Eating Well: New York - #106

BURT WOLF: New York City, the Big Apple, with a big reputation for great food. We'll talk with Alan King about what makes New York a perfect town for food lovers. We'll discover how the bagel came to be. We'll find out why New York is famous for its steaks and cook up some pasta in one of the city's best Italian restaurants. We'll have lunch with Anne Jackson and dinner with Beverly Sills. Join me Burt Wolf, Eating Well in New York City.

New York, New York! This city was first settled by the Dutch in 1624 when Peter Minuit purchased the thirteen-mile strip of land from the Native American Indians for a bargain price of twenty-four dollars worth of jewelry. This harbor town became the gateway to America and quickly emerged into a throbbing metropolis of finance, commerce and politics. At one time it was the capital of the nation. A city of inconceivable contrasts and colossal architecture, New York owes its unique identity to the many different ethnic groups that have embraced this city of opportunity. They brought with them the taste of their heritage which blended perfectly into the ingredients of this melting pot of ideas and beliefs. This contrast of cultures is clearly seen in the diversity of the cuisine.

Today New York has over twenty five thousand restaurants. And among them you will find almost every cuisine in the world. This town has the widest selection of ethnic foods in any city on the planet. Why? Well, the answer actually goes all the way back to the time when New York was an English colony. The English had a very laid-back policy about immigration and just about anyone who wanted to settle down in an English colony in the New World was more than welcome to do so. As a result, New York became home to an enormous collection of people from different countries with different races and different religions. The English mixed with the Dutch and the French and the Spanish and the Germans. And then the Swedes arrived and the Irish came in and the Africans and the Italians. And that was just the beginning. By the 1600's New York was home to an incredible collection of cultures and cooks. And every few years a new group arrived. And that's still going on and I love it.

In New York you can eat in every kind of restaurant in the world and you can get to all of them by taxi. (WHISTLES)

There are, however certain, foods and certain eateries that are distinctly New York. New York is undoubtedly the world epicenter for delicatessen. On almost every street corner you can find a neighborhood deli. There's the Carnegie, probably the most famous delicatessen in the world. Their specialty is pastrami. Pastrami's really just a form of pickled beef; they use it to make a sandwich that is so thick that no human mouth could possibly open wide enough to take a full bite. New York is also world famous for its steaks. There's actually a cut of steak named after the city. A New York Strip. The town also has a collection of restaurants that specialize in the perfect preparation of aged beef. They're called steak joints. They buy the best meat available and place it in their aging rooms. Carefully controlled temperature and humidity results in a steak with just the right texture and taste; they're trimmed, grilled and unbeatable. But for me there is nothing as New York as a bagel. True, you can get a bagel in just about every town in the United States these days, but the original home of the bagel in America was New York. And its preparation is quite amazing. The dough is made from high gluten flour, yeast, malt and salt. It's formed into circles, put into a proofer, which is really a steam box, and given some time to rise. Then they go into a refrigerator device called a retarder; the cold air helps the bagel hold its shape. Next the bagel is boiled in a tub of hot water, sprayed with cold water and finally baked in a 500 degree Fahrenheit oven. Not the easiest process. The New York bagel is kind of an adult pacifier. A morning teething ring to help you start your day. But the original bagel was produced about three hundred years ago in Austria. The Austrian town of Vienna had been under siege by the Turks. When the Austrians broke that siege, they celebrated by producing a bread in the shape of the King's stirrup -- that piece of metal that he put his foot into when he rode into battle. The old German word for stirrup was birgel; today it's bagel.

The longer I live and work in New York City the more I realize that a sense of humor is absolutely essential to survival. This town is a joke. And I don't mean that in a negative way, I mean that every day there are twenty-four hours of absolute madness, and that goes on seven days a week. And if you can't laugh about what's going on, you're going to go absolutely crazy. People who grew up in New York City have a special ability to laugh at what's going on. A perfect example is the humorist Alan King.

ALAN KING: See New York is not a ... it's not a city, it's a country, it's ... it's a ... it's ... it's all these cultures clashing. It's ... and it's a survival city, no matter how bad it gets, the city survives. And it's ... it's like the song says, if you can make it here you can make it anywhere, you know. There's an excitement, everywhere else I know is a culture shock.

BURT WOLF: Where did you grow up?

ALAN KING: In the lower East Side and then in Brooklyn. You see, I was born on December 25th, Christmas day, not in a manger, but it was close. You know we didn't have goats running around, but my mother had a live carp in the bathroom, you know. My mother was the worst cook I ever knew. Only in retrospect. I didn't know it at the time you know, it was hearty and we all grew up filled with starch and grease and... you know I grew up in a kosher home, so you know everything was salted ...

BURT WOLF: Right.

ALAN KING: You know until it was like ... (BANGING ON A POT) My mother didn't believe that the butcher had killed the cow, so she in order to make sure she had to cook it for two days. You know there was no such thing as rare or medium ... well done was a treat. We used to scrape the top of the steak like you did with toast you know. But it's true. I'd rather not eat than eat bad food. I don't eat, you know to ... to sustain myself, it's an exotic pleasure to me, it always has been and since I was a child.

BURT WOLF: And it's a pleasure that we'll undoubtedly continue right here in the Russian Tea Room with Kabobs A La King. 

Marinade is made from vegetable oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic, chopped onions and a little pepper. Cubes of boneless leg of lamb sit in that mixture in the refrigerator for three days. 

ALAN KING: That marinade ... my shoes, if you put it in there for three days you could cook it. That marinates anything ...

BURT WOLF: A cube of lamb goes onto the skewer, then a slice of onion, green pepper and a cherry tomato. When the skewers are filled they go onto a heat-proof plate and under the broiler for about twelve minutes. The meat should be about four inches away from the heat source. Give 'em a few turns during the cooking time. 

From a nutritional point of view, you're in pretty good shape with this recipe; you're starting with very lean meat and you're cooking it in a way where the natural fat inside the meat drips away. So you lower the fat content and you lower the calories. You're serving it with fresh vegetables and rice, and that grain is very good for you. When it's cooked through, slide the food off the skewer around a mound of rice pilaf. Kabobs are one of the specialties of the Russian Tea Room, and the Russian Tea Room is one of the landmark restaurants of New York.

It began life in 1926, members of the Russian Imperial Ballet fled to America after the Russian Revolution and needed a place where the members of the troupe could socialize together and meet with other Russian immigrees. Today the interior of the restaurant is like a Christmas tree decorated in green, red and gold, with a collection of fascinating Russian art and objects. The Russian Tea Room is still a favorite meeting place for people of the theater. 

This part of New York City is called Little Italy, the restaurants, the bakeries, the cafes, the markets, as Italian as any part of the homeland. 

Little Italy is the result of an enormous wave of Italian immigrants that arrived in the United States between 1880 and 1914. Almost four million people looking for a better life in the New World.

This neighborhood acted as a buffer zone between the simple villages that they left behind and the madness of living in New York City. It gave them a sense of family, even if the family was just another guy from their old home town in Italy. And most important was their love of food. Every day they ate the foods of the home country and reconfirmed their love of being Italian. And lucky for this country that they did that too, because the Italians brought us great cheeses, great ice cream, great baking and spaghetti. I mean, where would this country be without spaghetti? They also brought their love of vegetable cookery. And that's very important from the point of view of food and good health. Just when they were settling down to doing some of their best cooking, scientists were discovering vitamins. And they use the great Italian recipes for vegetables to teach the rest of us about vegetables and vitamins. 

So how about an Italian dish that brings together some pasta and a vitamin-packed vegetable in one of the city's finest restaurants?

Il Nido is the name of one of the very best Italian restaurants in New York City. The words Il Nido mean “the nest” and the owner Addy Giovanetti chose that name because he wanted to give his guests the feeling that they were coming to a little tender home, a place where they would be cared for and surrounded and protected -- and boy is that ever true. I've been coming here since 1979 and I love it. I'm a little birdy here. And today they are going to feather my nest with rigatoni pasta and broccoli. 

A little vegetable oil is heated and slices of garlic go into it. A little chicken stock, a tablespoon of bread crumbs, which are used to help thicken the sauce. That's a nice touch. Broccoli flowerettes that were previously cooked in boiling water, and finally the rigatoni pasta which has been cooked until it’s tender, but firm to the bite. The pasta is served in bowls with pecorino romano cheese grated on top. 

Using the chicken stock and the bread crumbs to make a sauce is an excellent low fat technique. But pasta is packed with complex carbohydrates and the broccoli contains vitamins A, B, C, calcium, iron and potassium. Broccoli is one of our most nutritious vegetables. 

Now it’s time to take a little walk to a second recipe from the book of classic Italian vegetable cookery, eggplant parmesan. Really easy to make.

A heat-proof baking dish is given a coating of tomato sauce and a layer of eggplant slices that have been sauteed in a little vegetable oil. Another layer of slices of low- fat mozzarella cheese, a sprinkling of parmesano and into the oven until everything melts together; that's about ten minutes. And it tastes as good as it looks.

The Irish began arriving in New York City as early as the 1600's. Kind of amazing; by 1776 when the War of Independence began, half the soldiers in the American Army were made up of men who had come here from Ireland. The really heavy immigration didn't begin until 1815. That was the year that Irish grain prices just fell through the floor and landlords began to force the Irish farmers off the land. They wanted to use that land for cattle instead of farming. Tens of thousands of Irishmen headed for New York. Things got even worse twenty years later. The Irish potato crop failed and hundreds of thousands of Irishmen headed to New York. By 1890 one out of every four people in New York City was of Irish extraction. It's a dynamic Irish community in this city, very creative, lots of painters, writers, poets, actors, actresses, including the very talented Anne Jackson. 

One of New York's brightest stars, Anne Jackson, has been delighting audiences for decades with her vibrant versatility. Her superb acting has earned her three Tony Award nominations. In addition she received the coveted Obie Award for her work in "The Typist" in which she starred opposite her actor/husband, Eli Wallach.

(SCENES FROM "THE TYPIST")

ELI WALLACH: You want me to tell my wife?

ANNE JACKSON: Of course, we're getting married aren't we?

ELI: But Sylvia you don't understand...

ANNE: Well, we are getting married, aren't we, Paul?

ELI: Ah, the hell with it, I'm going to eat.

BURT WOLF: Was there a meal from your childhood that you really liked?

ANNE JACKSON: Yes, chicken with mashed potatoes, you know the chicken in the pot. The chicken every Sunday, that chicken in the pot with the mashed potatoes or rice in the soup in the ... and the night game. [???] And I never got a leg of the chicken, never. My two sisters got the legs and Daddy I guess got the ... the white meat, but I wasn't interested in that so ... I was interested in that leg. (LAUGHS)

BURT WOLF: (LAUGHS)

ANNE JACKSON: You know something, Burt? The ... the sensuality of food didn't really hit me until I was ... remember being in London and I had a woman from Switzerland this feizel deutch nanny for my little boy. She was sent, from Switzerland, some sausage. And when she got it, she opened it and I will never forget this, 'cause it was such a beautiful thing to behold, she smelled it and she ... the tears just streamed down her face. The meaning of that food for her was ... was extraordinary.

BURT WOLF: That she had ...

ANNE JACKSON: Just extraordinary.

BURT WOLF: And an extraordinarily well thought out dish in terms of nutrition is this chicken with lentils.

Chef Tony Wahl has been working on a series of menus to try to balance a group of important nutritional elements. Today he's preparing grilled chicken breasts with lentils and cucumber noodles. He starts with skinless boneless chicken breasts that are grilled for a few minutes on each side until they are fully cooked. That's very important these days. Undercooked chicken can carry dangerous bacteria, so cook that chicken! The lentils are cooked together with some carrots and celery. The cucumber noodles are really just very fine strips of raw cucumber. They have the look and the feel of noodles, but they're still cucumbers. When all the elements are ready, some of the cucumber goes on a serving plate and some of the lentils, the grilled chicken breast and finally a bit of grilled pimento. The chicken is an excellent source of low fat protein and the lentils contain lots of fiber, iron, zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6. 

One of the most popular restaurants in New York is the Cafe Des Artistes, originally built in 1901 as a haven for artists. Today its own artistry continues in the kitchen. Co-owner Jenifer Lange makes the point with her recipe for curried pasta with seafood.

A little vegetable oil gets heated in a saute pan, some chopped onions go in, chopped carrots, chopped celery, chopped garlic. That cooks together for about ten minutes. Then some chopped apple with the skin on, chopped tomato, a little thyme goes by and a bay leaf. Then five minutes more of cooking and stirring. Pasta next.

JENIFER: Down, down pasta.

BURT WOLF: Good point. Try to get all the pasta down into the water as quickly as possible. That will help it cook evenly. The pasta cooks for about eight minutes. While the pasta's cooking, go back to the vegetables. Add in a little chicken stock, tomato paste and curry powder. Let that cook down a bit while you saute some scallops, sliced mushrooms and shrimp. Then the pasta gets drained and put into a serving bowl. The curried vegetable sauce goes on, and the sauteed seafood. Nice; it's very low in fat, lots of complex carbohydrates from the pasta and vegetables, garlic to keep away the vampires and protein- packed seafood.

New York's Chinatown is a city within a city. The telephone booths are shaped like pagodas. Movie theatres show Chinese films. The food shops are packed with ingredients and cooking equipment that come here from the Orient. And there are hundreds of restaurants with every type of Chinese food, from Hunan to Szechuan.

The first large group of Chinese to settle in New York City came here from the California gold fields or after they finished their work building the transcontinental railroads. Today over a hundred and twenty five thousand people of Chinese ancestry live in this neighborhood. And much of their cooking is ideal from the point of view of good health. Especially in the area known as stir-frying. 

In the best examples, small amounts of meat, fish or poultry are cooked together with much larger amounts of vegetables and then served with rice. The food is cooked very quickly and doesn't spend much time exposed to high heat. That helps preserve the nutrients. And the cooking takes place with a small amount of vegetable oil. The traditional cooking pot for stir-fried foods is a wok. The classic design has a round base because the ancient stoves of China had round holes for the wok to fit in. The system conserved energy, made it easy to turn and toss the ingredients and allowed the cook to use different parts of the surface to get different heat levels at the same time. The area at the bottom of a wok is much hotter than the upper sides, and the angle of the wall is designed to hold food at each spot. Great piece of equipment; it can also be used to hold a steamer. And it does just that in the next recipe...

Chinese steamed sole. Two sole filets are cut into quarters. The sole is placed onto a heat-proof plate along with a dozen snow peas and some sliced mushrooms. Slivers of fresh ginger go on, a few pieces of scallion, a little sherry, a dash of light or low sodium soy sauce, and just a half tablespoon of vegetable oil. That goes into a steamer with hot water in the base. Cover goes on and the fish is steamed for 6 minutes over high heat. The heat-proof plate is carefully removed from the steamer and presented. A little rice on the side and you have a low-fat, low-calorie rich- tasting dish that is very, very easy to make. You're going to love this.

If you think the Orient is inscrutable and mysterious, just walk out of Chinatown and head south. 

