Does squash make you shrug?
Don’t know bok choy from broccoli? Keep getting your mushrooms mixed up?
Want to do something about it, but don’t have the thyme?
America’s culinary renaissance has renewed interest in farming practices and policy and brought about new and improved access to locally-sourced ingredients for many cooks craving fresh, new and healthy options.
Some are excited. Others are daunted.
Having experienced both reactions, Seattle-based author Mi Ae Lipe assembled “Bounty from the Box: The CSA Farm Cookbook,” a guide to 92 fruits, vegetables and herbs commonly grown by community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms across North America. The book features more than 350 recipes, as well as cooking tips, trivia and a calendar of what’s in season and when. It also showcases exceptional CSA farms across America and dozens of essays — many written by farmers themselves— exploring topics ranging from farming and food politics to cooking and nutrition.
Born in South Korea, Lipe grew up in San Francisco, where she first became interested in food and gardening. A self-taught illustrator, she lived and worked in Wisconsin and Minnesota for over a decade, during which time she met Jack Hedin, owner of Featherstone Farm, one of the largest CSAs in southeastern Minnesota.
After doing a logo project for the farm she became one of its subscribers, and the idea for a cookbook that could help people figure out what to do with their CSA produce was born.
What’s a CSA?
“A CSA is where an individual pays a farmer an upfront fee at the beginning of a growing season and in return gets a weekly box of fresh produce, and sometimes other foods, during that farm’s season,” Lipe said.
“Think of it as a subscription. A farmers market, on the other hand, is a centralized place where consumers come to buy the products of different farmers; a big difference is that the consumer can pick and choose just what she or he wants in the desired quantity.”
Whether your delicacies are delivered, via a CSA subscription, or you’re picking produce yourself at a farmers market, Lipe said the goal is the same: to support local farmers and get the best, healthiest product possible.
“America has been undergoing a food renaissance of sorts for the past two decades,” Lipe said. “Never before have so many people here been interested in food, where it comes from, how it tastes and what it’s doing for their health and well-being. I think rising awareness of sustainability issues and increasing backlash against ‘Big Food’ — multinational companies that mass-produce processed, refined foods using heavily subsidized commodity and GMO ingredients — have also helped the local farm and food movement.”
Lipe’s first cookbook, “Tastes from Valley to Bluff: The Featherstone Farm Cookbook,” published in 2007, was based on the goodies she got from Featherstone, and was “a much smaller version” of her new book. She will visit Bainbridge Island on Saturday, July 23 to discuss her favorite recipes and the importance of supporting local producers, first at the farmers market at 11 a.m. and then at Eagle Harbor Book Company at 1 p.m.
Visit www.eagleharborbooks.com/event/bounty-box-mi-ae-lipe to learn more.
“Bounty from the Box” is organized by season. And, although nobody wants to think about it right now, summer is about half over. Of course, the way Lipe sees it, that just means we’re closer to new seasonal treats.
“It can be hard to think beyond late July and August when the produce is coming in so fast and furiously, but this is a great opportunity to take advantage of this tsunami of plenty and start preserving it,” she said.
In a perfect world, that would be the end of the story. But Lipe is well aware that a great number of Americans simply do not have access, or can’t afford, to frequent farmers markets.
“I forget how lucky we are in the Pacific Northwest to have such year-round local abundance until I travel to Wyoming or Wisconsin in February,” she said. Actually, much of the country cannot readily access fresh produce during the fall and winter months, let alone local stuff, so this is a far more common issue than people might think.
“Although I obviously recommend that people support local, organic farms as much as possible, I always emphasize in my talks and such that people should make an effort, but also do what works for them and their situation. The grocery store isn’t necessarily an evil place, and many stores do make an effort to find local suppliers. But also don’t be afraid to speak up. We vote with our wallets three times a day when it comes to our food choices, but often don’t realize our power in that capacity. So if your store carries only conventional produce from California or Mexico, write to its management and tell them you want locally sourced product.”
Get it fresh
What: Farming policy and food author Mi Ae Lipe discusses her book “Bounty from the Box: The CSA Farm Cookbook,” the essential guide to enjoying 92 different fruits, vegetables and herbs commonly grown by community-supported agriculture farms across North America.
When: Saturday, July 23.
Where: The Bainbridge Island Farmers Market at 11 a.m., and at Eagle Harbor Book Company at 1 p.m.
Admission: Free.
