By Joe Yonan Food and Dining Editor January 26

I had a cabbage issue as a kid. When my mother would cook it boil the life out of it, really the kitchen filled with that pungent smell, and it was one of the very few things I truly refused to eat. She would make stuffed cabbage, filling the little rolls with a meat-and-rice combination, nestling them in a nice tomato sauce, and I would beg her to make at least a few of them naked, without the cabbage wrapper or, better yet, to make stuffed peppers instead.

She relented.

These days, Im a brassica hound, loving all members of the cabbage family: kale, collards and Brussels sprouts, too. But theyre not the only greens in my rotation. Especially because its so easy to grow in my little front-yard garden, Ive become increasingly enamored of Swiss chard, which is related to beets, not cabbage, and has a milder taste than any of the brassicas, not to mention a more tender texture, akin to a cross between spinach and kale.

Chard, like all the greens, is a natural partner to grains. The great Paula Wolfert made the case for the versatility of the combination in her 1998 book Mediterranean Grains and Greens, and now Molly Watson has written a modern take on the idea, Greens + Grains (Chronicle, 2014). She combines beet greens with barley for borscht, she wraps feta with grilled collards and serves them with quinoa crackers, she stuffs cornmeal cakes with dandelion greens.

Given the time of year and my childhood memories, it was the stuffed chard in tomato sauce that I wanted to make first. Watson is riffing on the traditional Eastern European dish of stuffed cabbage called golubtsy (little doves), using chard instead and filling the leaves with a seasoned combination of barley, quinoa and finely chopped chard stems. When I made it, the grains swelled as the little doves simmered in the tomato sauce, and the kitchen filled with a wonderfully deep but not pungent aroma.

My mother lives more than a thousand miles away, and even though I just saw her a few weeks ago, the taste of these made me miss her, and her stuffed cabbage, terribly.

Continued here:
Weeknight Vegetarian: Greens and grains meet again, in tidy little packages

LEADING a healthier life is beyond consuming more fruits and vegetables. It is also further than getting a good heart rate or practically maintaining a well-balanced sugar intake. A healthy life significantly means being committed to eat naturally grown and untreated food.

Past the question of what you eat, one should also ask a rather equally relevant issue: Is the food you take safely nurtured for consumption?

This is where the concept of organic food production comes in. For us in the countryside, this is no longer an estranged concept because an organic revolution has already kicked off in Negros. And by far, the demand for organic produce has drastically became higher, with an increasing number of Negrenses becoming not only health.-conscious, but more so, aspiring to lead an organic way of life.

That is why, weekends in Negros have never been these healthier, thanks to the local front-liners in championing organic food production for staging organic markets during weekends.

The Organik na Negros! Organic Producers and Retailers Association (ONOPRA) has been at the forefront in shifting the lifestyle of every Negrense to patronizing locally grown organic products. To the group, securing a healthier lifestyle is a challenge everyone should embrace. In reality, to stay fit, live longer and practically remain youthful depends on what we eat. That is why organic markets are gaining more attendance lately.

Last weekend, ONOPRA and The District Northpoint-Ayala Mall kicked off the first of its three organic market weekend installments. It featured more than 50 exhibitors, showcasing organic fresh produce, vegetarian dishes, free range poultry products and local artisanal food. Handicrafts made by local artists, some clothing and textile displays and an array of organic farming suppliers lined up to showcase their contributions in making Negros the countrys next organic food bowl.

Apart from displays, short talks on organic lifestyles, slow food preparation and even silk manufacturing courtesy of OISCA are also valuable attractions.

What also caught my attention was the display of a community-based business organization that advocates in conserving and protecting blue crabs in the island. The Coastal Food and Deliveries Association of Hinigaran also advocates in empowering local fishermen to strategically market their seafood and direct it to consumers. During the weekend, a group of barangay leaders from Pontevedra town checked on the exhibit of Hinigaran fisher folks to learn from them.

With this, a strategic collaboration between two groups, without a doubt, will surely open more business opportunities and increase the demand in the future. This is a realization of the goals of ONOPRA and its president, Ramon Chin-Chin Uy Jr. in championing local organic production and collaborating with start-ups. We help each other. Our commitment is to open doors for local farmers and producers to grow their business, Uy stressed.

Jeannie Santos, marketing associate of The District Northpoint-Ayala Mall, said, Through this Organic Market, we give emphasis on health and wellness and make organic food and items directly available to the consumers. We also want to support the local farmers of Negros.

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Shifting to organic lifestyle