Bye bye, Blue Marble, Hello Steve's

The Village Voice's Fork in the Road food blog (lots of fun, highly recommended) had a piece today on a soon-to-be-opened and highly-anticipated (in this camp) ice cream shop at the former site of what I thought was the none-too-spectacular Blue Marble ice cream shop.

Steve's

Steve's is from Boston, but its new outpost will feature lots of Brooklyn-y products:

If ice cream can be said to have a terroir, the new Steve's is definitely that of Brooklyn. The company, which began developing and testing new flavors last year, is creating partnerships with a number of the borough's artisanal producers: to date, Salvatore Bklyn is supplying the ricotta in Steve's strawberry ricotta ice cream, Kombucha Brooklyn's eponymous brew is the base for a kombucha sorbet, and Plowshares coffee stars in a coffee-cinnamon ice cream. Taza, a chocolate company based in Somerville, MA, is also supplying chocolate for both flavors and toppings; its chocolate-covered cacao nibs appear in Steve's dairy-free mint-cacao chip.

I cannot wait for this wretched weather to disappear so I can throw on a sundress, flip flops and bike on over to Steve's.  You can get it by the pint but what fun is that?  Not fun.  Will definitely let you know what I find.

Breast milk ice cream + bioethics

When the breast milk ice cream story broke, at least half a dozen thoughtful friends sent me links about, urging me to blog it.  I would, I thought, eventually, but the more I considered it, the more I realized it was more than a gimmick.  To me, it raised a number of disturbing sociological questions -- questions about adventure eating/foodie elitism, what it means that only a woman can provide this ingredient, what it means that it's for sale, what it means for infants, and the choices mothers make.  I didn't want to blog about it merely to say "it exists."

Luckily, Sarah Hepola, a great editor at Salon.com, assigned me what became this piece on "The Squirmy Ethics of Breast Milk Ice Cream."  In it, I discuss how a commercial market for human milk might impact women and what its relationship might be to other industries based on the commodification of intimate functions: surrogacy, sex work, the organ trade.  Hope you enjoy.