Weekend Update

Ethanol is such a bad idea, even the mainstream media is beginning to get a clue.

Two new studies find that when the total process of growing and producing biolfuels is taken into account, they cause more greenhouse gas emissions than the conventional gasoline they are meant to replace.

The studies, published in the journal Science, examine in detail the effects of converting large amounts of land to biofuel devlopment around the globe. The destruction of natural ecosystems such as rain forest or grasslands not only releases greenhouse gasses but eliminates the flora that would normally soak up carbon emissions.

Biofuel production results in new lands being cleared, either for food or fuel.

“When you take this into account, most of the biofuel that people are using or planning to use would probably increase greenhouse gasses substantially,” said Timothy Searchinger, lead author of one of the studies and a researcher in environment and economics at Princeton University. “Previously there’s been an accounting error: land use change has been left out of prior analysis.”

Meanwhile, there's that pesky "dead zone" that raises its head in the Gulf of Mexico each summer after Midwestern farmers fertilize their cornfields, now more than ever destined for ethanol production.

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The man largely responsible for industrial agriculture in the U.S., former Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz, died this week. Butz was instrumental in reversing the longstanding policy of paying farmers not to overproduce. "Plant fence post to fence post" was Butz's creed. He engineered new federal incentives to create giant surpluses, which fit nicely into the industrial food scheme that has left Americans fat and sick on cheap food.

It's been 45 years since Butz implimented his scheme for feeding the world on cheap corn. It may take another generation or two to undue the health and environmental disaster he created. Here's a fine retrospective on the Butz legacy from Grist's Tom Philpott.

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While the U.S. is awash in corn, Haitians are making mud pies to stave off hunger.

We've written before about how the rush to biofuels has led to spikes in food prices worldwide. Corn, wheat, soybeans--everything is more expensive. In the Caribbean, prices in some places are up 40 percent. In Haiti, the poorest of the poor cannot even afford a plate of rice. They are resorting to making cookies and pies out of dirt and shortening.

Global price hikes, together with floods and crop damage from the 2007 hurricane season, prompted the U.N. Food and Agriculture Agency to declare states of emergency in Haiti and several other Caribbean countries.

At one slum market, two cups of rice now sell for 60 cents, up 10 cents from December and 50 percent from a year ago, the Associated Press reported. Beans, condensed milk and fruit have gone up at a similar rate, and even the price of the edible clay has risen over the past year by almost $1.50. Dirt to make 100 cookies now costs $5, the cookie makers say.

Still, at about 5 cents apiece, the cookies are a bargain compared to food staples. About 80 percent of people in Haiti live on less than $2 a day.

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The Vietnamese, meanwhile, are experiencing a diet change of a different kind. Outbreaks of avian flu have resulted in the destruction of much of the country's poultry. Diners have taken to eating more snakes and cats. That, in turn, has resulted in an explosion in the Vietnamese rat population. Rat has suddenly become a meal of choice.

Rat has always been considered a tasty dish in the countryside. But now it's catching on in urban areas as well. Handwritten signs in some of the backstreets of Hanoi offer cash in return for freshly caught rat, reports the Wall Street Journal.

"Both Vietnamese and foreign tourists are eating more rat meat these days," says Pham Huu Thanh, proprietor of the Luong Son Quan restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, the former southern capital Saigon. Mr. Thanh serves rat grilled with lemon grass or roasted in garlic for around 60,000 Vietnamese dong, or $4, a serving.

Vendors sell rat meat for about $1.50 a pound. It's a relative deal. Pork costs roughly a third more, and chicken twice as much.

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While the rats are thriving, the salmon are crashing in California.

The number of endangered coho salmon returning to spawn in California's Marin County has plummeted and scientists aren't sure why. The watershed around Marin is home to one of the state's largest remaining populations of wild coho salmon. Coho have become extinct in 90 percent of California streams that once supported the species.

Possible causes include shifts in ocean conditions brought about by climate change. Meanwhile, the coho in Oregon have been re-listed as an endangered species. The National Aeronautics and Space Administratin Fisheries Service gave the coho the endangered designation as the result of a court finding that failure to protect the fish violated the Endangered Species Act.

Oregon's wild coho have been the subject of a long and tangled court battle pitting environmental and economic interests.

