Boston Flora

Tag: Ark of Taste

  • Monday, August 23, 6:00 pm – RAFT Heirloom Harvest Dinner

    “Eat it to Save It.” Seems like an odd statement, doesn’t it? But if requesting heirloom varieties of produce on our plate encourages chefs to search them out and farmers to plant them, then it’s a success. So let’s do our part to help bring back more of these heirlooms… By doing what we do best, eating!

    Along with Chefs Collaborative and their program the RAFT Grow-Out, Slow Food Boston is teaming up with a number of local chefs to offer up a series of amazing dinners throughout the next few months.

    RAFT is a program started by Slow Food USA as a spin-off from the ARK of Taste, which recognizes foods that are in danger of extinction due to changing tastes & growing practices. RAFT goes one step further, bringing attention not only to regional foods and heirloom varietals that are hard to find, but also the cultural traditions around food that are being lost.

    The RAFT Grow Out is a program that encourages local farmers to grow unusual heirloom varietals and teams them up with local chefs willing and eager to use those vegetables. The desired result? More people getting to discover amazing flavors, textures and colors and start asking for them at the markets. And in response more farmers being willing to grow them!

    So back to the eating thing. The RAFT Heirloom Harvest Dinner series kicks off on Monday August 23rd at 6pm at Garden at the Cellar, 991 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge. Chef Will Gilson will be putting together an amazing four course meal featuring RAFT veggies for your gastronomic pleasure, and there will be Chefs Collaborative reps and a farmer on hand to discuss what you’re eating.

    Cost for the evening is $65, inclusive of tax and tip but not drinks. The regular wine and beverage list will be available for purchases. Preregistration and payment are required. To register, log on to www.slowfoodboston.com.

  • Wednesday, August 25, 6:00 pm – RAFT Talk & Farm Tour at Allandale

    You know about heirloom tomatoes tasting better than their mealy, chalky red softball cousins. What about Sibley’s Squash, pictured below, first grown in Marblehead in 1798, known for its ability to store well for the winter? Or the Early Blood Rooted Turnip Beet? Promoted by the Shakers beginning in 1850, they have blood red flesh and are super sweet with cinnamon and clove spice undertones.

    If this piques your interest, reserve Wednesday, August 25th, at 6 pm, to join Slow Food Boston, Chefs Collaborative and Farmers Jim & John from Allandale Farm for an evening’s discussion about heirloom varietals and RAFT – ‘Renewing America’s Food Traditions’.  We’ll be touring the farm, learning about growing practices and the need for crop diversity – as well as getting a few tastes to tempt our palates.

    RAFT is a program started by Slow Food USA as a spin-off from the ARK of Taste, which recognizes foods that are in danger of extinction due to changing tastes & growing practices. RAFT goes one step further, bringing attention not only to regional foods and heirloom varietals that are hard to find, but also the cultural traditions around food that are being lost.

    Chefs Collaborative, a Boston-based network of chefs, is working to get more of the RAFT heirloom varieties into their members kitchens. They’ve created a so-called ‘RAFT Grow-Out’ enticing local farms to grow these special items with the promise that everything they grow will be purchased by local restaurants. A perfect field to table food system!

    So what’s in it for you? Well, if farms start growing these amazing beautiful and yummy heirloom varieties, they’ll start selling them at local farmers markets – which means you get a chance to taste and experiment!. You support crop diversity AND get better tasting food.

    Space for this evening is limited, so reserve your spot today by logging on to www.slowfoodboston.com.  Cost for the evening is $5, going to the Terra Madre Fund.  What, you ask, is that? Terra Madre Fund Campaign: Locally, Slow Food Boston is raising funds to send representatives from our food communities to Terra Madre, October 2010 in Italy. At the last Terra Madre in 2008, over 7,000 farmers from 153 countries met for four days to discuss sustainable food production & biodiversity, aiming to make farming a viable career option. Farmer Jim from Allandale has been accepted to this prestigious event, and we’re raising money to help with his transportation costs (and those for three others as well.)

    Directions:
    Allandale Farm is located at 259 Allandale Road in Brookline. More information can be found on their website, www.allandalefarm.com.

    http://genuinefauxfarm.com/gff%20pics/veggies/sibleygff.jpg

  • Wednesday, March 31, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Eat It to Save It

    “Eat It to Save It” is a growing movement led by the Slow Food USA Organization’s Ark of Taste Committee. It is an effort to save regional food systems by showing how you can support biodiversity and sustainably-produced foods by EATING them.  You can all do your part as consumer activists to promote and support responsibly-made and sourced foods. There are a number of local businesses working hard to do the right thing: making and selling quality products that are good for the people and planet. Please join the next Agrowcity event on Wednesday, March 31, at Bunker Hill Community College, 250 Rutherford Avenue in Boston,  to meet some of our local heroes and see how you can vote with your dollar! Harvest Co-op is a community-owned, not-for-profit grocery cooperative.  Hilltop Farm is a 28-acre local farm running a Community Support Agriculture (CSA)program. You will also have the opportunity to meet other local businesses and producers in the area. For more information, log on to  http://www.meetup.com/Agrowcity/calendar/12838697/

    http://www.edibleportland.com/images/RAFTbook.jpg