Terrace Kitchen recipes are noted
We are always joyful this time of year as our friends here in Lake Oswego and abroad seem to look to us for instruction where the holiday table and entertaining are concerned.
Recently featured in the Washington Post, our Thanksgiving recipes from our cookbook are popular throughout the nation. Food editor and friend Bonnie Benwick took the time to “re-test” our “tested” recipes so we thought our friends here in Lake Oswego would appreciate our gesture to offer them a look at the recipes.
Benwick states that “If you’re looking for a way to enliven the holiday table yet keep things traditional, you need only include more of the Americas: North, Central, South. A rich, dark mole from Mexico can envelop or accompany turkey; a shrimp and avocado salad from Chile can provide a cool, creamy way to start the meal.” And so it goes, “Our inspiration for this year’s menu comes from Fernando and Marlene Divina, who collaborated on their cookbook, ‘Foods of the Americas: Native Recipes and Traditions,’ with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and helped develop the museum’s Mitsitam Cafe. The couple own the Terrace Kitchen restaurant in Lake Oswego, Ore.,” “...their recipes represent a contemporary cross-section of American society. Add some of these flavors, and your own celebration will, too.”
Visit our website at http://www.terracekitchen.com/ for access to the great Thanksgiving recipes featured in the article or join us for the real thing here on Thanksgiving Day at Terrace Kitchen.
Wishing all of our friends here in Lake Oswego a splendid holiday season.
Fernando and Marlene Divina
for Team TK of Terrace Kitchen Restaurant
Lake Oswego
(503)699-1136 485 Second Street, Lake Oswego, Oregon, 97034 Upstairs at the corner of 2nd Street & B Ave
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
TK goes Down Under with coverage on the e-magazine, All Eaten Up!
For young men in the Pacific Northwest region of the US, it is customary to forage in the wilderness while learning the ins and outs of hiking and mountaineering.
It is simply the way of life there, says Chef Fernando Divina of Terrace Kitchen in Lake Oswego, south of Portland in Oregon, who prepared a special lunch using native foods for a visiting press contingent in the US last week.
"Foraged foods usually began with spring fiddleheads, mushrooms and other up shoots of new, young plants," he says.
"Naturally, being raised on the Yakama reservation in Wapato, Washington and the eventual marriage to my wife (Marlena) of Annishinabe descent cinched my lifelong interest in a foodway that included indigenous food preparation, celebration and giving."
The food movement may be in full swing now, but there were many challenges faced by Divina when he first started working with indigenous foods.
"Consumers are influenced, deeply, by the media in addition to the foods brought to bear by governmental influences in the market place," he says.
"In the US, it was not until the 1990’s that acceptance of indigenous food products was made available to the general public through regional farmer’s markets. Now, as examples of the expanded indigenous foods to the public, one can purchase mesquite meal and tepary beans in the American Southwest’s central weekend markets.
"Here in the Northwest, while salmon, lamprey and a host of other water-based indigenous proteins have always been available they are only very recently being consumed and marketed in a context of “first people’s foods”.
"This basic awareness is low and continued marketing efforts to contextualise local, indigenous foods is a high priority."
There is yet to be a sustained “Native American food movement”, according to Divina; however, there is now a recognisable mutuality between tribes and the US government, though it remains slow in that area.
"In my opinion, there are strong indicators that the industry as a whole and a ‘movement’ is poised for expansion... establishing a basis of new Indian prosperity that will naturally extend beyond the reservations due to the interwoven political and economical ties that are bound through centuries of governmental intervention."
Divina says that interest in American Indian foods and foodway abroad, in his experience, may exceed that of the general populace of Americans.
"This is due to the historical elements of the global nuclear family in Asian countries, Europe and really, nearly everywhere except the US," he says.
"That is to say, that traditions of family participation in foodway is so much higher in other countries as compared to the US, and in my opinion only compares to the indigenous population of the US."
That said, there are parallels beyond the foods themselves that would attract a foreign market to these goods, he says.
For example, the wapato - a type of native potato - is widely cultivated in Asia, and considered a nutritious and healthy alternative to potatoes and other starchy foods.
While it once flourished in the American ponds, marshes, wetlands, and along riverbanks and streams, the wapato is now nearing extinction in North America. The native plant can still be found growing wild on Sauvie Island.
The traditional way to harvest wapato is to walk into chest-high water and feel for the bulbs in the mud with your bare feet (see picture of Divina harvesting for wapato himself below). Once found, the bulb is dislodged using either your feet or a stick, and when it pops up to the top of the water, you break the bulb from the stalk.
Wapato is attractive to the foreign market consumer, simply due to the consumer's approach to regional marketplace, and sourcing in that manner.
"This is opposed to America’s ‘world bread basket' approach or 'feed the world’ approach of monoculture and mass production. In essence, the US is finally taking a step “back” to a healthier (economically, sustainably, socially) lifeway practice of regional markets featuring regionally produced foods by its people, including Native Americans and their foods rather, than excluding them as was the habit for centuries in the recent past.
"Thus, when a Native American community reaches production levels that can sustain the “tribe” their surplus must find a market. The foreign market plays heavily in consuming that surplus."
Working hard to promote indigenous foods, Divina and Marlena have also worked with Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian to publish a cookbook focusing on Native American foods. The book, Foods of the Americas: Native Recipes and Traditions, has been awarded a prestigious James Beard Foundation award.
It is simply the way of life there, says Chef Fernando Divina of Terrace Kitchen in Lake Oswego, south of Portland in Oregon, who prepared a special lunch using native foods for a visiting press contingent in the US last week.
"Foraged foods usually began with spring fiddleheads, mushrooms and other up shoots of new, young plants," he says.
