Course Spotlight- Culture and Cuisine: New England
MET ML 638, Culture and Cuisine: New England will be taught this Spring 2025 on Wednesday from 6:00-8:45 p.m. by Dr. Karen Metheny
C
ourse Description: How are the foodways of New England’s inhabitants, past and present, intertwined with the history and culture of this region? In this course, students will have the opportunity to examine the cultural uses and meanings of foods and foodways in New England using historical, archaeological, oral, and material evidence. We will focus on key cultural, religious and political movements that have affected foodways in the region, as well as the movement of people. The course begins with an examination of Native American food traditions and practices in the pre-contact period. We will also consider how foodways mirrored the clash of cultures during an extended period of contact and settlement by Europeans.
How did the Pilgrim settlers respond to a new environment and to new foods in the New World? How did perceptions of their own Englishness change? Old-fashioned Yankee fare is considered emblematic of traditional New England by many writers, and we will consider why this perception exists and when it developed. But New England foodways have also been greatly influenced by immigrant groups in the 19th and 20th centuries. Students will therefore look closely at the food preferences, traditions, and subsistence practices of the Irish, Italian, and Portuguese immigrant communities in New England. We will also look at two cultural phenomena in 20th-century New England—roadside diners and tea houses—to understand the changes wrought by the introduction of the automobile and the interstate highway system, as well as the larger impact of industrialization and commercialization of foods.
Students will travel to Old Sturbridge Village to prepare and enjoy a 19th-century hearth-cooked meal and tour the museum. Other trips to be determined.
Course Spotlight- “Cook Like a Pro”
We are thrilled to add our revamped course, “Cook Like a Pro” to our curriculum next semester: The hands-on, pared-down version of our culinary certificate program, designed for beginners and aspiring cooks alike. In this class you’ll be guided through the fundamentals of meal preparation, ingredient selection, and proper seasoning. You’ll learn how to master essential techniques, from handling a knife like a pro to chopping and sautéing to baking and plating, all while developing good kitchen practices and habits.
Classes take place in our state-of-the-art kitchen and are taught by the same team of highly acclaimed chefs who teach in our professional culinary program, including Jody Adams, Barry Maiden and Michael Leviton (instructors subject to change). While completion of this course does not result in a certificate, it offers a scaled-down version of our professional culinary program. The course covers all the basic core skills with a focus on key recipes and techniques.
For more about the course, we got the inside scoop from Chef Chris Douglass, Lead Instructor of BU’s Culinary Arts program.
- Why offer this course when we already offer a certificate program?
“Our certificate program, while amazing, is a big commitment. But cooking is an essential and basic skill, one you can employ your entire life. This course is meant to give you the tools to confidently navigate the kitchen and professional techniques without that commitment of our more intense program. Another key aspect of this course is access to some of the most respected chefs in the industry, so whether you have zero cooking experience or are interested in building knowledge, you have a fantastic opportunity to work with professionals and receive real feedback.”
- What type of student is this course really for?
This class is truly for anyone. We designed the curriculum to accommodate varying skill levels, from someone who doesn’t know how to boil water to someone who wants to refine their technique and palate.
- What should students expect a typical class period to look like?
“Students can expect to build on fundamentals at the beginning of the course, before moving onto more advanced material. They will prepare 2-4 recipes each week with a focus on technique and exploration of flavors. From basic knife skills and application of heat, all the way to honing techniques, students will learn how to cook with staples like eggs, vegetables, meat and fish.”
- What will students take away from this course?
“Students will leave with more confidence to tackle recipes on their own without hesitation. What could be better than that?”
---
Course details— Non-Credit Cost: $1,800, Meets: Mondays 6:00 - 8:45 pm, January 27 - April 28, 2025
Course Spotlight: Artisan Cheeses of the World
A course centered entirely around cheese? You aren't dreaming, it's real! Taught by Kimi Ceridon, Instructor for the Artisan Cheese Program at Boston University and owner of Live Love Cheese, this class provides an in-depth exploration of the styles and production of cheeses from local to far-reaching regions worldwide. The class is a blend of tastings, experiential classwork, discussion and lectures on cheese, the cheese industry, and cheesemaking. Successful completion of the course will result in a Certificate in Cheese Studies from Boston University.
