When something has remained the same since the beginning of civilization, like the knowledge about when to plant and how to harvest that farmers have passed down from one generation to the next, it seems like it might be best to pay attention. However, something changed after World War I. In a rush to modernize, farmers began forgoing the methods of the forefathers and turning to pesticides and ‘modern techniques’. The old peasant ways began to seem old-fashioned and inefficient. While the ‘modern’ way of farming provided greater yields and reduced the work load for farmers, it also robbed the soil of nutrients and produced food and wine that was full of chemicals. Enter biodynamic farming. (more…)
I know. I know. It’s not for everyone. I have heard all the arguments. It’s a texture thing. You just can’t imagine eating anything that comes from something so spiny. The bottom line is that you either love it or you hate it. I definitely fall into the first group. I love it and truly think it is the single sexiest food in the world. It tastes like the essence of the sea distilled into one delicious, briny, creamy, rich bite. I love it tossed simply with spaghetti. I love it as ‘uni’ in sushi. I love it most of all as simply as possible….eaten straight out the shell with a spoon or a crusty piece of bread. Nothing was a bigger treat when I visited Sicily as a child than my cousin Pietro taking us to the market to watch the fisherman crack open plates and plates of them with a machete, right in his iron gloved hand. All of that with the brilliant blue sea behind us. It seemed very exotic to a little girl and I can still taste that far-away feeling in every bite.
