Seattle Local Food

I’m out of town today, which is a bit of a shame, because there are a number of great events going on in Seattle and Western Washington.

The most delicious-sounding in Seattle: Mobile Food Rodeo, Seattle’s new food truck event. Twenty-one food trucks of all sorts, from Skillet to Minimus Maximus.

Seattle is trying to catch up with other cities that have realized mobile food vending has a lot of potential to improve city life: it’s great for talented food entrepreneurs, and it’s great for residents who like to eat. It can even be a creative way to bring healthy food to neighborhoods, when cities provide incentives for food trucks meeting a certain healthy-food standard (e.g. produce vending trucks). Also, there’s something appealing about street food, eaten outside, often strongly-flavored. Calvin Trillin once described it as best eaten standing up, so one can jump up and down a little when it’s really delicious.

Please go to this event and eat something delicious for me. If you’re tweeting, it’s #mobilefoodrodeo

Also, if you want to get out of town for the day, our friends at Skagit River Ranch are hosting an awesome farm day festival. Skagit River Ranch is a wonderful farm. The owners, George and Eiko, devote themselves to producing high-quality pasture-raised meat and eggs. Their farm is in a lovely spot by the Skagit River. The day’s going to feature cooking demos, tours, a raffle, grilled meats, and even chicken poop bingo. Seriously.

Finally, head out to Port Townsend for the keynote evening of the Northwest Earth Institute’s Biannual Conference, to catch Will Allen’s talk on urban/community agriculture. From their email:

A keynote speaking event, co-sponsored by the Food Coop, The Good Food Revolution: The Power of Community Agriculture, with Will Allen – Milwaukee’s famed urban farmer   http://growingpower.org/assets/presskit.pdf

Hear Will Allen, son of a sharecropper, former professional basketball player and ex-corporate sales leader, one of the preeminent thinkers of our time on agriculture and food policy, speak on how he lives from his belief that all people, regardless of their economic circumstances, should have access to fresh, safe affordable, and nutritious foods.