While Eat Boutique is not necessarily a site where we discuss the politics of food, this subject matters to any one who cares about what they eat, where that food comes from, and the people that produce that food. In that vein, we thought you all might be interested in learning more about a new documentary about the rising movement of Americans who are seeking to re-invent our food system. The film, called FRESH, celebrates the farmers, purveyors and consumers who are taking matters into their own hands. The documentary also serves as a guide to empower people like us to take action in small and simple ways that can make a big difference.

To celebrate the release of the movie in the greater Boston area, a series of events and farm-to-table dinners have been planned. Last week, a group of local food advocates, including Willow Blish from Slow Food Boston, John Lee from Allandale Farm, J.J Gonson from Cuisine en Locale, and Jeff Morin from City Feed and Supply, served on a panel to discuss their roles in the local food movement.

When the evening was opened up for questions, it was clear that the people in the room last night were frustrated. From discussions covering the state of food served in our schools, to the affordability of farmers’ market produce, to food deserts, there is certainly much to cause anger. However, as John Lee, the owner/farmer of Allandale Farm said last night, five years ago, there never would have been a 100+ crowd gathered to listen and discuss the state of local food. Five years ago, it was almost impossible for Lee to sell produce that wasn’t tightly wrapped in cellophane, with all of the leaves chopped off and no sign that it actually came from the ground. Things are changing for the better, and rather than dismissing this recent interest in our food as a trend, we should continue to educate ourselves and those around us about the food that we eat.

While the problem is extremely multi-faceted, the message was clear: vote with your food purchases. Every time we buy food, we are making a significant choice. As they say, money talks. As much as you can, buy food that has been produced by small-scale farms and within your region. Connect with those farmers, know from where your food comes. Your body will thank you and you can enjoy that food even more, knowing that your farmers have been paid a good, fair wage and that your food hasn’t traveled, un-ripened, from thousands of miles away in an 18-wheeler. If you can’t make it to a farmers’ market frequently, start being that squeaky wheel. Ask for fresh, local produce at your local grocery store. The more consumers that ask for locally grown produce, the more likely that something will happen.

What else can YOU do? For starters, you can learn more about the movement by seeing the movie FRESH, but you’ll have to hurry. In the greater Boston area, you can see the film at the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square until June 25. While FRESH week’s activities are nearly over, you can visit any of the restaurants that hosted farm-to-table dinners and talks and enjoy quality, local food.

We’d love to open up this discussion to our readers. What simple changes have you made to better connect with the food that you eat?  Do you know an un-sung hero in the local food movement that is doing amazing work? Share with us below!

For those of you who have had the joy of spending time at the Marliave in downtown Boston, you are likely familiar with their fun cocktails, great wine list, cool vintage atmosphere and if you are particularly lucky – their incredible sliders. However, this post does not focus on their spacious upstairs bars and dining rooms, but the tiny five-seat bar at street level on Province Street.

As a regular café customer in this space over the last year or two, I have become smitten with the space; the charming barista, Tommy; the fantastic coffee and “mini” breakfast treats that they serve there. So when I saw an announcement that the little café was going to be transformed into an afternoon/evening bar featuring cheese, wine, scotch and chocolates, I was pretty freaking excited. Attending the cheese bar’s opening night, I was literally first in line.

I’m here to tell you that the experience is fantastic at the cheese counter. Friendly, knowledgeable servers are ready to give great suggestions and pairing recommendations.  The menu suggests different wines to try alongside the cheeses, and there is a fantastic selection of fine scotches and chocolate truffles, if that’s your thing.

While visiting the Marliave’s cheese counter is a real treat that I would recommend to anyone living in or visiting the greater Boston area, I think that you could also gain real inspiration from your trip and (nearly) duplicate the experience by making your own cheese plate.

Since the Marliave received their cheese education from the experts at Formaggio, I would venture a guess that one could find most (if not all) of the featured offerings at their store. I have also seen many of these cheeses for sale at Whole Foods around the region, so for those of you not in the immediate area, inquire about the following selections at your local cheese counter:

• Bucheron, a French chevre, is simply nothing like the ubiquitous logs of goat cheese found in most grocery stores. It is buttery and velvety with two different textures and consistencies; a wide creamy rind and a flakier, brighter interior.  It is probably my favorite cheese and very hard to resist when I see it at restaurants or for sale at a shop.
• Any Taleggio is a winner in my book. A soft, Italian cheese that usually features a nice funky scent, taleggio pairs really well with a sweet spread, like a fig jam or the honey that it is served with at the Marliave. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
• For cheese that is made right here in New England, I can’t write about cheese without sharing my love for Cabot Clothbound Cheddar. Now, I love Cabot cheddar as my everyday cheese, but their special clothbound version really takes things to a whole new level. The crumbly texture and slightly sweet and nutty flavor makes this cheddar a real crowd pleaser.

