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World Disco Soup Day Interview with Rescuing Leftover Cuisine!

4/14/2019

Dana Siles (left), New England Coordinator and Lauren Basler (right), Massachusetts Branch Head, the team behind Rescuing Leftover Cuisine Massachusetts.

Photo courtesy of Rescuing Leftover Cuisine

SFB: What drew you to the food rescue world?
Dana: I have been a wedding & event photographer for 21 years and have seen too much food that was absolutely consumable go to waste. For a long time, I thought it was "the nature of the biz” - one of those "necessary evils" that we face in our professions. But then I learned that food donation was legal and also encouraged by the IRS. I co-founded an initiative within the local events industry to educate venues and caterers about the laws and logistics of food donation and tried to connect them with local human service organizations who provide food to those in need. But an ongoing challenge was that these organizations could not actually drive to recover the food! I wound up meeting Robert Lee, co-founder of RLC and eventually joined the RLC team in 2017 in order to grow their (at the time) small Massachusetts branch, alongside Massachusetts Branch Head Lauren Basler. Our branch is now the 2nd largest in the country, and Lauren and I are thrilled!

SFB: What are the biggest challenges you see for the fight against food waste?
Dana: There are a few challenges which are "standards" in the world of reducing wasted food:

1. Many food recipients don't know that they can accept excess prepared food and are not familiar with the Emerson Act. They are afraid to accept and serve this food, yet their guests would absolutely utilize this food if given the opportunity. One of my goals is to host community meetings with those who run these organizations to educate them on food safety.
2. On the same note, most businesses are afraid to donate excess food because they fear liability issues, at times even after being educated on ServSafe guidelines and the Emerson Act.

3. Businesses do not want to "change their ways." Making change takes time. Time is money. They are a business, not a non-profit - so shifting this mindset is an ongoing education and challenge (which I welcome)!

4. Many businesses believe they do not need to donate excess food if they compost. It's easier to compost. I try to educate them that, in the case that the food is consumable, "the banana should be donated - it's only the peel that belongs in the compost."

5. "The Juggle:" sometimes, we have too many donor partners and not enough volunteers. Other times, we have volunteers upset because all of the rescues are taken and they can't participate. So it's a constant balancing act and a challenge that we welcome and charge through over time!

Photo courtesy of Rescuing Leftover Cuisine

SFB: Primarily what market do you service?
Dana: Any business that has excess prepared food that is consumable, even if not sellable. Since we are strictly volunteer based, we target smaller-scale excess food (up to 200-300 pounds in general) and the majority of our rescues are under 100 pounds. We have no minimum requirement for pickup: we will pick up as little as 5 pounds of food. We don't see it as 5 pounds. We see it as 5 pounds and many opportunities!

SFB: What is your relationship with other local food rescue organizations?
Dana: We prefer to "complement and not compete" with other local organizations such as Lovin' Spoonfuls, Food For Free, Daily Table, Boston Area Gleaners, etc. The work they do is equally important yet quite different from what we do. They are recovering mostly fresh food or large scale prepared food. Some of them have trucks and staff to handle large quantities. I actually hosted a roundtable discussion at the Environmental Protection Agency last year to get us all on the same page. I wanted to make it clear to them that we are here to "fill in the gaps" and not compete. We refer them, they refer us, and we complement each other to reduce wasted food and educate donors and recipients.

SFB: What is the most interesting creation you've seen (or made yourself!) from rescued food?
Dana: Daily Table amazes me. What their chefs are able to prepare from excess food that would have otherwise gone to waste is amazing...they are an inspiration!

Photo courtesy of Rescuing Leftover Cuisine

SFB: Do you recall any particularly memorable beneficiary interactions you'd like to share?
Dana:  I recently brought food from one of our donor partners to their designated recipient: Sister Rose's in New Bedford, MA, a church shelter for those without a permanent home. As always, I pulled my car up to the back door and the staff and guests greeted me to take the food out of my car: a combination of salads, sandwiches, breakfast foods, fruit and veggie bowls - really good, quality food from a cafeteria of a local business. Everyone was so excited about the food - I hear "ooooh" and "aaah" from everyone. And then I hear one of the guests say (paraphrasing): "I can attest that this is healthy, quality food. I made it this morning!" I had to do a double-take: it was one of the chefs from the cafeteria I just rescued the food from. The last time I saw him was at the establishment in his "official" uniform. Now it was night time, he was in a baseball cap, and in a different element. I was surprised to see him and asked, “Are you working here?!" His answer was that he was staying there temporarily and that he was so grateful for Sister Rose's and also for this food - that he just happened to make that morning!

This experience jumps out at me because when I am educating people about RLC, I always highlight that food insecurity is more common than generally acknowledged: the food insecure person could be your next door neighbor or the person in front of you in line at the bank. This man has a good job at a great business, and he was the recipient of his own created food at a time he needed it most.

One quote that I love: Our guests range from full-time working women who cannot make ends meet for their families to women living in shelters, cars, or on the streets. On an average morning, we serve women on their way to work in scrubs, and guests who literally only have the clothes on their back… Our guests are resilient, inventive and determined to help their families thrive. Without food donors, these women and their families would have one less resource and may have to resort to skipping meals…   - Sharon Briggs, Rosie’s Place

SFB: How would you like to see the Boston community more engaged in the food waste fight?
Dana:  Don't get me started. Haha! Education needs to happen in three different ways: to the potential food donor partners, to the potential volunteers, and to the potential food recipients. In addition, it takes government and local influencers to help make this change. This is all stuff we are actively working on and I look forward to a positive outcome over time.

SFB: What are some upcoming plans for RLC in 2019 that you’re excited about?
Dana:  Thanks to the collaboration of our food donor partners, volunteers, and recipients, 102,796 pounds of recovered excess food provided about 82,236 meals for those in need throughout MA and prevented about 38,548 pounds of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere in 2018. This more than doubled our success in 2017 and we are excited to see what 2019 brings!

Very recently, we were approved for funding in order to offer three PAID “Lead Rescuer” positions in order to continue to grow our mission in Massachusetts! Why are we piloting this new program? We have 27 Open Rescues per week that we must fill consistently in order to continue growing RLC in our state. To learn more, please email me at dana@rescuingleftovercuisine.org.

In addition, we are seeking passionate interns who are committed to social, environmental and local action. This is an opportunity to develop valuable new skills while making a real impact in the community. Documentation will be provided upon request for internship credit, resume and college application use. Internship opportunities include: Marketing Intern, Operations Management Intern (paid internship) and Outreach Intern. To learn more, please visit: https://tinyurl.com/RLCMA-Internships

Photo courtesy of Rescuing Leftover Cuisine

We are eager to grow RLC throughout all of Massachusetts. To start, we need volunteers! Sign up here. Note: Under Preferred Region, click Massachusetts; Under Availability, it's best to check All. It would be wonderful if you also check the box for Emergency Rescues!

World Disco Soup Day Interview with Lovin' Spoonfuls!

4/10/2019

Lauren Palumbo, COO, Lovin' Spoonfuls

SFB: What drew you to the food rescue world?
Lauren: I previously worked in hospitality and the non-profit sector, and food rescue was a combination of these two passions - food, and working in an organization that prioritizes people over profits. It was the perfect melding of those two worlds!

SFB: Can you provide an example of the pathway of Lovin’ Spoonfuls rescued food?
Lauren: We rescue from about 70 businesses and deliver to 140 organizations. Our Food Rescue Coordinators do their best on the road each day to match what they’re receiving from retailers with the needs of each agency. For example, cut up fruit from Whole Foods is great for afterschool programs so they have easy snacks, while frozen proteins from Wegmans can be really helpful for a soup kitchen to incorporate into their meals, and day-old breads are fantastic for Saint Francis House’s breakfast service.

