Houston Food Blog

Photo by Steve Rhodes

Michael Pollan, speaking in San Francisco

​Michael Pollan's latest piece in this past Sunday's New York Times Magazine has once again proven to do what Pollan's work does best: incite furious discussion among food lovers, food writers and food professionals. Best known for his books The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, the journalism professor at the University of California at Berkeley has also become famous for his pithy but deep mantra, discussed and dissected in the latter book: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Photo by illustriousbean

One of Pollan's best sellers

​Taking this dogma to the next logical level, his recent piece in the Times Magazine examines the ways in which modern society has removed itself from the actual cooking process and become increasingly reliant upon pre-fabricated and commercially designed packaged and processed foods. He waxes poetic about days spent underfoot in the kitchen, watching his mother recreate Julia Child's boeuf bourguignon while simultaneously gleaning much of his own cooking knowledge from the TV shows and cookbooks of the era, in stark contrast to the zero-attention-span, non-educational TV shows and instant-gratification cookbooks of today. Our society has become obsessed with food -- as entertainment. We seem to have lost a signficant connection with food as fuel for our bodies and meals as nourishment for our souls. And, as the title of the article states, "No one cooks...anymore."

At least one decisive statement strikes home for many a Houstonian: "The more time a nation devotes to food preparation at home, the lower the rate of obesity. In fact, the amount of time spent cooking predicts obesity rates more reliably than female particpation in the labor force or income." As the city with one of the highest numbers of restaurants per capita in the nation, as the city whose residents eat out more than any others', and as the city who has very publicly battled obesity for many years, could Houston epitomize Pollan's indictment of people who have lost touch with food?

In Robb Walsh's recent feature story, "Not So Clear Cut," he explains how meat purveyors treat tough cuts of meat by marinating them with enzymes in commercial vacuum tumblers. But the practice has its risks, as Walsh writes:

"We can thank vacuum tumbler technology for turning previously tough cuts into excellent fajitas. But as always, there's a catch. As one A&M meat scientist explained, the process of marinating beef faces the same inherent problem as grinding beef. If you start off with one spot of bacterial contamination on the surface of the meat, you end up spreading it very effectively throughout the entire batch. It's only a matter of time before we face the first marinated-beef recall."

Is that what happened with the inside skirts steaks and beef for fajitas, two of the four meats being recalled by H-E-B? The chain notified Hair Balls that there's a voluntary national recall by JBS Swift Beef Company for E-coli for the following products:

• Raw Beef Briskets with plant inspection #969 (EST #969) with sell-by dates between 5/12 and 6/20
• Raw Beef Inside skirt steaks in a Styrofoam tray with sell-by dates between 5/4 and 6/20
• Hill Country Fare Beef for fajitas with a sell-by date of 5/23
• Any fresh ground beef in a Styrofoam tray with sell-by dates between 5/9 and 6/20

So far, there haven't been any reports of illness in Texas, but check you freezers. And blame the Japanese for gobbling all our outside skirt steak.

Food Inc. debuted in Texas last week. The producers of the movie talk about a "curtain" that's been deliberately placed between consumers and the meat they are eating. "The industry doesn't want you to know the truth about what you're eating. Because if you knew, you might not want to eat it," the narrator says.

Meat companies didn't allow the movie makers inside their processing plants to film. (Hmm, I wonder why?) While I'm a little tired of the scare tactics about food, I am in complete agreement with the idea that consumers need to respect the animals they are eating and see them as something other than little styrene packages in the grocery store.

That's part of the reason I wrote about Beef 101 class at Texas A&M in the feature "Not So Clear Cut." While I was taking the class, I brought a video camera with me inside the slaughterhouse and to the meat-cutting floor and videotaped the process. If you want to remove the "curtain" between you and the meat you are eating, have a look.

Photo by J.C. Reid

I love foie gras. Is that bad?

Foie gras is the fattened liver of a goose or duck. The fattening is brought about through the technique of gavage, or force-feeding the animal, in this case with corn. The resulting food product is a true delicacy which has a rich, meaty/salty flavor and the consistency of butter.

Some people say the production of foie gras is unethical and immoral. PETA and the Humane Society of United States, among others, contend that the production of foie gras involves cruel and inhumane treatment of animals. Additionally, there are allegations that workers in foie gras production facilities are mistreated.

As someone who loves to eat foie gras and is aware of the controversy, I have done my own due diligence about the ethical and moral issues surrounding foie gras. And I am more confused than ever.

