Justice Now!

The march for justice for Li WangYang 

By Dora Choi

Pure veg on the Plate

It's pure VEG on the plate. All from soy, although we call them barbecued pork (the red cubes on the bottom right), roasted goose (the slight fried texture) and curry (yellowish thing on the left)..... Delicioso.

It's a good time to eat Veg when you are in condolence of a deceased.

Soy sauce duck kindey

Soy sauce duck kidney ate in the midst of a protest for the suspected murder of activists LiWangyang in China. Li is a prisoner due to his participation in the 1989 Tienanmen Sq Massacre and was tortured badly. After his release, he did an interview with a HK media and stated his famous quote: even if I had to lose my head I would fight for the democratization in China,which is believed to have caused his death. It was so unjust that he was 'made to look like committing suicide by hanging himself'!! (and he became blind and handicapped from the torture).

Hong Kong is politically stuck and is 'acclaimed' as the City of Protest. I am proud we are a city of conscience. 

Please join this Petition for Justice to Li.

More about the round the world Plate Project.

Twitter #plateproject 

There's something you can do

Today we'll be storming the internet to #EndFossilFuelSubsidies
Sign up on Facebook here: http://on.fb.me/LX3B7i

I Need Chopsticks!

By Dora Choi


So, other than a bowl, I need a pair of chopsticks! To save cleaning efforts, or maybe they think this is more hygienic, many food stalls nowadays use disposable chopsticks and plastic spoons even if you eat IN. 

Shanghai bun fried and pork dumpling fried. My snack for today.

Sigh.... we need something like this:

Knife & Fork Chopsticks

Plate Project in Hong Kong

First thing the plate ate in Hong Kong: a green tea cheesecake at a tea shop with a cool mint roselle drink at Teakha.

*Dora Choi is traveling with the Plate in this fast Asian city. 

Don't Eat It!

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Trafficking of "aphrodisiac" or uncommon endangered species is the third most profitable black market worldwide, trailing only drug trafficking and illegal arms sales.

© Greenpeace / Steve Morgan

Plate in the South Pacific

By Fenton Lutunatabua

Sunset in Suva

Being the plate project ambassador in Fiji has definitely been a lot different than what I expected. I completely agree with what’s at the heart of the Plate Project. To get people to move away from using so many disposables, so before I mention anything else in this blog, I would like to commend the work of all the ambassadors before me, the future ambassadors and especially everyone that is inspired by this project to change their habits and be pro- reusable’s.

The most obvious thing I have noticed since being part of this project was that, Fiji, fortunately for now, hardly uses disposables. The only time disposable packaging is used is in the case of getting take away and sometimes at workshops. Other than that, we always use recyclables.Nevertheless, the reason my interest for this project has been maintained, is because I get to use the Plate Project and get to tell inquisitive on lookers about why im doing so.The other thing I like about this project is that it gives me the opportunity to talk about the local food culture. With that said, I have prepared my favorite local sea food dishes with the hopes that you, can prepare food the same way we do here in Fiji.

They Say Canned Tomatoes

By Claudia Itzkowich

Having grown up in Mexico, I was surprised when I moved to New York and I discovered that even respectable cooks - and cookbooks! - called for canned tomatoes.

It didn’t take me long to understand that not every latitude is blessed with the bounty of vegetables one can get fresh in Mexico year-round.

But I still admire people like my friend Alba, chef and co-owner of restaurant Bu in Montreal, who follows the Italian way to solve the issue by boiling dozens of kilos of the beautifully ripe tomatoes of the end of the summer and pours the puree, with a few drops of olive oil and a basil leave, in sealed mason jars.

Thanks to such an endeavor, here I am in the dead of winter with her daughter Alice, savoring the most delicious farfalle alla puttanesca, with capers and black olives. As simple as it is perfect.

Mezcal

Real men, making real drinks / Hombres reales, haciendo bebidas reales.

