Last week I was at the Seattle Chef’s Collaborative Farmer Fisher Chef Connection. It’s a wonderful event connecting local food producers and buyers, and is certainly the tastiest conference we’ve ever attended! One of the highlights was handling the book signing for the keynote speaker, New Orleans master chef and food activist Poppy Tooker, who founded the local chapter of Slow Foods.

In Poppy’s Crescent City Farmers Market Cookbook, she tells the history of the New Orleans market, beginning from the 1600’s up through the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The book is a remarkable mix of regional recipes, culinary history, and a celebration of the human spirit.

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It’s been a long, hard road back for the Crescent City Farmers Market. Not all of our vendors have been able to return. The original Downtown market at Magazine and Girod streets reopened on Saturday, March 4, 2006. Now, we operate only two weekly markets instead of four, but the sense of community that the market brings to the city is back, stronger than ever. It’s no wonder that we’re known as ‘The Happiest Place in New Orleans.’

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Poppy’s motto is “Eat It To Save It,” which captures her commitment to revive endangered foods that have fallen out of favor or become too expensive to grow, yet carry great cultural value. Two examples she gave were Calas, which originated from Africa, and Creole Cream Cheese, abandoned by large factory producers. Both recipes are featured in the Crescent City Farmers Market Cookbook, which you can order directly from us to support Chef’s Collaborative Seattle.  (Alas!  Our online bookstore is still under construction, but you can order the old fashion way by phone or email.)

One of the great pleasures of being a bookseller is to discover and promote a new writer.  In this debut novel, Seattle author Erica Bauermeister tells a fictional tale of a chef who shares her culinary techniques with a cooking class held on Monday evenings at her restaurant.  Through the sensual and magical power of food, she and her students undergo self-discoveries and transformations.  For fans of Like Water for Chocolate, this is the perfect follow up-but set in the Pacific Northwest!

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Such a small amount of ground spice in the little bag Abuelita had given her. It lay there quietly, unremarkable, the color of wet beach sand. She undid the tie around the top of the bag and swirls of warm gold and licorice dance up to her nose, bringing with them miles of faraway deserts and a dark, starless sky, a longing she could feel in the back of her eyes, her fingertips. Lillian knew, putting the bag back down on the counter, that the spice was more grown-up than she was.

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Last night we were at the Environmental Science Night at Orca K-8 in the Columbia City neighborhood of Seattle. This alternative school has one of the most extensive garden programs in the city, with a fully integrated science curriculum and activities from the garden. Students do buddy reading in the garden, learn about recycling and composting, and 4th/5th graders read Michael Pollan’s Omnivores Dilemma for Kids while 8th graders discuss Food Rules.

This May, the school takes experiential learning beyond the classroom and the garden with a “Sustainable Washington Tour.”  Science teacher Kent Daniels will take his students and parents to travel the state to learn about the development of energy and agriculture by visiting organic farms, a solar energy plant, a waste water facility and other sites. According to Kent, “children can see where our energy and food comes from and where waste goes.”

Anthony Warner, the garden coordinator, believes the key to success is having a vision, and ensuring that there is parental and community involvement. “Think big,” he said, “so the program can engage other community organizations and stakeholders.”

We look forward to taking this advice to the Washington Science Teacher Association conference on March 12-14, where we will be a book vendor, and hope to create partnerships to promote food literacy through school garden programs.

One of our family’s favorite picture books and food to eat, Bee-bim Bop! is also a favorite read-along book of children’s librarians from Seattle to New York (NY Public Library’s 2005 Best Book List). Both the rhythmic prose and the kinetic illustrations capture that frenzy when a child is so, so hungry for her stand-by meal of bee-bim bop.

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Hurry, Mama, hurry                                                                                                    Gotta shop shop shop!                                                                                         Hungry, hungry, hungry                                                                                               For some BEE-BIM BOP!

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Not to worry if your child is not familiar with the popular Korean dish, as they’ll love chanting “bee-bim bop!” along with you.  And we’ve heard that they’ll even want to eat this delicious rice and mostly vegetable dish, which you can make following the recipe that Newbery winner Linda Sue Park includes at the end.