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News Bites: Roger Williams University Eat Local Challenge / “Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day” Author Leanne Brown at RI Farmers Markets / Sage Cellars Brings Rebel Coast Wine to RI

by David Dadekian October 8, 2015

Current news releases—Eat Drink RI is not the source for these items—please follow any links for more information.

RWU Celebrates Local Food Community with Annual Eat Local Challenge

Chef Cambra prepares tasty and nutritious meals today featuring fresh produce, fish and meat exclusively sourced from New England farms and vendors

RWU staff, including Chef de Cuisine Jon Cambra at right, prepare food for the Eat Local Challenge

Today, the University joins together to celebrate the Annual Eat Local Challenge – a day on which the campus community comes together to sample farm-fresh foods at the outdoor farmer’s market and feast on regionally authentic dishes in the dining commons, all to celebrate the importance of environmentally responsible food sourcing.

For this year’s Eat Local Challenge, Chef de Cuisine Jon Cambra will highlight Rhode Island’s best with dishes – grilled swordfish kabobs, lobster sliders, braised beef pot roast and scallop ceviche, among other menu items. The dining commons will also feature a chilled raw bar featuring littleneck clams, onset oysters and east beach blond oysters. Other specialty dishes will include seaweed salad, potato leek soup and eggplant roulades with autumn squash and goat cheese. All of the ingredients are harvesting within 150 miles of the campus.

The Eat Local Challenge is in its 11^th year and was created in 1999 when Bon Appétit launched its Farm to Fork program, in which all Bon Appétit chefs have been required to source at least 20 percent of their ingredients from small, owner-operated farms within that radius.

RWU is committed to sourcing a majority of its fresh ingredients from local farms, fisherman and artisans throughout the year. From eggs to potatoes to dairy, many food items come directly from farms in Rhode Island or Southern New England including Little Rhody Farms in Foster and Rhody Fresh in Hope. Approximately 80 percent of the fresh seafood served on campus is exclusively sourced from New England waters and purchased fresh daily from The Foley Fish company in New Bedford; 90 percent of the bread on campus is made locally at Homestead Bakery in East Providence or Calise Bakery in Lincoln, among other local bakeries.

“I’ve participated in nine Eat Local Challenges, yet each menu always ends up being very different as we get inspired to raise the bar on just how local we can go,” says General Manager, James Gubata. “I’m very excited to host our farmer’s market today too. A few of our farm-to-fork partners join us for the day and get to chat about what they harvest and create with our guests.”

Last year, in honor of the Farm to Fork program’s 15th anniversary, Bon Appétit decided to give something back, from “Fork to Farm.” The company gave away $50,000 worth of grants to local farmers, fishermen, and foodcrafters across the country to help them grow their businesses. The 10 “Fork to Farm” grant recipients were selected from 25 finalists by RWU and other guests and Bon Appétit teams on Eat Local Challenge Day 2014, with more than 26,000 people casting votes. A year later, those small grants have had a big impact for these small farms and food businesses.

On Eat Local Challenge Day, in addition to the all-local meal, the campus community will also get short updates on the projects of their two regional grant winners; they can follow links to read more on the Bon Appétit blog. Local farmers Matt Couzens of Horse Listeners Orchard will be on hand to offer samples and talk to guests about where their food comes from.

Cookbook Author to Visit RI Farmers Markets

Farm Fresh Rhode Island is excited to host Leanne Brown author of GOOD AND CHEAP: EAT WELL ON $4/DAY at two RI farmers markets on Thursday, October 8^th. Brown, recently named one of Forbes 30 under 30 for 2015, will be visiting the West Warwick Farmers Market and the Armory Farmers Market as part of her 2015 tour.

