Dec 14: stock up on staples at Whole Foods to make healthy food accessible to all in DC!

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Ibti

Fellow food lovers, this is your chance to stock up on all of the things you’ve been meaning to pick up at Whole Foods! Olive oil, maple syrup, wine, bulk nuts for baking cookies, chicken stock for savory soups… all the stuff you’ll need in the kitchen to get you through the cold months.

Start your list, but hold off until Dec 14th — that’s when Whole Foods is holding a “5% Day” at their P Street and Georgetown locations to benefit a small collective of farmers’ market programs. Your purchases that day will directly help to support your neighbors and your local farm community!

How it works: You shop like any other day, EXCEPT that 5% of all sales at the two Whole Foods locations that day will go toward growing the WIC and SNAP (food stamp) programs at the 14th & U, Mount Pleasant, Bloomingdale, and NoMa farmers’ markets during their 2012 season.

Learn more about the project here.

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Slow Food DC Snail of Approval Award Spotlight: P&C Market

Posted on December 1, 2011 by jennysplitter

Across the street from the west side of Lincoln Park in Capitol Hill, you’ll find one of the winners of our Snail of Approval Awards: P&C Market.

P&C is the perfect place to nip in and grab a coffee and a sandwich, a bit of cheese, a bottle of wine and maybe even something new to brighten your culinary world: Iberico ham, artisanal chocolate or something called jowciale.  Jowciale is similar to guanciale, an Italian bacon made from hog jowl.  These pork cheeks hail from a family farm in Virginia, Edwards Farms.  They’ve been dry-cured and smoked for almost 24 hours.  Slice it very thin, advises Chase Alan Moore, the “C” in P&C Market, and the smoked pork will just melt into your dish.

Pablo Espitia and Chase Alan Moore opened P&C in December of 2008.  After years of traveling, they wanted to open a market similar to the ones you’ll find in most European cities – a market that sells the best of the best that the grocer has found to bring to his customers.  Espitia and Moore took their time finding the products they wanted to sell.  It took almost two years to cultivate the relationships with the regional food producers that now stock the shelves of P&C.

Take the now famous Polyface Farms in Swoope, Virginia.  Espitia and Moore toured Polyface, and spoke at length to the farm’s owner, Joel Salatin, about their vision for the Capitol Hill market.  Since then, P&C has become the only retailer in the district for Polyface meats.  Another favorite producer is Trickling Springs Creamery.  Moore says he felt strongly about stocking their products, and lobbied hard to sell their milk, butter and ice cream.  They also met with Central Coffee Roasters and developed P&C’s own blend of coffee beans.  And the list goes on – a family run honey business, peanuts from Virginia, a chocolatier out of Brooklyn and a gluten free cookie maker.  Ask Moore about any of the goods on his shelves, and he will happily speak at length about the people behind the product.

There are also a number of unique imported products, like Albert Menes spices, Mariage Frères teas and Pastificio dei Campi pasta, a line of dried pasta Moore says rivals any fresh pasta on the market.

In the next year, Moore says he would like to increase the presence of the store’s website to bring the products they love to a national audience.  But that doesn’t mean that P&C isn’t grounded in the local community.  They’ve also put down strong roots in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.  The store has sponsored a little league team and a bluegrass concert at Eastern Market.  Moore says he wants to be like the community businesses he grew up with – a real presence in the lives of the neighborhood residents.

Find P&C on Facebook

Visit their website

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What’s in season: BUTTERNUT SQUASH!

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Ibti

Believe it or not, a few farmers’ market are still open this time of year. (Dupont Circle and Takoma Park markets are open on Sundays year-round, and my own Columbia Heights market runs every Saturday through mid-December.) While milk, eggs, and meats stay pretty constant at farmers’ markets throughout the year, you’ll notice a shift from the summer and early fall produce offerings to heartier things like potatoes and turnips and dark leafy greens. And, of course, winter squashes.

For those looking for a simple, flavorful, healthy soup as the weather begins to turn cooler, try this one on for size. (You can even make it for friends and family of the vegan persuasion, but even my carnivorous friends slurp it down. And if you’re not fortunate enough to be able to make it to your local farmers’ market, most grocery stores should have plenty of butternut squash around, too.) Right, right, on to the recipe….

