Book Festival: Ellie Krieger

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

For those of you interested in low-fat cooking and natural foods, don’t miss Food Network celebu-chef Ellie Krieger‘s appearance at the upcoming Philadelphia Book Festival! Krieger will talk at noon on May 17 at the Skyline Salon.

Healthy eating shouldn’t hurt, argues Food Network star and registered dietician Ellie Krieger. A proponent of good, fresh food prepared simply but deliciously, Krieger eschews the use of supposed “healthy” non-fat food substitutes, because when the fat goes out, the additives go in. The 200 recipes collected in The Food You Crave celebrate natural foods–including butter!–in moderate amounts as the keystone of a healthy lifestyle.

The Philadelphia Book Festival is a free event that runs the weekend of May 17 and May 18.  In addition to a long list of author readings, a Book Fair is held with more than 70 literary exhibitors.

Farmers Helpers wanted!

Saturday, April 05, 2008

And now for a much shorter entry on an event in the future…

FARMER HELPERS NEEDED TO WORK AT CITY MARKETS

Some of the farmers who will come to sell at Philadelphia’s outdoor markets this summer need help at their stands. If you like the food and excitement of the farmers’ market and need some cash, you should consider working for a farmer! There will be a two-hour training workshop in late April for anyone who is interested. Leave a comment on this entry, and I will be in touch via email. This training is supported by the Penn State Philadelphia Resource Center (Penn State Extension Service).

Ethnic food and small farms

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

A draft of this entry has been sitting on my hard drive for...oh, at least a month.  I apologize that I didn’t post it in a more timely fashion after the PASA conference, but I still find myself thinking about this workshop session and referencing it in conversation, so I hope you’ll all still find this entry interesting.

So, in the middle of February I attended the PASA conference (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture).  It was my first visit to the conference, and—besides suffering from work-induced exhaustion and cold-induced aches—I was overwhelmed by all the organizations’ tables and circulating farmers and activists.  Despite being intimidated, I still managed to learn a little about various subjects, but I won’t attempt to summarize everything.  For now, I’d just like to talk about the workshop/lecture I enjoyed the most!  It was the last one I attended, given by Sandra Miller of Painted Hand Farm near Carlisle, called ‘Feeding the World in Your Community: Capturing Ethnic Markets’.  The Powerpoint presentation for this workshop (as well as other articles) is actually on her farm’s website, for further explanation.

She started by explaining why ethnic groups are an excellent customer-match for small farms.  Recent immigrants understand seasonality, spend a higher percentage of their income on food than the average American, and are accustomed to shopping frequently for fresh food.  Through modern shipping routes and the internet, these immigrants can maintain some of their identity through their food, but they want a local source for some ingredients.  When they find a source, they are frequent and loyal customers who spread the word about a farm within their own community, which may rely heavily on word-of-mouth for places to source particular food varieties.

The presentation included various steps that farmers can take to research and prepare for these markets, which I won’t reiterate here.  I just enjoyed hearing her entrepeneurial but respectful attitude!  For instance, many of her customers have specific halal butchering requirements and want to slaughter the animal themselves.  Instead of being intimidated or annoyed by this, she thought to herself, ‘I don’t need to pay for a device to de-horn the goat (and run the risk of occasionally killing one during the process), or a device to castrate the goat (and again, might occasionally lose an animal)—and hey, I don’t even need to pay anything to a butcher, so I come out ahead!’ She also emphasized the value of talking about the food with the customers, to discover how the meat or vegetables are going to be prepared; she gave an example of some squash seeds given to her by a Sicilian who wanted to prepare the squash when it was young and tender, but once she brought to market an example of the squash when it was hard and fully grown (a huge tan squash shaped like a ram’s horn!) and someone from a *different* part of Italy came up and asked if the squash could be allowed to grow even more hard!