@Oaxaca, México

A Very Montreal Birthday Party

By Claudia Itzkowich

In case I haven’t stressed it enough: Montrealers are blessed with the number of amazing artisanal bakeries. Take my place, in the corner of Fairmount and Montreal: within 2 blocks in 4 directions I can shop at places like Guillaume (specialized in sourdough bread), Cérise sur le Gâteau (Croissants) or Fairmount Bagels, the legendary place where you can get hot bagels covered with sesame and baked in a wood fire oven 24 hours a day. Which is why I volunteered to bring all of the above to my Godson Eitan’s 1-year old birthday party.

His parents had already baked the cake: a Chocolate-Lemon Cream art piece signed Pierre Hermé, which in this case included a “mini me” version for Eitan alone: that is the tradition in Quebec, apparently. And Eitan got two very creamy items -which, as far as he was concerned, didn’t need to be edible- to explore with his hands and share with every molecule of his outfit. And the floor. 

Preaching to the Mile End Choir

By Claudia Itzkowich

It has been a week since I walk around my neighborhood listening to the beat of the enamel plate, spoon and cup I carry in my bag. Now, my neighborhood -Montreal’s Mile End- is probably one of the few where McDonald’s had to shut down. And even though we do have a couple of Starbucks, I wonder who’s there, as everyone else loves supporting our local cafes and bakeries, few of whom use disposable cups or plates.

So… as I show up at my friend Netta’s Birthday party and I produce my plate, no one is shocked: many of the guests already bring their own containers when they buy take-out meals; many of them have thought about it; all of them are thrilled with the idea.

They simply proceed to serve me a piece of vanilla maple glazed cake from Cocoa Locale, a tiny bakery that makes every freelance writer, designer and musician want to become a baker; a piece of home-made pudding chômeur, or “unemployed person’s pudding”, a Quebec classic born during the Depression, made with old bread and maple syrup; and, well, also a piece of Princcess Cake -literally decorated with either Aurora or Cinderella- that someone more inclined to kitsch aesthetics than to food responsibility decided to bring. It takes all kinds, I guess?

At Cocoa Locale

The Food Writer’s Predicament

By Claudia Itzkowich

Ok, so I am working full time -the fullest time- for the Cancun-Riviera Maya Wine & Food Festival that is taking place next month in Cancun (crmfest.com).

I spend my time writing, translating and editing stories involving things like the spot prawns Montreal’s Normand Larpise gets delivered every Tuesday from British Columbia, the Green Mole that the grandmother of Arturo Fernández Montes de Oca, from Mexico City’s Raíz, makes for him every year on his birthday, the rice crust stuffed with shrimp and squid that José Miguel García is serving at La Barraca valenciana, in Coyoacan. All with overlapping deadlines, after-hours skype conferences, a couple of sleepless nights.

And mind you, I am not complaining. But I do get hungry -as we all do- but I also get greedy: how can I settle for fried eggs or canned tuna fish?

A whopper has been out of the question for years.

Sometimes I don’t have a choice. But others I manage to treat myself, say, with this pasta recipe I just discovered, made with lemon-ricotta and arugula.

Or this Quebec Trout with (leftover) pasta and asparagus and a yougurt-cucumber sauce.

And one of my favorite salads these days: fennel, cilantro and pistachios.

My next project: to recreate the cod I just found in The Family Meal, a book about the food that the staff at elBulli used to eat throughout the season. A jewel!

By the way, Ferran Adrià is one of the guests at the Festival, where he will speak about The Future of Cuisine after elBulli in a panel with Jacques Pépin, Enrique Olvera, Mara Salles and Normand Laprise. More details at: cancunwinefoodfest.com 

Did I say back to work now?

Bakery in Montreal

By Claudia Itzkowich

Kouign Amann, one of my favorite bakeries in Montreal -mind you, there are quite a few!- serves French pastries in straw baskets, wrapped in wax paper. No styrofoam in this tiny place filled with the most irresistible smell of butter... but my frangipane cake with berries and pistacchios was as heavenly as usual on my enamel plate.

