Monday, February 6, 2012

Where is the 'good food' movement?

I've got a friend named Dorothee who is a great chef but more than that, she cares so deeply about fresh food, good food, which is on the decline even in France! She wants to make a difference in this world. I'm looking for great places she can find on the net so she can catch up to what's happening right now. Where are the other guys doing this?

18 comments:

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    1. http://www.mentalwarp.com/​~moob/show/05.pdf
      www.mentalwarp.com.

      What a way to start my blog : a great story and a great potatoe. truly one of the best I have ever eaten, now let's find one without anti-germination spray. What is this chemical cocktail? Check out face book entries on the 'corne de gâte' for more info. Friends and I enjoyed it in a potatoe salad served with real Schnitzel!
      .

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  2. Is she interested in finding farmers, restaurants or organizations?

    I suppose she already knows about the Slow food movement, but if not, she must check it out!

    http://www.slowfood.fr/
    http://www.slowfood.com/

    To go for organic is usually better & local farmer´s markets - I´ve seen some fantastic ones in Provence, but don´t remember excactly where... (here´s an american site, but they excist everywhere http://farmersmarket.com )

    This site from Britain might also be interesting

    http://www.localfoods.org.uk/

    Hope this helps a little:)

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    1. Hi,
      Thanks for your input. The Slow Food Movement has not appeared in the Tarn as of yet, but I follow their site.
      I have some fabulous local farmers who in season provide me with scrumptious produce. If they are not all 'legally' organic, they certainly farm as they were.
      Unfortunately, our local markets have succumbed to the horrible trend of homogenization seen in many French markets - buy it at Metro - repackage and call it your own. Frightening what I have seen; great mark up, but no integrity.

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  4. These folks are all about fresh & healthy food:
    http://www.fitwoman.com/support/recipes/

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  5. Hello,
    Thanks so much for the lien, I had a good look and thought the recipes were scrumptious, did, however, wonder how many of us would make these recipes on a daily basis.
    That is where I want to intervene, we all know we are what we eat, o why don't we change our ways and habits?
    With the internet at our finger tips, there is no recipe, technique or product that we cannot find. Let's make this work for us.
    For example, if you do not live near a bakery or market with a good bread stall, and you do not want to become bread making fanatic, what to do?
    Buy a bread machine, research recipes and ingredients and start baking. The researh is really the only time you need to count in this endeavour. Do not listen to your foody friends who think this not 'real'; if you and your dearhearts are eating delicious homemade bread let them talk! You now have a cornerstone of any meal.
    Behind this lies the fact that we are no longer aware that good quick meals are not a social evolutionary right, they are poison!

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  6. Just had some wonderful bread, 400g 55% flour and 100g semolina, paired with homemade minestrone, two bowls full, and fresh fruit for dessert. My tastebuds went yippee and my body said 'thank you'. One of the best recipes for minestrone I know is in Julia Child's vol of the Art of French Cooking. Try it, you can go wrong!

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  7. I rpomise to learn how to integrate photos. In the mean while, I had a fabulous encounter. My France Telecom representative stopped by today. For the first time we had time to really chat. I swear she does not know about this blog or my favorite themes..............She told me how she made soups for many of their evening meals ingredients straight from their and her parent's garden . Freezing correctly was the emphasis for the summer veg. "Just a question of developing good food habits," she said. Soups are served with good bread, cheese; maybe a slice of home made pâté or smoked ham. Fresh fruit for dessert. When I asked what their lunch meals were like, she talked about little known bistrots and cafés where sales rep. on the run can eat. On the weekends she made it a point to cook. "I am not a gourmet chef, would actually love to learn how to really cook! For us it is good ingredients simply prepared and eaten in family harmony without television." Not hard to understand why I am so elated. We commiserated about the shoppers in the big supermarkets and their weekly haul of chemicals. And, you guessed it: she has never been on a diet in her life, and has a fab figure.
    Great day!

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  8. Hi Dorothee. My interest is more in growing good food rather than cooking it, though of course I like eating it after it’s cooked :-) I’ve grown vegetables and kept hens and goats at various times in the distant past, but recently my interest in vegetables in particular returned with a bang, and I’ve been madly researching heritage varieties, seed saving and swapping, breeding new non-hybrid varieties etc. Here are a few of the sites & blogs I’ve discovered.

    Mas du Diable http://masdudiable.com/ English-owned smallholding not too far from you in the Cévennes mountains. Unfortunately they have to sell up and return to England soon.
    Association Kokopelli http://kokopelli.asso.fr/ French seed saving association
    Daughter of the Soil http://daughterofthesoil.blogspot.com/
    no updates recently but excellent info about heritage varieties, seed saving and DIY plant breeding.
    Vegetable Heaven http://vegheaven.blogspot.com/
    Down on the Allotment http://veggies-only.blogspot.com/
    Farm in Slovakia http://farm-in-slovakia.blogspot.com/ A Dutch couple farming in Slovakia with vegetables, goats and milk sheep
    Zajezka http://www.zajezka.sk/ a sustainable community and educational centre in Slovakia
    Garden Organic & Heritage Seed Library http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk
    Arche Noah http://www.arche-noah.at Austrian seed savers association
    The Real Seed Catalogue http://www.realseeds.co.uk/
    Seed Ambassadors Project http://seedambassadors.org
    Accidental Huswife http://accidentalhuswife.blogspot.com/
    Bifurcated carrots.eu http://bifurcatedcarrots.eu
    Radix – root crop research & ruminations http://radix4roots.blogspot.com/
    Brown Envelope Seeds http://brownenvelopeseeds.blogspot.com/

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  9. Thanks, especially from my husband David, who grows as much as he can in containers scattered amongst flowers in the courtyard and on the terrace. Unfortunately we do not have a patch of ground, a problem we are trying to rectify.

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  10. http://www.bienmanger.com/1L301_Alimentation_Bio_Faire_Son_Pain_Bio_Farines_Bio.html

    Looks like a good source for our part of the world.

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  11. http://www.raymondblanc.com/THE-VERY-HUNGRY-FRENCHMAN/Episode-3-Lyon.aspx

    The man combines the best nature offers with great cooking! Try his preparation of green beans.

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  12. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/all-we-can-eat/post/cooking-off-the-cuff-welcome-back-poulet/2012/02/16/gIQABfv1IR_blog.html

    One of the recipes featured on Raymond Blanc's show from Lyon;, the world is a small echo chamber, nonetheless a superb recipe easy to do!

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  13. Was thoroughly disheartened when we had dinner with French friends and heard that they found only 'assembled' food in Lyon last year.
    This means each 'prepared' food is containered and assembeled with yet other containered 'prepared' food. They ate quennelles and sauce d'ecrevisses three different times, and swore it all came out of the same kitchen. Makes me so sad!

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  14. Until I get the visuals sorted out, you might enjoy "chez dorothée" on facebook.

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  15. dorothy can you email me at kris@wellnesstalkradio.com thx kris

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