Kitchen Thoughts for July 2023

In My Kitchen This Month

Another quiet month with lots of home cooking but not much new in my home and kitchen. The only real cooking challenge was a multi-day power failure. Fortunately for us, we installed a natural-gas generator several years ago, because summer thunderstorms and winter ice emergencies routinely take out the electric lines. Only part of our house is powered by the generator, though: the electric stove is not generator-powered. Consequently, I had to make meals in the microwave, the toaster oven, or other small appliances Believe me, I am very aware at how lucky we are to have what we do have, in comparison to neighbors without power, and to many others throughout the world. NO complaints!

While my culinary month is quiet, food issues of national and international importance have been in the news in July. Various events and official actions will have a large impact on worldwide food policies and global hunger. So in this post, I’ll just describe my own food happenings a little bit and then proceed with a summary of several important current events.

Cooking

We enjoyed lots of fresh fruit.

Celebrating Paris in July, I made one French dish: classic ratatouille from the cookbook by
French chef Raymond Olivier. My usual recipe -- very similar -- is from Julia Child (blogged here).

Many more Asian dishes included these stir-fried snow peas.

Summer barbecue time: grilled chicken thighs, pineapple and red bell pepper — really delicious!

And once we made hamburgers with all the usual fixings.

Beautiful Serving Pieces (I wish they were mine)

I don’t have any new kitchen tools or serving pieces this month, so I thought I would
share some images from the 20th century collections of the Detroit Art Institute.
I love this silver tea service from 1938 by designer Harry Bertoia.

Also from the DIA: this Still Life by Jean Metzinger from 1925.
Coffee, liqueur, an apple, and (an item you’ll never get in my kitchen) cigars.

Finally, from the DIA, this Viennese liqueur set from 1909-1916.

Issues and Problems of our Threatened World

Food and Politics in the USA

Congress is working on a reauthorization or revision of the 2018 farm bill, which controls many aspects of agriculture and which provides US government assistance for food-insecure families. Federal programs such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and emergency food assistance programs that supply families and food banks are all on the line. The existing farm bill expires in September, so either a complete new farm bill or an extension of some sort must happen soon. Individuals and organizations that deal with hunger in our society are pressuring for improved government support for nutrition programs, and other interests, such as big agriculture, are competing for allocation of federal money.  Here is the previous allocation:

Ultra-Processed Food and More Politics

A controversy about ultra-pasteurized food has emerged from a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This report shows that global hunger is an extreme problem, but slight progress in decreasing food insecurity has been made this year. The study also suggests that a better diet for people around the globe would include less ultra-processed food. Food manufacturers are objecting to the critique of ultra-processed foods because they make lots of money by selling them — to say it in the most simple way.  The FAO report states:

“Healthy diets are essential for achieving food security goals and improving nutritional outcomes. A healthy diet…is based on a wide range of unprocessed or minimally processed foods, balanced across food groups, while it restricts the consumption of highly processed foods and drink products.” (source)

And another controversy, this one about artificial sweetener. As readers of this blog may know, I do love Diet Coke and drink a can of it for lunch often, which is moderate consumption. You probably are aware of  a pronouncement from yet another UN organization, this time the World Health Organization, which has called out Aspartame, the key to the flavor of Diet Coke. This report calls Aspartame a possible but not proved carcinogen. 

NOTE: I’M NOT LISTENING. I will continue to drink Diet Coke.

Drought and War: Bad News for Global Food Supplies 

A parched corn crop (source)

Michigan, where I live, is not experiencing a severe heat wave this month, but other parts of the country and much of the world are suffering from terribly hot weather, bad enough to threaten crops and jeopardize the world’s food supply:

"Successive heatwaves threaten nature’s ability to provide us with food, say researchers, as they warn of an 'unseen, silent dying' in our oceans amid record temperatures scorching the Earth. … The climate crisis doesn’t just increase atmospheric heatwaves but oceanic ones too, harming coastal communities and threatening another key food source for humans. Heat stress causes dramatic die-offs, such as the 2021 'heat dome' along Canada’s Pacific coast, which killed an estimated 1 billion marine animals." (source)

Besides natural disasters, the war in Ukraine has taken an ugly turn, with Russia withdrawing its promise to allow essential grain shipments to continue to supply food to a large number of dependent countries. This too threatens the world food supply:

"Russia unleashed drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s export infrastructure [on July 17], including silos containing hundreds of tons of grain and vital port structures. … The effect of these Russian attacks is to make it harder for Ukraine to resume shipments if and when current or future diplomatic efforts to revive the agreement from which Moscow withdrew succeed. World grain prices rose 17 percent in eight days after Russia pulled out." (source)

Escape!

Neil Gaiman's Good Omens 2.
Great series, new this week, binged all 6 episodes already.

 

 

Blog post © 2023 mae sander

Shared with Sherry’s In My Kitchen, and Elizabeth’s Tea Party.