ColumnCelebrate all things local with NYC’s Eat Drink Local Week.
Who says you need a bucolic setting to eat locally? Urban metropolises are showing that they too can provide sustenance for their inhabitants in new and creative ways, and this week New York City takes the crown.
Eat Drink Local Week (EDL) kicked off in New York City over the weekend, a collaboration between the Edible magazines of New York State and partners from the entire food chain. The idea is to get people all over the city excited about local food and during the 7-day festivities challenge them to take part in the “lip-smacking locavore lineup.”
Some of our favorite from the list of 20 challenges:
-Drink like a local! Swig libations from New York breweries and wineries. Bonus: make a farmy cocktail starring local herbs or produce.
-Cook your cast-offs! Think corn cob stock, sauteed beet tops, and pickled watermelon rinds.
-Shuck your own clams, mussels, scallops or oysters.
-Drink only local water—it’s called “tap,“ people.
EDL has also identified the seven ingredients of the week, and if you can manage to pull all of these into one recipe we’ll be highly impressed:
- Strawberries
- Peas
- Chives and Green Garlic
- Rhubarb
- Lamb
- Oysters
- Yogurt
This list means that there are a whole lot of chic restaurants around town serving up prix fixe menus that put those ingredients to creative use, like Marinated Mackerel with Pickled Rhubarb, Cucumber, Fava Beans, and Watercress at Aquavit and Peas, Bacon, Sweet shrimp Risotto with Liberty Garden Arugula at Print.
And beyond just eating, there are plenty of chances to learn about food and drink, as well as interact with the people that make it.
- Bring Something Win Something: Take part in Union Square Greenmarket’s interactive campaign that encourages foraging, happening all week long.
- Watch Urban Roots: Check out the free screening of this film about city farming in Detroit, July 27th, 6:30 p.m.
- Meet Your Maker: Throw down with the good brewers at Brooklyn Brewery as well as other local food businesses, June 29th, 6-9 p.m.
EDL runs through Thursday, June 30, 2011. If you don’t live in New York City, these events make you wish you had a round-trip ticket there doesn’t it?
Want to check out some of our locavore faves in NYC? Check out our Locavore Guide to Manhattan on Foodspotting.
Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.
Image: Edible Manhattan