Recap of March 2012 Potluck Dinner Meeting: The Arroyo Food Coop and Cooking for Health

by Karen Voelkening-Behegan

Our March meeting took place at the Nature Friends Clubhouse in Sierra Madre, and it was nice to have daylight savings time to brighten up the place! This time we had 2 special guests: Patrick Reagan of the Arroyo Food Co-op and Gina Gonzales with Cooking for Health.

After our usual delectable meal, we had some community announcements followed by 2 presentations. First, Patrick Reagan gave us a brief synopsis of the latest news on the Arroyo Food Co-op. In the works since 2008, the Arroyo Food Co-op is gathering memberships and plans to open once they have 500 invested members. A couple years ago when Patrick first visited our group, the co-op had just under 300 members. Now, almost at the 500 mark, the co-op's goal is to open before the end of the year. In exchange for their support, co-op members will have access to special shopping privileges as well as a share in some of the profits of the co-op. The goal is to provide a wide variety of wholesome, local, organic (or pesticide-free), nutrient-dense foods at competitive prices while supporting local farmers. Members have a huge influence as to what will be offered at the store, and product research is well underway. Prices will be kept down by locating the store in an affordable rent district, and keeping a small and efficient management hierarchy. The only level above management will be the Board of Directors, which is strictly volunteer. The Pasadena Chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation is working on cultivating a close relationship with the co-op so we can help them bring high quality foods to our area. Patrick will continue to be a regular guest at our meetings and give us updates at critical points during the co-op's development. We hope to see him again before the end of the year. To find out more about the Arroyo Food Co-op, or to become a member, go to: http://arroyofoodcoop.com/.

Next, Gina Gonzales gave a professional presentation about healthy food and cooking. Using a Salad Master food grater, she whipped up a delicious salad full of all kinds of raw organic fruits and vegetables including cabbage, apples, carrots, red cabbage, celery, mangos, and even some citrus and citrus zest for flavor. During the food preparation, aided by 2 assistants, Gina warmed up 4 different cooking pots filled with an inch of water and some baking soda. When the salad was done and the pots were finished simmering, we all got a lesson in cooking utensil toxicity. Each pot had a different composition, leaching different metals & other chemicals into the water. We all sampled a spoonful of water from each pot, and got to taste for ourselves the difference. Not surprisingly, the water from the Salad Master pot tasted the most like pure baking soda, while the water from a high grade stainless pot came in a close but slightly metallic second. The water from the other pots tasted unbelievably metallic and bitter by comparison. Besides the lack of leaching, another nice feature of Gina's cookware is a trademark warning mechanism which activates when the temperature gets to 187 degrees. This feature enables the cook to turn down the heat before the food reaches the boiling point, not only preserving many nutrients, but also shortening the cooking time by sealing the lid and raising the pressure inside the pot. For those of us who spend more money on higher quality food, watching Gina's presentation was a real education. To close, Gina offered a free full-course home-cooked dinner to anyone willing to host a more in-depth demonstration of the cookware in action. To get in touch with Gina, or find out more about Salad Master products, go to: http://cookingforhealthinc.com/index.html.

With another nice evening behind us, it's time to look forward to our next meeting in April when we will celebrate the 2nd anniversary of our first WAPF-Pasadena meeting that took place on Earth Day in 2010! Our special guest for the evening will be Jolie Assina who will host our 3rd Ethnic Night with the special topic: Equitorial Culinary Traditions!

Recap of February 2012 Potluck Dinner Meeting: Weston A. Price and Biological Dentistry

by Ramanuj Basu

Our February meeting was on Leap Day, but what really made it special was our after dinner speaker, J. Bruce Johnson D.D.S. After a tasty and healthful potluck dinner (Thanks, everyone!) we moved upstairs as Dr. Johnson had a slide presentation to accompany his talk, "The Contribution of Weston A. Price to a Modern Paradigm for Dentistry and Health."

What followed was a bit of a surprise: a talk by a dentist with hardly a mention of cavities, fillings, or even teeth. Dr. Johnson considers his patients and their treatment from a whole-person perspective, with the understanding that the dental system has an intimate relationship with, and direct effect on, other systems in the body. He spoke about the differences between the traditional paradigm of treating symptoms and the holistic paradigm, which he practices in partnership with chiropractors and osteopaths, focusing on skeletal components first and teeth last.

