Photo: thebittenword.com/Flickr

Kale, such a tough and bland vegetable raw, takes on magical properties when its fibers are broken down the right way — perhaps through a massaged kale salad (much better, I promise, than it sounds), through kale chips, or in rustic soups. The flavor becomes deep and addictive, almost meaty. Not bad, for something so healthy.

Let’s set health aside for one moment, though, because kale’s dirty little secret is that it’s best eaten alongside red meat and cheese. Exhibit A: this sausage-kale breakfast strata, courtesy of the Pioneer Woman Cooks. I have not personally tried this recipe, but take a look at the ingredients — there’s no way that this one isn’t a keeper.

Photo: Br3nda/Flickr

LOCAL BITES

Be Healthy, Boston
The mission behind this two-day affair beginning Sat., Jan. 28, at the Westin Boston Waterfront couldn’t be more clear. “Be Healthy Boston” will feature mini spa sessions, mental health and wellness consults, fitness classes, cooking demonstrations (ta-da!) and cookbook signings. Ana Sortun, Jody Adams and Sally Sampson are on the roster. Join the fun, commit to getting healthy.

The Year of the Dragon
In honor of the Chinese New Year, Foumami Asian Sandwich Bar has created menu specials through Feb. 6 which carry important cultural symbolism: a spicy pork sandwich (pork represents strength, wealth and abundant blessing) and longan melon soda (melon portends good health and family unity). Foumami is also offering red envelope giveaways – another tradition related to the New Year – with prizes/discounts. Head to the Financial District to sample and celebrate.

Reminders
The Super Hunger Brunch: Jan. 28-29 at numerous restaurants in and around Boston.
The Farm Bill Teach-In: Jan. 29 at the Museum of Science, 3-6pm; SOLD OUT, but you should be able to tap into the live webcast.
Dining Out to Conquer Diabetes: Jan. 29 at six participating restaurants in the North End. More…

Photo: Rob Watling/Flickr

I have to come right out and say that animal innards are not my thing. At all.

But I definitely respect folks who enjoy them, and I appreciate the care with which such ingredients need to be handled and the delicacies that ensue. I just like to keep it all a plate or two away from my own.

But today marks the birthday of Scottish poet Robert Burns (d. 1796), and celebrations abound this week in his honor, both here and abroad. In honor of all our readers who will partake in Burns Night tonight, and in deference to my own Scottish friends (one of whom is a fantastic cook, and had me positively levitating over my first Scotch Egg), it’s only right to dedicate today’s Food Therapy to a haggis-related blog post.

Local blogger LimeyG has turned out a witty, poetry-imbued piece called “Burns Night: Haggis is a good thing!” It’s probably one of the most pragmatic, forthright and upbeat posts you’ll find on lamb innards and this traditional Scottish fare. She goes straight to the heart of the matter (sorry) with this admonishment:

Don’t even start with the “ewww” stuff. Haggis is not gross, or slimy, or disgusting…on a cold January night, it’s good, satisfying, stick-to-the-ribs food.

And she cheerfully plates the haggis with “neeps and tatties” (mashed potato and yellow turnip) practically chirping: “Is this not the best dish ever?”

So, why pragmatic? Because LimeyG used canned, not home-made, haggis for her Burns Night meal. The reason: “…the only alternative was a 4lb ‘presentation’ haggis, which we’d be eating until next Hogmanay.”

Well, alright then.

Photo: ecooper99/Flickr

Anne Fishel is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology at the Harvard Medical School and Director of Family and Couples Therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital. Most recently, she helped launch The Family Dinner Project, a collaborative, team-led organization committed to helping families and communities make mealtime more meaningful, and therefore more healthful on many levels.

Talking about family dinners is a focus of Anne’s work with the families she treats in her private practice and with the psychiatry residents she trains to work with families. Below, she discusses the physical space and settings of family dinners, and the collective impact on social dynamics and conversation.

What happens in your family?

Anne K. Fishel, Ph.D.
The Family Dinner Project 

As a family therapist I am interested in context—why is a child seen as bossy at home but not at school? What allows a couple to have a lively conversation in a restaurant on Saturday night, but not in their own kitchen?

In my work with The Family Dinner Project, I encourage families to have more dinners with one another, and part of my strategy is to look for the elements of dinner that are playful and easy to change. Context is a prime one. If you change the seating or set the table with care, maybe even with flowers and candles, a new mood is created, and a new conversation may develop. This is also why, as a family therapist, I encourage my clients to sit in different seats in my office: perspectives can change when you see the world from a different vantage point.

At home, my young adult sons would much rather crowd around our too-small kitchen table for dinner than let their 6-foot-plus frames sprawl and spill around our more spacious dining room table. It’s not just the smaller size that feels cozier, but eating in the kitchen feels homier than eating in the dining room, which is where guests eat, not sons reclaiming their places at the regular family table. What’s more, my sons always tuck into their customary seats around the table — no matter how long they’ve been away.

