Dija Know… Joe’s Restaurant Newsletter -107 October 2014
Seasonal bounty in Joe’s Van after the usual trip to the Farmer’s Market Joe’s will soon host a fund-raiser for the local therapeutic riding organization, the Listening Horse. 20% of your meal total is donated to them that day. Stay tuned for details. Listeninghorse.org Last year Joe’s brought home a ribbon from the Hungry Mouth Charitable Event for a main course. This year Roland will be one of the judges. This event supports one of Santa Fe’s oldest and most venerable charities – St. Elizabeth’s Shelter. The event is Saturday, October 18th from 6-9pm at the Farmers Market Pavilion. Tickets here: www.steshelter.org/hungry-mouth-festival 505.982.6611
A restaurant geared toward a sustainable food supply should be serviced by a sustainable bank. Doncha think? In the interest of transparency, Joe’s surviving the recent economic disaster was accomplished without the aid of banks we had established long-term dealings with. They don’t admit it, but damn, they have tightened up their lending policies to even their best business clients. But there is good news. There is a solution, an alternative, on the horizon — sustainable banking! What a concept. Banks that actually are solvent and that do balance their deposits against their loans. As opposed to the ridiculously perilous concept of fractional reserve banking – talk about unsustainable practices! I know I am over-simplifying and I’m aware I’m not making any friends among local bankers, but when did banking become so complicated that you need a lawyer by your side before signing anything? Money is simple – supply, demand, collateral; just like any other commodity. That is if corporate interests don’t twist it to their “me first” advantage. I recently attended the Public Banking Symposium at the SF Convention Center. A delightful and hopeful concept was unveiled – one that well might have banks who are structured otherwise, quaking in their boots. Nothing like a little healthy competition! Hosted by Craig Barnes, he posed the essential question: If current banking arrangements can funnel millions of dollars outside our city and our state, why can’t we return some of those interest dollars to our local use? Another expert contributor to the event was Gwen Hallsmith, director of The Public Banking Institute — their tag line “toward a science of sustainable prosperity.” I encourage, no I urge, you to look into this concept and give it your $upport, if you can see the relevance both to your own private prosperity and that of our beloved state. http://www.publicbankinginstitute.org
Three new studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that people who consume between 3,000 and 6,000 milligrams of sodium* per day are measurably healthier than those who stick to questionable mainstream health advice. People consuming less than that had a 27% increased risk of having a heart attack or stroke and dying from a cardiovascular event. I know this information is a little hard to swallow due to our years of conditioning against salt. But what’s even more important than focusing on sodium intake is making sure you’re getting enough of two other salts: magnesium and potassium (both found in small amounts in sea salt). Magnesium helps regulate blood pressure and decreases risk of cardiovascular disease. Potassium keeps your blood flowing and your muscles moving. BTW – the shakers on your table at Joe’s are filled with sea salt. *One tsp. salt = 2300 milligrams sodium. And for those of you who still fear fat, please stop it! How many times do I have to tell you!? For your own good (“yes, mother”) inform yourselves about dietary fat, the good fats. Again, mainstream advice has been dangerously off base advocating low fat and no fat diets. Eating fat does not make you fat. However, remember, we are referring only to the good fats: lard (that is not a mis-print) from organically raised animals, butter, coconut oil, olive oil. The controversy over fat has more to do with politics and related economic interests than with solid science. See some of our old newsletters on fats. The science of fat metabolism is too complex to delve into here but the folloewing statements from eminent scientists, doctors and researchers are rather convincing. “The more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the lower people’s serum cholesterol. We found the people who ate the most cholesterol, the most saturated fat, the most calories weighed the least and were the most physically active.” Dr. Wm. Castilli Director of the Framingham (Mass.) Heart Study. And from Dr. Mary Enig , world renowned lipids researcher, (I call her the queen of fats) “The idea that saturated fats cause heart disease is completely wrong, but it has been published so many times over the last 3 decades that it is very difficult to convince people otherwise unless they are willing to take the time to learn what produced the “anti saturated fat agenda”. Michael Gurr, lipid biochemist says, “Whatever causes coronary heart disease, it is not primarily high intake of saturated fatty acids.” “Can you hear me now”?
