This Week's Food

The Next Generation

A few weeks ago we received a really wonderful email from a local high school student Alex Lo, pictured. Alex is sixteen and had just attended a talk we gave to a cohort at a MA HOBY event about Family Dinner and our mission to use data and technology to shorten the local food supply chain and eliminate waste in the system.

Posted on June 18, 2021

Erin Baumgartner

Something New in the Mix...

Working with other small local businesses is one of the highlights of our work. This week we are excited to team up with Carolyn's Farm Kitchen to bring her delicious pancake mix into your homes to level up your breakfast. Is there anything better than sitting in front of a giant pile of pancakes? (Am I the only one who will eat them cold, hours later? Maybe.)

Posted on June 11, 2021

Erin Baumgartner

A Love Letter...

It seems like eons ago that this photo was taken at our beloved old space at Foundation Kitchen. Tim and I were bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and pleased as punch to be delivering a whopping 30 shares a week. We have grown quite a bit since then, moved into our own kitchen space and, thanks to you all, grown to doing almost 700 deliveries a week. With that growth we are also honing our processes to make them greener and more sustainable, while continuing to bring you the best food we can find! This week Shannon, the team, and I wanted to highlight some of those efforts.

Posted on June 04, 2021

Erin Baumgartner

Ready for our Close Up!

This week we were lucky to partner with the folks at Urban Grape to be a part of their supper club. We packed bags of fresh pasta, burrata, baguettes and more for them to pair with wine and send off to their customers at their beautiful wine store in downtown Boston. From their site: "Urban Grape is a Black-owned and woman-owned small business dedicated to building community through beverage."

Posted on May 28, 2021

Erin Baumgartner

Family Dinner Book Club

We wanted to share a few of these things with you, suggestions from the staff. It's sort of like a book club, only it's not just books, you don't have to see anyone or leave your house and you can still drink all the wine you like while enjoying them.

Posted on May 21, 2021

Erin Baumgartner

Local Legend

At Family Dinner we love the chance to reach beyond our network of local growers, bakers and producers to bring you new and exciting items into the shares. This week we knocked on the door of Chef Jody Adams; James Beard Award Winner, Winner of Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America, and food access advocate with the mostest.

Posted on May 14, 2021

Shannon Largey

Survey Says!!!

First, THANK YOU to all of you who took the time to fill out the survey a few weeks ago. We know that time is a precious commodity and we appreciate your willingness to share your thoughts with us. We have hungrily consumed every nugget of information and suggestion. Shannon has compiled a list of the Greatest Hits topics along with some additional bits of background from our side, below.

Posted on May 07, 2021

Shannon Largey

Funky Fiddles.

Often, when less well-known veggies come through the seasonal mix, we can only include them in the Double Shares given that they are very limited in quantity. This week Shannon knew it was Fiddlehead season and was determined to get them for everyone. She tracked down Fiddleheads with the ferocity of Indiana Jones seeking the Holy Grail in the Last Crusade and we hope you love them. (Can someone please tell the Millennials in the room who Harrison Ford is?)

Posted on April 30, 2021

Shannon Largey

Non-Local Love.

Although we are adding some non-local items, we remain a business that celebrates all of the beautiful foods created in our local community. While rolling out these non-local items, we wanted to share a bit more about why we selected them and how we are sourcing them. Shannon, our Operations Manager and Veggie Sourcer extraordinaire, tells the story of these selections. - Erin

Posted on April 30, 2021

Erin Baumgartner

Spud Buds

I love it when sweet potatoes come into the share. They're bright, versatile and really, really patient. These guys can hang out on my counter for weeks until my lazy carcass gets around to figuring out what to do with them. I don't know what it is about sweet taters but I really like to let them languish before I make up my damn mind.

And why the trepidation? Sweet potatoes are incredible flexible and fantastic for your weekly meal prep. Roast or mash them and top 'em with a runny egg for breakfast, throw in a salad for some substance or treat 'em like a taco and top with melted cheese, ground beef and salsa.

Posted on April 23, 2021

Erin Baumgartner

Should I Stay......

This liminal period between seasons may have us whining for more consistent temps, but there are also reasons for optimism of the culinary variety. Spinach is here and Spring Dug Parsnips have shown up ready to party. (Spring Dug Parsnips spend the winter in the ground, taking a long rest like Superman in the Fortress of Solitude. When you dig them up in the Spring they are well rested and sweet.)

Posted on April 16, 2021

Erin Baumgartner

In the Spotlight!

At Family Dinner, we're not too shy or humble to openly brag about how great our members are. You are a wonderfully supportive, fun community of folks that we are extremely grateful to serve. We dream about the day we can throw a big party and bring everyone together to experience this community in person. (With near 700 weekly deliveries, that would be a VERY big party, like one of the ones in all the 1980's movies that didn't age well. Count. Me. In.)

Since we can't throw an epic local food rager (yet), we thought it would be fun to introduce you to some of your fellow members, learn about them, what they're cooking and what they can't wait to receive in their shares.

Posted on April 09, 2021

Erin Baumgartner

Cranberry State of Mind

In our last series, we talked about the year round activities with produce and livestock farms. In this upcoming series over the next few months, we’ll be talking about the ground which grows our food!

Before we dig into what comprises the soil that grows the food you eat, I figured we could talk about the context of the agricultural landscape of Massachusetts.

Posted on April 02, 2021

Shannon Largey