The Center for Genomic Gastronomy

One of the Center’s mandates is to study the biotechnologies that make up human food systems. Cheese is one of the earliest, non-obvious and most widespread biotechnologies in use on the planet.

For the Planetary Sculpture Supper Club held in Portland, OR we served three regionally produced cheeses (based on our research from Cheese Wrestling.)

Each regional cheese had different combinations of [raw/pasteurized, rennet type, milk type].

Chevre Anise Lavender, Rollingstone (ID)
[pasteurized, vegetable rennet, goat milk]

Smokey Blue, Rogue Creamery (OR)
[raw, vegetable enzymes, sheep milk]

Seastack, Mt. Townsend Creamery (WA)
[pasteurized, animal rennet, cow milk]

One question we asked at the dinner was: In comparison to ubiquitous industrial cheeses in the United States (ex. Velveeta cheese) can these regional cheeses be classified as Appropriate (Bio)Technologies? Appropriate technologies have some or all of the following characteristics:

• small scale
• labor intensive
• energy efficient
• environmentally sound
• locally controlled
• people-centered

We asked our diners what they thought the advantages and disadvantages of privileging the above characteristics in a technology were. Some of the diners helped us define (as well as challenge the idea) that there are “inappropriate” technologies. Some diners were shocked that Genetically Engineered rennet is used in the industrial production of cheese in the U.S.

A few diners were keen on the idea that cheesemakers should be recognized and aknowledged as some of the worlds oldest biotechnologists. It was agreed that with such a long history and diverse body of knowledge, cheese makers should explicitly be included and invited to conversations about biotechnology, ethics and sustainability. If biotechnology for food system resilience is the question, regional cheese production may be part of the answer. (And it certainly tastes better than Velveeta. And taste matters.)

Explicitly naming cheese production a “biotechnology” and comparing it to the range of other biotechnologies and controversies surrounding food is one way the Center has tried to open up a space for eaters to taste and talk about difficult topics. Controversies in cheese making include: ongoing debates about pasteurized vs. raw milk cheeses, and the role of rennet.

GMO-Microbial rennet is used more often in industrial cheese-making because it is less expensive than animal rennet. Traditional cheeses from Europe must legally be made using rennet from animal stomachs. There are also cheese innovators that use vegetable-based rennet substitutes to create entirely new cheeses.  Once you create a cheese plate with each of these kinds of cheeses, and explain the rationale for each kind of rennet, it is clear that the matter is much more complex than simply tradition vs. innovation.

Even the legal regimes for how cheeses are named are periodically contested. In 2002, the U.S. FDA issued a warning letter to Kraft that Velveeta was being sold with packaging that inaccurately described it as a “Pasteurized Process Cheese Spread.” Instead of complying with the label’s requirements, Kraft rechristened Velveeta “Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product,” a term for which the FDA does not maintain a standard of identity.

The legal regime for cheese in the U.S. seems to do two things well: protecting the trademarks rights and proprietary processes of large industrial producers, and creating designations such as Pasteurized process cheese food that seek to protect consumers by explicitly stating the components and nutritional value of cheese, based on nutrition science and chemistry.

In the EU, the Protected Geographical Status tends to protect the rights of geographic and cultural traditions. If a cheesemaker wants to use the trademark name of a geographical indicators, they need to explicitly follow rules and processes that are available publicly here. So although some kinds of innovation are discouraged (most PDO protected cheeses require the use of animal rennet instead of vegetable rennet) the processes are public, and the naming conventions are based on the traditions of a geography and culture.

Also, because the U.S. does not follow this EU convention, it can sell commercially produced imitator cheeses such as “Parmesan” cheese instead of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.  However, when American imitator cheeses are sold in Europe they need to have different names so Kraft’s “Parmesan Cheese” becomes “Pamesello Italiano”.

Kraft Parm vs. King Parm from Cheese Wrestling

In short:

In the US Kraft is protected via tm and cbi.
In the EU Parmigiano-Reggiano is protected via pgs/pdo.

And what of artisanal or small scale cheeses in the US?
What portions of the law are favorable or not to their processes and business?

Like any biotechnology: cheese is as much about the cultural and legal as about the scientific and technological.

Image Sources:
Rollingstone Lavender Chevre
Mt. Townsend Seastack
Rogue Smokey Blue

The Center recently held it’s first Planetary Sculpture Supper Club. We wanted to commemorate our fruitless but ongoing search for the Fish Tomato.

Heather was head chef for the evening and wrote:

Genomic Gastronomy wanted to draw attention to the “search for the fish tomato,” a tomato genetically engineered with fish genes in an effort to resist frost. This idea made them think, fish + tomato=bouillabaisse, and they thought it would be a fun/interesting challenge to make a vegetarian bouillabaisse to underscore the tomato theme. It was a challenge to give it depth and flavor without any fish or seafood and that’s why I worked really hard on the finishing ingredients.

So the broth is all traditional bouillabaisse foundation: tomato, saffron, white wine, onion, celery, carrot, fennel, leeks. instead of the traditional sauce rouille that accompanies bouillabaisse, I wanted to do something lighter and also linked thematically to the rest of the menu. So I made a lemony aioli (whisked by hand, using Wag eggs, which are hella expensive, but their yolks are amazing) and put that on a pa amb tom quet with smoky spanish paprika. I was making an overture to the later Old/World course of gorilla meats sausages and polenta that I made. So I was thinking about Spain, cultural collisions.

Spanish but a resistant subculture to the dominant Castilian power: Catalan. So pa amb tom quet is a traditional Catalan dish, so simple, of toasted bread, scraped with a clove of garlic, rubbed with a cut tomato half and then drizzled with olive oil. The pimenton again is a nod to Christopher Columbus and exploration, as it is reported that Christopher Columbus brought pimenton to Spain after his second voyage. The smoky paprika also gave some depth of flavor to the tomato dish.

Photo: Ryan Fish

The Center for Genomic Gastronomy presents:
THE PLANETARY SCULPTURE SUPPER CLUB

hosted by:
RECESS

when:
Start 7pm, 28th June 2011

where:
RECESS, 1127 SE 10th Ave, Portland, OR 97214

cost:
$25

How have our foodways sculpted the planet? This culinary event offers eaters a chance to explore recipes and taste-test research about the genomes and biotechnologies that make up the human food systems of planet Earth.

In collaboration with Gorilla Meats Meat Club and Heather Julius from Special Snowflake Supperclub, the Center will serve a six-course meal, creating a delicious synthesis of Genomic Gastronomy research undertaken over the past year. Join us in following the journey of edible genomes that have traversed the globe in the last 400 years.

To attend, book your seat by emailing:
info@genomicgastronomy.com

Limited places available, and will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.

This Sunday the Center spent the day at Church! a semi-regular gathering of artists, crafters and entrepreneurs, in Portland, Ore., Or as the organizers write:

A ritualistic Sunday gathering to open dialogue in Portland’s creative community and expand on the narrow avenues that already exist for showing work. A gathering where nothing is sold, CHURCH! is a free space for sharing ideas and intermingling between artists working in a multitude of different medias.

Thanks to our good friends The Gorilla Meats Co. for helping organize the event and 220 salon for hosting everyone.

CHEESE WRESTLING

As part of the event we had a Qualifying round for this weeks Cheese Wrestling event. The competition was a local bracket and the three cheeses that we pitted against each other were from these Pacific Northwest creameries:

Willamette Valley Cheese Co.‘s Brindisi (aged Fontina)
Rogue Creamery‘s Oregon Blue Cheese
Mt. Townsend Creamery‘s Cirrus – PNW Camembert

If you would like to find out who won, and enjoy ten more rounds of tenacious cheeses battling for the attention of your taste buds come to Gallery Homeland this Friday at 6 PM in Portland, OR.

GORILLA MEATS CO.

And some images from The Gorilla Meats Co. who served their Cheeky Thai sausage.

From The Penfield Post:

OK, class, it’s time to get educated on hops, and your teacher is Jim Koch.

Koch, founder and brewer at Samuel Adams, has released a new 12-pack that will help educate everyone on the various flavors different hops can bring to a beer with the Latitude 48 Deconstructed 12-pack.

The 12-pack features the original Latitude 48, an India pale ale brewed with five hops. It also features five other versions of the Latitude 48, each one brewed with a single hop used in the original version. There are two bottles of each version in the pack.

“We’ve always tried to educate people about hops; their terroirs (the area they are grown), their differences and the roles they play in the beer,” said Koch. “This was taking the hop education to the next level.”

Koch originally got the idea a few months ago. He said he was drinking the Latitude 48 and he said he was trying to “mentally disentangle” what flavors each of the hops brought to the beer.

“I said to myself, ‘Wouldn’t that be a cool thing to do?”‘ said Koch. “I was thinking of doing it for fun. That was basically the idea. There wasn’t a lot of planning behind it.”

The Latitude 48 is a little different than a lot of American IPAs in that it uses not only American hops, but hops from both England and Germany.

The American hops used are Ahtanum, Simcoe and Zeus. The English hop is East Kent Goldings and the German hop is Hallertau Mittelfruh.

The different in hops, particularly between the American and European hops, was exactly what Koch said he wanted to demonstrate to beer drinkers.

“It was really an unique opportunity to really showcase the differences between the three terroirs,” he said.

The five single-hop beers were the same exact recipe as the original Latitude 48 except for the hops. A different amount of hops had to be used in each beer to match the original’s 65 international bittering units (a measure of how bitter a beer is).

The Hallertau Mittelfruh hop is the one Samuel Adams uses in most of its beers. It’s considered a “noble hop” and brings what Koch calls a “very elegant, soft, citrus floral” aroma and flavor to the beer.

It was Koch’s favorite of the single hops.

“To me it stood out as being very pleasant,” he said. “It had nothing that you wanted to calm down in its flavor profile. It’s almost impossible to use too much of it. It’s so smooth and complex. It doesn’t have a note that you want to remove. It’s the purest example to me of what you want hops to contribute to your beer.”

The East Kent Goldings version should be “earthy, herbal, geranium” and a little “tangy,” he said.

As for the American hops, they all had one similarity: they have what are called “catty” notes in it. I call it cat pee.

Some flavors, by themselves can be harsh, or even unpleasant, but blended together with other flavors they can work well. Such is the case with Simcoe, which is well-known to cause cat urine aroma when it’s by itself. That smell really comes through in the single-hop version of the beer.

The cattiness is dialed down in the Zeus, although it is still there. There are also flavors of grapefruit and pine in the Zeus version.

The Ahtanum was probably the best of the three American hop beers.

“It’s a little less catty and (has) a little more general citrus-type character,” Koch said.

Overall, Koch said he still prefers the original Latitude 48, because all of the hops work together to create a harmony of flavors.

But the Latitude 48 Deconstructed is still an interesting experiment, and a great way to see the different hop flavors. It is also affordable, under $20 for a 12-pack.

“It was a lot of fun to really isolate the individual contributions each hop made,” said Koch. “We wanted to make it accessible to people and we didn’t want them to say, ‘I want to try it, but I can’t afford it.’ The purpose of this was education.”

From the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog via Lapham’s Quarterly:

No, those aren’t the ingredients for some kind of wacky new dish. But they do offer some insights into the global realpolitik and social status of the food bizniss, past and present.

This map is great for our upcoming “Planetary Sculpture Supper Club” event.