Photo by Katharine Shilcutt

The infamous sandwich itself

The crack marketing team at Kellogg's recognized that with summer quickly approaching, a warm Pop-Tart fresh out of the toaster isn't necessarily appealing to people in warmer climates. As a means of keeping the toaster pastry relevant during those sweltering summer months, the company has introduced a new commercial into the American consciousness.

While none of the culinary options presented by the commercial look particularly appetizing (and most of them simply look like an even cheaper rip-off of a Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee episode - a Pop-Tart on a stick? Really?), the most appalling is the dessert we're offered halfway through: a Pop-Tart ice cream sandwich.

Photos by Katharine Shilcutt

Gracie Cavnar and Monica Pope

It was a gorgeous summer night in the gardens of a stately West University mansion, and Monica Pope was serving a most unlikely dish to the well-to-do types at the table: scrapple. A dozen enraptured guests had their first taste of the dish - a luscious but decidedly down-home mishmash of a hush puppy, grease and pork trimmings - which is nearly impossible to find unless you make it yourself at home. With the scrapple happily consumed, they settled in to the rest of the five-course feast ahead of them.

The dinner was put on by last week by Recipe for Success, the local non-profit dedicated to combating childhood obesity through education. The organization, founded by Gracie Cavnar in 2006, aims not only to reduce childhood obesity but also to teach kids about food's path from the garden to their plates. To that end, Recipe for Success offers courses to students in elementary schools across the Houston Independent School District, teaching them how to grow food, plan meals, eat right and cook.

Recipe for Success has partnered with Mayor Bill White and Houston "celebrity" chefs such as Philippe Schmit, Bryan Caswell, Ryan Pera and Randy Evans. The chefs serve as instructors in the elementary school classrooms and cook meals at each Gala in Small Bites, a weekly series of intimate fundraising events held in board members' homes or at venues across the city.

Gulf shrimp season is over as of this Friday, May 15. It is scheduled to resume in mid-July.

"The closure is designed to allow these small shrimp to grow to a larger, more valuable size before they are vulnerable to harvest," said Robin Riechers, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Coastal Fisheries Division science and policy director. "The goal is to achieve optimum benefits for the shrimping industry while providing proper management to protect the shrimp."

So what does this mean?

Katharine Shilcutt's excellent post from last week, Depart From Me! I Never Knew You, Eaters of Bacon, in both its content and the commentary it generated, raised a very interesting question:

Why would mega-pastor Joel Osteen decide to preach (dictate?) to his flock about what they should and should not eat?

There were several suggested explanations. The Bible, of course, is laced with dietary guidelines. But Biblical scholarship is in general agreement that such strictures are outdated and not necessarily followed by most God-fearing Christians.

Another explanation is that Osteen was just trying to offer "lifestyle" tips on how to lead a clean and healthy life. But are lifestyle tips really a good topic for a Sunday morning church sermon?

...by eliminating bacon from your diet. Wait...what?

Did you know that Joel Osteen is kicking it old school now?  And by old school, I mean Old Testament.  Straight outta Hebron!

The new-agey motivational speaker preacher at Lakewood Church took a bizarrely old-fashioned approach recently when he advised his congregation against eating both pork and seafood, saying that "...for our health's sake, we have to be willing to make some changes."

He further explained his newfound nutritional path to salvation with deeply theological phrases like "back in the Bible days" and "this is kinda gross" before launching into a detailed diatribe about the inherent filth and evil associated with porcine digestive tracts.

He appealed to his followers, "I know some of you love pork chops.  You love ham and cheese sandwiches.  I grew up on all that.  I love...bacon."  (The marked pause makes me think Joel doesn't really love bacon.)  But that they should follow the example set by his family -- who now eats turkey bacon -- and give up pork "to honor God."

As of January 1, California became the second state in the union to enact laws enforcing standardization of the olive oil industry. (Connecticut became the first late last year.) Texas olive grower Jim Henry hopes that Texas will become the third.

Why the need for laws? Because, in short, as Henry puts it: "Olive oil is the most altered food commodity imported into the United States. It's a problem and it will always be a problem until there's legislation. A lot of olive oil has a lot of different stuff in it."

Stuff like peanut, soy, and hazelnut oils, each of which were detected in olive oils purchased from store shelves in Connecticut a couple of years ago.

The World Affairs Council of Houston is best known for holding public events featuring foreign policy heavyweights such as former Secretaries of State Colin Powell and James Baker III.

However two upcoming programs will extend the Council's reach into food-related subjects.