This Week's Food

Our good friends at Clark Farm were highlighted this week is an amazing article by Nancy Shohet West in this Sunday's Boston Globe. Andrew Rodgers, Head Farmer at Clark Farm, speaks with equal parts eloquence and passion about global supply chain disruption and the importance of buying local:

“A geopolitical event can disrupt the entire world’s food supply,” Rodgers said. “When Russia invades Ukraine, it results in Brazil and Colombia running short on fertilizer. Less fertilizer means there won’t be as much grain to feed livestock, who in turn won’t weigh as much, and meat prices then go up. The ripple effect is amazing.”

It's Green Garlic season, which always sends a little frisson of joy up my spine. The season is woefully short so we are pleased as punch to be tucking it into the Massachusetts shares this week.

We have a new kid on the Pick of the Week Block!  It's The Vegetarian Salad of the Week. A 32oz container packed with veggies, flavor, and love from our good friends at Forge Baking Co.

There is a moment every Spring where the availability lists from farmer's start to brighten up a bit. We see the appearance of arugula, bok choy, bunched items and the true harbinger of Spring, Fiddleheads. For these Spring delicacies Shannon's enthusiasm was already through the roof, sending the team a deluge of exuberant texts to see if our excitement could rival her own (impossible).

Just a reminder that today in Portland at Oxbow’s Earth Day 2022 , we’ll be helping to fundraise for Farms for Food Equity. This non-profit, founded by Penny Jordan of Jordan’s Farm in Cape Elizabeth, is tackling food waste and hunger, issues at the core of what drives Family Dinner. If you're in the area, come on down Joe and I would love to buy you a beer!

Family Dinner is participating in two very exciting events in the coming weeks in Portland, Maine with some amazing partners coming together for great causes. At both events, we’ll be hanging out and drinking beers. Come say hey. We’d love to buy you a round!

This past week, Joe and I (Shannon) caught up with some of our favorite fun-guys and gals to talk about MUSHROOMS! If you were curious, this newsletter will be flush with mycelium puns! (Because of course it will be!)

This week we are bringing jam from our friend Kelby at Olde Haven Farm into the Whole and Double Shares in Massachusetts. Not to play favorites but the folks in Maine got it last week, one week ahead. (We love you all equally, we promise.)

These jams are wonderfully delicious. I had an episode a few weeks back where I sat down on a Sunday morning with a fresh loaf of bread from A&J King, a stick of butter and a jar of Kelby's Strawberry Basil jam. The results were neither pretty nor something I'm particularly proud of, but it was really tasty. I found jam in my hair hours later.  I say give it a go. 

Earlier this year, the state of ME identified over 700 sites it would investigate for elevated levels of PFAS. This group of chemicals, great at making things fire/grease/stain resistant, has been used for decades in myriad applications from ski wax to non-stick pans. They’re also very, very slow to break down, earning them the name “forever chemicals”, and research is showing that, at elevated levels, they can cause serious health issues.

Meet Holly Aker, restauranteur, good friend, fierce local food advocate, Connaisseur of all things Fromage and the founding force of Local Goods Gathered, the source of this week's cheeses in the shares and the Cheese of the Week. Feta! Cheese Curds!  Yes, please.

When Family Dinner was getting started back in 2017, we worked out of Foundation Kitchen, a shared culinary space in Somerville, MA. We would gather on Saturday, pack shares and then drink beers in the parking lot, watching a veritable circus of Somerville locals parade by. 

In the midst of the horror unfolding in Ukraine, we found ourselves desperate for something to latch our hopes and humanity to. We found it, hope that is, in the smallest glimmer, from Chef Jose Andres and his non-profit World Central Kitchen. Chef Andres, Michelin star chef and the winner of multiple James Beard Awards, started WCK in 2010 to address the humanitarian crisis in Haiti after an earthquake devastated the region.  They are now in Ukraine: 

Who doesn't love a snow day? Thinking back to childhood, snow days always meant hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows and my brother (hi, Hughbie!) and me ending up in some sort of snow/ice fight. We asked some of the team to share their snowy comforts/what they're entertaining themselves with while inside, and here are some of their responses: