[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 150 (Friday, October 29, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2223-E2224]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             FOODVILLE USA

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                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 28, 1999

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, while many of us privately 
grumble from time to time about the directions in which Congressional 
districting takes us, it is also the case that this process can 
introduce Members to places with which they were insufficiently 
familiar. In my own situation, in 1981, the Massachusetts Legislature 
drastically revised my district and sent me in exactly the opposite 
geographic direction from where I was situated after my first election. 
While this exercise in creative cartography was in fact meant to be 
something done to me, it turned out to the surprise of everyone, 
including myself, to be one of the best things that ever happened for 
me. Quite aside from how it worked out politically, it brought me into 
close and continuous contact for the past 17 years with the people, 
places, and activities in Southeastern Massachusetts, and this contact 
has been a source of education, stimulation, and enjoyment for me ever 
since.
  Among its great attractions, Southeastern Massachusetts is becoming 
an increasingly important gastronomic center. The presence of the 
fishing industry in New Bedford has led to a great deal of creative 
cooking of seafood. The large number of Portuguese-Americans, including 
a continuous flow of immigrants from the Azores and other parts of 
Portugal, has also enriched the local culture in many ways, including 
in the food that is offered.
  I was very pleased to see a recent article in the Boston Herald take 
full account of these trends, and as an example of one of the somewhat 
still hidden assets of a part of Massachusetts I am very proud to 
represent here, I ask that the Boston Herald article be reprinted here.

                             Foodville, USA

       Massachusetts' tourist havens seem to be well known and 
     well defined. You head to the Berkshires for music and 
     mountains, Cape Cod for beaches and lobsters, Cape Ann for 
     beaches and witches.
       But where do you go for wonderful ethnic food, a 
     professional cooking school, a gourmet-food outlet that 
     carries nearly any foodstuff you can think of, a vibrant 
     farming community, a winery and an unspoiled shoreline that 
     yields freshly caught seafood?
       That would be southeastern Massachusetts, a sometimes-
     ignored region that's emerging as the foodiest corner of the 
     commonwealth. From the Portuguese restaurants of Fall River 
     and New Bedford down to the farms and coastal villages of 
     Westport and Dartmouth, near the Rhode Island border, there's 
     plenty here to draw those interested in locally grown and 
     produced food and wine.
       That's especially true this weekend, when the Westport 
     Harvest Festival will be underway. Use that as an excuse to 
     explore and eat your way down toward the coast.
       Start your day at Sid Wainer & Son in New Bedford. Henry 
     Wainer, the firm's current president, is a third-generation 
     produce man; his grandfather started the company in 1914. 
     Wainer has long supplied many of the country's--and the 
     world's--top restaurants with fresh produce, and Henry Wainer 
     is particularly proud of what he has done to diversify and 
     improve the region's selection of fruits and vegetables.
       ``I was the first to bring mesclun in,'' he says.
       But Wainer's vision has taken the company way beyond its 
     produce-stand roots. Six years ago, he opened a retail 
     gourmet outlet, offering the same products his restaurants 
     clients buy. ``This area has a lot of talented people who eat 
     out and entertain, and a vast number of people who love to 
     cook,`` he says, by way of explaining his rationale for 
     opening the store.
       And this is a must-see for those who love to cook. ``We've 
     got everything,'' says Wainer sweepingly. As he escorts a 
     visitor through the store and warehouses with the energy 
     and enthusiasm of a gourmet-food Willie Wonka, it's easy 
     to believe that claim.

[[Page E2224]]

       White anchovies, trays of grilled artichokes in oil, black 
     trumpet mushrooms, baby sweet potatoes, nopales, sea beans, 
     white asparagus (``52 weeks a year!'' Wainer exclaims), quail 
     eggs from Connecticut, baby coconuts and bananas, edible 
     orchids, squash blossoms flown in daily from Israel, eight 
     varieties of unpasteurized imported olives--the variety is 
     overwhelming. ``I've got 146 varieties of dried beans and 
     grains!'' declares Wainer, racing past cartons in the 
     warehouse. ``Purple sticky rice! Butterscotch beans! 
     Himalayan red rice.''
       The store is in a former blanket factory on Purchase 
     Street, not far off Route 195. Bring a cooler, in case you 
     buy anything perishable. You've still got a long day ahead.
       If you've worked up an appetite walking through Wainer's 
     store, how about a lunch break? Both New Bedford and nearby 
     Fall River are home to numerous Portuguese restaurants that 
     are unmatched in the area for authenticity. This is a cuisine 
     that's lately become the darling of trendy foodies--it was 
     the highlighted aspect of the James Beard Foundation's recent 
     Mediterranean Culinary Festival in New York--but in Fall 
     River and New Bedford, it's a well-established tradition.
       Sagres restaurant on Columbia Street in Fall River is one 
     of the oldest, run by the Silva family, it has been serving 
     the community for nearly 24 years. ``Everything here is 100 
     percent Portuguese,'' says Victor Silva proudly. That means 
     the focus is on seafood, olive oil and fresh ingredients. A 
     popular specialty is the seafood stew, fragrant with garlic, 
     but don't miss the traditional salt cod dishes or the pork 
     alentejana--stewed with littlenecks--which Silva says his 
     chef father introduced to the area.
       Also popular are the T.A. Restaurant on South Main Street 
     and Terra Nostra on Rodman Street. Fall River remains more 
     gritty that pretty, but the economic picture there, as 
     elsewhere, has improved in recent years. Terra Nostra 
     proprietor Manuel Cardoso says that the city's ``going in the 
     right direction''; his one complaint now is that low 
     unemployment makes it hard to find wait staff.
       But if you're not in the mood for Portuguese, Fall River 
     holds at least one other interesting option. A couple years 
     back, chef George Karousos, whose family owns two restaurants 
     in Rhode Island, fulfilled a long-held dream and opened the 
     International Institute of Culinary Arts in Fall River. 
     Housed in a beautifully restored former church, the school 
     trains future chefs in both the classroom and in the kitchen. 
     Students staff the Abbey Grill restaurant, turning out 
     creative American fare under the direction of their 
     instructors; the open kitchen is also largely in view of the 
     customers. Try the sweet-salty coconut-crusted shrimp, the 
     creamy clam chowder or the swordfish in a chunky sauce of 
     olives, capers and tomatoes.
       Then roll yourself away from the table and press on; the 
     Westport Harvest Festival only runs until 5 p.m. In Fall 
     River or New Bedford, it might be hard to imagine you're in 
     one of the most agricultural counties in the state; head 
     south on Route 88, and you'll quickly find yourself in farm 
     country so rural and pristine it could be western 
     Massachusetts--but with a seacoast flavor.
       Festival vice president Lorraine Roy says of the event, now 
     in its ninth year, ``Our primary theme is fishing, farming 
     and agriculture.'' A farmers market displays the bounty of 
     the region, but the fair's events are as far-ranging as a 
     pumpkin weigh-off, a poetry contest, a juried craft fair and 
     an animal tent. Non-profit groups and restaurants will field 
     food booths with fare Roy describes as low-priced and family-
     oriented: ``Anywhere from clams and lobster rolls to 
     spareribs and chicken barbecue dinners.''
       How did the festival get its start? Like many other 
     agricultural-oriented projects in the area, the road leads to 
     Rob Russell, proprietor with his wife, Carol, of Westport 
     Rivers Winery. Roy says a local businessman approached 
     Russell with the idea after seeing a similar festival on a 
     trip to California.
       The winery is another noteworthy stop on your itinerary; 
     you could fit in a visit after the festival. The Russells 
     bought the land in 1982 and planted it with a variety of 
     classic wine grapes. Today, they turn out a number of award-
     winning wines and have added a wine-and-food-education center 
     and, most recently, a brewery. As important as the products 
     at Westport, though, is the philosophy: The Russells have 
     thrown themselves into efforts to protect the area's 
     agriculture.
       That aim requires both effort and commitment, because, like 
     many rural areas, this one is threatened by development. When 
     the farm that now houses the brewery, for instance, was up 
     for sale, the Russells bought it to keep it from being turned 
     into another subdivision; they plan eventually to grow the 
     hops that go into their Buzzards Bay beers.
       A place this rich in resources--the Russells call it a 
     farm, fish, food and wine region unique in the United 
     States--was bound to attract the attention of chefs. Many 
     local chefs visit the area and buy from the farmers. Chris 
     Schlesinger, owner of Cambridge's East Coast Grill, has gone 
     so far as to open a restaurant there. Dinner at the Back 
     Eddy, where the focus is on ingredients that are locally 
     grown and caught, would be the perfect way to wind up your 
     day of exploring.
       Actually, Schlesinger's Westport roots go back much farther 
     than the opening of the restaurant in April. He has owned a 
     house there for seven years, and worked as a chef at the 
     Sakonnet Golf Club, just over the Rhode Island border in 
     Little Compton, 17 years ago. It reminds him of the Virginia 
     coast, where he grew up, both in its farm-and-ocean terrain 
     and its low key character. ``It's not like other coastal 
     areas that have been developed for more elite situations,'' 
     he says. ``Everything is low-key and calm; nobody's trying to 
     make the scene, nobody's in your face.''
       As a restaurateur, he appreciates the access to ingredients 
     the waterfront location lends: ``We have fishing boats in 
     front, (farmers') pickup trucks in back.'' He buys seafood 
     right off boats that swing by the dock.
       Schlesinger borrows an analogy from Bob Russell when 
     describing the area's present, and possible future. To remain 
     sustainable, the farms themselves have to be part of the 
     draw; the Heritage Farm Coast, as it's sometimes called, 
     could be promoted as something like ``the Sonoma of the East 
     Coast.''
       Meanwhile, though it isn't glamorous, there's something 
     wonderfully unspoiled about this underappreciated area of the 
     state. ``It's funky, not pristine beautiful,'' says 
     Schlesinger, ``I want to spend the rest of my life there.''

     

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