Climate-smart crops can help you save money
Tackle high food costs by expanding your food horizon
Food prices are high, and the reasons why deepen the wound. It’s tough out there and it will only get tougher next year.
Here’s a post compilation featuring foods and recipes that can help reduce food costs. In my newsletter, I focus on traditional foods overlooked by the industrial food system. These foods are often difficult to commercialize, but (or, because) they’re scrappy and resilient. The Wall-E’s of the food world. They can help you make healthy meals in a time of economic instability.
Let’s get into it:
Ancient grains
Grains like sorghum and millet are usually more expensive than wheat and rice, but they are great protein sources. Completely shelf-stable protein sources -- something to think about as the prices of meat, eggs and dairy continue to fluctuate at the whims of our bloated wannabe king-clown.
Little fishies
This one's a a no-brainer. I'm not suggesting they are perfect substitutes, but sardines, anchovies and similar can replace large fish like salmon and tuna in so many recipes I see online. Here's one example -- a sardine salad sandwich with basil-mint mayo.
Rajma
Rajma is the thing if you want to create decadence out of the most humble of ingredients: beans.
Coconuts
Coconuts are not exactly "neglected and underutilized," but I write here about how they highlight the need to integrate a variety of underutilized crops into our food systems. For the purposes of today's topic, canned coconut milk + canned tomatoes is a low-cost base from which to create many different types of soups. Some examples of flavor profiles:
South Asian: canned tomatoes + canned coconut milk + mustard seed + cumin + garam masala + salt
Mexican: canned tomatoes + canned coconut milk + ancho chile + garlic + lime juice + salt
Southeast Asian: canned tomatoes + canned coconut milk + lemongrass + fish sauce + garlic + ginger + soy sauce
And on and on!
Newsfeed:
MAHA is “embracing” Elizabeth Holmes. This b is back. Also, wow, MAHA -- really?
I’m looking forward to listening to this podcast series, “Seasoned: The Women Who Defined American Food,” by Victoria Flexner!
And this book, Reaping What She Sows: How Women Are Rebuilding Our Broken Food System by Reaping, by Nancy Matsumoto!
In light of the upcoming Mamdani administration’s (damn it feels good to say that) plan for public grocery stores, Claire Kelloway provides a sober overview of their potential and feasibility. Laughing them off as socialist fantasies is lazy, but they do face lots of challenges. I’d love to see the Mamdani team also invest in food coops, as another way to lower food costs and perhaps equally as important, build community and help neighbors get to know each other to address the loneliness crisis.
Li’l Nubs:
I saw a show of the New York Gypsy Festival recently. Above is a flamenco husband-and-wife team (Sonia Olla & Ismael Fernandez) who performed a wonderful jazz-flamenco fusion with a pianist. Also check out the festival’s animated logo on its website!
Reading this book about the fabulous Merle Oberon, a mixed-race Anglo-Indian actress and Oscar nominee who climbed mountains and waded moral grey areas to pass for white and succeed in Hollywood. Here are some of the insults leveled at her by white colleagues and fans, who seemed to be mostly female:
Singapore streetwalker (said by Marlene Dietrich)
Black bitch
Oriental princess
Asiatic adventuress
Though I must admit, if anyone of you wanted to call me an “Asiatic adventuress,” I would love it!
Thanks so much for the mention, Shreema!!!