SFB: What are the biggest challenges you see for the fight against food waste?
Lauren: A big challenge is ensuring that all businesses are prioritizing what we tend to call “higher level diversion.” Massachusetts has an organic waste ban that requires businesses that have more than a ton of food waste each week to divert it from landfills. They could comply with that via composting or anaerobic digestion, but for us we look at it this way: as long as there are still 10% of residents in MA that are food insecure, we need to ensure that we are prioritizing higher level solutions or preventing that food from ending up in the landfill. Source reduction is number one on the list of solutions to fight food waste, but number two is feeding people. We want to make sure that we’re continuing to educate the businesses that we work with to maximize the amount of food being donated, but we also want to make sure that we are educating the community and businesses in the state as a whole to let them know that they have options. Just because composting might be easier because their retailer offers it, it’s not necessarily the best solution.

SFB: Primarily what market do you service?
Lauren: We tend to work within your typical large grocery stores - Whole Foods, Wegmans, Big Y, Roche Bros., Hannaford, Trader Joe’s. We also work with distribution and wholesale partners, in food service, and in farming during growing season. Retail is definitely the sweet spot of our work because there is a consistent source of food on a daily basis there. We typically don’t work further downstream than that: corner markets, small restaurants, or bakeries aren’t the best fit for our operation just because we are running 12 ft box trucks. It doesn’t make sense operationally, or in terms of efficiency and cost, to send a team member to rescue 10 lbs of day-old bagels for example, which unfortunately there are a lot of! That being said, we do have a couple of ‘legacy partners’ that we have been working with since the beginning and we have maintained those partnerships. We do have a minimum collection for businesses, but we have been working with them for so long that if they’re along the route we fit them in.

Photo courtesy of Lovin' Spoonfuls

SFB: What is your relationship with other local food rescue organizations?
Lauren: We don’t have specific partnerships, but we’re all very much in regular communication with each other. We all certainly run in the same circles so we see each other quite a bit and we’re all friendly! I think we all try to make sure that we understand the goals and the missions of each organization, and recognize that there is no one solution to this problem: reducing excess food waste is a multifaceted challenge that requires a variety of solutions. The Boston Area Gleaners are a perfect example because none of the rest of us do gleaning. We work with farms, but we work with farms on post-harvest product: we rescue product that they pick and that gets stuck on a shelf in a farmstand, or that they put into a CSA share that never got picked up. The food that we rescue is all 100% expected to be retailed and sold, but then just isn’t for some reason. We do not have the staff levels or bandwidth to go on the farms and pick the product that was never harvested in the first place, so they are an essential resource doing something that none of the rest of us are doing. While Food For Free does work similar to us, they’ve moved into a variety of hunger-relief solutions that we don’t do. For example, they run a weekend backpack program where they are creating meals for people, and we are specifically a distribution organization. Rescuing Leftover Cuisine is focused on prepared foods and working a lot in the quick service restaurant spaces. We have just traditionally found that that model is not necessarily a fit for us because they want pickups late at night, and they’re usually small quantities. It comes down to the fact that food waste is happening in so many different ways throughout the food distribution spectrum, retail, and service that it requires as many solutions. We’re fortunate in this region to have a wide variety of solutions, because I also recognize that there are whole swaths of the country where there are no solutions.

SFB: Do you recall any particularly memorable beneficiary interactions you'd like to share?
Lauren: We have so many - I think we’ve been so fortunate to be able to build so many strong relationships with all the organizations that we’re serving. A few of my favorite quotes include:

"We know that community is built around food - with the students we serve, their families, and the neighborhood - and Lovin' Spoonfuls is at the heart of that." - Paraclete, South Boston

"I look forward to every Monday & Wednesday because I know we're going to receive good quality food from Reggie!" - Needham Community Council Food Pantry

Photo courtesy of Lovin' Spoonfuls

"Lovin' Spoonfuls deliveries have allowed Natick Service Council to convert from a traditional pantry model of pre-made boxes for each patron, to a Client-Choice model food pantry where families choose their own groceries. The abundance of produce and perishables from Lovin' Spoonfuls has given them the flexibility to make this switch. They've also set up a "Farmer's Market" on Wednesday with Lovin' Spoonfuls product. This market has allowed them to extend their services to 12-15 more families." - Natick Service Council

SFB: How would you like to see the Boston community more engaged in the food waste fight?
Lauren: We’d like to continue the consumer education piece. While it’s not the main focus of our work, we recognize that 40% of food is wasted in the country. Nearly half of that waste is happening in home kitchens and it’s completely preventable. We’d like to work on educating consumers on better shopping habits and better ways to use stems or leafy greens - items that folks are constantly tossing at home. We'd also like to make people aware of how much money the average family wastes. It’s something that people are always shocked to hear, especially when we’re constantly trying to find ways to budget and stretch our dollars. So we have our main focus on food recovery and redistribution, but we also do have workshops and educational materials that we try to share with the general public to further that message of consumer education.

SFB: What is the most interesting creation you've seen (or made yourself!) from rescued food?
Lauren: I eat kale almost every day - I’m certainly the picture of “What is 2019 Eating.” One of the things that drives me the most crazy is when people strip the leaves off the stem, when the stem is perfectly edible! I feel like it’s my mission in life to make people realize that there are a whole bunch of things that you can do with kale stems, one being to just chop them smaller and cook them into whatever recipe you’re cooking. I like to pickle them: I tend to save pickle brine in my fridge, and then I’ll just toss extra kale stems into the pickle brine. Once they’re pickled, I just cut them up and toss them on salads, or really anything. This is probably a pretty weird one, but in our house leftover stems actually become dog treats!

SFB: What are some upcoming plans for Lovin’ Spoonfuls in 2019 that you’re excited about?
Lauren: We just had our first Chef’s Table event, which is a new gala dinner fundraiser for us to raise funds for our operations. We have 3 Season workshop series coming up later this year, and our signature Ultimate Tailgate happening in November.

Photo courtesy of Lovin' Spoonfuls

Stay tuned this month for more exclusive interviews with key members of the food waste fight in Boston!

Part Five Gardening with Chris: It’s Good We Aren’t Subsistence Farmers …

8/15/2018

On the internet everything is great, fantastic and perfect. Well, this blog is about to get real folks.

Not everything we try works out. That’s one good reason to try a lot of different things in your experimental garden – variety for your meals … you may really like Kale, but how much can you eat in a week during peak season? As well as variety in case a particular plant doesn’t really like your soil, sun exposure etc.

So, confession time … starting the herbs from seed didn’t work. The vegetables seemed to work fine both last year and this year which is why I had so much confidence in starting the herbs from seed. The herb seedlings stalled and pretty much stopped growing. Admittedly, they weren’t getting a ton of sun, but they were kept moist. Ms. A used a grow light above hers and seemed to get better results.

My stalled herb seedings after probably close to 2 months

Ms. A’s seedlings started under a grow light

The other thing I was disappointed by is the germination rate of the seeds from 7rowseeds. I usually planted 2-4 seeds in most of the little seed starter cells because not every seed sprouts. I had entire cells that sprouted nothing. This rarely happens with seeds you pick up on a seed rack from a “brand name” supplier. Only about 2 of 4 cells planted with the Habanda peppers sprouted anything viable. Many of the Badger Flame beet cells barely sprouted when the Chiogga beets I started from seed last year took off no problem. I’m not sure if its because they are hybrids or maybe they are just finicky. Maybe I haven’t mastered something yet to allow them to thrive. We sowed the RK squash directly into the ground and got some plants, but not as many as we should have for all the seeds used – so it was a trend for pretty much all the specialty seeds.

