Renewing America's Food Traditions is an alliance of organizations that joined together to safeguard foods currently at risk in the landscape, and bring a greater diversity of these back to our tables. RAFT will expand its work in the Great Lakes region over the next couple years, and as part of that effort, RAFT founder Gary Nabhan will visit Northern Michigan in October to meet with local farmers, botanists, historians, fishers, chefs and others.
Earlier this year, the RAFT Alliance published Renewing America's Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent's Most Endangered Foods. Edited by Nabhan and published by Chelsea Green Publishing, the book beautifully profiles a selection of culinary treasures unique to the North American continent. From the California Mission Olive to the Ossaba Island Hog from Georgia's barrier islands, the book tells the stories of these foods, along with photos and recipes for each.
Nabhan will pay a visit to Horizon Books on October 10 for a reading and book signing. He'll be joined by local author and bioregionalist Stephanie Mills. See the box to the side for more information about the event, which kicks off with a tasting of local foods.
When Gary Nabhan visited northern Michigan earlier this month to lead a group of locals in identifying traditional foods at risk, I was stumped. The cherries and whitefish that first come to mind when thinking of our typical Up North menus are still prevalent. And the foods I remember from childhood are more of the Midwestern casserole variety; not a specific potato, or chicken or mushroom.
Photos from last week's book signing with Stephanie Mills and Gary Nabhan.
Last Friday was the Local Foods Tasting I helped to organize, and I just wanted to acknowledge the talented folks at Cuppa Joe who helped pull it off.
From roasted tomato hornworm larvae, to pit-roasted cactus flowers, Gary Paul Nabhan has sampled his share of foods unfamiliar to most of us in northern Michigan. A renowned ethnobiologist, conservationist, MacArthur "genius grant" recipient and author, Nabhan has traveled the globe, searching out the stories and tastes of many a region's traditional foods. But his efforts aren't about saving these foods for the museum shelves; instead, he aims to get these foods back on our plates to savor and enjoy. "Eat it to save it" sums up the approach. Read on for our interview with Gary and his upcoming visit to northern Michigan. (This piece will also appear in next week's Northern Express.)
If you care about developing a strong local foods economy, or you just like to eat good food, or you want to get inspired and informed listening to two wise voices, including the man dubbed "father of the locavore movement" plan to be at Horizon Books Lower Level on October 10. Enjoy a local foods tasting, followed by a book signing and reading with Gary Nabhan and Stephanie Mills, rounded out by music from Barbara Jordan. What's not to love? Read on for details...
We need your help! The Renewing America's Food Traditions collaborative currently estimates that Michigan may have as many as 50 wild foods and more than 300 historically cultivated foods at risk. Help us identify foods in need of recovery so that we can get them back on our tables!
In this essay, Gary Paul Nabhan, founder of Renewing America's Food Traditions, recounts the birth of a native Michigan apple, the Shiawassee Beauty. In so doing, he urges us not only to get reacquainted with historic fruits that might be tucked away in an abandoned orchard nearby, but to restore them too. Find out what you can do!
Please review the draft list, Foods Potentially at Risk in Michigan, as part of the Great Lakes Foodshed (PDF), and help identify foods in need of recovery. (See Calling All Food Detectives for details.)
RAFT partners invite you and your friends—rural or urban, food enthusiast, farmer, fisher, historian, scientist or educator—to help thoroughly document the history and current status of Northern Michigan's endangered foods, and propose other foods for listing. Consider the following questions, then read more about what you can do.