About

A great chef once told me: "No one chooses the restaurant industry.  The industry chooses them."  And though it was said in jest, that phrase contains a truth.  At least for me it does.  I got my first full-time cooking job at a time when I merely needed a job.  Any job.  And working as a line cook seemed good enough.  I was inspired by the passion I saw in those around me, and quickly took to the fast pace and unlimited learning potential the job offered.  Soon the industry beckoned, inviting me to join its ranks.

Flash forward half a decade.  I live in Philly and cook at one of the most highly-rated restaurants in the city. At home, my girlfriend Naomi and I cook together as much as possible using our favorite ingredient: the local, organic produce from our CSA share.

This blog is an outlet for that.  An homage to all things fresh and local.  A resource to those looking to get the most from their CSA's.  I do the writing, she does the photography, and together we create UNDERCOOKED.

What is a CSA?

CSA is an acronym for community supported agriculture.  It's a system that allows you buy into a network of local farms and producers.  You provide them financial support and they pay you back with weekly installments of produce.  Thus the risks and rewards of farming are spread out.  Farmers' livelihoods are shored up and the community eats more healthily.

Don't look at a CSA as a bargain.  It's not; purchases at the supermarket are substantially cheaper.  Rather, the true value of a CSA is knowing that you're supporting the health of the environment, local economy and, of course, yourself.  It's a way to opt out of the industrialized, homogenized, over-fertilized, globalized food supply that's sadly become the status quo.  And if you're serious about finding the freshest, highest quality produce, a CSA is the ticket.