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THE STORY OF LOCAL FOOD, SEASON BY SEASON IN NEW MEXICO
Essential
ISSUE 68 · LATE SUMMER • JULY / AUGUST 2020
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LATE SUMMER: JULY / AUGUST DEPARTMENTS 2
GRIST FOR THE MILL By Willy Carleton and Candolin Cook
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CONTRIBUTORS
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LOCAL HEROES
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De Smet Dairy Farms and Creamery, Nathan Mayes, Lois Ellen Frank, PhD, and Revolution Farm
AT THE CHEF'S TABLE Open Doors, Open Dialog by Jason Strykowski
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EDIBLE GARDEN Touch and Grow by Marisa Thompson
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FACES OF FOOD
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COOKING FRESH
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Red Espresso Bourbon Sweet Tea by Stephanie Cameron
NEW MEXICO
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THE STORY OF LOCAL FOOD, SEASON BY SEASON IN NEW MEXICO
FEATURES 40 STATE OF THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY A Socially Distant Round Table by Briana Olson
48 PIVOT OR PERISH
Local Food Committed to Feeding Community in the face of COVID-19 by Sarah Wentzel-Fisher
Essential
ISSUE 68 · LATE SUMMER • JULY / AUGUST 2020
Essential. Photo by Stephanie Cameron.
Giving the Gift of Growing by Joanna Manganaro Toto Cooking Together: Mediterranean Night by Stephanie Cameron
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A CALL TO ACTION
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MEMOIR
Critical Aid by Robin Babb Learning to Dig by Erin Wade
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GRIST FOR THE MILL PUBLISHERS
It’s been three long, heartbreaking months since a new issue of edible New Mexico has been on stands. This period has seen the novel coronavirus wreak havoc on bodies, businesses, and our way of life. In New Mexico, the virus has hit Native communities especially hard. This has also been a time in which we have seen a heightened national focus on racial injustice in the United States, following the murder of George Floyd. Anxiety and anguish have reached dinner tables and streets across the nation. But through all of the darkness of these days and nights, there have also been acts of heroism and kindness, and reasons for hope. The Black Lives Matter movement continues to gain momentum in its cause for equality, accountability, and real, systemic change. Grassroots organizations stepped up to help Navajo Nation when the federal government (once again) let them down. Essential workers, including those in the food industry, have worked around the clock to keep us safe and fed, and our society functioning, as best it can. This issue is dedicated to those essential workers of the food industry. The very fabric of our communities in recent months has been held together in part because of these workers, from farmworkers to trash collectors, line cooks to delivery drivers, meatpacking plant workers to grocery clerks to food pantry organizers. Their work, which has for too long been undervalued, underpaid, and undersupported, has always been essential. In the wake of multiple national supply chain breakdowns, the essential nature of their work is now clearer than ever, and we print this issue as a call to support them however possible. In these pages are just a few perspectives on the many efforts around our state to help protect and heal communities shaken by crisis. Through the stories of several local restaurateurs, farmers, gardeners, designers, and local food advocates, we see a common thread of persevering strength amid well-founded concern and uncertainty. These are just a few of the many stories of people fighting to preserve and strengthen our local food system as the pandemic continues to unfold. As many commentators have noted, the crises surrounding public health, the economy, and deep-rooted racial injustice are closely connected. Running through each is the need for a stronger sense of community and solidarity. Edible pledges to support our local food and BIPOC communities however we can. More on our evolving efforts to support BLM, Black food businesses, food justice, and BIPOC voices can be found on our website ediblenm.com. We will continue to keep you updated on the crisis in Navajo Nation and share resources to help Indigenous communities. And, of course, we will continue to ask everyone to support and eat local. *A special note from edible co-editor Candolin Cook: After five rewarding years at edible New Mexico, this will be my last issue as co-editor. I am stepping down to spend the next year completing my doctoral dissertation in history, with the help of a Russell J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Fellowship and the L. Dudley Phillips Memorial Fellowship. Working for edible has been such a fun, delicious, inspiring, and eye-opening opportunity. It has made me a better writer, community member, advocate, and eater. I will still be part of the edible family in other capacities, but would like to take this opportunity to thank Stephanie and Walt Cameron, Willy Carleton, Briana Olson, Margaret Marti, and all the writers, food professionals, and readers I’ve had the pleasure to work with and get to know. I know I will take this experience with me and continue to learn from all of you. See you around the table.
Bite Size Media, LLC Stephanie and Walt Cameron
EDITORS Willy Carleton and Candolin Cook
COPY EDITORS Margaret Marti and Briana Olson
DESIGN AND LAYOUT Stephanie Cameron
PHOTO EDITOR Stephanie Cameron
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VIDEO PRODUCER Walt Cameron
SALES AND MARKETING Kate Collins, Melinda Esquibel, Gina Riccobono, and Cyndi Wood
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CONTRIBUTORS ROBIN BABB Robin Babb is a writer and the owner of Harvest Moon Books. She lives in Albuquerque. @harvestmoonbooks STEPHANIE CAMERON Stephanie Cameron was raised in Albuquerque and earned a degree in fine arts at the University of New Mexico. After photographing, testing, and designing a cookbook in 2011, she and her husband Walt began pursuing Edible Communities and they found edible in their backyard. Today Cameron is the art director, head photographer, marketing guru, publisher, and owner of edible New Mexico. WILLY CARLETON Willy Carleton is co-editor of edible New Mexico. He recently completed his PhD in history at the University of New Mexico, with a dissertation examining the cultural history of twentieth-century agriculture in the Southwest. CANDOLIN COOK Candolin Cook is co-editor of edible New Mexico; an associate editor for the New Mexico Historical Review; and a PhD candidate in history at the University of New Mexico, specializing in culture and myth in the American West. She loves all local farms, but especially Vida Verde Farm in Albuquerque. JOANNA MANGANARO TOTO Joanna Manganaro Toto is a freelance writer, new mother, and designer of Sonámbulo Jewelry. A recent Santa Fe transplant, she enjoys scouring estate sales for southwestern treasures and sampling the excellent restaurants in her new city. Check out her designs and vintage finds on Instagram at @sonambulojewelry.
JASON STRYKOWSKI Jason Strykowski is a New Mexico-based freelance writer who covers arts, history, culture, and food. His book on New Mexico film locations from UNM Press will be released in 2021. MARISA THOMPSON As the NMSU Extension Urban Horticulture Specialist, Marisa Thompson is responsible for active extension and research programs in sustainable horticulture practices for New Mexicans. In addition to landscape mulches and tomatoes, her current research interests at NMSU’s Agricultural Science Center at Los Lunas include urban forest canopy health, urban landscaping for birds and pollinators, and abiotic plant stressors, such as wind, cold, heat, drought, and soil compaction. She writes a weekly gardening column, “Southwest Yard & Garden,” which is published in newspapers and magazines across the state and on her blog. Readers can access the column archives and many other hort-related resources at desertblooms.nmsu.edu. Find her on social media: @NMdesertblooms. ERIN WADE Owner of Vinaigrette, Modern General, and The Feel Good, Erin Wade’s perspective on how the industry is changing and what the future may hold is backed by fifteen years of close observation of food, farming, and health. erinkimberlywade.com SARAH WENTZEL-FISHER Sarah Wentzel-Fisher is executive director of the Quivira Coalition, a Santa Fe–based nonprofit working at the intersection of agriculture and conservation. She aspires to build community capacity by reimagining the ways we access food, land, capital, and culture.
BRIANA OLSON Briana Olson is a freelance writer and editor, and lead editor for the New Farmer’s Almanac, a miscellany of writings and art by farmers, ecologists, and other land-loving types. She enjoys long mountain walks, taking risks in the kitchen, and seeking out new and interesting things to eat, from Bangkok to Albuquerque. BIPOC writers in food media are sorely underrepresented, including at edible. We would like to encourage any interested writers to apply through our online writer submission form at ediblenm.com/opportunities. 4
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EsCaPe To WiNtEr WeLlNeSs JaNuArY 17-19, 2020
TiMe To CoMe ClEaN After over a year of development, Los Poblanos Lavender Hand Sanitizer has arrived, and the timing couldn’t be more serendipitous. Our production team has crafted a sanitizer that not only refreshes hands, but blends our own home-grown, home-distilled lavender and a touch of rose water to offer an aromatherapeutic boost. Lavender has been used for thousands of years for its natural healing and antiseptic properties, and effortlessly lends itself for use in a sanitizer. This new addition pairs perfectly with our signature Lavender Hand Soap and Lotion for the ultimate hand cleansing experience. We are honored to be able to donate 10% of all of our hand sanitizer gel to people on the frontlines of this healthcare crisis, including those at local hospitals, in ICUs and emergency care, homeless shelters, workers in facilities who are sewing masks, ďŹ re station personnel, at-risk youth shelters, and to the Navajo Nation which has been experiencing more cases than any other group.
Visit our website at farmshop.lospoblanos.com for our complete lavender collection. WWW.EDIBLENM.COM
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20 Years in 2020 #Compound202020
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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2020
LOCAL HEROES An edible Local Hero is an exceptional individual, business, or organization making a positive impact on New Mexico's food systems. These honorees nurture our communities through food, service, and socially and environmentally sustainable business practices. Edible New Mexico readers nominate and vote for their favorite local chefs, growers, artisans, advocates, and other food professionals in two dozen categories. In each issue of edible, we feature interviews with a handful of the winners, allowing us to get better acquainted with them and the important work they do. Please join us in thanking these Local Heroes for being at the forefront of New Mexico's local food movement.
De Smet Dairy Farms and Creamery AN INTERVIEW WITH ERICA AND MIKE DE SMET BEST FARM, GREATER NEW MEXICO Photos by Stephanie Cameron
Mike and Erica De Smet with their sons Landon and Logan.
De Smet is a third-generation, truly local dairy farm in Bosque Farms, New Mexico. The farm is unique in the dairy industry. Their cows are grassfed and free grazing, and calves are left with moms to allow nature to do what it does best. De Smet and their beautiful Jersey cows provide a variety of farm fresh products.
First of all, how are you holding up during this crisis? This crisis has brought its fair share of challenges for us. We were thankful to be able to stay open and provide all our loyal customers, along with an influx of new customers, with a steady supply of food when local grocery stores could not. With the panic and abundance WWW.EDIBLENM.COM
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LOCAL HEROES
Left: Landon and Logan with chickens. Right: De Smet’s Jersey cows.
of new customers, we decided to limit our products per person in order to provide for all equally. On top of the extra stress and long hours, we had to become teachers for our two young kiddos. Why did you decide to carry on the family business? When our kids were born, we wanted them to have the same access to healthy milk as I had growing up. De Smet offers both pasteurized and raw milk. Can you tell us a bit about the benefits of raw milk? Do you have a preference? We carry a variety of products, including eggs, yogurt, cheese curds, pasteurized milk, and raw milk. When drinking milk, we prefer raw milk due to all its beneficial probiotics and natural vitamins and minerals. Have you had to adapt your business during the lockdown? How so? Yes, because the local grocery stores were running out of essential items like eggs and milk, we were hit with a number of thefts. We had to implement new security systems and start manning the selfserve honor system we’d been running for nine years. Personally or professionally, have there been any silver linings for you during this difficult time? Hopefully the silver lining will be more people [are] shopping locally and stop relying on the global supply chain. We have all seen the heartbreaking images on the news of dairies dumping their milk during this crisis because of a drop in demand and a broken supply chain. Is this something De Smet experienced? Why or why not? Our dairy operates differently than most dairies due to the fact that 8
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we milk the cows, process the milk, and distribute all ourselves. We are not at the mercy of the global market. Even before the current crisis brought on by COVID-19, the dairy industry had fallen on tough times. Where do you see the future of the dairy industry headed? Do you see small, local dairies such as yourself being the answer? Most people are price-driven when it comes to food, [and] the larger dairies are able to produce larger quantities of milk at a lower cost. Smaller grassfed dairies such as ours have lower production but provide an alternative to conventional milk. There is a need for both types of dairies to meet the needs of all consumers. Tell us something surprising. You’d be surprised to know that Jesús Escarcega, our dairy manager, sings rancheras to the cows as he is milking them, and I SWEAR, that’s part of the reason our milk is superior (ha ha). If they could talk, I’d bet they are bilingual, too, because Samuel Santiago, our head milker, only speaks to them in Spanish and they seem to listen when he nicely asks them to move up to the barn for milking time! What does it mean to you for your community to recognize De Smet as a Local Hero? I would like to sit here and take all the credit, but really my cows, our awesome employees, and all of our supporters are the real heroes! Without them we wouldn’t be able to provide this awesomeness called grassfed milk from free-grazing cattle! We appreciate the support today and over the years, and look forward to being your “hero” for years to come! 2405 McNew, Bosque Farms, 505-350-9075, desmetdairy.com
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LOCAL HEROES
Nathan Mayes EXECUTIVE CHEF/PARTNER AT PALOMA BEST CHEF, SANTA FE Photos by Douglas Merriam
Executive chef and partner Nathan Mayes of Paloma.
Nathan Mayes grew up splitting time between Austin and Santa Fe, working in several acclaimed restaurants in both cities. After spending time cooking in New York, Mayes returned to Santa Fe in hopes of opening a restaurant. In 2017, he opened Paloma with business partner Marja Martin. Focusing on Mexican-inspired flavors made with local ingredients, Mayes cooks with both tradition and innovation.
I am from a food family. First of all, both my mother and father are great cooks. Ingredients and preparation were very important in our home. My father was an independent chef/owner in Austin. Growing up, I spent a lot of time in kitchens, not so much cooking, but more washing dishes, helping build and repair, and limited prep work.
First of all, how are you holding up during this crisis?
My mother has a very good green thumb and raised us (my brother and sister) along with vegetable and flower gardens in our backyard. Both of my parents were very conscious of the integrity of the food we consumed growing up.
Whew . . . it’s been hard. You work your whole life to get a piece of your own restaurant and then the largest economic collapse of our lifetime hits. Nothing to do but to keep cooking and keep pushing forward until you literally cannot. I’ve just been putting my head down and cooking while trying to think optimistically about the future of dining. Where did you develop your love for food and cooking? Do you have a favorite food memory from childhood? 10
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The smell of roasting poblanos takes me back to my childhood home, whereas the crunch of green onions in a salad takes me to my grandparents’ house. The smell of skillet-fried potatoes transports me to my other grandmother’s home, and the bite of a fresh-off-the-vine tomato puts me right back into my mother’s garden.
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Left: Golden beet and mango salad. Right: Lamb barbacoa with grilled nopales.
