Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Salon Challenge- you don't know the guests, but you know the food

So the other day, we had the good fortune stop by Elmer's store for the first time in a while. In addition to all the wonderful things they serve there, they also sell bread made by a woman a few doors down. She calls it Annabread. It is very special, rustic sourdough of many varieties, but there is something especially unique about Annabread. It is made with local wild yeast gathered from the flowers of Ashfield, MA. Local wild yeast!
This brings me to my main point here. As promised, I am presenting another Salon challenge. And the theme of this challenge should be no problem this time of year. We've all done local, I know, but it's trendy because it's a really good idea, and I want to you to use this one as a research project. I challenge you to have a dinner party that is as locally sourced as humanly possible. Sure you can get local produce, but is anyone growing local grain? Meat? Fish? Butter? Booze? See what you can find, and plan your menu from there. And by local, I mean as local as possible- I won't give a mileage requirement.
A quick recap on the rules. Dinner, sit down, some percentage of people that you don't know that well. As the summer seems to be speeding by, I'm setting the reveal at September 15.
Let me know if you plan on participating- I can't wait to see what you find.

5 comments:

  1. Yay! I've been wondering about this! It will go perfectly with my "Dig It" invitations! It's so ON!

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  2. Vast swaths of my state are "local grain."

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  3. And my uncle brews beer in his basement...hmmm, if I can find some friends it should be great.

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  4. The challenge will be finding someone to sell you that local grain- my bet is that everyone wnats to sell it somewhere else. Maybe a covert midnight wheat stealing operation? Then grind it in your coffee grinder? I'd like to see pictures of that.

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  5. There's this guy, a county north: http://www.normsflour.com--he used to bring in his bread every week to the organic food store where I worked back in 06. Weird dude, but def. organic and def. local. Whether I can get raw wheat in less than 50-lb. bags...

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