GOOD AND CHEAP: EAT WELL ON $4/DAY (Workman; July 14, 2015; $16.95) is a cookbook like no other, demonstrating why kitchen skill, not budget, is the key to great food. GOOD AND CHEAP is not a challenge to live on so little—it’s a resource for those who face this reality, or anyone in need of stretching a tight budget. It teaches a general strategy, and shares flexible, approachable recipes—from mains like Vegetable Jambalaya, Broiled Tilapia with Lime, and Spicy Pulled Pork, to sides and snacks like Green Chile and Cheddar Quesadillas and Broiled Eggplant Salad—even drinks and desserts, like Watermelon Smoothies and Peach Coffee Cake.

In addition to sharing tasty, nutritious recipes that maximize every ingredient and use economical cooking methods, Brown gives tips on shopping, setting up a basic pantry, mastering staples, and even repurposing last night’s dinner. One page, titled “Leftovers,” offers tips on the myriad ways to make good use of old meals, like turning almost anything into a sandwich, or putting the fixings from last night on top of toast, in a wrap, or on a pizza. Eating well on $4 a day also requires a stocked pantry reserves like garlic, canned vegetables, and dried beans can go a long way towards flavor. GOOD AND CHEAP is more than a book of recipes. It is a book of ideas, made to prove that cooking has a powerfully positive effect.

Leanne will be at the West Warwick Farmers Market, located in the parking lot of Thundermist Health Center at 180 Providence Street, from 3:00-4:15pm. Her visit to the West Warwick market will include a live cooking demonstration, free book giveaways and book signings. Following her stop in West Warwick, Leanne will visit the Armory Farmers Market, located at Dexter Park in Providence, from 5-6pm. Leanne will be joining Farm Fresh RI’s nutrition education program Healthy Foods, Healthy Families which will be featuring free samples of recipes from GOOD AND CHEAP.

These two special events are made possible by the partnership between Farm Fresh RI, Thundermist Health Center, and Neighborhood Health Plan of RI. For more information on Leanne Brown’s tour visit http://www.leannebrown.com/events.

Sage Cellars Brings Rebel Coast Wine to RI

A new brand with an ultra-cool west coast vibe is introduced to the wine market in RI

Rebel Coast Sunday Sunday wine

Sage Cellars is proud to introduce the latest edition to their portfolio of wineries, Rebel Coast Winery. With the tagline Distractingly Sexy, it’s clear that this new brand is all about having fun, but don’t be fooled, this high quality wine is uniquely crafted from different regions of California and is “made by real people, for real people”. Each bottle of Rebel Coast wine embraces the passionate, rebellious and fun feeling vibes of the west coast.

Their smooth and velvety red wine, Reckless Love is a 2013 Red Blend made up of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Alexander Valley in Sonoma, CA and 50% Syrah from Paso Robles, CA. Even their bottles reflect the wineries belief of a rebelicious high quality, the label is printed directly into the American made glass bottle with glow in the dark ink because, as they put it “how else can you find a bottle when the lights are off? And no one had ever done that before.”

The white blend is lovingly called Sunday Funday. Just the name makes it obvious this is a wine for everyone; this perfectly balanced blend is 90% Steel Barrel Chardonnay, 8% Sauvignon Blanc, and 2% Viognier. Every bottle has a peel off label with a ‘Sunday Funday’ to do list that will keep you laughing all day long.

Sage Cellars is thrilled that this vibrant new brand, along with its wildly entertaining, passionate and down to earth winemakers, is being brought to the Rhode Island market.

Sage Cellars is a Rhode Island based company owned and operated by trained professionals in wine and beer. Owners Anne Sage and Jesse Sgro explain: “Our passion for great craftsmanship runs deep and is born out of a life of dedicated study. Our business model is based on a simple premise: We choose to work with companies with whom we feel an equal excitement for their wines or beers and believe pairs well with the Rhode Island consumer. Our focus has been with family run vineyards, we are also a family business and understand the value in our industry. We listen closely, provide genuine and valuable support both for our quality products in our portfolio and our customers who sustain us.”

