Fall 2006 Issue |
Contents: Taking the Paper out of Food Education and Putting the Food Back
In Happenings Special Offers: Event Announcement |
Taking the Paper out of Food Education and Putting the Food Back In
I had the opportunity to visit with Deborah Madison this summer. In fact I had the opportunity to work on a fascinating project with her in which I asked her to help me classify produce according to flavor profiles. This turned out to be a major project causing hours of frustration no doubt for Deborah. But for those of you who don't know Deborah, she opened the infamous "Greens Restaurant" in San Francisco and authored classics such as Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Local Flavors.
 Deborah Madison |
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I bring Deborah into this conversation because in some of the many hours of conversation I have had with her, one thing stood out. She asked "have you ever eaten something that really nourished you?" I knew exactly what she meant because I understand that feeling. I know what I need to eat, when I need to eat it and why. I feel the energy and the vitality of that food seeping into my veins. I know I am lucky. For so many people, eating is a form of maintenance. It is something you do on the way to something else. It fills a void. Our challenge then, is to somehow wind back the food memory clock. Undo the palate. Recreate the building blocks of flavor and taste sensitivity. Rebuild the food memory such that it can distinguish between that which nourishes and that which simply fills the void.
But rebuilding a food memory cannot be done with handouts. As my colleague Mark Mulcahy says, you can't eat handouts and you can't download flavor. You have to teach people about food by putting it in their mouths. And you can't distinguish between food that nourishes and food that simply fills by telling them about it. You have to let people experience it. People will understand nourishment when you can give them a taste of a 2 minute old pixie tangerine and then a taste of a 2 week old "tangerine." But until you can present them with the side-by-side pairing, they can't understand. Same applies to spinach. Same applies to lettuce. Same applies to any piece of fresh food.
In a similar way, I don't think we can change school lunch without bringing parents, elected officials and other interested parties to the table and helping them experience how we can change the school lunch experience for children, simply by adding $1, $2 or $3 more to a plate a day. What if we did a "flight of school lunches" and we literally guided our guests through the difference that $1, $2, $3 or $4 per child per meal would make? Do you think any elected official or able parent would elect for $1.00 meals when the $3.00 meal can provide so much more? You know that when a side by side experience is created, we don't have to lobby for more money because the taste, the flavors, the freshness and the "goodness" will speak for itself.
I think back to Deborah struggling to put "unruly fruits and vegetables," as she calls them, into Amanda's flavor profiles, and complaining that they simply won't behave according to the rules because there are too many modifiers such as the soil, the climate, the time they are harvested, whether there was a drought, a flood, or whether in fact, everything is optimal. In short, Deborah was telling me what Mark Mulcahy always has – that you can't put food into nutritional straight jackets. You have to put it in people's mouths to teach. You have to put it in people's mouths to encourage change.
Deborah Madison is our keynote speaker in France – Spring 2007. She will be presenting From Sweet to Ripe Peach - using "live food tools" to encourage change in kids' food choices.
Happenings
Some interesting things have been happening this year for Field to Plate! Companies like what we do and started to ask us if we could do team building for them. Well, as an education company, we weren't exactly able to respond to that request, but it did start us thinking about what we could do for companies who wanted some fun team events. We put on our thinking caps, talked to a few smart people, chefs, growers and the like, and we decided that indeed we could produce team events for companies. But any event that we produced had to be consistent with our mission, create awareness about local, seasonal, regional foods and sustainable food systems, and importantly, put great tasting food (or liquids) in people's mouths. So what happened?
We have slowly begun to build a database of farms across the country on which we can host team events (maximum of 20 people). You cook what you find in the field! We have begun talking to restaurants across the country who are owned or operated by chefs who are dedicated to supporting local growers and producing seasonal menus. We will be producing food and wine pairing events in these restaurants. We have slowly began a conversation with retailers who are dedicated to local growers and sustainable food systems, to see if we can bring small groups of executives into stores for team challenge style events. We want to talk to schools to see if we create small team challenge events (produce school lunch on a tiny budget with limited resources), to create awareness about the challenges of producing school lunch. In short, we feel we can meet the needs of companies who are seeking innovative team events. But we differentiate ourselves by creating events that generate awareness about issues that are impacting the food supply in America.
