Full Belly Files | Wet Thoughts for Dry January

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The new war on alcohol is fully underway. Following a series of studies proclaiming how bad drinking can be for your health, the federal government is poised to mandate cancer warnings on bottles like they do for cigarette packs. Meanwhile, social movements advocating for less or no drinking have been on the rise for years now, with Dry January, Sober October, and so forth empowering the sober curious to go full teetotaler, if just for a spell.

It’s hard to fight against the basic premise behind this. We’ve known alcohol to be a poison for centuries, as anyone who’s imbibed a bit too much is bound to realize the next morning. I’d never argue that someone should actively choose to put a toxic substance in their body if they don’t want to, and I don’t know how anyone could justify such a stance. (On the other hand, anyone who thought they were getting super healthy on a steady diet of drinking is clearly clueless.)

I fear that the danger comes from the other side. If those who don’t drink adopt a self-righteous stance, there’s a natural drift to demanding others adhere to their exalted beliefs. New labels lead to new restrictions that lead to future bans and so on. Cue another Prohibition, which did nothing but decimate much of our country’s culture and economy while fostering criminal enterprises and backward regulatory systems that persist to this day.

We’re nowhere near that yet, but we might be witnessing early steps in that direction. I’d like to think we’re not stupid enough to repeat our disastrous mistakes of the past, but we seem to be doing that all the time, willingly lurching toward nationalism and autocratic rule across the world.

There’s plenty of debate over the motivation and conclusions of these new studies, which contradict “the French paradox” that suggested moderate wine consumption was good for you. A 60 Minutes episode on that notion in 1991 is directly credited with the boom in California vineyard plantings that followed, particularly here in Santa Barbara.

Thankfully, at least for those of us who don’t plan on putting down the glass anytime soon, plenty of real doctors still believe that moderate alcohol intake can be good for you. Even Harvard agrees. In fact, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine study that triggered a lot of this actually suggested that moderate drinking actually reduces both “all-cause mortality” and the risk of heart attack and stroke. (W. Blake Gray covers the array of interpretations well in this post.)

I’m not a real doctor, nor do I play one on TV — I only play wine critics. And I’m one of those controversial folks who still believes in science, so I’m not gonna squabble with the methodology or results of these recent studies that do connect alcohol more directly to cancer. I don’t even really care about the proposed labels that everyone else in the wine business is freaking out about, as it’s probably only the constant lobbying of Big Booze that’s kept them off for so long.

But I will say that solely worrying about biological health — which is what these studies are designed to assess — is missing so much of what it means to be a healthy, happy human. Emotional and mental health seem to me to be almost as critical to enjoying life as having the perfect body. What’s a long life worth if you’re angry or bummed out all the time?

[Click to enlarge]: From left: A margarita at Shoreline Beach Café makes the waves brighter; Drinks at the soon-to-be-opened Cutler’s Public House

For many of us, wine, beer, cocktails, and, yes, even shots have contributed immeasurably to developing meaningful relationships with friends, family, and romantic partners. They’ve led us to travel to amazing places, discover fascinating histories, and meet interesting people that we never otherwise would have found. They’ve enhanced meals and celebrations, made milestones more memorable, and added toasts to finishing races, or reaching mountain peaks, or jumping into frigid seas.

Do we occasionally wake up a bit groggy with a few regrets? Sure. Is it worth it? Usually, at least in the overall scope of things. That’s why we do it all over again. (Cue my favorite line from DJ Quik’s “Tonite.”)

If you’re totally sober all the time, participating in Dry January, or just trying to cut back (aren’t even the best of us?), more power to you. Getting and staying healthy in all forms is important, and if not drinking helps you on that path, go for it.

And if you’re just carrying on through this crazy time in a crazy world with a few drinks to get you through, I feel you too. Cheers to all of us in the new year.

Holiday Homecooking

My holiday season was a busy blur, with lots of cooking projects along the way. Here are highlights.