The big take-away from the evening (at least for me) was this: airway, airway, airway! An open airway is essential to allow oxygen to flow into and throughout our body. If our airway is compromised (by improper jaw position leading to improper tongue position and constriction of the nasal passages), our whole body can be dramatically affected as the entire skeleton adjusts in an attempt to keep the airway as open as possible. Who would have thought that an overbite could cause improper posture which, in turn, can lead to bed-wetting, chronic sore throat and fatigue, migraines, and even reduced cognitive ability?!

Dr. Johnson's full presentation is available online here.

Recap of January 2012 Meeting

About 15-20 people attended Italian Night, our January potluck dinner and meeting. With the romantic sounds of Italian pop artist Andrea Bocelli playing in the background, the crowd slowly gathered while a large pot of gluten-free spaghetti boiled on the stove. Once everyone arrived, we all sat down and enjoyed a delicious fare of Italian specialties, including spaghetti and meatballs with meat sauce, chicken cacciatore, rosemary & garlic chicken, fresh green salads with antipasto meats, cultured vegetables, almond ice cream, fresh homemade cannoli, and much more!

After dinner we were treated to two presentations. First, Suzanne Peters demonstrated how to make her savory grass-fed beef & pork Italian meatballs with cultured breadcrumbs. She kept everyone's attention with entertaining stories of her childhood and her dad's famous Italian meat sauce with a spicy Mexican flare. Still satisfied with Suzanne's delectable pasta dinner, the crowd eagerly watched her perform her Mediterranean culinary magic. At the end of the presentation, Suzanne invited everyone to check out her new blog at: www.realfoodlifestyle.com

After learning how to make dinner, everyone's attention shifted to dessert. Sculptress, cake decorator, and local WAPF dessert officionada Theresa Cardinali demonstrated how to knead, roll, cut, form, cook, and fill cannoli shells. As a special service to our group, she not only used the traditional wheat flour, but also experimented with some gluten-free varieties. They all came out delicious. Especially wonderful was the honey-sweetened marscapone cream contributed by our friend Elaina Luther of Culture Club 101. With artistic attention to detail and form, Terri did a great job demonstrating the whole procedure.

It was yet another crowd- and palate-pleasing evening for all! Check the schedule for our next Ethnic Night, coming up in April, and don't forget to come see our special guest next month, biological dentist, Dr. J. Bruce Johnson!

Recap of December 2011 Meeting

Our last meeting fell right between Christmas and New Years, and took place at Culture Club 101, courtesy of Elaina Luther. The food for the potluck was both healthful and delicious. Special thanks go out to everyone who brought GAPS-friendly dishes. Our GAPS people really appreciate it! For more information on the GAPS diet, go to: http://www.gaps.me/preview/ or http://www.GAPSdiet.com.

The theme for the evening was The Politics of Raw Milk, and we were fortunate enough to get the inside scoop from Lobbying Consultant Stacy Pearson. After entertaining us with an intriguing story of how she got into politics, we went on to discuss the legislative process and the concept of creating laws that protect and benefit both raw milk consumers and small-scale, pasture-based, sustainable dairy farms. With a brief stint at the newly formed Raw Milk Institute, Stacy was instrumental in inspiring RawMi to redraft its mission as one of not only raw milk safety, but also support and encouragement for raw dairy producers. The current goal is to unify the raw dairy community by giving raw dairy producers the opportunity to discuss and democratically design Raw Milk Safety Standards that take into account both the needs and concerns of raw dairy producers and consumers alike. Stacy has since moved on from the Raw Milk Institute, but leaves us grateful for the lessons learned and the progress made as a result of her tenure. For more information about the Raw Milk Institute, go to: http://rawmilkinstitute.net/.

Thanks to all who attended our last meeting in 2011. We're looking forward to another fun, informative, healthy, and delicious year in 2012!

Recap of November 2011 Meeting

Seasons Greetings to All!

This year, our annual post-conference meeting was held at Karen's house. After gathering to the sounds of the Quebe Sisters from Fort Worth who fiddled and sang at the conference, we sat down to yet another delicious potluck dinner. As our collective knowledge and experience grows and our access to these delectably healthful foods increases, our dinners seem to be getting better and better!

