Showcase Region’s Dynamic Local Food Community

From your local farm to your kitchen table, the Lehigh Valley’s diverse local food economy will be celebrated at the new “Taste” festival July 24 at SteelStacks. The event, which is free to attend, will take place noon-4 p.m. at the ArtsQuest Center, Levitt Pavilion and PBS39’s Public Media Center; complete information on the festival is available at www.tastelv.org.

Photo By: Buy Fresh Buy Local

Designed to showcase the Lehigh Valley’s local food system, “Taste: A Celebration of Local Farms & Food” provides opportunities to sample imaginative cuisine from the region’s finest chefs, meet its dedicated farmers and purchase the freshest, locally grown ingredients. The event includes a farmers’ market with nearly 30 local farms and vendors; a diverse array of cooking demonstrations and workshops featuring locally sourced produce and products; and tons of family fun.

“We invite people to come out and discover the wonderful flavors of fresh, locally grown foods, meet the farmers that produce them, and participate in fun activities to learn more about our local food system,” says Buy Fresh Buy Local of the Greater Lehigh Valley Director Lynn Prior.

One of the highlights of Taste is the Tasting Room in the ArtsQuest Center’s Musikfest Café, where more than 30 local food providers will offer the opportunity to taste amazing cuisine from area chefs. All participating restaurants will offer menu items containing at least two ingredients sourced from area farms. In addition, local wineries, distilleries, cideries and breweries will be on hand to offer samples of their products.

Tickets for the Tasting Room, which is open from 1-4 p.m., are $25 and on sale now at www.tastelv.org. A limited number of VIP Tickets, which include early access to the event from noon-1 p.m., music by GT3 Jazz Standards and a special VIP cocktail by Eight Oaks Craft Distillers, are also available for $50.

Tasting Room participants include:

Bolete
The Bookstore Speakeasy
Curious Goods at the Bake Oven Inn
DiMaio’s Family Ristorante and Pizzeria
Eight Oaks Craft Distillers
Franklin Hill Vineyards
Frecon’s Cidery
The Hamilton
Heirloom
Historic Hotel Bethlehem
Maxim’s 22 Bistro Brasserie
McCool’s at the Red Lion Inn
Meals on Wheels of Northampton County
Molinari’s
Moravian College Dining Services
Pearly Baker’s Ale House
Porters’ Pub and Restaurant
Saranda’s
Saucon Valley Country Club
Sette Luna
Social Still
Sodexo Dining Services
Subarashii Kudamono Gourmet Asian Pears
Tolino Vineyards
Two Rivers Brewing Company
187 Rue Principale

At Taste, family-friendly activities abound with opportunities for children to learn how to milk a cow at the “cow” milking station, enjoy arts and crafts, and take part in the Zucchini 500, an event where they make, decorate and race a ‘car’ made from a zucchini. The event also includes music by the Billy Bauer Band and free screenings of films like “Plant This Movie,” the award-winning documentary narrated by Daryl Hannah that focuses on the phenomenon of urban farming around the globe.

Taste also wants to help attendees enhance their skills in the kitchen by offering a variety of cooking demonstrations and workshops.  At 1:15 p.m., Nadia Hassani will present “Cook Global, Buy Local,” showcasing how to make international dishes like German Red Fruit Pudding and Hungarian Chilled Zucchini Dill Soup using locally sourced ingredients.

At 3 p.m., Randy Spaide of Schoharie Ridge Orchard & Apiary will offer a program on beekeeping and collecting honey.  Other workshops include Garden Herbs 101 with Liz Wagner of Crooked Row Farm at 12:30 p.m., a cheese making presentation by Kathy Fields of Flint Hill Farm at 1:45 p.m., and a fresh tomato salsa making demonstration by Chef Cody Dally of Cooking Matters at 2:30 p.m.

Taste is presented by Buy Fresh Buy Local of the Greater Lehigh Valley, a program of the Nurture Nature Center. The event is made possible through the support of Sam Adams, Agri-Dynamics, ArtsQuest and Chipotle. The first 1,000 people to visit the Chipotle booth at the festival will receive a $5 coupon for the farmers’ market. Proceeds from Taste benefit the nonprofit Buy Fresh Buy Local of the Greater Lehigh Valley and its programs supporting the greater Lehigh Valley local food economy. For more information, visit www.buylocalglv.org.