yearofplenty

For some, lentils are "like Kryptonite" - National Lentil Festival in Pullman Aug. 19-20

Last week at the farmers' market someone responded to the prospect of buying a package of dried lentils by saying, "I couldn't do that. Lentils are like my Kryptonite." A few years ago I might have agreed with him but during our year of local consumption I learnd to LOVE lentils. We started our local eating binge in January without any of summer's harvest stored up for the winter so we were forced to turn to local offerings, which included an abundance of lentils. We put them in soups and burritos and salads and I came to really appreciate them.

I learned that they come in beautiful colors like gold/orange, green, red, and black. (In an ironic twist, it turns out Kryptonite also comes in gold, green, red, and black) I also learned that the Inland Northwest is most prolific lentil-producing region in the US. So it should be no surprise that Pullman will be hosting the National Lentil Festival this weekend.

According to the USDA:

Lentils were probably one of the primary domesticates (as were wheat and barley) on which Neolithic agriculture was founded in the Near East about 8,500 years ago. By the Bronze Age, they had been disseminated throughout the Mediterranean region, Asia, and Europe. Lentils were introduced into the United States in 1916, near Farmington, Washington. The commercial production of U.S. lentils today can probably be traced to that introduction of a single landrace.

Lentils are grown in our region as a cash crop, most of which is exported to regions of the world where people don't see the little legumes as a mortal danger. According to the USDA:

Lentils contribute significantly to farm economics in the Palouse and the United States as a whole. The lentil crop, during the last decade, averaged over 54,400 metric tons with an approximate value of $31.7 million annually. About 80 percent of U.S. lentils are exported. Principal markets for Palouse-grown lentils are Spain, Peru, Ethiopia, and Venezuela.

But lentils are also used by farmers as a vital ingredient in successful production of wheat and barley which are the staples of area farmland. The lentils, like all legumes, fix nitrogen in the soil, thus requiring less application of chemical fertilizers on the cereal crop that follows it. They also help reduce the pesticides needed in subsequent crops and reduce erosion. 

One secret of living in Spokane is that the local pea & lentil processors like Spokane Seed have small retail operations where you can buy peas and lentils directly from the warehouse. If you've experienced Kryptonite-like effects from green lentils, I recommend trying the smaller darker colored varieties.

Joseph's Grainery, a local Colfax farmer and retailer, has an excellent website with information on how to cook with lentils. They've even got Youtube videos.

They also make a lentil flour which we've been selling at the farmers' market this summer. It's a gluten free alternative to wheat flours.

And if your children's superpowers are suffering from the thought of eating lentils, the US Dry Pea & Lentil Council has a recipe for lentil chocolate cake and even some cartoon characters.

And did I mention that lentils are cheap and they last forever? What's not to like?

Are Raw Food Fanatics Wrong?

I found this 10 minute "How Cooking Made Us Human" talk from Harvard's Richard Wrangham very eye opening. He challenges the notion that raw foods are healthier for human consumption and describes the role of cooking in human evolution. h/t Andrew Sullivan.

Are Sustainability Advocates Ready for the Insectivore's Dilemma?

The Santa Cruz news reports on a possible next wave in the ever evolving food and sustainability movement;

Eating bugs just makes sense, so much so that the U.N. is giving consideration to the matter. In February 2008, the Food and Agriculture Organization hosted a workshop called “Forest Insects as Food: Humans Bite Back,” in Chiang Mai, Thailand at which 36 entomologists, edible insect nutritionists, foresters and others with a stake in the developing edible insect movement discussed the potential of six-legged animals as food and the challenges of developing a market and industry. The BBC reports that a handful of Dutch companies have already begun breeding beetles, crickets and locusts for food. Even here in the United States advocates are pushing the concept. The entomology department of Iowa State University posts online nutritional information about eating insects, while numerous cookbooks, including Creepy Crawly Cuisine: The Gourmet Guide to Edible Insects by Dr. Julieta Ramos-Elorduy, tout the wisdom and sense in eating earth’s most abundant terrestrial animal resource and offer recipes like fried grasshoppers, ant larva tacos and mealworm cookies. Eminent entomologists, like Dr. Gene R. DeFoliart, a bug-eating advocate at the University of Wisconsin well-known to many in the insectivorous community, also vouch for insects as food. And some high-end restaurants, like Mezcal in San Jose and the increasingly famous Typhoon at the Santa Monica Airport, are putting insects on their menus.

Here's the logic;

The lower we eat on the food chain, the more sustainable our diets become. The invertebrate level is a good place to settle down and make a meal, for these spineless species are excellent processors of energy. On average, invertebrate species utilize 20 percent of assimilated energy (i.e.. food ingested and not pooped out) for growth and reproduction. Vertebrates, by contrast, use just 2 percent of assimilated energy for growth and reproduction, the balance being used for nothing but fueling motion and metabolism.

Rootworm beetle dip anyone? How about Banana worm bread meal worm fried rice?