meansoybean

October’s been an interesting month of blogging, the most intense since meansoybean.com was started up this Fall. Hopefully we’ll still be around to participate in the 2010 edition. But for now, we’re all blogged out and will take a couple of days off, if you don’t mind.

Some tidbits to keep you busy…
If you’re in town tomorrow, November 1st, you can stop by the 2009 Montreal World Vegan Day Fashion Show. It’ll happen at La Tulipe on the Plateau. Tickets are $20 for students and $30 for adults. Samplings from ChuChai will on hand. I’ve personally never attended one of these shows, as the entry price is way too high and the food just isn’t a draw for me — especially during cold & flu season.

Be sure to make your way over to the November 2009 edition of the Matt & Nat sale. I’m sure it’ll be a mad house, but worth it if you need/love/want well designed and crafted bags.

Also, don’t forget about the BANANAS!* doc that will be playing only twice in November! I’m hoping it’ll be an eye opener for many people. Regular admission will be $8, or $6 if you’re a student.

PS: vegan.eating’s invitation to get Montreal on the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale participants list still stands. You’ve got time, the event doesn’t happen til Spring 2010 anyway.

It’s a double basket this week, the last of the growing season. It’s actually really sad… because the quality of the organic produce at, say, Loblaws isn’t very good. Plus, winter is approaching so that means I’ve got to buy far-off sourced organics. Not good. But what choice do you have when you live in this climate… Delicata squash, roquette, lettuce, onions, parsnips, turnips, regular and purple carrots, as well as daikon and sage. These are what I’ll have to cherish and preserve for as long as humanly possible.

I wonder if anyone in Quebec has tried to eat 100% locally throughout the entire calendar year. It really wouldn’t be easy these days and definitely would be a challenge. That’s why I’m minimally content with 20 strong weeks of locally sourced food. Obviously 52 would be better, but would involve some planning and it certainly wouldn’t be 100% organic. I’m just thinking aloud…

The benefits of eating locally can be found here, btw.

I was just going to make the block of cashew cheese from 101 Cookbooks but was pretty hungry and decided to go for the full pasta and cheese bonanza. But only a fraction of the melted cheese was used. I really, really (really) wanted to try and make a block of cheese that melts.

As I was making it, I noticed it smelled very sweet… I eventually realized that I had used the wrong milk. I only ever have Natura original flavour on hand which contains, apparently, cane sugar. Plus, I always ignore the words “unsweetened soy milk” in recipes and now it’s come back to bite me in the ass. So it was barely edible, and I had to dump the rest. Fine, lesson learned. I’ve since stocked the pantry with 2 cartons of unsweetened soy milk. Now I’ll have no excuse to fuck up mac and cheese.

But what to do with this sweet cheese in the meantime? I bought some puff pastry and will come up with some sort of kludge… possibly a danish. Puff pastry isn’t traditionally used in this sort of dessert, so one can only hope two wrongs make a right. Right?

The mighty wedge…

These are the almond cookies from Veganomicon. Though they don’t need it, I pimped them with chocolate pinstripes. I pressed them thin so they’d be nice and crisp. I absolutely adore these cookies, and the almond is subtle but noticeably present. I was afraid they might be too subtle, but on Tuesday I went into work with 14 and there were only 4 left that evening. Nicely done.

So with the two bake sales over and done with, I’ve got an itch to participate others… maybe this is a bit bold, but would any Montrealers be interested in participating in the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale? We can donate the proceeds to a local animal-oriented cause.

I didn’t see Montreal in the 2009 list so we should fix this ASAP in the 2010 edition. If you’re game, leave a comment on this post with your email addy, which won’t be published, and we’ll discuss!

Take, say, bananas.

Bananas have attained mainstay status in our society. Our grocery stores present them as almost a basic staple. They are even made affordable — to most, anyway.

Thing is, we seem to have forgotten that bananas are, like, totally alien to our northern climes; an exotic item. Indeed, they are the fruit of a whole industry with a less than palatable background.

Sure, you could try organic bananas for thrice the price, if that helps you get through the night. Sadly, there’s no globally recognized certification for organic labeling, and in the end you end up having to trust Dole (or some other “legitimate business” of dubious legitimacy).

Then there’s also “fair trade”, though that doesn’t mean your bananas will be free of pesticides. Whichever path you choose, you’re still eating something that had to travel halfway across the world and appears fundamentally unsustainable given the hidden energy costs.

To eat locally and sustainably means letting go of such crazy — yet seemingly normal in today’s economy — imports. Like coconut milk, avocados and olives, to name a few. Think back to your grandparents’ time, when getting an orange at Christmas was enough to get your sock garters in a knot from excitement. Like, something special.

I’m not saying that importing anything from far away is wrong, but I do believe a true “staple” should be locally produced. We can’t let the hubris of globalization reach a point where we depend on food imports for our basic needs.

Now, if you’re going to import something, it should be produced by people who get fair compensation for their — in the case of bananas, backbreaking — work.

Anyway, as you might’ve guessed, this Norwegian has purchased nary a banana for some time now.

He’s also been anxiously — and ANGRRRILY — looking forward to a doc called BANANAS!*, which will finally be playing in Montreal as part of the Rencontres internationales du documentaire festival, on November 17^th and 20^th.
Check it out!