Frangipane cake

Dinner at the Fair

By Raquel Saavedra

 

A friend came from abroad to spend her holidays in Mexico. During her stay she visited several cities and Mexico City was one of them where I volunteered as her personal tour guide. We went to some museums, churches, markets and squares, but to show her a different side of the city life I took her to the fair with some friends. 

Like any local fair, there was several types of games, bumper cars, carousels and a mechanical bull. There was also a wizard announcing to predict one´s fate and a tent that invited people to meet "The Woman-Lizard" Esmeralda; however, as usual, the biggest attraction was the food. 

Taco stands, cotton candy, ice cream, hot-dogs, burgers... Choosing was hard. I started with one of my favourites: "esquites" white corn seasoned with mayonnaise, cheese, lime and chile powder; usually this are served in Styrofoam. I initiated the Plate Project with a simple, "Could you serve my esquites in this cup, please?, and was happy to hear, "Of course my güerita" (In Mexican markets and street stalls, sellers call their buyers Güerita (blondie) regardless of the color of their skin or hair. This custom is used partly because (unfortunately) there is a belief that being called Güerita is flattering and partly because of the habit to do so. Maybe it's time to ask the sellers to call us otherwise!)

I was able to save a Styrofoam cup from this experience and my friend, hearing about  The Plate Project for the first time, was so excited that she asked to borrow my plate to eat pancakes. We continued our tour through the city: cups and plates saved, full bellies and happy hearts.  Next stop: Garibaldi, no visit to Mexico is completed without a night of tequila and Mariachi music!

Plate Project

Plate Project: around the world without disposables

Press release

Indie Food starts this year with the sustainability campaign Proyecto Plato / Plate Project, with which we aim to create environmental awareness and reduction of the consumption of Styrofoam and other disposable contaminants in the food industry.

Inspired by The Uniform Project (theuniformproject.com), as of January 2012 we'll put a plate to travel around the world throughout 12 countries returning to Mexico in 2013.

The main objective: to show how many plates and cups can be saved in the day to day, raising this way awareness to reduce polluting and unnecessary material consumption. But there's more, the traveler plate will give us knowledge about traditions, culture and recipes of each and one of the places it visits. It'll also contribute in building a report on the global food situation.

The strategy: we've found 12 volunteers who during a period of one month each will carry a plate, a spoon and a non-disposable cup, and will use them in local food stalls. In the blog, at the Indie Food site and in twitter (# plateproject), testimonies and pictures of the 12 ambassadors will be registered, as well as of those who wish to join this global performance.

Among the confirmed countries are Mexico, Canada, Fiji, India, Sweden, UAE, Israel, Colombia, Hong Kong, England, Japan and Chile.

Why Plate Project?

In recent years, many people spend much of their day away from home and must find a place to eat at noon. The large number of street/fast-food options, being economical, tasty and diverse, seem to be the best option. For their part, merchants, to reduce costs and facilitate the operation, use disposable dishes (mostly Styrofoam or Polystyrene) to serve and pack food. This has not only caused an overproduction of wastes that harm the ecosystem, but has also begun to impact on health and eating habits in a negative way. For example, beans and maize have been displaced by instant soups high in sodium and other preservatives of dubious reputation that come packed and are heated in styrofoam cups.

When heated, the styrofoam release substances called dioxins, which are highly toxic to human cells; these have been linked to skin cancer, cataracts, and immune system and hormonal changes. The hot temperature of the food makes the Styrofoam peel dioxin in form of vapor, these are attached to food and can not be metabolized by the body, so they remain stored in the walls of organs like the intestine and the liver.

Plastic foam is a highly polluting material for it does not rot or disintegrate. According to data from the Consumer Magazine in Mexico "around 8 million 500 thousand tons of this material is produced, much of which is used to make disposable plates that will be thrown away and that take hundreds of years to disintegrate." The numbers vary according to the size of the object, but it is estimated that a Styrofoam plate can take between 100 and 400 years to unravel, which does not mean that it will reinstate into nature.