Within a few minutes you will be in the Wall Street area; now you're really talking inscrutable. But I seem to be in a minority position with that viewpoint; the New York Stock Exchange is doing quite well without my help. It trades over seventeen hundred different companies, and this year they expect to transfer more than four trillion dollars. It does, however, have a gastronomic past. It all began here in 1792 in a coffee shop where a group of twenty-four businessmen got together and decided to trade the stocks and bonds of the government and some private companies. It still has some gastronomy going on. There's a dining room upstairs for members of the Exchange only; they serve some pretty good food, I've eaten there from time to time. Unfortunately, I only understand the stocks that are in their kitchen when they're transferring them into soup. So here's a soup recipe that's secure, safe and guaranteed to pay its dividend.

A chopped onion is sauteed in a little margarine. Four tomatoes are sliced and added to the sauce pan. A half cup of tomato paste, a little sugar, a teaspoon of thyme and a half cup of flour are added in. Finally, two cups of chicken stock. The soup is simmered for fifteen minutes, then it's pureed. And served with a garnish of fresh basil and a dollop of yogurt. Tomato and basil soup, definitely an asset worth holding onto. 

The French played an important role in New York's food history. It was a Frenchmen who brought the yeast bun to New York. Yeast bun is an important roll. For years to be thought of as a serious chef you had to be French. Our early American presidents loved French chefs. Matter of fact, Thomas Jefferson brought his personal chef all the way from Paris. Even today, when food critics make up a list of the great restaurants of New York, it has a distinctly French accent. Lutece, Le Corte Basque and a restaurant that's a New York landmark and seems to get better every year, Le Cirque. 

Le Cirque is French for “the circus.” And that's a pretty good description of this restaurant. The ringmaster is Sirio Maccioni, who's probably the most skillful restaurant host in America. At Le Cirque everyone is treated like royalty. And some people actually are.

(BEVERLY SILLS SINGING)

America's "Queen of the Opera", Beverly Sills is an extraordinary artist whose remarkable life has touched millions of people both on and off the operatic stage. As a star of the world's greatest opera houses, her glorious voice has been a vital force in musical history. She's a native New Yorker and she's really proud of it.

BEVERLY SILLS: It is the most exciting city in the world; there's a cliche, but the truth of the matter is that when I step off a plane and my foot hits the ground in this city, I feel different from the way I feel in any other city in the world, and that includes Paris and Rome and Berlin. I've sung in all those places. It ... it ... perhaps is because I was born here, so this is my home and it will always be, and I think you have in your heart a very special feeling about the place where you were born, even if you wind up living thousands of miles away. Culturally it’s everything you could ever dream of in a city.

BURT WOLF: When you're away from New York, what New York foods do you miss?

BEVERLY SILLS: Poppy seed bagel. And it's an integral part of my life, I have to go get my thirteen, because I buy twelve and they give me one free, very important. So, social statement. And ... I miss that a lot. I mean I could be sitting in the Ritz in Paris with the flakiest, lightest croissant, I literally have to slam it down to keep it on the plate, and all I'm thinking of is that if I could just take a poppy seed bagel and put a little cream cheese, maybe even a little chives, it ... it would make my life even better.

BURT WOLF: If you could have any meal you want, your fantasy meal, what would it be?

BEVERLY SILLS: I would come to Le Cirque and eat creme brulee for the first course, and creme brulee for the main course, and creme brulee for my salad and then I would have a little dessert with creme brulee.

BURT WOLF: The dishes at Le Cirque have a French and Italian accent and these days the majority of the dishes are rather light. Which is why almost everybody has room for a dessert. One of my favorites if their fresh fruit tart. 

Pastry dough is rolled out and used to line a 9-inch tart pan. Press the edges together to make a pattern on the rim. Poke holes in the bottom of the dough to keep it from rising up in the heat of the oven. And bake the dough for ten minutes at 350 degree Fahrenheit. Take it out, let it cool, and line the base with a thin layer of thick low-fat yogurt. Arrange raw berries around the inner edge of the crust. Peel and slice the best fresh fruits that are available and arrange them in circles on the yogurt. Melt a half cup of apricot jam and paint that on the fruits to give them a graze. Easy to make, great taste, good nutritional balance. 

I've been in the food business for over thirty years and for many of those years I've made my home base here in New York City. Not an easy town. There are definitely some soft spots in the Big Apple, but when it comes to food, it's usually crisp and delicious and a very high quality. There's an enormous variety in this city, just about anything you would want to eat you could get here. And in recent years, many of the restaurant owners and chefs have figured out that there is a direct relationship between good food and good health. 

Almost every New York restaurant that I know has given over some part of their kitchen to the preparation of healthier recipes. Chefs are being trained in the basic points of nutritional science. They have begun to understand that they can have an impact on the health of their customers. That's very simple. If you help keep those customers alive, they'll keep coming back to the restaurant. Foods are being grilled so the fat can drip away. Great improvement over all those unidentified frying objects. There's less fat in their basic recipes, more pasta and lots of it with sauces that are lower in calories.

More vegetable dishes, more beans and lentils, more seafood and more fruit for dessert. 

For New York healthier food seems to have a new appeal. That's Eating Well in New York City, please join us next time as we travel around the world looking for something that tastes good and it's good for you too. I'm Burt Wolf.

(CLOSES CAR DOOR)

BURT WOLF: Follow that car.

Eating Well: Montreal and Quebec - #105

BURT WOLF: Quebec is the oldest of Canada's provinces and home ground to two of the world's great towns, Montreal and Quebec City. Its the place to take a look at the only spot in North America declared a World Heritage Treasure. To find out why the French Army never lets its cooks go into battle. To discover the reason that trees turn color in the fall and what those trees can teach us about the relationship of food to good health. We'll get the recipe for the traditional sugar pie and find out how yogurt got its reputation as a health food. Join me, Burt Wolf, Eating Well in Montreal and Quebec City.

BURT WOLF: During the middle of the 1500's, a sea captain by the name of Jacques Cartier was sent by the King of France to find a new ocean passage to India. In those days finding an ocean passage to India was very important. India was where spices came from and spices were very valuable. To bring those spices from India to Europe on the Overland Route was time consuming, dangerous and very expensive. If somebody could come up with a new ocean passage to India that would be worth big bucks. 

As Cartier sailed west, he bumped into Canada and headed into the Saint Lawrence River hoping that India was at the other end. Nice try, but not quite. He got as far as the Lachine Rapids near Montreal. Nevertheless, as a result of Cartier's explorations, Montreal and Quebec City were founded and set up as trading posts, military bases and staging areas for further explorations. Explorers who came from these settlements mapped huge parts of what eventually became the United States. When guys in New York were still looking for Brooklyn, the French scouts had already travelled down the Mississippi all the way to New Orleans. During the middle of the 1700's a war between England and France spilled over into North America. The French troops were defeated right near here outside Quebec City. The English troops were under the control of General James Wolfe, no relation, the French troops were under the direction of the Marquis de Montcalm, also no relation. Unfortunately, both men were killed during the battle.

Today in Quebec City there is a unique memorial to these two soldiers, the only statue in the world commemorating both the winner and the loser of the same battle.

At the end of the war the English insisted that the French give up something. The French had to choose between their property in Canada and their sugar islands in the Caribbean. They decided to give up their property in Canada because they assumed that nothing going on in Canada would ever be as valuable as the sugar on their sugar islands. Well at the time, it wasn't such a bad decision, because sugar was very expensive. These days however, with sugar being pennies per pound, it wasn't so great. I guess once again it proves that a sweet tooth, totally uncontrolled, leads to bad choices. The end result of all of this, however, is that for the past 250 years, Quebec has been influenced by both French and English culture.

The first colonists to arrive in Canada were not wealthy people; for the most part they were members of religious orders... farmers who were looking for a better piece of land, and orphaned girls under the protection of the King of France who were sent here to marry the settlers. Let’s face it, if you were rich and famous and having a great time in Paris, you're not moving off into a wilderness no matter how good a deal the landlord gives you. And those French Canadian cooks who first arrived here were under a lot of pressure. They had to get their kitchen work done as quickly and efficiently as possible and get onto the other essential tasks in their life. Not unlike the pressures facing today's modern cook.

The result was an honest food style that balanced the advantages of the natural ingredients of the area, the French family's love of good food and the pressures of time, budget and long winters. The cooking of the Province of Quebec became a classic regional cuisine that is perfectly tuned and retuned to meet the needs of the people.

Most of the recipes contain only a few simple ingredients which are easily assembled, cooked slowly and don't require much additional attention. Soups, stews, meat pies and desserts based on fruit. The cooks in Quebec are masters of the one-pot meal, an approach that's as valid today as when they first arrived here some 350 years ago. One of the most famous one-pot meals of Quebec is a meat pie. Traditionally it’s made in a big pan for an entire family. But Chef Michel Lanoux of Montreal's Ritz Carlton Hotel prepares the recipe as individual servings. Three bowls are set out. One with small cubes of veal, one with small cubes of chicken and one with small cubes of beef. Each of those gets seasoned with some chopped shallots and a selection of fresh herbs. Thyme, parsley, basil, chives, tarragon. If you like the flavor, mix it in. Then a layer of the beef cubes goes into a pie-form lined with pastry dough. Next a layer of cubed potatoes. Then some chicken, another layer of potatoes, and the veal and finally a top layer of dough. The dough is scored with a decorative pattern and a hole is made in the center to let out the steam that builds up during the cooking. A little eggwash and into a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 30 minutes. When it comes out, the form comes off, and the meat pie is served with a brown sauce and some cranberries.

The first settlement built by the French explorers in North America was Quebec City. Cartier saw the area in 1535 when native Algonquins took him to a spot to show him how the river narrowed. The Algonquin word for narrowing river is Quebec. The real father of Quebec City, however, was Samuel DeChamplain who showed up in the early 1600's and immediately recognized the strategic military advantages of the neighborhood. He set up a fort to trade for fur with the natives and to do some shipbuilding. 

Quebec City's military history has given it a number of dramatic structures. The city gates and the city walls are still standing, but most sensational is the Citadel. It was built in the 1820's under direct orders from the Duke of Wellington who became famous not only for his defeat of Napoleon, but for his Beef Wellington, a tenderloin covered with chopped mushrooms wrapped in pastry and baked to perfection. The Citadel is the largest fortified base in North America still occupied by troops. It's the home of the Royal 22nd Regiment... the only completely French-speaking regiment in the Canadian Army.

The temperaments of the British and French military are very different in many ways. But none more so than when it comes to food. When they were battling it out here in Canada during the 1700's, the British felt that food was the responsibility of the individual soldier. “Scavenge about and feed yourself” was their attitude. But the French, on the other hand, assigned a skilled chef to each unit. And that chef was never allowed to go into battle. The theory was that if a military man was killed, he could easily be replaced by another military man. But if the chef was killed, then dinner was murder. And the French already knew that an army travelled on its stomach. This is the officer's mess. The word mess comes from an ancient Latin term used to describe a course or a particular dish at that course. During the 1500's, it was used in England to mean a meal eaten by a group of people, usually at midday and always with one dish of meat. In North America it came to mean a military eating area. And during the 1940's, it was regularly used to describe my mother's cooking.

The guys here in the Royal 22nd don't do badly; napkins folded in the shape of the French Fleur De Lis, elegant flatware on picture perfect placemats. Silver candelabras, the commander's chair just a little bit higher than all the rest, sitting under a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. This room reminds me that military history has a strange way of repeating itself. Once again these officers are fighting the battle of the bulge.

Today Quebec is the only fortified city in North America. Set on top of a massive headland that dominates the majestic waters of the Saint Lawrence River, Quebec City is one of the most charming, romantic and beautiful cities in the Americas. In recognition of the area's extraordinary historic importance, UNESCO has declared old Quebec as a World Heritage Treasure. Its the only city in North America to have received that honor. As you walk through the streets of Quebec City, you are surrounded by beauty and history. Many of these buildings are over three hundred years old. Their copper roofs, striking steeples, everlasting stone walls and impressive wooden doors were once at the very center of the new world. Towns like Boston and Philadelphia were unimportant by comparison. This was where it was happening. The Basilica Notre Dame De Quebec has the oldest parish in North America, dating back to 1647. The building is on the edge of an area known as the city's Latin Quarter. The reason a Latin Quarter is called the Latin Quarter is because at some point in time, it was home to students who were attending a seminary, a seminary where only Latin was used in class. And to make sure that they were ready for their studies, they only spoke Latin all of the time. And that's why the place became known as the Latin Quarter.

Enjoying yourself in Quebec City is not difficult. Tourism is a major activity for the town, and its residents are tuned into the needs of travellers. Nowhere is that attention to hospitality and politeness more apparent than at the Loews Le Concorde Hotel. Its situated on a street called the Grand Allee, which is the city's main boulevard. Many of the most important historic sites surround the base of the building. On the top of Le Concorde is a revolving restaurant called L’Astral. It offers guests some of the more spectacular views of Quebec.

French culture is clearly the dominant influence in the Canadian province of Quebec, with British tradition running a close second. But Quebec has been home to massive migrations from all over the world. People have come here from Scotland, Ireland, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Greece, the countries of Africa, the Islands of the Caribbean and India. Over eighty different populations have migrated to this part of the world. As a matter of fact, as a percentage of its population, Quebec has taken in and protected more people from political and economic hardship than any other area in the world.

The point was clearly made in the kitchens of the Loews Le Concorde Hotel. The pastry chef is from Tangiers, the Sous Chefs are from France, Switzerland and Martinique and the Executive Chef is from India. The result is an exchange of ideas and techniques that produce some outstanding dishes. One of the Sous Chefs, Driss Benmou is from Morocco, but he feels right at home in Quebec because he speaks the international language of dessert, and uses it to produce one of the classic sweets of the area -- sugar pie. A quarter cup of maple syrup and an ounce of butter go into a hot sauce pan and are stirred together until the mixture starts to boil. And in goes a half cup of cream, a half cup of milk, two cups of maple sugar and a half cup of flour. Those ingredients are mixed together and brought to a boil. At which point they're poured into a pie pan lined with your favorite pastry dough. A lattice of pastry dough goes on top and into a 375 degree oven for forty minutes. When the pie comes out, you let it cool to room temperature and its ready to serve.

The Executive Chef in the Loews kitchen is Nanak Chand Veg, who's from India. Today he's preparing chicken baked in yogurt sauce. 

Three cloves of minced garlic go into a bowl, plus a tablespoon of minced fresh ginger. Fresh ginger is usually sold in amounts that are larger than what you would use for a single recipe. The best way to store the remaining ginger is to peel off the outer skin, cut the ginger into small chunks, and put them into a jar of sherry wine. And into the refrigerator. That should keep the ginger fresh for about three months. 

Back to the baked chicken. Continue by adding in one tablespoon each of red pepper flakes, cumin, paprika, turmeric, shallots and rosemary. A half cup of lemon juice and a pint of low-fat yogurt. All that is mixed together and transferred into a heat-proof dish. Boneless skinless chicken breasts are put into the yogurt mixture covered with foil and set to marinate overnight. Next day the dish goes into a 325 degree Fahrenheit oven for one hour. When it comes out, the chicken breasts are ready to serve over rice and vegetables with the sauce on top. 