With an emphasis on understanding the production of cheese, you'll learn about everything from culturing to affinage, and how variations in each process (and those in between) affect its organoleptic properties. You'll also use cheese as a case study in historical and cultural contexts to better understand the relationship and connections between people and food. As an experiential class with hands-on classwork and in-class tastings, each day of class will be exciting, challenging and different, from the cheeses of Southern France one day to a guest panel of cheese experts the next. And later in the semester, you'll take part in a full-day ethnographic tours of cheesemaking farms in New England. You'll visit farms in Vermont to meet with cheesemakers and staff, tour the farm dairy and cheesemaking facility, and observe the cheesemaking process.
Running again in Spring 2025, this course is open to both BU Gastronomy students and non-credit students. Learn more and register here.
We caught up with Kimi for a deeper look inside the program:
I initially entered the Gastronomy program because I was interested in local food systems. While earning my MLA, I took the Artisan Cheese Program, and I was immediately excited about how artisanal cheese was. This product encompasses so much about local food systems, from ecology to small family farms to the circular economy to consumers connecting with local foods and makers. There's also the nerdy part of me that loved cheese. I have a master's degree in mechanical engineering from MIT. While I left the STEM field, I still loved science and cheese is this awesome intersection between science and food. It takes science and craft to turn milk, enzymes, molds, cultures and salt into thousands of distinct varieties of cheese. Cheese is magical like that. And, of course, cheese is also super yummy.
In 2024, Kimi Ceridon, the founder of Life Love Cheese, made Culture Magazine's Hot List of Cheese Professionals for her work educating people about the magic of cheese. Kimi received her MSME from MIT in 2001. She spent over a decade in tech before saying "Goodbye" to the cubicle and starting culinary school. She has an MLA in Gastronomy and an Artisan Cheese Certificate from BU. She's also trained in cheesemaking at Sterling College alongside Jasper Hill. Now, she is an artisan cheese instructor at BU. Her company, Life Love Cheese, focuses on highlighting American cheese makers and artisans with a special emphasis on the Northeast. Look for her new store opening in Wakefield this Winter.
Graduate Spotlight: Lucy Almirudis
We recently caught up with Lucy Almirudis (@lucialmirudis), a graduate of Boston University’s Certificate Program in Wine Studies and a member of the 2022 "Urban Grape Wine Studies Award for Students of Color" cohort. Learn more about her story below.
I was born and raised in Sonora, Mexico where I studied architecture and worked as an architect for a couple of years. Seeking a life change, I decided to spend the summer of 2014 in Boston. That's when I met my husband—and it turned into the longest summer of my life. I lived in Boston for a decade and during that time I worked in the restaurant industry, building a career in fine dining and event planning. That’s when I fell in love with wine; realizing that wine made every special occasion even more memorable and that people are willing to invest a lot in a good bottle.
I found out about "The Urban Grape Wine Studies Award for Students of Color" through my best friend and decided to give it a shot to build a career in the wine world.
- At the Urban Grape store to learn about retail
- With MS Walker to learn about importing and distribution
- At Row 34 to learn about the restaurant industry
- At Jackson Family Wines to learn about viticulture, sustainable farming, wine making, branding, marketing, production, direct to consumer, sales and more
Going through the program has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I’ve been through. Because I was working in the restaurant industry and handling wine so closely every day at work; it meant having more very useful knowledge while going through what sounded like a very dynamic experience. I would’ve never imagined my life would end up taking such a drastic turn. I've met so many amazing people, I've learned so much about the wine industry and—the best part—got an opportunity to combine both of my careers: wine and architecture.
My last internship at Jackson Family Wines in California, where I spent time with their Real Estate Department, was particularly formative. It felt truly full circle seeing everything I had been studying and reading about during class in person. I finally got to see the grapes in person, taste them (the Chening Blanc grape is incredibly delicious), witness the wine being made and visit wineries I had only heard of. It was really special!
At the beginning of 2024, I got a job offer that moved me, my husband and our cats to California. I am currently working as an Assistant Project Manager as part of the Jackson Family Wines design team. While interviewing to be part of the Urban Grape Wine Studies Award someone said to me “Would you like to go back to work as an architect? The wine industry touches almost every other industry, your job could be designing wineries and tasting rooms” and I thought to myself “Does a position like that even exist?”
A year and a half later here I am, working with a team that focuses precisely on that, designing wine tasting rooms and guest houses. I would’ve never imagined that through a wine program I would go back to architecture, but I absolutely love it!
I couldn’t be more thankful for having the opportunity to be a part of this program and for my husband’s support through all of it. Thank you Urban Grape and Boston University!
To learn more about "The Urban Grape Wine Studies Award for Students of Color" and how to apply, please visit this resource.