If you are a grower, chef, restaurant operator or retailer interested in participating in our network, or if you would like to know more about our events, please contact us: inquiry@fieldtoplate.com
Special Offers
Events
For Field to Plate E-Subscribers only: France, Spring 2007
Our Spring Exchange Forum takes place April 22 - 27th, Loire Valley and the Vendee, France:
Children, Obesity, Food Choice and the Environment - Helping Children Make Healthful Food and Lifestyle Choices in the School, Home and Community Environment
Join us for 6 days of insightful presentations, discussions, school tours and school lunch, supermarket tours, market tours, wine and cheese tasting, exquisite food and accommodations in 15th and 16th century chateaus
We invite you to take an additional $250 off the early bird price of $2450 -- You may apply this to your $700 deposit, or to the balance due on final payment.
Early bird payments are due November 20th. Simply write the discount code EFS07 on your registration form or notify us by telephone. The discount code applies to E-subscribers only and expires November 20th.
Join us.
More information - email: amanda@fieldtoplate.com, Direct: 301.865.4607, http://www.fieldtoplate.com/forums.php
Products
In our continued efforts to develop products that provide new meaning to food selection and consumption, Field to Plate has developed Seasonal Produce Magnets which adhere to the refrigerator.
The magnets are available in fruit and vegetable versions and each pack contains 4 magnets, one for each season. We encourage consumers to place the appropriate fruit and vegetable magnet on their refrigerator and refer to it before they go shopping.
The magnets helps consumers understand which produce is in currently in season and grown on a U.S. farm. Consumers keep current with the season by changing the magnets as each season passes. Use this discount code to get 20% off this innovative product or any other FTP product, valid through November 30th: NP1106.
Event Announcement - preliminary
Exchange Forum Fall 2007
October 28 – November 3rd, Provence, France
Honoring the Age of Dignity: comparing and contrasting cultural approaches to senior lifestyles, food choice and health and wellness - Perspectives from the U.S. and Europe
- A series of presentations, roundtables, panel discussions and site visits allowing participants to foster innovative dialog and explore new ideas and approaches to working with, and nurturing our senior population.
- We will examine mental, spiritual, physical activity approaches as well as food, nutrition, health and lifestyle programming for seniors in the population at large as well as seniors in independent and assisted living programs
- Program includes:
- 6 days of presentations, discussions, site visits, cultural and culinary tours, wine-tasting, Provence markets
- 2 site visits to senior independent and assisted-living facilities, including lunch
- Chef led market tour and private BBQ – cooked just for you!
- Cooking class with Chef Mark Haskell
- Touring day including a visit to the famous Isle sur la Sorgue market. Private wine tasting tour in Chateauneuf du Pape
- Participation in the celebrated "gourmet days" festival and the festival of soups meal (an inter-village soup competition)
Estimated Continuing Education Credits for RDs, DTRs, CHES - 22
Optional follow-on private tour (Nov 3 – 6th) (limited to 8) discover the Provencal countryside. Stay at the l'Ecole Buissonniere Inn among the vineyards and lanes of the Aigue Valley in the foothills of the Alpes. Tour the grand Chateaux and gardens of the region. Wine tasting in the Grand Cru villages of the southern Cote du Rhone. Enjoy the canals and chic antique shops fo the Luberon and the Vaucluse. Visit the Papal Palaces, surrounding estates and the Chartreuse of Villenueve-les-Avignon.
Final pricing and registration details to be announced by November 30th, 2006. Please visit website: http://www.fieldtoplate.com/france_fall_07.php
Email: amanda@fieldtoplate.com
Conference limited to 30 participants. Register early!