Relishing the Thought

I'm up to my elbows in jam, curd, and relish-recipes, that is. It's down to the final month of writing before the first two books in the series make their way officially out of my computer and on to the rest of the publishing process luminaries. In the meantime (not that I really have much of a "meantime," what with bee-keeping school and my dog injuring her paw on a nail from the old hoophouses, and a medley of other concerns; more like "in the leantime"), I've hooked up with the local Slow Food chapter and their fledgling Education Committee. Apparently, the mandate from this years Terra Madre in Turin, Italy (the big dog international meeting for Slow Foodies) was to emphasize the social justice part of Slow Food, as envisioned by it's founder, Carlo Petrini. What that means on a practical level is making sure that everyone, everywhere has access to delicious, fair, sustainable foods. 

Here in Asheville, the Education Committee will be working with low-income communities to teach cooking classes on preparing food that is Fast, Easy, Affordable, Sustainable, and Tasty (FEAST). Soon as I send the books off, I plan on helping out, teaching cooking classes, picking veggies out of the community garden, showing folks how to can and preserve the foods out of that garden to keep in a community-specific food bank, and anything else I can do to assist. For now, though, I'm going to seriously pump up (or more aptly, "out") the jams!

*Image from Lavazza.