After dinner, the meeting started with a couple announcements. Our new friend and future guest speaker Jamil Avdiyev gave us a brief introduction to High Brix nutrient-dense foods, and shared samples of his delicious home-grown carrots. Local almond farmer, George Yemetz came by for a visit and told us about his farm-fresh raw unpasteurized almonds. Luckily he had some samples to share, and the group was more than happy to indulge. Thank you, Jaye and Suzanne, for helping organize a group purchase! And gratitude goes out to our fine friend Farmer Yemetz for taking the time to send us thank you notes for supporting his business. What a class act!

As the Santa Anna Winds started rolling in from the desert, a small group of us who attended the Wise Traditions conference in Dallas showed photos from our trips. Karen, Steve, Rolf, & Elaina gave lively presentations as we eagerly viewed the slide shows. Everyone contributed their own personal photos to the presentation, even those who couldn't make it to the meeting like Monica Ford aka Real Food Devotee. Photos depicted scenes from conference presentations, special events, vendors, posters, and even a few proud poses with some big hitters like health & nutrition guru Dr. Joe Mercola, Canadian Raw Milk Champion Farmer Michael Schmidt, WAPF president Sally Fallon, and our local hero and founder of the Raw Milk Institute Mark McAfee, to name a few. There were also some beautiful shots of the delicious wholesome food at the conference, as well as scenes from post-conference activities like the cooking class and the field trip to 3 local sustainable Texas farms. We finished up the slide shows just as the winds were picking up and the lights began to flicker. Then from the closing of the conference, we watched a video clip of Mark McAfee's official introduction of the Raw Milk Institute. It was a wonderful evening to behold, and hopefully an inspiration to the whole group to join together and bring a much larger southern California contingent to the conference next year in Santa Clara, California.

Lastly, fired up with enthusiasm brought home from the conference, Karen in her Texas cowboy best encouraged everyone to please join and support the 3 most important organizations which actively help us gain and maintain access to local, sustainably-raised farm-fresh foods: the Weston A. Price Foundation, the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, and now the Raw Milk Institute. Answering Karen's call to suggest ways to encourage everyone to join and support these valuable organizations, Elaina proposed that we collect money on the spot to give away one membership to the Weston A. Price Foundation. Money was promptly collected and about 6 people participated in a drawing for the membership. The winner turned out to be the first one to draw straws: Alfred Gonzales. Congratulations, Alfred! And thank you, Elaina, for that great idea! As long as all participants are in agreement, this would be a fun tradition to include at the close of every meeting!

Our meeting finished up just in the knick of time, for not long after, the Santa Annas successfully stole our power! Little did we know about the devastation to expect the next morning ... As people returned to their vehicles battling hurricane-speed winds, it seemed everyone made it home safely. I hope no one suffered any significant physical or financial damage from the storm. Many of us were out of power for at least 5 days, Yours Truly among them! Hence the delay of this posting!

Now that things are slowly getting back to normal, I wish everyone a happy, healthy Holiday Season. Hope to see you at our next meeting!

Newsflash! Food & Freedom Night Tonight!

Hello to Members and Friends of the Pasadena Chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

As you may have heard, Organic Pastures raw milk operation has been temporarily shut down, most likely until after Thanksgiving, for pathogen testing. May of us here at the WAPF believe that this is a politically and economically motivated action designed primarily to hurt the Raw Milk market and protect the interests of Big Dairy. (And personally, I believe it's no coincidence that this action comes not only right before Thanksgiving, but also right after Mark McAfee's announcement of the founding of the Raw Milk Institute this past Sunday 11/13 at the Wise Traditions Conference in Dallas.)

At this point our movement needs as much help and support as it can get. Please seriously consider attending "Food and Freedom Night" TONIGHT (Thursday 11/17/11) at Culture Club 101 in Pasadena to show your support for this cause and commune with like-minded souls.

This is a VERY serious issue. Corporations are running the US government, and our freedom is at stake. We NEED and MUST use our voices in this grass roots movement to create a Tipping Point so small sustainable family farms are no longer put out of business by the powers at be. If you care about your health, your freedom, the environment, global warming, sustainable agriculture, or animal rights, then please try to be there!

Please come show your support tonight! And let's help turn this Movement into a Revolution!

