Food Trend: Soil Specials

You Might Feel Dirty Eating This

By Claire LeDoyen 
QuailBellMagazine.com

According to Jezebel, this year’s hot food trend is going to be…

Dirt.

A restaurant in Japan is featuring a whole menu starring black dirt soil, a special kind of dirt known for its incredible fertility found in Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture. Check out the full menu here.

The United States has a Black Dirt region as well, located in upstate New York and parts of New Jersey. I tried to reimagine the Ne Quittez Pas menu as an American cuisine, with produce and ingredients from our special Black Dirt region. So, without further ado, I introduce the Quail Bell Café Soil Specials:

The first course is a house salad with dirt vinaigrette; fresh lettuce, tomato, radishes, carrots and shallots from the area drizzled with a vinaigrette featuring black dirt to cut the acidity. Tastes like a garden.

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Our award-winning onion soup is simmered for an hour and is peppered with the soil from onion retrieved from the earth just minutes before cooktime.

Paying homage to Tokyo restaurant Ne Quittez Pas, our dirt risotto with bass is a succulent smallmouth bass from the Wallkill River (which flows through Ulster county, and the black dirt region) sauteed in soil and fried with burdock root flown in from a premier region in Japan.

For wintry fare, try our root vegetable pot pie. We sprinkle soil into the thick pastry crust, giving a full and earthy aroma and taste. With onion, sweet potato, parsnips and carrots this is a perfect entrée for the fall and winter.

We also have handmade sun-dried tomato Polish sausages with dirt, served with black dirt onions and bell peppers on a roll.

Our lamb shoulder is a mouthwatering cut of meat covered in an onion sauce inspired from our famed onion soup. A must try for a special occasion!

For dessert, try our brown butter spice cake. This cake is loaded with flavor, and a surefire pleaser after the pot pie or lamb. With acorn and winter squash and the rich soil that comes with them, this spice cake is packed with everything from cinnamon to pepper and garam masala. Topped with walnuts and brown sugar crystals.

According to Time Magazine, eating dirt is also known as geophagy. Some believe that it can boost your immune system. Dirt has also been considered a healthy food item for pregnant women. Dietitians like Rebecca Scritchfield, in Washington D.C., reportedly told Yahoo! that dirt is not suitable for ingesting. But you decide—it's your stomach.

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