The yogurt in that dish became popular in western cooking as the result of the work of a Frenchman named Louis Pasteur. 

Louis Pasteur was a Parisian chemist who developed the technique of vaccination. He also invented the process of Pasteurization which extends the shelf life of milk products. In the 1880's the Pasteur Institute was founded to continue his work.

In 1908, Doctor Ilya Metchnikoff won a Nobel Prize for the work that he was doing at the institute. His books and papers on longevity and avoiding the problems of premature aging led him to study various populations around the world. Eventually he came to the conclusion that the Bulgarians lived longer because they ate lots of yogurt. Metchnikoff pointed out that yogurt helped purify the large intestines and introduced substantial amounts of Vitamin B. So it was good old Ilya Metchnikoff who first described yogurt as a health food. At one point a friend of his, a Spaniard named Isaac Carasso bought some cultures from the Institute and began manufacturing yogurt commercially for the European market. When the Second World War broke out, his son took some cultures from his father moved to the United States and began manufacturing yogurt for the North America market. The kid’s name was Dan. His company -- Dannon. 

Today Chef Laneux is using yogurt to make one of his favorite desserts. An egg yolk is blended together with a quarter cup of sugar. Two cups of plain non-fat yogurt is whisked in. That mixture is heated to about 110 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about the temperature of a baby's bottle. Then in go two tablespoons of low- fat cream cheese, and some gelatin. The blend is whisked over a bowl of ice to help thicken it. Next a cup and a half of skim milk that has been whipped to a froth in a blender is added in. An inch-thick layer of the yogurt mixture goes into a mold with a disc of sponge cake on the bottom and layer of fresh fruit. A second layer of the yogurt mixture and into the refrigerator for 3 to 5 hours or overnight. When it comes out, the ring comes off and it’s decorated with slices of fresh fruit. A thin coating of warm apricot jam is painted on the fruit; that's an old technique for protecting the sliced fruit from the air, which would cause it to turn color. Dr. Metchnikoff would definitely call this a healthful recipe.

Each fall the trees of North America burst into color. A spectacular display of Mother Nature at work. And nowhere is it more beautiful than in the forest of the Canadian province of Quebec. Tourists come here from all over the world and drive along the roads, enjoying the neighborhood's autumn leaves. All summer long, the trees feed their leaves with nutrients so they can process sunlight. But as the days get shorter, the trees begin to plan for winter and they start to store their nutrients in their trunks and in their roots. The leaves stop producing a green substance called chlorophyll. As the green disappears we begin to see the other colors that were actually there all the time, but hidden by the chlorophyll. The same red pigment that colors apples begins to stand out. 

Trees have a lot to teach us about life. Many years ago a Native American guide told me that it is more important to listen and learn from the trees than from the animals. When the animals have a problem with their environment, they just pick up and move on. But trees are stuck in the same place, so they pay a lot more attention to what's going on. The autumn trees in particular have a lot to teach us about the relationship of good food and good health. First of all, the colors of different foods tell us about the nutrients in those foods. The more different colors we eat, the better off we are. And the daily intake of fruits of vegetables that are orange and yellow, appears to decrease the risk of a number of different types of cancers. Dark green leafy vegetables are also important. We should also remember that as we get older, our autumn years, our need for good nutrition is more important than ever. Our bodies don't burn calories the way we did when we were younger and so lots of people decrease the amount of calories that they eat. But those calories should be packed with vitamins and minerals. Pay more and more attention to your diet as you get older. We should also remember what we learned from the tree in terms of paying attention to your roots. For thousands and thousands of years, we ate a diet that was high in complex carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables and very low in fat. It's a good idea to follow that diet these days, it will give you a better shape to your trunk.

Fall is definitely the time for leaves here in Quebec, but it is also the time for apples. The early settlers arriving on the northeast coast of North America quickly realized that this was the perfect area for apple growing.

The apple is actually a member of the rose family and is often used as a symbol for fruits in general. For centuries whenever a new fruit was discovered it was called an apple until a more appropriate name was found. At different points in time, the word apple was used to describe avocados, dates, lemons, limes, oranges, pineapples, peaches and even potatoes. Here in Quebec where the official language is French, a potato is called a Pomme de Terre, which translates as “apple of the earth.” Contrary to popular belief there is no mention of the apple in the Genesis chapter of the Bible. All the Adam and Eve story says is that Adam was tempted by Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Historians believe that at some point in time, a painter had to give a more specific bit of imagery to the story and since then, the apple has taken the rap.

The images of a religion and the desire to have those images recognized in new lands around the world has been responsible for a great deal of exploration.

In 1642, a soldier by the name of Maisonneuve was hired by a French religious organization known as the Societe De Notre Dame De Paris to come to North America. He was asked to Christianize the native tribes. He arrived here in the area that eventually became Montreal with fifty-three brave and devoted souls. The place soon became a center for fur trappers, traders and explorers. At the very center of the new settlement, was the Sulpician Seminary. It's the oldest building in Montreal and it is still the residence of the Sulpician father. It's a fine example of rustic 17th Century architecture. And the clock on the roof over the main doorway is the oldest public timepiece in North America. For two hundred years the Sulpicians were the political power in the city. And for a very simple reason: they owned all the land. Down the street is the Notre Dame Basilica, an enormous structure that can seat up to four thousand people. It holds the largest bell in North America. The twelve ton, Gros Bourdon.

The towers each have a specific name; one is called Temperance, the other Perseverance.

Excellent concepts for religion and just as valuable when it comes to eating. More than any other idea, temperance is the key to proper diet. Each month the scientific community releases more information that clearly indicates that there are no good foods and there are no bad foods. There are just improper amounts. Temperance is the objective so just Persevere in that direction.

"As American as apple pie" is a common phrase, but not particularly accurate. You find apple pies in the cooking of dozens of countries around the world. What would be much more precise would be is “American as maple syrup,” a food that can only produced in the northeastern part of North America. It's not that you don't find maple trees in other countries, you certainly do. But it's not just the maple tree that produces maple syrup. It's an unusual balance of temperatures. You need very hot days and very cold nights. And that causes the maple sap to run in sufficient quantities to make it worthwhile to tap a maple tree.

The variation in temperature around the freezing point acts like a heat pump and turns a maple tree into the big dripper. Only human beings and squirrels have figured out how to tap a maple tree.

Colonists learned the technique from the Native American tribes and put it to immediate use. Before maple syrup there were only three major forms of sweetener: sugar, molasses and honey. Sugar and molasses came up from the Caribbean and were very, very expensive. Honey required bee keeping and that was major piece of work. Almost every colonist, on the other hand, had access to a couple of maple trees, and that made maple syrup a freebie. And the sweetener of choice. 

Just outside of Montreal is a maple sugar production facility called La Sucrerie de la Montagne. It belongs to Pierre Foucher and his family. BURT WOLF: Pierre, what happens here?

PIERRE: Well Burt, here all the trees that surround us here are maple trees that we tap every springtime to gather the sap and make maple syrup. So in the springtime in the month of March, we'll drill a hole in the tree not deeper than two or three centimeters and we'll put the spigot in the top in like this, inside the tree. And then we do four thousand of those tappings. Two thousand five hundred tappings on my farm and one thousand four hundred tappings on my neighbor's farm across the street when he goes to Florida.

BURT WOLF: Does your neighbor know you're tapping his trees?

PIERRE: Well, he's not supposed to.

BURT WOLF: (LAUGHS)

PIERRE: And then we hitch up our horses to a sleigh and on the sleigh we put it on, we wear our snowshoes and we go from tree to tree to pick this up. We'll pick around four to twelve tons of sap in one day, we'll take it to the shop over here and evaporate it with fire. It takes forty gallons of sap to boil down to one gallon of maple syrup. So that's what it all boils down to.

BURT WOLF: But the Sucrerie is more than a maple forest; it's also one of the most popular tourist attractions in the area. Each day throughout the year, people arrive at the edge of the property, and are transported by horse-drawn wagon to the main building, a 100-year-old restored barn. 

Inside, a rustic banquet hall offers an ongoing folkloric festival. Music, singing, stories and the traditional foods of the province of Quebec. Bread that's baked in an old fashioned wood-burning oven. Pea soup, smoked ham, sausages, meat pies, homemade ketchup and pickles. Dessert crepes and lots of maple syrup. 

The architectural style of the late 17th Century Renaissance was used for the Parliament Building that seats the National Assembly of the Province of Quebec. Above the entrance are the words Je Me Souviers, which translates into English as “I remember.”

It’s a reference to the remembrance of Quebec's French heritage and the new France of the sixteen and seventeen hundreds that dominated the commercial and cultural life of North America, it's also a reminder to remember what we saw here in terms of eating well. 

Temperance and Perseverance are two keys to proper diet. There are no good or bad foods, only inappropriate amounts. The color of a food can tell you about the nutrients within. The more different colors in our diet, the better off we are. Fruits and vegetables that are orange, yellow and green are very important in terms of good health. Low-fat yogurt, easy to digest, a good source of calcium and other valuable nutrients. And remember our roots: lots of complex carbohydrates, small amount of fat.

That's eating well in Quebec City and Montreal Canada; please join us next time as we travel around the world looking for things that make it easier for us to eat well. I'm Burt Wolf.

Eating Well: San Francisco - #104

BURT WOLF: San Francisco, California. A city whose present-day gleam began with the discovery of glittering gold. It's our most picturesque big city. It's the place to tour Chinatown, and take a look at some of the finest Chinese cooking anywhere. To see the fish that lives in the desert. Discover who tamed wild rice. And we reveal at last why Marilyn Monroe loved artichokes. What a town! Join me, Burt Wolf, Eating Well in San Francisco.

The first people to live here were tribal groups that migrated from Asia across the Bering Straits and down along the Pacific Coast. They arrived here about 20 thousand years ago. Their culture worshipped the earth as a source of wealth and well-being, and they cared for it. Not a bad idea for us to pick up on today. 

The next to show up were the Spanish. They were looking for a passage from Europe to the Orient. Same job that Columbus was working on. Twice they missed the entrance to San Francisco because of the fog. That's something that could easily happen these days.

In 1579, Sir Francis Drake showed up. He'd been sent here by Queen Elizabeth of England with instructions to annoy the Spanish. Interesting choice of words. To annoy, as in the French Revolution annoyed Marie Antoinette? Anyway, Francis got bored after a while and headed home, and not much happened for about 200 years until the Spanish missionaries showed up to convert the local natives to Christianity. They built the Presidio for protection, and the Mission Dolores for worship.

The structure was put up in 1776. About 65 years later, the governor of California gave San Francisco to a man named Sutter, a native of Switzerland, who had run away to avoid debtors' prison. Those were the days when a government would give you a huge chunk of land if you would just develop it. 

During the 1840's, Sutter allowed a few hundred Americans from back east to settle on his ranch. Not a great move for Sutter. When the United States went to war with Mexico in 1846, an American naval expedition joined up with the local Americans living here and took over California for the U.S. 

(MUSIC OUT)

Almost all the frontiers in our country were settled by farmers, families that came in, cleared the land, settled down and built a place for themselves a little bit at a time. Not so in San Francisco. When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill, the population went from 850 to 25,000 in just three years. People came from all over the world, not interested in building a family, but interested in finding gold as fast as they could. And the Gold Rush set the tone for this city. It was the singlemost important event in its history.

(MUSIC)

In France, they had lotteries for trips to the gold fields. Many French first saw San Francisco as crew members of French cargo ships. Quite often these sailors would jump ship and head for the gold. If they didn't do well they'd come back to town and open a restaurant. A German arrived with a load of canvas to make tents for the mines. He found he could do better making pants for them. His name was Levi Strauss, as in Levi 501 jeans. A hard-working prospector with a little luck could be wealthy beyond his wildest dreams in less than a month.

Prices in San Francisco went through the roof. Eggs were 50 dollars a dozen. These guys were rich and they wanted the best of everything. And it was actually the Gold Rush environment that set the basis for the good food that you find in San Francisco today. People came here from all over the world, kept their love of their national cuisines, and because of their wealth wanted the best and the newest of everything.

Wherever you are in San Francisco you will be magnetically drawn to Chinatown. 

(STREETCAR BELLS)

The entrance is marked with an imperial dragon gate that was sent here as a gift from Taiwan. The gilded inscription on the top translated into English reads: “Everything in the world is in just proportion.”

Behind the gate almost ten thousand Chinese live in their own distinctively Asian neighborhood.

At the time of the Gold Rush in 1848, China was a total wreck. The Manchu dynasty was falling apart and totally unable to govern. There was widespread starvation, and the peasants were in rebellion all over the country. Any town in China was a great town to get out of, and that's what tens of thousands of Chinese did. They headed here to San Francisco for what they believed would be their golden opportunity.

The Chinese community had a major impact on this city from the beginning. Chinese herbal medicine was very important to a community that had only a few practicing doctors. Since the gold miners had no time to do anything but go for the gold, and almost everyone was more interested in mining than anything else, laundry was often sent by boat to China to be washed and returned. A group of enterprising Chinese settlers cut out the clipper ships and opened the first Chinese laundry in San Francisco.

The Chinese loved their native cuisine, but the rooming houses that they lived in didn't have kitchens. So the Chinese restaurant business took off. Gold miners of all nationalities quickly discovered that the Chinese restaurants produced the best-tasting food. At the same time, the prospectors who struck it rich and built their own mansions looked for the best Chinese chefs to work for them at home. 

The Chinese chefs were certainly one of the earliest and most important influences on the cooking of San Francisco. But so were the French. The French opened the first really good restaurants to cater to the new class of freshly wealthy. They set the tone for fine dining in the town.

A restaurant that combines the French and Chinese influences is Tommy Toy's. The dining room feels like a classic French restaurant, but it's actually patterned after the reading room of the Dowager Empress of China. The kitchen is definitely Asian, but the dishes are a combination of both traditions. Chinese cucumber and duck with French escargots in a bird's nest. A French approach to scallops with Chinese lotus roots. Nevertheless, even with all this French technique, there are lots of Chinese classics perfectly prepared. Like vegetable stir-fried rice. 

Chef Howard Wong coats a hot wok with vegetable oil. Two eggs are beaten together and quickly scrambled. If you're at the limit of your cholesterol intake for the week, you can substitute four egg whites for the two whole eggs. It's almost impossible to taste the difference. Remember the old commercial that said, only your hairdresser knows for sure? Well, when it comes to substituting egg whites for whole eggs in a cooked dish like this, only your cardiologist knows for sure.

Next, two cups of rice that have already been cooked. A cup of minced vegetables, celery, green peppers, carrots, a little salt, a squirt of sesame oil that the chef keeps appropriately enough in a squirt can. A little soy sauce, a lot of stirring, and two minutes later, it's ready to serve.

One of the common ingredients in Chinese cooking, as well as many other cuisines, is celery. And for good reason. It's available all over the country all year long. It's inexpensive, it adds a crunchy texture to whatever you're cooking. It's used in first courses, main courses, soups, salads, stuffings, and all by itself. Don't wash your celery before you store it in your refrigerator. The moisture that stays on it will shorten the storage life. Cut off the top leaves and take off any limp outer stalks, and into a plastic bag, and into the refrigerator. They'll hold for about a week. Just before you use them, give them a quick rinse in cold water to refresh the ribs.

