Markets | The Real Foodie

January 20, 2015

Real Food Goes Mainstream

When I read in dismay about the increasing use of pesticides, GMOs and other chemicals, how bees are becoming extinct and nature’s perfect food—breastmilk—is contaminated with toxins such as BPA and fire retardants, I feel hopeless and think we are heading towards total destruction of our planet. Sometimes however, I see a light at the end of the tunnel and believe the tide is turning, that we are finally winning the war against processed, chemical ridden food and GMOs which are poisoning our children.

I keep reading in the news about McDonalds sales continuing to drop. Perhaps the day I have been waiting for, when we will see an end to the infamous McDonalds we all grew up with and places like fast-growing burger chain Bareburger replacing it, is nearer than we think.

On a recent trip to New York I came across the new supermarket, A Matter of Health, on First Avenue between 72nd and 73rd streets. I was impressed with how many products they had in stock and how much variety there was. They sold many products that are hard to find, that I usually have to order online or go to various different stores to buy. It impressed me that a neighbourhood like the Upper East Side which has been slow to pick up on the growing real food movement, with few healthy restaurants and markets, is catching up with the more foodie-forward areas of the city such as Williamsburg and Downtown.

Also on the Upper East Side, on Lexington Avenue between 73rd and 74th streets is Organic Avenue, opened three years ago, where I get my breakfast each morning when I stay there. Organic Avenue was the first juice bar of its kind; Juice Press in New York and Jugo Fresh in Miami were soon to follow.

On my way back to Miami at La Guardia airport, I stopped by the market Cibo Express, which I was also impressed to find were selling some healthy food products such as Vigilant Eats superfood cereals and Maple Hill Creamery 100% grass-fed organic yogurts. A few years ago you could never find a healthy snack other than a banana in any airport.

In Miami the long awaited Wholefoods Downtown opened in Brickell last week, with yet another branch of Jugo Fresh located inside, as soon as you walk in. With so many new health food markets opening on a grand scale, such as Wholefoods (the first national grocery chain to set a deadline for full GMO transparency) and A Matter of Health, we may be seeing the end of the average conventional supermarket.

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February 2, 2014

El Galpón, Buenos Aires

My second real food stop in Buenos Aires was El Galpón farmers’ market in Chacarita, which I was more impressed with during this trip than Sabe La Tierra in San Fernando. Here I was finally able to find raw grass-fed milk and yoghurt! They came in glass bottles and I found them at La Azucena stall, owned by Walter and his father Nestor. They only bring two bottles of raw milk to the market each time for the few customers who buy it so I got lucky. Usually you have to call in advance and order it. The milk was much creamier than our Amish grass-fed raw milk in the U.S. and had a richer flavour.

Walter explained to me that the milk would need to be boiled after two days, which I found strange because our Amish milk lasts at least a week. I thought he was being overly cautious as most people are afraid of raw milk but sure enough it did start to sour after two days. However, it didn’t sour in the same way as our raw milk sours which usually gets a bitter taste and curdles, it became thick and developed a pleasant tart flavour like buttermilk. As time went on the flavour stayed the same and the milk got thicker. I did not need to pasteurise it as it comes from roaming grass-fed cows, eating what they are designed to eat and therefore not sick like grain-fed, confined cows. The fact that it had such a pleasant taste meant it was free from any harmful bacteria. If milk has bad bacteria it smells foul, such as when pasteurised milk goes bad, it doesn’t sour like raw milk, because all the enzymes which would otherwise ferment the milk and turn it sour, producing more beneficial bacteria, have been destroyed by the heat process of pasteurisation.

At La Azucena they sell cow milk, goat milk, cow yoghurt, goat yoghurt, aged and soft cheeses as well as chicken, chicken eggs, quails eggs, salami without preservatives, pork, bacon, sausages, pollen and honey. The cheeses unfortunately are not raw. Their farm is in Las Heras; their cows are purely grass-fed and their chickens are pastured and also given leftovers from the vegetable garden and some non-organic corn (which could mean it is GMO). I went back to the market the following week and bought more raw milk, as well as salami and cheese. The milk again soured after two days which was problematic considering my daughter refused to drink it after it soured and I was not able to go to the market again until 2 days later, but it was still delicious and a breakthrough to have finally found a source for raw milk in Buenos Aires.

La Azucena

uncured salami at La Azucena

grass-fed yoghurt and cheese at La Azucena

raw grass-fed milk at La Azucena

At the Granja Organica de Arroyo del Medio stand they sell organic pastured eggs, salamis made without preservatives using pastured meats and homemade mustard, pesto, hummus, and eggplant pate. Territorio Cuyano sells organic wines.

