A Story contribution to 2011: The Year of Idaho Food
By collectively demystifying the contents of the global pantry and by sourcing, growing and producing food independently of centralized, fragile and detrimental food trades, we are rediscovering our own worth as community members – people capable of interacting with and shaping the food landscapes around us. We are bringing our food culture home because we have to. And while we know we can’t move mountains, we are remembering that we can plant seeds.
- Rob Hopkins and Tamzin Pinklerton, Local Food: How to Make it Happen
It seems like summer has only just arrived. How can anyone possibly be talking about plans for September and Labor Day already? And yet some Idahoans have been doing just that – talking and planning for months now, making preparations for celebrating the Day of Idaho Food on September 5th in their communities, neighborhoods, churches, farmers’ markets, restaurants and community gardens.
The September 5th celebrations do not signify the end of 2011: The Year of Idaho Food – after all, we have four more months to continue the grass-roots, statewide look at the foods grown in Idaho, their social, economic and environmental significance – as well as many more events and activities planned for the months ahead that will enable us to do so. The Day of Idaho Food, nevertheless, is a hallmark event of the Year of Idaho Food because dining together on a meal made from foods grown in our own backyards or grown by a local farmer provides Idahoans like you and me with a momentous opportunity to come together, enjoy one another’s company and the place we call home, while strengthening our communities. Breaking bread together, especially when that bread is made from ingredients that are “of this place” – wheat grown in Canyon County soils, water from the Snake River aquifer, and wild yeasts from the air we breathe, for example – is a bonding, pleasurable, and age-old ritual of people the world over. It is the glue of culture, even when the food traditions of the culture in question are confusing, endlessly in flux or non-existent, as America’s food culture has variously been described at different times by different people.
For some months now, members of the Treasure Valley Food Coalition (TVFC) have been busy urging people across the region to share with us their plans for celebrating Idaho’s rich agricultural heritage and abundance on September 5th. And now, with the first (though hopefully, not the last) officially state recognized Day of Idaho Food just a little more than a month away, I hope I can whet a few more appetites, encourage the organizing of a few more convivial occasions at which Idaho grown food may be enjoyed in the company of friends, family and neighbors, by sharing a few of the innovative and well, just plain ‘cool’ events and doings taking place here in the Treasure Valley on that day. This website update is also an invitation and a shout-out to TVFC’s friends and partners in other parts of Idaho to write in and share what their communities are doing to mark and celebrate the pleasures of eating Idaho grown food on September 5th. A potluck of ideas shared this year means next year’s Day of Idaho Food celebrations have the potential to be that much richer and more meaningful.
So without further adieu, let the smorgasbord begin! Please be aware, however, that the following represents only a small sampling of events and activities planned by each category of organizers.
Neighborhoods:
Jay Blackhurst and Lisa Latimer in their neighborhood chicken alley called the "Collective Coop."
Because the goal behind the Day of Idaho Food is to build community while growing the local food supply, neighborhoods required the flexibility to determine for themselves which day worked best as their Day of Idaho Food. Therefore, while most participating neighborhoods will be celebrating The Day of Idaho Food on September 5th, some neighborhoods have chosen to celebrate instead on the 3rd or the 4th. One micro-neighborhood within the larger neighborhood known as Boise’s North End, celebrated The Day of Idaho Food with “ a lot of spinach dishes” back in May because this was the time when the neighborhood traditionally enjoyed getting together to watch its resident Red Tail hawk babies fledge.
The Collister Neighborhood in Northwest Boise, part of what some people affectionately refer to as the ‘Dirt District’ because of the deep lots, numerous chicken coops, and many urban farms in the area, has also planned its Day of Idaho Food event on an alternative date – August 28th – so that it would coincide with International Kitchen Garden Day. The Collister event, held at a neighborhood park, begins with gardening-themed games and activities (organized, in part, by a neighborhood garden center) for children, and a neighborhood garden tour and gardening/ food-related workshops for adults. The workshops, which range from seed saving and preserving the harvest to neighborhood scale garden planning for food security will be conducted by residents, the urban farmers within the neighborhood and also by the owner of the neighborhood coffeehouse and noshery, Salt Tears, who relates that she is excited to be a part of the event and to strengthen the relationship Salt Tears has with the Collister neighbors and growers who dine at and supply her restaurant with much of its fresh, local produce during the summer months.