Student Work Wednesday- Featuring Emily Shawn
This week we’re highlighting the work of Gastronomy graduate, Emily Shawn. Last spring, Emily completed a project about food innovation at Fenway Park for the Food Waste course taught by Steve Finn here at Boston University’s Metropolitan College.
Exploring Food Innovation and Food Waste Reduction at Fenway Park
Swing, battah, swing! The sounds of Fenway Park resonated, practically surrounding me as I made my way through Lansdown Street. The unmistakable scents of baseball food – Fenway Franks, giant salted pretzels, popcorn, cracker Jacks – wafted over me, along with something fresh and summery on the mid-summer breeze. A baseball game at Fenway Park is a full heart-of-Boston sensory experience, from the thrill of flying baseballs, the fascinating people-watching, and the unforgettable culinary experience. When my Food Waste: Scope, Scale and Signals for Sustainable Change class visited the park in late June, we were lucky to have great weather and even catch a glimpse of a rainbow up above the Green Monstah.
I have to admit I was not expecting our tour of Fenway to include a beautiful garden, fresh veggies, and the best carrot I’ve ever eaten. After leading our class through the multiple kitchens within Fenway, through the glorious MGM concert hall, up above the Green Monstah and through the VIP kitchens, Senior Executive Chef Ron Abell directed our group up to a rooftop garden with lush flower beds and an equally stunning view of Boston.
The sight took my breath away, as did inhaling the refreshing earthy-floral scent so unexpectedly delightful in a decidedly urban city block.
“Who knows what these are?” Ron asked, pointing to several plants. Our class identified the herbs – lavender, basil, chives – and then stepped across a gate to enter the rooftop garden.
Fenway Farms, an urban rooftop garden grown in milk crates, provides fresh organic home-grown vegetables for thousands of baseball fans through the season. The use of rooftop space for growing plants provides an excellent atmosphere for vegetation to grow right next to the kitchen, in full sunshine and up far too high for any ground animals to reach.
“Let’s test your knowledge,” Ron offered, pointing at each plant to see who in our class could name the vegetables and pollinator flowers. Kale, lettuce, sugar snap peas, eggplant, tomatoes, nasturtiums, carrots – row upon row upon row of plants, all thriving and diligently cared for. The garden felt, in a way, magical.
As our class wandered through the garden in a sort of awe, Ron explained to us that he believes in cooking and eating seasonally. You can’t make butternut squash taste good in early May – it’s not right. And what better way to eat in tune with the seasons than a fresh vegetable garden, right here above the baseball field?
The garden was, in fact, practically the opposite of what I would have expected baseball food to be.
“A lot of this goes up to the VIP boxes,” Ron explained, twirling a freshly picked carrot in his hands. He explained that the box seats offer guests meals including fruit trays and wholesome salads all grown right here.
“Try this,” Ron then said, breaking off the carrot top and handing it to me. I frowned – don’t carrot tops usually go in the garbage? However curiosity got the best of me so I took a bite. It was crunchy, almost peppery, like a cross between lettuce and cilantro – surprisingly tasty!
As we chomped on the carrot and the carrot tops, Ron explained how he made sure the staff in his kitchens knew how to use vegetables, how to pick them, how to properly cook them, and how to slice and prepare them so as to minimize food waste in any fashion. His passion for food – good, seasonal, delicious, expertly-prepared food—was evident and drew us in as he talked about how the garden served the kitchens, staff, and guests of Fenway Park.
We discussed the many unique challenges of reducing food waste in stadium settings, to which Ron and his team are well-attuned, including the challenge of reducing waste in the luxury suites – which has parallels to other settings (ex. cruise ships, casinos) where consumers are paying up for a high-end experience with an expectation of abundant food. Indeed, Ron explained that a large percentage of food waste at Fenway involves produce, as patrons often bypass salads and fruit trays for more traditional ballpark fare.
Our class collectively shuddered: standing here in this beautiful garden, nibbling a carrot fresh from the earth, it was such a shame to think of any of these plants going to waste rather than nourishing people.
Ron’s dedication to the rooftop garden and ensuring the plants are used effectively in the kitchen really brings home how evident it is that as consumers (in all venues) we need to do better -- to ensure that we properly value our food resources so that all of the effort put into growing, distributing and preparing nutritious food for us is not also lost with discarded food.
At the same time, standing in the garden myself where I could see, smell, hear and taste the fresh veggies while also enjoying a fabulous view of the city of Boston really highlights the importance and benefits of urban garden access. When one is able to name every plant in a garden – our class came close but Ron Abell knew them all – the food feels even more important, meaningful, and (dare I say) delicious.