Marliave serves up their cheese along with a great spread: fig jam, spiced walnuts, lavender honey and a choice of toasted breads. I suggest you pick up something similar for a great tasting experience! Marliave has some great recommendations for wine pairings with each cheese, and I have always really loved their suggestions (one idea in particular that I picked up from the café was to pair bubbly with creamy cheeses, like the Taleggio – Try it.) For more information, check out the cheese menu on their website for more pairing suggestions and to plan your visit!

Photos by splityarn and Shelby Graham

It’s that time of year again, friends! Farmers Markets across New England are finally opening this month, encouraging us pale, undernourished customers to flock towards the tents to purchase their offerings.

Sure, this early in the season, most of the farmers really only have lettuce and other greens to sell, but nonetheless, it is enough to get me excited about the coming season of fresh, local vegetables. Plus I have heard rumors that Western Massachusetts markets are selling strawberries, with fingers and toes crossed, hopefully the Greater Boston area will be seeing some of those juicy red berries soon.

This past Sunday, I visited the first Farmers Market to open in Boston this spring, located at the South End/SOWA Open Market on Harrison Avenue, just down the street just from its original Trolley Barn home. The new Thayer Street location brings together market tents with art galleries and studios, furniture stores, antique shops and vintage stalwart, Bobby from Boston. Beyond vegetables, this market features row after row of tents selling jewelry, clothing, photography, soaps, olive oil, cheese and much, much more. This year’s addition of a Vintage Market held inside an adjacent warehouse shows a lot of promise and will likely prove to be a great addition to the scene on Harrison Avenue.

This time around, I couldn’t resist picking up a beautiful head of Boston Bibb lettuce and a bunch of pea tendrils. I rounded out my haul with some zesty lemon marmalade from Silverbrook Farm and a fresh loaf of six-grain bread from the Danish Pastry House.  Oh, and somehow an apple bear claw slipped in there. How did that happen??

With the Copley Square Farmers Market opening up this week and several other markets debuting over Memorial Day weekend, the season has officially opened!

Have you visited your local Farmers Market yet this spring? What have your farmers been selling? Which crop are you looking forward to the most?

For more information about where to find a Farmers Market near you, check out the following sites:

For Massachusetts residents: http://www.mass.gov/agr/massgrown/farmers_markets.htm

For the rest of the country, check out this very helpful website:  http://www.localharvest.org/

A few of us over at Eat Boutique – okay, perhaps all of us! – are in love with Joanne Chang. She’s started several fabulous Boston-area bakeries that showcase, among other delicious goodies, some of the best cinnamon rolls around; they’re so good they were even featured on the Food Network. Joanne and a great crew also run one of our favorite Asian restaurants, Myers + Chang. All this and she’s still had time to thoroughly embrace Twitter, feeding us behind the scenes info on all her restaurants as it all happens. When you feel a local chef has gotten too big, we remember Joanne as the perennial ’boutique’ chef, always making it happen on her own with small-biz spirit and homegrown perspective.

If you love Joanne as much as we do, then you can hear her speak for free this Friday, May 7 at the Museum of Science. Along with Corby Krummer (senior editor for the Atlantic Monthly) and food sustainability expert Helene York, Joanne will be discussing two often-competing loves: our passion for good food vs. our desire to save the planet. Seating is limited but free passes are available at the Museum of Science lobby starting at 5:45pm for the 7pm discussion. Learn more about this worthwhile event, and make sure to tell them that Joanne’s fans at Eat Boutique sent you.

Photos by thegirlwiththecamera, Ghetto of our Mind and Cake and Commerce.

Leaving Salt Traders, I clutched a bag full of various salts to my chest the way a child holds their Halloween candy, and I eyed the hefty pink salt licks, great chunks of Pakistani crystals, piled at the end of the table, heedlessly not wondering what the hell I would do with them when I brought them home, but what did they cost.  I don’t have horses, and don’t want to lure deer into my yard, but something about these 5 pound pale rose stones, still wrapped with a useful Pakistani rope, presumably for tying to a tree in the horse corral, I needed.