Following these activities is a potluck featuring, you guessed it, Idaho foods grown by backyard gardeners, chicken wranglers and the like. During the dinner, neighbors will hear a presentation about a neighborhood food assessment planned for the fall and designed to help facilitate barter, trade and donations of excess food and agricultural products grown or produced within the neighborhood. After dinner, neighbors will have an opportunity to mingle and socialize while listening to local musicians.
Small communities, churches and community gardens:
Garden O' Feedin' worker at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship
Kid's in the Garden
Because many of the Day of Idaho Food events planned by participating small communities and churches within the Treasure Valley are connected in some way with the community gardens each is responsible for creating, I’ve combined the three categories. The most popular way by far of celebrating the Day of Idaho Food amongst this group is a combination garden work day and potluck affair, which seems an especially appropriate thing to do for a combined Labor Day and Idaho food event.
The small community of Garden Valley, however, will deviate from this norm. Here, the community plans to gather on September 5th at the 100 year old McBride farmstead, an historic and cultural landmark, for a traditional country picnic and harvest party. On the menu is local beef, chicken, lamb, fresh veggie and egg salads, home brew, pies from ”whatever fruits are locally available at the time”. Organizer, Wendy Young, hopes the community picnic will also serve as an opportunity for people to share their talents. Specifically, she hopes to be able to informally survey picnic-goers about the gardening, farming and cooking-based skills they possess (IE: canning, spinning yarn, grafting fruit trees, making the perfect pie crust, beekeeping, etc) and may be willing to teach others. Though not fleshed out entirely yet, her vision includes a series of “skilling-up” workshops in the future taught by community members for the benefit of other community members.
Outside of the Treasure Valley, in the Magic Valley, Idaho Preferred, a program of the Idaho Department of Agriculture is collaborating with organizers of the Twin Falls County Fair, one of the largest fairs in the state, to celebrate the Day of Idaho Food. On September 5th, a culinary component will be added to the Agriculture Pavilion. Inside the pavilion a chef will be doing cooking demonstrations and offering samples of food made from staple commodities grown in Idaho, many from the Treasure Valley.
Restaurants:
Order up at Red Feather
Far from exhaustive, this list is intended – quite literally – to whet your appetite and get you to explore on your own the variety of very special Day of Idaho Food menus offered by area restaurants over the Labor Day weekend. So, whether it’s the All Treasure Valley Burger, made from local 100% grass-fed beef, farm fresh onions and tomatoes (hopefully fall will be long and warm like the almanac promises), and a bun made from the Canyon County organic whole wheat flour I mentioned earlier that you are hankering for (Bittercreek Alehouse) or a Melba-raised house- roasted turkey sandwich with a delicious cilantro-based aioli (Salt Tears), a growing list of area restaurants is signing on to tempt you with their particular version of place-based, Idaho cuisine. Among the restaurants whose Day of Idaho Food menus are not firmed-up enough as of this writing to post, but that are committed to providing a truly Idaho sourced (not to be confused with “Idaho-inspired”) menu include: Bardenay, Fork, Locavore, Boise Fry Company and Cafe Vicino.
And for Canyon County residents, Brick 29 in Nampa promises special Day of Idaho Food entrées on both the lunch and dinner menu featuring Matthew Farms all-natural, no GMO-feed chicken from Weiser. Like Cafe Vicino, Brick 29 will be closed on Labor Day, but will offer these specials on September 3rd and 4th instead.
So, in addition to enjoying the delicious food and conviviality of your neighborhood/ church/ or community garden’s Day of Idaho Food event, consider sharing an additional Idaho-sourced meal with friends and family at an area eatery that is passionate about preparing good food and committed to supporting local farmers.
Finally…
Please everyone consider sharing your Idaho-sourced menu plans for the Day of Idaho Food by sending a brief email (50 words or less) to Guy Hand (guyhand@guyhand.com) In the subject line, please write: DOIF menu). He will post your menu statements, along with the menu statements of Idahoans from around the state on the Year of Idaho Food website. Photos are also welcome. Visit the site often in the weeks leading up to the Day of Idaho Food to learn more about the tremendous diversity of foods grown in Idaho and to be inspired by the variety of sweet and savory dishes people plan to prepare in celebration of Idaho’s abundance.
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Amy Hutchinson is a member of the Treasure Valley Food Coalition and co-conspirator of the Village Table, a philanthropy experiment designed to help finance projects of area farmers and producers. |
[...] Labor Day, September 5, 2011, let’s all eat at least one food from Idaho. It’s the Day of Idaho Food — a day to celebrate the incredible variety of foods grown in [...]