Our national palate has come a long way since the early days of Velveeta, Cheez Whiz, and the Betty Crocker Cookbook – though these are still around. Thanks to veteran food visionaries like Julia Child and Alice Waters – owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, author of 8 cookbooks, international VP of the Slow Food Movement, and an inspiration for Michelle Obama’s White House Garden – instead of receiving our nutrition from inside tinfoil-wrapped packages, aluminum cans, or glass jars, we are increasingly developing a taste for healthier, more nutritionally substantive fare.
Alice believes in stepping outside your living space and picking produce fresh from the garden or, if that is not possible, purchasing local organic fruits and vegetables from farmers markets that are mushrooming (forgive the pun!) all across America. She and the First Lady are educating the next generation about healthy eating habits.
Good food should be a right, not a privilege. ~ Alice Waters
At the same time there is a rise in obesity in the U.S., progressively we Americans are making better choices about what we are eating. We are reading labels. We want to know where our food comes from. Were the brussel sprouts flown in frozen from China or grown by the farmer across town? Sometimes we want to get even more up-front and personal: we want to meet the food producer and see the land, because having that connection is important to us.
Which is what motivated me to drive to Pescadero, California – think seafood from Duarte’s Tavern, hot-out-of-the-oven artichoke garlic herb bread from Arcangeli’s country bakery, extraordinary hand-crafted furniture by Marcus Jones – to visit Harley Farms Goat Dairy.
Driving into Pescadero from Highway 1 in the Fall, you'll pass fields of pumpkins and brussel sprouts. The town is full of flowers, rustic old buildings, arts and crafts, and specialty shops.
On the outskirts of town at 205 North Street, you’ll see a few signs inviting you into Harley Farms Cheese Shop, or, if you make reservations, you can take a tour of the farm and see the sparkling-clean facilities and sweet Alpine goats whose milk makes the array of Harley’s goat-milk cheeses: monet, van goat, tomato basil, cranberry walnut, and apricot pistachio tortes; chevre logs and buttons; festive wheels; and, my favorite, creamy, perfectly-salted feta. As part of the Slow Food Movement, Harley’s hosts seasonal five-course dinners in its charming upstairs dining room. Early reservations are recommended: 2009-2010 winter dinners are already sold out.
Alpine goats love to climb!
And so today, when a family member says, “Please pass the goat cheese,” there are no longer any raised eyebrows at the dinner table. In fact, mothers should be ecstatic when their children reach for goat cheese because, compared to cheese made from cow’s milk, goat cheese has about 1/3 less calories, twice the protein, 1/2 the fat and cholesterol, plus it’s easier to digest and is generally safe for those who are lactose intolerant or who have milk-related allergies. But goat cheese isn’t only for children, of course: it’s for everyone who loves good, nutritious food.
This week’s bucolic graphic ~ rt ~ demonstrates at a glance how happy Harley’s goats are. She didn’t pose for this picture. The expression came naturally.
Ref: 9/26/08 Congressional Research Service Report: Food and Agricultural Imports From China.
If you liked this post, you may also enjoy: Touch The Earth.
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Thank you so much for the mention of our store and Artichoke Herb Bread. Also thank you for coming by our store. Michael