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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Localvore Living: Peasant Secrets to Eating Like a Pharaoh
  • Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:51:53 -0700


Localvore Living: Peasant Secrets to Eating Like a Pharaoh (Or, A
Localvore’s Tale of Eating
High on the Hog For a Few Bucks a Meal) Robin McDermott
http://www.vtcommons.org/files/VC%20Issue%2027%20Winter%202009.pdf

While many people claim that local food is “elitist,” some of the
world’s
great cuisines – Chinese, Italian, country French, Indian – come from
the people who had the least to work with: peasants.
Few of us are farmers or homesteaders, so unlike peasants, our livelihood
is
not directly focused on feeding ourselves. Still, there are many things we
can
learn from peasants and peasant cuisine that can
help us lower our food bills and eat food produced
closer to home.
Peasants are small-scale farmers, ranchers, herders,
hunters, or fishermen and this means that they
are close to their food source – they are Localvores
by necessity. By U.S. standards peasants appear to
be poor, and many of us feel sorry for the “meager”
lives peasants lead. In fact, peasant culture is rich
in traditions passed down through the generations
along with recipes for Cassoulet, Osso Bucco, and Roghan Josh.
These classic recipes are typical of peasant cuisine, which often
translates
into hearty one-dish meals that combine “lesser” cuts of meat cooked in
a
savory broth with seasonal vegetables and some form of bread. Think Beef
Bourguignon and a French baguette, Ribolita which is a Tuscan bread soup,
or
Huevos Rancheros, and you are thinking peasant food. YUM!
So, what can we learn from peasants throughout the world to make Vermont
meals more local and more affordable at the same time?
First, carnivores like me need to learn how to work with the less expensive
cuts of meat; leave the expensive steaks and roasts to the “nobility”
like the
peasants do. Serious cooks will tell you that a chuck roast is much more
flavorful
than a filet mignon, and it is usually a third to a quarter of the price.
But
you can’t just throw a chuck roast on the grill. It needs to be slowly
cooked in
broth to make it tender, which can easily be done with a crock pot, on a
wood
stove, or in the oven.
Second, we need to use a little kitchen creativity to cook with what is
both
seasonally available and on hand. Missing an ingredient
or two from a recipe? Ask yourself, “What
would a peasant do?” Since the answer is not “run
to the grocery store,” do as chefs in even the finest
restaurants do everyday and improvise – substitute
yogurt for buttermilk, or sauté vegetables for
a stew in saved bacon fat (if you don’t have any
bacon available) to infuse a bacony, smoky flavor
into your dish.
Third, we need to make the most of everything
we have. Maybe the thought of making turkey soup after eating the
Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey for three days isn’t all that appealing,
but
to me it is a crime to throw out the bones. Make turkey broth and put it in
the freezer. In January a piping hot bowl of turkey soup will mean a free
and
delicious meal for you and your family. Most peasants don’t have
freezers.
Lucky us!
In the cold and dark Vermont winter months who doesn’t crave a big
bowl of soul-satisfying soup, the cornerstone of peasant cuisine? So, when
your next retirement savings statement shows up in your mailbox, don’t
cry
about feeling like a peasant. Instead, get into your kitchen and start
cooking
like one. •





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