We are grateful for the tour and discussion and Ron’s dedication to his craft, which includes minimizing the waste of food in a unique and challenging environment.
---
A lesson I took into the future from eating leafy carrot tops is to find more uses for foods that surprise me. If you’re looking to keep your carrot tops out of the trashcan, try out this carrot top pesto recipe here: https://minimalistbaker.com/the-best-carrot-top-pesto/
You can also learn more about the Fenway Farms rooftop garden here: https://www.mlb.com/redsox/ballpark/green-initiatives/fenway-farms
Student Work Wednesday- Featuring Sarah Thompson
This week we’re highlighting the work of Gastronomy graduate, Sarah Thompson. Sarah completed a project in which she recreated a historical recipe for the Cookbooks and History course taught by Karen Metheny here at Boston University’s Metropolitan College.
The Nameless Cake
The Nameless Cake—I feel kind of bad for this cake because in Malinda Russell’s 1866 A Domestic Cook Book, this recipe is placed among so many other named cake recipes but I think this one has just as much to offer! To show this cake the love and attention it deserves, I decided to try my hand at making the recipe. While the ingredient list was ever so simple, that’s pretty much the extent of the recipe: an ingredient list. There was no mention of temperature at which the baking should happen, nor was there a time given for how long the cake should be in the oven. There was no mention of any type of pan that is suggested to use. It is clear that Malinda Russell assumes her readers have baked many cakes in their day and they can infer the instruction portion. Another challenge was equating a “teacupful” to something I had in my kitchen arsenal. I decided I would use ½- ¾ of a coffee mug and call that a teacupful. It seemed to work, but I know the result could have been a little different had I been more accurate with my decision-making.
I thought it was so interesting that this cake was at the bare bones level as far as cake ingredients go, including just: flour, sugar, eggs, butter, and milk. I kept thinking while I was making this, I feel like I need more, a splash of vanilla, or lemon zest or baking soda, or something. But it did turn out delicious in the end. It is not a cake I am used to by any means, and I would accredit that to the lack of ingredients. When I tasted it, it was very spongy and sort of soufflé-like, probably because there were 5 eggs in there. All-in-all I really enjoyed this sort of sleuth-like cooking. I feel like when I bake a modern recipe, I know I will always be surprised at what comes out of the oven, but following this recipe (or ingredient list more like it) I was really flying blind. It goes to show however how much baking has changed as a form of cooking and the way chefs, and recipe-developers chose to include or exclude. Malinda Russell, I think it is clear in this recipe, at least maybe felt less was more. So, I think it is appropriate to euphemize perhaps and give a name rather than be Nameless forever in history, so let’s call it the Less is More Cake.
References:
Russell, Malinda, A Domestic Cook Book (Paw Paw: T.O. Ward, 1866), 14.
Student Work Wednesday- Featuring Nicole Baker
This week we’re highlighting the work of Gastronomy student, Nicole Baker. Nicole completed a project in which she recreated a historical recipe for the Cookbooks and History course taught by Karen Metheny here at Boston University’s Metropolitan College.
Sutton's Island's Corn Cake of 1889
How does one recreate a recipe from 1889 with little to no information beyond the ingredients? Well for one, we start with what we know, which is experience in food, baking, and cooking, thankfully! The Sutton Island Cookbook is a compilation of recipes collected by someone working in the Sutton Island kitchen from the years 1889-1897. This island is a part of the Cranberry Isles off the coast of Mt. Desert Island, which is modern day Acadia National Park.
The majority of these recipes, themselves, are clippings from what seems to be a multitude of sources, but there is the occasional handwritten recipe sprinkled throughout. The compiler even notes that this cookbook is also seen as a scrapbook. Perhaps these recipes were ones they admired to make, enjoyed themselves, or with which they accommodated guests for meals on the island.
For this recipe recreation in our Cookbooks and History class, I chose the “Corn Cake” recipe on page 73 of the book (Fig 1). Since the recipe only lists ingredients, there was a lot of room for trial and error. Because of the absence of directions, I felt this recipe would be quite a journey to embark on, and perhaps bring me more confidence in my baking skills. While there was plenty of room for interpretation and trial, I did want to get this recipe right on the first go, so as not to waste ingredients.
For the technical aspect of baking this cake, I remembered from my own experience that most cakes today are baked between 350°F and 400°F. As a result, I chose a temperature within this range. Further, as we learned in class, during this period wood burning ovens were most common for baking and cooking. Thinking of this, I imagined there be some fluctuation in temperature as well, not quite staying an even 375°F or 400°F, hence, I chose 380°F as the cooking temperature.
