UNH Slow Food

The first Thursday of every month, Slow Food meets at Young’s Restaurant, a local, eco-conscious family restaurant that has extended their hand for us to utilize their space and equipment! This is awesome. Two nights before the last CAB Open Mic Night of the semester, we were busy in the kitchen.

Here is what was whipped up for other students at ‘The Grind’ on Saturday to enjoy.

Cinnamon Egg-nog Scones

Gingerbread

Peppermint Bark

Viennese Thumbprint Cookies

Some pastries we’ve made in the past include

Lavendar Cookies

Peanut Brittle and Maple Syrup Brittle

Bruschetta

Pumpkin Muffins

Sweet Potato Scones

We are looking forward to the Spring semester, this absolutely being one of the reasons!

Have a Happy Holiday everyone.

The Seacoast Eat Local Winter Farmer\’s Market  made it’s 2nd stop at the Wentworth Greenhouses in Rollinsford, NH on Saturday, December 3.

A group of SFUNH members offered their time and energy in an effort to keep this volunteer-based, nonprofit organization thriving throughout Strafford and Rockingham counties.

Red Rover Coffee Roasters gave me a nice, needed kick right upon arrival! Sunnyfield Brick Oven Bakery quickly sold out of the crackers made with flour from Brookford Farm. There was a cooking demonstration that offered samples of a Peruvian purple potato, sage, and watermelon radish salad! If you haven’t ever seen a watermelon radish, you are in for a treat! Dan Turner gave the vendors and shoppers added pleasure with his melodic vocal and guitar contributions.

We helped to assist with the holiday season food drive efforts that went to the Cornucopia Food Pantry at the Waysmeet Center in Durham. At the end of the market, we had 4 dozen farm fresh eggs, 4 whole frozen chickens, several bags of potatoes, and Hubba Hubba granola, salad dressing and pumpkin pie mix! In addition, we received nearly a dozen bunches of kale and large quarters of squash that we prepped for storage that will go to the Table of Plenty Food Kitchen in Berwick, ME.

I (Evan) ordered a holiday basket for a loved one from Brookford Farm that included a branded cutting board and knife! Red Rover

This is an incredibly rewarding opportunity for us to be involved in. By aiding Seacoast Eat Local, we are conveying our support for a strong local and regional food economy in which every player realizes that we will rise together and that we will fall together. Borders will not make us or break us.

Whatever your reasons are for supporting local food, Seacoast Eat Local can use your help hands. Here is a schedule of the 2011-2012 SEL Winter Markets.

He puts it rather simply when he says, “It’s just the right thing to do.” Slow Food UNH replies, “You bet it is!” Read the rest of this entry »

The inaugural Food Day (October 24) at UNH was an absolute success!! Over 225 colleges and university’s played host to Food Day events, and we were proud to be one of them.

There was a student-led march for food awareness during which the Get Real! UNH Campaign team officially launched their campaign for our campus to sign the Real Food Challenge Campus Commitment and began issuing a photo petition to have students show their support for their goal of 20% REAL food (local, fair trade, ecologically sound, and/or humane) in the dining halls by the year 2020! This is huge! This is a campaign going on at colleges and universities across the nation in an effort to shift billions of dollars from industrial food producers to those that have more conscious.

In addition, the New Hampshire Food Symposium was organized by our very own Evan Girard, a student food leader here on campus. The evening’s event marked the culmination of the Month of Food Citizenship at UNH and brought together people ages 18-80, both everyday citizens, students, and experts, under one roof to discuss the positive and negative implications of our food system. Nearly 100 people witnessed speakers discuss university, community, and state-based efforts that are all playing a major role in creating a more sustainable food system that fosters the greater health of people and our environment!

Thanks to all of the other student organizations that played an integral in this year’s Month of Food Citizenship: Peace & Justice League, Oxfam UNH, Waysmeet Center, Organic Garden Club, and Student Environmental Action Coalition! We look forward to all that lies in the coming years in our efforts to place food at the forefront at UNH.

here are a few attachments that you should definitely check out:

1st Annual New Hampshire Symposium program featuring speakers and special thanks (word doc)

TheGreenScreen.tv Episode 109 featuring the 1st Annual New Hampshire Food Symposium

UNH Month of Food Citizenship

Center for the Interest of Public Health: Food Day 2011

Saturday, Oct. 15 from 10-2, we headed to Brookford Farm in Rollinsford, NH with the intention to lend our helping hands in the field. This was a wonderful opportunity for UNH students to aid in benefiting the local food economy, as well as recognize how pleasant working on a farm is. We harvested black Spanish and daikon radishes, saving the farm team 40 hours of labor!

