Eliza Murphy, famous for her art and theatrical closing announcements when we end the day at 11PM is going to Malawi in Africa. She is seeking funds through Kickstarter. Help her get to the airport and out of town.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/481593819/sustenance-considering-agriculture-through-paint?ref=search
No, Toscanini’s is not some exclusive gelato haven in a heavily trafficked tourist trap in Italy.
Nor is it in Wharton County.
But as a part of my visit to Massachusetts, my brother and I decided last Saturday night to visit Toscanini’s ice cream shop in Cambridge on Sunday. Owned by a good friend of my brother’s going back to college days, Gus Rancatore, we looked forward to the visit.
Little did we know it would be featured on the front page of the Boston Globe on Sunday morning!
The article, “The Scoop on Rising Food Costs: Global economic factors driving prices of things we need – and love” hits home on factors affecting rising costs not just in Massachusetts, but in Texas, too.
Toscanini’s has a dedicated clientele for good reasons. Opened in 1981, the store is acclaimed for “ingenious flavors.”
The New York Times calls it “the best ice cream in the world,” and in 2009 it was the winner of Boston Magazine’s “Best of Boston” Award for Best Ice Cream.
Though Gus has no formal academic degree, located “down the street” from Harvard and M.I.T,. his store hosts academicians and others from around the world from whom Gus has both learned and shared of his expertise.
He is an occasional guest speaker at Boston University on “Food and Anthropology” and has a scope (not scoop) of expertise that even reaches into Texas education and politics.
But back to economics, rising costs affect even the gourmet ice cream market. The Globe points out that at Toscanini’s, a single scoop of mango ice cream has risen 40 cents in less than three months!
To understand the change, one needs to look beyond Cambridge, beyond the greater Boston area, beyond Massachusetts, beyond New England and even beyond the borders of the United States.
Globe writer Megan Woolhouse points out, “Ice cream may be a deliciously simple combination of milk, butter and sugar, but the true cost of an ice cream cone is no simple business calculation. Toscanini’s price tag is part of complex and increasingly interconnected world economy, one that links a dairy farm in the tiny western Massachusetts town of Colrain to the sprawling neighborhoods of Beijing.”
She continues, “The story of this scoop of ice cream, as it moves from raw materials to finished product, captures the myriad forces that are pushing food prices higher and putting pressure on beleaguered U.S. consumers and a tentative economic recovery. Like other commodities, milk, sugar, and gasoline prices have soared because of rising demand, catastrophic weather and political unrest.”
The foundation for Gus’s ingenious flavors is an “ice cream ‘mix’ – the powdered and skim milk, butter and sugar combination sold to ice cream makers at shops.”
Gus buys from a Massachusetts- and New Hampshire-based processing plant.
The price the processing plant pays for its ingredients of cheese, milk powder and butter is determined by the Chicago commodities market, which Woolhouse explains, “have risen because of a surge in international demand for U.S. milk, particularly in Asia” including the Chinese market.
Sugar prices have gone up because of global demand as well as adverse weather conditions — including a cyclone in Australia and a drought in the Ukraine and Russia — affecting sugar beets.
Subsequently, between two main ingredients for ice cream, prices rose 44 percent for skim milk, and 12 percent for sugar. On top of that, Massachusetts increased its food tax 2 cents on the dollar, or a 40 percent increase.
While a single scoop of one of Gus’s ingenious flavors of ice cream now costs $4.25, thankfully for him, there are customers who continue to seek out his establishment.
As mentioned in the Globe article, “Darcy Hutchinson savored her single scoop of mango ice cream on a recent afternoon at Toscanini’s” in spite of the increased cost.
As a “27-year-old Tufts veterinary school student … she has grown accustomed to high prices” and attempts to put it in perspective. “When I graduate, I’m going to be $200,000 in the hole,’’ Hutchinson said. “What’s another $4?’’
While I wouldn’t look at it exactly as Ms. Hutchinson does, I do attest to the quality of Toscanini’s ice cream and camaraderie found there. If you head to anywhere in Massachusetts or New England, I recommend a visit to Toscanini’s.