Paloma’s cuisine is “Mexican-inspired.” What inspires you about Mexican food and ingredients, and how do you put your own spin on it? The complexity of ingredients, the tradition, the resilience of the cuisine, and the universal appreciation of Mexican flavors all inspire me. The history of the American Southwest is woven with Mexican culture and culinary tradition. The chiles, the corn, the beans— these are all the foods I grew up eating. I try not to get too fussy with things at Paloma. We want our food at Paloma to shine through the sourcing, flavor, and cooking process of the ingredients. Can you tell us a bit about how Paloma had to adapt its business model during lockdown? Like a lot of our neighbors, we had to start doing takeout. Not that it is in any way sustainable, but it did give us a pulse. We added a couple more casual to-go options that travel well, like our burrito and cheeseburger. Did you experience disruptions to your food supply? Why or why not? We had a lot of food shortages in the first couple months of lockdown. The beef processing plant closed for our local beef. Our local bean supply sold out. A lot of produce was hard to come by, especially in March. Luckily, as we moved into spring, local farms started having more produce we could supplement with. Personally or professionally, have there been any silver linings for you during this difficult time? 12
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Getting to spend time with my family was the most valuable silver lining in all of this. Eating dinner at home, having the opportunity to get rest, and getting quality time with the ones closest to me was invaluable. Professionally, perspective is the silver lining in all of this. I used the short time we were actually closed to think of ways to improve both as a restaurant and as a chef and leader. It was time and mental space you would never get if you were back on the grind. Going forward, what do you hope we can learn from this experience, as it pertains to the restaurant industry? I hope chefs and restaurants take this as a lesson in agility. I hope that the public continues to support locally and independently owned restaurants. The margins are very thin, even in the best times. Support small business and tip your server! What’s next for Paloma? We plan on expanding into a Sunday brunch service as soon as possible and continuing to grow with our neighborhood. We are planning on opening a small pizza restaurant next to us focusing on simplicity, quality, and seasonality in late 2020. Is there anything else you’d like to share with edible readers? I just want everyone to know how grateful I am to receive such an incredible award. 401 S Guadalupe, Santa Fe, 505-467-8624, palomasantafe.com
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LOCAL HEROES
Lois Ellen Frank, PhD CHEF/OWNER, RED MESA CUISINE, LLC OLLA AWARD/LOCAL HERO AWARD Photo by Daphne Hougard
Lois Ellen Frank, PhD (Kiowa) is a Santa Fe–based chef, Native foods historian, culinary anthropologist, educator, and James Beard Award– winning cookbook author, photographer, and organic gardener. She is the chef/owner of Red Mesa Cuisine, a Native American catering company specializing in the revitalization of ancestral Native American cuisine with a modern twist, where she cooks with Chef Walter Whitewater (Diné). Dr. Frank has spent more than twenty-seven years documenting and working with the foods and lifeways of Native American communities in the Southwest. She works with the New Mexico Department of Health, training Native American cooks how to prepare healthy Native American meals, as well as with the Phy14
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sicians Committee for Responsible Medicine on a video and recipe booklet called The Power to Heal Diabetes: Food For Life in Indian Country. She is a featured cooking instructor at the Santa Fe School of Cooking and an adjunct professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), where she teaches students from tribal communities all over the Americas about Indigenous concepts of Native American foods. Dr. Frank believes and teaches that “food is our medicine” and the key to future health and wellness in Native communities. First of all, how have you been holding up during this crisis? This has been a hard time for all of us, especially chefs as well as everyone in the restaurant business. I have had good days and bad days.
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LOCAL HEROES
I try to focus on the positive in all of this; it’s just my nature. Since the pandemic began, I have been reinventing what I do and how I do it.
the farmer or harvester who supplied us with the ingredients that we used and that are now a part of the dish we are serving.
I taught the second half of the spring semester for my Indigenous food class at IAIA via Zoom, and we ended the semester with a virtual Feast. My students all did a great job and we made it through a very difficult time with some wonderful Native food dishes.
For me, it’s bringing to the table the “scapes” of the area, which include the landscape, the soundscape, the smellscape, and the foodscape. I suppose some might use the French word terroir to describe the flavor developed from environmental factors affecting a specific food or wine, but I think the only way to truly experience a place— like where I cook, here in northern New Mexico—is to experience all of the scapes.
I’ve also been working with Native American–owned nonprofits focused on Native American health and wellness, as well as with the New Mexico Department of Health and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, to create Zoom cooking classes and educational videos using Native American ancestral ingredients for health and wellness. I produced a series of instructional cooking videos with easy-tomake recipes, Made in New Mexico. Everything that Made in New Mexico sells through their website and their store in Taos features local products from small mom-and-pop food businesses, highlighting all of New Mexico’s individual flavor and distinctive native ingredients. I also created some virtual cooking classes with the Santa Fe School of Cooking. We have to keep going. We have to keep alive the ancestral foods and the health benefits they provide, especially during a time of crisis like this. We have to carry on the message that food is our medicine. There has definitely been a learning curve on all of this, but it has been a fun challenge and I am starting to get the hang of the new technology that we have been launched into. I started my own YouTube channel and am in the process of uploading the videos we have been producing. I am also working on putting these videos on my website with other information, including the research on specific Native food ingredients that my students at IAIA completed for their final research topics this semester so that other educators can use their PowerPoint presentations. How has the pandemic affected your work so far? Going forward, what do you hope you can learn from this experience, as it pertains to our local food practices? Have there been any silver linings? It’s still playing out, [so] I won’t know the true answer to this question until things evolve. As of right now, most of the events on the calendar have either been cancelled or postponed until the fall or moved to 2021. We are starting to get calls for small groups now, and we are working on estimates for those events for the future. I can’t wait to get back to work and cook for events. That’s what I do. I create memories. I share stories. I create experiences that go along with the delicious food that I prepare with the people I work with. It’s not uncommon for Chef Walter and I to bring the hand drum and end the dinner, or the luncheon, or the special event that we cook for, with a traditional Native song. We nurture the body, but we also feed the soul. A lot of what I do is experiential. It’s about talking to and educating the group, it’s about feeding the group, and explaining to them about 16
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So I’m looking forward to doing all of that again. I’m looking forward to serving up experiential knowledge surrounding the ancestral foods that I cook with and creating a unique culinary experience that comes from all of the components of a meal. The land, the food, the farmers that grow the food, the wild harvesters who harvest for me, the chefs that help me prepare the food, the servers who serve the food, and the song that we sing at the end of the meal. Throughout this pandemic, I have been working with Chef Walter to create educational videos on a variety of local dishes, using local ingredients, which are both nutritious and delicious. After each episode and/or video, I package the leftover food into to-go containers, and feed some of my elderly neighbors. My neighbors range in age but some of them live alone. I put the food in their mailbox and text them when it is there, so that they don’t have to have face-to-face contact and I do not put them at risk in any way. This way they are nourished with wholesome, local, organic, delicious, healthy food and I have zero waste. It’s been a win-win situation for all involved and I think after this is all over, I will continue to feed my neighbors. It brings us closer. It creates community. I get a lot of texts from them now, about how much they have enjoyed the food that I have provided to them. It’s heartwarming. This experience has helped me to appreciate everything I do more than I did before. Is there anything else you’d like to share with edible readers? I just want to say that receiving the Olla Award is a great honor for me. And I want to thank everyone that voted and supported me. I feel not only honored, but also very blessed to be one of the individuals recognized for my work to create healthy, innovative, vibrant, delicious and nutritious food, but also to be a part of such a resilient local sustainable food system in New Mexico. Thank you to everyone that I work with, from the farms and growers, food producers, wild food harvesters, food purveyors, chefs, servers, dishwashers, to every client, nonprofit, educational institution, community, tribe, and organization I have ever cooked for. I am grateful to all of you. *This interview has been edited for length. Please read our full Q&A with Dr. Lois Ellen Frank at ediblenm.com. redmesacuisine.com
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Revolution Farm AN INTERVIEW WITH ALEX PINO, FARMER BEST FARM, SANTA FE Photos by Douglas Merriam
Alex Pino of Revolution Farm in Santa Fe harvesting lettuce.
Alex Pino was born and raised in Chicago, then moved to New Mexico at age twenty. After years working unfulfilling jobs and seeking solutions to the industrialized food system, he began farming on a rocky piñon- and juniper-covered hillside near Santa Fe. Today, Revolution Farm grows market vegetables on rented land in La Cienega, and sells at Santa Fe–area farmers markets. Pino helps organize farmers through the National Young Farmers Coalition’s local chapter, the Northern New Mexico Young Farmers’ Alliance. First of all, how are you holding up during this crisis? I have taken the time (that I am luckily able to spend at home) to rethink a lot of the delivery systems I have had for my products. I am working hard to make sure that I can provide healthy fresh produce to the people of my community. A crisis like this is a time for the community to come together and help each other. We have increased 18
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the amount that we supply to Bienvenidos Outreach Food Bank, and continue to offer Triple Up Food Bucks to our customers, which takes the Double Up Food Bucks program a step further. Tell us a bit of your back story. Why were you drawn to farming and how did you get started? I have never had an easy time conforming to corporate America and consumer culture. Farming encompasses a lot of things I enjoy: working for myself, being outdoors, and producing something that is a valuable asset to the community. I started small, feeding myself and my close friends and neighbors. Then I grew as I figured out what worked and what didn’t, here in the high desert. As I have grown my business, I have been able to supply more food to our community in ways that fulfill our mission of food justice.
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Harvesting and washing lettuce at Revolution Farm.
Can you tell us a bit about how you have had to adapt your business model during the lockdown? We have launched a new food distribution program for a CSA-style weekly box with all produce grown on the farm. Because of this we
Starting a weekly box program has been something I have thought about in the past, but this has really pushed me to get it going. Going forward, what do you hope we can learn from this experience, as it pertains to the local food economy?
Personally or professionally, have there been any silver linings for
Local food is important, and we [at Revolution Farm] believe food is a human right which must be equally available to all. Unfortunately, our leaders have decided to prioritize the militarization and industrialization of this nation over simply feeding, clothing, and giving shelter to everyone. Not to mention medical care and education! It’s easy to get really overwhelmed but good to concentrate on building soil and growing food during such turbulent times.
you during this difficult time?
revolution-farm.com
have diversified the crops we are growing in order to offer more variety in these boxes. In years past, we would grow five to ten varieties of crops and this year we are growing around fifty. We have also had to rethink the way that we display and package our product to make sure it is safe for the consumer.
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While you were Sheltering, we have been creating amazing chocolate bars and truffles. Stop by the 8114 EDITH NE store or our new Sawmill location at 1909 BELLAMAH opening in July—stay tuned. We miss you! Call 505-433-4076 for more info.
AT THE CHEF'S TABLE
Open Doors, Open Dialog THE SHOP STAYS CONNECTED THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA By Jason Strykowski Photos and Captions Courtesy of The Shop’s Instagram
theshopbreakfastandlunch They all wanna peek at my biscuits. Pictured: Israel Rivera.
As the Ides of March passed, Israel Rivera, chef and owner of The Shop, had great cause for concern. It looked as if it were only a matter of time before coronavirus regulations might force him to shut down his restaurant. Then he would be stuck with bills to pay and no revenue. Worse yet, he had little faith that any governmental entity would come through with relief payments. Rivera wasn’t sure where to turn for help. He kept an eye on other restaurants around the country and thought he might have to follow their example and shutter. In that case, The Shop would cook through the food on hand and then close to wait out the tough times. They didn’t know what else to do. “When this whole thing started, we felt like we had no guidance. Nobody was telling us what to do or telling us the safest way to go about stuff.” Several days before New Mexico state guidelines shut down restaurants, The Shop converted to a to-go business. Rivera figured they might serve an abridged version of their full menu of Mexican, New Mexican, and broadly American-inspired favorites. “If we can make just enough money to cover [the bills] and keep one or two employees 22
edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2020
theshopbreakfastandlunch It’s Jules Ogilvie’s birthday today!!! Jules freakin’ rules. Without her exuberant personality, The Shop wouldn’t be what it is. Pictured: Jules Ogilvie.
on, we’ll be good,” he said he was thinking. No one really knew if this plan would work, and if it did, for how long. Rivera decided to take to Instagram and Facebook to open a dialog with clients and fellow restaurateurs. If there wasn’t to be an official game plan for the pandemic, maybe Rivera and the community could craft their own. “When the whole pandemic started, I posted what we’re doing and what we were thinking, mostly to try to get a feel for what other business owners were doing. I wanted my friends who have restaurants, my friends who have small businesses to reach out to me,” said Rivera. At the very least, The Shop could give people something to see. Knowing that people were at home staring at their phones all day, Rivera said to himself, “Might as well push some pictures out.” Not only did he post pictures of food, but also photos of staff members wearing shirts that read “Essential AF.” From early on, Rivera used social media to ask customers what they wanted. Many seemed reticent to go to the grocery store, so The Shop started to sell some bulk foods. He found that his customers
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AT THE CHEF'S TABLE had an appetite for The Shop’s jam, pickles, stock, and chile. At first, they only sold prepared foods directly, but now they’ve partnered with Vida Verde Farms to include these items in the farm’s community supported agriculture (CSA) program. Not all of The Shop’s posts bring humor, suggestions, or cheeseburger profiles. Rivera sees the medium as a venue for many forms of honesty, and in his intimate, sincere short videos he tells his followers exactly what The Shop plans to do on many days and how he’s feeling. “It’s really important to share the bad with the good. Not every day is great, and we’re all just trying to figure it out,” said Rivera. Because they have taken no monetary assistance, Rivera also uses Instragram to make it clear to customers what their patronage means. “I want our customers to know that they’re the ones who are keeping us open. We’re not getting any help,” he said.
theshopbreakfastandlunch Finally. A shirt that describes just how I feel about our industry and the people who work in it. I’ve always felt that everyone from the servers to the dishwashers, cooks, managers, chefs—we are all essential. We are all important. Furthermore, I am so grateful to have an essential job. These guys, all of our team, are essential to me. Pictured left–right: Bri Arviso, Israel Rivera, Jessica Barfield (kneeling), Paula Mollo.
