Tomatoland by Barry Estabrook

I LOVE tomatoes, cook with them nearly every day, and I'm constantly searching for a great-tasting tomato.  Now I know why it's so hard to find one!  I bought this book while all geeked up at a food fair in Santa Monica earlier this Fall.  An entire book devoted to tomatoes?  This made me so happy, I even bought the autographed copy.  I'm not going to re-invent the wheel and write a synopsis of this fascinating look at the modern tomato industry - click here to read one on google.    This book focuses primarily on the large-ag tomato industry that grew in the state of Florida over the last 100 years, and why Florida may not be the best place for a tomato to grow.  He visits with a famous tomato horticulturalist in California, a Florida prosecuter who fights human traffickers for tomato workers' rights, and an organic farmer in Pennsylvania whose determination has allowed him to grow a variety of great-tasting tomatoes to supply to New York City restaurants and farmers' markets.  These are just a few of the cast of characters who make up our modern tomato industry.

In the vein of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Fast Food Nation, and other close-up looks at where our food comes from, Tomatoland made me re-think where I buy my tomatoes!  Can I get more of these?  xo, AB

Organic heirloom tomatoes from Farm Fresh to You (CSA)

Just Like Christmas!

Last week, I signed up for a CSA Box.  Today, I received my first box, delivered right to my door!  I felt like I was opening a gift on Christmas. 

My Cornucopia

CSA stands for "Community Sponsored Agriculture," and allows consumers to purchase in-season, fresh produce directly from the farmer.  Some CSAs deliver your box of goodness; others have pick-up locations.  The particular farm I ordered from creates wonderful boxes full of a variety of fruits and vegetables small enough for 1-2 people (or larger for a family of 5 or 6), and allows you to choose the frequency so your bounty doesn't go to waste.  I have wanted to do this for quite awhile, but was only able to find farms that delivered giant boxes, which doesn't work for a single person like me who travels for work.  There are so many options out there, I feel confident that if this interests you, you will be able to find one that works for you, too!

Makes me giddy thinking of biting into these!

Some farms allow you to pick whether or not you want more fruit than veggies, more veggies than fruit, to choose your favorites, etc.  I chose to be surprised - this is half the fun, I think, and will force me to eat a wider variety of foods.  I'm already dreaming of what I'm going to do with my Bartlett Pears, Swiss Chard, beets, and cauliflauer...drooling over the future possibilities of what I cook or can!

If you are interested in ordering a CSA Box, go to http://www.localharvest.org/ to find a CSA farm near you.