New Florida Cuisine? | Milk vs Mylk | Recipe: Multigrain pancakes
Issue No. 6
The restaurant Noma is at the very top of my food bucket list. Located in Copenhagen and helmed by superstar chef Rene Redzepi, Noma is famous for work-of-art plating, astronomical prices, its radical fermentation laboratory (led by food world super hunk David Zilber), and an extreme commitment to sourcing solely regional ingredients. The restaurant’s co-founder Claus Meyer spearheaded the idea of New Nordic Cuisine, a movement which has changed the face of Scandinavian dining. I recommend this episode of BBC’s The Food Programme dedicated to Meyer’s groundbreaking work around the world. I promise you will feel so inspired after listening.
New Nordic Cuisine helped transform a formerly bland and puritanical food culture into something elegant and elevated. Fine dining was no longer just derivative French cuisine, but instead a celebration of the singular bounty of the Scandinavia terrain.
The ideas in the Nordic Kitchen Manifesto, the founding document of the movement, show that caring for our neighbors, the local economy, and the planet also will satisfy our stomachs. The principles they outline are exceptional guideposts for anyone looking to eat well.
The aims of the New Nordic Kitchen are:
To express the purity, freshness, simplicity and ethics we wish to associate to our region.
To reflect the changes of the seasons in the meal we make.
To base our cooking on ingredients and produce whose characteristics are particularly in our climates, landscapes and waters.
To combine the demand for good taste with modern knowledge of health and well-being.
To promote Nordic products and the variety of Nordic producers - and to spread the word about their underlying cultures.
To promote animal welfare and a sound production process in our seas, on our farmland and in the wild.
To develop potentially new applications of traditional Nordic food products.
To combine the best in Nordic cookery and culinary traditions with impulses from abroad.
To combine local self-sufficiency with regional sharing of high-quality products.
To join forces with consumer representatives, other cooking craftsmen, agriculture, fishing, food, retail and wholesale industries, researchers, teachers, politicians and authorities on this project for the benefit and advantage of everyone in the Nordic countries.
Listening to Meyer’s story made me wonder what a new Florida cuisine might look like. With our powerhouse agricultural climate, plus our rich diversity of heritage and culture, why are so many of Florida’s restaurants so boring?
Food identities can become the backbone of a culture. Look at Scandinavia, Japan, Italy, France, or Mexico. These places take pride in their food, and the culture that created it. Their cuisines are celebrations of history, identity, and terroir. We can do better than endless stretches of chain restaurants serving the same soulless fare. I want Florida to join the ranks and build a cuisine that represents this wonderful place, in all of its wacky glory. I’m interested in hearing from readers about this topic.
What would be your goals for New Florida Cuisine? What foods would you include? Send ideas to sunshineandmicrobes@gmail.com.
love,
Jackie
New Nordic Food Porn
Food fight: Milk vs Mylk
The U.S. is turning away from dairy milk. In the spring, Dairy Farmers of America, the organization which represents 30 percent of the country’s milk producers, announced that total sales in 2018 had fallen by approximately $1.1 billion dollars compared to the prior year. Meanwhile, alternative milks (mylks) continue to boom in popularity.
The early science is clear. This is a positive development for the planet (and for people with lactose intolerance [65 percent of the population!] or ethical qualms about the dairy industry). Switching from dairy milk is one of the simplest steps anyone can take to help combat climate change and environmental degradation. As for health, most mylks add fortified nutrients that make up for what’s found in cow’s milk
What’s the difference between dairy milks and popular mylks like almond, soy and oat? Short story, mylks are way better for the planet.
Here’s a brief breakdown on what each product offers:
Dairy milk (cow’s milk)
Pros: Still the best milk for making cheese. High in protein.
Cons: Just super bad for the planet. According to research from the podcast Science Vs, the end of dairy milk would “save half a billion hectares of land, almost a billion tonnes of greenhouse gases… and just heaps of water.”
Oat Mylk
Pros: Low emissions, land use and water use. Honestly, there’s a lot to like about oat mylk and its environmental footprint. The creamy texture has made this alternative milk a favorite to blend in coffee. So much so that there’s been shortages in coffeehouses. Hypoallergenic (great for lactose intolerance or nut allergies).
Cons: High in carbs.
Almond Mylk
Pros: Probably the most versatile of the mylks. Low in sugars. Small carbon footprint.
Cons: Low in protein. Growing almonds requires massive amounts of water (though still less than cow’s milk), and 80 percent of the world’s almond supply comes from perpetually dry California.
Soy Mylk
Pros: Closest to cow’s milk in protein quantity and completeness. Minimal water use.
Cons: Plenty of soybeans come from monocultures including ones cultivated on deforested land in the ailing Amazon.
Rice Mylk
Pros: Hypoallergenic.
Cons: High in carbs and sugar. Very low in protein. The flooding method used to grow rice in paddies emits significant amounts of greenhouse gases. Plus, rice farming releases a mess of fertilizer runoff into waterways.