The salt stories alone are worth the trip to the itty-bitty shop in Ipswich that houses Salt Traders and Didi Davis Foods.  There is the Viking salt made in Denmark by a man who has researched all things Viking, including the way they procured salt, which was by boiling down huge cauldrons of sea water over a hardwood fire, the salt thus absorbing the smokey flavor.  That Dane still does this and you can take home your own 1.5 ounces of Danish hard-wood infused gray sea salt, perfumed with a bonfire.  The flavor dissolves on your tongue just before the burst of salinity, therefore not dredging taste but just reminding it of the flavor of burned juniper.

There is caviar salt, which is pearly little rounds of salt formed when the crystals skittle off the top of the simmering water to the corners of the pan, as opposed to fleur de sel, which is the first layer of delicate flakes that are raked off the surface of the water in France still with wooden rakes.

What one is after, besides various degrees of minerality and flavor in salt, is texture, and there are as many textures as there are crystal formations.  Some salt crystals crunch; some flake, and thus suit different purposes.  Some are large black, delicate pieces that melt in your mouth before there is even time for your teeth to finish a bite; some make a fine dusting for a chocolate cake.  I recently read in The New York Times that one of the tricks to making the best chocolate chip cookies in the world was a fine sprinkle of sea salt over each cookie before they bake – perhaps Fleur de Sel, the queen of French Sea Salts.

Sea salt comes from evaporated sea water and table salt is mined from underground sources.  The word “sea” alone is enough to make me reach for these salts, and, having tasted many, I’m absolutely positive of their ability to influence the tastes of foods in wonderful ways, but should you need more convincing The New York Times recently explained another important difference between table salts and sea salts:  Table salt weighs much more than sea salt; a tablespoon of table salt is almost twice as heavy as sea salt, and therefore doesn’t really sprinkle, but, yes, pours.

Salt Traders products and Didi Davis foods, a related company that produces flavored salts and Mojito Sugar and Curry Sugar, (the latter makes a wildly delicious Chai Tea-like drink) can be found at this website, and in stores. 

Or, you can drive, as I did, down a dusty industrial road in Ipswich to the tiny building that is home to those salt licks.

Many say that Boston is not actually a big city, but really a large town.  This is never truer than when a widely-acclaimed new restaurant opens. Especially when it’s from Ken Oringer, of Clio, KO Prime, Toro and La Verdad fame and when the chef is Jamie Bissonette of Toro. Throughout the last year or so, hype has been growing exponentially for their newest restaurant, Coppa, a small enotoca in the South End. Coppa has gained critical acclaim, and fans are particularly excited about the restaurant’s “nose-to-tail” mindset and that all meats are cured on site. Housed in a cozy corner spot on a very neighborhood-y stretch of Shawmut Avenue, Coppa has been packing the house ever since it opened last December.

As a resident of the neighborhood, I walked by from time to time, shaking my head at the masses and retreating comfortably to local nearby favorites. “Typical hype,” I thought. “No big deal… Definitely not worth the multi-hours waits in overcrowded settings or on the frigid patio. Not for a rushed, cramped meal.” But I was wrong.

Last Friday night, after finally eating at Coppa, I was charmed. From the atmosphere to the service to the oh-so-amazing food, they got me. Instead of feeling rushed, the casually dressed and mannered waitress made us feel right at home.  She explained that the menu was made up of small plates, and if we ordered all at once, we would be served as they were ready. She explained that we could slow things down by ordering in a more “course by course” fashion, which is exactly what we did.

We started with a crostini with ricotta and duck prosciutto, which we divided into tiny bites and tried to eat as slowly as possible to fully appreciate each flavor. Next, we moved on to the freshest tasting salad ever consisting of fennel and arugula, with red onions, fiddlehead tomme, and tossed with a lemony vinaigrette.

For dinner, we each had pasta, the calves brain ravioli in brown butter sauce and orecchiette with fennel sausage and broccoli raabe. The generously poured glasses of wine kept us happy and smiling as we savored each taste and carefully curated ingredient. Fantastic coffee closed out the meal and was the perfect ending to what was a nearly perfect meal.

