bostonzest

Tag: food producers

  • Market Report: 2015 Summer Farmers Markets “One Every Day of the Week”

    We are so happy that the Copley Square Farmers Market is open for the season. That's the home market for the BostonZest team and where we pick up lots of news from the farms. But, we also receive press releases, newsletters, and correspond with farm friends year-round to gather news for readers like you.

    Today, we'll tell you about the "One Every Day of the Week" farmers market campaign over in Cambridge.

    Farmers_markers_poster_summer_2015 copy 2

    For years, we've pointed out that if you live in the central area of Boston, you have access to a farmers market seven days a week. The City of Cambridge has made a campaign of that fact to support the fresh, local food producers. If you'd like a copy of the poster, you can download one here. Download Farmers_Markets_poster_summer_2015

    If the option for a particular day is not within walking distance from your home, it will be easy to reach by public transportation. That makes for a very lively, fresh, local food scene in and around Boston.

    Since we shop at many area markets, we took the idea and information from Cambridge's poster and added the other markets we frequent.

    • Sunday: Charles Square, Cambridge
    • Monday: Boston Public Market, Blackstone Street and Central Square, Cambridge
    • Tuesday: Copley Square, South Station/Dewey Square, and Harvard University Farmers Market, Cambridge
    • Wednesday: Boston Public Market, Blackstone Street; Cambridge Center (Kendall MBTA); Davis Square, Somerville; and Charlestown
    • Thursday: South Station/Dewey Square, Kendall Square (500 Kendall Street), Brookline/Coolidge Corner, Mission Hill/Roxbury, Brigham Circle, and East Boston/Central Square
    • Friday: Copley Square and Charles Square, Cambridge
    • Saturday: Union Square, Somerville; Cambridgeport, Cambridge; Roslindale/Adams Park; and Egleston, Jamaica Plain

    For exact dates, maps, and other details on these markets check our post:

    Summer Farmers Markets Opening Dates 2015

    We'll do our best to keep you informed with a series of Market Reports throughout the season. And, we welcome your tips and suggestions. Add your thoughts in the comments below. Tweet them to @BostonZest or send us an email and we'll add your suggestions to this post as an update.

    Here are more of our Local Food/Farmers Market posts.

    What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: ©2015 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

  • The Boston Homegrown Cookbook

    When my review copy of The Boston Homegrown Cookbook: Local Food, Local Restaurants, Local Recipes arrived last month, I leafed through page-after-page of old friends, long-admired farmers, and chefs and recipes I wanted to try. This is a collection that will be dear to Boston food lovers.

    Kate and jj

    The book profiles 28 Boston area chefs who work together with local farms to bring the freshest, locally grown, sustainable foods to their menus. Farmers like Kate Stillman, from Stillman’s at the Turkey Farm, and Chef JJ Gonson (above) often work together and laugh together.

    The author, Leigh Belanger is a food writer and the program director for the Boston-based Chefs Collaborative, a national network of chef and culinary professionals dedicated to improving the food system through education and community building. With this publication, she has shown the strong community links that exist between Boston area chefs, local farmers, and food producers.

    Pairings

    The book is first divided into seasons. When you create a local and sustainable menu, seasonality is a driving factor. Each season has a collection of pairings of a chef with a food producer. An introduction gives some background on each member of the team and then recipes with the chef creating dishes using the food from that farm or source.  

    Among the chefs of summer is Steve Johnson of Rendezvous in Central Square paired with Eva Sommaripa and her legendary Eva’s Garden herbs that have been the secret of chefs since the 1960s. Steve puts summer tomatoes to good use in a Turkish Tomato Salad that he pairs with Grilled Mackerel.

    I can't wait to try both. And, with the new fish vendors at the farmers' markets, I may be able to shop for the entire menu in one spot.

    9780760339084

    Photography

    In addition to celebrating local heroes, seasonal food, and having recipes you’ll want to try year round, this is a beautiful book. You may want to keep it on your coffee table so you can open it often, each season, and try new recipes.

    Photographer Margaret Belanger has a keen eye for the beauty of food from hoof, to field, and onto the plate. Her photographs are a family album that captures the people, places, and products that are part of the Greater Boston foodshed right now.  

    You can sneak a peek at some of her art in the preview provided on Amazon.

    Book Tour!

    There will be a cooking demo and book signing for The Boston Homegrown Cookbook: Local Food, Local Restaurants, Local Recipes on June 28th, 7 pm, at Trident Booksellers & Cafe on Newbury Street. 

    We've invited Leigh to update us on any other book signings and appearances in the comment section of this post. We'll send word out to you as we learn of them.

    Thanks to everyone who remembers to click over to Amazon from here to support this site! And, for our readers in other parts of the country, there may be a Homegrown Cookbook for your area.

     

    Details:

    Words: Penny Cherubino

    Photograph Of Kate & JJ : © 2012 Margaret Belanger

    Cover Art: Courtesy of Quayside Publications.

    Disclosure: The publisher did provide me with a review copy of this book.  Here is our full disclosure policy.


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