Things to Come

Tonight, I caught Andy reading a cookbook.

It was one of those moments of disbelief, where you blink a few times and keep staring until your brain finally registers what it is looking at. Indeed, it was my cookbook in his lap. A good cookbook too, though a bit ambitious in technique and ingredients, which he will surely discover in due time.

I hope he doesn't discover it in the middle of cooking me dinner tomorrow night, which I asked him to do since he has three luxurious days off from work. I hope he picks something simple and satisfying, wholesome yet healthy. Something heaped with vegetables and brimming with color. Something rejuvenating after a day of work in winter-dull Manhattan.

Not one to judge a meal I don't have to cook, I would be equally pleased with a heaping plate of pasta and sauce. Less dishes for me to wash!

Aside from Andy's dinner tomorrow night, I have other another good thing on the horizon.

Yesterday I signed up for a class at The New School in Manhattan titled, "Food Policy and the Local Food Revolution." Eating local is a hot topic these days, especially as people become more conscious of the environmental and economical impact of shipping in food from afar.

Growing up in the country, I remember drinking milk from the small family-owned dairy my aunt worked at. For a period of time, my parents raised chickens and sheep. I have yet to taste fresher lamb or eggs. And we always had neighbors, friends, or our own backyard to offer tomatoes, corn, beans or squash.

But I didn't think anything of eating local then. We still bought most of our food from supermarkets, but the bottom line was budget, not whether the food was local or organic.

When I visit my parents, I'm amazed at how much organic food they buy today. They now have the economic means to do so, but many people do not, if they even have access to these foods. Class issues aside, food policy is a great contributor to this.

But organic does not always equate local. I've been nosing around the organic produce lately, starting to replace a few conventional items in my basket each week with a pricier organic equivalent. But I am confused to pick up an organic apple from WA when I live in NY, a state that produces fabulous apples. I wonder how this came to be, and I wonder why it's currently so inconvenient to buy local foods.

Of course, I can hedge a guess (it's all about the money!), but I look forward to learning more about food policy nonetheless. Almost as much as I look forward to eating Andy's dinner tomorrow night.