The Shop did try to get help. Just an hour after applications went live, Rivera attempted to secure a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan from the Small Business Administration (SBA). The PPP was designed to help small businesses cover their payroll costs during the pandemic. According to the SBA’s website, they have awarded almost 4.5 million loans that average $114,000. The Shop’s first application, though, did not receive a response. They applied during the second round, and that time they were approved. As Rivera dug into the details, he grew concerned that the PPP would not be a viable solution for his business. Not only would it only cover his employees temporarily, he also spotted language in the agreement that made it sound as if his debt would be sold to unnamed parties. He decided to turn that offer down. At least until the end of May, they didn’t need it. Not only did customers stick with The Shop, they surprised Rivera by ordering every item on the menu so the restaurant never had to limit its offerings. “Our community has been so super supportive of every step that we’ve taken and every decision we’ve made,” said Rivera. The future, though, is as uncertain as the recent past. “Whether or not it’s sustainable is not really the question: It’s whether or not we can make it sustainable. Right now it’s working because we have such awesome support,” said Rivera. “Ultimately it’s up to us to figure out how to make it work.” Of course, it’s not hard to figure out what The Shop is up to. Just check their Instagram and Facebook feed. 2933 Monte Vista Blvd NE, Albuquerque, 505-433-2795
theshopbreakfastandlunch It’s Saturday! (I think) the customer has spoken! Y’all love fried chicken, so today we have Chicken and waffles AND fried chicken sandwich!! Pictured: Jessica Barfield, a.k.a. Jbar. 24
edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2020
Rivera has some suggestions, should a pandemic happen again. “At the beginning of this, the smart thing to do would have been to shut everybody down and pause any kind of tax payments or interest,” he said. “Pause the whole economy for a month or two and then just wait it out.” Many businesses, Rivera continued, had to remain open purely to pay their bills and taxes. If that need were relaxed, they could close temporarily and then reopen responsibly.
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EDIBLE GARDEN
Touch and Grow RESOURCES FOR GARDENING IN NEW MEXICO By Marisa Thompson
I get it. Gardening in New Mexico can be frustrating, to put it mildly. Add my propensity for forgetting to water—or forgetting to turn the water off—and it’s a miracle there’s anything green in my yard at all. Like me, you’re dealing with everything from intense winds and even more intense sunshine and heat to pitifully low precipitation, late freezes, and early freezes. Luckily, there are several simple ways to overcome these issues, several of which I’ll be sharing through a series of upcoming articles in edible. For now, I will focus on an important, perhaps counter-intuitive, summer hack: supplying limited shade. Despite the difficulties of our summer climate, growers all over the state create high-yielding gardens and farms. From trellises covered in shade fabric to planting strategically in microclimates protected from the savage late afternoon sun, the possibilities are vast. Get creative; try planting tall veggies that can handle the heat, like okra or corn, on the west side of plants like pumpkins or leafy greens that prefer partial shade. I’m currently using a patio chair with a mesh seat to shade a newly planted rose bush that’s struggling next to a hot west-facing wall. The hope is that shade, whatever the source may be, will reduce heat, slow water loss, and even improve the efficiency of photosynthesis at the leaf level long enough for the plant to establish a healthy root system and branch out a little. While it’s not currently known exactly what percent shade is optimal for specific crops in our conditions, many seasoned growers recommend 30–50 percent.
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Tomatoes we studied last year at the New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center at Los Lunas, for example, yielded 37.8 pounds per plant on average! Our tomato rows stayed covered with white shade cloth (technically frost cloth) with 85 percent light transmission for the first six weeks after transplanting. And there is no need to worry about pollinators not being able to reach flowers of covered tomato, eggplant, or chile plants. These flowers are not only capable of self-pollination, but, because of the close arrangement of anthers (male organs that contain pollen) around the stigma (female flower structure that receives the pollen during pollination), most are self-pollinated even if visited by multiple pollinators. This summer, we plan to continue studying the effects of shade cloth on plant water status, photosynthetic rates, disease and insect pest prevention, and tomato yields. Many successful gardeners can attest to the benefits of shade, especially afternoon shade, and especially when the plants are young. When I took the NMSU Extension Master Gardener class in 2008, I remember an afternoon lecture by a local gardener, Ron Jobe, famous for his high yields of tomatoes grown under shade. On a whim one morning last spring, I called him up and spoke with him and his wife, Mary. They told me about farming two acres in Albuquerque’s South Valley. They’ve planted over eighty fruit trees and installed a wooden snow fence to shade their large vegetable garden. The snow fence, which hangs high enough to walk under it easily, was chosen because
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of its availability and durability. The Jobes grew just about every vegetable under the sun. Mr. Jobe said, “It’s almost necessary to provide shade in areas where it’s so hot in the summer. It’s a real challenge to keep the soil moist. Every plant needs sun, but only so much. Too much sun can burn not only the fruit but the plant itself.” Thick woody or fibrous mulch is another easy way to improve vegetable gardening. It improves soil moisture retention and creates moderate temperatures in the root zone. Interestingly, moisture retention can be increased year-round, but mulches affect soil temperatures differently, depending on the season. In summer, mulches help lower soil temperature by shading the soil, and in winter, they help keep
root zone temperature from dropping too low at night and keep roots warm under snow cover, like an insulating blanket. By July, many will have given up on starting a garden in fear that they’re too late. This couldn’t be further from the truth. If anything, you might be too early. In New Mexico, fall, winter, and spring gardening can be much less stressful than summer gardening. If you have failed at growing vegetables from seed in your garden, don’t despair. In our environment, it’s tough to keep newly germinated seeds consistently moist at any time of year—especially in summer. The same tends to be true for transplants. Providing shade and adding mulch will increase your chances of success. Give it another grow.
RESOURCES My predecessor, Dr. Curtis Smith, hosted a popular gardening show called “Southwest Yard & Garden” that featured all kinds of local growing tips (now available in short video clips on YouTube). He once interviewed Jobe in his shaded garden and it’s well worth the watch, youtu.be/V2_9R5R03wk. Take the time to find out what cultivars and planting times are recommended in your area. Check out NMSU Extension Circulars 457, “Home Vegetable Gardening in New Mexico” and 457-B, “Growing Zones, Recommended Crop Varieties, and Planting and Harvesting Information for Home Vegetable Gardens in New Mexico,” available at https://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_h (the “h” is for horticulture).
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Local high school science teacher and ag enthusiast Raechel Roberts shared photos of the sturdy structures she created to provide her vegetables with afternoon shade. Photos by Raechel Roberts.
EXPERIENCE Oaxaca
Edible Travels–Oaxaca! | February 8–16 2021
Experience Oaxaca and all its flavor while traveling with Edible New Mexico.
We will come together around the tables of Oaxaca to share meals and
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and community members involved with Oaxacan sustainability efforts.
*Open Heart Tours will refund all fees paid, including the non-refundable deposit, should the US State Department issue a travel ban for Oaxaca.
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FACES OF FOOD
Giving the Gift of Growing FOOD IS FREE ALBUQUERQUE LAUNCHES ITS GARDEN BOX PROGRAM IN RESPONSE TO THE PANDEMIC By Joanna Manganaro Toto
Food Is Free planter boxes. Photo courtesy of FIFABQ.
Aside from being known as the summer before COVID-19 hit, the summer of 2019 in Santa Fe will be remembered for its bumper crop of apricots. As tree branches grew heavy with the velvety fruits, the city’s residents scrambled to put them to good use. They furiously made jams and jellies and cobblers and tarts. They posted on NextDoor, offering to give away the leftover bounty from their trees. Local chefs also got in on the apricot extravaganza; every restaurant’s dessert special seemed to involve the fruit in one way or another. At the farmers market, shoppers passed them by, shaking their heads in obvious apricot fatigue. And yet, for all the selling and cooking and baking and giving away, the sidewalks were still covered in the smashed remains of apricots beyond their prime, with sticky footprints spreading their goo down the street. It was impossible to keep up, no matter how hard Santa Fe tried. Five summers before, new friends Erin Garrison and Trista Teeter observed a similar fruit explosion in Albuquerque. Having started 30
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learning to can together, they longed to test out their new skill with the apples and peaches and plums and, yes, apricots that seemed to be ignored on trees in the city’s neighborhoods. So, on a lark, they turned to Craigslist. Garrison and Teeter posted an open request to harvest fruit trees on private property, offering to give the trees’ owners first dibs on the bounty, if they were allowed to keep the rest. To their surprise, their post generated ten responses. Garrison and Teeter, with their children in tow, set off on their first harvest, gathering about two hundred pounds of fruit. Realizing it was far more than they could can, they left the excess at a bus stop for hungry passersby. Garrison and Teeter were amazed at what they were able to gather and give to those in need, and they were thrilled at the great response from the trees’ owners. They decided that their idea had the potential to be much bigger. Researching similar efforts online, they discovered the international Food Is Free organization, which was founded in 2012 in Austin by John Vandeusen Edwards. They reached out, and
FACES OF FOOD
Left: End of year harvest. Right: Corn harvest. Photo courtesy of FIFABQ.
the organization allowed them to join its network, bringing Food Is Free Albuquerque to life. Garrison explains, “Our core belief as a group is that fresh food is a human right.” That belief has helped to shape the programs that the organization has rolled out through the years. Its Harvest program, inspired by Garrison and Teeter’s initial Craigslist adventure, is its longest-running and is the core activity of Food Is Free Albuquerque. In the warmer months, the organization sends its thirty to fifty volunteers out to backyards, farms, and other private properties to harvest ripe fruits and vegetables. Property owners take what they can use, and the excess is donated to food banks and homeless shelters, including the Center for Peace and Justice, SteelBridge, and HopeWorks in Albuquerque and the Food Depot in Santa Fe. Home and property owners can sign up to have their trees or gardens harvested on Food Is Free Albuquerque’s website, where they can schedule a harvesting date when their fruits or vegetables are ripe and ready to be picked. In keeping with their own children’s involvement in their first harvest, Garrison and Teeter encourage volunteers to bring their kids along in order to pass down the tradition of giving back to the community. In 2019, Food Is Free Albuquerque launched a program through which it builds accessible gardens for people with disabilities. Sponsored by local businesses and built by volunteers from those businesses, these gardens are custom-created to meet the specific needs of their new owners. Potential recipients of the accessible gardens can be nominated on Food Is Free Albuquerque’s website and are chosen by its garden committee. Garrison explains, “We ask our nominees: What do you need, what do you want, and what are your biggest
dreams?” With the information they gather, the group creates a garden plan that enables the recipients to grow their own food. “With this particular program, we are bringing the community and the garden to the folks that we are serving,” says Garrison. Just as Food Is Free Albuquerque was gearing up for this year’s harvesting season, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Garrison says, “All of our programming involves gathering together in groups, so we had to pause and step back and see what was going to happen next.” With her organization’s plans for the season dashed, Garrison found herself dealing with the uncertainty by compulsively building garden boxes. She and Teeter decided to offer those boxes, along with seeds, growing pots, and self-watering pots to people who signed up on their website via a lottery-based system, in an effort to help ease the fears generated by seeing empty shelves at grocery stores. Spurred by a feature on KRQE, over 9,600 people signed up for the program, which Garrison and Teeter named Gift of Growing. Though the program is currently closed to new requests, Food Is Free Albuquerque continues to work through existing entries and hopes to open it up for a new round of requests as soon as funding and peoplepower allow. Tying together the goal of Gift of Growing with her organization’s overall mission, Garrison says, “Food really is power. When we as a community are growing food for ourselves and sharing food with one another, there’s a lot of power in that. When everybody’s doing a little, we can take care of a lot [of people]. We don’t have to be scared if there’s a run on the stores as long as we have a sustainable, equitable food system here. I really believe that’s possible. That’s what we’re striving for, and we do it one apple at a time.” fifabq.org WWW.EDIBLENM.COM
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r e h t e g o T g n i k Coo HT
IG N N A E N TERRA
MEDI
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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2020
Cameron
COOKING FRESH During the COVID-19 pandemic, most found themselves cooking at home more than ever before—both out of necessity and an abundance of time. Even if by happenstance, we also found ourselves amid the rebirth of a local food revolution.
and sides and the other takes the protein or the kids chip in
Families who quarantined together found that many hands make light work in the kitchen. Whether one takes the veggies
scratch Mediterranean meal that everyone in the family can
on prepping tasks, coming together in the kitchen will create memories not soon forgotten. In the spirit of families cooking together, this issue’s Cooking Fresh is based on a made-fromcontribute to—whether a couple or a family of five or six.
THE SHOPPING LIST
FROM THE PANTRY OR GROCERY STORE 1 package active dry yeast Granulated sugar All-purpose flour Extra-virgin olive oil and olive oil Breadcrumbs or panko Ground cumin Ground coriander Paprika Cinnamon Cayenne pepper Kosher salt and sea salt Black pepper 15-ounce can of chickpeas 2 large lemons Tahini 1 bar good-quality dark chocolate (at least 70% cacao) Vanilla extract Cocoa powder Espresso powder
To support local businesses as much as possible, we recommend these retail outlets: • For spices and espresso powder, Savory Spice Shop, Talin Market, Bombay Spices, or Penzeys Spices
PRODUCE FROM THE FARMERS MARKET, CSA, OR YOUR GARDEN 1 small onion 1 bulb of garlic 1 bunch cilantro or flat-leaf parsley 2 large cucumbers 1 bunch dill Lettuce of choice Tomatoes of choice
MEAT, DAIRY, AND EGGS 1 pound ground lamb 6 eggs Greek yogurt Feta cheese
Among opportunities to source locally raised meat, dairy, and eggs are La Montañita Co-op, Whole Foods, De Smet Dairy and Creamery, Skarsgard Farms delivery service, Polk’s Folly Butcher Shop and Farm Stand, and New Mexico Harvest CSA.
• For flour, Valencia Flour Mills flour, which can be purchased at La Montañita Co-op or Polk’s Folly Butcher Shop and Farm Stand
For more than two people:
• For chocolate, Eldora Chocolate, Chokola Bean to Bar, or Cacao Santa Fe
steps, make hummus and tzatziki.
RECOMMENDED ASSIGNMENTS
One person in charge of pita bread. In between One person in charge of meatballs. Start 45 minutes before dinner is to be served. One person in charge of dessert. Start 1 hour
For two people:
before dinner is to be served. While the cake is
One person in charge of pita bread and cake. Start pita bread and work on cake in between steps for the pita. If time permits, help roll meatballs.
baking, help prep the tomatoes, cucumber, and
One person in charge of hummus, tzatziki, and meatballs. Make in this order and start at the same time your partner is starting the pita.
in the kitchen, they can assist with prepping
cheese for serving with dinner. If there are more than three sets of helping hands ingredients and rolling meatballs.