Sandra Miller primarily raises meat goats, and the primary group of customers she mentioned were recent immigrants or visitors from Southeast Asia and Africa, many of them Muslims looking for goats for holiday meals—or just ethnic groups for whom goat meat is a staple part of their diet.  One of the reasons to explore ethnic markets, that she mentioned repeatedly and that I found most exciting, is that these are people who may be relocating to or visiting in the States (e.g., families of academics teaching/studying at various educational institutions, like the American War College near her in Carlisle) who for *months* haven’t been able to find food (like goat meat) that they’re accustomed to consuming all the time—and they’re *so* happy to find a source for this food; she said interactions with these customers, overjoyed to find these staples, are very satisfying.  She said she’s had adult Muslim men come to her farm and weep with joy that they can now enjoy a goat at a celebration, like the birth of a child or whatever.  It made me want to have a goat farm! 

One other perspective of ethnic groups that I found especially compelling was the truly sustainable approach to consuming food.  Between the variety of ethnic groups that buy food from her, everything is used—right down to the turkey feet a Chinese co-worker wanted from her during one year when she was sourcing Thanksgiving turkeys for coworkers.  This co-worker wanted the feet for soup broth, a fundamental part of the holiday celebration in the co-worker’s family, and paid her $50 for a part of the animal that would’ve otherwise gone to waste.  That’s so cool!

Milking the situtation

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

You may remember that January 1 was supposed to be the date on which dairies who produce milk from cows not injected with growth hormones officially had to stop labeling milk as hormone-free, etc..  Apparently, enough consumers voiced their concern - last Thursday there was...well, a change in attitude.

Due to consumer demand for continued labeling, this plan was revised and last Thursday the state announced new guidelines. Instead of standardizing labeling completely, the new plan requires milk labels be uniform, not be misleading, and that there be a paper trail to verify the claims.

For instance, instead of a label simply stating “No BST,” - which is short for bovine somatotropin and occurs naturally in cows — the label must read “from cows not treated with rbST” (the synthetic version of the hormone). Most importantly, it must also clearly state that no significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rbST-treated and non-rbST-treated cows.

This is a great victory for consumers!  However, the debate rages on in other states.  And not just for milk produced without rbST, but also for raw milk.  You might have heard that last year Georgia proposed dying raw milk gray so that people wouldn’t drink it, and there’s always someone arguing over the health risks or health benefits of consuming raw milk or raw milk products.

If you’re interested in learning more about raw milk consumption, I’d suggest you check out the Rutgers University seminar series on raw milk.  There are several upcoming events that are free and open to the public with no reservations required:

1) Raw Milk, Mother Nature’s Inconvenient Truth

Mark McAfee, Organic Pastures Dairy Mark McAfee is founder of Organic Pastures Dairy in California. He is internationally recognized as an expert in raw milk production, working closely with government officials and university researchers to demonstrate the superior quality and safety of raw milk. http://www.organicpastures.com

February 6, 2008 - two talks: 2:00-4:30 pm, Foran Hall, Room 138B, seating capacity 40 Rutgers University, 59 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ

7:00 pm, Cook Student Center, Multi-purpose Room, seating capacity 350 Rutgers University, 59 Biel Road, New Brunswick, NJ Co-Sponsored by New Jersey Agriculture Experiment Station & Rutgers University Cook Organic Garden Club

2) Raw Milk Wars, Government’s Attempt to Dictate What Foods We Can Consume

David G. Cox, Attorney at Law, Lane, Alton & Horst LLC Gary Cox has been defending farmers and protecting consumers in their struggles to make raw milk and raw dairy products available all across the country. Gary has litigated cases on behalf of farmers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, and recently filed suit against the state of California to overturn legislation that would effectively ban the sale of raw milk in that state. Gary is a former environmental prosecutor and former organic vegetable farmer who loves the land and all that it provides. http://www.lanealton.com

February 20, 2008: 1:00 pm, Marine Science Alampi Auditorium, seating capacity 95 Rutgers University, 71 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ Sponsored by New Jersey Agriculture Experiment Station

For more information, please see the press release.

Michael Pollan at the Free Library

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

If you’re looking for something to do tomorrow night, Michael Pollan is speaking at the Free Library of Philadelphia.  Pollan is the author of a book that influenced many of us, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, as well as The Botany of Desire.  He’ll be discussing his latest book In Defense of Food.  You might know Pollan’s treatise: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Pollan’s talk is scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm at the 1901 Vine branch.  Pollan will also be speaking tomorrow morning at the White Dog Cafe, but that’s been sold out since mid-December at least (trust me, I tried to get in).  If the White Dog event is any indication, the Pollan event at the library will be packed!

