Bubby’s was thrilled this Fall to present a program of special dinners celebrating efforts to renovate American agriculture and the American menu. Each event featured a conversation about a significant aspect of this project, followed by a meal that pleasurably illustrated the themes under discussion.
At Bubby’s, we have observed and are engaged with three parallel movements that are gaining momentum in the New York region and around the country:
1. New farmers are supplying greenmarkets and alternative food networks with produce and animals raised without relying on an arsenal of chemicals or industrial methods (vast feedlots, etc…)
2. New artisans are re-inventing food crafts, sometimes (as with coffee) improving on traditional models.
3. A fresh appreciation of authentic American cooking from all regions and communities, including new immigrants, is evident in the neighborhoods of many cities, as well as blogs, cable channels and websites like Roadfood.com.
These three movements are mutually reinforcing and they seem to originate in a common yearning for authenticity and a way of life that is environmentally and ethically sustainable. All three are, at least partially, responses to the perceived, ongoing deterioration of American agriculture and the diet of most Americans.
The subjects and content of these seven special dinners were intended to reflect the exciting state of the conversation about what we are eating today and how that is changing. We are proud to say that the consensus of those who attended (30 to 50 people per event) was that each “symposium”* was successful in that regard and really big fun too. All the meals were served family style around our 12 and 16 foot pine plank community tables, which contributed to the spirit of optimism and sharing that was felt at each gathering.
[The term “symposium” is used, appropriately, as it turned out, in the spirit of its original Greek meaning as a thoughtful dinner and drinking party]
The Carolina Rice Kitchen with Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Glenn Roberts is pioneering the restoration of nearly extinct “landrace” (ancient) Southern grains and has developed a uniquely subtle and detailed understanding of how the integrity of the land, agriculture and culture of the Carolina Lowcountry are interdependent. His presentation was a tour de force of erudition, passion and energy. Almost everything Glenn said was entirely new to those listening; the complex interplay of agronomy, immigration history and cultural cross-fertilization he described was a window on living history, a history he is actively shaping through Anson Mills and other research projects. Not to be forgotten was the irresistable “grits cheer” [Gimme a “G”!…Gimme an “R”!…What’s that spell?! GRITS!] with which Glenn closed his remarks.
The menu for the dinner was an expression of the Carolina Rice Kitchen, the cuisine that developed from the combination of crops that the first Creole people established around Charleston, SC and on the Sea Islands. Its foundation is Carolina Gold rice and includes red peas and sesame (benne).
Twain’s Feast Spectacle with Andrew Beahrs
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Twain’s Feast Spectacle was based on the famous list of longed-for American foods that Mark Twain composed in 1879 while on an extended sojourn in Europe. He lists more than eighty dishes to be consumed by himself, alone, the moment he sets foot on American soil. This extraordinary dinner was introduced with a talk by Andrew Bearhs, the author of Twain’s Feast, Searching for America’s Lost Foods in the Footsteps of Samuel Clemens. Andrew described how different foods were at the emotional core of Twain’s experiences as an engaged resident of every region of the United States. Sadly, a major theme of the talk and the dinner was the absence of many foods (canvasback duck, prairie chicken, terrapin, etc.) now lost to us through destruction and transformation of habitat since Twain’s day.
The feast itself gallantly offered around forty of the prescribed dishes, from corn pone to oysters to wild turkey and butter beans. It would be accurate to say that no two people at the dinner ate the same meal; the variety and quantity of foods being beyond the internal comprehension of any individual.
http://sporkful.posterous.com/mark-twain-eater-w-andrew-beahrs
http://www.ediblemanhattan.com/topics/food-dining/restaurants/for-those-eating-out-next-thursday-may-we-suggest-this-mini-feast-spectacle/
Pie Social Workshop with Ron Silver
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Always near the center of Bubby’s chef and owner Ron Silver’s idea of the American Table is pie. It is the quintessential American food, simple, the symbol of home cooking, yet challenging and inexhaustible. Ron offered a detailed, hands-on tutorial of pie making with particular emphasis on its most intimidating feature–the crust. He discussed the under-appreciated role that lard can play in achieving the best possible results.
