Real Food Fermentation Comes To You

I have upcoming events

• on Sept 15 in Providence, RI;
• on Sept 18 in Boston, MA;
• on Sept 20 in West Concord, MA;
• on Sept 30 in Baltimore, MD;
• and on Oct 13 in Santa Monica, CA.

Come see me, get a book, and get it signed! Full details are on my events page, which will be updated as more information becomes available and more events are scheduled.

UPDATE (9/14/2012): There is a new event in Boston on Sept 18. The Cambridge event on Sept 20 has been cancelled. The list above has been updated to reflect these changes. Full info is available here.

Book Event: October 13 At Gourmandise In Los Angeles

I'll be doing a book event on October 13 in collaboration with the Gourmandise School in Santa Monica, California. It is FREE, and space is limited—there are only 12 spots open as of right now!

It will also be an opportunity for folks to buy copies of Real Food Fermentation, and/or have their books signed.

The event is entitled "Follow That Chef with Fermenting Expert Alex Lewin". We will meet at the farmers' market at 9AM, shop for ingredients, then go do some fermenting.

I'm excited about the event—the Santa Monica market is awesome, and it will be really fun!

To register CLICK HERE.

See you at the market!

I Am Doing A Spicy Cole Slaw Demo Wednesday At 1PM

I'm doing a demo for how2heroes at 1PM on Wednesday at the Cambridge Center Farmer's Market, located at 5 Cambridge Center right next to the Kendall Square T stop.

(Click here for interactive map.)

If you haven't seen the how2heroes website, check it out! It's full of awesome cooking videos.

I'm making a fermented spicy cole slaw that I have dubbed "Cortido Americano". It is a clean, tangy mix of shredded vegetables that is a great accompaniment for meats and fish, and is perfect in sandwiches or wraps.

There will be samples for tasting.

Boston Farmers' Market Season Has Begun

Farmers' market season has begun here in Boston!

To find local markets, check the boston localvores. This site has a great interactive Google map, so you can zoom in on the locations you're interested in, and click to get opening times.

There are some other sites that can provide you with further details about markets, such as vendor names, products, and WIC/Senior Coupons. None of these sites is perfect. The Northeast Harvest site has partial, but not complete, vendor and product lists. The Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets site has a little more information but is difficult to use. The MDAR site has the WIC/Senior Coupon information, but has not yet been updated for 2010.

Having said that, allow me to draw your attention to two markets in particular:

The City Hall Plaza Farmers' Market is open Mondays and Wednesdays, 11AM-6PM, from now through November 24. (After November 7, it closes at 5PM.) Here's a map. Here's a vendor list. Here's a product list (note: to get the complete product list, you must scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on the "Change Page" links).

The Boston Public Market at Dewey Square is open Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:30AM-6:30PM, from now through November 23. Map. Vendors. Products.

(Note that both of these markets include vendors selling Meat Of Known Origin.)

Why do I mention these markets in particular?

I mention these markets because they are managed by an organization I'm involved with, the Boston Public Market Association. Our goal is to create an indoor, year-round public market selling food from local farmers and producers. By helping to make our summer farmers' markets successful, you are furthering our ultimate goal of providing year-round, full-time availability of local food to the Boston area.

To learn more, please visit our web site, and email us to join our mailing list.

Boston Food In Winter, ADDENDA

Someone let me know about a Natick Winter Market, Saturdays 9:30-1. So please add that to your list!

Just to make things simpler, here's a link to all of the winter markets near Boston. (Or most of them.)

I also forgot to point out another upcoming event, for New Hampshirers and other folks able to drive and spend money on a conference (student discount applies):

• 1-29, 1-30, 1-31 Fourfold Path to Healing Conference
  Sally Fallon, Tom Cowan, Jaimen McMillan, and others bring us a weekend conference built around their research and the research of Weston A. Price and Rudolf Steiner. I went last year, and it was inspiring. Check my blog from last year. In Nashua, NH.

