Tuesday, January 3, 2012

2011- A Locavore Year in Review by the Nomadic Chef

As 2012 begins, I would like to review some of the highlights of the Nomadic Chef  Locavore posts of 2011 the Year of the Rabbit


The year started off slow, but by mid February I was in Singapore teaching a Western Cuisine class At-Sunrice Global Chef Academy.  Because of that adventure this blog began.  While visiting China Town and all the Food Hockers I became re-energized with the passion of eating fresh, local foods,thus the idea of the Nomadic Chef Locavore blog began. 




During 2011 I made my own cheese from local Rhode Island farm milk.




I built two raised garden beds to supply some of my own fruits & vegetables over the summer.  I then went to the  19th Annual Rare and Unusual Plant Sale to buy heirloom vegetable plants to fill the beds.



I had the great pleasure of touring two local farms, first I went to Blackbird Farm in Smithfield, RI where they raise Black Angus Beef as well as Rhode Island Red Chickens.  The second farm I toured and have bough chickens, a half of a lamb, a quarter side of beef and my Thanksgiving Turkey from is Locust Leaf Farm in Foster, RI.  Both farms are small family run farms that serve different consumers but both are a model of sustainable local farming.  I also frequented many of the great Farmers Markets the Rhode Island has to offer.









Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI hosted its first Food Day Celebration at the Harborside Campus where I made sure to take snap many pictures posterity. 




There were three very inspiring locavore focused books I read in 2011,

Title

A Year of Food Life

Barbara Kingsolver, with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver





Tomatolandcover

All three of these books are very though provoking and show a side of our food industry that most Americans have no idea about, or even care about.  But they should!!!  I would recommend everyone to read these books, I will even let you borrow them if you are local to Rhode Island.

I had the pleasure of participating in three conferences this year, the 2011 CAFE Conference, Research Chef Association Conference and the National Produce Show and Conference. 



Finally I ended up the year celebrating Christmas in Montreal, and enjoying the local markets full of charcuterie and French cuisine.




That is a quick review of my Locavore 2011, looking forward to a local, fresh, sustainable, prosperous 2012.  Happy New Year !!!!!  Feel free to read the older posts to get a more in depth idea of what this blog is all about.

Until I blog again  Eat Well, Live Life and Be Safe