Boston Local Food Festival 2011

A couple months ago in my ongoing effort to do good and make people happy, mainly myself, I signed up as a volunteer for the Boston Local Food Festival. This was also partially because my friend Guido told me I was doing it and I try never to argue with dear Guido. Nevertheless, the time for the food festival came this past Saturday and though I have no recipes to share with you today, I believe this blog to be a great service to those of you who didn’t attend so that you don’t make the same mistake next year!

Our morning started at 7am at the Fort Point Channel in South Boston. Guido and I geared up to set up and get the vendors and their things to their designated booths. We lifted and pulled and set up and schmoooooooozed all morning. IN A DOWNPOUR! Mind you, almost everything was under a tent, but getting that stuff to the tents was a bit….soppy! Anywho, we were just so pumped to be meeting such awesome people and for what was to come later in the day (i.e. food) that we put our silly foodie grins on dubbed ourselves Team Muscle!

Eric's Eggs/Rockville Market Farm

Our First Vendor unload was Eric’s Eggs/Rockville Market Farm out of Rockville, VT. It consisted of two men, Chris and Eric of course, and Chris’ daughter. We unloaded a ton of stuff for them, watermelons, tomatoes, grills…but nothing made me quite so excited as when I saw their sign for what they were cooking up that day. They were making chicken mole taco like things with pumpkin seeds, squash soup, pumpkin chocolate chip bars and slicing up yellow and red watermelons. They were super nice and were also selling eggs….get it, Eric’s Eggs. Later on in the day I went back for a taco and a chunk of yellow watermelon and also bought a pint of their multi-colored cherry tomatoes. Sorry, there’s no picture because I’ve managed to eat all of them already! Oops! It was all so delicious. Eric’s Eggs is a great farm doing big things. And for anyone who’s willing to come over to Cambridge, they also offer a variety of CSAs you can join! Including ones with eggs and meat! You can get more information at http://rockvillemarketfarm.com/erics-eggspoultry-in-motion.  

Adam Tiberio and the 1/4 Beef!

So after several hours of loading and unloading vendors, Guido and I had to make our way over to the Chef Demonstration area where we basically set up two “stages” for the chefs to show off! And boy did they! At one table were several chefs doing food making demos such as Cooking Locally for you Kids and Eating Locally without Killing Yourself. Mayor Menino even stopped in to do a demonstration. However, Guido and I were most mesmerized by the butchering demonstration happening at the other “stage”. They had chef Matt Jennings, of La Laiterie in Providence, RI breaking down a pig, Tom Daly, lead butcher of Savenor’s Market in Boston breaking down a lamb, and Michael Ehlenfeldt of Stone Hearth Pizza Co. in Cambridge breaking down a chicken. But most amazingly, Adam Tiberio of Tiberios Meats in New York City breaking down a quarter of beef! We literally stood around mouths open watching for about 3 hours! It was simply amazing. Not to mention after they butchered, they grilled up the meat, which I was catching like a seal at the zoo!

After our volunteer duties were all donezo and the sun had shone its face, we walked around trying anything and everything. We tasted meatballs from Stone Hearth, Batch Ice Cream, Pumpkin Pie soda from Maine Root, ribs from M&M BBQ (umm fabulous by the way, my southern butt is taking it to Hampden Street on the reg from now on for BBQ), Jamaican food, milk from High Lawn….so much delicious. There were also several farms selling things. I bought some amazing radishes, green onions and beets from Blue Heron Organic Farm out of Lincoln, MA. They had the most beautiful set up at the festival with produce and flowers all over the place! This farm posts up at the Davis Square and Lexington farmers’ markets so get your butts down there! I swear if their booth is normally anything like it was for the festival, you’re sure to be impressed. You can also check them out at http://www.blueheronfarmlincoln.com.

Blue Heron Organic Farm

In part of my wandering I also found a stand selling kale chips. I could try to explain my excitement but it’s futile on paper. What I will tell you, is that I bought a bag of the delicious greenery and also a t-shirt that says, “I <3 Kale Chips” and boy do I!!! They are made in Newburyport, MA at Revitalive Café. This café is doing so much stuff that I can’t begin to get into it all, but check them out at http://www.revitalivecafe.com. What an amazing company and project they’re working on! And I’ll definitely be out there to get more kale chips!

I also found this amazing stand for Samira’s Homemade. They specialize in Egyptian and Lebanese foods. They had several foods like hummus and tabouli, but my favorite was the Muhammara, a fire roasted red pepper, walnut and pomegranate spread! It was so amazing. I bought a container, but suspect it won’t last long. Luckily I can pick it up a Pemberton Farms. You should definitely check out their products. To find a vendor near you check out the website at http://www.samirashomemade.com/index.html.

Pretty Things Brewery

At the end of all the eating we took it over to the Daily Catch for the Craft Brew tasting. We tasted local beers from Cambridge Brewing Company, Pretty Things, Smuttynose Brewing, Blue Hills Brewing, Watch City Brewing, Jack’s Abby, Boston Beer Works, Poverty Lane Orchards & Farnum Hill Ciders and my all time favorite 22oz can…Narragansett!! Hi Neighbor! We had some wonderful tastes of wonderful brews, but my fave is definitely the Boston Beer Works Pumpkin! It’s rivaled by none!

We left the day utterly exhausted, but well fed, slightly lubricated and with more friends than we started with. What more can a foodie girl ask for!?!?