Local Gourmands 11/15/10-11/21/10

Dear Local Gourmands,

I met my friend Will by the cauliflower at the market on Saturday. He was picking up a head of Bill Maxwell’s finest, and asked me about the difference between those with green florets and the heads with traditional white ones. Will, who sells fish and is my go-to source for directions on cooking fluke and tuna and the best treatment for razor clams, looked skeptical of the whole lot. I told him the only way to find out would be to cook them both and see for himself– at this time of year, I can never get enough. Until November, I forget how much I adore cauliflower, and then the leaves begin to fall off, and the daylight changes, and I become obsessed with thinking of Thanksgiving dishes. Why wait until then to begin with the sides? I fancy my cauliflower roasted until a little caramelized on the edges with garlicky, cheesy breadcrumbs on top. Cream of cauliflower soup is also not a bad way to go. Luckily Bill Maxwell will be at the market for a few more weeks (including a special appearance at a Wednesday edition of the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket the Wednesday before Thanksgiving) before he and his vegetables go on hiatus for winter vacation.

All best,
Jeanne

Monday, November 15
Farm School Applications Due
Mail in your applications to join the first class of the new found urban farming educational program, Farm School. Farm School NYC aims to increase the self-reliance of communities and inspire positive local action around issues of food access and social, economic and racial justice by providing comprehensive professional training in urban agriculture for NYC residents.

Monday, November 15, 6:30pm–8:30pm
Home Bakers Meet-up
The New Amsterdam Market School
224 Front St., between Beekman and Peck Slip
Admission is free, but you must reserve a ticket in advance
Break bread with fellow bakers at the kick-off party for Grains Week! Admission to this bread-based gathering is a loaf of your favorite home baked bread and a copy of your recipe. Bakers of all experience levels are welcome to swap samples with fellow grain geeks, tell stories about overactive yeast, or share secrets on how to get a really crusty crust. Take a crack at cranking the Greenmarket butter churn, sample bread baked with flour from Greenmarket vendors, and bring your recipe and/or starter to trade with others.

Tuesday, November 16, 12:30-2pm
Food Systems Network Open Networking Meeting
121 Ave of the Americas, 6th fl
Join fellow local food activists at the monthly Food Systems Network open networking meeting to share and hear updates about various projects and initiatives that colleagues are working on around the city. United Neighborhood Houses’ Healthy Communities Through Healthy Food will be the focus of the November meeting. A $5 donation is suggested, though no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Avoid the fee by becoming a FSNYC member now! Visit: http://foodsystemsnyc.org/joinnow

Wednesday, November 17, 6–8pm
The Educated Eater: Regionally Grown Grain
The New School
Wollman Hall
65 West 11th St., 5th floor
Admission, free for students, $5 for general public
Tickets can be purchased at The New School box office, 212.229.5488 or boxoffice@newschool.edu
You might weigh in heavily when it comes to your preference for butter, crisco, or lard in pie crusts, but do you ever wonder where the flour you use to roll out your perfect dough comes from, or how it might affect the quality of your pie? How would emmer pasta taste? What kind of home baked bread would locally grown spelt flour produce? In this edition of Greenmarket’s quarterly panel discussion series, The Educated Eater, talk turns to regionally grown grain. Hear from a culinary historian, a grower, a miller, a baker, and a chef about the past, present, and future of grains grown in the Northeast. Greenmarket’s June Russell moderates a discussion that explores the challenges and developments that will advance the availability and volume of local grains to the bakers, brewers, distillers, and chefs in our area.

Panelists:

Nathan Leamy—Watson Fellow, home baker, and global grains expert
Don Lewis—Miller and Baker, Wild Hive Farm
Anton Earnhardt—Grower, Lightning Tree Farm
Michael Anthony—Chef, Gramercy Tavern
June Russell, moderator—Farm Inspections Manager, Greenmarket

Wednesday, November 17, 6:30-8:30pm
Media, Advocacy, and Dialogue
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery
66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street
Increasing media attention to urban agriculture has mirrored the public’s growing interest in the topic. At the same time, food activists have used the media in creative ways to advance support for urban agriculture. Moderated by food writer Andy Smith, this panel focuses on the relationship between media, advocacy, and the urban agriculture movement. The panel includes an artist and filmmaker, the producer of an internet broadcast network focusing on urban farming, an organizer of a farm boot camp for urban chefs, an expert on the internet and agriculture, and the publisher of a food magazine. Andy Smith moderates this panel that includes Ian Cheney, Erin Fairbanks, Tom Grace, Katy Keiffer, and Gabrielle Langholtz.

