Disclaimer: I have no financial interest in Penzey's and they have not asked me to write about them.
ANYWAY, about 12 years ago, a colleague of mine at work, who knew I liked to cook, gave me a catalog for a spice store located in Milwaukee. The place was called Penzey's Spice and I became an instant convert. The catalogs were full of interesting information about the spices, where they came from, how they were harvested, what made one more expensive than another. That kind of thing. Spice trivia on crack. I love that. It didn't hurt that the spices were pretty good too. They always threw in a couple of extras with the order like a nutmeg, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves to keep the jars from clinking during shipping.
Then, last year, they launched a magazine called "One". Just for the heck of it, I subscribed. I'm so glad I did.
I'll tell you why below...
One is a magazine featuring recipes from ordinary people. Of coure, the recipes feature the Penzey spices but the magazine is so much more than that. In the past year, they have featured articles and stories about gay families, Katrina survivors and Johnny Cash and prison reform. I like the magazine as much for the antedotes and the courage to champion dissent as much as I like the recipes themselves. Bill Penzey seems to have put his company on the line in order to speak up about things that are important to him, like social justice and speaking truth to power.
Now, I don't know if Bill Penzey is a Kossak and I don't know whether he would necessarily gravitate to a site like ours. But I am encouraged that this guy would make it his mission to put what he believes in his magazine and I am also encouraged that his readers, ordinary midwesterners and other Americans, appreciate what his magazine is doing to change the nature of discourse in the country and get people involved in causes greater than themselves.
So, my "Tip of the Hat" today goes to Bill Penzey and his company for doing the right thing.
One doesn't have slick production values (yet) but I think I know what he is trying to accomplish by marrying spice, recipes, people, and the common good.
Let simmer and serve. Delicious.