Granja Organica de Arroyo del Medio

La Choza grass-fed dairy

greens at Grupo San Juan

Grupo San Juan

fresh herbs at Grupo San Juan

mushrooms

Territorio Cuyano

At Grupo San Juan there is a wide array of organic vegetables: mostly greens, some fruits and local blueberries. La Choza, which is also at Sabe La Tierra market, sells organic pasteurised, grass-fed milk, yoghurt and cheese. Cumulen stand sells ice creams made from grass-fed milk, carefully sculpted in the Argentine tradition onto cones, which come in a variety of different natural fruit flavours.

Cumulen grass-fed ice cream

chocolate with orange peel ice cream

Cumulen grass-fed ice cream

vanilla and blueberry ice cream

cherry ice cream

chocolate with orange peel ice cream

There is a very good cafe at El Galpón where they serve organic salads, pastured grilled meats, whole grain alternatives to the classic Argentine pastries such as empanadas and tartas as well as whole wheat pizzas and pastas (my favourite being beet ravioli when in season), all from local farms. They have fresh organic juices such as passionfruit, peach, blueberry and mulberry.

whole grain empanadas at the cafe at El Galpón

whole grain tartas at the cafe at El Galpón

blueberry and mulberry juice at the cafe at El Galpón

pumpkin soup at the cafe at El Galpón

the cafe at El Galpón

El Galpón is held every Wednesday and Saturday next to the Federico Lacroze train station in Chacarita.

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January 21, 2014

Sabe la Tierra, Buenos Aires

When I first started going to Buenos Aires seven years ago, it was very difficult to find real food. Even the grass-fed beef Argentina is known for worldwide, was quickly being replaced by feedlot beef. In the supermarkets it was impossible to find plain yoghurt; everything was loaded with sugar and additives. There were a few health food stores and restaurants but they were still stuck in the old school belief that soy and vegetarianism is healthy.

Argentines eat mostly bread in the form of pasta, pizza, sandwiches and pastries, with meat, cheese and few vegetables, which made it very difficult to eat well when I was there. However, when I returned in 2010 to visit my in-laws, things had changed. There were now several organic food delivery services and more health food stores and restaurants, but the biggest change was the opening of two farmers’ markets: Sabe La Tierra in San Fernando and El Galpon in La Chacarita. Now when I visit, as soon as I arrive I go to the nearest market to stock up on real food, which has made eating healthy a lot easier when I am there.

During my recent visit in November, my first stop was Sabe La Tierra in San Fernando. The market is held every Saturday at the charming San Fernando, Tren de la Costa train station, where the stalls are set up along the train platform. The most impressive stall is Tierra Florida, owned by Fabio, who sells medicinal herb tinctures and makes various smoothies, using fruit mixed with water kefir, kombucha or coconut milk and adds superfoods such as pollen, cacao, maca, aloe, purple corn, ginger, coca and moringa. Fabio has had his stall at the market for two years.

Fabio in front of his stall Tierra Florida

kefir and coconut milk

cocoa beans

kefir smoothies

kombucha and kefir

coca, maca, ghee, spirulina, purple corn and dried kefir grains

superfoods smoothie

The movement still has a long way to go in terms of real food and there is still a big emphasis on vegan and vegetarianism. There is no raw cheese or raw milk being sold at the market, only pasteurised, partially grass-fed organic yoghurt and milk from a cooperative of small farmers called La Choza. At the Coeco stall, another cooperative, their chicken and eggs are marketed as pastured but the chickens are fed grains which most likely are GMO as they are not certified organic and the hens are fed GMO soy. I spoke with the owner at Coeco who told me that in March their eggs are going to be certified organic—a huge improvement. Another stall owned by a lady named Susanna, at the end of the platform, also sells eggs; the hens are fed herbs, corn and some commercial feed but again these probably include GMO grains. Since Argentines have started learning about the effects of GMOs from soy, their largest producing crop, there is pressure for producers to have their products certified organic, as most are still getting away with marketing them as healthy and organic when they are fed GMOs.

raw flax seed flour wraps

I was happy to find natural apple cider vinegar as it is impossible to find vinegar in the supermarket without preservatives

La Choza pasteurised, grass-fed milk and yoghurt

Coeco pastured chicken and eggs, soon to be certified organic

San Fernando train station

Pasteurised goat’s cheese

eggs wrapped the old fashioned way in newspaper

Across the train tracks at La Cañada stall, there is always a long queue of people waiting to buy their organic fruits and vegetables. Here they sell local organic blueberries, the ones imported all the way to the U.S. during the winter months when blueberries aren’t available.

