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ASAP is excited to announce a partnership and regular column with the WNC-based food blog Carolina Epicurean! The blog’s tagline is “Seasonal Food, Regional Focus.” Great fit, right?!
The column will help connect Carolina Epicurean readers with the content you regularly see on FromHere.org, and hopefully the partnership will help you connect with the fantastic food content regularly updated for Carolina Epicurean readers.
WCU dietetic intern and pilot project participant Kourtney Vandenburgh picks tomatoes off the vine at Shelton Family Farm in Whittier! Photo by Jennifer Callahan Photography.
You’ve likely heard us talk before about our Growing Minds program’s Farm to School Education Project. It’s our partnership in Jackson County with Western Carolina University (WCU) and local community colleges—along with area elementary schools and preschools—that teaches Farm to School methods/programming to students studying to become nutritionists, teachers, and early childhood educators!
But have we ever shared with you how it started?
Last week, students in the School of Inquiry and Life Sciences at Asheville (SILSA) wrapped up their school-wide learning-based project entitled “How do our food choices affect our health and our future?” ASAP was honored and excited to respond to student questions, and we’re looking forward to continuing to support students as they grow from their discoveries (and to support the two lucky groups who will present their projects at a state-wide conference)!
ASAP’s Get Local initiative, which highlights a local food (or group of foods) every month, will shine the spotlight on three new ingredients in 2012: ramps, mushrooms, and potatoes! Local favorites like tomatoes and apples remain on the new calendar, along with honey. The sweet stuff is being featured on area restaurant menus right now, and it gets a special celebration called A Taste of Honey at Laurey’s Gourmet Comfort Food on January 26 from 6 until 9 pm.
Late-season veggies, meats, and cheeses? Check! Christmas trees and wreaths? Check! Handcrafted gifts like soaps and jewelry? Check! Area holiday markets have it all. So, bundle up and shop ’til you drop at these tailgates! Of course, we’d love if you shared your finds and photos in the comment section below.
We know not everyone would want to to read a 52-page report over the weekend. But you, our dedicated, info-seeking local food community, aren’t like everyone else! So, we’ve made our recent local food consumer survey available online. Download the PDF HERE. (Note: The document is lengthy but should load quickly.) Then, let’s get a conversation going in the comment section of this post. What stands out to you most in the survey? Are the numbers higher or lower than you’d expect? Do tell!
ASAP estimates that you, Western North Carolina consumers, purchased $62 million of local food in 2010! The number represents a four-fold increase since our Appalachian Grown™ certification and branding program began in 2007. Our recent consumer survey explains the increase: you understand that local food benefits local communities.
The survey, conducted this spring in the greater-Asheville area (Buncombe, Madison, and Henderson counties) and the state’s six westernmost counties found that a majority (55%) of you reported spending over one-tenth of your food budget on locally grown products. More than 80% of you say you choose local food because those purchases help support local farms and contribute to the local economy.
Earlier this month, we chatted with Asheville-based Americana band Red June about their Homegrown Tour (which has been spreading the word about WNC’s local food scene far and wide) and coming home (they play Jack of the Wood this Saturday, November 19). Read the full article in Mountain Xpress HERE. And keep reading for the rest of the good stuff that didn’t make it in, including some bean spilling about their upcoming MerleFest gig!
ASAP: What was the best local food meal of your Homegrown Tour? What’s the band’s favorite local food meal in town?
Halloween and its pumpkins may have come and gone, but there are still plenty more varieties of local winter squash to be found—think Acorn, Butternut, Delicata, and Kabocha. In fact, these cold-hardy veggies are the stars of area restaurant menus this November through our Get Local initiative.
The exact roles they’ll play at Laughing Seed Cafe and Jack of the Wood are a mystery, however…
Yes, we are going with a zombie theme for our Feast Local event this Sunday, October 23 (Halloween is near, after all!). But, you don’t have to worry. There are no brains involved, only smoked local trout crepes, local butternut squash and apple soup, and more delicious dishes of the not-brain kind!
The event is a local social in parternship with the Asheville Grown Business Alliance (AGBA). Twenty percent of the evening’s proceeds will go to us, ASAP, and AGBA.
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