot button topic in Southwestern Pennsylvania for at least a couple of years, and the advocates for access to raw milk are extremely vocal about their perceived right to get unpasteurized milk. They have also been somewhat militant in their insistence that it is the best choice for everyone.

I am willing to concede that there are enzymatic changes in milk as a result of pasteurization. I am not, however, willing to accept every piece of information distributed by the Weston A. Price Foundation (the main proponent of raw milk rights) as God’s honest truth.

In promoting the health benefits of raw milk and the consumption of high fat diets, they rely on photographic evidence reminiscent of eugenics and, whilst complaining that pasteurization advocates rely on studies from the 1930s, distribute pamphlets boasting that “Galen, Hippocrates, Pliny, Varro, Marcellus Empiris, Bacchis, and Antithimus, leading physicians of their day, all used raw milk in treatment of disease.” Well, we’ve had some remarkable discoveries since their day: including the fact that the earth revolves around the sun.

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It’s tough to believe how much technology goes into our milk.

Really, it shouldn’t be—we live in an age where we’re guaranteed to be able to get milk in any season, any weather, any size, prepackaged and waiting for us at the corner store. But to be in the processing plant at Turner Dairy as company President Chuck Turner, Jr. (grandson of company founder Charles G. Turner) pushes icons on a touch screen to demonstrate how the processing of any particular product can be maneuvered and controlled from a computerized screen, it’s a vivid reminder that we’re a few steps removed from the farm.

And quite honestly, I think when it comes to milk, that’s probably a good thing—especially if, as is the case with Turner’s milk, you know that the raw material came from a family farm within 67 miles of the processing plant in Penn Hills and was pasteurized, homogenized, packed, and shipped by a business that has been family-run since its inception in 1930.

Today, the business sits in a highly residential area of Penn Hills, though Mr. Turner is quick to point out which part of the community came first. “We didn’t decide to locate a dairy in a neighborhood—they decided to locate a neighborhood inside a dairy farm.” A painting on the wall of Turner’s conference room drives home the point: in the 1930’s, this was still the pastoral landscape we imagine when we think of a dairy farm.

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The “Chef as Rock Star” analogy never seemed quite so apt as when Anthony Bourdain stepped onto the stage at the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland to tumultuous applause and hoots and hollers from the sold-out house. An extremely slender man, he was dressed aggressively casual in skinny jeans worn over cowboy boots and a collared shirt with the top 2 buttons undone. He shunned the podium and paced back and forth across the front of the stage as he gave his talk; it took a few minutes for the spotlight operator to get the appropriate light switched on and illuminate Mr. Bourdain.

I really don’t know what I expected Mr. Bourdain to say, but I’m pretty sure he caught everyone off guard when he opened his lecture by saying, “I don’t think Rachael Ray likes me. I think she’s trying to kill me. I suspect she killed my dog.” But in an instant, any ice was shattered and Mr. Bourdain set off on a very conversational exploration of what it means to be a TV food personality and a reexamination of some of the tenets he set forth in his 2000 book, Kitchen Confidential.

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English muffins (from Thomas, who proudly proclaim their product’s newfound lack of high fructose corn syrup) topped with Graviera cheese (from Greece, via Penn Mac), proscuitto (from Parma, who age their proscuitto on site [Penn Avenue in the Strip] for 16 months; its only ingredients are pork, salt, and pepper), eggs over easy (from a small farm in Wexford), minced chives (from my garden, yes spring is arriving!), and accompanied by strawberries (imported from California, and of course lacking in flavor, but what can I say—they were 2 for 1 at the Giant Eagle this week and I’m a sucker for berries).

I was looking forward to the Farm to Table conference this year. Its new home was in the convention center downtown (a much easier destination for me to get to), and it had been expanded to a two-day format. I was hopeful that these factors would lead to an increase in the number and quality of booths at the conference. I’ve got to admit to being disappointed on both counts.

While there were several very interesting exhibitors, such as Weatherbury Farm (a source of grass-fed beef and lamb); Heritage Farm (source of poultry, beef, pork, and various sundries); Plum Run Winery (which boasts a decent 100% pinot noir and a wine made primarily from norton, a grape I only previously tasted in Missouri); Turner Dairy (which buys milk only from farms within a 70-mile radius of their operation and was named “Best Milk in U.S.” at the 2007 World Dairy Expo in Madison, WI); and the Farmers Market Alliance of Western Pennsylvania (which provides a wealth of information about various farmers’ markets in the area), I still left feeling as if there ought to have been more.

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Anyone who was with me in the audience for the Anthony Bourdain lecture at the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland (Pittsburgh) last night heard Mr. Bourdain compare the programming on the Food Network to pornography: watching actors on screen going through motions that you yourself probably won’t be replicating anytime soon. He contrasted that with Julia Child, who inspired the nation to improve their cooking skills and elevate their cuisine.

I just want you to know that I’m here to help. I want to assist you in recognizing your knife as the most important tool in the kitchen and aid you in learning to use it more efficiently and effectively. From there, once you have the ability to dissect your vegetables instead of chasing them around the cutting board, you’ll find any recipe easier to follow and reproduce, from home fries to cassoulet of beef. Learn to use your knife like a pro.

Moreover, I’m here as a resource for your questions. Email me your culinary problem, and I’ll offer you expert advice. I can almost guarantee you that you won’t find another chef with my expertise who is so easily accessible. Mr. Bourdain? Most certainly not. But, fortunately for you, i work for free under relative obscurity and don’t have to worry about an influx of thousands of emails per day. Which isn’t to denigrate the breadth of my knowledge or the quality of my expertise, but to point out that you have access to my brain that you wouldn’t to Alton Brown’s or Anthony Bourdain’s or Mario Batali’s.

So, take advantage. Step up to the plate and answer Mr. Bourdain’s challenge. Elevate your cuisine.

Hi Jesse:

I really enjoy your blog! I like your writing a good deal - I’m a member of the Co-op and get the newsletter so I’ve read your articles. It’s nice to see some food blogs out there that are local to me. I have kind of a silly question: I tried to get Bourdain tickets just over a month ago and they were sold out then. Drue Heinz never sells out. This makes me think that there is some food culture here in Pittsburgh that I’m totally unaware of. I just wanted to ask, am I living under a rock?

Thank you,

Darcy

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Anthony Bourdain is giving a lecture in Pittsburgh on March 31. I have tickets, which is fortunate because the show is sold out, save for a private opera box that is currently up for auction on Ebay.

Mind you that the minimum bid (as of when I’m typing) is $810, but if you have the wherewithal to compete, you can get private seating for 6, signed copies of Mr. Bourdain’s book, invitations to a VIP lecture, and more. It’s not quite in my price range, but I’m sure whoever the lucky bidder is will have both an excellent view of the event and a magnificent evening.

If you happen to get the package, be sure to let me know about your experience!