When I talk to other families, most tell me the same thing: each family member sits in the same chair night after night. No one can quite remember how these decisions were made. But, in most families, it is considered a subversive act to claim a seat that isn’t yours. In my husband’s family, the girls sat on one side of the table, nearer the stove, so that they could spring up to get more food, while the boys sat on the far side. As with most rectangular tables, the parents sat at either end, connoting higher status as heads of the table.

But sitting on chairs around a table isn’t a universal custom. More…

Photo: kennymatic/Flickr

Today marks the start of the Chinese New Year, a particularly auspicious one. It’s the Year of the Dragon, the creature redolent of power and success for the Chinese, which augers well for just about any life undertaking.

I have really enjoyed reading about the tradition-filled intersection of food and ritual in Chinese culture so prominently on display during New Year celebrations. For example, a great post came out today from Anna Mindess of Bay Area Bites that explains which foods are symbolically significant to the Chinese, and why families prepare and eat certain foods, such as fish, in a certain way, in a ritualistic order.

I myself am a novice at Chinese cooking. So I immediately latched on to the Vegetarian Egg Rolls Nita-Nee baked up on “How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love Swiss Chard.” My daughter came home last week with artwork related to the New Year and bubbled over with tidbits of information she learned in school about Chinese culture and the all-important New Year’s holiday. We had gotten a ‘taste’ of the Dragon at Boston’s First Night Parade, but now I feel I have a food to offer to extend her experience.

I like that these egg rolls are vegetable filled, light because they’re baked, and purportedly “a cinch to make.” It means they meet all of my criteria for a mid-week meal: healthy, fast, tasty. And they look fun to make — fun for me, fun for my kids. I recognize this is a beginner’s stance to a sophisticated cuisine. But, the way I figure it, what better way to introduce them to the cuisine that’s connected to the Year of the Dragon and complement classroom learning with a food experience. It’s a start. Hopefully, an auspicious one!

A very Happy New Year to all our readers celebrating or honoring the Year of the Dragon. Remember that Boston’s Chinese New Year Parade takes place this coming Sunday, January 29th.

Photo: PinkMoose/Flickr

If you keep up on “foodie” events around Boston, the Farm Bill Teach-In slated for this Sunday will not come as news to you.

However, we at PRK wanted to learn more, and we figured you did, too. So we reached out to organizer Louisa Kasdon of Let’s Talk About Food to get a better handle on the ‘what for’ of the event. Meaning, why this topic and why now? Why a Teach-In? What can the public expect to gain by participating and learn in the meantime?

Here are Louisa’s important answers to these questions.

Why did you organize an event centered on this topic, of all the pressing food-related topics ripe for public discussion in this moment?

Here’s the news peg for The Farm Bill: the Farm Bill impacts the price, quality and marketing of almost all the food we eat or produce in America. And it only comes up for re-authorization every five years. So the 2012 Farm Bill will carry us all the way to 2017.

What do you mean by a “teach-in”? Why this format for this event?

I grew up in the age of the Teach-In. They were huge, come-in-on-the-ground-floor opportunities for experts and interested non-experts to come together and get smart on an important topic – and the knowledge people carried away changed the world. We had big Teach-Ins at MIT about the Vietnam War, the environment, poverty.

The core of a Teach-In is that many people who have solid expertise are willing to share it, and there is a space for the rest of us to ask questions, work on solutions and connect with some of the people and organizations that can effect change in our community. More…

Photo: shyb/Flickr

Some recipes just pop out at you. Perfect! Whoot! Fits the bill. We think this is one of them.

Salem-based The Hungry Mouse has created a New England Harvest Turnover using tart apples, salty bacon and sharp cheddar cheese. This makes for irresistible, savory-sweet fare that is easily altered if a vegetarian option is what you seek.

The Mouse plainly acknowledges her experimentation on behalf of Pepperidge Farm, whose puff pastry she rolls and flours into ship-shape. But you certainly can knead your own if you’re feeling adventuresome and have the extra bit of time. (PRK’s Jaime Lutz once featured how to make pie dough in 1 minute! Try?)

Choose your pastry as you will, but the ingredients in these turnovers look perfectly suited, one to the next. And here’s to the “New England” theme of The Hungry Mouse’s recipe — a fitting tee-up to the weekend weather and game. Go Pats!

Photo: joyosity/Flickr

Like many of you, we’re guessing, PRK has kept up with the flurry (frenzy) of articles, updates, blog posts and commentary about Paula Deen’s new public persona as a celebrity diabetic.