And now some random findings on the most critical food issue on the planet . . . ever, the one that holds cataclysmic potential for destruction of food, real food – Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). DiJa Know? – After the Haitian earhquake in Jan 2010, The US through Monsanto donated 475 tons of GMO seeds. Farmers planted them. However, Haitian social movements have been vocal in their opposition to agribusiness imports of GMO seeds. They voiced this to farmers and subsequently 10,000 Haitian farmers burned their GMO crops. Haitian wisdom: “seeds of life like stars are owned by no one, shared by all.” From the Rodale Institute: findings after 30 years comparing organic with chemical agriculture – the organic yields match the chemically-grown GMO yields. And in fact in times of extreme weather, like drought, the organic crops proved superior in their ability to survive and produce. And finanlly bugs and weeds have become resistant to Monsanto’s GMO seeds, the very seeds modified to be resistant to bugs and weeds. For example the cotton bollworm now feeds ravenously on the BT toxin (a truly frightening pesticide) engineered to destroy it. It’s now stronger than ever and has an insatiable appetite. What to do – avoid processed foods (80% of all processed food in the US is GMO), eat local and grass-finished meats, demand GMO labeling laws. And KYG. Joe’s recently changed to raw cane sugar for all our baking and cooking. Pure raw cane sugar is not GMO. Why do we keep hammering on this “buy local” theme? There are many factors that are out of our hands when it comes to our food supply. Most of what ends up on the American dinner table derives from a shockingly few giant agribusinesses. Their influence reaches from designing the (GMO) seeds to planting, harvesting, processing and shipping. We as consumers cannot with confidence hand over the entire stewardship of our food to these few multinationals. Our passion here at Joe’s is for a local sustainable food supply – food produced by growers who are accountable for what they grow. KYG – Know Your Grower. We are able to look our local farmer in the eye and ask him about his growing practices or even visit his operation. This gives us the confidence that we are eating food that is healthy,wholesome, non-genetically engineered, often better than organic, humanely treated and minimally processed. It is grown with a smaller energy-use footprint and transported short distances. We cannot divorce human health, the economy, ecology, personal (perhaps spiritual) satisfaction or honorable work from food. Food is fundamental. What we eat, where it comes from, the stewardship of food animals, the nurturing and building of soils – all these factors affect us at a cellular and visceral level … whether we slow down enough to be aware of it or not. We so are fortunate in Santa Fe to have one of the very best Farmers Markets in the nation. Here at Joe’s we do our best to offer this bounty to you, keeping dollars in the community. In the interest of transparency, in 2008 Joe’s spent $30,000 on local foods. In 2009 that increased to $60,000. And since 2012 we have far exceeded $100,000 per annum. During the growing season as much as 95% of our produce is locally sourced. Land, economy, health – inseparable. *Here are some of the farmers/ranchers we have developed long-standing partnerships with – Monte Vista Organics (Dave and Loretta), Camino de Paz Farm & School (Greg & Patty), Shepherd’s Lamb (Antonio and Molly), La Mont’s Buffalo (Monte and Lana), Green Tractor Farms (Tom and Mary), Synergia Ranch (Mark), La Montanita Co-Op, Sweetgrass Co-Op, Matt Romero Farms. Tired of still paying for BB’s (big banks) bailouts? Tired of lining the pockets of the uber-rich Wall Street bankers? And still no convictions? DiJa know… in 2011 a congressional audit o f the Federal Reserve found that the Fed gave 16 trillion dollars from American taxpayers to bail out the “too big to fail” banks with a hefty portion of it going to CEO’s obscene bonuses. Can you imagine — had this staggering figure been re-directed to the people of the US, how different the picture could have looked today? Manufacturing starts, job creation, skills training, roads and bridges repair, national parks, education, etc. Every time we use a credit card, part of that 3%-5% fee contributes to the BB’s. Now let’s be real – in today’s world you cannot function without a credit card, but there are still (legal) alternatives that can save money and reduce our dependency on and subsidies to the BB’s. We have a couple of suggestions: (1.) Are you on Joe’s Check List? If you are a “regular” and wish to pay by check, please ask your waiter to get you on the list. (2.) Joe’s own credit card/gift card – purchase a $100 gift card with cash or check or silver coin or gold coin, get a $10 free bonus! Giggles – Warnings on certain labels – On Tesco’s Tiramisu dessert:(printed on bottom of the box) Do not turn upside down. – On Rowenta Iron packaging: Do not iron clothes on body. – On an American Airlines packet of nuts: Instructions: Open packet, eat nuts. – On Nytol sleep aid: Warning: may cause drowsiness. – On a child’s superman costume: Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly. Joe’s 2801 Rodeo Rd (at Zia Rd) Santa Fe, NM 87507 505-471-3800 www.JoesDining.com Follow us on Face book and Twitter