NYC is a great food town, and I'm not just talking about the fact that this is probably the best restaurant city in the world (although citizens of Paris might claim their city is the best; let's call it a draw). Anyway, in the last few years, with the local grown/organic food movement taking shape, New Yorkers are getting more interested in doing such novel things as buying and cooking their own food -- and not always eating out and ordering in.
Increasingly, we Gothamites are interested in where our food comes from, how it's grown, and how we can prepare it ways that are both healthy and tasty for us. This goes beyond just going to the supermarket and cracking open a recipe book. I know some people who have compost heaps in their buildings' backyards and are growing their own fruits and vegetables. People are seeking out grocery stores that sell locally grown food. Greenmarkets and farmer markets are getting more popular (the one in Union Square is the best known; there's also one outside of Columbia University that is set up twice a week; there are others around the city). There are even now carts serving poor areas selling fresh fruits and vegetables -- and business is booming.
This is an encouraging development. You only have to look at the obesity epidemic to see
why eating fast food and junk and prepared foods with lots of preservatives and fat isn't good. Also, in the last few years, grocery stores have been closing in poor neighborhoods, leaving the people who live there with little else but fast food -- and they've been suffering the resulting health problems. Not only that, but one of the downsides of gentrification has been that fruit and vegetable stores have been closing so there are fewer options for good, fresh fruits and vegetables (not that what you get in supermarkets is bad but there's better selection in these stores; fortunately, here in Queens, there are still some of these stores left).
This month the Leonard Lopate show on WNYC is doing a series called Food in the City about this very topic. He interviews NYC food experts and they examine "the different ways that food makes us New Yorkers." I heard the first segment of it today and it was great so I strongly suggest checking it out.
Basically where we live has a lot to do with what we eat. And if you are what you eat, and where you live has a lot to do with what you eat, then you eat where you live and you are where live.
Mr NYC, for one, has no problem consuming this great metropolis. It's quite yummy.
Increasingly, we Gothamites are interested in where our food comes from, how it's grown, and how we can prepare it ways that are both healthy and tasty for us. This goes beyond just going to the supermarket and cracking open a recipe book. I know some people who have compost heaps in their buildings' backyards and are growing their own fruits and vegetables. People are seeking out grocery stores that sell locally grown food. Greenmarkets and farmer markets are getting more popular (the one in Union Square is the best known; there's also one outside of Columbia University that is set up twice a week; there are others around the city). There are even now carts serving poor areas selling fresh fruits and vegetables -- and business is booming.
This is an encouraging development. You only have to look at the obesity epidemic to see
why eating fast food and junk and prepared foods with lots of preservatives and fat isn't good. Also, in the last few years, grocery stores have been closing in poor neighborhoods, leaving the people who live there with little else but fast food -- and they've been suffering the resulting health problems. Not only that, but one of the downsides of gentrification has been that fruit and vegetable stores have been closing so there are fewer options for good, fresh fruits and vegetables (not that what you get in supermarkets is bad but there's better selection in these stores; fortunately, here in Queens, there are still some of these stores left).This month the Leonard Lopate show on WNYC is doing a series called Food in the City about this very topic. He interviews NYC food experts and they examine "the different ways that food makes us New Yorkers." I heard the first segment of it today and it was great so I strongly suggest checking it out.
Basically where we live has a lot to do with what we eat. And if you are what you eat, and where you live has a lot to do with what you eat, then you eat where you live and you are where live.
Mr NYC, for one, has no problem consuming this great metropolis. It's quite yummy.
If there are free cooking lessons available in your community then you must take the opportunity because it is a skill that turns into money later.
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