Slow Food Westchester

Regular vistors and followers of our Twitter feed know we’ve been waiting for this night for a long time. The president of Slow Food USA (and Westchester native son) Josh Viertel will be in Bronxville at 7PM, participating in the Westchester Land Trust speaking series on sustainability. The talk, titled “Slow Food/Good Land” is being hosted by Sarah Lawrence College in the Heimbold Arts Center.

That's our fearless leader!

A few tickets are apparently available at the door; suggested admission is $15.

Depending on the availability of Wi-Fi in the hall, or the quality of signal strength from AT&T, we will be live-tweeting (and perhaps even live-blogging) the talk. Check in here throughout the evening, or (sorry for repeating ourselves) follow us on Twitter.

UPDATE: 7:20PM — Game on! We’re live in the hall, tweeting and, for this one moment, thanks to this iPhone, blogging. For Josh, this is a homecoming. Many mentors, friends and family here. We’re discussing the importance of land stewardship, and the importance of physically working a piece of land, however small, to truly have the ethic that makes responsible, thoughtful stewardship possible.

More coming…

Our first event of 2010 took place past night, at Table Local Market in Bedford Hills.  Ed Giobbi was in the kitchen instructing our Slow Food volunteers in the preparation of polenta, the frying of rabbit, the baking of frittatas, the assembly of charcuterie, and the de-boning of smoked trout, among other culinary exploits.

It's true: rabbit tastes like chicken.

Cynthia Brennan was with us in the kitchen, but also out front creating a beautiful space for guests (and helping Martha Stewart with an impromptu visit for groceries.)  And 50 guests who are members of Table and Slow Food Westchester were mingling together, making good conversation, drinking wine from Fountainhead, and partaking of the above-mentioned menu items.

An added treat was the presence of Lorenzo Caponetti, of Casa Caponetti, presenting and discussing his family farm’s organic olive oil.

It was sold out, it was delicious, it was joyful, it was entertaining.  All in all, a great night.

If you were there, of course you know all about it.  And if you weren’t there, we hope you can entice you come out next time!  Stay tuned to this space for coming details about our next event in February, and please take a moment to visit our Events page for information on Josh Viertel’s upcoming talk at Sarah Lawrence, and the February 7th Community Garden Summit in White Plains.

Do you have photo or comment about last night’s event to share?  Leave us a comment, or send us an email: slowfoodwestchester@gmail.com.

Many food-lovers have a copy of Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything on their shelf.  Perhaps they also have a copy of How To Cook Everything Vegetarian.  Bittman has another excellent book, now in paperback, called Food Matters, which is essentially a distillation of some key elements of Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, along with some recipes and practical guides for implementing a personal policy of eating food, mostly plants, not too much, and keeping it local!

At the end of last year, Ezra Klein, of the Washington Post, engaged Mark Bittman in a “diavlog” at the website BloggingHeads.tv.  During the 48-minute conversation, they spoke of Food Matters, asked the question “Now that tobacco is stigmatized, can we do the same for processed foods?”, and drew attention to the problems of crisper drawers in refrigerators.  (To watch, click here.)

See how they've divided the conversation into subjects? Clever!

Most people don’t have time to watch the whole thing, of course, but your friends at BloggingHeads have cleverly tagged the conversation so you can skip to whichever section you like, when you like.

Let us know what you think by leaving us a comment!

I stopped in at Borders last night to pick up a copy of Michael Pollan’s new book, Food Rules.  And, as much as I appreciate how helpful the staff wants to be there, I was pretty sure I could find it myself.  Food section, right?  That’s where I went, and that’s where I… didn’t find the book.  Hmm.

Well, it’s fairly new, I thought.  Maybe it hasn’t made it back here yet and it’s still just in the new releases area? Actually, not so much.

I hopped on the computer terminal they provide for customer searches and entered the information.  The book is in stock, the computer told me; “Ask a representative for help.”  Oy.

Okay, long story short (too late?), here’s where the book was:

Note that "Food, Inc." is on the shelf above!

Look, I’m pleased to see Michael Pollan’s books in the sociology section of the bookstore.  That’s a perfectly correct designation.  It distresses me, however, that it isn’t the policy of the store to also stock the book in the food section.  First of all, it’s intuitive that anyone entering the store to find the book will look there first!  Why create a vexing obstacle to customers finding the thing they came to your store to buy?  Second of all, what store policy consigns Pollan’s work — all of it, by the way — to a section detached from its own subject?  Food Rules is about what and how you and I eat.  It’s for those of us who eat with gusto, passion, and love for ourselves, our families, and the earth.  I can’t think of a book more appropriate for the food section of my local bookstore.

And that’s what I told the store!  If you agree, and find yourself in Borders one of these days, please mention it.

What do you think, readers?  Let us know in a comment!

We’re pleased to announce some new information about the Slow Food Westchester co-sponsored event at Table Local Market in Bedford Hills on Monday, January 18th.

The event is a Meet The Farmer Winter Tasting Dinner, starting at 7PM.  The special guest is Lorenzo Caponetti, of Casa Caponetti, a small vegetable farm in central Italy.  He will be offering samples of his organic olive oil.