From here, I went ahead and put everything together in a practical order, which I drew from my baking experience once again to do so. I started by creaming the sugar and butter by hand (since electric mixers may not have been used at the time, especially on an island in the north of Maine). I then added the rest of the wet ingredients to this mixture before slowly adding in the dry ingredients—flour, corn meal, cream of tartar and baking soda—and then letting the batter sit for about ten minutes. Lastly, I added the batter to a greased springform baking pan.
I baked the cake for about 35 minutes, starting with 15 minutes, checking it to find it still very raw, then continuing on with another twenty minutes. This time allowed for the cake to bake thoroughly, with the top coming out golden brown (Fig 2) and the bottom much darker, but not quite burnt. The edges were crispy and had some caramelization, but a little closer to burnt than the bottom reached. All in all, the cake had a good moisture level when consumed directly out of the oven and only dried out some overnight as tested by consuming another piece the following day.
The recipe proved to be successful thanks to my experience in baking and cooking. I am certain if I had not had this experience, reading through some of the other cake recipes in the book would have provided a good order of operations for mixing the ingredients, but I would have had to delve deeper into research for cooking temperatures and times.
One flaw I feel I made throughout this process was using a springform pan to back the cake. After a little research, I found that springform pans were first invented around 1919 by a German metal goods company known as Kaiser (Harte, 2023). With this information, it was definitely a historically inaccurate pan to use for this recipe, and something like a cast iron skillet would have been more accurate for the time. However, I didn’t think of this at the time.
All in all, the recipe turned out. I would call it good, and so might a few others that tried it, but some small improvements could make the cake more historically accurate if I tried this recipe, or another recipe from this book, again.
References:
Harte, Tom. (2023, Mar 27). A Harte Appetite: The Versatile Springform Pan. KRCU Public Radio. https://www.krcu.org/arts-culture/2023-03-27/a-harte-appetite-the-versatile-springform-pan. Accessed November 19, 2023.
Sutton Island (Maine) Cookbook, 1889-1897. B/S967. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/sch02223/catalog. Accessed November 19, 2023.
Student Work Wednesday- Featuring Celeste Femia
This week we're highlighting the work of Gastronomy student Celeste Femia. Celeste completed a project in which she recreated a historical recipe for the Cookbooks and History course taught by Karen Metheny here at Boston University's Metropolitan College.
Recreating a 19th Century Orange Fritter
In my search to find a historical recipe for recreation, I stumbled upon a gem from the late 19th century, "Miss Corson’s Practical American Cookery and Household Management" by Juliet Corson. Juliet Corson, an instructor, and superintendent at the New York Cooking School, collaborated with the Commissioner of Education to create this cookbook that went beyond regional boundaries. Published in 1885, this cookbook is a compilation of recipes contributed by locals from the Western and Southern regions of the United States.
Its diverse range of contributions piqued my interest, and I began combing through the recipes until one in particular, "Orange Fritters," caught my eye. The idea of slicing, battering, and deep-frying oranges was completely unfamiliar to me. I had never tasted an orange fritter before, so naturally, my curiosity got the better of me, and I was eager to discover both the visual appeal and flavor profile of this concoction.
Before diving straight into the recipe, I wanted to explore the origins of the fritter. A bit of online sleuthing unveiled that these delightful fried treats likely made their debut during the Roman Empire. In Italy, they are named not after their ingredients, but rather after the frying cooking method, known as "fritte." Additionally, early Italian cookbooks from the Middle Ages shed light on the distinctions between fritters fried in oil, ideal for religious days when animal products were forbidden, and those fried in lard, more suitable for everyday fare.
The world of fritters is a mixed bag of flavors and textures. Savory options, from fritto misto featuring meat, seafood, and vegetables dipped in batter and crisped up in olive oil, to the aromatic Indian pakora. In Japan, the batter-frying technique, introduced by the Portuguese and Spanish in the late 16th century, gave rise to tempura, which has become an integral part of Japanese cuisine. Sweet variations of fritters, including the French beignet and its counterparts, have also found their way across the globe.
To recreate the historical orange fritter recipe, I first needed to gather the ingredients: flour, an egg, salt, olive oil, water, oranges, powdered sugar, and oil for frying. Fortunately, these ingredients are readily available in today's markets, and I was pleased to find that most were already stocked in my cupboards.
