David Gutierrez
d...@biomath.mda.uth.tmc.edu

==> Don't eat it right away after heating, though!!!
    That marshmallow stuff gets REAL HOT!

These items can be inconvenient to buy while on the road, but
are very convenient when you need to augment a batch of
pasta at your campsite.

Other versatile condiments include salsa, and a bottle of barbecue
sauce, either of which can be used to "modify" a can of beans.

Have fun on your trip.

In article <1993May1.053411.19...@galileo.cc.rochester.edu>, juns_...@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Smaller Government!) writes:

I would learn to cook a lot with onions, potatos, garlic,
etc. that hold up well to traveling (and are cheap).  Hope
that helps...

:        AND, when you buy at a farmer's market, you can be SURE that
:    you are not giving your money to some giant agribusiness that is in
:    farming SOLELY to make money.

Ha, ha, that is a good joke on people who buy at farmer's market and
roadside stands.  I used to sell at places like that when I was in college
for a few extra bucks.  A farmer taught me the tricks of the trade, as it
were.  In Syracuse, the wholesale market opened at 5:00am, and we'd go down
there and buy whatever we planned to sell for the day, some of it from
locals, some of it trucked in from "giant agribusinesses".  Then we'd go
find ourselves a small roadside stand out in the boonies to sell our wares.
My farmer friend looked like a real hayseed, with his bib overalls and a
straw hat.  He'd tell the ladies looking at his big, juicy mellons that
he'd picked 'em off the vine fresh that morning, and spin tall tales about
his "patented sweetness meter".  They were the same mellons he'd bought
earlier, trucked in from California...  He said he made more money doing
this, than farming his land.  

Here in Dallas, there is a large, centralized farmers' market.
When someone sells there, they are required to post a sign that
indicates whether they are acting as:

        1- a farmer.  No refrigerated produce, all personally grown.
        2- a farm merchant.  Still no refrigerated produce, but may buy from
                   farmers.
        3- a dealer.  Anything.

Buying from a dealer, who usually buy from a wholesaler and then mark
up the prices, is *still* better than buying in the store.  The prices
are better and the quality is better.  Some of them have sources that
the supermarket doesn't have, such as for melons, or mangoes.

But the farmers (and less so, the farm merchants) offer produce that
is unseen in the stores.  When Joe Schmoe "farmer" has a truck full of
corn, you can bet that it's fresh, as there are six other trucks of
corn out there as well, with the same farmers every week.  Even with
30 different farmers in the summer, you get to know them all.  The
couple that sells apple cider for 8 or 10 weeks in the fall.  The
family that sells sweet potatoes all year, and greens in the spring
and fall.  The people that sell those tomatoes in July and August.
They do have a reputation, and most of them are well deserved.

Heck, I  know where the produce at my farmers' market comes from.  I know
several of the growers I deal with, I and my early-music-student friends
exchange gossip about the best sources, I know at least two people on the
market's board.  I know where the seeds for the hot peppers came from and
when there won't be basil anymore.  I know where these farmers' _farms_
are, in case i ever need to drop by for some Silver Queen or raspberries in
the middle of the week.  And I've only been marketing for one season!

If food is REALLY important to you, shut up and stop bitching and DO
something about it.  Move somewhere with real locally-grown food.  Don't
say "But my job, my home...," instead, go out and FIND another job, build a
home among real people and things that are important to you, in a place
where you can get real food.  And don't make excuses about how in places
like Wisconsin you "can't" eat by the garden calendar, LEARN something
about canning and root-cellaring and salting meats and what you can do with
potatoes and onions and dried beans in the wintertime.  

If you prefer your MTV to Silver Queen and raspberries still warm from the
sun and bushel baskets of peaches and freshly-grown autumn tomatoes, then
SHUT UP already!  

Some people.