Indie Food is an independent nonprofit organization that works for sustainable and gourmet food. Its aim is to disseminate information and connect all those working to change the world, three times a day, from their food choices.

Website: www.indiefoodproject.com

Facebook: Plate Project

Twitter: @indiefood  
Follow the hashtag #plateproject

Contact:

indiefood@gmail.com

Sea Mouthfuls

Tales from the Plate

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By Raquel Saavedra

Zihuatanejo, located in the state of Guerrero on the Mexican Pacific coast, is a wonderful place to relax, to swim, to surf, sunbathe, to walk on the beach, and of course, to eat.

Sunrise on the Pacific

A visit to La Ropa beach always comes along with the traditional snacks and local dishes: fresh fish and seafood. Nothing tastier than sharing a meal with friends overlooking the sea. 

My favorites are the Tiritas de pescado (fish strips), which are strips of raw fish marinated with lemon and lots of onion. Pescadillas are other well known snack: corn tortilla stuffed with marlin, fried and served with salsa. Matched of course, with a cold beer. Just be careful that you don´t sprinkle it with some sand or salted sea water. It happens when you just came out of the waves and eat on the sand separated only by a tablecloth...

Pescadillas on the beach

In the background, a man plays his guitar and sings. Families are laughing and talking. I´m happy, I´ve saved a plate. The water is clean and reflects a beautiful blue color. 

How to Eat the World in One Plate

1 plate, 12 volunteers, hundreds of stories, thousands of possibilities...

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By Raquel Saavedra

The year started and so did the Plate Project. The idea was born from a friend´s joke about all the things that I carried in my purse in order to avoid the use of disposables.

How many disposables could I save if I carried around my own cup and plate? I  gave it a thought it wasn´t an absurd idea, at least trying it I could test its usefulness and leave it aside. For how long? One week? A month? One year?... One month would be enough to count how many plates and cups I could save. But why not go further? The dish could be a comparison tool for the use of disposables in other countries as well as a pretext to tell stories about everyday life from around the world through the scope of the food universe.

I was lucky. When I talked about the project, people accepted and were happy to help. The dish is a symbol, a tiny gesture that can touch many people, whoever joins us at the table, cooks, waiters, the onlookers that pass in front of the street food stands and, of course, whom ever generously takes a little time to read us.

We also added a cup and a spoon...

I hope the travelling plate, as any good traveler, tells stories. Real stories of real people and happy bellies.

The Travelling Plate

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We took a plate and a cup and sent them in a trip around the world. This plate and cup will travel from country to country throughout the year.  Every month an ambassador/volunteer will be responsible for eating and drinking in this containers. Why? In order to create awareness on the use of disposable products. Is it really necessary to use that many?

Illustration by Víctor García

This plate will keep track of how many disposable plates and cups it can save. It will be interesting to see which countries use the more disposables. Will it be Sweden, India, Mexico?

Other of the goals of the Plate Project is to share the traditions, culture and recipes of each place. The Plate Project volunteers will be sharing their experiences with us. Follow them here and on Twitter with the hashtag #plateproject

*The journey has begun. Started in Mexico on the Pacific coast. Raquel is the first brave volunteer in this experiment. You can read here some of her previous collaborations for Indie Food: Las cebollas en Minamata, Como Japón se sobrepone a los problemas ambientales, Tasty Challenge. 

Tasty Challenge

By Raquel Saavedra

“We started in a crazy washing and peeling and chopping frenzy…”

Sunday is a free day for the women working at the Bamboo Research Center, so we decided that was a good day to spend it together.

This day the women decided to teach Alena and Felix, two volunteers from Germany and myself, how to cook traditional South Indian food.

