My thoughts on Earth Day

Does a simple tube of toothpaste need a plastic lid the size of a frizbee? Is hazelnut / chocolate spread really a part of  a healthy breakfast, anymore than a doughnut is? If someone stopped at the intersection in front of you throws an empty coffee cup nonchalantly out their car window, will you go to jail if you jump out and slap them? These are the questions that plague me more and more these days as I realize how insane we have become.  And with Earth Day coming up this month, I feel more compelled to share the notion that all of the little things we do add up, positively or negatively.

 

Bringing it back to my sphere of food, we recently took our Fearless in the Kitchen cook-in-training on an excursion to Olliffe Butcher in Toronto to shake up her normal food routine.  The purpose of this segment of the show is to get people excited about food and experience something fun first hand. I’m trying to steer people away from the processed, packaged foods and jump start their curiosity and show them there is a world of food out there and we should know where it comes from and how simple it is to use.  Butcher Ben Gundy created a unique but simple burger recipe to illustrate how starting with great quality raw ingredients and having a little fun makes for an awesome dish. Anna( my newest trainee) told me she loved meat, so when she realized she would be making burgers from scratch, she was so excited. Ben handed Anna super lean hunks of Bison meat to hand grind. Then she added pork fat (because bison meat is very lean and would have been super dry without it as a hamburger) and Spanish spices. This took me back to my inspiration – cooking school in France- where our chefs  taught us that hand grinding meat was the best way to ensure flavour and optimize texture.  It is also there that I learned to buy meat from a small butcher who could really teach you about what you're buying. I'll never forget how the butcher's window looked like an art gallery of meat, beautifully arranged and showcased for sale.    

 

At Olliffe, the guys take meat seriously. Local farmers have their names splashed about the store like celebrity newsflashes. And that’s good to see because if you’re going to eat meat, making sure it comes from a good, sustainable, reliable source is key to feeding your body as well as thinking about the earth. Also eating a variety of meats, doesn’t put a strain on one particular source and introduces variety. If you want proof, let me just tell you that one bite of that Bison Chorizo Burger with smoked paprika, chile powder, garlic and herbs, was all it took to give Anna a real ‘ aha moment.  She was floored.


  

 

This year, I challenge you to make a small but significant Earth Day change. Maybe that means buying from a local meat producer instead of the usual “mystery meat” cello-packed, or shopping in season at farmers’ markets this summer. What ever you do, just remember, one drop at a time, you fill an ocean and that’s the power behind Earth Day, no matter where you live.