Wednesday, November 17, 6-9pm
Family-style Beer Dinner at Inside Park at St. Bart’s
109 E. 50th St.
Tickets, $55
Join Edible Manhattan for a 3-course family-style beer dinner at Inside Park at St. Bart’s featuring Stella Artois, Leffe and Hoegaarden beers. This collaborative dinner will feature 3 courses served family-style throughout the dining room, each inspired by a different film from the good folks at the NYC Food Film Festival, including “Mr. Okra”, “The Perfect Oyster”, and “Buttermilk: It Can Help”. Inside Park Dinner, of course, will be paired with the evening’s films: Chef Matthew Weingarten will serve wood-roasted oysters and an okra and housemade sausage jambalaya. And there will be veggies a plenty–also in honor of “Mr. Okra”–and “a buttermilk something” to finish. NYC Food Film Festival director George Motz, as well as Edible editor Brian Halweil, will be on hand to introduce the meal. All guests will also receive a one-year subscription to Edible Manhattan.

Wednesday, November 17, 6-9pm
Queens Eats
The Foundry
42-38 9th St., Long Island City
Tickets, $30 tasting, or $50 tasting with open bar
The Queens Harvest Food Co-op hosts a tasting of event showcasing dishes from some of Queens’ finest: Agnanti, Astor Bake Shop, Bareburger, Cream Bakery, De Mole, LIC Market, M. Wells, Sage Testaccio, Vesta, and more.

Saturday, November 20, 2pm-4pm
Bread Baking with Ancient Wheat
The Brooklyn Kitchen: 100 Frost St.
Admission, $40 – tickets available here
Join Eli Rogosa on a culinary journey through the history of wheat from einkorn domesticated in Mesopotamia and emmer used in the original matzah, to the evolution of wheat in early Europe. Participants will bake sourdough einkorn bagels made with einkorn malt, einkorn flatbread spiced with Jerusalem zataar, and sprouted einkorn bread.

Saturday, November 20
Giving Thanks Dinner with Eagle St. Rooftop Farm
The Brooklyn Kitchen
100 Frost St., Williamsburg
Tickets, $65
Give thanks to the hands that fed us all season long with produce from the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm. Join friends and fellow farmers at this harvest meal and thanks giving party hosted by the Brooklyn Kitchen.

Sunday, November 21, 11am-1pm
Pancake Breakfast at New Amsterdam Market
New Amsterdam Market
South St. between Beekman St. and Peck Slip
Admission, $20 per plate
We’ll be flipping flapjacks on Sunday morning, at the culmination of a very grainy week—join us for pancakes, grits, and sausage as the sun comes up over the East River. Sample buckwheat, spelt, and good old fashioned (white and whole wheat) pancakes with a helping of local cornmeal grits on the side. Breakfast sausage and maple syrup sweeten the deal. All proceeds benefit New Amsterdam Market, the Organic Growers’ Research and Information-sharing Network, and The Heritage Wheat Conservancy.

Sunday, November 21, 4pm
Brooklyn Chili Take-down
The Bell House
149 7th St., Gowanus
The original Brooklyn Chili Take-down sweeps the borough once again! Expect more than 30 different pots of chili for the tasting– from beef to veggie and back again, this is the cook-off show that started them all.
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Of note a few weeks down the road…

Tuesday, November 30, 7-10pm
The Piglet: Tournament of the Cookbooks
92nd St Y
Tickets, $38
The 16 most notable cookbooks of 2010 will go head-to-head in a bracketed competition, vying for the coveted Piglet trophy. Hosted by food52.com, the tournament will feature 17 top food writers and chefs as judges. Tournament rounds will play out over the course of 3 weeks, with a decision announced every weekday beginning November 9, 2010. The Tournament of Cookbooks will culminate in a celebratory event on November 30, 2010, held from 7-10pm at the 92YTribeca in New York City. The winner of the tournament will be announced, and the event will include a panel discussion on “Food Porn.” Panelists will include Frank Bruni, Frank Falcinelli, Ben Leventhal and Chris Cosentino, and editors from the New York Times Magazine will curate a food photo slideshow. Food and drink will be provided by Hanna Winery, Kelso of Brooklyn, Liddabit Sweets, Mexicue, Nuts + Nuts, Van Leeuwen, Dorie Greenspan, Rick’s Picks, Theo Peck and others. A portion of the tickets will be reserved for the public and sold in advance, with a percentage of the proceeds going to Wellness in the Schools. Click here to see the list of cookbooks and judges for this year’s coveted piglet prize.

