A Dangerous Place

A Dangerous Place

If you are interested in food and live near Northampton UK, do be careful of visiting the Daily Bread Co-operative, a huge warehouse on the outskirts of the city packed with shelves of dried fruits, grains, flours, oils, and plenty of fair trade items begging you to take them home with you. As a cook, I just cannot resist them, drooling like a mastiff over the nut shelves especially. The only real danger, of course, is to the wallet. But hey, why not empty your riches into such a worthwhile company? The whole organisation is there to build community – it turned a church food-sharing group into a strong 35 year old co-operative, a charity itself that donates to other community food groups in UK and abroad.  Everyone is on the same hourly rate. They prove that it is possible to run and grow an ethical, caring business even in times of austerity.

There may be firms like Daily Bread near you – or farmers’ markets or individuals who care about quality and community and manage to combine the two into a going concern. Go out of your way to find them, love them, cherish them, and support them. They “keep stable the fabric of the world” (Ecclesiasticus).

Nippy Chickpea Spread/dip

Daily Bread’s chickpeas (garbanzos) are some of the best. Here’s a spread based on a recipe by Joan Gingrich, a contributor to Doris Longacre’s More with Less Cookbook. I’ve tried it out on several groups of friends. Neighbour Jodie proclaims it “definitely bloggable”, so here it is:

In a frying pan, saute 2 chopped onions in 2 tablespoons butter or, oil, or coconut oil, until soft and not brown. Add ¼-1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper and salt and either 1 Tablespoon medium curry powder, or chilli seasoning to taste. Fry for a few seconds, then add the chickpea mixture and cook until dry, stirring to keep it from sticking. Remove from heat, add mayonnaise until it is spreadable. Adding more mayo morphs this into a dip. Play with this recipe – chopped jalepenos or pickles, sliced olives, etc. Do let us know what new taste combinations you’ve conjured up…we may all want to try them. This recipe makes about 2 cups.