“Terrior” seems an unfortunate choice for a word to describe
the environment in which a food is raised. Search engines will often suggest
that the word is misspelled, you should check “terror” or “terrier.” Seek
synonyms and you may be told the word is untranslatable.
I am learning about the subject from a book, American
Terrior by Rowan Jacobsen, issued in 2010 by Bloomsbury publishing house.
Mr. Jacobsen has done a book on a subject some term
untranslatable. In an informative and entertaining way, he touches on a handful
of food items drawn from a vast field of possible examples. All grown food
traces to “terrior” of some sort.
Once upon a time, for millennia, we knew where food came
from – our farm, field, garden, or one nearby. Today the source is often a
guessing game. A hamburger from Sam’s Club, according to a New York Times
analysis, contained “fresh fatty edges from Omaha, lean trimmings from old cows
in Texas, frozen trimmings from cattle in Uruguay, and heated, centrifuged, and
ammonia-treated carcass remnants from South Dakota…”
Jacobsen’s case studies are often fascinating. For instance in discussing maple syrup, we are told that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. And, the lowest grade syrup “with the color and flavor of motor oil” is what goes into many products that assure us they are made with “real Vermont maple syrup.”
From maple syrup it was a short hop to honey and discovery
that one pound of honey involves the nectar of four million flowers. Further,
there are an exceptional variety of honeys available on the U.S. market,
perhaps 300 different types.
It was astonishing to read
that in 1905 there were 14,000 varieties of apples while today there are less
than 100. The author takes us on a visit to old fashioned cider production.
Being a great fan of coffee, I dove into the section on that
subject and learned that the higher coffee grows in the mountains, the better
it is. But the tree can’t survive below 40-degrees, so growing areas for the
best are limited. Of course I immediately ordered Starbucks mountain grown
Guatemala coffee to check this out. I looked forward to the promised hints of marmalade
and chili flavors.
I would have been as happy with a broth made of old tires,
but my tastes are warped by years of supermarket blends, I suppose.
The book definitely has educational moments, such as in
advising on how to pick a good avocado. It will have black skin and yield to
gentle pressure. “Don’t buy a green avocado unless its ‘button’ – the tip of
the stem – is still attached.” If the button has fallen off leaving a black
indentation, the avocado is rotting.
Many other foods are covered including cheese, chocolate,
potatoes, salmon, and oysters, with visits to venues where the best may be
found. Jacobsen previously wrote a book on oysters, so you can count on
expertise there.
Taking us back to the real good old days, Jacobsen explores
“Forest Gastronomy,” which, though historically the art of foraging, is also a
trendy fad with some fancy restaurants (I recall some even have a forager on
staff). I found it interesting that in a day, two foragers gathered 25 pounds
of chanterelle mushrooms to sell at $40 per pound. Of course that was one day,
not every day.
Chanterelles are not so very hard to find, according to the
author. “Bright, showy mushrooms usually taste terrible or poison you, yet
somehow the chanterelle thrives despite making no effort to discourage pickers
or slugs.”
Well, frankly, I’m just as happy that mushrooms are easily
found in the supermarket. I’ve read of veteran foragers who have been fooled by
the wild ones and wound up hospitalized.
As for “terrior,” you can find an extensive discussion of the term at this link, but I would not be surprised if you emerge from it with
some perplexity remaining.
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