A cup of celery has about twenty calories. It's a good source of dietary fiber, and virtually fat-free. Celery's been around for thousands of years, but for most of those years it was used as a seasoning or a garnish, the way we use parsley today. In the 1600's in Italy, it became a salad ingredient. They'd serve it with a little vegetable oil and a pepper dressing. And in the early 1800's, in the United States of America, it became a very fashionable food, kind of like caviar is today, with lots of snob appeal. It was served in its own specially designed vase in the center of the table as a centerpiece. And those pressed glass vases became the most popular wedding gift that anybody could receive.

Right next to Chinatown is an area called North Beach. There in the 1830's, it was just a big ranch on the edge of a small town called the Yerba Buena. Yerba Buena means good herb. It was a reference to the sweet-smelling mint that grew in the area. The ranch raised cattle and sold fresh meat to sailing vessels that would stop by for provisions. Many of those sailing vessels were Italian trading ships that came here from the town of Genoa. When gold was discovered, a lot of those Italian sailors decided to trade in their rigging for digging, and settled here in North Beach. It became an important Italian community. Eventually it became a home to writers and artists. Jack London lived here, Mark Twain lived here. It was a place for free-thinkers and noncomformists.

The area has maintained its place as an authentic Italian neighborhood. There are classic bakeries with biscotti and cheesecakes. Each block has its own espresso and capuccino cafe. The one called Tosca has a jukebox that plays Italian operas. Even the street signs proclaim the neighborhood's heritage. Foot for foot, there are as many Italian restaurants in North Beach as you would find in any Italian city.

Of all the great gastronomic gifts that American has received from the Italians who have immigrated here, at the top of my list is pasta. And when the sauce is made with tomatoes, shrimp and artichokes, hey, I'm ready to cook.

A sliced red onion goes into a pan with a little vegetable oil and cooks for a minute. When you're choosing a cooking oil these days, try to pick one with a very low level of saturated fat. All the research tells us that a diet low in saturated fat is better for our health.

Next, two tomatoes cut into bite-sized pieces. A little freshly-ground pepper. A minute more of cooking, and in goes about a cup of artichoke hearts that have been cooked, cut, and packed in water. I first saw cooked artichokes packed in water in a restaurant I was filming in, and I was impressed with both the taste and the convenience. Finally a few pre-cooked shrimp. A little more pepper and the sauce is ready. It goes onto a half pound of cooked pasta and onto the table. Shrimp and artichoke hearts.

The artichoke has a rather interesting history, with beautiful women playing a part in its story from the beginning. The ancient Greeks had a legend that told of an angry god turning a radiant maiden into a thistle-like plant -- the first artichoke. Then there was Catherine De Medici of Italy. She married King Henry II of France in the 1500's. She loved artichokes, and she ate them all the time. But artichokes were thought to be an aphrodisiac, and she created quite a scandal. 

And most recently, guess who was the first artichoke queen? Marilyn Monroe. Quite a past for these little thistle plants. 

They grow best in an area that's cool but frost-free, and has lots of fog. And that's why the very heart of the artichoke growing industry in the United States is a place just outside of San Francisco, California called Castroville. 

Artichokes first came to the United States with French settlers who arrived in the area near New Orleans, and with Spanish missionaries who came here to California. They're low in calories, low in fat, and low in sodium, and high in vitamins A, B, C, iron, iodine and potassium.

(BOOMING SOUND)

April 18th, 1906. Five-sixteen a.m. Every church bell in San Francisco was suddenly clanging. There was a deep rumbling sound throughout the city. The earth opens. The pavement twists. Electric wires split apart and crashed to the ground. In 48 seconds over 5000 buildings collapsed.

(BELLS)

In less than a minute, the great San Francisco earthquake is over.

(SIRENS)

And the fires begin. The entire metropolis becomes an inferno. A firestorm that burns for days until the town lays in ruins. Hundreds of thousands of people gather in tents.

One of the buildings that miraculously survived the quake and the fire was the Sherman House. 

The Sherman House was originally built in 1876 as the home of Leander Sherman. Sherman was an influential patron of the arts, and his elegant home became a center for San Francisco's writers, musicians, and artists. There are only fourteen rooms and suites. No two are alike, but all of them are elegant. The garden pathways are built of cobblestones that were once used in the roadways of the city's cable cars.

The Sherman House offers the kind of privacy and detailed attention to the needs of its guests that have made it a kind of a home away from home for superstars like Johnny Carson and Bill Cosby. There's a team of five chefs who do all the cooking for the fourteen rooms. That's roughly one chef for every three rooms. With a ratio like that, you can get some fabulous cooking.

And that is precisely what's happening under the direction of executive chef Donia Bijan. Donia says that expressing yourself through your cooking is like expressing yourself through a well-spoken language. You should try to be clear, direct, honest, and interesting.

Well, I can definitely hear what she's saying with her recipe for farm-raised tilapia fish. If you've never heard of tilapia before you're in for a real treat. It's an ancient fish with a modern taste.

(PAUSE)

Start by making a lemon and oil sauce. Squeeze and strain the juice of a lemon. If you're going to juice a lemon it's a good idea to take that lemon and roll it against a surface or your hands. That will concentrate the juices, and then when you slice it and you squeeze it to get at the juice, you'll get a lot more juice.

Pour the juice into a bowl. Add a teaspoon of chopped shallots, a little salt, some freshly-ground black pepper, a tablespoon of capers. About a quarter-cup of pitted black olives that have been sliced, and the zest of half a lemon. Mix that together, and slowly add in about a cup of vegetable oil. 

Chop up three tablespoons of Italian parsley; add it in. Meanwhile, take four boneless, skinless farm-raised tilapia fish fillets, grind on a little pepper, pour on a little oil, into a non-stick frying pan. If the fillets won't fit into one pan, use two. 

A minute of cooking on one side, then flip and another minute on the other . The tilapia comes out, asparagus and baby tomatoes get heated with some of the lemon sauce. The tilapia goes on a serving plate. The vegetables go on, a little bit of the lemon sauce, and a garnish of Italian parsley.

Americans interested in a healthful diet have been eating more and more fish. Filled with high-quality protein, generally low in fat and calories, and containing nutrients that may actually reduce the risk of heart disease, fish consumption has been increasing at a rapid rate. Delightful for our diets, but our fish supply is very shaky. Most of the coastal fishing areas that have supplied seafood to our nation in the past are either in serious decline or totally collapsed. As a result, we have begun to import extraordinary amounts of seafood. The nation is spending about six billion dollars each year to import the seafood we eat. Not too good for our national balance of payments or our foreign debt. 

It appears that the solution to our problem is something called aquaculture. It's the raising of seafood with the same approach that would be used by a farmer if he were raising fresh fruits and vegetables, meats or poultry. It's actually a technique that's been going on for thousands and thousands of years. When we first figured out that it was a lot easier to grow our food, rather than hunt for it in wild nature, we began to cultivate just about everything we could get our hands on. When it comes to the raising of fish, that's been going on for at least 4000 years. We have evidence of it from ancient Egypt.

The pharaohs loved fish and raised them on fish farms. It appears that the fish they raised were tilapia. It's also called St. Peter's fish, because it is thought to be the fish used by Jesus to feed his disciples on the Sea of Galilee, and it's making a comeback. 

Here in the warmth of the California sun, a group of dedicated aquaculturalists have set up a fish farm. They feel that today with America so concerned about health issues, and fearful of the pollution of our environment, a farm like this gives them the opportunity to control the safe environment for the fish, as well as what the fish eat. And that could very well lead to a supply of good-tasting, high-quality dependable fish.

Solar Aquafarms is developing the technology. Take a look at what might be the future of fishing.

A team of scientists used the most advanced techniques to study the environment that the fish live in, as well as the biology of each generation of the species. They keep the system pure and in balance. The biofilter tanks set the optimum water quality for the health of the fish. And the warm desert sun is used to supply most of the energy for the process. Grow-out tanks that hold 160 thousand gallons of water and 75 thousand fish are used to raise the tilapia from fingerlings to one and a quarter pounders. They are fed a scientifically designed meal that improves the way they taste. To make sure that only the fully-grown fish are harvested, the farmers in scuba suits walk a fence through the tank. The undersized fish slip through; the others go off on a watery causeway to the holding tanks. With the constant overfishing and pollution of our oceans, this type of environmentally controlled fish farming may become more and more important to our food supply.

Some of the finest and most creative cooking in San Francisco is found in one of the city's most popular restaurants. It's called Stars, and it was opened in 1984 by Chef Jeremiah Tower, who is to a great extent responsible for our country's renewed interest in our own regional cooking. Today Stars' sous-chef, David Robbins, is preparing a first course of sauteed red cabbage, grilled goat cheese, and walnuts. 

Thin slices of red cabbage go into a bowl. A splash of oil and vinegar dressing goes on top. A little fresh thyme, walnuts, salt and pepper. A small amount of vegetable oil is heated in a non-stick frying pan. The cabbage and the walnut mixture goes in and cooks for about two minutes.

Meanwhile a slice of goat cheese gets a coating of bread crumbs, goes on to a heat-proof dish, and under the broiler or into a toaster oven for about thirty seconds. Then the cooked cabbage and walnuts go on to a serving plate. The cheese goes on top, and there's a garnish of chopped fresh parsley. It's quite an impressive looking first course. Interesting tastes and textures. Soft, smooth cheese, crunch of the walnuts, and the cabbage texture in between.

The ancient Romans believed that the walnut was a physical model of the brain. The hard shell was the skull, the papery partition was the membrane, and the nut itself represented the brain's two hemispheres.

The ancient Greeks traded walnuts throughout the Mediterranean. They were a symbol of fertility and a very important gift at wedding parties. For many centuries they were ground up and used as a thickening agent in sauces. They were also chopped up and used as ingredients to give body to a dish, or as a garnish on top. By the way, those are both good ideas right now. They will add lots of crunch and flavor to a dish.

During the 13th and 14th centuries, walnuts were so important that there were many cities that had government officials whose entire job was to make sure that people got an honest count when they bought walnuts.

The Franciscan fathers brought walnut trees to the first missions in California, and that was the beginning of the California walnut industry. Today the state produces 98 percent of the walnuts eaten in America. The walnut is an excellent food, especially for people who are cutting down on animal protein, and substituting vegetable protein.

And Chef Robbins did a really nice job with them. For a main course, he's preparing grilled salmon with a potato and wild rice pancake.

Two cups of potatoes have been cut into cubes, simmered in milk for twenty minutes, drained into a bowl, and mixed together with an equal amount of wild rice that's already been cooked. Then the mixture of potatoes and wild rice is formed into a pancake, lifted with a spatula, and sauteed in a non-stick pan. Thirty seconds on one side, and thirty seconds on the other. Remember both the potatoes and the wild rice have already been cooked. We're just putting on a crust here.

Next, a fillet of salmon is given a light seasoning of salt and pepper, and sauteed for five minutes on each side. While that's going on, some asparagus gets cooked in boiling water.

DAVID ROBBINS: I'm going to add some salt to our water, drop them right in there.

BURT WOLF: Then the pancake goes on to a serving plate, the salmon on top, the asparagus, a little bit of chopped tomato, and a spoonful of mayonnaise, regular or low-fat, that's been flavored with saffron or curry. 

A number of years ago I demonstrated a wild rice recipe and got a letter from a viewer who said that he thought the wildest thing about wild rice was its price. In those days it was about fifteen dollars a pound. These days, however, thanks to a group of growers in northern California, you can get top-quality wild rice for about five dollars a pound.

Wild rice is actually not a rice. It's really a grass that grows in water. It's a good source of vegetable protein, niacin, B vitamins and potassium, with about 70 calories in a half-cup serving. It's also very easy to cook. One cup of wild rice is mixed together with three cups of boiling water. It's covered and simmered for 40 minutes and it's ready to use. 

The kernel expands to three or four times its size during the cooking process, so a cup of uncooked California wild rice will produce about three cups of cooked rice. As the rice cooks it opens and becomes two-tone -- tan on the outside, cream-colored on the inside.

It has a nutty quality and kind of a smoky taste. It goes well with poultry, pork, vegetables, or any meat or fish that's been grilled or barbecued. Leave it to California to tame the wild rice.

And now Stars' pastry chef, Emily Lucetti, is going to prepare a tray of her irresistible lemon bars.

Sweet butter goes into the bowl of an electric mixer. Then confectioners sugar. The mixer goes on, flour is added, and everything blends together into a sandy mixture. At which point it's emptied into a rectangular baking dish, and pressed down to form a crust which is baked for fifteen minutes. While that's baking, the lemon topping is made by beating together whole eggs, sugar, fresh lemon juice, and flour. When the crust comes out of the oven, the lemon mixture is poured on top. Then back it goes into the oven for thirty minutes more. Comes out, cools down, and is served with a light dusting of confectioners sugar, as a snack; or on top of a puree of strawberries, with a few whole blueberries, as a more formal dessert.

So what does San Francisco have to remind us about eating well? To begin with, there are the three most important things to remember about eating healthfully. Variety, balance and moderation.

Just take a look at the range of food available in San Francisco, the different cultures that have settled down here and kept on cooking with foods of their native homeland, and you'll remember variety. Variety tells you to eat as many different foods as possible. The more different foods that you eat, the greater your chance of getting all the nutrients you need. 

The dragon gate's message, "everything in the world is in just proportion", is a challenge to us to keep our eating in balance.

And when it comes to moderation, let me magnetically remind you - moderation simply means don't eat a lot of any one thing. There are no good foods, there are no bad foods, there are just inappropriate amounts. Unless you have some special medical problem, you should be able to eat whatever you want. The task is to limit the quantities. 

And Marilyn was right about her love of artichokes. They're naturally low in fat and naturally low in calories.

It looks like farm-raised fish are turning out to be a safe source of high-quality seafood. Tilapia is a perfect example.

Wild rice has been tamed. It was always a good source of niacin, B vitamins and potassium, with about 70 calories in a cup, but these days it's given up its wild price.

Walnuts. They're a good source of vegetable protein that can be used throughout a meal.

And when it comes to the fortune of good health, the Surgeon General of the United States put it quite clearly - if you don't smoke, and you don't drink alcohol in excessive amounts, it looks like the most important thing you can do to keep yourself healthier longer is eat properly.

That's Eating Well in San Francisco. Please join us next time as we travel around the world looking for something that tastes good. I'm Burt Wolf.

Eating Well: Oregon - #103

BURT WOLF: Oregon. It's been called “the most livable state in our country.” A land of extraordinary physical beauty. Majestic mountains... roaring rivers... and the pounding, picturesque surf of the Pacific Ocean. It's the place to take a look at some of the world's finest seafood, to find out why the caneberry is a food you can lean on for good health, and discover how an unusual recipe for waffles helped improve the performances of athletes all over the world. Join me, Burt Wolf, Eating Well in Oregon.