From Boston, you may only be a few minutes away, and much of New England probably no more than a couple of hours, sort of like a trip to the grocery store or the midpoint of one’s ranch for a Texan.
If you can’t get to Massachusetts, you might try Amy’s Ice Cream in Houston, Austin or San Antonio. As far back as 1978, Gus and Amy, then a pre-med student at Tufts, scooped ice cream together at Steve’s Ice Cream in nearby Somerville, Mass., and after successfully pioneering Toscanini’s, Gus assisted Amy in her Texas venture. He remains on its board to this day.
Peter Johnston, an East Bernard resident, earned a history degree from Cornell University and is a former high school history teacher.
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Friday night is the Cambridge Community Dance, between the Central Square Post Office and City Hall. 730P>11PM. We’re planning to stay open late becasuse of this event but neither will happen if it rains. Grrrr.
On Saturday Boston’s Museum of Science will have a big food event, starting at 10AM.
http://www.mos.org/events_activities/events&d=4962
Adam Simha will be there with his knives.
SaturdayBreakfast@TheBigTable
Every Saturday 10AM to 2PM and
Every Sunday 10Am to 2PM SundayBreakfast@TheSmallTable
Out of consideration for others you cannot study or use computers ANYWHERE in this room during breakfast.
French Toast with NH maple syrup 5.75
Creamy Egg Sandwich on toasted ciabatta 5.95
add bacon 2.25
Bacon Sandwich: fresh corn & tomato relish
with arugula 6.75
add egg 1.00
Buttermilk Pancakes with Minty Strawberries
and NH maple syrup 7.75
Fried Egg Sandwich with caramelized onions,
French feta and spinach pesto 5.75
add bacon 2.25
Toasted English Muffin with Taleggio, honey & pistachios 3.95
Toasted Eggo & assorted pickled spring vegetables, avacodo mash
4.75
Add an egg 1.
Grilled Blueberry Muffin with whipped butter 2.95
Side of bacon 3.75
Sophia’s of Belmont Greek yogurt
with assorted stonefruits & ginger 3.25
Coffee from Barismo,
or Batdorf & Bronson
Fresh squeezed orange juice 2.
The flavors change, sometimes very quickly. We rarely take phone orders because we don’t have time to answer the phone.
Friday night there is a Community Dance scheduled for Mass. Ave. in Central Square. Pray it doesn’t rain.
Saturday there is a big food event at the Museum of Science
French Vanilla
Belgian Chocolate
Hydrox Cookie
BOURBON FLAKE
MANGO
RUM RAISIN
GIANDUIA
GNR
MALTED VANILLA
Burnt Caramel
CAKE BATTER
GREEN TEA
COCONUT
BUTTER Chocolate Chip
GINGER
CH #3
STRAW CH FLAKE
ESPRESSO CHIP
FRESH MINT
PINA COLADA
HABANERO CREAM
COCOA PUDDING & VIENNA FINGER COOKIE
MEDITERRANEAN ORANGE
MIXED BERRY
CARDAMOM COFFEE
EARL GREY
WHITE COFFEE
BUCKEYE
WHITE RUSSIAN
COOKIE DOUGH
STRAW SORBET
MANGO SORBET
F V
B Ch
HYX
BOURBON FLAKE
MANGO
RUM RAISIN
GIANDUIA
GNR
MALTED VANILLA
BURNT
CAKE BATTER
GREEN TEA
COCONUT
BUTTER CHIP
GINGER
CH #3
STRAW CH FLAKE
ESPRESSO CHIP
FRESH MINT
PINA COLADA
HABANERO CREAM
COCOA PUDDING & VIENNA
MEDITERRANEAN ORNGE
MIXED BERRY
CARDAMOM COFFEE
EARL GREY
WHITE COFFEE
BUCKEYE
WHITE RUSSIAN
COOKIE DOUGH
STRAW SORBET
MANGO SORBET
F V
B Ch
HYX
BOURBON FLAKE
MANGO
RUM RAISIN
GIANDUIA
GNR
MALTED VANILLA
BURNT
CAKE BATTER
GREEN TEA
COCONUT
BUTTER CHIP
GINGER
CH #3
STRAW CH FLAKE
ESPRESSO CHIP
FRESH MINT
PINA COLADA
HABANERO CREAM
COCOA PUDDING & VIENNA
MEDITERRANEAN ORNGE
MIXED BERRY
CARDAMOM COFFEE
EARL GREY
WHITE COFFEE
BUCKEYE
WHITE RUSSIAN
COOKIE DOUGH
STRAW SORBET
MANGO SORBET
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Pistachio nuts are another product that saw a huge price increase. The explanation is that suddenly richer countries like China and India are buying enough pistachios to raise prices. In fact there are reports of hijackings of agricultural commodities including nuts and tomatoes.