Local Gourmands 11/10/10-11/14/10

Dear Local Gourmands,

Last week I made my first voyage to Ellis Island for the launch party to celebrate Molly O’Neill’s triumphant collection, One Big Table. As I stood on the deck of the ferry, pulling away from the city, my imagination wandered off to my great grandmother Ida Bernstein who came to this country alone at the age of 16. I of course never met her, but I do wonder about her every time I find myself on Hester Street where she eventually settled. I’ll think about her while shopping in the Sweet Life for licorice, or while picking up dumplings in the neighborhood, and wonder what she ate when she first arrived in New York.
One of my earliest food memories from the city is the rice pudding my dad learned to make while working as a cook at the Gloucester House, an old Midtown seafood restaurant that is now long gone. We still make the pudding though– when I go home to Michigan, or once when my parents came to visit me and a house full of college friends in a summer sublet out in Oakland.
I just so happened to be reading O’Neill’s 1997 work, A Well-Seasoned Appetite, when she contacted me out of the blue this past May. It took me a minute to believe the very author whose name presided on my bedside table was now in fact asking me to contribute a recipe to her current project, a community cookbook of family recipes from across the nation. I’m so pleased to be nestled there on page 744, rice pudding, family story and all amidst the terrific company of home cooks from coast to coast.
Molly, thanks so much for inviting me to the table!

Best,
Jeanne

Wednesday, November 10, 6:30-8:30pm
Innovations in Urban Agriculture
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery,
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
2 West 13th St
Free 
This panel consists of creative agricultural entrepreneurs who are designing integrated composting, aquaculture, and vegetable growing systems, aggregated networks of backyard gardens, rooftop farms, and hydroponic growing systems on contaminated industrial sites.  John Ameroso, an expert on urban agriculture who has advised urban farmers for more than three decades as Cornell’s extension agent in New York City, moderates a panel discussion on the possibilities of these innovative forms of urban agriculture practices. Speakers include Erika Allen, Ben Flanner, Stacey Murphy, and Mary Seton Corboy.

Thursday, November 11, 6:30pm
Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous: In Search of the Food of the Jews of France with Joan Nathan
Culinary Historians of New York
7 West 83rd St, btwn Central Park West and Columbus
Tickets, $40 non-members and guests, $25 CHNY/CRS members
What is Jewish cooking in France? In a journey that was a labor of love, Joan Nathan traveled the country to discover the answer and, along the way, unearthed a treasure trove of recipes and the often moving stories behind them for her new cookbook, Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous. Join the Culinary Historians of New York as Nathan travels into kitchens in Paris, Alsace, and the Loire Valley, visits the bustling Belleville market in Little Tunis in Paris, and breaks bread with Jewish families around the observation of the Sabbath and the celebration of special holidays. All across France, she finds that Jewish cooking is more alive than ever: traditional dishes are honored, yet have acquired a certain French finesse. And completing the circle of influences: following Algerian independence, there has been a huge wave of Jewish immigrants from North Africa, whose hot flavors and Sephardic elegance have infiltrated contemporary French cooking. Join the Culinary Historians of New York as Joan Nathan shares the history, the recipes, and the stories from her newest book on the foods of the Jews of France. The reception will feature dishes from the book, and books will be available for purchase and signing. Please note: photo ID is required for entry at Congregation Rodeph Sholom.

Saturday, November 13, 9:30pm
The Farmer and the Horse
The Tank
354 W. 45th St.
Tickets, $10 at the door or on thefarmerandthehorse.com
Catch the New York City premiere of The Farmer and the Horse, a documentary that follows three young farmers as they learn to farm with giant draft horses instead of tractors. Award-winning journalist Jared Flesher presents The Farmer and the Horse, a new film that digs into difficult questions about sustainability, self-sufficiency, and why we do the work we do. Flesher’s film goes beyond the usual platitudes of smiling organic farmers talking about the good life. Farming is grueling work and it’s hard to make a living — especially if you don’t use a tractor.