During the first half of the 1800's, the U.S. and the British jockeyed for power in the northwest. At the time, Thomas Jefferson was the president, and he wanted to strengthen his claim to the area. To do that he sent out an expedition to study and map the region. The leaders of the mission were two men... one named Lewis, the other Clark. When Lewis and Clark finished their work and returned to the east coast, their reports of the magnificent Eden of Oregon were widely reported in newspapers and magazines.

By the 1840's Oregon fever had spread across the east, and thousands of people were packing up everything they owned and heading west. The promise of getting a large piece of fertile land, and getting it free from the government was, quite frankly, an awesome idea. 

Now there's a theory that just the way birds of a feather flock together, so do people with similar ideas. When that happens, they form a community that has joint beliefs and a very similar character. People who feel the same way about things are attracted to that area. People who don't take a look at it and say, “not for me.”

The first U.S. settlers that came to Oregon from the east were educated young men, very respectable and very serious. And that was the type of person they wanted to have join them. Unprincipled and reckless adventurers were unwelcome. And the early Oregonians sent out that message in many ways. My favorite example of how they sent that signal is a story about a fork in the Oregon Trail that went from the east to the west right through these mountains. At one point the trail forked. On one side of it, there was a large pile of quartz gold. Everybody knew what that meant: “Take this side to the gold of California.” On the other side there was a carefully- lettered sign that said: “To Oregon.” The people that came here to Oregon? Those were the ones who could read.

The first settlers that came to the northwest arrived in the late fall. The growing season was over, and the trees and bushes were empty. So they didn't get to see all the wonderful foods that nature made available until the next spring. But when they did get a look at what was growing in their valley, they thought they had truly come to the Garden of Eden.

The Native American tribes that had been here for thousands of years already knew they were in Eden, and they had lots of stories about the natural foods in the area. They were particularly fascinated by the blueberry because of the five-pointed star at the top. They believed that the blueberries had been sent to them from heaven to help them through a particularly difficult time in their history.

Blueberries are still an important crop in the northwest. They're as convenient a food as you'll find -- just wash 'em and eat 'em. They're also easy to freeze. Put them into a container, seal it, and into a zero degree fahrenheit freezer, they'll last for up to two years. They're a good source of vitamin C, and have only about 90 calories in a cup. 

The only problem that the early settlers had with the blueberries came from the bears. Bears love blueberries and they will compete with farmers for the crop. And let me tell you, there's nothing like coming face to face with a 600-pound grizzly to give you a thrill on Blueberry Hill. (to “bear”) You wouldn't like me, I live on a low-fat diet. Honey, it's the next tree over. You'll love it.

And speaking of honey and blueberries, Greg Higgins of Portland's Heathman Hotel has a honey of a blueberry recipe, and he is unable to bear the thought of not sharing it. 

A half cup of all-purpose flour goes into a bowl. A quarter cup of sugar. A half cup of yellow cornmeal, and a tablespoon of baking powder. That gets mixed together. Then two-thirds of a cup of chilled butter gets crumbed together with the dry ingredients. You're really pinching the butter into the other ingredients to produce little pea-sized balls. Next a third of a cup of buttermilk is mixed in, and three-quarters of a cup of blueberries; at which point a little kneading is needed, but just a little. The dough is cut in half and shaped into disks about an inch thick. They go on to a buttered baking sheet where they get a light coating of eggwash. A deep X is cut into the top. Then into a 375 degree fahrenheit oven for twenty minutes. Out to cool, and they're ready to serve.

This is the Newport harbor on the coast of Oregon. For over a hundred years, Newport has been one of the most important fishing harbors on the west coast. The boats bring in salmon, sole, red snapper and shrimp. Shrimp is a ten-legged crustacean, and the most popular shellfish in the United States. We eat over 500 million pounds of them each year, and that's more than any other country on the planet. We know we've eaten shrimp in this country as far back as we have recorded information. Native American Indians, colonists, pioneers -- wherever we've had access to an ocean, shrimp has popped onto the local menu. Local is the key word there, because fresh shrimp don't last very long. So for centuries it was truly a local specialty. In 1917, however, we began putting refrigerators on the fishing boats, and in the 1950's, we began freezing shrimp for shipment.

One of my favorite shrimp dishes is sauteed shrimp served over fish fillets. A little vegetable oil goes into a pan to heat up. Meanwhile, fillets of Pacific whiting or rockfish are given a light dusting of flour, dipped into an egg wash, and coated with breadcrumbs. When the oil is hot, the fish goes in. Three minutes on each side. Out of the pan and onto the serving plate. Back in the same pan, a few tablespoons of your favorite seasonings. And in go the shrimp. Two minutes of cooking, then onto the fish, and it's time to eat.

(COCK CROWS)

(VOICES IN BACKGROUND)

Agricultural fairs have been part of farm life for almost as long as there's been agriculture. We had the first one in the colonies in 1810. A fair was a time when the entire community could get together. The harvest season had come to the end. People paid their debts, made new ones. Young men and women met and married. Ideas and techniques were exchanged.

When our colonies broke free of Great Britain at the end of the Revolutionary War, we gained a lot, but we also lost a lot. We lost our access to really good wool to make cloth, and we lost our access to the most recent technological information about advances in farming and agriculture. Guys like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were heads of state, but they were also farmers, and they felt that it was very important that we reestablish a system whereby we could spread out the most recent information about what was going on in farming from one farmer to another. Our state and county fairs became the vehicle for disseminating that information. 

At first the prime objective was to improve sheep-shearing so we could have good wool. But very soon every aspect of farm life was included.

Some form of public entertainment has been part of market and agricultural fairs since their beginning thousands of years ago. When the first Oregon State Fair was held in the 1860's, wandering musicians were there, and they still are. Today it's the Oak Ridge Boys.

(OAK RIDGE BOYS SING)

Named after a town in Tennessee, where atomic energy was first developed, these guys are a powerhouse all by themselves. They have a strong background in gospel music, but they have also been described as the finest singing group in country music. They are extraordinary individual singers who have managed to blend their distinctive personalities and distinctive eating styles into a hit group.

(APPLAUSE)

Joe, you used to cook in Philadelphia.

JOE BONSALL: I don't know that you could hardly call it cooking. When I was a kid I grew up in Philadelphia, and...

DUANE ALLEN: Slinging hash.

JOE: Yeah...well, something like that. I worked at Betty Angelino's luncheonette, and for a couple of years, though, I made hamburgers and Philly cheese steaks. I still know how to make a real Philly cheese steak, the way it's supposed to be made.

WOLF: Tell us about it.

JOE: Well, you know, a lot of people, you know, you get to these restaurants, like we'll be in... in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and it says "Authentic Philly Cheese Steak". Nah, they don't know how to do it.

(LAUGHTER)

The secret's in the bread, first of all. You got to have the really good bread. You got to have the real thinly sliced cheese steak, you know, the steak. You put it on the hot grill. And the grill's important, you can't just cook it on any old... any old pan, you got to have it on the grill. You cook it, turn it over, mix in all the fried onions with it, put the cheese on top, and put the bun on top of....

WOLF: Mmmmm. (LAUGHS)

JOE: So that...

DUANE: Yeah.

JOE: ... the aroma oozes up through the...

(OVERLAPPING VOICES)

STEVE: Yeah, it's all in the bread.

JOE: Into the bread. 

DUANE: Yeah.

JOE: And then you go....

DUANE: Yeah.

JOE: Phoom, like that. See, I know how to make a cheese steak.

DUANE: (OVER) Seal it in there.

BURT WOLF: Do you cook at home now?

JOE: Uh, no.

(LAUGHTER)

JOE: Oh, we do a lot, I'm just kidding. We... I think all of us cook just a little bit at home. But fortunately, I'm married to a woman who does really know how to cook very well, and if she don't feel like cooking, sometimes I'll take it on. There's a few things I can make.

BURT WOLF: Duane, you do much cooking at home?

DUANE: As little as I can get by with and retain the family... you know, proprietorship there. I don't want to be kicked out. I like to cook outside.

BURT WOLF: What about you, Steve? What do you cook?

STEVE SANDERS: I just take stuff and start throwing it all together, and that... that's usually when I cook, I never cook any one thing the same. And....

(LAUGHTER)

But, yeah, I..I cook. I just make up stuff. Oh, yeah, there's a piece of chicken here, you know, throw in some spaghetti sauce, and who knows what I'll end up with. I just start off and then... I usually end up with edible things, you know, but....

JOE: That's why we never go to his house for dinner.

(LAUGHTER)

STEVE: Yeah .... you know, but.... (VOICE FADES)

BURT WOLF: Richard, I hear you're real serious about your diet, and that you teach everybody around here what they should be eating.

RICHARD STERBAN: I have a very unusual way of eating. I'm very particular about my diet. Uh... I'm on a very low-fat, very high-carbohydrate sort of diet. It's almost a vegetarian diet, but not quite. I do eat some seafood, some chicken occasionally. But very low fat in my diet. And try to keep the carbohydrates as high as possible.

BURT WOLF: How do you guys feel about your seriousness on cholesterol, and diet and fat?

DUANE: I ... I think I...I like to be next to a winner, and so I...

(LAUGHTER)

I take that position of being number two, and eat to succeed. I like to be close to success.

STEVE: Yes, right.

(LAUGHTER)

DUANE: So I stay as close to Richard as I can, and I watch him, and I try my best to eat everything he leaves. All right?

(LAUGHTER)

BURT WOLF: The desire of the Oak Ridge Boys for peak performance is something that is shared by Bill Bowermann. 

(MUSIC)

Bill Bowermann was a track coach at the University of Oregon. Bill Knight was a miler that Bowermann was training. Bowermann was pleased with Knight's showings, but not his shoes. As a matter of fact, Bowermann wasn't pleased with the shoes of any of his athletes. Bowermann had been experimenting with different sole patterns in the hope of getting better traction and better cushioning, but nothing seemed to work very well. Then in 1971... the faithful fork of the food fairy, who's been responsible for so much of life's progress, entered the story. Bowermann was looking at the breakfast waffle that his wife had just made for him. The food fairy touched him with the magic fork, and he had the idea -- the surface of the waffle could be the perfect surface for the sole of a running shoe. He took his wife's waffle iron, filled it with rubber, saw what came out, and there it was, the new running shoe.

Today, his company is called Nike, after the Greek goddess of victory, and it's located just outside of Portland in a town called Beaverton. Everyone who works here appears to be as interested in exercise as they are in business, and instead of coffee breaks, they prefer fast breaks. 

Carrie Withers is Nike's resident exercise specialist. Her job is to see that the company's employees get in shape and stay that way.

Carrie put me through their physical evaluation program, and I found out two interesting things about myself. First, I'm a full two inches shorter than I was 30 years ago, which appears to be part of the natural process of aging. And second, and probably more important, in spite of my new length, I've been able to get down to my ideal weight. And quite frankly, if I could reach my proper weight, I think that just about anybody can. So as they say around here, Just Do It.

When Nike says “there is no finish line,” they're suggesting that we find the way of life that is good for us and enjoyable, and live that way as much of the time as possible. They're talking about lifestyle. Nike's love of fitness extends to their kitchen. Today Nike chef Scott Hill is preparing Nike chicken salad. Let's run over and see how it's made.

Skinless, boneless chicken breasts. Marinate for at least 30 minutes in a mixture of a canola-based vegetable oil, paprika, white pepper, and chopped garlic. Then onto a grill to cook. Six minutes on each side. While the chicken's on the grill, the sauce is made by mixing together a cup and a half of non-fat plain yogurt, a quarter cup of honey, a tablespoon of cinnamon, and a cup of pureed blueberries. Pre-cooked pasta is given a light coating of the dressing, and we're ready to plate the dish. Lettuce goes on first. The pasta, melon, strawberries, grated swiss cheese. The chicken is removed from the grill, sliced lengthwise and put on the top. Then the dressing, and a few pecans.

Chef Hill is also in top nutritional shape when he is performing his stir-fried vegetables with pasta. Two tablespoons of sesame oil get heated in a saucepan. Then in go slices of carrots, broccoli, green onions, yellow and red peppers, yellow squash, zucchini and sprouts. A little bit of a homemade sauce is added. The ingredients in the sauce are hoisin sauce, which is a sweet commercially-made sauce that you can usually get in the part of your market that sells Asian ingredients; a little soy sauce, chopped ginger and garlic. Cooked pasta is added; everything is mixed together. Onto the plate, a few sesame seeds, and you're ready to go.

And if you're in Oregon, one of the things you definitely go for is Dungeness crab.

There's a food dictionary that describes a Dungeness crab as “a crustacean with a hard shell and five pairs of legs,” which is a little like describing a Rolls Royce as “a car with four wheels,” or Everest as “a mountain.”

(LAUGHS)

You're kind of missing the essential point. A Rolls Royce, Mount Everest, and a Dungeness crab are at the top of their class. There are over 4000 different types of crabs, but when it comes to good taste, the Dungeness is unsurpassed.

We've been landing Dungeness crab on the Pacific coast since the 1880's. The clean, cold waters of the area offer up their harvest nearly all year round, and the fishermen have learned to cook and freeze their catch so it can be shipped throughout the world. In fact, recently they have even developed a system for shipping live crabs.

Dungeness make an ideal source of high-quality protein. They're low in saturated fat, low in calories, and they contain something called Omega-3, which appears to help protect us against heart disease. When you've got something that tastes as good as a Dungeness crab, and is naturally good for you, too, you want to choose a cooking technique that keeps the dish healthful. Your best bets are grilling, broiling, steaming, poaching, and boiling. And make sure the other ingredients in the recipe are low-fat, too.

Heathman chef Greg Higgins shows how that's done with his recipe for Dungeness Crab Chowder. A little vegetable oil goes into a hot saucepan to heat up. Add a cup of diced red bell pepper, a cup of diced green bell pepper, and four cups of corn kernels, either fresh or frozen. All that gets stirred and cooked together for a minute over high heat. And in goes some minced garlic, a little thyme, and tablespoon of ground cumin. A little more cooking and you add four cups of hot chicken stock, a cup of diced green onion, and a quarter cup of cornstarch mixed with a little cold water. Reduce the heat, and simmer for about two minutes. The chowder is seasoned with a little tabasco. Finally two cups of cooked Dungeness crabmeat. The chowder goes into bowls, a little green onion on top, a sprig of thyme, and it's ready to serve.

Portland is officially known as The City Of Roses, and it is home to the International Rose Test Garden, the country's oldest continuously operated scientific site of its kind. It has three terraces which contain over ten thousand individual bushes representing more than 400 different varieties of roses. Research scientists have uncovered and analyzed fossilized roses that date back over 40 million years. Throughout most of their history, roses have been a source of pleasure and fascination, with a particularly mystical quality.

The rose is the symbol of the Virgin Mary, and originally a rosary was 165 dried rose petals wound up tight and made into a chain. In medieval times, roses were used to make medicine and perfume, and love potions. They were dried and used to stuff pillows and make carpets and hats, and even umbrellas. Roses were a basic part of cooking, especially in Middle Eastern cuisine. In Europe and the United States, rose-flavored waters were a basic part of cooking to the middle of this century. You can still get rosewater in markets that have a Middle Eastern food section. It's a really nice flavoring agent. Just take a couple of tablespoons of rosewater, and substitute it for an equal amount of any of the other liquids that are in the recipe. It's especially good with baked goods like pastry. It's also good in sherbets and ice cream, and I really like it in rice.