"Naturally, being raised on the Yakama reservation in Wapato, Washington and the eventual marriage to my wife (Marlena) of Annishinabe descent cinched my lifelong interest in a foodway that included indigenous food preparation, celebration and giving."
The food movement may be in full swing now, but there were many challenges faced by Divina when he first started working with indigenous foods.
"Consumers are influenced, deeply, by the media in addition to the foods brought to bear by governmental influences in the market place," he says.
"In the US, it was not until the 1990’s that acceptance of indigenous food products was made available to the general public through regional farmer’s markets. Now, as examples of the expanded indigenous foods to the public, one can purchase mesquite meal and tepary beans in the American Southwest’s central weekend markets.
"Here in the Northwest, while salmon, lamprey and a host of other water-based indigenous proteins have always been available they are only very recently being consumed and marketed in a context of “first people’s foods”.
"This basic awareness is low and continued marketing efforts to contextualise local, indigenous foods is a high priority."
There is yet to be a sustained “Native American food movement”, according to Divina; however, there is now a recognisable mutuality between tribes and the US government, though it remains slow in that area.
"In my opinion, there are strong indicators that the industry as a whole and a ‘movement’ is poised for expansion... establishing a basis of new Indian prosperity that will naturally extend beyond the reservations due to the interwoven political and economical ties that are bound through centuries of governmental intervention."
Divina says that interest in American Indian foods and foodway abroad, in his experience, may exceed that of the general populace of Americans.
"This is due to the historical elements of the global nuclear family in Asian countries, Europe and really, nearly everywhere except the US," he says.
"That is to say, that traditions of family participation in foodway is so much higher in other countries as compared to the US, and in my opinion only compares to the indigenous population of the US."
That said, there are parallels beyond the foods themselves that would attract a foreign market to these goods, he says.
For example, the wapato - a type of native potato - is widely cultivated in Asia, and considered a nutritious and healthy alternative to potatoes and other starchy foods.
While it once flourished in the American ponds, marshes, wetlands, and along riverbanks and streams, the wapato is now nearing extinction in North America. The native plant can still be found growing wild on Sauvie Island.
The traditional way to harvest wapato is to walk into chest-high water and feel for the bulbs in the mud with your bare feet (see picture of Divina harvesting for wapato himself below). Once found, the bulb is dislodged using either your feet or a stick, and when it pops up to the top of the water, you break the bulb from the stalk.
Wapato is attractive to the foreign market consumer, simply due to the consumer's approach to regional marketplace, and sourcing in that manner.
"This is opposed to America’s ‘world bread basket' approach or 'feed the world’ approach of monoculture and mass production. In essence, the US is finally taking a step “back” to a healthier (economically, sustainably, socially) lifeway practice of regional markets featuring regionally produced foods by its people, including Native Americans and their foods rather, than excluding them as was the habit for centuries in the recent past.
"Thus, when a Native American community reaches production levels that can sustain the “tribe” their surplus must find a market. The foreign market plays heavily in consuming that surplus."
Working hard to promote indigenous foods, Divina and Marlena have also worked with Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian to publish a cookbook focusing on Native American foods. The book, Foods of the Americas: Native Recipes and Traditions, has been awarded a prestigious James Beard Foundation award.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Local, Organic Camelina Oil: The Healthy Choice for Friends and Family
Pick up your bottle of certified organic Camelina Oil for yourself or loved one today!
Offered exclusively at Terrace Kitchen, this herbaceous and fruity oil is changing the Northwest table scape by replacing costly imported olive oil. This eco-friendly, non-GMO, salmon safe and new oil is among the most delicious new foods being produced in our region. Come and taste the fantastic flavors among our menus and take a bottle or two home to gift to those among family and friends that care about sustainability with one of the tastiest and nutritional benefits.
Camelina oil is produced sustainably employing organic farming practices, in the Pacific Northwest and contains higher Omega-3 than salmon. It is among the healthiest oils with one of the highest ratios of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fatty acids of all food oils.
"Cold pressed, organic camelina oil is one of the most exciting new local foods with use as diverse as olive oil. Now known to retain it's nutritive value when baked, this wonderful oil is among my most treasured menu offerings. I am particularly pleased to bring it to you limiting the need to buy imported oils from afar." Fernando Divina, Chef Proprietor; James Beard Award Winner; Slow Food Award Nominee; R.A.F.T. Advisor. www.terracekitchen.com
Friday, October 23, 2009
TK and IAC to Host International Writers
The Intertribal Agricultural Council is hosting a group of international travel and hospitality writers next week. We'll be serving some great regional foods like salmon, duck, camas, wapato, sumac and more! Stop in to see us soon or visit www.terracekitchen.com
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Extreme Cuisine: Pacific Northwest - Catch TK Partner Marlene Divina November 26, 2009 Prime Time!
Originally aired on October 8th, you still have time to catch the next episode.
Versed in preparation of foraged wild and indigenous foods, TK managing partner Marlene Divina presents camas root on the October 8th and November 26th episodes of Extreme Cuisine : Pacific Northwest. An underutilized but tasty food, camas will accompany lamprey and other unique Northwest foods.
Versed in preparation of foraged wild and indigenous foods, TK managing partner Marlene Divina presents camas root on the October 8th and November 26th episodes of Extreme Cuisine : Pacific Northwest. An underutilized but tasty food, camas will accompany lamprey and other unique Northwest foods.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Terrace Kitchen and Oregon's Mt. Hood Territory to Host National Food and Wine Writers
TK was recently recruited to present the Willamette Valley's food and wine treasures to a group of national media writers. Foods of our region with flavors of the Americas will be paired with wines for a special lunch after a cooking demonstration by TK cooking instructors Fernando and Marlene Divina. Wish us luck! Thanks for the opportunity to present on behalf of our region. We pledge our level best!
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