Saturday, November 13, 6-10pm
Innaugural Hattie Carthan Farmy Folks Soiree Fundraiser
Clifton Pl. at Marcy Ave. (next to the Hattie Carthan Garden)
Tickets, $25
Yonnette Flemming, matriarch of of the Hattie Carthan community garden and market, cooks up a fall harvest feast for “farmy folks.” Food, films, and music will make for a lively family event, which will also honor those who have helped the garden become a positive center of community spirit.

Sunday, November 14, 11am-4pm
Rye Bread and Scandinavian Sandwiches at the New Amsterdam Market 
New Amsterdam Market
South St. between Beekman St. and Peck Slip
A 21 foot long wooden table will be set with more than 10 varieties of smørrebrød created by visiting Danish chef Trina Hahnemann and local chefsAlejandro Alcocer of greenbrownorange; Caroline Fidanza of Saltie; Christophe Hille of Northern Spy Food Co.; Simo Kuusisto of Nordic Breads; and the team from Marlow and Daughters.  All  sandwiches will be made with rugbrød baked by Nordic Breads using regional grain grown and milled by Cayuga Pure Organics of Trumansburg, NY, and topped with regional ingredients, following the norms set by Chef Hahnemann.

Sunday, November 14, 1-4pm
2nd Annual Brooklyn Pie Bake-off
Spacecraft
355 Bedford Ave.
Tickets, $10
The Brooklyn Pie Bake-Off Benefit is a yearly Brooklyn based pie bake-off that raises money for local underfunded non-profits. There are only two rules for the Annual Pie Bake-Off Benefit.  Rule One is that all pie crust must be homemade.  Rule Two is that at least one ingredient must be local(our “local” is defined as being grown or produced within a 200 mile radius of Brooklyn). To wash down each slice we will have milk from Ronnybrook and beer fromBrooklyn Brewery. Entry to the event is $10 and includes free drinks and three pie slice tickets.  Additional pie slice tickets can be had for $1 each.  Bakers receive FREE admission.  Bakers are required to bring two(2) pies to ensure that there is enough to go around.  If you would like to compete, please RSVP by Friday, November 12th, with your name, pie, and local ingredient to: brooklynpiebake@gmail.com.
_________________________________
Of note a few weeks down the road…

Monday, November 15
Farm School Applications Due
Mail in your applications to join the first class of the new found urban farming educational program, Farm School. Farm School NYC aims to increase the self-reliance of communities and inspire positive local action around issues of food access and social, economic and racial justice by providing comprehensive professional training in urban agriculture for NYC residents.

Monday, November 15, 6:30pm–8:30pm
Home Bakers Meet-up
The New Amsterdam Market School
224 Front St., between Beekman and Peck Slip
Admission is free, but you must reserve a ticket in advance
Break bread with fellow bakers at the kick-off party for Grains Week! Admission to this bread-based gathering is a loaf of your favorite home baked bread and a copy of your recipe. Bakers of all experience levels are welcome to swap samples with fellow grain geeks, tell stories about overactive yeast, or share secrets on how to get a really crusty crust. Take a crack at cranking the Greenmarket butter churn, sample bread baked with flour from Greenmarket vendors, and bring your recipe and/or starter to trade with others.

Tuesday, November 16, 12:30-2pm
Food Systems Network Open Networking Meeting
121 Ave of the Americas, 6th fl
Join fellow local food activists at the monthly Food Systems Network open networking meeting to share and hear updates about various projects and initiatives that colleagues are working on around the city. A $5 donation is suggested, though no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Avoid the fee by becoming a FSNYC member now! Visit: http://foodsystemsnyc.org/joinnow

Wednesday, November 17, 6–8pm
The Educated Eater: Regionally Grown Grain
The New School
Wollman Hall
65 West 11th St., 5th floor
Admission, free for students, $5 for general public
Tickets can be purchased at The New School box office, 212.229.5488 or boxoffice@newschool.edu
You might weigh in heavily when it comes to your preference for butter, crisco, or lard in pie crusts, but do you ever wonder where the flour you use to roll out your perfect dough comes from, or how it might affect the quality of your pie? How would emmer pasta taste? What kind of home baked bread would locally grown spelt flour produce? In this edition of Greenmarket’s quarterly panel discussion series, The Educated Eater, talk turns to regionally grown grain. Hear from a culinary historian, a grower, a miller, a baker, and a chef about the past, present, and future of grains grown in the Northeast. Greenmarket’s June Russell moderates a discussion that explores the challenges and developments that will advance the availability and volume of local grains to the bakers, brewers, distillers, and chefs in our area.

