Smörgåsbord of Food and Fun!

While spending lots of time during Spring Break on campus, or venturing to the Elbow Room for a pineapple BBQ burger, Chatham hosted a really exciting foods event. Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, the first annual 2010 Local Food Showcase included a reciprocal turnout of growers and buyers.

Anderson Dining Hall became a showcase center filled with unfamiliar faces from Friendship Farms, Penn's Corner Farm Alliance, Turner Dairy Farms as well as familiar faces of Parkhurst Dining Services, Dr. Julier and Dr. Wardi. As we navigated through the interesting and delicious exhibits we had the opportunity to taste raw milk, hummus, dip mixes, jams, as well as scrumptious pastries from Enrico's biscotti company.

Friendship Farms was an interesting guest to consider in terms of a local producer and seller. They have a unique bakery and farm story located in the Laurel Highlands of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Their baked goods are focused on hearth baken breads, scones, muffins, granola, and other pastries made from unbleached flour and organic flours and grains. The store, and they brought these products to the showcase, includes homemade jam, sauces, salsas and canned products grown and processed at the farm.

They also sell "all-natural" angus beef produced from cattle born and raised on Friendship Farms. The cattle are specifically bred for quality traits and are carefully nurtured as they are rotated around the farm pastures to consume a combination of alfalfa, clover and orchard grass. They are never treated with hormones or gived articially derived feeds.

Finally, Friendship Farms has a native plant nursery that specializes in containerized trees, shrubs, grasses and wildflowers native to Wester Pennsylvania. This particular business venture is a positive model for local production and consumption, as Friendship Farms is fully aware what is in their products because they control the means of production. This showcase was yet another enlightening food experience that demonstrated the relative financial ease and lifestyle change of considering local.