And in case you were wondering, the Monterey Bay Aquarium "Seafoood Watch" program lists wild-caught, West Coast salmon as a "good" alternative to farmed salmon, "but there are concerns about the long-term health of their populations."

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Finally, we are all about urban food gardening here at The Slow Cook. So we took special interest in an architectural design prize awarded to a couple who proposed filling the courtyard at the P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City, Queens, with cabbages and other vegetables for a summer.

“It’s just so unlike anything that’s been done before,” said Barry Bergdoll, the chief curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art, which jointly sponsors the annual Young Architects Program with P.S. 1. “It’s the first one that’s not canopies or party spaces. In some ways it’s almost in counterpoint to the program.”

And when the project comes down, you can make ratatouille.

Bon appetit....

Dark Days: Hungarian Sausage with Braised Red Cabbage

It's been nearly a year since we spent a weekend at our farmer friend Brett's place killing pigs and making sausages. When I went digging for something to make for this week's Dark Days meal, I found two packages of Hungarian sausages at the bottom of the freezer, transporting me back to our pork "matanza."

I like the idea of suspending grocery purchases and living off what's in the pantry--or what's in the freezer, as the case may be. Riana, at the Garlic Breath blog, has been doing just that with great success for the last several weeks. In fact, Riana is on day 40 with no end in sight. At this point, she says, "the freezer is getting bearable but not bare. At least I can see the sides and figure out what is in there."

I think we Americans have a kind of unnatural fetish when it comes to needing something different, fabulous, thrilling to eat every night. Meanwhile, food piles up uneaten. Will we ever consume those Vietnamese rice noodles in the back pantry? Or that frozen pork tenderloin I don't even remember where it came from? How about that 29-ounce can of Manning's hominy taking up space next to the Middle Eastern fava beans?

In fact, we've been pretty good the last couple of months about not blowing our budget at the grocery store. Doesn't that make the occasional "special" meal all the more "special?"

I thawed the Hungarian sausages and browned them in the cast iron skillet. There was a red cabbage from the farmers market sitting in the cold room, waiting for just such an occasion. And this week's CSA box arrived heavy with Beauregard sweet potatoes and turnips. Since the produce box also comes from Brett's farm, it created a nice bit of circularity with the year-old sausages.

As the cabbage braised, I dropped the browned sausages into the pot to cook through. I steamed the sweet potatoes in a saucepan, then seasoned them very simply with salt, allspice, nutmeg, cloves and mashed them with a pat of butter and a bit of cream.

Nothing fancy. Just good food. Crack open your best bottle of mustard and pour a nice glass of wine. And look forward to lots of leftovers.

Kids Make Perfect Deviled Eggs

Did you know there's a technique for making perfect hard-boiled eggs?

Most people probably figure this is a cinch. Just cover the eggs with water and boil. Or, boil water and drop in the eggs.

For years I've been following my wife's method: cover eggs with cold water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat and let the eggs sit.

I wanted to teach this to the kids in my "food appreciation" classes. I figured six eggs in each class would be enough to make a deviled egg for everyone. So how much water to put in the pot and how long to sit?

My wife wasn't sure, so we went to the source: Julia Child's The Way to Cook. There, Child details an elaborate method for hard-boiling eggs that involves heating the eggs, then transferring them to an ice bath, then back into boiling water, then back into the ice bath. She also gives very specific amounts of water to use depending on the number of eggs. The length of time the eggs sit in the hot water after coming to a boil is always the same: 17 minutes.

That's much longer than what my wife told me. No wonder my yolks were always a bit soft.

Eggs are sold unfertilized and consist of three basic components: the yolk, or yellow part; the albumen, or white part, and the chalazae, which are cloudy strands like umbilical chords connecting the yolk to the white.

I had the kids separate eggs by hand just so they could feel the whites slither through their fingers and handle the yellow globes of yolk.

To demonstrate to the kids what happens when an egg cooks, I cracked one open into a skillet and fried it from the top with my kitchen torch. The kids marveled at how the proteins in the albumen seized up and turned from clear to white. In just a couple of minutes, the egg was cooked and they greedily ate it.