We rarely make Pistachio ice cream because of the cost increase. We do continue to use pistachio nuts in our various Khulfee flavors.
Here is an interesting blog about pistachio nuts. Really.
http://www.thepistachionut.com/Blog-Tim/
Alina Simone worked as a scooper at Toscanini’s. She has a new book and an album out, and a movie in the works.
The Globe tries to keep up at
http://articles.boston.com/2011-06-18/ae/29674880_1_pandora-amanda-palmer-upcoming-book
Maybe we could release a Live at the Apollo style album featuring, Shadows Fall, Madball, Toxic Narcotics, Bain, Draize, Dresden Dolls and The Vigilantes. Plus Pat Egan playing deranged and unhinged Irish music.
Megan Woodhouse of the Globe spent weeks researching a story on increases in dairy prices and the costs of ice cream, including Toscanini’s Ice Cream.
The scoop on rising food costsGlobal economic factors driving prices of things we need — and loveBy Megan Woolhouse Globe Staff / June 19, 2011
CAMBRIDGE — Darcy Hutchinson savored her single scoop of mango ice cream on a recent afternoon at Toscanini’s, a gourmet ice cream shop famous for ingenious flavors. The treat cost $4.25 — up 40 cents from March — but the 27-year-old Tufts veterinary school student said she has grown accustomed to high prices. “When I graduate I’m going to be $200,000 in the hole,’’ Hutchinson said. “What’s another $4?’’ Ice cream may be a deliciously simple combination of milk, butter, and sugar, but the true cost of an ice cream cone is no simple business calculation. Toscanini’s price tag is part of complex and increasingly interconnected world economy, one that links a dairy farm in the tiny Western Massachusetts town of Colrain to the sprawling neighborhoods of Beijing. The story of this scoop of ice cream, as it moves from raw materials to finished prod uct, captures the myriad forces that are pushing food prices higher and putting pressure on beleaguered US consumers and a tentative economic recovery. Like other commodities, milk, sugar, and gasoline prices have soared because of rising demand, catastrophic weather, and political unrest. A cyclone in Australia wiped out sugar beet crops. Uprisings in the Middle East have threatened to disrupt oil supplies. Growing demand for milk by Asia’s rising middle class affects the over-the-counter price of an ice cream cone at Toscanini’s. “In any economic chain, there are winners and losers,’’ said Ricky Volpe, economist at the Department of Agriculture. “But there’s no question that consumers are one of the losers. Specifically American consumers.’’ At Hager Brothers Farm, two hours west of Boston on the Vermont border, paint peels off the farmhouses, barns sag, and broken farm equipment litters the driveway. “It’s a straight 5-to-9 job,’’ quipped Albert “Chip’’ Hager, the third-generation dairy farmer who owns the farm and runs the milking operation with his son-in-law, Aaron Stevens. The 700-acre spread, home to 150 cows, mostly Holsteins, is where Toscanini’s ice cream begins. While the prices Hager receives for milk are the highest in more than two years, his costs are increasing faster. Hager supplements the feed he grows — corn and hay — with grain he buys. His grain costs have jumped to $27,000 a month, up $5,000 from a year ago. Much of the increase is because of the rising price of corn, rooted in soaring crude oil prices and demand for ethanol, the corn-based gasoline additive. Corn exports to China also play a role; US farmers exported about 17 times more corn to China last year than in 2009. As the sun rose on a recent morning, cows quietly herded into the milking parlor, where Hager and Stevens waited. They inspected animals for illness, spoke to them gently, and fit their udders with mechanical milkers that do what farmers once did by hand. The three-hour process yielded 407 gallons of milk. The price for the milk is determined by USDA rules, which recently set the minimum price at $20 per 100 pounds of milk (about 12 gallons). That means Hager’s morning yield was worth a minimum of $700. But those prices change. When milk fell below $14 per 100 pounds in 2009, Hager said he had to borrow “hundreds of thousands’’ of dollars to keep operating. Now that milk prices are up, feed costs have risen, eating into income he needs to repay the loans. “The last few years have been rough here,’’ Hager said. “Instead of making improvements, we’re digging ourselves out of a hole.’’ Milk from Hager’s Colrain farm is picked up every other day at 5 a.m. and hauled to Agri-Mark, a dairy cooperative with operations in West Springfield. Agri-Mark sells the milk from hundreds of farms to bottlers and dairy processors that make ice cream, cheese, and cream. Lynnfield-based HP Hood is one of the customers. Hood’s processing plants in Agawam and Concord, N.H., specialize in ice cream “mix’’ — the powdered and skim milk, butter, and sugar combination sold to ice cream makers at shops. The price Hood pays Agri-Mark for milk is based on the prices of cheese, milk powder, and butter in the Chicago commodities market. And those prices have risen because of a surge in international demand for US milk, particularly in Asia. The US dairy industry is exporting a record 14 percent of its milk production, up from about 4 percent a decade ago, said Robert Wellington, an Agri-Mark economist. Mike Suever, senior vice president at HP Hood, said the company, which has 20 plants across the United States, exports 5 percent of its milk, mostly to China. “Demand is very high right now,’’ Suever said. “Dairy has entered a world market.’’ Growing demand is good for Hood, but Suever said Hood has also been affected by rising commodity costs. Skim milk prices, a main component of ice cream mix, rose 44 percent in the year ending in April, he said. Sugar prices increased 12 percent. Global demand for sugar has forced prices higher, but so, too, has weather. A cyclone that devastated sugar beet crops in Australia reduced sugar supplies. Droughts across Russia and the Ukraine have also damaged sugar beet yields, leading to forecasts of continued high prices. “There’s just a lot of uncertainty out there,’’ said Stephen Haley, an agricultural economist for the USDA. Those increases eventually make their way to the ice cream shop of Toscanini’s Gus and Mimi Rancatore, who buy Hood mix from Rosev Dairy Foods, Inc., a Chelsea distributor. F. Stephen Jamgochian, Rosev’s chief operations officer, said Hood’s mix prices have increased 25 percent in the last year, a cost passed onto ice cream makers. More than 400 gallons of ice cream mix are delivered each week to the Rancatores’ shop, and indeed, they are paying 25 percent more than last year. Rising gas prices have also added a $1.90 surcharge to each of the week’s six daily deliveries. At the same time, prices for mangos, chocolate, pistachios, and other flavorings have jumped. When the price of pistachios rose above $10 a pound, pistachio ice cream disappeared from Toscanini’s menu. “You won’t find pistachio ice cream too many places this summer,’’ Gus Rancatore said. Like many business owners, the Rancatores absorb a portion of higher costs, accepting lower profits to keep prices competitive. They said they tried to delay price increases, in the hope dairy costs would retreat, and introduced a smaller portion, the “micro-scoop,’’ for $3.50. This year, Mimi Rancatore called Hood to try to determine when milk prices might fall. “Once I realized we were breaking the $4 barrier’’ for a single-scoop cone, Mimi Rancatore said, “I was very nervous.’’ So far, breaking that barrier hasn’t deterred ice cream lovers. On a recent afternoon, Johnny Earle, founder of Johnny Cupcakes T-shirts, ate a two-scoop cup of vanilla and espresso chip that cost $5.50. He said he drove all the way from Hull to satisfy his craving. “I don’t think you can ever pay too much for good ice cream,’’ he said. Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com. © Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.
|
SaturdayBreakfast@TheBigTable
Every Saturday 10AM to 2PM and
Every Sunday 10Am to 2PM SundayBreakfast@TheSmallTable
Out of consideration for others you cannot study or use computers ANYWHERE in this room during breakfast.