The carrots haven’t really taken off this year either. I tried 2 varieties – half a row of orange Danvers carrots (because we are really close to Danvers, MA) from a seed bank, and half a row of carnival (multicolored) carrots from a rack in a store. There are a few signs of life on one end of the row, but I’ve forgotten which is which at this point.

I happened to go to a wine and herb festival this spring where they paired a small food sample made with an “herb” with a wine at various wineries. As you went on the tour from winery to winery (I was thankfully on a bus – it was a lot of wineries), you also got a small potted herb that was used in the food pairing to take home. We ended up with some single plants that we probably wouldn’t otherwise have in the garden that add some biodiversity. It will be interesting to see how they fare.

Celery

Fennel

Some other pepper varieties (egg shells in background)

By this time the potted herbs were showing up at the home supply stores, so I just spent the $30 and got healthy plants so I could have herbs all summer.

Basil

Habanada Pepper

Herbs

The collection (Starting top left and proceeding down … Habanada pepper, oregano, thyme, sage, chives, parsley, rosemary, Mexican oregano (I think), basil)
And, since this was getting to a proper garden with structures etc., and since great gardens had names, we decided we needed to name ours. A name was selected, a sign was made, and future gardening appointments should up on our calendars with the locations designated as Cyrwood.

One thing you can do with a diversity of vegetables when they all start coming in is make Minestrone.

I find that the website thekitchn.com has some really good basics recipes. See their recipe for Minestrone here. https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-minestrone-224794

For a great table of how and when to add various vegetables from The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science, see this website … https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/09/the-best-minestrone-soup-recipe.html

Gardening with Chris Part Four: Finally getting to plant!

7/30/2018

Early in May, About 2 weeks after putting the hoop house / cold frame in place and putting
some tarps down to warm the ground, we had a few days of really warm weather. We checked
the soil temp and it was 10 or more degrees warmer than the exposed ground under both the
hoop house and the tarps. The theory had worked! The soil temp was around 70F, so we
decided to go ahead with planting some of the more cold-tolerant things as well as the greens
we wanted to shelter under the hoop house.

A layer of fresh compost over one of the planting beds

Peas planted by the Trellis

Young Peas

Strawberry Blossoms

The vegetable seedlings did quite well, they seemed to spring up no problem.

Vegetable seedlings

We had a detailed 1’ x 1’ grid laid out with where everything was planned to be located.
Someone actually had the foresight to bring that along when we planted and even handily
enclosed it in a large ziplock bag to keep it clean and legible. Even more remarkable – we
basically followed it! One of the motivations was the hoop house, it is only so big so if we
wanted to fit everything under it that we intended for an early start, we pretty much had to
stick to plan (even using a tape measure rather than eyeballing row widths).
Within just a couple of weeks, with most of the greens under the hoop house, the plants had
established themselves and started to take off.

Collards

Ruby Chard

Purple Kale

Spinach

During year 1, we had a lot of slugs in the garden. No idea where they came from, but they
were everywhere and munching on leaves we were growing to eat ourselves. We tried the
beer method. You bury half a can or the bottom of a cup even with the soil surface and pour
beer into it. Apparently, slugs are attracted by the smell of beer, but are terrible swimmers (the
lack of arms and legs do make it rather challenging). They will crawl over, fall into the beer, be
unable to escape, and drown. Drowning in beer is not the worst way to go. The only problem
was we didn’t really find any slugs in our beer traps. Maybe the beer got too diluted with
water, maybe the leaves were just more attractive, but it didn’t work for us. This year, we got
tougher on them. Apparently, the underside of slugs are very tender and sharp things are very
dangerous for them to crawl over. Sharp things like coffee grounds and egg shells – both of
which have some beneficial properties for the soil as well. So we collected coffee grounds by
the bucket full at work and I collected my egg shells. You might think the remaining egg in the
shells would spoil and smell, but it didn’t. I just tossed the shells in a bag and they dried out.
Then I just crushed them up before applying to the garden around leafy things. We’ll see how
this year’s experiment works.

Egg Shells around plants

Based on all the various things we have going, we certainly have a lot of biodiversity in the
garden. Some of it is driven by what people wanted to grow, some was driven by seeds or
plants that we had available to us. There’s a little something for everyone and it will be
interesting which things work out the best – I guess that’s one of the fun things about this kind or project/experiment.

One of the first signs of spring is the blooming of the waffles. I spotted this one in my
neighborhood. If anyone knows where I can buy waffle seeds, please let me know.

Wild Waffle blooming

In blog 2 I shared my Southern Style Greens recipe. In that picture was also a pork loin roast
which pairs well with those greens and is a simple, tasty and healthy protein that can feed a
family or provide leftovers. Once I had fresh herbs around again, I was inspired to make this
Herb Crusted Pork Loin Roast again. This one is stolen pretty directly from Genius Kitchen with only a few minor twists of my own.

Ingredients:

3-4 garlic cloves
1 shallot (optional)
1c fresh herbs
2 spoonfuls of Dijon or mustard of your choice
olive oil
fresh coarse ground black pepper
~ 1 teaspoon salt
3 -4 lb boneless pork loin

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
You are making a paste to crust the meat. There are all kinds of options, I’m
just making some suggestions based on what I had handy, but use what you have
and dried herbs are an option too. In a small bowl food processor or with a knife
make a paste out of garlic, shallot if you have one – I had an extra last time I made
this so I threw it in and it worked, herbs – rosemary is great for this, I added
oregano and thyme as well, a couple spoons of mustard (pairs well with pork and
adds a little “bite”) and enough olive oil to loosen it up a little.
Score top of loin in diamond pattern, about 1/4" deep.
Salt and pepper outside of pork loin

Line a shallow roasting pan with foil. You can put the roast on a rack if you
have one to allow even heat all around.
Rub mustard herb mixture on sides and top of the pork roast.
Roast at 400 degrees F; first 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temp to 325 degrees F; continue roasting for 1-1/4 to 1-3/4 hours.
I really dislike dry pork – this is a lean cut which makes it more likely to be dry. I
differ a bit from the standard recipe here and recommend a target temp of about
145 F. Carry-over cooking is about 5-10 degrees, So I would remove from the
oven at an internal temp of 135-140F. Remove roast to a platter, and let rest for 15 minutes.

Gardening with Chris Part Three: Preparing for Sunnier Days …

7/9/2018

Early in April things were still pretty cold. That didn’t hinder our enthusiasm to get started with the garden, so we focused our efforts on planning and projects that we could do indoors.
Our little garden group had a list of things we wanted to grow from our prior meetings and it
seemed pretty ambitious. In order to figure out how to make everything fit, we decided to
make a plan (we did not do this in year 1). Ms. K has had experience with planning gardens and
pulled together information like spacing and companion plantings (or neighboring plants that
weren’t good pairings) on the things we wanted to grow. She also recommended a 1 foot grid
planning structure. We used this grid method to basically make a map of the garden in 1 foot
by 1 foot squares with where the plants would go and how many could comfortably be planted
in each square. Because we are crazy planning engineering types, we also took the path of the
sun across the garden in relation to the surrounding trees into account. We considered this
along with which plants preferred direct sun or were OK with shade. It was all very thought
out, but we’ll see what mother nature thinks of all our detailed plans.

