Articles by Roz Cummins

The ethical and environmental dilemma of coffee

On a baking hot summer night a few years ago, some friends and I took a walk through our Somerville neighborhood. The day had been so warm that heat was still rising from the pavement even at 10 pm. A man from Central America was out tending his garden under the pale light of the street lamp. As my friends asked him about his plants, I thought I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a coffee bush. I had never seen one in real life, only in photographs, but I knew right away what it was.

"Is that coffee?" I asked incredulously. "Yes," he said with a grin, and then showed me that he grows it in a huge tub. He takes the coffee bush indoors during the winter and devotes an entire room of his house to caring for his tropical plants. He controls the heat and humidity and runs a sun lamp all winter long. He said he picks and roasts all his own coffee, just as he had before coming to the U.S.

For most of us, however, coffee is a tropical product imported from far away -- and therein lies a dilemma. Since October was Fair Trade month, I decided to check out some of the local Fair Trade businesses to see what their take is on importing tropical products.

A question re: fire lines and wild fires

The recent wild fires in Calif. make me wonder why fire lines (areas of land cleared of vegetation) aren't actively maintained around areas where there is housing, and even in different areas of the forest. Does it require that too much land be cleared? The labor involved has got to be less than the labor needed to fight a fire, and perhaps it could prevent firefighters from losing their lives protecting property. Does anybody know why this isn't done?

Order your heritage turkeys now (if you eat turkey)

For those of you responsible for producing a Thanksgiving meal that features a turkey, it's time to start thinking about ordering one.

You can order a heritage turkey from a local farmer in certain states. To learn more about heritage turkeys, and for contact information for local farmers, go to Slow Food's "Ark of Taste."

A recipe for baked French toast

One of the events I most look forward to every autumn is my friend Ken's Post-Vermont Brunch. He does not use the phrase "Post-Vermont" dismissively, as in "Vermont is so last season! Sugar Maples have totally jumped the shark!" No. What he means is, he has now come back from his annual trip to Vermont, and returns triumphant, bearing gifts.

He brings home local, seasonal Vermont products: bread from a small bakery, fresh-picked apples, locally-smoked bacon, and maple syrup. He beams his brunch beacon into the midnight sky, and a fuzzy image of Mrs. Butterworth hovers against the racing moonlit clouds, alerting his friends to assemble. (Actually he sends us emails.) We converge upon Ken's home at the appointed date and time and the breakfast-type merriment begins.