There's a great event in DC this weekend celebrating good food and heritage breed pigs.  Cochon555 is a cooking contest between 5 of DC's finest chefs.  Each chef is given a whole pig to cook.  Pigs are provided by my friends at EcoFriendly foods, who I buy from frequently at Dupont circle and Arlington Courthouse farmers markets.  Tickets are $125 apiece and that also includes wine from local wine-makers.

 5 amazing chefs+5 well-treated pigs+5 wine-makers=a  damn good time, in my book!

Eater NY recently ran a piece by Chef David Chang of the Momofuku restaurants commenting on foie gras protesters and why he still serves foie gras in his restaurants in spite of the foie gras controversy. (Thanks Sarah for sharing this story with me!). A quick internet search can bring up images of ducks being force fed with a tube jammed down their throats to produce the desired fatty liver. These vivid images have brought animal rights activists to protest several restaurants in New York and elsewhere, including a vandalism last month in a Maryland restaurant. The problem that I have with being blindly against foie gras is that foie gras production can vary greatly from farm to farm. I have a problem with labels. Just as organic meat doesn't necessarily mean humanely raised, foie gras and veal don't necessarily mean animal cruelty.

Veal and foie gras have become buzz words that are supposed to be symbolic of animal cruelty as a whole. I buy veal at my local farmers markets from farmers that I know personally and who treat their animals with love and respect. I think it's possible to produce foie gras in a similar manner. Further research on Hudson Valley foie gras, the producer of the foie gras served by Chef David Chang, brought me to this story in the Village Voice. After reading an objective report of a visit to the farm my conclusion is that Hudson Valley is a responsible farm. Sure, I'd prefer for the ducks to spend more time outside, and I question whether it's not possible to feed the ducks the same amount of food without the force feeding. But it seems like the ducks do have enough space and don't seem in pain during or after the feedings, which reportedly take only fifteen seconds.

Compared to cattle feedlots Hudson Valley foie gras seems completely humane. In cattle feedlots not only do the cows have very little space but they are fed a diet that they can't properly digest which can lead to serious health problems and even death. So why are people, sometimes violently, protesting foie gras with only a handful of relatively small farms producing in the US, instead of protesting the fast food restaurants and chain grocery stores selling this factory farmed beef from the about 35 million cows slaughtered each year?

On March 1st I attended an event in DC called "Artists for the Climate" sponsored by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network(CCAN). I was expecting a lecture on global warming causes and solutions. It turned out to be more of a rally than a lecture. The event preceded a protest of a Washington DC coal burning power plant on March 2nd, which I did not attend. The protest occurred on the day after the biggest snowfall in DC this year. Numbers were lower because of the snow, but it's reported that about 2500 people attended the protest in front of the power plant that supplies energy to the Capital building. For this one plant the protest was effective as the plant has apparently been ordered to switch to cleaner burning natural gas.

My main reason for attending the "rally" on March 1st was to hear local food movement superstar Wendell Berry, and he didn't disappoint. Though, because of the number of speakers and performers scheduled he was only on stage for a short time. Mr. Berry opened by saying that he's "been flying all over the country for the past 35 to 40 years telling people in effect to stay at home". This simple statement details the complexity of these environmental issues. There is no perfect solution that seems feasible right now.

After making it through 8 speakers and performers I still had yet to hear anyone give a viable solution to global warming. It was mostly people making statements like "there is no clean coal", which of course led to wild applause and cheers from the mostly middle-aged, white, affluent crowd looking to relive memories from their past as flower children. Then Wendell Berry took the stage and plainly said that we need to find an economic solution to global warming. He didn't follow up on this much, since his stage time was limited. It seems to me that this is the key. If there was an alternative energy provider that was much better for the environment I would switch, even if the cost was slightly higher. As far as I know there is no such alternative.

Berry ended his time on stage by reading some poems he had written from a collection called "Sabbaths". The poems were inspired by man's constant search for rest or contentment. The driving force that if I just make this happen then everything will be okay. Whether the something is job related, family related, financially related, or in this case environmentally related. But of course once you make that one thing happen there is something else that you want to make happen next and the Sabbath is never reached.

Other speakers and performers included director of CCAN Mike Tidwell, president of the Hip Hop Caucus Rev. Lennox Yearwood, writer, educator, and environmental activist Bill McKibben, award winning author of "Ecology of a Cracker Childhood" Janisse Ray, 2007 DMV (DC, MD and VA, not department of motor vehicles) Rapper of the Year Laelo Hood, Dean of the Yale School of Forestry Gus Speth, Grammy nominated country music performer Kathy Mattea, and award-winning author and environmental activist Terry Tempest Williams (not knowing it was her I think I told her something to the effect of "wait in line with the rest of us" when she asked how to get inside before the event).

I spotted a bag of chicken livers while browsing through the meat from EcoFriendly Foods at the Dupont farmers market last Sunday. Shopping regularly at farmers markets I've become accustomed to buying whole chickens. It's rare to see a bag full of a single part like the family pack of drumsticks you'd find in the grocery store. On one hand I like to easily recognize that the meat I buy comes from animals so I can give the meat and the animals the respect they deserve. But of course on the other hand there is convenience. I immediately liked the bag of chicken livers since it was a convenience that I don't always see at the farmers market. I also like organ meat. I know many people are opposed to organ meat for various reasons and I can understand the ick factor. I genuinely like the taste of most organ meat I have tried. It has a little more gaminess and richness. I also like to eat the whole animal out of respect for the animal. When an animal gives its life to feed me I prefer to use every last bit of that animal. I often make broth from the leftover carcass of a roasted chicken, and I try to eat the more "undesirable" parts of animals when I find them from ethical, sustainable sources. This desire to eat the undesirables even drove me to eat head cheese when I saw it on the menu at Bar Pilar on Wednesday. It turned out to be quite delicious!

If you are a fellow offalphile I recommend this recipe for chicken liver mousse. It was mighty tasty served on a baguette with cornichons on the side.