Book review: 'Eating Animals' by Jonathan Safran Foer
Looking forward to your turkey dinner?
Think twice.
It's time, argues Jonathan Safran Foer, to stop lying to ourselves.
Is the line at Barneys warehouse sale any worse?
After a most satisfying dim sum brunch at Elite in Alhambra (my two teenagers may have cleaned them out of pork buns), and a mostly satisfying stop for back-to-school clothes, we figured we'd make a quick detour for some fancy olive oil and other treats at the nearby warehouse sale put on by Nicole's Gourmet Foods and Gourmet Imports -- an import and distribution company.
They were grilling sausages out front, and it was a good thing. Shoppers could easily work up an appetite from what lay ahead.
An employee warned us on the way in that the warehouse was crowded, but it didn't look too tough to negotiate. That is, until I noticed the line for the cashier. One woman, who was about a dozen people back in line, said she'd been in line for two hours.
There was a cold room full of cheese, with lots of samples out. Oils, chocolate, dried mushrooms and much more. But that line was just too daunting.
Gourmet Imports owner Steve Grandjean, whose mother owns Nicole's, said this morning that he was surprised by the crowds Saturday. He estimated that about 700 people came to the warehouse, and that despite three checkout lines, the wait got a little gruesome.
"Our systems are just not set up for retail," he said.
Most people were patient and happy for the chance to buy foods at as much as 80% off retail, he said. Some people told him they were buying fancy foods for holiday gifts; others bought canned San Marzano tomatoes and other staples.
Grandjean said he and his employees learned a lot for next time.
-- Mary MacVean
Photo: An assortment of cheese. Photo by Kirk McCoy / Los Angeles Times
Nothing starts a food fight like 'Organic'
When I wrote a column recently about my questions about organic produce, I expected that I'd get a lot of mail. Especially after I started with the statement: "I don't believe in organics."
Organics is an article of faith for a lot of people, and what I had to say was pretty far from the accepted dogma. Still, it was something I thought really needed to be said, and if, after more than 20 years of covering farming and food issues for The Times, I wouldn't say it, who would?
So when I opened my e-mail the morning the column ran, I had donned my asbestos undershorts, as we kids say. But a funny thing happened on the way to the firestorm.
There was plenty of mail, to be sure -- probably more than I've received for any story that didn't involve salt and turkeys. But the amazing thing was: Most of it was positive. I mean an overwhelming majority -- like by a ratio of 5 or 6 to 1.
Turns out, it seems like this was something a lot of folks have been thinking, but they were just waiting for someone else to be dumb enough to say it out loud first.
There was plenty of mail, to be sure -- probably more than I've received for any story that didn't involve salt and turkeys. But the amazing thing was: Most of it was positive. I mean an overwhelming majority -- like by a ratio of 5 or 6 to 1.
Turns out, it seems like this was something a lot of folks have been thinking, but they were just waiting for someone else to be dumb enough to say it out loud first.
-- Russ Parsons
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Photo credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times
Sampler Platter: higher dairy prices, heavier Padma Lakshmi, barbecue boom in Ventura
Burger-mobiles, gorging on seafood and Prohibition-era restrictions on beer lead today's roundup of food news.
- You still can’t buy a six-pack of beer at most Pennsylvania stores. The Daily Review
- Padma Lakshmi: I gain 12 to 15 lbs. every season filming "Top Chef." Chicago Examiner
- Get ready for higher prices on milk, cheese and butter. Arkansas Democrat Gazette
- Greener diet reduces dairy cows' methane burps. Natural Products Marketplace
- There's a barbecue restaurant boom in Ventura County. Ventura County Star
- L.A. & O.C. Foodie, Mattatouille, Choisauce, Gourmet Pigs, ConBon and Rickmond of Rameniac dig into Hungry Cat's Crabfest V this past weekend.
- Fans upset at Houston Astros, the only MLB team to forbid bringing food or drink into the park. Houston Business Journal
- Would you like a sham marriage with your pad thai? Seattle Business Journal
-- Elina Shatkin
Photo: Padma Lakshmi eats a burger in a Carl's Jr. ad. Credit: Doria Anselmo / Business Wire
