Category Archives: Enticing Events

Tickets Now On Sale For Slow Food Nation

Labor Day weekend (Aug. 29 to Sept. 1) in San Francisco is sure to bring out even more foodies than usual this year.

That’s when Slow Food Nation takes place. bringing together farmers, food artisans, political leaders, environmental advocates, health-care experts, and artists at a mega-event to celebrate the connection between plate and planet.

There will be a 50,000-square-foot food pavilion, a marketplace where farmers and producers will show off their wares, a music festival, workshops, films, dinners, and hikes.

The “Food for Thought Speaker Series” ($5 to $25 per ticket) will feature author Wendell Berry, author Marion Nestle, Slow Food organization founder Carlo Petrini, author Michael Pollan, author Eric Schlosser, author Vandana Shiva and Alice Waters of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse.

The huge Taste pavilion will showcase such artisan products as beer, bread, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, fish, honey & preserves, ice cream, native foods, olive oil, pickles & chutney, spirits, tea and wine. In the “green kitchen” there, chefs will demonstrate techniques for making simple, everyday dishes sustainable. Tickets to the Taste pavilion are $45 to $65.

For more information, click here.

To get into the spirit, sit back and take in a thought-provoking flick, 6:30 p.m. July 25 at the Delancey Street Theater, 600 Embarcadero in San Francisco.  That’s when “Strawberry Fields,” will show. The film depicts a day in the life of Palestinian farmers in Gaza.

Ticket are $15, and includes Fra’Mani salami, Harley Farms cheese, dessert, and beverages. For tickets, click here, or send checks made out to Slow Food San Francisco to Slow Food San Francisco, 210 Littlefield Ave., South San Francisco, CA 94080.

And if you notice the lawn in front of San Francisco City Hall looking a little different, that’s because it is being transformed into an edible garden.

July 12, Mayor Gavin Newsom, Slow Food Nation founder Alice Waters of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse restaurant, and more than 100 volunteers will begin planting seeds for herbs and produce.

The project, dubbed the Slow Food Nation Victory Garden, takes its name from 20th Century wartime efforts to tackle food shortages. Back in the early 1940s, San Francisco residents were encouraged to plant gardens on private and public lands to add to the supply of domestic food during wartime. Back then, San Francisco’s program was one of the top ones in the nation. Golden Gate Park alone boasted 250 garden plots.

Savoring the Fifth Taste

You know sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. But do you know umami, the fifth taste?

Attend the “Umami Symposium: New Frontiers of Taste,” 11:30 a.m. July 21 at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, and you’ll know it even better. The event, hosted by the Umami Information Center, commemorates the 100th anniversary of the discovery of umami in Tokyo, Japan.

Umami is the savory flavor we can’t get enough of in so many foods. Think Parmesan cheese, mushrooms, cured ham, soy sauce, chicken soup, meat, and fish.

The event leads off with a panel discussion featuring smell and taste scientists; food writer and food scientist Harold McGee; Kunio Tokuoka, executive chef of Kyoto Kitcho in Japan; and Master of Wine Tim Hanni. Following that, a multi-course lunch will be served, with each dish demonstrating the irresistible nature of umami. Tokuoka will prepare the dishes, along with chefs Hiro Sone of Ame in San Francisco and Terra in St. Helena; and Thomas Keller of the French Laundry in Yountville.

Tickets are $100. But hurry — registration ends July 7.

If you miss that event, you can still enjoy a feast of umami at Ame, which will be offering a special tasting menu focusing on the fifth flavor,  July 14 to Aug. 3. The five-course dinner is $85, plus an additional $65 for wine pairings. Dishes include broiled sake-marinated black cod in shiso broth, grilled Berkshire pork on Carolina gold rice with tomato “risotto,” and caramel ice cream with shoyu powder.

Culinary Luminaries Descend Upon Los Altos Hills July 19

Chef Christopher KostowÂ

We’re talking a stellar line-up of some of the Bay Area’s best chefs: Christopher Kostow of the Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena, Cal Stamenov of Marinus at Bernardus Lodge in Carmel Valley, Alessandro Cartumini of Quattro in the Four Seasons Hotel Silicon Valley in East Palo Alto, Daniel Patino of Michael Mina’s Arcadia in San Jose, Xavier Salomon of the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, and Robert Holt of Cetrella in Chef Daniel Patino. Photo by Chris Schmauch.Half Moon Bay.

That whet your whistle?

Then, you’ll want to attend the 26th annual Vintage Affaire gala in Los Altos Hills on July 19. The event is held at a different private estate each year that can accommodate 500 guests.

Enjoy a silent auction, then a sit-down dinner, followed by a live auction. McCall Catering will handle the duties for the dinner, and the six top chefs will be doling out specialty appetizers during the silent auction. Look for Stamenov to serve up duck foie blond salad with pickled Bing cherries; and PaChef Cal Stamenovtino to offer Mina’s signature osetra caviar parfait.

Tickets are $250. Upon purchase, guests will receive the address of the host estate in Los Altos Hills. The event is a benefit for Vista Center for the blind and visually impaired. Over the past 25 years, Vintage Affaire has raised more than $5.5 million for the center.

Tickets are available by calling (650) 858-0202 or by clicking here.

A Visit to the Farm

A field of lettuces at Earthbound Farm

When you’re in the Carmel area, make a pit stop at Earthbound Farm on Carmel Valley Road. You know the name because it was the pioneer in pre-washed salad greens (think “spring mix”).

Spears of purple asparagus

You’ll find a charming farmstand store on the company’s 30-acre research and development farm. It’s the perfect spot to take a breather and grab a bite to eat. Enjoy all organic-fare, including carrot cake, smoothies, tahini chicken with soba noodles, a salad bar, and grilled veggie lasagna with pesto, as well as fresh produce to take home.

Earthbound Farm started 24 years ago. It is now the largest organic farm in the world. It comprises 40,000 acres with primary operations in California, Arizona and Mexico.

Register in advance to enjoy farm walks and workshops by calling (831) 625-6219 or emailing farmstand@ebfarm.com

Artichoke, anyone?

Team In Training _ Big Time

As if Yountville didn’t already boast an unseemly number of top chefs (it has more Michelin stars per capita than any other city in the world), now it’ll get even more.

Thomas Keller of the French Laundry in Yountville has teamed up with New York superstar Chef Daniel Boulud to establish a non-profit organization aimed at giving young American chefs a leg up on competing in the Bocuse d’Or, the legendary culinary Olympics in which the United States historically hasn’t fared very well.

Keller and Boulud will help choose eight young chefs who will compete in a September cook-off in Orlando at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. The top winners will go on to comprise the American team that will compete in the Bocuse d’Or in Lyon, France in January 2009 against 19 other teams.

The American team will get some serious training, October through January, at a special facility set up in a house in Yountville next-door to the French Laundry.  Not only that, but the team’s techniques will be perfected by none other than Certified Master Chef Roland Henin, whom Keller worked for early on in his career and who remains one of the chefs he most admires.

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