October 8, 2015 0 comment

chefs & restaurants cooking

2012 Gift Guides: Recommended Reading (and some truffles)

by David Dadekian December 17, 2012

written by David Dadekian

Michael Natkin's Herbivoracious When I’m nestled all snug in my bed visions of, well, it depends on what I’m reading, dance in my head. I, like many of you out there, read cookbooks like novels, carefully looking over every page and detail like a major plot point or character development, deciding what’s worthy of making and hopefully finding something new to try. I’ve got six books here for you to throw on a kerchief or cap and read while waiting for St. Nick, or any other time of year. I’m also a little late in the game for Amazon ordering, so I hope you make your way to your favorite local bookstore and find them all.

First up, two vegetarian books that I’ve fallen in love with. Anyone who knows me or reads this site regularly knows that it’d be a pretty mean feat for me love a book not about meat (and there are two below that are almost all meat). If you’re looking to get a little healthier in the coming year, and maybe help the planet too, I highly recommend Michael Natkin’s Herbivoracious and Kim O’Donnel’s The Meat Lover’s Meatless Celebrations.

The subtitle on Herbivoracious is “a flavor revolution” and that’s no understatement. Natkin’s book came out earlier this year and I’ve cooked many items out of it, especially during the summer and fall, but that’s not to say there aren’t plenty of year-round vegetarian dishes in it. Even if you’re already a regular reader of his Herbivoracious site the book has many dishes not on the site. Natkin does one of the best jobs of giving the home cook vegetarian dishes that aren’t elaborate, but definitely step up the game from sides to entrées.

Kim O'Donnel's The Meat Lover's Meatless Celebrations

Speaking of sides and entrées, The Meat Lover’s Meatless Celebrations has the best of both worlds when putting together full-on vegetarian dinner parties for holidays, special events and just plain big meals with family and friends. When I got the book I tried O’Donnel’s Eggplant Timpano and while mine didn’t look quite as beautiful as hers (it’s almost a pie in it’s appearance), it was fantastic. Pairing that up with the rest of the meal dishes would be a great feast.

Many of the dishes in both these vegetarian books are gluten-free and vegan too and are labelled as such. I had the pleasure of meeting both these authors recently and of course they’re both very passionate about their subject. I got to sample a couple of O’Donnel’s dishes including a Quinoa-Walnut Brownie that you would’ve never known was gluten-free. Natkin and I met over a cup of coffee and we recorded a brief interview.

The Fisherman's Table by Laura Blackwell

While we’re talking vegetarian and big, bold flavors I want to share some news that my friend at the local Whole Foods Market passed along. It’s not a local product, but it supposed to be available only in the New England area: fresh truffles. Whole Foods Market “is now offering fresh Italian truffles (black, burgundy and white), by special order only. These rare, highly prized fresh seasonal truffles are flown in overnight from Italy, by request only. This offer is valid in New England area stores only. Customers will have the option to order White Alba Truffles, Black Perigord, or Black Burgundy.” If you’re looking for something extra special for that holiday meal, truffles definitely fit that bill.

Before we get to meat (and one of my favorite books of the year, if not of all time—I mean it!) I want to make sure Rhode Islanders know about a very cool locally produced book The Fisherman’s Table by Laura Blackwell. Blackwell has put together a book revolving around seafood caught in the waters around Newport and has contributions from the Fisherman of Newport in her book. It’s a great general seafood manual as well as a book of recipes and if you’re buying local seafood—as you should definitely be doing—it’s a wonderful resource, drawing on some Rhode Island seafood traditions as well as exploring some out-of-area flavors. Make sure you check out www.FishermansTable.com where you can buy the book if you can’t find it in a store.