Panelists:

Nathan Leamy—Watson Fellow, home baker, and global grains expert
Don Lewis—Miller and Baker, Wild Hive Farm
Anton Earnhardt—Grower, Lightning Tree Farm
Michael Anthony—Chef, Gramercy Tavern
June Russell, moderator—Farm Inspections Manager, Greenmarket

Wednesday, November 17, 6:30-8:30pm
Media, Advocacy, and Dialogue
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery
66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street
Increasing media attention to urban agriculture has mirrored the public’s growing interest in the topic. At the same time, food activists have used the media in creative ways to advance support for urban agriculture. Moderated by food writer Andy Smith, this panel focuses on the relationship between media, advocacy, and the urban agriculture movement. The panel includes an artist and filmmaker, the producer of an internet broadcast network focusing on urban farming, an organizer of a farm boot camp for urban chefs, an expert on the internet and agriculture, and the publisher of a food magazine. Andy Smith moderates this panel that includes Ian Cheney, Erin Fairbanks, Tom Grace, Katy Keiffer, and Gabrielle Langholtz.

Wednesday, November 17, 6-9pm
Family-style Beer Dinner at Inside Park at St. Bart’s
109 E. 50th St.
Tickets, $55
Join Edible Manhattan for a 3-course family-style beer dinner at Inside Park at St. Bart’s featuring Stella Artois, Leffe and Hoegaarden beers. This collaborative dinner will feature 3 courses served family-style throughout the dining room, each inspired by a different film from the good folks at the NYC Food Film Festival, including “Mr. Okra”, “The Perfect Oyster”, and “Buttermilk: It Can Help”. Inside Park Dinner, of course, will be paired with the evening’s films: Chef Matthew Weingarten will serve wood-roasted oysters and an okra and housemade sausage jambalaya. And there will be veggies a plenty–also in honor of “Mr. Okra”–and “a buttermilk something” to finish. NYC Food Film Festival director George Motz, as well as Edible editor Brian Halweil, will be on hand to introduce the meal. All guests will also receive a one-year subscription to Edible Manhattan.

Wednesday, November 17, 6-9pm
Queens Eats
The Foundry
42-38 9th St., Long Island City
Tickets, $30 tasting, or $50 tasting with open bar
The Queens Harvest Food Co-op hosts a tasting of event showcasing dishes from some of Queens’ finest: Agnanti, Astor Bake Shop, Bareburger, Cream Bakery, De Mole, LIC Market, M. Wells, Sage Testaccio, Vesta, and more.

Saturday, November 20, 2pm-4pm
Bread Baking with Ancient Wheat
The Brooklyn Kitchen: 100 Frost St.
Admission, $40 – tickets available here
Join Eli Rogosa on a culinary journey through the history of wheat from einkorn domesticated in Mesopotamia and emmer used in the original matzah, to the evolution of wheat in early Europe. Participants will bake sourdough einkorn bagels made with einkorn malt, einkorn flatbread spiced with Jerusalem zataar, and sprouted einkorn bread.

Saturday, November 20
Giving Thanks Dinner with Eagle St. Rooftop Farm
The Brooklyn Kitchen
100 Frost St., Williamsburg
Tickets, $65
Give thanks to the hands that fed us all season long with produce from the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm. Join friends and fellow farmers at this harvest meal and thanks giving party hosted by the Brooklyn Kitchen.

Sunday, November 21, 11am-1pm
Pancake Breakfast at New Amsterdam Market
New Amsterdam Market
South St. between Beekman St. and Peck Slip
Admission, $20 per plate
We’ll be flipping flapjacks on Sunday morning, at the culmination of a very grainy week—join us for pancakes, grits, and sausage as the sun comes up over the East River. Sample buckwheat, spelt, and good old fashioned (white and whole wheat) pancakes with a helping of local cornmeal grits on the side. Breakfast sausage and maple syrup sweeten the deal. All proceeds benefit New Amsterdam Market, the Organic Growers’ Research and Information-sharing Network, and The Heritage Wheat Conservancy.