Meanwhile, I had a small pot of water with just a teaspoon of vinegar coming to a boil. I brought that to our demonstration table and cracked an egg into the water. The kids thought that was pretty gross. But soon enough, a poached egg emerged and they couldn't wait to dig into that as well.

All this time I'd had six eggs in 2 1/2 quarts of water (use a tall, rather than wide, pot--uncovered--for this) coming to a boil on the stove. As soon as it starts to boil, remove the pot, cover it and let the eggs sit for 17 minutes exactly. At the end of 17 minutes, transfer the eggs to a large bowl of iced water and put the pot back on the heat to return to a boil. Leave the eggs in the iced water for precisely 2 minutes. Remove them, and when the water on the stove comes back to a boil, plunge the eggs into the pot. Wait until the water again comes to a boil, count 10 seconds, then immediately remove the eggs, placing them back in the ice bath. They are now done.

Whew.

Why all this back and forth? Chilling the eggs after cooking helps separate the albumen from the inside of the egg shell. Fresh eggs especially have a tendency to stick to the inside of the shell, which makes them difficult to peel. We've all experienced the hard-boiled egg that ended up a cratered mess because the shell just didn't want to come off.

If your yolks come out with a greenish-grey lining after you hard-boil them, you've cooked them too long. Egg whites contain a certain amount of sulfur that slowly decomposes into hydrogen sulfide (source of the famous rotten egg smell). Heating the egg greatly accelerates the decomposition process and the hydrogen sulfide migrates toward the yolk, where it combines with the iron in the yolk to make that dark ring. When eggs are cooked just long enough, the yolk comes out solid with no dark ring.

And why do your eggs crack when you boil them? First, eggs contain a small pocket of air that expands during cooking and can crack the egg. To let the air out, use a small trussing skewer or needle to make a hole at the blunt end of the egg. Plunge the skewer into the egg 1/4-inch. Secondly, cold eggs will crack if placed in hot water. Cover the eggs with cold water and bring them both up to heat: The chances of cracking are much less.

If somehow you should mix your hard-boiled eggs with your fresh eggs, how do you tell them apart? Try spinning them on your countertop. Fresh eggs will not spin. Hard-boiled eggs spin like a top.

Our hard-boiled eggs came out perfectly. The yolks were solid with no tell-tale ring. We sliced them in half lengthwise, then mashed the yolks with a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, about 1/4 cup mayonnaise and a generous pinch of salt. Then the kids took turns filling the eggs. Garnish with a sprinkle of paprika or chopped chives.

"Delicious!" the kids declared. And you know, they were.

Note: Julia Child says that to hard-boil 1 to 4 eggs, use 2 quarts of water; for 12 eggs, 3 1/2 quarts of water; for 24 eggs, 6 quarts of water. Do not attempt to cook more than 24 eggs at a time.

Quinoa Pilaf with Chickpeas and Herbs

Until a few years ago, hardly anyone outside South America had heard of quinoa (pronounced keen-wa). For centuries, this tiny grain has been a staple of people living in the high altitudes of the Andes. Now you can buy it in bulk at Whole Foods for a pittance. Most health food stores carry it as well, either in bulk or boxed.

Quinoa as a food grain has a number of advantages. It is very high in protein, including several amino acids--lysine, methionine and cystine--that are not present in other grains or in soybeans and it contains no gluten. Quinoa also is extremely easy to cook and mixes with a vast range of other ingredients. Uncooked, the tiny, pellet-like grains look like canary food. Cooked, quinoa sometimes is mistaken for couscous, except that the grains are larger with a glassy center. The taste is similar, the quinoa being lighter with a pleasant chewiness.

Quinoa is one of my favorite grains for making pilaf. Unlike many other whole grains, it cooks quickly and isn't terribly starchy, so the finished pilaf remains light and fluffy. I don't go about these pilafs with a particular recipe in mind. Think of the grain more as a component, to be mixed and matched with other ingredients you might have on hand and with an eye toward seasonality.

My most recent effort was a buffet dinner with a pilaf combining quinoa with chickpeas, sundried tomatoes, red onion, radicchio and finely chopped herbs--mint, cilantro and dill. I just happened to have a large bunch of cilantro and a bunch of dill in the fridge, along with half a radicchio. So they shouldn't go to waste, I added them to this pilaf, which illustrates perfectly how I like to approach these kinds of dishes. You could just as easily use parsley or green onion or any number of other things you already have on hand.

