Y’all Share! – Page 16

Say, why don’t y’all…

So, when I look at ‘real’ food blogs, I see the stuff that folks occasionally ask about here;

‘Why don’t you,’
List nutritionals and calories
Post prep times?
These are, hands down, the questions asked the most. So, in a nutshell, here’s why;

See, to me, listing nutritionals means that first and foremost, portion size and ingredients are set in stone and they ain’t. When you cook and feed the family or friends, does everyone get the same portion? Of course they don’t. This ain’t a restaurant, so we neither need nor desire everyone to eat the same portion.
It also implies that ingredients you use are exactly the same as what we showed; I sure as hell hope that ain’t true either. If you take nothing else from our site, I would hope we radiate and instill a love for experimentation and sourcing what you have on hand locally; that’s why we cook and share.
Third, very little of what we use and offer is “Bad for you” frankly. Fresh proteins, veggies, fruit and other staples, found locally whenever possible are in no way bad for you. If there are ingredients you can’t or don’t want to eat, change ’em. Almost nothing we use is ‘Processed’ in the sense that most of the crap you want to avoid is. We shop by the Eben’s Perimeter Rule; that means go around the outermost aisles of the store, where you’ll find produce, proteins, dairy, bakery, beer and wine; everything in the middle is processed bullshit you neither need or want, (OK, very tongue in cheek, but fundamentally sound…)
Finally, nutrition IS important and should be monitored in some way, shape, or form; if you need or want detailed info on anything we do here, then use our nutritional calculator link and go to town. There’s even a mobile version out now.

Next comes prep and cooking time.
Weeeeeellllll, how do I say this? Listing prep time is, in my not even remotely close to humble opinion, one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read.
Who’s prep time, pray tell, would that be? Mine? Yours? Emeril’s?
I’ve been cutting things for decades and have pretty damn good knife skills; do you? I can stem, seed and core a tomato blindfolded, without cutting myself, in about 15 seconds; can you? I don’t even think about process and procedure any more, it just comes naturally; does it for you? And if your answers are ‘No’, does that make you slow? If I can prep Dish A in 10 minutes and you take 20, should you not make that dish?
No, no, and NO!
Let alone those considerations, what do you have right on hand when you start your prep?
How well equipped is your kitchen?
How was your day before you started cooking?
How many rug rats are flying around your feet?
How man critters need to go out right NOW?!
Get the picture?
Who gives a rats ass how long it takes if you have the time and want to make it? If you’re cooking, you either have a sense of what you can and will accomplish in a given time, or will develop one in time; if you really do like cooking and want to do it, you’ll do it, right?
Right!

Finally, I submit that both these criterion for a “real food blog” are things fomented by and for those who want to be ‘famous’ or ‘make it big’ and/or the corporate food world that supports such desires. I’m 100% sure we’ll never do neither; those considerations, frankly, don’t have a damn thing to do with why we do this.

We do this because we have dear friends who own a fantastic CSA asked us to. We do this because we have a love for good food and cooking shared with those you love. We do this because we hope to inspire such in y’all. If that ain’t good enough, so be it.

Those are my rants and I’m sticking to them.

Buycott App for Smart Phones

With social consciousness while shopping on the rise, information is indeed strength. It’s one thing to look for a GMO label, but with the rules regarding such stuff far from settled, how do you really know what you’re getting? Maybe more importantly, who are you getting it from? With layers upon layers of corporate ownership, do we really know who’s leading the show when we’re actually shopping?

To date, the answer has often been no, but now, here’s a big yes to add to your arsenal.

It’s an app for your smart phone called Buycott, and it rocks.

Conceived by Darcy Burner and made a reality by programmer Ivan Pardo, this is an app worth having and using liberally.

With a quick scan of darn near any product in the store, you can quickly discern who really makes it, and what that company is up to, good or bad.

For example, a scan might reveal a parent company of a seemingly harmless provider to be someone you don’t want to support. Scan a product, and Buycott shows you the entire corporate family tree. If the outfit in question contributed money to oppose mandatory labeling for genetically modified foods, Buycott will throw up a red flag for you.

Buycott isn’t just for the grocery store; you’ll find it useful for everything from big box stuff to the hardware store. Try it, you’ll like it!

Best feature for my mind? You’ll have a voice when using this app; you can join or form user-generated campaigns to watchdog business practices that don’t float your boat. Not everything you’ll find is negative, a feature I like as much or more than the bad stuff: Buycott will tell you the good things a company does, like supporting same sex partners or an outstanding environmental record.

Buycott developer Ivan Pardo said it best, I think: “I don’t want to push any single point of view with the app,” said Pardo. “For me, it was critical to allow users to create campaigns because I don’t think it’s Buycott’s role to tell people what to buy. We simply want to provide a platform that empowers consumers to make well-informed purchasing decisions.”

The app is truly brand new, but I’ve been using it for several months and waited until I was comfortable that Buycott was through its growing pains before letting y’all know about it. I’m happy to say that, with several hundred uses, I’ve nothing but good things to say.

Get it and use it, you’ll be better informed and empowered for having done so.