Fire In My Belly by Kevin Gillespie with David Joachim Also near and dear to my heart is southern cooking, it’s some of the first food that I learned to make when I became interested in cooking and it’s where I learned a lot of what I do today. I have a lot of southern cookbooks, probably more than any other general topic and I love to just grab one every now and then to remind me of something I’m missing. Fire In My Belly by Kevin Gillespie with David Joachim has become one of those books on my shelf. Any book that gives me a new idea for grits, a mainstay and staple of our home, will be a beloved book by me. So here’s to Gillespie’s Overnight Grits and so many of my other favorite things to eat. I look forward to trying his One-Pot Hog Supper that caught my eye as I flipped through. Buy the book and see what I’m talking about.

On to the meat and first up is a book from last year that I didn’t get a copy of until this summer after I met Joshua and Jessica Applestone, owners of Fleisher’s Grass-Fed & Organic Meats in Kingston, New York. Their book, The Butcher’s Guide to Well-Raised Meat by the Applestones and Alexandra Zissu, is an excellent resource guide, memoir and reference book. It’s very to-the-point while at the same time taking some space to explain what it is they do at Fleisher’s butcher shop and, more importantly, why.

The Butcher's Guide to Well-Raised Meat by Joshua and Jessica Applestone and Alexandra Zissu The great majority of the meat I eat, if not all of it in the case of beef, comes from Blackbird Farm in Smithfield, R.I., a farm that perfectly matches the list in the book of what the Applestones expect from their farmers. So naturally I agree with their writing. The book is a great educational tool and it’s written in a very consumer friendly, approachable style. I’ll be recommending it in my cooking classes to people who want to learn more. Also, while the black+white photos are very nice to make it a concise and price-friendly book, the color inserts of Jennifer May’s photographs are beautiful.

Finally, my favorite book this year and I was serious when I said one of my favorites of all time, Wicked Good Barbecue by Andy Husbands and Chris Hart with Andrea Pyenson. I’ve got a lot of barbecue books, almost as many as southern cuisine books–they overlap a lot as well. When I got this book my first reaction was not dissimilar from the press release that came with it, how good can a barbecue book by two guys from Boston be? Then I started to read through it and almost every page piqued my curiosity. Everything sounded amazing. But, unlike a lot of other more forgiving cooking methods, barbecue recipes and technique may sound good on paper, but fall apart in practice. That may sound odd, isn’t a slow cooking, heavy seasoning cooking method pretty forgiving? Not if you want to achieve perfect barbecue.

Wicked Good Barbecue by Andy Husbands and Chris Hart with Andrea Pyenson I’ve now cooked my way through a good chunk of Wicked Good Barbecue. This book contains some darn perfect barbecue. Some of these recipes and processes are challenging. Not impossible at home by any means, but very time-consuming and having multiple-components. They’re all worth it. There are techniques in here that mirror some of my own that I know took me years to perfect. Husbands and Hart lay it all out for you. A recipe may take four days, but it’s worth it and I can only imagine the number of days it took them to get it there. Husbands and Hart were the 2009 Grand Champions of the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue, along with winners of many other barbecue competition awards, and they’ve included that pork spare rib recipe here.

I love my cookbooks. I keep them in relatively great condition, especially considering how often I read through many of them. Wicked Good Barbecue is one of the few books that is completely beat up, and I’ve only had it for about eight months. There’s even sauce and spice rub on some of the pages, which kind of bums me out because some of it is on Ken Goodman’s gorgeous photography. But that’s my testimony. This book is not for the casual weekend barbecue, though there are certainly quick and easy recipes in it. This book is deep and wonderful and I may never find another barbecue book I love as much. Get this book and you may feel the same.

December 17, 2012 0 comment

chefs & restaurants cooking news

Recommended Reading

by David Dadekian December 17, 2011

written by David Dadekian

It’s that time of year when food writers take a look at that shelf of books we’ve been sent review copies of, or purchased ourselves, and suggest people give some of them as gifts. In an effort to not be a list you’ve already read—yes, The Art of Living According to Joe Beef is amazing, Ruhlman’s Twenty is excellent, I completely covet Eleven Madison Park and I hope to soon own Mark Vetri’s Rustic Italian Food and Andrew Carmellini’s American Flavor—I’m going to offer up a few things that I’ve enjoyed using and cooking from this year, including two iPad-only items, one of which may be my favorite “book” of the year and is first up in the list.

