Starting this Saturday and running through September 25, The New York Botanical Garden is hosting Mario Batali’s Edible Garden, a family-centric program with daily gardening activities and cooking demonstrations that cater to a kid’s palate. The garden has three sections within in NYBG’s Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden (which just celebrated its 25th anniversary) and all showcase Batali’s favorite fruits and vegetables from the Otto Pizza Garden (wheat, basil, sweet peppers) to the Batali Berry Patch (strawberries and raspberries) to the Babbo beets and greens plot. The Family Garden offers hands-on opportunities to experience the very real excitement of growing vegetables, learning a thing or two about where food comes from, and the chance to literall dig some dirt. It is open Tuesdays through Sundays and holiday Mondays from 1:30-5:30 p.m. until September 25.
Visitors can look forward to cooking demonstrations daily at 2 and 4 p.m. featuring recipes from Mario Batali’s many talented chefs. Esca’s Katie O’Donnell and Casa Mono’s Anthony Sasso are scheduled to appear on Sunday, September 18, while wrapping up the program’s last weekend on September 24 will be Eataly pastry chef Caterina Delogu executive chef Alex Pilas. The final day will feature Del Posto’s Mark Ladner and Batali-Bastianich Hospitality Group’s Director of Food Safety and Sustainability Elizabeth Meltz, and Casa Mono’s Andy Nusser.
The program will cap off with a visit from chef Batali himself: “Morning with Mario,” a special ticketed event, will feature a Batali cooking demo, his chefs and NYBG gardeners on Sunday, September 25 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Tickets for all are available from the NYBG website, or if you’re feeling lucky, visit the Edible Manhattan or Edible Brooklyn Facebook pages for your chance to win a pair of tickets!
