Deliberacy

Jamaican Jerked Pork Osso Bucco

Original recipe by Esmaa Self / Serves 2

2 thick cut pork chops
2 Tbs. Jamaican jerk rub
4 tsp. organic olive oil*
1 c. organic onion*, chopped
1 Tbs. garlic pepper
2 cloves organic garlic*, crushed
½ c. Marsala cooking wine
1 tsp. powdered ginger
½ c. water
1 c. organic bell peppers*, cut into one-inch pieces
1 ½ c. organic potatoes cut into half inch pieces
1 c. organic carrots* cut into one-inch pieces
½ c. organic celery* cut into one-inch pieces
1 14.5 oz. can organic fire roasted diced tomatoes*
½ tsp. fresh basil, chopped
¼ tsp. fresh oregano, chopped
4 Tbs. organic unbleached flour*
2 Tbs. chopped organic parsley for garnish

Rub jerk spice into pork chops, let rest one hour. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in Dutch oven and brown pork chops on both sides. Remove when browned. Add onion, garlic and garlic pepper; saute until tender. Add tomatoes, wine, ginger, water and the browned pork chops. Arrange the vegetables around and over the pork chops.

Cook in covered Dutch oven for one hour, ten minutes. Remove from oven, drain liquid into skillet. Add flour, mix well, add basil and oregano. Continue to stir until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.

Arrange cooked vegetables in bottom of individual pasta bowls. Set pork on top, ladle on sauce. Garnish and serve with mashed, buttered yams and warm bread.

* These organic items are available at Wal-Mart.

*****

Eat Ho Hos and Die or How to Quell the Resistance

My husband and I come from hippies and farmers, macramé artists and home canners, multi-degreed readers of Mother Earth News. We grew into hippie farmers who read Seth Godin’s books and blog (www.sethgodin.com) and Ode Magazine (www.odemagazine.com) and who actively reduce, reuse and recycle from our passive solar Colorado home. We live under our above-average budget, tend our organic acreage, support the Farmers’ Market, sponsor a third-world child, donate to our church and to Bono’s ONE organization (www.one.org).

In short, we fully represent the latest market segment –upscale, politically motivated organic consumers– being targeted by Wal-Mart. Or so they think. We hate Wal-Mart. Or so we thought.

This is a story of an unexpected alliance.

When Wal-Mart announced their intent to push into the organic food market, we scoffed. We giggled. We grumbled and then mocked. We knew Wal-Mart could not woo us. Our philosophies were continents apart. Their superbox stores, like the Death Star, seemed a tool of Darth Vader’s Galactic Empire, leaving us to see ourselves as Han Solo and Princess Leia, spending our resources to support the little guy. It was a fight to the death!

So, light sabers in hand, we cruised our detested neighborhood Superstore and found little to our liking: organic snack crackers here, organic ice cream there, little in between. Sunday brunch conversation centered on how we felt it more important than ever to support the small manufacturer of organic goods, while keeping tabs on big business.

In subsequent months our local Wal-Mart expanded their organic offerings to items that fit within our health-conscious low-fat, high-fiber diet. The multi-national brand names on their shelves were not the same as we had enthusiastically consumed a few multi-state moves back when we shopped at one of California’s legendary food co-ops, and we hesitated. We reminded ourselves that small is good and local is best.

We argued over a breakfast of free-range egg omelets made with homegrown green onions and locally produced non-dyed cheddar cheese: What would the muscularity of corporate organic food production do to national standards? What of the large-scale benefits from buying locally produced organic fare? What about the inevitable shift of power? Wait. Were we against corporate, industrial farms because of size? Have not whole food and quasi-health-food chains proven there is a huge organic food market outside the humble co-op origins of widely-distributed socially conscious health food buyers? Shouldn’t we be happy to see a corporate shift to organic farming? Also, we reasoned, while the ideal of buying locally is laudable, and we will continue to frequent nearby farm stands, some products simply are not available from area producers.

We wrestled; we watched and ended up impressed with the Wal-Mart business plan.

Still, I shopped for most organic value-added products from the Kroger-owned ‘local’ chain, which claims to sell more organics than any other Colorado store. Truth be told, their produce is fresher and their selection broader than what can be found at Wal-Mart. But in the past eight months of studying organic product placement, pricing and availability at my hometown stores, I’ve seen Kroger organic prices far outpace inflation and other cost increases for commercial food stuffs. Recently Kroger wanted three dollars for one organic cucumber, while Wal-Mart sold me two for that amount. A can of organic black beans is $1.20 on sale over at Kroger, but .88 everyday at Wal-Mart. Organic fat-free milk, too, is far less expensive at Wal-Mart.

Is good food a luxury item?

I do not begrudge a grocer a profit, but do take umbrage with price gouging and the very idea that organic food is for the well-heeled ’boutique’ shopper. Wasn’t the ideal of the food co-op movement that every person could have access to high quality groceries produced with sustainable methods?

I’ve stopped cruising the well-lit, beautifully appointed aisles at Whole Foods. I’ve shredded my chain store required ‘club’ cards. While I continue to grow many of my own vegetables, fruits and herbs, plus buy from local organic farms, you will also find me looking for an ever-increasing variety of old favorites at the store formerly known as Death Star. Because I want to live in a world where everyone is invited to eat well, where healthy food is not a product for the rich, a world where no one is told, essentially, to eat Ho Hos and die.

And that’s how you quell a resistance, Luke.

*****

Click here for an up-to-date list of foods that are high in pesticides:
http://www.deliciousorganics.com/Controversies/toptobuyorg.htm

Or here to discover nutritional alternatives:
http://www.care2.com/channels/solutions/food/242

Esmaa Self is many things, including a green energy buyer, master gardener, accomplished chef, organic egg producer, runner, hiker, snowshoe enthusiast, fabric weaver, wife, sometimes community stage production member, writer, voter, and nature-loving Republican. What she is not is an elitist. Contact her at: esmaaself@hotmail.com Find out more about her novels at: www.esmaaself.com