The Westport Farmers Market welcomes sustainable food advocate, restaurateur and bestselling author Michel Nischan as our special guest at the Thursday, July 1, regularly scheduled market on Imperial Avenue. Michel will be discussing his latest cookbook, Sustainably Delicious: Making the World a Better Place, One Recipe at a Time, and Nourishing Neighborhoods programs run through his nonprofit Wholesome Wave.
NBC will be interviewing Michel during the market to discuss Wholesome Wave’s efforts to make local, healthy and sustainable foods available to all to air as an evening news expose. Come out and support our hometown hero!
What: Westport Farmers’ Market hosts Michel Nishan and NBC.
When: Thursday, July 1, 2010, 10:00 – 2:00
Where: Imperial Avenue Commuter Parking Lot
Contact: Lori Cochran Dougall: (307)690-1759
Lori Cochran Dougall
Westport Farmers’ Market
Market Manager
(307)690-1759
The perfect cookbook for anyone looking for inspiring ways to eat with the seasons.
Anyone who takes the time to shop and cook from scratch wants to make feel-good choices-but with terms like “locavore,” “organic,” and “sustainable” being tossed around so freely, many are confused about how best to feed their families. In his new book SUSTAINABLY DELICIOUS: Making the World a Better Place, One Recipe at a Time (Rodale Books; April 13 2010; Hardcover; $35.00; 256 pages w/ 75 color photographs), best-selling author, restaurateur, Wholesome Wave Foundation founder, and sustainable food-movement pioneer Michel Nischan, cuts through the confusion and shows readers how to prepare food that is good-in every sense of the word.
“Where there is flavor, there are nutrients, and where there are nutrients, there is health,” writes Michel Nischan.
Nischan has long been an advocate for embracing the most basic of food rules-use what’s readily available, celebrate variety, respect the land, and eschew waste-to create modern, sophisticated food. The 100 recipes featured in SUSTAINABLY DELICIOUS are a testament to Nischan’s respect for America’s culinary and environmental legacy-each one provides a roadmap for delicious wholesome meals and a lesson in how our food choices impact the world around us.
Drawing upon his Midwestern roots and his family’s tradition of creating humble, satisfying meals from seasonal ingredients, the two-time James Beard Foundation award winner transforms even the simplest food into surprising, flavorful feasts: Pork Loin Roast with Dried Fruits and Apple Cider; French Toast with Brown Sugar Bananas; Nantucket Scallop Porridge with Apples and Chestnuts and Homegrown Fried Chicken.
Nischan also includes stories about the farmers, chefs, and others working on the frontlines to safeguard our food systems for future generations. With SUSTAINABLY DELICIOUS, Nischan has created a new kind of cookbook-one that goes beyond local and beyond organic, proving that eating sustainably is not only figuring out what tastes good, but what is good-for the environment, for animals, for farm workers, and for our tables.
Additional Info:
Michel Nischan is the best-selling author of Taste: Pure and Simple and with Paul Newman cofounder of Dressing Room: A Homegrown Restaurant, located at the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut. As President and CEO of Wholesome Wave, he catalyzes fundamental change in the nation’s food system. Wholesome Wave’s signature “Nourishing Neighborhoods” Double Value Coupon Program doubles the value of food stamp dollars via farm-to-community partnerships. Wholesome Wave programs are currently underway in 12 states, the District of Columbia and in more than 60 markets. He lives in Fairfield, Connecticut with his wife, Lori and their five children.
Analiese Paik of the Fairfield Green Food Guide was interviewed by Matt Scott on News Ch. 8′s Good Morning Connecticut Show about green food for Earth Day.
One of the easiest ways to make Earth Day every day is to green your kitchen. Here are some delicious and fun ways to reduce your family’s “foodprint” while eating well.
Buy locally grown food from a farmers’ market and learn to cook with the seasons.
