North Beach Project

The Beats of North Beach

North Beach is home to the San Francisco Beat movement. According to Wikipedia, the Beat Movement started in the early 1950's with a group of writers. These writers challenged traditional American values, experimented with drugs and new forms of sexual expression, and created a new, rambling style of poetry. The main themes in Beat poetry seem to be both skepticism of the mainstream mindset and the rejection of widely accepted cultural norms.

Mainstream American Food Culture

In the United States, we like to get what we want, when we want, how we want it, and these desires translate into our food culture. When visiting a restaurant, we are easily angered if our dish takes too long to come out of the kitchen. We want to be pampered by the waitstaff, taste the flavors we came to the restaurant expecting to taste, receive convenient to-go packaging upon request, and be in an environment that is comfortable and familiar to us. This is our culture, but I propose we take action and...

Become Food Beats!!

The Beats challenged American traditions, but they may have neglected food culture in their rebellion. Let's pick up where they left off! Using food as our main focus, let's challenge American ideals and change the way we look at food. Let's review the most prominent aspects of mainstream American food culture and discuss how we can challenge it:

1. Packaging
In the United States, almost everything we buy is encased in large amounts of needless packaging. We ask for to-go boxes made of cardboard and plastic, use paper bags at the grocery store, and buy things like this:

and this...

So, in order to be Food Beats, I think we need to start cutting down on the packaged goods we purchase. Buying items in bulk definitely helps to cut down on packaging. If you are able to convert your kitchen entirely to bulk, your pantry might look something like this:

Ahh...the brand-free goodness of it all!

2. Imported and Unseasonal Goods

Italians tend to eat foods that are in season and Italian cookbooks are often organized by season. Americans want to eat exactly what they are in the mood for, and most of the time, that means eating food items that are not in season or grown locally. This results in an unnecessary amount of gas being wasted on transportation of goods. As Food Beats, we should question our "need" for imported goods and experiment with local purchasing habits. This can be done by buying items at local farmer's markets, joining a CSA, or shopping at Rainbow Grocery in the Mission to buy local goods.

3. Fast Food

Americans eat a lot of fast food and pre-made items. We are obsessed with efficiency and speed. To incorporate the Beat ideals into our lives, we've got to experiment. The original Beats did this with drugs, but I'm suggesting we do this with food and start cooking! This will allow us to tailor our foods to our individual tastes, avoid flavor norms, and slow down our over-efficient minds so we can enjoy life. I like to cook vegan food, so I'm going to post a couple of my favorite recipe websites:

1. Random Vegan Recipes
2. Vegan Food

In addition, I'd like to post my favorite vegan chocolate chip/oatmeal cookie recipe, compliments of my cookbook called Vegan With A Vengeance. I just added some oats because they're delicious!

NOTE TO NON-COOKS: DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES ONLY TAKE ABOUT 20 MINUTES OVERALL TO MAKE!! WHY WAIT? IT'S SIMPLE AND TASTY!!

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1 cup vegan margarine (I like Earth Balance, which can be found at above-mentioned Rainbow Grocery)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 Tbsp molasses
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (these are usually vegan, but check the ingredients for milk!)

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Cream together the margarine and sugar until fluffy.
Add the molasses and vanilla.
Add the flour, oats, baking soda, and salt, and mix well.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Make a bunch of little balls and place them 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the bottom edges are just golden brown.
Let cool or just devour them! I've done both, and though instant devouring tends to burn the mouth, each option has its perks! :)