Although quinoa may be unfamliar, it could not be simpler to cook. Some authorities advise soaking the grains in water for about five minutes first because quinoa sometimes comes with a natural coating of something called saponin, which can make the finished quinoa a little bitter.

Cook one cup quinoa in two cups water. Bring to a boil in a saucepan, then reduce heat to low, cover and continue cooking until the quinoa has absorbed all the water and is tender and fluffy, about 15 minutes. To cool the quinoa, I spread it out on a baking sheet. Then I procede to mix it with the other ingrediets in a large bowl. Don't worry too much about exact quantities. The finished pilaf will be your own creation and should suit your own tastes.

Mix in some chickpeas (up to a full 14-ounce can, drained). Chop a few sundried tomatoes into small pieces. I prefer the kind marinated in oil. Saute about one-quarter red onion, cut into small dice, until just tender. Add these as well. If you have some radicchio, chop that into small pieces and throw that into the bowl. Endive would also work, or if you like the idea of a green with sharp flavor, you could add watercress leaves or arugula torn into pieces or green onion. Now mix in some of your favorite herbs, chopped fine--mint, cilantro. dill, parsley--until you have a nice balance of grain and green. Taste now and again as you add ingredients. Trust your own instincts about what and how much to add.

Finish the pilaf by seasoning with extra-virgin olive oil (a couple tablespoons should do, not too much), salt and the juice from half a lemon. Depending on what you are serving with the pilaf, you could also add dried fruits, such as raisins or chopped dried apricots.

Serve this pilaf at room temperature. It can be made a day ahead and would be the perfect thing next to a roasted chicken or braised lamb.

Writing About Rhubarb for Martha

I notice that new leaves are beginning to unfurl on the rhubarb plants in our garden. Truly, this is an amazing plant that starts pushing up new life in the middle of winter.

Coincidentally, the March issue of Martha Stewart Living is out with an article about rhubarb written by yours truly. Martha has kept me busy the last few months. March is the garden issue and a good time to be thinking about rhubarb. Again, I just wrote the text. I had nothing to do with the recipes. But this time I was writing not just about food, but about the history of rhubarb and how to grow it.

My first experience with rhubarb was watching my dad plant it in the back yard. He dug lots of manure into the soil. I happened to walk up behind him while he was spreading cow manure and got stuck with the tine of his pitchfork right between the eyes. I suppose I was lucky to come away with both eyes intact. I remember quite a bit of excitement about getting me to a doctor for a tetanus shot.

We don't think too much about rhubarb today, but for centuries it was among the most valued of all plants. The roots of rhubarb have a purgative effect that fit perfectly into the ancient medicinal scheme of balancing the bodies "humours." It used to be that a cathartic was good for just about anything that ailed you. For centuries, the dried root of rhubarb plants were exported from China. The Russians valued this trade so much that they monopolized it under the royal crown.

Naturally, certain Europeans had an intense interest in getting their hands on some living rhubarb and growing it themselves. China would have none of that, so although seeds sometimes made their way west, the identity of the rhubarb so valued in medicine remained a mystery. Thankfully for us, that did not stop rhubarb from being planted, leading to the discovery that the stalks--with lots of sugar--could be turned into a fine dessert. As refined sugar became more readily available, rhubarb as something to be eaten caught fire.

While the stalks are merely sour, rhubarb leaves contain enough oxalic acid to make them toxic. The same effect in a more pleasant form can be found in a rhubarb cousin, the sorrel or "dock." If you do decide to grow rhubarb, keep it out of the reach of children and grazing animals. Compost the leaves.

In our family, spring meant tons of something we called "rhubarb sauce." This was actually a stew made from the stalks with lots of sugar. There would be a large pot bubbling on the stove, then what seemed an interminable amount of "sauce" that we ate for breakfast, for lunch, on ice cream. Pitchers of it filled the refrigerator.

The spread in Martha Stewart Living has some lovely recipes for rhubarb tarts, poached rhubarb, a rhubarb tea cake. If I had any quibbles with the article, it might be the lack of a savory rhubarb treatment. Apparently the Iranians and the Afghanis use rhubarb in stews, and chefs in this country are pairing it with wild game.