Thank you for your support,

--
Karen Voelkening-Behegan
Pasadena CA Chapter Leader

Recap of October 2011 Potluck Dinner Meeting: German Night!

by Karen Voelkening-Behegan

Thanks to everyone who attended German Night, our first evening devoted to one ethnic culinary tradition. The first of many, I hope. As your chapter leader, I thought I'd kick off this new tradition by starting out with my own heritage from Germany. My father, Burkhard Wolfgang Völkening was a German immigrant, and my mother, Barbara Richter Völkening was 100% 3rd generation German. When I was a child, we used to travel to Germany every year to visit my dad's side of our family, so I became very familiar with German culture and culinary traditions.

Wanting to bring back some delicious smells and flavors from my childhood, I sought out some classic recipes for some old German favorites:

- Kaesespaetzle mit Speck (homemade Swabian noodles with cheese and bacon)

- Bratwurst mit Sauerkraut und Kartoffeln (potatoes)

- Rotkohl (sweet-and-sour warm red cabbage)

- Samples of several popular spreads to put on delicious German rye & black breads:

- Gewuerzquark mit Röstknoblauch (homemade cheese spread with roasted garlic & herbs)

- Griebenschmalz (lard & duckfat spread with bacon, ham, apples, onions, & herbs)

- gehackter Rindfleisch Tartar (steak tartare with egg, gherkins, anchovies, shallots, sea salt, & herbs)

- Desert Quark with berries and cream.

With German folk music playing in the background, a smattering of German conversation in the air, and the sights and smells of German food, the atmosphere was set. Based on everyone's reaction, I think we all enjoyed the food. Visitors from Germany and others in the know commented that the foods were very authentic. One couple who had never tried German food before seemed pleasantly surprised that it was so good! A visitor from Germany was overjoyed to have some Quark again, and commented that Quark was the one thing that she and her friends always miss whenever they leave the country. (In Germany you can buy Quark in stores, but here, little do they know, you can also make it yourself out of fresh raw milk with a buttermilk culture!)

This time around, since there were 2 cooking demos scheduled, I did the first one right before dinner: the art of making homemade Spaetzle. I think most people didn't know that you could put a loose & sticky dough made with plenty of eggs into boiling water, and instantly form fresh noodles, ready within one minute of boiling. Once the noodles rise, scoop them out of the water, strain and toss them in a pan with freshly cooked bacon bits and plenty of raw butter from grass-fed cows. Mix in some freshly grated raw cheese (and some crème fraiche, if you're lucky enough to have some around - thanks Elaina!) and Guten Appetit! Kaesespaetzle mit Speck ist fertig! (The noodles are ready!) So we enjoyed that with dinner. For the sake of the gluten-free crowd, I made it with Red Mill Gluten-Free bread mix for the best representation of the traditional sprouted wheat version. And seriously, I don't think even an expert could have discerned the difference!

After dinner, I attempted to show the gang how to make sausage. We took the ground meat (pork, grass-fed veal, and smoked bacon) and with the help of a couple assistants, seasoned it with a long list of herbs and spices. Then we threw in some sea salt and some fresh Amish lard, and put it through the meat grinder! At long last, once we were done, we fried up a batch while I attempted to demo how to get the meat into fresh natural casings. The sausage tasted great, but the casing process could have gone a little smoother. I'm no expert, so we did our best. It was pretty funny!

But the main lesson here is that anyone can make sausage with a simple meat grinder. You don't even have to use casings if you don't want to. Most importantly, this is a great way to incorporate wonderfully healthy organ meats from pastured animals into your meals. Just throw in a little heart, liver, or kidney, add your favorite meat, grind, season, mix, and you're done! It's that simple. The whole process makes great breakfast sausage! Or even ground meat for chilis and stews. And if you're so inclined (and have a few interested children to entertain), go ahead and try to make some links! The possibilities are endless!

Thanks to everyone who attended our first ethnic night, and helped make it informative, fun, and tasty!

Your Chapter Leader,

Karen Völkening-Behegan

PS - Please stay tuned for the November meeting notice. Another fun potluck evening is in store as several of your fellow members will be sharing reports from "Mythbusters!," this year's 12th annual Wise Traditions Conference in Dallas, Texas.