Michel Nischan's latest cookbook is perfect for anyone looking for inspirational ways to cook with the seasons
Best-selling author, restaurateur and Wholesome Wave Foundation founder Michel Nischan’s new cookbook, Sustainably Delicious, presents over 100 recipes for home cooks looking for delicious and nutritious ways to prepare seasonal food that is good for the environment, for animals, for farm workers, and for our tables. Michel advises us to “Eat what’s available in season, celebrate variety, respect the land and eschew waste”. His mission is to show that choosing local and sustainably grown food offers innumerable rewards, including some of the very best flavors Mother Nature has to offer. Who thought a humble parsnip could be this delicious?
Choose locally produced food from specialty or grocery stores.
The Farmer’s Cow milk is humanely-produced in Connecticut by a cooperative of six family-owned dairies and is free of artificial growth hormones (rBST). When you choose this fresh milk you support local farms, lower your carbon footprint by reducing food miles, support the local economy and ensure farmland preservation.
Choose organic where it matters most.
Download the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides or iphone app from Environmental Working Group, familiarize yourself with the worst offenders (the Dirty Dozen), and commit to buying organic instead. Lettuce is a among the worst so choose organic from 2 Guys, a hydroponic greenhouse farm that produces year-round gorgeous vegetables for chefs, retailers and consumers. They are at many area farmers’ markets.
Choose eco-friendly wines.
Parducci Wine Cellars, America’s greenest winery, uses farming practices that result in healthier soil, balanced grapes and higher quality wines. Try their Sustainable White and Paul Dolan Vineyard’s Pinot Noir, made from organic and Biodynamic® grapes grown in certified vineyards.A vineyard that is certified biodynamic meets and typically exceeds the standards and regulations for organic certified farming. Biodynamic agriculture began in the 1920s, predating organic agriculture by 20 years.
Choose organic, fair trade chocolate, coffee and tea.
Kallari single origin, USDA organic, Rainforest Alliance certified chocolate is truly a chocolate lover’s dream and possibly the greenest chocolate available. 100% of the proceeds go to the Kichwa farmers in Ecuadorean Amazon who both grow the cacao and manufacture the chocolate. Available online and at Whole Foods Markets.
Use reusable lunch bags instead of single use plastic lunch and snack bags.
Lunch Skins are a completely food and dishwasher safe alternative to single use plastic lunch and snack bags. Use this coupon code for a 10% discount off your online purchase of Lunch Skins: FGFGED10. They’re a hit with the kids and you’ll love knowing that every time you use them, you’re avoiding throwing away a plastic bag. LunchSkins has an attractive co-branded fundraiser program perfect for any school or organization.
Swear off bottled water.
Plastic water bottles are made from petroleum and are designed to be used once, resulting in a product that is thousands of times more expensive than tap water and no safer, according to a report by Food & Water Watch. Most of these bottles wind up in landfills where they take hundreds of years to break down and can leach harmful chemicals into the ground. Carry a stainless steel thermos instead. I love this wide mouthed one from Thermos that lets you guzzle the water and keeps the water cold even in blistering heat.
On Friday, April 23, Audubon Greenwich is pleased to host a very special screen of “Tapped“ an unflinching, award-winning documentary about the bottled water business. As a special bonus, Stephanie Soechtig (the Director) and Sarah Olson (the Producer) will be there to field questions from the audience.Reception at 7:00 pm / Movie at 8:00 pm. There will be a bottle exchange during the reception so bring an empty plastic water bottle (… hopefully your last) and get a brand-new steel water bottle from the film’s producers (while supplies last) Click here to RSVP.
Grow at least some of your own food.
Buy a potted herb or vegetable plants to start an edible container garden and invite your children to join in the care and harvesting. The one show here is from Moorefield Herb Garden, a vendor at the Fairfield farmers’ market at the Fairfield Theater Company. One easy and inexpensive way to grow what you love is to buy organic vegetable bouquets from Two Guys from Woodbridge at a local farmers’ market and give them a second life. After removing the edible portion of the vegetable, plant the root ball in a raised bed or container where it will produce a second harvest.
