Out & About

Quick post, with thanks to Tracy from the Birchwood. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) is hosting an event about local food and farming in Minneapolis tonight. Here's the information from their website: Be part of an important conversation about urban agriculture, food policy, city planning and food access. Learn from national experts about how urban food systems can improve health, strengthen communities and grow local economies. Speakers:

Two and half years ago, in the fall/winter of 2006, a new eating and drinking establishment opened on the border between Park Slope and Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. Called the Flatbush Farm, it won over locals almost immediately with its friendly bartenders, inventive drinks, hearty daily specials, rustic interiors, and enormous candle-lit backyard.

Finally! Thanks to Sustainable Table, my wife and I can converse again. According to their website: Sustainable Table was created in 2003 by the nonprofit organization GRACE to help consumers understand the problems with our food supply and offer viable solutions and alternatives.

This is a big local, sustainable, and organic food weekend in the Twin Cities, so I thought I'd dedicate this post to a few of the events I'm most likely to try and make it to this Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26:

Lucia Watson is a phenomenal chef and business person who is extremely important in the Twin Cities local, sustainable food movement. She makes some of the finest food in the country. Here's a bit more about Lucia Watson, who you might not know much about - especially if you don't live in the Midwest (this information comes from Lucia's website):

Tucked quietly beside Turtle Bread near the corner of 48th and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis, Pumphouse Creamery doesn't really scream for ice cream; rather, like its owner Barb Zapzalka, Pumphouse wins you over one locally made, organic, scrumptious ice cream scoop - and, as of this spring, one locally made, hearty, 9-grain organic cone - at a time.

While we all love our local and sustainable upscale dining establishments in New York City, it's sometimes hard to afford eating at them as often as we'd like.

Local beer is easy to find these days, especially if you have a tendency to drink microbrews, as I do, and live in a decent sized city (like Minneapolis or St. Paul, as the case may be).

My friend Jen turned me on to San Francisco's Bi-Rite Market, the kind of mom and pop supermarket our moms and pops never had (or even imagined). The home page of the Bi-Rite Market website proudly proclaims the store as:

a destination for restaurant quality prepared foods and catering, organic produce, sustainably raised meats, poultry, and seafood, as well as fine wines and everyday groceries.