Beer-battered fish and thick chips served in newspaper from Northern Ireland.

The Food Fighters series is made up of M@M’s journeys across the U.S. and in her home city of Washington, D.C., journeys through which she is visiting as many organizations that work on issues related to food equity and justice as she possibly can.  She is seeking to examine places that focus on food production, distribution, and nutritional/cooking education, particularly within lower-income populations. Food Fighters will highlight both individual organizations and the local food systems as a whole within cities across America.  This is the fifth piece in the series.

In my food journeys across the U.S., I’ve had a few visits that have given me that “Ah-HA!” moment. Meetings where a visionary individual or organization expressed something in a way that crystallized a viewpoint for me and made me rethink the model for sustainable and accessible food. J.D. Kemp and Darnell Adams of Crop Circle Kitchen in Boston, Nic Esposito in Philadelphia, and the subject of this article, Kevin Pierce and Ken Dunn of The Resource Center, are some of the folks who challenged my traditional notions of what it means to feed a community.

Ken Dunn founded The Resource Center in 1971 around the idea that every problem is a resource. Initially, the organization began because Mr. Dunn noticed many bottles and cans on Chicago streets. He also saw a homeless community that could use work. He put these two things together in a way that solved one problem (trash on the streets) and provided a resource for the other (a source of income for a population in need). The Resource Center has grown from this humble beginning into a non-profit that makes use of possible wasted resources as a tool for addressing another issue. A major hotel is revamping and changing its logo? BAM…its old towels and plates are collected and donated to shelters where they can be used. Restaurants stuck with huge amounts of unconsumed food? POOF…A Resource Center van transports the food to a local food bank. And an empty lot marring a neighborhood corner? Well, it’s turned into City Farm. The Resource Center doesn’t just aim for “sustainable” in its projects, it aims for abundance (and very little waste!).

City Farm is certainly abundant. On every square inch of this acre lot, gorgeous produce thrives. It’s easy to forget it sits on a busy Chicago corner when sunflowers stretch up over the fence, and only by craning one’s neck upwards can you see the Chicago skyline. Bees hum in hives in one corner diagonally placed across from a bright red chicken roost. In the center of the lot sit several hoop houses responsible for producing most of the hot peppers which Rick Bayless makes use of in his many Chicago restaurants. By employing individuals that often have difficultly finding work, donating some food to neighborhoods lacking it, and selling some produce at a farm stand, City Farm supports the community. As a source of revenue, they also use much of their land to grow for local chefs and restaurants who pay a premium for their sparklingly pristine produce.

Each September, City Farm hosts an Urban Harvest event that draws community from Lincoln Park and other surrounding neighborhoods, featuring live music and laying out a delicious array of foods from local chefs. This past year, I was lucky enough to attend. As I sat on a bale of hay, munching a fresh beet salad and listening to the strum of a guitar while children pranced happily to the melody, I could have been in any small town in America. Instead, I was in a huge urban metropolis surrounded by strangers.  Thanks to City Farm and The Resource Center’s ideal of providing abundance through jobs, innovations, recycling, and community, I felt surprisingly close to home.

To learn more about The Resource Center and all they do, please visit their website here.

To read more about the Food Fighters tour, follow @FoodFightersUS on twitter, like us on Facebook or visit the FF blog here.

I just spent six days in Tasmania with my mom, and we were really amazed that a week was hardly enough time to take it all in. But we’ve had a think and come to consensus: there are at least four awesome attributes that make Tasmania special… markets, oysters, cheese, and sparkling wine.

Next time we know what we’ll be looking for:

Credit: Connie Overton

Markets
Tasmanians and tourists from near and far descend every Saturday onto the Salamanca Market in Hobart, just adjacent the wharf in the old atmospheric part of town. This is the largest regular street market in Australia, and it certainly draws a buoyant crowd. After nibbling samples from local purveyors of cheese, jams, honey, and dukkah, we made an elegant street-food lunch of tempura-ed mushrooms and a particularly stellar lamb gyro. Given the chance, we would have circled back several times for the curries, roasting pig, home-churned ice creams, and freshly made sausages.

One market is never enough! Sunday morning found us at the Elizabeth Street Farm Gate Market in North Hobart. We stocked up on cheese and perfectly ripe cherries, bought a crusty loaf of rosemary bread, and hit the road, fresh cappuccino in hand.

The markets in Tasmania reflect a rural-minded way of life. There is a casual, easy relationship between people and countryside at work here. It isn’t about the “best” produce or the most “sustainable” way to live. Rather, the land is simply where food comes from. The farmers who sell their products in town on the weekend are working their families’ lands Monday-Friday. Those perfect nectarines and juicy red tomatoes of midsummer represent someone’s livelihood and pride… just as the kale and broccoli coming up in a few months will show off someone’s foresighted plantings.

Credit: Connie Overton

Oysters
Oysters have been a staple in the Tasmanian diet since the British showed up and began settling the island with both convicts and free settlers. I was hankering for some seafood when we happened across a tiny service station with a sign offering a dozen Bruny Island oysters for $9. Sold. I ate them out of a cardboard box on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Not a bad meal at all.

As we continued to drive along, I noticed: You hardly can go down a seaside road in southern Tasmania without passing an advertisement for oysters by the dozen. In the summertime, Bruny Island are the source for distinctive, large, creamy-textured oysters with a mellow brineyness to them. They’re fantastic with nothing but lemon.

For a steeper price, I got my next round of Bruny Island oysters at the lovely bistro at Home Hill Winery on the Huon Trail. This time they were au natural with lemon, and a yummy glass of 2007 Kelly’s Cuvee Sparkling White on the side. Not a bad pairing all.

I must admit, I prefer my oysters a bit firmer than the Bruny style, and for my taste, I’ll just have to come back to Tassie. There are many coastal sites around the island that come into season throughout the year: Pacific Oysters are most plentiful, others come from Freycinet, Cloudy Bay, Barrilla Bay, and Bouldan’s Bay. I prefer them natural, but an especially Aussie tradition is to serve oysters Kilpatrick. They come cooked firm, with bacon and Worcestershire sauce on top.

Credit: Connie Overton

Cheese
Tasmania knows its stuff when it comes to cheese of all varieties. Up north, we sampled goat’s milk cheeses near Lilydale at Yondover Farm. They’ve got a cute little café overlooking a dip in the hills, and baby goats are right outside the door in a tiny petting zoo. On the opposite side of the Tamar River Valley, near Deloraine, is the all-organic Elgaar Farm, owned by Josef and Antonia Gretschmann. They’ve been specializing in cow’s milk cheeses since 1986. Then of course there is King Island, just off the northeast corner of Tasmania. King Island cheeses are known throughout Australia… creamy brie and camembert-styles, brilliant bleus, lovely ashed rinds…

A real highlight of our trip was a stop at the Grandvewe Sheep Cheesery on the Huon Trail near Birchs Bay. Our host, Ryan, is son of owner Diane, and even late in the day, he had a big grin on his face as he expertly explained the differences between the vine-wrapped “Ewe Bewety” roblochon-style, the Birchs Bay Blonde’s pressed curd and earthy aroma, and the ashed Friesland Fog’s delicate creaminess. I was in love. Mom’s favorite was the “Blue by Ewe” (are we picking up on the sheep theme?). Aside from the spectacular product offerings, Grandvewe is well-set up as a tasting room and an farmstead attraction. There’s a café for casual dining, a daily sheep-milking demonstration, and plenty of dogs and ducks to entertain everyone. Fortunately, Grandvewe exports to the mainland (and Japan), so I’ll be on the lookout!

Credit: Connie Overton

Sparkling Wine
You can’t drive far in Australia without passing signs for wineries. Tasmania’s viticultural strength comes from the cool climate, and this means it can produce lighter styles of reds (ie. pinot noir) as well the as crisp whites that make brilliant sparkling wine.

Our first stop in the Tamar Valley, Bay of Fires Wines, is a highly-regarded rockstar of the Australian industry. Their non-vintage and vintage sparklings are all made in the traditional Champagne method, which imparts a rich, biscuity undertone to their clean crisp fruit flavors.

Down the road at Pipers Creek we found not only a nice assortment of whites and reds (highlight: 2008 Gewurzstraminer), but also a really spectacular tasting platter for lunch. Pipers Creek makes a second brand of wine called 9th Island, which is widely available, and a good representation of their more expensive house brand.

I must mention too a tiny little family-owned place down south near Richmond: Puddle Duck Vineyard. The wine highlight for me was a pinot noir rosé, but we’re talking bubbles here, and the “Bubbleduck” sparkling was an exceptionally yummy pink number. As is often the case when I visit wineries, the vibe of the place stays with me much longer than the flavors of the wines. Here it was the winery dogs that really won me over… Polly the Welsh Corgy demanded as much attention as the wine, and as a brand ambassador, she really made the little winery by the lack feel like place I’d like to call home.

Credit: Connie Overton

I heard you could drive across Tasmania in a day. After one all too short week wandering the twists and turns of Tasmania’s pretty roads, I wholly disagree. I think we did a decent job with some of the highlights, but a return trip is in order!

My favorite afternoon pick-me-up! Shot of espresso with froth surrounded by nutella.

You walk into the store and have to buy one. Which one is MORE FRANK to you?

In the sleepy downtown of Spartanburg, SC, the restaurant voted “best in” is Limeleaf. A Thai restaurant on the corner of the main streets is surprisingly authentic and flavorful Thai food in this southern town.

Truffles at Centro Storico, Alba, Italy.

Over time, I’ve noted which vegetables and meats these restaurants use to make delicious Thai Green curry. I really enjoy curries with succulent duck meat as we rarely incorporate duck meat in India. As it is currently the season to smell freshly made roast duck in the street markets of Hong Kong, I decided to buy some roast duck breast to create my own out-of-this-world curry experience!

Thai Green curry can be sweet, it can be spicy or both. I love a balanced, sweet and spicy combination, so I made some changes to the basic Thai Green curry paste ingredient list that caters to my taste. If you like this dish to be spicier, simply add a few more chillies to the paste. Make this paste well in advance and keep this refrigerated. No need to restrict your Thai green curry paste to Thai green curry – let your imagination go wild and you will find yourself using this paste in a variety of other ways as well (try using a little of this paste in your regular bread dough, in any savoury batter for deep frying or in your paratha – flatbread – dough for that spicy punch!).

Thai Green Curry Paste

Ingredients:
Green chillies: 10
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Shallots: 70 g
Garlic: 40 g
Cumin powder: ½ tsp
Roasted belacan[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belacan]: 1 tsp
Galangal slices: 2
Coriander roots (not leaves): 10 g
Mint leaves: 20 g
Lemongrass: 2 stalks
Kaffir lime leaves: 3
Kaffir Lime zest: 1 lime
Sweet basil: 40 g
Black peppercorns: ½ tsp
½-inch fresh turmeric root: 1

Method:
Blend all the ingredients to a fine paste and store in the refrigerator.

Now, lets try making an authentic Thai Green Curry!  There are certain points to bear in mind while making this curry:

• Cooking duck breast pieces for a long time in green curry changes the flavor and texture of duck meat.  Over-cooking can make the meat hard and rubbery.
• Lemongrass is not the same as lemon juice and has a sharp lemony aroma, minus the sour taste. If you do not get this ingredient, do the following (my own lemongrass substitute): mix juice of one lemon, five drops of lemon essence and ¼ tsp granulated sugar. This is equivalent to the effect of two lemongrass stalks. But, fresh lemongrass is undoubtedly unbeatable.
• There are two green-coloured ingredients in the green curry paste: green chillies, sweet basil and little mint. Without these green ingredients, your curry will not be green. So do not omit these. Also, do not use cilantro leaves for making the paste green.
• If, after adding all the ingredients, you discover that the green curry is too spicy for you, add a little brown sugar to the boiling curry, but do not overdo this process.
• If you get fresh (or canned) straw mushrooms, you are lucky. If not, white button mushrooms are okay.

Thai Green Curry with Roasted Duck
[The recipe serves 5–6 people.]

Ingredients:
Roast duck breast (with skin; sliced): 250 g
Thai aubergines (cut into half): 5
Babycorns (cut into half, lengthwise): 6
Plum tomatoes: 8
Green bell peppers (cubed into medium-sized pieces): 1
Snow peas: 8
Halved straw mushrooms (can be replaced with white button mushrooms): 8, if straw; 5, if button mushrooms
Pumpkin (cubed and skin removed): 8
French beans (chopped into medium-sized pieces): 5
Coconut milk: 400 ml
Warm water: 1 cup
Sweet basil: 7–8
Salt: According to taste

Method:
Heat the oil. Add 5 tbsp Thai green curry paste (recipe above) in 1 tbsp vegetable oil. Lower the heat and add the coconut milk, stirring continuously until the coconut milk starts separating oil.

Add the pumpkin and the French beans first. Then add the remaining vegetables and salt. Add the fish sauce and the warm water. Stir and simmer for 10 min.

Add the sweet basil and sliced duck meat and cook for 3–4 min. Garnish with a few fresh sweet basil leaves or mint.

Serve hot with steamed rice or noodles.

Fresh at the market in Spain.