Regardless of our cultural background or religious beliefs, all of us have cherished food traditions that are the center of our holiday celebrations.  To honor those customs and to showcase the old-world quality of Buffalo’s best-loved foods, the Broadway Market will be presenting a public cooking demonstration on Saturday, December 13 featuring the traditional Polish meal (Wigilia) served on Christmas Eve.

The tasting includes samples of a selection of Wigilia foods, including mushroom soup, pierogi and the traditional Christmas wafers (oplatek). The wafers will be available for individual purchase.

Wigilia (pronounced: “vyg-ILY-uh”), comes from the Latin word vigilare, “to watch”, and means literally Eve.  This meatless meal is also known as the vigil, as Catholics await the birth of Christ.  Whether you would like to reconnect with your heritage, or want to learn about a custom that is not part of your family’s tradition, the Broadway Market has been an important part of holiday meals for generations in our community.

Cooking demonstration conducted by Slow Food Member Sandy Starks. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Friends of the Broadway Market for efforts to restore the market. Father Anslum Chalupka from Corpus Christi will be at the demonstration to bless the oplatki.

Also joining the event is Amy Smardz from the Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle who will talk about Polish Holiday traditions.
Price: $19 per person
Slow Food member price: $16
SAVE $3!
Tickets may be purchased online by visiting Brown Paper Tickets.

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This just in from Slow Food USA:

What will you be eating this Halloween? Is your candy Good, Clean, and Fair?

Slow Food USA has partnered with Global Exchange to spread the word about where our chocolate comes from on Halloween night with Reverse Trick-or-Treating.  Last Halloween, thousands of children, students, parents and others gave Fair Trade chocolate BACK to the households who gave them candy while Trick-or-Treating.  This year, we hope to reach a quarter of a million households across the country in an effort to further awareness about where our food comes from and how it is produced.

While Fair Trade does not address all hardships faced by farmers abroad, its goals are to provide a better price and support sustainable agricultural development. A good resource for reading more about Fair Trade is on the Fair Trade Federation website.

How Reverse Trick-or-Treating Works: The chocolate is attached to a card with information about social and environmental justice issues in the cocoa industry and how buying Fair Trade certified chocolate provides a solution. When someone gives you candy while trick-or-treating, you simply hand them a chocolate and card back.  Reverse Trick-or-Treating chocolate and cards are free. Participants pay only the cost of postage. Visit the Reverse Trick-or-Treating website to request cards and chocolate. The deadline to request cards is October 13.

–by Slow Food USA staffer Julia De Martini Day

Slow Food Buffalo will be doing its part to promote this project by offering 500 of these samples to those attending the Elmwood Bidwell Farmers Market Harvest Celebration on October 25th.  Come out and see us and Chef Bruce Wieszala who will be doing a cooking demonstration at the Slow Food tent using local foods from 10 a.m. - Noon.

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Stay tuned to Slow Food Buffalo for upcoming events.  Better yet, become a member and receive updates via email!

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Slow Food Buffalo is proud to sponsor the newest addition to the already very popular Elmwood-Bidwell Farmers Market.

Beginning May 31st, every Saturday, one of Buffalo’s most talented chefs will appear at the Elmwood-Bidwell Farmers Market, preparing a dish or two that utilizes the many fresh, local ingredients available at the market. The schedule is almost entirely full (though there is room for one or two more), and includes chefs from some of Buffalo best fine dining establishments including: Oliver’s, Ristorante Lombardo, SAMPLE, Torches and Trattoria Aroma. Also appearing are two well-known personal chefs and caterers, Chef Avi Altman and Chef Bill Metzgar. Read the rest of this entry ?

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