Coconut Mylk
Pros: Hypoallergenic (not a real nut). Minimal release of greenhouse gases.
Cons: High in saturated fat.
Mylk innovators keep pushing out new options in the grocery aisles. From hemp mylk to pea mylk to banana mylk, the odds of finding a satisfying mylk for one’s palette keep getting better.
Do you have a favorite alternative milk and how do you like to take it (coffee, smoothie, cereal, etc)? Share it with us at sunshineandmicrobes@gmail.com.
Earth, in pictures
Breathtaking images providing a glimpse of environmental impacts around the world
BRAZIL: The Amazon Rainforest, which produces 20 percent of the oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere, is enduring expanded deforestation and record burning rates under far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. Smoke from the disaster is visible from space (via NASA):
ICELAND: Satellite images that show Iceland’s Okjokull glacier on Sept. 14, 1986 and then on Aug. 1, 2019. Icelanders held a funeral for the dying glacier this month (via NASA).
Fresh Links
Our favorite food and environment reads from around the internet. Give’em a click 👇
🍬1619 Project: The barbaric history of sugar in America | NY Times
MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Nikole Hannah-Jones published a stunning series of articles on the legacy of slavery in the U.S. in her 1619 Project. Food factors into the legacy with this story on how “white gold” fueled slavery and how the industry still exploits black lives today.
Read the full story here.
🌱What’s next for pot? These cannabis restaurants might be the future | Washington Post
As California goes, so might the rest of the legal marijuana states. In West Hollywood, restaurant owners want patrons to be able to enjoy a freshly lit joint with their meals — with “bud-tenders” included in this psychedelic spin on farm-to-table eating. Is this the forthcoming future of legalized cannabis? Only if owners can get through all the loopholes first.
Smoke’em if you got’em and read the full story here.
❄️Life on thin ice in Greenland | The Guardian
With Greenland in the U.S. news all this week for the weirdest and most unpredictable reason imaginable, here’s a timely reminder on the toll the melting island is taking on inhabitants’ mental health.
RECIPE: Savory Multigrain Pancakes
I’ve cooked some pretty elaborate meals for my big family. But out of everything I make, these simple, healthy pancakes are my mother’s favorite. They are easy, versatile, and serve as the perfect canvas for a summer slaw, some sautéed veg, or a green salad. I like mine slathered in honey and Sriracha.
I adapted this recipe from the most excellent cooking blog 101 Cookbooks. She adapted it from somewhere else. There are no new ideas.
Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour of choice (I recommend using a mix of whole grains- whole wheat, buckwheat, spelt, rye, amaranth. But of course all purpose is fine too)
1 tablespoon baking powder
Small handful of seeds of of choice (sesame, flax, chia, hemp, etc)
Large pinch of salt
Zest of a lemon or lime
Small pinches of cayenne, cumin, coriander, or whatever spices sound nice
A handful of chopped herbs (parsley, chives, and cilantro are great) (optional)
A handful of crumbled up dried seaweed (using tongs hold the sheet over an open flame to make crumbling much easier) (optional)
Wet Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 cups liquid of choice (Dairyish: milk, buttermilk, yogurt, nut mylk; OR Savory: pickle juice, veggie stock or just plain water)
Half a stick of melted butter or coconut oil
Drizzle of toasted sesame oil (optional)
1/4 cup discarded sourdough starter (optional)
Additional ingredients:
2 cups cooked grains of choice (brown rice, quinoa, barley, etc)
Step-by-step
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients. Afterwards, add the wet ingredients and the cooked grains (after they’ve had time to cool a little) to the dry bowl. Gently stir the mixture until there aren’t any noticeable clumps of dry flour remaining. The batter is now ready to go, but it can also be stored in the fridge for a few days.
To cook the pancakes, heat a pan on medium high heat. After a minute or so, put your hand a couple inches over the pan and if it feels hot, add a glug of cooking oil. Ladle a scoop of batter onto the pan. After a couple minutes, once little bubbles form throughout the top of the pancake, flip it. Let it cook for another minute or so, until both sides are nice and brown and the interior is cooked through. About 3 minutes per pancake.
Behold the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Mac N Cheese Bundt Cake. Jackie feels bewitched by this dazzling mash-up and says she would try it. Matt gets indigestion just by looking at the photo of this Thing-That-Should-Not-Be and would stay far away.
Dear Reader, would you try this outrageous concoction?
Talk to Us
Send in your comments, mailbag questions or suggest a seasonally-appropriate veggie you'd love to see us put in a recipe: sunsineandmicrobes@gmail.com. Also do us a favor and follow our Sunshine + Microbes Instagram page!
If you enjoyed this email, please share it with others. If someone forwarded you this email, click the button to sign up:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunshine + Microbes team
Jackie Vitale is the current Chef-in-Residence at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. and co-founder of the Florida Ferment Fest. Her newsletter explores the intersection of food, culture, environment and community.
Matt Levin is a freelance reporter based in Colombia. He edits Sunshine + Microbes and contributes others scraps to each issue.