Okun on Food

Pantry of Horrors?

As mentioned in my column today, there's a flood of useless new food products overflowing market shelves, no matter how empty our wallets are -- or how full our waistlines. Many of them are snack products, not healthful and certainly not tasty at all.  Maybe we should form a consumer boycott and not buy them.

Failing that, I'm going to start a little list of some of the most egregious introductions of recent months. Just in time for Halloween, a sort of Haunted Pantry. I mention Rold Gold Pretzel Waves and Chex Mix Bars in the column, but that's only the beginning, of course. Let me know which newbies you really love or hate.

I'm listening.

Buying (a share of) the farm

Above: Native Offerings members pick up their weekly vegetables in Amherst.

With spring just around the corner, some Western New Yorkers who are interested in eating locally raised organic vegetables are signing up for farm shares.

It’s called community supported agriculture, or CSA. Subscribers share in the risk and rewards of the farming season. If the Japanese eggplant gets wiped out by beetles, there’ll be none in the share. But if the beets go great guns you’ll see more of the purple darlings.

There are two CSA farms we know of in Western New York, both welcoming members this spring. Both provide weekly selections of vegetables to distribution sites in Amherst, Buffalo and other area sites. (The Porter Farms share requires members to drive to Elma and do the pickup for their site once or twice a season.)

To be sure, it’s not for everybody. If getting better food is something you’re not comfortable expending more effort on, you might get frustrated. People who re-subscribe think it’s worth the investment for the high-quality food (like tatsoi, a versatile Asian green, at left), and the chance to support a local farmer.

First off, you need to make your weekly pickup in a window of a few hours, or make sure someone else does for you. In a land of 24-hour supermarkets, that seems wrong to some people. But people manage to keep appointments for all sorts of things, so an appointment to get much of your week’s food doesn’t have to sound nuts.

The second hurdle for many is unfamiliar vegetables. If you’re not used to cracking open cookbooks and consulting the Internet to find ways to use items, you will be after you’re faced with the diversity of vegetables you get. Or, you form relationships with people who do, and hand off your kohlrabi.

One of the rewards is discovering vegetables you never knew you could love. Personally, I can’t wait for the local arugula crop to come in, but that’s me.

Porter Farms

Elma N.Y.

585-757-6823

Porterfarms.org

Buffalo-area share $310 for a 22-week share, $20 off for registering before April 15.

Native Offerings Farm

Little Valley, N.Y.

716-257-3006

Nativeofferings.com

Shares available from $220 to $550 for a 22-week summer share. A summer fruit share ($220 for 20 weeks) is also available. Pigs and beef cattle, raised humanely without artificial hormones, available as well.

- Andrew Z. Galarneau

Frankly speaking, our pushcart cuisine comes up short

     As an incurable lover of hot dogs -- and how lucky are we to  live in WNY  where the frank can  reach  perfection -- it dismays me to see all those outdoor stands on corners throughout  downtown. They show up before the  ice boom disappears; they hang around in the snow.

     But their menu is, uh, limited.

     Hot dogs in two sizes (regular, jumbo); sausages in two ethnicities (Italian, Polish);  bagged chips; soft drinks. At least there's usually a choice of mustards (Gulden's, French's.) And  toppings (chopped onions, kraut).

   Otherwise … ho hum.

   I'm told the bill of fare is stunted because the Health Department has stringent regulations (it has to be a "cook and serve" proposition; you mustn't  hold partially cooked food).

    It could be an economic problem, too -- if they patronize a vendor, customers don't want to spend much money. But in other cities menus are more varied: crepes, tacos, Indian dosas, lo mein.

    At the very least, can't the  hot dogs be better?  They are tasteless and the rolls are worse.

    So, what's the answer here? Can anyone  think  of something else these vendors can serve, given  the  health, economic and marketing restrictions ?

    Otherwise on the days when time is limited,  I'll be forced to eat at McDonalds or even  worse, I'll have to pack a  lunch.