Curried Butternut Squash Soup
(adapted from the Cafe Flora Cookbook)

Dry roast 1 tsp cumin seeds + 1/2 tsp coriander seeds until fragrant. Grind with a mortar and pestle, then add in 1-2 tsp curry powder. Set aside.

In a large pot, saute 1 onion (diced) in olive oil for a few minutes before adding a head of garlic (peeled and chopped) and a 1-inch piece of fresh ginger (peeled and minced).

Add 3-4 cups of fresh butternut squash (peeled, seeds removed, and cut into chunks) and stir in the spice mixture to coat the squash. Add 4-6 cups of vegetable broth and a bay leaf, then simmer until squash is soft (about 20 minutes).

Fish out the bay leaves, puree soup, then stir in 1 can of coconut milk. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Yep, it’s that easy. Feel free to fiddle with proportions — I do.

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Soups On! Soup Making Class on Dec. 4

Posted on November 19, 2011 by Richard Naples

Treat yourself—and your holiday guests—to some lush winter soups!

What: Soup Class
When: Sunday, December 4, 2011 5pm to 9pm
Where: Maple Avenue Market, at 128 Maple Avenue, E, Vienna, VA 22180

Katharine Mardirosian, the clever owner of 100 Bowls of Soup is offering a hands-on and let’s-eat class to teach about the wintery comforts of homemade soup and stock. Plan to learn the how-tos of basic soup making, and take home recipes for soups to enhance your holiday meals.

On the menu for the evening:

•     Butternut Squash
•     Mushroom Onion
•     Arugula, Leek & Yam

At the end of the class you’ll have soups for dinner with beverages.

Class limited to 10 people. Tickets are $27.37 and can be purchased through Eventbrite

Note that the Maple Avenue Market is owned by Chris Guerre, an organic farmer from Great Falls, and he stocks his market with wholesome, locally sourced food items.

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Get involved with Slow Food DC!

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Ibti

Yesterday afternoon, Slow Food DC held a committee fair — a chance for those interested in becoming more involved with SFDC either as a board member or committee participant to learn more about what we do — at MLK library. Continue reading →

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Committee Fair: November 6th

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Richard Naples

As always, there are many ways for you to become involved with Slow Food DC!

We will be holding a very important committee fair on Sunday, November 6, from 1:30 to 3:00 pm at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. Conveniently located near Metro Center and Chinatown Metro stations, the MLK Library is DC Public Library’s main branch.

What: Slow Food DC Committee Fair
When: 1:30-3:00 pm
Where: Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G St. NW, Washington, DC 20001

Continue reading →

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What’s in season: KALE!

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Ibti

I don’t know quite how bananas got the reputation as being Nature’s Perfect Food. In my mind, that title should go to kale. Raw, massaged, steamed, stir-fried, chopped into soups, stews, quiches… kale is infinitely adaptable, crazy healthy, and surprisingly inexpensive. And you can find it at your local farmers’ market or grocery store RIGHT NOW. Here are a few ideas on how to prepare kale, in case you need a little help getting started…. Continue reading →

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Food Day Activities: Attend an Event

Posted on October 23, 2011 by Richard Naples

Searching “Washington, DC” on the Food Day website will give you over 100 events happening right here in the beltway! While Slow Food DC hasn’t organized a specific event for Food Day, we are hoping you will find plenty of activities and events that satisfy your craving for Food.

Here’s a few that look interesting: Continue reading →

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Food Day Activities: Eating Out

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Richard Naples

Food day is Monday, October 24th. One way to be involved is to spend your money supporting local, organic, good food. 2011 is the first year that Slow Food DC is sponsoring the Snail of Approval Award. We opened nominations in November of 2010 and held an awards party to present each winner with a certificate and a decal to place in their window.

Continue reading →

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Food Day Activities: Organize Lunch

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Richard Naples

Food Day is generating a lot of talk out there. Just search the event lists on the Food Day website and you can see there’s plenty of ways to become involved. The official day is Monday October 24th, but no one will chastise you for doing this on any day.

Here at Slow Food DC, we encourage you to take a more personal route. Instead of doing something out of the ordinary, we want you to do something very ordinary: eat lunch. If you’re like me, you have to be at work on Monday the 24th. But who better than the people you work with to share the idea of good, clean fair food? The best part is, you can demonstrate by bringing something to share.

Continue reading →

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