French Toast with NH maple syrup 5.75
Creamy Egg Sandwich on toasted ciabatta 5.95
add bacon 2.25
Bacon Sandwich: fresh corn & tomato relish
with arugula 6.75
add egg 1.00
Buttermilk Pancakes with Minty Strawberries
and NH maple syrup 7.75
Fried Egg Sandwich with caramelized onions,
French feta and spinach pesto 5.75
add bacon 2.25
Toasted English Muffin with Taleggio, honey & pistachios 3.95
Toasted Eggo & assorted pickled spring vegetables, avacodo mash
4.75
Add an egg 1.
Grilled Blueberry Muffin with whipped butter 2.95
Side of bacon 3.75
Sophia’s of Belmont Greek yogurt
with assorted stonefruits & ginger 3.25
Coffee from Barismo,
or Batdorf & Bronson
Fresh squeezed orange juice 2.
SundayBreakfast@TheBigTable
Sunday from 10AM to 2PM.
Out of consideration for others you cannot study or use computers ANYWHERE in this room during Breakfast.
Kitchen
Bacon Sandwich with fresh corn & tomato relish and arugula
on pepper brioche roll 6.75
Classic French Toast with NH maple syrup 5.75
Plate of assorted pickled spring vegetables, avocado mash with baguette 4.75
Toasted crumpets with Taleggio cheese, honey & pistachio 3.95
Smoked Salmon with Tomato, Red Onion, and Lettuce 6.95
Bagel Bar
Any type of Iggy掇 Bagels toasted 3.95
(Plain, Raisin, Sesame, or Multi-seeds)
Toppings:
Cream Cheese: assorted flavors
Peanut Butter
Whipped Butter
Assorted Hi-Rise Preserves
Raisins
Sophia’s of Belmont Greek Yogurt with Honey and Granola 3.25
Coffee from
Barismo, and Batdorf & Bronson
Fresh squeezed orange juice 2.00
Basically close to 77 Mass. Avenue and then spiraling outward.
1. Salt
798 Main St.
617 876 8444
2. Craigie on Main
853 Main Street
617 497-5511
3. Rendezvous
502 Mass. Avenue
617 576-1900
4. Royal East
792 Main Street
617 661-1660
5. Thailand Cafe
302 Mass. Ave.
617) 492-2494
hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant with very good Szechuan food
6. Bondir
279A Broadway
(617) 661 0009
locavore, chef with a unique point of view
7. Area Four
Main Street.
almost brand new
suburban star Michael Leviton comes to Kendall Square
8. Hungry Mother
233 Portland St. (also known as Cardinal Medeiros)
617 499-0090
the food of Virginia cooked with French technique and finickyness
9. EVOO, ‘ZA
3rd street
EVOO is Italian and ‘Za is their PIzza and salad cafe
10. Baracka
80.5 Pearl street
617.868.3951
Great north African food with south of France influences
11. Central Bottle
196 Mass. Ave.
great liquor store with cheese, best cheap snacks for before and after anything
12. Flour
190 Mass. Ave.
617 225-2525
close and very good bakery cafe
13. Mary Chung’s
460 Mass. Ave.
the favorite place for many MIT students
617 864-1991
14. Journeyman
9 Sanborn Court
617 718-2333
off in Union Sq. Somerville (there is another Union Sq. in Allston)
interesting room, interesting serious food
you need a cab and a cabdriver to get there
worth the trip
15. East Coast Grill
1271Hampshire St.
lots of tasty food and lots of fun
1271 Cambridge Street
617 491-6568
16. Koreanna
158 Prospect St.
158 Prospect Street
Cambridge, MA 02139-1813
617 576-8661
17. Floating Rock
485 Mass. Avenue
617 455-4009
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