Trading Myths: Food Inc.

I just pulled a beautiful batch of tempeh out of the incubator - solid and fluffy at the same time, warm with its own growth. I did nothing weird or experimental with it. I watched Food Inc. yesterday in between steps (de-hulling, soaking, cooking, etc.). I was again (I've read the books the documentary is based on) horrified by our food system of enormous corporations and their captured agencies (USDA, FDA). I was frustrated, though, by setting up Salatin and his operation as the ideal, with his methane-belching cattle, and corn- and soy-fed hogs and chickens (that grow slowly, consuming more feed than their factory-farmed and miserable counterparts, thus generating more manure, more emissions, etc.). They're just trading one myth, of progress through engineering (trust the nice men in the white coats) for a Romantic agrarian myth (trust the nice men in the overalls). I'll stick with my tempeh.

Farewell to PB&J

Last night I fried up some more of the super-dense tempeh. Again it wasn't bad but nothing I'd choose to make again, not enough flavor, no lightness to it, maybe like tempeh from a larger planet than ours, appropriate for higher gravity but out of place here.

I'm nearly finished transferring the PB&J Campaign to A Well Fed World. This is truly bittersweet: I am delighted to see that the Campaign will go on, operated by enthusiastic and talented activists. Of course I am also sad to let go of the work of five (six?) years.

Super-Dense Tempeh

I decided to whip up a batch of basic tempeh for my sister and her family as a surprise. They are already tempeh fans generally, and I credit their frequent enjoyment of 'tempeh fries' with starting the itch in my brain about tempeh as a more-widely marketable food.

For some strange reason I started with a third less dry soybeans than I had planned on. All went smoothly until I started packing the bags for incubation. Both bags weren't looking as full as I likes, so I decided to pack the whole batch into one baggie. I ended up with an extra-dense bag of innoculated soybeans, and it looked pathetic 22 hours later when I pulled it out of the incubator. Still, it didn't SMELL pathetic, so I jabbed it with a toothpick to give it some more air, let it go a little longer, and was pleased to see some proper fluff on the outside. In the end I didn't trust it enough to give it away, but I fried it up last night. I was right to be suspicious. It didn't smell bad, and it didn't taste bad, but it didn't taste particularly good either - none of that mushroom fragrance I go for.