The other special guest is Ed Giobbi, world-renowned  — but local to us! — artist and chef.  Ed will be designing a tasting menu for the evening prepared by Table’s expert kitchen.

Tickets are only $45, of which a portion goes to supporting the programs and advocacy efforts of Slow Food Westchester.  In order to RSVP (tickets are selling fast), please call Table at (914) 241-0269 by Wednesday, January 13th.

See you there!

It’s snowing here in northern Westchester, and reports from other parts of the county confirm that winter is making a wet statement all around.  Exactly the sort of weather that makes a person want to cook!

If, like us, your attention is turning to food, cooking, meal planning, and finding seasonal, local product, you should visit our friends at KatonahGreen for a quick rundown on Westchester’s Winter Farmer’s Markets.  (While visiting the site, be sure to look around at the other valuable, fun info.)  Several markets are on for this weekend, such as Gossett’s Farm in South Salem and Cold Spring’s market in the community center on Saturday, and the monthly market in the Westchester County Center in White Plains this Sunday.

Have we missed your favorite market, or winter slow food destination?  Send us a note, leave a comment, give us a shout.  We want to hear from you!

Happy New Year…

UPDATE: January 4th, 11:56PM

Alert reader Mimi Beaven has left a comment regarding a weekly winter’s market in Scarsdale, at the Christie Place parking garage, Saturdays from 9AM-1:30PM.  If you’re in the greater Scarsdale area, please support the market.  And perhaps take a few pictures and send them our way!

UPDATE #2: January 5th, 4PM

We just received a email from Stone Barns about their next market, Sunday January 17th, from 1 – 4PM.  No doubt anyone reading this website is already familiar with the amazing Stone Barns — but if you aren’t (and no shame there!) visit their site and look around.

In this household, Christmas is a decidedly secular event with a focus on food.  We do our best to keep it local and slow, though, in truth, it’s a mix.  However, the three highlights of today’s meal were definitely local and slow.

For that, special thanks are due to John Ubaldo of John Boy’s Farm for an absolutely delicious ham, and the butternut squash we roasted to go with it.  And a nod, too, to John’s brother Bob, whose great bread we broke today.  And more special thanks to Cynthia Brennan and Patty MacRae of Table Local Market, who made us a cheese selection that had our guests ooh-ing and ah-ing.  (I’ll be posting the specifics of the cheese in a later post.  Suffice it to say, Patty put together a perfect set of flavors, color, and texture: a soft goat cheese/cow’s milk blend like camembert; a tangy cheddar; and, a good and stinky grayson.)

The guests are gone now, the dishwasher is humming, and the missus and I are going to watch a movie.  I think instead of popcorn, our movie-time snack will be a ham and cheese sandwich!  Thank you John, Bob, Cynthia and Patty, and small farmers everywhere — and the merchants who support them — who made family gatherings a little more delicious (and sustainable) this year.

What was your meal today?  Do you know who made your food?  If you’ve got a Christmas meal story you’d like to share, leave us a comment below, or drop us a note at SlowFoodWestchester@gmail.com.  We’d love to hear from you!

One of the local purveyors we support at Slow Food Westchester is John Ubaldo, of John Boy’s Farm.  John’s farm is actually in Cambridge, New York, in Washington County, but John is a Pound Ridge native.  He participates in several farmer’s markets in Westchester, and sells his pork to restaurants such Bedford Post and merchants such as Table Local Market.

As we head into the holiday break, and reflect on our blessings and mull our hopes for the new year, we want to share John’s most recent emailed newsletter.  We think it captures something important about the essence of the Slow Food movement.  Here it is, reprinted in full:

Hey Everyone, At 2:30 this morning I had resigned myself to the fact we weren’t having babies last night. The room was real warm from the fire and the idea of being out in six degree weather was not very appealing. I woke up this morning and thought I saw a shadow next to mama. After staring at the screen for more than a minute I saw that little bugger making his way around mom. I screamed and jumped up, 5:15  6 degrees and I was sweating. I ran down to the barn half dressed and fired up the lights and heater. Babies started nursing and mama finished her litter by about 10 a.m. this morning.

If you want to be on John’s email list, contact him at johnboysmarket@aol.com.

And whatever you celebrate, may your celebrations be joyous and restorative!

Thanks for stopping by the new online home of Slow Food Westchester, a convivium of Slow Food USA.

The Slow Food USA mission is our mission: good, clean and fair food.  Delicious food made from healthy plants and animals; food that’s good for your body and grown in ways that are good for the planet; food that’s accessible to all people, and produced under just labor conditions.

We’re winding down our activities for the year, getting ready to go on a short winter vacation.  We’ll be back in 2010 with a number of exciting events on the calendar.  January 18th, we’ll be at Table Local Market in Bedford Hills for a “Meet the Farmer” winter tasting menu event.  Early February, we’ll be attending a Westchester County-sponsored summit on community gardens.  Also in February will be a food event at Mt. Kisco Day Care Center and a fundraising dinner.  Those will be two very different events, but they will have one thing in common: great food!

Stay tuned to this space for more information.

In the meanwhile, why don’t you take a moment to follow us on Twitter?

Happy holidays to all — eat well and enjoy time with those you love.  And if you’re looking for a little inspiration, visit Slow Christmas.  They have the right idea!