Food Porn at Rouxbe

I cringe when a bagger at the market places heavy items on top of fragile produce. I admit I'm totally anal when it comes to picking out unblemished fruits and vegetables, but after spending the time and money to find that perfectly ripe tomato or pound of strawberries, my heart stops when cans wind up weighing them down. It, unfortunately, happens more often than not. A cashier was once so brutal with a bag of apples; one fell out of the bag, bounced like a tennis ball, and rolled to another till. She nonchalantly picked it up, put it back in the bag, and continued. She seemed surprised when I told her I didn't want to take that one. She replied, saying it couldn't possibly be bruised.

My breathing temporarily stops when I see customers slam down and toss their own items onto a conveyor belt. I could be wrong, but these people can't possibly be foodies...boxes are squashing bread, which is squashing lettuce. No care is taken. For someone like me, I couldn't be happier to take my own reusable grocery bags to the market and bag my own.

I thought it may have been a tiny neurotic disorder, but I have discovered meaning to my madness. A few days into my job at Rouxbe, I found myself shopping for a video shoot. My mission: to find the sexiest and freshest onions, shallots, chilies, and red peppers. Since the food is THE STAR at Rouxbe, I was in my element. I had to decide who was going to make the cut, and so the auditions began. Was each item too fat? Too thin? Too old and wrinkly? Too genetically modified? A few vendors smirked when I told them I had to find the sexiest produce possible because it was going to be a supa-star.

So what's sexy at Rouxbe? Sexy is no food styling. The pictures you see are the end result of each dish. Sexy at Rouxbe is honest food and honest cooking. There is no hairspray on set...no glue, food coloring, shaving cream, or blowtorches. Pictures are taken immediately after cooking or baking, as the star of the show waits for nobody. Sure, the odd crumb may be brushed away or a splatter may be wiped up, but the food is never improvised. One of the best things at Rouxbe is we indulge in every dish that we test, pre-produce, and film. Thanks to Rouxbe, I breathe easy as I no longer feel like a psycho for searching out the best of the best.

Tagged as: [ cooking culinary gmo howto instructional pastry rouxbe school videos ]

How to Identify Genetically Modified Foods | GMOs

Further to my post on The Future of Food, you can learn more about genetically modified products in Canada by visiting the Greenpeace Shoppers Guide (for United States information, click here). It is a good place to identify genetically modified foods on the market that you may be buying.

I'm not going to be an automatic fanatic and swear to never buy a product that is listed as a GMO but it's good information. It is sort of like seeing the movie Super Size Me. Will I ever eat at McDonald's again? I haven't since and probably never will but...if it is 3:00a.m. and I get home from an 18-hour flight after traveling for 2 months and my fridge is empty, I might be tempted to visit the all-night drive through. I just think awareness is key.

Another useful shopping tip: all produce in the supermarkets is given a 4-digit PLU code (price look-up code). For example, regular bananas are 4011. Organic products will have a "9" in front of the code (94011) and genetically modified products will have an "8" (84011).

Tagged as: [ genetically gmo modified organic plu tips ]

The Future of Food

Last week after class, Chef Ian showed the eye-opening movie, The Future of Food. Genetically modified food is an alarming new topic for me and one I want to become more educated about. The initial feeling I had with the whole issue of genetically modified food is betrayal. In the past, I will admit, I thought "certified organic" meant just another marketing technique to make me spend more money and I was leery to "buy" into it. This may seem completely naive to some, but I think there is an assumed trust that, as consumers, there is safe food on our market – it is just up to us to make healthy choices and not choose the Pop Tarts or the Twinkies, etc.

Now, what frightens me most is even the choices I would consider to be healthy (i.e., things that don't need a label – like fruits and vegetables) are becoming genetically modified by corporate giants. I remember the days when I didn't even care to read labels, however, over the past 10 years, I haven't bought a product without glancing at the label for the buzz words that flash big red warning lights: trans fats, hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, etc. Sadly, natural foods that don't even require labels need to be scrutinized over.

After watching the movie, being exposed to the bewildering investigation regarding unlabeled, patented, and genetically modified food that is on North American shelves, and realizing the magnitude of the problem, I wondered where to start and what I can do. I think that knowledge is power and the more that people become aware of the issues and the more that people are able to consciously make choices, change for the better will occur. During our discussion, it was said that a good place to start is to ask yourself if you know where your food is really coming from when you buy it and try to support responsible, local farmers. Recently, we heard of the new listeria-killing cocktail and the E-coli outbreak with spinach. I don't know about you, but it really makes me wonder how all food is being handled.


Quite a few times, during the course of this program, I have heard that students now can be pioneers of the industry. We can lead the way to make changes and work with responsibly grown and produced products and we can start to educate people even in little ways. It will take time and a lot of support but little by little we all can hopefully get back to supporting local farmers, local producers, and be more in touch with food.

For interesting information and current news on the subject, you can visit Organic Consumers.

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Things I DO Want to Know

The more I learn about where our food comes from, how it is genetically modified and unnatural, the more perplexed I become as a shopper. Certified organic and local products are making their appearances in my kitchen more and more. I am still highly uneducated on the topic but with little changes here and there I think some progress is being made (albeit slowly). I read an article today in the New York Times called "Things You Don’t Know, Can’t Know and Don’t Want to Know". I actually DO want to know these things. The more the word is spread about how foods are being altered and what is actually in some products, the more people can make informed choices.

Tagged as: [ food gmo organic tips ]