The Grand Plan

Plants for Under the Coldframe

After a couple of weeks, the herb seeds had started to sprout. My cat’s name is Pfeiffer, she
keeps a close eye of all goings-on in the household (and will probably photo-bomb other
pictures – see her photobomb of last year’s harvest). Apparently, farmer Pfeiff also has a taste
for micro-herbs, so the seedlings didn’t get very far before facing their first threat from a
predator. I had to re-arrange the placement to keep Pfeiffer from enjoying the herbs
prematurely.

Farmer Pfeiffer inspecting the crops

Harvest Photo-bomb

As I mentioned in the first blog, we were also interested in building a few things to help us
extend the harvest a bit. Since Ms. A had a garage, we were able to make progress on this
regardless of the weather outside. I had found some information on a portable hoop house or
cold frame that I was very interested in for extending our growing season. Not only does it help during the growing season, but insulating the ground with a cold frame or even a plastic tarp will make the ground temperature warm up faster in the spring. A light-proof plastic covering will also help keep down weeds (both preventing light, and if they are started, it can get hot enough underneath the tarp to kill weedlings (is that a word?). I saw the original idea for a hoop house in a gardening book, and then used Google and Youtube to find something that looked simple enough for us tackle. https://youtu.be/AdE2L85l3f4 (PS - The math in this video is really bad … recommend figuring it out yourself and remembering that as long as the tubes are all the same length, it will work out OK).

The engineers got to work calculating materials required and making a shopping list for the trip to the home supply store. The most high-tech thing involved is an automatic vent to keep the hoop house from overheating. It is not powered by electricity, the louvers open and close by temperature thanks to a temperature-sensitive spring. It closes when it is cold to protect from frost and opens again around 50F (it can get pretty warm inside the plastic). Thinking back to blog post 2 on ways that gardening is beneficial, we really enjoyed building these things. If you have office jobs where it’s sometimes hard to get immediate feedback or see progress, building something with your hands can be very rewarding. What was once a pile of supplies, in the span of one afternoon or evening can become a structure that you can get use out of for months and hopefully multiple seasons. It was amazing how much it raised our moods in the dark cold early spring to start making tangible progress on the future garden.

Hoop house construction

Raising the hoop house

Trellis construction

We also wanted to grow upward this year, so we needed a trellis for things like peas and beans.
The beans also allow us to extend the harvest by allowing us to dry them for use later when
there isn’t as much fresh produce around. We looked at several concepts we found online and
again went with something we thought we could build and disassemble and/or store relatively
easily – a folding A-frame concept.

Since we now had a house to keep the early veggies warm, I decided to start a number of
veggies that are OK with cooler temps from seed. I started kale, collards, chard, spinach, and
the Badger Flame beets from row7seeds.com. The Habanada peppers had been started along
with the herbs in the 1 st seed starter kit.

Some of the first things available in spring are spinach and asparagus. I made a few
modifications to Sondi Bruner’s recipe for a buckwheat risotto and it’s become a staple recipe for me as I’ve tried to adapt to healthier eating. If you joined us for our Eataly event and got excited about whole grains by one of our wonderful guest speakers, Maria Speck, this is another whole grain option to try. Buckwheat is actually not a wheat, but a seed, related to rhubarb and is gluten free and higher in protein than most grains. I first started eating it when I switched to soba noodles as an alternative to traditional pasta with a better macronutrient profile, it has a better consistency than some other “healthier noodles”. I started looking for other ways to consume this whole grain and came across buckwheat groats which are the whole seed (a tetrahedron shape – 4 triangular sides). Here it is used as a substitute for rice in a risotto recipe to develop a creamy consistency. I get mine in the bulk foods section of Whole Foods with the whole grains, beans and other things. I usually double the recipe so I can reheat for leftovers – it can also be reheated from frozen (and its better for you than most fast weeknight frozen options).

Buckwheat Risotto with Spinach, asparagus and Mushrooms

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup buckwheat groats
A little white wine (optional – traditional to risotto process, but not necessary
1 cup mushrooms, sliced – I usually use button mushrooms, but have used shitake and others as well
2 cups spinach, shredded – I usually just use a bag of baby spinach – wilts down nicely
1 green onion, chopped – can be omitted
½ tsp salt, or more to taste
2 cups vegetable stock – You can use all vegetable stock to keep it vegetarian, but I usually use a combination of chicken stock and mushroom stock for a deeper mushroom flavor (learned this from making traditional risotto). To make mushroom stock: Chop ~ ½ oz dried mushrooms (porcini and Portobello are common), add to ~ 2c hot water or stock in a measuring cup or small bowl and let sit while you proceed with other steps until the mushrooms are rehydrated and have flavored the stock – use the stock per the recipe
1 bunch of asparagus – tender parts only
Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese for garnish (optional)

Instructions
1. Make the mushroom stock if you are choosing to do so and let sit while you perform the rest of the steps
2. In a medium-sized pot, sauté the onions and garlic in a bit of Olive oil until soft. Add the
buckwheat and stir it around until it gets coated by the onions and garlic.
3. Add the wine and stir until mostly absorbed by the grain
4. Add the mushrooms and ½ cup of stock (dried mushrooms and all if you are using mushroom stock) and stir. When all the liquid is absorbed, add another ½ cup of stock. Repeat until the buckwheat is tender, or until the stock has been used (you may not need to use all of it, though). If you do run out of stock getting the grain tender, water works.
5. Mix in the asparagus, spinach, and salt and stir. Cover and cook until the aspargas is tender
(probably only 5-10 minutes – save this until you are getting close to being ready with the rest
meal if you are trying to time it). Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Serve and garnish
with green onion and cheese if you choose to use them.

Gardening with Chris Part Two: Why Garden?

6/18/2018

So, how did the garden project originate, and why might you want to start a garden? My work work-out buddy (we’ll call her Ms. A going forward) was concerned about her sons’ eating habits. Her family didn’t have a lot of healthy food traditions and has a history of obesity and health issues and she was worried about passing that legacy to her teenage sons. The boys weren’t interested in anything from the fruit and vegetable groups and their diets were primarily made up of processed foods and value-sized boxes of cheez its. Having had some success introducing apples after taking one of the boys apple-picking, Ms. A thought that maybe being involved in growing and harvesting some vegetables, would help them be more adventurous and interested in trying things. Spoiler alert: it hasn’t been a rousing success yet, but the guinea pigs have been VERY happy.

Since Ms. A didn’t have much gardening experience herself, she asked another co-worker (we’ll call her Ms. K going forward) who has had gardens in the past and is interested in organic produce and gardening and myself if we would be interested in helping. Having grown things in containers most years, and worked as a winemaker and vineyard manager at a microwinery, I thought “I know how to grow stuff, how different could a vegetable garden be?” Let’s just say I learned a few things. I had also made some lifestyle changes in the prior 18 months or so and am eating more whole foods (including a lot of leafy greens – Kale, Chard, Collards) and feeling a lot better. I was interested in taking my whole foods eating to the next level by growing my own organic produce.

Ms. K has had some experience in designing gardens, so she and Ms. A put together a plan – I thought it was pretty ambitious for a first garden; 2 planting rows that were 4’ wide by 16’ long with bark mulched paths all around. The boys liked working with power tools so they helped rototill the ground. There were a lot of rocks in the plot – some were fairly large which I helped remove and carry to the borders or into the woods. Then, there was the compost. Ms. A was fortunate in that her town offers free compost at the town recycling center. I helped lug compost in large storage tubs from the compost pile into her backyard (note: compost is damp and very heavy – no extra points for filling the container to the top if you can’t lift it afterward). Ms. A worked in a lot of compost and, based on Ms. K’s soil testing and recommendations, some soil amendments like lime and blood meal.