[Click to enlarge]: From left: My first fermented hot sauce in action; My first fermented hot sauce

HOT SAUCE: I bought a huge bag of serranos in Moss Landing on the way back from Thanksgiving. After making salsa, guac, and putting them in everything, I decided to make a proper fermented hot sauce. With one jar of green serranos and one of the ones turning red, I added salt brine, garlic, ginger, and peppers, then burped the fermenting jars for about a week till the action stopped. Into a blender, then strained. They’re both really good.

[Click to enlarge]: From left: Braciole all rolled up; Cross-section of braciole

BRACIOLE: For one of our main Christmas meals, my brother and I make braciole, the Italian rolled-then-braised meat dish. Using a flank steak from the Country Meat Market in Goleta, we twisted up almost 20 little rolls stuffed with breadcrumbs, parmesan, herbs, and pancetta, then seared and cooked in a red sauce. For my vegetarian wife, I did one with zucchini too, which I guess was more involtini. Both were hits.

Spatchcock chicken on the Santa Maria grill

OAK-GRILLED CHICKEN: I had some trouble finding whole chickens before the holidays, which a butcher at Albertson’s told me was due to the bird flu. But we made off with the last hens at Costco, and then I spatchcocked them for our Christmas dinner. I had lit just enough wood to finish off the chickens, and the cast iron salmon I threw on the Santa Maria grill too. That’s actually the perfect amount of wood for efficiency’s sake, but it’s a bit stressful when trying to reach that finished temp.

[Click to enlarge]: From left: Persimmon salsa; Grapefruit-avo salad

PERSIMMON AND PAMPLEMOUSSE: As you may recall from years past, I have a bit of history with turning mushy hachiya persimmons into a spicy condiment we call POP Sauce. This year, I added enough lime to call it PLOP Sauce, and then strained it. That’s made it so thin that it can be enjoyed as a gazpacho-like soup as much as a hot sauce. I started dabbling in fuyu persimmons last fall too, and have mastered a simple but refreshing salsa: persimmon chunks, pomegranate, serrano or jalapeno, lime juice, olive oil, and salt. Then I figured out a cool way to cut up my neighbor’s pithy grapefruits into windowpane-like slices, to which I added avocado à la my grandma’s favorite salad. Tart and tasty.

OLIVE-ALMOND CHICKEN: Convivo’s roasted chicken is easily one of the best around, as I was reminded one Friday when I joined about 20 backpacking friends for a holiday meal on the restaurant’s patio earlier this month. I love the mix of chicken, olive, and almond so much that I tried a similar trick at home. Rather than roast, I braised the thighs with Castelvetrano olives, yellow raisins, almonds, lemon juice, and wine, then served them over Mission Rose Pasta. The kids and I loved it.

Cover Story Look Familiar?

For loyal Full Belly FIles readers, this week’s cover story on Winfield Farm’s shift from gourmet pigs to subsistence farming in Buellton may look familiar. Indeed, it began as a Full Belly Files from last Fall, and worked as a feature that we could lock in before the holidays, giving the staff a bit more breathing room on our break.

I did update the story a bit, so take another read. The somewhat buried lead is that, thanks to the efforts of the Santa Barbara County Food Action Network and others, the Lompoc federal prison may be a place for ranchers to process their own meats as soon as 2026. They just need to raise $4 million to get that job done.

Read the updated version here.

From Our Table

Here are some stories you may have missed over the past three weeks:

Leslie Dinaberg was busy tasting Milkboy chocolates from Switzerland, staying at the Miramar, and checking out the RH Firehouse Grill in Montecito. (I still don’t get the furniture store-as-restaurant concept …)
Speaking of the Miramar (they’re PR people must be busy!), Rebecca Horrigan tried out the “land” menu at Caruso’s.
George Yatchisin covered Yona Redz expansion into seafood at Santa Playa Mariscos on State Street.
As for myself, I wrote about La Cantina opening at the corner of Turnpike and Hollister; about the Wine BID passing its first political hurdle; and, for our Peace on Earth issue, also interviewed Direct Relief’s outgoing director Thomas Tighe.