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Zero-Waste Chef

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Posted on November 3, 2020by The Zero-Waste Chef
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Nine-year old Lizzie A in the UK gets it. After st Nine-year old Lizzie A in the UK gets it. After studying micro plastic pollution in school, she started a petition calling on Boris Johnson to stop the export of plastic waste to developing countries. The petition received a whopping 72,000 signatures in its first week. . The schoolgirl tried to post the petition to the UK parliament’s site—the government must respond after it receives 10,000 signatures—but her petition was rejected due to a similar petition already posted there. So she’s writing her MP. “If parliament realises people are thinking passionately about plastic not being exported then Boris Johnson might ban it quicker,” Lizzie said in @guardian. . Link in profile to sign the petition.
“Did you use kombu?!” That’s what my daughte “Did you use kombu?!” That’s what my daughter MK always asks me if I mention I’ve cooked a bean or lentil dish. If I answer no, she won’t touch the dish. . Kombu—a type of kelp—noticeably reduces gas-producing raffinose sugars present in beans and lentils, it makes the beans and lentils more digestible and it makes the nutrients in the beans and lentils more available to your body for absorption. (By the way, I don’t always use kombu because MK isn’t usually here.) . MK soaks her dried beans and lentils with a strip of kombu before cooking. She also cooks the beans with that same strip. When she cooks chickpeas, she’ll add a fresh strip to the cooking pot because she has the most trouble digesting chickpeas. . I buy kombu in bulk when I’m at @rainbow_grocery. You may also find it in East Asian markets or health food stores. . Dried beans and lentils are a zero-waste food group. They taste better than canned, cost less than many other types of protein and almost all bulk aisles offer at least a few varieties. If you love beans but have trouble digesting them, try adding a strip of kombu to the pot. . Link in profile for how to cook dried beans.
"It really boils down to this: that all life is in "It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
This is the first produce bag I’ve finished in a This is the first produce bag I’ve finished in about 10 months. . My sewing bee has given away 3,034 of the bags since we started sewing them in 2018. Used just once a week, these 3,034 bags can replace 157,768 (3,034 x 52) plastic bags in 1 year. I still use bags that my daughter MK and I sewed in 2011. They last for ages. . When we give the bags away at the farmers’ market, we don’t just reduce plastic, we start conversations. So many people have said to us things like “I don’t like all the plastic produce bags but didn’t know what else to use” or “I have fabric at home and will make some today” or “May I steal this idea for my farmers’ market?” (Please do!) . These bags also reduce fabric waste. We make the bags out of donated, unwanted fabric that might otherwise end up in landfill. Most of the bags are plain but we sometimes make scrappy versions like this one. One of our seamstresses makes pillows out of the unusable scraps (swipe to see one), which we also save. (I’m sitting on one of these as I post.) . Right before Covid lockdowns began, our sewing bee had our last produce bag giveaway at the farmers’ market in February. Since then, some of the seamstresses in our group switched over to sewing masks last year. I REALLY MISS my people and am looking forward to getting together again with them sometime this year. . Link in profile if you’d like to search for a sewing group or add yours to a map I maintain on my blog. So far, it has 126 groups around the world.
This week is shaping up to be a good one for the d This week is shaping up to be a good one for the doling out of justice. . Yesterday, former Governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, was charged with two counts of willful neglect of duty in his role in the Flint water crisis, which began in 2014. More city and state officials await trial.
