Moving Beyond Cancer in NOLA: 2020 Eat Local Challenge

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

UPDATE on the 2020 Eat Local Challenge

A Letter from the Eat Local Challenge Directors:

Dear Eat Local Challenge Family,

What a whirlwind these last few months have been. By this time of the year, we usually have a booked calendar with over 30 events such as the Garden to Glass Cocktail Competition and Farmers Market Bingo. By this time of the year, restaurants have begun to formulate Eat Local specials to put on the menu. By this time of the year, we are starting to see produce at the farmers markets that reflect what crops will be available during the challenge.
But this year has been different from those in the past.
This year, we have been on hold with many of our partners to wade out the situation. This year, farmers markets that we depend on have had to pivot and find alternative ways to operate. This year, many local farmers are struggling to keep up with new demand and some are not harvesting at all.
This year would have been our 10th anniversary.
After evaluating the current circumstances we have come to a decision that is best for our participants and for public health. We have decided to postpone all in-person Eat Local Challenge gatherings this June.
This does not mean the Eat Local Challenge has been cancelled. We hope you continue to support local food and farmers, now is a more crucial time than ever. Many restaurants and bars will not be able to bounce back from this and long lines of generations of farmers will come to an end.
Continue to support local establishments when you can by purchasing gift cards and merchandise directly from them. Continue to order from local restaurants that are still operating and practice safety precautions in obtaining your food. Continue to support your local farmers by buying from them directly (many are doing delivery drop offs!).
We would love to hear feedback on what you hope to gain and would like to see from the June Eat Local Challenge during these times of uncertainty. Would you be interested in instructional videos from local chefs? Online Zoom workshops with local food makers? Gardening tips or farmer Q&A? Online activities and resources for kids? DIY Garden to Glass cocktails? Let us know what you would like to see! We want to bring you what you want and need right now.
We will be working hard to bring a robust Eat Local Challenge month soon after things are fully open and we know we can safely bring local food celebrations to you- and what a celebration it will be!
As we move through this time of uncertainty, the food systems leaders in New Orleans are working hard to provide the community with comprehensive up-to-date resources.

We look forward to gathering with you all again,

Brynn Comeaux Hutzler and Elisa Muñoz Miller

Are you a chef or cook that wants to share a virtual demo or workshop? A bartender that can show us how to make a tasty garden to glass cocktail? Maybe a home baker or a jam maker? A farmer or gardener that can whip our beds into shape?
We want to hear from you! Reach out to us or share this with someone you may know about hosting a video workshop to help keep the spirit of the challenge going!

“Our annual Garden to Glass Cocktail Contest is one of the most beloved events of the year for participants and organizers alike." Read more about the evolution of the Garden to Glass Cocktail Competition (a partnership between the American Sector/The National World War II Museum and the Eat Local Challenge) and revisit some winners and favorites throughout the years by clicking here.

Donate to the Challenge!

Times are tough and the Eat Local Challenge has also been affected by the impact of Covid-19. We need your support to continue to raise awareness for local food in this crucial time. Please consider making a donation of any amount to the Eat Local Challenge to help offset costs so that we can continue to advocate for local food and farmers.
Click the box above and please share!

Feed the Secondline is a project of the Krewe of Red Beans (501(c)(3)) that is a follow up to the krewe's Feed the Frontlines initiative.
This project aims to keep New Orleans' local restaurants and farm-to-table networks open for business while supporting the people who make New Orleans great: culture bearers, social aid and pleasure clubs, musicians, Mardi Gras Indians and other culture figures in New Orleans

View the website here.

We've posted LSU Ag Center's Harvest of the Month coloring sheets for you to print out and enjoy!
View the coloring sheets here.

The Eat Local Challenge is a program of the New Orleans Food Policy Advisory Committee. NOLA FPAC is a broad-based coalition of organizations, businesses and individuals shaping public policy to improve equity, opportunity, and collaboration in our local food system.

Click here to join the NOLA FPAC bimonthly newsletter to stay up to date on happenings, policy alerts, and more!

Has the Eat Local Challenge had a profound impact on the way you view the local food system? Maybe it's changed the way you make conscious food purchases or informed you about a farmer or market you didn't know prior?

We want to hear from you!

