Expo 2015 New Food Ideas

Since its'  earliest days  World Expositions have been introducing people to new foods and ideas. After all potato chips, the hot dog and the ice cream cone were introduced at  expos past. Its' not surprising that the Milan 2015 has introduced some new dishes and concepts too.


Rachel Dondadio covered it and wrote about it for The New York Times Food section yesterday, She was able to travel to this beautiful gem of a city and sample some of the foods offered. The expo itself is a strange mix of cuisine and sustainability. Vertical gardens vied with restaurants for attention and visitors. The US had one of the former with kale and other veggies sprouting at a dizzying angle and being watered with drip irrigation. With the Americans comes the James Beard American Restaurant which is located at the Seven Stars Galleria in the city. A dazzling array of chefs cook there, and the dishes are made by Mary Sue Millikin of L.A.'s Border Grill, Sarah Jenkins  of New York's famed Porchetta and Paul Qui of Qui's in Austen Texas. The food is traditional American but not the usual barbecue and hot dogs. Every Thursday there is a Thanksgiving themed meal and there is an explanation of some American foods by Libby O'Connell of the History Channel. She tells of the history of the American diet, from the colonists' love of roast beaver tails (true!, they were rich in fat and protein - and I imagine crispy- the fore runner of pork rinds) to our passion for pizza - that came from GIs who had been stationed in Naples during the Second World war.

Mostly Expo 2015 is educational. The United Nations Pavilion Zero  has  a huge wall of monitors showing the changing prices of such foodstuffs as canola, papaya, beef and potatoes. The UK has a pavilion in the shape of a hive  to give visitors a honeybee's view of the world. Not only can tourists eat ancient grains in a variety of forms like pasta and pizza they can also learn about them too. There's also music there too, from techno to hip hop.Women and food is also explored thanks to a series of lectures about diet and nutrition. Since the Expo is also about sustainability there are several exhibits catering to this. Not only are there the vertical gardens by both the US and Israel there are also programs featuring the African Milk Project and Italy's Food Repurposing Project This last is reusing extra food into dishes  at schools  and eliminating large amounts of food waste. If you can ' t     make it to the expo, then go to the website , There are tons of recipes (in Italian) from every country on Earth and feature  everything from grains to meats and fruits and veggies along with chocolate.

Milan's Expo 2015 is an interesting marriage of saving and feeding the planet. It combines old and new cuisines as well as methods for repurposing food. It is an exposition that will enlighten foodies and environmentalists alike.

Frugalize Your Food!

Every kitchen, whether home or professional, produces  scraps.They usually wind up in the garbage which is a sin. Anything can be repurposed .Leftovers can be turned into yummy dishes. Peelings and ends can be repurposed into new dishes .There's no need to have wastefulness. Everything and anything can be used. Just ask Seattle residents about this. The people there are learning a thing or two about recycling their meals.

This was the subject of an article in today's New York Times' Wednesday Food section. Regular contributor, Kim Severson, travelled to Seattle to write about the city's new recycling program. It goes like , dump that half eaten pizza or lemon peels  ad get slapped with a fine. Garbage men are now extra diligent in sorting through trash.If they do come across any foodstuffs, even a pizza box, a red sticker is placed on the garbage can and the homeowner is fined. Yes it is shaming,, but it also helps the environment as well as teaching home chefs about recycling and kitchen frugality.The idea is nothing new. San Franciscans have been composting for a long time and it's becoming beloved with some New York City restauranteurs as well. It is more economical because vegetables peels can be repurposed into part of various stocks. Carrots tops can be ground into a different kind of pesto. Chicken carcasses can yield up everything form bone and marrow for soups to skin for tasty schmaltz.

Repurposing may be tough for a generation who is used to throwing out as well as using only processed foods. It was just two generations ago that home chefs used to use every part of any  fruit vegetable , meat and bread. It was part of life, thanks to Depression frugality and World War Two rationing.Luckily there are books out there to help.Steve Satterfield has written a book entitled "Root To Leaf" about an in depth look at vegetable cookery  and how to cook usually thrown away corn cobs and mushroom stems. There's also Diana Gunders , a project scientist for the Natural Resources defense Council book, Waste Free Kitchen Handbook  and Eugenia Bone's The Kitchen Economist.It is pretty easy to repurpose. One loaf of bread can be turned into a variety of different foodstuffs. Stale bread can be transformed into strata or French toast. Very stale bread, especially baguettes make excellent breadcrumbs. Chicken is the star of repurposing, with it being redone for homemade soups to pot pies to foie gras. Any food can be frugalized , you just have to be clever in doing so.It  does take some thinking.

Make leftovers and kitchen waste a thing of the recent past. Reuse and repurpose everything from veggies to chicken legs. It 's good for the planet and good for you.