Based on the local rabbit population, we decided we needed a fence. Ms. A asked if I knew how to build a fence. Actually, every time I’ve needed a fence, one was conveniently already there. I never had to build one myself. Thankfully, we aren’t homesteads who have to learn the hard way over several years. We have the internet and many people have generously posted instructions and videos on how do just about anything you might need to know. We built a fence that proved to be very effective year 1 … fur-bearing pests were not an issue. Because it was a group of engineers involved, the fence includes a hinged and latched gate (I’ve seen commercial wineries with less elaborate set-ups around their vineyards).

As a result of all the groundwork in establishing the garden, it was a bit later until we actually got around to planting – early June. I had started a number of seeds probably 4-6 weeks earlier and had them hardening off on my deck to get acclimated to the sun and wind. Ms. A had also started some things from seed. After all the physical labor in building the garden, I thought the planting would be the easy part. I think I planted at least 72 individual plants, plus seeded some things. It turns out that spending an entire day bent over and stretching to avoid stepping in the planting beds will make you pretty sore the next day. We decided to try and stage our planting a bit this year so as not to try and plant the entire garden in one day.

I thought once things got planted in the good fresh compost of their forever home that they would take off like gangbusters, but 2 weeks passed and I didn’t see much progress. We decided to add some Neptunes Harvest Fish fertilizer. Its organic, local to the North Shore fishing industry, and the Native Americans used to plant a fish at the bottom of the hole when they planted the 3 sisters (corn, beans, squash). I figured if it worked in Plymouth a few hundred years ago, it was probably solid advice. After fertilizing, things really started to take off – the squash in particular loved it. I learned in an organic gardening symposium this year put on by Slow Food Seacoast that compost takes a year or so before its nutrients become available to the plants. So, when you are using compost, you are making a future investment in your soil structure, but it isn’t an immediate benefit (which is probably why things didn’t really start growing until we added more a readily available fertilizer).

For a first year garden, we really got a lot of production. The kids got a few pumpkins from their own backyard for Halloween. I was able to harvest my own Kale, Chard, and Collards and avoid paying Whole Foods or the local farmers market for a few months. We grew beets (you get beet greens as a bonus), tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, carrots (not having kids of my own, I learned that with kids, its better to demonstrate rather than give abstract instructions if you don’t want a “carrot mound”, butternut squash, some potatoes. The broccoli and brussel sprouts had tiny production. Another thing we learned was that because we planted everything at the same time, it all seemed to ripen at the same time. This year we want to stagger things a bit so we can have early beets and late beets, for example, instead of a bunch of beets all at once that we don’t really know how to deal with. I’m also interested in leaving some root veg in the ground as a means of storage since inside things tended to dry out after a couple of weeks. If this hasn’t been inspiring enough, I’ve been watching a Netflix series called “Big Dreams, Small Spaces” which can provide more inspiring stories of backyard transformations (although not all episodes involve edibles).

OK, so the next bit is a little philosophical. Why is something as basic as gardening so rewarding? We seem to live in a time where people are often talking about purpose and seem less contented. One theory about this discomfort or uncertainty is that we have more choice now than ever before – we aren’t as limited by geography or social constructs as we were previously. All these choices leave us confused and uncertain about what we should be doing. One framework that has resonated with me is Robert Lustig’s 4 C’s of happiness: Connect, Contribute, Cope (sleep, exercise, mindfulness), and Cook. Gardening offers the opportunity to satisfy all 4, leading to stress reduction, and greater happiness and contentment.
To connect, you can have face-to-face real-life interactions with others if you have a small garden group like I’m doing, join a garden club, or just get together with other like-minded people to see how their tomatoes are doing this year or how they deal with slugs during an exceptionally wet spring. I didn’t have much common ground with my nonagenarian grandmother, but we would usually talk about how her small garden was doing and how my herbs were growing when I would see her. It’s a great normalizer, regardless of age, background, education, socioeconomic or other differences, we all get the same weather and pests and it gives you a friendly conversation starter.

Contributing to something outside yourself for no monetary gain through volunteering and philanthropy can be accomplished a few ways. In my little garden project, we’re trying to get the kids interested and teach them a little about gardening, vegetables, and building things around the yard. Maybe you can share some of your produce with family and friends or better yet, show them how to make a recipe using fresh produce (Connecting, contributing and cooking all-in-one!).
Coping helps you deal with your own stress. Instead of multi-tasking (which contrary to popular belief is actually significantly less efficient than working a single task and is more stressful), focusing on a simple task like planting, weeding, or looking for ripe vegetables can help settle the mind. And you will definitely get some exercise via stretching and bending that you wouldn’t get sitting at a desk. The sunlight helps with melatonin (sleep hormone) regulation and in combination with the fresh air and exercise, you will sleep better and feel better the next day. Ms. A enjoyed just sitting by the garden and looking at its progress as a way to forget the stress of the day.

And of course, one of the prime reasons to garden is to have plenty of fresh produce to cook with. And fresh, whole foods will make you feel better than processed foods due to their nutritional value and the impact of that nutrition on your hormones and genetic expression.

That’s how my garden project came to be and some of the reasons I do it. If you’d like to share your story or other great benefits with the Slow Food community, please feel free to do so.

Saying the following recipe will change your life might be a bit of an overstatement, but if you struggle to get those dark leafy greens (like in the prior picture of home-grown produce) that are so beneficial to good health into your diet, this is one to try. I make the bacon ahead in the oven (400 F for about 15-20 minutes or your preferred level of crispiness) on a half sheet pan covered with wide aluminum foil to catch the bacon fat (yum!) and make clean-up simple. I keep the bacon in a ziplock bag in the fridge for use in this recipe or to just pop in the microwave for breakfast or sandwiches etc. The bacon fat, poured from the lined sheet pan after it cools a little, I keep in a mason jar in the fridge – better than margarine for sure. Go with a good smoked bacon – it makes a difference.

INGREDIENTS

2 Tbsp bacon fat,
1 medium onion, diced
2 slices of bacon – coarsely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp -1 T Old Bay seasoning
2c - 1 quart chicken broth or water (depending how many greens you have)
8-10 cups chopped greens, (collard, kale, chard, mustard or any combination – I usually do a combination for the variation in texture) about 2 bunches if purchased, you can do 3 if you a want a BIG batch

IINSTRUCTIONS

Heat the bacon fat in a dutch oven or large pot set over medium heat.
Sauté the onion in the bacon fat, stirring often, until softened.
Add the bacon, garlic, and mix the Old Bay Seasoning into the fat until well incorporated.
Add the chicken stock or water and bring to a simmer. This is the flavor base for what southern folks call pot liquor – you could cook grass clippings in this and they would taste good!
Add the greens to the pot, cover and cook until tender, stirring occasionally. The original recipe called for 45 minutes to an hour of cooking time, but I find a half hour usually does it. You really can’t overcook this
I find the leftovers reheat well in the microwave and the Old Bay adds just the right amount of spice so you don’t really need vinegar and hot sauce.

Gardening with Chris Part One: Plotting & Seeding

5/13/2018

I am a VERY amateur gardener. I haven’t done any vegetable gardening since I was in grade school. However, last year, I started a small community garden of sorts in a friend’s back yard – more background on how that came to be in a future post. It went pretty well, so I decided to chronicle our adventures in year two to hopefully inform, inspire, and start some dialog among the Slow Food Boston community. As a relative newbie, I’d love to hear about other people’s helpful tips and experiences on their “Boston Grown” gardening adventures.

