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If a Tree Falls 11-08-25 p1-16_Layout 1 8/24/11 6:38 PM Page 1 OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE PARK SLOPE FOOD COOP Established 1973 Volume FF, Number 17 August 25, 2011 Drunken Goats, If a Tree Falls Constant Bliss A Tale of Environmental Terror By Gayle Forman DIARY OF A CHEESE WIZ reuse, expounding on recy- hat constitutes ter- cling and composting like By Thomas Matthews f one of the Coop’s goals rorism? Blowing up many a Coop member Iis to celebrate diversity, W buildings? Burning (except that he’s wearing an the cheese department down buildings? What if peo- ankle monitor bracelet). But counts among its successes. ple are intentionally not while McGowan’s deep con- There you can find the hurt? If the goal is property cerns about the state of the firm, creamy Spanish cheese damage? If the target is an environment, rampant con- called Drunken Goat (it’s organization or corporation sumerism, and unchecked made from goat’s milk, and that arguably does harm to corporate power mirror those the cheese is soaked in red the environment? of many Coop members, the wine). Constant Bliss is a Such questions weave path he chose to express cow’s milk cheese from Ver- their way through the com- those concerns diverged. mont’s Jasper Hill Creamery, pelling and nuanced recent McGowan’s environmental named for a Revolutionary documentary If a Tree Falls. The activism led him to work with War soldier. There are film chronicles the rise and Earth First! and then inex- cheeses from France and Italy fall of the radical environ- orably pulled him out west to and England, from California mental group the Earth Lib- Oregon, where environmen- and New York. They are made eration Front (ELF) through talists were engaging in a new from the milk of cows, goats, the awakening, radicalization kind of activism. After the sheep, buffalo and even, and prosecution of one ELF Warner Creek timber sale in sometimes, yaks. And, of member, a former Coop Oregon, protesters occupied course, some cheeses are not member by the name of the forest, building a blockade made from milk at all, but Daniel McGowan. and a fence, and keeping log- from nuts or tofu. gers out (and monkeying with At any given time, more than An Unlikely Suspect their equipment). The block- 50 different cheeses are offered At first glance, McGowan ade held the loggers at bay for for sale, and over the course of seems like an unlikely sus- a year—until the Forest Ser- a year some 200 will rotate pect. Born in Brooklyn, raised vice came in and arrested all through the store, according in Rockaway Beach, he stud- the protesters. to Receiving Coordinator Yuri ied business in college and ILLUSTRATION BY PAUL BUCKLEY PAUL BY ILLUSTRATION CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 got a job with public relations The Disgruntled One firm Burson-Marstellar in New Time and again, as the York City in the late 1990s. film shows, protesters were Board & Officer Elections When the film opens, he is undone by authorities, who bustling around a kitchen, often used brute force in Election of new Coop Secretary at the September 27th General Meeting. cleaning out Ziploc bags for CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 Election of a new member of the Board of Directors at the October 25th General Meeting. Each term expires at the June 2012 Annual Meeting. Next General Meeting on August 30 The General Meeting of the Park Slope Food Coop is held on the last Tuesday of each month.* The next General Meeting will be If you are interested in one or both of these, on Tuesday, August 30, at 7:00 p.m. at the Congregation Beth please attend the meeting and announce your candidacy. Elohim Temple House (Garfield Temple), 274 Garfield Place. The agenda is in this Gazette and available as a flier in the entry- If you have questions about these positions, please speak to way of the Coop. For more information about the GM and about a General Coordinator at 718-622-0560. Coop governance, please see the center of this issue. * Exceptions for November and December will be posted. Thu, Sep 1 • Food Class: IN THIS ISSUE Fermentation Basics 7:30 p.m. A Green Cart Grows in Brooklyn . 3 Coop Tue, Sep 13•Safe Food Committee Film Night: Puzzle . 4 Invitation to Boycott Debate . 5 Event Two Angry Moms 7:00 p.m. What is the BDS Movement? . 7 Coop Hours, Coffeehouse . 8 Thu, Oct 6 • Food Class 7:30 p.m. Highlights Coop Calendar, Workslot Needs Governance Information, Mission Statement. 9 Look for additional information about these and other events in this issue. Letters to the Editor . 