Boston Food In Winter (UPDATED 1/11)

Winter does not have to be a time of deprivation in northern climes.

Here are some winter farmers' markets:

• Saturdays 9:30AM-1PM: Natick Winter Market
• Saturdays 10AM-1PM: Wayland/Winter Farmers' Market
  
• Saturdays 11AM-2PM: Pawtucket/Wintertime Farmers' Market
  
• Sundays 12PM-4PM: North Attleborough Winter Farm's and Artisan Producers Market

And here are just a very few upcoming food-related events in and around Boston:

• 1-11: Somerville Farm Share Fair + screening of The Power of Community
  Want to find a CSA for next year? Now is the time to start thinking about it. Many of them sell out by March. While you're at it, see an awesome movie about how Cuba fed itself after its industrial ag system failed, as a result of the fall of the Soviet Union. Hint: They did not use GMOs. It's an inspiring story, and it brings with it an important lesson for post-oil ag.
  
  
• 1-24: Hands-On Kimchi Workshop
  Learn to make kimchi! I'm leading a hands-on workshop at the Theodore Parker UU Church in West Roxbury.
  

• 1-29, 1-30, 1-31 Fourfold Path to Healing Conference
  Sally Fallon, Tom Cowan, Jaimen McMillan, and others bring us a weekend conference built around their research and the research of Weston A. Price and Rudolf Steiner. I went last year, and it was inspiring. Check my blog from last year. In Nashua, NH.
  
  
• 1-31: Souper Bowl II
  Who wants to watch football when you can have delicious, homemade soup? At Haley House.
  
  
• 2-09: Preserving and Pickling Class I
  2-16: Preserving and Pickling Class II
  A two-part, hands-on, in-depth class going deep into food preserving, with an emphasis on fermentation. Also covers how to prepare dishes using your preserved foods. Click the link for more details. At the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts.
  
  
• 3-21: Greater Boston Kimchi Festival
  So you think your kimchi is pretty good, huh? Enter it in a competition, and find out! Or maybe you just want to come check out some kimchi. A kimchi festival complete with celebrity judges, live musical entertainment, and kimchi-making demos. At the Theodore Parker Church.
  

Here are a few Boston food-related sites to keep an eye on for more events:

• http://bostonlocalvores.org/
• http://www.cakeandcommerce.com/
• http://www.cuisineenlocale.com/
• http://thewinebottega.com/events/

H.R. 875 could end organic farming and farmer's markets. H.R. 875 must be stopped.

There's a bill in the House right now that would, among other things, make it potentially illegal to farm organically, and make it impractical to run a farmer's market, by adding unreasonable record-keeping requirements and liability. The bill can be found here: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-875 Some commentary: From cryptogon.com From shepardpolitics.blogspot.com From OpEdNews From waronyou.com The last link includes some good ideas for what to do about it at the bottom of the page. Best: call your congressperson. Growing food is truly a revolutionary act, and may soon be an illegal one…

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In brief: The bill would create a new "Food Safety Administration", which would have the authority to require registration and inspection of all "food production facilities", impose onerous record-keeping requirements that would seem to apply even to hot dog stands, bake sales, and backyard gardens, dictate how the food must be grown, and potentially assess impossible fines: (3) include, with respect to growing, harvesting, sorting, and storage operations, minimum standards related to fertilizer use, nutrients, hygiene, packaging, temperature controls, animal encroachment, and water; … (A) IN GENERAL- Any person that commits an act that violates the food safety law (including a regulation promulgated or order issued under the food safety law) may be assessed a civil penalty by the Administrator of not more than $1,000,000 for each such act.

Boston Public Market Association

The goal of the Boston Public Market Association is to create an indoor, year-round market for Boston, selling and promoting local, sustainable foods. I've been on the board of directors for most of a year.

We recently got some great press in the Boston Globe:

Hungry for public market, city plans site