Mill Creek Farm Benefit

Friday, November 30, 2007

If you’re interested in urban agriculture and sustainability, you might want to check out a fundraiser for Mill Creek Farm:

Celebrate our second season and learn about our work with urban agriculture and sustainability. Light food and drinks from local restaurants and brewerys, silent auction, live music featuring the West Philadelphia Orchestra and Fan of Friends.  Sun, Dec 9, 3-7 pm, The Ethical Society Building, 1906 South Rittenhouse Sq, $20 advance, $25 door. More info and tix: http://www.millcreekurbanfarm.org

Upcoming events!

Friday, October 26, 2007

Crossing Vineyards in Washington Crossing, PA has a fun event coming up if you’re interested in locally-made wines.  Head out to Bucks County on November 10 and 11 for their Nouveau Festival, which celebrates this season’s wine harvest and the release of Crossing Vineyards’ 2007 “Le Nouveau”.  The festival is from noon to six.

If you’ll be in the York, Pennsylvania area on November 17 and 18, consider hitting the York Expo Center’s Toyota Arena for the Pennsylvania Food and Beverage Show.  A few PA wineries will be showcased.  Admission starts at $11.

Hurry up if you’re interested in the White Dog Cafe American Artisan Cheese Dinner - it’s Monday, October 29 at 6pm.  Executive Chef Andy Brown will prepare a four course dinner revolving around local cheeses and some other local foods, while Jeffrey Roberts, author of Atlas of American Artisan Cheese, leads a discussion.  The cost is $45 plus tax & gratuity.  Reservation are required. Please call 215-386-9224.

If free is more your style, mosey over to the United Tabernacle Church at 3700 Chestnut St. in Philly on October 30 for the “Faces of Fair Trade” Farmers Tour.  There will be a food tasting and discussion led by Ann Karlen, founding director of the Fair Food Project.

And here’s something for you to consider for next year: The Brewer’s Plate.  The fundraiser for the Fair Food Project will be held on March 9, 2008 at the Independence Visitor’s Center.  As part of Philly Beer Week 2008, chefs from Philly’s top restaurants will put together food and wine pairings.  It promises to be a good time for a good cause!

(Peruvian) farm to Philly

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

This entry employes an international interpretation of ‘Farm to Philly’, but I hope the topic is still interesting and relevant!  (After all, even in meals made almost completely with locally-produced ingredients, there are usually still spices or oils from other regions or countries.  I’ve heard it called the ‘Marco Polo exception’...)

The Independents Coffee Cooperative is a ‘group of independently owned coffeehouses [in Philadelphia] focused on increasing the sale of fair-trade and organic coffee, while making a positive impact in our communities, on the environment, and in the lives of the people who produce the products we sell’.  You can view a map of the members’ locations here.  (E.g., the Mugshot, Green Line, and Infusion cafés, as well as the West Philly Metropolitan café and joe coffee bar.)

This week—appropriately during October, which is Co-op Month AND Fair Trade Month—a coffee farmer and a farmers’ co-op representative, both from Peru, are visiting Philadelphia!  The farmer lives in the Andes mountains, apparently about 10 hours’ drive from Cusco, and he is one of the grower-owners of the Cooperativa San Fernando, for which the other Peruvian visitor is a representative. 

This afternoon, the farmer and the co-op rep, as well as a representative from Equal Exchange (the cooperatively-owned fair-trade buyer that has facilitated the purchase of San Fernando Cooperative coffee by the ICC), translators, and some ICC store owners, held an informal discussion/Q&A session at my local coffee shop, the (original) Green Line Café @ 43rd & Baltimore.  I stopped by for about half an hour, browsed the display of pictures, and admired the distinctive Mayan clothes worn by the Peruvians.  I couldn’t think of any particular questions about coffee production, although I was happy to observe that the fair-trade model seemed to be effective in providing a fair, beneficial revenue for the coffee farmers.