Believe the hype. It was one of the best dining experiences I have had in years.  I can’t wait to go back and try more of their menu. I woke up the next day thinking about all of the different tastes that I experienced at Coppa and started scheming about the recipes I could take from their menu.  While I probably won’t be making calves brains ravioli anytime soon, I was able to throw together a really fresh salad that was inspired by Coppa.

Arugula, Fennel and Parmigiano Reggiano Salad

• 1 small fennel bulb, very thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
• 4 cups washed and dried arugula
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shaved fresh Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (use a vegetable peeler)

Quick-Pickled Red Onions:

• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced (or a few thin slices of a bigger onion- you know how much onion you can take!)
• ½ cup vinegar (white, apple cider or even red wine vinegar would work here)
• ¼ cup warm water
• 2 tsp sugar

Vinaigrette:

• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1  teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon  olive oil
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper

Thinly slice a red onion and stir together the warm water, the vinegar and the sugar. Place the onions in a shallow bowl and pour pickling liquid on top. Put aside while you make the rest of your dinner. The longer this sits, the sweeter and tangy-er the onions will be.

Wash and dry the arugula, place into a medium bowl. Add the thinly sliced fennel bulb. Using a vegetable peeler, shave bits of the parmigiano reggiano onto the salad. Remove the onions from the pickling liquid and dice. Add to the bowl.

In a separate small bowl or a glass measuring cup, mix together the lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper. While whisking, slowly add the olive oil and mix until slightly emulsified. Toss the dressing with the salad just before serving. Enjoy!

A few months ago, I gave up on my coffee machine. I was sick of the dull, bland and at times very bitter coffee that it produced. I stopped making coffee at home and took up a rather expensive quest of trying to find a really good, consistent coffee shop that was convenient to my work and home life. There were some good cups of coffee out there, yes, but I felt guilty about the money I was spending and never wanted to go fetch my coffee on the weekends. There had to be a better way! Enter the French Press.

For those of you who don’t know, a French Press is a simple brewing device, where coarse grinds are stirred into hot water, left alone for a few minutes, and then “pressed” just before serving. The direct contact of the beans with the water (instead of brewed through a filter) produces coffee that includes more of the beans’ essential oils and features a deeper flavor. With my new tool, I was ready for some quality coffee in the morning. Now I just needed some quality beans!

Throughout this process, I learned that you can have the fanciest coffee maker in the world and still make really horrible coffee. It’s about the beans, my friends!  Quality is important: how they were grown and how they are stored play a huge role in how they taste. But perhaps most important is the freshness factor.  Green, unroasted coffee beans are stable, and therefore lose freshness very slowly.  Once they are roasted though, the beans should be consumed within about a month, preferably sooner. The beans also lose freshness as soon as they are ground, so those bags of pre-ground coffee beans are already putting you at a deficit when it comes to making really good coffee.

In my search for freshly roasted coffee, it turns out I didn’t have to look very far at all.  Flat Black Coffee Company, a small company based here in Boston, roasts their beans in house at their flagship store in Lower Mills. I already knew about Flat Black Coffee, but it was their reputation as a community based coffee shop that first struck my attention. With three retail outposts in Boston, their Lower Mills shop, in the Ashmont section of Dorchester, and their location on Broad Street in downtown Boston, this small Boston company has made a real effort to become a part of their neighborhoods.

In addition, the company, whose name refers to the Australian slang word for espresso, makes a real effort to buy the most fairly traded coffee possible. Flat Black employees travel to estates in far off places like Panama and El Salvador to get to know the owners and farmers. They like to buy direct from these estates, ensuring that they have the best quality beans and that the money goes straight to those doing the growing.

While it can be tough to buy local coffee here in the Northeast (since coffee beans cannot be grown outside of tropical climates and this region is decidedly un-tropical), you can buy locally-roasted beans.  If you live in the Boston area, try Flat Black Coffee, a great small company that sells an outstanding product, with a focus on quality, source and the social and environmental impact of their industry. The best part? These beans make a really spectacular cup of coffee.  And that’s the whole point, right?

I would guess that many Eat Boutique readers have an opinion about their coffee. What is your preferred way to make home-brewed coffee? Do you have a favorite type of beans? A specific roast or source that you always buy? Share with us below!

For more tips about using a French Press, check out this post at The Kitchn. The comments are full of great information.