12 Classified Ads, Community Calendar . 16 11-08-25 p1-16_Layout 1 8/24/11 6:38 PM Page 2 2 August 25, 2011 Park Slope Food Coop, Brooklyn, NY Drunken Goats descriptions are so evocative nuts, whatever has to be ing the cutting boards, clear- would be great for melting or CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 that your mouth waters. packaged, weighed and ing away plastic, paper and grating in any dish that called “Cheese is the main reason priced. It smells good here. crumbs of cheese. for cheese, but brought to Weber, who has been in I belong to the Coop,” con- This Saturday morning’s “But there’s no snacking,” room temperature it’s also charge of cheese since 2007. fessed Erin, who has been a shift is for squad C-2, though, grumbled Leigh Anne, a six- delicious on its own. Smooth In all, he says, the Coop sells member for two and half as often happens at the year member, four with cheese. in texture, it offers a clean, about 180,000 pounds of bulk years. She was shopping for a Coop, some regular members Dorothy has been a mem- buttery flavor with just a hint cheese per year, and another selection of interesting are absent, and other workers ber for 27 years, and, like Rita, of sharpness. An excellent 20,000 pounds of prepack- cheeses to take to a party. She are filling in, making up shifts cut and packaged cheese on partner to show off a fine red aged cheese, with revenues of had enjoyed a Coop-spon- or working FTOP. the shopping floor. Shoppers wine. more than $1.5 million, a fig- sored talk and tasting on Ifeona, standing at the would step up to the counter ure basically stable since northern Italian cheeses, and table with half a dozen other (after waiting in line) and Brie d’Amir 60% 2008. she was looking for Taleggio. workers, has belonged to the order; workers would note the Brie, a soft-ripened cow’s The perennial favorites are She found it, and happily Coop for 16 years, “most of order on a piece of paper, and milk cheese from northern the sharp cheddars from New moved on with her shopping. that working with cheese,” if the paper wasn’t lost, cut France, has been a Coop York and Vermont, along with Rita, who has been a Coop though not normally with the cheese and package it. favorite for decades. The ver- Parmigiano Reggiano from member for “more than 20 this squad. When the shopper returned, sions sold in the U.S. must be Italy. But, Yuri notes, “a lot of years,” once worked selling “My regular squad has he or she picked up the order. made from pasteurized milk cheese sales are seasonal and cheese when each sale was maintained basically the Was anything lost when the (unlike the French versions). the hits right now are the hand-cut to order by a mem- same membership for years,” Coop abandoned that sys- This double-crème version salad-type cheeses. Feta, fresh ber at the cheese counter on she said. “We like the shift. tem? Dorothy was adamant. (60 percent milk fat) is goat cheeses and crumbly the shopping floor. It’s a team effort, and it lends “Nothing. We didn’t have imported by Epicure Foods in blues are very popular.” “The cheese selection has itself to conversation. Plus, refrigeration then, and refrig- NJ. It has a soft, creamy tex- come a really long way,” she it’s heaven for cheese lovers. eration is better. People didn’t ture and a mild, milky flavor A World on Display enthused. “We lost the We’ve gotten so many more wear gloves—there were peo- with pleasant hints of herb. It The Coop stocks cheeses in one–on–one communication, exotic cheeses in the last five ple with dirty hands cutting would show well with a gen- several places. Cottage cheese but the range of choices is to eight years, yet prices have my cheese. Cleanliness is bet- erous white wine such as and ricotta mingle with the incredible. I love some of our remained good. It’s really ter. So is a bigger selection, Chardonnay. butter. Non-dairy cheeses are local cheeses. I think they’re hard to get a better deal and much less waste. But with other tofu products. expensive, but I understand somewhere else.” even back then, the cheeses Drunken Goat Prepackaged cheeses, from why. I think America can Kevin, who has been a were delicious. Ah, the Brie... This Spanish goat cheese has Kraft American singles to become a real cheese coun- member for four years, is cut- It’s still a big seller today.” its own “denominacion de imported clotted cream, get try, just like we’ve become a ting big blocks of cheddar origin” (DO); it’s from Murcia, their own case.
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