While it was still a little early to start working outside, it wasn't too early to start planning and prepping for 2018’s garden. To begin planning, our little garden group has had a few lunchtime meetings to decide what we want to grow this year and in what part of the garden might work best. We had some ideas to improve on what we grew last year – we want to add some trellising for those plants that like to climb (we are going to try more beans this year). Now that we know how the squash plants like to run around the garden, we’re thinking of using the fence to give them some direction and make better use of space. Our big idea was to do a little succession planting and build a small, portable hoop house to let us get started earlier before the threat of frost to extend the warm season past the first frost in the fall. Stay tuned to see how those go.

In the early (still freezing) months leading up to Spring, the other thing you can do while holding a hot beverage in your hand when the wind is blowing is seed shopping. There are several great sources of seed you can find online, like Burpee and High Mowing Organic Seeds. There's also Johnny's Seeds, which I learned at a Slow Food Seacoast gardening seminar and seed swap a few weeks ago located in Portsmouth, NH (that chapter is a reasonable trip from Boston if they have a meeting you’d like to attend). Johnny’s Seeds is located in Maine and their website has some great resources including planning tools and calculators to help with planting times and succession planting (we’re going to need that!). Baker Creak Heirloom Seeds even has a special section for Slow Food Ark of Taste vegetables. Along with those selections, a new venture this year is a collaboration between chef Dan Barber (of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in NY) and Cornell University with Row 7 Seeds that breed vegetables specifically for taste instead of shelf-life or transportability. One thing I really enjoy is growing things you can’t find as easily as you would in a regular grocery store. Last year, we grew rainbow carrots and Chiogga beets, which have candy cane stripes of alternating colors. This year, we’re trying some interesting varieties from Row 7 Seeds: A beet with less of the earthy flavor I’m not fond of, a squash that changes color when its ripe (vine-ripened squash!), and a spicy pepper without the heat yet still retains its floral characteristics … stay tuned to see how they work out.

After picking out my seeds for this year, a few weeks ago amidst a few warm days I caught garden fever and stopped by my local hardware store and picked up some additional seeds and a seed-starter “system.” You can make your own “system,” but I’m lazy and this was pretty neat and tidy for an apartment situation so I went for it. It’s probably still a bit early to start growing veggies, so I’ll grow herbs in containers this year on my small deck. I’ve started those along with my Row 7 Seeds peppers since that will likely be a container-dweller too, while I start the bigger vegetables in my friend’s backyard garden nearby. While Boston residents can find a community garden in most parts of the city to start growing vegetables, that might seem too daunting for those just getting started. I live in an apartment with a little outdoor space in the form a small deck. Herbs can grow pretty much anywhere there's access to sunlight like near windows – perfect for urban spaces. You can even grow herbs hydroponically without soil in mason jars. I’ve grown salad greens in a flat planter that sort of looked like a deep frying pan. Alice, a new friend I was speaking with at a recent Slow Food social, mentioned that Mother Earth Gardens sells trays that let you garden on rooftops in urban spaces. Based on what I've learned from Alice, I'd welcome any other thoughts on creative ways to make things “Boston Grown” in non-traditional gardens!

Why grow herbs, you ask? They are pretty easy to grow and are a great way to add flavor and freshness to dishes without adding extra calories. Maybe you don't think you can do a lot of elaborate cooking with herbs, but they can also be used in beverages; use fresh mint in mojito’s or mint juleps (derby day is coming up), use them fresh or muddled to infuse them in various drinks to create craft cocktails or herbal teas. Herbs are also of course a great way to add flavor and freshness to dishes without adding extra calories. Herbs can also be added to eggs or omelets, as well as simple soups and sauces to add an extra complexity of flavor, or even tossed with some oven roasted vegetables. Since we generally still eat roasted root vegetables when eating seasonally during the colder months, I like to make a tasty garlic oil infused with rosemary (homegrown or store-bought) to flavor roasted vegetables like squash, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and other hearty mixed vegetables. I generally combine a few recipes that work for me to make what I consider my own version of Bertucci’s bread dipping oil reverse-engineered (with help from Martha Stewart on creating garlic oil). I have read about some risk of botulism with garlic-infused olive oil, but from what I’ve read, cooking the infused oil in a jar with a tightened lid in boiling water for 10 minutes seems to be the consensus to mitigate any risk; when you notice steam bubbles developing from the water escaping the jar after almost 10 minutes, this indicates that the water is cooked out and the jar is vacuum-sealed to prevent harmful cultures from contaminating your preserves. When ready to eat, it’s fantastic sprinkled with a little parmesan & romano to dip bread into, but I’m trying to reduce my simple carb intake, so I’ve re-purposed it for roasted veggies instead. Below, you'll find a delicious garlic rosemary infused olive oil you and loved ones can enjoy anytime of the year.

Garlic Oil Recipe
6 cloves garlic – minced
1 cup olive oil
Red pepper flakes (I use a small pinch – just ~ 2 dozen flakes, but you may like it hotter)
Fresh Rosemary (maybe 1-2 tsp – I eyeball what “looks” right)
Smash, peel, and mince garlic (I use a microplane)
Add olive oil and garlic to a medium pot and heat over medium-low heat until bubbles form around garlic (about 3 minutes)
Let cook for 10 minutes, reducing heat to low if garlic starts to brown
Remove from heat
Immediately add red pepper flakes and finely minced rosemary to hot oil to steep
Cool to room temperature
Store leftover in jar until ready to use, shake to redistribute herbs that sink to the bottom

SUMMER FOOD BLOG SERIES: Homesick for Homegrown

9/1/2016

My passion for food and travel has taken me down a path that takes me out of the country for many months at a time: I teach cooking classes and give culinary tours around the globe. I try my best to “be here now” and fully appreciate where I am and what the season is. The Europeans do it so well. Be it tradition, patriotism, or simply the knowledge that local/seasonal/regional just tastes better, the markets I have visited from Copenhagen to Casablanca are always about what was recently pulled from the ground, trees, ocean, or handmade in small batches. They celebrate the arrival of ingredients with festivals and the many local city and town open-air markets are teeming with that which is freshest.

A glimpse into what Annie samples and prepares on her travels when teaching cooking classes and leading culinary tours abroad.

In Riga, Latvia (talk about a short growing season) the Central Market (opened in 1930 to be the best market in Europe) is a marvel—four former German zeppelin hangars are filled stem to stern with fish, meat, produce, and dairy respectively. Outside the market, local farmers simply set up stands under awnings. May to August (with an intense summer solstice) and it’s done, then there’s a long, cold winter. What they grow, grows fast and in big numbers, but then that’s it. The chanterelle mushrooms, herbs, cucumbers, berries, melons, and all manner of produce from the soil pile up in heaps and the Latvians eat as much as they can, then they dry, pickle, or preserve what they can’t.

Rīgas Centrāltirgus aero 2016 from Rīgas Centrāltirgus on Vimeo.

At the markets in Nice, they have coeur de boeuf ̶ beef “heart” not beef “steak” ̶ tomatoes and I buy as many as would make sense (plus some more) and they are delicious, just sliced with some verdant Provençal olive oil, sea salt, and thyme. In Oslo and Helsinki, it’s cloudberries ̶ egg-yolk-yellow cousins of raspberries, which seem to glow in the bright Nordic sun. I eat them by the handful and feel sorry for myself that I can’t make jars and jars of jam.

Coeur de boeuf "beef heart" tomatoes at a local market in Nice, France.

In late winter, it's sea urchin or ricci season in Sardinia, a perfectly al dente bowl of spaghetti with a bit of dried chile flakes, a hint of garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and those briny, oceany gifts from Neptune are an ethereal experience.