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COOKING FRESH
PITA BREAD Adapted from Lauren Miyashiro of Delish.com Makes 8 pitas Prep time 30 minutes, cook time 15 minutes, total time 2 hours 1 cup warm water, 110°F 2 teaspoons active dry yeast 1 teaspoon granulated sugar 3 cups all-purpose flour, to be divided 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Homemade pita bread is worth the time to make because it tastes a hundred times better than store-bought pita. It might seem intimidating, but this is a straightforward recipe to execute. In a stand mixer or large bowl, combine warm water, yeast, and sugar; stir until dissolved. Stir in 1/2 cup flour and let sit for 15 minutes, until mixture foams. Add oil, salt, and 2 cups flour (reserving 1/2 cup). Mix with dough hook attachment or stir with a wooden spoon until a shaggy mass forms. If kneading with a dough hook, mix at low speed for 7 minutes, adding more of the reserved flour if the dough is too sticky. If kneading by hand, dust a clean surface with some of the reserved flour and knead until smooth and elastic, about 7 minutes, adding more of the reserved flour if the dough is too sticky. The dough should be soft and moist. Place dough in a large clean bowl and cover with a clean dish towel. Leave in a warm place until dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour. Punch down dough, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, divide it into eight pieces, and roll into balls. Cover with a towel and let rest for 10 minutes. Preheat a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Working one at a time, roll each round into a 1/4-inch-thick circle that is about 8 inches in diameter, sprinkling dough with extra flour if it starts to stick. Cook each pita one at a time in the skillet until an air pocket balloons, then flip and cook 1 minute more. Cover baked pitas with a clean dish towel to keep warm.
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COOKING FRESH
MOROCCAN LAMB MEATBALLS Adapted from RecipeTin Eats Makes 22–24 meatballs Prep time 20 minutes, cook time 20 minutes, total time 40 minutes 1 pound ground lamb 1 small onion, grated (1/2 cup, including juices) 1/2 cup breadcrumbs or panko 1 egg 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1/4 cup cilantro or flat parsley leaves and stems, finely chopped 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon ground coriander 1 teaspoon paprika 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon salt Black pepper 1 tablespoon olive oil
Quintessential Mediterranean spices will make these meatballs the centerpiece of the meal. This recipe also works with ground beef, chicken, or turkey. Place ingredients, except for the oil, in a bowl and mix well. Measure out 1 heaping tablespoon of meat mixture, roll into a ball, and place onto a sheet pan. Repeat with remaining mixture. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add half the meatballs and cook, turning to brown all over, for 8–10 minutes, or until cooked through. Transfer to a plate and cook remaining meatballs.
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COOKING FRESH
HUMMUS Adapted from Inspired Taste Makes 1 1/2–3 cups Prep time 10 minutes, total time 10 minutes 1 15-ounce can of chickpeas 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (juice of 1 large lemon) 1/4 cup tahini, well-stirred 1 small garlic clove, minced 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin Salt to taste 2–3 tablespoons of water Dash ground paprika or ground sumac, for serving Optional: 1–2 cups roasted veggies such as turnips, beets, sweet potatoes, or rutabaga
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Let the seasons be your guide and get creative with your hummus, beginning with the basic recipe below. For variation, add 1–2 cups roasted veggies. Store leftover hummus in an airtight container and refrigerate up to 1 week. In the bowl of a food processor, combine tahini and lemon juice and process for 1 minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then process for 30 seconds more. This extra time helps “whip” or “cream” the tahini, making the hummus smooth and creamy. Add olive oil, minced garlic, cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the whipped tahini and lemon juice. Process for 30 seconds, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then process another 30 seconds or until well blended. Open, drain, and rinse the chickpeas. Add half of chickpeas to the food processor and process for 1 minute. Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl, then add remaining chickpeas and process until thick and quite smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. The hummus will probably be too thick or still have tiny bits of chickpea. To fix this, with the food processor turned on, slowly add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water until you reach the perfect consistency. Taste for salt and adjust as needed. Serve hummus with a drizzle of olive oil and dash of paprika. Store homemade hummus in an airtight container and refrigerate up to 1 week.
COOKING FRESH
TZATZIKI Adapted from Cookie+Kate Makes 2 1/2 cups Prep time 15 minutes, total time 15 minutes 2 cups grated cucumber, about 1 large cucumber 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 medium clove garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Tzatziki is a traditional Greek yogurt and cucumber sauce with fresh herbs. Leftovers are an excellent dip for veggies or pita chips and will keep for up to 4 days in the refrigerator. Use a box grater to grate the cucumber, no need to peel or seed. Working with one big handful at a time, lightly squeeze the grated cucumber between your palms over the sink to remove excess moisture. Transfer the squeezed cucumber to a serving bowl, and repeat with the remaining cucumber. Add yogurt, olive oil, herbs, lemon juice, garlic, and salt to the bowl, and stir to blend. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. Taste and add additional chopped fresh herbs, lemon juice, or salt, if necessary. Serve tzatziki immediately or chill for later.
PLATING DINNER Set up a buffet of pita bread, meatballs, hummus, tzatziki, sliced tomato, sliced cucumber, lettuce, and feta, and allow everyone to build their own gyro-style wraps or stuffed pitas. 37
COOKING FRESH
Dessert
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COOKING FRESH
FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE AND OLIVE OIL CAKE Adapted from Hanady Kitchen Serves 8–10 Prep time 20 minutes, bake time 25 minutes, total time 45 minutes 7 ounces good-quality dark chocolate (at least 70% cacao), finely chopped 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 cup granulated sugar 5 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon salt 4 tablespoons cocoa powder plus more for garnish 1 teaspoon espresso powder or finely ground dark roast coffee beans 1 tablespoon pistachios, lightly crushed for garnish 1 ounce chocolate, shaved for garnish
Olive oil heightens the intensity of the chocolate. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different chocolate bars from one of New Mexico’s artisan chocolatiers, such as the Lavender Lemon Bar from Eldora Chocolate. Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly grease round 9-inch cake pan with olive oil. Line bottom with parchment paper; set aside. Melt together chopped chocolate and olive oil in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir continuously until there are few pieces of chocolate visible and remove from heat. Stir until chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes and spoon chocolate into a mixing bowl. Whisk sugar into the chocolate mixture. Then whisk in eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated into the batter. Add vanilla and mix again. Combine salt, cocoa powder, and espresso powder in a small bowl and fold into the chocolate batter. Spoon cake batter into the prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 25–28 minutes or just until a knife inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs. Let cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes. Run a knife along the rim of the pan to loosen the cake and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with cocoa powder and garnish with chocolate shavings and crushed pistachios.
WWW.EDIBLENM.COM
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A CALL TO ACTION
Critical Aid FOR THE NAVAJO NATION AND THE PUEBLOS By Robin Babb · Photos by Stephanie Cameron
Chenoa Bah (left) and Amy Yeung (right).
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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2020
Chenoa Bah of First Nations Community HealthSource and Amy Yeung of Orenda Tribe in front of the Navajo Nation logistics map. Face masks by Folk Project and limited edition tees by Tongva artist Weshoyot Alvitre were donated to the SPREAD LOVE + SHINE LIGHT auction to raise money for the Navajo Nation.
O
n May 18, the Navajo Nation’s COVID-19 infection rate surpassed that of New York State to become the worst in the country. As of June 9, the total number of confirmed positive cases was 6,150, in a population of 173,667 (as of the 2010 Census). This rate is despite having one of the strictest stay-at-home policies in the nation, with a curfew and mandatory masks in public.
to people,” Yeung says. “Nobody had masks in the middle of May!” Yeung pointed out that Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools on the reservation were delivering meals to their students in lieu of the free lunches they would normally get at school.
An underfunded healthcare system and limited access to running water and electricity helped create the conditions for the virus to spread quickly, as well as the generally overcrowded living conditions on the reservation. For many on the reservation, the historic symbolism of a swiftly spreading disease brought to them from the outside is especially cruel.
“We did one big drop in Navajo—that call came from an emergency operations center call that said ‘We need food tomorrow,’” says Josh Norman, Project Director at MoGro. The nonprofit, which originally operated as a sign-up CSA that sourced from local farmers, is now doing mass deliveries to the Pueblos and Navajo every other week. A local farmer loaned them a box truck to make the deliveries and—after putting out an email asking for donations—their members started sending in homemade masks to deliver with the food.
You may have seen the photos of actor Sean Penn and his nonprofit Community Organized Relief Effort, or CORE, showing up in the Navajo Nation to distribute PPE and COVID tests. While it’s a commendable response, Navajo leadership has made it clear that the resources to handle this pandemic should have come from the federal government, which distributed disaster funding to other state and city governments, and which has treaties with the Nation for just such instances. The relief funding that they were provided came six weeks after it was promised, and only after the Navajo Nation sued the federal government over who was eligible for the funding. During a pandemic, six weeks makes a big difference. Since government response has been slow or nonexistent in handling the pandemic’s effects in the Navajo Nation and the Pueblos, local businesses and organizations have stepped up to help. Through the month of May, Bow & Arrow Brewing ran a fundraising drive to donate hand sanitizer made by local distilleries, as well as other PPE, to the Navajo Nation. They raised $7,500 and donated over three hundred sixty gallons of sanitizer. The Pueblo Action Alliance and Seeding Sovereignty, two New Mexico-based organizations dedicated to advocacy for Native people and Native lands, ran a mask-making drive and raised funds for healthy meals and Indigenous-authored books to be donated to families in the Navajo Nation. Albuquerque-based Amy Yeung, the Diné founder of an upcycled fashion label called Orenda Tribe, started an online auction called SPREAD LOVE + SHINE LIGHT that donates 100 percent of its profits to relief efforts in the Navajo Nation. Additionally, she and some other local individuals and organizations have worked to create and deliver PPE and “non-perishable, organic, non-GMO, nutrient-dense healthy food.” As of June 8, Orenda Tribe has delivered 65,580 meals; 18,472 reusable masks; and 1,810 gallons of sanitizer to the Navajo Nation. Yeung says that her connections from her previous career in fast fashion have served her well in this endeavor, as she’s been able to get plenty of fabric for masks donated. She’s also working with the popular Indigenous fashion designer Bethany Yellowtail (Northern Cheyenne and Crow) to create the masks. “We were on the phone with school principals that are crying because their bus drivers don’t have masks, and they’re delivering food
MoGro Mobile Grocery, a project of the Santa Fe Community Foundation, has also been focusing their efforts on the effect of the virus in the Navajo Nation and the Pueblos.
“Zia [Pueblo] is getting hit pretty hard. We’re their only source for fresh fruit and veg right now,” Norman says. They’re also making regular drops at Jemez Pueblo, and he expects that MoGro won’t go back to their normal operations until next year. In the meantime, though, they’re going to continue delivering donated shares to the Native communities that are getting hit the hardest. President of the Navajo Nation Jonathan Nez has been unwavering about keeping the reservation on lockdown and limiting in-person gatherings to drive-in events only. “In areas of the country that opened up before Memorial Day, they are now seeing spikes in new cases,” he said in a press release on June 7. “This pandemic is far from over, and if we become too relaxed, then we are certain to see a second wave of the virus.” While stay-at-home restrictions are easing up in other parts of New Mexico and businesses are reopening, it’s crucial for all New Mexicans to remember that the pandemic remains very real, and everyone who can needs to lend a hand to our most vulnerable communities.
CALL TO ACTION To help with much needed funds and supplies for the Navajo Nation, you can buy unique Indigenous-made goods from Orenda Tribe’s SPREAD LOVE + SHINE LIGHT auction or donate directly at orendatribe.com. COVID-19 relief efforts for Indigenous communities can also be found through the Pueblo Action Alliance puebloactionalliance.org; Seeding Sovereignty seedingsovereignty.org/COVID-19; Tewa Women United tewawomenunited.org; Dig Deep navajowaterproject.org; Navajo Hopi Covid-19 Response navajohopisolidarity.org; and NDN Collective ndncollective.org/covid-19. You can help MoGro deliver fresh produce to local Native communities by donating via their website mogro.net or by volunteering to help pack food at their hub at the Roadrunner Food Bank in Albuquerque. Email mogro@santafecf.org to find out more about volunteering dates and times. WWW.EDIBLENM.COM
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State of the Restaurant Industry A SOCIALLY DISTANT ROUND TABLE By Briana Olson
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Hallie Harris, Jade Johnson, and Codie Bachman at Revel in Silver City. Photo by Kelsey Patterson.
I get emotional just thinking about it. Calling all our farmers, our growers, co-ops, different food purveyors to let them know that we were going to be temporarily shutting down and to put everything on hold. 42
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n the last days of May and the first week of June, I talked with local restaurant owners and advocates about their love for what they do, their experience of the coronavirus pandemic, and their hopes and fears for the future of their industry. The following is a compilation of our conversations—something like the discussion we could have had if we’d been able to gather together around a table. Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
and keep the other one open. Sitting there and just carrying the expenses, and not having any resources, in addition to laying off all my people, was not acceptable. I was very distraught over the future. What went into that? Tell me about the process of closing.
LAUREN AND JASON GREENE, owners of The Grove (Albuquerque)
JAY GUTHRIE: Once we stopped crying, we basically emptied our supplies of perishable food and distributed it to our staff, and then we spent the better part of a day deep cleaning. We weren’t sure if we’d be back the next week, or when, but we thought, at least when we stepped back in, it would be clean.
ERIN WADE, owner of Vinaigrette and Modern General
KELSEY PATTERSON: A lot of really hard calls to team members.
CAROL WIGHT, CEO of New Mexico Restaurant Corporation
KELSEY PATTERSON, co-owner of Revel (Silver City)
Some crying, some hugging. I get emotional just thinking about it. Calling all our farmers, our growers, co-ops, different food purveyors to let them know that we were going to be temporarily shutting down and to put everything on hold.
CAMILLE BREMER, co-owner of Radish & Rye (Santa Fe)
ERIN WADE: What was overwhelmingly on my mind—it’s kind of
BRIAN BARGSTEN, co-owner of Arroyo Vino (Santa Fe)
all a blur now—but when this all happened, was, how am I gonna get my staff paid? We couldn’t pay taxes; we couldn’t pay any of our vendors. I maxed out my credit cards to pay the small vendors I knew were in the same situation as us. I put all the money I had in my own checking account to cover payrolls. So it was like a video game.
