How to eat a cactus

On a recent trip to Phoenix, Arizona, I was walking through a Mexican market and saw the pads from cactus wrapped in plastic next to the other greens. Wondering how it was cooked and served I inquired with the locals. Apparently cooking cactus, an often bitter plant, you must first sweat it first. Often prepared into salsas, the cactus is chopped finely and then sweated down in a fat to extract any sweetness that may exist inside. From there you can grind it, blend it, or just serve it along with your main dish. I would attempt the salsa, adding in some finely diced red onions, and tomatoes. Serve with some blue corn chips and you're set for eating as the South westerners do.

Personal Chef does not a chef make

I recently just got certified as a personal chef. It allows me to start up a business designed to cook meals for people in their own homes and get compensated for it. The only aspect, aside from the loneliness, is that I could be packaging these meals for about two people for a week or up to two weeks. Everything is placed in a container so that when the person gets home they can place it on a plate and reheat it.

Now, as a classically trained chef, I immediately felt some kind of well "sell out" sensation. I felt that all the stress and hard work I had gone through was now being dumb downed so that any home maker can throw on a chef jacket and toque and call themselves a chef. Years of experience and you still aren’t a chef. You have to earn that title and it doesn’t come by passing a two-day course. It comes with knowledge and discipline. I digress. But yes, I was left with an odd feeling of guilt. Hell, this job wouldn’t even let me be creative with plating dishes.... because I can't plate in a tupperware.

I spent the money and got certified. I learned a lot. And while I understand the need for personal chefs, we have to remember that back in the 1800s and 1900s personal chefs were the ones living in the homes of royalty, politicians, and the wealthy. They had one role and they were held with the highest regard to perform grand, elegant, food; not, to place them in zip locks.

Food for Thought

"In the Unites States, the Leopold Center pointed out that the typical American prepared meal contains ingredients from at least 5 countries. It found that the average total distance for three meals who ingredients were sourced and eaten in iowa was about 1,200 miles, compared with almost 12,600 miles if those ingredients were brought in from outside the state from conventional sources. Suddenly, the incredible journeys being undertaken by food were becoming clear, highlighting the worrying fact that the global food supply relies heavily on fossil fuels."

from the book Moveable Feasts.

We can make an effort to eat more local foods. They will taste better. That alone is a reason to support local farmers.