Homegrown Thanksgiving

Farm Aid was wonderfully successful here in NYC this year. We were very excited to be there, sharing the Meatrix and Sustainable Table with concert-goers. One of my favorite parts of the day was eating- Farm Aid made sure that the food was fresh, local, organic and/or from family farms. There were lines for food all day, so I know for a fact that changing from the usual fast food didn’t scare anyone off.

Farm Aid is now trying to get your local, sustainable Thanksgiving plans. They are even willing to pay! Farm Aid is having a contest and the judges (one of the judges is our very own Diane Hatz!) will pick their top 4 favorites who will win a $100 gift certificate from Whole Foods Market- courtesy of their Local Producer Loan Program (which I happen to mention yesterday).

What you need to do is plan a local, organic, family farmed meal, cook it, serve it, take pictures and send in the info to memberservices@farmaid.org by November 26th, 2007. Farm Aid would love to get the whole story; recipes, pictures, comments from your family… let the judges know what a success it was! Don’t forget to share with your guests that they are eating a very special sustainable meal.

And if you need inspiration, Anna Lappe and Bryant Terry (food activists and co-authors) have come up with a great organic, seasonal, responsibly grown whole food menu especially for Thanksgiving. The article was in Domino magazine, and suggests the Eat Well Guide as a good resource to find a sustainable bird for your table. You could even use the Eat Well Guide to find a restaurant to cook you a yummy sustainable meal for Thanksgiving, if that is more your speed.