Horn of Plenty

Cornucopia

A wicker cone-shaped basket filled with fruit and vegetables. The harvest cone is a symbol of abundance and women's fertility.


Harvest...

A time of year to realize what is tangible in your hands and to taste natural food, simply and deliciously.

Art by Olbinski

I find myself amazed at how wonderful apples have been this month. I don't think I've ever appreciated a crispy, but juicy Fuji apple (my favorite) more in my life than I have this month. I wonder how these delicious softball-sized fruit of goodness just plop from a tree like candy. It makes me think of how the oldest story known to mankind derives from an apple (fruit) tree.

Which makes me also think of the book I read earlier this year, The Ominivore's Dilemna, by Michael Pollan. The book takes an in depth look at corn, and how corn is the ingredient of 50% or more of processed foods, whether it be sugar based or in corn meal form. But what strikes me is how corn is one of the only foods requiring the hands of man to be reproduced. A single cob that falls from the stalk is not able to grow on its own by course of nature. The husk traps the kernals--it has to be shucked. Once shucked, the kernals have to be plucked and seperated because it wouldn't be able to sprout amongst all the others kernals, there would be too many kernals within the vicinity and therefore stunt the growth of others, not allowing hardly any single kernal to flourish into becoming a fully developed stalk. Makes you wonder how it all began?

Click HERE to read a NY times review of the book.

So, I'm reminded how awesome it is that science, nature, and man come together--creating little miracles of taste and supplying nourishment. Especially after spending numerous hours watching the Food Network, and becoming a harsh critic of my own experiments in the kitchen, it is nice to step back and look at the full picture in this week of giving thanks.

Here's to a Bountiful Harvest!