Brookford is currently located on the Salmon Falls River in a beautiful section of the Seacoast region.  After months of searching for a new location, they have found their next home in Canterbury, NH! Congratulations to Brookford Farm on their new home

At 7pm on Oct 17 in MUB Theater II, UNHSF will welcome the inspirational Aaron and Mary Brower from Brookford Farm. This young couple has done an amazing job along with their team at Brookford at creating an incredible polyculture that includes dairy, organic fruits and vegetables, grains, beef, and pork, and eggs. They’ll speak about their experience as a young, agriculturally-focused couple leading the charge to establish a true, healthy food identity for all of us who care so much!

After, we’ll watch a screening of The Greenhorns, a documentary film, completed after almost 3 years in production, explores the lives of America’s young farming community – its spirit, practices, and needs. It is the filmmaker’s hope that by broadcasting the stories and voices of these young farmers, we can build the case for those considering a career in agriculture – to embolden them, to entice them, and to recruit them into farming.

The production of The Greenhorns  is part of a grassroots non-profiting working and advocating for agricultural reform, as well as cultivating a network of the young, aspiring farmers.

This is an official Food Day UNH Passport event, so don’t forgot your passports!

Brookford Farm’s 2nd Annual Quarkfest is this weekend on Sunday, Oct. 9 from 10:30am to 6:30pm in Rollinsford, NH. It’s a celebration of real food and local culture with offerings for all ages. There are some UNHSF members interested in volunteering for this wonderful event. Brookford Farm is dear to Slow Food UNH. Mary and Aaron Brower will be coming to UNH to be our guest speakers on Oct. 17 for our Food Day passport event.

http://brookfordfarm.com/events-4/quark-festival/

there is a link to the website with more information!

Cheers!

On Oct. 7 at 9 pm, we will be playing a supporting role for CAB’s ‘The Grind’. We have offered to provide our time to make some bruschetta, biscotti, scones, and cookies, as opposed to them going to the supermarket and buying baked goods. Our focus will be local, fair trade, and/or ecologically sound ingredients. This is a fun opportunity to get into the kitchen together and enjoy an open mic with UNH students.

This increased support and collaboration between student groups is very important in establishing a strong student voice on campus. We’ve done it here at UNH. To students, you can make it happen! To anybody, you can suggest that it happens.

Extensive planning and executing is going into UNH’s recognition and celebration of the very first, national Food Day! This is very excited for everybody in the UNH community who senses any attachment to the food they eat.

Imagine yourself 2 months before the first Earth Day!

Starting with the Dining Service’s Local Harvest on Sept. 21, there will be month-long series of events that are intended to help raise awareness of the positive & negative implications of our modern food system. Through out the month, there will be dozens of opportunities to help you better understand the wide variety of perspectives aimed at food.

Slow Food UNH will be hosting some special guests from Brookford Farm in Rollinsford, NH and a film screening of ‘The Greenhorns,’ which documents the 21st century agricultural revival being led by today’s young American farming community.

A calendar of events will be formulated for everyone who is planning to attend one, two, or more of the activities going on throughout campus. After a month of recognition, there will be a culminating, inaugural celebration on Food Day that will bring all of the different points of view together for a better, overall understanding of where they fit into the big picture.

This is very exciting to us here at Slow Food UNH, as well as all of the other Slow Food on Campus Convivia, the Slow Food USA regional chapters, and Slow Food International!

Thanks to Erin O’Donnell @ The Real Food Challenge for use of the picture!

Calendar of Events for the 2011 Month of Food Citizenship at UNH

This is a special event with partnerships between a variety of community organizations to support the local fishing industry, including Prescott Park Arts Festival, Seacoast Local, Granite State FISH, NH Sea Grant, and many more. The NH Fish & Lobster Festival brings together the community to celebrate, educate, and build connections to the 400-year-old local fishing industry.

A couple of links:

to the official webpage—- http://www.prescottpark.org/fish.cfm

to the video—- http://vimeo.com/27371383