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CFAC Fundraiser at Biga Pizza Sunday, April 19. Doors open at 6:00. Come support the Community Food & Agriculture Coalition, while eating Missoula's best pizza and salads at Biga Pizza (241 W. Main St.). All for just $10. Half of the funds raised will go towards CFAC's work in re-building a local food system in which farmers and ranchers can make a decent living on the land, and families of all income levels can access fresh, affordable food. Of course, you are more than welcome to donate more towards our important work, and to eat more often at Biga--which features lots of local ingredients throughout the year--to express your appreciation for their community support. For now, come eat amazing grub at a screaming deal, and go home feeling good about taking part in a larger effort to secure a viable, just, and sustainable food system.
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********* First Annual Membership Meeting Sunday, April 19th * 4:00-5:30pm Downtown Dance Collective 121 W. Main, Missoula The Community Food and Agiculture Coalition of Missoula County invites all members to join us for our first annual membership meeting. Learn more about CFAC's work and how to get involved! Invite any friends, family or colleagues who may be interested in CFAC's activities. Sunday, April 19, 4-5:30pm followed by our Spring Fundraiser event at Biga Pizza! Join us for "all-you-can-eat" pizza and salad for just $10! Doors open for CFAC members at 5:30, then 6:00 for the general public. Biga Pizza is located at 241 W. Main Street. |
CLICK HERE FOR A DOWNLOADABLE PDF OF THE SCHEDULE:
Reel to Real Food Film Festival (pdf)
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2008
Reel to Real Food Film Festival
Feast Your Eyes ♦ Feed Your Mind ♦ Nourish Your Soul
Announcing the first annual Reel to Real Food Film Festival on
February 22-24, 2008
at the Roxy and Crystal theaters.
The film festival will feature three films as well as a family-friendly matinee of shorts on Saturday, February 23. Come to learn more about our local food and agriculture system, see how Missoula compares with other places around the country, and connect with others interested in good food!
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LOCAL FOOD FEATURED AT DOWNTOWN RESTAURANTS DURING GALLERY WALK
Buy Fresh Buy Local restaurants celebrate local food on their dinner menus
Several downtown restaurants and area farmers are joining together to bring local food to Missoula. In conjunction with the First Friday gallery walk, these restaurants will feature locally grown food on their dinner menu.
“It seems a perfect fit to combine local food with the gallery walk featuring local artists. Local food, local art,” explained Martha Buser, co-owner of the Catalyst Café. “I like to support farmers from western Montana whenever I can, and am excited to make this an official monthly event!”
Every First Friday, beginning May 4th, during regular dinner hours, folks can treat their family and friends to a Montana grown meal at one of these participating restaurants: Biga Pizza, The Catalyst, Pearl Café, The Red Bird, Finn & Porter, and 515 Restaurant. Additional restaurants will join the collaborative as the season progresses.
“Missoula has a rich heritage of eating from our own foodshed, and this project brings us back to the concept of the Garden City,” said Bonnie Buckingham, facilitator of the Community Food and Agriculture Coalition. “By creating stronger connections between the farmer or rancher and the consumer, we can ensure that our agricultural heritage continues. This project helps reconnect people to their food.”
The Community Food and Agriculture Coalition works to secure long-term solutions to the issues of our local food and farming system, and seeks to address community food needs in a comprehensive and creative way. Members of CFAC represent diverse aspects of the food system, from the farm to the fork.
The Buy Fresh Buy Local Restaurant project aims to reintroduce Missoulians to their food – the seed it grows from, the farmers and ranchers that produce it, the land that cradles it, and the routes that take if from field to table.
“There continues to be an increased interest in eating locally and seasonally, and this project helps satisfy that craving,” said CFAC member, Jon Clarenbach of Le Petit Outre. “When we use local food in our menus, we preserve farms and ranches so that our kids and grandkids will have that same opportunity.”
