The ‘90s set the table for a decade of good eats

(AP) – Want an easy way to sum up how Americans ate during the first 10 years of the new century? Three words should do it:

Sushi at 7-Eleven.

Monstano’s GMO Products to Blanket the Earth

Monsanto's soybean and corn acreage since 1996

The Associated Press just uncovered a series of confidential commercial licensing agreements that give around 200 smaller companies the right to insert Monsanto’s genes (resistant to their Roundup herbicide) in their corn and soybean plants.

This means that Monsanto will OWN and CONTROL roughly 95 percent of all soybeans and 80 percent of all corn grown in the U.S. Monsanto is blocking competition in the seed industry, forcing farmers into growing genetically modified crops, and all the while increasing seed prices. Now, when farmers buy bags of seed from obscure brand names, they are paying for Monsanto’s seeds. To read the AP article, click here.

Slow Food at 20: The Graceful Revolution

Reprint from The Financial Times, December 12, 2009 By Harry Eyres

I don’t often feel tempted to raise my hand in salute but I’m making an exception for the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Slow Food Manifesto in Paris in December 1989. This is a fraternal greeting to the inspired organisation which, at the tail end of the most violent century in history, provided the perfect antidote to that lamentable paean to speed, Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto of 1909. Slow Food has not merely mobilised the beneficent force of slowness (which can be surprisingly powerful, like the tree-men Ents in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings) but has also provided one of the bases for a new politics of food and environmental quality.

October 16 Meet the Producer Dinner a Big Success

Our October 16 Fall Feast, featuring local game fowl, exotic mushrooms and huckleberries and was hosted at HACC’. The chefs and students produced a creative menu: a culinary mash-up between Mark Twain Americana and the Mad Hatter.  

September 26 Adams County Producer Tour & Lunch

Stops will include Caprine Delight Dairy, Gettysburg Baking Company, Oyler’s Eden Valley Farm, Hauser Estate Winery and the Round Barn & Farm Market.

September 19 Farm to Table Dinner

Hosted at The Cellar restaurant in Camp Hill, this dinner focuses on the abundance of the late summer’s harvest gathered by our local producers. The menu consists of five courses, each with several selections, served family style.

September 12 Lebanon County Producer Tour

Join HACC’s Culinary Arts faculty and students as they tour Lebanon County farms, markets and winery to source produce for the next Meet the Producer slow Supper, October 16.

June 19 Author Presntation Dinner Review

It’s great to see the young Sous Chef Steve Eckerd pushing the envelope, stretching his skills and trying to create food that carries his signature. This was a really ambitious dinner, combining fresh and local ingredients combined with surprising tastes and textures. 

June 19 Slow Food Harrisburg Author Presentation

Friday, June 19: Meet internationally renowned epicure/ food activist /author Gina Mallet and learn about the state of food today. What are the trends, the biggest risks to our food supply, and how we can help? 

July 11 Bike Tour through Beautiful Cumberland County Farms

Saturday, July 11 Buy Fresh/Buy Local of Central PA has organized a self guided bicycle ride of Cumberland County’s farm stands and preserved farms. Riders of this Buy Fresh/Bike Local event will be provided with a map and queue sheet for two 25-mile rides.