(Albuquerque/Santa Fe), and The Feel Good (Albuquerque) JAY GUTHRIE, co-owner of Duran Central Pharmacy (Albuquerque)
KEN CARSON, JR., owner of Nexus Brewery and
Nexus Blue Smokehouse (Albuquerque)
Let’s start with the beginning—when did you realize that you would have to close? LAUREN GREENE: Mid-March, when the news broke that this was happening, our sales dropped quickly. Day 1 was 50 percent down, day 2 was 70 percent down, day 3, it was like, oh my gosh, no one is coming into the restaurant. ERIN WADE: It was unbelievable how quickly it happened. One day,
relatively normal sales with people starting to get a little bit scared, and then there was no one. No one in town, no one out; we couldn’t stay open. It was completely understandable, but also—shocking. JAY GUTHRIE: We tried the 50 percent thing for a couple of days and realized, one, that we weren’t prepared to protect our staff with the way it was. And it just—it didn’t work. So we actually closed two or three days before the governor said, Close. KELSEY PATTERSON: It seems so long ago, yet so short. I believe it
was mid-March, or around St Patrick’s day, where we first reduced to 50 percent dining capacity, and it was just a couple of days later that the governor made the call to close dine-in and shift to carry-out only. CAMILLE BREMER: It was the Sunday night before the eighteenth,
so that would be the sixteenth of March. I’d been hearing about this, the virus. It was starting to get scary. More cases were showing up across the country. I remember that night, I said, I don’t think we should open on Tuesday. BRIAN BARGSTEN: I knew it wasn’t going to be two weeks—I
LAUREN GREENE: Our first focus was making sure that all our
employees—some have been with us for fourteen years—making sure that we were giving them the tools to get their unemployment going. Then we started the process of messaging to our guests. As much as the Grove could be the Grove during that time, communicating, this is what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it. CAMILLE BREMER: And then it was dealing with everything flu-
id—fresh produce, deliveries of things that will expire. We did a lot of canning; we pickled cauliflower and radish and beets and—I swear I had beets for three weeks for dinner. We reduced a bunch of the wines that we have by the glass and made demi glaze and put it in the freezer. Turning off the ice machine and getting the ice out—all these little things that people don’t think about. KEN CARSON: On the BBQ store, I had all this meat and food
that I needed to get rid of. So I picked a date, the twenty-eighth of March, and said that would be the last day. We discounted 25 percent on everything and basically emptied the store. Anything left I was able to take to our main restaurant. We had never done takeout at this location. I’d already cut my teeth on it at the BBQ place, and I already had ChowNow and DoorDash, but I was afraid to use them at this location. We get very busy—it would overburden our kitchen if I had a lot of orders. What role did the state play in preparing restaurants for the stayat-home orders? What guidance and support has the government offered, at the federal or state level?
knew it was going to be at least probably close to two months. We had been talking for a couple weeks about having plans to have to-go food and how we would modify that.
CAROL WIGHT: They issued a press release and restaurants had to
KEN CARSON: I chose to close one store, Nexus Blue Smokehouse,
to flatten the curve, this is what we had to do. It wasn’t helpful or easy
abide by it. There was no preparation whatsoever. LAUREN GREENE: Their direction was very clear in the beginning—
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Empty Vinaigrette in Albuquerque. Photo by Jen Judge.
Empty restaurant used as storage at Duran Central Pharmacy. Photo by Claire Stasiewicz.
Virginia Hilliard at Arroyo Vino. Photo by Brian Bargsten.
Ben Gilster serving customers at Duran’s. Photo by Claire Stasiewicz.
Jasper Grossman and Chris Romero at Radish & Rye. Photo by Camille Bremer.
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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2020
Jeremy Baca and Milan Polonsky. Photo by Camille Bremer.
to take. It was understood, and we wanted to be part of the solution. BRIAN BARGSTEN: I don’t think that they needed to prepare us— that’s not their responsibility. With regard to the timeline for reopening, I would call it disrespectful. If you think about what you have to do, to bring staff back, order food—you can’t do that in a day. ERIN WADE: I think our governor has done a good job, in the sense
that she’s been more definitive. In Texas, they didn’t declare COVID an economic disaster [which impacted applications for economic injury disaster loans]. JAY GUTHRIE: There have been some inequities of the way things
were locked down, but based on the science of what is still in front of us, I think the state, specifically the governor, who’s taken the brunt of it, has done a pretty good job. I think the large corporations should have endured more of the difficulties that the small, non-corporate businesses had to endure, and that’s what I mean by inequities. KEN CARSON: The majority of the help has been paying attention
to various restaurant periodicals that I get online . . . I focused on [the NMRA] because they deal with everything New Mexico. The other has been the brewers’ association, the New Mexico Brewers Guild. CAROL WIGHT: The federal government was doing what we were
doing, which was reacting to things too late. That’s what the payroll protection program (PPP) was as well. They wanted people to be able to keep employees on their payroll, so that employees wouldn’t get on the state unemployment plan. But it was already too late for our industry because people had already been laid off, so to get the PPP we had to rehire employees and have them do nothing because there was nothing to do because we were still shut down. CAMILLE BREMER: Once we got that money, the PPP money, we
looked at the guidelines, how we were supposed to spend it, and we just did exactly what they told us to do. KELSEY PATTERSON: The PPP is how we were able to reopen and
be operating because otherwise it would not have been sustainable for us. What do you think could have happened? What would you ask the state or feds to do differently in the event of a future pandemic, or a second wave of this one? CAROL WIGHT: We’re hoping to get some relief on the liquor deliv-
ery, and it will be helpful if we can get it. But certainly it would have been helpful during the shutdown. LAUREN GREENE: Putting a rock in the machine and just stopping it—it’s going to be difficult for a lot of restaurants to climb out of this. The loss is so astronomical, and it was so fast. ERIN WADE: We have a year of disrupted sales to deal with, and that’s the biggest thing that needed to be taken into consideration— how volume-sensitive we are, and how much our business model requires foot traffic. In the absence of that, the whole model breaks down. So there needs to be financial support that takes that into consideration for the long haul.
JAY GUTHRIE: Some of the large corporations—Target, Walmart, you name ‘em—they got to stay open, because of the loophole of, oh, we’ve got a pharmacy inside. And I’m okay with that—people need medication. But their retail space should have been roped out. KELSEY PATTERSON: I know it’s a shifting target, and we’re all
learning things day by day, but just having a little more heads up about things . . . I think we had twenty-four hours’ notice for the soft opening for outside dining. If there is a second wave, anything they can do to give people advance warning so that we can pivot and plan and do what needs to be done to keep everybody safe. LAUREN GREENE: The social distancing is understandable. Jason and I support the lower occupancy and climbing back up. But part of me feels like if we’re all doing what we’re supposed to be doing, perhaps we could leave it up to the guests. KEN CARSON: We probably need to stay at this level for a while and
see what happens. I don’t mind being at 50 percent because if we work well with our online ordering, we could get back to 100 percent of sales. Going back to doing takeout only is not desirable and it’s not sustainable. CAROL WIGHT: I don’t think the economy can survive another
shutdown, COVID or not. Especially the restaurant economy can’t. I’m looking at the economic development department’s quarterly economic summary; restaurants [in New Mexico] are down $192 million, and this only goes through April. BRIAN BARGSTEN: We’re probably going to lose a lot of restaurants
in Santa Fe. If there’s another shutdown, each restaurant is going to have to decide what to do. What have been your biggest challenges these past few months? How have you pivoted? CAROL WIGHT: I heard two restaurateurs that are major employ-
ers in Albuquerque say they had to lay off 300 employees—one of them—and another, 150 employees. We’ve laid off more than 50,000 employees in our industry, and that was probably the hardest thing for any of them. JAY GUTHRIE: We’re not really geared for takeout, so it took us a
few days to figure it out. Part of that, and I can’t stress this enough because we still deal with this every day, is if we can’t do it safely for our staff, we’re not gonna do it. That was the first checkbox. LAUREN GREENE: What we tried to do was keep in contact with
our team. Week 1, it was just, hey, we miss you. We worked tirelessly on a new website and a new online ordering system. We knew that was the only way we were going to be able to reopen. CAROL WIGHT: The pivots I’ve seen—we did a call one day, and it was about how to turn your restaurant into a grocery store. A lot of our members in rural areas did that very thing, and they’re going to continue to sell groceries because it was so successful. LAUREN GREENE: We kind of wanted to say to the community,
hey, we reopened, and we feel like this is what you might need right now. If you don’t want to go to the grocery store, you can curbside pick-up your butter and sugar, while you grab a salad. WWW.EDIBLENM.COM
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The Grove Team ready to celebrate and serve Mother’s Day entirely curbside. Photo courtesy of The Grove. Chicken & Waffles with all the fixings at Nexus. Photo courtesy of Nexus.
The Grove’s lunch in the park. Photo courtesy of The Grove.
BRIAN BARGSTEN: We transitioned our food to be more
that what you put in the boxes, what you put in the bags, is perfect.
box-friendly. Just thinking about all the logistics—not putting liquidy sauces on things. We put a burger on the menu for the first time in our eight-year history. That’s what people wanted.
KEN CARSON: Customers online start submitting orders right before 5, and then it’s just a mad pace; it starts at 5 and it’s every three minutes. When you’re used to a dining room setting, where there’s no way you can get orders in that quickly. That’s been the major challenge for us all this time.
ERIN WADE: I had just come up with this amazing new salad, the
menus were printed, I demoed it for the staff, and it exists in my mind as this pre-COVID abundance. It had mangos and avocado and fish sauce and barbecued pork. . . . It was so much work, but it was the best salad ever. And kim-chi that we were making in-house. I was like, oh my god, will we ever be able to make that again? BRIAN BARGSTEN: We started adding some of the bake-at-home macaroni and cheese, the strawberry rhubarb crisp, the pasta kits—we started doing Sunday dinner and a movie.
What will be different when you reopen for indoor dining? CAMILLE BREMER: [Radish & Rye] is a lively restaurant; people
go there to socialize. Before this whole situation, it was really exciting and really busy. To go from that to seeing three or four tables in the dining room and nobody at the bar top—that was a little jolting.
fear; people were afraid to even go out for carry out. Now people are more educated on how they can do that safely, and they understand that the local businesses do need their support.
LAUREN GREENE: We have an ambassador of sanitization. We have logs of every thirty-minute cleaning of any touchpoint in the restaurant. All employees’ temperatures are taken and logged. We have a health affidavit for our employees that they’re signing off on. So we’re trying to really control our in-house efforts and make our staff and our guests feel comfortable.
BRIAN BARGSTEN: The margin of error is even smaller because
ERIN WADE: I have so much appreciation for customers; we all miss
you can’t just go out to the table and fix it. You have to make sure
them so much. We miss making beautiful food and serving it on a
KELSEY PATTERSON: I think at the beginning, there was a lot of
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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2020
plate. It’s hard to see stuff that we’re often growing from seed getting closed up in a box. So there’s going to be a lot of gratitude on our end, and I imagine on customers’ end too, just to be back out. JAY GUTHRIE: You enter and exit the restaurant through the patio.
We’ve got a designated number of seats. We can take care of that number of seats with two servers. We’ve always been a pretty good team. We’ve been lucky and hired great people. KELSEY PATTERSON: We have hourly logs, gloves, masks—I think
that’s the biggest visible change, the gloves and masks. The sanitizing was already going on, but people weren’t as keyed into it. It’s amazing how many gloves we’re burning through, but it’s what we need to do right now. CAMILLE BREMER: You don’t realize how much you communicate
with your facial expressions. You have to learn how to smile with your eyes. But it’s necessary right now to keep our guests and our staff safe. BRIAN BARGSTEN: The last pickups will be at 6. We’ll seat people
in-house after 6 o’clock. Plating food and putting food in boxes and bags to go, it doesn’t sound that different, but it’s so different. Our goal is to make sure that we maintain the same standards whether you’re picking it up or dining in-house. KEN CARSON: The high volume of takeout—even finding space to keep the boxes. We figured out one thing—we started letting customers look inside the boxes before they go. We have learned a lot. I restructured our hours at the other location. So [Nexus Blue Smokehouse] should come back stronger, and more focused on barbecue.
fer someone else to cook for them—yet still create that social atmosphere. It goes back to ancient times of sharing food. KELSEY PATTERSON: Now that people haven’t had the opportunity to enjoy a meal out and not have to do the dishes afterwards and not have to scrub the pans and go through all the grunt work to make it happen . . . People are realizing, ah, what a nice service it was. KEN CARSON: I do think that in the future people will require that
sanitation and social distancing, which will make some restaurants and some bars less desirable. In the past, you could go into some breweries, where everybody is really hemmed into a small location. I think that’s something people may not want to do anymore. CAMILLE BREMER: Of course, restaurants are more than show-
casing a chef ’s talents. It’s also a platform to show support for the community through supporting local farmers, growers—just sharing that experience of the community. You walk in and you’re part of something, you’re part of a story, you’re experiencing something that someone else next to you is experiencing, that you don’t know, but you do have a common thread. You’re there together. KEN CARSON: As far as a social outlet, since we re-opened, we are filling up, turning tables two or three times. Part of it might be, there was a thing on Facebook saying people need to go out and support black businesses [because of George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter movement]. We were getting slammed every day for the last three days. BRIAN BARGSTEN: Eating together, sharing a meal together, is one
The pandemic has precipitated a global economic crisis, and, for many in the restaurant world especially, an existential crisis. Famous chefs have found themselves reflecting on whether people need restaurants, and what restaurants are for. What are restaurants for? How do you see this impacting the future of restaurants?
of the most important social things that we do. The function of the restaurant is to allow us to do that without having to cook or clean up. My girlfriend and I went out for dinner on Sunday, we went to the Compound, and we had an awesome meal.
