Italian feast to benefit chapter's Terra Madre hopefuls

Below is an invitation to an Italian dinner with a special purpose. Slow Food Katy Trail and The Wine Cellar & Bistro invite you to Festa Italiana!, a casual and delicious local-foods feast that will benefit our Slow Food chapter’s delegation to the Terra Madre conference in Turin in October. Donating their talents to the cooking and serving of the dinner will be chefs Craig Cyr and Brook Harlan.

This conference is held in the Piedmont region of Italy, where the Slow Food organization was born more than 20 years ago. The five-day meeting will bring together food communities, cooks, farmers, educators, food activists, academics, youth and musicians from throughout the world. All who attend are united in a desire to promote sustainable local food production in harmony with the environment, while respecting knowledge handed down throughout the generations.

Although the biennial conference has been held since 2004, this will be Slow Food Katy Trail’s first time to apply for representation there. We’re excited about the possibility of sending a mid-Missouri food community delegation to “The Olympics” of the food world. It’s high time that our region show the world what we have to offer!

We’re proud to nominate chef Craig Cyr, of The Wine Cellar & Bistro; chef/educator Brook Harlan, of the Columbia Area Career Center Culinary Arts Program; farmer Julie Walker, of Greystone Farm; and Walker Claridge, of The Root Cellar and Broadway Brewery fame. Proceeds from this dinner will be used for plane fares. Conference costs are covered by other sponsors upon arrival in Italy.

We’re able to offer this fabulous feast at such a reasonable price because of volunteer assistance and generous donations. A special thanks to the Missouri Department of Agriculture’s support of Missouri Legacy Beef and Show-Me Farms, whose local beef products will be featured. Grazie mille to Glazer’s Midwest, Golden Barrel and Missouri Beverage, who will keep the vino flowing ... and xoxoxo to those relentlessly faithful Slow Food volunteers who make it all possible every time at every event!


The $35 ticket price includes tip. Slow Food members receive the first opportunity to purchase tickets during the first five days of sales. Ticket sales open to the public on June 1.

For more information on the Terra Madre conference and its importance in the construction of a global sustainable food network, please visit http://www.terramadre.info/pagine/incontri/welcome.lasso?id=C2744B880a15e27F8CmV S2DE0085&tp=3. This is a fantastic opportunity for our local food community to share information and collaborate with like-minded people from throughout the world.

Please come share in the excitement of the possibility and, as always, delicious eats!


Buon appetito!

Slow Food Katy Trail and
The Wine Cellar & Bistro present

Festa Italiana!
An Italian buffet of delicious local and seasonal foods
to benefit SFKT’s Terra Madre delegation

Sunday, June 13 at The Wine Cellar & Bistro, 505 Cherry St.
Come anytime between 5 and 8 p.m.



Antipasti
Beef carpaccio, pickled vegetables, assorted goat cheeses and grilled crostini



Insalata
Salad of arugula and mixed greens, tomatoes, roasted mushrooms, green onions and Uprise croutons–tossed with an anchovy-balsamic vinaigrette.


Il secondo

 Ossobuco–beef shanks slowly braised in Chianti, with fresh herbs. Served with a creamy risotto made with pancetta and Milton Creamery Prairie Breeze cheese.



Trio di gelati

Mint with Patric Chocolate nibs
Strawberry
Rhubarb with vanilla and wildflower honey


I Vini
A selection of Italian white and red wines


Prepared and served by chefs Craig Cyr and Brook Harlan

Mother-Daughter Team Helps Recover Lost Tradition Of Preserving Food

Saving The Seasons--An Easy-To-Use Guide For Those Who Want To Preserve Their Own Food, But Don’t Know How

Not that long ago, many people knew how to preserve food. Information about canning, freezing and drying was passed down from generation to generation. But that’s not the case today, say Susanna Meyer and Mary Clemens Meyer, co-authors of Saving The Seasons: How To Can, Freeze, or Dry Almost Anything, a new book from Herald Press. “Many younger people today want to preserve food, but don’t know how to do it,” says Susanna “Maybe their grandmother canned, or their mother used to, but that generational knowledge hasn’t been passed down.” “Many families no longer have a tradition of preserving food,” adds Mary, who is also Susanna’s mother. “They have not learned what the more rural population of a century ago knew about how to pick, prepare, and process food to keep for the future.”

Passing on tips and ideas for preserving food was one reason why the two decided to create "Saving the Seasons."

“We wanted to provide a clear and easy-to-use guide for those who want to preserve their own food, but don’t know how,” says Susanna, who directs agricultural production at Grow Pittsburgh, a non-profit organization that produces food in the city and helps people create new gardens. “It’s especially helpful for those without a farming or gardening tradition,” adds Mary, who, along with her husband, grows certified organic vegetables and fruit in Fresno, Ohio. “It tells the best way to preserve a certain food, and exactly how to do it.” The two note that the book also comes along at a time when more people are expressing an interest in eating locally grown and seasonal food. “More people care about where their food comes from,” says Mary. “They want to know who grew it and under what conditions. The easiest way to get those answers is to grow food yourself, or buy direct from the grower.” “People are growing becoming more interested in issues like food safety, gardening and supporting local farmers,” Susanna adds, noting that tighter household budgets also play a part in decisions to preserve food.

