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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Go local: Q&A with Deborah Madison
  • Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:41:29 -0600


Aug 01, 2008 01:13PM
Go local: Q&A with Deborah Madison
http://radishmagazine.com/stories/display.cgi?prcss=display&id=398081
By Linda Egenes


For more than 30 years, Deborah Madison has championed home-cooking that is
colorful, healthy and gourmet-good. Madison, who has won the James Beard
award, the Julia Child award and other awards for her cookbooks, traveled to
Fairfield, Iowa, in May to speak at the annual EcoFair at Maharishi
University of Management

It turns out that Madison has roots in Iowa because her father was born in
Burlington, and she visits here yearly as a board member of Seed Saver's
Exchange in Decorah. Her book. "Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from
America's Farmers' Markets," was newly released in paperback in May. Here she
talks to Radish about the book, farmers' markets and local foods.

Radish: Why is buying local so important?

Deborah Madison: Right now we're seeing the costs of transporting food. But
more importantly, the experience of going to a farmers' market to buy local
food is more satisfying and connecting. You see your friends, you see the
people who live in your community and you see the people who grow your food,
who might also be your friends. It's an experience of connectedness, which I
think that Americans in particular are lacking. The experience of walking
down the aisle of a big supermarket with a cart is one of the saddest chores
that we do, whereas going to the farmers' market is a pleasure.

R: And the other reasons?

DM: Another reason is the quality of food is so much better. When you taste
in-season broccoli that's fresh and picked the day before, it's nothing like
we get in the store. It's sweet; it's delicious. You're gaining more flavor,
and with more flavor, you're getting more nutrition. Foods like figs,
apricots and tomatoes that need to be picked when ripe to taste good actually
can be picked ripe for the farmers' market. That can't happen in a
supermarket, where shipping is involved.

Finally, it's important to buy local because it's a way of keeping money in
your community, which is especially important in the rural agricultural
sectors.

R: What were your favorite Midwestern farmers' markets you visited while you
were researching Local Flavors?

DM: I actually have three that I love, each very different from the other.
One was St. Paul's, which is crowded, vibrant and bursting with an
interesting combination of modern farmers and traditional Midwestern growers.
I also enjoyed the Madison, Wisc., market, which is situated around the
perimeter of the State Capitol, with lawns and trees. The quality of the food
at both markets was amazing.

The third market, in Decorah, Iowa, is the opposite of the other two. It's
tiny, but I always find many interesting things to take home -- foods that we
don't have in New Mexico, whether it's ground cherries or jams made with
local fruits. It's friendly and relaxed, with interesting people. I remember
a man who had ground his own corn and it was absolutely delicious to cook
with, it had so much flavor and vibrancy.

R: What were the most unusual locally grown fruits and vegetables that you've
come across?

DM: In the St. Paul market I must have taken 150 pictures of amazing
eggplants in purple or gold or with green stripes -- even bright orange ones,
grown by Hmong farmers. And there was the most amazing tropical smell. It
stopped me in my tracks. It turned out to be a fragrant melon called
"passport."

R: How far should we be taking the local foods movement? We can't grow
oranges in Iowa, for instance.

DM: It's useful to think about what should be bought locally: your lettuce
should be local, for instance. Wherever you are, it can be grown nearby. When
it's something that can be grown where we live, I see no excuse for getting
it from California.

R: What can we support the local foods movement?

DM: You can support the local foods movement by buying foods that you know
are local. There are active Buy Fresh Buy Local chapters throughout Iowa (and
Illinois). Certainly, if you have a farmers' market, you can support local
growers there. Sometimes your local co-op will feature local food. And you
can always ask for local food. We have to be active consumers. We have to buy
it, speak up and ask for it.

Linda Egenes is a freelance writer who enjoys her local farmers' market in
Fairfield, Iowa.





  • [Livingontheland] Go local: Q&A with Deborah Madison, Tradingpost, 09/02/2008

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