Dinner supports regional food system
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There's a first time for everything, and for the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture this spring, it's a new fundraiser.
The Fresh Local Fun Raiser will be held at 6:30 p.m. June 18 at Boyd & Blair Vodka, 1101 William Flinn Highway, Shaler.
The evening will include cocktails made from Boyd & Blair potato vodka (Local Basil Strawberry Tonics, Appletinis and Ice Picks with Honey Sticks), as well as hors d'oeuvres, desserts and coffee from local- and free-trade supporters Six Penn Kitchen, Enrico Biscotti Co. and Building New Hope.
It benefits PASA's "efforts to build vibrant regional food systems," an issue in which interest is growing, even as PASA does, says Greg Boulos, western regional director.
With more than 5,000 members, PASA has become fecund, springing from a 1992 conference into outreach and support programs that link farmers to customers, customers to farmers, and customers to customers in the effort to bring sustainable agriculture from "field to fork and in some instances, all the way through the digestive system," Mr. Boulos says.
The June 18 dinner specifically will support PASA's Buy Fresh, Buy Local and Good Food Neighborhood programs. If you patronize farm markets, stores or restaurants that use local products, you've seen the bright-blue-and-orange, strawberry-festooned logo for the first program. On PASA's Web site, pasafarming.org, click on the logo to find businesses that live the local message.
The newer Good Food Neighborhood program links patrons of local food to each other in an effort "to connect communities together around good food," says Mr. Boulos.
Examples? "Coordinating a potluck dinner, being able to exchange recipes from local farmers markets."
The neighbors are those people who patronize farm markets or local-food supporters who are seeking or sharing information about those sources.
A yearly membership of $30 links participants to seasonal product updates, the Eaters Digest monthly e-newsletter, offers and rewards, and "insider info" on tastings, farm tours and other local food events, according to PASA's Web site.
It all feeds into increasing awareness of the benefits of locally produced food, says Mr. Boulos. "We're very excited about the coming of the local food revolution. People everywhere, that's what they talk about. They're paying attention to their diet, where it comes from, how it's been grown for them."
Tickets for the June 18 dinner -- which joins PASA's annual fall harvest celebration dinner as a fundraiser -- are $50, $40 for PASA members.
Tickets: pasafarming.net/west; 412-697-0411.
First Published June 11, 2009 12:00 am