CAROL WIGHT: Restaurants are the last bastion of service that we
JASON GREENE: As long as you’re able down the road to get back
will see in our lifetimes. Everybody else has gone to self-service kiosks, or not having anybody anywhere. One-third of all Americans get their first jobs in the restaurant industry. It teaches them a lot about interacting with people, communicating, working in teams—if we’re not there, I don’t know how people are going to get that first job experience. Is it going to be in a silo where my first job experience is interfacing with a cell phone or a computer? ERIN WADE: I think social distancing was happening a long time
before this started. People are almost losing the ability to appreciate restaurants because we socialize and spend so much time online and on devices, and we’re worked up into this froth of speed so that we don’t have time for eating. I think tech should be making time for eating and enjoying the small pleasures in life, and not taking us away from it. JAY GUTHRIE: I can only speak for myself, but I think the primary function of a restaurant is the socialization of a society. It’s important for people to have a place to meet. In past generations, that was done in someone’s home—think of Sunday dinner at Grandma’s. That’s evolved because a lot of people don’t have time to cook, and pre-
into a restaurant, and sit down, and be crowded, and you can pop a bottle of wine or champagne and enjoy all the things that come to your table from multiple hands, and feel comfortable—because that’s kind of what a restaurant is all about. They take a lot of people, and touching and passing and opening and pouring, and the romanticism of that in a restaurant is why you love it. The clinking of glasses and silverware. Things breaking in the background. And the music’s loud. And the food’s great. I think all that will come back. The food and beverage industry is so large. You can’t let that fail. That’s the cornerstone of so many cities. And the backbone of America. And our neighborhoods. And why people want to move into those places. We have to have it come back. It’s just a matter of time.
nmrestaurants.org, nexusbrewery.com, arroyovino.com, radishandrye.com, duransrx.com, vinaigretteonline.com, thegrovecafemarket.com, eatdrinkrevel.com WWW.EDIBLENM.COM
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Pivot or Perish LOCAL FOOD COMMITTED TO FEEDING COMMUNITY IN THE FACE OF COVID-19 By Sarah Wentzel-Fisher
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For local growers who rely on stalwart restaurant buyers and the intimacy of a packed farmers market stand to earn their living, closure of nonessential
businesses, stay-at-home orders, and growing fears about the consequences of being in public places came as a bucket of cold water in the face. For those running farms, local food distribution businesses, CSAs, or small grocery businesses, this also meant pivot or perish. 48
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n a long but short three months, we’ve seen many local businesses getting extremely creative in providing food to their communities and actively expanding and shaping our local food systems. With a shared ethos of getting as much food as possible to their neighbors safely, local growers and food distributors have risen to the challenges of shifting national supply chains, markets, consumer buying habits, and health safety protocols within the failure and fracturing of a fragile food system. In the United States, JBS, Tyson, and Smithfield control over 60 percent of all meat production, and approximately the same percentage of produce consumed in the country comes from the ninety-mile stretch that is the Salinas Valley in California. To say our food systems are monopolized, consolidated, and, as a result, vulnerable to failure, is an understatement. During the pandemic, federal leadership has not mandated that large agribusinesses make their working environments safe for essential workers to produce the food we all eat, a reality that has compromised our economy and security in deep and fundamental ways. Meanwhile, local farmers and ranchers have hustled to adjust their businesses to ensure that as much safe food reaches as many people in their communities as possible. As of March 1, 2020, the United States was reporting only eightyeight cases of COVID-19. By March 15, four cases of the virus had been reported in New Mexico, and toilet paper shortages began to make the front page. On March 23, Governor Michelle LujanGrisham, along with many other governors across the country, declared that nonessential businesses would need to close their doors for at least two weeks, possibly longer. By April 7, meatpacking plants had turned into hot spots, and rather than strategize to make their work environments safe, corporations closed plants. At this point, it was clear the virus was here to stay. Our lives, and the food systems we rely on, were in the throes of major change. For those running farm and local food distribution businesses, these events came at a moment when the seasonal ball was already rolling. Fields had been planned; seeds had been ordered or started and were nearing their planting dates; restaurants and schools had been contracted for sales later in the season. For those raising livestock, early season dates at the processing plant had been scheduled, and cows and sows were giving birth to calves and piglets. Farming, in the best of times, is high risk, in part because it requires months and sometimes years of upfront investment with little certainty of what unpredictable weather or markets will bring. For local growers who rely on stalwart restaurant buyers and the intimacy of a packed farmers market stand to earn their living, closure of nonessential businesses, stay-at-home orders, and growing fears about the consequences of being in public places came as a bucket of cold water in the face. For those running farms, local food distribution businesses, CSAs, or small grocery businesses, this also meant pivot or perish. In Albuquerque, the Rio Grande Farmers Coalition met March 9 for their monthly meeting. The priority topic was how they collectively were going to respond to and support each other in adapting to the nascent pandemic. While the cases of coronavirus in the US were still under a few hundred people, the direction of the disease
was clear. Diversified farmers in Albuquerque like Casey Holland of Chispas Farm, Ian Colburn of solarpunk and Ironwood farms, and Seth Matlick of Vida Verde Farm rely on two primary markets—sales to restaurants and farmers markets. Each has offered a very small CSA depending on the year, but this has not been a primary mode of selling and distributing the food they grow. With rumors of delay or cancellation of the Downtown Growers Market, a group of farmers proposed working together to create an aggregated CSA so that consumers could get fresh produce without the risks involved in going to the grocery store, and so that the farmers would have a market for early season crops. This led to discussions about how to aggregate food, how to make ordering straightforward for customers, and how to ensure minimal handling of food. The pandemic forced conversations about deeper collaboration and information sharing that this group had often broached, but had never really carved out time to explore. Within a week, they had sold out forty-five shares and had a waiting list of customers for a six-week CSA. They are now in their third round of offerings, and continue to improve and refine the process of getting food directly to eaters safely. In addition to this cooperative effort, these farms have also developed single-farm CSAs, are selling at downtown Albuquerque’s drive-thru farmers market, and continue to test new ways of getting food to consumers. For Nina Yozell-Epstein, owner and operator of Squash Blossom Local Food, the backbone of her business prior to the pandemic had been wholesale to restaurants in Santa Fe. As a supplement to these sales, she offered Blossom Bags, a service for individuals to get weekly bags of seasonal produce from a variety of farmers from northern New Mexico. She averaged twenty-five bags a week in the winter and around fifty per week in the summer. When restaurants were required to close, the majority of her business disappeared overnight. Within the same week, orders for her Blossom Bags went from twenty-five to more than two-hundred fifty. On the surface, this seems like an all’s-well-that-ends-well kind of story, but making this kind of shift in just a few days requires imaginative thinking, sleepless nights, and the fortitude to remain kind and engaged with customers even when you’re dog-tired and grumpy. Fortunately, Yozell-Epstein had tuned in to global news of the pandemic, and made a decision at the beginning of the year to order a large number of small coolers before mandated closures, meaning she was partly prepared to change her business on short notice. Restaurants order produce in large quantities and with a certain consistency. It’s a very different process than filling two-hundred fifty bags with household quantities of fresh veggies and options for more than forty add-ons—the labor, time, and space required to deliver the same volume of food increases significantly. Yozell-Epstein was able to hire new staff to help with order fulfillment and find extra space to rent in the warehouses where she runs her business. Her landlord knew that rents might be short due to the closures and that nonessential businesses might be unable to weather the changes, so they happily rented her additional space to expand the Blossom Bags part of Squash Blossom. WWW.EDIBLENM.COM
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Top left: Squash Blossom team Nina Yozell-Epstein, Arella Hordyk, and Liz Brindley. Top right: Squash Blossom team packing veggies. Photos courtesy of Squash Blossom. Middle left: Polk’s Folly Farm delivering local flour and beef to Hopi Pueblo in Arizona (Zach Withers pictured on far right). Middle right: Polk’s Folly Butcher Shop and Farm Stand in Cedar Crest. Photos courtesy of Polk’s Folly Farm. Bottom left: CSA bounty from New Mexico Harvest. Bottom right: New Mexico Harvest delivery truck picking up produce from farmers. Photos courtesy of New Mexico Harvest.
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Yozell-Epstein fears how hard it will be for her restaurant partners to bounce back. “Small, independent, locally owned businesses are what make Santa Fe special, and right now, we risk losing it.” In addition to being able to serve a larger number of households, Yozell-Epstein also became creative to help her restaurant customers. For those preparing to-go meals, she encouraged her retail customers to patronize them by working with them as pick-up points for the Blossom Bags. At the five sites she worked with, many were able to add shifts for employees on the days when customers picked up their bags. Even if a local food distribution business is designed to serve individual customers, this sort of shift presents challenges. At the beginning of March, Beneficial Farms CSA officially changed ownership and names to New Mexico Harvest (NMH). Owner/operator Thomas Swendson set a goal of enlisting three hundred members in the first year of operation under the new name. Within three weeks of launching, he hit his goal and had a wait-list. Swendson started his career in trucking logistics, and spent many years coordinating MoGro, a nonprofit mobile grocery project bringing healthy and local food to rural communities in central New Mexico. In spite of his years of experience, the sudden demand for NMH services has created a steep learning curve. In addition to reaching capacity in terms of the number of households the CSA could serve, consumer purchasing patterns also dramatically changed with the pandemic. Rather than using the CSA as a supplement to grocery store purchases, a large number of customers made NMH their primary food shopping for the week, increasing the average purchase amount by three or four times. This allowed Swendson to absorb much of what growers he worked with had planned before the shutdowns to sell to schools and restaurants in the spring. Swendson has also been in regular contact with other aggregator CSAs, like Squash Blossom in Santa Fe and Agri-Cultura Network in Albuquerque, to share where there’s abundance and to ask for help when NMH runs short on certain items. He sees value in building the collective infrastructure and shared knowledge to enable local food systems to serve more people in New Mexico, not just in times of crisis, but always. Ethan and Zach Withers, owners and operators of Polk’s Folly Farm, a small hog operation in the East Mountains, opened a small farmstand with a commercial kitchen last November. The goal was twofold: to have a place to process their own meat and to offer a sales venue to other East Mountain growers after the market season closed. For the first three months, they opened once a week for a few hours and served several dozen customers. In early March, they remodeled the retail space, enabling them to put a few more items on the shelves, including flour from Valencia Mills and milk from De Smet Dairy, to round out the meat, veggies, and honey they’d been selling. The new space brought additional customers and a pleasant 20 percent increase in sales, so they decided to open two days a week. When news of the pandemic was followed by reports on hoarding, they anticipated that purchases might increase and stocked up on additional items in anticipation. On March 27, a line of people queued across the parking lot from a few minutes before they opened until almost the close of business. Like other local food purveyors, they saw
their sales quadruple in a single weekend. While the bump in revenue was welcome, their freezers had been cleaned out. The brothers immediately began to hustle to find additional local meat and other goods to stock for the following week. Zach Withers first met Dr. Manny Encinias at a Meat-to-Market workshop hosted by the Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance, where producers learned that how an animal is broken down translates into direct sales to consumers. Encinias is a fifth-generation rancher from just south of Moriarty who launched Trilogy Beef Community late in 2019. For the last eighteen years, Encinias has also worked in consulting and management for family-owned ranching operations in New Mexico and has evaluated many coordinated beef supply chains across the US. In 2017, he moved back to the family ranch in New Mexico after spending time managing a ranch in Hawaii. His time on the islands taught him to deeply appreciate and value local food, good relationships with neighbors, and healthy working lands. Trilogy Beef Community is as much a demonstration project as it is a beef business. The business began by selling the beef of three ranchers, including Encinias, but it now includes more beef from other similarly managed family-owned ranches. Their mission is twofold—to deliver high quality New Mexico–raised beef to New Mexicans, and to show other ranchers in the state that finishing and selling beef in the state is a viable business model. When they launched, the concept was to work with restaurants around the state to build their brand and a solid local market. When the pandemic hit, they shifted to selling directly to consumers through an online platform for direct meat sales and servicing the needs of some Native American communities. The week of March 27, with national headlines focused on meatpacking plant closures and Polk’s Folly’s freezers empty, Withers spent nearly eighteen hours a day making and responding to phone calls and texts from other farmers and food distributors. First, he called Encinias. Now, Polk’s Folly stocks both grass- and grain-finished New Mexico–raised beef at prices that outcompete conventional beef prices at the grocery store. That week Withers also called Emily Cornell, a young rancher developing a grassfed beef business running a herd on Sol Ranch, her family’s ranch near Wagon Mound. He arranged to have Cornell bring four of her animals to a processor in Colorado the next week, knowing that they didn’t have nearly enough freezer space for that much meat (a whole steer will yield approximately four hundred pounds of beef ), but also knowing that meatpacking plant closures and consumer buying behaviors meant there would be more than adequate demand if he could sort out the details and work with other local food purveyors to get the meat to local consumers. He also immediately called Holland, Matlick, and Swendson, alerting them that he would have extra beef. Swendson added the grassfed beef to the list of items his customers could choose for their bags, and Withers agreed to send Swendson a list every week of the extra items he needed to sell to accommodate his cold storage. The Polk’s Folly farmstand also became a pick-up point for NMH customers, increasing the reciprocity in the relationship. Withers now delivers meat and flour weekly to all of these CSAs to offer a complete grocery WWW.EDIBLENM.COM
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FEATURED BUSINESSES
Squash Blossom Local Food, squashblossomlocalfood.com. Photo courtesy of Squash Blossom. New Mexico Harvest, newmexicoharvest.com. Photo courtesy of Kombucha Project.
Polk’s Folly Farm and Polk’s Folly Butcher Shop and Farm Stand, 12128 Highway 14N, Cedar Crest, polksfolly.com. Photo by Stephanie Cameron.
B Street Market, 204 W Broadway, Mountainair, find on Facebook. Photo courtesy of B Street Market.
Better Together CSA, bettertogethercsa.grownby.app. The following farms make up the Better Together CSA: Chispas Farm, solarpunk farm, Flora Fauna Farm, Vida Verde Farm, Farmshark, Casa Fresco Farm, Tres Arboles Garden, Cornelio Organics, North Valley Organics, and Tierra Luna Seed Collaborative. Pictured: Chispas Farm. Photo courtesy of Chispas Farm.
Trilogy Beef Community, trilogybeef.grazecart.com. Photo courtesy of Trilogy Beef Community.
bag to their customers, and the conversations continue on how they can share transportation, cold storage, information, and food. For Polk’s Folly, the biggest challenge has always been a lack of readily available USDA-inspected slaughter and processing capabilities. New Mexico has one medium-sized packing plant in Roswell slaughtering and processing for US Foods, and two other small facilities with limits on the types and number of animals they’re able to handle. The Withers had been bringing their hogs to Salazar Meats just across the border in Colorado, but in early May, the owner let them know that his facility had been completely booked out for the rest of the year and they would need to look for other options. Ranchers in the area who usually sell their live animals into conventional meat markets feared the implications of meatpacking plant closures. In anticipation of facing a decision between continuing to feed their animals without a potential market or having to euthanize, ranchers took quick steps to adapt to changing markets and were booking slots for their animals at smaller processing plants. The repercussion for Polk’s Folly was being squeezed out of already limited options for slaughter and processing. In nearby Mountainair, Nancy McCloud has always carried a handful of local produce items (many she grows herself ), but local food hasn’t been the main focus of her store—feeding her community has. McCloud decided to tackle mitigating the food desertification of her community in 2016, after the only grocery store in town closed and the nearest grocery option was a ninety-seven-mile trip. Not even four years later, she’s still going strong, but is experiencing the challenges of the pandemic as much as any other small food business in the state. Like others, McCloud saw increased customer demand and a shift in the types of food people would buy. After discouraging an initial surge of hoarding, she noticed that rather than buying frozen and prepared foods, people were buying raw ingredients to prepare food at home: flour, fresh vegetables, and meat. She said she hasn’t been able to keep yeast on the shelves. She can no longer order pre-packaged yeast and has taken to ordering it in bulk and bagging it into smaller portions. McCloud, who is completing a master’s degree in nutrition and is an avid gardener, introduces new ideas for home cooked meals to her customers through Friday evening pick-up dinners that she prepares for the community, offering adventurous meals and recipes. In mid-April, McCloud started to notice a shift both in prices and availability from her wholesale distributors. She reported at the beginning of June that it had been a month of not knowing what items on her orders she would actually receive with often nearly a third missing. In addition, the prices on staples, especially meat like ground beef, have crept higher every week since the pandemic hit. Mountainair is surrounded by many ranches. McCloud was hearing from her neighbors who sold their animals at auction that cattle prices were the lowest they’d seen in decades. The math didn’t add up. As a woman deeply committed to her community, she decided to take action that would solve her meat price issues and her neighbors’ cattle price woes.