La Cañada stall selling organic fruits and vegetables

organic fruits and vegetables

organic local blueberries

Sabe La Tierra market

bee products

A few stalls further along there is La Areperia de Buenos Aires. An arepa is a Colombian and Venezuelan cornmeal patty which is grilled or fried and then sliced and usually stuffed with cheese. What differentiates La Areperia de Buenos Aires from the typical arepas you find in the U.S. is that they are made in the traditional, rustic style, using corn kernels that are first boiled and then ground, instead of cornmeal, to produce a more flavourful arepa. The arepas look delicious but when I asked the owner, Hassan, if the corn is organic, his answer was vague. He told me that his producer says it is organic but it isn’t certified, in which case I wouldn’t take the risk, as most corn is GMO.

various toppings for the arepas

guacamole

grilled arepas

La Areperia de Buenos Aires

The health food movement in Argentina has grown tremendously since my last visit, with hopefully more certified organic products to come. Sabe La Tierra market is now held at two more locations, in Tigre on Wednesdays and in Vicente López on Saturdays. As of January this year, Sabe La Tierra started Mercado de Noche, a night market held at different locations from six till ten in the evening. Another market which I have not been to yet, Buenos Aires Market, is held every month since April 2012, at various locations for two days over the weekend, selling organic and healthy food.

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September 21, 2013

Tropical Miami

On our way back from the airport after arriving in Miami we stopped at the Glaser Organic Farmers’ Market in Coconut Grove, where we go every Saturday to have our raw organic lunch and buy farm food for the week. It felt good to be back to my routine again! As much as I love Jamaican food I was really missing my raw dairy. I didn’t eat any dairy the entire time I was there because I couldn’t get any raw pastured dairy and I certainly wasn’t going to have the UHT milk that everyone drinks there (although it is supposedly from pastured cows but the UHT process denatures the protein and makes it an unhealthy drink). When we go to Glaser I always get the same thing: Nori roll, raw goat’s milk kefir and fresh local young coconut water straight from the coconut. I feel amazing after! The raw kefir takes away any sweet temptations because it is fermented, which balances out your body’s pH,¹ although if I am going to have something sweet, Glaser is the place to have it. They make delicious fruit pies that are sweetened with nothing else but fruit. Their ice cream on the other hand, is sweetened with agave and so are some of their snacks so you have to be careful and read the ingredients. The Nori wrap is made of mixed greens, grated carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, their own cashew herb paste, sprouts, parsley, cilantro and scallions, all wrapped in a sheet of Nori and dipped into a herb vinaigrette. The raw goat’s milk kefir comes from Simon’s goat farm in Homestead. He also makes the best raw goat’s milk halloumi cheese and raw goat’s milk feta I have ever tasted and I usually stock up on it for the week.

Glaser Organic Farmers’ market is one of the reasons I began to love living in Miami. It is where I got my first taste of all the unusual tropical fruits that grow here such as mamey, white and black sapote, acerola cherries, dragon fruit, egg fruit, jack fruit, monstera deliciosa and hall avocadoes. There used to be a fruit vendor called Tim who introduced us to a new fruit each week, our favourite being white sapote which unfortunately is only available one month of the year in June. It is also where I get my weekly local young coconuts from our Trinidadian friends ‘Kokonut Kreationz‘ (who we hired to serve coconuts at Olivia’s birthday party and were a huge hit).

After Glaser we usually stop by Athens Juice Bar owned by the same Greek family since 1942, where we buy a half gallon bottle of fresh coconut milk (not water), made from pressed mature coconut, coconut water and chunks of coconut. It is heavenly and I have never seen fresh coconut milk sold anywhere else, so this is a real secret which more people should know about (the reason for this blog.). I have only ever seen coconut milk sold in cans and far from fresh, usually with preservatives and tainted with BPA from the lining of the can. The milk from Athens is lighter than regular coconut milk which is more like cream, because it is combined with the water. It is a good alternative to milk for those who are dairy free.

I still find it surreal that after living in big cities my whole life, most of it in rainy and cold London, I now am living my dream of being in a tropical climate where coconuts grow; and I don’t think I can ever live in a temperate climate city again!

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1. Gates D, Schatz L (2006). The Body Ecology Diet, 9th edn. B.E.D. Publications: Georgia, p.114.

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August 11, 2013

The Green Thumb, Watermill, N.Y.

The smell of this organic market in Water Mill, New York, still brings me back to my childhood and some of my earliest memories are from when my mother used bring me to shop here. We stopped coming here for many years when my parents separated and I would spend the summers with my father, where we would eat the Standard American diet a.k.a. junk food. But still every time I smelled fresh dill I would be reminded of The Green Thumb. Since changing my diet I recently started going back here. It has been owned by the same family since the mid–1600s and they have been farming organically, using natural farming practices since the 1980s. All of their crops are certified organic and they grow a wide variety of vegetables, herbs and fruits. They also have their own honey and eggs and they sell some other local and artisanal market products. It is slightly overpriced probably due to the location, but when it’s the only place to find fresh, organic, local produce without driving as far as Bridghampton or Amagansett, it is worth it.