In the midst of this spectacular turnaround, let’s pause and be reminded of numerous other food-related news stories reported this week beyond Deen’s admission of her disease — news unrelated to allegations of hypocrisy, big money-making prospects and drug companies.

Here’s the latest in food news at WBUR.

From the Newsroom:

On Monday, in his annual State of the City address, Mayor Menino very publicly cited obesity as a community problem in Boston, even as the Hub’s been lauded as one of the top ‘healthiest’ cities in the US.

Menino is dedicating efforts to implement a city-wide strategy that will connect new initiatives and resources to residents and their families wherever they work, learn or play. Shedding a million pounds in a year — that’s his goal for the Hub, and he’s willing to walk his talk by losing weight himself. His colleagues at City Hall are joining in. Will you, too, shed some extra weight? It’s clearly a communal call to action…

From Here & Now:

Remember last November when BU hosted its Essential Jacques Pépin event in honor of the beloved, much admired teacher-chef? Pépin had to cancel his appearance that evening due to health problems. Well, he’s hale and hearty, and talking:  resident chef Kathy Gunst of Here & Now recently spoke with Pépin from The Chocolate Factory in New York. She asked him about career surprises (“I”m still alive!”), TV and celebrity chef-dom (“I am not an actor, I am a COOK!”) and how he wants to be remembered (“As a good father, I hope.”)

Pepin is being modest, of course, but he’s also insightful. As ever.

Earlier in the week, Here & Now aired an interview with Gabrielle Hamilton, chef of Prune in New York City and author of good food read Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef – Hamilton’s memoir. Hers is a compelling story about memories and her passions for serving food, and she clearly can write. Listen to The Life and Story of Gabrielle Hamilton.

From Radio Boston:

Dramatizing diabetes. What might that sound like, and why do it? Radio Boston spoke with Robbie McCauley, an African-America playwright who has dramatized her personal experience of the disease. “Sugar carries shame,” McCauley proclaims, parsing out her meaning with co-host Meghna Chakrabarti. McCauley’s one-woman play, Sugar, will debut at ArtsEmerson tonight, Jan. 20. Listen to the interview.

Cafe G (photo: Jesse Costa, WBUR)

LOCAL BITES

But What Did You Eat??
The new wing of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum opens today to much acclaim and great anticipation. The grand-scale architecture, the new galleries and intimate concert hall are nothing short of inspiring. But don’t forget the food! Cafe G has a wholly new profile due to its larger digs, and chef Peter Crowley is excited. Read more about his offerings, and tell us what you ate if you go this weekend…

Engaging Your Palate
Reminder: the Boston Wine Expo is ongoing this weekend, through January 22. Tickets are still available, and there truly is something for every palate, every mood. Seminars, Vintner dinners, chef demos and, of course, a host of wineries offering tastings. The comprehensive website gives you full details.

Food Ed, Food Policy 101
Save the date. On Sunday afternoon, Jan. 29th, the MOS is hosting a Farm Bill Teach-In, with keynote speakers Marion Nestle and Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree. Learn what you need to know about this mammoth, critical and pending legislation — the 2012 Farm Bill. Organized by Let’s Talk About Food, the cities of Boston and Cambridge, MIT, and Food law Society at HLS. Registration required, wait-list only at this point. But put your name in anyway; they’re trying for a larger space!

Dine Out to Conquer Diabetes
CityFeast, in its 7th year, is being organized on Sunday, January 29, to benefit the Joslin Diabetes Center. Five North End restaurants — Antico Forno, Terramia, Lucca, Taranta and Tresca — will participate in this annual fundraiser which features a five-course diner with wine pairings. They’re also auctioning off a Vespa! Details and tickets here.

What Did They Eat Back Then?
A professor of History and some ambitious (hungry!) students at MIT spent their break between semesters researching and cooking a meal that noble folk from the 14th century might have had. Not surprisingly, the fare is healthy and mostly plant-based. But the flavors! More…

Photo: MinimalistPhotography101.com/FLickr

During the winter, I find that I like having dinner parties in lieu of going out. Nothing fancy — usually just cheap potlucks around a theme (this weekend we’re spotlighting all the mulled wine we have left from the holidays). It’s really the laziest way to stay social in the winter, on nights when you can barely force yourself outside — bring the fun to you!

Of course, some work is required when hosting a party. You have to spend all day cleaning both before and after, for one. And you should have some reliable munchies on hand, too. You can always buy some Doritos and call it a day, but come on: your friends deserve better (especially since, as mentioned, they had to leave the house to get there in possibly sub-zero conditions).

This recipe from Spoon Fork Bacon – Sweet Potato Hummus with Cumin Flatbread Chips — is one idea. It’s healthy, it’s interesting, and most importantly, it sets a casual and fun tone — no prosciutto-wrapped dates here. It’s best served in slippers and shared with your giggling best friends.