Local Gourmands 11/1/10-11/7/10

Dear Local Gourmands,

Happy Election Day! While I hope you’re all carrying out your civic duties, I wanted to call your attention to a few local projects that could use your help and input as well. Just over a week ago my friend Hector’s farm suffered a devastating fire that wiped out an estimated $12,000 worth of agricultural products, supplies, and equipment. You may know Hector from his stand at the Fort Greene Greenmarket, or his CSA which has been providing farm shares in Bed-Stuy for years. Click here to make a donation to help Conuco Farm rebuild. Secondly, Added Value, the famed Red Hook Community Farm, was nearly wiped out in the height of their harvest season by that crazy hale storm three weeks back. Make a reservation to dine at The Good Fork this Wednesday, and be sure to ask for the ‘Added Value Dinner’– proceeds will benefit this extraordinary community gathering ground.

Be well,
Jeanne

Tuesday, November 2, 7-9pm
Book Launch Party and Tasting Event for The Essential New York Times Cookbook and In the Kitchen With a Good Appetite
Chelsea Market
Tickets, $50
New York Times writers Amanda Hesser and Melissa Clark team up for a joint book launch event celebrating 20 of the city’s best chefs. Each chef will prepare delectable bite-size nibbles of their favorite New York Times recipe, while Sixpoint Craft Ales, Russ & Daughters, and Cienfuegos will quench your thirst with beer, egg creams, and good ol’ fashioned punch. Proceeds will benefit the Wellness In The Schools program, a New York City community based organization that works to improve the environment, nutrition, and fitness in NYC public schools.

Wednesday, November 3
The Good Fork Celebrates Added Value
391 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
$75 per person
An long-time supporter of Red Hook’s community farm, Added Value, the Good Fork serves a four-course dinner to help raise funds to aid recovery from a devastating mid-October hale storm. Call 718 -643-6636 to make reservations, and ask for the ‘Added Value Dinner.’

Wednesday, November 3, 6:30-8:30pm
Creative Action and Everyday Urban Agriculture
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery
66 Fifth Avenue at 13th St
Urban agriculture in the United States, as panelist Domenic Vitiello has written, takes the form of everyday urbanism, “largely disconnected from the world of professional design.” The role of creative action in urban agriculture practices is explored by an urban historian, anthropologist, architect, and two artists. What does it mean for individuals in communities engaged in creative practice to reconnect to their food, neighbors, and environment through urban agriculture? What is the significance of the resulting physical engagement with place that growing food requires?

Laura B. DeLind has a joint appointment in the Department of Anthropology and the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at MSU. She is co-founder of the Lansing Urban Farm Project. The Lansing Urban Farm Project (LUFP) here.

Jean Gardner is Associate Professor of Social-Ecological History and Design at the School of Constructed Environments, Parsons.

Eve Mosher is an artist who makes large-scale public projects to investigate and increase knowledge and understanding of environmental and social issues. Website here.

Domenic Vitiello is a professor of city planning at the University of Pennsylvania and is founding president of the Philadelphia Orchard Project. The Philadelphia Orchard Project here.

Thursday, November 4, 4-6pm
Back into the Kitchen: The Rekindling of America’s Home Fires
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, Third Fl.
70 Washington Square South
rsvp.bobst@nyu.edu
Suggested donation, $10
From DIY butchery to home cheese making, pulling freshness from a rooftop Great Recession Victory Garden to gathering for Farmers Market – canning classes – Americans of all ages seem to be storming back into the home kitchen with renewed intensity and focus. Cookbook sales are up even while recipe sharing blogs go viral. Something big is going on out there in the American Home Kitchen.
Join food historian Andy Smith, nutrition/public health/food studies professor and sociologist Marion Nestle and New York Times food reporter Julia Moskin – moderated by food and restaurant consultant Clark Wolf – as they dig in to what’s up and what’s cooking.

Saturday, November 6, 1-4pm
Chowder Cook-off at Jimmy’s No. 43
43 E. 7th St.
Tickets, $20 at the door
Fifteen amateur cooks throw down their best chowder recipes to benefit the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, an organization dedicated to protecting the marine environment and the fishing communities that rely on it for their livelihoods.

