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Get Four
|  | DECEMBER 10, 2003
By Thane Peterson A Holiday Break from Boring Gifts Forget socks, ties, and fruit cakes. These varied and unusual presents are as much fun to give as to get What to give as a holiday gift? I love Christmas but hate the consumerism that accompanies it. I always feel like I'm spending too much on things the recipients don't really want or need. So, I decided to put together a list of gifts that are relatively inexpensive and at least have the virtue of being cultural, socially responsible, or tasty. Here's what I came up with: Wild Fruits and Compotes from Canada ($30 on up): Would marinated cattail hearts or jellied elderberries make a tasty addition to your next holiday feast? How about a little jar of pickled milkweed pods as a stocking stuffer? They're all available from Gourmet Sauvage, a terrific Quebec-based outfit whose name is French for "Wild Gourmet." The people at Gourmet Sauvage have searched Canada's vast wilderness for wild fruits, berries, herbs, mushrooms, and other edibles that can be made into gourmet products. On the Web site are a wonderful assortment of jellies, jams, mustards, and vinegars, as well as recipes for things like fiddlehead salad and cloudberry duck marinade. This is also a case of eating well by doing good. Wild food is the ultimate sustainable agriculture. And much of Gourmet Sauvage's harvesting is done by people in poor, remote communities where jobs are scarce. Prices range from $4 to $6 Canadian ($3 to $4.60 U.S.) for 110- milliliter jars up to $11 to $21 ($8.50 to $16 U.S.) for 500-ml jars -- so a basic gift package will run around $30 or $35 (U.S.) with shipping. Both phone (450 229-3277) and Internet service are available in English and French. Membership in the American Chestnut Foundation (individual, $40): Here's an ideal gift for a grandparent or other older person who remembers the days when towering chestnut trees were still common in the Eastern U.S. Most native chestnuts died between 1904 and 1950, after a blight carried by Chinese chestnuts was introduced into the U.S. Now, most of the chestnuts you see are the scraggly Chinese variety, which looks something like an apple tree. The Foundation, founded in 1983, is dedicated to reestablishing native chestnuts, which sometimes soared over 100 feet and had trunks up to six feet in diameter. It has funded scientists who are crossbreeding the American and Chinese varieties to come up with a blight-resistant American strain. If all goes well, the first such seedlings will be available around 2006. When enough are available to distribute to the general public, I expect to plant some and will urge neighbors, and readers to do the same. Aaron Siskind 100 (powerHouse Books, $65): I've recently discovered the abstract photography of Siskind, who died in 1991 and is getting renewed attention because 2003 would have seen his 100th birthday. In most of the photos in this wonderful book, he sought out patterns in everyday sights -- graffiti or paint cracking on a wall, fallen leaves, or stone fences. The photos' resemblance to abstract paintings is quite astonishing, and once you've seen his work, you start to notice more of the beauty in the everyday life. If you fall in love with his work, as I did, you should try to visit an exhibit on through Jan. 18 at the Newport Art Museum near the Rhode Island School of Design, where Siskind taught. For me, another revelation at the show were the wonderful large-scale color photos (printed on an ink-jet printer) of Neal Rantoul, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston, who was one of Siskind's students. Chocolate and/or bourbon-flavored cheese from Capriole Goat Cheese ($46 and up): Judy Schad, proprietor of this legendary Indiana outfit, loves to create odd new kinds of cheese. She's also fond of chocolate and Kentucky bourbon (her farm is just north of the Kentucky border) and those passions came together in her latest holiday creation. The Walk on the Wild Side Sampler includes both 8 ounces of chocolate and bourbon goat cheese and 8 ounces of Italian cheese flavored with pine nuts, pesto, and sun-dried tomatoes -- delivered by second-day air for $46. Or you can make up your own gift box. I haven't tried the chocolate cheese yet, but she assures me it's delicious, especially when spiked with booze. "The Brown-Foreman [distillery] crowd loved it when I took it down to Kentucky for them to taste," she says. For delivery before Christmas, be sure to order by Dec. 15. If you miss the deadline, Schad plans more chocolate-cheese samplers for Valentine's Day.
BW MALL
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