Next Restaurant – Paris: 1906 by Grant Achatz, Nick Kokonas, Dave Beran & Christian Seel

This iBook blew my mind. Not simply for the content, which is gorgeous and fascinating, but for what it represents in publishing, selling and reading a cookbook. If you know who the authors are and what Next restaurant is then you’ve already correctly assumed Next Restaurant – Paris: 1906 is a supremely complex cookbook. For those who don’t know, briefly, Next is a restaurant in Chicago that becomes a completely new restaurant every three months. I would imagine that task would require meticulous planning and, thankfully for the many of us who couldn’t get tickets to the restaurant, the planning is captured by Christian Seel, essentially an on-staff documentarian.

While it would certainly be possible to publish an entire cookbook of this visual quality every three months, the costs and production time may prove prohibitive. But as an iPad-only iBook there are no print costs (or shipping and storage for that matter) and there’s some video embedded in it as well. At $4.99 this was the easiest no-brainer purchase I’ve made in ages, and it’s also easily worth so much more. You can buy it for the iPhone or iPod, but I’m not sure I would enjoy it at that smaller size. The authors have said other ebook formats may follow. Next Restaurant – Paris: 1906 isn’t perfect, but the potential it shows is fantastic. Plus it’s a very cool book, no matter the format. Skip a couple of coffees or a beer and buy this iBook now.

Fire It Up: More Than 400 Recipes for Grilling Everything by Andrew Schloss and David Joachim with photographs by Alison Miksch.

First up is a book I wrote about earlier this year for Jacqueline Church’s BBQ Bonanza 2011. I got this book and I thought, “eh, it’s a grilling cookbook.” But my lack of enthusiasm quickly dissolved as I flipped through the book. First of all, there’s a lot of great grilling information in it. Sure, there’s a lot of great grilling information all over the place now, but that’s the point, this book has just about all of the information you could need in one place. Secondly, the flavor combinations in the recipes, while not hugely unique, are still very interesting and, as with the grilling info, the recipes are very well organized. There’s a seriously huge amount of recipes in one resource. The other thing I love about the book is it really is, as the title says, about grilling everything, and I mean everything. The chapters include: Beef, Veal, Pork, Lamb, Goat, Bison & Other Game Meat, Chicken & Turkey, Duck, Goose & Game Birds, Fish, Crustaceans & Mollusks, Vegetables, Fruit, Cheese, Other Dairy Foods & Eggs and Breads, Sandwiches, Cakes & Cookies.

The Art of Beef Cutting: A Meat Professionals Guide to Butchering and Merchandising by Kari Underly

I loved this book before I even got it, having seen Kari Underly’s videos online. This book covers everything to do with a side of beef. Having worked with Blackbird Farm for a few years now, I know a good amount about beef from raising the animal to cooking it, and when I say the book covers everything, I do mean everything. It’s beautiful, thoughtfully laid out and very educational. Sure it may be more manual-like and in-depth than some people may need, but if you really care about beef and want to study butchery, this is the book. I would imagine it’s already being used as a classroom textbook.

Pat LaFrieda’s Big App for Meat by Zero Point Zero

Want to learn more about meat, but perhaps through something more general and not as super in-depth as Underly’s book? If you have an iPad you’re in luck. The Big App for Meat just came out last week and I’ve already spent a ton of time reading it, watching some videos and showing it off to friends. It covers just about every cut of meat from beef, lamb, veal, pork and poultry. There’s 360 degree spinning images of cuts, technique videos and a Meat Quiz game. At $6.99, I truly believe it’s a steal. You can go buy it right now.