Mountainair is also home to a small USDA inspected meat processing plant—the type of plant required for packaged meat to be resold through retail outlets like grocery stores. The plant closed in May 2019, largely due to failure to meet inspection requirements designed for large corporate plants—not an uncommon story for small plants. In early April 2020, motivated by neighboring ranchers and a desire to keep her prices affordable for her customers, she partnered with the plant operator to bring it back online. Almost exactly a year after the plant’s closing, the team effort has the plant processing New Mexico meat for New Mexico eaters. McCloud can now purchase animals from her neighbors and continue to offer quality ground beef at prices she’s comfortable charging. Local farmers and food distributors have not only risen to the challenges presented by food system failures during the pandemic, they have leaned into the opportunity and are creating new systems, working together to move food around the state. Some of the challenges and opportunities they face moving forward are twofold: first, how will consumer behaviors shift again as states reopen; second, if demand continues to increase, what will be the best ways to increase the supply of local food. While these producers and distributors have risen to the challenges the pandemic presents, if they were tasked with feeding all New Mexicans, the volume of food would fall woefully short of what’s actually needed. The expansive gap between large aggregated supply chains and local food systems is still too large to ensure true food security in the state, but these champions of local food are ensuring we have readily available, safe, and healthy food. What can consumers do to help? Learn to love to eat seasonally and to eat foods that love to grow here. Commit to supporting these businesses not just when they’re the most convenient option but for the long haul. Plant a garden. Let a farmer plant your land if you have it. Meet your farmers and food distributors and get to know their businesses. If possible, don’t choose the cheap and easy food option— choose the option you know supports local because they will be the ones who step in to support you when you need them most. According to data collected by the Food and Environment Reporting Network, “As of June 5 [2020], at least 276 meatpacking and food processing plants and 38 farms and production facilities have confirmed cases of COVID-19, and one food processing plant is currently closed. At least 25,221 workers (21,362 meatpacking workers, 1,641 food processing workers, and 2,218 farmworkers) have tested positive for COVID-19 and at least 95 workers (86 meatpacking workers, 7 food processing workers, and 2 farmworkers) have died.” According to industry statistics, the meatpacking industry employs five hundred thousand people, meaning one in twenty-three people who work in a plant has been infected, or some of the highest per capita infection rates in the country. This does not account for individuals working in big box grocery stores like Walmart, which has also seen closures recently with a large number of employees getting sick. WWW.EDIBLENM.COM
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MEMOIR
Learning to Dig WHY THE WAY BACK UP IS DOWN By Erin Wade · Photos by Jen Judge
Erin Wade on her farm.
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S
ometimes I sit with my elbows on my kitchen counter and stare at the red cabbage sprouts. I look closer until I find new ones that have poked through the soil, wearing their husks like a hat. Their spicy funk—the same compound that makes wasabi hot—tickles my nostrils. I wonder if my restaurants will be open when they grow up.
My garage is full of discarded junk and paperwork from the six restaurants I’ve opened over the last twelve years. I keep meaning to sort through it, but end up skulking around the edges, pulling out odds and ends I can use in the garden, or to start more of the seeds that are covering my kitchen table. One morning, I find two jugs, the kind used for growlers of beer. I tote them around with me to water the seeds I’ve tucked in secret spots in the garden so I don’t have to lug a hose. My special talent is tying hoses in knots. I have to get my face almost to the dirt to see if my sunflowers have germinated. I’m close enough to see a red ant hauling a piece of straw, lilting and swaying over dimples and hillocks; close enough to see a snail, shell speckled like the skin of a rattlesnake. A line of green goosenecks appears—where I swear I had already looked—sunflower stems unfolding through the crusted soil. For the first time in my career, I don’t know what to do. I’ve made mistakes before—my garage is full of them—but I made them. I was the person who could make the decision. I knew how long our lardons should be (three quarters of an inch), how wide our butcher block tables should be (two feet), the perfect shade of grey for the grout inside our custom green tile (pearl grey) and how much salt and pepper and acid should be in each of our eighteen vinaigrettes. But I don’t know how our dining rooms can run like hospitals. How they will feel with yawning gaps between tables. I don’t know when to open, how to open, what to do about staff who don’t want to come back. It’s not just COVID, really, although the fear of its repercussions sits like a lump in my throat. It’s the feeling that even before COVID we were becoming a food factory. Like our food, my restaurant and I are trapped in a box we never intended to be in. We are farther from our purpose, farther from our people, glued to our screens. But this is not where the story starts. When all my restaurants closed, I overused the word “unprecedented,” trying to convey the obvious point that we had no map for this. I kept saying “scrappy” to remind us how good we are at finding a way to make things work that wanted to quit—like the spice grinder we rig with a toothpick and a mayonnaise lid. I was worried but also relieved. I was tired of being scrappy. Something had changed, in the last five or six years, splitting my career in half like the avocados we cut by the hundreds for lunch. Everything had gotten just a little bit harder and a little less profitable. But it was hard to notice. In environmental science this is called the shifting baseline theory, the way our current normal tends to erase our accurate memory of the past so we don’t notice how bad things are getting.
For the first time since 2008, when I opened Vinaigrette Santa Fe, I had time to look at things that had been in constant motion. I could see things that had been unclear, like a blurry snapshot from a speeding train. But I had been the train. I was moving too fast. I had too many restaurants, too many projects. The farm—home—had become a bunch of things to check off on a to-do list, a place I was passing through on the way to put out some fire. Things I hadn’t noticed were suddenly staring me in the face. The soil in the beds I had dug and smugly thought we had been improving with our restaurant-scrap compost and cover crop was overworked. It had lost its oomph. A good quarter of the beds were infested with bindweed, the white whale of noxious weeds that tests every organic farmer’s commitment. Bindweed grows so fast and covers so completely, it strangles everything you’ve planted. It suckers when you pull it, and ten more shoots sprout from the injury. (It has me considering a nine-hundred-dollar blow-torch weeder set with a backpack propane tank and a rolling flame wand.) I could see, too, that the world of food I loved was facing the same predicament as my garden beds. Restaurants were battling opportunistic outsiders that were making it hard to survive. The obvious ones were Grubhub, DoorDash, UberEats—all the third-party delivery apps I’d been railing about for years. The less obvious ones were Facebook, Instagram, YouTube—slick technologies we had rushed to populate with pretty pictures and videos of our interiors and food. But they were eating up our customers’ time and attention. And we were ponying up our best ideas to the wide-open internet where big companies who paid people to scan for trends could gobble them up. The demand to stay fresh and relevant was relentless and the hunger for digital “content” and “stories” was voracious. Meanwhile, the need for old-fashioned experience and the gentler stimulation of food and fellowship—what we were made for—dwindled. When had the things I loved to do—farming in tune with nature, designing spaces that delight people, making delicious food that nourishes them—begun to feel peripheral? Why did everything feel like an uphill battle? Was this the invisible hand of capitalism, eighty-sixing us? When it all ground to a halt, I decided to do something different. And, I pledged to do it all by myself with my hands—literally—back in the dirt. I had read about the Zuni tradition of waffle gardens in a book called Lo-tek: Design by Radical Indigenism. In a Zuni waffle, you dig below grade and plant into the cool earth, and make walls around your plants, instead of mounding the soil up, which is what we at the farm and about every farmer in America does with our rows or raised beds. The plot is a grid of walled squares, each one for a family of corn, bean, and squash. A waffle. You can start the walls of your waffle with a shovel and a hoe, roughing the squares in, but there is no good way to form the walls without using your hands, like making sandcastles at the beach. One morning I was busy working on my waffles when the sun came up over the cottonwoods and started cooking my back under an WWW.EDIBLENM.COM
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MEMOIR
Erin Wade at Modern General in Santa Fe.
ill-chosen black t-shirt. The cool morning evaporated. All around me, the ground was already bone dry, but the soil inside my crude waffles stayed wet with dew. I realized, right there, sitting in the dirt, covered in dirt, I had been doing everything backwards. I had gone up when I should have gone down. I thought I knew that in the desert water is life. But I hadn’t understood what that meant. Zunis know that it doesn’t matter how high you’ve fluffed your dirt or how much biodynamic compost you add, the water is always going to run down into the low places and take the good stuff with it. Digging those waffles shook something loose in me. I care about sustainability and I worry all the time about climate change and water waste, but it was being up close to the soil and the sun and the worms that cracked me open. I wanted to heal for the joy of it, not out of some lingering guilt, or some abstract sense of obligation. 56
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Javi, who works and lives at the farm full time, and Jeff, my fiancé, and I started building sandcastle walls around all our beds so the water would stay inside. I found a broken carafe in the garage, filled it with molasses and compost, and made a microorganism tea to pour over struggling soil. I started mulching everything, not because I knew I should, but because it was there in my fingertips—an understanding of how much the soil likes to be shaded. The fat worms, I realized, were under the sunken pathways in our garden, under the bark where we had been walking, not in the beds. Because we don’t need as many people or shifts at the restaurants, a bunch of Santa Fe cooks have been working at the farm instead. I look out and see Esperanza, kneeling beside a bed where we’ve just transplanted tomatoes. She started at Vinaigrette in 2008, as a dishwasher, and now is one of our best cooks. I’ve watched her make thousands of salads over the years. I’ve asked her if there is avocado
inside and on top of the Omega Salad probably a hundred times. She has somehow managed to respond, every time, with a perfectly gentle seasoning of irony tucked inside two words: “Si, Jefa.” Now she is sitting in a narrow triangle of light, and it’s shining on her funny pink hat. She is thinning out the spears of grass that have seeded into the basil sprouts. Her hands are moving up and down as if she were typing—fast. She is completely focused, lost in the task, bathed in her pool of light, so she won’t accidentally pull up a baby basil plant. She is giving them a bit more room to grow. I didn’t ask her to do this. She just knows they need it. Across the garden, Javi is cutting lettuces into a tub to be washed three times, spun dry, and delivered to Vinaigrette. Fidel, a cook at Modern General, is watering and whistling along with the awkward crow of a young rooster and the two-note query of a variegated thrush. For a moment, I have that crazy feeling I sometimes get in the restaurant, on a really great shift. It’s a glow that starts in my belly and radiates out, like the light bouncing off Esperanza’s floppy hat. Sometimes when the music is thrumming and the candles are out, and the buzz of people talking and eating fills the room, some swirling sense of well-being just creeps up on you. But you can’t force it. You can only make a vessel for it, a place where people take care of one another, with good food and tables we’ve straightened fourteen times that day, and hope it fills up. Life has a surface tension. Like water, it beads up, and we are skating over the surface like water bugs, but we just can’t seem to get wet. In those moments in restaurants when it all comes together, balanced there on a pinpoint—the food and the faces and the company and the conversation and the bustling servers and the clinking glasses and the glowing lights—the moment opens and lets you in.
screen over restaurant B, because restaurant A has been designated “healthy and organic” or “farm to table.” She does not realize that the $12-billion app she is using to have her meal delivered will take that “farm to table” restaurant’s profit, decreasing the money it can pay farmers. The food movement started as a celebration of what I call friction— for doing things the slow way, the one that encourages life—on farms, in the soil, in local communities. Powerful companies made us believe that friction is bad because it stymies our ability to eat a burger out of a box while binge-watching Netflix. The burger is local, the ketchup is house-made, but are we, in Wendell Berry’s words, “imagining the connections between eating and the land”? Are we imagining anything? The digital platforms we spend more and more of our time on are designed to eliminate friction. But friction rubbed the bedrock of the earth into soil that plants could root in. Without friction, there would be no dirt. Without friction, water keeps rolling downhill. It doesn’t stop to make life. As we’re rolling along—skimming over things, swiping fast and faster, with barely a glance and only a whisper of feeling—there is no time for life to sink in, for those moments of meaning, those moments of happiness that come out of nowhere and everywhere. Restaurants have been places for those moments. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they began and flourished with the rise of democracy, or that they are suffering as it declines. We are vessels— an invitation—like the Zuni waffles I learned to dig. Every morning for hours, I’m growing flowers for dining rooms that might never be full again. I’m growing warty, curved, crazy gourds to pile by front doors in the fall, when we may be shut down all over again. And I’m waiting for something to sprout.