The meeting was at Manju´s place, she lives in Sanjeevinagar village, there we met Santhi who came with her daughter and her son. We went together to pick up Leema and her sister.

We squished on the bikes, Indian style, and went for the very first step in any cooking class: Buying the ingredients!

Everybody took their part in selecting the vegetables and spices, almost all of them of local production, this is not only healthy and tasty bute also sustainable! We got a very colorful selection that included beets, carrots, potatoes, ockra, onions, tomatoes, peas, and rice… Lots of rice!

We headed to my place and started in a crazy washing and peeling and chopping frenzy. There were enough things to do to keep all of us involved and busy. Everyone was very enthusiastic.

Santhi was the head of the team,  and as usual she was laughing and enjoying herself. We followed her instructions and kept constantly asking… Indian food can be a little complex containing so many ingredients.

She showed us the proper way and order to fry the condiments like mustard seed, onions and garlic, followed by the curry leaves, chili,  coriander, ginger… She showed us when to add the vegetables and how to know when the food was ready.

While the whole house was being filled by the smell of so many spices and the sound of conversation and laughing, Alena tried to keep notes on everything, it was an overwhelming process with so many people and so many things going on at the same time!

We prepared many dishes and finally we got to enjoy them together, a good, tasty, vegetarian and of course very spicy meal that included idlis, sambar, carrot rice, poriyal, tomato chutney and potatoes.

The next step is to try and prepare them on my own, (quite a challenge for me). And once again I was amazed by the Indian generosity and kindness, thank you Manju, Santhi and Leema for a wonderful day!

Plate Project

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© Craig Ward

Plate Project is about to begin, it’ll start on January 2012 in Mexico and thus will go round through 12 countries to return in 2013 with stories, travel recipes, and especially having reduced the use of disposable plates and cups. This performance is to raise awareness, share a bit of local food culture and create conscience about the global food situation. Follow it on its journey around the world by www.indiefoodproject.com from January 2012.

Inspired by the project "The Uniform Project" http://www.theuniformproject.com/


Rationale:
The use of disposable materials is harmful to the environment, especially the use of Styrofoam. The use of these products is also unnecessary and recycling involves a lot of pollution. There are ecological and economic alternatives, which we will demonstrate through the "Plate Project."


What is the Plate Project?


Plate Project is a performance which consists, as its name indicates, in a dish made of a durable material and easy to wash that will travel around the world for a year. The dish will remain with a volunteer user for a period of one month before switching users and country.

The user will take it with him throughout the month in his purse or backpack, as well as a beverage container, and use it to get food and drink at parties, restaurants, stalls, etc..., demonstrating that that can reduce or even eliminate the use of disposables.

Objective: Create awareness about the production and use of disposables. Encourage people to reflect on their waste production as well as on their consumption of disposables, teach them to recycle when it does happen, share some of the local food and create awareness about the global food situation. The project also seeks to be known as a symbol of global unity among individuals around the world committed to the environment and sustainable food culture.

Documentation: the whole process will be documented through photographs and blog entries www.plateproject.org  at IF (Indie Food)www.indiefoodproject.com where the volunteer user can also talk about local food culture and the dishes eaten on the plate in festivals, traditions, etc... The user is free to write about what he loved the most related to the local food.

In the end, there will be a log of everything eaten on our dish (food around the world) and the approximate number of paper plates that were avoided. At the end of the year there will be a final count of how many plates and glasses were saved.

The countries visited by the Plate during the year 2012, will represent different regions of the planet.

By now the following are the participating countries confirmed:


Mexico, Fiji, India, Sweden, UAE, Canada, Colombia, Hong Kong, UK and Chile.

Twitter @indiefood

#plateproject

Farfalle with prosciutto and cream

You will need: 

The Geometry of Pasta from Pan Marketing on Vimeo.

The perfect shape+ The pefect sauce= The Geometry of Pasta

Pasta is a simple thing but getting it absolutely right depends as much on choosing the best pasta shape for the sauce as on cooking it properly.