Slow Food USA's Take 5 Challenge! and a Recipe, too!

Recently in the news there has been a lot of discussion about the affordability of good, healthy food. Articles have reported that fruits and vegetables are too expensive, while others have suggest it is the unavailability of vegetables in the abounding food deserts of the USA and how it is advertised that cause quality produce and food to be expensive. Local, healthy food should be available to everyone, and it shouldn't have to come with a high ticket price. Slow Food USA has come up with a challenge for us to eat a meal on September 17th, 2011 of entirely slow, local foods at the cost of $5 per person (the cost of an average "fast-food" value meal). Across the nation people will be hosting dinners, attending dinners, exchanging ideas, recipes, sources and "mmms." Slow Food recognizes that $5 for a meal is not exactly inexpensive for many people, but the challenge is to show that for the same price of a McDonalds quarter pounder meal (or less) you can have a nutritious, delicious and local meal shared with friends. Will you be Taking the $5 Challenge? 

On September 17th I will be! I have yet to decide exactly how I will celebrate my meal, but hopefully it will be something to share with friends. Since I heard about it I've been brainstorming possible menus, venues, sources and dinner guests. To get us all rolling in the right direction here is a recipe for Eggs in a Nest of Zucchini (inspired by the recipe in Animal Vegetable Miracle) which I made for less than half of $5! This recipe would also make for a great Meatless Monday staple. And as we all know, cutting meat out of our diet one or more times a week is good for our bodies, our planet and our wallets as well! 


After the recipe you will also find some sources for ingredients and information in New York City and the Albany, NY area.

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Eggs in a Nest of Zucchini

Serves 1 (may be multiplied)

Eating for Beginners Giveaway WINNERS!

It's taking me longer than normal to adjust to being back from vacation. Seems while I was whiling away on the beaches of Cape Cod fall started sweeping into NYC with cooler temps, those tree-rustling breezes and a desire for hot coffee over iced in the morning. The onset of autumn is a great time to start reading Melanie Rehak's Eating for Beginners, and fortunately two of you will receive it just in time to do so. As back-to-school scents, sights and sounds fill the air, you will be joining Rehak on her journey to educate herself on where our food comes from and how to prepare it responsibly. I hope you enjoy reading her prose and adventures through eating as much as I have. 

The winners:

The random winner, whom I selected by using a random number generator to select a number from the list of 10 entries is Amy: 

         I didn't even try Creamed Spinach until 3 years ago and now it's a favorite - always    

         looking for new ways to make veggies! I love serving it with a great piece of meat and 

         it's the first thing I help my friends make when they say they don't know how to cook!

The favorite winner was not easy to select. You all gave creative and interesting suggestions for how to serve this. Ultimately I had to go with the entry that made me most hungry when looking over the responses. This entry came via email from Chef Dante:  

         I do a very fragrant pork belly with nutmeg, vanilla and other sweet spices. Braise it    

        out, slice it and sear it crispy. It would be excellent with this spinach. 

The Locavore Way WINNER!

Before I announce the winner I want to say Thank You to everyone who participated in my first giveaway!! Everyone contributed very thoughtful responses and I was happy to see so many of you content to stay just where you are. There were some technical kinks which I am working on fixing for the next giveaway. I will be sure to open it up to multiple means of entry from the start for the next one. Hopefully there will be another giveaway towards the end of the summer, so keep reading! 

The Locavores' Dilemma: A discussion about what to eat.

Thanks to my avid reading and tweeting on Twitter I found out about the event at the New York Public Library (NYPL) I attended Thursday October 21, 2010 from @SlowFoodUSA.

The Locavores' Dilemma brought in former Cullman Center Fellow Melanie Rehak, author of Eating for Beginners, Chef David Shea of applewood Restaurant in Park Slope, and Steve Jenkins of Fairway Market; the discussion was moderated by another former Cullman Center Fellow Patrick Radden Keefe journalist and author of The Snakehead.  Odds are unless you're a New Yorker you might not have heard of any of these people (yet). I recognized Fairway, of  course, and had seen Melanie Rehak's book cover but did not really know much about any of the participants or what they do. Jean Strouse, director of the Cullman Center, gave thorough introductions for each participant (a recipe of hers is included in Eating for Beginners, which Patrick Keefe drew attention to due to her memorable instruction to "add a stick of butter" to a dish of brussel sprouts- and Strouse added joyfully "and bacon!").

So how do these people fit together to make for a discussion about locavory? Rehak lives in Park Slope just blocks away from applewood restaurant (small "a" intended). She is a locavore and spent time working in the applewood kitchen to write her book; she also follows the food the restaurant uses back to  its sources; spending time making cheese, picking greens, and even out on the ocean to catch the restaurant's seafood. Chef David Shea is a consistent voice and presence in Rehak's memoir. During her time working at applewood he encourages her to believe in herself and in her abilities in the kitchen. Steve Jenkins is a mainstay in the New York grocery scene and brought insight to the more commercial side of local sourcing and eating.