Heartland The Cookbook by Judith Fertig

Heartland kind of snuck up on me over the course of 2011. As the year went by and the growing season turned into harvest season, I found myself grabbing recipe ideas and cooking more from the book. When I did, I couldn’t help but sit down and read more of it too. There’s a lot of great material in this book. It really feels like it covers the entire vast space that is the American Midwest. As much as I appreciate the farm-to-table movement, I’ve never much cared for the term because I’ve felt that’s always been the way real food should always work, not be a labeled movement. Heartland shows that, yes indeed, that is the way food has been thought of for almost a couple hundred years in the Midwest.

The I Love Trader Joe’s Around the World Cookbook by Cherie Mercer Twohy

Here’s something a little different, but again, a book that snuck up on me as I flipped through it. I am a Trader Joe’s regular. It’s not a perfect grocery store by any means, but to feed my family of four I can’t always count on getting everything at the farmers’ markets and I don’t like navigating the supermarket wasteland. Also, as The I Love Trader Joe’s Around the World Cookbook shows best, there’s a lot of interesting international ingredients at Trader Joe’s. Sure, it’s not a fully-stocked Asian or Middle Eastern grocery (we’re fortunate enough to have several of those in the Rhode Island area) but when I need a couple of gallons of milk for the kids and they want taco shells (organic even!), it’s nice that I can also get quinoa and dried apricots in one stop. Trader Joe’s makes cooking for your family more convenient, Cherie Mercer Twohy’s book adds to the convenience, and that’s a big help to working families.

The publisher of The I Love Trader Joe’s Around the World Cookbook was kind enough to share an excerpt from the book.

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December 17, 2011 0 comment

cooking news

Interview with Mark Bittman, Appearing in Providence for the RI Community Food Bank

by David Dadekian April 28, 2011

written by David Dadekian

Mark Bittman, photo by Sally Stein

This being a site dedicated to food and drink, Mark Bittman should need very little introduction. A food writer for over thirty years, Bittman is probably best known for his massive cookbook, How to Cook Everything, and “The Minimalist” column for the The New York Times. Bittman now also writes opinion pieces for The New York Times “Dining” section, focusing more on his current message of eating well, which he explored in his recent books Food Matters and The Food Matters Cookbook. Bittman will be speaking at an event hosted by the RI Community Food Bank on Thursday, May 5, at the Johnson & Wales Culinary Arts Museum. For more information and to purchase tickets to the event please see the Food Bank’s site. Eat Drink RI had the opportunity to speak via phone with Bittman earlier this week.

Eat Drink RI: What’s your feeling on the current food environment and the things you’re seeing?

Mark Bittman: Certainly things could get better, but I think that the first choice that people need to learn to make is between fresh food and ultra-processed food. If you include most animal product in the ultra-processed food department, then it becomes pretty simple. Then if you’re worried about the safety aspects of fresh food, or the pesticides on fresh food, or the carbon footprint of fresh food, those are separate things worth thinking about. Whether your concern is about nutrition or your concern is about global warming or your concern is about animal rights or any of that stuff, the first step is really to move away from junk food, ultra-processed food, animal product and toward something that’s more like a plant-based diet.

EDRI: Does that encompass local food?

MB: Local food isn’t the solution by any means. When I talk about people eating better I don’t talk about local that much, I talk about what kind of food they’re eating. Look at how much ultra-processed food and how much animal product people are eating and trying to think about ways to eat less processed food and plants instead, and if that’s local well so much the better, but if it’s not local it’s still an improvement.

It’s all one thing. You can’t produce more and more nutritious food without paying attention to the environment. It’s all about sustainability, but the sustainability is about human sustainability as well as environmental sustainability. But it’s all tied together.

EDRI: Do you feel this message is accessible or if we’re preaching to the converted?

