Amazing farmers’ market find at the Union Square Greenmarket this weekend!
Since I have almost finished reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan, I am finding myself being ever more conscious about the way I look at the labels on food. Not for calorie intake, but for what ingredients are listed. As Pollan suggests, I look for “real food,” names I can recognize and place…what a concept! This bit of deliciousness has exactly 11 ingredients, all of which are things I have tasted individually: 100% whole grain rolled oats, peanuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, unsulphered raisins, sesame seeds, wheat germ, New York State honey, vegetable oil, and kosher salt. Believe it or not, most of the ‘food’ that is in the marketplace is processed to the point that all nutritional value is removed (if it was there to begin with), and we are left with page-long lists of manufactured ‘ingredients’ that look more like chemical compounds from a lab experiment. No thank you.
Additionally, Hot Bread Kitchen is a bakery with a cause that I am happy to support. To quote the mission from their site:
Hot Bread Kitchen is a non-profit social enterprise that creates better lives for low-income women and their families. We do this by paying women while they learn the skills necessary to launch food businesses and achieve management track positions in food manufacturing. To help offset the cost of our training and to build esteem in the contribution of immigrants, we sell delicious multi-ethnic breads that are inspired by our bakers and the many countries that they come from. We make it a priority to use local and organic ingredients. As our staff of trainees grows, so does our product line. As part of our mission, we preserve valuable baking and culinary traditions and “br-educate” New Yorkers about the tasty and important contributions of immigrant communities.
This granola cost me $5 — that’s more or less what I spend in the grocery store on a plastic package the source of which I am unaware. Instead, I bought My Mom’s Nutty Granola from one of the staff of Hot Bread Kitchen and know that I am eating the produce of the state in which I am living. I think that’s pretty cool. And it’s delicious with Chobani Greek Yogurt, also
local (I am not quite at the stage of
making my own).