The dinner itself presented a wonderful spectrum of savory pie and pie variations, from a light and delicate cheese and leek pie to a dense, cornbread based lamb cobbler. The dessert pies were equally varied and featured the rarely made, almost disturbingly unfamiliar pan dowdy. All attendees went home with a pecan pie as a parting gift.
4 Heritage Breeds Pork Comparison with Patrick Martins of Heritage Food US
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 7pm
Although much is said about the re-emergence of heritage breed pork on farms and menus, very few of us know how these breeds might differ in the field or the kitchen. Patrick Martins (founder of Slow Food USA) described his experiences as a catalyst in this market linking farmers with restaurants and consumers and Patrick participated with Bubby’s in presenting a direct comparison of the bellies and loins of four types of heritage pork. These were from farm raised Duroc, Gloucestershire Old Spot and two versions of Berkshire hogs, one finished on a diet of peanuts and the other, a diet of dairy products. Remarkably, all four of these porks were distinctive in flavor, as well as being almost absurdly delicious.
This tasting, really a meal in itself, was followed by a full dinner that included airy cracklings, cured ham, sausages and barbecue, filling out what many considered the pork experience of a lifetime.
Blue Moon Fisherman’s Dinner with Alex and Stephanie Villani
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Blue Moon Fish has brought seafood from its own boat directly to thousands of New Yorkers for decades and many of their loyal devotees came to celebrate its work at this dinner. The Villanis talked about how they have sustained this ancient foodway in improbable circumstances and Alex described his solitary method of fishing in our local waters. Perhaps surprisingly, he also offered a generally upbeat report on their health and productivity, with many types of seafood more abundant now than in years past.
The dinner itself was wonderfully varied, featuring Blue Moon smoked fish, unusually fine raw oysters and clams and sea bass ceviche, all served cold, and six other hot seafood dishes including eight more kinds of sea creatures.
Ground Up: The New Foodshed Farmer’s Dinner
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Farming today in the New York region is more than ever a creative act, often requiring unique solutions by individual farmers to questions about what to grow, how to farm and how to market their products. The New Farmers dinner was mounted with the participation of several local foodshed farmers from Sullivan and Delaware counties, who explained something of how they carved out their own individual answers to these questions and what their lives are like. They included Marc and Susan Jaffe of Snow Dance Farm, Mark Dunau and Lisa Wujnovich of Mountain Dell Farm, Greg Swartz of Willow Wisp Organic Farm and Richard Giles of Lucky Dog Farm. Also participating was Jennifer Grossman, who, working for the Open Space Institute, helped assemble “Ground Up”, a detailed study describing how these farms work. One highlight of the evening was Lisa Wujnovich’s reading of her “vegetable haiku,” tributes to the inherent poetry of our gardened friends.
The dinner itself was a harvest-time, family-style meal, fashioned by Ron Silver from produce and meats raised by the farmers themselves, including products from Tonjes Dairy Farm.
Lard Exoneration Dinner with Ron Silver
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 7pm
“Lard” continues to be a metaphor and an epithet representing all sorts of negative things about the American diet: obesity, chronic disease, poverty and benighted ideas about food in general. Bubby’s Lard dinner was a challenge to that. Artisinal lard, in contrast to industrially produced lard, is a wholesome food and an unequalled medium for baking and frying. Ron Silver’s presentation described how lard has been demonized, partially by rival commercial interests (Crisco), degraded by chemical processing, and how it actually compares favorably with vegetable oils and butter as part of our diet.
The dinner featured chicken and potatoes fried in leaf lard, biscuits and pie baked with leaf lard shortening, greens and beans cooked with fatback, as well as seasoned lard spread served in yet another mode now exclusively assigned to butter or vegetable oil.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/01/06/144806987/the-friday-podcast-who-killed-lard