Along with its official title of the City of Roses, Portland is unofficially known as the City Of Fountains. The seemingly endless supply of fresh water was extremely impressive to the first settlers arriving in the Oregon territory. Raining down from the western mountain ranges, and building up into extraordinary rivers, clean water was like liquid gold to the pioneers. That appreciation of fresh water is expressed in Portland by a series of public fountains. The Ira Keller Fountain was designed to echo the natural waters that surrounded the city. The Skidmore Fountain was put up in 1888 by a man who was impressed with the fountains of Europe. The twenty Benson Fountains, each with four spigots, were donated to the city in 1912 by lumber baron Simon Benson.

Legend has it that Benson put up all these fountains around town to discourage his loggers from drinking stronger stuff. 

You won't see it on any list of essential nutrients, but water is our most essential nutrient. You can go for weeks without food, but a couple of days without water, and you're on your way into big trouble.

Unfortunately our thirst is not a good criteria for our need for water. You can desperately need water and not be thirsty. That's why scientists tell us to work hard at getting six to eight cups of water into our diet every day. It's important to our health.

When the first wagon trains crossed the continent and finally arrived in the northwest, the farmers soon realized that they had come into one of the world's most unique agricultural environments. The soil is extremely fertile, but it also drains well. There are good spring rains that come at just the right time in the growing cycle. Warm summer days, but cool summer nights. It's an unusual collection of environmental factors, and it produces one of the few places on the planet where you can grow caneberries. Each year a caneberry plant will produce a long, leafy cane. The following year that cane will be covered with berries. The most common caneberries are raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries, loganberries, and marionberries. 

A cup of these berries have about 60 calories. They also have about 50 percent of the daily recommended allowance for vitamin C. And the raspberry has more fiber per calorie than any of our common foods. Quite frankly, the more research we see from the scientific community about the importance of fiber, the more we see how fiber is essential to our good health, and the caneberry is definitely a food you can lean on to get more fiber into your diet.

And a popular way to enjoy all of those caneberries is Jake's Three Berry Cobbler. Jake's Restaurant in downtown Portland was named after Jake Freeman, a deeply beloved waiter who worked here during the early years of this century. The place has a fascinating collection of memorabilia from its past, which began in 1892. The kitchen specializes in dishes prepared from the local products of the northwest. When it comes to desserts, their principal attraction is a three berry cobbler.

A saucepan goes over medium heat, and in goes one cup of strawberries, one cup of blueberries, a cup of raspberries, and three tablespoons of sugar. That gets mixed together and cooked down for about ten minutes. As that cooking goes on, you can see the juices of the berries coming out and mixing together. Two tablespoons of cornstarch blended into a little water is added in. And the juice of half a lemon. The berry mixture is ladled into serving bowls. A disk of your favorite pie dough is cut out and placed on top of the berries. Onto a baking sheet to catch any spills, and into a 350 degree fahrenheit oven for twenty minutes. Just before serving, the cobbler is topped off with whipped cream or ice cream or low-fat yogurt, depending on your relationship with your cardiologist.

Another northwest food that's popular in Portland, and becoming more and more popular throughout the U.S., is Pacific whiting.

Pacific whiting is a fish that is found off our coast from northern California to Washington state. In fact, more than half the fish swimming off the west coast are whiting. It's mild tasting with a flaky white meat that has a soft texture. Years ago it was all taken by the Soviet Union and other eastern bloc countries, previously known as the Communists. But these days U.S. fishermen make the catch. Last year we brought in over 200 thousand tons. Now that is a fish dinner.

Because the Pacific whiting is so delicate, it's a good idea to cook it the day you get it home. The ideal cooking methods are pan frying, baking, and microwaving. As a matter of fact, the Pacific whiting is the perfect fish for microwaving, and if you use a low-fat sauce, you're going to end up with an ideal nutritional package. It has top quality protein, it's low in fat, and it's low in calories.

A great place to enjoy a dish of Pacific whiting is the B. Moloch Heathman Bakery and Pub. B. Moloch was the name of a French caricaturist whose paintings decorate the walls of the restaurant. The kitchen has a ten-ton wood-burning oven, which produces over 20 thousand loaves of wholegrain bread each month, and hundreds of pizzas each day. The sous-chef, Ismael Kamara, was born in West Africa, but is perfectly at home in west Oregon. His recipe for Pacific whiting reflects his love of satisfying foods that are painless to prepare.

A piece of whiting with the skin on one side gets a light coating of flour. A little vegetable oil is heated in a pan, and the whiting goes in. Two minutes of cooking on one side, an easy flip, and two minutes of cooking on the other side.

While it's cooking, Ismael adds in two tablespoons of chopped garlic, a quarter cup of lemon juice, a quarter cup of sherry, or you can substitute some chicken stock or even water. It all cooks down for a moment. Then the whiting gets a light grating of Parmesan cheese on top, and into a 350 degree fahrenheit oven for five minutes. At that point, a few spears of cooked asparagus go into the pan, and back into the oven for a moment more to heat up. The asparagus goes on to a serving plate, the fish, a garnish of flowers, a little thyme, and a garlic and lemon juice sauce.

So what have we seen in Oregon in terms of eating well? First, we need six to eight glasses of water each day, and thirst is not a reliable signal. Just drink them. 

Dungeness crab, a good source of low-fat protein. They also contain Omega-3, which appears to help protect us against heart disease.

Caneberries in general, and especially raspberries, are a good source of fiber.

Oakridge Boy Richard Sturban’s healthful diet, low in fat, high in complex carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables is a good idea for all of us.

And finally from the goddess of victory, the thought that there is no finish line. Progress is really made by changing your lifestyle during the trip. Don't go on a diet. Instead try to make a permanent change in your eating style. And very important, exercise on a regular basis.

That's eating well in Oregon. Please join us next time as we travel around the world looking for something that tastes good and makes it easier to eat well. I'm Burt Wolf.

Eating Well: Washington, DC - #102

BURT WOLF: Washington D.C. -- It’s the most all-American of our cities. The town where we store our country's past and plan its future. The place to take a look at American food from Colonial farmers to capsule Commanders. We'll find out why George Washington never smiled in public. Take a look at the first American cookbook and discover the recipe for a soup that must be served by law in the U.S. Senate everyday. Join me, Burt Wolf, Eating Well in Washington D.C.

Washington was the first modern city designed from scratch to be the capital of the nation. In 1790, Congress authorized the newly elected president, George Washington, to select a site on the Potomac River for a federal city. Washington had done an enormous amount of travelling during his life and he was fed up with the idea of commuting to work, so he chose the nearest town to his own home, Alexandria, Virginia as a starting point for the capital. The President's official home, the White House, was placed on top of a small hill looking down a wide avenue with the houses of Congress on the other end. That way they could keep an eye on each other. Today most of the sights to see are concentrated in one area of the town, which makes it a great place to get in your walking. Three miles in forty five minutes four times each week could help reduce your need for federal medical assistance. Remember, you're paying for every part of this federal government, so you want to see it all. There's The Old Executive Office Building, where old executives are stored. The Washington Monument, a 555-foot obelisk pointing to the sky. A constant reminder of the direction of our national debt. The Lincoln Memorial for our 16th President and savior of the union. The Supreme Court: I wanted some of the justices to render an opinion on a few recipes, but they are so far behind on their regular work already that no distractions are being allowed. The Jefferson Memorial: now, most people think of Thomas Jefferson as the 3rd president of the United States, author of the Declaration of Independence and the first president to be inaugurated in Washington. But he was a very important fellow in the world of food too. He spent five years in France as our ambassador, during which period he came to love French cooking. He was the first president to import a French chef into the White House. He drew a design for a pasta making machine. And at the risk of being executed if he was caught, he smuggled home seed rice from Italy and was responsible for starting up our own rice industry. And then there's The Mall; no shopping, just some of the world's finest museums.

For me, the superstar of museums is the Smithsonian. In 1829, an Englishman named James Smithson died and left over half a million in gold to the U.S. Federal Government. He left that money with specific instructions: they had to build an institution that would advance and distribute knowledge. In those days a half a million dollars was big bucks. You could actually buy something. And the Federal Government, big surprise, did a good job spending it.

Today the Smithsonian runs over a dozen major facilities, including the world's most visited museum, the National Air & Space Museum. Over twelve million people come through here every year. Air & Space has the original wood and fabric plane that the Wright Brothers flew in 1903, the very first powered manned and controlled flight. They also have the Apollo 11 command module that brought back the first men to land on the moon. Amazing -- Apollo's trip to the moon came only 66 years after the Wright Brothers’ flight. But what about the story of food in flight? Well, in the beginning there was a great void. There was absolutely no meal service on the Wright Brothers flight -- no soft drinks, no snacks, not even a bag of peanuts. And the history of commercial aviation and food is very checkered. There have been some great meals and some terrible meals. I was recently served a breakfast on board a flight that had so much saturated fat and cholesterol, that I considered it an attack upon my life. The meal was much more dangerous than the flight. I can't imagine why they want to knock off a frequent flier like me; I spend a lot of money on airlines. There is, however, one organization that is very serious about its inflight food, and that's NASA. They served their first in-flight meal in 1962 and the passenger was John Glenn. 

When scientists began to study the problems that astronauts might face when they started eating in space, they were concerned that swallowing might be impossible. John Glenn was the first person to actually be able to answer that question. His food came in squeezeable packages and he was able to swallow. During the Gemini missions of the mid 60's, the food shifted into plastic containers. By the early 70's hot water was on board. With Skylab, astronauts began spending long periods of time in space; food became serious. They had the first dining room in space and the first dish was passed. During the Apollo/Soyuz mission in 1975, an important food event took place: a U.S. ship docked with a Russian ship. We gave them a sample of our meals, they gave us ticket number 4,783 on the Moscow supermarket food line. Just kidding -- they gave us soup in a tube. These days, when dinner is ready, you just float off into a spot of space and start eating. Most of the food is sticky enough so that you can eat it with a spoon, or use your spoon to shoot it into your mouth. A whole new set of table manners appears to be evolving. Eating in space has given new meaning to the phrase “light meals.” And it's the perfect environment if you want to play with your food. The diet for our astronauts is carefully monitored; they end up eating rather healthfully. Especially when you consider the fact that they are literally surrounded by starbursts and milky ways.

Mount Vernon, situated on the banks of the Potomac River, was the estate of George Washington. Most people think of him as the 1st President of the United States. He thought of himself as a gentleman farmer. George acquired Mount Vernon when he was twenty-two years old in 1754, and called it home until his death at the age of 67. Washington carefully planned the arrangement of the grounds. He constantly experimented with seeds and systems. He believed that agriculture was the most important art. Today the gardens include only those plant varieties that would have been found there during the 18th century. The estate has more than thirty acres of beautiful gardens and wooded grounds. To the side of the main building, connected by a covered walkway, is a separate structure for cooking. In those days almost all the major food preparation was done in its own out-building. 

The main reason was to avoid a fire breaking out in the family home. It also kept the house cooler during the summer months, and it kept the smells outside the home. Breakfast was about seven o'clock in the morning; the General usually liked to have mush cakes with honey and three cups of tea without cream. The main meal was three o'clock in the afternoon, there was a tea break around 6 PM with a light snack, and sometimes a light supper around nine o'clock. But George liked to go to bed around nine o'clock, so he usually skipped that meal. Nice eating pattern; he took in most of his calories early in the day, and that's very healthy. 

The cooking was done in this room, the open fireplace was the heat source. A number of different fires would be burning at the same time, each with a different type of wood, depending on the style of heat you wanted. You could turn the range up or down by increasing or decreasing the distance of the pot from the flame. A little trickier than turning the dial. Many pots had legs to hold them above the hot coals on the floor of the fireplace. Foods were grilled over the fire on metal grids called gridirons. If you look at the pattern, you can see the reason a football field is called a gridiron. A second room was dug into the ground to keep the air cooler. It was called a larder and used to store perishable foods for a few extra days. The General once compared his home to a well-resorted hotel because of the steady stream of visitors. He was a famous guy and people were very curious about him. Because of his reputation for hospitality, they would just pop in. And if you had a proper letter of introduction, you were welcome. Well, it's about two hundred years later and not much has changed. Contemporaries of Washington thought of him as a great man who did not speak very much in public and did not eat a great deal at his dinner parties. The problem was not his inability to carry on a great conversation or a good appetite. He was unhappy about showing what was in his mouth. Think about it, you never see him with his mouth open, not even for a smile. 

Poor George. Through most of his life he suffered with some kind of dental problem. He had periodontal disease, he had lots of serious toothaches, and he had false teeth that didn't fit very well. Contemporaries thought that his teeth might have been made of wood, but that was actually not the case. They were made of cow's teeth and teeth that had been carved from the tusks of hippopotami and elephants. Recently a group of scientists were taking a look at his dental history and they came to the conclusion that he may have lost his teeth because there wasn't enough calcium in his diet. These days we know that we need three portions of calcium in our diet every single day. Best way to get them: low-fat dairy products and calcium-fortified citrus juice.

Though George might have opened his mouth in astonishment, if he saw what was going on today in the city that bears his name, especially in this structure. This is the Capitol Building of the Federal Government of the United States of America. Home to the Senate, our senior house of the legislative branch. 

The United States Senate is a complex place and nobody is ever quite sure what's going on inside there. But whatever conflicts and confusion may exist, there is one thing you can count on. Every day in the United States Senate dining room, bean soup will be on the menu. Nobody knows exactly how it happened, but in the early days of this century, some senator slipped in a piece of legislation requiring that bean soup be served day after day after day.

As part of the Freedom of Information Act, the recipe has been declassified. 

Chef Walter Sednew at the Hay Adams Hotel starts by putting a quarter cup of vegetable oil into a pot. Then two cups of chopped onion, one cup of chopped celery, and a minced clove of garlic. Next five smoked ham hocks go in, two quarts of water and a pound of Michigan Navy Beans that have been soaked in water for eight hours. A little vinegar is added, ketchup (ah -- President Reagan's favorite vegetable), and a little thyme and two hours of simmering. Finally we put in two cups of diced potatoes and two cups of diced carrots and one cup of tomato juice. Thirty minutes of additional simmering, then the ham comes out and the soup is ready to serve.

The Library of Congress: it was originally established in 1800 to purchase books that members of the legislature might need to consult. It started out as a small reference collection, but like most things that originate in Washington D.C., it just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Today it has almost a hundred million items, including a tremendous collection of American cookbooks... cookbooks that tell the story of how the American family has been transformed from food producer to food consumer. Gone are the instructions to pick your vegetables early in the day because they will taste better. The Library has a great collection of what are called “charitable cookbooks.” They were originally developed during the Civil War by the Ladies’ Aid Societies to fund a particular charitable event. The idea of a charitable cookbook is an American invention. The first cookbook printed in America was produced in 1742 titled "The Complete Cook". Next came "The Frugal Housewife", and "The New Art of Cookery". But these were basically English cookbooks printed in America. The first truly American cookbook was published in 1796 and called "American Cookery". It was the first book to call for ingredients that were only available in the American colonies, and to use words like shortening, cookie and cole slaw. It called for pumpkin pie, and recommended the combination of turkey and cranberries. Where would we be on Thanksgiving without this book?