Instead, I actually spent my time talking with the person from Equal Exchange, then one of the owners of Mugshots, concerning various issues of co-ops, fair trade, middle men, and buying choices—all things that I feel I’m currently studying in a practical, urban-focused way by observing why and how individuals make choices to buy local food.  At any rate, if any of the remaining events happen to be convenient for anybody tomorrow, I’d recommend stopping by.  There’s breakfast (08.30-10.30 am) at the Manayunk joe coffee bar, an afternoon session (03.00-05.00 pm) at the Fairmount Mugshots, then an evening event (07.00-09.00 pm) at...hm...one of the InFusion locations.  I know this entry doesn’t provide much advance warning, and I apologize, but I only found out about this whole visit yesterday!

Other links:
Here is a brief press release, and here is a Daily Pennsylvanian article on the breakfast hosted at the 40th St. Metropolitan Bakery & Café on Tuesday.

Luck of the pot

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Philadelphia is a food town, and the number of food bloggers bears that out.  And never let it be said that food bloggers don’t know how to party!

Invite to all Philly food bloggers to the first ever Philly food blogger meet-up and potluck dinner to be held Friday, November 2.  If you consider yourself a Philly food blogger and want to join this group for this event and future events, please send your name, blog url, and email contact to taylorhigh24 (at) hotmail (dot) com.  An invite will follow with event details.

It’s not an event dedicated to eating locally grown food, but considering FTP’s own Marisa is hosting this first event at her place I’m sure there will be a dash of locally grown flavor in the house! 

If you can’t attend this inaugural event (like me), don’t fret - more potlucks will follow!

Autumn Leaves Artisan Cheese & Foods Festival

Monday, October 08, 2007

After discovering existence of the Autumn Leaves Artisan Cheese & Foods Festival to be held at the end of September at Valley Shepherd Creamery and pouting because I wasn’t able to attend, I was delighted to find out an FTP reader was going and was more than happy to serve as our eyes and ears for this awesome-sounding event!  What follows is Athena Fotiadis’ report on the festival:

Back in July, I was at my local farmer’s market (Montclair, NJ), and I noticed a new cheese vendor, Valley Shepherd Creamery.  I perused the
selection, and I decided to try their manchego-style cheese.  It was great! While waiting for my cheese to be wrapped, I picked up a flyer for the Autumn Leaves Artisan Cheese & Foods Festival on Saturday, September 29, 2007.  I was so excited!  I immediately lined up a friend to come with.

We arrived about noon after a very pleasant and easy drive down Route 78. It was warm with a slight nippy breeze, my favorite weather.  The leaves are
already barely starting to turn colors and the drive took us through some beautiful landscape.  When we made it to the entrance, we were directed to
drive on a bit to the middle school.  They had parking and a bus to take us to the farm itself.  Already, we could tell, it was pretty busy!

So, the cheese.  There were quite a few farms/cheesemakers represented. Some were from New Jersey, many were from further up the northeast,
including Quebec.  My friend and I tasted cheeses from Meadow Stone Farm from CT (cheese with chocolate liqueur and tobacco wrapped cheese), the
well-known and TV-featured Bobolink Dairy from NJ (Jean Louis and Drumm, if you like your cheese stinky, here’s where to go), Artisan Made-Northeast from CT who distribute some of the other cheeses there (five different blue cheeses, my favorite being the Benedictin, and handmade chocolate turtles that were orgasmic), Seal Cove Farm all the way from Maine (really creamy and nice goat cheeses and a couple of interesting washed rind cheeses), Cato Corner Farm from CT (our favorite, we tried everything he brought and this was the cheese we bought for our baguettes), and Beltane Farm from CT (the *freshest* goat cheese I have ever tasted!).

There were other cheesemakers there, but it started getting very crowded. So, we were at Cato Corner Farm and decided to buy our slices for the baguette table as mentioned before.  They had a really neat thing that you could buy a slice of cheese from whomever you liked for $2 and then go to the baguette table and pay $2 for a generous hunk of baguette and some olive oil and/or balsamic vinegar to make a nice sandwich.  We got the Fromage d’O’Cow, a creamy and stinky cheese.  We were lucky to have gotten the last of the baguettes (although, they started using the rounds of bread from one of the purveyers there, which for some reason, we didn’t visit).  So good!  The olive oil was such a nice green fruity counterpoint to the cheese.