This year we'll be making rhubarb pies from our own rhubarb. Now that's something I can get excited about.

How to Peel a Pearl

Pearl onions are one of those items that never found their way into my grocery cart. Too much work. Who wants to spend all that time peeling the skin off that itty, bitty thing?

No, there just didn't seem to be much of a payoff with pearl onions. But I was wrong. Peeling them is not very hard it all. Oh, there's some work involved, alright. But it's not hard. And it's worth it for the sweet flavor these onions deliver.

The trick is to blanch the onions to loosen the skins. Bring a pot of water to a boil, drop in the onions and let them cook for one minute. Then drain the pot or remove the onions with a slotted spoon and immerse them in cold water. To peel, trim the root end from the onion. I find a small serrated knife is best for this as the onions are a bit slippery. With the root end removed, you can squeeze the stem end between your fingers. The onion will slip away from the skin and pop free.

I use the same procedure for skinning other small onions such as cipollini. Once the skin is removed, the onions can go back in the pot to cook through. Cipollinis are particularly good caramelized in a sweet-and-sour manner--dressed with vinegar and sugar. Brown them agressively for a dramatic side dish.

Last night we spent the evening with our friend Shelley and John watching the Super Bowl. John had made a huge pot of beef stew with pearl onions. Coincidentally, I'd made a hearty dish of lentils with pearl onions. It had been too long since the last time we'd had lentils, and the pearl onions add just the right amount of sweetness to the meaty lentil flavor.

For a big pot of lentils, first blanch and skin 20 ounces pearl onions. In a big, heavy pot, heat three tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. Add the onions plus 3 large carrots peeled and sliced on the diagonal; 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced; 1 teaspoon salt; 4 fresh thyme sprigs; 1 bay leaf. Cook over moderate heat until vegetables begin to soften, then add 2 cups French green (or Puy) lentils, rinsed, and 5 cups water. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and cook until the lentils are tender.

The cooking time for the lentils will vary depending on freshness. Expect somewhere between 12 and 20 minutes. Test them occasionally. They should be just tender, not mushy. To serve, remove the thyme sprigs and the bay leaf. Adjust the salt as needed and season with freshly ground black pepper.

This is a great dish to serve next to a braised lamb shank. But really, lentils have a meatiness all their own. Just spoon some into a bowl and garnish with some chopped fresh parsley and maybe a drizzle of olive oil.

Weekend Update

The year has only just begun, but already we have a 2008 winner in the category of sheer evil and mendacity. That would be the U.S. beef industry for thinking it's okay to drag beef cattle around with fork lifts in order to get them to stand and be slaughtered.

Graphic and stunning footage of workers using a fork lift and other means to move downed cattle was obtained by a Humane Society investigator working undercover at a meat packing plant in Chino, CA. The film shows workers rolling cows with a fork lift, dragging them through mud and feces with chains, jabbing them with sticks and cattle prods and even spraying high-pressure water into the animals' nostrils.

All are violations of state and federal laws banning animal cruelty and the introduction of "downer" cows into the food chain. As The Washington Post pointed out, there are good reasons for keeping incapacitated animals out of the packing process: They may harbor bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. It is caused by a virus-like infectious particle that can result in a fatal brain disease in people. In addition, such animals have, in many cases, been wallowing in feces, posing added risks of E. coli and salmonella contamination.

The kicker to the story? The meat in question was destined for Westland Meat Co., a major supplier to the nation's school lunch programs.

Temple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University and an international authority on slaughter practices, called the Humane Society footage "one of the worst animal-abuse videos I have ever viewed."

When contacted by The Post, the owner of Westland said the violations filmed by the Humane Society were "impossible," insisting that standards for humane treatment were in place. But U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer issued a statement condemning the violations and suspended Westland Meat from participating in government programs pending an investigation.

Millions of pounds of tainted beef recalled. Workers using fork lifts and torture to move downed cattle. Certainly sounds like this is not just a case of a few bad apples, but a culture of ambivalence toward the nation's meat supply.

"These were not rogue employees secretly doing these things," said the Humane Society investigator. "This is the pen manager and his assistant doing this right in the open...Every day, I would see downed cattle too sick or injured to stand or walk arriving at the slaughterhouse," he said. "Workers would do anything to get the cows to stand on their feet."

