This coming Saturday will offer another true taste of Cayman when the Island observes its first Slow Food Day on 4 Feburary 2012.
A collaboration between Slow Food Grand Cayman, The Cayman Islands Agricultural Society and Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink, Slow Food Day is a Cayman Culinary Month event that will feature events at the market at The Grounds in the morning and then at Michael’s Genuine that evening.
The admission-free morning session will feature the regular Saturday farmers’ market at The Grounds, with several additional elements. From 9am until 11am, five local chefs, teamed with local farmers, will do live cooking demonstrations using local ingredients and then give free tastings of their dish. The chefs included Thomas Tennant from Michael’s Genuine; Nevin Patel from the Brasserie; Paul Carroll from Hemmingway’s and Grand Cayman Beach Suites; Sara Mair from Ortanique; and Keith Griffin from the Cayman Islands Culinary Society. Farmers paired with the chefs include Errol Watler, Patrick Panton, Joel Walton, Donna Connolly, Paul Bodden and Hamlin Stephenson.
The chefs will use a variety of local vegetables and proteins to create their dishes. Chef Tennant will serve soft scrambled eggs – provided by Mrs. Connolly’s hens – over garlic toast and topped with mixed with local green onions and grated cheese. Other chefs will create dishes using local ingredients such as sweet potato, pumpkin, coconut, calalloo, tomatoes, scotch bonnets, pork and chickens raised at Patrick Panton’s farm.
The event will also serve as the launch of the 45th Annual Cayman Islands Agricultural Show. Kerry Townsend of the Cayman Islands Agricultural Society said there will be a local band to add to the festive atmosphere, along with a bouncy castle and pony rides for children.
The Slow Food Day activities move to Camana Bay and Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in the evening, starting at 7pm. There, James Beard award-winning Michael Schwartz and celebrity chef Jonathan Waxman will team up to develop a menu using local ingredients.
Chef Waxman, who is known for his rustic, seasonal, ingredient-driven style of Italian cuisine, owns the restaurant Barbuto in Manhattan’s West Village. He is considered one of the more influential chefs in America during the past 30 years.
Schwartz, a strong supporter of the Slow Food movement in Miami, said Michael’s Genuine was excited to work with the local chef community and to help shape Slow Food’s identity in the Cayman Islands.
“The idea was sparked over the summer,” he said. “We were meeting with Slow Food South Sound convivium leader Alan Markoff, with whom we partner on monthly farm-to-table dinners. We were talking about him possibly coming to Miami to cover a Slow Food dinner we were doing in the fall and it just came to us. I remember thinking, ‘why hadn’t we thought of this before’?”
Cayman Culinary Month presented a good opportunity for Slow Food Day, Schwartz said.
“It was the next logical step – a day-long celebration of the emerging homegrown food scene that we’ve been getting to know over the past couple of years through the daily process of sourcing ingredients for our menu,” he said. “We are happy to do our part to raise awareness for the cause so that more people can enjoy the fresh, delicious ingredients the Island produces – and have a little fun while we’re at it.”
The evening dinner will include a welcome cocktail and hors d’oeuvres, followed by enjoy three courses with wine pairings for US$110 inclusive of gratuities. The price for Slow Food members is US$99.
“The dinner is going to be like our monthly farm-to-table dinners, but with the volume cranked up,” Schwartz said. “Instead of focusing on one farmer, we’re celebrating five and bringing in the big guns – a legend in seasonal, ingredient-driven cooking – Jonathan Waxman. The menu is pulled from the pages of his new cookbook, Italian, My Way, and infused with ingredients sourced from Cayman. And any night with Jonathan in the kitchen is a memorable one.”
To buy tickets for the Slow Food Day dinner, click here and click the Slow Food Day logo.
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