Food Bank Farm Stand Chef Challenge

CHEF CHALLENGE; SALAD EDITION

CHEF CHALLENGE; SALAD EDITION

People’s Place Food Pantry and Thrift Store will be hosting the Food Bank Farm Stand’s Chef Challenge; Salad Edition.

Chefs and faculty from the acclaimed Culinary Institute of America, along with area Kingston restaurant chefs and a team of kids heralded by chef Diane Reeder will be competing for the title of “Farm Fresh Chef Extraordinaire”. The competing chefs will be bulking up food pantry staples with “mystery ingredients” of fresh Hudson Valley farm produce from the Food Bank Farm Stand. They will use inexpensive seasonings easily found, such as salt, pepper, condiment packets and dollar spices. Farm Stand visitors will be able to talk with the chefs, learn food preparation techniques, get recipes, sample salads and vote on their favorite culinary creations.

This event is open to the public and all are welcome to attend. Visitors will have the opportunity to interface with the chefs and vote on the best salad dishes. Chefs will use product from the farm stand, food pantry and other low-cost ingredients to create their salads.

There will be a food prepping skills table for adults, a toddler and young kids exploring table, (probing food mysteries such as does watermelon float?), a knife and food prep learning table for older kids, Cornell Cooperative Nutrition educators and a vegetable seed-planting table hosted by Hurd’s Family Farm of Ulster County Farm Bureau. Also, Ulster County Cornell Cooperative’s 4H program will run a pedal-powered, stationary “smoothie bike” with a blender attached!

There are no income eligibility guidelines for the free farm stand. This project is made possible thanks to Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley, through a grant from New World Foundation Local Economies Project.
For more information, or to volunteer, please contact Carrie Jones Ross at 534-5344 ext. 112, or email cjonesross@foodbankofhudsonvalley.org, or Christine Hein at 338-4030 or email director@peoplesplaceuc.org