The cooking process began with careful preparation. I assembled the ingredients and began crafting the batter. Following the instructions, I noted the need to beat the egg white into a stiff froth. Channeling the spirit of traditional methods, I separated the yolk from the egg white and began vigorously whisking. After about 10 minutes of continuous, wrist-burning effort, my egg whites achieved their desired stiffness.
In another bowl, I mixed one cup of flour, a teaspoon of salt, and a tablespoon of olive oil. The next step called for "enough water to make a batter thick enough to hold a drop let fall from the mixing spoon." Interpreting this as something like a pancake batter, I measured approximately one cup of water, incorporating it gradually while mixing. To assess consistency, intermittent checks were conducted to evaluate how well the batter adhered to a spoon. It took the entire cup of water to achieve what appeared to be the correct texture. Finally, I folded in my stiff egg whites.
With the batter ready, I turned my attention to heating the oil. The recipe called for using a "frying-kettle over the fire, with enough fat to half fill it and let the fat get smoking hot." I opted for a deep stainless-steel saucepan with canola oil due to its smaller diameter but greater depth, ideal for frying in small batches. The recipe's instruction to heat the fat until it is “smoking hot” terrified me! The thought of submerging a batter-coated, liquid-filled fruit into sizzling oil seemed like a potential recipe for disaster, with either scalding oil splatters on my arms or quickly burnt fritters. So, I opted for a temperature more in line with what I might use for frying chicken. To ease into it, I conducted a test round with one orange slice.
My initial attempt revealed some errors: first, some of the batter got left behind on the fork, leaving a section of the orange without any coating, resulting in a hollow space where the orange juice seeped out. Additionally, the oil was not hot enough. Learning from this, I increased the heat and made sure to subsequently stab the orange with a fork, thoroughly coating the slice in batter, and then immersing it into the hot oil. This method proved much more effective; all sides of the orange were evenly coated, and the slices were frying up beautifully. Working in small batches of two at a time, I battered and fried the rest of my slices. Each orange slice was laid on paper towels to drain and then dusted with a generous layer of powdered sugar.
So, how did they taste? I will be honest, my orange was not the sweetest, and in hindsight, I wish I had sampled a slice first to gauge the flavor profile before diving into the frying process. A hint of bitterness lingered, likely a result of my less-than-sweet orange combined with the olive oil in the batter. Given that the batter itself lacked sugar, the fritter's sweetness relied heavily on the powdered sugar on top. Despite this, they turned out surprisingly good.
Reflecting on this experience, if I were to recreate these orange fritters again, I'd consider adding sugar, testing the orange beforehand to ensure optimal sweetness, and I would use lard for frying, as it might enhance the overall flavor profile and possibly result in a more delicious fritter.
References:
Corson, Juliet. 1885. Miss Corson’s Practical American Cookery and Household Management.
New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company. https://d.lib.msu.edu/fa/58.
Encyclopedia Britannica. 2021. Fritter. Date of access, November 15, 2023.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/fritter.
Montanari, Massimo. 2012. Let the Meatballs Rest: And Other Stories About Food and Culture.
Columbia University Press. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bu/detail.action?docID=1028072.
Rachman, Anne-Marie. 2023. Corson, Juliet, 1842-1897. MSU Libraries Digital Repository.
Date of access, October 20, 2023. https://d.lib.msu.edu/msul:63.
Gastronomy for Good: Daily Table’s Mission-Based Gastronomy
Today, we are highlighting more work from students in Steven Finn's course: MET ML626 - Food Waste: Scope, Scale, and Signals for Sustainable Change. This is another post from Megan Perlman.
Traditional notions of gastronomy may conjure up a vision of white-toqued students making milles-feuilles, a critic with a notepad at a fancy restaurant, or the study of how terroir and farming methods impact a region’s grape varietal. While these certainly belong in the purview of gastronomy, Boston University’s Master of Arts in Gastronomy also affords us the opportunity to learn more about the social, cultural, and historical intricacies of how food and people connect. This includes connecting with local food activists and organizations making a difference in our communities.
There has never been a greater need for activism. The statistics are bleak. With rising cost of living showing no signs of abatement, an estimated 1.9 million adults in Massachusetts went hungry last year. The Harvard Political Review further explains the problem: “Residents of lower-income areas may be miles away from their nearest source of fresh, nutritious food…Fast-food chains and easily accessible corner stores sell mainly non-nutritious ‘junk’ food. Available fresh food, if there is any, is then much more expensive than ultra-processed alternatives, worsening the lack of access to healthy foods by low-income residents.”
How do we address these entrenched inequities? One innovative local organization, Daily Table, is dedicated to providing “fresh, tasty, convenient and nutritious food to communities most in need at prices everyone can afford.” Daily Table operates a series of grocery stores and food hubs in communities that are often underserved.
