When our copy of Grub arrived in the post, I thought Denise had ordered another cookbook. The subtitle intrigued me: “ideas for an urban organic kitchen.” So I picked up the book and was surprised to see that the first 125 pages were a kind of organic consumers manifesto. So I started reading.

I’m a true believer when it comes to wanting to do the right thing - you know buying organic products, supporting local economies by buying local, limiting waste, avoiding the use of harmful chemicals, etc. The only problem I have is fitting my beliefs with actual practice. What I find is that the casual consumer (I hate being called a consumer) doesn’t have time to do the necessary research to make sustainable living a real part of their daily life.

To really change our society and put in place the support structures for organic and sustainable living (tools like the USDA Organic label) a few of us are just going to have to buckle down and hit the books, then take what we learn to the supermarket and put some pressure on the people in our communities to do the right thing too - essentially start a revolution. And the revolution begins at home and in our own kitchens.

As a true believer, I found myself a little impatient with Part One of Grub - the part that tells the reader why organic is a better way of life. You see, I already made that decision a long time ago. I understand that spraying pesticides on fruits and vegetables has a detrimental effect on our eco-system. So it’s parts two and three of Grub - the sections that tell me how to live a greener, more sustainable lifestyle that I found the most interesting and the most helpful.

The final part of the book - the one with the menus - I’ll hand over to Denise since she is the one in the household with the passion for cooking food. Sure, I help out in the kitchen, but my passion is for brewing beer, so the whole time I was reading parts two and three of Grub I was trying to figure out how to translate from the kitchen to the brewery. This little process of translation inspired me to do some sleuthing and I now have a list of ideas for an urban organic brewer, but that’s a different and future article.