Saturday, November 6, 1pm
Growing Soil: Healthy Soil Cultivation and Irrigation Tips for Better Crops
La Finca Del Sur/Harlem & Bronx Farm
138th St and Grand Concourse
646-453-9657
Are your garden beds sometimes hard to work? Do big clods or hard pans develop on your soil surface? Ever wonder why your plants not growing as well as they did the year before? These conditions might have to do with how you manage your soil and how you irrigate. Come to this workshop to learn valuable cultivation and irrigation tips from Just Food trainers Karen Washington and Molly Culver. You can prepare your beds at just the right moisture level – this is important for healthy soil and healthy, abundant crops.

Sunday, November 7, 2pm
Healthy But Good: Eat Your Greens
The Greene Space
44 Charlton St.
Tickets, $20
Greens are packed with vitamins, nutrients and fiber—and often pushed aside by picky eaters.  This program will be sure to change the pickiest of eaters into leafy greens lovers!  Leonard Lopate is joined by farmer Fred Lee of Sang Lee Farms on Long Island, Grace Young, chef and author of Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge, Cathy Erway, intrepid blogger Cathy Erway of Lunch at Sixpoint and Not Eating Out in New York, and King Phojanakong, chef of Kuma Inn to dive into the world of plant diversity and explore international cuisine.
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Of note a few weeks down the road…

Monday, November 8, 7pm
Agri+Culture (aka Fermentation and Civilization): Cheese
The Greene Space
44 Charlton St.
Tickets, $25
Before refrigeration, we had fermentation, which utilizes micro-organisms to preserve food. Without it, we wouldn’t have pickles, bread, beer, cheese, or many other common foods.  Leonard Lopate and his guests will explore the unique relationship between dairy farmers and cheese makers, and learn how to make cheese at home. Panelists include Anne Saxelby, founder and co-owner of NYC cheese shop Saxelby Cheesemongers, Michael Lee, cheese maker at Twig Farm, Bennett Konesni, an expert in field workers’ songs, and Keith McNally, owner of Cafe Luxembourg, Pravda, Balthazar, and Minetta Tavern, among other restaurants.

Tuesday, November 9, 7pm
Faces of Farming: the Chicken or the Egg
The Greene Space
44 Charlton St.
Tickets, $25
Leonard Lopate hosts a lively discussion about small-scale farmers raising chickens for eggs. Among the most compact and low-maintenance of all livestock, chickens are at home in both rural areas and in cities all over the world. Chicken farming, particularly on the micro-level (backyard and urban) has experienced a tremendous surge in popularity.  We’ll meet some chickens, hear about adventures in urban chicken-keeping, and of course, taste delicious local eggs.

Wednesday, November 10, 6:30-8:30pm
Innovations in Urban Agriculture
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery,
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
2 West 13th St
Free 
This panel consists of creative agricultural entrepreneurs who are designing integrated composting, aquaculture, and vegetable growing systems, aggregated networks of backyard gardens, rooftop farms, and hydroponic growing systems on contaminated industrial sites.  John Ameroso, an expert on urban agriculture who has advised urban farmers for more than three decades as Cornell’s extension agent in New York City, moderates a panel discussion on the possibilities of these innovative forms of urban agriculture practices. Speakers include Erika Allen, Ben Flanner, Stacey Murphy, and mary Seton Corboy.

Saturday, November 13, 9:30pm
The Farmer and the Horse
The Tank
354 W. 45th St.
Tickets, $10 at the door or on thefarmerandthehorse.com
Catch the New York City premiere of The Farmer and the Horse, a documentary that follows three young farmers as they learn to farm with giant draft horses instead of tractors. Award-winning journalist Jared Flesher presents The Farmer and the Horse, a new film that digs into difficult questions about sustainability, self-sufficiency, and why we do the work we do. Flesher’s film goes beyond the usual platitudes of smiling organic farmers talking about the good life. Farming is grueling work and it’s hard to make a living — especially if you don’t use a tractor.

Saturday, November 13, 6-10pm
Innaugural Hattie Carthan Farmy Folks Soiree Fundraiser
Clifton Pl. at Marcy Ave. (next to the Hattie Carthan Garden)
Tickets, $25
Yonnette Flemming, matriarch of of the Hattie Carthan community garden and market, cooks up a fall harvest feast for “farmy folks.” Food, films, and music will make for a lively family event, which will also honor those who have helped the garden become a positive center of community spirit.