Archive for October 2011
Michael Pollan Speaks to Full House in Troy, NY
Michael Pollan’s fundamental and simply-stated food rules have become well-known, especially his easy-to-comprehend mantra: “Eat Food, Real Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants.” Mr. Pollan, the author of one of the most significant books of the new century, The Omnivore’s Dilemma (The Penguin Press, New York, New York, 2006), in an often humorous and crowd-pleasing presentation at the Maureen Stapleton Theater at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, New York [www.hvcc.edu] also voiced a less familiar position which rejected “nutritionism.” He maintains that “nutritionism feeds into industrial agriculture’s food marketing machine.”
Strolling on to the stage with two bags of food just purchased at a nearby Price Chopper supermarket, Pollan began his talk by displaying to the attentive audience his supermarket purchases of “Products I haven’t seen before,” including a cereal “modeled on candy,” Reese’s Puffs Whole Grain [http://generalmillsfoodservice.com/products/cereals/Bulk/General-Mills-Bulk-Cereal/Reeses-Puffs_35_oz]. It was the “Whole Grain” designation on the colorful package that drew Mr. Pollan’s withering eye to lend support to his contention that the food industry borrows the halo of nutritionism to “muddy and confuse.” Instead of focusing on “nutritionism,” which now undergirds the marketing of so much processed food, Mr. Pollan presents a forceful argument that any traditional diet of real food is superior. In his view, why a carrot or an apple is good to eat is a continuing mystery. This mystery cannot be solved by merely analyzing the nutrients: A carrot is more than the sum of its nutrients. (Still, it must be noted that researchers from the Centers for Disease Control have recently confirmed the benefits of eating carrots [https://knowwhereyourfoodcomesfrom.com/2010/12/27/eat-your-carrots-a-carrot-a-day-keeps-the-grim-reaper-away/].) Pollan makes a logical argument that merely incorporating certain nutrients found in carrots into “edible food products” does not equal eating a real carrot. The recent news that Vitamin E has not proven to be beneficial when taken as a supplement would seem to support Mr. Pollan’s position that the silence of an apple is much more appealing than the noise of food marketers promoting “cheap farm commodities with added value” by incorporating vitamins and nutrients [http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/more-evidence-against-vitamin-use/].
But not a mystery to Mr. Pollan is that humans should not eat too much. His advice is clear: if you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, you’re not really hungry, and the corollary principle, stop eating before you feel full. Mr. Pollan points to the ancient wisdom of the Japanese that humans should eat until feeling 80% full and the comparable Chinese proverb, to eat until feeling 75% full. In other words, Mr. Pollan advises: stop eating the moment you no longer have hunger, not until you’re full. His message found a very appreciative audience, which responded with a sustained, standing ovation. [FW Barrie, 10/26/11]
Superb Farm to Table Dining in Ontario’s Niagara Region
The 2011 season of the Shaw Festival (www.shawfest.com/) in beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake on the shores of Lake Ontario in Canada’s Niagara Region was winding down, and a forecast of Indian-summer 70 degree temperatures and sunny skies prompted a last minute drive across upstate New York from my home in Albany to enjoy a flawless and joyful performance of My Fair Lady and a superb farm to table meal at the remarkable Treadwell in the historic Port Dalhousie area of nearby Saint Catharines. Ontario’s Niagara region forms a peninsula of land between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie and with its orchards, vineyards, greenhouses and livestock farms offers an agricultural bounty, which Treadwell’s capable kitchen turns into mouthwatering farm to table dishes. The back of the restaurant’s menu proudly lists 16 of its local food sources ranging from Cumbrae Farms (beef, pork and lamb) to Tree and Twig Farm (heirloom vegetables and greens).
Treadwell’s picturesque setting on the old Welland Canal and Twelve Mile Creek was the perfect spot for lunch on a sunny afternoon. Although its spacious and comfortable main dining room is inviting with its large windows overlooking the creek, the perfect weather called for lunch outdoors at a table on a peaceful patio next to a patch of fragrant lavender plants still in bloom. As fishermen cast their rods in the nearby canal, I enjoyed a glass of 2009 Syrah [$8.00] from Lailey Vineyard [www.laileyvineyard.com/], deliciously dry, yet fruity and smooth with lingering flavors. Lailey Vineyards is one of the more than 100 wineries in Ontario’s Niagara Region. Treadwell’s website provides links to nearly 40 of the local vineyards, and its friendly sommelier, James Treadwell, the son of the owner-chef, Stephen Treadwell, has a wealth of helpful advice on wine selection. Diners near me conversed quietly for a few minutes with the younger Mr. Treadwell before deciding on a bottle of local wine.
Having skipped breakfast, while also burning a few calories on a pleasant hike along the long pier jutting out from Port Dalhousie into Lake Ontario, I decided to enjoy a large, hearty lunch. Nonetheless, the soup (butternut squash) and sandwich (bacon, cheddar and arugula) special (at a very reasonable $15.00) was hard to pass up. As a starter, the grilled Whitty Farms [www.whittyfarms.ca/] peach with local arugula, crumbled blue cheese and sunflower seeds [$14.00] was a perfect blending of ingredients in a delicious lemon truffle vinaigrette. The arugula was surprisingly young and tender for this late in the season, and the sunflower seeds added wonderful texture and accent to the sweet and tender grilled peach. The crumbled blue cheese was in the perfect amount and quietly added its flavor to this wonderful appetizer. My main course of homemade lamb sausage with Monforte Dairy [www.monfortedairy.com/] feta crusted potatoes and onion jus [$18.00] was a satisfying dish flavored perfectly and lightly with basil, pepper and tomato. My friendly waitress explained that the chef prepared the sausage after his own skillful butchering of a lamb raised locally.
Dessert was irresistible, and a pudding named “Treadwell Mess” caught my eye: Whitty Farm blackberries with crusted meringue and whipped vanilla cream [$10.00] was nirvana. Served unexpectedly along with delectable raspberry sorbet and tasty coconut macaroons, it was hard to leave this wonderful restaurant, but the tuneful Shaw Festival production of My Fair Lady propelled me up from the perfect lunch and back on the road to make the curtain raising. I look forward to another visit to the Shaw Festival during its 51st season in 2012 and another meal at Treadwell to experience its careful transformation of wonderful, local ingredients into flavorful, deeply satisfying dishes in a picturesque, canal-side setting. (FW Barrie, 10/12/11)
[Editor’s Note: Since the posting of this review, Treadwell has relocated to Niagara on the Lake, 114 Queen Street (across from the post office0, 905.934.9797, Lunch: Mon-Sun 12:00PM-3:00PM, Dinner: Mon- Sun 5:00PM-10:00PM, www.treadwellcuisine.com]