But for all the traveling I get to do, I often miss getting my hands in the dirt of my tiny backyard garden in Somerville. The squirrels and rabbits get most of the bounty (one nasty guy takes just one bite out of each eggplant), so I feel pretty psyched when I get a few dozen tomatoes from the four or five vines we have. I relish those tomatoes and I can be pretty insufferable about insisting on eating them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If I’m away and I can’t get plants in the ground in time, or if I’m not home when they ripen, I get legitimately homesick and will talk to anyone who will listen to me about why New England tomatoes are so important and so good. I’m here this year and if this one mean squirrel doesn’t get them before I do, I’m already thinking about that first BLT on toasted wheat bread with Duke’s mayonnaise.

Annie Copps is the former senior food editor of Yankee Magazine, overseeing the magazine's food coverage both as an editor and as a contributor of feature stories and columns. Prior to joining Yankee, she served as Food Editor of Boston Magazine and Feature Editor of Concierge, and was also widely known for her work as the host of WBZ radio's Connoisseurs' Corner and WTKK's Table Talk with Annie Copps. Annie also contributed to WGBH's food blog, The Daily Dish.

As a television producer, she made her mark with two popular public broadcasting series, Cooking with Todd English and Julia Child's Kitchen, where she was an assistant to the legendary grande dame of French cuisine. She has appeared frequently as a guest on NBC's Today Show and other TV and radio shows. She is a veteran of some of the area's most prestigious kitchens, including Olive's and Jasper's.

Most recently, she has been sailing around the world creating and leading interactive cooking classes and culinary discovery tours at a number of international food venues in addition to managing the Culinary Center aboard luxury cruise ships for Bon Appétit.

SUMMER FOOD BLOG SERIES: Le Dîner en Blanc Boston

8/24/2016

In 1988, after spending a few years abroad, François Pasquier organized a picnic to reconnect with old friends. The concept was simple: "Bring a meal, and bring a new friend." Since his garden was too small to host all the guests, he told them to convene at the Parc de Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne and to dress in white, so they could easily find each other. The dinner was such a success that the friends decided the next year, each person would invite some other friends, and the event grew organically over the years into a spectacular pop-up gathering.

The first editions in Paris were not easy to pull off. Though the venue remained the same until 1991, the numbers quickly escalated from an initial 200 to 1,200, making it necessary to conceal the location of the dinner and the current process of using point-people to coordinate a batch of tables and provide transportation before the event began.

Nearly 30 years later, François Pasquier still organizes the Parisian Dîner en Blanc with those same friends which now assembles over 10,000 guests every year- a record of 15,000 people attended the 25th anniversary in 2013. The police no longer try to break up the Dîner en Blanc in Paris—authorities know that the event is well-organized and that guests are always respectful of public property. But it’s also reflective of the progressive view the Parisian government has on the use of venerated architecture, continuing to allow this large, unauthorized party to happen in prestigious locations around the city.

On a beautiful warm summer night in late July, 2,000 guests donned head-to- toe in white arrived at the recently unveiled Dîner en Blanc secret location, Boston Children’s Museum’s Waterfront Terrace, and took in the spectacular views of Boston’s picturesque skyline.

Interest exploded after New York hosted its first event in 2009. Since then, some 400 cities have requested Dîner en Blanc to come to them. Today, Le Dîner en Blanc takes place in over 70 cities in more than 25 countries spanning 5 continents.

In an effort to create a magical evening where guests are in good company in an environment that's both unusual and extraordinary, there is no political or ideological agenda and minimal branding are part of the event in order to uphold Le Dîner en Blanc's high standards of elegance, a night of haute cuisine, and utter refinement (rules prohibit organizers from using the event to raise funds for any organization and sponsorship opportunities are limited). Brought together from diverse backgrounds by good taste and a love of beauty, Le Dîner en Blanc recalls the sophistication and glamor of high French society. Guests engage one another, knowing that they are taking part in a truly phenomenal event.

At this year's Le Diner en Blanc - Boston, I spoke to a few attendees to find out why they come, what makes it truly memorable for them, and of course, what they brought for dinner.

Meet a few of Le Dîner en Blanc Boston’s 2016 revelers.

Hyacinth, Aisha, and Fijoy are architects. Jennifer is a professional dancer. Hyacinth attended in 2015 and invited Jennifer and Fijoy to join them this year.

How did you hear about the event?
Aisha: I saw it a few years ago, and thought, “This is fantastic! I’m always about things that are fantastic.” I got on the waiting list, it took a few years, and then I was finally able to go in 2015. We went last year with two other friends.

Hyacinth: I’m always willing to try new things with new people.

What attracts you most to Le Dîner en Blanc?
Aisha: Everyone being beautiful, you can feel the love and happiness. I appreciate the effort everyone puts into it. There’s so much drama and negativity in the world lately, it’s just so nice to see something so positive.

Hyacinth: There’s a sense of unity. The creativity of participants is amazing.

What is the inspiration for your tablescape?
Aisha: Architecture, modernism, simplicity and minimalism. I made this! (Photo of origami centerpiece)

What’s for dinner?
Hyacinth: We divvied up the responsibility. We have a little bit of everything; roast chicken, ribs, salad, mac and cheese.

Aisha: Italian sodas and of course pastries for dessert.

Natasha is an accountant and Michael is a retail manager. This is the second time the couple has attended Dîner en Blanc.

How did you hear about the event?
Natasha: We lived in NYC for a couple of years. There you need to know someone who goes to get invited. Then we moved to Boston. We got on the waiting list last year, and the rest is history!

What do you enjoy most about Le Dîner en Blanc?
Natasha: It’s exciting getting ready for the event, especially planning the menu. The preparation is the fun part, but getting here on time is stressful.

Michael: I think that the pressure of getting there on time and the element of surprise are really fun.

What is the inspiration for your tablescape?
Natasha: We try to keep it simple. As long as there is good food, we’re good.

What’s for dinner?
Michael: Tonight we’re eating grilled salmon with asparagus and a fruit tart for dessert.

Natasha: We look for things that don’t have to be served heated.

Angel is a medical procedure coordinator and Steve is a VP of marketing. This is their third time attending Le Dîner en Blanc Boston.

How did you hear about the event?
Angel: We found out about it first from dining in the dark. They posted about it. We invited our friends!

What do you enjoy most about Le Dîner en Blanc?
Steve: It’s about dressing up and having a special night. As an adult those times come so few and far between. We like to break up our routine.

Angel: Meeting everybody and seeing people from all colors and races and groups, from old to young. It’s really awesome.

What is the inspiration for your tablescape?
Angel: I was behind it. We built it together but I designed it. It’s an ode to the original dinner.

Steve: We didn’t have it last year. We had arches last year. This year we thought, “What can we do to step it up?”

What’s for dinner?
Steve: We did not bring our own meals tonight. We had BBQ from one of the baskets offered for sale as part of the event. It’s very good.

Jennifer Garrett is a freelance project manager and event producer focused on partnership development in the local food space. She specializes in engaging audiences with unique and thoughtful food related programming and educational events. Jenifer's clients have included the Nantucket Wine Festival, Massachusetts Cheese Guild, and Let’s Talk About Food among others. A former picky eater, her “deserted island foods” now include asparagus, Brussels sprouts, and any kind of red meat. Her hobbies include traveling, visiting art museums, and eating charcuterie.

