Dumpster Gourmet

After taking Seeds of Change and having lived off-campus for the last year and a half, eating locally grown, environmentally sustainable, fair, and seasonal food is more than just something I believe in, it's something I do (and am blessed and thankful to be able to do). While I don't like to say "organic" in that list of qualifiers (because of the corporate co-optation of the word to sell produce that's still grown unsustainably, just without the pesticides), by and large most of the produce and staples that I get are organic or unsprayed. Food that is truly grown organically is not only in harmony with the Earth, but it's what's most nourishing for my body.

Nevertheless, I'm confronted with opportunities to eat non-organic mass-produced food all the time. While I know that I made it this far in life primarily eating industrial petrol-food (no offense Mom and Dad), and that the majority of Americans go their entire lives on the stuff, I still have to talk myself into getting over myself and eating non-organic food sometimes, or at least cooking with it (I seem to have considerably less internal deliberation when a cooked meal is put in front of me). When it comes to non-organic processed food, high fructose corn syrup and all GMO soy and corn additives are so ubiquitous that there's no need to try and assess whether something is healthy; I can enjoy a pre-packaged snack on occasion without too much fuss, just because there's no denying that it's bad for me. There's something harder about biting into an apple that I know was sprayed with pesticides, however, or eating eggs from chickens that were pumped full of drugs and raised on GM corn (not to mention housed in totally disturbing factory prisons with their beaks cut off). The more whole the food is, the more I have to look at it's face and think about everything behind it.

With the arrival of Trader Joe's in Olympia a few months ago has come much free food. So long as you're not picky, you can often get all the food you need--from the dumpster! The Trader Joe's (or TJ's as we like to call it) dumpster is truly a beautiful thing. As with all dumpsters, it can be hit or miss, but if you start to go once or a few times a week, you can almost reliably score a car-trunk full of food. Bread, eggs, cheese, fruit, vegetables, juice, cookies--you can't exactly go with a checklist, but if you name it it's not unlikely to be there. While I personally don't make it out to the treasure trove that often, I've been a frequent beneficiary of my housemates' and friends' lucrative dives. Grandparents, parents, and anyone else who may be reading this in horror, suspend your mortification. This is not rancid, rotten food. Of course, that exists in most dumpsters too, but much of what gets thrown out is food in great condition that may only be just past its expiration date or have some small ding rendering it unsellable (like a dented, unopened bottle of juice). With eggs, one may be cracked and the rest of the dozen be fine. Sometimes you can't even guess why something was tossed.

Anyway, this whole practice brings me back to my question of what I'm willing to put in my body. Am I willing to set aside certain habitualized values and eating practices I've established (like not wanting to consume pesticides and hormones) for the benefits of keeping good food from the landfill and eating for free? Most assuredly yes. I just have to go through this whole cyclical thought process every time.

The best thing about Trader Joe's, though, is that sometimes I don't have to compromise. They throw away organic things too! Now there's an offer I can't refuse.

Thus brings me to tonight's dinner. With a fridge full of dumpstered produce, I've been enjoying some things I wasn't expecting to indulge in until summertime. Like TJ's organic basil and grape tomatoes: totally out of season and imported from somewhere warm... not something I support buying this time of year, but more than happy to save from disposal. Along with dumpstered portabello mushrooms and other on-hand ingredients, I adapted the following recipe from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson.

Pesto-Tomato Polenta with Sauteed Spinach and Portobellos

3 1/2 cups water

few shakes salt

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1/4 cup pesto OR 1/4 basil + 2 garlic cloves chopped finely and a few handfuls shredded parmesan

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

about 10 cherry or grape tomatoes cut in halves

portabello mushrooms cut into 1/2 inch slices (as many as you want)

spinach (as much as you want)

1. Boil the water and salt. Reduce heat to medium, slowly stirring in cornmeal. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until thick, about 30 mins. Near the end, stir in the pesto or basil/garlic/parmesan makeshift pesto [if you're going with the latter, also stir in a tablespoon of olive oil] and the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

2. Spoon the polenta into a lightly oiled, shallow 10-inch square baking dish and spread it evenly over the bottom. Refrigerate until firm, at least 30 mins.

3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. When the polenta is firm, cut it into as many pieces as you want to serve it as. [At this point, the recipe had you transfer the polenta to a cookie sheet. I couldn't see why when they were already sitting in an oiled baking dish. If you really want all the short sides of the pieces to be crispy, then go ahead, put them on a cookie sheet. More dishes for you. Otherwise, I'd recommend leaving them in the pan]. Brush olive oil on top of polenta. Bake until golden brown, 30-40 mins.

4. In last 10 minutes of polenta baking, sautee portabellos with garlic in olive oil over low heat till mushrooms are tender, about 5 mins. Throw in lots of spinach at the end and stir until just wilted.

After eating this creation, I do not in fact recommend the two parts of this dish together. Both were delicious on their own and weren't bad together, but they didn't really complement each other. The polenta could easily stand on its own, especially if you experimented with putting different vegetables in it. The mushroom spinach sautee seemed better suited for pasta. Next time!