Their retail spaces in Central Square, Mattapan, Salem, Dorchester and Roxbury are designed to offer a range of healthy, fresh, and affordable foods. High-quality and nutritious food is available at prices that are lower than traditional grocery stores.
How are they able to do this? Michael O’Driscoll, the organization’s Director of Operations, and Chris Austin, its Executive Chef, spent an evening in our test kitchen breaking down their multifaceted strategy while also cooking us some of their delicious recipes.
O’Driscoll shared that while a majority of Daily Table’s outside funding comes from grants and corporate donations, sales revenue covers 70% of their operating expenses and, impressively, two of the stores already break even. This operational efficiency allows grants and donation funds to be primarily directed into capital investments with the goal of expanding the organization's footprint.
Daily Table has partnerships with food manufacturers, retailers, and local producers that allow them to get food via donation or at deeply discounted prices. These “opportunity buys” require their procurement team (Austin called them “treasure hunters”) to be nimble and creative, seeking out and securing food that is expiring, surplus, or that won’t be sold by retailers simply for cosmetic reasons. Austin recounted receiving a shipment of salmon that had been rejected by a retailer because the color of the fish wasn’t orange enough simply because they had been feeding on prawns that were more white than pink. Then it’s his job to scramble to create a recipe or dish using the unexpected food. In fact, 400,000 lbs. of food were acquired as low-cost “opportunity buys” last year alone.
As an aside, this exemplifies the close connection between food scarcity, sustainability, and reducing environmental impact: those 200 tons of food fed many community members experiencing food insecurity instead of going to the landfill. In fact, anything expiring in Daily Table’s stores is given away or donated to other groups as part of their mission to cut food waste.
Austin, who grew up in Dorchester, works out of the commissary kitchen in the Dorchester store. He explained how he adapts each store’s recipes and offerings based on the ethnic communities they serve. Keeping community impact in mind, Daily Table does not sell junk food and focuses on nutrition. Collard greens are an example of a classic dish Austin adapts in a way that is familiar enough to be culturally appropriate but with a healthier twist: He cooks down the collards with vinegar and smoked paprika to mimic the smoky flavor of the traditional ham hock or bacon without its calories and sodium. Daily Table employs members of its local communities who share their own traditional recipes, including the recipe for their now highly popular jerk chicken.
None of this would matter if Daily Table didn’t focus on affordable pricing. While a Big Mac meal now costs an average of $9.29, Daily Table provides housemade grab-and-go food like sandwiches, smoothies, pre-packed complete meals, salads, burritos, and wraps that are cheaper and healthier than fast food. Customers can pick up a healthy wrap from $2.39 to $3.49, a salad for $1.99, or a full meal with two chicken legs, brown rice, and collard greens for $3.99. And while financial sustainability is a long-term goal for the organization, providing healthy food at a low cost for their customers always comes first: O’Driscoll revealed that Daily Table will sell items like their 39 cent/lb. bananas at a loss in order to keep their offerings accessible to all.
Daily Table currently serves 11,000 customers per week in five communities using their model of creativity, compassion, and collaboration; and the organization is continuing to grow.
Austin put it best: “Daily Table is not just a store, it is a food justice social enterprise.”
That’s a version of gastronomy we can all get behind.
From Global to Individual: Getting Personal with Food Waste
Today, we are highlighting work from students in Steven Finn's course: MET ML626 - Food Waste: Scope, Scale, and Signals for Sustainable Change. This post comes from Emily Shawn.
But I don't contribute to the global food waste problem, right? I'm not the one throwing away my meals and clogging up landfills.
Am I?
Household waste matters, and way more than I thought.
I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that I'm just not that wasteful. I usually finish my leftovers. I do my best to get through the finicky salad mix before it wilts. I compost, for goodness’ sake. I'm not really part of the global food waste problem. Am I?
I, like many consumers, have grown into the habit of thinking of food waste on a grand scale--that the waste produced by restaurants, businesses and agriculture is so extreme and severe that my small efforts as one individual person cannot possibly have any significant effect. Yet--and disastrously so--this "not my problem" attitude is not unique to me, nor are my thoughts that my personal waste is insignificant. When this same "not my problem" idea is echoed by the millions of people in Massachusetts, the United States, and the world, individual household food waste is in fact a driving factor in how sustainable we as humans can be with our food and our resources.