And then you realize—we only get in together. Wendell Berry said that “eating is an agricultural act.” His essay, “On the Pleasures of Eating,” called for eaters to “eat responsibly,” and to think of themselves as “participants in agriculture” that had “an active and responsible part in the economy of food.” In other words, he wanted eaters to draw closer to the sources of their food—to have empathy for the land and people that grew it. Years later, in 2006, this idea inspired Michael Pollan in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and the food movement, that loosely knit coalition fighting for alternatives to industrial agriculture. Being a responsible eater in those early days of the movement wasn’t easy. Farmers markets were scattered and rare; organic food wasn’t monopolized by a glittering colossus owned by Amazon. But as the movement gained traction, demand for organic and sustainably grown food increased, and so did supply. It became easier to feel blissfully responsible. Over time, the vocabulary of the food movement, especially “farm to table,” became marketing terms, rather than literal, economic realities. And somewhere in there, the eater was led astray. The eater now thinks that her “responsibility” is in choosing restaurant A on a blue
Vinaigrette in Santa Fe. WWW.EDIBLENM.COM
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Y O U R L O C A L S O URCE G UID E FOOD ARTISANS / RETAILER AlbuKirky Seasonings
AlbuKirky Seasonings specializes in finely crafted rubs, sauces, and jellies featuring red and green chile and other Southwest flavors. Albuquerque, albukirkyseasonings.com
Barrio Brinery
Bringing fine fermented foods to Santa Fe. We make our products by handcrafting small batches of flavorful goodness using only the finest ingredients.1413-B W Alameda, Santa Fe, 505-699-9812, barriobrinery.com
Bountiful Cow Cheese Company Purveyors of fine cheese, meats, and provisions from around the world. 505-473-7911, B-cow.com
Del Valle Pecans
Fresh and sweet organic pecans. From our Southern New Mexico orchards to your kitchen. Order online. 575-524-1867, delvallepecans.com
Eldora Chocolate
Eldora crafts chocolate using natural, organic, and fair trade ingredients. 1909 Bellamah NW and 8114 Edith NE, Albuquerque, 505-433-4076, eldorachocolate.com
Finches
Espresso ground Rooibos. Antioxidant-rich. Coffee alternative. Caffeine-free or caffeinated. finchescafe.com
Heidi's Raspberry Farm
Sumptuous, organic raspberry jams available throughout New Mexico and online! 600 Andrews, Corrales, 505-898-1784, heidisraspberryfarm.com
La Montañita Co-op
La Montañita Co-op is New Mexico's largest community-owned natural and organic food market. Locations in Albuquerque, Gallup, and Santa Fe, lamontanita.coop
Skarsgard Farms
Delivering fresh, local, and organically grown produce and natural groceries to doorsteps
across New Mexico. 505-681-4060, skarsgardfarms.com
Open Heart Tours
88 Louisiana SE, Albuquerque, 505-268-0206, talinmarket.com
Slow Food Santa Fe
Talin Market
LODGING
Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm
4803 Rio Grande NW, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, 505-344-9297, lospoblanos.com
Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi
Sophisticated modern aesthetic celebrating the Southwestern spirit. 113 Washington, Santa Fe, 505-988-3030
Sarabande B & B
Travel with a conscience to Oaxaca. openhearttours.com Slow Food is about enjoying food and the community it creates. Intrigued? Learn more at slowfoodsantafe.org.
RETAILERS
Gallery Ethnica
Live globally! 1301 Cerrillos, Santa Fe, 505-557-6654, galleryethnica.com
Kitchenality
Irresistible and gently used gourmet cooking and entertaining ware. 1222 Siler, Santa Fe, 505-471-7780, kitchenangels.org
Comfort, elegance, and simplicity. 5637 Rio Grande NW, Albuquerque, 505-348-5593, sarabandebnb.com
Next Best Thing to Being There
125 Paseo Del Pueblo Norte, Taos, 575-758-2233, taosinn.com
Sarabande Home
Our 200-year-old farmhouse, Santa Fe's oldest inn, is located in historic downtown Santa Fe. 220 West Manhattan, Santa Fe, 505-988-1177, elparadero.com
Tin-Nee-Ann Trading Co.
The Historic Taos Inn The Parador
NURSERIES & SERVICES deerBrooke
Irrigation and backflow prevention specialists. Repairs, installations, and consulting. 505-319-5730, NMLawnsprinklerexperts.com
Osuna Nursery
A family-owned and operated nursery, gardening center, and landscaping company. 501 Osuna NE, Albuquerque, 505-345-6644, osunanursery.com
ORGANIZATIONS, EVENTS, & EDUCATION
New Mexico Museum Foundation
116 Lincoln, Santa Fe, 505-982-6366 ext.100, museumfoundation.org
An eclectic shop for handmade products. 1315 Mountain NW, Albuquerque, 505-433-3204, beingthereabq.com We have a passion for finding the perfect gift. 4022 Rio Grande NW, Albuquerque, 505-344-1253, sarabandehome.com Family operated and family friendly since 1973. 923 Cerrillos, Santa Fe, 505-988-1630 facebook.com/TinNeeAnn
WINE STORES Arroyo Vino
218 Camino La Tierra, Santa Fe, 505-983-2100, arroyovino.com
Black Mesa Winery
1502 Highway 68, Velarde, 505-852-2820, blackmesawinery.com
Susan’s Fine Wine and Spirits
1005 S St. Francis, Santa Fe, 505-984-1582, sfwineandspirits.com
VARA Winery & Distillery
315 Alameda NE, 505-898-6280, varawines.com
edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2020
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see you in 2021 Saturday, May 22
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see you in 2021 on SEPTEMBER 11
MARKET PLACE • LOCAL FINDS Your support for the advertisers listed here allows us to offer this magazine free of charge to readers.
S
AN
co
Barrio Brinery
Please donate to the NM Farmers COVID-19 Relief Fund.
i TA ex FE z New M
FINE FERMENTED FOODS Probiotic Pickles, Sauerkraut, Escabeche, and More Handcrafted in Small Batches 1413-B West Alameda, Santa Fe www.barriobrinery.com ∙ 505-699-9812
Keep local food alive and growing. bit.ly/nmfarmerrelief
Elevated Rooibos. Elevating Health. Celebrating CafĂŠ. Celebrating Community. Espresso ground Rooibos. Antioxidant rich. Coffee alternative. Caffeine-free or caffeinated. Pure • Chai • Blossom • Earl ďŹ nchescafe.com
LAWN SPRINKLER EXPERTS Repairs/Installations Landscape Remodeling Fruit Tree Pruning and Removal
SANTA FE Linking the pleasure of good food with local community.
505-319-5730
nmlawnsprinklerexperts.com
SLOWFOODSANTAFE.ORG
TIN-NEE-ANN Trading Co.
Family Operated - Family Friendly Since 1973
Ristras and Traditional Cookbooks to Make Salsa
923 Cerrillos Road at St. Francis Drive 505-988-1630 ∙ tinneeann2@gmail.com
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E A T & DRI N K LOCAL G UID E ALBUQUERQUE
SANTA FE
Radish & Rye
Ajiaco’s varied Colombian cuisine is influenced by the diverse flora and fauna found around Colombia. 3216 Silver SE, 505-266-2305, ajiacobistro.com
Inspired by the bounty of New Mexico, and the small community of Eldorado, Arable was born. 7 Avenida Vista Grande, 505-303-3816, arablesantafe.com
TerraCotta
Ajiaco Colombian Bistro
Campo at Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm
Rio Grande Valley cuisine rooted in seasonal organic ingredients from our own farm. 4803 Rio Grande NW, 505-344-9297, lospoblanos.com
Cutbow Coffee
The culmination of more than 25 years' experience by one of the nation's most accomplished artisan coffee roasters, Paul Gallegos. 1208 Rio Grande NW, 505-355-5563, cutbowcoffee.com
Farm & Table
Enjoy delectable seasonal dishes created from scratch, sourced from local farmers and our beautiful on-site farm. 8917 Fourth Street NW, 505-503-7124, farmandtablenm.com
Grassburger
The feel-good, award-winning burger— 100% grassfed beef, vegan, or poultry! 11225 Montgomery and 5600 Coors NW, eatgrassburger.com
Hartford Square
Cozy downtown eatery; local, organic, and seasonal menu. Breakfast, brunch, lunch, & dinner-to-go. 218 Gold SW, 505-265-4933, hartfordsq.com
Mata G
Unmistakably comforting, uncompromisingly fresh, and undeniably delicious. 116 Amherst SE, 505-266-6374, mata-g.com
The Grove Cafe & Market
The Grove features a bustling café experience serving breakfast, brunch, and lunch. 600 Central SE, 505-248-9800, thegrovecafemarket.com
The Shop Breakfast & Lunch
Serving breakfast and lunch Tuesday through Sunday. 2933 Monte Vista NE, 505-433-2795
Trifecta Coffee Company
We roast coffee and brew it in unique ways utilizing some of the best methods available. All of our baked goods are made in house. 413 Montano NE, 505-803-7579, trifectacoffeecompany.com
VARA Winery & Distillery
Spanish and American wines celebrating the origins of the American wine experience. 315 Alameda NE, 505-898-6280, varawines.com
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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2020
Arable
Anasazi Restaurant & Bar
Contemporary American cuisine inspired by locally sourced seasonal ingredients. 113 Washington, 505-988-3030, innoftheanasazi.com
Arroyo Vino
We serve progressive American fare inspired by our on-premise garden and local purveyors. 218 Camino La Tierra, 505-983-2100, arroyovino.com
Dolina
We serve modern American brunch with Eastern European influences. Open 7 days a week. 402 N Guadalupe, 505-982-9394, dolinasantafe.com
Iconik Coffee Roasters
Come visit the best specialty coffee shop in Santa Fe with amazing food, unique coffees roasted onsite, and super fast high-speed internet. 314 S Guadalupe and 1600 Lena, 505-428-0996, iconikcoffee.com
Il Piatto
An authentic Italian farmhouse experience, sourcing its ingredients directly from local farms and ranches. 95 West Marcy, 505-984-1091, ilpiattosantafe.com
L’Olivier
Serving classic French dishes made with local ingredients and Southwest influences. 229 Galisteo, 505-989-1919, loliviersantafe.com
Loyal Hound
Locally sourced modern comfort food paired with craft beer, cider, and wine. 730 St. Michaels, 505-471-0440, loyalhoundpub.com
Market Steer Steakhouse
Where refined dining meets fun dining. 210 Don Gaspar in the Hotel St. Francis, 505-992-6354, marketsteersteakhouse.com
Ohori’s Coffee Roasters
The original source for locally roasted coffee beans, gifts, and gathering. 505 Cerrillos and 1098 St. Francis, 505-982-9692, 507 Old Santa Fe Trail, ohoriscoffee.com
Paper Dosa
Bringing fresh, authentic homestyle South Indian dishes to your table. These bright and exciting flavors will leave you wanting more. 551 W Cordova, 505-930-5521, paper-dosa.com
Farm-inspired cuisine: simple yet innovative food and drinks sourced locally whenever possible. 505 Cerrillos, 505-930-5325, radishandrye.com A smart, casual restaurant located in a charming one-hundred-year-old adobe. Seasonally changing, globally inspired cuisine and an extensive, value-priced wine list. 304 Johnson, 505-989-1166, terracottawinebistro.com
The Compound Restaurant
Chef Mark Kiffin preserves a landmark tradition of elegant food and service at his Canyon Road institution. 653 Canyon Road, 505-982-4353, compoundrestaurant.com
GREATER NEW MEXICO Black Bird Saloon
Genuine food and drink, wild west style. 28 Main Street, Los Cerrillos, 505-438-1821, blackbirdsaloon.com
Black Mesa Winery
Black Mesa Winery is an award-winning New Mexican winery using only New Mexican grapes. 1502 Highway 68, Velarde, 505-852-2820, blackmesawinery.com
Michael’s Kitchen Restaurant and Bakery
Regionally inspired eats with a tongue-incheek menu in a casual space decorated with knickknacks. 304-C N Pueblo, Taos, 575-758-4178, michaelskitchen.com
Pajarito Brewpub & Grill
Open for lunch Tuesday–Sunday. Open for dinner every day. Happy hour Tuesday– Sunday 2–5pm. 30 craft beers on tap. 614 Trinity, Los Alamos, 505-662-8877, pajaritobrewpubandgrill.com
Rancho de Chimayó
Famous for its signature dishes of spicy guacamole, hand-rolled tamales, blue corn enchiladas, carne adovada, and chile rellenos. 300 Santa Fe County Road 98, Chimayó, 505-351-4444, ranchodechimayo.com
Revel
Farm to table, elevated comfort food, in a fast-casual environment. 304 N Bullard, Silver City, 575-388-4920, eatdrinkrevel.com
Doc Martin’s
30+ year Wine Spectator Award Winner. Patio dining, fresh local foods, and live entertainment. 125 Paseo Del Pueblo Norte, 575-758-1977, taosinn.com
The Skillet
American, Southwest, vegetarian friendly. 619 12th Street, Las Vegas, 505-563-0477, giant-skillet.com
MARKET PLACE • LOCAL FINDS Your support for the advertisers listed here allows us to offer this magazine free of charge to readers.
South Indian cuisine
colombian bistro
now open
tuesday-saturday 11am-8pm
3216 Silver SE, Albuquerque 505-266-2305, www.ajiacobistro.com Ajiaco’s varied Colombian cuisine is influenced by a diverse flora and fauna found around Colombia. Cultural traditions of different Colombian ethnic groups play a role in our choice of ingredients.
Est. 1984
TRIFECTA COFFEE COMPANY
Wholesale Specialty Cheese/Meats/Provisions 300+ Cheeses from around the World www.b-cow.com · 505-473-7911
413 Montano NE, Albuquerque 505-803-7579, trifectacoffeecompany.com We roast coffee, and brew it in unique ways utilizing some of the best methods available. All of our baked goods, sweet, and savory are made in house.
Genuine Food & Drink Enchanting, Dusty... Wild West Style 28 MAIN STREET LOS CERRILLOS 505.438.1821 Thursday - Sunday blackbirdsaloon.com WWW.EDIBLENM.COM
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telling the story of how the City eats anD DrinKs • no. 52 sPring 2018
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Celebrating the Harvest of the Hamptons and North Fork
No. 36 High Summer 2012
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Spring 2020 MARIN & WINE COUNTRY
Celebrating the harvest of Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties, season by season
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LAST BITE
RED ESPRESSO BOURBON SWEET TEA
By Stephanie Cameron
Limoncello gives bourbon sweet tea a Mediterranean twist and red espresso rooibos tea mellows the bite of the bourbon. 1 1/2 ounces bourbon whiskey (we recommend Taos Lightning Bourbon) 1/2 ounce limoncello 4 ounces brewed red espresso tea, chilled (we recommend sourcing from Finches) Lemon wedge for garnish In a large tumbler glass, add bourbon and limoncello. Fill the glass with ice. Top with red espresso tea and stir gently with a bar spoon. Garnish with a lemon wedge. Enjoy with our Mediterranean Night meal, page 32. kgbspirits.com finchescafe.com
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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2020
Museums will always matter. Culture is everlasting. Folk art connects the world. History is our best teacher. Our Annual Fund Supports the Museum of New Mexico System • Museum of Indian Arts and Culture • Museum of International Folk Art • New Mexico History Museum • New Mexico Museum of Art • New Mexico Historic Sites • Office of Archaeological Studies Help protect and preserve the art, culture and history of New Mexico and folk art traditions worldwide.
Please consider a gift to our Annual Fund. museumfoundation.org/annual-fund 505.982.6366, ext. 100
ARROYO VINO Restaurant and Wine Shop
Committed to the best seasonal & local ingredients On-site two acre garden A R R OYOV I N O.C O M
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