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June 30, 2013

Southampton Village Farmers’ Market

I spend every summer staying with my family in the town of Southampton, New York. It requires more effort to buy real food as I don’t have my farm delivery club like in Miami. However, over the years I have got to know the few organic farms and farm stands around the area, with more growing each year and although I have to drive far to get it, it is worth it; we end up eating just as well as we do at home. I will be posting more about the farm stands I buy from throughout the summer. Every Sunday from June to October there is a small farmers’ market held next to the old Parish Art Museum in the village of Southampton. Photographed is Frank Trentacoste from the new organic farm in Amagansett, Bhumi Farm. Below is my friend Dave Falkowski’s stand from his farm Open Minded Organics in Bridgehampton.

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May 30, 2013

BM Organics Market is Closing Down

My favourite restaurant BM Organics, sadly, is closing down. I never even got a chance to write a post to showcase their amazing food which is sourced exclusively from Amish or local organic farms. Highlights from my memory include frissee salads made with a Thai coconut meat based dressing and sprinkled with raw, grass-fed blue cheese; brown butter and pumpkin seed spaghetti squash; sprouted lentil or chicken and kale soup made with real bone broth; grass-fed burgers with sprouted wheat buns and homemade fermented ketchup (the ketchup was a miracle and I would buy jars of it because whatever I put it on, my daughter would eat); spicy pastured chicken wings; fries fried in lard; sprouted mac ‘n cheese; raw milk smoothies; grass-fed hot dogs and sprouted hummus; all cooked using real cooking fats like butter, lard and coconut oil.

I knew it was too good to be true that a restaurant following the principles of the Weston A. Price Foundation stuck around for too long. Since changing to the Weston A. Price diet it has been my dream to open a restaurant just like this one and I couldn’t believe it when I found it, in Fort Lauderdale of all places. It made my experience of living in Miami all the more enjoyable and to think that I was afraid when I left New York City of losing all my real food places—I found everything I had there and more with the addition of BM Organics.

We have been making the 45 minute trip from Miami to this place every weekend for their gourmet dinners since their opening in February of 2012. It was a blessing that I just happened to stop by on the day they opened! It was the first time we could feed my toddler a full meal at a restaurant and have a relaxed family dinner, knowing every single ingredient was real food. In all my experience of eating out, I have yet to find another restaurant that is 100 percent real food. Even farm-to-table restaurants still use toxic vegetable oils for cooking, they don’t sprout their grains and it is unheard of to serve raw dairy.

The only good news was they had a huge closing down sale and I was able to stock up on all of my favourite items for a big discount. They will surely be missed by their devoted following but they will still continue their weekly farm deliveries.

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May 26, 2013

Daylesford, London

Across the street from the Pimlico market, Daylesford is an organic farm shop and cafe selling organic produce, prepared food, and pastured meat, dairy and eggs from their own organic farm in Gloucestershire. They have three locations in London, one in Surrey and one in Tokyo. We had a delicious lunch at the cafe in Pimlico and brunch at the cafe in Notting Hill, which has replaced the old Fresh and Wild market: one of the first organic supermarkets in London where I used to buy my organic food over ten years ago. It is on the trendy Westbourne Grove and is giving the popular conventional brunch hang out, 205 Cafe two doors down, a run for its money.

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May 25, 2013

Pimlico Farmers’ Market, London

When I went to London for my long overdue trip back to the city where I grew up, I arrived just in time for the Saturday Farmers’ Market in Pimlico (my mother’s local) to buy raw milk for Olivia. I was impressed that they were selling raw milk in plain sight, something which doesn’t happen in the US (usually it has to be bought secretively as if doing a drug deal!). The market is part of London Farmers’ Markets: a group of certified farmers’ markets around London, established by the food writer Nina Planck in 1999. Nina Planck wrote the book Real Food which along with The Weston A. Price Foundation and The Body Ecology Diet, made a lasting impact on me and is THE book that anyone interested in adopting a healthy diet should read, as it has a very straightforward and simplistic approach.

I was amazed by how much more modern and multicultural the city has become since my last visit and especially since I left ten years ago. While London has always been one of the leaders of the organic movement (it was where I first started eating organically in my early twenties), there is now a vast array of options for me in terms of real food when I visit. I remember during my first trip back after I left, in 2004, my friend took me to the Marylebone Farmers’ Market and it was the first of it’s kind that I had seen. Back then I wasn’t yet a real foodie, I was still just an industrial organic foodie, (eating foods that were labeled organic but not unprocessed, sustainable or from animals that were humanely treated and pastured) and so I couldn’t appreciate it as much as I do now. Now there are 21 certified Farmers’ Markets across the city and several shops and restaurants serving real food.