Some of the specific advantages of eating locally:
- Connections grow between producers and consumers
- Energy costs are reduced
- Money circulates within the local economy
- Food is of higher quality with fewer additives, hormones or pesticides
- People are better informed about how their food is grown
- Farmland is preserved and used both now and into the future
Summit on Food and Ag Yields Hope
by Neva Hassanein
During the Governor’s Summit on Food and Agriculture held in Helena on March 22 & 23, Bruce Smith, a jovial and innovative extension agent from Glendive, quipped, “If we produce some of the best food in the world, why can’t I get any?” The question underscores the fact that only 10% of the food Montanans eat is actually grown here. Most of what Montana’s farmers and ranchers produce on some 60 million acres leaves our state. And with those shipments, farmers lose much of the value associated with their labor, while processors and other intermediaries reap the profits.
Smith’s question also highlights the fact that about 290,000 of the people who live here often “can’t get any” because they can’t make ends meet. Most of the hungry are working poor who cannot afford the rising costs of living in a state that ranks 45th in terms of median income.
These are just some of the issues that 280 citizens from across Montana grappled with during those two days. People came together from across the state to learn about the problems and to generate ideas for change. Many of us were struck by the diversity of folks who showed up – from school food service directors to farmers to economic development specialists to restaurant owners and more. The purpose of the summit was to explore opportunities for improving the food system infrastructure (e.g., through in-state processing), to name the barriers faced by low-income people in accessing nutrition, and to identify the changes needed to increase food security and ensure a sustainable and more locally-oriented food system.
A diverse array of speakers talked about everything from how the global food system has come to resemble a “runaway train,” to how a Boys and Girls Club on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation is filling children’s bellies as well as nourishing their sense of belonging and competence through gardening and other strategies. We also learned about how schools, universities, and other public institutions can provide new local markets for our agricultural producers and processors.
But this was not a passive conference. People engaged fully in work groups that generated recommendations for the Governor regarding what should be done to improve the health of our food system. The ten topical work groups included farm viability; food processing; food distribution; food security; institutional markets; education and curricula; consumer education; marketing; development of cooperatives; and policy. The Summit steering committee is reviewing the lists of ideas generated, and will be developing a full report to send to the Governor soon.
One of the major outcomes will likely be the formation of a state Food, Agriculture and Nutrition Council with the mission of promoting the development of a sustainable, equitable Montana-based food system that feeds all Montanans. The thought is that the Council will lead the charge, and see that the other ideas generated are developed further and implemented.
I left the summit with a sense that many positive efforts are already underway and that there is much hope on the horizon. As Joel Clairmont of the Montana Department of Agriculture said, “We have to take action ourselves.” Indeed.
To stay in touch with the process, subscribe to Grow Montana’s Food and Ag list serve by emailing Crissie McMullan at crissiemc@yahoo.com or visit: http://www.foodandag.mt.gov/
Additional articles on the Governor's Summit can be found at NewWest E-News in the Spoon and Spade Column by Kisha Lewellyn Schlegel:
Part One: Notes from the MT Governor's Summit
Part Two: Food and Ag Summit: Solutions to Healing an Ailing Food System
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Harvest Fest
Each Fall, CFAC organizes a Harvest Festival in Caras Park: A Celebration of Local Food, Farming and Community. Click below to view events.
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Past Events hosted by CFAC:
Sustainable Table presents:
The Eat Well Guided Tour of America
Featuring pies. Lots of pies.
Coming to Missoula, August 14th-16th!
The Eat Well Guided Tour of America, organized by Sustainable Table, is taking the scenic (and delicious) route to this year's Farm Aid Concert at Randall's Island in New York City on September 9. They will cross the country in search of the best pie ever, stopping along the way to check out some of the nation's most sustainable farms and restaurants. The tour kicked off in West Hollywood on August 2 and will make its way up the west coast stopping in towns through California, Oregon and Washington before making their way to Missoula.
Sustainable Table celebrates the sustainable food movement, educates consumers on food related issues and works to build community through food. Every day, more and more consumers are shopping smarter, eating healthier, and enjoying an abundance of fresh, locally-grown products. Sustainable Table was created to celebrate this fast-growing, dynamic movement, to educate consumers on food-related issues, and to help build community through food.
