News-Journal artist Octavio Diaz turned my sketch into colorful reality to illustrate a story about people who pick fruit in residential neighborhoods.

1. Accent
3NJ0102D0708 3NJ0102D0708 ZALLCALL 15 14:29:41 07/07/09 B
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COMING
THURSDAY
SECTION D
BALL CAP NATION:
WEDNESDAY
What’s behind JULY 8, 2009
America’s obsession
with the ball cap? THE NEWS-JOURNAL
FOCUS ON: FOOD & DRINK
Laurie Sterbens
ACROSS THE TABLE
Shopping
Ripe
trip a battle
for planet,
self, sanity
for the
I
Picking
n the beginning, all we had to
worry about was trying to eat
healthy. This was difficult
enough, with a new diet book
released every five minutes and
health researchers around the
globe working at an unprecented
pace to contradict one another.
Now we are expected to worry
about the environment as well.
While this can be a no brainer —
Urban dwellers forage for
Eat local! Plant a garden! — for
some of us it’s not so simple.
Since I have a proven ability to
kill any edible plant with the
formerly forbidden fruit
exception of basil, which I don’t
particularly like if you want to
know the truth, I am pretty
much at the mercy of others for
produce. By KIM SEVERSON berry patches in Pennsylva-
When it comes to protein, well, NEW YORK TIMES nia and neighbors willing to
it’s not like I can raise cows in MORE INSIDE
OAKLAND, Calif. — The lo- trade blackberries in Okla-
the backyard, and I wouldn’t What to do with that
quats were ripe and just beg- homa.
know how to go about catching a foraged fruit? How
ging to be picked. In Royal Oak, Mich., a
shrimp, so I’m at somebody about a Foraged Fruit
else’s mercy there, too. (I know, But there was a problem. woman investigated how to
there’s tofu, but I would have to Although the tree was plan- Tart? Recipe, PAGE 2D. start a fruit exchange mod-
get divorced.) ted on private property, the eled after Fallen Fruit (fall-
This week, along with trying loaded branches hung over enfruit.org), an arts group
to buy local produce, my goals the street. that designs maps of accessi-
college and bartended at ble fruit growing in Los An-
were to avoid tilapia Did that make the fruit
Chez Panisse, began organiz- geles neighborhoods.
(sustainable and cheap but high public property?
In the end, with no one ing a little neighborhood In Alaska, cooks used
in omega 6 fatty acids) and fruit exchange called Forage
farmed salmon (tasty and cheap around to ask, Asiya Wadud Facebook to find willing do-
decided the answer was yes. Oakland. She did it as much nors of backyard rhubarb,
but not sustainably produced, to build neighborhood rela-
also dyed weirdly orange). So she added them to a bag al- the first dessert crop that
ready heavy with Meyer lem- tions as to get her hands on grows after the long winter.
I also needed to switch my son some of that fruit.
from soy milk to regular milk. ons picked (with permission) In Columbia, S.C., university
from a yard a few blocks It works simply. A woman students pulled spare
Wary of regular milk (hormones, with a yard full of lemon
antibiotics, saturated fat), we’ve away. Then she headed off to peaches from orchards and
check on some plum trees. trees, say, can share her donated them to a local food
been buying soy milk forever, bounty in exchange for a pa-
but now are supposed to limit It was just another day of bank.
urban fruit foraging for Wa- per bag full of someone else’s Supporters of this
that, too (isoflavones). persimmons when they come
So off we went, my son and I, in dud, one of a growing num- movement hold two basic
ber of people who looked into season. So far, 200 people principles. One, it’s a shame
our weekly quest for optimal have signed up.
nutritional and economic around their cities, saw to let fruit go to waste. And
trees full of fruit and All over the country, the two, neighborhood fruit
efficiency and also to save the underground fruit economy
thought, ‘‘Delicious.’’ tastes best when it’s free.
environment. is growing. At new Web sites
A year and a half
We were hungry, so we like neighborhoodfruit.com
ago, Wadud, who SEE FRUIT, PAGE 2D
stopped at McDonald’s on the and veggietrader.com, fruit
studied urban so- News-Journal illustration
way. Yes, I know. I read ‘‘Fast
ciology in seekers can find public mul- CASMIRA HARRISON
Food Nation,’’ too. But my son
needed a dinosaur for his ‘‘Ice
Age 3’’ toy collection. Evil
marketing geniuses, 1, health
and environment, 0. But there’s
a reason it’s called a Happy
Meal. He’s happy, I’m happy,
shopping is accomplished
peacefully.
My list for the farmers market
didn’t exactly jibe with the
Florida agriculture
department’s list of what
vegetables are in season now.
I’m not a picky eater, but I draw
the line at okra.
