For this week's One Local Summer meal, I drew my inspiration from college.
I went to school at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota in the late '80s and early '90s. At the time, there was a kosher vegetarian Israeli restaurant across the street called the Old City Cafe. Occasionally my friends and I would go there and indulge in garlicky New York-style pizza. And many a time, I'd go there to pick up an order of fluffy pita bread and chatzilim to take with me to Physics for Poets.
Yesterday I was standing in the garden, contemplating the army of eggplants, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes, when I suddenly realized an Israeli dinner was within my grasp. Here's what we ate:
CHATZILIM
Roasted eggplant (0 miles)
Garlic (0 miles)
Duke's mayonnaise - from Greenville, S.C. (137 miles)
Vidalia onion - not sure of mileage, but by definition all Vidalias are from Georgia
Lemon juice - not local
Salt and pepper - not local
ISRAELI SALAD
Sungold tomatoes (0 miles)
Cucumbers (0 miles)
Parsley and mint (0 miles)
Vidalia onion - see above
Olive oil and lemon juice - not local
Salt and pepper - not local
BREAD
Farmhouse boule from Big City Bread, Athens, Ga. (35 miles)
Now I have Death Breath, as my college roommate and I used to call it. Nothing like several cloves of raw garlic to add that extra special something to your personal interactions. But oh! It is so worth it.