We dived back into the tent, it was starting to approach mob levels.  It wasn’t even 2pm at this point.  We decided we need desert, so we headed to
the Bent Spoon table for the Lavendar Mascarpone ice cream.  You know, the cheese was awesome, but I think the ice cream was divine.  We never made it to any of the wine tables.  At this point, you couldn’t get near them in under 10 minutes, and I noticed some of the other vendors were starting to run out of stuff.  I don’t think they anticipated the turnout (I think their website mentioned 1,500 people!), which is actually a great thing to me.  That many people care about quality, handcrafted food!  We headed back to a few tables and got some apricot honey from Gooserock Farm from NJ, and tried the handmade chocolates by J. Emanuel, also in NJ. We totally missed the Quebecois cheese.  It was starting to get really really crowded.  We took a break and took some photos of the sheep, and headed to our final destination--Valley Shepherd’s own table outside their shop.  We tried the Fairmount, a nice swiss style, mentioned by Nicole in a previous post, and the Califon Tomme, a beautiful gouda-style cheese, which actually, this was my favorite.

Whew!  Can you believe, we were actually cheesed out at this point.  It was just about 2pm, so we headed back.  The cheeses that I know that can be
found in the Philly area are Valley Shepherd and Cato Corner Farm.  Everyone had a website, and quite a few ship their products.

All in all, it was a perfect September day with really great food, and I can’t wait for next year!

My mouth is absolutely watering!  Thanks, Athena, for such a great report - I’m completely jealous!  To see more photos from the festival, click here.

Slow Food Dinner Tonight at Marigold Kitchen

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

On Wednesday, September 26, 2007, Slow Food Philadelphia is sponsoring a five-course dinner at Marigold Kitchen inspired by chef Michael Solomonov’s recent trip through Turkey and Israel.

Amuse Bouche

First Course
Modern and Classic Mezze.  Eggplant salad, chopped Israeli salad with quail eggs and white anchovies, tuna carpaccio stuffed with tabouleh, and mussels cooked with spiced basmati rice.

Second Course
Braised swordfish with Shakshouka (classic tomato stew) and poached egg.

Third Course
Smoked loin of lamb with stewed prunes and flavored with Za’atar.

Dessert
Peach sorbet with peach salad, peach mousse, and peach cobbler with labneh ice cream.

$50 + tax and tip (the total price will be $65).  Reservations can be made through Open Table Philadelphia.

Slow Food USA is an educational organization dedicated to stewardship of the land and ecologically sound food production; to the revival of the kitchen and the table as centers of pleasure, culture, and community, to the invigoration and proliferation of regional, seasonal culinary traditions. The members of the Philadelphia chapter come from a wide variety of professions and backgrounds. It organizes dinners, tastings, tours, lectures, and picnics, where members gather in a convivial setting to explore the richness of our area’s culinary heritage or the food and drink of other cultures around the world.

Marigold Kitchen
501 S. 45th St.
(215) 222-3699

James and Sly Fox Beer Dinner

Thursday, September 13, 2007

On Monday, September 17, 2007 at 6:30 p.m., Chef Jim Burke of James is teaming up with Brewmaster Brian O’Rielly of Sly Fox Brewery for James’ Inaugural Beer Dinner.  This five course dinner will be made with local/seasonal ingredients and will be paired with local beers from Sly Fox.  The menu will feature the following dishes and beer pairings:

Hors d’oeuvres
The chef’s selection of hors d’oeuvres will be paired with Sly Fox’s Saison Vos, a Belgian style ale brewed with German Pils malt, hopped with East Kent Goldings and fermented with a special proprietary yeast that gives it a dry, spicy character.

1st course
Mussels in soppressata broth with olive crostini, which will be paired with Sly Fox’s Pikeland Pils—a light-bodied, Northern German style Pilsner brewed with imported German Pils malt and hopped with German and Czech hops.