Send us an email including your business/your name and let us know how the challenge has helped you and we'll include it in the Reviews and Impact section on our website!

Got a great local recipe? Share it with us for inclusion in our newsletter, facebook page, or on the website!

Tip of the day: Buy directly from farmers. Right now everyone is feeling a hard hit and farming is definitely one of the industries hit the hardest. Follow local farmeers on social media to see where they are popping up these days and continue to support the folks that make our local food system great.
Need help finding local produce? Reach out to us.

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Wednesday, March 4, 2020

2020 Eat Local Challenge : March Newsletter

Another February has come and gone and with it we say farewell to another Mardi Gras. And with the help of Punxsutawney Phil, we know spring will come soon this year!

If you've been lucky enough to have some crawfish this year, you know the season is off to a hot start! Prices are low for this early on and sizes are nice.

It's great to see the sides that are chosen to be thrown into the crawfish boil. Traditional sides include potatoes, corn, sausage and lemon (all options you can buy locally!) while some have fun with it and add pineapples, edamame, and artichokes. What are your favorite sides to add to crawfish boils? Send us photos and we'll post them!

You can always get ideas by viewing our bar and restaurant guide on the website by clicking here.

Left, Every Thursday Marjie's Grill offers delicious chili butter crawfish (credit: @marjiesgrill).
Right, Bevi Seafood Company offers traditional boiled crawfish (and other seafood!) as well as live crawfish by the pound along with their usual sandwich menu (credit: @beviseafoodco).

The National Good Food Network Conference will be held in New Orleans this year March 10-13 at the Intercontinental Hotel.

Tickets and information can be found by clicking here.

Bean Madness is a March Madness style competition for the best red beans in town.

Fill out your own bracket by March 10! Winner receives gifts from the Krewe of Red Beans, Camellia Beans, and gets to chose which charity receives entry fee donations.

Begin planting warm-season vegetables, such as tomatoes and bell peppers (use transplants for these two), cucumbers, corn, snap beans, mirliton and squash.

Begin to plant warm-season bedding plants, such as angelonia, marigolds, zinnias, blue daze, pentas, celosia, salvia, portulaca, purslane, melampodium and others.

Fertilize roses and other shrubs now. Purchase roses in containers and plant this month.

Warmer temperatures and active growth make watering increasingly important if regular rainfall does not occur. New plantings need the most attention, since they are more vulnerable until they have a chance to grow a strong root system.

Fertilize lawns the last week in March or early April using a lawn fertilizer or weed and feed (fertilizer plus weed killer).

(Gardening tips provided by Dan Gill of New Orleans Botanical Gardens.)

The challenge will remain free to participants in 2020! We've put together a sponsor package for anyone interested. Sponsors help keep the challenge free for participants! There are options to host or sponsor a workshop promoting your service or product, sponsoring a local popup for any of our events, providing snacks for the Urban Farm Bike Ride, prizes for Local Foods Bingo or Trivia, and much more!

The sponsor package can be viewed by clicking here.

Are you interested in hosting a workshop featuring your product or an event at your place of business? We'd love to curate an event around a particular skill or product for you!

Contact us and we can chat about hosting or showcasing an event during the Eat Local Challenge this June or if you are interested in being our monthly Eat Local Challenge meet-up destination.

2020 is our ten year anniversary! This year is a big one and the calendar is sure to fill up soon, so get in touch soon!

View the bars and restaurants that have stepped up and committed to sourcing local products by clicking here.

Is your establishment missing from the list? Reach out to us and let us know so we can add it!

Crescent City Farmers Market is a go-to source to keep eating local year round!

Click here to view the weekly market locations and to see where to pick up CSA boxes throughout the year.

Click here to download the app to track everything market related right from your phone!

The Challenge remains free, but your donations allow us to grow and make June as successful as possible. This year is our 10th anniversary and we are hoping to make Eat Local bigger and better than ever! Please consider a donation of any size.

Donate to the Challenge!

Got a great local recipe? Share it with us for inclusion in our newsletter, facebook page, or on the website!

Tip of the day: Check labels. Seek out not only produce but bread, jams, grains and other products that are grown or produced near you. Many grocery stores and even restaurants are using signs or labels to let you know where your food is sourced, making it easier for you to choose the products that are made right in your neighborhood!