2nd Annual Vaca y Vino to Benefit FARFA
UPDATE: Tickets are nearly sold out!
Sunday, April 21st, 2013
Wimberley, TX—There’s nothing that says Texas more than an outrageously big outdoor barbecue in the Hill Country, and that’s where you’ll find Austin chefs Larry McGuire and Lou Lambert roasting an entire 1,200-pound steer at the second-annual Vaca y Vino celebration on April 21. Set on Bridges Ranch, a private venue on a thousand acres dotted with oak trees and Longhorns just outside of Austin, Vaca y Vino promises to be one great five-hour dinner party, with delicious food, fine Argentine wine and local craft beer, and live tunes by Doug Strahan and the Good Neighbors.
Vaca y Vino is not your average Sunday afternoon get-together. The event, which is sponsored by Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, was inspired by South American chef Francis Mallmann and a recipe for Una Vaca Entera (“the entire cow”) that appears in his cookbook Seven Fires. “Having both a family cattle operation and a passion for barbecue, we had to try it,” said Will Bridges, a co-founder of Lamberts. McGuire and Lambert will follow suit in the same Argentine style as they prepare the massive piece of meat for the three hundred or so guests lucky enough to secure a ticket. Carving is a big production. In fact, at last year’s shindig, according to an article in the New York Times, the cooking crew “did a practice run with a 350-pound half cow.”
In addition to the roasted meat, the menu also includes empanadas stuffed with ricotta and Swiss chard; spring vegetable caldo; grilled lettuces, escarole, and red onion salad; warm new potato salad with parsley, mustard, and capers; Lamberts sausages; chimichurri; and chocotorta. Fine Argentine wines will be served as well as local craft brews including Pedernales, Live Oak, Austin Beerworks, and Rogness.
All proceeds from Vaca y Vino will be donated to the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance (FARFA), a national organization that supports independent farmers and protects a healthy food supply for American consumers. Tickets are $100 per person (no transportation) or $120 per person (includes transportation from downtown Austin to and from the event) and can be purchased at vacayvino2013.eventbrite.com.
TOM YUM: Local. Food. Innovation.
Charlottesville, Virginia, where the philosopher king and queen of the movement, Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver, have devoted much time. Pollan, author of the locavore’s bible, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, dedicated much of his book to Polyface Farm, a small, organic farm just outside Charlottesville, Virginia. Kingsolver’s best-selling memoir Animal, Vegetable, Miracle detailed her family’s yearlong quest to eat only locally produced food from rural Virginia. -Forbes Magazine 6/01/2011
Tom Yum is a community food festival based in Downtown Charlottesville and celebrating local food innovators at the Charlottesville City Market. On Saturday, April 13th, come meet the farmers, chefs, artisans, and pioneers in sustainable food and see what all the fuss is about.
Play with your food. Learn about your food. And eat your food. It’s a day of hands-on workshops, food talks, culinary demos, and tastings. Try your hand at market-scene sketching and games. Revel in the sights and sounds of live bluegrass and classical music in a parking lot transformed into a pop-up park.
Grab your groceries at the market, participate in the arts and music at Tom Yum, and stick around for the Food Talks. This event is totally free and designed for the whole family. Bring an appetite, a sketchbook, and plan to stay a while.
Calling All Gardeners!
The sun is shining and the soil is beginning to warm up, so now’s the time to order seeds and plant lettuce seedlings. We’re just a month away from planting potatoes, spinach, lettuce and peas!
Photo credit: ecstaticist / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA
If you need more sunshine or more land, think of joining the gardeners at the Mayo Yowell Community Garden – we’re taking requests now for plots in Madison, Virginia’s only community garden..
Carty Yowell has been getting the soil ready and will do the last prep before mid-March. Drive by and see those plots just waiting for someone to use them! The garden is on the east side of Route 29, between Shelby and Gibbs Roads (just south of Lam’s Furniture).
Roscoe Barnes is returning as the on-site coordinator this year, which is great news. Roscoe did a terrific job last year of keeping in touch with gardeners and keeping the perimeter of the garden under control!
This year we have good news – we have received a grant from the Piedmont Environmental Council to help us promote and maintain the garden. We are hoping to stretch the PEC dollars by seeking donations of key equipment and supplies as well. If you have a working wheelbarrow to donate or manure you can deliver, please let me know!
Our community garden kick-off is scheduled for 2 pm, Sunday, March 24. James Barnes of the PEC will demonstrate how you can build suitable housing for birds that need a boost in Madison County – bluebirds, wood duck, kestrals, screech owls, barn owls, and bats. If you want to be a good bird landlord but don’t want to build your own housing, James can take orders for pre-made housing.