Today’s dominant form of agriculture relies on synthetic fertilizers and chemical pesticides, large amounts of water, major transportation systems and factory-style practices for raising livestock and crops. Artificial hormones in milk, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, mad cow disease, and large-scale outbreaks of potentially deadly e.coli are all associated with this industrial form of food production.
Sustainable agriculture involves food production methods that are healthy, do not harm the environment, respect workers, are humane to animals, provide fair wages to farmers, and support farming communities. But rather than focus on the problems, Sustainable Table promotes the positive shift toward local, small-scale sustainable farming.
On Tuesday afternoon, August 14, the Eat Well Guided Tour of America bus will arrive in Missoula from Liberty Lake, WA. On Tuesday evening Chef Eric Stenberg, Chairman of the national Chefs Collaborative (and Executive Chef at The Resort at Paws Up) along with Missoula area chefs, will host a “Shop with the Chef” event at the Tuesday evening Missoula Farmer’s Market. Participants will meet with the chefs before the opening of the market, receive a recipe generated by each chef, and shop for local produce to prepare the dish. Ideally those involved will bring their item to a potluck on Wednesday (more information below.) RSVP’s requested.
Midday on Wednesday, August 15, the Tour will be escorted on a visit through the University of Montana’s Farm to College Program, hosted in conjunction with Grow Montana. That evening from 4pm-7pm local chefs, along with Missoula’s Community Food and Agriculture Coalition (CFAC) will host a potluck, barbeque and ranch tour at Jim Cusker’s ranch at 300 Cote Lane, Missoula. Side dishes prepared by Missoula’s finest home cooks from local foods will be in the spotlight, as well as local meat, pies, bread and beverages. Jim will give a brief talk about the importance of agricultural land in Missoula and how his family ranch of over 70 years has been placed in a conservation easement. This event is free and open to the public. RSVP’s requested.
Thursday evening at 6pm, the Tour will attend the annual Summermoon Farm Party. Come to the PEAS Farm to dance, eat and celebrate community with your friends and neighbors. Tickets are $15 and kids under 10 are free. This event is hosted by Garden City Harvest (GCH) - a collaborative effort working to provide high quality produce to Missoulians in need while educating the Missoula community and University of Montana students about sustainable food systems and agriculture.
For more information or to RSVP, please contact: Kristen Lee-Charlson hmnmissoula@gmail.com or call: 406.541.3999
Book event and reception featuring internationally known chef and author Ann Cooper
Fact & Fiction Bookstore, 220 North Higgins, Missoula, MT
Friday, November 10, 2006, 6:00 – 7:30 pm
Chef Ann Cooper is the director of nutrition services for the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD). She is at the forefront of the movement to transform the National School Lunch Program into one that places greater emphasis on the health of students through lunch menus that emphasize regional, organic, fresh foods, as well as through nutritional education that builds a connection between personal health and where our food comes from.
Ann Cooper’s culinary experience extends well beyond the school lunch room. She has held positions as the executive chef of the Putney Inn in Vermont, the executive chef and director of wellness and nutrition at The Ross School in East Hampton, NY, and the past president of The American Culinary Federation of Central Vermont. She is a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America, and the former president and current board member for Women's Chefs and Restaurateurs. She also sat on the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Organic Standards Board and Chefs Collaborative.
Her newest book, Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children (Harper Collins, Sept. 2006), is overflowing with strategies for parents and school administrators to become engaged with issues around school food - from public policy to corporate interest. Cooper’s work was recently featured in the September 4th, 2006 issue of The New Yorker magazine, in an article entitled “The Lunchroom Rebellion,” by Burkhard Bilger. She has also authored: "In Mother's Kitchen: Celebrated Women Chefs Share Beloved Family Recipes" (2005); "Bitter Harvest: A Chef's Perspective on the Hidden Dangers in the Foods We Eat and What You Can do About It" (2000), a glimpse into food safety and the dangers of every day meals; and "A Woman's Place is in the Kitchen: The Evolution of Women Chefs" (1998).
For more information on Ann, see her website: http://www.lunchlessons.org/g