I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve lived in the Boston area for almost eight years and have not yet been to Symphony Hall. So when I heard that the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) had partnered with the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) as part of the “Orchestras Feeding America” initiative, I jumped on the opportunity to attend. On April 1, 2, or 3, you can experience one of the world’s premiere orchestras perform Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and donate canned goods to one of the country’s largest food banks all in one evening. How’s that for multi-tasking?

With the recent economic downturn, the demands on the nation’s Emergency Food System are great. According to the USDA, 14.6% of U.S. households were food insecure at some point during 2008, the highest level since the survey began. Feeding America reports that the number of people served by the Greater Boston Food Bank in 2009 was 23% greater than in 2005. The GBFB serves 83,000 people each week as part of its mission to help end hunger in Eastern Massachusetts, and food drives contributed over 220,000 pounds of food to the cause in 2008.

The concerts start at 8 p.m. each evening, and food drive receptacles will be available starting at 7 p.m. at both the Massachusetts Avenue and Cohen Wing entrances. Tickets are still available and can be purchased here. Plus, if you’re under 40 you can get in for only $20! Orchestra not your thing? Community members are encouraged to participate in the food drive even if they’re not attending the concert. The BSO can accept canned food items including canned tuna, chicken, or other meats, canned vegetables and fruit, and canned juices, soups, and pasta.  For safety reasons, the GBFB does not accept baby food, baby formula, and glass containers.

Not in the Boston area? The BSO food drive is also hosting a “Virtual Aid Food Drive” to complement the one that is taking place at Symphony Hall. To make a cash donation to the GBFB, visit http://www.bso.org/fooddrive.

Chive is a female-powered, sustainable catering and event design company just budding in Boston, Massachusetts. The passion that Jen, Julia and Lindsey have for seasonal flavors, environmental sustainability, and the Boston community is infectious. It’s impossible not to get excited about their vision for Chive.

I met Chef Lindsey Wishart almost four years ago when she was making bread and pizzas at Green Meadows Farm. There was something deeply captivating about her food: the perfect blend of honey and whole wheat in the Anadama bread, the loving placement of sunflower seeds on the multi-grain loaf, and the mouthwatering combination of fresh-from-the-fields produce on each pizza. Even two years after Lindsey left Green Meadows, customers would ask for her, longingly.

Luckily, I knew where she lived. In fact, we lived together for almost three years (so I may be a wee bit biased). During that time, she completely changed the way I thought about food and cooking. She could look into our empty fridge, where I saw nothing, and create a beautiful feast within 45 minutes. She has an instinct for flavors and a love of fresh, local, artisan ingredients that made our kitchen the best room in our home.

Last spring, Lindsey’s college friend Jennifer Frost decided it was time to launch the business they had been scheming about for years, seeing catering as their way to bring delicious, beautiful, local food to the community. Jen, who has a degree in interior design and years of experience in catering and hospitality, has a gift for creating classically modern spaces out of found and recycled objects. She is inspiring in her resourcefulness, often designing and building structures herself in order to execute her vision for an event.

Jen’s sister Julia calls herself the official taste-tester for Chive, and with a business degree from Suffolk, she has created the strong foundation that allows Jen and Lindsey to focus on their craft and have fun in the kitchen. They take simple farm ingredients and turn them into elegant and transporting plates. Menu creations have included Rosemary Pork with Chile, Cocoa and Black Bean Puree; Seared Nantucket Bay Scallops with Spicy Carrot Aioli; and Apple Cider-Braised Short Ribs on an Open-Faced Corn Muffin. Yum.

Chive’s uniqueness comes from their take on social sustainability. Yes, they compost and recycle and use Verterra plates (made from fallen palm leaves). But they also structure their events in a way that breaks down the barriers between the chefs and the eaters. Food is never just dropped off to be served by another staff; interaction between the Women of Chive and the people enjoying their food is key. At some events, guests have even become part of the food preparation process, sampling raw ingredients and inspiring the way components are put together. Because Lindsey and Jen are in the kitchen at every event, they can create plates on the spot based on guest preferences, generating very little waste.

What’s the long term vision for Chive? The three hope to eventually open a non-profit arm that would include a working educational farm, community kitchen, and advocacy organization aimed at getting good food into school systems. I can’t wait to see what these incredible ladies do next!

Check out Chive online or email julia@chiveevents.com.