The NRDC in 2017 cited these graphs showing where food waste in three major cities came from:
Uh-oh. That big green section? That shows residential food waste. That's the stuff in my refrigerator and pantry shelves right now--and the stuff sitting at the bottom of my trash can and out in my compost bin. Graphs like this offer a wake-up call.
Yes, grocery stores, manufacturers, and restaurants are guilty of waste, but household consumers take up a big piece of the pie.
Let's zoom in. It's one thing to think about food waste in cities I've never lived in. It's quite another--and far more jarring--to think of the food waste in my own city.
Locally and as recently as January 1, Axios Boston cited a ReFED study showing that most waste, in fact 48%, comes from households.
It's easy to assume that we all do better with our food than those other wasteful, careless people. However, do we really? Household waste is, if you look at the graphs, extremely significant. To reduce this in Massachusetts would be to reduce waste by almost 1 million tons!
Since a good first step in solving any problem is awareness, I stepped outside to gaze into the compost bin I share with my two roommates (and our two cats). As with many trash can mindsets, I don't usually think too much about my compost unless I'm scraping my table scraps into the countertop bin, and even then I try not to look too closely. It's turned into an out of sight, out of mind issue where it just fails to take up as much brain space as it should.
I popped open the 13-gallon bucket lid Tuesday afternoon and a big whiff of coffee grounds and something cruciferous hit me in the face. Ugg! It was about 1/3 full and had been emptied only Friday morning.
How did all those brussels sprouts get in there?! Are those...potatoes? Or mushrooms? What a sad place for these vegetables to end up.
I took a closer look. After having baked in 80 degree heat, none of this food was appetizing, but I'm sure it didn't start out that way when it was purchased. So, I challenge you to start getting cozy with your food scraps. I say this not to shame anyone for not finishing a meal--we've all been there--but to gain a personal awareness of your own food habits and waste patterns. At the end of the day, what gets scraped into the bin? I realized I had quite a bit of coffee grounds, banana peels, and lemon rinds--items that would not really ever have been edible. However I also had a lot of brussels sprouts and other veggies. Here's a closer look:
Grody, right? The smell alone was three-dimensional. In the future, I'd love to find a way to either cook these sooner, store them better, or not buy them at all if they're not going to be used.
Getting some good quality, up-close-and-personal face-to-face time with my compost is helping me see ways I can try to reduce my food waste. Some of what goes in the compost is hard to keep out, like banana peels, coffee grinds and eggshells - unavoidable food waste that is not edible for humans. Now, when I track my compost I'll keep a note of what I can most realistically try to reduce. Again, this isn't about shaming my or anyone's food consumption habits. This process is intended to bring awareness to my own waste and to look for ways I can reduce that. (Benefits include saving grocery money and actually eating my vegetables! Yay!) This process is also about the SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) Target 12.3. This Target calls for reducing food loss at the retail and consumer levels. The 2019 Food Waste Index shows that between households, retailers, restaurants and food service, 17% of available food ended up in waste bins. That's a scary number, especially when there are millions of people desperately in need of food.
I might not be able to control what restaurants and retailers do with their food, but I sure can decide what happens to the food in my grocery bags and my pantry shelves.
Here are some great ways to reduce personal household food waste and keep your wallet plumb, your trash can empty, and your stomach happy:
- Observe, observe, observe. Challenge yourself to get up close with your food scraps. Figure out what actually goes in the bin, and why. Whether it's over-purchasing, a meal no one liked, or the doomed wilty salad mix, track your food waste . Don't give the garbage the privilege of hiding.
- Store your produce and leftovers to last. Food and Wine has a great article with tips on storing produce for the longest life.
- Meal plan. Make a list, buy only what you need, pack up those leftovers for lunch or tomorrow's dinner.
- Donate eligible, usable food to pantries or micropantries. SDG Target 2.1 calls for ending hunger and ensuring access to safe and nutritious food for all people. It's a pretty huge problem, then, if nutritious food ends up in the scraps bin. (*A word of advice, pantries are not trash cans for food you didn't want to throw away yourself. Make sure any donations are still fresh and enjoyable. Read the requirements for food donations. Don't pass on the burden of throwing away food scraps to donation centers).
- Consider composting. Though composting is a band-aid solution to wasting edible food, it’s still a step up from food going into landfills on incinerators. Locally, the city of Medford offers eligible residents free participation, as does Boston.
It can feel so overwhelming to think about the need for sustainability policies that I really don't have the political power (yet) to implement or control. I can, however, look at my own trash and try to keep it as minimal as possible. At the end of the day, it’s up to me to determine what happens to the food that reaches my kitchen.