Smithsonian - Perishable Pundit

eet from totally or partially grass-fed cows.And we are starting to ask questions aboutthe way these animals were raised. Do theycome from a family farm? Are they fedorganically? What does "natural" mean'coffee and chocolate need warmer climatesthan America otters, but an increasing numberof them are looking regionally rather thannationally for food to eat. Farmers markets,schools, and chefs have been at the forefrontof thismovement. Eliot Coleman, forBut the move to sustainable growing goesexample, a farmer in Maine, has come up withan enclosed, natural environment in whichfurther, bridging community, environmentalresponsibility, and taste. As grower Lee Joneshe can raise foods all year long. Followingsaid at arecent summit on the American foodhis lead, restaurants like Stone Barns inPocantico Hills, New York, are using thesystem. Many college food services, spurredrevolution, "The best farmers are looking ata way to go beyond chemical-free agriculture,they are looking at adding flavor andby Alice Waters and others, serve local applesatimproving the nutrient content. They arein the tall, labeling the varieties. Collegefood service administrators are increasinglygoing back to farming as it was five generationsago. It's truly a renaissance—there is nowvisiting farms and farmers so that they canachance tor small family farms to survive asmake connections. The American Universityin Washington, D.C., for example, not onlypart of thisnew relationship with chefs."serves local cheeses, but its administratorsvisit the farms from which the cheeses come.American consumers are demandingagreater variety of food, and they want toknow where their food comes from andhow itwas produced. Today we can getEliza Maclean raises heritage Ossibaw pigs outsideof Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She is just one of anincreasing number of growers who are helping topreserve the biodiversity of American food.FOOD AS EDUCATION:PASSING IT ONWhen my mother started to cook, she usedthe Joy of Cooking and the Settlement Cookbook,period. Since increased diversity, sustainability,and craft production have brought enthusiasmand energy to American food, there has been anexplosion of information about food. Accordingto the Library of Congress, in the past 30 yearsthere have been over 3,000 "American" cookbookspublished, more than in the 200 previousyears. At the same time, the number of cookingshows has ballooned. In the early19x0s, betweentelevision and the discovery of chefs innewspapersand cookbooks, something was happening.The firefighters at one of Chicago's tirehousesand shrimp fishermen in the bayous of Louisianawouldn't miss [uliaChild's show for anything,except maybe a tire. It was only after shebrought American chets onto PBS that the FoodNetwork took oft with aseries ot chefs whowould become household names—WolfgangPuck, Emeril Lagasse, and Paul Prudhonime.Now, Americans tune in, buy their cookbooks,and then seek out their restaurants. Chefs haveclearly become both major celebrities and majorinfluences in the way many Americans cook.FOOD CULTURE USA