Grounded Grub Weeklies! 05.12.2020
Hello Grounded Grub Community!
Every week we’re sent amazing articles, books, podcasts and other content from our community. We love hearing from everyone and having these resources, so we decided to start pooling together these recommendations, as well as some of our favorites, and sharing them once a week on Tuesdays. We hope you enjoy and feel inspired to share with us if you see/hear/try something that inspires you in the future!
Today: May 12, 2020
What happened on Grounded Grub last week:
Kicking off last week, contributing writer Emma Volk took us through a guide of how to support local food systems during COVID-19. Emma has a wide breadth of experience working on farms, running Farmers’ Markets and has made a deep commitment to supporting local food, even when it’s not the most convenient option. We really love this thoughtful and thorough take on supporting local food producers during this time and were so excited to share it with you.
Just in time for the weekend was the next installment in our Drinking Responsibly series! Back at the end of March (was it really that long ago?!), we started off this series with a feature on Tequila + Mezcal production. This week we dove into Gin—gin history, gin recipes, how it’s made, all of it! Including a special DIY section by a new contributor, Daniella Zandi!
One of the easiest ways to reduce some plastic waste in your fridge is to stop buying prepackaged salad dressing—especially because making your own is so easy! We’ve got lots of fun recipes for you that use lots of pantry staples and things you already have to make delicious dressings so you don’t have to buy more. This can help save money and reduce your waste—a double win!
Coming up on Grounded Grub…
It has been a flurry of activity in the Grounded Grub email inbox, and we are thrilled about all the different things we have in the works...but we’ll just stick to what we have going on this week:
Later this week, Ben shows you how to make an exciting new riff on fried rice! This recipe concentrates rich and savory flavors into the rice itself (essentially by making a pilaf), then stir fries that rice with a whirlwind of textures and flavors from things like edamame, sesame seeds, caramelized shallots, and crispy garlic!
Then, Hannah welcomes you to the surprising world of “Aquafaba.” In line with our mission of not letting anything go to waste, Aquafaba recipes utilize the water that accompanies canned beans. This water can transform into a huge array of incredible things that can easily make it a vegan or vegetarians secret weapon! We’re so excited to roll this one out!
Finally, we finish out the week with an article/guide on how to be a sustainable coffee consumer and maker! Contributing author, Nic Pavao, walks us through sourcing your beans, making your coffee, and handling your waste, but not without sprinkling in little nuggets of history, social commentary, and plant science.
Have any other ideas for things we should cover? Reach out on Instagram, Facebook or email. We love hearing from you and some of our best articles have been from community suggestions.
Media articles of the week:
No Yeast at the Store? No Problem. It’s Everywhere in Your Home, Henry Fountain, The New York Times. This article talks about the myriad of processes and catalysts involved in conjuring up yeast at home when the packets of active yeast from the grocery store are sold out. It also stomps out some common misconceptions! Read more about home-grown yeast here.
How Ice Cream Got it’s Cone, Robert Moss, Serious Eats. “Out of all the many classic American food items claimed to have been invented at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, only one truly has a connection to it: the ice cream cone. But it probably didn't start with a rolled-up waffle.” This article takes you through the sometimes strange history of Ice Cream and it’s i’conic’ (hehe) cone. Check it out here.
Should You Disinfect Your Groceries? - Best Way to Wash Produce, Sarah Coughlin, Food52. Hint: No, don’t use soap! Read this thorough and researched article here.
How to Stop Your Herbs From Getting Sad and Droopy Between Shopping Trips, Sarah Jampel, Bon Appetit. We have all done it. You see a bunch of bright, fresh, inspiring herbs at the supermarket and you say to yourself, “you know what, I’m finally making that pesto/chimichurri/guacamole/etc this week damnit!”. You buy the bunch, you bring them home, you stuff them into the fridge with the utmost confidence, and then……well, then you forget. Two days pass and your heroic cilantro is now dark green and depressing. Would you like to prevent this from happening? Me too! Read more here.
Book of the week:
BraveTart: Iconic American Deserts by Stella Parks
“We wanted a table of cake, an excuse to throw tea party, and a chance to dive deep into America’s sugary history. BraveTart isn’t a swanky bakery cookbook or a cheerful blogger’s “sugar addiction” on display, it’s dessert scholarship. I’d argue that no other dessert cookbook has pulled off such a feat—giving a full historical analysis of Oreos before offering an at-home recipe better than the original—and certainly not with such humor. BraveTart is a blast to read, an adventure to cook from, and one of the most essential cookbooks in the modern cookbook canon alongside Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, The Food Lab, and Six Seasons.”
We love books that not only inspire, but educate and motivate us to be more independent in the kitchen! Check out this book here.
Planet Money: Food and Farmworkers
“The empty grocery shelves are unnerving. While we're probably not going to starve in the long run, the farm system is going to be seriously stressed. Most of our fruits and vegetables are picked by hand. 73% of farmworkers in the U.S. are foreign born; half are undocumented. What happens when those workers get sick? How do we keep the food supply chain going when borders are closed over coronavirus concerns?
In this episode, to understand how the coronavirus is affecting and might affect our food, we talk to an economist, a farmer, and, of course, the people who really make farms go — the farmworkers.” Listen here, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
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