I did get some wonderful grape
tomatoes and potatoes, though I
forgot to check where they were
from. Onions are also in season
and I got a nice one, though it
was from Georgia. Hey, that’s
regional, right? I got distracted
in front of the bell peppers,
which are also in season, and
was lured away by a big bag of
commercially packaged
miniature peppers. Let’s assume
they weren’t local. But they are
so colorful and cute and would
be fun in salads.
Then I saw the asparagus. It
was really nice asparagus. OK,
so it was from Peru. I really like
asparagus.
I finished off my list with
garlic and cauliflower, which
are not in season and so
obviously produced elsewhere.
At the grocery store, I avoided
soy milk but caved to my son’s
request for a new fruity drink
instead of ‘‘less sugar’’ or at least
Br idg
e Vietnamese restaurant’s parking lot should be full
S. P
‘‘made with real juice,’’ which St.
my son says tastes ‘‘sgusting.’’ ain
CLUB
M
SUPPER
e
Bennett liked his soup with 28-year-old who said he was new
nin
I fared even worse with yogurt News-Journal staff writer Au-
Halifax pork, chicken, shrimp and vege- to the restaurant business and
sul
because the organic brand did drey Parente loves using chop-
River tables. As usual, I couldn’t make was helping his dad, the cook.
aD
not come with 1) an ‘‘Ice Age’’ sticks, but she used a spoon and
N. B
up my mind. I wanted wonton All honor to dad’s skill. Any-
Blv l
ay na
fork at Pho Saigon, Vietnamese
d.
r.
character on the label or 2) a
dw tio
special plastic stick to allow you Cuisine during a meal she soup, because I could see every- way, I asked if they would just
eac
ee na
shared with friends Bob and Local dining options thing was made from scratch add ice cream or something to
to turn it into a frozen treat.
Sp Inter
h
Midge Solomon of Daytona and the vegetables were fresh, the menu in the future, but as an
St.
OK, I bought some steak, so Pho Saigon
Beach and Laurence Bennett of fresh, fresh. But they only had alternative Midge and I ordered
E.
sue me. And it wasn’t the
‘‘green’’ brand. It was on sale. Ormond Beach. entree size, so I ordered that and oriental Ca Phe Sua Da, which
I fared better in seafood. I held News-Journal Q. What was the place an egg dish. It was called Banh turned out to be chilled coffee
to my conviction to skip the like? Xeo, but for all intents and pur- over ice with condensed milk as
salmon and tilapia, at least this Pho Saigon, Midge Solomon said she was poses it was a fabulous crepe a surprise. It worked, and we
stuffed with stir-fried shrimp both thought it was delish.
week. U.S. farmed catfish is
sustainable, cheap and we like it,
Vietnamese Cuisine surprised how empty the park-
ing lot was at what turned out to and bean sprouts. It came with a Q. How much did it cost?
and shrimp, U.S. farmed or wild, be a bright place with good food huge plate of fresh herbs and a Dinner for four: Two Viet-
is easy to find here, though not WHERE: 312 S. Peninsula and really reasonable prices. News-Journal little pot of a tangy-hot peanut namese Ice Teas, $3.90; two or-
so cheap. Drive, Daytona Beach Q. What was on the menu? sauce. ders of spring rolls, $6; one order
Banh Xeo at Pho Saigon. Q. How was it? of egg rolls $3; one order spicy
So, score a couple of points for HOURS: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The menu was packed with
the environment, a couple of choices, from appetizers of I loved it, even though I had to chicken wings, $3.95; two egg
points for nutrition and a couple Tuesday through Saturday; spring and egg rolls and fried also the spring rolls and they use a fork because I couldn’t fig- noodles with beef $15.90; one
of points for evil marketing noon to 8 p.m. Sunday; chicken wings to many soup and were both very tasty. We had ure out how to break up the Wonton Soup $6.50; one egg noo-
geniuses. No clear winner this closed Monday. egg noodle dishes, one with noodles with beef and vege- crepe too easily with chopsticks. dle soup with pork, shrimp,
week, but the battle continues. squid. Bob Solomon said he and tables for our dinner. It was Q. Anything else about the chicken and vegetables, $7.95;
MISC: Handicapped served very hot and was fla-
Midge thought the service was restaurant itself? Banh Xeo (crepe with shrimp),
accessible very good and the food was ex- vored with a taste that we both There was no dessert on the $8.99; and two Vietnamese cof-
Find ‘‘Across the Table’’ in
the Flavor section at PHONE: 386-257-4650 cellent. enjoyed. Even the green tea was menu, so I wandered up to the fee treats, $4.50. Total with tax
three8six.com. ‘‘We shared the egg rolls and very good,’’ he wrote me later. counter and chatted with a and tip, $77.63.
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