Wisdom #1

As I've mentioned in previous blogposts, a fair amount of the protein that fed me as a child was wild game. My dad and my maternal grandfather - and later, my brothers and I - supplemented the larder with rabbits, pigeon, pheasant etc. And, besides shooting, we also went fishing for mackerel, bass, pollock and other fish. We also foraged the seashore for shrimps, seaweeds, winkles and other edibles. It was free food in a time when meat was ruinously expensive. 

My grandad - Fred - was full of old sayings and aphorisms that he loved to share and most of them had a nub of truth at their heart. In this short video I discussion one of his more regular sayings - 'What grows together goes together.'

   

He was talking about what French gastronomists call terroir - the idea that the environment shapes the characteristics of food. It's the climate, the chemical composition of the soil, the water and other unique environment contexts, farming practices and a crop's specific growth habitat that gives the food a certain 'character'.

Some artisanal crops for which terroir is studied include wine, cider, coffee, tobacco, olive oil, chocolate, chili peppers, hops, agave (for making tequila and mezcal), tomatoes, heritage wheat, maple syrup, tea, and cannabis. 

Terroir is also the basis of the French wine appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) system, which is a model for wine appellation and regulation in France and around the world. The AOC system presumes that the land from which the grapes are grown imparts a unique quality that is specific to that growing site (the plants' habitat).

Is it really that significant? I'm not sure.

But I do know that fried rabbit with wild garlic butter is delicious.