MB: It’s out there, I don’t know if the average person buys it or not. My work is to try and popularize them. That comes up all the time and all you can do is hope you’re expanding the number of converted. If the converted go out and talk to the unconverted who are their husbands or their wives or their cousins or their neighbors or whatever, that’s how things change, that’s how the word spreads. It’s clear that the group of us who are enthusiastic about it is bigger than it was five or even two years ago. Totally clear. So you can say that progress has been made.

EDRI: You’re involved in several different mediums now, from The New York Times to books and online writing to apps. Do you feel that makes your message more accessible?

MB: It’s hard to know. I’m trying to have a consistent message that I believe in and that I think is smart and works and put it into every channel that I can muster. It’s hard to measure the impact. The Times work is reaching different people than I reached with “The Minimalist” column. It’s certainly a different message than “The Minimalist” column.

I have three apps and that’s a little easier to measure feedback because they sell. They’re selling great. The verbal and email feedback is really positive. They’re fantastic products. They took what I think is a solid base of How To Cook Everything and then some real tech wizards and careful editorial people turned it into something fantastic.

EDRI: Do you feel there’s room for both the apps and traditional cookbooks?

MB: I would say there’s room for both. It’s very hard to say where all this is going to end up. I still tend to think in pretty traditional publishing terms, but clearly ebooks and apps and all these other kinds of new forms of putting things out there are important. But again, if the material is consistent and the message is consistent, it’s challenging, but there’s a way in which it can all be put together.

EDRI: So how often do you get to cook now?

MB: It depends where I am, but when I’m home it’s once or twice a day.

EDRI: Do you miss it?

MB: I totally miss it when I’m not home. I was away last week and the first thing I did when I got home was cook. I do miss it when I’m not home.

EDRI: What do you like to cook at home?

MB: The stuff that I’m cooking is pretty much the stuff I write about. Obviously the way I eat has changed over the last few years and that’s what Food Matters is about. What I cook is pretty much what’s in the refrigerator. I shop at regular supermarkets for the most part. You don’t have to go out of your way as much as you used to and Manhattan’s a pretty good place to get whatever you want. [Especially] compared to thirty years ago. The suburban supermarket has practically everything.

EDRI: How do you feel, health-wise, eating as a “lessmeatatarian” (taking the term from a markbittman.com newsletter)?

MB: It worked for me. I stand behind it. I’m still eating and cooking and living that way. I think it makes sense. It’s sort of part of the same message.

EDRI: How much meat do you think you eat on a weekly basis and do you miss it?

MB: Not much. Generally not [regarding missing it]. You can recognize when you’re craving something and whether that craving is something you really need to respond to our not. That happens much less often than it used to.

EDRI: What do you think you’ll be talking about at the RI Community Food Bank event next week?

MB: There are many issues in the so-called food movement but obviously one of them is access and one of them is getting good food to people who have trouble getting it otherwise. I’ll be talking about how we might move forward in ways that build on what the Food Bank is doing, in ways that hopefully not anyone has thought of yet.

Food Matters: An Evening with Mark Bittman – Thursday, May 5, Patron Reception: 5:30 p.m., Main Event: 6 – 9 p.m. The Rhode Island Community Food Bank will host Food Matters: An Evening with Mark Bittman. The event begins with a Patron reception at 5:30 p.m., featuring an intimate setting to meet Mr. Bittman. The main event kicks-off at 6 p.m. as guests enjoy delicious Mark Bittman recipes prepared by Pinelli’s Cafe at Night. Mr. Bittman will also give a presentation on food and its role in American culture and health. A book signing will follow. Patron Ticket: $250 per person – includes 5:30 p.m. Patron Reception, admission to 6 p.m. Main Event and a signed copy of Food Matters. Main Event Ticket: $100 per person. See the RI Food Bank site to purchase event and raffle tickets. Johnson & Wales Culinary Arts Museum, 265 Harborside Blvd., Providence, RI 02905.

April 28, 2011 0 comment