An International Perspective on Buying Produce

(originally published on lime.com)

Being susceptible to the appeal of adventure eating, I've embraced the consumption of oddities of brows both high and low in places across the globe. I've had foie gras in some of New York's finest restaurants, calf fries in Fort Worth, and street food in Hanoi, and never has my cast-iron stomach failed me. So as I shivered through gut-wrenching pain under a heavy blanket in a sweltering apartment in Hong Kong, my sense of betrayal was plaintive and vast. Even worse, I suffered at my own hands: I knew there was something amiss with the Chinese scallions I sliced into my tuna salad, but my better instincts abandoned me. Fortunately, like most sufferers of food poisoning, I was back in the saddle in a day or two, but I did have some lingering questions: would I have gotten sick if I'd spent another HKD $10 (about USD $1.30) for Japanese or Australian scallions? How does one go about trying to buy healthy and sustainably-produced fruits and vegetables in an unfamiliar landscape?

The Special Administrative Region (SAR) of Hong Kong has negligible agriculture, and it imports the vast majority of its food supply. Produce in Hong Kong supermarkets has clear labels of origin, and many people have very particular ideas about what is safe to consume. After Greenpeace raised the alarm in April about off-the-charts levels of pesticides found in Chinese produce in popular supermarket chains, many swore off these cheap and widely available imports. Rumors about Chinese imports on ex-pat forums, likely apocryphal, tell of vegetables and fish contaminated with human waste and other vile substances. US imports are suspect for some, as a large percentage of them may contain GMOs (Hong Kong residents, like those of many Western countries outside the US, are suspicious of genetically modified food, and the government is in the process of implementing The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.)

The other primary sources of produce for consumers are the so-called "wet markets." These open-air markets operate in neighborhoods all over Hong Kong, selling fruits and vegetables, meat, eggs, seafood, and flowers, mostly from China. My first instinct upon arrival was to head straight for the wet markets, as I am a regular at my Brooklyn farmer's market and I'm a big fan of locally-grown, but after my food poisoning experience and learning about pesticide contamination, I've steered clear.

Organic produce is popular with locals and expats alike, though standards can be uneven with so much international variety. In fact, "organic" is one of the more recently popular Engrish superlatives to appear on shops and flyers purveying items like books or clothing, along with "yoga" (my personal favorite is the "C.E.O. Flow Organic Bookshop.") However, if you seek it out, it's fairly easy to find organic produce. Several delivery services will bring organics to your door from a variety of different origins, and if you are willing to put in a day, you can even pick your own, although unless you live on Lamma, one of the outlying islands, you'll need to take two ferry trips and a short walk to do so.

In recent years, the Hong Kong government has encouraged organic farming across the SAR, and the number of farms participating in their organic program has increased to over sixty farms. Organic produce is a niche for which local growers can charge a premium, and can be competitive with produce grown more cheaply in the mainland. However, the 2-3 metric tons of food produced by these farms each day can feed only a tiny portion of the SAR's nearly 7 million residents.

As consumers world-wide become more aware of how their families and their environment can be affected by unsustainable or toxic food production methods, they are putting pressure on their governments to legislate on their behalves, which in turn puts pressure on countries that produce large quantities of the global food supply to improve their methods. Hong Kong has begun to implement stricter monitoring procedures to control pesticides in the food supply from China, and pressures continue to mount on China and the US from countries around the world to curb the use of pesticides and GMOs and to improve food safety practices.

Did that scallion make me sick? I still think so, although even if it was unrelated, my illness had the upside of making me look closely at where my food comes from , which is always a good thing to know.

Delicious Herbs You Can Grow at Home

(originally posted on lime.com)

A trip to your local farmer's market at this time of year can yield an awesome selection of herbs that have already been started in small pots or flats. These will not only look great planted in containers on your windowsill, fire escape, deck, stoop, or whatever, they can add delicious flavors and aromas to anything from pesto to pound cake throughout the summer, and most likely, well into the fall.

Most herbs are easy to grow, even for horticulturally-challenged individuals such as myself, as long as you water them and regularly move them around to take advantage of sunlight. I grow mine in terracotta pots, but you can use any kind of container (cookie tins, wooden crates, metal buckets, chimney pipes, half-barrels) so long as it can be filled with dirt, allows moisture to drain from the bottom, and allows room for the plants' roots to grow. Garden soil is too dense for proper drainage and root growth. Instead, a good choice would be a low-cost potting mix combined with a more nutrient-rich selection like 100% organic Black Gold, made with worm castings, peat moss, and pumice. You may also add a good-quality natural fertilizer. To prepare the containers for planting, place a small pile of pot shards or rocks over or around the container's drainage holes. Then fill the container most of the way to the top with your pre-mixed potting soil.

You can combine several kinds of herbs into a single container, but be aware of the light, water, and temperature needs of the herbs you wish to combine to make sure they're compatible. One of the best features of buying herbs at the farmer's market is the chance to talk with the grower, as they will usually have the best information about what works in your climate zone.

What herbs should you plant? Clearly, plan on large quantities of anything you like to use frequently, but don't limit yourself to what's already familiar. There are unusual and tasty variations to be had, from lemon thyme and chocolate mint to less familiar herbs like chervil and sorrel. I like to try a few new things every year. Here are some less-common varieties to look for, with some possible dishes you could try them in:

- Blue and Purple Basil: Zucchini Au Gratin, Tomato and Mozzarella Salad

- French Tarragon: Potato Salad, Roast Chicken, Herbed Vinegar

- Lemon Thyme: Crème Brûlée, Halibut Parcels

- Chocolate Mint: Coffee, Banana Bread

- Lemon Verbena: Lemonade, Sugar Pesto

- Lavender: Shortbread Cookies

- Lemongrass: Coconut Curry Fish

- Chervil: Devilled Eggs

To get a sense of an herb's flavor and aroma, gently press a small leaf or a section of a leaf between your fingers and then rub your fingers together under your nose to release the scent. Tasting the leaves is usually a harsher experience, and is not usually a good indicator of the flavor that an herb will impart.

Once you've selected your herbs and prepared your containers, it's time to transplant the herbs. It's easiest to transplant when the herbs are on the drier side - if they've just been watered, leave them out for a few hours before transplanting. I like to transplant in the early evening, so the plants have time to absorb a good drink before facing the sunlight. To transplant, first, prepare a small hole in the container where you want the herb to grow. Then, holding the herb in its small pot over the destination container, gently hold the stem of the plant between your fingers, palm down, and invert, removing the plant and soil from the container. Place root-end down in the hole, and pack the soil in around the plant. Once you're done transplanting, give all your containers a good watering. Remember to keep up with watering - even one day of neglect can result in sad, wilted, scorched plants. As with everything else, there is a balance: it is definitely possible to over-water, so be sure to ask how much you should allow the soil to dry out between watering. To keep pests away, it can be useful to plant a few containers of marigolds and nasturtiums.

Give your herbs several weeks to grow and establish themselves before you start picking them, and harvest judiciously, thinning the herbs' growth rather than mowing them down. With just a little bit of tending, your herb garden will continue to reward you for months to come.

Photo: PBS