as summer begins its descent

in yesterday's post i echoed michael pollan's fear that we're drifting too far from our rich food-labor past. it's a real challenge to cook in the kitchen once a day, let alone three times a day. and that's sad, isn't it? even today, i've been awake for several hours and rather than take the minimal energy to wash some fruit and mix it with yogurt, i continue to park it in front of the computer, still breakfastless and noon already passed. it's a lot of work to upkeep a kitchen.

but is it really?

after i published yesterday's post, i came across a blog featured by the la times that centered, wholly, on preserving foods. the blog, titled saving the season, epitomizes the very example i gave in the post on other ways to further close the void that's spread from farmer to consumer, and the little time we spend in the kitchen. again, cooking doesn't necessitate heat. preserving foods is just as productive, if not more so given the pliability preserved foods have over their lengthy shelf lives.

at dante in cambridge, they'll soon be having their annual canning party where literally all day long they'll be drinking and eating and partying it up, but also canning hundreds and hundreds of the season's last harvest of san marzano tomatoes. san marzanos are known for their fiery flavor, rich in minerality and sweetness, thanks to the volcanic soil they first were cultivated from in italy, at the base of mt. vesuvius. the restaurant literally comes to a halt, over nothing more than this delicate, little red fodstuff.

loads and loads of tomatoes will be preserved that day, and as summer turns to fall and fall to winter, the restaurant will continue to feature the summer tomato on its menu. it's an escape from the wasteland of the freeze and the farmers' exclusive root vegetable cultivation. and, it's fool-proof quality control.

there's also the green briar jam kitchen on cape cod. if the recipes and methods on saving the season are too hard without hands on teaching, the green briar offers classes and workshops. and if you don't live near the boston area, then run a google search. find a class. find a farm. take a drive out to the country and knock on a farmer's door, and just see what happens. i bet you'd be amazed. but like anything, it's not all that difficult given a little patience and practice, which of course equates to the one thing we should all be doing more of: spending more and more time in the kitchen.

the great thing with a blog about preserving is that as the season's change, so too will the recipes and approaches to the preserving process. and i find it funny that saving the season is a blog out of los angeles, and not a city like chicago or boston or new york, where there's really no other choice but to save the season, given that seasons actually exist in those cities. but the writing is solid, and the writer has the credentials to back his work, and is just one extension of the old ways in what will hopefully be a repeated pattern and common theme as the world of food continues to evolve.