sustainable food

Minneapolis' Birchwood Cafe, one of the Twin Cities' community supporting, local, sustainable food treasures (whose praises I've sung in the past), is hosting what is sure to be a fantastic Earth Day Beer Dinner. The 7-course meal includes pairings with Minnesota's finest artisanal microbrews, and will be accompanied by live jazz music. Here are the details:

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." -Unknown, possibly Frank Zappa or Elvis Costello

I'm at a loss for words when it comes to describing last night. Suffice to say that there was no place I'd have rather been than at The Craftsman. If you're a foodie who was anyplace near Minneapolis (we hosted guests from as far away as Des Moines, IA and Sunnyvale, CA), you were either there - or you should have been. We were thrilled to see The Birchwood Cafe well represented!

Super-good post the other day from Zachary Cohen on his Farm to Table blog entitled What all of us in the food movement sometimes think.

With Easter now over, and copious amounts of ham and potatoes consumed across the nation (including my wife's Aunt Carol's house), I can turn to a question I've been mulling over in my head: what would Jesus eat?

Traditional Foods Minnesota, a self proclaimed "real food warehouse" and "buying club," offers some of the Twin Cities best foods at the lowest prices. Traditional Foods focuses on providing a wide variety of meats, cheeses, milk, eggs, poultry, fish and dry goods of the following kinds:

If you're still contemplating coming to the first-ever Simple, Good, and Tasty dinner at the Craftsman Restaurant in Minneapolis on April 14, now would be a really good time to commit. In short: we're running out of space! I couldn't be more thrilled about the number of people who've reserved a spot so far (BIG thank you to those who're coming!).

I had a blast at my good friends' Passover Seder last night. Awesome people, an exciting story ("Let my people go!" Moses demands each year), and terrific food. My wife and I made the matzo ball soup again this year, this time a more local, organic version - free range chickens, organic chicken broth, home-made matzo balls (with locally raised cage-free eggs, all from The Wedge Co-op) - and even the kids asked for more.

About a month ago, I went to the Minneapolis Whole Foods Market looking for local meat. I’ve been a Minnesotan long enough to know that our produce choices are severely limited in the winter months, but I figured there’d be plenty of local pork and beef to bring home. Turns out I was wrong - there was almost none. I left Whole Foods confused and surprised, and I left them a note. The next day, Renee Howard sent me an email.

On my friend and neighbor Kathy's advice, I just re-read Michael Pollan's outstanding letter to our nation's "Farmer in Chief," first published in the NY Times on the eve of Barack Obama's election. It's a wonderful letter, all 9 pages of it, a true embarrassment of riches. Pollan's letter starts with a summary of where we're at currently in terms of food, health, and the environment.

My Dad, eater of Joyva jelly rings, Kosher beef tongue, and the biggest bags of salad you've ever seen, moved from New York (where I grew up) to Bristol, Pennsylvania with his wife Paula several years before he died.