Yesterday, after I posted a picture of a wine cork Yesterday, after I posted a picture of a wine cork recycling bin in my stories, a couple of you asked for more information… . But first…I know I sound like someone with a problem, but…these corks belong to a friend…honest! They aren’t mine! We can’t refill wine bottles where I live. I think it’s possible up in Napa. I would drink more wine if I could refill wine bottles. At least the bottles and corks are recyclable. We need refill schemes for drinks and any company launching today would be very wise to work that model into its business plan. But this post is about cork… . Cork is not only recyclable, it’s also renewable and biodegradable. Cork comes from oak trees—some up to 300 years old—most of which grow in forests in Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Tunisia and France. Highly skilled, well-paid local workers harvest cork from the trees without chopping them down. These still-standing trees are then left undisturbed until the next harvest, 9 to 12 years later. . According to a WWF report, these forests host up to 135 different species per 0.1 hectare or about a quarter acre, which is the size of a house lot. The trees provide shade for the ecosystem, they retain water in the soil and they draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. . Cork recycling companies harvest cork from wine stores—in the form of cork drop-off bins. During Covid, some stores may have shut down their drop boxes temporarily but you can always hold onto the corks in the meantime. My daughter spotted a bin at Whole Foods yesterday (swipe for pic) from The Cork Forest Conservation Alliance. I’ve dropped off corks in the past at a Bevmo near me and at Rainbow in San Francisco. Both of those bins belong to @recorkofficial (you can check the website for a map of drop-off locations). As I said, PLEASE CONTACT THE STORE near you before dropping off your corks in case the bin has temporarily closed. These corks go on to have a second life as shoes, yoga blocks and other goods. . Depending on where you live, natural wine corks can go in your municipality’s green bin. Contact yours for more information. . Cheers 🍷🥂
I planted some of my sprouting vegetable scraps ou I planted some of my sprouting vegetable scraps outside this weekend: a parsnip top, a carrot top, all the green onions, the root end of a celery stalk and a few rosemary sprigs, stripped of their leaves at the bottom. These had been sitting in the windowsill in water, some for over a month. . I hope 🤞 the parsnip and carrot tops go to seed, bringing some volunteer vegetables in the spring. The green onion ends will continue to grow outside. We’ll see what happens with the celery top (I kept one inside for insurance and started sprouting another celery end last week). Rosemary, one of my favorite herbs, is a perennial that I put in many dishes. . If none of these take, at the very least, these vegetable scraps will return to the soil. Whether you subscribe to scrappy gardening like this or you grow all your own food or you tend gorgeous flower gardens, planting anything shows you have hope for the future. Our very long, very difficult winter will eventually give way to spring and renewal. Hang in there.
We may never reach the zero in “zero waste” bu We may never reach the zero in “zero waste” but that’s no reason to take zero action. . I posted this a couple of years ago but I think it’s worth repeating, especially at the beginning of a new year when many people are trying to stick to resolutions or intentions (zero-waste or otherwise). . Don’t let the zero in zero waste intimidate you. The zero merely represents a goal and reducing waste isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition. If you prefer, call the lifestyle “low waste” or “less waste” or don’t label it at all.
Overnight steel-cut oats. . Ordinarily, steel-cut Overnight steel-cut oats. . Ordinarily, steel-cut oats take about 30 minutes to cook on the stove. Reduce your energy consumption by making them overnight. . Before bed, bring 1 cup steel-cut oats, 4 cups water and a pinch of salt to a boil in a covered pot. Turn off the heat immediately. Your chewy and filling steel-cut oats will be cooked by the morning. Reheat, add toppings such as fresh or dried fruit, nuts and nut butter, seeds, yogurt, maple syrup, and so on. This serves 2 to 4 people. That’s really all there is to it but for the full recipe, go to the link in my profile. . Watching the storming of the Capitol yesterday was disturbing and doom scrolling all day, exhausting. But we still need to eat and take care of ourselves. If you’re stressed by the news, maybe turn off the news. . Stay well, everyone.
First farmers’ market haul of 2021. You have to First farmers’ market haul of 2021. You have to shop where you feel most comfortable. I feel safer outside at the farmers’ market than I do in a store but only if I go early and avoid the crowds (our market is wildly popular). . If you made a resolution to reduce plastic in 2021, eating more vegetables will make a big dent. They have their own compostable packaging and are easier to find unpackaged than, say, a frozen pizza. And if you also would like to eat better in 2021, you get a sort of resolution BOGO. . Link in profile for a six-step challenge “Go Plastic-Free This Year (or Close to It).” Some steps will go very quickly (a few days). Others will take longer and evolve over time.
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