Choose sustainable seafood.
Download the Sustainable Seafood Guide or iphone app from Seafood Watch and commit to limiting your consumption to sustainable seafood choices under the Best Choices and Good Alternatives categories. You call learn all about sustainable seafood in a fabulous new exhibit called Go Fish! at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk. Pick up one of Seafood Watch’s pocket guides to take home and don’t miss the movie in the sustainable seafood theater, sustainable seafood “cafe”, and the tank of LI fish including cod, striped bass, Atlantic salmon and wolfish. It’s perfect for adults and children.
Michel Nischan's latest cookbook is perfect for anyone looking for simple yet inspirational ways to cook with local, seasonal ingredients.
Have you seen the beautiful spring parsnips at the farmers’ markets? I bought some last Saturday from Riverbank Farm at the Fairfield Indoor Winter Farmers’ Market (it runs through May 13) and have been thinking about making parsnip puree after scoring hits with pureed butternut squash from my winter CSA.
But then chef/author Michel Nischan’s beautiful and timely new cookbook, Sustainably Delicious, arrived in the mail. After a quick look I knew those parsnips were destined for soup.
Michel’s latest cookbook is dedicated to sustainable cuisine – food that’s sourced locally, produced sustainably, and eaten in season. That just the kind of food we should all endeavor to eat as much as possible.
Split the parsnips lengthwise and roast until lightly caramelized and tender.
Sustainably Delicious contains a recipe for parsnip soup that is so simple that I chose to add it to an already planned dinner menu without concern that it would throw off my schedule. All that’s required to make this soup is parsnips, yogurt, sour cream and tarragon plus a few basic cooking skills and utensils. Bet you thought you needed vegetable or chicken stock!
Oven roasted parsnips are sweet, creamy and packed with flavor.
Oven roasting parsnips converts them into creamy, sweet and slightly caramelized beauties that bear no resemblance to their raw selves. Michel recommends cutting up and simmering half the roasted parsnips briefly in water before pureeing the mixture to form the soup base, then dicing and adding the remaining half before finishing with yogurt, sour cream and tarragon.The recipe worked beautifully and I was amazed at how little salt and pepper I had to add to get it just right.
Spring Parsnip Soup, a simple yet extremely flavorful dish from Sustainably Delicious.
I served the parsnip soup as a first course to allow it to take center stage and make the meal into something a bit more special. The soup drew rave reviews: “This is so sweet; did you add sugar?” “This is awesome!” “This is a taste of the promise of spring.” Oh my, I think I’ll have to make this again soon. It’s a keeper. Happy eaters are all the inspiration I need to try out a few more recipes, so look for additional “Cooking with Michel” posts soon.
Sustainably Delicious goes on sale April 13. Michel will be at a book signing on April 12 in NYC at Borders at 7pm at the Time Warner Building and at Fresh on Broadway and 18th street on April 22, Earth Day, from noon to 4:00pm. Click here for a complete event listing.
About Michel Nischan:
Michel Nischan is a well-known pioneer in the local-sustainable food movement and award-winning author of two previous cookbooks that share his passion for cooking with seasonal foods for maximum flavor, nutrition, and enjoyment. Michel co-founded The Dressing Room: A Homegrown Restaurant with Paul Newman at the Westport Country Playhouse, and is the Founder, President & CEO of Wholesome Wave Foundation, a national non-profit organization whose mission is to make locally-grown, healthy and sustainable foods available to all.
Last year I had the privilege of accompanying Mercy Learning center students on a field trip to one of the mobile farms stands Wholesome Wave established in Bridgeport as part of their “Nourishing Neighborhoods” Double Value Coupon Program. Wholesome Wave programs are currently underway in 12 states, the District of Columbia and in more than 80 markets. Miami recently established the State of Florida’s first urban farmer’s market, Roots in the City Farmers Market, thanks to Wholesome Wave Foundation and local partners,and a dedication ceremony is planned for April 7.