In 1828 Robert Roberts, a servant in the home of a Massachusetts Senator, published "The House Servant's Directory". It was the first commercially printed cookbook by an African- American. During the late 1800's most of our cookbooks came out of cooking schools. The people in these schools were divided into two groups. The first group were daughters of immigrant families who were learning how to cook in order to get a job. The second group were daughters of wealthy American families who were learning how to give orders to the first group. The most important book to come out of the schools was "Fanny Farmer’s Boston Cooking School Cookbook". It set the basic style for recipe presentation that we use today, and it was the first to really use precise measurements. It called for an eight ounce cup, instead of two handfuls. 

Today we publish thousands and thousands of new cookbooks every year. I always thought if you could read and had a driver's license, you were over-qualified to be a good cook. When you cook you just use eye and hand coordination; when you drive you've also got to use your feet. 

Well, as long as we have the ability to drive, lets zip across D.C. to the quaint neighborhood of Georgetown. In the heart of Georgetown, in a cozy three-story federal townhouse that feels like a private home is the 1789 Restaurant. 1789 was a big deal year in the history of Washington. It was the year that the Constitution of the United States was finally adopted, which marks it as the first year of our Federal Government. It was the year that Georgetown was incorporated as a village. And it was the year that George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the U.S. Good year. Good restaurant too. Warm romantic atmosphere, decorated with period prints, antiques and fine reproductions. There's an old English Parliament clock that dates back to the time when the English parliament passed a tax on watches. 

A tax that was so unpopular that the pubs actually put in clocks to help their patrons avoid paying it. I wonder if there was anything that the government will not tax. (LAUGHS) I bet there isn't. Well one thing that is definitely not taxing, is the food at 1789. Chef Rick Steffan presents classic American food at its best. Example, their crab cakes. 

A cup of mayonnaise goes into a mixing bowl, or you can cut down on the calories here by using a low calorie mayonnaise or a cup of egg whites. Next an ounce of lemon juice, a teaspoon of ground dry ginger. Four teaspoons of Old Bay Seasoning, or a mixture of your own favorite herbs and spices. Quarter cup of chopped parsley and two tablespoons of chives. That gets mixed together. Then in go four cups of fresh lumped crab meat and four tablespoons of crushed oyster crackers. The mixture gets formed into three and a half ounce patties. A little vegetable oil is heated in a frying pan, the crab cakes go in and cook for three minutes on each side. When you're turning food in a pan like this, it's a good idea to tilt the oil to one side; that will help keep it from splattering. A little mustard sauce goes onto a serving dish, some chives, the crab cakes, potatoes and asparagus. 

Out of respect for President Bush, we skipped the broccoli. 

Just a few blocks from the White House, the Old Ebbett Grill was founded in 1856, and its regular guests included Presidents McKinley, Grant, Andrew Jackson, Cleveland, and Theodore Roosevelt. And it still draws a crowd of Capitol cronies. There's a Victorian quality to the main dining room, lots of antiques from the period, lots of natural wood and high ceilings, and a good breakfast menu. One of my favorite dishes is Chef Paul Mueller's apple pancakes.

A cup and a half of all-purpose flour and a pinch of salt go into a mixing bowl. And so do eight eggs. And a cup and a half of milk. I also tested this recipe with two egg whites for each whole egg called for and skim milk for the whole milk and it worked fine. In most recipes you can substitute skim milk for whole milk and egg whites for a whole yolk and save yourself a lot of fat. The batter goes into the refrigerator overnight to rest.

Next morning, a frying pan gets a little vegetable oil. As soon as it's hot, the batter is poured into the pan. It goes into a depth of about a half an inch. Then in go three Granny Smith Apples that have been peeled and sliced, a little sugar, a little cinnamon, a little nutmeg and into a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven for ten minutes. That's it! Nice sized portion. Share it with someone, thougt. Restaurants tend to be a bit over-generous with the amount of food in their servings. Friendly but filling, sharing or taking half home is the answer. Next we take a look at lunch at the Old Ebbitt. One of Chef Mueller's most popular dishes is a steak salad; here's how he does it. 

A dressing is made from a little mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chopped shallots, little vinegar and a cup of vegetable oil that is slowly whisked in. When the dressing is finished, it gets set aside for a few minutes. A flank steak that's been marinating in Italian dressing goes onto a grill. And the original homemade dressing is mixed with fresh greens, some chopped onion is added. Strips of carrots, cubes of cucumber, feta cheese and tomato slices. The salad goes onto a serving plate, the steak comes off the grill, it's sliced against the grain and placed onto the salad. Lots of complex carbohydrates in the salad, small portion of protein in the meat. Good balance.

The National Museum of Natural History was built in 1910 and houses the majority of the Smithsonian's objects. Almost a hundred and twenty million specimens. Things that tell the story of our planet from its very beginning. And when we come to the history of humans, much of the chronicle is about eating and drinking, which makes perfectly good sense. A person can't exist much more than a month without water and then food, which would make a pretty short history. So our first objective has always been “let's eat!” Dr. Gus Van Beek is the Curator Of Old World Archeology here, and a specialist on the subject.

BURT WOLF: What did people eat seven thousand years ago?

DR. VAN BEEK: Many of the same things that we eat today. In the near east, where I work, chick peas, lentils, onions, everyone loved onions and the ... and all the members of the onion garlic family. Garlic was highly prized. Shallots, all of these things were known. We also know that by that time many of the major animals had been domesticated, were being domesticated, the cow, probably the pig. And the opportunity to have food sources at your house instead of having to go out and hunt for them in the wilds, was a marvelous thing because you were assured a steady food supply.

BURT WOLF: I was fascinated by some of the things you have in the museum, I saw the amphora, the ancient jars that people use, and they always have a point on the bottom and I think, what a weird design, why isn't it flat the way our jars are?

DR. VAN BEEK: Because it's structurally stronger at the point. The evolution of this shape begins with a kind of triangular shape like this down to a point, to a cylindrical shape in the Roman period, and this is because in transport, it's much easier to carry physically a cylinder, a pipe- like shape, than it is a triangular shape.

BURT WOLF: Sometimes the shape of things in the past make more sense than we thought. True for containers of food and drink, and true for the places where people gather to do their eating and drinking.

The places where people come together can be divided into three categories. The first is your home, the second is the place where you work, and the third is a neighborhood hangout, where people from the area come together to talk, to reduce the tensions and stresses of daily life and just to be together. It can be a cafe or a coffee house, or a soda fountain. In Europe these places are very common and they weren't common in the United States until the middle of the century. 

In recent years however, very few real estate developers have included this type of gathering place in their plans. An exception is Clyde's of Reston just outside of Washington. From the beginning it was designed to be one of these “third places,” with a cast of regular neighborhood customers. One of the ways Chef Tom Mayer keeps those customers is by serving dishes that are associated with the warmth of Ma's home cooking. An example is his molded meatloaf. A cup of whole oats go into a mixing bowl, plus a cup and a quarter of honey and a cup of milk. That gets mixed together and left to rest for a few minutes while the oats soften. A little vegetable oil goes into a frying pan and three cups of chopped onions, a minced clove of garlic, a little salt and pepper and two minutes of cooking. The onion mixture goes into a bowl, five pounds of ground chuck and the oatmeal mixture. Finally a cup and a half of grated carrot. Then into an oiled bundt, or tubed baking pan. The pan goes onto a sheet to catch any spills, and then into a 375 degree oven for fifty minutes. The glaze is made from ketchup and a little dry mustard. When the meatloaf is cooked, it comes out of the oven, gets turned onto a pan, painted with the glaze, heated for ten minutes more to bake the glaze, sliced and served with mashed potatoes, green beans and mushroom gravy. They also bake their own desserts, including an amazing cookie developed by pastry Chef Kathleen Stevens. A cup of vegetable oil goes into a mixing bowl, eight ounces of melted unsweetened chocolate, two pounds of sugar, one tablespoon of salt, eight eggs and one pound of all purpose flour. Mix that together, then add in one and a half tablespoons of baking powder, one tablespoon of vanilla extract, and two cups each of chopped walnuts and chocolate chips. That mixture goes into a bowl. A plastic wrap cover goes on and it's into the refrigerator to chill out for an hour. Then out of the refrigerator and into golfball-size spheres. Roll the spheres through powdered sugar and onto a parchment covered baking sheet and into a 350 degree oven for twelve minutes. As the cookies bake they spread out and develop a crinkly crust. They are about the best-tasting cookies it has ever been my pleasure to try and eat in moderation. 

Each year the President of the United States pops into Congress to deliver his State of the Union Message. In theory at least, it's a description of what's going on in our country. But I'm interested in food; I want to know the State Of The Stomach. With everything that's happening here in Washington, in terms of food in its relationship to good health, you've got to wonder, is there still anything that is okay to eat? Well, in spite of what you may hear and read in the media, all things considered the food supply in the United States is quite safe. And there are lots of people working hard to make it even safer. You do, however, have to bear in mind that there are no good foods and no bad foods. There are just appropriate and inappropriate quantities. You can eat whatever you want to eat, only just eat a little bit of it. And eat as many different foods as you possibly can. That's the only way to make sure that you're getting all of the nutrients you need. Variety and moderation, those are the keys. And here are a couple of other things that we covered in Washington D.C. that you might want to remember. 

Exercise is very important for good health; check with your doctor, but a good basic minimum is walking three miles in forty five minutes, and doing that four times each week.

Follow the eating pattern of George Washington and take in most of your calories at breakfast and lunch. But unlike George, get the calcium you need. At least three servings a day. Eight ounces of a skim milk product counts as a good one. So does a glass of calcium fortified citrus juice. Beans are a good source of fiber. More fruits and vegetables, less saturated fat. Don't give up the foods you love; that can lead to bingeing. Take what you want, but reduce the quantities. As often as possible use skim milk for regular milk, and two egg whites for each whole egg. When restaurant portions are large, share them with someone or take half home for later. 

That's Eating Well in Washington; please join us next time as we travel around the world looking for something that tastes good and is good for you too. I'm Burt Wolf.

Eating Well: Vancouver Island - #101

BURT WOLF: Vancouver Island, just off the Pacific coast of Canada. A supernatural environment, where the food is just as magnificent as the surroundings. We'll ride the British Columbia ferries and get their famous recipe for clam chowder. Learn the lesson of healthful weight loss from the Bungy Zone, and have tea with the Queen of Victoria. Join me, Burt Wolf, Eating Well, on Vancouver Island.

(MUSIC)

BURT WOLF: Vancouver Island is divided into two distinct areas by a backbone of mountains that run down the center of the land mass. The west side faces the open Pacific. It's rugged nature at its most spectacular. Deep fjords, high cliffs, a paradise for lovers of the outdoors. The Eastern plain slopes down from the mountains to the sheltered coasts, farmland, fishing, picturesque villages, modern cities and a unique opportunity to see the highly sophisticated culture of the first peoples. Warm air coming up from the South Pacific gives Vancouver Island a mild climate all year round. Victoria, the largest city on the island, is also the capital of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The Parliament buildings are illuminated each night with thousands of tiny lights. The town's turn of the century architecture gives it a charm rarely found in a modern metropolis. Victoria has the oldest Chinatown in Canada... home to Fantan Alley, reputed to be the narrowest street in the country. The entrance to the area is marked by the Gates of Harmonious Interest. I assume that to mean a desire to harmoniously blend in interest and good flavor with an appreciation of good health. 

The history of the area is quite concise. Anthropologists tell us that the first native tribes arrived here about twenty thousand years ago, having travelled over the Bering Sea from Asia. But if you talk to the local native tribes, they tell you that they have been here since the beginning of time. They call themselves the First People. And they say that they were actually the folks that went across the other way and started life in Asia. I guess you pay your money and you take your choice. The first Europeans into the area were the Spanish. They sailed through in the 1500s, took a look at what was going on, and sailed home. The first Europeans to take up residence in the neighborhood were the English. And they arrived in the early 1800s.

(MUSIC)

The Hudson's Bay Company set up Fort Victoria to further its interests in fur trading, logging, mining and farming. In the eighteen fifties, gold was discovered and thousands of fortune seekers came up from the California gold fields to get a crack at what was happening here.

When the gold ran out, everybody settled down. Logging continued, but the new industry is nature. Everybody on the island works hard to preserve it, and people come from all over the world to take a look at it.

(MUSIC)

During the 1800s, the James Bay Bridge ran across Victoria's harbor. But in the early years of this century, the wooden structure was replaced with a stone causeway. The land behind it was reclaimed from the sea, and the Empress Hotel constructed on this central site. The elegant ivy-covered exterior is a recognizable landmark and an important part of Canada's architectural heritage. The magnificent glass dome above the Palm Court is in a perfect state of restoration and still sheds its light on the potted palms. The Bengal Room is a reminder of the days when India was part of the British Empire. Ceiling fans, bentwood furniture, tiger skins, and every day at lunch, a buffet with a dish of curry. Today it's a classic chicken curry prepared by Chef David Hammonds.

The word curry comes from an old southern Indian word that means sauce ... and that's what a curry was originally meant to be. It was a fairly liquid blend of spices with a few onions cooked into a light broth or stew and poured over a mild ingredient like rice. Curry was used as a flavoring agent, the way a Japanese or Chinese chef might use soy sauce, or an American putting ketchup on potatoes. The fiery hot curries that you sometimes find today were only developed during the 1600's when European explorers first brought hot chilies to the Caribbean from Europe and then eventually to India. If you've cooked a dish of curry and you find that the heat from the spices is too hot, an easy way to cool down that heat is to add a little yogurt. Just take the finished dish off the heat and mix in the yogurt. The yogurt should be at room temperature and low fat, or non-fat of course, taste as you go along, until you get the intensity of heat that you like. And if you get a mouthful of curry that's too hot for you from the spices, don't try to cool your mouth down by drinking water; the water will only spread out the heat. What you want to do is get a piece of bread, chew the bread and spread the bread around your mouth. Bread will absorb the heat.

Chef Hammonds starts his curry by taking a four to five pound chicken and cutting it into parts. The legs, thighs, breasts and other meaty parts go into making the curry. The other pieces are saved to make chicken soup. "A penny saved is a penny earned." And most professional cooks try to use everything they can. A little clarified butter or vegetable oil goes into a saute pan, some chopped garlic, some chopped fresh ginger and the chicken parts. You can cook the chicken with the skin on and remove the skin later to avoid the extra fat and cholesterol, or you can take the skin off before you start cooking. It doesn't really make very much difference, as long as you don't eat the skin. Next, a few tablespoons of curry powder, a bay leaf, a tablespoon or so of cumin, coriander and turmeric. A half cup of chopped onion, some chopped celery, some chopped carrot, a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste and a chopped tomato. Some chopped fruit, lemon juice, a cup of chicken stock. A little fresh pepper and into a 375 degree Fahrenheit oven for twenty minutes. When it’s finished cooking, a cup of rice is put onto a serving plate made into a circle, a few pieces of chicken go on to the center, and the sauce on top. 

