Sustainability

Chef Rick Bayless’ Stewardship Helps Farm to Table Take Flight

/ Ren

By Bob Benenson and Jim Slama, FamilyFarmed

Rick BaylessChicago on Monday hosted the annual James Beard Foundation culinary awards ceremony for the first time, and Rick Bayless — one of the city’s most decorated and highest profile chefs — was frequently on the stage as one of the event’s co-chairmen.

He has a long-running public television show (Mexico: One Plate at a Time), won the Bravo network’s Top Chef Masters competition in 2009, and has written several cookbooks, including More Mexican Everyday, which was just released on April 27.Famed for popularizing regional Mexican cuisine in the city at his Frontera Grill and Topolobampo restaurants, Bayless won his first James Beard award — Best Chef Midwest — at the organization’s inaugural ceremony in 1991, and his most recent this year for Best Podcast (The Feed, which he co-hosts with Chicago food critic Steve Dolinsky). In between, he received James Beard medallions as National Chef of the Year in 1995 and Humanitarian of the Year in 1998, and Frontera Grill received the organization’s Outstanding Restaurant award in 2007.

Yet it is Bayless’ role as a pioneer in helping establish a market for local, sustainably produced — and delicious — food in the Chicago region that, to advocates of the Good Food movement, is one of his greatest lifetime achievements.

Adventures in Sustainable Eating

/ Ren

 
The fourth episode in our new PBS series (The Victory Garden’s Edible Feast) takes us to New York City where we learn to make rooftop salt, go foraging in the city’s parks, and learn some gardening tips on its rooftops.

for more information visit ediblefeast.com
created by theperennialplate.com

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Looking for Leaders on Climate? Follow the Women Farmers

/ Ren

Across the globe, countless women are standing up to the ravages of climate change – and to the governments and big businesses who are allowing it to destroy the world
 

Vegetable Farmer upcycles & transforms a Tyson chicken farm!

/ Ren

Help Build a Community Food Processing Center

/ Ren

Virginia Food Enterprise Centers (VAFEC)

Let’s Bring Professional Food Processing to Virginia’s Northern Piedmont

Virginia Food Enterprise Centers (VAFEC), a project of the Carver-Piedmont Agricultural Institute, is working to bring value-added food processing to Virginia’s Northern Piedmont region.

We have an opportunity to build a regional food processing center at the historic George Washington Carver Regional High School in Culpeper County.  The center will help provide farmers, food-related businesses, and entrepreneurs with an opportunity to expand or begin creating and selling locally grown, value-added products.

Our Mission: To restore underutilized facilities and establish new food processing centers to create value-added products using Virginia’s diverse produce and agricultural products.

To better understand the feasability of a regional food processing center, we would like to hear from area producers and growers, individuals and organizations, as well as potentialbuyers and other clients that would welcome a food processing facility in this region.  Please contact us to learn more about this initiative and how you can become involved.

  • Strengthen Local Food Systems
  • Provide Fair Markets for Farmers
  • Address Food Insecurity
  • Encourage Healthier Food Choices
  • Create Jobs and Inspire Entrepreneurism
  • Spur Economic Development

The community’s input is vital to creating a sustainable center that will benefit our local foods economy!
 
 
Virginia Food Enterprise Centers
138 Willow Way Lane
Haywood, Virginia 22722
(540) 923-4124
[email protected]