Please spread the word about signing up for plots in the community garden and about our Community Garden Kick-off at 2 pm March 24.
See you at the garden!
Jan Richter
Food Done Right
PARTICIPANT MEDIA’S TAKEPART.COM LAUNCHES ‘TASTEMAKERS’ CAMPAIGN SPOTLIGHTING TOP 100 U.S. BUSINESSES COMMITTED TO PROVIDING ‘FOOD DONE RIGHT’ JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
The Company That Brought You Food, Inc. Publishes The Ultimate Guide To Local, Organic, Sustainable and Delicious Shops In Ten of America’s Most ‘Foodie’ Cities.
“I originally partnered with Participant Media on Food, Inc. because of their belief in creating change around the food issues we face in the U.S. as well as globally,” said Robert Kenner, Director of Food, Inc. “It’s been three and a half years since the film released and I’m thrilled to see they are still committed to its core values, telling the story, educating consumers and inspiring action.”
LOS ANGELES – Nov. 1, 2012 –TakePart.com, the digital publishing division of Participant Media (Food, Inc.), today announced its TakePart Tastemakers series devoted to spotlighting leading local businesses that are committed to bringing their communities “Food Done Right.” Selected in partnership with the nation’s leading food journalists, these local shops were chosen based on themes underscored in the hit 2008 documentary Food, Inc. – humane, homemade, organic, do-it-yourself, artisanal, locally sourced and sustainable.
As part of this campaign, TakePart is also launching key social initiatives designed to help people make better food choices and improve America’s food system as a whole. As an example, TakePart has joined forces with the Center for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention, co-founded by Food, Inc.’s Barbara Kowalcyk, to host a petition urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to withdraw their proposal to speed up poultry processing lines. This proposal gives each inspector only one-third of a second to inspect each bird – raising both food safety and worker safety issues.
“As the digital publishing division of Participant Media, TakePart is committed to continually highlighting the issues raised in our films and providing consumers with the most relevant and qualified actions they can take to make a difference,” said Karina Kogan, General Manager of TakePart. “TakePart Tastemakers is a great example of our ongoing effort to engage and educate the public about our food system in a way that is both entertaining and actionable.”
Shops featured in the inaugural TakePart Tastemakers list were chosen based on proven leadership in providing thoughtful and healthier options to their community and were selected by prominent food writers such as James-Beard award-winning journalist Dara Grumdahl and Seattle Times restaurant critic Providence Cicero.
Each of the 100 businesses spanning across the 10 markets of Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, and the Twin Cities also represent an alternative to big supermarket chains. Austin standouts include:
Antonelli’s Cheese Shop
Sweetish Hill Bakery
Foreign & Domestic Bake Sale
in.gredients
Houndstooth Coffee
Lick Honest Ice Creams
Noble Pig Sandwiches
Pasta & Co.
Quality Seafood Market
Zhi Tea
The full list of TakePart.com’s Tastemakers can be found starting November 1 at www.takepart.com/Tastemakers. The Web series will premiere on November 13. For more information on the Social Action campaign, please visit www.takepart.com/Tastemakers/action.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Shannon Swallow:
sswallow@takepart.com
310-246-7753
Shannon Leigh Turbeville:
shannonleigh@triple7pr.com
615-254-9389
Wise Traditions 2012
AMERICA’S PREMIER NUTRITION CONFERENCE
Life-changing Lectures • Cooking Lessons • Networking
Traditional Nutrient-Dense Meals • WAPF-Friendly Vendors • Wise Kids Child Care
For anyone interested in health, nutrition and food,
including parents, health professionals, seniors and students
Dine Out. Do Good.
Hey, Austin!
It’s time for the 5th annual Austin Restaurant Week, the not-to-be-missed culinary event to benefit Meals On Wheels And More. Participating restaurants (including Foreign & Domestic, Olivia, Uchiko, Olive & June and lots more) are offering special lunch, brunch and dinner table d’hôte menus ranging in price from $12 to $37.
This year, Austin Restaurant Week has doubled their fundraising goal to $35,000 which would help provide more than 17,000 meals for the local non-profit organization’s clients.
Addie Broyles writes “From this Sunday through Wednesday and again Sept. 30 through Oct. 3, each restaurant is offering three-course dinners for either $27 or $37 and/or two-course lunches for $12 or $17. Some are also offering a $17 brunch menu. Austin Restaurant Week has an iPhone and Android app that lets you search by location, cuisine or price and make reservations. You can make reservations and find more information at restaurantweekaustin.com. (OpenTable.com, a partner in Austin Restaurant Week, will make an additional donation for every ARW reservation made through either its website or restaurantweekaustin.com.)”.
Hope to see you out there!