The Empress Hotel is also famous for its afternoon tea service. Dutch traders working out of the Chinese city of Canton were the first people to send tea back to Europe. They sent it to Holland where it became very fashionable in the 1600's. The Cantonese word for tea was char, and there were women in England who earned a living by making tea and they were known as charladies. When the English shifted their business from the city of Canton to Amoy, they began to use the Amoy dialect. And the word for char in Amoy was tea, and that's how the word tea got into the English language.

As Britain's industrial middle class got richer and richer, they began to invent new social forms to display their sudden wealth. They developed "The Club", and made lunch a big and important meal for businessmen. That resulted in dinner time being pushed back to a later point in the day, usually between 8:00 and 9:00 PM. And that became a real problem for Lady Anne, the seventh Duchess of Bedford. She just couldn't wait that long for dinner. And so she began to have a little tea in the afternoon and then a little sandwich to go along with that tea, and a little cookie and a little cake and a scone and a tart and some butter and jam and Devonshire cream. The Duchess could really down it. At first she would have these little snacks in the privacy of her boudoir, but then her friends came to join her and afternoon tea got started. I guess the greatest honor you could have in connection with tea, would be to have it with the Queen. Your Majesty, do you still have afternoon tea?

QUEEN: Afternoon tea, well actually we have morning tea, afternoon tea, evening tea, bedtime tea, high tea and fortunately we have forty-seven washrooms too. (LAUGHS)

BURT WOLF: (LAUGHS) Do you have a favorite food that you have with your tea?

QUEEN: Well my goodness gracious, I do actually. We don't have it on the table today but fortunately I have some in my hand ... sausages, do you have sausages with tea sometimes in America?

BURT WOLF: No I haven't actually. I'm on a low fat diet.

QUEEN: Well these are low fat, low cholesterol actually, made with crushed crumpets.

BURT WOLF: Ah.

QUEEN: Oh yes, in fact what we call them are Heritage sausages, and they've been in the family for generations, you see. The only problem is they get fuzz balls. So one has to carry one's fuzz ball remover along with them.

BURT WOLF: Do you use a tea cozy when you make tea?

QUEEN: A tea cozy is absolutely essential. Did you not notice the tea cozy here?

BURT WOLF: No. 

QUEEN: This is not actually the coronation crown. (LAUGHS) Looks like it though doesn't it? No, that's the tea, and there's the tea cozy...

BURT WOLF: (LAUGHS)

QUEEN: ... on top of it. And of course, then you can always use it as a hat, if it's chilly.

BURT WOLF: Have you ever tasted any of the fast food in your country?

QUEEN: Royalty doesn't rush, Burt. Possibly some time in the future we will, at this point, we are interested in it though, I understand there a lot of preservatives and anything to keep one going, I say ...

BURT WOLF: If you don't mind, Your Majesty, I'd like to ask a few questions about the family.

QUEEN: Of course.

BURT WOLF: How are things doing with Prince Charles and Princess Diana?

QUEEN: Well they are going their separate ways. He lives in the country, she lives in the city, mind you they ... they occasionally have a candlelit dinner, caviar that sort of thing, and champagne, he has it on Tuesdays, she has it on Thursdays. Did you know by the way that Diana's having an affair?

BURT WOLF: No.

QUEEN: Oh yes, and everyone's invited, so please come.

BURT WOLF: (LAUGHS) And I hope that invitation extends to tea and snacks. One of the most popular snacks at afternoon tea is the traditional British summer pudding. It was a called a summer pudding because it was originally made with fruits that were only available in the summer. The word pudding probably comes from an old French word boudin, which means sausage, and in the beginning puddings were made from primarily the same ingredients as sausage is, meat and grain. At some point however, they evolved into the sweet fluffy things that are rice pudding and bread pudding. And the English farmers took everything one step further when they developed the summer pudding. They're made from bread and fruits; they're really light, easy to make and they have a great presentation. Today we're going to make a summer pudding with strawberries. Strawberries were so common in North America that when the first European colonists arrived here, they said you couldn't put your foot down without stepping on one. When you're picking out your strawberries, either in the field or the supermarket, look for ones that have a uniform red color, and leave the green stem caps attached until just before you're going to use them. Then wash them, trim off the stems and put them right to use. They're very delicate and you should be eating them the day you buy them.

Empress Hotel pastry chef Stefan Kraft starts his summer pudding by putting a cup of strawberries into a sauce pan. Plus two cups of raspberries and a cup of blueberries. A simple syrup was made by heating three cups of water and one cup of sugar until the sugar dissolves. That syrup is poured into the fruit and heated to a simmer. Then the fruit is strained from the liquid. Six leaves of gelatin are added to the warm liquid and twenty slices of bread are trimmed of their crust and sliced in half. A bowl is lined with plastic wrap, the slices of bread are dipped into the liquid from the fruit and fanned into the bowl as a lining. The fruit goes in, a top of bread, the plastic wrap is folded over, and the bowl goes into the refrigerator for eight hours. After that chilling experience, the pudding is unmolded onto a tray. Glazed with a little melted strawberry jam. The silver tray is garnished with a vanilla sauce, strawberry pureé, whipped cream and slices of strawberries.

The Canadian province of British Columbia contains some of the most awesome geography on Earth, covering over three and fifty thousand square miles, dozens of major mountain ranges and seventeen thousand miles of shoreline... including the majestic water-filled trenches that create the inside passage from Washington State to Alaska. Like any island group, transportation between the land masses is critical for development. The native tribes solved the problem with the construction of extraordinary canoes that were used to travel over large bodies of water all along the Northwest coast. When European settlers arrived here, they soon began the development of the ferry system. By the early 1900's, the decks had been cleared to accommodate wagon traffic. Ferries soon came in all shapes and sizes and covered every foot of navigable coastline. Today the British Columbia ferries represent a fleet that is bigger than most navies. 

Many of the stories from the Northwest contain three basic elements -- European, native tribal and Chinese. And the story of the B.C. Ferries is no exception. When you take a look at what's going on in the kitchens of these ferries, you're looking at a Chinese story. At some point in the beginning of this business, somebody decided that the cooks in the kitchen should be Chinese. It was felt that they had the training and experience to handle the enormous pressure that they would be facing at sea. Hundreds and hundreds of people getting on and off the ship every couple of hours, all interested in good food. At one point, people felt that these hiring practices were discriminatory, and they complained to the government. So the Canadian Manpower Commission took a look at what was going on and they decided no, anybody could work in the kitchen, as long as they spoke Cantonese. It was like asking a secretary to type a certain number of words per minute. No discrimination at all. One of the results of this is that two menus developed. One for the general public that was basically European, and another one in the back for the Cantonese cooks.

And each menu had its signature dish. Up front the most beloved was the B.C. Ferry Clam Chowder. During the 1600's when French fishermen came ashore on the Northeast coast of Canada, they followed a time honored tradition of taking a portion of their catch, throwing it into a big cauldron and cooking up a communal stew. Those stews were called chowders. And the seafaring men loved clam chowder the best. They took that preference with them as they moved across Canada. Clams are actually an excellent source of dietary fiber, iron and low fat protein. 

Chef Raymond Taylor of the Empress Hotel has adapted the traditional B.C. Ferries clam chowder recipe for easy home cooking.

A little butter is melted in a big saucepan, and in goes a half cup of cubed bacon, a chopped onion, a tablespoon of fresh thyme. A couple of stalks of chopped celery, a couple of chopped carrots, a chopped green pepper, quarter of cup of flour is mixed in, that acts as a thickening agent. Two tablespoons of tomato paste, a cup of hot clam broth, stir, another cup of hot clam broth, more stirring; that thickens everything up. Then four more cups of broth, two cubed potatoes, two cups of canned clams that have been chopped, and a cut up tomato. That simmers for fifteen minutes and it's ready to serve. The kitchen staff still have many Chinese chefs and though there is no longer a great deal of behind the scenes Chinese cooking going on, the dishes are remembered and recreated at home. Today Chef So So Wong demonstrates her stir-frying technique with an old B.C. Ferries favorite, shrimp, scallops and snow peas. A little vegetable oil goes into a wok, a little garlic, shrimp, scallops, snow peas, carrots, onions, baby corn, some sesame oil and some oyster sauce. Noodles are cooked in simmering chicken stock, drained and put onto a serving plate. The stir-fried shrimp and scallops go on top. A garnish of sliced scallions and a carrot cut to look like flowers. The Chef's name may So So, but there's nothing so-so about her cooking. And there's nothing so-so about what's going on at Murchies.

They've been called picky, obsessive, and over fastidious, but they're not bitter; they don't mind the daily grind and they're famous for pouring out their hearts. They are the Murchies, and for over a hundred years their family has been importing, blending and brewing coffee and tea in British Columbia. The Murchie's shop in Victoria has become a landmark and a hotbed of gastronomic activity. They offer over fifty different varieties of tea and the coffee bar will brew up just about anything you can think of. People pop in for cakes, pastries, tarts, turnovers and homemade candies. Especially their vintage chocolate cherries. Each year the pastry chef picks out the best cherries of the harvest, and puts them into a jar to marinate. After a few years they are removed and coated with chocolate. The number of years of marination determines the selling price. I bought a 1986 cherry for $1.50, and they loved it. The prince of pastry behind all this creativity is Daniel Vokey. Born in Quebec and trained in France, he is building a national reputation for his skill. He recently won a major competition for an unusual, but very simple cake combining a traditional Scottish shortbread with a delicious pureé of prunes. One of the largest immigrant populations to arrive in Canada were the Scottish and their traditional approach to cooking has had quite an influence on the Canadian kitchen. A perfect example is their shortbread. Scottish shortbread is a cross somewhere between a cake and a cookie. The word short in this context -- short bread, shortening bread, shortcake -- is used to describe a process of cutting butter or lard into flour in order to end up with a crust that is more flaky and brittle rather than soft and smooth. Daniel takes a heat proof jar filled with three cups of pitted prunes, adds the zest of two oranges, and a cup of water. The jar goes into a pot of water and is simmered for forty minutes. You can also handle that process by putting the prunes into a plastic container and heating them in a microwave. The prunes are then pureéd in a food processor. A disc of shortbread goes into a ring mold and a layer of the prune mixture gets spread out on top. Four layers of shortbread are alternated with the prune mixture, ending up with a layer of shortbread on the top. That gets set to rest for three or four days. Next, pitted prunes are sliced almost in half and laid out in a disc shape on a sheet of plastic wrap. The second sheet of plastic goes on top and the prunes are pounded flat. The shortbread tart goes on the prunes, the edges are trimmed, it's flipped, garnished and ready to serve.

Daniel is a great pastry chef, but he is also famous for his chocolate molding technique. He can reproduce almost anything in chocolate, and the process is quite simple. He cooks a rubber like molding material by making a mixture of corn syrup, sugar and water. And brings it to a boil. Then granulated gelatin is added; what you end up with is Super Jello. A one- inch layer of the jello is poured into a pie pan and allowed to harden; that takes about ten minutes in the freezer. Then the form you want to reproduce goes in. Today it's a banana. Super Jello goes in to cover the form, and that's allowed to harden. Then a cut is made into the jello and the banana is carefully removed. White chocolate that has had yellow food covering added to it is piped into the space where the banana once was. Ten minutes later the chocolate is set. The banana is removed, trimmed, touched up and added to a basket of fruits, all of which have been made of chocolate using this method. Amazing.

For anyone who enjoys fishing, Vancouver Island is the promised land. Trout and steelhead in the fresh water; tuna, cod, crabs, clams, oysters and shrimp in the sea. And everywhere, salmon returning to their spawning grounds. The result of all this seafood is a seasoned and knowledgeable bunch of guides who can conduct you directly to the catch. 

Dan Simmons owns Black Gold Charters and runs a thirty two foot boat out of Header Bay Marina, which is in a small inlet near Victoria. Dan calls his service Black Gold because he saved the money to buy the boat when he was working in the oil fields back in Alberta. He loves fishing and he loves Vancouver Island. He told me that his wife was only off the island once, and she doesn't want to do it again. She says that it just doesn't make sense to leave paradise. As we headed out to open water, we passed some exceptionally beautiful scenery. A young deer was feeding along the bank and totally ignored the boat as we maneuvered near the shore to get a closer look. I explained to Dan that my real reason for going out was to pay a visit to the sea lions that have taken up a permanent residence next to Race Rocks Lighthouse. The lighthouse sits in the Strait of Juan De Fuca between the southern tip of Vancouver Island and Washington State; that's the shore of the United States in the distance. It's almost impossible for Dan to be out here and not put down a line. The depth sounder indicated that a school of fish was passing below and that was just irresistible. As we came close to the rocks, the sea lions in front took to the water. And as we turned the corner we got very close to one of the bulls.

BURT ON BOAT: How you doing?

Obviously not the appropriate greeting. And in retaliation for our intrusion, he ate the fish that was meant for me! what a spoilsport! I was forced to return to the dock, empty-hooked, reduced to describing the size of fish that I had cooked. Good ol’ Dan, he took pity on me and allowed me to take on the salmon that he had caught earlier in the day.

It got started as a ritual for young men in the Vanuatu tribes of the South Pacific... a little something for them to do as they passed into manhood. It became a sport in the early 80's when members of The Extremely Dangerous Sports Club jumped off San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. It's called bungy jumping. And you can buy yourself a jump or a viewing spot here in the BungyZone above the Nanymo River on Vancouver Island. They have the first and the only bridge constructed solely for bungy jumping. It opened for business in August of 1990, and some twenty thousand thrill seekers have already taken the leap of a lifetime. High-tech rubber bands are attached to your feet to absorb the impact of the drop. A video camera is strapped to your chest to record the event from your own unique point of view. If you have a friend who would like to share the experience with you, you can jump as a twosome. The instructor gives you a few last minute pointers and you're off. You feel the joy of weightlessness. You're lighter than Tommy Lasorda. You experience the sensation that Oprah and many more of us have only dreamed of. 

AHHHHHHHHHH!

And there's a great lesson to be learned about weight loss from the Bungy Zone -- what goes down quickly soon comes back up. And that's called the rebound effect. Fine for bungy, but really unhealthy for weight loss. You want to limit your objective to one or two pounds a week. That's healthy; anything more than that can be a problem. Leave that quick drop for the Bungy Zone.

So what have we learned on this sublime island about good food and good health?

If hot spices are burning the inside of your mouth, use a piece of bread to absorb the heat. Chew the bread and spread it over the inside of your mouth. When you're preparing a chicken, you can cook it with the skin on or off, but try not to eat the skin, it's a major source of saturated fat. Clams: they’re an excellent source of dietary fiber, iron and low fat protein. Just make sure they're cooked before you eat them. When it comes to weight loss, what goes down quickly, usually comes right back up. Weight loss programs should be limited to about one pound per week.

That's Eating Well on Vancouver Island, please join us next time as we travel around the world looking for things that taste good and make it easier to eat well. I'm Burt Wolf.