Between the massive recall of all things peanut (note that not even Trader Joe’s products and healthy-foody snacks are risk-free!) and the discovery of mercury in high fructose corn syrup it’s not a happy time to be a peanut buttery junk food candy. Indeed, I went through my cupboards and chucked my Hershey’s syrup–which was one of the mercury-laden products researchers examined–as I’d rather get my mercury from tinned tuna, thank you! The salmonella in the peanuts appears to be a byproduct of “self-regulated” industry–the company may have known they were releasing poison peanuts. The mercury though is actually a byproduct of how corn syrup is produced, a chemical-filled process. A non-toxic technique exists, though, and perhaps they will now adopt it. Of course, if mercury keeps consumers away from HFCS (as it’s know in the biz), perhaps it’s best left in….

Funky, gooey, snotty, even gym sock-y—all are words that have been aimed at natto, Japan’s favorite fermented phenomenon. Love it or hate it, there’s no question that natto, a type of fermented soybeans, provokes strong responses. Devotees swear by its vitamin-packed sliminess, skeptics don’t even want to be in the same room with the stuff.

In the interest of full disclosure, I admit that I am firmly and wholeheartedly in the former category. I can happily eat natto every day. I can spend alarmingly long chunks of time dreaming up new natto concoctions. Natto with apples? Natto with nuts? Natto pizza?

I first encountered natto at a restaurant in the U.S. It was added to a sushi roll, and it lent an unusual taste—kind of smoky, a bit cheesy. Nutty but soft. Definitely slimy. When I moved to Japan, I found natto everywhere. Made from soybeans that are boiled then fermented by adding the bacterium natto bacillus, natto is fast and convenient. Available at almost any grocery store or convenience store, it comes ready to eat. Eat it straight from the container, or dump it on top of rice for an easy meal. Read on… »

As promised, a picture of our clam harvest! It was a rainy Sunday in Provincetown, Cape Cod…I had vowed not to go, given the 18 degree temps of the previous two days, but it was 35 and felt downright balmy,  so I resisted the Californian within me who was saying “Are you crazy?” and waded out into the receding tide with three friends. Well, look out clams! You are only allowed one bucketful, and we filled that sucker in no time. A local came over at one point and, in a heavy Bostonish accent, said “You found a honeypot? Can I join ya?” It seemed to me like bad fishing manners, but we let him rake anyway. He found nary a clam and wandered off muttering. We went back to the house and had the rare experience of feasting on as many huge, juicy, sweet clams and mussels steamed with garlic and wine as our stomachs could hold. We headed back to New York in a happy shellfish haze.

I spent Sunday hunting clams (with a rake) in Provincetown, Cape Cod, and I’m feeling really good about bivalves right now. (More on the clamming in a later post…) So, it seemed like a good time to bring the New York City Oyster Gardening Program to my New York readers’ attention. This program is part of a network of organizations (like Baykeeper, The River Project, and RFK Jr.’s Riverkeeper) that work to restore the notoriously polluted Hudson River. Oysters, it turns out, are a significant part of the plan: they are crucial to estuary health, and estuaries keep rivers clean and alive. An oyster filters 30 gallons of water a day! Clearly, you do NOT want to eat a Hudson River oyster. But, by participating in an oyster “garden,” you can help the little guys get a foothold (do they have feet? Some shellfish have feet.) contribute to the future health of the Hudson, and perhaps make it possible for future City dwellers to eat local oysters once again. Or, if that’s overly optimistic, to at least atone for all those tasty oysters you’ve swallowed alive all these years. (Sorry!) Organizations with volunteers and access to a nice spot of river can apply to be gardeners; if accepted, you get 1000 baby oysters to tend for a year. That’s 30,000 gallons of water cleaned per day, and a lifetime of guilt-free slurping!

I’m a week delayed with my New York Times Dining section coverage–but Bittman’s Minimalist column last week about stocking your pantry got me thinking. (Perhaps next week I’ll have something to say about bread pudding.) I endorse all of his recommendations (though I somehow don’t have fish sauce in my cupboard, and never manage to cook beans from scratch–though that is one of my New Year’s resolutions.) I would like to make some suggestions here, though, for the 2009 “maximalist pantry.” Completely unnecessary treats that I think should be in every cupboard (when finances allow): Read on… »