The first time I tried it, I was in a group.  The second time, it was with a married man.  The last time, I was alone and loved every minute of it.  It had started while I was doing my shift at my local food co-op when the seasoned staffer asked for a volunteer to stock the meat cooler.  I figured I could handle meat, so I jumped right in.  As the burly bearded man told me what we had to put out, he got an excited twinkle in his when he breathed, “oh, and we have duck bacon today.”

Sure, I had heard of turkey bacon, beef bacon, and even lamb bacon but never duck bacon.  “Is it any good?”  I asked my curiosity piqued by his tone while the slim rectangular packages were placed into the cooler.  After my shift was over I did a little shopping and found myself back at the meat cooler.  I thought of a friend who loves duck, so why not try this?

So we arranged a brunch.  A few friends over on a sunny winter weekend to sample a tasty new treat.  We cooked up a batch of the duck bacon and placed tiny pieces on crackers.  I had even bought a duck liver pate (pork-free) that we smeared on tiny wedges of toast.  There were many other delicacies that afternoon, but for the meat eaters of the group all anyone remembers was that taste.  Squares of thin sliced smoked duck meat fried in duck fat – all that salty, smoky soaked in silky tender duck fat.  What flavor!  Bursting from each cracker.  Why aren’t more things cooked in duck fat?

A few days after the brunch, a friend was home sick with a cold.  And what’s that saying? “Feed a cold, starve a fever.”  And what clears a stuffy head better than duck?  There was some left over after the brunch.  I brought a loaf of fresh bread and we soaked up the duck fat and sprinkled the bread with garlic powder.  And to make things even more treyf my friend had some leftover macaroni and cheese.  It was the most decadent meal I think I have ever cooked.

By the end of the week, I was hungry and alone.  My boyfriend was at work and there was little in the house to eat.  A few potatoes, onions and the rest of the duck bacon.  I didn’t know if could top the ecstasy of the last time I had eaten the duck, but I roasted the potatoes and cooked the onions in with the bacon and tossed in the potatoes until they were coasted in the silky duck.  I was glad I was alone, because sometimes it's just better when you are alone with duck juices dribbling down your chin.

I don’t know if there is a food more naughty to kosher keeping Jews than pork – although technically it is no more a sin than any other prohibited food.  Yet, bacon gets many Jews really riled up (read the comments).  So all this talk of bacon feels a little scandalous even if duck bacon can be kosher (okay, not eaten with mac n’ cheese).  But the really naughty here is how amazing duck bacon really is.  To paraphrase Stephen Colbert, “Was that bacon, or did an angel just give birth in my mouth?”

Oh yes, I will be looking for duck bacon again.

It’s pretty easy to eat local food in New York City.  Scattered throughout the five boroughs are farmers markets and CSAs are plentiful.  Since I moved to Brooklyn I’ve joined the Park Slope Co-op that displays a map of its farms and suppliers on its website.  There are also plenty of restaurants that feature local and season foods on its menu (I recently went to Nick and Toni’s Café, which I highly recommend).

And for those desiring to gather and produce their own local fare, we have illicit urban agrarian societies in New York that go foraging or keep bees.  But as it turns out, not all local foods are created equally.

Monday’s Daily News ran an article on toxicity of local fish – and despite the danger, how many low-income people are turning to fishing as a source of food.  This raised all sorts of conflicting thoughts for me.

1. OMG! we have polluted our local waters so badly that we shouldn’t eat what they produce.

2. We have a society where we have hungry people eating toxic food.  What can we be doing about that?

3.  Another question comes to mind, similar to the one raised the other day by Liz Schwartz, but is “eating locally” elitist?

I’m curious about others thoughts and concerns.  Please leave a comment!

Cross-posted from The Jew and the Carrot 

Once again food is on my mind this time vis-à-vis restaurants. I love going to restaurants. I am more comfortable eating out than I ever am eating in someone's home. This is probably because, having grown up at a large resort hotel as a member of the Grossinger family, ordering off a menu is second nature. I once thought that was how everyone got fed. Now I eat out at least three times a week, which leads me to today's musing: Why is it that over 70% of those who respond to Zagat surveys register complaints about service or the restaurant itself? I still remember how at Grossinger's the service was always attentive and guests always came first. Things change, however, and over the years I've kept lists and written about dining experiences that irritate me most. Here are a few:

1. Lights so dim that you can't read the menu. I want to see the person I'm sharing a meal with. If I order beef rare I want to see if it's rare. Sight enhances what is placed on the plate. Dancing in the dark is appealing; eating in the dark, unless you're in bed with someone you love and don't mind the crumbs, is NOT!
2. When you can't be seated until your full party arrives.
3. When main dishes are served before appetizers are finished.
4. Dishes reaching the table at different times and/or being removed at different times.
5. Glasses of bottled water refilled without asking permission. Those prices, especially in today's economy, add up!
6. Overstuffed sandwiches you can't get your mouth around.
7. Cell phones; need I say more?

In all fairness, diners don't always conduct themselves with the same consideration they would like servers to accord them. Here is what some restaurant owners wish customers wouldn't do:

1. Make multiple reservations without cancelling those they can't use.
2. Show up without reservations on a busy night, claim to be friends of the owner (whom they've never met) and then make a fuss when no table is available.
3. Eat more than half a dish after they have complained they don't like it and then refuse to pay for it.
4. Sneak out for ‘smokes' without paying the bill.
5. Let children run amok in upscale restaurants.

On both sides, unfortunately, these are but the tip of the iceberg and those who work at restaurants and those who own restaurants should be more aware.

That said, however, please continue to support your favorite eateries, the ones where you treat each other well; they need all the help they can get!

Tania Grossinger, author of Growing Up at Grossinger's, is guest blogging on Jewcy, and she'll be here all week. Stay tuned.

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Want a free, autographed copy of Growing Up at Grossinger's?  Participate in this week's giveaway contest! Send an email to contests@jewcy.com and at the end of the week we'll choose five winners. Good luck!

Want to know more about Tania?  E-mail her or visit her web site!