With a cup of initiative, a dollop of ingenuity and a few pinches of helpful friends, you have the recipe for Elizabeth Bares new countywide initiative to create “Edible Grace.”
“Edible Grace has the intention of putting fresh, locally grown vegetables and local pasture raised meats into food pantries. Edible Grace would also like to organize cooking classes for food pantry customers as well at the community at large,” said Bares, founder of Edible Grace and co-founder for the Corn Moon Dinner.
The first Corn Moon Dinner will be held on August 21 from 6-9 p.m at the Sojourner Farm in Olean, N.Y. The eclectic five-course meal costs $75 per person. The dinner will feature certified naturally grown foods from right here in Cattaraugus County, all grown by local farmers.
The Corn Moon Dinner gets its name from the full moon in August called “Corn Moon” by Native Americans. “Even though there may not be a full moon the night of the dinner, it is still a really cool name,” Bares said.
The fundraising dinner will have foods from the Canticle Farm, Leonard Oaks Estate Winery, Maple Ridge Bison Ranch, Native Offerings Farm, LLC and as mentioned before, the Sojourner Farm.
Bares describes the meal as “Mother Nature dependent.” “We can’t really say what we are going to do because if tomatoes don’t come in this year then we can’t do any tomatoes,” Bares said. “It depends on how the summer goes. If it goes well we will plan nice dishes that highlight what came in … it really depends on what is ripening at that time.”
Bares graduated from the Culinary Institute of America with her associate in occupational studies degree in culinary arts in 1997. Afterwards she worked for a year as a private chef for a family. Garrett Taylor, co-founder of the Corn Moon Dinner, is a Sous chef at Three Sisters Café at the Seneca Allegany Casino. Before, Chef Taylor worked in kitchens throughout Ithaca and Allegany, N.Y.
Being married to a dairy farmer, Bares has a first-hand look at how important homegrown materials are to a family and to the local economy. “Edible grace is trying to bring the food system back down to a local level … (and put) nice, fresh, locally grown, nutritious, healthy food into the hands of low income families.”
Bares also is in a competition celebrating women who are motivated to make a difference in their community. For making it this far in the competition, Bares will be among those featured in a photo collection taken by Annie Leibovitz. The winner will receive $5,000. The winner is yet to be announced.
The other goal of Edible Grace is to help people realize that locally grown food is available for everyone, not just wealthy. “(Edible Grace wants to) educate people that you don’t always necessarily have to always go into the grocery store, you don’t have to buy the conventional food, there are places that you can get really good, nutritious food that’s literally right down the road,” Bares said. “And it’s available to everyone. You don’t have to be super wealthy or educated to have it – it’s there for the taking.”
Megan Taylor, a planner for the Corn Moon Dinner and wife of Chef Taylor, believes that the dinner will just be the start of the education Edible Grace hopes to achieve. “We forget about our farmers, about our local agricultural economy. If we could start supporting that, supporting more people getting involved, more access to people, we’ll feel like we succeeded … (buying locally grown food) makes it so personalized and you can see the ripple effect it makes on the community you live in.”
The Corn Moon Dinner will take place outside where people can have good food, good company and find out a little more about the foods growing in the farms of Cattaraugus County. As of last Thursday there were 88 seats left, but they are going fast
“Corn Moon Dinner will help to fund Edible Grace along with small sponsorships from NOFA-NY and NYSAWG,” Bares said. I hope, with the organization of Edible Grace, fresh locally grown and raised food will be available to ALL Cattaraugus County residents in the coming years. The success of Edible Grace this year depends on the success of Corn Moon Dinner. If Corn Moon Dinner sells all the reservations then Edible Grace has will have a very strong start.”
To reserve your seat at the Corn Moon Dinner or find out more information, call Bares at 716-307-1494 or Taylor at 716-373-0253. People can also visit www.cornmoondinner.org or check out Corn Moon Dinner’s Facebook page.
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