2nd course
King salmon confit with crisp apple salad and potato rosti, which will be paired with Sly Fox’s Phoenix Pale Ale, a medium bodied American Pale Ale brewed with British Pale and Crystal malts and hopped with Centennial and Cascade hops from the Pacific Northwest.

3rd course
Poularde, which was recently awarded Best Entrée by Philadelphia Magazine, served with a wild mushroom fricassee.  The Poularde will be paired with Sly Fox’s Octoberfest, a smooth, medium-bodied, malty brew made with German Vienna malts and German hops.

4th course
Pork loin with melted shallot and fennel jus, which will be served with Sly Fox’s Incubus, an Abbot Style Triple brewed with German Pils malt and invert sugar.

Dessert
Beer mousse, almond cake and brown butter pears served with Sly Fox’s Instigator, a classic, full-bodied German-style doppelbock brewed with German Munich and Roast malts and Hallertauer hops.

The price for this event is $65 per guest, tax & gratuity not included.  Seating is limited.  For reservations, call Kristina at 215-629-4980.

James
824 S. 8th Street
215-629-4980

Gleaning Day is at hand

Monday, September 10, 2007

Don’t forget about City Harvest’s Gleaning Day coming up this Saturday!  Through Philadelphia Green’s City Harvest project, home and
community gardeners can “glean” from their gardens this Fall and donate extra produce to help needy families in our region. To participate, bring your extra garden produce to one of the following locations between 10am-1pm:

• Aspen Farms, 4837 Aspen St, 19139 (West Phila., 49th & Aspen Streets, off Haverford Ave)
• Bel Arbor Community Garden, 1012 Kimball St., 19147 (South Phila., between 10th & 11th Sts. just south of Carpenter)
• Garden RUN, 242 Monastery Ave., 19128 (off Ridge Ave. in Roxborough)
• Liberty Lands Garden, 913 N 3rd St., 19123 (Northern Liberties, entrance off Bodine & American Sts.)

Those who donate produce will be entered in a raffle to win tickets to the Philadelphia Flower Show!

For more information email or call Eileen Gallagher at 215-988-8880.

Restaurant Week with sustainable choices!

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Restaurant Week begins in Philadelphia in a few short weeks.  For $30 you can get a three course meal from some of Philadelphia’s best restaurants.  I was delighted to see a few restaurants focusing on local ingredients are participating!

City Grange in the Westin Hotel, for instance.  Their Restaurant Week menu features Lancaster County chicken noodle soup, salads that include locally made cheese, Atlantic salmon, and vegetables from Jersey.  This is a perfect time to try the food at the newly opened City Grange.

FARMiCia is also participating this time around with a menu full of seasonal, local ingredients, and even Cuba Libre is getting in on the act with a salad of Jersey tomatoes.

Don’t miss out!

Cooking Straight from the Farm

If you’re a self-proclaimed localvore or just someone interested in unusual farm produce, you won’t want to miss this opportunity.  On Saturday, September 29th, Weavers Way Farm, in coordination with the Mt. Airy Learning Tree, will host a unique cooking workshop that starts with students strolling rows of heirloom tomatoes, okra, squash, pumpkins, flowers, herbs, swiss chard, beets, carrots, peppers, and more to learn about natural growing practices and local urban farming as well as how to take advantage of seasonal crops at home.  Students will talk with the farmer and volunteers to understand how much effort and passion goes into naturally grown/organic food.  Once students have gathered this farming knowledge, they will then help harvest some vegetables (and buy more to take home if they wish) to take into the kitchen.

In the kitchen, the farm’s food blog host will demonstrate how to prepare three or four quick dishes using the farm’s more unusual produce (including marjoram pictured above).  Dishes will be determined by seasonal availability, but are almost certain to include quesadillas with tomatillo sauce and squash blossoms, sorrel almond pesto, seasonally filled empanadas and other delectable and super fresh treats.  After the cooking demonstration, students are encouraged to stick around to feast on the harvest dishes and participate in a round-robin discussion on buying local resources and urban farming in Philadelphia. 

To sign up for the workshop, visit Mt. Airy Learning Tree’s site for online registration.