Chef Darian’s Blog

Go Texan

May 1, 2009 on 4:04 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments

This past weekend I worked with The Dining Diva at the Sip and Stroll for the Grand Wine and Food Affair in Sugar Land, Texas. We were promoting all food Texas! I learned some interesting things and thought I would share them.

1. Buy local – buy Texan. When you sit down to dinner and look at the food on your plate tonight – realize that your food traveled about 1800 miles just to get there. When you buy local it wont travel that far. Think about the carbon footprint that leaves. How much energy is wasted when you could just get what grows in your own state. So when you go to the grocery ask them for Texas meat and produce.

2. Keeping your neighbors employed and in their homes. A red fish farmer explained it this way; his neighbor is a shrimper. When people by the cheaper – inferior shrimp for Asia they are helping to put the local shrimper out of work. If he loses his job he might lose his boat and his home. If the home is left vacant from lack of renters or foreclosure then the neighbors property values go down. Crime might pick up in the neighborhood. We all know that homes left vacant in your neighborhood are an attraction to teens and the homeless. So when you go to the Seafood Department ask for Texas Fish and Shrimp. It might cost you $0.50 to $1.00 more a pound, but just skip Starbucks one day and make up the difference.

Did you know that we produce so much food here in Texas – year round due to our weather? The valley is filled with citrus fruit – when was the last time you bit into a Rio Star Grapefruit? Who could say that they never had a good Pecos Mellon? We have a huge organic tomato farm outside of Austin. Fantastic tomatoes that you can get at Central Market. I have been there and I can tell you that they don’t taste like a greenhouse grown tomato. We export more Striped Bass then we consume here in Texas. And Texas Striped Bass is so mild and easy to cook – why buy from somewhere else? There is a huge mushroom farm just NW of Houston. To know if you are buying Texas produce, fish and meats just go to the website www.gotexan.org and get all of the details on what and where to purchase! Also, look for the GoTexan symbol on food packaging!