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But we care about what our kids eat in school, right?

A new study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest reveals that the food industry continues to market to kids inside the schools right under the noses of our federal government.

The CSPI looked at schools in Montgomery County, MD, just outside the District of Columbia, and found that while childhood obesity remains a serious problem, the marketing of junk foods and sodas is rampant in the county's schools.

Fully 83 percent of schools had posters and/or signs with food and beverage marketing. And while a sizable portion--42 percent--of the ads were for healthy foods and nutrition education, other signage promoted restaurants, prepared foods and soft drinks.

High schools had an average of 21 vending machines. And while the most common beverage sold was water, many of the machines were stocked with sodas, juice drinks and iced tea. The most common foods in snack vending machines were candies, cookies, crackers and chips. Four out of five vending machines sported marketing signage.

Sometimes the junk food was pushed more aggressively. The CSPI found that it was common--even in middle and elementary schools--to have fundraisers using fast food, baked goods and candy. In fact, the most common form of fundraising these days involves a trip to a fast-food joint.

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Exactly what is the Center for Consumer Freedom, anyway?

A group that sounds like it's standing up for the little guy came out swinging against the New York Times' recent revelations about the high mercury content in sushi tuna. The CCF disputes the experts about the level of danger posed by mercury and insists the tuna is perfectly safe.

Well, turns out the Center for Consumer Freedom--while denying is is working for the tuna industry but apparently the beneficiary of funding from seafood interests--is actually a public relations firm that previously carried water for the cigarette industry.

According to food politics maven Marion Nestle, the CCF falls under the category of "Astroturf" shill. "Two things," says Nestle, "are especially troubling about its mode of operation: its secrecy and its tactics."

Those would include personal attacks, bullying and stalking perpetrated against Nestle and others, she maintains.

Nestle lays out the facts about the Center for Consumer Freedom in an interview with Kat at the Eating Liberally blog. Good stuff.

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While phony PR firms are standing behind tuna tainted with mercury, European retailers, in response to the gross overfishing of bluefin tuna, have declared a boycott against bluefin tuna sales.

France's Auchan group, with a nearly 14 per cent share of the retail fish trade, declared its boycott on 28 December, noting that scientists had advised a 15,000 ton ceiling on annual catches, while the international tuna management body was allowing a 2008 quota of 29,500 tonnes.

Joining the boycott were Carrefour in Italy, Coop in both Italy and Switzerland, and ICA in Norway. At a seafood summit in Barcelona this week, the World Wildlife Fund applauded the boycott and urged more retailers to sign up.

“The seafood industry is waking up to its responsibilities, recognising that there is not an endless supply of fish like bluefin tuna," said Sergi Tudela, head of fisheries at WWF Mediterranean. "By taking action now, retailers can help give this amazing species a fighting chance of survival, for the benefit of both business and the marine ecosystem.”

We are still holding our breath, waiting for U.S. retailers and chefs to take similiarly bold action to save the bluefin. Meanwhile, leadership on the seafood sustainability front is coming from a source we would not have expected: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart may be sucking the standard of living out of the U.S. and sending it to China, but some are hailing the retail giant for steps it is taking to make sure the seafood it sells is not draining the life out of the world's oceans. At least one seasoned observer is even using the "h" word, calling Wal-Mart a hero for not just switching suppliers, but working to improve fisheries to make them sustainable.

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Finally, the food on the school lunch menu may be nasty, but hope springs eternal.

Truman, MN, is just a speck on the map, population 1,259. But life there looked to turn from just routine to somewhat bleak when the only local grocery store shut its doors.

That's when an unlikely hero appeared on the scene. Nick Graham was just 17, still enrolled at Truman High School. But he had visions for the grocery store. Over a three month period, Nick worked on a business plan, secured a loan from the local economic development corporation and became the new owner of Truman's only grocery before he even graduated.

Mornings that he would otherwise be reporting to class found him instead greeting customers, ringing up sales and loading bags into customers' cars.

"I’ve saved every dime I’ve ever made,” Graham says, when asked how a 17-year-old kid who is still in high school could pull together enough money to buy a business. “And there’s no reason a town of 1,400 people can’t have a grocery store.”

Congratulations, Nick. And bon appetit....