SUMMER FOOD BLOG SERIES: Community Through Cooking

8/17/2016

Betty is our fourth guest chef at the Mattapan Teen Center. She is 65 and from Barbados. She is radiant ̶ a silky complexion and a wide smile. She sports a canary yellow shirt, bright pink pants and a straw hat. We are making buljol, a dish made with breadfruit, green bananas, and salt cod. As we shop, she tells me about growing up in Barbados, how her mother abandoned her as an infant, and how she was brought up by her grandmother. She confides that she has had more than her share of depression and mental illness, yet she is warm and bubbly, and I share that I too have had my struggles with depression. She has bore four children, now adults, all of them college educated and professional. We walk through America’s Food Basket in Mattapan center and she takes her time sorting through vegetables to find the ones she deems most fit for her dish. There are five kinds of bananas, not counting the plantains. I’m taken with one variety ̶ it looks prehistoric; the skin is a solid forest-green, maybe an inch thick, but instead of choosing those, she picks from a hill of more conventional green bananas. She is surprised that I haven’t tried boiled green bananas let alone breadfruit. As we continue shopping for ingredients, I couldn't help but feel slightly under-cultured because I have been teaching cooking classes in a neighborhood that is mostly populated with Bajan-speaking Caribbeans, yet I am still discovering new and unfamiliar produce common in their cuisine.

I'm currently managing a new weekly summer cooking series at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston's Mattapan Teen Center where elders teach local teens their favorite recipes. The Mattapan Teen Center, which used to be Mattapan’s library, is outfitted with a spacious kitchen as well as a theatre, a computer room, and an exercise room, all air-conditioned. It has become a positive place for teens to hang out under the guidance of Ron Carroll and his staff. We’ve had 80-year-old Lessie from Georgia teach us how to make collards and cornbread; Leonide, a 74-year-old Haitian woman, make lip-smacking lime chicken, rice and peas; and then 75-year-old Ellie from Cape Verde who prepared a Chinese chicken dish with fermented black beans (she can cook Cape Verdean dishes but has had a 20-year love affair with Chinese food). Some of the food is familiar to the teens, as many of them have a parent from these places, but none of this is food they’ve made before. Most of the teens ̶ all from Mattapan ̶ haven’t cooked at all.

Brookwood Community Farm has combined forces with the Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (MFFC) in securing a grant to run this series. The goals are simple ̶ to interest teens in cooking, connect them to elders in the community, to help celebrate and preserve traditions, and to nudge them towards a diet less racked with processed foods.

One of the most pivotal women who designed these classes is Vivien Morris, MS, RD, MPH, LDN, a nutritionist residing in Mattapan who is also the Founder and Chairperson of MFFC, a non-profit organization that engages this community to live healthier lives. Vivien points out “One hundred years ago, most African American families grew their own vegetables. A plant-based diet was central to their diet, beans were eaten multiple times a week and processed foods weren’t available. But things have changed. More and more people have moved into the city where there isn’t the space to grow. And it’s hard to find the time to tend a garden. Now there are fewer gardeners and vegetables at the supermarket are expensive. So people cook less and are choosing pre-packaged food instead that’s high in salt, saturated fat, and sugar. If you had limited funds would you buy a 59 cent bag of chips containing 150 calories or an apple for a dollar that had only 60 calories?” Vivien queries.

Ironically, when Lincoln was president, 90 out of 100 Americans were farmers. Now, only 1.6 percent of the population farms. Agri-business has removed millions of jobs and replaced skilled workers with machines. Now these corporations have inflicted the poor with another problem: They manufacture processed foods that have been known to increase the risk of diabetes, obesity, and heart disease when consumed regularly.

Creating more and more community allotments such as garden plots is one way our city is trying to improve their diet; people can grow their own produce or provide labor in a community garden in exchange for a share of produce. In addition, SNAP dollars, formerly known as food stamps, can be traded in for bounty bucks, monetary benefits of the Boston Bounty Bucks program that allow SNAP recipients to double their purchasing power through a dollar-for-dollar matching incentive when buying produce from farmers' markets or CSA shares. This program has demonstrated so much success that the USDA is working to expand the program across other cities in Massachusetts.

A Bounty Bucks bill SNAP recipients can use at local farmers' markets and CSAs to purchase healthy, fresh produce at half the market price.

"We have been in the grips of advertisers and manufacturers and even government subsidies for a very, very long time. It’s not an easy problem to solve,” Vivien adds “but it's everyone’s responsibility, especially getting kids to cook.” Research has found that black Americans are more likely to live in households where cooking occurs less frequently than white Americans (Wolfson, J.A. et al). She adds “We should pressure the people in power to pass the $15 minimum wage so that people can pay their bills without working two jobs a week so that everyone will have time to cook, maybe perhaps even start a garden.”

I asked Vivien how so many elders in Mattapan seem to stay close to their families, often living with them, and how this must be good for them. “I can’t speak from data, but cultural cohesion is key for elders and it is alive and well in urban areas like Mattapan. There is a wealth of cultural activities in Mattapan and in their own homes ̶ a multi-generational home is common." But there are economic stressors like wage inequity that require elders to take care of their grandchildren rather than enjoy leisure time during their retirement years because either or both parents cannot make ends meet. It might allow elderly residents to spend more quality time with their family members, but it is out of necessity. Also, dietary issues for the elderly are more difficult to address than a child’s because they are less mobile, whereas children generally have their dietary needs met through school meal options. Vivien helps people take advantage of the Bounty Bucks program, using her influence at the Boston Public Health Commission in urging friends and neighbors to join local community gardens.

Meanwhile, Betty is cutting a cucumber like I’ve never seen. She has peeled it and is holding it upright. Then she hacks at it in her hand with a small knife until it's finely chopped, with little pieces falling into a bowl. All the teens are intrigued. She has also been boiling the green bananas and breadfruit for almost an hour. We eat these with a compote made from cucumber, tomatoes, onion, salt cod, parsley, peppers, olive oil, and lemon. The green bananas are to die for, and although the breadfruit may not be tops on my list, it is still excellent with the compote.

Betty and her students plating the buljol. Photo credit: Didi Emmons

Buljol made by students and senior chefs at the Mattapan Teen Center. Photo credit: Didi Emmons

Didi Emmons is a Personal Chef, Caterer, and Teacher. She began cooking omelets when she was ten and had her own catering business by the age of fourteen. After earning a BS in food service management at NYU, serving as a stagiaire (apprentice) to La Varenne (cooking school) in Paris and opening several restaurants in the Boston area, she opened Haley House Bakery Cafe, a non-profit cafe in Roxbury, whose staff are people transitioning from homelessness and incarceration. Her first book, Vegetarian Planet, was nominated for a James Beard Award. Her second book, Entertaining for a Veggie Planet, won the Best Book in the Healthy Category by the International Association of Cooking Professionals (formerly the Julia Child Award). She is also author of the critically acclaimed Wild Flavors: One Chef's Transformative Year Cooking From Eva's Farm.

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World Disco Soup Day Interview with Rescuing Leftover Cuisine!

World Disco Soup Day Interview with Lovin' Spoonfuls!

Part Five Gardening with Chris: It’s Good We Aren’t Subsistence Farmers …

Gardening with Chris Part Four: Finally getting to plant!

Gardening with Chris Part Three: Preparing for Sunnier Days …

Buckwheat Risotto with Spinach, asparagus and Mushrooms

Gardening with Chris Part Two: Why Garden?

Gardening with Chris Part One: Plotting & Seeding

SUMMER FOOD BLOG SERIES: Homesick for Homegrown

SUMMER FOOD BLOG SERIES: Le Dîner en Blanc Boston

SUMMER FOOD BLOG SERIES: Community Through Cooking

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​Buckwheat Risotto with Spinach, asparagus and Mushrooms

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Buckwheat Risotto with Spinach, asparagus and Mushrooms