Our second annual Eat Drink Local Week isn’t until the fall, but we just got word about one very cool component of the event, which we produce in honor of local grub along with GrowNYC (that’s the non-profit that runs the Greenmarkets, FYI).
This year EDLW starts with Sotheby’s first-ever Amish-style heirloom produce auction. In the Amish community, livestock or other auctions are both important fundraising events and super social gatherings, though we’re not yet sure if Sotheby’s dress code will require straw hats and suspenders for the menfolk and black dresses for the ladies.The plan is that Gotham chefs, grocers, and costermongers will bid on lots from dozens of tristate farmers, while hungry attendees (that’s you and me) will bid on farm field trips, vegetable futures (!), New York wine country getaways, Brooklyn brewmaster tastings, and best yet, a barrel of Tuthilltown hootch paired with an in-home whiskey tasting.
There’ll also be stuff to eat and drink there, naturally, at a cocktail reception and four-course locally sourced dinner crafted by celebrity chefs. The deets are still coming in–we hope for tomatoes and chiles and corn! Cause it’ll be late September–but you can reserve tickets for the auction here.
(Proceeds, like those of EDLW in general, will benefit both GrowNYC and The Sylvia Center for food and agricultural education at nearby Katchie Farm.)
The rest of EDLW ain’t so shabby either: This year, it’s gonna be celebrated statewide with the collaboration of all Edible magazines in the Empire State and partners from the entire food chain—restaurants, wine shops and wineries, breweries and beer bars, farms and food artisans, and all those cultural institutions that celebrate food.
We’ll have more specifics in the next few weeks, but we know there’ll be a Long Island wine auction, Edible events at New York Botanical Gardens, an Edible Institute on urban food issues at the New School, a Taste of Greenmarket fundraiser and each day of the week will defined by a specific local ingredient: cheese on Monday, vegetables on Tuesday, wine on Wednesday, meaning participating restaurants will be fixing up specials to follow suit. We don’t know what day of the week is bacon day, but we expect reservations to be tight.
