AmericanStomach.com

What Would Jesus Eat?

Of course, no one knows His last meal. But you can find most everyone else's on this site.

Food and Punishment

Ever wonder about those prison meals? Now we know . . .

Food for Fear and Loathing

In classic American dialectical tradition (good food/bad food, pure food/polluted food), a new book which transforms nutrition into a top-ten list.

China's Penis Restaurant

An article not to be missed . . .

The Pre-Schoolers Diet: Salmon Caviar and Baba Ghanoush for Mini Gourmands

At long last, a guest-blog post from Jessica Mendez, who brings news from America's youngest stomachs:

Lunch time! I put on my plastic gloves (as per Department of Education regulations, naturally) and set up my students' lunches. There are the usual suspects: String cheese and cut up hot dogs, chicken nuggets, egg salad sandwiches, yogurt, goldfish crackers. But wait. Some of these lunches are not quite your average preschool fare: Strawberries! Grape tomatoes and cold pierogies! Salmon caviar sandwiches, avocado rolls and soba noodles! Baba ghanoush with pita is laid out alongside fresh fruit.

It's all kosher, and it's completely vegetarian. (Those hot dogs and chicken nuggets? Meatless soy substitutions.) A lot of it's even vegan; most of it's organic. None of it contains any traces of nuts or seeds, thanks to a growing nut allergy epidemic that makes the once almighty peanut butter sandwich at the extinction level.

Welcome to the new preschooler's diet.

Working at a Jewish preschool in an affluent neighborhood has opened a new world to me: the mini gourmand. These kids know what they want, don't eat junk and have a sophistication concerning food that actually put me to shame (and made me return to my once vegetarian ways!).

I start reading more about vegetarian and vegan cooking. (Well hello, Skinny Bitch! I hear Victoria Beckham is a fan!) I search frantically for the Kosher sign on the food I plan to bring to school so I will never again be questioned about my devotion to keeping the synagogue microwave's religion. Slowly, I began buying my food at the local organic/health food store and prep my lunches at home. Soy chik'n nuggets with grape tomatoes drizzled with Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette becomes a delightful chicken teriyaki substitute. Miller's Organic string cheese becomes a daily part of my diet. (Skinny Bitches be damned; I need cheese to live.) Lentils are suddenly as important as bread used to be, and I become obsessed with lox and tofutti sandwiched between triangles of whole grain pita. Organic strawberries may be more expensive, but they are so much sweeter and decadent than the half-rotted shame that lies in the local supermarket aisle. Nothing tastes better in the mornings  than whole wheat waffles kissed with organic maple syrup alongside fluffy free-range scrambled eggs.

My food bill, while cheaper than if I was buying out every day, is still shooting up up up. I cut back in other areas of life; I am a woman possessed by meatless, healthy living. My live-in boyfriend is averse to any meal that doesn't contain a dead animal: this is getting tricky. I think of just returning to my carnivorous ways.

Then! On a lark, I weigh myself at a friend's house. I have lost 5 lbs since eating like a kid. My boyfriend can live on roast beef sandwiches and the meat-laden dishes the rest of our rommates cook.

These kids are on to something.

The Recipe We Have All Been Waiting For . . .

American Stomach's recipe of the week, from guest blogger Elizabeth Beier:

The Locavore’s Venison Neck Roast

Unless you are truly a hunter-gatherer, the main ingredient for this dish might be hard to come by, though one can certainly call the best butchers who sell game and put them to the test.  Or: befriend a hunter. Or: become one.  (I have never substituted, though I imagine any cut of venison roast would work well enough.) 

Ingredients:

¼ pound pancetta, cut into dice
Olive oil
One deer neck, 4 to 5 pounds (bone in)
4 carrots, peeled and diced
4 ribs of celery, peeled and diced
½ large white onion, peeled and diced
1 shallot, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 ounces of dried porcini mushrooms (check them for dirt and brush off if there’s any visible, but don’t rinse or soak)
1 white globe turnip, peeled and cut into dice
1/3 bottle good red wine
1 pint chicken stock
A few branches of fresh thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

--In a heavy enameled deep cast iron pot with a lid, brown the pancetta in the olive oil until fragrant and a bit crispy on the edges.  Remove w/ a slotted spoon and set aside.
--Brown the deer neck all over (including the ends) in the olive oil, long enough so that each side is well-browned, about 5 to 8 minutes per side.  Remove and set aside.
--Saute the carrots, celery, onion, shallot and garlic in the olive oil until softened and fragrant, about 10 minutes.
--Season with liberal quantities of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.
--Add the porcini, turnip, wine, chicken stock, thyme, and reserved pancetta.
--Bring mixture to a boil.
--Add deer neck and any accumulated juices, nap it with the vegetable mixture, cover pan and stash in the oven for 3 to 4 hours or until the meat is pulling away from the bones and is extremely tender, turning the neck in the vegetable mixture occasionally.
--Remove deer neck from pot and let rest while you reduce the vegetable mixture on top of the stove until it’s a bit thickened.
--Serve deer neck surrounded by the vegetable mixture.

Deer Neck for Dinner

Awesome dinner in Ancramdale this weekend, the ultimate locavore meal: Columbia County Deer Neck, courtesy of American Stomach guest blogger, Elizabeth Beier. (Can you please contribute the recipe?)

Note for radioheads: Next time American Stomach will hit the airwaves will be this Wednesday, 9:00 Central Time. Wisconsin Public Radio.

Attack on the Front Lawn

This Friday, 7:00, at the Celeste Bartos Forum of the New York Public Library (you know the spot, midtown, with those lions in front), we shall decide the future of your front lawn. Specifically: Shall we eat it?

Yankee Doodle Desperation

For those of us who love New Haven hot dogs, it's time to marshal the forces and do what we can to save the Yankee Doodle!