Kitchen Literacy and the Loss of Culture in American Food

Posted by farmfresh

Posted: August 28, 2008 - 3:29 pm

I just received this wonderful letter from a friend of mine Kathy Ciarimboli who raised pigs this summer in Palmer. She has a great perspective on kitchen literacy and the culture of food in America. I thought I would share her letter with you all.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Kim

I had the opportunity to raise pigs this summer. I work for the National Outdoor Leadership School in Palmer where I get to raise as much food as I’m able for feeding the hungry in-town staff and fresh-food deprived instructors and students who pass through before and after their wilderness expeditions. This year, I tried my hand at raising some pigs for a few different reasons.
our pigs
The first reason (and most important to me when I designed this project) was for the pigs to route around in a section of our hay field, break through the sod, and turn it into black, loose soil that would be ready for planting vegetables in the following summer.
pig yard
Second, they’d take in most of the food scraps that are generated from feeding an average of 40 people 2 to 3 meals a day (and my back appreciated having a little less to keep up with in the compost piles!). And third, we’d have some homegrown pork! That’s what I’d like to share with you…the culmination of this journey, from the day-to-day monotony of feeding, watering, and maintaining the fence line to a day of celebration among friends and coworkers, brought together to feast on this artfully and lovingly prepared meal of our own pork, our own herbs, and our own vegetables. It made my heart sing!

François Vecchio is known as “The Poet of Pork.” He has devoted more than 50 years of his life to making salumi, an Italian word that refers mostly to cured pork meats. Born in Switzerland, he comes from a long line of European farmers, butchers and chefs. He knows quality in food, and he knows how to artfully use all of the animal. So when François graciously offered to help me prepare this meal for our last feast of the NOLS season, I was thrilled beyond words. I couldn’t help but look up to the skies and thank my dear old grandma for aligning these stars. Like a true, old world Italian woman, she could do everything from making wine to knitting socks to killing chickens to making the best tomato sauce you ever tasted! She was one of the strongest women I’ve ever met and in her memory, I still learn about life and the value of growing my own food. Like my grandma, François holds a lifetime of knowledge and skill that I wish I could bottle up and put on my shelf.

“You should save the feet and tail,” Francois told me. “Um, okay,” I replied and quietly asked my boyfriend to go grab them after Nate and Brian removed them from the pigs body. If you don’t know Nate and Brian, I hope you get the chance to meet them. In my opinion, they are great assets to our community, particularly as we head towards a future that, I believe, will necessitate increased self-reliance and community interdependence in food production. Nate and Brian have a mobile slaughter-unit business that can come to your home and turn your livestock into meat in your freezer for a very reasonable charge. They are professional, respectful and all around nice guys.

“The head, too! And try not to rip the caul fat - we’ll use that for the crépinettes.” The caul fat is a beautiful and intricate lace membrane that surrounds and holds together the internal organs. “And, of course, save the spleen, liver, kidneys, heart, and lungs. The tongue, too. It’s all good and has use.” As François directed that practically the entire animal stay here, I thought that I’d better get to sleep because tomorrow was going to be a long day.

By 8:30 the following morning, I had finished collecting fresh herbs from our greenhouse and herb garden - large bundles of Italian parsley, sage, marjoram, oregano, chives, rosemary, thyme and fennel. While running around (well, more like hobbling since I had sprained my ankle a week prior), it only seemed appropriate to also cut fresh flowers for bouquets – one to go to François’s wife, and the other, to serve as the centerpiece for our picnic table. François arrived soon after I finished the harvest with meat grinder and knives in hand. Before I could even offer him a cup of coffee, he was already at work on the two shoulders we had set aside for the day’s feast. He wielded the sharp knife around the meat like he had done this before, what I think must have been at least a thousand times. Before I knew it, we had 2 sets of perfectly cut roasts, each with a layer of fresh herbs sandwiched between them.
herb roasts
One of the fatty cuts was removed and sprinkled generously with salt. François explained that this needed at least 10 days to “cure” in the refrigerator. After that, I could cut off pieces when I wanted to add to my tomato sauce, which would add a rich depth and flavor. Next, the crépinettes: First, we passed all the red organs, as well as the tongue, through the meat grinder. Then we mixed this meat together with lots of fresh herbs, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and a pinch of salt. We then unrolled the delicate caul fat to serve as the casing for these “meatballs,” just as it once encased the organs in the pigs’ body. We carefully wrapped up balls of this meat/herb mixture in the lace, which would nourish us with loads of iron, B vitamins and essential fatty acids.
meatballs
Last but not least, we took the head, feet, tail, bones and trimmings and put them in a large pot covered with water to gently simmer for the next few hours. Simmering the bones would allow us to extract the gelatinous collagen for adding depth to bean dishes and soups later on. We would also end up with a deliciously rich stock! Finally, we rendered the lard by first chopping up the fat into tiny pieces, then heating it slowly until the fat melted to a liquid form. The few remaining solids transformed into brown crispy fries after about a half hour of cooking. Sprinkled with some salt, they were a real treat!

As I watched this artist and skilled master at work, I marveled at the differences between my generation and his, and the differences between my American food culture and the European one in which he was born into. In his culture, as it is for all traditional cultures around the world, the cuisine was born out of what grows locally. Foods are eaten fresh, in their season, or specially preserved with salt, vinegar, or whatever the tradition teaches. Nothing is wasted. Entire animals are eaten, including the fat, the organs, the tongue, the red meat and the white meat. Portion sizes and combinations of ingredients are dictated by food customs. Although food preparation and preservation is for survival, it is so much more than that. It is art. It is culture. And it is community.

Contrasted with that is my generation in America. We look to government food pyramids and the latest results of scientific food studies published in magazines and newspapers to make choices on what we should eat. We are taught to fear fat and consider anything other than muscle meat just plain “gross.” We have issues with portion control because we are left unsatisfied by our meals, often eaten quickly or on the go. We now have an epidemic of obesity in America, and an overwhelming amount of heart disease, diabetes and cancer. When it comes to knowing what to eat, we are lost because we have a broken food system and lack food tradition. We turn to bottled water fortified with nutrients and other “enriched” processed food products for solutions to our problems. I was even told once by a university extension agent that I should throw out my grandma’s sauerkraut recipe because it is not a researched recipe – so it’s safety is in question.

I believe that we need to close the magazines and learn from the François Vecchio’s of the world. To reconnect with tradition wherever we can find it, and to learn from our elders just as they did from theirs. I believe that a strong connection to our food creates strong connections to our health, our relationships and our community. I believe that we need to support our local food system, to come together to share and celebrate our harvests and to create art once again in the kitchen.

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