They both think that "Saving the Seasons" will be of particular interest to those who bought "Simply in Season," a cook book from Herald Press that celebrates cooking and eating locally grown seasonal food. “One of the challenges of cooking seasonally for many in the U.S. and Canada is not having the food you need when it is out of season,” Susanna says. “Preserving food while it's in season is a great way to make sure you have it later in the year.” “We include information about when produce is in season, and the best way to preserve each item,” adds Mary. “Learning to preserve your own food makes living seasonally a year-round possibility, not just a one-season experience.”

The book also grows out of their faith, they say. “Being a Christian to me means caring for God’s earth and learning from the created world,” says Mary. “The process of planting, weeding, waiting, and then finally harvesting, preserving and eating helps me feel that I am a participant in God’s creation, not just a bystander.” “Growing up Mennonite, I learned that I was responsible to care for my own health and the health of the environment and people around me,” adds Susanna. “Growing and preserving my own food helps me live out these values.” Susanna hopes Saving the Seasons will “inspire people who might otherwise think they can’t preserve their own food.”

“I’m excited about sharing the how-to of preserving with a new generation of gardeners and eaters,” adds Mary.

"Saving the Seasons: How to Can, Freeze, or Dry Almost Anything" is available from Herald Press at www.mpn.net/savingtheseasons or by calling 1-800-245-7894, x 278 (U.S.), 1-800-631-6535 (Canada). The cost is $24.99 USD/$28. 99 CAD.

SFKT hosts series of delicious fundraising dinners; continues work with schools

Slow Food Katy Trail and Broadway Brewery helped local-food lovers celebrate the season with a Local Spring Food and Beer Dinner at the brewery on April 18.

Walker Claridge and his crew cooked up an incredible meal for 60 guests. A fabulous tribute to local food, the event showcased the bounty of edibles available to mid-Missourians in early spring. Guests also got a tour of the brewery and learned how beer is made "down under" Broadway.

Part of the proceeds from the dinner went to help fund our Slow Food-in-Schools efforts.

Stay tuned for details about an Italian-themed fundraiser/dinner to help send local food-community delegates to the international Terra Madre conference in Italy in October. A casual pasta-and-wine supper is scheduled for June 13 and a vegetarian feast is slated for July 24. Both are at the Wine Cellar and Bistro.

Slow Food Katy Trail will wrap up the second year of its Harvest-of-the-Month program with Lee School third graders in May. A field trip and lunch is scheduled for the children at Pierpont Farms.

We also provided seven days of delicious organic snacks to West Boulevard Elementary School students during MAP testing in April. Volunteers prepared and bagged 900 individual snacks. For less than 34 cents per child per day, children enjoyed freshly peeled carrot sticks, peanut butter and whole-wheat crackers, almonds, fig newtons, bananas, brown-rice cakes, and sunflower-seeds and raisins.

Last chance for spring dinner and beer-tasting tickets

Only five tickets remain for our spring dinner and beer tasting at Broadway Brewery on Sunday, April 18. Please see information below.

Celebrate Spring Food at April 18 Dinner

Slow Food Katy Trail

and Broadway Brewery present

An Early-Spring Dinner and Beer Tasting

Four courses and five beers to celebrate local spring foods

and to benefit Slow Food-in-Schools projects

April 18 at 5 p.m., Broadway Brewery

Festive group tables and camaraderie * brewery tour

THE MENU

Spring sextet charcuterie platter

Walker's handcrafted coppa, soppressata, pâté

and vegetarian appetizers begin the festivities

Uprise bread accompanies

A trio of beautiful babies

Three baby-lettuce heads (one freckled, one red and one green) lightly dipped in different dressings and each crowned with its own blend of delicate vegetables, cheese and/or nuts

A delectable duo of meats

A sorghum-glazed baked leg-quarter of chicken shares the plate with herb-encrusted dry-aged beef

First-of-the-season asparagus and local grains accompany

The dessert quartet

Chocolate ganache bites

First-of-the-season strawberry shortcake

Blueberry compote with fresh cream

Mint sorbet

A variety of Broadway Brewery beers accompany the courses

(Wine available for purchase for non-beer drinkers)

Cost per person is $45 and only 60 tickets are available

Slow Food members received the first opportunity to purchase tickets during the first five days of sales. On April 8, ticket sales are open to the public. Sales will be made only through the Brown Paper Tickets site: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/107131

All proceeds will benefit Slow Food Katy Trail's Slow Food-in-Schools projects. Even though we don't tout these important projects nearly often enough (we're too busy actually getting them done!), we do want you to know the great things we are doing with schoolchildren to raise their local-food awareness. Please see our blog (http://slowfoodkatytrail.blogspot.com/2009/05/sfkt-connects-local-children-with-local.html) to get a taste of all we've accomplished during the last year with Lee Elementary School third graders. We are continuing the program this year, as well as providing snacks to all the children at West Boulevard Elementary during MAP testing for seven days in April.